Chapter 35 Chapter 21

the next day. Mai Mai was uneasy at the company, and didn't even think about eating lunch. She only thought about the goods that were photographed in the "Witch's District" last night-wondering what I would receive today?The owner himself appears directly?An otaku with a wretched appearance, or a handsome guy with a good appearance?An ordinary house girl, or a charming crush? Whenever she immerses herself in these thoughts, she is often interrupted by the sharp voice of the supervisor, reminding her not to forget an important task.She works as an HR in a foreign company, with a monthly salary of 8,000 after tax—mostly contributed to Taobao.Fortunately, I don't have to work overtime all day like in the business department, but I have to act according to the boss's face, and I have to avoid offending my colleagues from time to time.Since she broke up with her ex-boyfriend, she has been pursued by two male colleagues. One asks her out to watch movies from time to time, and the other sends her delicious desserts every day.The most difficult thing to deal with was the vice president of the company, a man in his forties who often asked her out under the pretext of talking about human resources.Mai Mai is very careful every time, as long as it talks about things that have nothing to do with work, it will be muddled and perfunctory, and never let that guy drive her home.

Anxiously waiting until the end of get off work, I finally received the express delivery from "Witch's District". Different from the previous file bag, this time it is a square cardboard box, the size of an urn——haha, how can you make such a comparison?Maybe it's because of my father's funeral. When I got home, I struggled to open the cardboard box, and there was a bunch of waste newspapers stuffed inside, but I didn't see any photos, only an oval mirror. A mirror bought for a thousand dollars?I'm afraid it only costs ten yuan on the street stall. She held up the mirror in terror, expecting to see another face, or the owner's own?

Unfortunately, all she saw was her own face—the twenty-eight-year-old Tian Xiaomai, her bright eyes were slightly haggard, and the last baby fat had disappeared.She caressed this face with pity, turned the angle in front of the mirror, and saw the two sides of the cheeks respectively, and saw the seductive black hair behind the ears—it seemed that this was the only place that hadn’t changed in ten years, and it was still in Nanming Senior High School. Staying on the eighteen-year-old girl. The tip of her nose was sore, if it wasn't for the "Witch District" to help her restore her memory, she would not have recognized this face.

However, what she wants to see is not her own face, but the face of the "witch" hidden in the "witch area". Mai Mai quickly turned on the computer, found the last conversation from Ali Wangwang, and typed: "You lied to me!" After waiting a minute, the seemingly permanently online shopkeeper replied, "I didn't lie to you." She froze for a moment: "Mirror?" "You've seen my face." This made Mai Mai angry: "Treat me for an idiot?" "I think you're a smart guy." The witch is herself? "You will regret this!"

After typing this line fiercely, she directly gave the computer a hot start. Like a hungry beast, Wheat clenched his fists and walked back and forth. Although it was December winter, he was sweating all over his body—since the witch didn’t want to show her real body, someone would grab his (her) real body from! She picked up the phone, paused for a long time before pressing the dial: "Hello, is this Lao Wang?" "Wheat? How could it be you? Need help?" The voice of the policeman Old Wang came from the phone. Recently, he was in charge of Qian Ling's murder case. "I want to provide an important clue."

"Say it!" "The silk scarf that strangled Qian Ling—" After a pause, he gritted his teeth and said, "I know where I bought it!" She felt like a whistleblower, telling all about "Witch's Quarter". "Such an important clue, why didn't you say it earlier?" "Sorry, I thought you could buy that kind of silk scarf elsewhere." "Okay, thank you for supporting us in handling the case." "Don't hang up the phone yet!" Mai Mai's heart became heavier, and she said atonemently, "If you catch the owner of the 'Witch's Quarter', please notify me as soon as possible——I must see this person!"

"I promise you." The policeman Lao Wang hung up the phone, and Mai Mai threw the phone on the bed, feeling a gust of wind blowing over his back, and a hand reached him. She curled up on the bed and said to herself: "Did I betray the witch?" However, this was to find the murderer who killed Qian Ling. Unless, the witch is the murderer!Evil spirit? The city outside the window is already brightly lit, and it is difficult for Maimai to close her eyes calmly and see Nanming Senior High School ten years ago... In 2000, a spring evening. A desolate field in the suburbs, opposite Nanming Senior High School, a lonely small supermarket, dark and cramped shelves.

