Chapter 50
That was the longest day and night Zhou Yue had ever experienced in her life. She returned to the villa halfway up the mountain, because there was a mountain there and water at the foot of the mountain. Before, she often heard the faint sound of water on windless nights, which seemed to be there and not there, like the sound of people sweeping the water on the road with big brooms after a rainstorm in the north. Now she knew that it was not a broom, but the tail of a crocodile.
She still slept on the second floor, in the room she used to sleep in. Aunt Xu was not there. She was tied with an iron chain and could only whimper and roar in the darkness. The blood mixed with tears soaked the light blue dress she often wore on sunny days in front of the steps where bougainvillea bloomed.
The bedroom door was covered with her broken nails and blood. She screamed and banged her head against the door, making it full of holes and a bloody mess. She lay on the door with her eyes open, begging all the gods she could name, but this was hell. The gods couldn't hear her, and she couldn't hear anything either, not a scream, not even a groan.
But she knew that Xingxing was on the first floor. She was lying on the ground and could feel his faint heartbeat through the cold cement, like a kitten being tortured by a cruel bad guy. But he was Black Cat Sheriff, and he would not even cry out to that devil.
"Uncle, aunt," she prostrated herself on the ground, the blood clot blocking her throat making it impossible for her to cry out, only to utter a hoarse sob. "Where are you? Please save Xingxing."
She thought about it for a long time, but still didn't dare to call them mom and dad. She didn't deserve it. Compared with Jiang Huai, she was the one who deserved to die the most.
“1, 2, 3…60”
She mumbled through her rotten and bloody mouth, 60 seconds was a minute, 60 minutes was an hour, she counted 54,000 seconds, 900 minutes, 15 hours.
During these 15 hours, she thought about every minute and every second of her life, the summer with the chirping of cicadas, the sweet popsicles, the endless cartoons, and he was there in every minute and every second.
He emerged silently from the corner and said, "Yueyue, I'm here."
He moved a small stool and sat under the willow tree, watching her with a silly smile, watching her jump rope and jump in the square...
On those sleepy afternoons, he would lie on the pillow and kiss her nervously, his little mouth pointed and sucking, and the kiss brought a scent of milk. She was woken up by his kiss, and waved her hand like shooing away a fly and scolded him: "You're so annoying! Go away!" At that time, she really wanted him to disappear and not disturb her sleep.
She smiled with her mouth split into several parts. This ordinary and insignificant moment was because God knew what she was going to go through and gave her a sweet life in advance.
The door opened, and she was blinded by the blinding light. She could only hear the rattling of chains, and then she was suddenly yanked out, dragged all the way down the stairs, across the marble tiles, and on the rough gravel road. The flesh on her legs was rubbed off and fell off with the skin, burning like fire.
She could hear the man who was pulling her laughing while panting, and people around her were laughing too. She could finally see things, seeing pairs of dusty leather shoes and black trouser legs blown up by the wind. They were dragging her up the mountain like walking a dog. After a while, as long as Jiang Huai nodded slightly, or even just blinked slowly, they would rush up and tear the usually arrogant boss's woman into pieces, even though she would say hello and thank you every time she saw them.
She saw Jiang Huai, sitting on the top of the mountain, sitting in the sunshine, his white shirt and white pants blown by the mountain breeze, the lenses of the glasses on his nose turned a gradient dark brown. He must have been here for a long time, sleepy from the sun, sitting on the white leather sofa with his head supported by one hand. When he heard the noise, he turned his head to look over and saw them tying the chain that tied her to the tree. His eyes slowly moved along the chain to her face, lingered for a while, smiled, and then tilted his head to look at the place he had just been.
Zhou Yue followed his gaze and a shrill scream instantly pierced the sky, echoing in the mountains like the wails of a ghost.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!" She screamed with bloodshot eyes, and ran over, rolling and crawling. When her fingertips touched the mass of flesh and blood, the huge inertia of the chain pulled her back and smashed her hard on the ground, landing at Jiang Huai's feet.
He smiled and leaned back, raising his hand to wave away the dust that was raised. He watched her get up in a daze and rush over again, screaming with her mouth open until her throat was torn and blood and saliva were all over the floor. She could only hiss and gasp for air, and then was pulled back by the chain, splashing a cloud of bloody dust.
