She looked through the body before her at the soul within.
The sunlight, like a golden veil, draped outside the courthouse, moving quietly with the wind.
The man in the bespoke suit was depicted with an impeccable posture, exuding an air of nobility. The middle-aged man standing next to him shook his hand with a smile and praised him effusively: "I really have to thank Attorney Chen this time. Although Attorney Chen is young, he is truly a rising star."
Chen Sizhe nodded slightly, skillfully uttering a few platitudes to brush it off before bidding farewell. He walked towards Gusteau, who was parked by the roadside, his gaze lingering for a moment on the fading sunlight. A sudden tightness gripped his chest, and a continuous mountain landscape suddenly surfaced in his mind.
He walked around to the driver's seat and got into the car, then took out his phone and switched to his chat with Wen Dai.
The message I sent this morning still hasn't received a reply; she's been out of contact for nine hours.
His thumb hovered over the screen for a moment, then he quickly dialed a number.
A gentle, elegant voice slowly emerged from the receiver: "Hello, what's up? Finished the lawsuit?" Cheng Nuo was quite surprised by the sudden call from his cousin, who rarely called unless there was a reason.
"I'll ask for leave tomorrow, and I should probably ask for leave the day after tomorrow too, and the day after that..."
His unspoken words were abruptly interrupted by Cheng Nuo on the other end of the phone: "Taking leave? Aren't you a model worker who never takes leave? Why do you suddenly need to take leave? Is something wrong? You're not having health problems, are you?"
Knowing his cousin's vivid imagination all too well, Chen Sizhe clicked his tongue and said, "Cheng Nuo, can you please stop having such a vivid imagination? Don't worry, I definitely didn't suddenly fall ill and need to take a few days off to see the world. According to the Civil Code, my reason for taking leave falls under the scope of personal privacy. In short, I have something to do."
There was a few seconds of silence on the receiver, then Cheng Nuo's helpless voice came through: "I know, I know. You really are a block of wood, or rather, the kind that's carved with legal documents."
However, before she could finish her rant, the call was abruptly ended by the wooden block carved with legal documents.
Chen Sizhe decisively bought the earliest available plane ticket, then started the engine and drove home.
A thin layer of gold leaf covered the sky, and the falling debris hit the city, making the sky seem to darken.
The speeding car seemed to be learning his heart rate, and the dull thuds made Chen Sizhe feel unbearable.
An indescribable feeling arose within him; he instinctively felt that this symbolized that Wen Dai was in danger.
-
The water glass was placed back on the table with a "thud".
After drinking the water, Wen Dai got up and drew all the curtains in the cubicle tightly. Duo Lan and Zha Gang, who were sitting on low stools, watched her nervously. Yong Zha's hands, which were hanging down on his knees, were each clutching the fabric of his pants.
She turned and sat back in the chair in front of them, put on the sunglasses she had prepared, then relaxed all her muscles, let her arms hang down, palms up, closed her eyes and murmured in a language they couldn't understand. The only words they could comprehend were: "Nado, born in Pletikamu Village, West City..." Her birth date, provided by Dolan, was interspersed throughout.
In the quiet, dimly lit cubicle, Wen Dai's whispers echoed. A moment later, as if struck by lightning, she raised her hands and reached out, her voice weak and trembling as she spoke again: "Father, Mother... and Brother." She spoke in the dialect of Kamu Village, and upon hearing this, tears instantly welled up in Duolan's eyes and spilled out.
In an instant, she sprang up from the stool, lunging forward almost to kneel, and grasped Wen Dai's outstretched hand, her rough, calloused palm meeting her delicate one. Holding Wen Dai's arm, she looked at the person in front of her, the sunglasses seemingly nonexistent, their eyes still meeting, she peering through the body into the soul within.
Tears welled up in her lower eyelids, and her face and Dolan's voice trembled. "Ana, my Ana... you've suffered so much!"
Nado, who was temporarily residing in Wen Dai's body, shook her head. She stood up from the chair, grabbed Duo Lan's arm in front of her, and made her stand up straight with her. Clear tears flowed from under her dark sunglasses. "I miss you all so much. I can't leave the rice paddy. I hope you can come every day, but I can't."
The rice paddies were where Nado died.
