Chapter 108: Broken Palm
Tu Lanxun stared at the hand, as if staring at an unspeakable secret.
Seeing that she was a little nervous, N smiled soothingly and said, "It's okay if you don't watch it today."
After saying this, he was about to withdraw his right hand, but Tu Lanxun instinctively grabbed it and said, "Look."
Just like a butterfly tearing through the fragile but tough cocoon from the inside and secretly extending its softest tentacles, this is a precious temptation.
If he missed it today, Tu Lanxun was worried that the butterfly would die of old age in the cocoon.
N slowly took off the glove.
The process was slow, as N's other hand trembled slightly. The black leather gradually faded from it, revealing pale skin. Tu Lanxun had seen what N's left hand looked like. The phalanges were very slender, but the tendons and joints were very powerful. The veins on the back of the hand were slightly exposed. It was a beautiful hand that combined control and beauty, like a sculpture.
But the right hand is obviously much uglier than the left.
The skin of the right hand was also white, and it was just as long and wide, but the phalanges were not straight. Instead, they had twisted angles like tree knots, and the joints were rough and unnatural, almost uncomfortable. The skin was covered with faint scars, as if it had been broken centimeter by centimeter and then reattached.
This was a hand that had suffered devastating injuries, Tu Lanxun realized.
N smiled gently and moved his ugly right hand. It had basic mobility, but the movement made it look even more terrifying. Compared to a static one, it was like the difference between a movie monster figurine and a real monster wriggling before one's eyes.
"I'll never be able to become a surgeon in the real world." N's voice was a little cold. "It can't perform precise movements, especially in the first few years after the injury."
Tu Lanxun asked sadly, "How could it become like this?"
N placed her right hand on her knees and gently placed a finger on the blue Xun, as if stroking a disabled baby bird. She closed her eyes.
N took a deep breath and said, "When I was eighteen, I was beaten."
"The year of the college entrance examination?" Tu Lanxun was speechless. For a poor but studious orphan, this was too cruel. "They were so harsh, they must be crazy!"
N said: "It was the year of the college entrance examination, and it was also three days before the exam."
He continued, "I packed my things from school and was on my way back to my house when I was stopped by some people. They were armed with knives. I knocked down four of them, but two of them still held me down. Luckily, they didn't use knives, but eventually they decided to kick me in the hand, one at a time, and they repeated this three and a half times."
Tu Lanxun remembered that Lu Jiasui mentioned that N's residence and Aunt Lu's breakfast shop were both in the old city of Lucheng. That was about ten years ago. The cameras in the old city were not complete and the public security was average.
N may have rolled down in the alley after his right hand was stepped on and crushed. When those people ran away, he looked up and saw his schoolbag, doodle pens and books scattered on the ground. His admission ticket was crushed in the mud, and his broken right hand was also crushed in the mud.
The hand holding the pen.
"I seemed to have lost my ability to think at that time." N laughed, and clasped the Tu Lan Xun with his palm. "I only remember the smell of blood was very close, but my long-cherished dream was getting further and further away from me."
Tu Lanxun felt a surge of anger rising from the bottom of her heart. She almost stood up and felt like she was about to explode, but she finally just bounced and sat back next to N, holding her breath and covering N's hand with her own.
Now she felt that the hand was not deformed at all, and the person he had met was the real deformity.
"Who is it? Are they still in Lucheng? How was it resolved back then?" Tu Lanxun asked.
Rather than wondering why N had offended them, she wanted to know where those guys were now. If they weren't in prison, she even wanted to let them see hell with their own eyes.
N looked at Tu Lanxun with a very gentle gaze, shook his head slightly, and said comfortingly: "They were all arrested. They were just a few bad thugs who were hired to cause trouble."
Tu Lanxun felt the slight roughness of her palm. She grabbed the back of N's hand and rubbed it gently, as if this could erase the scar. She tried to sniff silently, but N turned around and caught her in the act.
N did not have any intense emotions when he mentioned these things. Instead, his tone was one of reminiscence, as if he was talking about another person.
That’s right, compared with N’s experience after he turned eighteen, missing the college entrance examination was actually quite insignificant.
After all, his life is gone now.
Tu Lanxun smoothed his expression and said softly, "So what happened to you later? Do you know who was behind this?"
"I didn't repeat my studies, nor did I take the college entrance exam a second time. I had planned to work a summer job to save money and figure out other things later, but I unexpectedly got an interview for an assistant position at Tianguo Group."
N's eyes darkened slightly, and he forced a smile. "At the time, I thought—everyone around me told me—that it was a brighter and more prosperous path than the college entrance exam. I never expected it to lead directly to the underworld."
The eighteen-year-old wounded boy N met a kind-hearted man named Kris, who gave him money, took him under his wing, and taught him, allowing him to see the vast world overseas and the darkness and terror lurking beneath it.
