Chapter 10 chapter Ten

During the interview, female reporter Zhang Qun came across a situation registration form named Huang Qing eight years ago. The woman in the photo was very similar to Jiang Lan.Further investigation found that Huang Qing disappeared that year... Jiang Lan's house is at the westernmost end of Yulin Village, separated from neighboring villagers' houses by a certain distance. It is a very regular three-room brick and gray tile house with a spacious yard.The owner of the house was a construction foreman. His family was in a car accident while traveling and never came back.When Jiang Lan came to the suburbs to sketch a few years ago, after observing for a long time, she set up the easel in front of the house, and drew the old house in the overgrown grass, and the banana forest growing into a landscape behind the house.Jiang Lan, who has just returned from abroad, is particularly satisfied with the environment here.She took great pains to find the foreman's younger brother, and bought the unused courtyard at a lower price.Since then, Jiang Lan has lived and painted here.

The door was an old-fashioned red-lacquered wooden door, still closed.However, the seals on the two diagonal doors were broken, apparently they were opened after the police station sealed them up, or someone had been there.The old man who was invited by Wu Bingbing to lead the way refused to enter the courtyard.He was from this village, knew about Jiang Lan's case, said that there were "unclean things" in the yard, and was afraid of causing bad luck by going in, so he insisted on standing at the door and waiting for her. Wu Bingbing pushed open the door, walked in, and saw that the courtyard was in order, as if no one had lived in it for several months.The melons on the canopy in the center of the courtyard are lush and green. Although there are no melons and fruits, it looks like it has enough water, as if someone has watered it.She turned to think about it, there is a lot of rain in the south, it is God's way, there is nothing strange about it.

An easel is placed under the canopy, with drawing boards on it, and an unfinished oil painting on the canvas, which looks like a woman hiding in the dark, with inexplicable flames, peeping eyes... the woman in the shadows Under the light of the fire, one side of the breast and the curve of the waist exuded a crimson light.The strange thing is that the red color is still so bright, and it does not fade after several months outside.On the easel, the palette, paints, knives and brushes are all there, as if the master has just left for a while. The door of the main room was ajar, but the inside of the room looked very dark, because the light was covered by the canopy outside.Bingbing walked into the room and stood timidly in the middle of the room. She clearly felt movement in the room.

Suddenly hearing a soft "gaba", she quickly retreated to the door. She asked tentatively, "Are you there? Are you in the room?—" No one answered, it was very quiet, as if everything was holding its breath. Bingbing swallowed her saliva and walked forward slowly.She pushed away the room on the east side first.There are several simple huge wooden frames inside, on which are placed various plaster statues, and there are many picture frames piled up beside them.On the wall, one can see that there were paintings hanging on them, but now they are empty, only the hanging hemp ropes and a little rusty nail heads are left, and spiders have taken advantage of the opportunity to form webs on them. .

Taking advantage of the faint light, she saw a table in the corner with many books neatly placed on it.She walked over and flipped through the books, only familiar with the names of Dante, Rembrandt, Racine, and Danner. The others were art theories and albums of masters that were unfamiliar to her.She wanted to look for diaries or photos, but after searching for a long time, she didn't find any personal records of Jiang Lan. There is a book spread out on the table with a thin layer of dust on it. The title of the book is "The Voice of Silence", and the author has a long foreign name.When she was about to flip through the book, she found a familiar business card next to it, which belonged to Zhang Qun.Zhang Qun also gave it to her.There is more than one business card, there is a large pile of it in the corner of the table, and a few are scattered on the ground.So, Zhang Qun has also been here?

——Even if giving a business card, there is only one card, not so many; there are also business cards scattered on the ground... There can only be one explanation, that is, Zhang Qun dropped it in a panic, and she was shocked. ——It seems that Jiang Lan is here.I must find her. She searched the room quickly and judged that Jiang Lan was not in this room.Afterwards, she decisively walked out of the east room and walked to the west room.The curtains in this room were not opened, and the room was dark. He vaguely saw a person lying on the bed, so he walked over lightly. "Is that you?—" she asked tremblingly, moving forward carefully.

