Chapter 236 Rooftop Postman (End) 2-in-1
Because part of the runway of the nearby airport was built using the former city walls of the Walled City, airplanes would soon reach the sky above the Walled City after taking off, causing a huge roar. After people got used to this rule, an unwritten rule emerged on the east side of the Walled City.
Use the roar of airplanes to cover up the sound of gunfire that is taking away fresh lives.
If this "cover" is missed, then this person will not die today.
Seeing that the people who witnessed his execution were only a young man and the postman in the walled city, Brother Xiong stared at the two of them coldly for a long time, and finally took back the Tokarev in his hand.
"You know what to do. If I hear any rumors later..." Brother Xiong made a gesture of wiping his neck, warned the two of them, and then left with his men.
It's not impossible to silence them all, but one of them is the postman in the Walled City. If they attack him, then the whole Walled City will know what they did today.
Just think of it as giving face to Mr. Cao.
Watching Xiong Ge leading the group away, Jia Hui and Wei Zai ran back to the west hand in hand, still in shock. After confirming that this corner of the rooftop was safe and no one was around, they finally relaxed.
"Why did you risk helping me?"
"I just don't want to see a good policeman disappear into obscurity because of this."
After hearing this, Wei Zai secretly looked at Jia Hui again: deep in the eyes of this postman, there was the same indescribable light as his own.
And he looks a little familiar...
So, Wei Zai couldn't help but think of what his boss, Mr. Li, had said before: “Newcomers” are not suitable, so what about “old employees”?
He probably knew that Sir Li had a secret undercover agent in the Walled City to inform him, so that every patrol work could be completed safely, but he had no news about who this undercover agent was - but now it seems that the answer is about to come out.
After returning home, Wei Zai took out the photo that he had seen countless times.
Seeing the person with only half of his face exposed in the lower left corner of the photo, whose features were identical to those of the postman who saved him today, Wei Zai immediately smiled knowingly.
While I was deep in thought, I suddenly received a call from the police station.
"What? Mr. Li was beaten by gangsters today and is now unconscious in the hospital?" Wei Zai was shocked when he heard it. "Okay, I will go over and sort out the files he left behind."
After knowing that his boss's injury was not serious and that he only needed to sort out the files and wait for him to be discharged from the hospital without having to hand them over to anyone else, Wei Zai breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly packed his things and went out.
Back in the Walled City, a group of people were watching the news on a TV in a grocery store.
"Today's latest news: Hongfa Real Estate has successfully acquired most of the land in Kowloon Walled City, and will soon join hands with other real estate companies to carry out the demolition and new construction of Kowloon Walled City..." On the old TV with a few "snowflakes" sprinkled from time to time, the dignified-looking announcer was speaking in the calmest tone, saying words that made the people in the Walled City feel like a bolt from the blue.
"How could this happen? Didn't Uncle He from the Welfare Association ask us to sign our names or put our fingerprints on a petition to boycott the demolition? He also said that it's very likely that we'll be able to succeed again?" An old man sat down on the wet ground, his face filled with fear and disbelief. "Uncle He is such a good man, there's no reason for him to lie to us..."
"What a piece of shit he is! He Defu, that bastard, has already been in touch with Hongfa!" A middle-aged man cursed angrily, "He sold us for a good price, and now he has moved out with his grandson!"
"Uncle He ran away?!" everyone asked angrily.
"I saw the news in the newspaper this morning and wanted to ask him what happened, but I found out that not only his home but also the fish ball factory was closed!" The middle-aged man was an employee of Uncle Ho's fish ball factory. The more he talked, the angrier he became. "He paid a small amount of demolition fee, and now he has lost his job. What will my whole family do in the future..."
Seeing the middle-aged man squatting helplessly, many people fell silent.
Yun Ji, who was standing far away and watching coldly, turned around and quietly left this place filled with helplessness and sadness.
Ah Rong noticed that she was not in a good condition and asked with concern: "What's wrong with you?"
