Chapter 74
Li Lan hoped to have a normal son to form her own emotional anchor. Unfortunately, the son she gave birth to had the same disease as her.
She was desperate.
But Li Zhuiyuan didn't feel that he had done anything wrong.
No matter how powerful the church is, it cannot sell indulgences to people who have not yet been born.
When the boy changes the name "Mom" to "Li Lan" in his heart, it means that he has cut off the relationship.
You can continue to struggle in pain, I am too lazy to watch.
Instead of consuming yourself internally, it is better to consume others externally.
Li Zhuiyuan put down his cup and planned to leave.
"Crack!"
As if the light cord of the master's home appliance was suddenly pulled down, Li Lan's whole body went out.
She became very cold and indifferent, and deep in her eyes, something seemed to be peeling off quickly.
She raised her head again and looked at the boy standing in front of her.
The moment the two parties made eye contact, Li Zhuiyuan felt that his heart was beating violently, and it hurt, as if it would jump out of his throat at any time.
In his mind, the scene when he looked in the mirror quickly emerged.
It's her and it's him.
He knew the "person" in front of him because there was one living in his own body. Moreover, after the transfer ceremony, he seemed to have appeared and changed the name of "Wei Zhengdao" to "Pseudo Zhengdao".
In fact, Li Lan had already lost.
Whoever speaks first loses.
The phone call to Aunt Zhang’s canteen half a year ago was Li Lan’s last act of hysteria.
She changed from a normal person who may occasionally become ill to a patient who may occasionally be normal.
This is the destination she fears most, and most likely, her own destination.
"Weird and exciting, it is easy to raise the threshold. When your threshold is raised and can no longer be satisfied, you will actively choose to become like her."
It was still Li Lan's voice, and her tone was softer, but it seemed like she was commenting on a machine with a flawed design.
She even regarded herself as a machine.
Li Zhuiyuan gritted his teeth and held his hands on the table. His expression kept changing and his body began to tremble.
"You should also have chosen an anchor point.
She is sustenance,
what do you?
Support and symbiosis? ”
Li Lan put her face in front of Li Zhuiyuan and stared at the boy's face carefully: "You should be able to last longer than her."
Li Zhuiyuan didn't say anything, but he had already picked out the red paint on the table with his fingernails.
Li Lan reached out and gently touched the boy's head:
"You keep playing. When you get tired and can't play anymore, my real son will come to me."
Li Zhuiyuan pushed the table hard with both hands, staggered back several steps, and leaned his back against the cabinet to avoid falling.
He stared at the woman in front of him in horror.
Li Lan did not look at the boy again, but got up, walked to the pool, and washed her hands carefully:
"You are really a mother and son. You are just like her before. You always want to leave some dirt on your body. Isn't it good to be clean? Human beings are so dirty."
After washing her hands, she organized the documents and reports on the table and put them in her briefcase.
Then she left.
Two consecutive "click" sounds are opening and closing the door.
Li Zhuiyuan leaned against the cupboard and slowly sat on the ground, holding his head in his hands.
Just now, Li Lan showed him what the disease would look like after it completely broke out.
A strong sense of suffocation came over him. He felt like he was thrown into a sealed glass bottle, and no matter how hard he beat it, it was silent.
He felt like he was going crazy, and the depression almost crushed him to pieces.
The boy's eyes fell on the hot water kettle on the dining table. He stood up, walked towards the dining table, grabbed the hot water kettle with his left hand, tilted the mouth of the pot downwards, and spread the palm of his right hand underneath to prepare.
Inside, there is freshly boiled water.
The mouth of the pot continued to tilt, and white smoke fell with the scalding hot water.
"Da da da..."
The boiling water fell to the ground.
The boy retracted his hand just in time.
"You can't do this, Ali will be angry."
"Huh...huh...huh..."
For a moment, some fresh air came into the almost suffocating space, and the boy breathed greedily.
Walk out of the house and close the door.
"Click!"
Li Zhuiyuan raised his hands and touched his face. The sound of the door closing just now was like a stapler, re-stacking the human skin on his face.
Immediately afterwards, the boy opened the door and closed it, opened the door and closed it again.
