July 23 was Wang Shiqi's birthday, and he dug Zheng Yuan out of bed early in the morning. "Wake up, wake up." He patted the edge of the bed with great interest, but Zheng Yuan just rolled over and buried his face in the depths of the fluffy feather pillow - he had been very sleepy since Gu Tianqing's case had passed, as if he wanted to make up for the sleep lost in the past half a year. Wang Shiqi looked at the bear-like very Coke curled up in the quilt, and pinched his nose with his long hand: "How old is it that you still sleep lazy, do you know what day it is today?" ”

Zheng Yuan slapped his hand away, turned his head in a daze, and his throat was still a little hoarse: "Happy birthday." ”

"Fool, who told you this, didn't my mother say it earlier, go home for dinner today, and pick up your son and my dog by the way." He thought beautifully: "On such a big day and in front of you, my mother is embarrassed not to send a big red envelope, do you say?" ”

Dare to take him with him to be a threat. Zheng Yuan shook his head and got up, slowly touching his clothes: "How bad are you?" Usually you don't have any extravagant and lascivious places to go? ”

"What about going on a trip? Did you forget? I'm still counting yours. Whether it is a new Malaysia-Thailand or an in-depth tour of eight European countries depends on today's performance. Wang Shiqi saw that he took out a half-worn hoodie and was about to put it on his body, so he hurriedly went up and pulled it down: "You wear this when you go to my house?" ”

Zheng Yuan looked confused: "Otherwise? ”

"It's not that you don't know my mother, if you don't clean up cleanly, you should turn around and scold me for not being human. You come here. He took the man to the living room and threw him a set of clothes: "Put it on and I'll go down to warm up the car first." ”

"You don't have to be like this......" Zheng Yuan stared at the string of zeros on the tag, neither receiving nor releasing it, Wang Shiqi stepped on his toes and went out without looking back: "What, it's not specially for you, it just so happened that I bought a small one, and I was too lazy to return, you can make do with it." ”

Knowing that he couldn't resist him, Zheng Yuan had to change his head with his head bored, his waist and trouser legs were just right, and he didn't know why he was so lucky.

Lao Wang's family still hasn't moved in that alley, and they are reluctant to move - according to the old nanny, the land price in this place is already more expensive than gold. "Two in and two out, sitting north and facing south, which of those elevator buildings is so comfortable now." She quickly came over to pick up the tobacco, alcohol and fruits in Wang Shiqi's hand, and looked at Zheng Yuan with a smile: "I haven't been here for a long time, Xiao Zheng, the last time I saw you, it was when I got married......

"Wow, I'm starving, let's have dinner!" Wang Shiqi exaggerated his voice and pushed him in, and the corners of Zheng Yuan's mouth twitched, not exposing his clumsy acting skills. When passing by the ear room, the two of them glanced in, and knew that they were buried in a bunch of Ultramans and couldn't extricate themselves, Wang Shiqi's black back drooped his eyes and lay on the side, helplessly playing the role of a little monster. Seeing Wang Shiqi coming, the black back was like being amnestied, and he shook off the toys on his body and ran over, knowing that he was following closely behind, and called "Uncle Wang!" He threw himself into someone's arms and couldn't wait to start reporting: "Grandma bought the latest Ultraman team, it's majestic!" When will school start, I'm going to take it to the class to show the fat people! ”

"Everyone else is looking forward to the summer vacation, but you are looking forward to the start of school, this is not good, I will become a primary school bully in the future, I can't control you." Wang Shiqi rubbed his round face and picked him up, and when he was raised high, he saw Zheng Yuan standing behind him, the child's eyes rolled, and he timidly added: "Dad......"

"......" Zheng Yuan reached out and touched his head, and only after a while did he hold back a sentence: "Go wash your hands and eat." ”

The child slipped away as soon as he got off the ground, and Zheng Yuan sighed: "I haven't taken a good look at him for a few months, and it seems that he has grown taller again." ”

"It's okay, child, it's very forgetful." Wang Shiqi patted him on the shoulder: "Everything is fine now, accompany him more in the future, I will still be filial to you when I am old, I don't believe you look at me." ”

"You're still thinking about the big red envelope, I still don't expect it." After Zheng Yuan finished speaking, he couldn't help but laugh, and Wang Shiqi on the other side paused and laughed together. When Liao Zhiting walked out, she saw the two of them laughing together: "What's the matter, Le Cheng is like this, aren't you yelling that you are hungry in the morning, why are you not in a hurry now, now that everyone is together, it is just the two of you." ”

"Good thing, good thing." Wang Shiqi perfunctorily brought people to the dining room, and he still couldn't stop being happy in his heart. Only he knew that this was the first time Zheng Yuan laughed from the bottom of his heart after the accident.

