Chapter 267 Jinjiang
When Xie Lin was welcomed into the house by Zheng Tiantian, he subconsciously looked for Zheng Shumu.
Although he always felt that Zheng Tiantian was his sister, in his opinion, Zheng Tiantian was still an underage girl. When he visited someone's home, he naturally had to greet the adults in the family first.
But all the lights in the yard were out, and in the darkness, the outlines of some human figures could be vaguely seen.
Xie Lin was startled at first, then he remembered that these were the wooden puppets he had seen in the yard when he visited before.
I didn't feel it when there was light on, but once I turned off the lights and was stared at by these wooden puppets, it was really scary.
Xie Lin was worried whether he would scare Zheng Tiantian, but when he looked over, he found that Zheng Tiantian looked accustomed to it. She walked among the wooden puppets in the yard as naturally as an ordinary girl shopping in a doll store.
He was stunned at first, then he shook his head with a smile and sighed inwardly, thinking that even though he was an adult, he was not as brave as a little girl and could still be scared by the wood carving.
Xie Lin comforted himself that this was no different from the plastic mannequins in the shopping mall, there was no need to be afraid, they were just dead objects.
Thinking of this, he smiled again and asked Zheng Tiantian softly, "Where's your brother? Isn't he at home?"
Zheng Tiantian looked up at Xie Lin and tilted her head and said, "Well, my brother is not at home. He went out with another older brother. But, brother, you are not here to look for him, right? Aren't you here to see Tiantian?"
Xie Lin's first reaction was to worry about Zheng Tiantian's safety.
"How can you open the door casually when there is no adult at home?"
Xie Lin squatted down in front of Zheng Tiantian, his eyes level with hers, and told her seriously: "What if I'm a bad guy? Tiantian, if you get hurt, your brother will be so sad when he comes back and sees you. You have to learn to protect yourself and don't let the bad guys take you away."
Hearing that Zheng Shumu was not home so late, Xie Lin's impression of him fell to the bottom. He muttered unhappily: "It's so late, leaving his sister alone at home... What an incompetent brother."
Zheng Tiantian blinked her beautiful big eyes, still holding her beloved little puppet in her arms. She looked up at Zheng Shumu, nodded obediently, and said that she remembered.
The fire in the workshop had long been extinguished, and the yard was cold and dark, like a coffin buried deep under the lake.
Zheng Tiantian walked in such an environment, but her steps were still brisk.
And wherever she walked, the wooden puppets all lowered their heads in reverence and fear.
But Xie Lin's attention was still on how to maintain balance in such darkness, so he could not see clearly or notice the movements of the wooden puppets on both sides.
As Zheng Tiantian led Xie Lin into the living room, he was amazed at the objects passing by him.
After the initial shock wore off, Xie Lin gradually discovered how lifelike these wooden puppets were that could scare him, giving him the illusion that he was looking at real people.
When he entered the living room, the ubiquitous wooden skulls and puppets made Xie Lin marvel at Zheng Shumu's superb skills as a carpenter, and feel that Zheng Shumu's aesthetic taste was indeed somewhat unusual.
In Xie Lin's opinion, the works created by the traditional craft of carpentry should be more inclined towards traditional aesthetics. Carving a statue of two dragons playing with a pearl or Guan Gong is more in line with Xie Lin's imagination.
But even so, after being surprised, Xie Lin still respected and appreciated Zheng Shumu's aesthetics and works.
As the singing god who created an entire golden age of music twenty years ago, there are still many musicians today who miss the heyday of those days. Xie Lin’s songs are still avant-garde and trendy today.
His open-mindedness and the good upbringing he has accumulated over the years have made him willing to respect everyone's aesthetic preferences, and he feels that Zheng Shumu is unexpectedly keeping up with the times and has a more rock style.
Xie Lin didn't know whether to laugh or cry at his own thoughts.
Zheng Tiantian was already curled up in the armchair in the living room.
The little girl retracted her dangling legs, and her frail body was wrapped in a pretty little skirt. Even when she curled up into a ball, she still couldn't fill the entire chair.
In the darkness, she was frighteningly thin.
As fragile as a reed that will break if bent.
In the human world, it is nothing but rootless wandering.
Xie Lin's eyes were hurt by this scene. While he felt sorry for Zheng Tiantian, he couldn't help but blame Zheng Shumu.
As a man who also has a younger sister, Xie Lin couldn't bear to see such scenes.
He even had an impulse in his heart to take Zheng Tiantian away from here. Since Zheng Shumu was not a qualified brother, why not let him be the brother!
"So, what are you doing here, brother?"
Zheng Tiantian was drowsy and said unhappily: "Brother, don't you have anything to say to Tiantian? Don't you miss Tiantian?"
A strange feeling flashed through Xie Lin's heart. He always felt that Zheng Tiantian was being too intimate with him.
Although he knew he was not a bad person, as a stranger, Zheng Tiantian was too unguarded towards him.
Although Xie Lin was unconsciously happy because of Zheng Tiantian's intimate and unobstructed attitude, he still forced himself to suppress the upturned corners of his mouth, and persuaded Zheng Tiantian with concern, wanting her not to trust other people casually.
As for the slight sense of weirdness, it was suppressed by Xie Lin's excitement of seeing someone who looked like his sister.
Zheng Tiantian agreed obediently, but secretly curled her lips and did not take Xie Lin's words seriously.
Bad guy?
Zheng Tiantian tilted her head, her eyes were innocent and clear, and when she smiled, her face was as sweet as spilled honey.
Is she as bad as that?
No matter how bad a guy is, isn't he now standing in the yard like an immobile wooden sculpture?