"Click! Click! Click!"
Well, nail it a few more times.
Seeing Li Zhuiyuan come out, Wu Xinhan and Teacher Yan said goodbye to the old professors. They left each other's contact information, and they might be able to invite them to the school for lectures in the future.
Next, it’s time to eat roast duck.
Originally I only ordered a set of duck and two dishes, which should be enough.
But when Li Zhuiyuan remembered what Li Lan said, "Being a human is so dirty," he couldn't help but stuff duck meat-wrapped dough into his mouth.
This made Wu Xinhan ask for another half set of ducks.
Early the next morning, Wu Xinhan and Teacher Yan got up early. They originally wanted to let the boy sleep a little longer without disturbing Xiao Yuan. Unexpectedly, as soon as they opened the door, Xiao Yuan also opened the door opposite.
Then, Li Zhuiyuan was taken to eat braised pork and bought some specialties.
After rushing to the airport and getting on the plane, both Wu Xinhan and Teacher Yan fell asleep.
Li Zhuiyuan looked through the porthole at the blue sky outside the window and the thick white clouds below.
Last night, he didn't sleep all night.
When the plane landed, a school car came to pick him up. Before dark, Li Zhuiyuan returned to his grandfather's house.
There was a happy event in the west of the village. The grandfather took Runsheng and Yinmeng to have a banquet, while Tan Wenbin returned home.
He went straight to the second floor and walked into his room. Ali was holding a small clipper and digging at a memorial tablet.
Lying on the ground next to it was a leather whip, half of which had been wrapped in the skin of the memorial tablet.
When the boy is not at home, the girl either draws or helps the boy with these handicrafts.
When Li Zhuiyuan appeared at the door of the room, the girl raised her head, her mouth curved, and her eyes lit up.
But soon, the girl seemed to notice something, and her expression became depressed.
"Look, no."
Li Zhuiyuan opened his hands to the girl, and there were no wounds on his palms.
"I don't have it either. I held it back. Really, I did it."
The boy tried his best to prove himself, as if he was bragging about his "exam results."
In comparison, the so-called Mathematical Olympiad exam is not worth mentioning at this time.
The missing arc of the girl's mouth reappeared.
After seeing the girl, the tight string on Li Zhuiyuan finally relaxed.
He walked to the bed, lay down, blinked twice, and fell asleep.
During this sleep, he had many dreams. In the dream, he was himself, and Li Lan was in the dream. He was being led by Li Lan, and he and Li Lan were standing side by side, looking at the distance and walking holding hands. A mother and son.
It was dawn and the boy woke up.
The girl sat on the edge of the bed and looked at herself.
Just like the last time she was tired, she kept a vigil for herself last night.
Liu Yumei felt that Ali was lucky to meet the boy at Li Sanjiang's house.
Li Zhuiyuan felt that he was lucky to meet Ah Li at his grandfather's house.
The two doors, which were supposed to close slowly, got stuck on each other after meeting, and they were trying hard to support each other.
Aunt Liu's voice came from downstairs, like the bells from the temple, cleansing the soul and bringing a complete end to her trip back to Beijing:
“It’s time for breakfast!”
……
Students are on winter vacation, which means the New Year is almost here.
A lot of new snacks have been brought into Aunt Zhang's canteen, and a variety of small firecrackers have been placed at the door of the shop.
At this time of the year, children have relatively strong spending power. From morning to night, children come in groups to buy things.
Li Zhuiyuan also came over to buy something.
"Brother Yuanzi!"
"Brother Yuanzi!"
Huzi, Shitou and the others waved enthusiastically to Li Zhuiyuan.
The two of them actually received lucky money, but money was tight on weekdays. Once they got the money, they often came and went quickly, and they spent it long ago.
At this time, the two of them came with children who still had money in their pockets, and took the initiative to introduce to them which kinds of guns were fun, hoping that after buying them, they could play a few to get addicted.
Seeing that Brother Yuanzi was also here to buy cannons, the two of them immediately stood beside Li Zhuiyuan enthusiastically and acted as advisers.
Li Zhuiyuan took a few boxes of cannons and firesticks, and then asked: "What do you want, get it yourself."
