nightingale

nightingale

There is a market in the county every day, unlike the countryside where it is held every three days. You have to get up early to buy the vegetables you want. Recently, Cen Yun has been getting up later and later, and the pain makes it more difficult for her to get up. Looking at the face reflected in the mirror, she touched her neck, which was getting bigger little by little. She smiled miserably, took out a silk scarf from the old wardrobe, wrapped it twice and hung it around her neck.

There was a strong smell of fish in the vegetable market. She coughed twice and finally stopped in front of the fish stall.

"Boss, I want a fish head."

The boss pointed to one of the large fish heads and asked, "Is this one okay?"

"Okay." Cen Yun watched him cut off the fish head and put it into the bag, and suddenly his stomach felt nauseous.

The boss handed the fish head to her and asked, "Are you okay, girl?"

Cen Yun tried hard to suppress the feeling of nausea, waved his hand and said, "It's okay." Then he fled with the fish head in his hand.

So many days have passed, but she still can't adapt. Could it be that after seeing that scene, she really can't even eat meat?

She didn't want to force herself, so she bought enough vegetables for the next few days and asked for some fruits that were about to go out of season before going home.

It was almost noon and the sun was getting bigger. The further she walked, the more she saw stars and felt dizzy. She chose to stop at the next intersection to rest for a while. The bus only went to the entrance of the old city and the road inside was impossible to walk on. This was a lonely road. If she fell here for ten days or half a month, no one would notice her.

But she didn't want to collapse here. She didn't want to wait until her body rotted and stank before being discovered. At least... at least she had to go back home, sit peacefully under a tree, and pass away peacefully in the cool air. Only then could she have a good end.

There were many forking alleys in the old city, and she accidentally took the wrong road. It was not until the end of the road that she realized that it was not her home. She turned around and tried to leave. A few peaches fell from the broken bag. With sweat on her face, she bent down to pick them up. A pair of white hands appeared in her sight and picked up the peaches for her.

She straightened up and met a pair of clear eyes.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Jiang Li looked her up and down, his eyes expressionless. "Are you lost?"

Cen Yun nodded, "Yes, I live here too."

Jiang Li narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He had lived here for so long, but he had never heard of any other residents in the old city except for a few dilapidated hotels and Internet cafes.

Cen Yun took the fruit, and a gust of wind blew off the silk scarf around her neck, exposing her swollen neck.

Jiang Li bent down to pick up the scarf and suddenly said, "I'll give it to you."

Cen Yun did not refuse. The bag in her hand was taken away by the other party, and she just walked quietly beside him.

Jiang Li asked, "Did you just move back? I don't think I've seen you before."

Cen Yun nodded, "Yes. It's hard to find a job outside the city, so I'm going home to rest for a while." Jiang Li was too tall, so she needed to look up at him. "What about you? You look very young to me."

Jiang Li said: "I grew up here and just graduated this year."

Cen Yun said in a daze, "How come I have never seen you since I was a child?" Then he felt something was wrong, "Maybe I just don't remember you."

Jiang Li said, "Boys change a lot when they grow up. It's normal for them to forget."

Jiang Li walked her all the way to the door, pushed open the courtyard door, and Cen Yun said, "Come in and sit down."

He began to look around the small courtyard. The well, the osmanthus tree, and the wooden door were no different from his own home. He heard that the houses in the old city were all built in the same way.

Cen Yun invited him to sit in the house. There was a gray-white photo in the main hall. A woman with long hair smiled gently. She seemed to notice what he was looking at. Cen Yun said, "My sister passed away."

Jiang Li looked away, "I'm sorry."

Cen Yun smiled and said, "It's okay." She just sat down and then remembered something the next second. She took a peach from the bag and ran into the kitchen.

From the chair, you can see the person squatting in the kitchen peeling fruit. His eyes unconsciously wander around the house, finally falling on the bottles and jars on the wooden cabinet.

A few minutes later, Cen Yun came out with a peeled peach. "Here you go."

Jiang Li took it and said, "Thank you." His eyes lingered on her neck for a moment. He bit into the peach, the sweet taste filling his mouth. He then asked hesitantly, "Are you sick?"

Cen Yun's face froze, he lowered his head slightly, and put his hands on his cheeks, "You look very bad, don't you?"

Jiang Li said: "No. I just saw the medicine bottle."

"Oh..." Cen Yun turned his head and glanced at the bottles and jars. "I'm not in good health and I take medicine often."

"Just get more rest and it will be fine after some recuperation." Jiang Li said.

Cen Yun smiled, "I didn't expect there are still people living in the old city. Are you a student?"

Jiang Li nodded, "Yeah."

"It's not good to always live in the old city. I heard it's going to be demolished in two years. Have you decided where to go?"

"Maybe I'll go live in the city."

