Hunter and Hussar

Chapter 80 The Truth Reappeared

Even in the night sky, the outlines of dark clouds are clearly discernible.I originally wanted to find a supermarket or a grocery store to buy an umbrella on the phone map, but as I gradually got deeper into this dark forest made of reinforced concrete, I naturally gave up this idea.Workshops, factories, walls, their bodies still exist, silent in the silent black.We could hardly see the lights, and the light that penetrated the night to our eyes flickered faintly at an unknown distance, like solitary fireflies.I have an illusion of walking in the last days, everything is decaying, gradually sinking for no reason, and sinking into the lonely soil.Mu Zheng and I are the only two children left on this planet.Although my heart was heavy and chaotic, I was not afraid.Mu Zheng's footsteps were as steady as usual, which provided a sense of reliability.I don't need to find my way, and I don't need to worry, just follow him closely.It is a blessing and a luxury to be able to move forward without thinking about the direction and destination.Every time Chord or Mi Le goes out, I am the one who leads the way.My younger brother's sense of direction is really not very good. I got lost several times when I was a child, and I found him and carried him home.Mi Le, after all, he has only been with us for a year, so he can push the job of finding the way to me with peace of mind.

reached.Mu Zheng pointed to a row of crowded low houses, all of them closed their doors tightly in the night without exception, like a person sleeping with his eyes closed, he couldn't even hear his breathing and the beating of his heart.He led me to a plastic sliding door. There was no moonlight or starlight, but I could still read the red lettering on the door: HAIRCUT. The dot on the word "fa" fell off at some point, and it became a word that could not be found in the dictionary, lying awkwardly on the simple door.

Although the door is transparent, there are no lights in the store, and I can hardly see anything except the deep refraction of the mirror and the imaginary seats.There was no sign that this place was inhabited, but Mu Zheng knocked on the plastic door very politely and calmly. "Not open tonight." A boy's voice came from the depths of the darkness, lazy and impatient, with no intention of treating customers as gods.

When Mu Zheng heard this impatient reply, his hands trembled.He continued to knock on the door, calling Li Bin's name, saying that he was here.Then, not long after, but not immediately, we heard the slow creaking of the wooden door.The sound of footsteps approaching us in the dark, it beat on the tiled floor like a muffled drumbeat.Still listening, a boy's face appeared on the transparent door.The skin is dark, the hair is as fluffy as Mu Zheng described, and the eyes reveal a tired hesitation, which makes me suspect that there is a trace of hostility or preparation to protect myself.Contrary to my imagination, he was not dressed very neatly and meticulously, showing the normal state of a boy of this age at home, half of the buttons of the shirt were unbuttoned, and the hem was fat from the half-draped shirt. Out of the coat.It's okay, a well-behaved child like Mi Le, once back to the dormitory and home, will not pay much attention to his clothes.

Did Mu Zheng describe Li Bin too seriously and well-behaved earlier?Or is he no longer that kid who is almost obsessive about dressing up?
He opened the door, apparently beckoning us to go in.After the transparent barrier was removed, Mu Zheng stepped in, obviously wanting to hug him a little bit.However, Li Bin was not that enthusiastic, nor did he put on a gesture of wanting to accept the hug.Mu Zheng's hand hesitated for a short moment in the air, and then patted his shoulder instead.He didn't respond much, and turned to the wall to turn on the light in the barber shop.

"Let's just talk here. The back room is too small. By the way, turn on the light and wait for my mother to come back." He leaned weakly on an old swivel chair, and motioned us to find a place to sit by ourselves.Only then did I see clearly the furnishings of the shop, which was no different from a small barber shop in the streets and alleys, except that everything seemed to be covered with a layer of dust, including the mirrors that reflected us.In the corner of the room, a few locks of hair were lying quietly in the dustpan, and a broom was leaning against the wall securely.It seems that some guests have been here recently, I hope these hairs were just cut today.

"Binbin, are you going back to play football again? I never knew. By the way, have you been admitted to No. 54 High School? Congratulations, although the blessing is long late. No. 54 High School is a good school, not just in Jiangbei , are top-notch in the whole city." Sitting on the chair closest to him, Mu Zheng leaned forward, as if trying to get himself closer to Li Bin.

