I asked her what her father had left behind.

"Nothing special, just old clothes for everyday wear and tools for carpenter," she said. ”

I wanted to ask a little more detailed, but before I was ready to ask, she suddenly told me that her father was a heavy smoker, smoking that old-fashioned dry tobacco, with a delicate bamboo stalk with a small blue purse hanging on it, and he carried it with him wherever he went, and when he slept, he rested on the head of the bed, and never left his body. When she was younger, she would sit on his lap and play with that little purse, but she never saw what was inside. Her father once said that when she was old enough to be eighteen, he would give her the contents of his purse as a gift. But when he left, he took the cigarette stalks and purse with him.

It's a whitebait!

The purse must have been filled with whitebait.

I've seen Uncle Xiu's old cigarette stalks, but I never remember what purse fell on it, it must be that after Xiaohai was born, he created a silverfish to hang on it with a lotus bag, ready to give it to her when she grows up, as a token of trust when necessary, just like the one he gave to Scar Man, in case something bad happens in the future, Xiaohai can rely on silverfish to take refuge in me.

Thinking of this, my hand involuntarily moved to my chest, and when I touched the silverfish that I had carefully hidden, I moved my hand away again like an electric shock.

I treat this whitebait like a treasure, and when it's cold, I string it on a chain and hang it around my neck. When the weather is hot, because I basically wear low-necked clothes, I am afraid of being exposed, so I also put it in a purse and carefully tie it to the inside of the waistband of my pants to prevent it from being lost.

Uncle Xiu also prepared a whitebait for Xiao Hai, but he didn't give it to her, which further confirmed my suspicion that he must have had an accident that night fifteen years ago.

I was torn whether to tell Xiaohai about the silverfish and tell her that I knew her father and how much I had in the past.

After thinking about it, I think it's better to talk about it slowly, we don't know each other well enough, some things are said rashly, probably frightened, the slightest deviation of proportion, may break the quiet and perfect tacit understanding between us now, I don't want that, so we must wait for the most suitable and appropriate moment.

She was so immersed in the sadness of the past that she didn't notice the struggle and hesitation in my expression. I sorted out my thoughts and asked her about the two addresses she had been trying to check these days, Beipaigou in Qianzhou City and Chenjiawu in Jiangcheng.

She told me that she had found a note with these two addresses written on it from a small hidden drawer under the bed in her mom and dad's bedroom.

She'd told me about it before, and showed me the old note, but she couldn't remember anything about the two addresses.

Then she told more about her father's carpentry and handicrafts, saying that when he was not busy, he did this and that at home, from tables, beds, and chests, to necklaces and bracelets strung with wooden beads, and melted coins into small rings, and carved flowers and birds on fish bones, and so on.

But none of this mattered, the important thing was that the things her father made, whether they were wood, bone, gold or silver, often hid some ingenious mechanisms, such as pressing three triangular nails into the column at the same time, which could open a small door, and six hundred dollars were hidden inside; Another example is the copper kettle he made, which has two uses, one bright and one dark, and the same pot can pour out wine and water; And the big wooden bed that her parents slept in before and then she slept on herself also hid a few mechanisms, and she once didn't know where she accidentally touched it, so she popped up a small drawer, although there was nothing hidden in it, it was enough for her to be amazed for a long time.

When she was a child, she used to go around her father, hearing and seeing, and he seemed to be interested in training, so she could find that many things in the house were set up with mechanisms.

After her father's disappearance, she carefully studied the various artifacts in the house as if she were digging for treasure, trying to find clues left by her father, and the note with two addresses found in the bed drawer was the only thing that seemed to have some value.

So in the days that followed, she worked hard to save money, and seized the opportunity of Fu Yuxin and them to go to the town to handle the case in a timely and appropriate manner and came to Qianzhou City, wanting to see if her father was in that place called Beipaigou, or if she could find her father's relatives and friends in Beipaigou, if it was unsuccessful, she would go to Jiangcheng and see if it would be in Chenjiawu.

Those were her only two hopes.

Speaking of this, she raised her eyes to look at me and said, "Don't forget, after you are busy with this case, you will drive me to Jiangcheng." ”

I nodded solemnly, and began to struggle again in my heart, whether to tell her that Chenjiawu had become a ghost village, and after thinking for a while, I decided to wait until I found out the news of Beipaigou. If you can find Beipaigou and find any important clues there, you don't have to be too sad about Chenjiawu becoming a ghost village.

