Chapter 64 The Truth (2)
The late autumn sun filtered through the gaps in the leaves of the locust trees, casting dappled shadows on the alleys of Nan'an Village. The wind swirled the withered yellow leaves, landing them on Luo Xue's pink schoolbag. The girl skipped ahead, her red bow bobbing up and down with her steps, like a fiery butterfly perched on her shoulder. She hummed a new nursery rhyme, her voice as clear as a mountain spring. Sun Lei followed two steps behind, his hands in his trouser pockets, tightly clutching a freshly carved wooden butterfly sculpture. The lines on the wings were still stained with tiny sawdust; he had spent three nights carving it. Luo Xue had said that her favorite was the blue morpho. As they turned the corner, a strong smell of alcohol suddenly hit them. A drunken figure stumbled out, staggering and blocking Luo Xue's way. Wang Shun wore a wrinkled floral shirt with two buttons open at the collar, revealing his sagging belly, stained with suspicious oil stains. He had just come out of the "Old Place" pub at the corner of the alley. His steps were unsteady, his eyes half-closed, and he looked Luo Xue up and down as if he was glued to her. "Where are you going, little girl?" Wang Shun's voice was so harsh that it made people's scalps numb. He stretched out his hand, with dirt embedded in the cracks of his yellow and black nails, and grabbed Luo Xue's arm with such force that the girl frowned in pain, and a red mark instantly appeared on her fair skin. "Let me go!" Luo Xue struggled hard, and her schoolbag slipped from her shoulders and fell to the ground with a "bang". The pink pencil case fell open, and the pencils inside rolled all over the floor. "Don't be in a hurry to leave," Wang Shun laughed, revealing his yellow and black teeth. He leaned over, his greasy hair brushing against Luo Xue's cheek, carrying the sickening smell of alcohol. "Give your mother a message for your uncle." His voice was low, like the tongue of a venomous snake, a vicious threat. "Tell her to obey me, or else... I'll tell her story to the school. Let everyone know what your mother used to do, and her daughter..." "Nonsense!" Luo Xue's face flushed crimson, tears welling in her eyes. "My mother is a good person! She makes me breakfast every day and feeds the stray cats!" "Good person?" Wang Shun scoffed, spitting in Luo Xue's face. He suddenly reached out and slapped Luo Xue's buttocks, his gesture both obscene and disgusting. "You'll understand when you grow up. Your mother's deeds are enough to make you lose face in Nan'an Village. By then, no one will want to be your friend..." Luo Xue was trembling with fear, like a small animal drenched in a rainstorm. She seized the moment Wang Shun let go and snatched up her schoolbag, hugging it to her chest, covering her face and crying as she ran...
The late autumn sun filtered through the cracks in the locust leaves, casting dappled shadows across the alleys of Nan'an Village. The wind swirled the withered yellow leaves, which landed on Luo Xue's pink schoolbag.
The girl skipped along in front, her red bow fluttering up and down with each step, like a fiery butterfly perched on her shoulder. She hummed a new nursery rhyme, her voice as clear as a mountain spring.
Sun Lei followed two steps behind, his hands in his trouser pockets, clutching a freshly carved butterfly wood carving. The lines on the wings were still stained with tiny sawdust; he had worked through three nights to carve it. Luo Xue had said her favorite was the blue morpho butterfly.
As she turned the corner, a strong smell of alcohol suddenly hit her face. A drunk figure staggered out and blocked Luo Xue's way.
Wang Shun was wearing a wrinkled floral shirt with two buttons open at the collar, revealing his sagging belly, which was stained with suspicious oil.
He had just come out of the "Old Place" pub at the corner of the alley. His steps were unsteady, his eyes were half-closed, and he looked Luo Xue up and down as if he was glued to her.
"Where are you going, little girl?" Wang Shun's voice was so harsh it made your scalp tingle. He reached out, his yellow-black nails still stained with dirt, and grabbed Luo Xue's arm with such force that the girl winced in pain, and a red mark instantly appeared on her fair skin.
