It's already past nine o'clock, the sky outside is already dark, the noisy world of the small county town has come to an end, under the night, there is no life, the people in the county town are more accustomed to being in their respective homes at night, and there is no one on the street. Occasionally, a few men's illogical curses could be heard, presumably drunk babbling.

Xu Hao was a little anxious, the dishes on the dinner table had already been lit up, he didn't move the chopsticks, but waited for Xu Xuan.

The phone has not been able to get through, and it will be automatically hung up after the busy signal. Rather than worrying, Xu Hao was more angry in his heart.

Xu Xuan came home very late is not once or twice, after dropping out of school, Xu Xuan got to know a lot of young people in society, Xu Hao once saw once, those people looked like gangsters who didn't have any serious work, and they were hanging around in places like Internet cafes and billiard halls all day long. He was only fifteen or sixteen years old, and he should have been at the age of studying in school, but he didn't want to study.

What's so bad about reading? Is reading a shackle? Xu Hao didn't know why, if he could read, it would be fine.

But there must be someone in the family to make money, and this person is of course Xu Hao.

The sound of the keychain shaking pulled Xu Hao out of his thoughts. Followed by the sound of the door lock turning, the door opened, and Xu Xuan swayed in.

She noticed Xu Hao at the dinner table, but as if she hadn't seen it, she turned around and went to her room.

He slammed down on the bed, and after a while, he heard a soft snoring.

Seeing his sister sleeping soundly, Xu Hao couldn't get angry anymore.

It seems that she was so tired that she didn't even take off her shoes and fell asleep.

There was a smell of wine in his body, and Xu Hao frowned. He didn't like Xu Xuan to go out to drink, and deep down he decided that girls shouldn't drink, which was undignified. Second, it is easy for the little girl to be in danger when she drinks outside, and she is not by her side, so she is powerless when anything really happens.

I have also talked to Xu Xuan many times, but Xu Xuan always thinks he is nagging, listens to Xu Hao's "education" with disdain, and does not speak, waiting for him to finish.

Xu Hao also knew that Xu Xuan didn't take his words seriously. I don't know when it started, the gap between the two brothers and sisters is getting bigger and bigger, and they can't see each other a few times a day, let alone talk.

Maybe it's adolescence, children at this age have a rebellious mentality, Xu Hao can only comfort himself like this.

He took off his sister's shoes, but the shoes had not been put down, and when he saw that the soles of the shoes were about to wear out, he couldn't help but feel distressed, and he felt sorry for his sister, who didn't have any new clothes or shoes to wear.

While other girls were thinking about what new clothes to buy and what new shoes to wear, Xu Xuan only had one or two sets of clothes, and they were all a little white.

I held the shoes that were about to leak in my hand, but I left one or two tears of distress in my heart.

When she woke up, it was already more than 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and Xu Xuan still felt that her head was swollen, and her stomach was very uncomfortable and empty.

It seems that what my brother said is still right, wine is indeed not a good thing, you can't drink more, it's too uncomfortable.

Xu Xuan dragged her body and swayed out of the room, and found that there was no one in the room. I saw a rice cooker and a covered plate on the dining table, whether it was already cooked white porridge and xiaolongbao, still hot.

Xu Xuan, who had an empty stomach, was indeed hungry, so she picked up her chopsticks and ate two xiaolong buns and drank two mouthfuls of white porridge.

After a meal, the discomfort just now has eased a lot.

There was also a note on the table, and it must have been left by my brother.

"Get up and drink some porridge and eat some steamed buns, and drink less wine in the future, it's not good for my health, so I went to work. By the way, I lost your shoes, bought you a new pair and put them at the door. ”

Xu Xuan's gaze immediately shifted to the door, where a brand new pair of white shoes was placed, and a smile appeared on her face.

I said "Thank you, brother" in my heart.

Time is difficult to erase the scars in the imprint, but it can quickly cover the memory. Layer by layer, the buried memories have been hidden as if they had never happened.

No matter how sensational and ridiculous it was at the time, it would always slowly disappear from people's mouths, and eventually it would only become a dispensable little thing.

A few weeks have passed, and there is still no progress in Li Muchuan's case, and the people's attention to the case has gradually decreased, and they have returned to their previous life trajectory, going to work when they should go to work, and going to school when they should go to school.

Xu Hao has some reasons to understand Zhang Xiu's hard work to persuade him to return to his own life at this moment.

The whole world has forgotten that you are the only one left to hold on, and in the end you will only drag yourself to death.

After all, one person can't compete with the whole world.

Xu Hao resisted the urge to go to the Public Security Bureau to find an explanation, after all, he promised Zhang Xiu, and even if he went, he couldn't get any answer.

The TV in the corner of the restaurant is broadcasting the weather forecast for the day, and a tall, professional-dressed female anchor is standing in front of the weather map.