The hoe seemed to be digging into their hearts. Zha Gangchu, who was sitting on the stool, got up. He supported his weak legs and stepped closer to the mother and daughter who were embracing and weeping. His complicated gaze fell on "Wen Dai".
The person before him was an unfamiliar shell, another person's body; yet the familiarity emanating from within made him instinctively reach out and place his hand on her shoulder; the unfamiliar frailty, the gentle caress, and after a long silence, his throat finally choked out: "Ana..."
Before she could speak, tears streamed down her face.
Even Zha Gang couldn't escape the fate of weeping uncontrollably. The rugged man's lips trembled as he gripped her shoulders, wanting to tighten his grip but not daring to. He didn't want to grasp her physical body, but rather the soul within it.
"Father, I'm sorry. I'm useless. I'm incompetent. I can't even protect my own daughter!" Her other hand, hanging by her side, became a fist and slammed heavily against her thigh. She bit her lip so hard that it was piercing her skin, and tears dripped onto the ground.
Nado swallowed hard, turning her gaze to Zhagang, who was consumed by self-reproach. Hearing the muffled thud of flesh hitting flesh, she hastily reached out to stop him from continuing to pound on her. "No, it's not Father's fault, Father is not wrong, none of us are wrong. The fault lies with them, with those who do evil. The village chief and his ilk, taking advantage of the remoteness of our Kamu Village, have turned this land into their territory; there's nothing we can do, outsiders don't even want to come in, girls from other villages don't want to marry into our village. Even if we wanted to ask for help, we couldn't get it, it was too difficult."
"So many people in the village have become the village chief's lackeys. If you do anything impulsive for my sake, I will be the one who suffers! Who knows how they will retaliate against you? I once read in a textbook, 'How can one exchange five sons for one daughter?' I don't want you to suffer because of me. Human nature is most real, and also the darkest, in places unseen by society."
Nado's voice grew lower and lower, her neck hunched, and her eyes behind her sunglasses became desolate—even though they were pure white.
She had read too many books and learned too many principles; however, her limited knowledge and knowledge became vines that tripped her up.
Yongzha, who had been sitting on the stool with his head down, stood up slowly, as if lead instead of blood was flowing through his body. He raised his head, and his eyes were bloodshot and filled with tears.
He stepped up to Nado, his gaze fixed on the sunglasses that covered her eyes, and swallowed hard before asking, "Was it Zhuangfu who did it? Did you leave any clues?"
These aren't the questions I wanted to ask, nor are these the things I wanted to say. But someone has to consider the path ahead.
Nado's next words surprised the three of them. She shook her head and said, "It wasn't him, it was the village chief." Her tone became indifferent; the person was dead, and her voice died with her.
“I left evidence. When the village chief did that to me… I dug his name out of the hard soil with my hands and buried it with the grass nearby; he wasn’t much smarter than his son, and he was very arrogant. He was certain that even if my body was discovered, he wouldn’t be in trouble, so he didn’t check it, he just burned the clothes on my body. I stayed there, scaring away any animals that came near.” A girl only in her teens, no more than high school age in the city, Nado faced this situation with unusual calm, even though she was dead.
The pent-up anger in his chest could no longer be contained. Yongza clenched his fists so tightly that his entire arm trembled; he gritted his teeth as if he wanted to crush them, and his jaw trembled slightly. "I'll go there now and take the photos."
Upon hearing this, Wen Dai, who was in spirit form beside Na Duo, hurriedly urged, "Stop your brother! Taking photos is useless. People can say he dug the inscription himself, or that he's slandering us! It would be even worse if someone saw it; the evidence you left behind would probably be destroyed. My partner will be here with investigators soon. When the investigators go to investigate the scene, have your brother and the others pretend to accidentally expose the evidence to them. Don't act rashly now!"
Upon receiving the instruction, Nado jogged over to stop Yongzha, who was about to leave. She repeated Wen Dai's words, and, remembering the remaining evidence in the rice paddy, her lips, still panting, moved slightly: "Brother, Father, Mother." She let her gaze wander over the three of them, unwilling to look away.
But we must always part ways.
