After talking to Lao Lin on the phone, Han Ding decided to take two to three days to go to Shaoxing, a famous city in the south of the Yangtze River, before the trial of Long Xiaoyu's case.

His decision was discussed with Luo Jingjing, and of course Luo Jingjing agreed, and asked to go together. Han Ding's purpose in going to Shaoxing was completely transactional, in order to find out the true relationship between Long Xiaoyu and Zhu Siping and collect evidence on the spot. Luo Jingjing's interest was emotional, and Han Ding could see that she seemed to have a special concern and desire to visit the land where Long Xiaoyu was born and grew up.

Luo Jingjing and Han Ding went to Shaoxing together, and they were Han Ding's assistants to the outside world. Because Luo Jingjing is legally illiterate, and her speech and demeanor are relatively naïve, Han Ding has to sharpen her gun to teach some white-collar professional women the basic essentials of dealing with people: how to greet, how to shake hands, how to say goodbye, these are different from the daily behavior of models, including dressing and makeup, which are also different. Han Ding's most exhortation, is to ask Luo Jingjing not to laugh happily or have red circles in her eyes no matter what she hears or sees, and that people who are lawyers must be happy and angry; Don't talk too much when you meet people, and if you talk too much, you will inevitably lose your words. When Han Ding was talking to people, she just pretended to make a record on the side.

Luo Jingjing promised everything, as long as she could go to Shaoxing.

The sky was just white, and the train drove to Shaoxing. Before entering Shaoxing, Han Ding woke up, and he saw Luo Jingjing staring out the window with both eyes, and her bloodshot eye sockets showed that she had not slept all night. Through the train window, Han Ding saw the vegetable fields and the rivers that meandered in between, and the vegetable fields and rivers were staggered along the line of the train, laying out the dynamic of the splendid Jiangnan water system. Such a view is not seen in the empty north. As the train progressed, the river outside the window suddenly widened to a lake with a wide field of vision, and suddenly as thin as a bridge and hole through which a boat passed. At the turn of the river, it is common to see one or two one-man paddle boats, carrying vegetables and groceries. In the midst of the groceries, there was occasionally a young woman in charge, watching their train drift away. Luo Jingjing also paid attention to those canopy boats, and the oarsmen wearing felt hats on the boats may have reminded her of Long Xiaoyu back then. Three years ago, Long Xiaoyu rowed the same boat, carrying women in a hurry on the river that passed through the village and through the town.

When the train entered the city of Shaoxing, the sun had just set on the roof. Han Ding and Luo Jingjing walked out of the station and asked the guy about the direction of Dongpu in a breakfast shop in front of the station. Before going to Dongpu, they each ate a bowl of sticky rice mixed with sauced duck, bacon, pickled fish and moldy dried vegetables at this breakfast shop. drank a pot of soaked Longjing tea. Then, at a nearby port, a boat that happened to pass by was beckoned down the river. The water alley they walked through was like a corridor of historical reliefs, and the old houses on both sides of the river showed the composure and heaviness of this water city after 2,500 years. And in the doors and windows of those families facing each other by the river, there is a collision of flickering pots and pans, and occasionally mixed with thick accent chatter, and the whole city is immersed in the warmth of the world and the indifferent fireworks of the world. Han Ding thought that this should be a place where people are kind, docile, and indisputable.

Their boat went out of the city and along the village in the water in the direction of the sun. Outside those villages, large vegetable fields are surrounded. Han Ding inquired about the boatman and knew that it was a rape field, and he could imagine how brilliant it should be when the yellow flowers were in the ripe season. The vegetable fields are vast, but they are entwined with rivers of stakes and fishing nets, and small boats glide across the edges of those nets. On the wide water surface, you can see the ancient fiber bridge that stretches like a rainbow, and no one walks on the bridge. There was some flowing mist in the air, and the fog froze on the vaguely outlined mountain bags on the horizon. Sitting on the bow of the boat and looking around, the scenery of each other set off by people from near and far is like a screen of ink and wash with monuments. Maybe because Han Ding is a person who has not worried about food and clothing since he was a child, he always can't understand his senses: since he was born in such a beautiful and picturesque landscape, why should he leave his hometown to work outside?

