2009, Christmas.

Shen Yuanchao was wearing a black coat, his white hair was messy in the cold wind, most of his beard was white, his figure was very thin, and he stubbornly and struggled to look up at a window upstairs. He was here on the same day three years ago.

A young man walked in front of him, a tall and thin man with pale skin, his expression was silent but not dull, presumably many girls liked him, and for some reason did not go out to the Christmas party.

"Uncle, who are you looking for?"

The old prosecutor took two steps back vigilantly, looked at him carefully, and vaguely remembered the face: "Oh, you are - the son of Officer Huanghai?" ”

"yes, you have something to look for him?"

In fact, he was a fourteen-year-old Siwang.

He has taken off his red scarf and has been promoted to the second grade of junior high school, and has fully entered the development period, with a thicker and thicker beard on his mouth and a somewhat harsh timbre during the voice change period. He quadrupled the amount of food, and his size jumped quickly, almost as tall as his mother, and in a few years he would be like the Yellow Sea.

"He didn't answer my call, I don't know if he's home?"

"Uncle, I'll take you up."

He led Shen Yuanchao upstairs and rang the doorbell familiarly. Huang Hai opened the door without waking up, it seemed that it was rare to rest, and he slept at home. He first saw the young man's face, and then held it firmly in his arms, as if it was really his son, and then saw Shen Yuanchao.

"Why did you come with him?"

The officer's face immediately changed, and he looked at the old prosecutor suspiciously.

"I just retired early and wanted to come and talk to you."

He is no longer as obsessed as he was a few years ago, and he faces the police sensibly and politely, more like an old friend visiting his door.

Officer Huanghai pulled Si Wang into the room and asked in a low voice, "Boy, he didn't do anything to you, did he?" ”

"No, just let him in and sit down."

Shen Yuanchao took out a small gift box from his arms: "Merry Christmas!" ”

As an old Communist Party member, this was the first Christmas gift he gave away.

Si Wang generously took the gift box: "Thank you!" ”

"Stinky boy, what are you doing?"

Huang Hai was about to scold him, but the boy quickly unpacked it, but it was a hardcover hardcover book - Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea".

"I'm sorry, I can't think of any gifts, I happened to be reading this book recently, it fits my current mood, I think I'm also the old fisherman, so stubborn and don't believe in fate."

"Hemingway?" Officer Huanghai frowned, "I think I've heard of it." ”

Si Wang poked him lightly: "Hey, this book is very good, I've read it, take it." ”

"Okay."

Huang Hai took the gift and put it on the cabinet: "Lao Shen, please believe me, the police will bring the murderer to justice, don't act rashly yourself!" ”

"You mean Nanming High School's special math teacher, *Song? Half a year ago, this guy bought a private car, and it's already hard to keep track of him, but I'm not going to give up. ”

He noticed that there was an extra copy of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code on the shelves in the Yellow Sea. He concluded that he had been victimized by a pervert who was obsessed with murderous sacrifices, and that only by understanding the murderer's knowledge and psychological background could he accurately arrest him. When he was young, Shen Yuanchao loved to read, and obtained a bachelor's degree in Chinese language and literature through self-study exams, but he read world classics such as "Anna Karenina", as well as the works of Lu Xun, Mao Dun, and Ba Jin, and knew nothing about religion and semiotics, so he studied "The Da Vinci Code". The book has sold 60 million copies worldwide, and according to his logic, one percent of earthlings are murderers.

Although, this proportion is not high.

Everyone thinks he's gone mad, and he's still stuck in a deep obsession.

"Officer Huang, please don't get me wrong, I'm just here to thank you - for you to track down my son's murderer for more than ten years, I thank you for the statement in the grave!"

Suddenly, fourteen-year-old Si Wang interjected: "The murderer will definitely be caught." ”

"Shut up! Adults talk, children interject! ”

"I believe these cases are not isolated, *Matsu is a serial murderer!"

Huang Hai shook his head helplessly: "Lao Shen, you are here again!" ”

Shen Yuanchao pointed to the book "The Old Man and the Sea" and said, "This book is also very suitable for your son." I'm gone, goodbye! ”

On the way out of Huang Hai's house, the young man's face was circling in his mind, and those twinkling eyes, which seemed to convey some kind of message?

Late at night, Shen Yuanchao returned home, and his daughter was still waiting for him. The fourteen-year-old girl is slim, but she refuses various invitations to Christmas parties and yawns at home to watch horror movies.

A few days ago, my daughter had just celebrated her birthday, which was also the death day of her mother's death.

Shen Yuanchao first learned that his wife was pregnant on June 17, 1995, which was also the last time he saw Shen Ming.

He still vividly remembers the lunch, when his wife prepared a large table of dishes for his illegitimate son twenty-five years ago. He knew that his son was in a difficult situation, but Shen Yuanchao's concern was not how to help him, but whether the secret was known to others. He feared that once the word spread in the unit, the position of the prosecutor might be lost.