Then for several minutes, I held her hand, speechless, thinking to myself that the so-called ill-fated future is unknown, probably referring to people like me and her, looking back at the darkness and looking forward at a fog, as if we had to fight our way out to survive.

I turned on the TV, wanting to let the cheerful sound inside dilute the sadness in the air, and it did work, the opened channel was broadcasting Xiong Er and Bald Qiang, Xiaohai's eyes lit up at once, and his attention was instantly attracted by the TV.

This is a girl who has missed her childhood, and now she is making up for it by watching TV, which is good.

While watching TV and chatting slowly, I asked her if she was scared. She watched TV and said what she was afraid of, once the world happened, she lived a day and earned a day. I laughed and asked her if she had any dreams. What she says about dreams or not, they are all demons made by city people like you who don't worry about food and clothing, and people like me can eat, clothe, and have a place to sleep, and then have a TV to watch, there is nothing to ask for.

The atmosphere suddenly became very good, not so sad and not very indifferent. Chatting and chatting, the topic is far from broken, everything is talked about, parents are short, the hardships they have endured on the road to growth, and their future plans, etc., etc., there is a sentence to talk about, it can't be true or fake, it feels really harmonious, a little out of reality and even fluttering naïve dreams.

I said to her in a consultative tone: "Why don't we just leave anything behind, go back to our hometown with you, buy a store along the street in the town, open a random restaurant or a grocery store, pass the time and play, if you can make money, half of each person, you say it's okay." ”

She didn't say yes, she didn't say bad, her eyes were fixed on the TV screen, and she didn't hear it.

I thought she might not want to go back to her hometown, so I changed my plan and said, "In this case, when the time is empty, I will go back with you to sell the house in my hometown, and then move to the city completely to live and be a city person." If you are willing, you can live in this house with me, if you don't want to, I will give you some money to buy a different house, and then we will find a store to open ......."

Before I could finish my sentence, she interrupted me abruptly.

"No," she said. ”

I was stunned, thinking to myself that this person was so rude and strange, it was obviously all about making her cheap, and he refused so simply.

Xiaohai was still staring at the TV, and said lightly: "My dad just ran away from home, not dead, one day he will definitely go home if he wants to open it, I will sell the house, where will he live in the future?" I follow you because you are familiar with the police, and it is very convenient to get in and out of the public security bureau, I can borrow you to check where my dad is, not to mention that you give food, clothing, and money to spend, I have no reason not to take advantage of this. When I find my dad, you are you and I am, and I don't have so many good plans for the future. ”

These words were like pouring a basin of cold water on my head, so that I couldn't react for a long time, and I felt very hurt, and I wanted to dig out my heart and lungs for her, and I was willing to share half of her family property, so she gave me such an attitude of "you are you and I am me".

Originally, I wanted to take advantage of today's good relationship to inquire about other situations, such as who she learned her kung fu from, but the conversation has reached this point, and I can't ask any more. And to be honest, I'm not quite sure how good she is, or whether she has a move, but just a few times in a critical moment, her unobtrusive defensive and offensive state, and a certain kind of strong vigilance that occasionally flashes in the public security bureau, it is impossible for people who have not been trained to have it.

I can't talk anymore, it's too late to see the time, just find a step down, hehehaha pass the embarrassment just now, close the window, lock the door and turn off the lights and go upstairs.

When I went downstairs just now, the lights and computers in the study were not turned off, Xiaohai wanted to go in and close, I thought about asking her to go upstairs first, saying that I still wanted to check some information.

She went up without a word.

Before that, I liked her obedience without asking too much and not making a sound, and I felt that there was an absolute trust element in it, but what she said just now made me feel that all her obedience was just because she asked for something and I gave it.

It's sad.

I sat down in front of the computer again, opened the search engine, and typed in Uncle Xiu's name and characteristics with a very heavy heart.

I know that Uncle Xiu is the same as us, he will change his name once when he lives in another place, and sometimes he even changes his surname, so I asked Xiaohai just now, and she said that her father's name is Xiu Chang'an, and everyone in the town calls him by his first name or not, and some people think that his real surname is Chang.

So, when I searched, the keywords I entered were: Chang'an, male, birthmark, Huaqiao Town.

Pressing the enter key, I immediately searched for a page with a photo of Uncle Xiu.

It is an old black and white photo from a long time ago, and Uncle Xiu in the photo is smiling slightly, with a deep warmth of the world between his eyebrows and eyes.

I watched it, and my heart tingled, because I remembered the nightmare I had a few days ago, Uncle Xiu died in my dream, and my expression was very sad.

The content of this page is a search for a person.