dead innocent

Chu Xingyun sighed as if he was relieved, then looked into his eyes and said solemnly and seriously: "Since you didn't hate me from the perspective of the victim, then who else, with what standpoint, can To hate you?" As he said that, he grabbed He Cheng's shoulders even tighter, as if forcefully instilling his own thoughts into him, and said with great force: "You are also a victim, no one can stand No one can hate you from any standpoint."

He Cheng seemed to accept his persuasion, but also seemed to have not heard what he was saying at all, his eyes were awake for a while, and he was dazed for a while, with a wry smile on his face, and said: "But she hates me."

Chu Xingyun looked at him, his eyes were firm and powerful, and he said in an undeniable and irrefutable tone: "She doesn't hate you, she hates Yuan Pingyi. You can sympathize with her, you can sympathize with her experience, or you can sympathize with her Apologies, but you must be clear that you did not make any mistakes, Chen Yunan's death was not your fault, you were just in misfortune, luckier than her."

You're just luckier than her...

At this time, the sun outside the window has moved to the sky, and the sunlight sprinkles in the air. The remaining water vapor in the air refracts a very faint rainbow in the corner of the sky. The light is almost transparent, like a mirage on the sea, only inadvertently. You can catch a glimpse, look closely, and it's gone.

He Cheng stood up on the ground, as if he had shaken off the heavy burden on his shoulders, in the sunshine, he straightened his back again, stood up straight, looked at the very faint rainbow in the sky and said softly: "You are right ,I'm very lucky."

Fortune and misfortune are relative terms. Maybe he was very unlucky, but compared with the deceased, he was very lucky.

The bedroom door rang suddenly, followed by the sound of shambling and heavy footsteps.

Holding a photo album in her arms, Chen Jing stared at the floor with stiff eyes, and walked slowly to the living room like a blind person walking in the dark.

"After seeing Xiao Nan's photo, can you leave?"

Chu Xingyun tried his best to survive the last trace of luck, and asked: "I still need to ask you a few questions."

Chen Jing's gaze flickered, and the corners of her lips twitched back and forth, as if she had thought about it in her heart and tugged with herself, before she said, "Although I don't know what you want to ask, I can tell you, I I don’t know anything. I told the police clearly everything I knew back then. You police said they could help me find Xiao Nan, but what happened? Where is Xiao Nan? After so many years, I have forgotten all those things. Now You want to ask me another question. For what? Get Xiao Nan back? That's enough, Mr. Police, I don't trust you anymore. I took out the photo album to cooperate with you just because you are an official and I am a citizen. I don't want to have anything to do with you I just want you to leave my house as soon as possible."

After time has elapsed, the bad luck she suffered and the painful memories rooted in her mind turned into a very mellow lamentation, and a dark cloud-like atmosphere enveloped her body, trapping her in the wall where it was always raining.

Chen Jing suddenly raised her head, looked at He Cheng with mournful and sad eyes, and with a trembling corner of her mouth, she pulled a miserable smile, and said, "It turns out that the child that Xiao Nan replaced is you."

Chu Xingyun walked up to her quickly, took the photo album in her hand with both hands, and said: "Since you don't want to be questioned by the police, then we will leave soon."

Chen Jing also didn't want to see He Cheng, so she left the photo album and went back to the bedroom.

Chen Yunan was born in a single-parent family. Her situation is quite special. Her mother returned to her hometown after six months of pregnancy, and was born under the care of Chen Jing's parents.As for Chen Yunan's father, Chen Jing never mentioned it to anyone. Only when Chen Yunan encountered troubles in registering after his birth, there were a few words recorded in the certificate presented by the residents' committee.

Just like every girl who first enters the society will always be deceived by ungrateful men, Chen Jing lived with her boyfriend after graduating from college.After living together for a period of time, she soon became pregnant. She wanted to give birth to the child, but the man didn't want to be responsible, so she packed her bags and went to a bustling first-tier city one night, leaving Chen Jing with half a year's unpaid rent and money scattered all over the place. pots and pans.

In June of the same year, when Chen Jing was about to give birth, she returned to her hometown with Chen Yunan in her arms, which was the small town in the south of the Yangtze River where they were at this time.

There are many childhood photos of Chen Yunan in the album with a damaged cover, from birth to [-]th day, and every birthday, there are photos kept, but in each photo, only Chen Jing, or her two grandparents are accompanying her.

If Chen Yunan is still alive, she should look very much like her mother when she was young.

