"So, would you like to talk to me about it?" Yu Qian turned the turntable, motioned for Wang Qing and his wife to eat, and asked quietly

"This..."Mutona hesitated, "Does it have anything to do with the case?" ”

"It may be a little inappropriate for me to say that." Yu Qian groaned slightly, and said seriously, "With all due respect, your daughter is already an adult, and I have been handling cases for so many years, this kind of accident is very rare." As I mentioned earlier, your daughter called her boyfriend before she died, and what happened in the next week was basically a 'black box' situation. There are some things that I think I need to make clear to you first. Yu Qian's attitude was very serious, which couldn't help but make Mutona nervous.

"What's the matter?" She asked apprehensively

"Actually, Ma Wen's attitude towards you may be different from what you think." Yu Qian put down his chopsticks and said, "Ma Wen's boyfriend returned to S City on the day we contacted him, and later I met him again, and I learned a lot about Ma Wen's usual bits and pieces." In fact, at first, Ma Wen was indeed a little sad about your divorce from Ma Yuan, but soon she found out that Ma Yuan was abnormal, and she didn't tell outsiders too much about what happened. However, according to Li Yaozhan, Ma Wen was very moved by the fact that you insisted on divorce until the end of the college entrance examination for the sake of her studies, and she was also guilty of her inappropriate words. Oh, Li Yaozhan is Ma Wen's boyfriend. ”

"Wenwen... It's true... That's what you said? Mutona asked, trembling

"It's true, in fact, she has always wanted to apologize to you in person."

"But... But... Why? If Wenwen forgives me, why doesn't she answer my call? Why change the phone? I wrote her a lot of letters and sent them to her school, and she didn't receive them? Why didn't she reply to me? Mutona asked eagerly

"Because, she is afraid that once she apologizes to you, you will find that Ma Yuan has not changed in the slightest, and then you will definitely return to S City for her. You've endured years of miserable life for her and left with misunderstandings, and she doesn't want to drag you down anymore. She carefully collects every letter you send her, and she doesn't want to ruin your life anymore. ”

"Silly child—" Mutona covered her face with her hands, tears streaming down her fingers

"It's just more than one pair of chopsticks, why is this girl so stubborn......" Wang Qing, who had been silent, also sighed and muttered

"However, what happened during the period between you and Ma Yuan's divorce and his going abroad, now there is no way to know unless you find Ma Yuan himself, I think if I can learn more about Ma Yuan's previous affairs, I also need to be able to get a glimpse of some clues, and it can also be regarded as giving Ma Wen's spirit in the sky some comfort." Yu Qian carefully organized the words, guiding Mutona to say the information he wanted little by little like disassembling a beautiful instrument. He didn't want to put all the hole cards in his hand on the surface all at once, and if he said too much, it would inevitably affect Mutona's judgment. If the narrator has preconceived notions before he speaks, the information he obtains will inevitably be biased.

"In case you're wondering, it's not something you can't say. Those days still make people shudder to think about, and I thought I had buried them all in my heart and never remembered them again. Now that I think about it, I'm just kidding myself, it's a nightmare that I can never get rid of in the dead of night. Mutona put down her hands, and in just half a day, she dried all the tears she could. Both eyes were swollen like two walnuts. Wang Qing took her hand worriedly, and Mutona felt her husband's strong grasp, and held his hand with her backhand and smiled gently

"However, I am no longer the cowardly me I was at the beginning, if I had been stronger, Wenwen would not have died. Officer Fish, this is a long story, I hope it can help you. ”

Yu Qian swept away the tableware, took out a notebook from his arms, and spread it in front of him

"I want to hear about it."

"Ma Yuan and I met on campus." Mutona stroked the long hair around her ear, her eyes misty, and she fell into memories...

"At that time, I was still young, and I always felt that there was no suffering in this world that could stop me, and at that time, I impulsively came to S City with Ma Yuan despite the opposition of my family, and I only felt that it didn't matter what he was with at that time. I took the teaching exam, and he was unwilling to work for others, and started his entrepreneurial career..."Mutona's soft and hoarse voice slowly rippled in the air, pulling that memory out of the long river of time. Gradually, Mutona and Ma Yuan's hard, unyielding, and hard-working experience of ushering in a turnaround was revealed. This life is like a microcosm of the thousands of families struggling in opportunities in the era of reform and opening up.

"Everything, when Wenwen was 14 years old, all changed...... "Mu Tona paused slightly, and her tone became trembling, "That night, Ma Yuan suddenly seemed to be a different person, he said that he had discovered the truth of the world. ”

"The reality of the world?" Yu Qian had heard Li Yaozhan mention it, and Ma Wen said the same thing to him.

"Yes, I asked the workers later to find out that there were several customers in the factory during the day. I don't know what they said to Ma Yuan. Since then, Ma Yuan has been like a demon, and he doesn't care about the work in the factory. The gods chattered all day long, and I got a lot of strange things out of nowhere. ”

"What do you mean by something weird?"

"I can't say it, there are sculptures, there are taxidermy, there are some crafts, in short, they don't look like they can be bought in the market." Mutona didn't seem to want to remember those things.