The wooden puppet in the yard seemed to have sensed Zheng Tiantian's thoughts and began to tremble in fear. The collision of the wood made a "crackling" sound, which echoed in the dark and silent yard, making it look even more weird and eerie.
But Xie Lin's attention was all on Zheng Tiantian, and he didn't notice the changes around him.
"you……"
Xie Lin looked at Zheng Tiantian with complicated eyes. After a long while of mental preparation, he finally mustered up the courage to ask: "Tiantian, you... maybe, Tiantian, do you know a little girl? Her name is Xie Jiaojiao, and she looks very similar to you."
As soon as Xie Lin finished speaking, the smile on Zheng Tiantian's lips gradually faded.
She pursed her lips and stared at Xie Lin in the dark, like an angry ghost, eerie and hard to tell.
But Xie Lin continued to describe his sister, and he couldn't help but smile as he was lost in memories.
He measured the height beside himself, as if his sister was standing next to him and had never been lost.
"Jiaojiao is a very pretty little girl. She likes beautiful dresses and dolls. When she smiles, the sky brightens up."
As Xie Lin spoke, the smile on his lips deepened, but tears welled up in his eyes, and even his voice became hoarse.
——Have you ever met a girl?
She was wearing a beautiful dress, and when she smiled she was as bright and lovely as a sunflower, as if all the sunshine in the sky was falling on her.
She would call him brother sweetly, cry and say, "Brother, don't get hurt." She would also obediently give him a big hug when he came home tired, and say that he was the best brother in the world.
Her name is Xie Jiaojiao.
She is my sister, the meaning of my life and the only motivation for my struggle.
I want to present the best things in the world to her, make her the happiest girl in the world, live a carefree life, and always be a happy little princess.
But I lost her...
Ever since the kidnapping case several decades ago, Xie Lin has been in a daze and in pain all day long. When the disease was at its worst, he could not distinguish between reality and falsehood. He staggered into the street and asked everyone he met if they had seen his sister.
The passers-by wanted to get angry, but after seeing the young man's embarrassed appearance and hearing what he said, they looked at him with pity and sighed.
This is a poor brother who lost his sister.
No one recognized that this dishevelled, dirty and unkempt young man was the once-famous singing god Xie Lin.
Without all the halos, he was just a poor brother who was looking for his sister, suffering and regretting day and night for not being able to save her.
Xie Lin looked at Zheng Tiantian with soft eyes, as if he saw his sister again.
Even now he himself couldn't tell whether the person sitting in front of him was Zheng Tiantian...
It’s still Xie Jiaojiao.
So similar.
Her eyes and eyebrows all look like her sister.
But Xie Lin didn't dare to confirm it.
The only possibility he could think of as to why his sister's appearance remained unchanged after decades was that she had died and turned into a ghost.
Only ghosts can have immortal appearance.
But that fact was so painful that Xie Lin felt so heartbroken that he trembled all over and couldn't breathe just thinking about it.
The tragic scene in the warehouse back then...what exactly did Jiaojiao go through?
Xie Lin unconsciously clutched his shirt tighter on his chest, even his straight back bent down, and he became hunched over like a shrimp.
Zheng Tiantian was sitting on the armchair opposite, watching Xie Lin in pain coldly, but she had no intention of reaching out to help Xie Lin up.
There was even a hint of joy in her beautiful big eyes, and even a smile appeared at the corners of her lips.
"Brother, do you know anything about wood carving?"
Zheng Tiantian's voice was very soft, and the wind scattered it like ashes after burning paper money.
"They are just like humans. They grow from trees, are shaped into their own unique shapes, are given life, and then go from death to rebirth."
Zheng Tiantian half lowered her eyes and murmured in a low voice: "The best thing is that they are different from humans... They will not abandon me or betray their vows like humans do. They will always be by my side, always, always."
Xie Lin heard the voice and looked up at Zheng Tiantian.
Zheng Tiantian was enveloped in the darkness of the room, as if she was stuck in a swamp and couldn't get out.
She lowered her head, her expression shrouded in darkness, making Xie Lin unable to see her current expression.
Without waiting for Xie Lin to come forward, Zheng Tiantian raised her head, smiled sweetly and asked Xie Lin: "Brother, can you be my model? Tiantian wants to carve a doll of you, to be with her forever."
Xie Lin looked at Zheng Tiantian deeply. He couldn't find any reason to reject the girl.
It was just like facing his sister back then.
He once swore to his sister that he would always be with Jiaojiao and would not let anyone bully Jiaojiao. No matter who it was, he would be responsible for fighting back.
But he broke his promise.
He let his sister face the fear of being kidnapped alone. I don't know how his sister cried and begged him to save her...
Xie Lin was filled with guilt and regret.
How could I refuse my sister?
He chuckled and nodded to Zheng Tiantian: "Okay."
Zheng Tiantian also smiled and squinted her eyes, looking as cute as a crescent moon.
But deep in the soul, the ghostly energy roared like surging ocean waves, enveloping the entire courtyard.
"Brother said that he would protect Jiaojiao and always be by her side."
"My brother is a bad brother."
"No one loved me, no one saved me, all the people who said they would protect me, they broke their promises, they didn't come."
So, I can only protect myself.
No matter whether it is a human, a ghost, or the heaven and earth, no one can take anyone away from me, and no one can bully me anymore!
Zheng Tiantian slowly stood up from the armchair and stepped barefoot into a pool of blood, staining her beautiful skirt red.
She tilted her head and smiled broadly.
"This time, brother can stay with Jiaojiao forever."
"We will never be apart."
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