Text: Episode 18

1.

The river rushes through the rocks, either making a splash or forming a small waterfall.

Looking downstream along the river, you can see a suspension bridge with a railway at one end that runs down the hill into the mountains.

The suspension bridge is narrow and small, but sturdy, and can drive two motorcycles side by side. The black and shiny iron rope quietly looked at the river beneath his feet. The bridge can be crossed to reach the other end of the village. The village is in a river valley and is located on both sides of this river. The mountains on either side of the river are towering, and the woods are lifeless with their leaves. A few crows landed on the cable that crossed the river, whether they let out a sharp and cold cry, I don't know what they were talking about again. The river beach was covered with a layer of fresh snow, which reflected the sunlight coldly.

It has been a long time since Tao Qiwu committed suicide by jumping off a building. The shadow in Cao Chengrui's heart lingered, he wanted to use travel to dilute the shadow, but everything in front of him made him even more chilled.

People who have witnessed death are prone to psychological shadows and fall into depression. Cao Chengrui should be like this.

On the train, he met a girl named Yi Yao. The seven or eight hours of driving allowed the two of them to chat with each other, and because of this, the journey became no longer lonely.

"I'm also out for a walk." Yi Yao picked up the thermos cup, took a sip of hot water and said, "It's not much different from your situation." ”

"It should be a lot worse."

The long dirt road stretches along the river, and I don't know where it ends.

"Aren't you afraid to follow me? We've only known each other for more than ten hours. Haven't you read about girls traveling alone, missing, raped, robbed and trafficked? Cao Chengrui glanced at the top of the mountain.

"Don't be afraid, to be precise, there is nothing that can scare me anymore." She slowly looked around, and the breath she exhaled rose like a cloud.

"Awesome!" Cao Chengrui smiled and said, "I have wine, do you have a story to tell me?" ”

Yi Yao smiled and said, "Let's find the reserved inn first, or we will freeze to death here." ”

"Not really."

Few people enter the mountains in winter, and the two of them walked on the dirt road leading to the village, and when they first entered the village, there was no excitement in the surroundings. The smoke from the chimney and the barking of dogs in the yard are a reminder of life. There is no one, and the days are over. The crow's voice can be heard from both distance and near, as if it is accompanying two people on their way.

This ancient village has a history of hundreds of years, because of the surrounding stone production, as early as the Bohai Kingdom period there was a quarry here, the stone can be down the river. During the Japanese occupation, a factory was built here. There are "industrial" relics of the ancestors everywhere, as well as ironclad evidence of invasion of China.

Even so, little is known about the village, and for most Chinese, places like Lijiang and Wuzhen are the mainstream.

On the edge of darkness, the two finally found the inn hidden among the many cottages.

The fence yard is cleaned, the snow is piled up on one side of the yard, the wooden benches in the yard are buckled upside down on the wooden table, you can definitely enjoy the shade and drink in the yard in the summer, and a string of red lanterns hangs on the lantern pole at the door, and there is a two-story building facing the courtyard, and the left and right sides are two-story buildings.

I opened the cotton curtain and pushed the door into the two-story building, and I was greeted by a warm atmosphere.

"You're a rarity." The boss looked up at the door at the counter, and the stereo was playing "Red Mountain Fruit" sung by Ann and the cavalry.

"Very few people come in winter." The boss smiled and said, "But it's okay, stop like this." ”

Cao Chengrui wiped his snot and said, "Well, it's really enough to stop." ”

"King room?" The boss is bald and wears a black Chinese-style padded jacket.

"Two ......" Cao Chengrui was stopped by Yi Yao as soon as he spoke, and Yi Yao hurriedly said: "Yes, I want a big bed room." ”

Cao Chengrui didn't know whether to look at the boss happily or worriedly, and then nodded.

After settling into the second floor, the two of them made their way to the front room. The inn has more than a dozen rooms, but now it only has five guests, and the innkeeper said in a casual chat that in addition to Cao Chengrui and Yi Yao, there is also a young couple from Chifeng and an old photographer from the local county seat. The old photographer came here to collect the style, and the young couple went to the nearby mountain temple to ask for a child. The boss also said that the couple left at noon and would stay in the temple for one night and return the next day.

The two of them found a sofa against the wall of fire in the corner of the front hall (a heating facility similar to a fire kang), and Cao Chengrui took four bottles of glacier beer in the restaurant, ordered spicy fried chicken and sauerkraut and white meat, and asked for a plate of rice sausages.

"There's wine and food!" Cao Chengrui turned on the beer, poured a glass for Yi Yao, and poured himself a glass.

"I respect you and our fate." Yi Yao took the cup and said.

The two of them drank it all and smiled at each other.

2.

"I think that's good." Yi Yao drank the third bottle of beer, and her face was slightly red.

Cao Chengrui took a slice of meat, dipped it in garlic sauce and put it in his mouth, and looked at Yi Yao with a smile.

"Neither you nor I will intrude into each other's lives, to be exact, we are both strangers." Yi Yao raised her glass, and the beer shimmered in the warm light of autumn colors, "I can open my heart to you, don't worry that you will tell us about me, hahaha, because we don't have anyone we know together!" ”

"Hmm." Cao Chengrui nodded, feeling comfortable for a long time since Tao Qiwu's death.

The singing of Ann and the cavalry is very unique, but it sounds very feeling by the fireside in this snowy village in the mountains of the northeast.

Yi Yao couldn't resist the temptation of the tune and sang along.

"The Songhua River is long and long, boiling wine and boating on the river, a burst of fragrance wafts with the wind, fish and rice wander in the heart, I sing by the river, where are you going, please take me with you ......"