"I didn't pass the exam. Last year I was still in Jiangtie Middle School. This year, this crappy school is finally finished. As for me, my grades are passable. When I was placed, I could go to No. 54 Middle School with better grades. Come on, there are not many people in total. , everyone has gone to the school they want to go to, 'We all have a bright future'." He cocked his legs and smiled as he spoke, but frowned unwillingly.

"Anyway, it's a good thing to be able to go to a good school. So you joined the school team of No. 54 High School this year? I remember that Tiezhong didn't participate in the Mayor's Cup last year, so you didn't compete for a year?"

"That's right. In other schools, you might have to squeeze your head to get into the school team. Tiezhong, as long as you want to join the school team, you can get in. Once you get in, you can get two privileges. One is to become an unconditional member of the school team." The captain, the other is to unconditionally find and appoint the next captain for the team. There are no games, no coaches, no uniforms, no training, and no players. Is such a team the only one in the world? "

"Actually, it's not that difficult to get into the school team..." I said, "Our school team hasn't recruited many new students this year. There are not many people who like football, and even fewer can play. We have a roster of 18 people. It's not bad."

"He didn't learn, did he?" Li Bin glanced at me, then turned to ask Mu Zheng, avoiding communicating with me.This feeling of being skipped somewhat makes me a little uncomfortable.

"He is our captain and goalkeeper. He has superb skills and a great person. He accompanied me today." Mu Zheng introduced me to him impatiently.

"Hello, my name is Ke Peiwei." I shook my hand rolled up in my sleeve to him.He nodded politely, then turned to Mu Zheng and said, I thought you came with Xuexue today.But it's good, you have a new friend, which is great.

"Are you used to it in No. 54 High School? The school is several kilometers away from here. Is it convenient to go to school?" Mu Zheng continued to ask.

"So what's convenient, what's inconvenient? I'm living on campus, and I come back every weekend to see my mother." He shrugged, "So what's the matter with you here today? Could it be to congratulate me on getting a good assignment?" Is it school?"

This kind of remark made us have something to say quickly, and it meant to leave quickly after speaking.I really don't want to stay here any longer. If I could go, I would turn around and run away without hesitation.She has a thin skin since she was a child, and she is most afraid of being splashed with cold water.So on the day before the school celebration, I could only shrink behind the booth of the club.It was so uncomfortable to be rejected or turned away, and the moment that nonchalant attitude touched me, I wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground.

Mu Zheng kept quiet, staring blankly at the ground.He may be brewing, or thinking.For him, Li Bin is an important friend. How to tell him all about his situation and thoughts requires a well-organized language.For me, just a few minutes with Li Bin is enough for me to understand that he in Mu Zheng's story is completely different from him in reality.

"That... I'm sorry, I may have spoken too aggressively." Maybe seeing that we were all silent, he became embarrassed, lowered his head and rubbed his fingers, "I don't want to drive you away. Let me tell the truth .My mother went to play cards and drink again today. I was afraid that she would come back later, drunk, and it would be bad if she saw it. I am her son."

Mu Zheng got up, lay down on the back of his tall black armchair, and turned the back of the chair lightly. Li Bin, who was sitting on the chair, swayed slightly from side to side under his turning.After being quiet for a while, Li Bin said that he was not in a good mood today, and his attitude was not right. He hadn't seen him in three years, and when he saw him, he still had a bad face, which shouldn't be.Mu Zheng lowered his hand in front of him, like a kitten fishing, Li Bin tapped the "bait" lightly with his fist.

"Actually, my mother is fine now. Even if she drinks, she won't drink too much. She is sad, and there must be a way to vent it. I just wait for her to come back. If I knew you were coming today, she wouldn't Go, she definitely wants to meet you and your friends." The cynicalism he had just dissipated completely, and his spirit seemed weak.

"Binbin, I don't understand. Why did you tell Xuexue and me not to meet again three years ago? Did we do something wrong? Can we make up for it now?" Mu Zheng put his hand on his arm, He shook his head and let out a heavy sigh.

