63 Ending
"So, who came last?" Wang Ruopeng was already immersed in Yang Xiao's story. He stopped stroking Wuwu's head and started gesturing randomly. "Is it Ji Heng? Or Miao Yue? It's not like a bunch of people will rush in as soon as you open the door, tie you up and let Zhou Qi come to the rescue. What if you just give up exposing me, and I will let the person you love go?"
Yang Xiao couldn't help but burst out laughing, "Mao Mao, I think you are really suitable for writing novels."
"No." Yang Xiao shook her head. "It wasn't Miao Yue, Ji Heng, or anyone from them. It was Cui Heying. When I opened the door, she looked at me, plopped down on her knees, and begged me not to investigate anymore. She said she still had to raise her child, and her son was half grown and couldn't leave his mother." She said calmly, "But I agreed."
"Ah?" Wang Ruopeng was shocked. He felt that Yang Xiao was not someone who would let his accomplice go so easily.
"Because I didn't investigate in the first place. The investigation has been handed over to the police. I just provided a clue." Yang Xiao saw that Ruo Peng's surprised expression had subsided after listening, so she continued, "She was also confused, looking at me in a daze. I guess she didn't expect me to be so easy to talk to. Who knows, she might have had a lot of thoughts in her mind on the way here. In the end, it was useless."
"Hahahaha, Xiaoxiao, you've become so listless." Wang Ruopeng took out his phone and tapped away on his memo, not wanting to miss any detail. "And then, she just left like that?"
Yang Xiao nodded, "Of course, otherwise the hotel would have complained to me."
"So what happened in the end? What happened to Miao Yue and Ji Heng? Were their two homes searched? And what about multiple punishments? All of them were taken to the police station." After Wang Ruopeng finished speaking, he immediately raised his head and looked at Yang Xiao, afraid of missing her wonderful facial expression of revenge. As a result, she had no expression, just a faint look, as if she was not surprised at all.
"Run away."
“Run away???”
"Yes, they've escaped like a cicada, and they've found their way back to their own burrows." Yang Xiao lowered her head and chuckled self-deprecatingly. "I used to think that Zhou Qi's decades of hard work should have uprooted this huge tree. But they didn't. They all fled abroad, leaving only a few to take the blame. While the Miao and Ji families may be deserted, their foundation remains."
"Oh my god, then you and Zhou Qi are in great danger. Will there be retaliation?" Wang Ruopeng exclaimed in amazement and let out a long breath. "But, they probably won't dare to go back to the city."
"Yeah," Yang Xiao replied, "So after that, I often wondered what the point is for ordinary people like us to fight against the injustice of the powerful."
"Have you found the answer?" Wang Ruopeng asked.
"Maybe." Yang Xiao raised her wrist to check the time and said, "Maybe it's all about letting off some steam. At least it can make those arrogant people feel less burning when they pounce on me, and can make them feel afraid. That's enough." After saying that, she picked up the coat that was hanging on the edge of the sofa and stood up.
The setting sun by the window slowly sank into the skyline, dyeing the glass into patches of warm red.
Wang Ruopeng watched her silhouette walking towards the door and asked, "I have one last question. Xiaoxiao, are you still afraid?"
Yang Xiao stopped and didn't look back. She shrugged slightly, her tone filled with a helpless sense of relief: "We've forced them all to flee. What should I be afraid of? Zhou Qi is at the airport. I'll go pick him up."
"Hey, wait a minute, I have one last question!" Wang Ruopeng shouted towards the door, "Can what you told me serve as material for my novel?"
"Of course." Along with the sound of the door closing, Yang Xiao said, "Then I hope that writer Wang can give them a better ending in the book." Give them an ending where good is rewarded and evil is punished, an ending where the bad guys go to jail and the good guys live long lives.
"Okay, no problem!" Wang Ruopeng agreed immediately. Just when she was listening to the story, she had already conceived an exquisite ending: Miao Yue got the freedom she wanted, instead of continuing to be plagued by misfortune after escaping abroad. Ji Heng was sentenced to life imprisonment for several crimes including incitement to murder, embezzlement and bribery. Countless assets of the Ji and Miao families were seized and handed over to the court.
As for the two protagonists in the book, Yang Xiao and Zhou Qi, they must be given a better happy ending.
Hmm... What exactly is a good ending? Wang Ruopeng scratched his head and thought, why not just write it like this!
Yang Xiao's Zhimiao Technology successfully rang the bell to go public on the Nasdaq. The girl who could not wear thick clothes in the cold winter now changed into a well-tailored gorgeous dress. Amid the colorful strips and sequins floating in the sky and the cheers, her smile was particularly bright and beautiful.
Zhou Qi finally arrived in Beijing and worked in drug research and development at a listed pharmaceutical company. However, as the protagonist of a novel, he would definitely be promoted and get a raise, with an annual salary of more than one million.
Hand in hand, they walked together through the blooming yellow rose trees on the North Sea coast in spring, passed through the small alleys under the shadow of the Sophora japonica trees in midsummer, stepped on the red maples falling at their feet in Xiangshan Mountain, and leaned out the window with their heads tilted, wondering why it didn't snow in Beijing this year, but year after year.