"I can't get anything out of you." A man walked out of the sun-blurred field of vision, his hands raised, his black shirt sleeves rolled up. His arms and hands were stained with black flesh and blood. His eyes squinted in the sun, his face a hint of irritation and fatigue. He waved away the flies flying around him and walked to the prepared basin to wash his hands. As he washed, he slowly said, "It's a one-way connection. The information will be left at the agreed place. It's a payment, no big deal."
Jiang Huai said nothing, sighed boredly, looked up at the vultures circling in the sky, and smiled, "I realize I'm really old. I can't beat these kids anymore." After saying that, he leaned back on the sofa, not looking at Zhou Yue crawling and squirming on the ground, but only at the person not far away who was still breathing weakly, and said, "I can't see the true face of Mount Lu because I am in it."
"Alas..." He took a stack of documents from someone beside him, picked it up, and flipped through a few pages. The more he flipped, the more he laughed. He said slowly, "After Ah Fei died, I wondered what the problem was. I used to think that these people were just ungrateful and heartless, but later I found out I was wrong. The problem was that what I gave them was not what they wanted..." He smiled and glanced at the woman at his feet. "It's my fault. I didn't even understand the people around me well."
"This trip to Shanghai gave me the opportunity to stand farther away and see more clearly."
He turned a page, paused, and looked at it carefully from a distance, as if he were admiring a painting.
"What a coincidence! Before I left for Shanghai, I found a hermit master."
As soon as Jiang Huai said this, a little dwarf wearing a green linen shirt emerged from the crowd. He was a little over one meter tall, with even smaller hands, like mouse paws.
"His surname is Lai, and his name is Lai Xiaoshou. He used to be a thief, but these days, stealing things from the streets is not as valuable as stealing intelligence. So I asked him to help me... trace the source."
Jiang Huai calmly studied the page and murmured softly, "Everyone has a past, even the worst of people. No one is without a past."
"But beside me, there is someone who didn't go."
"Both my parents are dead, I have no classmates, no neighbors, and no one has even seen my face. What a terrible thing..."
…
"But little hands helped me find it!"
He smiled triumphantly, waved what was in his hand, and turned to Zhou Yue.
The page was a yellowed old newspaper that contained a good news report about a local junior high school.
"Look, how handsome! Oh, this handsome guy..." He held the newspaper further away and looked at it, his eyes shining with excitement. "That's right! I was wondering why I always felt awkward looking at you. As soon as I received the fax in Shanghai, I understood. No matter how a person's face changes, the temperament in his gestures will never change. He's so upright, and it's even been published in the newspaper! What's it about? Oh..."
He adjusted his glasses and read word by word:
"Student Kang Xingxing from xx Middle School in xx City, xx Province, won the Tianyuan Cup Chemistry Competition individual..."
“First prize!”
"Hahaha!" Jiang Huai laughed and turned to look at the people behind him who were barely daring to breathe. "How can you, a bunch of losers, possibly defeat me? Do you know who I am?"
"Undercover," the person closest to him shivered.
"You're uneducated." He laughed and slammed the stack of papers into his face, sending pieces of paper flying everywhere. "Watch less 'Infernal Affairs,' idiot! That's called special intelligence. What is special intelligence?"
He turned his head and stared at the body not far away that was already being surrounded by flies, his mouth grinning from ear to ear.
"I didn't go to the police academy, so I can't find my file. I can't see it, I can't touch it."
"The motherland is thriving!" Jiang Huai smiled, his gray hair ruffled by the wind. He looked like a madman, his eyes lowered as he gazed at the people on the ground. "Even a small special agent is so powerful, bringing police from Hong Kong and mainland China to chase me and bite me."
"But this is not what surprised me the most..." He sat up straight, lowered his head, and looked directly at the woman on the ground who was struggling to crawl forward like an earthworm for the first time.
"I followed the stars, and guess what I found?"
This time no one dared to answer.
"I found my moon."
He stretched out his arms and leaned against the sofa, tilting his head, staring unblinking at the dying mass of flesh and blood on the ground. Even the brown lenses could not hide the manic light in his eyes, but his voice was soft and sad:
"But why should siblings pretend not to know each other? If you just tell her she's your sister, I'll give you mountains of gold and silver, even the sun. Why would you even need to get involved in those dirty things?"
