Chapter 89 epilogue two

winter solstice. It is also the day with the shortest day and the longest night in the year, but the sun is rarely warming down, dispelling the coldness of the north wind for the time being. He just returned from Ouyang Xiaozhi's cemetery. Returning to Anxi Road for the first time in half a year, Si Wang was wearing an all-black down jacket, and he was holding his palms tightly all the way, some objects stabbed his palms with severe pain. No. 19 Anxi Road, once a haunted house, is now a ruined building with burnt marks on the ground. I heard that Ouyang Xiaozhi's body was dug out under the wall.

Sitting on the ruins, he thought it would be so hot that he would jump, but now he felt icy cold. Closing his eyes, he smiled slightly into the air: "Come with me." Walking the path of rest is like crossing the river of life and death. In the old house opposite, the transom window in the basement is still there. After sitting quietly for half an hour, he got up and left. The ruins will turn into green land in spring. Si Wang got on the crowded subway and wandered to Nanming Road.It was almost dark, but the palms were still clenched, and half of the arms were going numb.He quickened his pace and walked through the gate of Nanming Senior High School, where oleander branches and leaves protruded from the school wall.

Passing through the wasteland beside Nanming Road, he knelt down on the icy road, buried his head in regret and said, "I'm sorry, Teacher Yan." Lifting his sore knee, he walked to the path between the two buildings, and saw tall chimneys. The dilapidated factory building in winter looks even more bleak, like a forgotten ancient site, he walked in step by step, and came to the tunnel entrance of the Witch Quarter. The hatch seemed to speak to him. A minute later, Si Wang pushed open the door. Witch Quarter. After the dust billowed up all over the floor, he knelt down in the depths of the darkness, breathed out into his clenched fists, and then opened his palms and said, "I'm here."

There was no light in front of his eyes, but Si Wang could clearly count every bead in his hand. It was this beaded chain that had been hanging in Shen Ming's bedroom for many years, but the day before he was killed, it was scattered and could no longer be strung together. On June 19, 1995, at ten o'clock in the middle of the night, after Shen Ming murdered crazily, he didn't think of running away. Instead, he clung to the beaded chain and stumbled to the underground of the Witch's Quarter. Then, be killed. The bead chain was always held in Shenming's palm, and accompanied him to soak in the underground sewage for three days, until the police found the body, but they couldn't open his hand no matter what, and finally broke two fingers before taking out the broken string. bead chain.

It was broken by police officer Huang Hai himself. Later, many of the deceased's belongings were handed over to Shen Yuanchao, but this beaded chain remained in Huang Hai's hands, locked in a tin cabinet in his small room, and was not stolen by Si Wang until after he died in the line of duty. Si Wang put this string of beads to his ear, and from these strange beads, he heard the laughter of a certain little girl—— "Brother, what's your name?" "My name is Shen Ming." A boy in the third year of high school sat in a pile of weeds, staring blankly at the empty sky.

"Thank you for saving me." The ragged little girl, who looked only ten years old, looked like a thin and thin tabby cat, lying on the back of the eighteen-year-old boy, tickling him. "Don't make trouble, what's your name?" "I don't have a name." "Okay, then I I'll give you a name, and you'll be called—" The young man lowered his head and thought for a moment, pinching her thin arm like a matchstick, "Xiaozhi! " "I love the name!" "When I see your face, it reminds me of a poem by Gu Cheng."

"I don't understand what you're talking about, but I want to give you a gift!" She spread out her palm, hiding a string of beads, which looked a little weird and dazzling, she stuck out her tongue, "Brother, look at this Pearls, this one is glass, this one is fake jade, and this wooden one is Buddhist beads... There are nineteen in total, all of which I picked up from the garbage dump, and it took me three days to string them together." "Oh!" The boy put the bead chain under the sun, and it emitted colorful reflections. The little girl wrapped around his neck, her thin arms were like water snakes, making people feel suffocated: "Brother, can you swear to me?"

"Swear what?" "Keep this beaded chain by your side forever, until death!" He smiled knowingly, held the bead chain tightly in his palm, picked up the little girl and said loudly: "I, Shen Ming, swear to God, I will always keep the bead chain that Xiaozhi gave me by my side until I die! " until death... Suddenly, the sun hid behind the dark clouds, the whole world turned gray, and it rained. the sky is gray the road is gray floor is gray rain is gray in the ashes walked by two kids a bright red a light green THE END Author: Cai Jun First draft on Monday, March 25, 2013 by the Suzhou River in Shanghai

Second draft on Monday, April 22, 2013 at the bank of the Suzhou River in Shanghai Finalized on Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at the bank of the Suzhou River in Shanghai