"Well sung!" The boss sitting behind the bar applauded, the old man sitting in front of the bar nodded with a smile, Cao Chengrui saw the old man smiling and looking at them, so he raised the wine glass in his hand and saluted, and the old man immediately picked up the wine glass in his hand and saluted.

3.

Singing, laughing, drinking, time flies.

"I really don't have anything to fear." Yi Yao's fifth bottle of beer had already reached the bottom, and she hummed with a smile, "But I still have to fly to the sky to take a look, even if my wings may be broken by the wind......"

I looked at Yi Yao's face: "Listening to your tone, it seems that you have experienced something more terrible." ”

"That's right." Yi Yao also smiled.

"Tell me about it."

"Do you really want to hear that?"

"Just kidding, if you don't want to say anything, we'll keep drinking."

"I tell you, stranger," she continued, "that life was terrible when I was a child. ”

4.

We have four children in our family and I am the youngest.

I remember the first time I watched Superborn Guerrillas, I didn't think it was funny, but when I watched it when I grew up, I felt as uncomfortable as lead. Because of this family planning policy, I lived with my aunt in the countryside until I was thirteen. I haven't seen my parents in seven years, and I haven't seen my sisters in seven years.

When I learned about the "two-child policy", I felt disgusted, and I felt like I took my pants off after pooping in my pants.

Living in the countryside, no one cared about me, and I was like a boy, mingling with my neighbors' older brothers and sisters.

The nightmare began when I was eleven years old.

My neighbor's brother, who is six years older than me, called me to his house and said he had candy for me...... It's been like this for two whole years, and I'm scared when I think about it now, it's too dark.

I didn't dare to tell my family, I didn't know what was going on, how I was going to speak, I was helpless, I had no way to leave, I could only endure it silently, the pain in my body, and even more pain in my heart.

The year before last, I knew that damn him was going to get married, because he was a distant relative, and he actually sent an invitation to our family. This damn, shameless guy.

I want revenge but there is no way, I want to get justice for myself and there is no evidence, I can only silently clench my fists in the blessings of relatives and friends, watching him marry a wife and have children.

5.

Cao Chengrui put down his wine glass and looked at Yi Yao, who was crying silently, silently.

Indeed, everyone has their own story, and what they will give up and what they will gain in the story.

22:53。

Cao Chengrui helped Yi Yao to the bed, covered her with a quilt, and put a glass of water on the bedside table. He quietly exited the room and walked to the first-floor vestibule. The innkeeper cleaned up and turned off the lights, leaving only two yellow-glowing imitation candlestick lamps still on. Sitting down by the fire, he watched the light that came out of the cracks in the coal of the furnace fire, like a light from hell, beckoning something in the darkness.

He poured a beer and drank half a glass in one gulp.

6.

Yi Yao was drunk all day the next day, lying in bed and unwilling to move.

"You're such a nice guy." Yi Yao leaned on the bed and looked at me: "You will also go to sleep in the front hall tonight, right?" ”

"Not really, there are so many rooms anyway." I thought for a moment and then said, "I'm a little worried that the boss will misunderstand us, and I originally asked for a room, but now we have to sleep separately." ”

"Haha, that's funny."

"That's why I'm still drinking in the antechamber tonight."

7.

What happened at the inn caused a sensation throughout the village, and it won't be long before it spreads to the county seat and city.

Three people, two women and one man, died in the inn due to gas poisoning, and they were all from the same place, but in different orders.

Holding a fire with wet coals can indeed keep you warm all night, but it can easily kill people.

The innkeeper's face looked as if he had eaten something unclean, and he watched as the body was carried out of the room.

Cao Chengrui couldn't say anything, and he sank for a long time.

Even if that man hurts you, his wife is innocent after all, Cao Chengrui thought.

8.

Just like in the novel, I couldn't say anything, and I put my phone in my pocket after the screen was locked.

I helped the couple next door get their girl to the hospital, and on the way back I received a hint of a novel update.

Yi Yao appears and dies in the article.

But that's not what I wrote.

How did Li Ling know about Yi Yao?

I've only met Yi Yao once, that time at the dinner table, and Yang Xinyue. Li Ling, she can't know!

She's stalking me?

Why?

9.

"What is that you wrote?" Yang Xinyue's voice on the phone was very urgent: "Do you want to kill Yi Yao?" What did she do wrong!? ”

"You're cold." A gust of cold wind blew through Cao Chengrui's coat, and he shivered involuntarily, "No one wants to harm her, and they don't want to die just because they write that she will die." ”

"But what if that coincidence comes up again?"

"That's not like I'm going to hurt her!"

"Who else but you?"

Who else? Cao Chengrui's brain is running fast, could it be Zhao Wenxiao?

This crazy idea startled him, and he hurriedly took a deep breath and said, "No one wants to hurt her, don't think about it, listen to music, and think about happy things." ”

Cao Chengrui cares more about how Li Ling could write such a chapter than Yi Yao's life or death, she can't know who Yi Yao is, and Li Ling can't even more so know that she has to write Yi Yao to death in the article.

10.

Like a child whose lies have been exposed, my hair stands on end.

I could hear my heartbeat, my face was feverish, and my ears were "buzzing".

How did Li Ling know about Yi Yao? How did you know I wanted to write her to death?

My teeth chattered, and I felt like my neck was being choked. It took me a while to stabilize my mind, and I pulled out the key and opened the door.

No matter what, I have to face Li Ling, and I have to ask her what all this is about.

18:50。

It was already dark, and when I opened the door, there was no one to be seen, and there was no sound.

Text: Episode 18 -End-