"I was so helpless. I asked everywhere, looked everywhere. Unfortunately, the economy there isn't very good. In the past few years, almost everyone, young and old, has passed away. It's hard to find anyone to ask... I finally found a little friend."
He looked up innocently at the person who was pushed in front of him.
"At first I said I didn't know you guys, but seriously, if I do, then I know you. Why is there so much to hide about this?"
"Do you recognize each other?"
Zhou Yue sat on the ground, staring blankly at the person in front of her. Her eyes saw it, but her brain couldn't react. His face seemed to come from the distant past, and his voice seemed to come from far away.
"Look at this little fat guy, how festive, huh?" Jiang Huai smiled and patted his face, which was swollen like a pig's head. "You're quite courageous, even daring to blackmail me. Tell me."
The man hung his head, his whole body shaking like a sieve, the purple corners of his mouth trembling, and he muttered like a mantra: "He, they are both perverts, they are not normal, they... they have been sleeping with each other since they were young, and Kang Xingxing had Zhou Yue a long time ago."
"Did you hear it while you were lying under their bed?" Jiang Huai smiled with his face tilted up.
"No!" He jumped up and shouted, "I saw it! We all saw it together!"
"When they were in the second year of junior high school, they came out of the Xinhua Bookstore one day and walked behind their mother. Without telling her, they held hands and even kissed!"
"Brother Peng..." Zhou Yue looked at him and cried softly, "Why, Brother Peng?"
Lin Peng shuddered again when she called him, and quickly lowered his head, as if he had made some kind of resolution, or as if he was venting a long-accumulated hatred. He looked at the ground, gnashing his teeth, and spoke quickly: "I just can't stand your slutty behavior. You're just like your mother. Having your brother is not enough. You also hook up with men everywhere. You appear at every gala, flirting and flirting with the male teachers and classmates in the audience. Jiang, Mr. Jiang, you can't let me off easily..."
"She hooked up with you too?"
Lin Peng suddenly stopped talking, staring blankly at the ground with his eyes wide open, like a stuck tape. This made Jiang Huai very amused. He slapped his face loudly, and sighed while laughing, "It seems that we are all poor bastards who can't get the love we want."
"But you're overthinking it, little fatty. He's not a pervert." Jiang Huai wiped his hands with a handkerchief handed to him and sighed deeply. "He's the descendant of a martyr. Father Zhou is just Xingxing's adoptive father. To be honest, I'm a little moved and I admire him."
He flicked his handkerchief and smiled helplessly, "These two kids played tricks on me right under my nose, fooling an old man like me. I thought I had found a trustworthy brother..."
He lowered his head and smiled sadly, examining Zhou Yue's face, her hair, and finally stopping at her eyes. "With my lover."
"They all say that people can only be sincere once in their life, but that's wrong. People can be sincere twice in their life, once when they know nothing, and once when they know everything. At my age, I have seen all kinds of women. I can tell what they are thinking at a glance, but I don't care what they think. I just find it boring.
Until I met a person who saved me. She hid in the corner trembling and didn't dare to look at me, but dared to ask me for money. I casually wrote her a blank check, and she knelt on the ground and served me like a slave.
I was worried about her, wondering what she was thinking, and wanted to make her happy, but she…"
He bent down, lifted her face, and wiped his thumb across her bloody lips and chin. "It was nothing but lies from beginning to end."
"Do you know when you first lied to me?" he said gently. "It was on Sand River Street. You recited Wuthering Heights to me. I still remember it."
"My love for Linton is like the leaves in the woods, which I know well enough to be changed by time, as the trees wither in winter. But my love for Heathcliff is like the rock beneath the earth, which is eternal and unchanging. Nelly, I am Heathcliff, and he is always in my heart, not as a delight, but as my very being."
Jiang Huai slowly smiled, "But you forgot one sentence."
"'Not as a pleasure,' and then there is the sentence, 'Heathcliff gives me little pleasure.'"