"It wasn't your fault, it had nothing to do with you. It was such a dark time, I still find it horrifying to think about it. I didn't want to see anyone, I just wanted to hide and bury myself. You know, I'm just... a child who shouldn't have come into this world. I understood what my sister said that day."

"But Sister Li Wan didn't mean that. She said it wasn't your fault. She loves you very much and wouldn't want you to think so." Mu Zheng's voice trembled in the cool white light of the barber shop.I heard the tick-tock-tick-tick sound coming from outside the house, all the more clearly in this dreary little room.

"Well, did your mother bring an umbrella?" I interrupted.He nodded at me, his eyes gentle and tired.

"Even if my sister said so, it wouldn't change anything. If it weren't for me, my father wouldn't die, my sister wouldn't die, and my mother wouldn't be like that. I owe too much. Before I found out, I didn't I grew up heartlessly, and when I found out, it was too late, and there was no possibility of repaying. At that time, I had a feeling that I was a small tree. To grow taller, I needed fertilizer and water. .What is my manure and water? Someone else's life, someone else's blood. What will grow out of this? I am a monster."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Mu Zheng squeezed his shoulders hard, "What is this mess?"

"Is it good in the first place? I am a thing that was created inexplicably. I should not have existed, but I was created like this. Then? How many sins have I committed? My relatives, and strangers I’m going to go crazy when I think about it. Just like the madman written by Lu Xun, I’m the one who ate my own sister’s flesh, and my hands are covered in blood…”

"You're in the advanced stages of secondary illness? I don't even know what you're talking about, you're not that kind of person." Mu Zheng's voice raised, and so did the sound of the rain outside.I don't know what happened to Li Bin three years ago, but I can feel that that experience was no less painful than my three years.Speaking of it, the three of us are miserable enough, we all lost our loved ones early.But Li Bin's father and sister passed away in the third grade of elementary school, and his mother is still here, so what could be more terrible things happen to him?
"That's because you didn't have such an experience, and neither did your friends. The result is irreversible, and it is simply impossible. This crime is too great, and I can't accept that it is related to me. In the past three years, I think I tried to do something, but people told me, this is not about you as a child, and everyone should not see each other again. People are willing to protect me and tolerate me, which makes me even more ashamed. I am so useless." He said Face buried in palms, I see through the blurry mirror.

"What happened three years ago? Did you cause any trouble?" Mu Zheng was still asking, he should know that bringing up such old things would not give him any comfort other than hurting his friends.But he was still asking, his anxious reflection in the mirror.

"I can tell you, just before Mommy comes back. But can you forgive her? Can you forgive me?" When he showed his face again, his eyes were clearly red, and he almost said to himself, "No, How can I have the face to say that? No one is qualified to forgive me and her. But, really, she is changing. Yes, I still go to drink and play cards today, but it will definitely not be like before, she is a little bit Get better. She knows she is wrong. You pity her, no husband, no daughter. She really doesn't know anything, even how to vent her emotions. As my sister said, my dad He is a little man who listens to the wind and rain. He is diligent and cowardly for half his life. He has never been late once. He is in poor health and can’t make a lot of money. To save face, she gave birth to me. My mother did what he said. My mother did two things wrong in her life. One was giving birth to me, and the other was drinking. Doesn’t it hurt to give birth to me? Don't you throw up after drinking? In the end, these two things ruined her and everyone. But it can't be all her fault, me, my dad, and us fools."

"Binbin, calm down. Don't blame your mother, your mother is a very good person. I have thought so since the day I met her." Mu Zheng patted Li Bin's back while looking at me. I glanced twice.I realized I should have gone, too, though dumbly.I said, I have never met your mother, but your mother must be a very kind person.

"When I tell you what she did three years ago, you will never think so. That's right, such behavior cannot be forgiven. I can't forgive myself. But if I stayed with you more If you don't let her go drinking and playing cards, maybe it won't happen. I just want to play with you, I'm too selfish. My sister is gone, I can still play heartlessly. What about her? Support this family."

