Chapter 22 Chapter Four

Two days later, Junping accompanied Xiaozi to Lanzi's funeral held in a suburban church.Xiaozi was hesitant because he didn't have clothes suitable for the funeral. Junping said to Xiaozi who was so timid: "The pain in the heart is not judged by the color of the clothes. If the manager dares to send you, I will definitely do it for you." You stand up!" Junping was rarely so violent. Sure enough, the manager saw Xiaozi's red T-shirt. "You, you, you should know some etiquette!" When he was about to pull Xiaozi out of the line of spectators, Junping immediately took a big step, "I'm her bodyguard!"

Just such a threat, the manager turned pale and fled into the crowd.At this moment, the small church in the forest is being crowded with movie fans and crowds. White roses were sprinkled on the coffin, and Xiaozi's tears dripped down.The fingers of Lanzi's clasped hands on her chest have melted into the darkness of death, but on her face, which is covered with bright red lipstick and buried deep in flowers, there is still a serene and peaceful smile that seems to be chasing fragrance in a dream. When he got to the stone wall of the gate, Xiaozi finally couldn't control himself, so he threw himself into Junping's arms and wept.Just when Junping was at a loss, Akang just walked over.Xiaozi let go of Junping, threw herself into Akang's broad chest, and cried even louder.Akang calmly patted Xiaozi's shield on the shoulder to comfort her.

Waiting for Xiaozi to stop crying. "Si, on the night of the incident, Lanzi should have been wearing a ring on stage, but where is that ring now? In the coffin, there is no ring on her finger!" "Ah! That's it! —— Her bereaved family should have taken it down for safekeeping!... That diamond ring is indeed worth nearly ten million won!" "Think! When she was backstage, she was always worried that the diamond would fall off!..." "Yes! The diamond fell beside the corpse. It was picked up by the young director named Yasuda." Coincidentally, Yasuda was about to climb the ladder at this time.

Yasuda, who was thin and thin, was tightly wrapped in a double-breasted dress, and seemed to recognize the three people, but Jiao didn't even say hello, and disappeared into the church with his head lowered as if buried in his long hair. "Antian is still very suspicious!" After Akang left, Junping told Xiaozi who was wiping away his tears with the cuff of his T-shirt. "But, Yasuda has an alibi." "There are many ways to fabricate, and I have a doubt that cannot be solved." "what?" "It's the door in the middle of the stage. The pieces fall on the auditorium, which is beyond comprehension."

Before he finished speaking, Junping suddenly yelled "Ah!" "What's wrong!" "Beiyuan—nuan! Look at that tree." Junping pointed to a tall fir tree behind the crowd.Behind the tree trunk was the figure of a man in a raincoat.The man hid his face with the skirt of his clothes, and secretly glanced at the entrance of the church. Just as Junping was pulling Xiaozi closer, Beiyuan just turned around and walked towards the station along the middle road in the forest.The two who followed him stopped Beiyuan when he was buying a train ticket to Xigu at the ticket gate.

Bei Yuan, who turned around following the sound, seemed to think that Junping was a criminal policeman.Just when he was about to escape, Junping had already firmly grasped Beiyuan's wrist. "We are not police officers, but..." Xiaozi and Junping took turns to explain, finally reassuring Beiyuan. "Understood, if you don't disclose it to the police, I will tell you the truth." He cowardly lowered his face, which was too pale from being in prison for a long time.When the three of them walked into the teahouse, Beiyuan was extremely surprised that Junping and the two knew almost completely about the relationship between Lanzi and him.Finally, tears welled up in his eyes:

"Lanzi is a good man, really a good man." "Lanzi doesn't have the slightest love for me. The incident 25 years ago was also the result of my unrequited love. She is not responsible. Even so, for the past 25 years, she has always maintained the habit of meeting once every six months. Even if there are more chores, it won’t change... Lanzi was the happiest thing I got out of prison this time. Just ten days ago, he sent the ticket to the play. He told me that it was to congratulate me on my release from prison after serving my sentence. And I must go to the stage play... Lanzi that night was really beautiful. Dozens of times more beautiful than before... But when I was admiring her beauty, I suddenly realized that I have nothing to do with her I am a stranger, her beauty is always beyond reach, I have this feeling, so I left halfway, and my twenty-five years in prison have changed my feeling towards her... So, the one who killed her The person is definitely not me. I also hate the person who killed her!"

"Then why are you running from the police?" "If the police knew that I was there at the time of the murder, they would definitely not let me go. I got a job because of a friend's introduction. Even if I was wrongly implicated in the case, it would add unnecessary trouble to this friend." "You should not leave until the end of the play." Xiaozi interjected, "Lanzi only performed that scene for one person. He stood on the stage only for you to enjoy alone. For Lanzi, the audience is only you. That's all." Kitahara wiped away the tears shed for those words with his wrist.His hair has begun to be mixed with gray hair, but his appearance, as if he has not experienced twenty-five years of prison, still has the breath of youth.Twenty-five years ago, the young man who committed murder for the sake of a woman was in sight.Junping thought: His tears showed the truth in his words.

