Chapter 10 Chapter nine

Kansas roads are snowy and packed with cars.The red light flickered, and even the gloomy air was blood red.A firetruck, an ambulance, a tow truck, four Highway Patrol cars, and a County Police Department car were all huddled together.Among the cars was the five-ton M871 military tractor.The headlights of the car are broken.Edward Ashley's car was crushed and twisted, and a large part of it was under the big car.A group of police officers and firefighters milled around, rubbing their hands and stamping their feet against the pre-dawn chill.A tarpaulin covering the body of Edward Ashley in the middle of the crossroads.Another police car pulls up and Mary Ashley jumps out of the car.She trembled and couldn't stand still.When she saw the oilcloth, she wanted to run to it.

Sheriff Munster grabbed Mary's arm: "If I were you, I wouldn't watch it." "Let me go!" she cried, breaking free from the sheriff's grip and rushing to the tarpaulin. "Please don't look, Mrs. Ashley, you mustn't look at his present miserable state." She fainted in Munster's arms. She woke up in the back seat of the police car.Sergeant Munster sat in the front row, watching her over his shoulder.The heater was on in the car, and it was stuffy. "What's going on?" she asked blankly. "You fainted." She instantly remembered that sentence: Don't look at his current miserable scene.

Outside the window, the lights of an ambulance flashed.Mary stared blankly, and a word flashed in her mind: This is a scene from hell.The temperature inside the police car was very high, and Mary still couldn't control her chattering teeth. "How did the accident..." She found it difficult to speak out, "How did this happen?" "Your husband ignored the stop lights. This military vehicle was coming down Highway 77, trying to get out of the way, but your husband still hit it." She closed her eyes, thinking about the crash.She seemed to see the cart crashing into Edward, and felt the horror of his last moments.

All she could think of was this sentence: "Edward drives, never, always cautiously, he will never, never run a red light." The sheriff said sympathetically, "Mrs. Ashley, we have witnesses. A priest and two nuns witnessed the accident. There was also a Colonel Jenkins from Fort Riley. They all agreed that you The husband ran a red light." After that, everything seemed like a dream.She saw Edward's body being loaded into an ambulance; the police were questioning the priest and nun.Suddenly the idea occurred to Mary: They must catch a cold standing outside like this.

"They sent the body to the morgue," Munster said. corpse? "Thank you." Mary seemed lost. He couldn't help looking at her, wondering: "I'll take you home. Who is your family doctor?" "Edward Ashley," said Mary, "Edward Ashley is my family physician." Later, she vaguely remembered walking to the door and Sheriff Munster leading her into the house.Florence and Douglas greeted her in the living room.The child still doesn't know what happened and is still asleep. Florence hugged her: "Honey, I'm so sorry, so..." "It's okay," Mary said calmly, "Edward just had a car accident." She actually giggled.

Douglas watched her closely and said, "Let me walk you upstairs." "I'm fine, thanks, would you like some tea?" Douglas said, "Come on, I'll help you upstairs to rest." "I'm not sleepy at all. You really don't want anything?" Douglas took her into the upstairs bedroom, and Mary comforted him instead: "It was a car accident, and Edward was in a car accident." Douglas Skirford examined her eyes, which were wide open, scattered and empty.A chill ran through Skiff's body. He hurried downstairs to get the medicine bag, and went upstairs again, but Mary still sat still. "Take some medicine and get some sleep." He asked her to take a sedative, helped her to bed, and then sat beside her and waited.An hour later, Mary was still untiring, and he gave her another sedative.Then for the third time, Mary finally fell asleep.

Jiang Kexincheng was meticulous in the investigation of No. 1048 personal injury car accident.The county ambulance team drove a car, and the police station also sent personnel to the scene.If soldiers are involved in the accident, the Army Criminal Investigation Service will also investigate together with the police. Army Criminal Investigative Headquarters at Fort Riley sent undercover detective Shell Planchard.At this time, he was in the county police office on Ninth Avenue, working with the sheriff and deputy to study the crash report. "I'm convinced!" said Munster. "What's going on, Sheriff?" Planchard asked.

"Look, the report says there were five witnesses this time, right? A priest and two nuns, Colonel Jenkins, truck driver Sergeant Wallis. They each insist that Dr. Ashley's car turned onto the road , ignoring the stop signal and drove past, crashing into a military vehicle." "Yeah," said Planchard, "what's the trouble?" Sheriff Munster scratched his scalp: "Sir, the testimony listed in a car accident report, five people are actually speaking verbatim! Sir, have you read such a report?" His big hand hit the report , "What the hell else made me so angry? What these five witnesses said were all poured out of the same mold!"

