There is a book called Flying at Midnight. What is the content?

Midnight flight

Author: Annie Baby

People are born and die.

But I've heard that there are endless joys.

-Angelene

Marilyn is a small bar in the west. Whiskey, soda and disco are its signature brands.

But business is not very good recently. Because an old DJ is missing.

This is his first job in Shanghai.

Every night, he appears behind the sound console. He is a handsome and silent man. Always wear a pair of sneakers.

And loose green trousers. There is a small desk lamp with low wattage on the desk, which is used to select records.

When he looked down at the envelope, his long hair slipped down and covered his eyes.

He seldom raises his eyes to look at people.

In the narrow dance floor, alcohol and tobacco were mixed with screams and fermented to the fullest. He strangles pale people and empty music. Then coldly picked up the ice-water cup with lemon slices.

After midnight 12 o'clock, it is the rest time for slow dancing. Play some old English songs or just soft saxophone. Then, he can leave the workbench, lean in a dark corner and light a cigarette. At this time, his eyes will habitually turn to the thick wooden door of the bar.

He saw her the first night he came to the bar. It's been seven days.

Every night 12. Behind the thick wooden door. Her activities are limited to this, and she never goes to the center of the dance floor or places with light.

So, every time he looks over, she stands alone in the shadow.

It's early autumn. She is still wearing a white dress. The round neck is sleeveless and washed with old crepe.

White has turned dark yellow, like withered jasmine petals. Hair as thick as seaweed, dark, hanging down at the waist. She stood behind the noisy crowd empty-handed. Sometimes I sit alone in a high chair by the bar. But when people came, she quickly avoided. The silent and slightly frightened expression attracted his attention.

When he saw her, her whole body shone with blue luster. That blue light makes people cold.

She stood alone in the corner when he came to her with a cigarette in his hand. A man with a big glass jar of beer suddenly bumped into her. The man walked past without any expression and didn't say sorry. And she seems to be quiet and undisturbed. This composure aroused his interest.

You never come to the front to dance. He said. He saw a Burgundy daisy stuck in her hair. He hasn't seen a girl with flowers for a long time.

I don't like light It makes me feel invisible. She said.

Lovers embraced on the dark dance floor. Dust and lust are floating in the air. There are many animals that appear at night here. Unknown, ambiguous. Like rotten flowers blooming in wet soil.

But she doesn't seem to be the one to play.

Can I buy you a drink?

Of course. Whisky soda.

When the girl looked up, sexy lines appeared on her neck. She put the cup on the bar. White fingers slightly curled.

He picked up a cigarette and squinted at her. He said, what are you doing here?

She said, wait for someone. Waiting for an appointment.

He didn't come.

Yes He has never lived in the future.

He nodded. He suddenly put his hand on her neck. That skin is soft and cold. Like satin.

He rubbed it with the tips of his thumb and forefinger.

The man I'm waiting for, he called me Angeline, she said.

At about four in the morning, he rode an old bicycle back to his rented room. I took a bath and opened a bottle of wine.

The room is simple. He came to this southern city soon and will leave soon. He remembered her name. Then he took out his travel bag and pulled out a CD. This is the punched paper tape he bought near the railway station. Pj Harvey. A brunette. The name of the first song is angelene. My name is Angelene, and the most beautiful thing you have ever seen is a mess, with a slightly hoarse voice floating with pain. He lay naked in bed, drinking wine, with a wire stuck in his wrist. Soon, he let out a dull scream in uncontrollable trembling and cold.

In the darkness is the familiar sound of silence. Drop by drop. Viscous liquids fuse together.

In the sunshine leaking from the window, he saw a few drops of brown blood solidified on the CD on the ground.

Come with me. He said. I have a record for you. At home.

The girl waited for him in the corner for a long time. There are not many people in the bar. They walked to the door together. The street is empty, only the dead leaves of the phoenix tree are spinning in the night wind. It's getting colder and colder.

You should wear a coat. He said. He stuffed her body into his jacket.

I was afraid that he wouldn't recognize me when he said goodbye for the last time. I wore a white skirt. The girl said. Her eyes are bright.

It is painted with thin eyeliner, which is sad Turkish blue. It's dirty. Wet and lonely.

Will he come?