N continued to answer Tu Lanxun's first question, saying, "Those thugs were all arrested and sentenced. Aside from the initial public legal aid, Kris also took care of the subsequent legal fees, medical expenses, and rehabilitation."
"He is so kind." Tu Lanxun sighed.
N paused and said, "He was very much like the father I knew him to be. I knew there were no easy feats, but for the first six months, I was incredibly motivated and eager to serve him wholeheartedly."
He kept his words to himself, and Tu Lanxun glanced over at him: "Then when did you know that your hand injury was actually related to Kris?"
N's eyes frightened for a moment, and the look he gave Tu Lanxun became different again, eventually turning into a smile: "Did you guess it?"
Tu Lanxun pretended to be profound. "Do I need to guess? Don't I know what capitalists are like? Even if he has good intentions, how can he be so well-informed? How can the boss of a multinational corporation appear right next to you and solve all your problems? Most likely he's here to clean up someone's mess and pick up a kitten by the way."
The kitten is so stupid that he wants to serve others.
She was patted by N.
The kitten even hits people.
N snorted angrily but couldn't suppress his laughter, gradually becoming calmer. "One of the classmates who disliked me in school was Dong Tianlong's cousin. He was also the nephew of Dong Yijian's ex-wife. But Dong Yijian was getting a divorce back then and didn't want to get involved in this matter."
I've never heard of this before. Tu Lanxun was slightly surprised. "Dong Yijian and Kris are related? Otherwise, why would he care about this?"
N nodded. "Kris is Dong Yijian's older brother. They are twins, but they grew up abroad and in China respectively. He hopes that Dong Yijian can remarry his ex-wife, so he came here in person."
Tu Lanxun was a little confused. "Is there anything special about that ex-wife? Why is Kris trying so hard to arrange his brother's marriage? Dong Yijian clearly doesn't want to get involved."
N glanced at Tu Lanxun with a complicated expression and said something surprising, "Because Kris is a person who values family very much."
Tu Lanxun quickly questioned, "So he put Teacher Nie in a box and threw him off the mountain?"
N choked and remained silent for a long time. He scratched the palm of Tu Lanxun's hand with little effort before saying, "Kris is very passionate about concepts like perfection, redemption, and wholeness. I haven't come across that earthly paradise plan that Zong Li mentioned before, but I can tell from the sound of it that it's Kris's creation. All the dogs in his family must be paired, and every year they take several sets of family photos of their show-quality sheepdogs."
It's like creating a traditional yet overly idealistic dream in which everyone has a happy family and all happy families form a perfect world.
There is no pain, no defect, only a collage of smiles like a sun garden.
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Tu Lanxun tried to keep his voice low. "The Tourism Bureau and the police haven't been able to find any specific information about Kris. He's a foreigner, so all procedures involving that information are handled in isolation, with layer upon layer of white gloves."
N said: "Because I was thinking, why did Kris change his mind?"
Yes, the kingdom of heaven on earth clearly refers to the complete invasion of the earth by strange beings, which become superior to humans. This is completely contrary to concepts such as "perfection" and "family".
Tu Lanxun couldn't figure it out either, but she tap-danced her fingers on the back of N's hand while saying, bored, "Perhaps his obsession with perfection is why he turned his plans around into something harmful like a paradise on earth. One destroys, the other builds, both for the same purpose."
N put her sideburns on Tu Lanxun's head, tilted it slightly, and hummed.
#
With N's consent, Kris's relevant information was reported to Wenchong, but this person is not in the country at the moment, and there is no very direct evidence to determine his guilt, because the orders for most incidents were issued by others, and they were at least two levels away from him.
The overly grand process has nothing to do with Tu Lanxun. She is only responsible for guarding the Lucheng Development Zone.
On a pleasant and case-free evening, Tu Lanxun sent away the last wave of customers. The ghosts met in the messy development zone park to hold a singing competition, and all the ghosts in the community went to watch the fun.
Today is a rare warm night in early winter. There is no need to turn up the hot air conditioner to high setting. Warm and cool air slowly blows in from outside the door. The 24-hour Sunshine Convenience Store has become the warmest light source on this street.
Tu Lanxun sat and looked at the electricity fee schedule. The decision on whether the development zone would completely cut off power was about to be made. With the help of Wenchong, she drafted this plan, trying to get all the ghost residents to jointly pay for water and electricity bills to ensure normal life in the development zone.
Before he had even finished watching half of the show, there was a knock on the convenience store door. Thinking it was some overly polite ghost customer, Tu Lanxun looked up and said, "Come in."
Outside stood a shadow as cold as frost and snow, staring at Tu Lanxun with ferocious and anxious eyes.
Tu Lanxun was slightly surprised, and instantly became alert. He stood up and asked, "Teacher Nie?"
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