Cen Yun smiled with relief, "Yes, you are still young and have unlimited possibilities. Living in a big city is much more convenient than living in these small places."

The conversation between the two ended here. Jiang Li finished eating the peach and left the yard.

"Captain Chen, Xu Fangqin is here."

Chen An was just about to go out when he ran into her at the main entrance. Since he had already run into her, he decided to ask her before leaving.

Xu Fangqin looked uneasy, with deep wrinkles around her eyes. "Officer, I'm just a cook. I really don't know anything."

She was not the one questioning Chen An, the one sitting in front of her was Cheng Xiaoxiang.

Cheng Xiaoxiang lowered his eyes and looked through the documents in his hand. "Xu Fangqin, we noticed that you asked for leave to go abroad at the end of May. Why?"

Xu Fangqin said: "My daughter is abroad and asked me to go over and spend a few days with her."

Cheng Xiaoxiang looked her in the eye and said, "You know Wu Danyun is dead."

Xu Fangqin's lips turned pale. "I know."

Cheng Xiaoxiang focused all his attention on her face, "You seem to know why she died."

"No, no." Xu Fangqin waved her hands in panic, "I don't know, I, I don't know Miss Wu."

Cheng Xiaoxiang said: "You lied. You panicked when you mentioned her death."

"I really didn't, officer. I'm just a cook! They can't cook, they just hired me to do it!"

"When did it start?"

"It was around the end of 2022. Miss Wu and Miss Xia weren't very good at cooking, so when they got busy they needed someone to help them. A friend introduced me to this place," Xu Fangqin said. "I had no idea about Miss Wu's death, officer. You know I went abroad before she got into trouble. This has absolutely nothing to do with me!"

Cheng Xiaoxiang said, "Don't be nervous." He thought of Xia Yiru's statement last night. "How is Wu Danyun and Xia Yiru's relationship?"

"Relationship..." Xu Fangqin looked painful.

"Why, are they related in an unusual way?"

"It's not ordinary." Xu Fangqin struggled internally. It was obvious that Xia Yiru and Wu Danyun's relationship was not accepted by her mind. "They, they are a couple!"

"In 2002, my daughter went abroad to study. To help her with her tuition, I looked for odd jobs until I joined Miss Wu's studio. At first, I just cooked for the two of them, but later the studio expanded and I started cooking for everyone. It was also when I was living in Miss Wu's house and cooking for her that I discovered that they had a special relationship. They kissed!"

This scene had a profound impact on Xu Fangqin. "At first I couldn't accept it, but then Miss Wu and Miss Xia were both nice to me. I figured their love life had nothing to do with me, so I continued cooking for them. But..."

"But what?"

"But recently I often heard them arguing. When they argued, they would throw things around so loudly that it was deafening. Oh, there was no place to stay in that house!"

"Why are they quarreling?"

"It seems that it was because of a man. Miss Wu fell in love with someone else." Xu Fangqin tried hard to recall the scene at that time.

It was twelve o'clock in the night when Xia Yiru came back from outside. As soon as she entered the room, she saw Wu Danyun sleeping on the sofa. She went over to wake him up and found that he had drunk a lot of alcohol. The smell of alcohol was everywhere when he opened his mouth.

"Xiaoyun, you've been drinking."

Wu Danyun unconsciously put his arms around the man's neck and asked, "Why did you come just now?"

Xia Yiru pinched her face and said, "I'm sorry I came back late."

Wu Danyun murmured, "Linlin..."

"Linlin?" Xia Yiru frowned. "What Linlin?"

"Lin Ran!"

The other party suddenly replied to her loudly, looking sober and not like a drunkard.

Xia Yiru pinched her shoulders fiercely, "Look carefully at who I am!"

Wu Danyun recognized Xia Yiru's face, pushed her away, and said coldly, "Oh." She stood up with the help of the sofa, took two steps forward and almost fell down again.

Xia Yiru was furious at her cold attitude. She stepped forward, dragged her over, and demanded, "What's your relationship with Lin Ran? Why do you miss him so much?"

Wu Danyun was awakened by the yelling and broke free from her. "What's my relationship with him? It's none of your business!"

"How can it have nothing to do with me! I'm your girlfriend! And you're drunk and saying someone else's name!"

"Girlfriend?" Wu Danyun sneered. "Am I your girlfriend? Aren't you also flirting with other people behind my back? How dare you accuse me?"

"How could I be flirting with you? If I hadn't sold the copyright to you, I would..."

Wu Danyun interrupted her, "For me! Are you really doing this for me? Xia Yiru, who else do you love besides yourself?" She pressed forward, pressing her. "Isn't this just for yourself? It was you who asked me to plagiarize, it was you who wanted to sell the copyright, it was you who packaged me as a star who couldn't make any mistakes! Am I really me? I'm just a commodity in your hands. You've imprisoned me! You've destroyed me!"

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