I don't know.

They walked along the desolate road to the dark suburbs. Wait for the bus. The girl said. She looked up with a smile. Under the dim starlight, he could see the brown tear mole under the corner of her left eye. He bent down and kissed the frozen tears. He said, I seem to have loved you somewhere. He smelled the cold dust on her skin. Will there be a car so late?

Yes The night bus can take us where we want to go at any time. The girl said softly.

In the night, the bus came slowly. There is no sound.

He followed her into the car. The bus started silently again. There are several people sitting on the seat. She said, let's go upstairs.

You can see the starlight. He felt very cold in the slightly swaying carriage.

The girl said, you are shaking.

He said it was a little cold. His hand caressed her body. He likes her cold and soft skin. Because the body with desire will have a scorching temperature. The smell of heat will remind him of blood. He couldn't help imagining blood gushing from his muscles.

That will make him sick.

The girl said, you want to have sex with me, right? He looked at her silently. Then he said, yes.

The girl smiled. But I want you to exchange something with me.

He said. Of course. What do you want?

The girl whispered, I want the past in your heart.

She doesn't turn on the light. In his humble attic, her body melted into a turbulent and gentle tide.

The cold wave swallowed him slowly and suffocated him. It's finally over.

Like a leaf, he floats quietly in nothingness.

She said, where is your home?

In a small town in Jiangxi, there are floods and people who die of schistosomiasis every year.

Do you hate poverty?

Yes I hate poverty. Because it can't get rid of.

Why did you come out?

Because my parents died. He was lying on his back in bed. Looking at the girl's naked white body in the dark. She stroked him. She said, you have a scar on your stomach. He said someone stabbed him.

You are a man with scars. She said.

It still smells of blood here. She lowered her head and sucked at his wound.

When he woke up at noon, the girl had disappeared. She took his record.

There is a long hair of hers by the pillow. When I looked at it in the sun, it suddenly broke.

When he came to Shanghai, he felt that he was facing the end at any time.

Every night, he will see this man. His face rested on the wooden basin on the ground, and his fat neck twitched in his hands.

He asked the man to listen to the sound of blood dripping in the basin. That's this man's blood. The black hole on the neck, when convulsing, gushed out a steaming stream of blood. It is such a fresh and fragrant liquid.

The blood in the wooden basin solidified into black. The man's skin gradually turned pale. Like a torn tissue.

The man's blood finally dried up.

Every vein in his body is full of happiness. Cold but deep into the bone marrow. He couldn't help moaning in the trembling.

Every night since then, he can only sleep when he smells the sweet smell of blood.

But he felt that his blood was slowly drying up.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, he rode his broken bike to work in the bar.

He bought a pack of cigarettes at a grocery store on the road. Disinfectant and tape. After a little hesitation, he motioned the shopkeeper to give him a box of double-sided blades.

He wrapped his shopping in old newspapers thrown on the counter. There is a shocking headline in the newspaper to the effect that the dismembered male body has been found, but the head can't be found, and the suspect is being traced. Every day, crimes may break out in cities. The shadow of death is everywhere. Killed and killed people have their own standards of right and wrong. Deep and vague. But if measured by society. It will soon become simple and rough. No one can predict and see through the hidden hatred.

He crumpled up the newspaper with a cold expression and threw it into the basket.

The girl appeared in a bar in the distance. He hung his head and didn't go to see him. In a dark moment, their bodies mixed together. But at this moment, he only regarded her as a stranger in the crowd.

The girl is emitting lonely blue light in the corner. No man accosted her. Her old skirt and plain face don't seem to interest others. The wound in his abdomen suddenly ached.

She waited until he got off work. He found her with his record in her hand. He said, why not put it away?

She said, there is no place to put it. I'm fine with that. She looks older. Skirts, skin, smells.

Even the Turkish blue eyeliner is blurred. He saw a purple blood spot on her neck. He sucked it out on impulse.

In a bad mood. She said.

Never let me see you again. He said dully. I am not the person you are waiting for.

She smiled. I listened to the record. That man let me go. He used to be a DJ here. On that quiet morning, when he was about to get off work. This is the last song he played.

Rose is my color, white.

Beautiful mouth and green eyes.

I see people coming and going.