"I thought I should be very happy after seeing this scene..." Yun Ji shook his head, "but I don't know why, I don't feel happy at all. Instead, I don't know what to think or do."
When she was helping Uncle Ho repair the machinery in his fish ball factory, she discovered something wrong with the so-called "Civil Petition": few of the middle-aged and elderly people in the walled city knew a few big characters, but Uncle Ho's document used particularly complicated words and English, which she presumably meant to be a disguised form of the original.
At that time, she did not expose it. Instead, she was looking forward to what the people in the walled city would do when they discovered this problem.
But after seeing this scene today, she found that she was not as happy as she had expected.
On the contrary, she even began to doubt whether she was right to do that.
"This proves that in your heart, there is more love than hate." Ah Rong, who was walking on her left, smiled: the person in front of him kept saying that he wanted revenge and wanted to see the people of the Walled City suffer, but in fact, he could not do or bear to see such a thing.
The two walked in silence in the alley they had walked through countless times. In the dim light, the person on the left moved his hand, as if he wanted to grab the person on the right.
Unfortunately, his hesitant fingertips trembled a bit, and he finally withdrew his deeply buried affection.
The Walled City will soon be demolished, and these stolen moments will finally come to an end, along with their unfulfilled goals, buried in this area that will soon become history.
At this time, the wandering Yun Ji suddenly stepped forward and suggested that she could take Long Po out for a look.
Hearing this, Long Po, who was rejected by other neighbors who were busy packing up their things, smiled at Yun Ji with gratitude: "Thank you, they are too busy to take me out, and I don't dare to go out alone..."
The old man and the young boy, who usually disliked each other, finally put aside their grudges and laughed it off at this moment.
Sitting on the bus, Luang Po chattered to the two people: "After I came down from the mainland, I have been living in the walled city and have never left. I didn't expect that at this age, I have to go out..."
But the outside world changed too fast. The hustle and bustle of the world opened Long Po's eyes, but also filled her old face with worry about the unknown future.
Walking with full of sorrow, I accidentally took the wrong road.
"Be careful!" Yun Ji was quick-witted and quick-handed, and pushed the person aside at the moment when the truck was about to hit Long Po.
Ah Rong, who was buying ice cream nearby, and Wei Zai, who was passing by, were shocked and hurriedly crossed the road and ran towards the two people who had fallen to the ground.
Only after carrying the two people to the hospital for X-ray treatment did Ah Rong turn around and look at Wei Zai who was kind enough to help: "Thank you so much this time."
"No need to be so polite. Any normal person would help immediately if they see something like this." Wei Zai said with a smile.
During the conversation, the doctor pulled open the curtain and explained to Ah Rong that Long Po had only suffered a relatively minor injury, with no bone damage, and was now receiving medicine and bandages.
"What about Xiaoyun?" A Rong asked anxiously.
"She just had minor scratches, but..." The doctor pulled him to a corner and whispered to him the bad news: the blood test report showed that Yun Ji was suspected of having leukemia.
"Sir, are you okay?" Ah Rong's body swayed when he heard the news, and the doctor was so scared that he hurriedly grabbed his shoulders, fearing that he would suddenly fall down due to the shock.
Wei Zai, who was standing not far away politely, saw this scene and his pupils shrank: if this man called "Ah Rong" grew a beard and wore glasses...
The reason his brother's action failed was that he was betrayed by his friends.
However, after his near-death experience in the Walled City, Wei Zai no longer had his previous impulsiveness and recklessness.
Wai Tsai clenched his fists and watched the backs of Ah Rong and the other two as they left. He followed them secretly and after getting the addresses of the two in the walled city, he left the walled city silently.
When Ah Rong returned home, he tossed and turned all night long, but he still didn't tell her the true situation of Yun Ji.
The next day, the two were awakened by screams outside.
"What happened?" Ah Rong asked, grabbing a child as he hurriedly put on his coat and walked out.