There was no movement in the darkness, but the gray sheets on the bed were bulging, like a woman's slightly raised body when lying on her side.She took another small step slowly. At this time, the quilt was lifted up with a "swish", and something jumped out of it, and jumped in front of her, screaming "Wow", she was so frightened that she turned around and fell to the ground. It was a dog, a big tall and thin wolfhound, jumping in front of her, with its feet lying on the ground, stretching its head forward, grinning its teeth, howling "Wow, woof, woof" menacingly, the sound was like thunder, and the roof fell to the ground.

She ran out scrambling, and the dog chased after her.As if she couldn't control her feet, she fell twice in a row, rushed into the yard, and tripped the easel.He ran to the gate and almost knocked over the old man standing there.The dog didn't chase it out, but kept barking inside the house.She leaned against the door frame and panted heavily, her heart hurting like it was about to pop out. The old man said: "The owner is gone, but her dog doesn't leave. She often hears it barking, and no one can enter the house. I have never seen the dog go out, and I don't know how it survived. Let's go?"

Bingbing didn't leave, she went into the yard again, helped up the easel that had tripped over just now, set it up in its original position, arranged the brushes, painting knives and so on in the original state, and then walked out the door. The old man said again: "You said you were her student, so it's okay to tell you something... Some people in the village said that she was not dead, she was not shot, and she might have escaped from prison... It's not good to be an official Tell me, find a substitute and shoot her. She is still alive, she is not dead at all, she is hiding."

Bingbing was very surprised and asked: "How can you say that? Is there any evidence?" The old man said: "It's just someone who said it—someone saw her in other places and other cities. It was a businessman who saw her. He said it well. In addition, there is a man named Shi Wu in the village. The alcoholic said that one day he got drunk and came home in the middle of the night. When he came to the house and saw the light was on, he looked in through the crack of the door and saw the female painter. She was sitting under the awning in the yard, watching Her dog was lying in front of her, eating the things she brought back. What do you think the dog ate? They were all bloody internal organs. I don’t know if it was human or animal. Shi Wu said when he saw people the next day, but No one believed it. On the third night after that incident, Stewart got drunk and fell into the ditch again and drowned. Whether the things he told were what he saw with his own eyes, or whether they were just talking nonsense, no one can tell It's clear."