But someone will collect it.

My soul came to me.

She gently closed her eyes and hummed. Then open your arms in the dark and walk around the empty bar alone. No partner. Her partner didn't come.

They took the early bus again. Still sitting in the empty upper compartment. He smelled the earth in the cold wind. The bus is slowly crossing the silent wilderness. There are cold stars in the sky.

The girl said that before I met him, I thought my love was a dead child. He died before he grew up. He came here from the north. I know he doesn't belong here. But I fell in love with him.

She gently buried her face in his arms. The smell of young men. Bright and warm. I asked him to take me away. Take it far away. I am not afraid of suffering. As long as he hugs me. Even if it's just one night.

He said coldly that he would not take you away. He doesn't want love to bind his freedom.

She said, yes. He likes freedom. But he promised me.

He said, this is a promise before sex. That's what men do.

She said, I told him, there is no need to promise. Because I don't expect it. But he wanted to give it to me.

Now that I have made a promise, I must make him keep it.

Most abandoned apartments are built and then abandoned, standing in the wilderness.

Seen from a distance, it looks like a broken ship.

He followed her to the bottom of the stairs. There are large daisies among the dense weeds, and the burgundy daisy is the one in her black hair. Give off a pungent smell in the dark.

They walked up the steps. At the corner of the corridor, he pushed her against the wall. He said if I saw you again, I would kill you.

Then he kissed her rudely. His tears dripped down. Infiltrate your lips warmly. He heard the wind whistling outside the corridor. The endless loneliness of life is like a wilderness. He said, I don't love you.

Walk to the roof. He took out his cigarette and began to smoke. He looked up and could not see the starlight. The night sky was dark.

She said softly that all the stars had fallen into the sea. At the moment he left me.

He said he promised to take you away. Then he walked away.

She said that he wanted to go to another city. He said he was tired of Shanghai.

He said, there is nothing you can do.

She said, no. I think.

Let's go Come here. She called him softly. Then he found himself standing on the edge of the roof with her.

There is unfathomable darkness below. The wind made him tremble.

You can try flying. Like a bird. She said. One day I found that flying can get me out of here.

She stretched out her arms and stood upright in the wind. Long hair and white skirts are flying around. He said, I don't need to fly. He began to lean back slowly. She smiled. "You're scared, aren't you?" She said. Do you get scared when you kill someone?

She said, I know you killed someone. You always smell of blood. Your body has begun to rot in hatred.

That year, the village was seriously flooded, but the village leaders misappropriated support materials and funds. Father wrote a letter of accusation and was found. Drag into the township government for three days. Mother sold the pig and gave her everything she had. But my father came home and died after a day's delay.

He is still a teenager. It was winter when he fled his hometown. Rushed to 100 Lishan Road, and then got on a truck heading north. The thick cotton-padded jacket is covered with blood. Blood flows from the abdomen. Frozen into blocks.

He looked at her coldly. Justice is looking into the eyes of ordinary people. It will give us an ending. Is fair.

The girl said, but we didn't wait.

He turned and walked downstairs. The wound in his abdomen is very painful. He feels cold.

When he stepped on the thick weeds. He saw the girl's white skirt blooming in the air like a flower. Her long hair fluttered high. Spread out in the wind like the wings of a bird. When he was flying in the wilderness, he heard her laugh.

He turned his head and saw her body fall down.

In the morning, he was awakened by the noise in the street. Far away, I heard the sharp roar of police cars disappearing into the wind. He went downstairs to buy cigarettes and heard all the residents near the food market talking. There is a clue to the famous dismemberment case in this city. Because someone found a head in a field in the suburbs.

The evening paper published color photos and reports. He saw the apartment building where the bus took him last night.

Abandoned buildings, the grass is covered with wild daisies. The sunshine is pure white chrysanthemums. The police dug up the head that appeared a week after the murder under the chrysanthemum bushes.

His heart huddled tightly. A few days ago, he ran to the nearby library to check the evening paper. Then he read a series of reports about the whole case in the bright sunshine. Scattered bodies found in the garbage. Marilyn's DJ has been missing for days. He is a young man from other places with a northern accent. I used to hang out with a girl who often appeared in bars. That girl is a canary packaged by Taiwanese businessmen.