"The rice paddies are waiting for me to guard them; I'll panic if I don't watch them for a moment. Take good care of yourselves from now on. Dad, don't keep thinking about going to work on construction sites outside the mountains anymore. That 20,000 yuan from last time hasn't been settled yet, right? Anyway, we still have about 200,000 yuan in the bank account, so don't force yourself to work so hard to earn money. Mom, your back hurts, you need to rest more. You can buy a back brace; don't skimp on that. I've saved you a lot of money. Brother, it's about time you started dating. When you get married, I'll secretly come to see my sister-in-law. As for the future, you don't need to pray to your ancestors anymore; I will bless you."
She feigned a lighthearted joke, but her voice, trembling like waves, betrayed her. Nado's chin and the corners of her mouth twitched uncontrollably, and tears streamed down her face.
Pain felt like a thread, running from her heart to theirs.
But in an instant, the sense of familiarity she felt for Wen Dai vanished. The person wearing sunglasses took them off, raised her hand to wipe the tears from her face with the back of her hand, and her trembling voice became calm: "She's gone."
Dolan was already sobbing uncontrollably, covering her face, the sound of her sniffling mingling with her sobs. Zhagang's tears were silent; he was always silent, and could only remain silent.
“I’m wearing sunglasses because when I’m possessed by a spirit, my eyes are pure white, the whites of my eyes, which might scare you. It’s not that I don’t want you to look into her eyes. Nado is a very smart and intelligent girl; she’ll be alright in her next life, so don’t worry. She really can’t do without her at the rice paddy. Let’s calm down first, trouble is coming.” In matters of losing loved ones, Wen Dai should be their senior, but she couldn’t find words that could offer much comfort.
For eleven years, the pain was an inescapable presence, but she could do nothing but remain silent—she had no power to bring the dead back to life, and she knew that all solace at this moment was futile.
Moreover, fate, or rather the world, often doesn't even grant us time to be sad.
Wen Dai turned around, her gaze seemingly still lingering in a daze, a faint look sweeping over the tightly closed door. The other three unconsciously followed her gaze.
A rapid, heavy knocking sounded, followed by the village chief's stern, gruff voice: "Open the door!"
Countless people arrived, their voices a jumbled cacophony of agreement: "Open the door! It's inside!"
They thought they had gone back two centuries and were plotting to seize power, and now they were being exposed and about to be investigated.
Wen Dai, who was closest to the door, reached out to lock it, but Yong Zha, who was standing behind her, stepped forward and stopped her. He shook his head slightly at her, "I'll do it. You hide in the back."
Yongzha squeezed to Wen Dai's side, calmly unlocked the door and opened it, instantly transforming the dimly lit cubicle into a dazzling expanse of white light from outside.
The leader blocking the entrance was the village chief, who was holding a wooden stick. Behind him were his lackeys in the village—some old bachelors who often bullied men and women, and his son Zhuangfu.
The man standing next to the village chief, carrying a rake, was about fifty years old. His head was half-shaved, like it was during the Qing Dynasty, but unfortunately, the hair on the back of his head was also sparse, like weeds growing on barren ground.
He squinted, his murky gaze sweeping over the people in the cubicle. Leaning slightly closer to the village chief, every gesture and movement screamed sycophancy. "I've been squatting here for a while," he said. "These guys, as soon as they went in, they pulled the curtains shut. I don't know what they were secretly doing in there. I listened through the door and heard a woman calling 'Father' and 'Mother,' and there was also the sound of crying."
The village chief, his face grim, slowly scanned them, then shook the ground twice with the stick in his hand. "Do you have anything to explain? Ah Yong, is this Wen Dai really your girlfriend?"
Yongza stretched out his arm and pushed Wen Dai, who was behind him, inward so that she was completely hidden behind him. He was calm and composed, and said with certainty, "Of course, we've known each other online for a year and been in a relationship for six months. Otherwise, why would she dare to come to me? Uncle Afu, I don't know what kind of nonsense this person made up for you, but you can't just come and question us based on one person's words, can you? We didn't steal or rob anything. We were just having a heart-to-heart talk in our own house. Why don't you care about the person who broke into our house and eavesdropped, but instead come to pick a fight with us?"
Ever since learning the real culprit from Nado, Yongza's calm tone has been forced. Although he is trying his best to control his emotions, he still can't help but reveal some sharpness.
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