"Why didn't you recite this? I didn't understand." His dark snake eyes smiled and grabbed Zhou Yue's eyes. "But later I understood, because you didn't agree with this sentence. Your Heathcliff gave you the joy that I couldn't give you."
"Alas... poor Linton." Jiang Huai smiled sadly and gently stroked her head with his hand, as if stroking a disobedient and beaten dog. "You are so devoted to keeping the woman you love by your side, even though you know she has someone else in her heart."
"But what I was thinking was that it was all in the past, so I asked you if you had any unfinished business. I asked you twice, and you said no both times, baby."
He gently rubbed her burning forehead with the back of his hand. "But I still have the shirt and trousers you gave me on Shahe Street. I'm 1.85 meters tall, and those trousers drag on the ground. Wouldn't that make me over 1.9 meters tall? Tell me, am I stupid? How many people are that tall?"
"So I put it on him! Look!"
He whispered excitedly, rubbing his fingers into the roots of her hair, lifting her head and twisting her neck to force her to look at the blurry mass of flesh and blood across from her. She could not see anything clearly, only vaguely seeing a corner of the white hem stained with blood.
"What a perfect match. They are a perfect match made in heaven."
"Okay!" He let go of my hand. "I've been talking for so long, and I want to hear you talk too. Is there anything you want to say?"
Zhou Yue's face was wooden as he crawled on all fours towards Kang Xingxing as if by muscle memory. He stopped halfway and was stunned for a long time. As if he had thought of something, he knelt and crawled back to his feet. He held his knees and looked up at him. His teeth were clacking and he didn't even realize that he had bitten his tongue to pieces. He trembled and begged him with the only remaining sticky trachea: "Mr. Jiang, I beg you, I beg you, please let my brother go. He... He's already injured like this. He can't do anything. He won't harm you anymore..."
But he didn't say anything, just lowered his head and smiled at her. She knelt a few steps forward and hugged his waist. Her sticky, bloody hands trembled as she covered his cold hands. She put her face against his hands and kissed his hands, crying silently and begging in a whisper: "I'm sorry, Mr. Jiang, I shouldn't have lied to you. My brother's affairs are also my fault. I told my brother that I wanted money, so he worked for the police for money and did things that let you down... It's all my fault, it's all my fault, I deserve to die, please kill me, I beg you to kill me..."
He remained silent, then smiled with his eyes narrowed, crossed his legs and watched her kneeling on the ground and kowtow, making a dull thud against the stones, blood flowing all over the floor, and she kissed his shoes like a dog.
"I'll do whatever you tell me to do. You can peel my skin alive, give me to them, and let them abuse me. It's all fine. You can do whatever you want. I beg you, please..."
She raised her head and hugged him, looking at him with tears in her eyes, thick blood dripping down her face to the ground.
"For all these years, please let my brother go."
"Hahaha! After all these years," he finally spoke, standing up and patting her face with a smile, "you're a thing that's been ridden by thousands and crushed by tens of thousands, and you still have the nerve to mention it for so many years."
"But that's normal." He smiled gently. "People always look at things from their own perspective. You think I should forgive you and fulfill your wish because of all the years we've spent together. But in my opinion, all the sincere efforts I've made over the years have been rewarded with betrayal."
He sighed and looked up at the vultures flying closer and closer. "The betrayal of the two people closest to me."
"But who made me love you? So, considering all these years, I'll leave you a choice. One of you will live, and you get to choose. Think it over carefully, and don't act on impulse. You only have one chance."
"I'm going to die! I'm going to die!" Zhou Yue's eyes widened, and she nodded desperately, screaming in a breathless voice as if she was grasping at a lifeline, "I'm going to die now! Please let my brother go."
"Why?" He whispered softly, smiling indulgently, his eyes full of helpless confusion, "What did he give you to make you want to give up your life? I gave you money, the happiness of a woman, everything he could give me. Can you tell me why?"
"We grew up together, every day, every minute, every second. We have been together for a long time. How can I live if I am split in two? Please have pity on me. I really can't live if he dies. Please kill me quickly..."
She hugged him, looked up at him, and cried incoherently. Tears, saliva, and blood were all over her face and flowed down his trouser legs. Her shoulders were shaking.
"I, I really..."
"What are you really?" He smiled and bent down to her face, tempting her softly.