Tian Mai finally recognized him. This face——the face on the other side of the deep ditch, the dusk wilderness at the foot of Sheshan Mountain, the sad eyes glistening with tears, and the desperate back turning away. She thought that she would never see this face again, never think of this face again, just like a bird across the sky. "wheat." Before she could remember his name, he recognized her face almost at the same time, and whispered her name. Yes, that's him, that's the face. Although, the time has passed five years, enough to make a childish boy grow into a youth in full bloom.But there are always some things that cannot be changed, such as shy eyes, bewildered expressions, and strangers who are forever wandering.

He flipped on the light switch, illuminating their faces—he had grown a lot, almost as tall as Father Wheat.The eyebrows are grown like adults, the down on the mouth is thicker, and the chin and cheeks are a blue color, maybe it is about to use a razor. "autumn harvest?" She timidly replied - in 1995, in that hot summer, they lived under the same roof for a short time, because his mother was killed, and he was taken to her home while he was helpless, while her father was The police handling the case. Five years have passed, the murder case has not yet been solved, the evil spirit is still at large, the beautiful woman who was murdered has long been turned into dust, but the son of the deceased has quietly grown up.

"Hello." Eighteen-year-old Qiushou lowered his head, like a boy who just arrived five years ago, avoiding the gaze of a young girl, "Long time...long time no see." The girl who had just opened the cardamom back then is now a slim girl. She remembered the last time she met him, and the deep groove, and a strong pain came from deep in the bones of her calf. In Xiaomai's short memory, the most painful time in his heart was the death of his mother, and the most painful time in his body was caused by him!How can he still have the face to talk to me?Mai Mai's resentment towards him never subsided, and she couldn't help but lower her face and say, "I remember you! It was you who caused me to fall into the ditch!"