***

A table of meals was lively and lively for two hours, three bottles of red wine were at the bottom, Wang Shiqi was carrying a red envelope as big as a brick and was bombarded to the kitchen to wash dishes, the old director Wang Haiyang took out a cigarette, glanced at the zhi who was still playing with chopsticks on the table, and nodded at Zheng Yuan: "Go to the door, together?" ”

"I've quit recently." Zheng Yuan wiped his mouth, raised his eyes and looked at the other side, Wang Haiyang was still staring at him, knowing that this was not a cigarette. He stood up and lowered his eyelids respectfully: "Uncle Wang, please first." ”

said that it was the door, but in fact, Wang Haiyang took him all the way to the old mansion of the Zheng family before stopping. This small bungalow has long since changed hands, rented to a nearby restaurant as a staff dormitory, and young people are making a lot of noise in and out, but it is much more popular than when Zheng Yuan himself lived here. Wang Haiyang leaned against the wall and knocked out a cigarette, and Zheng Yuan went up properly and lit the fire. "It's been more than ten years." Wang Haiyang exhaled, "I still remember the way you and that kid rolled in open crotch pants, and in a blink of an eye, your son is also so old." ”

"It's all thanks to you." Zheng Yuan's gaze fell on the roof ridge not far away, where a piece of tile was missing, which he jumped down and broke on the day he met Wang Shiqi, and he never made up for it. "Since I was a child, thanks to my uncle and aunt, I took the trouble to do so." This is not an exaggeration at all, his family situation is not good, and later he was able to study in a key school all the way to junior high school, all thanks to the generosity of the Wang family. He still remembers that his mother brought him to the door to thank him, and Lao Wang returned all the cigarettes and alcohol, leaving a few apples from his yard. Wang Haiyang's police badge was shining in his memory, which made him look forward to it from the bottom of his heart, and he thought that he would go all the way and be admitted to the police academy with Wang Shiqi, if it weren't for that incident......

"Hey, how much trouble can this be, piggybacking on the handle." Wang Haiyang's expression relaxed, "You are all good boys, you know it, Zhiting likes him, saying that seeing him is exactly the same as seeing Wang Shiqi when he was a child." I said, "Do you exalt your son like this, and I don't know what that stinky boy looks like?" ”

The two laughed together and shook their heads. Wang Haiyang's cigarette was halfway down, and Zheng Yuan knew that the time was almost up: "Uncle Wang, you have something to say when you asked me to come out, right?" ”

"Hey, you're a smart guy, and I know I can't hide it from you. Don't blame your uncle, I just want to...... Can you leave our stinky boy for a while? ”

Zheng Yuan's eyebrows were like stones suddenly thrown into the center of water, squeezing out nested fine lines. He waited a moment before answering, "I see." ”

"Don't ask why?"

"I know why." Zheng Yuan bowed his head: "Now that Gu Tianqing's case is about to be over, Xiao Qi has made a great contribution, and he will almost be able to return to the front line, if I don't leave, the next thing he will investigate is my case." ”

"Hmm. It's not that you won't let you investigate, you and Xiao Ye encountered such a big thing, we are policemen, even if we don't have this relationship, we should try our best to give you justice. But now that the clues of this case have been completely broken, the social impact caused at the beginning is very great, and I am very unhappy that I didn't follow the rules, and I am afraid that I will provoke many people if I insist on restarting. ”

"Uncle Wang......"