The person from the Criminal Investigation Department shrugged: "Doesn't this just mean that the responsibility for the accident is very clear?" "There's still a loophole," said the sheriff. "yes?" "The priest, the nun, the colonel, and at four o'clock in the morning, why did they all arrive on Route 77 together?" "What's all the fuss about? The priest and the nun are on their way to Lionelville, and the colonel is on his way back to Fort Riley." The sheriff added: "I checked with the DMV and Dr. Ashley received a ticket six years ago for parking violations. Never had a traffic accident record."

Planchard stared at the sheriff. "You're implying something, aren't you?" Munster shrugged: "I didn't imply anything, I just think something is wrong." "There were indeed five witnesses to the accident. If you think it's a big conspiracy, I don't think your statement is worth refuting." The sheriff sighed: "I understand. Why do you have a traffic accident? A military vehicle kills someone, just drive forward, why use a few witnesses to tell nonsense that is full of flaws!" "Exactly." Planchard stood up and stretched. "Well, I've got to go back to the fort. The driver, Sergeant Wallis, is not responsible, as far as I'm concerned." He stared at the sheriff. "You don't object to that conclusion, do you?"

The sheriff was helpless: "I agree, I have to admit that this is a traffic accident." The children were weeping mournfully.The crying woke Mary up.She lay down and didn't want to move.Her eyes were closed, silently letting her thoughts wander: this was just a nightmare.I am still asleep, and when I wake up, Edward will rise from the dead. However, the crying continued.She couldn't take it anymore, so she opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling.In the end, she struggled to get up from the bed, and the effect of the medicine had not yet worn off.She went to Tim's bedroom, where Florence was with the two children, all three crying together.How I want to cry, Mary thought, how can I not cry? Beth looked at her. "Is Daddy really, really dead?" Mary could only nod, but couldn't say a word.She sits on the edge of the bed. "I can't help telling the kids," said Florence very apologetically, "that they just wanted to go out and play with their friends." "It's nothing," said Mary, brushing Tim's hair. "Don't cry, baby, everything will be fine." Couldn't get better. It will never get better. The U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Headquarters is located in Building 169 at Fort Riley.This is an old and old limestone building, hidden in the shade of trees.A flight of steps jutted out, leading to the porch of the building.In an office on the ground floor, Shell Planchard was talking to Colonel Jenkins. "Sorry to tell you some bad news. Sergeant Wallis, the driver who ran over the doctor..." "What's the matter?" "He suffered a heart attack this morning and unfortunately died suddenly." "unacceptable." The person from the Army Criminal Investigation Department said in a flat tone: "It may be so. Sir, his body has been cremated. It happened too suddenly." "Unfortunately," the colonel said, standing up, "I have been transferred overseas," he forced a smile, "this is a very important promotion." "Congratulations, this is the result of your hard work." Mary later figured out that the fundamental reason for her saneness was her constant state of shock.What happened to her home seemed to have nothing to do with her.She seemed to be living at the bottom of the water, swimming slowly.Some kind of sound from a distant place seemed to be filtered through cotton. The funeral took place at the Mass Hillett Alexander Funeral Home on Jefferson Avenue, a blue building with a dazzling white porch.A large white bell hangs above the entrance.The memorial hall was crowded with Edward's former friends, and countless bouquets and wreaths were placed.There is a simple line written on the strap of a large wreath: Deepest condolences.Signed: Paul Ellison. Mary had been sitting alone in the family lounge on one side of the hall, and the children had red and swollen eyes and remained silent. The coffin containing Edward's body was closed tightly, and Mary could not imagine the reason for this. The pastor began to pray: "Lord, you have been waiting around us. The mountains have not yet appeared, the earth has not yet been created, and humans have not yet been born. For eternity and eternity, you are our God. The sky falls, the mountains collapse, and the sea Flood, we have nothing to fear..." Unforgettable memories of Lake Milford: "Do you like boating?" Edward asked her, the first night of their tryst. "I've never rowed a boat." "Weekend," he invited her, "we agreed to go boating." A week later, the two of them had a wedding in their bridal chamber. "Ma'am, do you know why I married you?" Edward asked jokingly, "You passed the exam. You laughed so hard that you didn't fall into the water." At the end of the memorial service, Mary and the children boarded the black extended car, led the funeral crowd, and drove slowly to the cemetery. The Hailan cemetery is on Asi Street. It is a cemetery with a wide view, surrounded