When the two of them were talking and walking, Bingbing raised his head and saw a child climbing on a tree tens of meters away across the roof.That tree grows in the yard of the nearest neighbor's house.The child was about six or seven years old. He was bare-chested and only wore half shorts. He stared at the yard with big-eyed monkey eyes.Bingbing thought, what is he looking at? Bingbing waved to the child and shouted: "Hey, come down and let's talk, shall we?" The old man said: "He is a fool, the youngest son of the carpenter Lao Gu's family, he can't speak since he was a child." Bingbing thought, sometimes the more silly the child, the weirder the elf.Maybe he saw something. Thinking this way, when she looked up again, the child was nowhere to be seen.He had come down from the tree and was hiding somewhere.She ran over to look for it for a long time, but there was no sign of the child. "Zhang Qun? I'm Wu Bingbing. I have something to meet with you. Do you have time?" "I have time, I have time." Zhang Qun said on the other end of the phone, "What a coincidence, I just got off the plane two hours ago, came back from Sichuan, and just got washed. Where do you think we will meet?" Wu Bingbing immediately said a place.Zhang Qun came over half an hour later. After the two sat down, Wu Bingbing didn't know what to say.Or Zhang Qun speaks quickly, let's talk about himself first.When Bingbing heard Zhang Qun say that going to Sichuan was for Jiang Lan, she was unexpectedly surprised. Zhang Qun said: "Don't you remember that I told you last time that I am very interested in Jiang Lan. In addition to the case itself, I also collected a lot of information about her painting. It doesn’t matter about the news, I want to write in a literary style, mainly about her person and her fate.” "That's what it's like to write about her. Are you trying to write her into a novel?" "Not necessarily, maybe it's documentary literature. Anyway, I think she is a very mysterious character and has content to write about. As a woman, she can make such great achievements in painting, and her painting skills can be recognized by so many experts and colleagues." It’s amazing. Why did she kill people? Why did she commit suicide twice during the interrogation? These seem to be not simple questions, and there may be secrets that others don’t know. So, I want to pursue and find out these doubt." "Her background is still unclear. Where is she from? Where is her family?" "Yes, that's exactly what I want to find out. The Public Security Bureau only found out that she returned from Portugal 4 years ago, and she couldn't find out what happened before. Just like you said, where is she from? Where are her parents now? Where did she spend her childhood, adolescence, and youth before returning to China? These are not clear. The judiciary can handle cases on a case-by-case basis. Once a person is killed, a public announcement will be made. It doesn’t matter where her parents are. I can’t, I always feel that I should What to do, I have to figure out these, and I can write with an overall grasp.” "Then why did you go to Sichuan to investigate? Do you suspect that she is from Sichuan?" "Yes." Zhang Qun took off his glasses, wiped them with a paper towel and said, "This is the only skill I have learned over the years as a reporter. I have learned how to collect information, how to analyze and judge - I have investigated many people, Jiang Lan’s past colleagues, people who have dealt with her, and villagers who live near her...generally reflect that Jiang Lan’s Mandarin is very good, with a very pure timbre, without the heavy retroflex when foreigners speak Chinese I just thought, if Jiang Lan only returned to China 4 years ago, then she lived abroad for the first 31 years after she was born, and it is impossible for her to speak without the slightest trace of foreigners. Unless there are two possibilities: one is that she and her parents Growing up in a Chinese area, she speaks Chinese. Her parents’ Mandarin is very good, so she can speak it well—this is possible, but it is difficult to overcome the influence of the language environment, especially in Portugal, a country with very few Chinese. The second is that she lived in China and developed a good Mandarin. She went abroad when she grew up. She lived abroad for a short time, so she didn’t have a foreign accent when she came back. Based on these two inferences, I conducted an investigation, and there were indeed discovered." "Have you found a clue? Did you find her parents?" "I wanted to find her parents. I mobilized all my connections, investigated the immigration authorities, and checked all the people who moved to Portugal before Jiang Lan returned to China. The political climate at that time, and the relationship between China and Portugal, There are only a handful of immigrants, and no one who may be Jiang Lan's parents can be found. Regardless of gender, there is not even a single surnamed Jiang. Then I thought, since Jiang Lan could not have lived abroad since she was a child, then maybe she was in China