Chapter 163 Jinjiang First Launch

As he spoke, the man smashed the stone hard on Cao Yuhan's left leg, once, twice... countless times, leaving him with a complete numbness in his left leg. The heavy rain was still falling, and a bone-chilling chill ran through his entire body. Blood kept gushing out, dyeing the street red. He struggled to look at his left leg and saw the broken bone directly.

Unable to endure the severe pain, Cao Yuhan finally passed out. Before he lost consciousness, he heard the suspect say:

"Brother, this guy seems to be dead, let's go!"

Then he lost his hearing completely. When he opened his eyes again, he saw the glaring lights of the hospital. He was saved and the doctor reattached his broken leg. As long as he recovered well, he would be able to walk again in the future, but running was obviously impossible. His future was completely cut off.

That day, Cao Yuhan cried so hard that his cries could be heard throughout the whole building.

Before he could calm down, the police entered the ward and began to question him. It was Xu Hongdou who called the police. After Xu Hongdou escaped, she went to the nearest police station and explained the situation to the police. When the police rushed to the alley, it was too late. The two suspects had already escaped, and Cao Yuhan was lying unconscious on the ground. They had no choice but to send Cao Yuhan to the hospital first.

Although Xu Hongdou was also a party involved, the clues she could provide were very limited. She only knew that the other parties were two people, both of whom were very tall. The two people were masked throughout the whole process and did not speak. Xu Hongdou did not see their appearance clearly, nor did she hear their accents.

The security environment was very poor at that time, and cameras were not yet popular. There were no cameras in that alley, and it rained heavily that day, which washed away all traces left by the suspect. The police went to the scene to investigate, but found nothing, so the biggest breakthrough now is Cao Yuhan.

But Cao Yuhan just lay on the hospital bed with his eyes closed and rested. No matter what the police asked, he didn't say a word. The police thought he was frightened and decided to ask him again after a while. However, after a while, he still reacted in the same way. Because he was extremely uncooperative, the police did not get any clues, and the case could not be investigated, so it eventually became an unsolved case.

Afterwards, no similar cases occurred in Qingshui Town again. Some people said that the two murderers were dead, while others said they fled to other places.

When they first learned about the case, Cao Yuhan's family was shocked. They didn't understand why their son was beaten like this. He was the best long-distance running student, and as long as he wanted to run, he could definitely run. After learning the truth, his family sighed, but they could not change the outcome.

After this incident, Xu Hongdou and Cao Yuhan disappeared from the class. The other students in the class took the college entrance examination as scheduled and moved towards their own future, but no one could contact Xu Hongdou anymore. Cao Yuhan has been recuperating at home. At first he still had hope, until his leg injury was completely healed. He saw himself limping in the mirror. That day he smashed everything he could in the house and completely gave up on his life.

He stayed at home depressed for several years. Later, in order to reduce the burden on his family, he had to go out to find a job. It was difficult for disabled people to find jobs in society. He hit a wall several times and finally came to Ci Xin Tang. Weng Xuhua gave him a job. He was very content and never thought about changing jobs. He worked here for several years, but no one remembered his name anymore. Everyone called him "Crippled Brother".

Bai Mian looked into Lame Brother's eyes and said, "You concealed the truth from the police. Actually, you knew some clues back then."

Things got to this point, and Lame Brother simply laid bare his cards. He took off his mask, lit a cigarette, and smiled in the firelight: "Yeah, I heard them say something, and judging from their accents, they should be locals. If I'm right, these two should be brothers. The one who threw stones at me is the elder brother, and the one who shouted at him to run away is the younger brother. The younger brother -"

Lame Brother stretched out his hand and gestured on his right wrist: "There is a tattoo of a snake at this position, but the tattoo artist's skills are very poor. He tattooed one eye big and one eye small. It looks very funny. Also, when we were fighting, I fought back. When my brother wasn't paying attention, I bit his little finger on his right hand and broke it off. Even if he can reattach it later, I think it will leave a big scar."