"Luang Po turned herself into a duck and hung herself on the beam!" The young child did not yet understand the boundary between life and death, and said with great innocence what sounded extremely cruel and terrifying to adults.
But what is even more terrifying is that the two people who arrived at the door of Long Po's house also saw the bleakness and hopelessness of life in the eyes of some elderly people who were watching.
The volunteer from the welfare association was packing things in the house. When she saw Yunji coming, she handed her a small paper package and said, "Your name is written on it. Maybe Long Po wants to give it to you."
It had been more than a day or two since Long Po had been in arrears with various fees, so the volunteers thought that this was Long Po's plan to repay the debt to Yun Kee before her death.
Yunji opened it with trembling hands, but what came into view was not the expected tattered change, but some scattered newspaper clippings: "Widow of deceased Hongfa worker swallowed cleaning agent and committed suicide", "Young girl was severely burned, and her family abandoned her", "People in the Walled City demand compensation for the deceased Hongfa workers", "For money or love? Young girl burned in the Walled City was finally adopted by her uncle"...
Apart from the bold black headlines, the detailed report below even more detailedly described how my uncle's family had a failed business but suddenly had cash flow. The reporter who wrote the report couldn't help but add the suspicion that my uncle's family had swallowed up Yun's father's pension...
"It turns out that everything I thought was wrong..." Thinking of the time when her aunt apologized to her in a hoarse voice before her death, Yun Ji finally understood: It turned out that her aunt's apology was not because she felt that she could no longer take care of her and caused her to drop out of school to nurse her injuries in the hospital, but because she was apologizing for their family having deceived her for so many years.
Unfortunately, the most confusing thing is that until the last moment of their lives, my uncle and aunt still did not tell the truth.
All those who had helped her in the Walled City had been hiding this cruel truth. They would rather be hated by her than tell the truth and shatter the self-deceiving dream she had been living in for all these years.
Even Ah Rong is the same.
In the silent night, Yun Ji, who was sobbing non-stop, was embraced by Ah Rong for the first time and comforted and consoled her with great tenderness.
But until the end, there was only a light kiss between the two, which implied the infatuated attraction and helpless distance between the two hearts.
The first rays of dawn cannot be seen in the walled city. Only the ticking of the alarm clock can be heard, which not only shows its presence but also tells the world that a new day is coming.
Yun Ji slowed down and hurried out with his toolbox.
Knowing that she went to apologize according to the list, Ah Rong sighed deeply.
After finally suppressing the complicated emotions in his heart, Ah Rong was making breakfast while reading historical materials about the walled city when Yun Ji's previous words suddenly flashed through his mind.
I have always thought that everything was wrong...
If what they had always thought was wrong - then what exactly did Aqiang's initial hint mean?
That thing was hidden in the most unlikely place in the walled city, but people were accustomed to its existence.
The boiling hot oil exploded as the spatula rolled up the dough. Ah Rong, who was scalded by the splashing oil, shook his hands and looked down at the rolled dough in the iron pan.
In an instant, the complicated and sealed clues in my mind that had been lingering but could not be grasped flashed, merged and blended in this moment...
Ah Rong hurried to the two abandoned cannons in the walled city. After looking around to make sure that no one was around, he panted and began to search.
Before the fortress was called "fortress", it was the garrison of the Qing army. Naturally, it also had two cannons responsible for defense and attack. However, until the year the Qing army withdrew, these two cannons were not used.
After the Qing army left this place, the poor people from all over the place gathered together, and these two cannons were regarded as souvenirs by the people of the walled city and left here.
This is the most obvious thing, the most common thing, and people who often visit the Walled City don’t think there is anything wrong with its existence…
After carefully and with great difficulty taking out a small plastic bag from the rusty ammunition filling machine, Ah Rong quickly restored the place to its original state, turned around, and ran back home without stopping.