The beauty in the mist that moved on the way did not bring any topic of conversation between Han Ding and Luo Jingjing. They were silent with each other, silently listening to the sound of the wooden oars lapping the water. Under the regular shaking of the hull, no one is in the mood to enjoy the tour. Especially Luo Jingjing, Han Ding could guess what she was thinking of at this time from her faintly foggy eyes.

This is Long Xiaoyu's hometown.

Could it be that Luo Jingjing really loves him so much?

Boat to Toura. They paid the fare at a port where they unloaded their cargo and abandoned the boat and went ashore. After a long journey, my feet are still fluttering after I go ashore. They stepped on the bluestone slabs of unknown age, one foot deep and one foot shallow, leaving the bubbling water and walking into the street. Han Ding asked for directions in standard Mandarin, and they found the century-old red wine factory with little difficulty.

This distillery is much bigger than Han Ding originally imagined. The first thing they saw was a huge stacking yard, on a flat ground almost the size of half a football field, filled with white clay jars and orderly vats. Around this open space, there is a slab-style sake brewery. Only in the northwest corner of the factory area are a few low-rise bungalows that look like offices.

They found a man who claimed to be the director of the distillery in the low-slung bungalows. Han Ding informed him of his identity as a lawyer, saying that the purpose of coming here was to learn about Long Xiaoyu's performance when he worked here. The factory director was very cheerful, received them warmly, made them tea, and then introduced the situation loudly: "Long Xiaoyu? Yes, he worked with us, and this young man is very good, he works very hard, and he is very honest...... What, something happened to him outside? ”

Han Ding did not go into detail about Long Xiaoyu's case, but only said in general terms: "Ah, there is a case where the Public Security Bureau suspects him, and we want to know how he has always behaved." Did he fall in love with one of you named Siping before? ”

Han Ding took the opportunity to turn the conversation to the issue he wanted to understand, and the factory director also came over and said, "Yes, yes." It's Zhu Siping, it's Zhu Siping chasing him. ”

Han Ding wrote a sentence in his notebook, "I wish Siping to chase him", and then asked: "What about Siping, how is his feelings for Siping?" ”

"The relationship should be okay, Long Xiaoyu is very righteous, everyone in the factory knows that you are good to him, he is good to you, he is very good about this. He is from Shiqiao Town, and there is no one at home, so he lived in the warehouse in the factory when he first entered the factory, and he can be regarded as looking at the warehouse for the factory at night. At that time, Siping liked him and treated him well, he cooked at home every day and sent it over, and when it was cold, he brought the quilt over, and took him to his home during the Spring Festival. In fact, Siping can also talk about appearance, but his temper is not very good, and he has quarreled with many people in the factory. In the past, a few young people in the factory also chased her, and she couldn't look down on her. "Then why did she fall in love with Long Xiaoyu, what did she like about him?"

"Hello people. Siping has a big temper, so he must find a kind one. Besides, Long Xiaoyu is very energetic. The young man's spirit, the girl likes it. "Do you mean that Siping is very good to Long Xiaoyu, and Long Xiaoyu is also good to Siping, they are a very good match and a very complete pair, do you think so?"