at all. Life is the reform and opening up, just went abroad, stayed abroad for a while, and came back 4 years ago... This is the second possibility I mentioned. If this is the case, there must be Jiang Lan in the exit registration in the early years record of." Zhang Qun paused, took a sip of water, and continued: "So, I checked her exit registration before returning to China. Unfortunately, I didn't find the name Jiang Lan... Just when I was disappointed and decided to give up, I accidentally found a Zhang Form, the photo on it caught my attention. It was an exit registration form in September 1994. The name on the form was Huang Qing, her hometown was Shibei Township, Wushan County, Sichuan Province, and her graduate school was Xidu Academy of Fine Arts , the reason for leaving the country is to visit and exchange in Macau. But the woman in the photo looks a bit like Jiang Lan to me. If you look carefully, the more you look, the more she looks like Jiang Lan.” Bingbing was stunned, and she couldn't help shouting: "Huang Qing? You say this Huang Qing is Jiang Lan?" "They do look alike." Zhang Qun said, "When I was interviewing Jiang Lan's murder case, I met her face to face more than once, and I also saw her original photo, which was the only one in her file. The person in the photo is very similar to Jiang Lan. If you think about the name carefully, Jiang is yellow, and Lan and Qing are of the same color...Huang Qing, Jiang Lan, each of them has two colors and one cool color , a warm color, as if given by the same person, has a certain connotative connection. In addition, Huang Qing is also an art student, it is absolutely impossible to be a coincidence. This discovery makes me feel particularly excited." "Unexpected." Bingbing was very excited, and then asked, "Have you gone to investigate?" Zhang Qun said: "I have to investigate and prove what I found. I didn't tell the police, nor did I tell anyone. Jiang Lan's case is over, and the rest is just an investigation in the literary sense of a writer. I don't think there is any obligation." , and there is no need to report to anyone, share with anyone. Jiang Lan is mysterious, not only her identity is mysterious, her life experience is mysterious, even why she kills people is also mysterious, and her death makes all these mysteries hang in the air. I don’t understand. But I have to rely on my own wisdom and ability to solve it. I feel the pride and excitement I have never had before. Before investigating, I have already outlined the possible facts in my mind-Huang Qing went to Macau first, then transferred to In Portugal, after living in Portugal for 3 years, she returned to China and changed her name to Jiang Lan. She claimed to have grown up overseas, and her parents were also overseas. But the woman named Huang Qing who went abroad at the beginning has disappeared since then and does not exist anymore. What is the purpose of doing this? Aiming for vanity? Mud body for gold body, shaping yourself into a foreigner? I’m afraid it’s not that simple. There is a possibility that Huang Qing wants to get rid of the past, sever contact with her old self, appear with a new look, and redesign and arrange her life If so, that Huang Qing must represent a past that was so painful that she didn't want to repeat it and tried to get rid of it and forget it..." Bingbing agreed with her statement, thought for a while and said: "If Huang Qing is her past, there is no need to hide it as usual. After returning from abroad, her painting level has improved, and she has a small achievement. It is very worthy of the past and her own background. What a glorious thing, why did she change her name and surname, and not admit her past? If she is really Huang Qing, she must have hidden secrets in doing so." Zhang Qun said: "Yes, if she is unwilling to admit the past, there may be difficulties in the past. However, trying to cover up the past with a new look proves that there are hidden secrets and problems in the past. For example, she has committed crimes and killed people in the past, or she has humiliating experience, disgraceful family background, etc.,...these are just assumptions. But this assumption makes me more excited, and the desire to figure out and decipher it is stronger. Besides, my assumptions are not subjective, Jiang Lan After returning to China, she made up her background and experiences, and no one forced her to pursue her. But after killing someone and being arrested, she will face repeated interrogations. They will use various means to extract the facts from her mouth, including Her real identity is included... That's why she bit her tongue, and that's why she committed suicide again and again, and didn't reveal her own secret until the end. Treating Jiang Lan who came back from abroad, even if she doubted, she couldn't guess her If I hadn’t been looking for something to look at those forms by chance—no one would know both parties as well as I do—no one would have put the yellowed form 8 years ago on a strange woman’s little The small avatar is associated with a