"So, you clearly have so many clues, why didn't you tell the police? Only you know these clues. If you had told the police back then, maybe the two suspects would have been caught long ago!" Bai Mian questioned.

Lame sneered and puffed away half of his cigarette in one breath: "I told the police, and the police caught them. Then, can they sentence them? The heavy rain that day washed away everything. I am the only witness, and there is no other evidence. I am afraid that they can't be sentenced at all. Besides, even if they are sentenced, it won't be too heavy. This is not a murder case. At most, they will serve a few years in prison. When they get out, they will still take revenge on me and my family. So, I don't want to rely on the police to solve this problem."

He finished his cigarette, threw the butt on the ground and stepped on it hard. "Also, this is not just a case, it's also a personal grudge between us. Because of them, my fate has been completely changed. I almost went to Beijing Sports University! But now? Look at me, I only have a high school diploma, I'm lazy and have nothing. It's all their fault!"

"From the moment I woke up in the hospital, I swore to myself that I would find them and kill them myself. I would not be a human being if I did not take revenge! So I did not tell the police the clues. I wanted to investigate on my own."

"I have not told anyone my real name these years. I let everyone call me Cripple Brother, just to remind myself to never forget the hatred I carry!"

Bai Mian couldn't help but ask, "You insisted on investigating it yourself and didn't want the police to intervene. Then let me ask you, what did you find out?"

Lame Brother looked deep into the food court: "Look, do you see it? The last store, the two of them are in there."

"I started my investigation from tattoos. My brother had a funny snake tattoo on his wrist. It must have been a mistake by a tattoo artist. They were from Qingshui Town, and the tattoo was done there, so I went to every tattoo shop in Qingshui Town, including those that had closed down. I became friends with all the shop owners, and then I asked them if anyone had seen a tattoo like that before."

"I asked this question for a few years, and I finally got the answer. A boy said he got the tattoo. He used to be an apprentice in a tattoo shop, but later changed his career because his tattoos were too ugly. He remembered that two brothers came together that day. The younger brother wanted to get a tattoo of a snake. It was noon, and he was sleepy. He accidentally gave the snake one big eye and one small eye. As a result, he was beaten by the brothers and his nose was broken. Later, he called the police and the brothers compensated him. He was afraid from then on and dared not tattoo people anymore."

"After calling the police, both parties were called to the police station to register. The boy saw the brothers' personal information at that time. One of them was called Zhao Dabao and the other was called Zhao Erbao. They lived at No. 78 Wuhua Street, Qingshui Town."

"After receiving the news, I took action immediately. I went to the address in the middle of the night and looked inside through the window, but I was disappointed. There was only an old lady living in the house. I later asked the neighbors and found out that the old lady was the mother of the two brothers. The brothers went out to work and had not returned for several years."

"Of course they didn't go there to work. I guess they hid away. That incident caused quite a stir back then, and they were afraid of being caught by the police. I asked around, but no one knew which city they went to. If I want to know, I can only ask their mother."

"The old lady lived alone in that house, so it was easy to take her. I thought about kidnapping her, but I didn't do it in the end. I changed my strategy and set up a small stall on the street where they lived, selling some fruits and vegetables grown at home. Every day after get off work, I would go to the stall after dinner. Of course, the stall was fake. I just wanted to monitor the old lady."

"I thought my son would come back to visit his mother, and as soon as they came back, I would have the chance to kill him. But who knew they were so cruel? They have been hiding away for years and have never come back once."

"Recently, just last month, the old lady finally showed some signs of activity. I noticed that she started going out more frequently, always hanging around the doors of some of the sublet shops. I guess this has something to do with the two brothers. They probably think that the case from that year has been forgotten, so they plan to come back."

"The old lady looked around for a few days and soon rented the last store on the street. She didn't touch the decoration inside the store, but changed the sign and changed the name of the store to 'Brothers Barbecue'. The second day after the new store opened, the brothers showed up in the store. I hired someone to secretly take a video for me. One of the two men had a dragon tattoo on his wrist, which obviously covered up his previous tattoo. There was also an obvious scar on his right little finger. It was definitely the two men back then!"