The factory director hesitated for a moment and said: "Siping really likes Long Xiaoyu, and Long Xiaoyu is also good to Siping." Siping's mother couldn't get out of bed because of rheumatism, her father was working outside again, Siping later went to other places, her mother relied on Long Xiaoyu to take care of her, cook for her mother, and carry her to see a doctor, we have all seen it. Her mother also treated Long Xiaoyu as a son. However, we all feel that Xiao Yu and Siping are not so compatible. Siping is a girl who is too fierce, and Long Xiaoyu will be angry if she follows her. Last year, it was rumored that Siping had an accident outside, and I guess it was her character. Her temperament is okay at home, and the folks in her big hometown are tolerant and tolerant, but when she goes outside, she especially wants to meet the northerners again, and people don't pay attention to you, saying that if you are in a hurry, you will use the knife, and the northerners are very wild. Oh, I'm not talking about you Beijingers, you Beijingers are not wild, Beijing's capital, big city, I know that Beijingers are very civilized. ”

Han Ding wrote down in the record book: "Long and Ping are not a good match, and Siping has a bad temperament." He looked up and asked, "When did Long Xiaoyu leave your winery?" ”

The director said: "I left the year before last, at the beginning of the year before last, I remember that it was time to go to the sake lees and squeeze and fry in the pot, probably just after the Spring Festival." ”

"How did you get there?"

"Let the factory be fired and fired."

In fact, about the process of Long Xiaoyu leaving the century-old red winery, Han Ding already knew about it in Long Xiaoyu's mouth, but in order to verify, he still asked:

"Why did you fire the factory?"

"Because of stealing."

"Didn't you just say that Long Xiaoyu is an honest and honest person, why did he steal things again?"

The factory director waved his hand with emotion and said indescribably: "Oh, this is a long story." At the beginning of the previous year, there was a box of 18K gold foil in the factory, ready to be engraved with the words of 100 years red and put it in the hardcover gift wine. This gift wine is a new product of 100 years of red, packaged in a color box, each gift box has two small jars of 100 years of red, the cost is only 20 yuan, but the sales price on the market is 180 yuan, just rely on the gold foil to press the weight, that gold foil is worth 50 yuan. The box of gold leaf was put into storage the day it was bought, and it was ready to be sent outside the next day to be engraved. The next day, the man in charge of the matter came to collect the goods and found that the gold leaf was missing. The factory decided to completely inventory the warehouse, but it turned out that there were a lot of things short, and the accounts did not match, which was obviously a thief. The factory checked from the inside, checked and checked, and found a suspicious person......"

Luo Jingjing, who had been pretending to be a record, heard this paragraph, unconsciously stopped writing, and blurted out: "Is it Long Xiaoyu?" ”

The factory director paused for a moment before slowly replying: "It's Zhu Siping." ”

Obviously, Long Xiaoyu did not explain this "history" to Luo Jingjing, and Luo Jingjing had a surprised expression on his face. But Han Ding knew about this "unjust case", so he remained silent and continued to ask:

"What did Siping steal from the factory?"

"Oh, a girl, what can you steal, it's not some needles and threads or something, typical petty theft. Didn't Long Xiaoyu live in the warehouse at that time, Siping came to see him every day, and every time he left, he always had to take something with his hand, take a battery today, take a light bulb tomorrow, and take a handful of rope the day after tomorrow, all of which are the kind of things that can't be seen when you tuck them in your arms. It is estimated that at first, I was just greedy for small and cheap, but then I got used to it, and it was itchy if I didn't do it once. At that time, I was not the director of the factory, but the son of our boss was the director of the factory, and the management was very chaotic, and the purchase of things was lavish, not to mention the raw materials for the tools for making wine, just this kind of administrative office supplies, there was a lot of backlog in the warehouse. The treasury was not allowed to live in the treasury according to the rules, but Long Xiaoyu had no place to live at that time, so they let him live in the treasury. At that time, I felt that I had spent a lot of money on the labor of the warehouse at night. The storeroom used to be unguarded at night and let thieves pry through the door. Later, it was good, foreign thieves were easy to block, and home thieves were difficult to prevent. At that time, Siping went to the warehouse every night to accompany Long Xiaoyu, everyone knew that everyone didn't care, and they were used to it. ”

Han Ding knew the result of this matter without asking. As soon as there was a warehouse in the factory, Siping panicked and discussed with Long Xiaoyu, she knew that there were only a few people who could enter and exit the warehouse, and the scope of suspicion was very small, and a little analysis could be analyzed on her head.