talented and charming female painter. I really admire Jiang Lan's city mansion and scheming!" Zhang Qun spoke quickly, his eyes sparkling with excitement behind the lens. "Hurry up and tell me the results of the investigation! What's the result?" Bingbing still urged her. Zhang Qun sighed and said, "The investigation found something unexpected." "What's the situation? Didn't find Huang Qing's family? No Huang Qing?" Bingbing was anxious. Zhang Qun said: "I didn't go to Huang Qing's house first, I went to Xidu Academy of Fine Arts first. In the student management office, they helped me check the files and records. There was indeed a student named Huang Qing - from Wushan County, Sichuan, 90th grade Oil painting department, graduated in July 1994, and the file was transferred to Wushan County. There is a student registration form in the bottom book of the file. I took out Huang Qing’s exit registration form copied half a month ago to compare, and the birth, address, and family members filled in were the same. , and the height is also 1.72 meters; but the photo above is a girl with slender eyes and a long face, while the yellow and blue eyes on the exit registration form are larger, and the face is slightly rounder; if you look closely, the matching of facial features such as nose, eyes, and eyebrows are all the same. There are subtle differences. I even used a magnifying glass to see that Huang Qing, a student, has single eyelids, while Huang Qing, who is leaving the country, has double eyelids. Huang Qing in the two photos is different, not a photo of a person." "How could Huang Qing have two people? Go to Huang Qing's house to investigate!" Bingbing was also confused. "I want to go to her house. I took a car, crossed mountains and ridges, traveled all day and night, and finally arrived in Wushan County. Then I took a caravan to Huanglou Village, Shibei Township. This village is in a ravine, only a dozen The family is very poor. When I asked where Huang Qing’s house was at the village head, the old lady who was asked stared at me for a long time, and asked me suspiciously, why are you still looking for her at this time? She is long gone. ! Haven’t heard from her for many years!—Now, I’m also stupid.” "What?" Bingbing yelled, "Huang Qing is dead?" "It's missing!" Zhang Qun said with certainty.She continued: "I still decided to visit her house. There are very few people in her family, only the mother and a younger sister. The mother seemed to be stimulated, and her speech was not coherent. The youngest daughter added. I finally know , Huang Qing disappeared less than a month after graduation. In August of that year, she went to the mountains to paint with someone and never came back. The girl talked about her sister crying. Her mother kept nagging, saying Her daughter went to find her father, and the daughter is not alone. The little girl explained that her father was an old boatman who capsized and died in the river 10 years ago." Zhang Qun stopped, took off his glasses, and began to wipe the lenses again.Looked very heavy hearted. Bingbing urged her again: "Tell me, what should I do next?" "What else are you talking about?" Zhang Qun said, "No more, I'll be back soon." "Huang Qing is missing, what happened to Jiang Lan? Who is she? Why did she use Huang Qing's name to go abroad?" Bingbing continued to ask, unwillingly. "I don't understand this question as much as you do." Zhang Qun said, "It seems that Jiang Lan is a mysterious person. In the second month after Huang Qing disappeared, she applied to go to Macau in Huang Qing's name. She provided some Huang Qing’s ID number was a fake document, but the photo on it was her own, and she passed the customs smoothly and went to Macau. As for going from Macau to Portugal, I guess someone will help her, otherwise it would be difficult for her to do all the links in the middle .But even with help, it's admirable that she can get things right." Bingbing's head was in a daze, and she didn't expect the result of the investigation.Who is Jiang Lan?What a headache.She asked Zhang Qun: "Aren't you going to investigate further?" Zhang Qun shrugged and said, "It seems that it is too difficult to figure it out." "Then you're not going to write Jiang Lan anymore? Are you going to give up?" "Give up? I didn't say to give up. If I can't figure it out, it will give people more room for imagination. It is a challenge for me to meet such a mysterious person as Jiang Lan. Everything in the world is sometimes strange, not necessarily who or what What happened at that time... Oh, I just kept talking to you, and I was so tired that my mouth was dry, and I haven't listened to you about your situation, and haven't asked you what you want from me?" Bingbing said: "Oh, it's nothing serious, I also want to ask, have you been to the western suburbs recently, have you been to Jiang Lan's yard? Did you lose anything?" "I've been there, it's been a long time." Zhang Qun said, "Last month, I went there on a Sunday. I didn't expect that there was a wolf dog there. I was so scared that I almost couldn't