by a gravel road. This is the oldest home of the people of Jiang Kexin City.Years of wind and rain have eroded, and the broken steles have been devastated.It was freezing cold, and the burial ceremony had to be simple. "Resurrection is me, and life is the foundation. Those who believe in me will live even if they die, and those who live will not die if they believe in me. I will die and return to the sun, and I will never enter the underworld." Finally, the funeral is over.Mary and the children watched the coffin slowly fall into the cold and merciless soil against the howling wind.Farewell, my love! Death is everything, but for Mary, it is the beginning of unbearable suffering.She and Edward also discussed death before they were alive, and Mary thought it was just a talk.Now, death has become reality so suddenly, so quickly and in such a terrible way, that it is no longer some unreal vision of the distant future, but a real reality!Mary couldn't handle it.Every cry in her heart was denying Edward's death.His sudden and long death meant that all good things withered away.However, the irrefutable facts hit her violently like waves, making her tremble and palpitate.She wanted to be alone for a while, to curl up in her body, but she felt like a scared child who had been abandoned by her parents.She began to resent God's injustice: Why didn't you take my soul first?She began to hate Edward, why leave me and die?She became angry with the child, angry with herself. I am only thirty-five years old, and I am already a widow with two children.I don't know exactly why.When I was Mrs. Edward Ashley, I had my ego.I belong to him and he belongs to me. The stars are moving, time is laughing at her emptiness, the car of her life is derailed, and there is nothing she can do about it. Florence, Douglas, and other friends and family were with her to make her feel at ease.Mary wanted them to go away and leave her alone.Florence came in one day and found her alone watching a Kansas State football game on television. “She didn’t know I was there,” Florence told her husband that night. “She seemed to put her whole body and soul into the game.” Florence shuddered. "why?" "Mary herself hates noisy football, but Edward is a fan!" When Edward died, many things were left behind.What wills, insurance, deposits, taxes, bills.There are also problems with Edward's medical diagnosis and treatment business, loans, fixed assets, profit and loss, and Mary is exhausted.Bank managers, lawyers, and accountants naturally flocked.Mary yelled at them, begging them to let her be quiet for a while. I can't help it, she cried.Before Edward's bones were cold, these guys came to talk about money.However, she still had to negotiate money with them. Frank Dunphy, Edward's accountant, said: "Mrs. Ashley, pay the bills, pay the estate tax, and spend most of the life insurance benefits. Your husband doesn't seem to care about the medical bills owed by patients. Others owe him A large amount of money, I am going to hire a collector to collect money from the debtor..." "No!" Mary urged angrily, "Edward will not allow this!" Dun Fei was puzzled: "Of course, that's fine too. Your current property is thirty thousand dollars in cash, plus this house. This house can be used as mortgage, if you want to sell..." "No, Edward doesn't want me to sell the house..." Mary sat still, stern, suppressing her grief.Deng Fei couldn't help admiring in her heart: "God, if my wife treats me like this, I will die in peace." The sadder thing is yet to come, and that is to clean up Edward's relics.Florence volunteered, but Mary refused, "Thank you, Edward wants me to organize things for him myself." They are all small gadgets, but each one arouses infinite emotions.A dozen pipes, an unopened can of tobacco, two pairs of spectacles, notes from medical lectures that he would never use again; she opened the closet and touched the suits that Edward would never wear again.The blue tie, which they had spent the last night together, had been tied around Edward's neck; his gloves, his scarf.These things kept Edward warm during the colder months.Now, he lies in a cold tomb, no longer able to enjoy tenderness.She carefully packed his razor, toothbrush, and motion-numbing machinery. She saw the love letters exchanged between the two, and she thought about others when she saw things.At the beginning of Edward's business, life was poor and poor. I remember that I couldn't afford turkey for Thanksgiving.Go picnicking in the summer and go sledding in the winter.Once they were pregnant with Beth, the two busied themselves reading poetry and playing classical music to their little one.When Tim was born, Edward wrote her a long, loving letter.The gilded apple was a gift from Edward when she first came to the podium, and each piece was full of true love between husband and wife, and she couldn't help tears welling up in her eyes.Edward's death was like a wicked trick played by a magician.Just now Edward was still alive, talking and laughing happily, making people love him, but suddenly he fell into mud and disappeared. I am a mature person and must accept reality; I am not a mature person