Chapter 30: What's the sentence for seven years for hit-and-run resulting in death? ...

Xie Shijin walked out of the police station carrying a cat.

When it was lunchtime, people went to the police station canteen to eat, while others brought food back from the canteen.

"Why is he here again?" said a police officer who returned carrying a takeout box.

My colleague asked, "Who?"

"Don't you have eyes? Look for yourself." The man gestured with his chin toward the door.

The boy stepped into the sunlight. His snow-white shirt draped over his thin shoulders, creating faint folds that followed the lines of his spine, making his shoulders and back appear even narrower. With each step, one could see his slightly protruding, thin knuckles.

My colleague looked at me with a sudden realization: "Him..."

Seeing Xie Shijin, he couldn't help but think of another teenager who had caused a scene at the police station two years ago, claiming that the girl's death was not an accident but murder.

The analysis was quite logical, but without evidence, it was ultimately determined to be an accident.

Everyone in the bureau remembered the two of them.

"What's the sentence for hit-and-run resulting in death?"

"If you have a good attitude, seven years."

One person remarked with a sigh: "Her parents raised her for sixteen years, but the driver who caused the accident only got seven years."

"If that girl hadn't died, she would be taking the college entrance exam this year."

...

The midday sun finally warmed Xie Shijin's body a little.

After grabbing a bite at a random roadside shop and feeding the cat, Xie Shijin boarded bus number 73.

The bus swayed and rattled all the way to Songshan Cemetery.

In the past two years, the northern suburbs of Yichuan have been developed rapidly, and the price of Songshan Cemetery has also risen accordingly, with an average price of about 60,000 yuan per plot.

Xie Shijin bought his grandmother's grave for 80,000 yuan.

When my grandmother was alive, she had to support his education, so she didn't save much money. After her cremation, her ashes were put in an urn and placed on the family shrine.

Such a great man, yet his ashes amounted to only a small handful, not even enough to fill a small jar.

There was no funeral.

In July, college entrance examination notices were sent out one after another, and the government's bonuses for students who were admitted to Tsinghua and Peking Universities also arrived in their accounts.

He bought a new urn for his grandmother's ashes, and the funeral expenses totaled 20,000 yuan.

From then on, his name was the only one listed on the household registration book.

Cheng Shiyun's grave is halfway up the mountain, while her maternal grandmother's grave is at the foot of the mountain.

My grandmother has difficulty walking and has trouble climbing stairs, so this will help her walk less.

It rained and was windy last night, which blew the branches and pine needles off the trees.

Xie Shijin went to fetch water, and Cheng Shiyun stood in front of her grandmother's tombstone and respectfully bowed three times.

"Good afternoon, Grandma. Xie Shijin brought me to see you."

"You may not know me. I am Xie Shijin's classmate, and my name is Cheng Shiyun."

...

“I am dead too, and my grave is up there.”

...

"But for some reason, I came back as a kitten."

"It was Xie Shijin who saved me."

...

"I'm sorry, Grandma, I can't let him come down to keep you company for the time being."

Aside from apologizing, Cheng Shiyun didn't know what else to say, and she kowtowed to her grandmother devoutly.

A mountain breeze blew by, and the pine trees overhead rustled.

When she looked up, a pine cone fell in front of her with a "thud".

It wasn't the season for pine cones to ripen yet, so this one was quite small, its skin still green, and the kernel hadn't even sprouted. Yet, it fell right in front of her.

Cheng Shiyun was somewhat surprised. She picked up the pine cone and said blankly, "...Thank you, Grandma."

"But I didn't bring anything with me today, so I have nothing to give you."

She thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "But don't worry."

"If Xie Shijin protects me, I will protect him too."

A moment later, Xie Shijin returned, carrying a small bucket of water. Lacking a rag, he used a tissue dampened with water to wipe the tombstone.

After cleaning her grandmother's tombstone, Xie Shijin carried the cat and walked up into the cemetery, past Cheng Shiyun's grave, and then further up.

Songshan Cemetery is a large cemetery with more than 3,000 graves.

The price of a burial plot varies depending on its location and feng shui. Some plots cost over 100,000 yuan, while others are very cheap, around 10,000 yuan. There was a small plot on the outermost edge of the cemetery, so small that even a slightly larger urn could not be placed in it. But it was a plot that my grandmother bought for herself before she passed away.

It's so small that Cheng Shiyun wouldn't even recognize it as a cemetery if she hadn't told her.

"Is this also Grandma's grave?" Cheng Shiyun noticed there seemed to be another tombstone next to it.

The cemetery is small, so the tombstones are also small, and the words on them are even smaller. Covered in dust and leaves, they become even harder to read.

Xie Shijin said, "No."

Whose is that?

Cheng Shiyun glanced at him, jumped down from his arms, hopped onto the tombstone, and wiped the dust off with her paws.

The words on the tombstone gradually became clearer; the first three characters were:

— Xie Shijin.

