Chapter 4 Chapter Four

On this day, Horizawa didn't come back until midnight. Masako heard the car stop in front of the apartment several times.He strained his ears to listen, but the footsteps disappeared in another direction.The tenants of this apartment are all well-off, and there are not a few people who come home by car late at night. Horizawa's footsteps going upstairs are characteristic. "Rodden, Rodden" one step at a time, even if there is an urgent matter, he will not quicken his pace. That night, Horizawa smelled like alcohol as usual. "You're back." Changzi went forward to meet him.

"Aren't you asleep yet?" Horizawa saw Masako, sat down on the wicker chair, and stretched his legs, which was his expression when he was exhausted. "give me a glass of water." Changzi handed over the water glass, and her husband gulped it down. Changzi stared at her husband slowly taking off his tie, and felt that her husband looked a little decadent. "Lingzi is here today." Masako said as she tidied up her husband's coat. "Really?" The husband showed no expression. "Anything special?" "No. She came to play." The husband said nothing.As if he hadn't read the evening paper yet, he picked up the evening paper and read it enthusiastically.

This man hadn't read the evening paper until midnight, so he didn't know what he was up to.What did her husband be passionate about, aroused Masako's interest. "It's rare, how did Lingzi come?" The husband's eyes moved to the headline of the newspaper. "Hmm..." Seeing her husband's indifference, Changzi couldn't bring himself to speak. "What! I came here by the way after playing around." "Well. She has a lot of fun!" "If going to a healthy place is another matter, I heard that she also goes to nightclubs!"

The husband flicked through the newspaper, "What? A nightclub?" Then his eyes fell on another page. "Where's the nightclub?" "I don't know. They said someone took her there." Masako saw her husband's eyeballs flickering. "Honey, nightclubs are expensive." "Yes. Very expensive." The husband replied nonchalantly. "Depending on the venue, the price is different. The first-class nightclub is too expensive. I don't know who brought Ling Zi there." Horizawa seems to be interested in this. "It's said to be an elderly person. Lingzi called him uncle. She also said it's all right. It's really worrying."

"She may be very interested in herself! Young people can't go to those places. Of course, she can only be taken by older people. I don't know what kind of person she is?" Horizawa asked. "My sister didn't say anything." Horizawa said "Hey" and read his newspaper in general. Changzi hadn't planned to reveal that her sister had seen her husband in a nightclub at the beginning, she just wanted to know if her husband had noticed Lingzi.As a result, the husband did not respond. "Do young people like my sister go to nightclubs?" Masako asked.

"You can't say no!" The husband replied in a roundabout way. "However, nightclubs are not as unhealthy as you might imagine. Judging from Lingzi's personality, she seems to be dissatisfied with associating with her peers. Therefore, she naturally associates with those older people. Of course, the other party will not be a Human." "From her tone, it seems so." "Then you don't have to worry about it. Both parties are playing for fun. I don't know which nightclub she went to?" Horizawa was a little concerned. "Are you familiar with nightclubs?"

"I can't say I'm familiar with it. I've been there once or twice." "Pretty expensive isn't it?" "Stop talking silly." The husband folded the newspaper. "If I went, I didn't pay out of my own pocket. The minister or the section chief spent money." The husband used bragging instead of excuses. "I'm not very interested. But if the boss asks me to go, I can't say no!" The minister or section chief is an elderly middle-aged person.They took Horizawa as their company so that Horizawa could seduce women when he was young.

Changzi remembered what his sister had said: "My brother-in-law is very close to the waitresses!" This sentence did not move Changzi's feelings.But the thought of a husband taking pride in having fun with his boss is a bit sickening. It seems that a wife should not have such a mood.The average woman is angry when she hears that her husband is hanging out with other women, but she should be happy that her husband is getting close with his boss. the next day. Changzi went to the food store downstairs of the apartment and was about to go upstairs after shopping, when he saw two men walking up the stairs side by side.The two hadn't met before.

This apartment is very big, and there are always strangers coming and going in and out.Changzi walked up as if nothing had happened.The two men in front may have heard her footsteps, and suddenly turned to look at her.The two were about thirty years old, and when they saw Changzi, they exchanged a few words in a low voice. Because the two stopped, Masako had to brush past them.One of the men asked: "I'm sorry. Madame, do you live on the fourth floor?" The two looked at Masako's face. "No, I live on the third floor." Changzi thought the two were visiting someone's house on the fourth floor.