and cannot accept reality.I really don't want to live on. Long nights of suffering, sleepless nights accompanied by a lonely lamp: go to Edward, end the torment of heart-breaking pain, and rest in peace in the dark, if it is really that simple, it will be fine.Mary thought sympathetically.But how can there be a happy ending?What awaits us is death.We finally found happiness, but it was taken away inexplicably.We are an abandoned spaceship, circling in the vast starry sky.The world is Dachau, and we are all suffering Jewish prisoners. She ended up confused.In the middle of the night, she screamed in shock. The children frightened and flocked to her room, got into her bed, and hugged her tightly. "You're not going to die, are you?" Tim whispered pitifully. Mary seemed to wake up from a big dream: I can't kill myself, the children need me.Edward will never forgive my suicide! live!For the children, for giving them the love that Edward could no longer give!Without Edward, we were left empty-handed and penniless, and had to live with each other for the rest of our lives.It is a great irony that Edward's death should make us mourn so much, as our days were so happy.We have thousands of reasons to miss him.The past is lingering and hard to get rid of, and the happiness of the past will never return.Full of anger, I asked the heaven, heaven, heaven, where are you?Can you hear my cry?Save me, save us! Lynn Lardner famously said: Since everyone must die, why not stop bickering and deal with things quickly. I must do something.I was so selfish and my behavior was so abnormal as if I was the only one suffering in this world.God is not just punishing me. Life is a huge treasure chest. At this moment, in the ends of the world, some people lose their children, some people fall off a cliff, some people are stealing incense and jade, some people are getting a haircut, and some people are tossing and turning in pain , Some people come on stage, some people are in disaster, some people are newlyweds, some people are starving.After all, aren't we all the same?Eternity is 100 million years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, every atom that made up our body was just a part of a star.God, look at me, we are nothing more than a part of your universe, and if we die, that part of the universe we represent dies with it. Edward is everywhere. He was in the soft singing that Mary heard on the radio, in the hills they drove through.Waking up at sunrise, he was lying beside Mary. Wake up early, honey: I'm going to operate on a woman patient and get a butt job done. His voice was very real, and she began to talk to it: Edward, I worry about the children.They don't want to go to school.Beth said she was so afraid that I would not be there when they came home. Mary's daily trips to the cemetery, where she stood silently in the cold, mourning for all that was lost forever, did not give her any comfort.You are not here.She was very disappointed and told me, where have you been? She remembered a story written by Margaret Yursiner called "Wang Hu Gets Saved".The story tells that there was a Chinese painter whose paintings were so beautiful, but the reality was very ugly. The emperor thought that he was bewitching the public with his deceitful words, and wanted to show his head to the public.So, the painter deceived the emperor again, drew a boat, and escaped by boat.I'm going to run too, Mary thought.I can't live without you, I'm standing here alone, my dear. Florence and Douglas reassured her: "He is at rest," and endlessly similar platitudes.Compassionate words are easy to say, but there is nothing to resolve.Doesn't work, never works. She often woke up in the middle of the night and hurried to the children's room to see if they were safe.They will die too, Mary thought horribly.We are all going to die.People walked on the street with calm expressions.Idiots are still laughing and happy, but they don't know that disaster is imminent and death is approaching.Their days are numbered, and they're still wasting time playing bad cards, watching boring movies, and watching pointless ball games.wake up!She really wanted to cry out: the earth is God's slaughterhouse, and we are all his lambs. Don't they know that they will all die badly, and their loved ones will suffer badly? She found the answer.The search was painful and slow, and achieved only by piercing the thick black veil of grief, and they certainly knew their fate.They played, they showed defiance, they laughed, they demonstrated bravery—an act of heroism rooted in a deep understanding that life is finite and fate is the same.As a result, her cowardice and resentment gradually melted away, and she began to wonder why her kind was so strong and courageous.I am so ashamed of myself, I must find my way out of the maze of the times.In the end, each of us is alone, but at the same time, we must stick together. The Bible says that death is not a final destination, but a transformation.So Edward hadn't left her and the children, he was here, somewhere. She talked to him: "Today I found Tim's teacher, and Tim's studies have improved a little. Beth has a cold and is