Chapter 45 Riverbank
Many years later, many childhood memories have become blurred, but every detail of that hot night when I was 12 is clear as if it was branded in my mind.
During that period, Fu Lanying changed jobs and often worked overtime, making it difficult for her to pick up and drop off the children every day. Zhong Wenyue thought this was a good thing—after school, he would have more free time—but his mother concluded, “Zhong Wenyue, please send your brother back.”
He rolled his eyes. Zhong Wenqi is already in the fourth grade. It's only two kilometers from the community to the school. He has lived in this neighborhood for ten years and has memorized every typo on the sign. What's the point of picking him up and dropping him off?
However, Fu Lanying was determined and seemed to think that he was well suited to the role of guardian. Because he grew quickly, he was already taller than his mother before he graduated from elementary school.
In my father's words, the nutrition didn't go into my brain, but instead went into my height.
He curled his lips in disdain. It was because he was too smart that Zhong Wenqi was as thin as a bean sprout, and it seemed as if he ate all the family’s meals by himself.
"Okay," Fu Lanying rubbed his head, even though it was a little difficult now, "Mom is counting on you to send my brother home safely."
He accepted the task awkwardly, and after school, he stood outside the school gate, shaking his legs, waiting for his brother.
Several boys around him were his close friends. They were very excited to hear that they could go to and from school together, but when he suddenly said that he would have to bring a little tail with him, they all expressed their dissatisfaction.
"Brother Yue," one of them said, "How come a little brat in the fourth grade can play with us?"
The tone, as if 12 years old is a great age, and one has already stepped half a foot into the unknown territory of adulthood, is something that other elementary school students cannot understand.
He pretended to dust off his clothes, and saw his brother coming over from the corner of his eye. He snorted, "Annoying guy."
He and a few boys were walking in front, laughing and joking, while Zhong Wenqi followed silently behind. Passing by the street corner, the boy walking with him suddenly patted him on the shoulder: "Brother Yue, that's it, do you see the machine behind the door? I heard it's their new Street Fighter 4!"
The passion and dominance represented by these four words are like magic music to them. There was a kid playing on the machine. The sound of it clacking away was very relaxing. He watched it for a while with envy.
The friend nudged him with his elbow and whispered in his ear, "Auntie won't be back very late. Let's go play for a while so no one will notice us."
He shook his head and glanced to the side.
Zhong Wenqi held the straps of his schoolbag with both hands and stood quietly.
"No," he whispered, "This burden is here. If he sees me playing games, he will definitely complain when he gets home."
"Think of something! Usually you have a lot of ideas."
He accepted the compliment gladly, rolled his eyes, and continued walking forward as if nothing had happened. After walking halfway down the street, he suddenly remembered something and said to Zhong Wenqi, "Oh, my mom asked me to buy some things. I have to go to the supermarket."
Zhong Wenqi blinked twice, looked at him and said, "I'll go too."
Why is this guy so annoying! He pointed to the bookstore in front of him and said, "No, you read here for a while, I'll go by myself."
Zhong Wenqi blinked twice again and fell into thought in embarrassment.
He knew that his brother would be excited when talking about books, so he immediately continued: "Didn't you say last time that Moss was very good? You have finished reading the first volume, now you go to read the second volume, and I will be back after you finish, how about it?"
The younger brother hesitated for a while, turned and walked into the bookstore. He watched his younger brother take out a book and sit down in front of the bookshelf.
"Okay," he let out a long sigh, turned to the others and said, "This guy forgets everything when he's reading. He doesn't look up for at least half an hour. Go, go, go. Then he'll say there are a few things he can't buy, so he went to the big supermarket in Nanzhuang to buy them."
He put on a full show and even made a phone call from a roadside phone booth to tell his mother that they had returned home. Then, with a smile of triumph on his face, he and his friends walked into the game hall, gathered in front of "Street Fighter 4", and started playing loudly.
He is both a fighting king and a grandmaster. The exciting fighting and plot make them scream from time to time.
It wasn't until the health bar was emptied again that the boy wearing a watch exclaimed: "Oh! It's been an hour!"
"I'm done for," another boy wailed. "My mom is going to get me soon."
They all became nervous and ran out of the game room quickly. As Zhong Wenyue rushed to the bookstore, he rehearsed his excuses several times in his mind: he went to a large supermarket, but couldn't find it there either.
He catapulted into the bookstore, but didn't see Zhong Wenqi.
He searched several times and almost turned the bookstore upside down, but there was still no sign of Zhong Wenqi.
He ran to ask the boss again. The boss thought carefully for a while and said, "It seems that there was such a child. I received a phone call and didn't pay attention to when he went out. Anyway, he was gone after that."
In the June weather, he broke out in a cold sweat and shivered as he stood in front of the counter.
"Brother Yue," the boy who was traveling with him said, "Could it be that he went to the supermarket to look for you?"
This question woke him up. Yes, that must be it.