After sending the message to the contact person via the agreed code, Ah Rong looked at the account book in his hand, and a bold idea that went against his original intention suddenly came to his mind.
That night, Wei Zai, who received the secret code message in Li Sir's office, hurried to a corner where goods were piled up in the west of the city.
Ah Rong, who was shot in the shoulder, was surprised to see the person coming: "Why is it you?!"
"Mr. Li has been in the hospital recently. I helped him sort out his files, and I was the one who received the code." Wei Zai explained in a low voice, "Since you have a guilty conscience and want to make amends, I should give you a chance..."
After hearing what Wei Zai said, Ah Rong smiled bitterly and said, "There's nothing I can do. Back then, it was for Xiao Yun's surgery fee. Now, it's also..."
"But why did you notify the police?" Wei Zai asked.
"The thing in my hand is fake. The real one is at Xiaoyun's house. I also left her a secret code." Ah Rong huddled aside, wrapping his shoulders with rags. "I thought I could hide the truth and get enough money for the surgery..."
"You made a mistake once last year, why do you keep making the same mistake again?!" Wei Zai gritted his teeth as he thought about how he had already planned to hand over the account book to the police, but they were trying to kill two birds with one stone by taking advantage of the short time and information gap.
"No reason. Just remember that I'm a traitor who betrayed my friends. I'll leave the account book to you for your meritorious service. I'll take the money and run away with Xiaoyun..." Ah Rong turned his head and looked at the large group of black shadows chasing after him.
Unexpectedly, in the melee, it was Wei Zai, who had little experience in street fighting, who was shot and fell to the ground first.
"I will protect you from leaving, but you must remember, after you get out, you must clear my brother's name!" After the undercover operation failed, Ah Qiang was never able to restore his police identity and be buried. This is an eternal pain in Wei Zai's heart.
"The new postman is an undercover agent planted by Sir Li in the Walled City. Go find him and he will help you leave the Walled City!" Wei Zai moved his injured leg and hid behind the goods, growling in a low voice.
"Is he also an undercover?" Ah Rong frowned, but he couldn't think too much about the current situation. He gritted his teeth and looked at the injured and defiant Wei Zai, then finally stood up and walked to the other side, "Don't worry, your brother will always be innocent..."
When Ah Rong fled all the way to the front of the shack where Jiahui lived, he was brought in by Jiahui, but he saw a scene that he absolutely could not accept.
Yun Ji, covered in blood, lay on the wooden bed. No matter how Uncle Cao pressed on the wound on her abdomen, it was of no use.
Blood was all over the ground, and his heart seemed to be broken as well.
"What happened?" Ah Rong's voice was almost inaudible.
"Yunji went to Hongfa's company to help us steal the contract, but was discovered by Hongfa's people..." Uncle Cao said in a heavy tone, "When she escaped back, people thought she was being chased by her enemies outside. She usually has a bad relationship with people, so no one opened the door for her to hide..."
At this time, Yun Ji was completely unable to speak. He moved his weak hand forward and was immediately grabbed tightly by A Rong.
But even without any sound, he could tell that she used her mouth to say three words to him: I'm sorry.
She had always known the kind of feelings that had inevitably developed between them during all those years of getting along; however, because there was Ah Qiang between them, whose death was indirectly caused by her, she, who had already guessed the truth, had been deceiving herself by labeling him a traitor, and tried to distance themselves from him with the coldest attitude possible.
Therefore, in the end, neither of them was able to break through the fragile window paper.
As those brown eyes lost all their luster, the light that had always persisted in Ah Rong's eyes seemed to have also lost.
After avoiding Uncle Cao, the desperate Ah Rong handed over the contract stolen from Yun Ji and the account book he found to Jiahui.
Afterwards, he closed Yun Ji's eyes with his hands, held her in his arms and disappeared into this disastrous night.
The sun rose from the horizon, and Wei Zai, who was sent to the hospital for rescue by Li Sir who discovered the situation, finally woke up.