bedridden. Remember, she gets sick every year at this season. Tonight, the Douglas family Invite us to dinner again, they treat people too well!" In the dark night, she added: "The dean stopped by our house. He asked me if I was going back to school? I told him not yet. I couldn't leave the children alone, even for a moment. They needed me so much. Yes. Do you think it would be better for me to go back to school and teach someday?" A few days later she told him: "Douglas has been promoted. Edward, he is now the head of the hospital staff." Could Edward hear her babbling?She is not sure.is there a godIs there an afterlife?Or just a myth? TS Eliot said: Without some kind of God, life would be too dull! President Paul Ellison, Stanton, and Floyd Baker gathered in the Oval Office.The Secretary of State said: "Mr. President, we are all under tremendous pressure. There can be no further delay in determining who will be the ambassador to Country A. I request that you study the list I have presented..." "Floyd, I am very grateful for your efforts. However, I always think that Mary Ashley is an ideal candidate. Her family circumstances have completely changed. Her misfortune may turn into our luck. I I still want to persuade her." Stanton Rogers volunteered: "Mr. President, I'm going to fly to convince her myself." "Try it!" Mary was making dinner when the phone rang.She picked up the headset and heard the operator say, "This is the White House. The President wants Mrs. Ashley on the phone." I don't want to be on the phone, Mary thought. I don't want to talk to anyone. She immediately remembered how excited she had been when the President called last time, and now it was meaningless.Still she said: "I'm Mrs. Ashley. But..." "Please wait……" After a while, a familiar voice came: "Ms. Ashley? I am Paul Ellison. First of all, please allow me to express my deep condolences for the death of your husband. I know he is a very good person." "Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for the wreath you sent him." "Mrs. Ashley, your husband has recently passed away, and I have no intention of disturbing you. However, in view of the new circumstances in your family, I beg you to give serious consideration to the ambassadorship again." "Thank you, but I can't..." "Hear me to the end. I have sent to you to confer with you. His name is Stanton Rogers. I would be most obliged if you could see him." She didn't know what to say.Can she explain to the President that her world has been turned upside down?Has her routine been shattered?Now, only Beth and Tim mattered to her.There was nothing she could do.Out of courtesy, she had to meet with the President's representative, and then tried to decline as politely as possible. "Mr. President, I will definitely see him, but my position cannot be changed." On Brevard Bingyi Avenue, there is a well-known bar.The guards of Marin Grossa, who guarded Villa Neuilly, often went to the bar as long as they were not on duty.Leo Pasternak also occasionally visited.Angel picked a table and sat down, where he could catch the conversation of the guards.The villa's routines were rigid and strict, and the guards wanted to drink a few sips as soon as they relaxed, and after a few drinks, the wine talk came up.Angel found loopholes in the villa through eavesdropping. There are always loopholes. The problem is to be careful. If a person is smart, he will find an opportunity to take advantage of. In three days, Angel found a solution to the problem from the conversation of the guards.One guard said: "I don't know what Grossa did to the whores they brought in? The whores must have knocked him out of his body. You could hear him screaming for life. Last week, I was in his wall. In the cabinet, I saw the whip for him..." On the second night, another one said: "...the wives brought in by our leader are all beauties. They are all obtained from various countries, and Lev handles them all. This guy is so smart that he never lets the same whore Come twice, this method prevents outsiders from using whores to harm Malin Grossa." This is exactly what Angel wants. In the early morning of the next day, Angel changed to a Fiat sedan and drove into Paris.In Montmartre, near the Pigalle Palace, there is a sex shop, which is a place where prostitutes and pimps are dense.Angel walked in, carefully studied the products in the store, and found that there were all kinds of wonders inside.He picked for a long time, and at least he settled on a six-foot-long braided leather whip.Angel paid cash, bought a whip and left. The next morning, Angel came to the shop again with the whip.The boss looked at him and said sharply, "No returns!" "I'm not here to return the goods," Angel hurriedly explained, "It's too embarrassing for me to carry this whip around. Can you send it to me? I'll pay for the postage!" That very afternoon, Angel flew back to Buenos Aires. The next day, the wrapped whip was mailed to Nai Villa.The doorman took the whip, verified the name and trademark of the store, and accepted it.The old guy has had enough of the whip. He gave the whip to another of Marin Grossa's guards and put it in the bedroom closet.