5
Half a month later, Wei Yuling's body was hung up by a fisherman in the lower reaches of the river in S City. It was swollen and many scars on his body were identified as impact injuries when he jumped into the river. It was determined to be suicide.
Shentu Hai didn't believe it. Wei Yuling had already agreed with him that they would go to the same city in the future. There was still one year left, just one year! They would still be together and more free. How could she die in vain like that? Shentu Hai told the police that her friend had been abused by her father, Wei Dahao. He had seen the injuries on her body and learned from him that Wei Dahao had beaten her. The police did visit the neighbors but heard no news of domestic violence. The autopsy still identified the injuries as collision injuries, and Wei Yuling's death was ultimately ruled a suicide.
Less than six months later, Shentu Hai heard that Wei Dahe had found a wealthy woman and was starting a new life. Thinking of Wei Yuling's disappearance, the scars on her body, and her smile, Shentu Hai could not bear such an ending. She firmly believed Wei Yuling would not jump into the river, but she could not prove that Wei Dahe was responsible. Later, her grandmother passed away, and her parents, who had already started new families, ignored her. She missed Wei Yuling day and night, feeling even more lonely.
But what can she do alone?
Shentu Hai often walked along the river where Wei Yuling drowned. She kept thinking about what he had been thinking. If she had really jumped into the river, if she was in unspeakable pain and life was torture for her, Shentu Hai could forgive him for abandoning her. But it was only a year. Why?
A month after his grandmother's death, Shentu Hai sat by the river. People came and went, and young shoots sprouted from the cracks in the concrete. It was evening, and the river shimmered. A righteous young girl had died. She had fallen into the river like a drop of water, causing no ripples. It couldn't even bring a trace of remorse to that person.
As the father, Wei Dahe buried his daughter immediately after the police investigation was completed and refused to allow anyone to attend the funeral, including relatives. Shentu Hai did not know when she was buried, only that this was the result.
At first, Shentu Hai didn't cry. She went to and from school calmly, did her homework, and drew. Everything was the same as before, and it lasted like this for about a month. One day during self-study class, the teacher was away and the window was open. In the middle of the class, a bug flew in. It was a semi-circular ball with a dark green metallic pattern in the shape of a uterus embedded in the center. It was held by crimson round wings. Its inky black legs rustled across the paper. Its metallic green head was topped with swaying antennae, a dangerous beauty. Coincidentally, she had bought a similar colored soft-paint pen, so Shentu Hai drew a picture based on the bug's appearance and drew a small arrow on the edge: Bug-like mobile radio. After finishing, she pushed the picture aside as usual and lowered her head to continue doing math problems. She waited for a long time, but by the end of the class, the person next to her hadn't pushed her elbow to push the picture back. She was a little unhappy and turned her head to speak, but all she saw was an empty table and seat. She was stunned. She and the empty seat seemed to be packed into a box, unable to penetrate the surrounding noise. She stared blankly at a deep scratch on the tabletop, accidentally made by Wei Yuling while helping him with his woodcut. Shentu Hai had asked her if she wanted to carve the word "morning" (morning)? Wei Yuling replied, "You're the one who can't get out of bed."
The seat next to her was empty. No one waited to see her paintings during class, and no one chatted with her after class. No one waited at the intersection in the morning, no one walked her home from school, no one. She finally realized that Wei Yuling would not come out of the police station, laugh, laugh at her cowardice, open his arms and say, "Isn't this all good?"
Wei Yuling is dead.
How could such a death possibly make the perpetrator pay? Even a tiny price? If Wei Yuling had truly jumped into the river, what was she thinking the moment she gave up struggling? Did she even consider what would happen after her death? Or did she simply no longer care? Was there nothing left in this world to cling to?
Before her death, grandma held Shentu Hai's hand and said, "You must live well and take good care of yourself." Shentu Hai knew what her grandma was worried about, so she agreed.
When the first shovel of earth was placed on her grandmother's coffin, she almost fell into a state of numbness again. Sitting at the table, watching her parents quarrel over her grandmother's savings, she suddenly realized that she had been completely abandoned.
It was a glass coffee table that my grandmother loved, a very popular style in those days. She polished the glass top to a crystal clear shine every day, but it only took a slight push for it to slide completely down and shatter. My parents clapped their hands on the passbook again. Shentu Hai reached up and grabbed the edge of the table, violently flipping it over. The glass top hung in mid-air for half a second before shattering to the ground. In the end, she kept the passbook, and all of my grandmother's inheritance went to her. My parents never contacted her again, as if she didn't exist.
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Inviting two adults to live in his home was a very risky decision, and it might even come at a steep price. But Shentu Hai had no other choice.
At first, she hoped to find witnesses to prove Wei Yuling didn't commit suicide, but everyone said they hadn't seen anything. Later, she continued to wander the riverside, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the evening, sometimes during her lunch break. One day, unable to sleep, she walked back and forth along the river at five in the morning. She ran into a fisherman who asked her why she was out there at that hour and where her family was.
Shentu Hai ignored him.
The fisherman saw her looking into the water and asked, "What's in the water?"
Shentu Hai said, it’s a very big fish.
She was talking nonsense. The fisherman looked again and again in the water, but of course he couldn't find it. It was getting light, just as the lights were becoming less and less effective. The fisherman was silent for a moment, then said, "It might be a guide fish."
Guide fish?
"It's designed to lure you into the water," the fisherman said. "It's an urban legend." As soon as he finished speaking, the float sank, and the fisherman suddenly lifted his rod and reeled in his line. Shentu Hai watched from the side as he reeled in a palm-sized fish. She squinted, but it was so dark she couldn't tell what kind of fish it was.
"This is the one you saw," the fisherman said. He pulled out a crumpled plastic bag from somewhere, put the fish in it, and handed it to Shentu Hai. Shentu Hai didn't take it. The fisherman grabbed her hand, hung the fish on her wrist, and said, "The fish you saw is already given to you. Go home and don't wander around the river by yourself anymore." Then he sat back down and continued to hold his fishing rod.
Shentu Hai stood there for a moment, then returned with the fish. The fish, deprived of water, struggled in the bag, making a clattering noise. But its strength was limited, and it gradually lost its vitality. Shentu Hai returned home, dumped the dying fish into a basin, searched for videos on how to kill fish, and, following the instructions, gutted it and cooked a pot of soup.
The fish's blood splattered all over her and the floor, smelling fishy and foul, but the soup was still okay. She grabbed a pair of chopsticks and, using the pot and spoon, ate the fish clean while standing. The fish had many bones, the meat was a little overcooked, and the soup was too salty.
She scrubbed the pot silently, wiping away the blood bit by bit, scrubbing the floor again and again until the fishy smell was gone. She carried the trash downstairs, and as she exited the elevator, she saw sunlight blazing across the floor. She stepped out into the sunlight, the sting of the morning sun bringing tears to her eyes.
That day, she was walking home from school when she saw Wei Dahe wandering around the square. She followed him and discovered that he was following a woman, a homeless woman.
Later one morning, she was sitting on the steps of the square painting when the woman passed by and handed her a steamed bun.
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