“我在網上查了一下他們店的電話，然後打了過去，用變聲器和他們說話，他們這家店是挂羊頭賣狗肉，雖然寫的是烤肉店，但是實際上賣的是貓肉狗肉和兔子肉，都是別人家的寵物，他們四處偷來的，再高價賣給顧客，要想吃需要提前打電話預約，我花高價約了一桌，所以他們今天晚上沒有閉店，一直在等我。”

瘸哥看着街道的盡頭，眼裏是深深的仇恨，白眠再次問道：“你查到他們的地址了，然後呢，你打算怎麽做？”

“所有的一切，都會在今晚結束，”瘸哥深深地嘆了一口氣，“我要他們從這個世界上消失。”

“白眠，你總是問我為什麽想賺一大筆錢，我現在可以告訴你，其實我不是貪財，我賺這筆錢不是給自己花的，是想留給我父母，做完這件事之後，我一定沒有好下場，無論是哪種結果，我都不能在父母膝下盡孝了，我只能盡量多留給他們一些錢。”

“還有，麻煩你幫我回去告訴老板，很抱歉我讓他失望了，我知道他從來不需要我這樣一個員工，他收留我，是為了讓我繼續自己的人生，可是我的人生早在很多年前就已經被毀了，如今擺在我面前的只有這一條路，只有親手殺了他們，才能解我心頭之恨。”

雨依舊是那麽大，就像十幾年前的那個夜晚一樣，大雨澆到了瘸哥的臉上，他微微張口，讓雨水順着喉嚨灌下，覺得很痛快，他壓抑了這麽多年，終于可以在今天出一口惡氣。

白眠還是攔在他面前：“當年你打不過他們兩個人，你怎麽能确定今天就能打得過呢？”

瘸哥自信地伸了伸胳膊：“這些年我也不是無所事事，我一直都在練習各種格鬥技術，雖然我的下盤很弱，但是我的上肢力量很強，只要給我機會掐住他的脖頸，他一定跑不了，而且——”

瘸哥再次伸出手，拉住了那個單肩包：“當年我沒有武器，現在，我有了。”

白眠也用力拉住包，包橫在兩人中間，最終被拉壞了，拉鏈自動崩開，包裏的東西全都掉了出來。

砍刀，剔骨刀，錘子……這些東西在雨夜裏閃着寒光，瘸哥看着白眠，眼神也愈加犀利。

“你如果執意阻擋我，別怪我翻臉。”瘸哥的語調變了，仿佛換了一個人。

白眠換個角度勸道：“你不是說要賺錢給父母嗎，現在你還沒有發財，怎麽就急着動手呢？”

瘸哥眼睛一紅，臉龐抖動了一下，過了片刻，他開口說道：“因為，我沒想到這輩子還能遇見她。”

“那件事之後，我沒敢再聯系她，我變成了一個瘸子，根本就不敢去面對她，我原本還想着表白，可是、可是誰會答應一個瘸子？我這輩子算是廢了，不敢去奢求什麽，只希望她能過得好。”

“後來過了幾年，我終于鼓起勇氣向同學打聽她的近況，結果沒想到，大家誰也不知道她的情況，那件事之後，她的父母帶着她連夜搬家，學籍也轉了，他們一家的聯系方式也換了，許紅豆在我的世界裏完全消失了。”

“我能理解，當時那個年代社會風氣特別保守，一個女孩的名聲受到影響，大家都會用異樣的眼光看她，如果紅豆繼續生活在青水鎮，那恐怕會一直被人指指點點，所以她搬走了也好，搬到一個沒人認識的地方，等明年再次高考，我想她學習成績那麽好，一定會去非常好的大學吧。”

“我原本沒想到我們這輩子還能再見面的，可是好巧不巧，她竟然刷到了你的直播，認出了我，哈哈，我真是做夢也想不到，她就那樣出現在了我的面前，她真漂亮，和當年一模一樣。”