run out. The bag was caught by the door and fell to the ground. A piece of the business card was scattered. The dog blocked the door, and I didn't dare to pick it up. Finally, forget it..." Bingbing said: "Someone picked up the business cards and put them on the table. When I went this afternoon, I saw those business cards on the table." "Who is that?" Zhang Qun said, "I was the first one to go, and I tore the seal when I pushed the door. Besides I wanted to know her, I didn't expect you to investigate her too. Picking up the business card is helpful." What do you mean?" "I don't know for sure." Bingbing said, "Anyway, besides you and me, I don't think there will be a third person going to the seized house. Only Jiang Lan herself will go back—her ghost." "What? Her ghost?" Zhang Qun disagreed, "What are you kidding?" "There really is her ghost." Bingbing said seriously, "It's meaningless to tell you this. Don't go to that place again. It's best not to act alone at ordinary times." "Hi!" Zhang Qun found it ridiculous, "I don't believe this. My grandma has a cousin, my name is Uncle Grandpa, who is over 70 years old and specializes in research. He often talks about yin and yang, five elements, good and bad, and ghosts, and makes friends with him." Many kung fu people, some are said to be psychic, talk directly to the dead, and can bring information from the underworld to Yangwen. Every time I see him, he always talks about ghosts and other topics, but I don’t. I can't believe it at all..." Bingbing said: "It doesn't matter if you don't believe it, just take care of yourself. I just want to tell you this. Some things are not something we have to experience, nor are we only able to imagine." "It's not that mysterious, is it?" Zhang Qun still didn't believe it, tilted his head and said suspiciously, "Do you not want me to investigate further, and you don't want me to write about Jiang Lan?" "Whatever you say, anyway, I can't tell now... Even if I tell you, you won't believe it. I'm leaving. It's the same sentence, take care of yourself! You are a good person." They came out of the coffee shop and walked into the street one after the other. Zhang Qun was confused, and when they broke up, he still said: "I still want to ask—?" "Forget it, it's not necessarily a good thing if you know something, it's better if you don't know it than to know it." After finishing speaking, Bingbing turned and left. Zhang Qun froze with one hand on the glasses frame, and stood there watching her walk away... When he was about to get off work in the afternoon, Wu Bingbing came to the art exhibition hall of the museum again.She stood in front of Jiang Lan's painting, looking earnestly at the "woman practicing yoga". "I've been looking for you for a few days. Where are you? Not here, not in your house. Where have you been? You gone? Never come back?—I wish so. I'm in a hurry to find you , In addition to the Xu Miaomiao matter that I have already told you, there is also the Zhang Qun matter. I know she went to your house. She investigated you, and you know it too. You saw her business card, you must have seen it .You must not harm her... She is a good person. She sympathizes with you as much as I do. You have avenged all the revenge you deserve. You can go and stop killing people indiscriminately. No matter Xu Miaomiao, Zhang The group, or me, we are all innocent, why do you want to kill us? Why do you insist on forcing me to kill people?—” The painting bulged out from the middle, and there was a "rustling, rustling" sound. The woman in the painting opened her eyes, and the face turned into that of Jiang Lan. Although she was sitting there, she withdrew from her exercise. He said angrily, "I know you're looking for me. I'm right here, and I won't disappear if I haven't left. My body has been divided by you, and my soul must have a resting place, so I can only hide here. This is my poor little nest, the way I left behind. Why are you bothering me? Make me restless? Why are you looking for me? Do you want to educate me, save me? Or want to break with me?— —Stop thinking about it. You belong to me, and your body should not be independent. I will often sneak into your dreams, torment you, confuse you, and make you unhappy. Get out of here now, don’t forget Do what I say, and do what I tell you to do. Otherwise, you will regret it!—” After all, she disappeared like a dark cloud and the sun poured down; the painting immediately returned to its original state, hanging there dignifiedly and peacefully, without any change. Wu Bingbing took a step forward and shouted: "Why are you forcing me?—Why should I listen to you?——" But no matter how much she shouted, there was no response from the painting or the person in the painting. "jingling jingle jingle..." She was startled by a piercing sound above her head. It was the museum's off-duty bell. She glanced at the painting full of resentment, and then left resentfully.When they reached the door, the female administrator looked at her suspiciously, and then made her shout, "What are you looking at? Crazy!"