There is no greater wish in a Muslim's life than a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Whoever went to Mecca and kissed the black stone in the Ka'ba had the title "Aji" after his name.

Ngawang Aji's family is a religious family, and his father was a famous imam in Tianshan City before liberation. When Ngawang was in his twenties, his father took him across the Karakoram Mountains through western Tibet across Kashmir and then via India to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. After the pilgrimage, there was not enough money to return home. So, the father and son stayed in Mecca and worked as coolies for five years to save enough money to get home.

Ngawang was fortunate enough to have already made a "pilgrimage" to Mecca at a young age, so he could have the reputation of "Aji". After returning from Mecca, he followed his father and began to recite scriptures for Muslims in the mosque of the Tien Shan city. A few years later, when his father died, he took over his job entirely. In the decades that followed, Ngawang Aji was both a religious and a patriot. He often told the parishioners: "Our religious activities should abide by the laws of the country and not harm the interests of national security." ”

Abdul also has the title of Aji, as he also made a pilgrimage to Mecca. But his pilgrimage path was very different from that of other Muslims. He spent more than 20 years in prison, but after he came out, not only did he not change his ways, but he became even more hostile to the party and the government. Of course, he could not have walked to Mecca like Ngawang Aji and worked hard for five years to make a pilgrimage, so he would not have been so stupid.

Abdul had made a pilgrimage by plane, and the ethnic separatists outside the country had provided him with enough "gilded" funds, and at that time, they were in great need of an agent, and Abdul was the most suitable person for them.

Muslims don't care how Abdul went to Mecca, they care that Abdul has made a pilgrimage and that he has achieved the dazzling title of "Aji".

Ngawang Aji's home lives in a large Uighur residential area, which from a distance looks like a rough and even ugly muddy world. Ngawang Aji's home lives in the deepest part of the alley. This thin and narrow alley is about 50 meters, both sides are full of mud houses of one color, every five or six meters away, there is a double wooden door of natural color, the upper end and the lower end are nailed with several iron sheet decorations, it looks very simple and elegant.

Ngawang Aji's house is much more spacious than that of ordinary Muslims, and the courtyard is also very large. Uyghurs have a good habit of planting flowers and plants, and generally speaking, they will plant trees wherever they go. Like all Uyghur families who love flowers and plants, Ngawang's yard is lined with long trellises of grapes, the leaves of the grapes growing vigorously, and the bunches of purple-red grapes hanging low. There are more than a dozen pots of flowers under the luxuriant grape trellis, such as junzi orchid, red peony, mast flower, rich bamboo, lily, iron tree, etc., and the aroma of plants permeates everyone's heart. This is a peace-loving family, this is a quiet, warm family, all blessings and good things should befall such a family, however, this morning, disaster has struck.

On this morning, as soon as it was dawn, Ngawang Aji got up, and for decades, he always got up at six o'clock in the morning. He is a man who lives with a lot of laws. His large sleeping kang was covered with wool felt with red flowers and white edges on a black background, and on the walls hung gorgeous wool carpets imported from Uzbekistan. The opulence of the carpet is very much in line with his noble status.

Ngawang Aji is an eighty-year-old man after all, and although he is still the presiding officer of the mosque, he is first and foremost an old man. The characteristic of the elderly is that they move slowly, that is, there are many places that need to be taken care of.

The son had already come in, and when he saw his father getting up, he knelt down and helped the old father put on his shoes.

Ngawang patted his son's back with his hand and said, "Okay, let's go." ”

The son got up and said, "Dad, it's my job to take you to the mosque every day, and although we can be together every day, this matter worries me." He earnestly picked up his father and walked out of the bedroom.

Ngawang Aji said: "I will be fine, the government protects me, Allah bless me." ”

Although Ngawang's wife is almost seventy years old, her waist is still very thin. She was wearing a pea-green floral dress, a pure white and transparent hijab on her head, and two long braids hanging down her waist, and from the back, she thought she was forty or fifty years old. She was the only wife Ngawang Aji had married after he returned to Western Xinjiang from Mecca. And with a status like Ngawang Aji, it is possible to marry four wives.

His wife gave birth to five children for Ngawang Aji. Their descendants are all prosperous and noble people, as expected by the Ngawang Aji family. Some do business, some work in government; Some work as teachers, some as doctors.

When the wife saw that her husband and son were about to go out, she smiled gracefully, bowed her head like a maiden, and skillfully covered her face with a pure white veil. She is a religious woman, and even though thousands of Uighur women are now naked on the streets, she still stays quietly in her home, and she covers her beautiful face whenever a man's face appears in the house. She never lifts her veil when her husband is not in sight, and her beautiful face is only shown to her husband.