"Let me go!" Luo Xue struggled hard, and her schoolbag slipped off her shoulders and fell to the ground with a "bang". The pink pencil case fell open, and the pencils inside rolled all over the floor.
"Don't be in such a hurry to leave," Wang Shun chuckled, revealing his yellow and black teeth. He leaned over, his greasy hair brushing against Luo Xue's cheek, carrying the nauseating smell of alcohol. "Please tell your mother a message for me." His voice was extremely low, but like the tongue of a venomous snake, it carried a vicious threat. "Tell her to listen to me, or else... I'll tell her story to the school. Let everyone know what your mother used to do, and her daughter..."
"Nonsense!" Luo Xue's face flushed crimson, tears welling up in her eyes. "My mom is a good person! She makes breakfast for me every day and feeds stray cats!" "Good person?" Wang Shun scoffed, spitting on Luo Xue's face. He suddenly reached out and slapped Luo Xue's buttocks, his gesture obscene and disgusting. "You'll understand when you grow up. Your mom's little deeds will be enough to make you lose face in Nan'an Village. By then, no one will want to be your friend..."
Luo Xue was so frightened that she was shaking all over, like a small animal drenched in rain. She took advantage of the moment when Wang Shun let go of her hand, grabbed her schoolbag, hugged it to her chest, covered her face and ran away crying.
Wang Shun stood there, watching her staggering back, a sickening grin on his lips. He spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on the ground, muttering curses, "You little bastard, just like your mother..."
Deep in the alley, behind a green trash can, Sun Lei clutched the wooden sculpture tightly. The sharp edges of the wood dug into his palm, pricking it painfully, but he didn't feel it.
The slap Wang Shun had given Luo Xue on the butt just now was like a red-hot needle piercing into his eyes, burning him and blurring his vision.
He looked at Wang Shun's staggering back as he walked away, then looked at the direction where Luo Xue disappeared. A rusty and sweet taste surged in his throat, and he couldn't help but bend down and cough violently.
That afternoon, Sun Lei didn't go home. He squatted under the old locust tree downstairs from Luo Xin's house. The autumn wind blew fallen leaves down at his feet, but he remained motionless, like a rooted stone statue.
He saw Luo Xue walk into the hallway with her head lowered, her shoulders still trembling slightly, her fingers tightly gripping the straps of her schoolbag. But she didn't cry out loud, and before entering the door, she even straightened her crooked bow.
From that day on, Sun Lei had a small folding knife in his pocket. Every day after school, he would quietly follow Luo Xue, keeping a distance. He would only leave after watching her safely walk into the hallway and into the house.
He began to pay attention to Wang Shun's whereabouts. He knew that he liked to go to the casino near the abandoned building at night and would curse when he lost money. He knew that his most precious thing was the old motorcycle that made noises everywhere except the bell, and he always kicked the tires a few times when he stopped at the alley.
What really made him make up his mind was one evening after the beginning of winter.
A cold wind blew that day, swirling with withered yellow leaves, which hit people's faces painfully. As soon as Sun Lei reached the entrance of the alley, he saw Wang Shun cornering Luo Xin.
"Are you going or not?" Wang Shun's voice was like ice, and he was waving a cheap smartphone in his hand. The screen was lit, showing a photo of Luo Xue skipping rope on the school playground—the girl's smile revealed her two small canine teeth, her braids swung high.
"I have a lot of photos of your daughter here..."
Luo Xin's face was as pale as paper, her lips were trembling, and her voice was shaking: "You pervert, don't... don't touch my daughter..." Her hands were tightly grasping the strap of the canvas bag, "You want money, right? I'll give it to you... I'll go borrow it tomorrow..."
"Money?" Wang Shun smiled proudly, revealing his yellow and black teeth. "It's you I want. Stop pretending to be innocent. You were quite flirty before, weren't you? Haha." He reached out and grabbed Luo Xin's wrist and dragged her towards the abandoned building outside the village.
Luo Xin struggled desperately, his shoes making a harsh sound as they rubbed against the ground, but he was pushed hard by him, and he staggered and almost fell, his forehead hitting the wall, and blood oozing out.