"I really..."
She opened her mouth, with no other options. Realizing she was at the end of her rope, she could only stare at him blankly, mumbling softly, "I just love him so much."
He no longer smiled, and his expression was gone. His face was as flat as a doll in a toy store. This was his true appearance.
"Oh..." he said after a long moment, "So that's how it is." He slowly leaned back on the sofa, and after a while he suddenly smiled again, looking up at Lin Peng who was still standing beside him, "Little Fatty?"
Lin Peng was startled and stared at him blankly. Jiang Huai looked at his face with admiration, "Where did you say you were successful?"
"Wedding company...emcee." Lin Peng's voice was as soft as a mosquito's.
"Ha!" Jiang Huai slapped his knee, shook his head and laughed, "It's really fate."
"We are Chinese, so let's give the woman I love a Chinese wedding. I'm so much older than her, I love and protect her, and I'm half her father. Today I'll fulfill her wish and hand her over to..."
He glanced at the person not far away. The bloody body moved, slowly turned its head, rubbed its chin on the ground, and propped up its head to look over.
"Give it to the one she loves most."
As soon as he finished speaking, the two people behind Jiang Huai moved and walked to Kang Xingxing. They seemed to have no idea where to start. After looking at each other for a while, they finally dragged him up from the ground, one on the left and one on the right, leaving a bloody path, and dragged him to Zhou Yue.
Zhou Yue lay on the ground, crying silently. She inhaled blood and dirt into her nose, and could only let out a whimpering howl from her throat. She crawled to Kang Xingxing's side, but before she could touch his blood-clotted hair, she was pushed to the ground. Sand and gravel scraped her face. She looked up at the sky and heard Lin Peng's voice, as hollow and desolate as a vulture's:
"Bow to Heaven and Earth!"
His voice was trembling and filled with tears.
…
"Bow to your parents twice!"
Zhou Yue was picked up, and Kang Xingxing was also picked up, dragged and pressed at Jiang Huai's feet. He held the tea and blew away the heat, his expression indifferent amid the mist.
…
"Husband and wife bow to each other!"
At the very end, the moon saw the stars again, so close that his curled, furry eyelashes were stuck together with blood. He used all his strength to tear his eyes open. The pupil of one eye could still be vaguely seen through the blood clots all over the eyeball. The other eye was rotten. His dark and bright eyes, as docile as a fawn, were now only a dead white mist.
But behind this deadly gray fog, there was a tender love, like a shimmering creek and willow trees swaying in the wind. He was smiling, a smile like the setting sun after school, like the aroma of rice wafting from the tube-shaped building at dusk...
"Don't cry," he said with a smile, his breath so faint that it was almost inaudible, "Do you want some candied haws? I'll buy some for you."
"Stars, stars..." Zhou Yuedujuan wailed like crying blood, with blood oozing from the corners of her mouth.
He stared at her intently, as if with love and hate, as if he was determined to die and as if he was begging her not to leave him.
But in the end, he chose the former for both questions.
He smiled with relief, just like when he slept next to her for the first time at the age of six, with his hands under his face, looking at her as if he was fascinated and stupid, blinking very slowly, and whispered softly: "I love..."
But before he could utter the last word, he was thrown off the cliff. The crocodiles gathered in the dark pool and rushed over, their tails sweeping out a fierce splashing sound...
The whole valley was filled with the woman's wild roars and screams, like thousands of wronged souls in the abyss climbing up the steep cliffs and soaring into the sky. The evil spirits lowered their heads and no one dared to look at her. Perhaps even they were afraid of the evil spirit's revenge.
Zhou Yuefei rushed towards the cliff, but was once again pulled back by the iron chain around his neck. The blood he vomited filled the air with a bloody mist.
"Jiang Huai! Jiang Huai!" Her eye sockets burst, blood flowed from the corners of her eyes, and she screamed miserably, straightening her body and looking at the person on the sofa, "Jiang Huai, I will kill you! I will kill your whole family! Even if I become a ghost, I will not let you go! I will kill you!"
"Tear into pieces!!"
The wind was blowing violently, the thunder was rumbling, and the echo in the valley swept in like a deadly ghost.