"After weeks of hot weather, this week should finally usher in rain, which will alleviate the discomfort caused by the heat to some extent. Especially tomorrow, there will be heavy rainfall in the area, so please pay attention to your travel safety. ”

The owner of the small restaurant was shaking a fan while watching TV, and smiled silly: "It's finally raining, otherwise I'm going to die of heat this day." ”

Xu Hao, who was sitting at the table on the side, was eating a bowl of knife-cut noodles, and the steaming noodles were very chewy. Although the knife-cut noodles don't match the weather very well, they are cheap and delicious.

Listening to the boss's complaints, Xu Hao laughed out loud in his heart: I don't think it's hot because of slamming the door, on such a hot day, the air conditioner in the hotel is not even turned on.

The taste of knife-cut noodles is good, Xu Hao often comes to this house, a large bowl of tomato and egg knife-cut noodles only sells for 7 yuan, he thinks it is very good, and every time he drinks the soup clean.

Since the last time they separated from Zhang Xiu, the two have not seen each other again. Zhang Xiu called early in the morning and said that he had something important to discuss with Xu Hao, and the two made an appointment to meet at three o'clock in the afternoon.

There was still a little time before the agreed time, and Xu Hao, who had not eaten seriously for a few days, suddenly had an appetite and came to the knife noodle restaurant.

Satisfied, his stomach was full and his stomach was warm, and Xu Hao, who was satisfied, glanced at the time and was about to check out, only to find that he was in a hurry when he came out of a set of trouser pockets and forgot to bring money.

He looked a little embarrassed, let's take credit from the boss first, I don't want to trouble Zhang Xiu because of this little thing.

Before the words could be spoken, the person at the other table called to pay, and the boss got up and went over.

It's not too far away, Xu Hao heard that the other party seemed to be saying that he was going to settle his account, of course the boss wouldn't pay attention to any reason, as long as someone paid, no matter who paid, he reported a number, collected the food money, returned to his position, and watched the actress on TV with relish.

"Thank you." Seeing that person walking out of the hotel, Xu Hao immediately chased after him to express his gratitude.

The other party waved his hand disapprovingly, and returned with a smile: "Don't care, who hasn't had a difficult time, looking at the way you just looked, you should have forgotten to bring money, right?" ”

Xu Hao saw that the other party was still a boy who looked like a student, and for a moment, Xu Hao thought of his sister Xu Xuan again, if she was still in school, she should be similar to him.

The two stood at the door for a few minutes, and the sky was instantly cloudy and it began to rain lightly.

Seeing that Xu Hao didn't answer, the young man said goodbye, trotted into the rain, and couldn't see the figure clearly after a while.

Originally, Xu Hao was still thinking about finding a chance to return the money to the young man, but before he could say anything, he left, and he didn't even know what his name was.

Looking at the raindrops falling from the sky, Xu Hao thought that the weather forecast was quite accurate.

A bolt of lightning shot down from the sky in the distance, and the dazzling light made Xu Hao squint, followed by a deafening thunderclap.

Is a rainstorm coming?

The pouring rain washed away the summer heat of this county, took away the discomfort of the scorching heat, and also brought a moment of refreshment. The streets have been renewed, like a baby's skin, and everything is happy.

Xu Hao, who was blocked by the rain, could only hide at the door of the small restaurant, it seemed that the rain would not stop for a while and a half, and a layer of white fog appeared on the road, which showed how amazing the rainfall was.

I had to call Zhang Xiu and tell him about the current situation. Zhang Xiu told him not to worry, he was also on the way over, and went directly to pick him up.

Just over 20 minutes after the phone hung up, Zhang Xiu's car stopped in front of the small restaurant and beckoned Xu Hao to get in the car.

Not long after driving, the car stopped on the side of the road. The rain poured down on the windshield, and the two people in the carriage looked out the window at the rain.

After Zhang Xiu parked the car, he immediately said, "Xu Hao, there is information I want to tell you, which is very important. ”

His expression was very serious, which also made Xu Hao sit upright for a while, waiting for Zhang Xiu's next words.

"I probably know who has something to do with Li Muchuan's case."

Zhang Xiu actually doesn't like to go to crowded places very much, and prefers to be alone when he has time, otherwise he wouldn't have a girlfriend until now. Not to mention going to a public bath and meeting a bunch of people naked.

Zhang's father's unit got a batch of welfare coupons from the county's most high-end bathing city from some channel and distributed them to the employees of the unit, and Zhang's father also got two coupons. You know, if it weren't for the free welfare vouchers, Dad Zhang would be reluctant to spend hundreds or thousands to take a bath. So I called Zhang Xiu to go there to experience the experience.

couldn't resist Zhang's father's repeated insistence, so Zhang Xiu had no choice but to go along. According to the navigation of the address, the car is getting farther and farther away from the county, and slowly you can't see the high-rise buildings in the county, but more trees with layers of greenery. After a while, I saw a particularly eye-catching building appear in the field of vision, needless to say, Zhang Xiu and their destination had arrived.