"Hmm... Please continue. ”

Later, strange things became more and more strange, and the strange customers ordered a large horse at the factory in Mayuan. But Ma Yuan dismissed all the workers, printed it himself, and didn't let me see the content after printing, and personally sent the goods away. ”

"Do you remember what those customers looked like?" Yu Qian asked as he tapped on his notebook

"I just remember one of them was tall and thin, very dark and thick in the summer heat, and wearing a hat...", Mutona struggled to recall

Yu Qian slammed his pen and pressed a deep mark on the paper.

"Are there a lot of workers in the factory? How many people have met those customers? Can you still reach them? ”

"Ma Yuan's printing factory is not big, only two workers help, and after so many years, I can't contact them."

"I'll look into this later, please continue." Yu Qian knew that he had lost his temper and shouldn't have asked these questions now, which disrupted Mutona's thoughts and hurriedly retracted.

"Later, there were more and more strange things in the family, and now that I think about it, it's like a horror movie, and at first it was just some small things that didn't seem normal..."

But the later it goes, the more the narrative reveals an indescribably strange atmosphere. Even Mutona's perception of space and time was skewed, and although she herself had not yet noticed it, Yu Qian keenly noticed that the description of an event in her memories even had the confusion of saying it first in the evening and then in the middle of the day. Yu Qian didn't say anything, but carefully recorded every detail.

"Finally, I suspect that he is going to kill me..."Mutona's memories finally came to an end, and at this time her face turned completely pale, and the hand holding Wang Qing became tighter and tighter, and her knuckles turned white from excessive force.

"That night, he said he was going to sell the house and the printing house, I didn't agree, and there was a little argument... No, to be precise, there was no argument, he didn't quarrel with me much, he was usually so crazy, just looking at me, it scared me..."Mutona shuddered, as if Ma Yuan was sitting opposite her now, staring at her with a cold gaze.

"That night, he said that he was going to sleep in the factory, and he used to go to the factory to spend the night in those years, and I couldn't control him. At that time, I only hoped that Ma Wen could complete the college entrance examination safely and without interference. Ma Wen, like her father when she was young, is a very stubborn and strong person in her bones. I know it's painful for her family to become like this, but she just doesn't show it. I don't want her to be too distracted by things at home, I think things will get better anyway. But that night..."

Mutona's voice gradually became out of tune, as if someone had choked her neck, and her tone was no longer as steady as before, and if you listened carefully, you could hear the subtle sound of her upper and lower jaws clashing.

"I went to bed early that day, but I didn't fall asleep because of something on my mind, and then I felt as if someone had come to the bedside, I turned on the light, and Ma Yuan stood beside my bed with a gloomy face, without saying a word! I was terrified, I didn't know what he was going to do, I asked him and he didn't answer, and then he said he came to see me, and he went out again, and I was so scared that I locked all the doors as soon as he left. After saying that, Mutona picked up the water glass and took a sip, calmed down and breathed, and continued

"In the middle of the night, I heard a knock on the door in the hallway, one after another, because I locked it from the inside, and he couldn't open it even if he had the key. I didn't dare to get out of bed to open the door, I just wanted him to leave on his own, and the knocking on the door outside rang for half an hour before it stopped. After a while, I wanted to go to the window to see if he was gone, and it turned out..."

At this, Mutona's eyes suddenly widened, as if she had seen something terrifying, and her whole body stiffened

As soon as I opened the curtain, I saw Ma Yuan's face printed on the window, still staring at me with such a blank face! I was so scared that I couldn't even shout, if it weren't for my habit of locking the windows at night......"

The narration came to an abrupt end, and Mutona shrank in Wang Qing's arms, unable to speak any more. Wang Qing also heard his wife talk about the past in such detail for the first time, and at this time he was angry, angry and heartbroken, and he only hated that he couldn't find Ma Yuan and beat him fiercely. hugged Mutona tightly in his arms and comforted him softly, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, it's all over, it's all over." ”

"Enough, Officer Fish, I've told you everything you want to know." Wang Qing said to Yu Qian in a hoarse voice

"I'm sorry to remind you of so many memories of the past that you don't want to recall. I'll ask one more question at the end, how did you persuade Ma Yuan to agree to the divorce after that? Yu Qian glanced at the notes he had written down and asked in an apologetic tone.

"The next day, I had a showdown with Ma Yuan, agreeing that he would sell the factory and the house, and that I would divorce him, and all of these would be given to him. But the premise is to wait until Wenwen finishes the college entrance examination. Ma Yuan agreed, and two months later, we divorced after Wenwen's college entrance examination. I don't know what happened to Ma Yuan after that. ”

"Is there anything strange going on in the next two months?"

"Strange things happen all the time, I'm used to it... But Ma Yuan didn't scare me in the middle of the night like he did that night......"

Yu Qian closed the notebook and let out a long breath. He waited ten years, ten full years! Although he never gave up, he himself knew that there was little hope in this life. At this time, he felt for the first time that he had grasped a slender clue in the chaos. Just as a drowning person doesn't let go of a straw, just one little clue that is not clear is enough to bring tears to his eyes.

"Mind if I smoke a cigarette?" Yu Qian suddenly asked Wang Qing and his wife, and the two looked at Yu Qian, who suddenly became sad, blankly, and didn't even mind.

"You must be wondering why I dragged you here to talk to you about the case instead of going to the police station." Yu Qian took a deep puff of his cigarette and said slowly, "If you don't mind, I also want to tell you a story." ”

"My daughter's story..."