"Really?" The two exchanged glances. "I'm sorry." The two nodded slightly, leaving Changzi behind and went upstairs.The suits these two wore were not high-end, maybe the insurance company was out on the street, but they didn't carry any purses in their hands. Changzi returned to the room, fumbled east and west, and it was almost noon.Someone knocked lightly on the door.When I opened the door, it turned out to be the wife next door. "Come in!" Masako opened the door to let her in. "Excuse me, okay?" The neighbor's wife smiled politely.

"It's okay. Come in!" "Really? So annoying." The neighbor's man works at a publishing house.Come back very late every day.The wife has no children, and she panics in her idle heart. "Please don't make a fuss!" When Changzi prepared black tea for her, his wife quickly stopped him: "I can't sit still." "Don't be busy! Sit for a while." The neighbor's wife was ten years older than Masako.If the service is not good, she doesn't know what to say outside.She has a flushed face and two thin lips. "Ma'am, let me tell you! The woman who committed suicide on the fourth floor..." "Uh, what's the matter with her!" "Just now the criminal police from the police station came to investigate." The freckled face of the neighbor's wife was full of interest. "what--" Immediately before Changzi's eyes, the corpse carried downstairs on a stretcher appeared.The blanket-wrapped corpse was particularly ugly and left a deep impression on her. "Because she committed suicide and died a little strangely." "So what?" "I seemed to tell you that day. She didn't leave a suicide note. The police authorities thought her death was a bit strange, and the criminal police came to investigate her living conditions before she was alive. Especially if there was any abnormality on the day before her death, they usually say What happened, ask the bottom line. Everyone on the fourth floor has been asked." Masako thought of the two men she had just met when she came back from shopping.If I answered that it was on the fourth floor, I might be asked about it too. "Ma'am, the deceased was 'No. 2', we already knew that. But the police haven't found her man yet." The neighbor's wife talked more and more vigorously. "Then the fourth floor should understand the situation!" "No, I don't know for sure. Some of them have only met once, and no one wants to meddle in their own business. Her man came very late at night and left in the middle of the night. No one has ever heard her talk about herself. The man. So the detective tilted his head and left without knowing anything.” "yes?" The suicide did not leave a suicide note, which aroused the suspicion of the police who came to investigate the truth.Changzi thought how unfortunate it was for that woman to have such a man who came late at night and sent him away in the middle of the night.After committing suicide, she was suspected by the police. Her fate was too tragic. "—Madam, I also heard that the lady who committed suicide had another young man." These words seemed to have pierced Changzi's chest with an awl. "Uh?--" "Everyone on the fourth floor knows. We don't know the situation on the third floor. I couldn't help being shocked when I heard it." Changzi's face suddenly changed, and in an instant, Jim's figure appeared in front of his eyes, as if he was hurriedly walking down from the fourth floor. "Hey, ma'am!" The neighbor's wife was satisfied with Masako's reaction. "It seems that there must be some changes. You see, she still has such a young man!" "Is this true?" Masako asked involuntarily. "Everyone on the fourth floor said so. It's true. I heard that the young man comes once every two weeks." Changzi couldn't help being startled when he heard this. Jim didn't seem to have been in the apartment since then.In this way, he comes once every two weeks. Of course, that young man is not necessarily Jimu.However, Masako was definitely him. "Before the police came to investigate, they seemed to have learned that she had such a young man." "yes?" "Yes, the police asked me several times." "The people on the fourth floor should know more details." "They don't know too well, so they dare not talk nonsense. If anyone is involved in a suicide case, it will cause trouble." Satisfied to see Masako surprised by her words, the neighbor's wife stood up and left. A few days ago, when the woman on the fourth floor committed suicide, he once told her husband that Jim's shadow flashed across her mind at the same time.Now, after hearing what the neighbor's wife said, his image became clearer. She always felt that the young man was Jimu. What is the causal relationship between Jim and the woman who committed suicide on the fourth floor? The neighbor's wife and the housewife on the fourth floor must be imagining that Jim had a special relationship