Long Xiaoyu told Han Ding that the first time he was disappointed in Siping was when she suddenly told him one night that she had taken some things from the factory. That's right, although Siping deliberately understated this when she said this, even though she even avoided the word "stealing", and she used such a neutral word as "take", Long Xiaoyu still felt surprised and extremely awkward. Siping first asked Long Xiaoyu: "Someone took something from the warehouse, and the factory is checking it, do you know?" Long Xiaoyu said that he knew, wasn't the box of gold leaf gone, and people from the Public Security Bureau also came today. Siping said: "You are looking at the warehouse, and the people from the Public Security Bureau didn't ask you about the situation?" Long Xiaoyu said, "Not yet." This kind of thing, whoever you find is whoever you find, but that box of gold leaf is worth tens of thousands of yuan, and if you find out who it is, you may be arrested and imprisoned. Siping said, "What if you find me?" Long Xiaoyu didn't understand what she meant, and asked, "How could I find you?" Siping said again: "What if I really find out that I took it?" Long Xiaoyu thought she was joking, and said, "If I find you, I will go to prison every day to send you food, just like you send me food every day now, okay?" ”

At this time, Siping cried.

She cried and said, "I took it, I want to save up money to buy you a house, to buy a house for the two of us, you know that my family has only two cottages, and I don't want you to live here all the time." ”

When Long Xiaoyu told Han Ding about this, he admitted that it was probably because the Chinese's public morality could not suppress the selfish morality, although he was very surprised by Siping's stealing, but after listening to Siping's explanation at that time, he couldn't hate it. After all, she stole it because she loved him to make his life better. Although he was very angry, he told Siping that he hated the three hands the most, and his father taught him since he was a child, people are not short of ambitions, poor and lowly cannot be moved, and life must be lived with backbone! He scolded Siping, but he didn't hate her in his heart. He also knows in his heart that people are poor and short-willed, hungry and cold make stealing hearts, and it is difficult to insist on the dignity of being a human being when you are poor, and if you want to be dignified, others will not give you dignity!

Siping confessed to him that there was a purpose. She first cried for a while, crying very sadly, but the first thing she said to wipe away her tears was to ask, "Will you help me?" Long Xiaoyu was still angry, and said angrily: "I can't help you!" Siping said: "You are too ruthless, you only care about yourself at the critical moment, I am the wrong person, I am so good to you, I didn't expect you to be a white-eyed wolf!" Long Xiaoyu stopped talking, his silence was tantamount to accepting Siping's request. He has received the favor of others, and there is no way to repay it, and now it is time for Siping to ask for something in return. Siping saw that he had softened, and changed his sentence again: "I'm going to be arrested by the Public Security Bureau, and you won't be fine." You are in charge of the library, and I have this kind of relationship with you, and the Public Security Bureau must think that you are an accomplice, guarding and stealing, and I will really push the letter of assurance on you. ”

Long Xiaoyu was stupid.

Siping is right, if she wants to rely on him for this matter, he won't be able to get out of it. Now he had to obediently drill into the trap, knowing that it was a trap, but there was no way out if he didn't drill. Moreover, this is a gentle trap...... He said, "Then you say, how do you want me to help you?" ”

Siping's plan startled Long Xiaoyu, her plan was exactly what she had already said, and she wanted to push it on him. To be precise, it was for Long Xiaoyu to take the initiative to take this matter by himself, admit to the factory that he did it himself, and then return the gold leaf to the factory a lot. In this way, it is estimated that the factory will not let the public security bureau deal with him again, and at most he will be fired. The two discussed and quarreled all night about it. When it was almost dawn, Long Xiaoyu finally agreed to take the substitute to take the blame and go to the thunder for Siping. Why? Because Siping has always been good to him, he has to do what Siping said and stand up like a man at a critical moment; Because Siping, who is only a beginner in Chinese, can find the current job in the office, and it is too difficult to find a unit with such good benefits to get this salary, and Long Xiaoyu is half a college student, talented and strong, it is not difficult to find a better job? Also because once Siping loses her job, who will take care of her mother? Can her mother be stimulated by being sick in bed? is also because of Long Xiaoyu's personality - he has been drifting with his father's troupe since he was a child, he has seen his father's appearance since he was a child, whoever is good to him, he is grateful, and he wants to do something to repay whom. He said that this is what his dad taught him.