But when he woke up this time, he was faced with a subversion of everything in the past: the person who leaked the information and caused the undercover operation to fail was not Ah Rong, but his brother Ah Qiang.
In order to raise money for his girlfriend Xiaoyun's surgery, Aqiang told Hongfa about the account book and wanted to use it to exchange for money.
Unfortunately, Aqiang was no match for the people from Hongfa. Not only did he not get the money, he also lost himself.
Before his death, Qiang uses the information of the hidden place in the account book to exchange with his betrayed friend Rong, asking him to help take care of his girlfriend Xiaoyun.
Ah Wing used all his savings, plus some of the funds he had advanced for the operation, to raise the money for Xiaoyun's surgery. He then hid in the Walled City and communicated with Li Sir, who was disguised as a "rich woman", using coded letters.
The reason why Ah Rong was willing to bear the label of a traitor who "betrayed his friend" for so many years was not only because he was the one who captured Ah Qiang, who was seriously injured and nearly died, but also because he gradually fell in love with his best friend's girlfriend during those years - in this respect, he admitted that he had betrayed his friend.
Therefore, even though Ah Qiang "died in the line of duty", the police did not restore his identity. It was not because the police kept everything secret in order to continue their undercover operation as Wei Zai thought.
"If your contact in the Walled City has always been Ah Wing, then Cao Jiahui..." Wei Zai looked frightened.
The camera followed his line of sight and moved to the TV on the wall of the ward. The dignified-looking announcer was still explaining the demolition work of Kowloon Walled City in her gentle and calm tone.
And the new designers.
"One of the designers, Mr. Tsao Ka Fai, was born in the Walled City. Why did you take the initiative to apply to join the demolition and reconstruction of the Walled City?"
"Because I want to see a better future for Hong Kong."
"But many people abroad believe that the walled city is a rare man-made miracle of modern times, and many people have signed a petition requesting that a part of it be preserved as a memorial museum..."
"If dirt, chaos and squalor can be considered miracles and souls, I would rather it never existed - something built on pain cannot be called true aesthetics. What I want to see is that Hong Kong people will have a cleaner, more comfortable and beautiful home..."
As his seemingly hopeful words fell, in the background that was not captured on the camera screen, a group of wailing old people were driven out of the walled city by strong workers in protective clothing like animals.
"The house inside is going to be demolished soon. It's very dangerous. Come out and stay here!" the worker shouted in a rough voice.
"That's the home we've lived in for decades!" The elderly burst into tears. "How can you treat an elderly person like this? Where is justice?"
"Justice? Justice is - when the time comes, you shouldn't live that long, occupying the place of the young and hindering the rotation of the earth! Now it's good, you can't get to the shore at both ends, you will have to suffer in the future!"
"We are old, but can we be blamed for this..." The old people looked sad and hopeless.
Watching his old neighbor of several decades come to such a miserable end with grief in his eyes, Mr. Cao grabbed his grandson's sleeve angrily and said, "Did you see that?! Tell me, is this how people are going to be treated when they get old?!"
"Of course I don't think so. They are the ones who refuse to accept new things and insist on clinging to the dirty, messy and slums of the past!" Jiahui tightly grasped the drawings in his hand: He sacrificed so much to become one of the chief designers, why did his grandfather only know how to blame and scold him?
Although he lied to his grandfather and said he was resigning, he actually agreed to the company's undercover plan and sneaked into the walled city to draw drawings of the internal situation. He even handed over all the things that Ah Rong and Yun Kee left for him to the company... But he also did it for the future of Hong Kong!
"Reform is bound to be accompanied by bloodshed and sacrifice. This is inevitable in the course of historical development!" Jiahui said, arguing with reason. "Places like this should have disappeared long ago!"
"Do you think the walled city can be destroyed like this? No, never..." Angry at Jiahui's attitude that he still thought what he did was right, Uncle Cao covered his chest and fell to the ground in pain.
His grandson is still too young to see the truth of the world...