with the woman who committed suicide.The unknown cause of death of the suicide must be related to Jim. Changzi originally planned to do something in the afternoon, but now he stood there in a daze. However, on reflection, this is not worth worrying about.Because Jim and Masako had nothing to do with each other in the first place. Jim was just a friend of her husband and had only met once before they got married. No, you can't say that. The problem is that Horizawa and Yoshiki have a quarrel. The husband doesn't want to mention him.Yoshiki often comes to the fourth floor of this apartment, but he doesn't know that Horizawa lives in this apartment.Why does the husband avoid Jim?Changzi had doubts before, and the mysterious suicide of the woman on the fourth floor made Changzi even more uneasy. In the evening of this day, my husband unexpectedly came back very early. In recent days, he came back very late every day, but today he got home before six o'clock, which made Masao feel unreasonable. The surprise was not only because he came back early, but what was even more surprising was that the moment her husband saw Changzi, he suddenly said: "Hey! We're moving out of this apartment!" Changzi was baffled. "Move in two or three levels, get ready." Horizawa's expression was serious, and he looked very anxious. "Yo, what's going on here?" Masako stared at her husband's face, dumbfounded. "Why do you want to move?" Horizawa had said that he liked the apartment before, and he never said he was dissatisfied.He also said that the transportation here is convenient. "No, I've had enough!" However, it has not been long! "Isn't it nice here?" "No, I want to move and change the environment." Horizawa insisted: "In short, I want to move. You don't have to half-heartedly." "Any other good apartments?" "No, haven't found it yet. Looking for it right away." "You came in such a hurry, I couldn't turn the corner for a while. Why are you dissatisfied here?" Masako's questioning was justifiable, but Horizawa ignored it at all. "Don't talk about it, I will move if I say so. You just follow along." "But……" "Don't be too wordy. I can do what I want. Don't object to me too much." Jue Ze frowned.This is the expression he often has when he is unhappy. The newly moved apartment is in the suburbs. This apartment is newer than the one I lived in before, but the equipment is simple.The nearby residents are sparse, and there are fields and miscellaneous forests around. Looking out from the window on the third floor, you can see the endless fields. The station of the privately managed railway is very close to the apartment. Walking from the station, there are farmhouses with thatched roofs along the way, and there is open land besides. It was Horizawa who found this apartment, and it was Horizawa who decided to move immediately.Changzi is not allowed to argue. Masako didn't know why he moved?Horizawa's sudden boredom of the apartment he lived in was obviously an excuse. "How is it? It's very comfortable here!" The husband said to Masako looking out at the woods and fields from the window. Yes, the scenery here is not bad.Living in the city center, there is hardly a green leaf in sight.Even if there is, it is artificial and quite weak.Unlike the natural forest here, it is refreshing. ―In the evening, the miscellaneous forests and fields turn into a golden color under the brilliance of the setting sun. Why did Horizawa move here?Changzi didn't understand.He didn't fancy this place, but returned the previous apartment and found here temporarily.Masako didn't want to ask him, but when he asked, Horizawa immediately became unhappy, and the reason for Horizawa's decision to move was beyond Masako's imagination. She thought her husband didn't know that Jim had been to the previous apartment.However, Horizawa suddenly decided to move this time, and she always felt that it was related to Yoshiki. Of course, Horizawa never revealed anything to Masako.Changzi always felt uneasy.Horizawa never revealed his inner world to Masako.Masako felt this way when she first got married, and it became even stronger when the two lived together.It cannot be said that Horizawa has "secretism" ideas, at least he is not cheerful enough.Masako couldn't figure out what he was thinking. Judging from this alone, Horizawa was a bureaucratic type of person. This time he moved, he only said that living in that apartment was enough.But there must be an ulterior reason behind Horizawa's determination.Although it cannot be said to be related to Jimu, it cannot be said to be completely unrelated.Changzi didn't argue with him precisely because she was also annoyed with Jim. The incomprehensible estrangement between Horizawa and Yoshiki, as well as the little secrets in Changzi's heart made Masago feel uneasy.She regretted that she should