19
She didn't even have time to react. When Zhuang Xiaodie tried to grab that hand, the car door was opened from the outside. She didn't even know when he changed hands. Zhuang Xiaodie was pulled out of the car backwards.
Raindrops pelted her face like a curtain of water, and even when she opened her eyes, she couldn't see clearly. Branches and vines whipped her body. Zhuang Xiaodie tried to grab the hand that was strangling her neck, but it was useless. She was dragged to the side of the red car. The man wrapped something around her neck again. It seemed elastic, giving her a moment's respite. She fumbled in her pockets, and the fruit knife fell out in half. She grasped the handle, pressed her thumb against the sheath, and without worrying about whether to actually remove the knife, she reversed her grip and stabbed back.
Hearing the screams from above, she knew she had struck the right spot. This time, she remembered to pull back the knife and thrust it in again and again. The man refused to let go, instead tightening his grip like crazy. The suffocation had nearly drained Zhuang Xiaodie's strength from her hands, which were stained with his blood and so slippery that she couldn't even grasp the knife handle.
Just then, the brush stirred, and a figure flashed by, waving something at her. Zhuang Xiaodie instinctively closed her eyes. After a few seconds, something slowly slid down behind her, and someone untied the thing around her neck. Air rushed into her mouth and nose, and she fell to the ground, dizzy and coughing violently.
"Are you okay?" Someone pressed her shoulders and stroked her back. Zhuang Xiaodie didn't bother to answer. She coughed violently several times before she recovered and glanced back at the person next to her. Nian Jinsi's face was very close, but it didn't seem like concern, but more like observation. Zhuang Xiaodie pushed her, indicating that she was much better.
"I asked her to stay in the car." Nian Jinsi said, glancing at the man next to him, "What should I do?"
Zhuang Xiaodie slowly climbed to her feet, finally getting a clearer look at her attacker. It was exactly as Shentu Hai had described. Her knife had stabbed the man's thigh, causing blood to ooze out. He had also been hit on the head, clearly beyond saving.
Zhuang Xiaodie remembered what Shen Tu Hai had just said. She walked up to him and slapped him several times until he woke up. Then she grabbed his neck and asked, "Why are you following me?"
The man closed his eyes and didn't even look at her, just cursed: "Bitch!" Zhuang Xiaodie said nothing and stepped hard on the wound on his thigh. The man screamed in pain and trembled all over. He pushed her with both hands but had no strength.
When she felt it was almost over, Zhuang Xiaodie released her foot and repeated, "Why are you following me?"
"To kill you, why else?" the man replied.
"Why?"
"Didn't you see everything?"
Zhuang Xiaodie narrowed her eyes, met Nian Jinsi's gaze, then turned back to ask, "What do you mean by 'saw'?"
"Wei Dahe forced his daughter to jump into the river. Didn't you see it all? Even then, he's still playing dumb! I told him to do it together, but he insisted on going alone. What a stinking idiot!"
Zhuang Xiaodie took a step back, the rain running down her hair and covering her face. She looked at the man, who was already dying, with no chance of survival. However, if she left him there, the villagers would find him sooner or later, and the police would undoubtedly connect her to this incident. Zhuang Xiaodie searched her other pocket. The cigarette she had asked the stranger for at the funeral home was something she always carried with her. She desperately wanted a cigarette, but now was not the time. Besides, she didn't have a lighter.
Zhuang Xiaodie turned around and saw Nian Jinsi holding a cell phone. She stepped forward to grab it, but Nian Jinsi took a few steps back and put the phone behind his back.
"What are you doing?"
"Record this to prove your innocence."
"You want to call the police?"
"Did you forget those packages in the trunk?"
Zhuang Xiaodie narrowed her eyes: "What on earth do you want to do?"
"Staying here will only make things worse," Nian Jinsi said. "Xiaodie, come with me."
"Don't go crazy," Zhuang Xiaodie said. She walked back to the man and said, "Any last words?"
The man leaned back in the driver's seat, his head drooping weakly. Zhuang Xiaodie leaned over and rummaged through the pile of things in the car. She found his driver's license, his cell phone, and a palm-sized notepad. The first page contained an address, with his name and date written below—presumably his birthdate—below. The rest contained the date and remittance amount.
Zhuang Xiaodie held the notebook in front of the man and asked, "What do you mean?"
"My son," the man said. "He's eight years old... I've never met him."
Nian Jinsi interjected, "Do you think you're in some cheesy gangster movie?"
"You want to kill me, but you still expect me to take care of your child?" Zhuang Xiaodie asked.
"Weidaha is dead, right?"
Zhuang Xiaodie didn't say anything.
"I thought he was alive, so I chased him. He paid me to work for him, saying it was a big business and there was a rich woman supporting him." The man snorted and laughed, "With a guy like him, how could a rich woman be interested in him? Even if she was blinded for a moment, she would have run away long ago."
The paper was soaked. Zhuang Xiaodie closed the notebook and remained silent.
The man said, "I'm going to die anyway, so you can do whatever you want with the child."
He closed his eyes, the rain washing away the blood on his body. The bleeding was impossible to stop. Zhuang Xiaodie watched quietly for a moment, then put the notebook into her pocket.
Shentu Hai had been standing beside her without her knowing when. She didn't say a word, and if she hadn't turned around, Zhuang Xiaodie wouldn't have noticed her.
"Let me get the shovel... Do you want to bury it here?"
"You knew they were targeting me, but you didn't tell me?" Zhuang Xiaodie asked.
"I thought you were part of Wei Dahe's party," Shentu Hai said. "I asked you if you had met Wei Yuling and Wei Dahe, and you kept saying no."
Zhuang Xiaodie wanted to slap her, but then she thought, if it weren't for this girl, she might have been caught off guard and killed by Wei Dahe. Lying under the overpass, she posed no threat to anyone, and no one would notice. A death like that would go unnoticed. She was just one of the countless raindrops, melting in the water and disappearing forever.
She hadn't really thought about Wei Yuling, or rather, she'd forced herself not to. This girl's experience was very similar to hers; she'd survived, but that girl hadn't. She'd always felt like she could have died at that age, the only difference being that she wasn't alone that day.
They moved the car and began to take turns digging the hole.
The shovel dug into the earth, the soil thick and wet from the rain. Yes, she remembered. That frail girl and her furious father, that helpless girl under the dim light of dawn, her pained face suddenly etched itself into her eyes. Yes, that girl had looked at her, tears streaming down her face, her eyes terrified, her mouth slightly open. Her feeble plea for help was interrupted by Wei Dahe, who, without a second's delay, turned and walked away. Memories flooded back, and she ran for alcohol, spending her meager money and drinking herself into oblivion.
However, why did he turn around and leave at that time?
Dirt fell on the body, quickly washed away by the rain. The body lay in a puddle of mud, and raindrops splashed into the water, stirring up fish scales that opened and closed, reflecting the shimmering golden light.
Then it was completely buried.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