There are good cars parked in front of the bathing city gate, and some license plate numbers are recognized by Zhang Xiu, which are the buses of government offices. It seems that this is really a "paradise".

As soon as he came in, Zhang's father's mouth couldn't stop praising the luxurious decoration of the bathing city, so that Zhang Xiu could work hard, and he could also come to this kind of place a few more times in the future.

After changing hands, the two walked into the public bath, and Zhang's father was like a child walking into a playground, trying every facility, and now he was in the sauna.

Zhang Xiu really didn't want to admit that he was his son, and he sat alone in the pool, and he just took this opportunity to relax.

There were two people on the other side of the pool discussing something, and suddenly one of them raised his voice, attracting everyone's attention. This is also the reason why Zhang Xiu doesn't like to go to crowded places, and he doesn't know when he will suddenly make a noise to scare himself.

Zhang Xiu suddenly noticed that the person just now clearly said the word "Li Muchuan", which aroused his interest, so he paid attention to the conversation between the two people.

One of them hoped that the other party would reduce the social impact of the case because his son was harassed by the police, so as to reduce social concern, and the harassment of his son would naturally decrease.

However, correspondingly, the rhythm of arresting Li Muchuan will also slowly decrease.

When Zhang Xiu said that others talked about the "Li Muchuan case", Xu Hao obviously had a bruise on his face, this was the first time he had heard this name in the past few weeks, and he also knew that there was a promoter behind the disappearance of the case in the past few weeks.

His back molars clenched tightly together.

Regardless of whether Zhang Xiu's person was talking about his own son, or deliberately delaying the pace of handling the case, in the end, the case disappeared silently.

"Who is he?" Xu Hao was eager to know the name of this person.

"Fang Youwei, deputy director of the county taxation bureau." Zhang Xiu did not hide it

Zhang Xiu was not surprised by Xu Hao's reaction, he pondered whether to continue to say the following words, and after thinking about it, he still had to say that Xu Hao had to know anyway.

"Fang Youwei is the backbone of the Taxation Bureau, the director is older, and he basically presides over some meetings, and other things are basically in charge of Fang Youwei, so he, the deputy director, is actually almost the same. You may not know it, I work in the tax bureau, and the civil servant who took the exam a few years ago also found some connections at home, so I went to Fang Youwei's office. It's been a week or two now. ”

Hearing that Zhang Xiu is now working for his subordinates, Xu Hao's face showed a strange look, because he didn't know if the current Zhang Xiu would defend his boss and persuade him to give up.

Zhang Xiu continued: "The conversation between the two of them in the bathing city, I didn't mention it to anyone except you, and Fang Youwei didn't find out that I heard it, and I immediately left the bath after hearing the conversation. But in the past few days, I have thought about that conversation carefully, and I always feel that there is something wrong with his words. ”

Wrong? This seduced Xu Hao's interest, and he hurriedly asked what he felt was wrong.

"If it is just because my son was harassed and abused because he called the police, with his social status, he can report it to the school teachers and principals, I believe it will definitely have an effect, after all, those are children. However, Fang Youwei found someone from the Public Security Bureau and wanted to reduce the attention of the case by slowing down the pace of handling the case. This, of course, would reduce the likelihood of his son being harassed, but ......"

Zhang Xiu took a sip of water and continued.

"But the biggest beneficiary of this is Li Muchuan! It is difficult to arrest without any clues, and it is even more difficult to slow down the pace of handling the case and find Li Muchuan. ”

Zhang Xiu's explanation made Xu Haomao pause, and Fang Youwei's seemingly reasonable explanation could not be pondered in detail.

Could it be that Fang Youwei's real purpose is for Li Muchuan?

No, Fang Youwei has no reason to do this for Li Muchuan's life or death, and the question appeared in Xu Hao's heart.

"But, why did he?"

Zhang Xiu said: "Thinking of this, I also fell into this problem, how could the deputy director of the tax bureau and this high school student have a relationship, so I investigated a little and found that the intersection between them was their son - Fang Bin." Fang Bin and Li Muchuan are young, they have been neighbors since they were children, and Fang Youwei moved only after he was promoted. The two families were very close before, and now, Fang Bin and Li Muchuan are very good friends. ”

"So......" Zhang Xiu's body turned to Xu Hao's side, lowered his voice, and said seriously: "Is it possible that Fang Youwei is 'saving' Li Muchuan?" ”

The closer you get to the truth, the faster the fog of doubt dissipates and the easier it is to see. Zhang Xiu's words, Xu Hao couldn't digest it for a while, there was too much content, he never thought about the complicated relationship between them, that is, he recognized that Li Muchuan was caught, but how to catch it, he never thought about it.