Sun Lei's heart felt like it was being clenched by an invisible hand, the pain making him breathless. He followed silently behind, the fallen leaves under his feet making a light rustling sound and were quickly blown away by the wind.
The door to the abandoned building was long gone, the dark entrance like the gaping mouth of a giant beast, swallowing up the last bit of sunlight. Wang Shun dragged Luo Xin inside, and soon the sound of Luo Xin's cries and the man's sinister grin could be heard from inside.
"Let me go! Wang Shun, you beast!"
"Hey, you weren't like this back then..."
"Don't touch me! Please...I can't kneel down for you..."
Sun Lei hid behind the broken wall, dug his nails deep into the cracks between the bricks, and picked off a small piece of loose soil.
He saw Luo Xin's off-white coat being thrown out and falling on the dusty ground, covered with a yellow fallen leaf.
Hearing Wang Shun's obscene laughter, Luo Xin's suppressed crying, and those unbearable dirty words were like needles piercing his ears.
For a moment, he wanted to rush in and stab the man with the folding knife in his pocket.
But he held back. He was only twelve years old, barely taller than Wang Shun's shoulders. He bit his lip hard until he could taste blood, then he slowly backed away, step by step, disappearing into the deepening twilight.
That night, he did not go home. Instead, he sat on the slope opposite the abandoned building, watching the faint firelight from inside cast distorted shadows on the wall until it went out in the second half of the night.
When Luo Xin came out, his hair was messy like a ball of grass, his clothes were stained and dusty, and there were clear fingerprints on his face.
She lowered her head and walked towards the village step by step, her back hunched, as if all her strength had been drained away.
Sun Lei followed her from a distance and saw her walk to the steps of the playground in front of her house and sit down. She wiped her face repeatedly with her sleeves for a long time until her sleeves were soaked, then she pushed the door open and went in.
That night, Sun Lei had a dream. In it, Wang Shun was holding Luo Xue's photo and shouting in the school playground, spit flying everywhere: "Everyone, come and see! This is the daughter of a prostitute!"
Luo Xue was surrounded by her classmates, crying heart-wrenchingly. Her red bow fell to the ground and was stepped on.
He wanted to rush over to protect her, but he couldn't run at all. His legs felt like they were filled with lead. He could only watch Wang Shun's ugly face enlarge before his eyes.
When I woke up, it was still dark. The night sky outside the window was as black as ink, with only a few stars twinkling faintly.
Sun Lei sat on the bed, his back covered in cold sweat. He looked at the Three Good Students award certificate on the opposite wall and suddenly reached out to tear it off. A voice inside him said, with uncanny clarity: He must be killed.
Once this thought emerged, it could no longer be suppressed. It grew wildly like a vine, wrapping around my heart, tightening more and more.
He began to make a detailed plan as if he were studying a math problem.
He knew that Wang Shun gambled, that he would fall into a deep sleep when drunk and could not be woken up even by thunder, and that there was a secret passage between 201 and 202 - he had discovered it by chance when he was a child. The hole at the back of the wardrobe was just big enough for his thin body, and he had to curl up to crawl through.
He used his exercise book to draw a floor plan of Wang Shun's house, marked the location of the furniture, and circled the time when it would be easiest to start with a red pen.
More importantly, he discovered Liu Feng, the sneaky man who had been hanging around Wang Shun's house recently.
Once, Sun Lei hid behind a tree and saw Liu Feng secretly touching the window latch of his house while Wang Shun was out, with greed in his eyes.
The idea of shifting the blame took shape in his mind, slowly coming together like a puzzle.
He spent three weekends at a scrap yard finding a suitable piece of spring steel. He used sandpaper to grind it into the same shape as Liu Feng's fruit knife, until his arm ached. He then secretly removed the mahogany handle from his own carving knife and repeatedly polished it until it fitted the steel perfectly.
The subsequent process was just as Yu Hao had seen. When Liu Feng helped Sun Lei up after being knocked down, he picked up the knife handle for him. Sun Lei took the knife handle, said thank you, and turned to leave with a cold smile on his face.
