Chapter 9 Chapter nine

He rode a heavy bicycle down the mountain as if he was sleepwalking. He didn't pinch the brakes. He thought it would be better to just fall to his death. The northeast wind was blowing head-on, his clothes were bulging, his stomach was cold, and his ears were whistling. As if flying through the clouds, the garbage bag on the back seat of the car opened its mouth, and dirty paper and plastic bags exploded behind it, flying all over the sky.On the road around the lake, even the anti-cancer star was gone.A flock of gray swans circled the lake, as if choosing a place to land.A layer of ice had formed on the lake, and the ice was covered with loess.He cycled numbly into town.The street lamps have been lit, and the sound of broken glass is frightening from time to time.A police car that didn't honk its horn and slid past at the traffic lights scared him so much that he almost fell off his bicycle.

He came to the door of his apprentice Lu Xiaohu in a daze, and just as he raised his hand to knock on the door, he saw a picture pasted on the door panel, which showed a boy glaring at others.He turned around and wanted to escape, but saw his apprentice coming up from the corridor carrying a naked chicken.The dim light in the stairwell shone on the pale, pimpled skin of the dead chicken, making the old skin on his body suddenly look like chicken skin.His leg was weak, and the fractured place seemed to have been stabbed by an awl, causing him to sit down on the stairs in pain.Lu Xiaohu was stunned for a moment, and asked anxiously, "Master, why are you here?"

He was like a little boy who had been greatly wronged and suddenly saw his father, with trembling lips and tears rolling down his face. "What's the matter, Master?" The apprentice quickly stepped forward and pulled him up, "What happened?" His knees went limp, and he knelt at the door of his apprentice's house, crying bitterly, "Little Hu, something is wrong!" Xiao Hu hurriedly opened the door, pulled him up and dragged him into the room, and arranged him to sit on the sofa. "Master, what happened? Did Master die?" "No," he said weakly, "it's a thousand times worse than your mistress dying"

"What happened?" Xiao Hu asked anxiously, "Master, you are going to scare me to death!" "Little Hu," he said, wiping away his tears, sobbing, "Master has caused a disaster." "Tell me, what's the matter?!" "A man and a woman went in at noon, and they haven't come out yet." "I'll charge more money if I don't come out," Xiao Hu said with a sigh of relief, "Isn't this a good thing?" "What a good thing, they died inside" "Dead!" Xiao Hu was taken aback, the thermos bottle in his hand almost fell to the ground, "How did he die?"

"I don't know how I died" "You saw them dead?" "I didn't see them die" "You didn't see them die, how do you know they are dead?" "They must be dead. They went in for three hours. At first the woman was still crying, but then there was no sound at all." He let the apprentice look at his broken hand and said, "I smashed the door, knocked on the window, shouted , the handles were smashed, there was no sound in the car shell, there was no sound at all." Xiao Hu put down the thermos bottle, sat on the wooden stool opposite the sofa, took out a cigarette case from his pocket, took out a cigarette, lit it, took a sip with his head down, raised his head, and said, "Master, don't worry." His Hands groping nervously on thighs looking hopefully into the apprentice's face.Xiao Hu took out a cigarette and handed it to him and lit it for him, saying: "Maybe they fell asleep in it, and people tend to get sleepy after doing this."

"Don't give me relief pills," he said sadly, "My dear apprentice, my fingers are almost broken, and my voice is hoarse. Even a dead person wakes me up, but there is no movement inside. " "Would they sneak away while you weren't looking? It's entirely possible, master. In order not to pay the money, people can come up with all kinds of strange tricks." He shook his head and said: "Impossible, absolutely impossible, the iron gate is locked from the inside, besides, I have been watching, not to mention two big living people, even two mice coming out of it, I can see it." "

"I remembered when you mentioned the rats," Xiao Hu said. "They probably dug a tunnel and escaped." "Good apprentice," he said weepingly, "don't talk about these useless things, hurry up and help the master find a way; the master is begging you!" Xiao Hu lowered his head to smoke, and there were many wrinkles on his forehead.He stared intently at his apprentice's face, waiting for the apprentice to make up his mind.Xiao Hu raised his head and said: "Master, let me go to hell with this matter, anyway, you have earned some money, and next spring will come, let's think of another way to make money!"

"Good little Hu, two lives!" "We didn't kill the two lives. What can we do if they want to die?" The apprentice said angrily, "What kind of bird people are these?" "It looks like two educated people, maybe two cadres." "Then don't bother with them. People like this must be having extramarital affairs, and no one will sympathize with them if they die!" "But," he murmured, "I'm afraid the master can't get rid of the responsibility, and the dead body can't be buried in the snow, so the Public Security Bureau can find out the master without much effort."

"What do you mean? Do you still want to report the crime?" "Little Hu, I've thought about it over and over again, an ugly daughter-in-law will inevitably see her in-laws" "You really want to report the crime?!" "Maybe, they can be saved." "Master, aren't you on fire!" "Good apprentice, don't you have a cousin who works in the Public Security Bureau? Take me to surrender." "master!" "Apprentice, master, I beg you, ask your cousin to help, if you just let it go, master will not be able to sleep for the rest of his life."

"Master," Xiao Hu said solemnly, "Have you thought about the consequences? It's not so upright for you to do this. You can be sentenced to two years if you find any law. Even if you are not sentenced, you will have to be fined. Those who The fines are so severe, I’m afraid you won’t be enough to pay all the little money you earn this summer and autumn.” "I admit it," he said bitterly, "I don't want the money anymore, even if the master asks for stuttering, he won't do this kind of thing anymore." "What if they want to sentence you?" said the apprentice.

"Please ask my cousin for mercy," he said weakly with his head down, "If you really want to be sentenced, master will just make a bag of rat poison and swallow it." "Master, master!" Xiao Hu said, "The apprentice was bragging to give you courage. How can I have a cousin in the Public Security Bureau?" He was numb for a few minutes, sighed, stood up tremblingly, carefully put out the cigarette butt in his hand in the ashtray, glanced at the apprentice who was tilting his head and looking at the wall, and said, "Then I won't trouble you." He limped toward the door. "Master, where are you going?" He looked back at his apprentice and said, "Little Hu, you and I are master and apprentice. After I leave, if you can take care of your teacher's wife, go and see her. If you can't take care of it, forget it." He stretched out his hand and opened the door, and the cold wind in the corridor blew in front of him.He shivered, holding on to the dusty railing of the stairs, he walked towards the dark corridor. "Master, wait for me." He turned around and saw his apprentice standing at the door, the light from the room illuminated his face like a layer of gold powder, and he heard the apprentice say, "I'll take you to find me." Cousin."