"Hu Sheng, do you know how many mentally ill people there are in China?" Shuqing ignored Hu Sheng's low and angry rebuttal, she looked at Hu Sheng sternly, and said slowly and clearly. "More than 100 million people with mental illness, most of whom have not yet been hospitalized, may have been abandoned, strangled to death by their own parents, or strangled to death by others – and these mentally ill people are one of the reasons for the increase in violent crime." They cannot be convicted, but can only be placed under the strict care of their guardians or sent to the hospital. Shuqing paused again, her hand stroking the black canvas bag beside her. "Anna, Anna is in an insane asylum because she poisoned her brother. She and Anxin are twins. ”

"So what?"

"Your mother told me that Anna was not sick, but that there was something in her heart—something in her heart—maybe hatred, because her stepmother used to beat her. Shuqing held up a hand, trying to add credibility to her words. "Do you think Anna is sick?"

Hu Sheng moved his ass restlessly on the sofa, then clasped his hands together and twisted them non-stop. Anna was a distant memory for him, but it seemed so close at hand. He could still see her face, and almost every night he saw it in his dreams, sometimes depressed, sometimes gentle, sometimes violent, and in any case he could not get rid of the poor girl.

"I don't know, to be honest I really don't know, I don't know. He said.

"Will Anna kill herself? Will she kill herself because you married someone else?"

Hu Sheng looked at Shuqing in surprise, he was a little panicked.

"No, no, we- no, it can't be. ”

"Why did Li Zhen kidnap her, do you know the reason? I heard that you found her. ”

"Yes, I found her. Hu Sheng closed his eyes, and Anna's painful face shook in front of his eyes again: "Let us go, please, I beg you!" Yes, I am Anna, I am Anna, I am Zhou Zhiwen's neurotic daughter Anna. I'm no one but Anna. Please—" Anna fell to her knees in her excrement and grabbed Hu Sheng's calf, her face covered in dry blood, tears and snot running everywhere, her voice choked and staccato like a crying child.

"Would you like to talk to me about her?" asked Shuqing.

"Who?"

"Anna. ”

Hu Sheng lowered his head and was silent, maybe thinking about where to start, maybe thinking about whether to tell Shuqing about this girl. Maybe he didn't think about anything, just sat there blankly, thinking about his ex-wife.

"That's been a long time, and I think my memory of her was many years ago. Hu Sheng finally spoke, "She is the first patient in my mother's care, in order to escape my father's beating, and in order to help my mother subsidize the family, I will go to work in an insane asylum with my mother during the holidays, I mainly burn the fire in the stove room, my salary depends entirely on the person who takes care of the stove, that person is a fat man, he doesn't want to burn the fire, so he hired me." He would give me a few dollars a month, sometimes more. The stove room only cooks three meals, so I follow my mother most of the time, at first my mother did not allow me to follow her, because crazy people are sometimes very dangerous, but I am not afraid, as long as I am with my mother, I am not afraid, she is a brave woman. He looked at Sook Ching, his eyes clear, "But she never dodged my father's fists. He chuckled softly. "The afternoon on which Anna was brought to the madhouse, it was very cold—she was brought barefoot, her feet were covered with chilblains, and in some places she had begun to fester, and there was a large patch of blood from the corner of her mouth, which I knew had been beaten, and there was blood on her eyebrow bones, and her hair and face were covered with black dirt, and the stench of gutters. Her clothes and pants were in tatters, her hair was unkempt, covering most of her face, revealing only one eye, and she looked at us menacingly. I tried to reach for her, but she quickly took a few steps back. She looked at each of us with hatred. ”