Now that I think about it, how much he regrets it!

The only consolation was that when he was parting that afternoon, he took the initiative to hug Shen Ming from a thought that came from nowhere.

Unexpectedly, it was a farewell.

When he returned home after sending his son, his wife told him with a complicated expression: "Aid Korea, I'm pregnant." ”

This sudden news made Shen Yuanchao at a loss, he has been married for more than ten years, but he has never had a child, and he has been to the hospital many times, all saying that the woman has a serious gynecological disease and it is difficult to get pregnant. But he never disliked his wife, devoted all his energy to work, caught corruption every day, and rarely had the opportunity to go home to rest. He was grateful that his wife was tolerant of him, especially for his illegitimate children. He didn't expect his wife to be pregnant, was it a gift from God to his child?

In any case, even though there was a danger of advanced maternal age, the wife decided to give birth to the child.

Five days later, a police officer named Huang Hai approached the procuratorate, called Shen Yuanchao outside alone, and said with a grim face: "Shen Ming is dead." ”

But he didn't show an expression, just nodded silently, and provided some information he knew, like a cold-blooded man facing a debt. He returned to the prosecutor's office and continued to work until he was alone in the middle of the night, when he squatted on the ground and cried bitterly......

He is determined to avenge the death of the affirmation.

Half a year later, her daughter finally came into this world, but her mother died of postpartum hemorrhage.

Shen Yuanchao held his wife's body sadly, every blow in the past year was almost fatal, what man has ever had such a fate?

He named his daughter Shin Min.

A middle-aged widowed man not only has to bring up the baby, but also has the responsibility of tracking down his son's murderer.

In the dead of night, after her daughter fell asleep in the crib, although she was exhausted, Shen Yuanchao still had trouble sleeping, and often thought of the woman named Xiaoqian.

She is the mother of the affirmation.

Shen Yuanchao met her when she was twenty years old, the daughter of a servant, who dropped out of school after a few years of schooling, and sold breakfast on the street at a young age. He often buys rice cakes from her, watching the rice cakes tumbling in the oil pot turn golden, and then looking at her peugeot face, inlaid with a pair of big eyes, every time he blinks his eyelashes, it makes his heart beat faster.

That summer, he took her to Suzhou Creek to fish, went to the Daguang Cinema to watch a model play, and talked to me on the bench in People's Park......

This is how the affirmation came into this world.

A few months before he was born, Shen Yuanchao left the city, took a train to the Great Northern Wilderness, and became a member of the intellectual youth who went to the mountains and the countryside. In the wilderness of the Sino-Soviet border, he could not receive any letters, let alone talk on the phone, and squatted deep in the snow all day long, facing the Soviet soldiers across the river. When he returned to the city to visit relatives in the second year, he learned that Xiaoqian had given birth to a son for him.

He picked up the child and admitted it, but he couldn't marry her, let alone let others know the secret, otherwise he would be spurned and lose the opportunity to join the party in front of him. He ruthlessly abandoned the mother and son and re-embarked on the train back to the Great Northern Wilderness.

Seven years later, the advanced party member Shen Yuanchao was given a place to return to the city, just like a prisoner who had been exiled for seven years, he finally returned to his parents and was arranged to work in the procuratorate.

Xiaoqian is dead, this poor woman, in order to survive with the child, was forced to marry a bastard, and was poisoned to death by the man. Fortunately, the son desperately called the police, so that the murderer could pay for his life.

Shen Yuanchao found that the child became more and more like himself as he grew older, and he had been sent to the police station by his grandmother to change his name to Shenming. But he must hide this relationship, otherwise he will not be able to stay in the prosecutor's office. He went to see his son once a month and gave the child's grandmother twenty yuan, when his monthly salary was only forty yuan. After that, the cost of living will increase every year until you declare that you will be admitted to university.

Later, he became a people's prosecutor as he wished, and married his wife from a decent background, becoming an iron-faced and selfless prosecutor Lao Shen.

Less than a year after the marriage, his wife discovered his secret. Shen Yuanchao admitted her mistakes back then and was mentally ready for divorce, but she didn't expect that she just shed some tears and never mentioned it again. Later, when she knew that it was difficult for her to get pregnant, she offered to take a look at the statement, wanting to know what her husband's biological son looked like. She even offered to take the child to live at home, but was rejected by Shen Yuanchao - he was worried that the scandal of the illegitimate child would be known to outsiders.

Now, my daughter is in her second year of junior high school.

And affirm that the child has been buried in the ground for fourteen years as ashes. Shen Yuanchao often fantasized about seeing him again, but he couldn't say a word, as if he had his teeth pulled out, and endured the blood dripping from the corners of his mouth.

Ten years of life and death, without thinking, unforgettable.

If he still has an afterlife, no matter whether he has drunk Meng Po soup or not, if he sees Shen Yuanchao again, will he remember this so-called father?