Chapter 375: Wildfire cannot be extinguished
Whether in the previous life or this life, Zhou Yi had never been to the Lu family where Lu Xiaoshuang lived. He only learned some information from the case files of the previous life and some media reports later.
Lu Xiaoshuang hardly ever mentioned anything about the Lu family to him, except that she was concerned about her grandmother.
She is just a 19-year-old freshman girl who has to work in her spare time to earn her living expenses and tuition. How could she have the ability to take care of an old lady?
When Zhou Yi and Qiao Jiali walked into the slum, the environment inside was better than Zhou Yi had imagined. Although it was shabby, at least it was not as dirty and messy as the place where Tao Cong, who had been captured before, lived.
There was an old man in the north room, who was washing vegetables. He looked up at the two of them and asked, "Who are you looking for?"
"Uncle, do Lu Guozhong and Lu Guoliang live here?" asked Qiao Jiali.
The old man pointed to a few rooms on the east side and said, "Looking for Old Lu's family, they live over there."
Of course, Qiao Jiali didn't know the exact location of the Lu family, because the household registration information only showed the address of the slum.
"But they are all out." the old man said again.
"Out? Where did you go?"
"I don't know. They're either going to my mother-in-law's house or out having fun." The old man laughed. "They're so carefree. If they have money today, they spend it today. If they don't have money tomorrow, they'll starve."
Zhou Yi nodded. He and his second uncle's family were indeed the same kind of people, living for the moment.
It's strange, in this world, a lame donkey always pairs with a broken mill, and a scum always pairs with a shrew.
It’s true what the saying goes: People from the same family tend to stick together.
Qiao Jiali asked, "Have both families gone out?"
The old man said, "The old lady is at home."
"Tang...Yuezhen?"
"Yes, you can ask the old lady where her two sons are and when they will be back."
"Thank you, sir."
Qiao Jiali and Zhou Yi looked at each other and walked towards the rooms to the east.
The three rooms on the east side, the two in the middle and on the right, appear to be bedrooms, with their doors closed.
Only the door on the left was open, but it was dark inside.
Zhou Yi looked up and saw a small attic above the room on the left.
It seems that this is where Lu Xiaoshuang lives.
"Is anyone there?" Qiao Jiali asked standing at the door.
There was a heavy smell of oil smoke in the room, mixed with a hint of mold.
The two of them looked inside and saw that the room was not big to begin with and was actually divided into two rooms.
On one side is the kitchen. The stove made of red bricks and wooden boards is piled with various pots and pans. The grease accumulated over the years has covered every corner of the kitchen with a layer of black greasy dirt.
On the other side was a narrow bedroom, separated from the kitchen by wooden boards.
There is a window at the end of the bedroom, through which you can vaguely see a bed and a figure sitting beside it.
Zhou Yi remembered Lu Xiaoshuang saying that her grandmother had poor hearing, so he raised his voice and called out, "Is anyone there?"
Sure enough, the person in the house reacted, turned his head to look over here, and then walked out of the house.
"Who are you looking for?" An old lady with silver hair walked out of the house slowly, looked at the two of them puzzledly and asked.
Qiao Jiali was about to take out her ID, but Zhou Yi stopped her with his hand. Then she saw Zhou Yi shaking his head slightly.
Qiao Jiali immediately understood what he meant and was afraid that the old lady would think too much.
Then he smiled and asked loudly, "Are you Xiaoshuang's grandmother?"
As soon as she heard her granddaughter's name, the old lady smiled immediately. Although her hearing was not good, she was still in good spirits.
"Are you from Xiaoshuang's school?" the old lady asked enthusiastically.
Qiao Jiali and Zhou Yi nodded in agreement.
But the old lady's next words made the two of them feel depressed.
The old lady asked, "Why hasn't Xiaoshuang come back yet? She said last time that she would take me to see something after school is closed for Labor Day."
Zhou Yi knew that Lu Xiaoshuang probably wanted to take her grandmother to see a hearing aid.
This was something she had wanted to do for a long time, and it was undoubtedly very important to her.
She had no reason to break the appointment unless...
Zhou Yi forced a smile and said loudly, "Grandma, there's an event at school, and Xiaoshuang has been assigned an important task that can't be done without her, so she asked us to come and tell you. She'll definitely come back to see you next time."
The reason why Zhou Yi told this white lie was, firstly, he couldn't bear it, and secondly, given Lu Xiaoshuang's personality, she would definitely tell her grandmother only good news and not bad news, so the old lady would not know anything.
The old lady sighed and said, "Well, I don't want her to buy me anything. I know this child is sensible, and I just hope she can live a better life, have enough food and clothes, and be happy. I am useless and have made Xiao Shuang suffer so much. I feel sorry for her parents."
As she spoke, the old lady lifted up the corner of her clothes and lowered her head to wipe away her tears.
The case files of the previous life and some news reports did not mention the situation of Lu Xiaoshuang's grandmother. They only mentioned that on the first anniversary of Lu Xiaoshuang's death, her parents both committed suicide in front of her grave.