Their eyes immediately lit up, but they each only took one box of the cheapest one.
"Choose a few more boxes."
Seeing how proud Brother Yuanzi was, the two of them stopped being coy and chose a few boxes of what they liked.
Li Zhuiyuan paid the bill and left.
Huzi and Shitou carried cannons and showed off in front of the children very arrogantly.
After returning home, Li Zhuiyuan walked up to Runsheng who was making paper:
"Brother Runsheng, give me two cigarettes."
"Okay."
Runsheng lit two sticks of incense and handed them to the boy.
The boy took the incense, walked up to Ali, and handed a stick of burning incense to Ali.
Then, the boy and girl began to place the cannons in various places, and they used incense to light them together.
From time to time, the sound of gunfire could be heard from the Bazi and the vegetable fields below.
Yin Meng walked out of the house with the ink fountain in her hand. While twisting her neck slightly, she looked at the two people playing below, feeling a little dazed for a moment:
"They're so funny."
Runsheng responded and asked: "You also want to set off cannons?"
Yinmeng nodded: "Okay, it's the Chinese New Year."
"You wait."
Runsheng put down the cane in his hand, went into the back room, and then came out with eight two kicks in his arms:
"Come on, let it go."
"Put this?"
"Yes, it will expire if you don't put it in. You should still be able to hear the sound now."
"My dad called me, my dad called me!"
Tan Wenbin had a pager tied to his waist. He pointed there and walked out with his hips raised. This posture seemed to be a misalignment of the pelvis. After doing well in the final exam, Tan Yunlong bought him a pager. Since then, he has been wearing it around his waist. To match it, he went to town to pick out another pair of jeans and a belt.
Runsheng: "Your father slapped you in the face?"
"Ha, I know you are jealous."
Tan Wenbin continued to hold his hips up and walked down the dam like a crab.
This action made Yin Meng behind and Liu Yumei, who was sitting on the dam drinking tea, smile.
Tan Wenbin trotted to Aunt Zhang's canteen to answer the call. Then, he ran back and shouted to Li Zhuiyuan who was still playing with Ali in the field:
"Brother Xiaoyuan, my dad said that the police station will send someone to pick you and Uncle Li up later. He said there was a strange corpse sent from the police station and he wanted you to go take a look."
"Okay." Li Zhuiyuan nodded, and he and Ah Li left the field and went to the water well in Bazi to wash their hands.
Tan Wenbin asked: "Do you want me to call Uncle Li back?"
Liu Jinxia took a job and asked Li Sanjiang to come over to discuss it, but he hasn't come back yet.
Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "No, we can just go."
"Okay." Tan Wenbin also thinks so. It doesn't matter whether the master goes or not.
Runsheng asked: "Xiaoyuan, are we going?"
"Brother Runsheng, call you if necessary."
"Yes." Runsheng walked under the dam, tore open the wrapping paper of the second kicker, and pulled out the lead inside.
After a while, a police three-wheeled motorcycle drove over. Tan Wenbin led Li Zhuiyuan onto the motorcycle while calling "Uncle Liu".
After they left, Yinmeng took a stick of incense and lit one:
"Bang... bang!"
After placing one, Yinmeng looked at Runsheng and said:
"I said, why are you so peaceful here?"
Runsheng pointed in the direction of the bearded man's house in the distance: "Xiaoyuan said, because there is a big guy lying there, not dead yet."
"When will he die?"
"I don't know, and it doesn't matter. In one semester, Xiaoyuan will go to college. You can't bear it any longer."
At the same moment, Tan Wenbin, who was sitting on the motorcycle, kept rubbing his fingers. After experiencing great stimulation, a long dull life seemed a bit difficult.
When he arrived at the institute, Tan Yunlong personally came out to pick him up.
Tan Wenbin pulled out two cigarettes and handed them first to Uncle Liu, who was driving the motorcycle, and then to Tan Yunlong:
"Come on, Team Tan, have a cigarette."
Tan Yunlong took the cigarette and asked: "Smoking again?"
Tan Wenbin stuffed the cigarette case back into his pocket and said with a smile: "How can I? This is the Chinese New Year. Uncle Li gave it to me."