"At that time we were all too young, too young. In our early ten years old, we didn't know anything about adults." Mu Zheng said.The rain outside the window is getting heavier, beating on the deserted factory area, and the sound echoing around seems to come from the last century.In the solitary lamp in the rain, fear climbed up my body along with the chill.I'm too sensitive to the word "three years ago", even though I know that Li Bin is just a person I just met today, our lives used to be two parallel lines with no possibility of intersecting, but this lingering After three years of dark experience, it is still difficult not to let me struggle with memories.That kind of dense melancholy and sadness intertwined obliquely, just like the delicateness of rainy feet, made me breathless for a while.After three years, maybe Li Bin and I can gradually talk about the trauma of the past?In this dark rainy night, I don't know what story awaits me and Mu Zheng.Whatever the story was, however irrelevant it was to me, I could sense the fear and courage with which he told it.

"Forget it, don't make excuses for me. The matter is very simple. After my sister passed away, my mother has been in a bad mood. She learned to smoke, drink and play cards. By daybreak, I didn't even have breakfast. Life is not like life for a long time, and it is normal. Anyway, once my father and sister leave, this house is not a home at all. The barber shop is also fishing for three days and drying for two days. Net, of course, there are not many customers. The people in the factory area have long since left, and they only rely on a few acquaintances for a living every month. In fact, if those people don’t leave, there will be no business. Which barbershop doesn’t Shampoo? Which one doesn’t apply for a card? Which one can’t even do perm and dye hair? It’s still the same thing more than ten years ago, how could there be customers? She occasionally does odd jobs, and her sister’s treatment fees are not used up. If I can get by, I’ll be fine when I grow up. In fact, she plays poker quite rationally. Maybe it’s because everyone has no money. She plays mahjong for ten cents, and no matter how she loses, she can only lose a meal.

"But she drank too much. She was reluctant to drink the good ones. They were all inferior. She was easy to get drunk and bad to drink. When she got home, she vomited all over the place. I'll clean it up. It's okay, after all, she is the breadwinner. , I'm waiting to eat, and doing something is a given. I wish I could do more, but I can't find a job. Who wants a ten-year-old? It's hard for me to find a part-time job now. Far away, I talk a lot of nonsense today. It was three years ago, she drank too much, and she was with her sisters in the mahjong room. In the city, at someone’s house. That person didn't talk about the rules, and even cheated on a dime mahjong. So there was a quarrel. The person called her man to support him, and it ended in a fight, stretching his nails and pulling his hair. It was the master and her fighting, I Mom didn't move, just to persuade. But the man made a move, hit the owner to the ground, and was still kicking. My mother was in a hurry, so she picked up the wine bottle and smashed it. It hit the ground, but one bottle was thrown crookedly. Throw it out of the window. The house is facing the street, on the eighth floor. Can you believe it? Someone was walking on the street at that time, but someone was walking on the street.

"As a result, a parabolic parabolic caused death by negligence. I was sentenced to three years in prison, but with probation, it's almost over..."

what?
I hear the pale rain, rolling and rolling without emotion.The narrow walls and mirrors in the barber shop shrank and then expanded, distorted in an unreal way, and lifted the tiles on the floor to the old ceiling. In a numb dream.I don't know how much time has passed, Mu Zheng asked, have you lived these three years alone?He said, let's go to the relatives' place to stay occasionally. After my mother goes in, I will be left alone. They are too embarrassed to drive me away, and of course I am too embarrassed to stay there.In the past three years, it has really run its own course, and it is a pity that it did not die out.bleak smile.Of course, there are still people who care about me, but most of the time I am alone.

You should have talked to me earlier, Mu Zheng said, hugging him from behind the chair.

But well.He is still talking.Generally speaking, if you are sentenced to probation, you have to work hard to pay compensation. We can't afford it, and even if we can afford it, people won't be able to survive...

"That, I'm sorry. I want to ask, where did this happen?" When I asked this question, I felt that my voice was almost swallowed by the heavy rain, and my ears were full of messy raindrops, as if The heavy rain has washed in my mind for three years.

"Yunnan Road? The intersection near Shanxi Road." He thought for a while, "Yes, it should be right."

"How many people died?"