On the same day, the two returned to Tokyo on the first bus in Kitahara. As dusk grew darker, Junping still didn't want to go back to his residence, so he invited Xiaozi to the Mingqu Tea House next to the train station. "But, do you have any money on you?" When she said this, she took out all her pockets, only two coins remained. "So let me tell you! You go in and wait, and I'll come back with money in about an hour." Before Junping could answer, Xiaozi had already run towards the train station. This is a very special store.The walls are full of records and there is nothing else to decorate, and the huge stereo inside oppresses the atmosphere of the store.Junping chose the old seat by the window next to the stereo and sat down.The table is decorated with yellow calamus.The piano music flows gently, trembling the petals.It was Chopin's "Farewell Song".Listening to the beautiful melody of the farewell song, Junping recalled Shoko Miyagawa, whom he hadn't seen since that day in midsummer.Shen Mian recalled for a while, Junping frowned.It turned out that there were noises in the music. Junping was very sensitive to noises, so he got up to check the turntable.

The running record had severe cracks visible to the naked eye.How bad!Junping thought to himself, suddenly, a burst of inspiration emerged, and he yelled "Ah!"The waitress turned around in surprise.In order to cover up his gaffe, Junping went to his seat as if nothing had happened, and leaned against the window, while gazing at the night scene, with his arms folded, while meditating. About an hour later, Xiaozi returned unharmed, sat down with an indifferent expression, and patted the pocket of his jeans: "I made it! You can order whatever you want." Junping said that he didn't need anything, and Xiaozi ordered sandwiches, curry rice and salad for himself.When the curry rice was served on the table, Xiaozi seemed to finally notice that there was something different in Junping's expression.

"What's wrong?" "I understand!—the reason why Yasuda wanted to shoot Lanzi." Xiaozi bit his spoon and was stunned. "Really? You lied!" "No, I can explain everything." "Antian has an alibi." "The time when Lanzi was killed was not when the mysterious man fired the bullet. The man who was only seen has nothing to do with this incident." "Then why didn't that guy come out and explain? If he's innocent..." "Because he already knew that he was listed as a suspect by the police, it is difficult to explain and clarify. I think the person who plays the shadow may be one of Lanzi's five former fiancées, and Yasuda also thinks so. ——And Yasuda is that play The screenwriter and director who knows the plot and lighting position of the whole play before the play is staged, he is the only one who can grasp these advantages and set up a perfect murder plan." "If the bullet that killed Lanzi was not fired from the gun held by the man who saw the figure, then when did Yasuda shoot Lanzi?" "The moment before entering the lighting room—that is, the moment Lanzi is about to shoot through the glass door." "Where did you shoot?" "The auditorium. At that time, Yasuda was sitting in Kitahara's seat. When the curtain was lowered and the audience was in a commotion, I felt that there was a figure in that position, so I focused my eyes on it, but there was no one there. But, I would feel this way, Perhaps it was the intuitive reaction of Yasuda quietly taking his seat while admiring the performance on the stage. Yasuda fired the bullet when Lanzi raised his gun to aim at the glass." "Wait a minute! But after that, Lanzi is still alive! She's going on for two or three minutes!" "The bullet hit a position slightly away from Lanzi's heart. As far as I know, Lanzi was seriously injured during a stage performance, but endured the experience of performing a complete play. What Yasuda bet on was Lanzi's professional ethics as an actor He thought to himself, even if something big happens, she will support her until the last moment, and never give up the performance!..." "So, five or six minutes after being shot, Lanzi must have turned pale and trembled—hey, wait, so Lanzi didn't pull the trigger of the gun in his hand at all?" "Exactly. It was Yasuda's bullet fired from the auditorium that shattered the glass." "However, if what you said is true, why are there no bullets in the auditorium? Moreover, assuming Lanzi hadn't pulled the trigger, there should still be bullets in the gun picked up by the man's figure! At that time, the man did shoot at Lanzi. Shoot, in this way, there must be two bullets in Lanzi's body!" "We can infer that both Lanzi and the man pulled the trigger, but no bullets were fired—" "But it's true that the gun was loaded with a cartridge!" "That's right, but if the trigger is broken, wouldn't the bullets not be able to fly out? Yasuda didn't fix the damaged trigger, on the contrary it made it even more damaged." "Ah!" Xiaozi called out in a low voice. "It makes sense, right? Yasuda prepared a pistol of the same type and caliber as the stage props in advance. Before the scene was staged, he fired a shot at the audience, and the remaining bullet hit Lanzi. Then, taking advantage of the When everyone realized the commotion and chaos when Lanzi was really shot, they exchanged the two guns." "Wait! How do you explain the glass shards? Junping, you have also asked A Kang, so you know that the glass shards did fall on the audience's house. If Yasuda fired from the side of the audience, the shards should fall in the opposite direction. Is it reasonable?" "This is the most difficult doubt, but I finally figured it out. Look at this record!" Jun Ping pointed to the turntable that was still spinning. "On that stage is a huge phonograph." "What are you saying?" "There is another circular half-cut stage on the stage." "Rotate the stage." "Thinking! The day before yesterday, I saw that the city tower was transformed into a teahouse in less than a minute, and I was already puzzled. ——The stage setting on the night of the incident was very simple. There were dining tables and stoves in the corner, and the revolving stage in the center Only the glass door is placed. And it is placed in the center. Yasuda only needs to turn the revolving stage half a circle before the police arrive after hearing the news." Xiaozi frequently looked at Junping's head. "It's too good! Your head. That's why you are bald before you are old! ——I'm going to call Akon and tell him your reasoning!" Junping stopped her from getting up. "No, I'd like to think about it more carefully - what's more, if you don't fully grasp the evidence of Yasuda's shooting, you can't win people's trust..." "Si, that's right!" Xiaozi sat back on his seat, looked at the wall clock, and stood up again. "I have an appointment with college students from the drama department tonight, and it's still a little earlier than the appointed time, but it's time to go."