"Xiaoyuan, follow me."
"Okay, Uncle Tan."
Tan Yunlong took Li Zhuiyuan to the forensic room, and Tan Wenbin naturally followed.
"Team Tan, this is..." A young female forensic doctor was surprised to see two young men.
She still remembered the last time she had a chat with an old man who was a folk corpse collector, and the other person provided a lot of ideas and insights.
Shouldn't the old man be invited over this time? Why didn't the old man come?
"Forensic Doctor Xiao Wang, let's get started." Tan Yunlong did not explain any more.
Forensic doctor Xiao Wang led everyone to a stretcher. After reaching out and grabbing the edge of the white cloth, she still asked with some worry,
"Team Tan, is this really okay? I'm afraid of scaring them."
Tan Wenbin shrugged: "Don't worry, it's just a giant view, it's not a big deal."
Although the body was covered with white cloth, the exposed feet were highly swollen, proving that it had been soaked for a long time.
"It's not just a giant view." Forensic doctor Xiao Wang opened the white cloth, revealing a swollen corpse, and the chest of the corpse was empty, as if a spoonful of pig skin jelly had been dug out.
Originally, forensic doctor Xiao Wang thought it would scare the two of them, but unexpectedly the two boys started looking at each other with interest.
"Hey, this is interesting, Brother Yuanzi."
"Yeah."
"What's going on with this middle piece? It's still arc-shaped. How did it happen? It can't be that one, right?"
"No."
"That's that one?"
"No."
Forensic doctor Xiao Wang was nearby and was confused.
Tan Yunlong couldn't help but stare at his son: "Speak humanly."
Tan Wenbin said dissatisfied: "I told you not to read well."
Tan Yunlong: "..."
Seeing that his father seemed to be really angry, Tan Wenbin quickly explained: "Dad, this is a professional term I learned from Uncle Li."
He had read "The Chronicles of Jianghu", and what he had just remembered were "The Mother and Son Die" and "The Parasite Dies", but Xiao Yuanfou dismissed them both.
Li Zhuiyuan stretched out his hand and pointed at a green stick in the hollow of the body.
Forensic doctor Xiao Wang said: "Is it a waterweed?"
Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "It's not aquatic plants, it's animal hair."
Tan Yunlong: "Xiao Wang, haven't you done any testing?"
"I..." Forensic Doctor Xiao Wang said with some embarrassment, "I was negligent in my work and I didn't notice it."
"Uncle Tan, where was this body found?"
"In Tongxing River, we have sent people upstream to check on the middle-aged men who have disappeared recently."
"Is it closer to us upstream or downstream?"
"What does this mean?" Tan Yunlong didn't understand.
Tan Wenbin said: "Xiaoyuan, I know this river. It passes through us first and then goes to the next town."
Li Zhuiyuan said: "Uncle Tan, then go downstream to investigate, don't go upstream."
"Can a corpse still swim upstream?"
"Well, what if we were taken along by the ship? It's possible."
"Okay, I get it." Although Tan Yunlong still didn't understand, he planned to give it a try as suggested.
Whether it was due to pretense or the atmosphere, in short, forensic doctor Xiao Wang now somewhat recognized the two of them. She pointed at the corpse and said: "Also, this corpse has a strange amount of water seepage."
Tan Wenbin immediately became excited when he heard this: "That's great. I'll bring something to do when I get back later."
Li Zhuiyuan said: "It's okay, this is normal."
Forensic doctor Xiao Wang asked again with some confusion: "Is this normal?"
"Well, don't worry."
After walking out of the forensic room, Tan Yunlong called Xiao Liu again and sent the two of them back.
After getting off the bus on the village road in front of his home, Tan Wenbin finally couldn't help but asked: "Xiaoyuan, what on earth is that thing?"
"The corpse demon."
Similar to the existence of the cat-faced old lady, the corpses of animals and human corpses that had accumulated resentment met and merged.
"Oh?" Tan Wenbin made a circle with his hands, "That missing part is the demon's body?"
"Yeah."
"The body is here, so where did it go?"
"It was scared away."