Before dawn, Long Xiaoyu followed Siping and quietly left the century-old red winery. They went to Siping's house and took out the box of golden stolen goods, and then went back to the factory separately. Siping came to work in the production department office as usual, she even behaved more relaxed and happy than usual, and her colleagues in the department had nothing to say to ridicule yesterday's TV series, and at this time Long Xiaoyu was knocking on the door of the factory director with the box of gold leaf.

The ending of the matter is similar to Siping's estimate. Siping estimates that as long as this box of gold leaf is returned to Zhao and does not cause losses, the factory will not endlessly put people to death, and those who are willing to offend people to find a bitter master for themselves may come to take revenge in the future; Siping also estimated that Long Xiaoyu had always worked hard in the factory, respected the master, spoke little, and was very popular, and the factory couldn't bear to be ruthless to him. Sure enough, seeing that Long Xiaoyu quickly repented and surrendered, the factory turned the big thing into a small one, opened the net, said hello to the police station involved in the case, and said that the matter was very light, and the police station agreed to deal with it internally in the factory. The internal handling of the factory is to let Long Xiaoyu get out of the house quietly, and at the same time promise not to show him around.

Long Xiaoyu just rolled up and left, this was two years ago. If it weren't for this, if he had been working in the Centennial Red Distillery step by step, with his hard-working ability and cultural level, maybe he would have been promoted to a small leader of the "Centennial Red" by now, it was really unassumable. This is, of course, nonsense.

Long Xiaoyu left, and as Siping estimated, he quickly found a new job. Contrary to Siping's estimate, the job is no better than that of a winery. Long Xiaoyu went to the Baihua Shaoxing Troupe in Shaoxing. This Baihuashao Opera Troupe is run by the Cultural Bureau, Long Xiaoyu knows an Uncle Li who sings flowers in the troupe, this Uncle Li has a very good relationship with Long Xiaoyu's father, and once met Long Xiaoyu on the street by chance, and when he chatted, he knew that the child had no job yet, so he introduced Long Xiaoyu to the Baihuashao Troupe to work as a handyman, moving props and costumes or something. Long Xiaoyu grew up in the troupe since he was a child, and he is familiar with this set, but he makes too little money, nearly one-third less than in "Hundred Years Red".

The whole process of the gold foil incident Han Ding knew that it was generally like this, and Long Xiaoyu's explanation and the factory director's introduction were similar in plot. Of course, the factory director has no way of knowing the details of the conspiracy between Long Xiaoyu and Zhu Siping, but Long Xiaoyu's opinion on the conclusion of this incident is also unknown. That is, everyone in the factory actually knows that this matter is Siping's responsibility, even if this thing is really stolen by Long Xiaoyu, it must be Siping's mastermind, and she instigated, forced or lured Long Xiaoyu to do it. Where would such a good child as Long Xiaoyu do such a thing? This kind of view is very marketable among the workers in the factory, very resonant, and soon spread, people who don't believe it believe it, even if it's fake, it becomes true, everyone looks at Siping's eyes have a little evasion and contempt, Siping can always hear a few unclear whispers when he turns around. Under such circumstances, can Siping still stay in "Centennial Red"? She is a girl, no matter what she does, she wants to save face, so not long after Long Xiaoyu left, she also took the initiative to resign.