He ran to the supermarket at the end of the street, but Zhong Wenqi was not there and the cashier had no impression of him. He ran to the big supermarket in Nanzhuang again, but still couldn't find her.
So...are you going home?
He ran back home, praying in his heart all the way, please stay at home.
He swore to all the gods that as long as his brother would wait for him at the door of his house, he would never be jealous of him or say bad things about him again. He would be the best brother in the world and he would give him everything.
However, the house was silent. He opened door after door, only darkness.
The sweat shirt on my body was soaked and stuck to my back, just like the lingering thought in my mind.
He lost his brother.
He was so tired that he was out of breath and sat on the living room floor, covering his face.
It's over. It's all over.
There was the sound of a key turning at the door, and he startled and looked up.
Mom is back from get off work.
"Why are you sitting on the ground?" Fu Lanying looked at him strangely, "You've soiled your clothes again, get up quickly."
He looked up, his eyes filled with fear.
Fu Lanying was a little scared. "What's wrong with you?" She glanced towards the bedroom. "Where's your brother?"
His voice trembled as he told everything. Fu Lanying's face turned pale. She immediately called the police and asked her neighbors and acquaintances to help look for the man.
The bookstore’s surveillance showed that Zhong Wenqi read a book for a while and then walked out of the store, while the street surveillance did not capture Zhong Wenqi - surveillance was not so popular at that time, and the police could only determine the search range based on the time of disappearance. That night, long beams of flashlight light were everywhere in the residential buildings and Yong'an Street.
The search continued overnight with no results.
That night, his mind was blank. He couldn't think. Once he thought about the possible consequences, he was filled with endless fear.
The next day, still no results.
The parents searched without eating or drinking, and the house was filled with deathly silence.
On the third day, there was still no result.
The golden forty-eight hours have passed, and everyone's face has turned gloomy.
On the fourth day, a clue appeared.
A nearby resident reported to the police that a body was found floating on the bank of Yingyue River.
Regarding Zhong Wenqi's death, the police's final conclusion was that he drowned after falling into the water.
Zhong Wenqi had no external injuries on his body, and an empty mineral water bottle was floating on the shore. On the day of his disappearance, the science teacher was talking about the reason why the river water changed color - after being polluted, algae would grow at the bottom of the river. Zhong Wenqi probably wanted to get some for observation, but he accidentally dropped them into the river.
Zhong Wenqi is a child who loves experiments. He has dug four-leaf clovers and raised earthworms before.
It was summer and children loved playing in the water. They got bored waiting for their brother, so they went to the river. It makes sense.
Everyone accepted this explanation, including Zhong Wenqi's parents.
The only one who refused to accept it was Fu Guanshan.
There was a gap of one hour between the time Zhong Wenqi walked out of the bookstore and the time he discovered his brother was missing. He was missing for an hour and no one knew what happened during that time.
"He was murdered," he told the police repeatedly. "Someone else must have kidnapped him there."
The police felt helpless: "There is no evidence that there was another person at the time. Besides, your parents also said that your brother is very smart and would not follow a stranger."
He was stumped by the question. Yes, Zhong Wenqi is so smart, how could he be deceived by just a few words? There are so many shops from Yong'an Street to the river. If someone was forcing him, he would have found a way to call for help long ago.
"But...but his watch is gone!" He suddenly raised his head. "He liked that watch very much. I remember he was wearing it that day. Why is it gone now?"
"He was trying to collect the algae, and was afraid of getting it wet, so he probably picked it up himself and left it on the shore," the police said. "As for why we can't find it...it's been several days, so someone might have picked it up."
A children's watch is not worth much money, and no one would kill for it.
All doubts have been explained, but...but he still doesn't believe it.
There must be some hidden story behind my brother's death.
His parents didn’t believe him, the police didn’t believe him, but it didn’t matter. He would find a way to investigate it himself.
But even if we want to investigate, where should we start? What can he, a primary school student, do?
Soon, because Fu Lanying wanted to leave this sad place, they moved out of Yong'an Street.
The clues and connections were gone, but the thought remained, like a faint eye in the darkness, spying on him for years.
This is not over yet.
When he grew up and had the financial resources, he began to restart the investigation. He kept returning to Yong'an Street, looking for his old classmates, trying to discover details that he had never noticed.
But he still found nothing.
Maybe he is alone and weak, then he can ask more people to look for him.
He tried hard to recall everything that happened back then, every word of conversation, every action, and wrote them down.
This took him some time. He not only wanted to restore the story from his own perspective, but also from his brother's perspective. Therefore, he was also contacting his brother's classmates, talking to them from all over the world, striving to restore all the details.
He wants to make a movie about what happened that year to evoke the memories of all those involved. He wants the whole country to hold a magnifying glass, look for all possibilities, and deduce what happened in that hour. No matter how much money or connections it costs, he is determined to find the truth.
There must be some truth to this matter.
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