"Scared away?" Tan Wenbin turned to look in the direction of Big Beard's house, "Now that we have reached our boundary, all the corpse monsters have been scared away? No wonder you asked my dad to go downstream to investigate. That's right, since this corpse monster is so scared If it ran away, its original direction should be towards us.”
Normal corpses can only flow down the river, but it's not surprising that the corpse monster goes upstream.
"So, the water-soaked corpse can't become dead?"
"Well, it can't be changed."
Tan Wenbin smiled helplessly and said: "I think the bearded family should really reject it and build another temple. It can really protect the environment and the people."
"Brother Binbin."
"Huh?"
"Study hard."
"Otherwise, well, besides making progress every day, there seems to be nothing else to do."
After returning home, Li Zhuiyuan saw Li Weihan coming and picked out a lot of things.
It was from Li Lan in Beijing.
Li Lan would send things back every year and festival, including monthly remittances, which never stopped.
This year I received a lot of annual gifts, mainly for having an extra "son".
New clothes, shoes, stationery and all kinds of snacks, enough for two big bags.
Li Weihan smiled and said to Li Zhuiyuan: Xiao Yuanhou, you see, your mother has always been thinking about you.
Li Zhuiyuan could only return the same happy expression and performed in front of his grandfather.
Yes, he knew that she was reminding himself in this way that she still remembered him.
On New Year's Eve, at noon, Li Zhuiyuan followed Li Sanjiang to Li Weihan's place to have a reunion dinner first.
Originally, Li Sanjiang planned to invite Li Weihan, Cui Guiying and others to his home for New Year's Eve dinner, but when the winter vacation came, Li Zhuiyuan and his uncles left their children at their parents' house again, and a school was opened at home.
Li Weihan was too embarrassed to bring all his children to Li Sanjiang's house for dinner, so he could only choose this compromise method.
When he led Li Zhuiyuan out after dinner, Li Sanjiang kept scolding those white-eyed wolves.
Instead of going home directly, he went to Big Beard's house because the place was also under Li Sanjiang's name, so he had to do some hygiene before the year was over.
Runsheng and Yinmeng had come early to clean for a while. Li Sanjiang picked up a broom and joined in. Even Li Zhuiyuan picked up a rag to help wipe the tables, chairs and benches.
By the time I finished my work, it was already dusk.
Li Sanjiang put his hands on his hips and complained with a smile: "Oh, it's not a good thing that this big business has a big business. It's really hard to clean, haha."
Finally, Li Sanjiang placed two pagoda incense sticks on the dam.
Aunt Liu made this herself. If she really wanted to go out and buy it, Li Sanjiang was really reluctant to buy it.
The incense was lingering, and Runsheng took several deep breaths beside him.
Li Sanjiang waved to him: "Go, go, this is to respect the Bodhisattva, so that I can continue to bless you in the coming year."
Hearing this, Li Zhuiyuan, Runsheng and Yinmeng couldn't help but look at the peach forest ahead.
No, thanks to its blessing, everyone has nothing to do collectively.
But I can only keep this bit of slander in my heart, and just complain a few words verbally, and don't spread it too much. After all, no matter what, it is always a good thing to be alive and haunted.
At the New Year's Eve dinner, Li Sanjiang handed out red envelopes to everyone except Liu Yumei. After all, they were either his juniors or his workers. As for Zhuangzhuang's share, he had already given it to him before he went home for the New Year this morning.
Liu Yumei also received lucky money.
Then, Ah Li handed over the two red envelopes he received to Xiao Yuan.
The girl still remembers what the boy looked like when he was short of money.
Li Zhuiyuan held Ali's hand, entered the east room, opened her collection box, and put all four red envelopes in.
In the evening, everyone gathered around the TV to watch the Spring Festival Gala.
When the countdown to zero o'clock ended, the sound of celebration came from the TV, and the scheduled sound of cannons also came from outside.
Local people generally do not have the habit of counting specific months, and they generally calculate their years according to the "Chinese New Year".
Li Zhuiyuan held Ali's hand and stood by the dam, looking at the fireworks that could only be vaguely seen in the distance.
"Ali, we are one year older."
(End of chapter)