Hmm... I seem to have forgotten the Ji family's nanny. Although Aunt Xu in real life ultimately chose to escape, unwilling to offend either party and naturally unwilling to testify in court, the cause of Zhou Daye's death is still under investigation due to insufficient evidence. But when writing a story, you must strive for perfection.
So Wang Ruopeng waved his hand and started knocking. At the critical moment, the nanny stepped forward to set an example for her child and told all the conversations between Miao Yue and Ji Heng that she heard that night. This became one of the evidences for convicting Ji Heng.
There is also the girl at the beginning of the story, Li Maoqiu.
Although I haven't heard Xiaoxiao say whether they are still in contact, she is the final surprise guest in the novel.
According to the initial setting, she would appear as a mysterious relative when Zhou Qi proposed, to witness their happy moment. When Yang Xiao burst into tears of joy and nodded and said "I do", Li Maoqiu would immediately emerge from behind the bushes, present her with a bouquet of fragrant roses, and say, "I, Li Maoqiu, am back." And then... Yang Xiao pulled Maoqiu aside to chat about family matters, only to learn that Maoqiu is now a lawyer at a well-known law firm, helping countless girls overcome the shadows of molestation or rape through legal means every year.
That's great. After a good brainstorming session, Wang Ruopeng leaned back on the sofa and couldn't help but sigh.
If only reality could be this beautiful, how wonderful it would be. However, literature always gives people strength, allowing them to grit their teeth and move forward even in the face of real difficulties.
That was the whole point of her decision to write the story.
...
When Yang Xiao arrived at the airport, Zhou Qi had not come out yet.
She leaned against the car door, the wind whipping her hair up and messily fluttering against her face. She ignored it, quietly waiting for a familiar figure to appear. The airport was bustling with people, the sensor door opening and closing from time to time, letting the warmth of the room escape.
After an unknown amount of time, Zhou Qi finally appeared with a suitcase, waved at her, and walked towards her quickly.
"I'm here, Yang Xiao."
Yang Xiao opened her arms, waiting for his embrace. Zhou Qi quickened his pace again, but the heavy suitcase he was dragging behind him was holding him back. So, he simply let go of the handle, and the suitcase, no longer under control, slid slowly down the gentle slope, making a series of grunting sounds as the wheels scraped against the ground.
"Hey, the suitcase!" Yang Xiao watched the suitcase sliding further and further away, anxiously, "Zhou Qi!"
As soon as the words fell, a completely long-lost and familiar hug followed, carrying the warmth from the south and Zhou Qi's unique fresh scent, "Don't worry about the box for now, let me hold it for a while."
The box slid to the steps and fell down with a loud clatter.
The two of them looked off into the distance at the same time. Yang Xiao couldn't help but pull out her hand and poke his waist, "Go pick up the boxes quickly. The car can't stay here for too long."
"Hurry up and get in the car. We can't stay here for too long."
"Uncle Zhou, Zhou Qi can actually drive? Where did this car come from?"
"Where are we going now?"
"Go to the ditch."
Memories flashed before her eyes and past her ears like the wind, and Yang Xiao was overwhelmed with emotion. Everything seemed like yesterday, yet it also seemed like years had passed. Had they become what she had hoped they would be?
Yang Xiao remembered herself in the drizzle of Lu Town, who was determined to fly out of this land; she remembered herself when she first arrived, looking up at the steel forest with pure longing in her eyes; she remembered herself who thought that by working hard in the cubicle, she could naturally become an urban beauty; she also remembered herself who felt small and ordinary but unable to retreat in front of the towering power.
Many of my own came together to form one Yang Xiao, and also to form countless Yang Xiaos who trudged through the wind and rain but never stopped moving forward.
Zhou Qi smiled as he ran to pick up the box. His back looked a little clumsy but brisk. Yang Xiao looked at him and suddenly remembered the excerpt from the novel that Wang Ruopeng had just sent her, the one where Zhou Qi had walked her hand in hand through the four seasons of Beijing.
She couldn't help but smile and opened the car door.
Perhaps they were not able to live like in the novels, always walking in the bright sunshine with sincerity and enthusiasm.
But at this moment, this hurried, real hug, this temporary parking space that needs to be quickly driven away belongs to each of them. It cannot be a better ending.
Zhou Qi buckled his seatbelt and turned his head to watch her expertly shift gears, steer, and then merge back into the traffic on the Airport Expressway. Outside the window, the sky was a familiar blend of black, orange, and purple in Beijing on a winter day, and the streetlights were just beginning to light up.
"Thank you for your hard work." Zhou Qi said without any context.
Yang Xiao understood, nodded, then shook her head and said, "You too."
The car was warm and dry. They stopped talking about the Miao and Ji families and instead discussed changes in the city, Fang Qiu's new restaurant renovations, and whether to have hot pot or go home for noodles tonight. Those once heavy burdens, the behemoths that threatened to crush them, were diluted by the mundane details, gradually becoming blurred and distant.
Justice may be late again, but life is not. It steadily supports all souls on the verge of falling, with the mist on the car windows due to warmth, the occasional laughter of people around, and the fragrant hot soup in the pot when returning home.
That's enough.
The full text is over.
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