"One. It's an elementary school student my age. He also had a classmate who was almost smashed. Fortunately, he threw a bottle. I feel very guilty. I met his parents once, and the moment I saw him Going crazy. If I had been nicer to my mother before, how could I have let her do this kind of thing? They didn’t ask for money, and I said I would spend my whole life paying it back. They said it had nothing to do with me, and they said no I hope I have no one to take care of me, like an orphan. Oh, how can it be okay. But what can I do? This classmate will never come back. He is as old as me. I heard that he still had sneakers in his backpack that day, and he just finished playing. ..."

"Ke Ke, what's wrong with you? Your face is so pale and your eyes are so scary. Are you scared?"

Mu Zheng touched my cheek, maybe my forehead, I don't know.I saw the rain hitting the ground, making holes.Another mirror world is reflected outside the transparent sliding door, where a person who looks exactly like me is looking in the direction of my existence.On a night three years ago, a man who was full of disappointment and excitement after drinking was staggeringly sitting in front of the mahjong table.Through the window of that room, the intersection of the two roads is clearly visible, and the intoxicating orange light of the street lamps has peeled off the mottled dust of the sycamore leaves, and they are dry and brittle in the tail of autumn.Ke Peixian and Zhao Rui were destined to appear under unfocused lights, and he was wearing that peaked cap, perhaps to prevent the cold wind from blowing his wet hair after the game.He knew he couldn't catch a cold, and his brother was sick and lay all day thinking he'd lost his glove.He's going to buy him a new pair.They walked on the sidewalks and zebra crossings in an orderly manner, casually talking to their companions that they would forget after speaking.The air at night is fresh, and their lungs are also fresh. Although the dust and exhaust gas of the day are piled up on the road, they are sucked in by them, and no one cares.The time in the future is long, like an unstoppable heavy rain, airtight stitches, waking up and falling into the net nest of dreams again, the sea water pours in, the foam churns, white, and the reefs gradually fall off.Time is not flowing water but solidified ice that we place our hands directly on top of and it melts, and with us the cold becomes a scorching heat.Maybe so, I can't imagine.The bottle that once brought hiccups and drowsiness, mixed with two or three points of calculation and unwillingness on the mahjong table, appeared where it shouldn't be, without any hints or omens.Xianxian, is he in the air?Once again, "he was shoveled into the air" and fell to the ground.The player who fouled explained that he didn't mean it and he didn't want to hurt anyone.I'm going to beat him again, last time they didn't stop me, I wanted to cut his neck.No, I'm not here, neither the referee nor the red card.Red lights flickered on and off.What about strings?He is on the ground, and it is not he who is flying in the air, but a falling bottle.Xianxian should get up immediately and continue chasing the ball as if nothing had happened.Where did the ball go?Did it fall off the edge of the road?Maybe he wanted to lift his body up, just like how he got up after falling down countless times in the past. From the smell of dampness, he saw his own blood, soaked hat, and shattered glass shards all over the place.It won't be long before he'll need a hat for the last time, to cover his face.Zhao Rui's face was probably pale, as if he was swept by a hurricane, and he was hit by severe and cruel abdominal pain.And all of Xianxian's efforts may be just to lift her body up by a negligible few centimeters.This is his last strength.In the bloody smell that Zhao Rui, who has been sleepwalking, can't forget in this life, Xian Xian still maintains the posture in life, struggling to smile, crooked, and the face lifted on the glass shards is probably more sunny and lovely than ever .And yet I'm still in bed sulking with myself, leaving the window open, and smelling the distant wind that smells like the liquid that's still running in my veins, from the same mother.It was scattered in every corner of the street that day, like drops of heavy rain outside the door, letting it fall, except in my closed room.

Now the traces and smells can never be washed away.

"You killed him. You killed my brother."

　Ah... the last part is a bit of imitation of the ending of García Márquez's "A Murder Case Beforehand". Of course, the old horse wrote it more bloody and direct... Actually, I am also a little entangled in whether to write this part Forget about harmony, just write until Mu Dan asks Ke Ke why his face is pale and his eyes are scary.Anyway, let's put it up for now.It's almost over, it's almost over, one more chapter, there won't be any depressing plot behind this novel... Woooooo everyone, don't give up...!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)