But I think my grandmother’s ending would also be very sad.
Zhou Yi didn't dare to think about it too much.
"Grandma, you said Xiaoshuang was going to come back. Did she tell you that in person?" Qiao Jiali asked.
"Ah? What? My hearing is not very good, please speak louder." The old lady said with her ear tilted.
Qiao Jiali raised her voice and started asking questions, which were nothing more than when she last saw Lu Xiaoshuang and whether she knew any close friends she had.
After all, the old lady was old and was not very sensitive to such questions, so she didn't notice anything wrong.
But Zhou Yi knew that these routine investigations were basically worthless in a major case.
While Qiao Jiali was questioning, Zhou Yi looked around the room and found an old bamboo ladder leaning against the wall. Several sections of the bamboo were cracked and were reinforced with wire wrapped around the outside.
There was a square hole about 60 to 70 centimeters in the ceiling above the ladder, which was covered with wooden boards.
"Grandma, is this where Xiaoshuang lives?" Zhou Yi asked loudly, pointing at the hole above.
Qiao Jiali and the old lady looked in the direction he pointed, and the old lady nodded: "Yes, she slept with me when she first came. Later, I cleaned out the attic upstairs for her to store miscellaneous items. That was built by her grandfather himself when he was still alive."
"Can I go up and take a look?" Zhou Yi asked.
The old lady nodded.
Zhou Yi moved the ladder over, leaned it against the wall, and then stepped up.
As soon as he stepped on it, the bamboo under his feet made a cracking sound, which scared Zhou Yi.
But when he looked down, he saw that the bamboo was not completely cracked, so he slowly continued to climb up.
Qiao Jiali held the ladder and kept telling him to be careful.
In fact, the ceiling of the house is very low. With Zhou Yi's height, he can reach the top with just one jump.
So Zhou Yi climbed a few steps and touched the wooden board. He reached out and pushed it, and the board was pushed open.
The old lady's voice came from below: "There is a light switch on the wall on the right."
Zhou Yi reached out and groped around in the dark attic, and found a pull rope.
With a click of a switch, a warm yellow light came on, illuminating the dark attic.
Zhou Yi climbed up and tried to stand up, but before he could straighten his back, his head hit the wooden board of the roof.
It happened to hit the place where I was injured on the train last night, and suddenly a piercing pain came over me.
Zhou Yi could only squat down because he found that the height of the attic was only about 1.5 meters at most, which meant that even if Lu Xiaoshuang was here, she would not be able to stand upright.
This attic was mentioned in the case files of the previous life, because the police conducted a comprehensive investigation of Lu Xiaoshuang's main residence, which was the dormitory and attic, trying to find some useful clues, but unfortunately, there was nothing useful.
But even though he knew there were no clues in the attic, Zhou Yi still wanted to take a look.
He wanted to see what the place where she had lived for six years looked like.
The attic is very small, not even big enough for a 1.5-meter double bed.
There are wooden boards on all four sides, covered with a lot of old newspapers, probably used to cover the gaps between the boards.
The bed was just a door panel raised with bricks, with the four corners supported by bamboo poles and a mosquito net hung over it. Although it was simple, the bedding on the bed was neatly folded.
There is a square window on the south-facing side that can be opened and is the only natural light source for this loft.
Zhou Yi pulled open the curtain hanging on the window, and the sunlight outside shone in, bringing a touch of warmth to the cramped and small attic.
In front of the window, there are tables and chairs. The tables are the kind used in school, small and old, as if they were picked up.
In the corner behind him, there were several cardboard boxes neatly stacked. Zhou Yi opened the top one and took a look. Inside was a neatly arranged box of books.
In the dim light above his head, Zhou Yi picked up a book and took a look. It was his English notes from senior year of high school.
The notebook is densely packed with knowledge points. Lu Xiaoshuang's beautiful handwriting and neat and clean paper give people the illusion that it was just written yesterday.
Zhou Yi suddenly felt dazed, as if Lu Xiaoshuang was sitting on the chair behind him, doing homework at the desk.
It was such a small attic, and it was hard to imagine that she had spent more than two thousand nights here.
He couldn't imagine how cold the attic would be in the winter or how damp it would be on rainy days.
He couldn't imagine how hard the girl living in this small attic had studied to eventually get into a key university with excellent grades.
He couldn't imagine how Lu Xiaoshuang managed to maintain her love for life and her yearning for the future in such a difficult living environment.
Such a powerful vitality is hidden in her small body.
Wildfires cannot be extinguished, they will spring up again with the spring breeze.
"Xiaoshuang, don't die. I still want to take you to see the sunrise." Zhou Yi murmured to himself.
He put the notebook back in its place, checked the other things in the cardboard box, and when he found nothing special, he moved the top box away.
At this time, Qiao Jiali asked from below: "Zhou Yi, how is it?"
Zhou Yi was about to answer that he found nothing, but he happened to open the cardboard box below.
Inside were some old school uniforms that had been washed to a pale color.
He flipped through it casually, but suddenly froze.
Because at the bottom of the box, there was a white sweater.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