"Sorry." Unexpectedly, she was still obsessed with what happened five years ago, so Qiushou turned her face away in shame. "You put me in a cast for three months!" She just has a temper that is unreasonable and unforgiving, but the young man said softly to himself: "It's you who didn't listen to my advice and you must cross that ditch. I said it was very dangerous." "You still don't admit your mistake!" Wheat ran out of the small supermarket angrily. a month later. Spring is about to pass in the blink of an eye, and the college entrance examination will be in less than two months.In Nanming High School, a key city center, teachers and parents force students to study hard, and they have to stay for a long time for self-study every night. This is the last layer of hell. From after school to evening self-study, some bold students always ran out of the gate to buy something in the small supermarket opposite.Boys like comic books and football magazines, girls like snacks and small accessories.The supermarket is a private store operated by a franchisee. The uncle of the shopkeeper purchases the goods himself. They are all small things that students like, from colorful photo stickers to cheap glass bracelets and pendants.The necessities of life can only be bought here, such as things that are used every month, and I never blush when I buy them from the honest uncle. After school, Mai Mai and Qian Ling often come to the small supermarket together to buy some cheap things and delicious snacks, and sometimes they don't buy anything and just stroll around—the uncle can even call them by name. In the past month, except for the two days when she went home on weekends, she encountered autumn harvest almost every day. This eighteen-year-old boy always sits silently in a corner, watching everyone who passes by.After all, it is in the wilderness, and there are often people in small supermarkets who take sheep by the hand. His task is to stare at the shelves, and he has actually been caught by him twice. The high school students didn't pay much attention to the autumn harvest. Occasionally, a few girls looked at him a little more. Although they thought he was good-looking, they would say when they walked out of the supermarket, "Oh, that countryman is so rustic!" "I heard that he is the son of the shopkeeper's uncle." "A farmer is a farmer." In fact, Qiushou inside could hear these words, and he bowed his head in low self-esteem and endured the contemptuous gazes of his peers. Once, the uncle of the shop owner fell ill and had to be replaced by his son at the cashier.Mai Mai took the sanitary napkin from the shelf alone, but saw that it was a young man at the cash register.However, he had to use this thing today, and looking at Qiushou's appearance as a country bumpkin, he probably didn't even know what it was, did he?So, she bit the bullet and blushed, and walked to Qiushou with a sanitary napkin. Unexpectedly, Qiushou also lowered his head shyly at the moment when he scanned the barcode, so he knew.This made Mai Mai even more embarrassed, and quickly threw the money to the boy, took the change and ran out. The voice of the autumn harvest sounded behind him: "Hey! You haven't picked up the things you bought yet!" Mai Mai lowered her head and turned around, like a child who has done something wrong, picked up the sanitary napkin and ran away. A few days later, she missed an evening self-study, left Qian Ling and walked out of the school alone.Walk across the empty road under the moonlight and step into the quiet small supermarket.Usually no students come over at night, and occasionally nearby residents come to make soy sauce.It seems that the uncle's illness is still not recovering. The eighteen-year-old son is sitting at the cash register, holding a book with great concentration, and doesn't feel anyone coming in at all. "good evening." Mai Mai greeted unexpectedly, startling Qiushou, and dropped the book in her hand to the ground. It turned out to be a pirated edition, and she had read it two years ago. The boy put away his book and lowered his head. He was also surprised to meet Mai, and said lightly, "Hello." "I'm here to apologize to you." She lingered a few steps in front of the cashier, looking at the night outside, "I shouldn't have been so cruel to you." "It doesn't matter." "I just heard that the shopkeeper is your father, why did you come here?" "You are half a year younger than me, so I went to school a year earlier than you. Last year I took the college entrance examination in my hometown, but unfortunately I didn't pass the university entrance exam. It is very difficult for us to get into college in a small county. Shanghai is its own paper, so there is no comparison." It was the first time Xiaomai heard him talk so much, but he seemed to be mocking himself—children in big cities can go to college with mediocre grades, how can you imagine that children in small places are struggling in everything? But it must be admitted that what he said made sense, she nodded: "What a coincidence, your father's small supermarket is opposite my school." "It's not a coincidence." Qiushou returned to seriousness, "Five years ago, this was the grocery store opened by my mother." "Oh?" He looked at the ground calmly: "This is where the murder happened back then. She seems to have died where you are standing now." "Ah!" Mai Mai jumped to the door in fright, touched her heart, and widened her eyes, "Hey, aren't you trying to scare me as a prank?" "I'm gonna make fun of my dead mother?" She also felt that she had spoken too much: "I'm sorry." "In 1995, when my mother was killed, the grocery store had paid a year's rent in advance. My father felt sorry for the rent. He came to Shanghai that winter and reopened this small store. He opened it in his hometown. The grocery store is also doing well here. He renovated the store three years ago and joined a chain brand. After failing the college entrance examination last year, I was idle in my hometown and this year my dad asked me to come over to help him look after the store Here, don't be stolen again." Hearing so much again in one breath, Mai Mai said thoughtfully: "It's still a coincidence, I was admitted to Nanming High School, and I was admitted to the small supermarket opposite your father - no wonder my father objected to me studying here , it turns out that this may be the only case he has not solved." "I'll catch that demon." Before the young man finished speaking, a gust of wind blew open the glass door of the supermarket, and swept past Mai's neck, reminding her of the evil spirit that made her father spend countless sleepless nights. "I'm going back, goodbye!" She rushed out of the small supermarket quickly, never daring to look back at the murder scene five years ago. The moonlight shines on the face of the young man at the cash register in a small shop in the