“看到她以後，我更加确定了，這麽多年我一直都還喜歡她。”

“可是，我這樣的人，哪能配得上人家呢？想想罷了，我今天帶着她在青水鎮逛了一整天，我真的很開心，這是我十幾年來最開心的一天，只有在今天，我才覺得自己活得像個人，白眠，從這一點來說，我要謝謝你，謝謝你的直播讓我們重逢。”

“但也是因為她，我必須今天動手，如果再不動手的話，我怕我會心軟。”

瘸哥的語調變得溫柔了：“就在今天抓娃娃的時候，我看着她的側臉，忽然想到了我們以後在一起的樣子，哼，真是癡心妄想！我如果沉迷于幻想，慢慢的，我連殺人的勇氣都沒有了。”

白眠：“你問過她的近況嗎？你都沒試過，又怎麽知道是幻想？”

瘸哥切了一聲：“沒有，有什麽好問的？她成績那麽優秀，現在一定是個成功人士了，說不定她已經結婚，我問這些，只會刺痛自己的心，所以我今天什麽都沒問，只是當一個合格的導游，陪着她四處游玩，這就夠了。”

“或許，她沒有結婚呢？”白眠提醒道。

瘸哥卻懶得再說下去，他撿起地上的刀具，塞進包裏，提着包走了，就在擦肩而過的那一刻，白眠叫住了她：

“你和許紅豆的重逢不是巧合，是我叫她來的。”

瘸哥回過頭，似乎有些不悅：“你叫的？你為什麽特意叫她來見我？”

白眠：“因為我在把脈的時候看見了，她是你心裏最柔軟的地方，也是唯一能夠拯救你的人，只有見到她，你才能放棄殺戮，其實我不止叫她回到了青水鎮，我還叫她今天晚上來到這個地方。”

瘸哥倒吸一口涼氣：“你是說，她——她在這裏？”

瘸哥的臉變換着顏色，內心顯然極為震撼，他不斷地左右張望，希望白眠是騙他的，他可不想讓心愛的人看到自己這一面。

結果讓他失望了，許紅豆真的從一輛車後面走了出來，她淋着雨走到瘸哥面前，認真地注視着他的雙眼：“剛才你們說的一切，我都已經聽到了。”

瘸哥的眼神瞬間黯淡下來，他認命似地說：“好，聽到就聽到吧，我就是這樣一個人，讓你失望了，不管你說什麽，我都還是要去的。”

瘸哥執意要走，就在他拔腿的一瞬間，許紅豆從背後抱住了他：“你難道不想知道我這些年是怎麽過的嗎？”

這句話讓瘸哥停住了腳步，許紅豆帶着哭腔說：“其實我過得不比你好，發生了那樣的事，我沒有去參加高考，而且我的心理也出了問題，成績一落千丈，盡管後來複讀了一年，還是沒有考上大學，最後我只讀了一個大專。”

“不過我沒有放棄生活，我在大專讀了烘焙專業，畢業後成了一名獨立的蛋糕師，這幾年私房烘焙很火，我的收入也還不錯，以前我一直是在網上接單，然後在家裏做蛋糕，現在我有些積蓄了，打算開一家屬于自己的工作室——”

說到這裏，許紅豆擡頭看向瘸哥：“你願不願意陪我一起？”

瘸哥傻了，說話都結巴起來：“你你你，你是說，讓我陪你一起開店，還是……”

許紅豆柔聲說：“我希望你可以參與我的生活。”

話說到這個份上，就算瘸哥再遲鈍也明白了她是什麽意思，他大腦一片空白，下意識地問：“我這個情況，你不會嫌棄我嗎？”

許紅豆毫不在意地說：“你是因為我才變成這樣的。”

瘸哥想了想，還是拒絕了：“算了，你不必為了答謝我而搭上自己的一輩子，當年是我自願幫你的，我不需要答謝，你也不必放在心上。”