Cheng Shiyun's mind went blank for a moment, as if a sudden explosion had gone through her.

The birdsong in the mountains and forests was incessant, but it sounded as if it were coming through a thick layer of cotton, or as if it existed in another world, so indistinct that she couldn't hear it clearly.

Cheng Shiyun took another careful look to make sure she wasn't mistaken.

This is……

The tomb of Xie Shijin?

After a long while, Cheng Shiyun finally came to her senses and looked up at the boy's face.

Sunlight pierced through the treetops, casting sparse patches of light, but they all seemed to avoid him, not a single one falling on him.

He stood alone, always in the shadows.

Cheng Shiyun wanted to reach out and touch him, to pull him into the sunlight, but she forgot that she wasn't human, so she couldn't reach him no matter what.

Fortunately, Xie Shijin bent down, picked her up, wiped her dirty paws clean, and then squatted down to clean the small tombstone as well.

Cheng Shiyun also saw clearly that there was a line of even smaller characters below the tombstone, indicating the date of birth.

July 21, 2018.

It happened to be the day she found Xie Shijin.

If she hadn't knocked on that door that day, Xie Shijin's ashes would have been buried here.

Cheng Shiyun originally wanted to ask him when he planned to commit suicide, but the words that came out were: "You didn't carve the words on the tombstone, did you?"

Xie Shijin shook his head.

“No wonder it doesn’t look good at all,” Cheng Shiyun said dryly. “There are also typos; the character ‘瑾’ is missing a horizontal stroke at the bottom.”

"I thought you were so stupid you couldn't even write your own name."

Xie Shijin smiled slightly: "I had it engraved."

The engraver noticed it too and said he would change it for him.

He said it wasn't necessary, since no one would come to worship him anymore, and probably no one would even notice.

The engraver sighed, offering words of condolence while saying, "He was only eighteen, so young."

In the end, he was charged fifty less.

"Didn't he ask you what your relationship with Xie Shijin was?" Cheng Shiyun remembered that when her grandmother passed away, Cheng Jinghua took her to have a tombstone engraved. The engraver would ask them if they wanted to add the name of the person erecting the tombstone, as well as their relationship with the deceased.

"I asked." Xie Shijin knew what she was thinking. "The stone engraver is very old, over seventy."

If he says something that frightens someone, fifty dollars won't be enough to cover the damages.

Cheng Shiyun smiled and looked at him, asking, "Even though it was engraved incorrectly, it's not needed now, right?"

"Yes." Xie Shijin nodded.

There was no burial, so the tombstone was not embedded; it was simply placed to the side.

The tombstone was made of marble and wasn't very heavy; Xie Shijin carried it to the foot of the mountain and then threw it away.

Throw it away!

Cheng Shiyun stared in disbelief.

Xie Shijin said, "It's useless to bring it home. It's too big even to use as a table corner mat."

That makes sense, but Cheng Shiyun found it strange that he would just throw away his own tombstone like that.

It's strange in itself to erect a tombstone for oneself.

But Cheng Shiyun knew that he was afraid that no one would erect a monument for him after he died.

Afterwards, Xie Shijin went to the management center of Songshan Cemetery and told the staff that he wanted to cancel his burial plot on the mountaintop.

The staff member said, "Is there something you don't like about that cemetery? What are your needs? We can recommend other cemeteries based on your requirements."

Xie Shijin shook his head and refused: "No need, the person is not dead yet."

"..."

ah? ? ?

The staff looked at each other, at a loss for words. They really couldn't think of a way to persuade them to stay. They couldn't very well say that they would keep them until someone died.

The staff refunded him: "After deducting 20% ​​penalty and two months' management fee, we'll refund you a total of 7,900. Please click here."

Xie Shijin took the money and left, but another staff member chased after him and called out, "Are you a relative of Ren Xiulan?"

"I am."

“I remember you were the one who came to bury her. I’m so sorry, our staff registered your contact information incorrectly last time. We tried calling you yesterday but couldn’t get through. It just so happens that you’re here today.” The staff member explained, “Someone came yesterday and said they wanted to move Ren Xiulan’s grave.”

Xie Shijin frowned deeply: "No one is allowed to touch Ren Xiulan's grave."

The staff repeatedly assured them, "Don't worry, we definitely won't let them move anything without the family's permission."

The boy whispered, "Thank you."

Take care.

After the boy walked away, the staff realized that he didn't seem to have asked who wanted to move Ren Xiulan's grave.

Cheng Shiyun asked, "Is it... Auntie?"

Although Xie Shijin's relationship with his mother was strained, Cheng Shiyun felt that calling him by his first name was still very impolite.

Xie Shijin nodded, his expression turning cold.

He Sumei somehow got his phone number and called him, sent him text messages, and even came to his house to ask him why the locks had been changed.

She's probably trying to use this method to force him to contact her first.

Cheng Shiyun suddenly felt very sad.