have told her husband that Jim had been at the apartment and that it would have been all right.She didn't dare to say it then, and it's even more difficult to say it now. The husband's sudden decision to move must have something to do with the female suicide on the fourth floor and Jim's appearance.Otherwise, why the sudden decision to move a few days after the suicide?Horizawa didn't say anything, but Masako was worried that her husband must have heard that Jim had come to this apartment somewhere else. This is what happened a week after the move. The younger sister Lingzi came to visit unexpectedly. "elder sister." As usual, Lingzi barged in lively and frightened Changzi. Since moving, my mother has not been here yet.Before moving, Changzi went back to her natal home to tell her mother, and drew a sketch of the new house for her.She herself has not returned to her natal home. Therefore, Changzi was really taken aback by Lingzi's visit.I used to live in the city center, but my new house is far away from the city center, so I have to transfer to a tram, which takes at least an hour. Changzi didn't expect Lingzi to come to this inconvenient place so soon. "Oh, what's the matter with you?" Changzi stood at the door, staring at his sister and grinning. "I came here by car. I just passed by here, so I bent over to see my sister." Lingzi said quickly. "Ride? With whom?" "My friend, wait outside!" "You child, why are you acting so recklessly? Invite them here quickly." My sister scolded. "They were a little embarrassed." "What kind of person?" "Look! Didn't I tell you before? It's the uncles!..." "Ah!—" Changzi was momentarily speechless. Lingzi giggled nonchalantly. "...I know I will be reprimanded by you, so I dare not come, don't worry! There is a woman as a companion!" "What are you doing!" Changzi couldn't help but stare. "Nothing. They invited me out for a drive, so I followed. I walked around the Linshan Reservoir and then went back. Sister, it's rare to come, why don't you go out and see it too!" Changzi didn't answer: "Sister, why are you pouting. Aren't you worried about me? Go out and see what kind of person you are, and you can rest assured." Lingzi said coquettishly. "I will not go." Changzi frowned, she was a little angry at her sister's unscrupulousness. "I will not go." "Don't talk like that. Go out and see. I've bragged about you so much. They all want to see you, and it would be rude of you not to go." "What did you say?" Masako restrained her inner anger and considered her sister's situation.Besides, it's a good opportunity to see what kind of people my younger sister Zhujing associates with. Masako returned to the house, and hurriedly groomed herself in front of the mirror. "Don't be too busy, dress up well. I really advertised my sister!" "Don't talk nonsense." Masako was a little annoyed at her sister's teasing.But things can no longer be said no longer. The younger sister didn't care when she saw her elder sister sullenly. "Please!" The younger sister walked in front and jumped downstairs. Masako followed her. In bright sunlight, my sister's white suit will be particularly eye-catching.A little farther away, a slender green car was parked. A man and a woman stood in front of the car.The man was wearing a white hunting suit and a pair of golf shoes. He was fat and tall.The woman next to him was wearing black tights and a red shirt. Changzi felt the blood all over his body rushing to his face.The younger sister waved to her. Changzi approached.The man and woman also came towards this side.Ling Zi stood in the middle and smiled. "This is my sister." Lingzi introduced to the two guests.The man took off his hat and nodded slightly.The woman just smiled. "This is Mr. Otomo Ryosuke, the manager of the company." The younger sister introduced the woman again: "This is Ms. Ono Kikuko, a reporter from the magazine." The man in the hunting suit was about fifty-two or three years old.With very light eyebrows, squinted eyes, thick lips, and a cute smile, he greeted Changzi skillfully. "Is it Lingzi-jun's older sister? My name is Otomo Liaosuke. I forgot to bring my business card. I'm sorry. Thanks to Lingzi-jun for always taking care of me..." Masako said cautiously: "I am Masako Horizawa, Reiko's older sister. Thank you for taking care of my sister." "No, no, I don't dare to do it. It's Lingzi who takes care of me..." Saying that, Otomo Liaojie burst out laughing. A woman in leggings walked towards Masako.It seems that he is about thirty years old, with short hair, a slender face, and a very fair face.The eyes are large and impressive. "I'm Kikuko Ono. I need to correct it. I'm not a reporter for a magazine, but an amateur reporter for the family column. Please take care of me." Kikuko Ono handed Masako a small woman's business card with rounded corners.