Chen Jing was very beautiful when she was young. Although she didn't have a dazzling and bright appearance, she had a gentle temperament.In the photo, she is restrained and amiable, lively and dignified.At a very young age, Chen Yunan has already taken the image of her mother.

One of the photos was taken on a bright afternoon, Chen Yunan was sitting on a swing swaying with the breeze, a butterfly embroidered with colorful silk thread fluttered its wings on the corner of the skirt.

Chu Xingyun looked at the little girl with two buns in the photo, smiling brightly in the sun, and asked in a low voice, "Is it her?"

He Cheng was also looking at her, his gaze was calm and deep, as if he had passed through the barrier of time and space, and returned to the camera that took this photo, and saw her smiling face that was neither yellowed nor frozen.

He recognized it for a long time, until the face in front of him overlapped with the little girl in his memory, before he said cautiously: "Yes."

Chu Xingyun didn't let her stay in front of He Cheng's eyes too much, and quickly turned back.

In fact, looking at Chen Yun'an's photos is unnecessary, and it doesn't even help to explore the case at all, but neither He Cheng nor he can ignore this little girl who died in vain.

Back at the scene of the crime, they were on the way to reveal the truth, and they had to carry her appearance in their hearts, which was not only a mourning for the deceased, but also a comfort to their own conscience.

The remaining images of Chen Yunan ended when she was eight years old. Chu Xingyun finished looking through the photo album, made some mental preparations and ideological struggles, got up and went to the bedroom where Chen Jing was hiding.

He Cheng stayed where he was, opened the closed album again, looked back from the first photo, and heard Chu Xingyun's deliberately lowered voice in the bedroom, as if he and Chen Jing were stuffed in a quilt Sobbing.

Only half of the photo album was used, almost all of which were photos of Chen Yunan, only indirect images of Chen Jing visiting ancient places of interest and at school appeared from time to time.And since Chen Yunan disappeared, the album has not been updated, and it just stopped at the page of Chen Yunan's eighth birthday photo.

He Cheng unknowingly flipped through it twice, turned over the last page, and continued to flip back as if unknowingly, and saw occasional damage in the blank interlayer of the album, which should be the traces left by taking photos back and forth—— —

"What Yuan Pingyi? I don't know! Don't mention this person to me again!"

There was the sound of unpacking boxes in the bedroom.

He Cheng stood up from the sofa, watching Chu Xingyun returning from the bedroom to the living room with a gloomy face.

"how is she?"

As if afraid of disturbing someone, He Cheng asked in a low voice.

Chu Xingyun closed his eyes, then raised his helpless eyes to look at him for a moment, suddenly shook his head and smiled, held his hand and walked to the door: "Let's go."

After leaving the community, Chu Xingyun casually bought two pancakes from a street stall, took He Cheng, who had been distracted, to the car, and handed him a pancake.

"This is the last time, don't come to her again."

Chu Xingyun said.

The pancake in my hand is very thick, with at least two layers of eggs wrapped inside, brushed with a layer of brown sauce, and filled with a few slices of lettuce. The colors match together very well and are very appetizing.

But Chu Xingyun seems to have forgotten that he only eats vegetarian food and does not eat eggs.

He Cheng tore off a lettuce leaf from the pancake sandwich and put it in his mouth, asking, "Why?"

Chu Xingyun turned around like a co-pilot, paying attention to his every move: "Plan for the worst, that person is still alive, Yuan Pingyi is a scapegoat he bought with money, and now he jumps out of the ground to look for you, and he may I want to get rid of the witnesses from back then. After all, apart from you, the only one who has left the most direct and vivid impression on him is Chen Jing, so we may expose her by coming to her."

He Cheng raised his head, his eyes were like the surface of water disturbed by thrown stones, he was tired and dazed and said, "I really can't remember his face."

Chu Xingyun stretched out his hand to touch the back of his neck, and said with a smile: "Everyone's appearance changes with time. According to my experience, even if you remember his face, 13 years have passed, when he stands on your face again In front of you, you still don’t recognize it.”

He Cheng tilted his head back slightly, and put it into his palm, reminding Chu Xingyun of Xiaoman's face buried in his palm, rubbing back and forth and acting coquettishly.

"Then will he recognize me?"

He Cheng looked at him and asked.

Chu Xingyun pursed his lips, wanted to laugh a little, and said: "He can't remember your appearance, but he remembers your identity."

He Cheng's eyes drooped powerlessly, his eyes were hollow.