Xu Hao felt that Zhang Xiu's rhetoric had some truth, but it was a bit far-fetched and not convincing.

Of course, Zhang Xiu also knows that all the corrections are just his own imagination, and there is no real evidence, and if he finds the police on these grounds, he will not be taken seriously.

"I think it's possible that you're right, but there's no way to be 100% sure right now, right?" After experiencing the high-density content just now, Xu Hao said the uncertain thoughts in his heart.

Zhang Xiu nodded, agreeing with his opinion, "So you have to give me some time to see if I can see any clues." However, we still have to be optimistic, after all, we have eyebrows, don't we? ”

In the second half of the sentence, Zhang Xiu had a smile on his face when he spoke, and Xu Hao knew that he was comforting himself.

"However, Xu Hao, you must calm down, remember what you promised me, live your life well, this matter, give me a little time."

Xu Hao nodded.

After some conversation, the rain outside the car had stopped, and the sky had cleared up, and the sun was trying to shine through the clouds. A long rainbow is set up between the mountains not far away, which looks particularly dazzling after the rain.

"Thank you." Xu Hao said to Zhang Xiu.

Zhang Xiu smiled, and the two looked at the world that had cleared up.

After the rain, the sky will be sunny, and after the rain, it will be sunny, right?

Work is just to support the family, no, the home is gone, the place called home, and the place to do is more than a place to sleep every day. Xu Hao listened to Zhang Xiu's words, and tried not to deliberately think about the case, but to put his attention back to life, Zhang Xiu helped him find a job as a warehouse security guard, all he had to do every day was to open the warehouse, lock the warehouse, and patrol every one or two hours, which was relatively leisurely. Sometimes you need to be on the watch, and it is very reluctant to be someone else, after all, you have to be in a ghost place where you can't see a single figure all night, but Xu Hao happily accepts it, and even rushes to put the work of the watch on his head.

Xu Hao just didn't want to go back to his previous home alone, which would always remind him of his sister.

The warehouses near the river are small ports used to store trade goods, and although they are not large, they are also a transit point for the county's foreign trade, and both import and export cargo ships pass through here. Xu Hao still likes this job, while he is on patrol, he can look at the river view, look at the other side from a distance, and wonder if the people on the other side are also looking at him.

Because it is built by the river, the people in the vicinity sometimes come here to fish and walk, as long as they do not intentionally enter the vicinity of the port warehouse to cause damage, Xu Hao will not care.

A boy who looked no more than fifteen or sixteen years old was squatting by the river on the edge of the harbor, holding a small porcelain jar in his hand. Xu Hao immediately walked over, ready to persuade the boy to leave here. In case there is any accident around here, Xu Hao can't tell if he has a mouth.

There are many cases of juvenile drowning every year, many of them teenagers.

Xu Hao walked over, but the boy didn't notice anyone approaching, knowing that Xu Hao patted him on the shoulder, he looked up.

"Is that you?" Xu Hao saw the young man's face, and couldn't help but sigh, he had seen this face before, by the way, it was the high school student who paid for himself in the small restaurant before.

The high school students were also very surprised to see Xu Hao, and they were still hesitant with a worried expression before.

"See you again." The high school student responded softly.

Xu Hao remembered the hurry of leaving from high school last time, and he hadn't returned the money to him. "By the way, thank you for paying for my meal last time, and I'll pay you back." hurriedly took out his pocket, but found that there was nothing in the pocket except a bunch of keys and a walkie-talkie he carried with him. They usually leave their personal belongings in the security room when they are on patrol.

The high school student waved his hand again, saying that he didn't have much money, so he didn't have to worry about it.

Xu Hao was very embarrassed, as if he deliberately didn't want to repay the money, and when he saw the small porcelain jar he was holding in his arms, he asked, "What are you going to do?" ”

Following Xu Hao's gaze, the high school student understood what the other party meant, and said fullly: "Oh, you mean this little porcelain jar, right?" It's used to put fish, you see, there are several of them. ”

Xu Hao poked his head out and looked at the mouth of the small porcelain jar, there were really a few fish whose names could not be said in it, but he was not angry and unwilling to move.

The high school student continued, "I brought them here to release them. These were all caught by my grandfather before, but there was no one at home to eat them, so I was released. This fish was caught in this river, and if it is put in the river, it can be regarded as a homecoming. ”

As he spoke, he tilted the small porcelain jar into the river, and a few small fish fell into the river along the water, swinging their tails, and after a while, they disappeared into the dark river water.

The release was completed, and the high school students stood up, said goodbye to Xu Hao and prepared to leave.

Xu Hao suddenly remembered that he didn't know what the other party's name was, so he said.

"My name is Xu Hao, what's your name?"

The high school student turned around and smiled at Xu Hao, "My name is Fang Bin, it's a pleasure to meet you." ”