許紅豆恨鐵不成鋼地看着瘸哥：“這不是答謝，我說了這麽多，你還不明白嗎？你以為我當初為什麽要管你的學習，你以為我為什麽要默認你跟在我身後，你這個榆木腦袋——”

許紅豆氣得說不下去了，瘸哥心裏卻是一陣狂喜，他不敢相信地回過頭，看着許紅豆的眼睛，難道……他的這些年，并不是一場單戀？

許紅豆雖然沒有說話，但眼神卻出賣了她的心意，瘸哥看着看着，情不自禁地吻了上去，兩人擁吻起來，白眠站在中間，感到無比尴尬。

吻過之後，瘸哥仿佛恢複了理智，他轉頭說道：“不行，當年是當年，現在我已經是個殘疾人，我配不上你，而且、而且說不定你只是在騙我，你如果真的喜歡我，為什麽這些年都沒聯系過我？”

許紅豆無奈地解釋說：“你也知道當時我被……雖然他們沒有得手，但是這件事已經傳得沸沸揚揚了，我爸媽什麽都不顧了，只想着離開這裏，他們砸掉了我的手機，連夜帶着我去了外省，你和其他同學的聯系方式都在我的手機裏，我根本聯系不到你或者其他人，我也不知道你家的地址，我後來回學校找過老師，但是老師說你已經好幾年沒消息了，我根本就什麽都打聽不到！”

"If Bai Mian hadn't called me, I wouldn't have known you were in Ci Xin Tang. As soon as I received her call, I rejected all the orders I had and flew here overnight. Even so, are you still going to blame me?"

Hearing about the twists and turns Hongdou had gone through, Lame Brother felt very distressed. In order to avoid the two brothers from looking for him again, his family changed their contact information and address. He never thought that Xu Hongdou was also looking for him. Both of them had awkward personalities. They stood outside the door and didn't dare to knock. They were delayed for so many years like this. How stupid.

After confirming their feelings for each other, Xu Hongdou extended her hand to Que Ge: "Now I am your girlfriend, I will take the things in your hand."

What she was referring to was the bag of knives that belonged to Lame Brother. Lame Brother looked at the shoulder bag in his hand with a wandering look in his eyes: "Hongdou, I know you mean well, but don't get involved in this matter. This is my personal vendetta. They made me lame for half my life. You don't understand how much I hate them..."

Bai Mian suddenly spoke up at this time: "Want to hear about your future?"

Lame Brother was stunned. Bai Mian continued, "The day I took your pulse, I saw your past and your future. I can tell you about your future, just like I did with other fate masters."

Lame Brother smiled bitterly and said, "I, what future do I have? Well, you tell me, so I can be mentally prepared - death penalty or life imprisonment?"

Hongdou thought this was unlucky and patted Lame Brother's hand. Baimian said slowly, "You will live a happy life in the future."

"Huh?" Lame Brother was a little surprised. He smiled contemptuously, as if he didn't believe it.

Bai Mian added: "The premise is that you give up revenge tonight."

"As long as you give up your plans tonight and go home with Hongdou, you will live a happy life. You will have your own family and a very cute child."

Hearing these words, Lame Brother was a little shaken, his pupils kept shaking as he stared at Xu Hongdou's face. Building a family with Hongdou, having a child, and spending the rest of his life together, isn't this what he has always dreamed of?

Bai Mian would not lie to Yuanzhu, so Lame Brother believed her. If laying down the butcher knife could bring all of this, then it seemed possible...

"But," Cripple hesitated, "what about the two culprits? They are so evil, are we just going to let them get away with it?"

Bai Mian said seriously: "Of course not. You can tell the police about this and let them arrest them. Enforcement of the law is the job of the police. You are just an ordinary person and you have no right to resort to lynching."

Lame Brother said dejectedly: "I've said it before, there was no evidence preserved, only my confession, how can it work?"

Bai Mian raised his eyebrows: "It's not just you, there's me too. With me here, the bad guys won't get away. We're colleagues, are you willing to trust me for once?"