"I know he is in the dark, he can easily find me, but I can't find him."

Chu Xingyun leaned close to him and rubbed the back of his neck vigorously: "Give me a little time, I will definitely find him."

He Cheng looked at him from the corner of his eyes, put the pancake in his hand on the driver's platform, then took his hand from his neck and held it in his hand, closed his eyes with an 'um', trying to catch up on sleep .

But he couldn't sleep well because Chu Xingyun's cell phone rang.

His right hand was held tightly by him, so Chu Xingyun had to awkwardly put his left hand into the right coat pocket to take out his mobile phone, and connected it.

"Did you get lucky?"

Chen Zhiyang's northeast accent and loud voice woke up He Cheng.

He Cheng opened his eyes, and listened attentively to the movement on his phone, and slowly inserted and kneaded his fingers between his fingers, as if treating his hands as toys.

"How to say?"

Chu Xingyun held the mobile phone between his shoulders, took out the cigarette case and lit a cigarette with one hand, and asked while biting the cigarette holder.

Chen Zhiyang said: "The case of your second young master has to be handed over to the Criminal Investigation Bureau tonight."

Chu Xingyun knew that he was talking about the sealed files, so he hurriedly asked, "Where are the files now?"

"Don't worry, my second uncle found a way to scan a copy for you, and send it to you now."

Chu Xingyun clicked his tongue, biting his cigarette holder and cursing inarticulately: "Can you fucking talk without panting? Send it to my mailbox, hurry up."

After finishing speaking, he picked up the phone.

Chen Zhiyang moved very quickly. As soon as he turned on the traffic, there was already an extra email in his mailbox.

Before he had time to receive the email, Chen Zhiyang called back.

"If you have something to say, finish it all at once! Can't I do things after you call me in a while?!"

Chu Xingyun carried forward the ungrateful style of crossing the river and tearing down the bridge to the fullest.

Fortunately, Chen Zhiyang understood that he was in a hurry, and didn't bother with him. He said, "Only the victim's case is detailed, and my second uncle can't get the trial materials and statements." Then he hung up the phone first.

Chu Xingyun stuffed the cigarette into his mouth, quickly downloaded the email, and then enlarged the scanned picture, wrinkling his brows and carefully reading down word by word.

He was looking at the detailed case, but He Cheng didn't seem to care at all. He closed his eyes after listening to him talking on the phone, leaned back in the chair, closed his eyes and meditated, put his hands on his lap, and inserted his fingers into his. Between the five fingers, stand still.

A thicker and thicker smell of smoke wafted in the carriage. About 10 minutes later, when He Cheng was about to fall asleep, he heard Chu Xingyun say, "It's strange."

He opened his eyes, pinched the corners of his eyes and looked at Chu Xingyun: "What's wrong?"

Chu Xingyun frowned tightly, and the smoke continued to climb up his face, as if he was surrounded by mist.

"The children's birthdays are on the same day."

He said solemnly.

He Cheng looked at him and said calmly, "On the same day as me?"

Chu Xingyun stared at him complicatedly for a while, and said, "Well, it's all October 29th."

He Cheng's eyelashes trembled slightly, and said, "Oh, is Chen Yunan too?"

Chu Xingyun took off the cigarette butt, licked the dry lower lip that was smoky, and said irritably: "No, her birthday is August NO.13, besides——"

Chu Xingyun lowered his eyes, crushed the still red cigarette butt between his fingers, and said: "The other five victims are all boys, and she is the only girl."

As if he didn't hear what he said, He Cheng looked through the windshield and looked into the extreme distance, with a hint of a smile on his lips: "That is to say, it wasn't accidental that he found me, no matter how you did it back then, The choice, the last one left can only be me."

Chu Xingyun was stunned for a moment, and then felt a coolness crawling along his back to the top of his head, gradually turning into a fire, which made him feel depressed and indignant.

It turned out that this 'Yuan Pingyi' had long regarded He Cheng as a vested target. It turned out that what they encountered on New Year's Eve that year was not bad luck, but hunting!

Damn!

Chu Xingyun clenched his fist and punched the steering wheel hard, gritted his teeth and cursed: "Fuck!"

He Cheng looked at him, still unmoved, and said, "Can you accompany me to a place?"

Chu Xingyun lit the fire, took a few deep breaths, and his face eased slightly: "Where are you going?"

Because he wanted to drive, He Cheng let go of his hands, sat upright and put on his seat belt, and said, "Songhe Cemetery."