As usual, the wife sent her husband to the door. For decades, husband and wife respected each other like guests, and she was willing to be the watchman of their husband and wife feelings.

Ngawang Aji stepped out of the house, then habitually waved his hand to his wife and said, "Go back." It's cold outside. ”

The wife nodded gently, insisting on watching her husband go away before closing the door.

Ngawang Aji and his son left the house and walked down a familiar alley. The alley is slender and secluded, and Ngawang Aji walks through this alley every day at this hour, rain or shine, for decades. He had to arrive every day before the large number of Muslims arrived at the mosque for prayer.

The son supported his father to walk in the familiar alley, at this time the sky was just dawning, if there was someone on the other side, it was basically impossible to see the face. What's more, there are not many people walking around in the small alleys. The people in the northwest are not as diligent as the southerners in the mainland, and they get up before dawn to make a living. Northwesterners rarely get out of their homes before the sun rises. For decades, Ngawang Aji was one of the earliest people in Western Xinjiang.

Ngawang Aji's son looked up at the entrance of the alley fifty meters away, and a wave of heat surged in his heart.

The car had been quietly parked at the mouth of the alley, just waiting for Ngawang Aji and his son to come out. The driver of the sedan held a clean rag and kept wiping the window glass, hoping to bring some fresh feeling to the old man Ngawang.

Just as Ngawang Aji and his son were about to walk to the mouth of the alley, suddenly three masked men with sharp knives jumped out at the same time, blocking the way of Ngawang Aji and his son.

"Who? What are you going to do? The son was startled and instinctively blocked his father behind him. But he saw three masked men suddenly surround him, brandishing sharp knives and slashing.

Although they already sensed that something might happen, at this moment, Ngawang Aji and his son were not prepared for anything, they never expected that the enemy would attack so quickly and kill them.

In an instant, Ngawang Aji had already received more than a dozen knives on his head and body, and the old man suddenly screamed "ah, ah" and fell in a pool of blood. In the face of a group of violent terrorists, Ngawang Aji can only be a powerless old man, an old man whose life is in danger. His radiant identity as "Aji" has no deterrent power at this moment.

The son instinctively protected his father, but "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, swished sharp knives struck him over and over again, separating him from his father and stabbing him several times." But he would not give in, and while fighting with violent terrorists with his hands, he shouted: "Help! He wanted to draw the attention of the driver of the sedan parked at the entrance of the alley. But his voice was too weak, the place where he and his father were attacked was still more than 30 meters away from the mouth of the alley, and the houses on both sides of the alley were tightly blocked by the wide-gate compound, and most of the residents were still asleep.

Ngawang Aji, father and son, collapsed in a pool of blood at the same time. It took only five minutes before and after this happened. The terrorist put away his sharp knife, and the man who took the lead spat at the person in the blood pool, "Old thing, read your scriptures well!" After saying that, the three fellows didn't bother to wipe away the blood that had splashed on the back of their hands, and took advantage of the dimness before dawn to flee in panic.

Ngawang Aji was stabbed 27 times, and the old man stopped breathing on the way to the hospital. His son was stabbed twenty-two times and fell into a deep coma.

The emergency room was busy.

Li Xiaoning rushed to the hospital as soon as possible, and he ordered people to separate a forbidden area with the human body in front of the door of the rescue room, prohibiting more and more people from watching and visiting. On this morning, the news of Ngawang Aji's assassination spread like a contagious disease among the masses uncontrollably, and for a time the people were in a panic.

Wang Qiming, secretary of the municipal party committee, arrived in Tian Daqing's car. Tian Daqing reviewed solemnly: "Secretary Wang, I am responsible, our police are not effective in protection. ”

Wang Qiming stopped and said, "Don't say that you have failed me." It's because they're moving too fast, and I'm responsible for that. However, now is not the time to learn the lessons, so let's find a way to save people. ”

When the two rushed to the hospital, Li Xiaoning told them that Ngawang Aji's son was out of danger and that the patient needed to be observed and treated in the observation room.

The two breathed a sigh of relief. Wang Qiming said: "At present, I have two things to do, the first is to deal with the funeral of Ngawang Aji; Second, it is necessary to make a detailed report to the autonomous region. Your task is to hunt down the murderer as best you can. Actually, your business is more difficult to do than mine, so let's keep in touch at any time. ”

After Wang Qiming left, Li Xiaoning said to Tian Daqing: "I think this thing must have been arranged by Abdul." ”