I couldn't help but curse: "How can such a person have any party spirit? He is simply a beast in human clothing!"
Old Ma was still worried: "Guanxian, how about... I find a few young and strong guys to go with you? In case of a conflict, we can have someone to take care of you."
I waved my hand and said, "No need. We are all exhausted. I will take my driver with me. He is a retired armed police officer. Five people can't get close to him."
Seeing my firm attitude, he nodded helplessly.
"Go and have some rest," I continued. "I'll make two phone calls."
As soon as Lao Ma left, I took out my cell phone and dialed Lin Xun's number.
As soon as the call was connected, I asked directly: "Lin Xun, if one day I hurt you or your relatives, what would you do?"
She was obviously stunned, her voice full of fatigue and anxiety: "Guan Hongjun! I haven't slept or eaten a grain of rice since last night! You are so good, you come up and say these nonsense words! Do you want to hurt me? What can I do to you? ... Where are you? Why is the signal so bad? It's like being in the water, the sound is 'gurgling'!"
I suppressed the turmoil in my heart and tried to keep my voice steady: "In the county. After the flood, the signal is not good." A sense of sadness suddenly seized me as I was about to say goodbye to her and this world forever. My voice trembled uncontrollably: "Lin Xun... If there is anyone in this world who is worthy of my trust, it is only you. Help me... take care of the family."
She almost yelled, "Guan Hongjun! What the hell is wrong with you! Why are you acting like you're dying? Tell me the truth, where are you?!"
I was choked up and couldn't make any sound anymore, so I had to hang up the phone.
Even though Lin Xun's call-back ringing sounded repeatedly in the dead silence, I never answered it.
Many years later, when Tang Xiaomei heard me talk about this past event, she asked in confusion: "Why did you suddenly have such a bad feeling at that time?"
I was silent for a moment, then replied, "Perhaps there really is a mysterious force in this world that can make people feel fear from the bottom of their hearts for no reason."
She shook her head slightly, disagreeing: "Actually, you heard my mother's voice. At that moment, it was like a wronged child suddenly throwing himself into his mother's arms, and the pent-up emotions in his heart wanted to vent out in the form of separation of life and death."
I didn't refute, I just looked into the distance and said lightly: "You haven't experienced enough, and you haven't seen this world... deeply enough after all."
She didn't bother me with this profound philosophical question anymore, she just murmured to herself: "I don't know who you love the most in your life, but the one you are most attached to is definitely my mother."
I remained silent. Perhaps she was right.
When I was about to take Xiang Qianjin to Taixiang Coal Mine, Hu Jia insisted on going with us.
Looking at his exhausted face and thinking about the unpredictable and dangerous road ahead, I flatly refused. The light in his eyes dimmed instantly, and the loss added a bit of tragedy to my heart.
Xiang Qianjin didn't know the way, so I led him up the path, climbing one step deep and one step shallow. When we reached a slightly flat valley, I suddenly stopped and bowed deeply to an inconspicuous mound of earth.
"It's been six years," I whispered to the loess, my voice hoarse, "You rest here forever, and I was able to seek justice for the six of you brothers... I feel guilty. But I believe that, in the law of reincarnation, they will eventually pay with blood!"
Xiang Qianjin looked at me in confusion: "Boss, what...?"
"A miner," I said in a deep voice, "died in a mining accident six years ago. His death was unclear."
My words seemed to bring back memories of his brother who also died in a coal mine accident. He said in a hoarse voice, “They are all… miserable people.”
At that time, I thought that this brief stop in front of Tang Xiaomei's father's grave would become the key foreshadowing of my survival.
In the dark, perhaps it was the souls beneath the loess that gave me the opportunity to be reborn - to keep my eyes open for them, to watch the cycle of cause and effect with my own eyes, and to nail those people back then to the judgement seat one by one.
Fine raindrops fell on Xiang Qianjin's face, and he could no longer distinguish between sweat and rain. He suddenly became hoarse and called out, "Brother."
My heart warmed up and I responded almost instinctively: "Yeah."
The usual simple and honest expression on his face disappeared, the rain slid down his forehead, and his voice was filled with suppressed excitement: "You are a good person. This life... I am blessed to be able to follow you."
I raised my head and patted his wet shoulder heavily: "Brother, don't say these things! What's the difference between this generation and this generation? As long as you don't find me annoying, we will be together forever!"
He was obviously touched, and his rough big hands suddenly clenched my body with amazing force, and his voice trembled a little: "Brother! This...you have to keep your word!"
I tried to shake off his cold, clammy hands and raised my voice deliberately: "That's enough! You're a grown man, why are you doing this? Let's go, get this done and go back to eat. I'm so hungry!"
Xiang Qianjin and I trudged along and finally approached the ventilation shaft of the Taixiang Coal Mine. The outline of the mine house was faintly visible not far to the front. I was so tired that I bent over, panting heavily, and my chest heaving like a bellows: "Qianjin... We are almost there... Let's take a breath... I haven't climbed a mountain for a long time, and my body... can't keep up."
He stood aside, grinning naively, as if the long mountain trek just now was just a common occurrence for him, and there was no trace of fatigue on his face.
Just then, a dull "crackling" sound, like a fracture deep underground, faintly entered my ears. I shook my head, thinking it was tinnitus, and didn't pay much attention to it.
However, the smile on Xiang Qianjin's face froze instantly! He frowned suddenly and scanned the surrounding mountains with vigilance like a leopard.
The next second, his eyes were bloodshot and he roared like thunder: "Oh no! There's a landslide!"
As the roar fell, I felt a huge force slamming into me! My eyes were instantly swallowed by darkness, and my feet suddenly felt empty. I was like a kite with a broken string, falling straight into the bottomless black abyss...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