The newspaper published a picture of the girl. He laid the newspaper flat on the table. He looked at it motionless.

He saw the girl's sleeveless white skirt and her Turkish blue eyeliner.

He came to the public security bureau to handle a case. He said, I have seen that girl.

He was received by a young man. The man smiled at him. When and where did you see it?

I saw it the other night. At Marilyn's bar

The man nodded. He said that we had published an announcement in the newspaper, and anyone who provided effective clues could get paid.

So people keep coming. But it's no longer needed.

He said, why.

The man said, because we found her seven days ago.

He said, can I talk to her? I was with her yesterday.

The man smiled meaningfully again. He said you didn't have to look. But I want you to know that you should do one thing.

The man took him to the basement. The man pushed open an iron gate. Inside is a cold morgue. The man said, she is in bed 3. He walked slowly and stopped in the dark and cold. Uncover the white cotton cloth laid on it. He saw her pale face. This old wrinkled silk skirt is covered with blood.

The man said, now you know what to do. You must go to the hospital to see a psychiatrist.

We found her in an abandoned building in the suburbs. She hid there for a long time. Maybe it's hunger. So I climbed onto the roof and jumped down.

But I didn't expect her to go with her head. She buried it under the white daisy. Today, someone picked up garbage there and found blood. If the head belongs to the DJ, the case will be clear.

He stood there silently. He saw the silent expression on her face. And purple blood spots on the neck.

In the evening, he packed his bags and prepared to leave Shanghai by train that night.

He wants to give himself another year. He wants to teach in the countryside. Then turn yourself in. Although it's been 10 years since the murder. 10 years, he heard the voice of that man dripping blood every night. Someone who embezzled public funds and killed his father. He is a poor teenager. Be powerless in the face of power. Except picking up that pig-killing knife. At that time, anger and hatred controlled everything. But after 10 years in exile, he began to believe in justice.

He had a premonition that his end was coming. When he put the knife into the man's neck, he almost flew in the dark.

In the dark, he walked to the side of the road and waited for the bus. The cold late autumn has come. He remembered the stars he saw when he ran wildly on the dark mountain road in the middle of the night. The cold and bright star light shines on the road ahead. But he knew that the shadow of death was always with him.

He wants to start his life again. He told himself he wouldn't kill anyone again. If we can escape. He is willing to atone.

But the smell of blood on his body followed him day and night.

On the empty road, he saw the bus coming slowly again. He didn't move. He watched it stop in front of him. The girl appeared at the door of the car. She still wears that burgundy daisy in her black hair. Fragrant flowers. She smiled alone, her hair fluttering in the wind.

He said, why did you do it so thoroughly? Can you chop up his bones?

She said he promised to take me away. Take me to the north, take me out of this city.

But people can change their promises or withdraw them at any time, he said. There's nothing wrong with that.

She said, yes. Now I will think the same thing. I'll forgive him and let him go. Life is free.

He said, but you killed him.

She said, I have no choice. He gave me the only hope.

He said, why not turn yourself in and jump off a building?

She said, I'm hungry. It's so cold, I think I can leave myself. Fly.

She smiled childishly. When flying in the dark, I thought I was already a bird. But its direction is declining. So there is no distance.

She took out the CD for him. She said, take it away. I don't need to sing anymore.

If you don't feel happiness, maybe there will be no despair.

But when he played this song, I was warm. I want him to hug me. Don't part for a moment.

Maybe he doesn't know what he did wrong.

I want to wait for him.

He put the CD in his schoolbag. She said, won't you come with me?

He said, no. I need more time. He said, please leave me. Why are you following me?

The girl stroked his face gently. She said, you are very handsome. Much like him. But you smell of fear and rotten blood everywhere. You don't have time. You can't give up

She got on the bus humming softly. The car door is closed.

The bus was silent in the silence and headed for the dark front.

Two thousand miles away

He walked on the coast.

Two thousand miles away

It's open like a road.

……

The three-day and three-night train took him to a city in the north.

He was detained as soon as he got off the train. Because his backpack has been oozing blood. It gives off a rotten stench.

The inspector opened the bag and found some clothes inside. The disc disappeared, but many clots were found.

They found his fake ID card.

What is your real name?