The scene changes, and under the urging of Jiahui's girlfriend, "See what inheritance your grandfather left you," Jiahui opens a letter left for him by Mr. Cao.
There was no proof of assets inside, only nine crooked words: The Walled City will never disappear.
Dissatisfied with his grandfather's behavior of going against him until his last moment, Jiahui threw the letter aside and hurriedly went to the street outside the walled city with his briefcase.
Staring at the shattered building ahead, Jiahui held up a blueprint of a large commercial and residential building and smiled with great happiness.
In the accelerated empty shot, everything in the world develops in a short period of time. High-rise buildings are erected from flat ground, razed to the ground, old buildings are replaced by new ones, and vast seas are filled with land...
Until the news on TV, the time was clearly marked as 2012, thirty years later.
"Today, another robbery and murder case occurred in Chongqing Building. The deceased, Mr. He, was stabbed dozens of times and failed to receive treatment..." The announcer reported another murder case expressionlessly. The Chongqing Building, a mid- to high-end residential building that people once yearned for, has now become a new "Kowloon Walled City for ethnic minorities."
His temples have turned a gray, gray hue. Looking at the old man sitting on the rooftop in grief over the death of his grandson, I vaguely recognize him as Uncle Ho, who sold out his relatives and friends in the walled city in order to escape from it and change his social class.
"It seems that Xingzai lives in Chongqing Mansion, is that right?" Jiahui looked at his wife.
"Isn't it?" the old wife said with disdain, "It's his father's fault for not being able to do great things and not accumulating good karma. He did so many things but in the end he only got back a one-bedroom tofu block in Quarry Yong. Now he can't live in Chongqing Mansion anymore. He may have to move into one of those 'coffin houses' in the future..."
Jiahui was silent for a while, then slowly stood up and went back to the room to search on the desk.
The older generation likes to use a large piece of glass to cover the desk. On the one hand, it can prevent the desktop from being scratched. On the other hand, some information can be pressed under the glass for reference when writing at the desk.
Therefore, in the places not blocked by Jiahui's body, under the transparent glass, there were yellowed newspaper clippings: "Police undercover sent electronic evidence, exposing Hongfa's crimes", "Old people from the Walled City reported: many people have committed suicide", "Hongfa collapsed overnight, major real estate companies rushed to pick up the leaks", "Government took back the land in the Walled City and planned to build a memorial park", "Chongqing Mansion homicide statistics in the past 30 years”, “Quarry Yong has another new building plan”…
After putting his hands behind his back and handing over his savings to his wife so that she could use it to rent an apartment for their son Xingzai, Jiahui dragged his old and heavy body to the rooftop.
Sitting quietly on the rooftop and looking at the buildings in other places is his usual way of calming down.
His shaking hands can no longer draw the perfect blueprints he used to, but his heart is still soaring in the dream of future construction.
Suddenly, the loud roar of an airplane once again passed over our heads - because there is an international airport nearby, when the airplane leaves the airport and flies over Sha Tin, it will also turn south and pass by Quarry Springs.
But even such noise and increasingly densely built commercial buildings cannot stop people's desire to have a home.
He watched with his own eyes as the area that was once an industrial and residential area was filled with new buildings rising up next to the building where he lived, dividing the area into separate parts.
Sometimes, when looking down from the rooftop, the empty spaces surrounded by tall buildings look like the huge mouth of a monster, waiting to devour the blood and flesh of ordinary people.
Looking at the high-rise buildings that are gradually being built in the distance, spreading out in the afterglow of the setting sun, Jiahui seemed to have returned to the twilight of the rooftop with the huge roar.
He had thought that the existence of the Walled City, a deformed collection of coincidences, was a historical stain, but at this moment, he finally understood that the birth and development of the Walled City was not accidental.
It was only today that he realized the true meaning of the last letter that his grandfather sent before his death.
As long as capital exists in this world, the walled city will never disappear.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
