On a rainy night, the wind howled and the rain poured down.

Gao Siming woke up from his dream again. Since that night, Gao Siming had been frequently troubled by the same nightmare.

As nightmares strike, Gao Siming takes on a different identity, becoming a bystander who watches tragedies unfold time and time again, powerless to stop them.

It was a day at the end of June in 4203.

At the beginning of summer vacation, Gao Zimin, the older sister, invited Gao Siming to go shopping in the Sakura City area to buy gifts, because today was a special day, a double celebration.

At the end of June, before the orchard had started to get busy, my parents had a rare moment of leisure and decided to cook a delicious meal at home so the whole family could celebrate together.

That's right, the admission notice from Caiyun University of Technology arrived yesterday. Their daughter, Gao Zimin, was admitted to the economics major at Caiyun University with excellent grades.

Even more coincidentally, today is our 20th wedding anniversary.

Double happiness! We must celebrate!

Even though the fruit harvest has been poor in recent years, and the family's finances are a big problem, we will soon have to work hard to pay for our children's tuition. We hope that the price of cherry blossoms and red oranges will be better this year, so that the pressure will be much less.

Compared to my children who have achieved academic success, no amount of hardship or fatigue matters; it's all worth it!

Today, my father, Gao Zhengwei, generously stewed a large pot of bitter ginseng and pork rib soup, which is his wife's favorite flavor.

She said, "This bitter ginseng and bone broth is like life. Although it tastes bitter at first, it gets sweeter and sweeter the more you eat."

To support her two children, the family always tries to save money. In the twenty years of their marriage, Li Xiulan has only drunk a simple bitter ginseng and pork rib soup a handful of times.

Around 4 p.m., the bone broth was already emitting an enticing aroma.

While carefully inhaling the enticing aroma, Gao Zhengwei and his wife were preparing other vegetables in the yard.

Today's main dish is fish, my daughter's favorite steamed fish with fermented black beans.

This fish was caught by Gao Zhengwei last night while he was fishing in the river. It weighs over four pounds and is very plump. He had been keeping it in the water tank in the yard to let it spit out the sand.

Gao Zhengwei skillfully processed the fish scales and gills, and quietly said to his wife, "Hey, the bone broth smells pretty good. I'll get you a bowl in a bit to satisfy your craving!"

Li Xiulan had already smelled the aroma, swallowed hard, but shook her head. "Let's wait for the kids to come back and drink together! Let the kids have plenty!"

"It's alright, it's a special day today, I cooked a lot! There's plenty to go around!"

As they were talking, a soft sound came from the kitchen, sounding exactly like the sound of a pot lid being turned over.

In the Gao family's kitchen, the earthen stove was right next to a wooden window, where villagers or children would often sneak in and take advantage of the situation.

This is quite common in the countryside. They're all neighbors, and Gao Zhengwei is used to it. They're all from the same village, so let them eat if they want. The key is that today it's soup, so they can probably only smell the aroma.

He was still waiting for the comical sight of that guy who couldn't get his soup and came to the yard begging for something.

Unexpectedly, after waiting quietly for several minutes, there was still no movement.

Li Xiulan realized what was happening. "I'll go check. Maybe a mouse has jumped into the pot!"

Gao Zhengwei panicked when he heard this. If the rat really ruined the soup, it would be a huge loss.

They put down their work and rushed into the kitchen together.

The aluminum lid rested quietly over the iron pot, leaving only a narrow gap that released an even more enticing aroma of meat and bones.

Gao Zhengwei opened the pot lid and used a large iron spatula to flip it over from side to side. "It's alright, it's alright, it's alright."

Li Xiulan was also worried, so she stepped forward, took the spatula from her husband, and flipped the pot twice more.

"No, thank goodness!"

Enticed by the aroma, the two swallowed simultaneously and exchanged a glance.

"Let's try it first and see if it's salty enough."

"Okay, one small bowl each will do!"

...

Around 6 p.m., Gao Siming and her brother returned to the village in high spirits after shopping and buying gifts. As soon as they arrived at the village entrance, they saw that their yard was full of people.

A van commonly used by the patrol officers was parked in front of the house, and two young men in blue patrol officer uniforms were looking around.

The siblings sensed something was wrong and ran home as fast as they could.

As soon as they entered the house, they saw Uncle Su, an elder from the same village, approaching them. "Poor children, your parents are gone..."

Every time Gao Siming's nightmare reached this point, he would wake up with a start, feeling the coolness of his pajamas as he slowly calmed himself down.

He was afraid of having this nightmare, afraid of returning to this day and facing the loss of his family again.

He also hoped to continue this nightmare, wanting to move forward and see his deceased parents one last time.

In fact, it's obvious to anyone with eyes that Gao Siming's parents did not commit suicide by poisoning themselves.

What kind of person would commit suicide on a whim, leaving behind a large grass carp that hasn't been properly cleaned, half-cut scallions, ginger, and garlic, and then kill themselves next to a delicious pot of soup?

This is definitely a heinous case of being poisoned and killed!

The poison was easy to detect; it was rat poison, which every household in the village had.

Rat poison is a potent rat poison. The drug itself has the aroma of cooked meat, and the aroma contains toxic ingredients. Even just smelling it will make rats unsteady on their feet and easy to catch.

To prevent accidental ingestion, this rat-specific tonic is designed to be extremely bitter. If you accidentally swallow it, spit it out immediately and rinse your mouth with water several times to avoid any life-threatening danger.

The rest of them were rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment, including gastric lavage, intravenous fluids, and rest.

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