On the day he killed Wang Shun, Sun Lei had deliberately put on a dark coat. After Luo Xin and Liu Feng left, he crawled through the passage like a nimble cat.
Dust from the wall rubbed against his clothes, but he paid no attention. He could hear Wang Shun's deafening snoring, like the rumbling of an old bellows.
Moonlight streamed in through the window, falling squarely on Wang Shun's face. His sleeping form looked particularly sinister in the moonlight, with a suspicious amount of saliva hanging from the corner of his mouth. He climbed onto the bed, and the board creaked slightly. Without hesitation, he donned the plastic gloves he'd picked up from the hospital, gripped the knife handle, and stabbed with all his might.
Warm liquid, carrying a rusty smell, splashed onto his face. Wang Shun didn't even grunt, his body twitching twice before he froze, like a dead fish.
Sun Lei stood by the bed, looking at his blood-stained gloves. He felt no fear at all, but instead a strange calm. It was like solving a math problem that had been troubling him for a long time, and his mind suddenly became clear.
He even cleaned up everything at the scene carefully, wiped off the bloodstains on the ground with Wang Shun's quilt, printed Liu Feng's fingerprints in the most obvious place, and took away everything that might leave traces.
The only accident was that the red pin fell out of his pocket and landed in the crack of the bed. He didn't notice it, and when he remembered it later, he had already been taken away by the police.
After Wang Shun's death, Sun Lei thought everything was over. Unexpectedly, Guo Zhong was also murdered not long after. He couldn't figure out the reason for this for a while, until he saw his father's unusual silence, and then he had a vague idea of the answer.
But he said nothing, and simply hid the folding knife deeper.
Xiao Yan's entanglement with Luo Xue once again made him want to kill her. During the time he was not in the library, he had been following Xiao Yan, like a patient wolf. When he found that Xiao Yan liked to take a shortcut back to the hotel and had to pass through a residential building, he formed a murder plan in his mind.
He picked up a half-sized flowerpot from the construction site, the cactus thorns still sharp inside. As Xiao Yan passed by, he pushed it out of the sixth-floor window. Unfortunately, the flowerpot missed Xiao Yan's feet, and the splashing cement scraped his calf, oozing a little blood.
"Who the hell did this?!" Xiao Yan jumped up and down, cursing for a long time, and finally called the police. When the police arrived, Sun Lei was walking past him with his schoolbag on his back, his face showing just the right amount of panic. No one would have thought that such a child would have such murderous intentions.
The first failure made him more cautious. He planned a second attempt with the intention of killing this man.
He observed for three days and found that Xiao Yan would pass by the coastal road after lunch every day, especially the traffic light with a very short time - only fifteen seconds, which could completely serve as a medium for a car accident.
That afternoon, Sun Lei arrived at the mall early, wearing a hat to avoid being caught by the cameras. He held a large, bright lens in his hand. As Xiao Yan passed the intersection, he adjusted the angle so that the sunlight would reflect through the lens and shine accurately into Xiao Yan's eyes.
What happened next was just as he had imagined. Xiao Yan was hit by an oncoming sports car and flew away like a broken toy.
Looking at the chaotic crowd outside and the sound of sirens coming closer and closer, Sun Lei showed a satisfied smile on his face.
He stuffed the lenses into his trouser pocket and slowly left the mall along the fire escape. This time, he deliberately ran to the scene to check. Across the crowd of onlookers, he saw Xiao Yan being carried into the ambulance covered with a white sheet, and the stone hanging in his heart finally fell to the ground.
After being hit like this, he would be crippled if not dead, and would not pose a threat to Luo Xue anymore, he thought to himself.
The setting sun stretched his shadow very long, like a silent exclamation mark.
Sun Lei walked to the small shop at the corner of the alley, bought a strawberry candy, peeled off the wrapper and put it in his mouth. The sweetness spread across his tongue, dispelling the lingering smell of rust.
He knew that from now on, Luo Xue could walk around humming a song in peace, and the red bow would no longer tremble with fear.
The wind picked up the fallen leaves on the ground and swirled forward, as if it wanted to sweep all the secrets into the darkness.
Anyone who threatens Luo Xue deserves to die.
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