wilderness. The next day, after school. Teacher Murong called Mai Mai to stop again, and walked with her on campus.Still wearing a purple silk scarf, she flitted gracefully across the red flowers and green trees, attracting envious eyes from the students from time to time.Mai Mai was a little afraid of the silk scarf, not only because of the feeling of suffocation last time, but also felt that this silk scarf was too dazzling - as long as Tian Xiaomai stood beside Teacher Murong wearing the silk scarf, Tian Xiaomai would no longer be the focus of everyone's attention . "Accompany me to the opposite side to buy some things." The beautiful female teacher smiled slightly, and Maimai followed behind bravely.The two walked out of the school gate, crossed the road and came to the small supermarket.On the checkout counter was the shopkeeper's uncle. Mai Mai subconsciously turned her gaze, and saw the eighteen-year-old boy in the corner between the shelves. Mai Mai was embarrassed to talk to him in front of the teacher, as if it would embarrass herself?Qiu Shou glanced at her knowingly, then continued to squat in the corner to watch. Teacher Murong also saw the boy. She leaned on the shelf in Ana's posture, picked up a pack of chocolates, and uttered a series of crisp and pleasant voices: "Are you the son of the owner?" Qiushou raised his head again, but his eyes fell on Teacher Murong's silk scarf. Purple silk scarf. Charming and mysterious purple silk scarf with the smell of death. In the middle of the night in the summer of 1995, he was in the same place and saw the same silk scarf wrapped around his mother's neck—he watched his mother die and was strangled by such a purple silk scarf. die. The boy's gaze became like a wild beast, fixedly staring at Teacher Murong's neck, like staring at a delicious prey.Under the silk scarf was the teacher's towering chest, which made her quite embarrassed, and subconsciously stretched out her hand to block her chest. Although, as long as it is an individual, it will feel that this silk scarf is beautiful, as beautiful as the person wearing the silk scarf, but it has another meaning for the autumn harvest. Mai Mai also noticed his strangeness. Isn't he usually shy and introverted, and would bow his head when he sees a girl?Why is his eyes so frivolous when facing Teacher Murong at this moment? However, what made her even more unexpected was Teacher Murong's next performance. "What's your name?" The female teacher boldly approached the boy, forcing him to stand up and answer: "Autumn Harvest." "Autumn harvest?" "Ok." He still stared intently at the silk scarf, including the ups and downs of the teacher's chest. "Good name!" Teacher Murong didn't shy away from it anymore, he had seen that he was not malicious, "How old are you?" Wheat felt a little disgusted - the teacher was like asking how much is a catty of vegetables in the vegetable market? "Eighteen." Finally, he turned his eyes away from the silk scarf and answered honestly and shyly. "You really are a handsome boy!" This time it was Teacher Murong's turn to stare at him intently, and he just lifted the boy's chin to have a closer look. Qiushou lowered his head and ran away from her. In a blink of an eye, he has become a prey, and the beautiful female teacher has become a tiger. In the next few days, Teacher Murong often went in and out of the small supermarket, each time after evening self-study, so that she would not be seen by the students - but she didn't know that her favorite student was secretly observing by the school gate. Across Nanming Road under the moonlight, Mai Mai looked at the lights of the supermarket, and Teacher Murong approached the boy to talk.Every time she only bought a few small items, she would stay there for more than half an hour, brushing her hair over the boy's face intentionally or unintentionally.The teacher exudes the charm of a mature woman, and the charm of her gestures is by no means comparable to that of young girls like Mai Mai and Qian Ling—let alone a country boy like Qiushou, even the local young men cannot withstand such temptations. Tian Xiaomai felt ashamed of her. The teacher shouldn't be like this, and neither should Qiushou—she actually felt a little jealous, both for the teacher and the boy. At eight o'clock, the small supermarket closes early.Teacher Murong still lingered in the store, and seemed to be more active in chatting with Qiushou.The young man's expression is very shy. I'm afraid that since his mother was killed here, he has never had the opportunity to contact the mature opposite sex.He was sitting on the cash register, holding a guitar in his hand, and lowered his head to tune the strings.Teacher Murong sat expectantly on the side, with his hand on his chin in an alluring posture. Mai, who is hiding across the road, looks through the glass of the night and falls on the green and nervous face of Autumn Harvest.The eighteen-year-old boy wore cheap clothes, plucked the strings with his slender fingers, played a simple rhythm, and sang a song. I couldn't hear the lyrics at all, but I quickly heard it from the melody-"I'm a little bird". She has heard this song by Zhao Chuan before, and she still remembers the opening lines: "Sometimes I feel like a little bird, trying to fly but can't fly high. Maybe one day I perch on a branch but Becoming the target of a hunter, I flew to Qingtian to realize that I have no one to rely on..." Yes, that's how he sang, even though he didn't play the guitar very well.But on such a spring night, under the moonlight in the barren field, in a lonely closed small supermarket, the young man hugged the guitar with great emotion, strummed the strings with all his strength, and swayed with the fast and slow rhythm Body. Teacher Murong sat motionless, her eyes on the young man had turned into fascination, as if this small supermarket cash register had turned into a stage attracting everyone's attention, cheering the young man holding the guitar in unison. Playing to the last chorus, the voice of Autumn Harvest sang louder and louder, even overshadowing the sound of the guitar, Maimai vaguely heard a few words: "Everyone who knows my name, how are you... The world is so small and we Destined to have nowhere to escape..." After playing the last note, Qiushou put down the guitar, panting heavily from exhaustion.Teacher Murong took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off his forehead, but the young man was so embarrassed that he lowered his head and didn't dare to look at her.I don't know what they said again, the teacher walked out of the small supermarket, turned around and applauded the boy: "Go idol!" Teacher Murong disappeared into the night, the small supermarket finally turned off the lights, and the boy who could play the guitar could no longer be seen clearly. Moonlight shines on the wheat in the wilderness.