6
It was getting dark.
Zhuang Xiaodie checked her phone. Nian Jinsi hadn't called, nor had she sent any messages. Old Liao had sent a message, but she hadn't opened it. Perhaps because she'd been too tired recently, or perhaps because she'd finally gotten some alone time and felt a little relaxed, she'd slept so well that when the alarm went off, she'd casually turned it off, adding another hour to her sleep. It was almost nine when she woke up.
It's getting late.
Zhuang Xiaodie stepped on the accelerator and arrived at the restaurant entrance just after eleven o'clock. Seeing that the door was ajar, the light from inside slashed out and hit the concrete floor in front of the door. Her heart sank.
As soon as she got out of the car, Zhuang Xiaodie heard the short video music inside. As she got closer, the sound of things being smashed became obvious. She immediately took a hammer from the trunk and ran straight to the store.
Looking through the crack in the door, the ground was a mess, but no one was in sight, so they might be in the yard. Zhuang Xiaodie gently opened the door, made sure the person inside saw her, slipped in, and closed the door tightly.
The house was bright, the music was loud, and there were repetitive voices of people laughing in low voices in the background. The tables and chairs were tilted, and the floor was littered with broken dishes and chopsticks. To avoid arousing vigilance, she picked up a hammer, stepped on the gaps, and followed the noise to the yard.
There was a small light on in the yard, so dim that it seemed as if it was about to die. Zhuang Xiaodie glanced at the kitchen and saw the knife was still on the chopping board. She closed the kitchen door and walked into the yard.
The moon disappeared into the clouds, and someone was moving in the corner. The sound of fists hitting flesh was sore that it made one's teeth ache. It felt like there was water on the skin, and there was a sticky sound. The boss was silent, with his limbs spread out on both sides like a dead arthropod, and was beaten by the man by the collar.
The man swung his fist, leaving several marks on the ground. Zhuang Xiaodie raised her hammer, quietly walked up behind him, aimed it at the back of his head, and smashed it down without a word. The man immediately fell forward, landing on the boss, and was silent.
Zhuang Xiaodie lifted her leg, hooked her toes around the man's waist, and slowly exerted force, flipping him over. The man rolled over like a dead pig and fell to the ground. The moon emerged from the clouds, and Zhuang Xiaodie saw the man's face clearly for the first time—a chin piled with fat, a head that looked like it was inflated, his eyes still open, but he was no longer breathing.
Zhuang Xiaodie turned her head to look at the boss, whose face was covered in blood and it was impossible to tell whether she was still breathing. Zhuang Xiaodie touched her neck and felt blood on her hand. She was startled and tried to explore again. The skin under her hand was not broken and was still warm. She put her hand close to the boss's mouth and nose, heard a faint breathing, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's good that he's not dead," she muttered. "It's good that he's not dead." I don't want to see a face like that again.
She called the boss and gently patted his face. The boss opened his eyes slightly and quickly stood up. The boss was completely exhausted. He grabbed her arms and clothes, and pulled them with his legs like rowing a boat. It was almost entirely up to Zhuang Xiaodie to drag her into the room.
"He, he--" The boss fell on the bed. His first reaction was to ask Zhuang Xiaodie to close the door, as if he was afraid that the man would break in.
"He's dead." Zhuang Xiaodie said coldly, "Where's the medicine? I'll clean it up for you."
"What?" The boss was obviously not reacting, or she couldn't believe it. She was extremely panicked and grabbed the bedpost to sit up, but Zhuang Xiaodie pushed her back. She grabbed Zhuang Xiaodie's arm and said, "...dead?"
Killing a person was such a quick and easy thing. Zhuang Xiaodie still couldn't believe it. People were so fragile, yet so hateful. Why did they have to be so hateful?
"Dead." Zhuang Xiaodie replied.
The boss suddenly fell back on the bed, as if he had breathed a sigh of relief, and closed his eyes.
"Do you want to go to the hospital?" Zhuang Xiaodie asked, "I'm not sure how badly you're injured."
"It's okay, you won't die." The boss's voice was hoarse. "The pain will last for ten days or half a month at most."
"When I came in, I saw him beating you. You didn't move at the time and I was afraid you were dead," said Zhuang Xiaodie.
"What brings you here?" the boss said, "You don't live around here, do you? Your accent doesn't sound like it."
"I saw him hit you yesterday," Zhuang Xiaodie replied, "and I've been thinking about it."
The boss was stunned for a long time after hearing this, and didn't say a word. Zhuang Xiaodie found a clean basin and towel, filled it with water, and wiped her face and hands. As soon as the towel touched her face, the boss winced in pain. Zhuang Xiaodie used less force and wiped the blood off her face. The boss's face was swollen, and her cheekbone was broken, as if it had been cut by a sharp weapon, and it was still bleeding.
Zhuang Xiaodie asked where the iodine and cotton swabs were, and found them to apply medicine to her.
"Just because you saw it, you came here?" the boss suddenly asked.
"I once saw a girl being held by her father. Her arms were covered in faint bruises, as if they had finally faded after several days." Zhuang Xiaodie gently peeled open the wounds, checking for debris. "Her face was covered in tears, and her eyes were terrified. When she looked at me, she seemed to be asking for help, but her father had pulled her away."
The boss didn't say anything and just listened quietly.
"I was in a hurry to drink and ignored her." Zhuang Xiaodie dipped a cotton swab in iodine and gently applied the medicine.
"And then?"
"Then I saw the news. She died that night." Zhuang Xiaodie straightened up, screwed the iodine bottle shut, and placed it on the bedside table. "So I came here today because I didn't want to see you on the news."
“——Thank you.” said the boss.
"You should thank yourself," Zhuang Xiaodie said. "If you hadn't helped take care of the children, I wouldn't have seen him hit you, and what happened later wouldn't have happened." She stood up, motioned to the boss to lie down for a while, and went out.
The thin, throaty laughter in the restaurant continued to loop, growing louder as the night deepened. Zhuang Xiaodie walked over to the man's body, picked up the hammer that was almost stained with blood, and smashed the man's face until it was unrecognizable before stopping.
There were some dogs barking in the distance.
Zhuang Xiaodie turned around and saw her boss standing by the door, looking at her. They stared at each other for a moment.
The boss slowly walked over to the body and stared at it for a moment. Perhaps noticing the man's clenched fists and the blood on them, he said, "If it weren't for you, I would probably be dead."
Zhuang Xiaodie didn't respond. The boss fell to his knees, his face buried in his arms, trembling all over. At this moment, Zhuang Xiaodie thought of Nian Jinsi. Was Nian Jinsi like this back then? After enduring years of violence at the hands of Kong Yanchen, would Nian Jinsi still shed tears for him? If she mourned, what would she mourn?
Zhuang Xiaodie's gaze slowly moved from the boss back to the corpse. This man was stronger than the previous two men. If he hadn't been concentrating on beating his wife, allowing her to come over from behind, if the music hadn't been so loud as to cover up her movements, if he had turned around when she came over, she would probably have encountered a fierce fight.
Fortunately, this person is dead. Now all they need to do is destroy the body. Tonight is long, and they still have a lot to do. Zhuang Xiaodie checked her phone again. There was still no news from Nian Jinsi.
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