She could tell that Xie Shijin's mother still loved him. If she loved him, why did she always hurt him?

On his way home, Xie Shijin was lost in thought, even after getting off the bus. He didn't even respond when his neighbors greeted him.

"Xiao Xie is back?"

Xie Shijin has always had good grades since he was a child. His grandmother always liked to praise him when she chatted with the neighbors. Now he has become the top scorer in the provincial college entrance examination. People in the community also like to use him as an example for their own children.

Xie Shijin wasn't usually talkative, but he would politely answer when asked questions. Today, however, he seemed not to hear them and walked past with the cat in his arms.

"What's wrong with Xiao Xie?" an auntie who greeted him asked curiously. "A while ago, he wouldn't leave the house for ten days or half a month at a time, but lately he's been going out every day."

The old lady next to her said, "Let's hide from people."

"Avoiding whom?"

Where there are many people, there are gossip hotspots. If something happens to someone's family, the news will spread throughout the entire neighborhood in less than an hour.

The old woman said, "Oh dear, you don't know? That heartless bastard is back!"

"Which one? What riddle is it? Is there something you can't tell me?"

"That's Xiao Xie's dad!"

"Xie... Xie Pingxue?" Auntie remembered this person. "Didn't he used to come every day? Why didn't he come anymore?"

My aunt heard that Xie Pingxue and He Sumei divorced, and Xie Shijin went to live with He Sumei. However, He Sumei abandoned him at his maternal grandmother's house and didn't care about him anymore. He was rarely home and eventually left Yichuan and never came back.

Xie Pingxue is still in Yichuan, but he only comes to cause trouble when he loses money playing cards or gets drunk, making a scene known to everyone in the building.

“Your memory is even worse than mine,” the old woman said. “The man surnamed Xie hasn’t come for two years.”

"Why aren't you coming?"

The old woman hesitated for a moment, then finally lowered her voice and said, "He went to jail... he was just released."

Xie Shijin walked to the entrance of the apartment building, suddenly stopped, and moved the sole of her shoe.

He stepped on a cigarette butt, a pack of Tianxiaxiu cigarettes that cost five yuan.

Xie Shijin frowned, entered the building, and walked upstairs.

His phone suddenly vibrated; the young man living in apartment 602 next door had sent him a text message.

Brother Xie, are you back?

12715: [What's wrong?]

It seems like your house is being targeted by a thief! A man was just trying to pick your lock, but he seems to have left.

I saw it through the peephole, but my dad isn't home.

12715: [Stay at home, lock the door, and don't go out.]

Oh, should we call the police?

Xie Shijin didn't see the last message from the other end. He opened his contacts and called Ni Jiaqi.

Ni Jiaqi answered quickly, his voice lazy: "Hello? What's up?"

"Where?" Xie Shijin asked.

Ni Jiaqi said, "Sweeping the streets, doing volunteer work, is there anything I can do for you?"

Xie Shijin glanced at the tabby cat in his arms and said in a hoarse voice, "Cat...can you take care of me for a few days?"

That's great!

Before the call ended, Xie Shijin heard Ni Jiaqi asking for leave from the person in charge. A few seconds later, the other party asked again, "Are you home? I'll be right there."

Xie Shijin: "Mm."

The two of them simply handed over custody of the cat without even asking the cat's opinion.

After hanging up the phone, Cheng Shiyun was shocked and very unhappy: "Are you going to give me to Ni Jiaqi?"

She hunched over, looking somewhat fierce, clearly dissatisfied with Xie Shijin's arrangement that didn't even ask her a question.

"It's not a farewell." Xie Shijin patted her back, then paused and said, "I'll pick you up in a couple of days."

"Why do you have to wait two days? Can't you support me during these two days?"

Seeing his furrowed brows and cold, disgusted expression, Cheng Shiyun suddenly felt panicked, sensing that Xie Shijin was hiding something from her.

Her tone softened, and she asked softly, "Did something happen?"

"Didn't you say we were family? Is there anything you can't tell me?"

"Or do you think I'm not of any help?"

Xie Shijin turned her face away, her jaw clenched.

She said so much, but Xie Shijin didn't respond at all. Cheng Shiyun frowned and got a little angry: "Xie Shijin, say something."

"Don't even think about sending me away until you tell me."

Xie Shijin took off his backpack, stuffed the little tabby cat clinging to his shoulder into it, zipped it up, and locked it.

Cheng Shiyun was incredulous that Xie Shijin had actually locked her in his schoolbag.

Ni Jiaqi only realized this after getting into the taxi. Before, when he wanted the cat, Xie Shijin refused to give it to him no matter what. Why did he offer to let him take care of the cat for a few days today?

He had a vague feeling that something was wrong, so he texted Xie Shijin, "What's wrong with you?"

Xie Shijin replied, "Xie Pingxue has been released from prison."

-----------------------

Author's Note: Bonus chapter!!!

[Laughs heartily]