"I don't mean to blame you, it's just that Xiaoqi grew up with you since he was a child, and it is impossible to treat your affairs rationally, just like your father's case...... What he did, you should know best. Wang Haiyang threw the burned cigarette butt on the ground and rubbed it out, and the wrinkles on his face were carved into the corners of his eyes one by one, looking a few years older than his actual age. He made such a big mistake last year, and the trust in him in the system has not been fully established, and I am afraid that even I will not be able to protect him if he makes another mistake. You know this kid best, and you don't have any ability to make a living, so if you really can't be a policeman, it's all useless. You...... If you still think of me as an uncle, let him die first. As for your family's case, I will find someone to continue to keep an eye on it, and as long as I live for a day, I will not let this matter fall to the ground. ”

Zheng Yuan promised, he had already expected this day, but when it really came to this day, it was inevitable that a little desolation would arise in his heart. He knew that Wang Haiyang took him to the old mansion to hint at what he meant - on the day his father was stabbed to death, the only eyewitness Wang Shiqi bit and killed Zheng Yuan's mother, and finally sentenced a person who was overly defensive, Zheng Yuan retreated, and the file was innocent. Lao Wang didn't say anything at that time, but Zheng Yuan knew that he didn't believe it.

- My son has taken care of you again and again, and it's time for you to repay it again. Zheng Yuan swallowed this off-string sound, pulled the corners of his mouth and smiled at Wang Haiyang: "It's okay Uncle Wang, there will always be a way." ”

There will always be a way, even if he is so eager for the truth, even if he may not be able to get out of the shadows in his life, but there will always be a way, just like the sentence he saw in "The Vulture": except death, everything is bruises.

***

"What? You're moving out? "Wang Shiqi had just returned home with a car with people and dogs, and he was flipping through the advertisement of the travel agency, and he turned his head and heard the bad news." What are you doing! I don't dislike you! Or do you not want to travel? Afraid to go far away? Then you said earlier, let's not go, can we go and rub it instead? Think about what you say! ”

"No, I'm just leaving." Zheng Yuan's expression was as usual, and he even poured him a cup of tea. "Director Zhuo helped me find a job in Jinju, and I also worked in the newspaper and entertainment section, and my children could go to kindergartens, and the benefits were very good, I ...... them."

"Jinju? That's all out of the province! What do you want, we don't have it here? Isn't the organ kindergarten on now?,I'll change it for you if it's not good.,Aren't you the most annoying of the entertainment version?,I've been thinking that people are sour for a long time.,Why are you rushing to go now? - Okay, then let's change the newspaper, I'll arrange it, with your professional level, aren't the provincial and municipal magazines rushing to ask for it? ”

"Lao Wang," Zheng Yuan interrupted him, "I'm serious, I won't change it." ”

Wang Shiqi's brain spun quickly, and his eyes suddenly sharpened: "I didn't watch it for a while yesterday...... Did my dad tell you something? ”

"No, I just ...... I don't want to stay any longer. Zheng Yuan stabilized his voice, turned his head and went to the closet to clean up his things: "To tell the truth, after solving Gu Tianqing's case, I have already let go of my heart." People can't be resurrected after death, staying here, facing sadness every day, maybe I won't get better for the rest of my life. ”

"But...... You're already much better......"

"I didn't."

"I stare at you every day, I don't know yet?"

"Can't I show you?" Zheng Yuan raised his right wrist to show him: "I can't do it again." It doesn't do either of us any good. ”

The scar of the snow was lying on the wrist, and Wang Shiqi's momentum weakened at a glance, and he was stupid, and his whole spirit drooped. Zheng Yuan knew that he had hit his sore spot, but he still continued the words ruthlessly: "I know that you take good care of me, and I am grateful that you take care of me like this, but I don't want to see you all day and night like this, do you understand?" When I see you, it will remind me of Xiao Ye, how she died, and the ...... I encountered" His eyes were astringent, a shirt was pinched in his hand and folded, he said 10,000 words of sorry in his heart, but he still had to say: "I don't want to waste any more time and wait." In fact, I knew from the beginning that you couldn't solve this case. ”

"That's not what you said before!"

"Lie to you. Your mom came to see me—I promised her that nothing would happen to you. Now my mission is complete. ”

There was silence behind him, and for a moment Zheng Yuan even had the illusion that Wang Shiqi had left. Until he heard the familiar sound of footsteps approaching with the rustle of his clothes, firm, safe, and reliable, the man stood an arm's length behind him, and he said, "What about you?" What if something happens to you again? ”

"I'll be alive. I promise. ”