The reason for Siping's resignation Long Xiaoyu is not clear, he has never returned since he left the winery. He only knew that Siping quit because she wanted to go to Pingling, she knew a person named Zhang Xiong, who took a group of people to Pingling a few years ago to do the work, and he was already very familiar with it. Zhang Xiong once asked someone to bring a message to let her go. Siping had long heard that the money in Pingling was particularly easy to earn.

Long Xiaoyu talked to Han Ding that he was against Siping going to Pingling to work, but Siping couldn't find a job in Shaoxing, so how could he stay at home if he didn't go out to earn money? Long Xiaoyu said that Siping is a girl with a big idea, her father scolded her too fiercely since she was a child, and she beat her when she was angry, and when she beat her, she copied whatever she had around her, no matter how severe. Her mother is used to her too much, and she is afraid that she will bump into her everywhere, and she is afraid that she will be unhappy. If you want to advocate that she do something, she will not do it, and if you want to oppose her to do something, she will have to do it. Even doing that thing with Long Xiaoyu, if Long Xiaoyu was tired and not interested in doing that with her, she would have to force him to do that with her. If Long Xiaoyu took the initiative to want to be with her one day, she would definitely struggle with a straight face, even if she originally wanted to be that or not. Long Xiaoyu always let her when she was with her, and the only thing that didn't obey her was that he didn't give her the pearl bracelet. Siping likes that bracelet, and she doesn't want to take it off when she tries it on her hand. She said that this is something that a woman wears or I wear it, but Long Xiaoyu didn't agree, he said: "This is what my mother left to my father, my father left to me, and I will leave it to you when I die." Siping hadn't spoken to him for two days because of this. Therefore, Long Xiaoyu felt that she was determined to go to Pingling at that time, and it was probably because Long Xiaoyu opposed her to Pingling, so she was angry and had to go.

After Long Xiaoyu was expelled from the century-old red wine factory, he moved to Siping's house. Siping's family lives in an old house by the river, and the cottage he and Siping live in is an attic with only ten square meters of wooden planks. Although it was damp and narrow, the planks were moldy and black, and rats and reptiles were rampant, this square inch hut with tiles and cones gave Long Xiaoyu unprecedented happiness and satisfaction. Because, after all, this is the first place he has lived in since he can remember, a house that can be called "home". When he was very young, he followed his father's troupe through villages and towns, wandering in all directions, living on stage and deserted temples in the countryside. When I went to university, I lived in a dormitory, which was just a cramped bunk in a crowded cabin. After dropping out of school, he lived on a boat, which was not only his livelihood, but also his residence. Later, he lived in the warehouse of "Hundred Years Red...... Although Siping's family was small and broken, and although it had a pungent musty smell, it gave Long Xiaoyu the feeling of settling down for the first time, and he soon became an indispensable member of this family.

At that time, Siping's father had been working in Guangzhou for a long time, and Siping's mother's rheumatism had improved greatly after taking a period of traditional Chinese medicine, and she could get out of bed and walk, and she could also do some simple housework, but she still couldn't do things like buying vegetables and cooking. After Siping went to Pingling, the task of serving her mother fell on Long Xiaoyu.

In Han Ding's view, the relationship between Long Xiaoyu and Siping, before he followed in Siping's footsteps and went to Pingling to work, was largely reflected in his relationship with Siping's mother. From the point of view of time, he lived in Siping's house for half a year, taking care of Siping's mother's daily life, taking her to see a doctor and take medicine, just like a mother and son, until Siping's father came back from Guangdong, he left Siping's house and went to Pingling. Therefore, Han Ding thought that since he came to Shaoxing this time, he would go to Siping's house anyway, meet her parents, and listen to what they said about Long Xiaoyu. He wrote down Siping's home address from the witness file in the Long Xiaoyu case, and the enthusiastic and responsible director of the Centennial Red Wine Factory also pointed out the general direction. As soon as Han Ding and Luo Jingjing came out of the century-old red winery, they went up the river and came in the direction of Siping's house.