Jiang Huai stared at her intently, the smile on the corner of his mouth seemed carved with a knife. He watched as the roots of her hair gradually turned white in the lightning and thunder. The white color flowed along her hair like blood, losing its vitality halfway through, and becoming half black and half white.
She crawled on the ground, digging her broken-nailed hands into the gravel. Blood slowly seeped into the soil, and her white hair spread all over the ground. "I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this..."
The sky was covered with dark clouds, as if even the heavens were filled with grief and anger.
But suddenly everything stopped, the wind stopped, the rumbling thunder in the distance also stopped, and the woman lying on the ground stood up straight, stopped cursing and shouting, and muttered something, scratching her head in confusion as she spoke. Her head was covered in blood, and there was pulled-out hair between her fingers.
She scratched for a while and then suddenly stopped, as if suddenly enlightened. Her eyes brightened, and she looked up at the sky, letting the wind blow her white hair, and whispered:
"Xingxing is dead, Xingxing."
No one dared to speak, and even forgot to breathe. You looked at me, I looked at you, and finally looked at Jiang Huai tremblingly.
Jiang Huai held the teacup, squinted his eyes and stared at Zhou Yue with bated breath. After staring for a while, he suddenly threw the teacup away and jumped up. He strode in front of her and swung his arm to hit her and sent her flying. The teeth that were about to bite off her tongue also flew out and rolled to the ground with blood and flesh.
People were stunned, watching the teacup shattered to the ground and tea splashed everywhere. Those who reacted quickly rushed over and hurriedly stuffed cloths into Zhou Yue's mouth. They held her on both sides and let Jiang Huai swing his arms to slap her, again and again, until the blood stained the cloth in her mouth red, until she completely lost consciousness and fell limply to the ground.
Jiang Huai stopped, raised his head and took a few steps back panting. He pulled a handful of hair with his trembling bloody hands and looked down at the motionless woman on the ground.
He didn't move, and no one dared to move. Everyone was as quiet as a chicken until someone pushed through the crowd and came over.
The man had three eyes. The one on his forehead was half-closed, as gray as a dead fish's, and stared blankly ahead. Next to him followed a huge beast-like figure, and behind him followed several others.
Three Eyes looked at Jiang Huai, then at the unrecognizable woman on the ground, and shrugged. "Mr. Jiang, I see this woman is not dead yet." He said with a contemptuous smile, and made a connecting gesture with his thick black fingers. "If you still want to cooperate with us, Mr. Jiang, you need to be more sincere."
Jiang Huai tilted his head and looked at him, his breathing gradually regaining its balance. He smiled kindly behind his brown-tinted lenses and nodded, "Don't worry, I still have this bit of sincerity."
After saying that, he still looked at the Southeast Asian man, reached for the gun from the waist of the person next to him, loaded it with a click, lowered his head, pointed it at Zhou Yue's head, and pulled the trigger...
The rumbling sound of gunfire echoed in the valley, interweaving with the echo of the second shot. The third eye of the three-eyed creature had flown out, along with most of its head.
Lightning streaked across the night sky. The big guy next to Three Eyes was admiring the beautiful woman with her head blown apart in a pool of blood one second, and then he fell limply the next second. A tiny lancet was inserted into his carotid artery. He didn't realize that Liao Jie was standing behind him, and he didn't even have time to realize that his master was dead.
The rest were just a bunch of useless soldiers and generals, with no skills and died silently...
"Xie Jun," Jiang Huai said in a low voice, "Let's go take a look."
The person he called turned pale and scrambled down the mountain. When he came back up, he glanced at the woman on the ground, then at Jiang Huai, and stammered, "Eat it all, Mr. Jiang, eat it all."
"Okay, the dust has settled."
Jiang Huai threw away the gun, which was only fired twice, once to deal with the traitor and once to eliminate the opponent. He killed two birds with one stone and won completely.
Liao Jie stood behind Jiang Huai, watching his favorite winner standing in the wind with his head held high, his gray hair ruffled by the wind, gazing into the empty distance, then glancing at the woman lying in a pool of blood, raised his eyebrows, and smiled silently.
"Boss Jiang, what's engraved on the tombstone?"
"My beloved wife, Zhou Yue's tomb."
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