murder begins in summer

Qiu Shili didn't have a deep impression of his life in the Japanese countryside before the age of seven. He only remembered that his grandmother was a dignified and serious woman, but she loved him very much and always called himself ナナ with a smile.He has always kept the royal guard given by his grandmother, a small piece of royal blue, hanging around his neck, and never opened it according to his grandmother's instructions.

He has never heard of who his biological parents are, let alone his surname. Before he was picked up by his adoptive mother, he had never even been out of Aomori County, and he had never been out of the isolated village named "Phoenix". In villages, people basically don't talk to people.

He also vaguely remembers one thing. In the summer before his grandma passed away, he had an operation and was locked up at home every day. During that time, his heart hurt a lot, but he recovered after that.

After the age of seven, the memory is much more vivid. He went to church and was baptized because his adoptive father was a Christian. The second brother always dislikes him, he only likes the eldest brother.

He also only calls his eldest brother "Brother Shang", and every time he calls him that, his eldest brother always looks a little shy.

On weekdays, the second brother Shi Yizhou always calls the elder brother like this: "Hi, Shi Zhanyang!"

Shi Zhanyang said to Qiu Shili, "Nana, you can call me that too."

Qiu Shili said: "You can also call me Qiu Shili, brother, just like the second brother."

Shi Zhanyang said seriously: "I don't."

Qiu Shili tilted his head and smiled: "Then neither do I."

Counting the housekeeper, personal bodyguards and maids, etc., the Shi family has a total of dozens of people, living lively and lively in a manor in the Mid Bay area of ​​San Francisco.It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a manor. A four-story Italian-style villa is surrounded by a hundred acres of lush woodland, and the city and the bay can be seen in the distance.

When Shi Zhanyang was not doing his homework, he often took Qiu Shili to explore inside, running wildly all afternoon.However, more than two years have passed, and what Qiu Shili is most familiar with is still limited to a few places——

His own room, Shi Zhanyang's room, terrace, library, kitchen, and the courtyard behind the villa.

The courtyard has a Japanese-style pattern. There is a gourd-shaped pebble-bottomed pool with lotus flowers and colorful koi. A small wooden bridge is built on the waist of the gourd.Bamboo swings were set up by the pool, and yews and cypresses were planted.In midsummer, the shade here is as thick as clouds, and the temperature is lower than other places. It was originally a gift from Shi's father to his wife, but Mrs. Qiu didn't like to sit around here. It became Shi Zhanyang a long time ago. An exclusive little world.

He often came here to read some banned books, eat some junk food, and occasionally take a nap, but Shi Yizhou didn't dare to come with him.

Of course, now, whenever Zhanyang is here at ease, there will always be Qiu Shili by his side. During that time, several electric cooking machines were installed at home, which were new gadgets. Qiu Shili studied with Mrs. Qiu for two days and learned After learning how to use it, I often brought the smoothie juice to the courtyard and handed it to Shi Zhanyang.

Seeing that Shi Zhanyang drank obediently, Qiu Shili always sat down quietly.He was smart and sensible at an early age, and at the same time his mind was deep. Even though Shi Zhanyang spent two months trying to catch up on Japanese and tirelessly taught him to speak Chinese every day, Qiu Shili still didn't often speak to others.80% of what he said was to Shi Zhanyang, 10% to Mrs. Qiu, and the remaining 10% was used for daily communication with other members of the family.

Shi Zhanyang is often worried that his ナナ little brother is too dull, separated from the new environment, and lacks playmates of the same age. Shi Yizhou, who is a little younger, is really not a thing. He even discussed with his mother whether he should Sending Qiu Shili to a public school to receive general education, his mother flatly rejected the proposal and asked him to start teaching Qiu Shili how to use a basic saber as soon as possible, which made him quite depressed during that time.

However, Shi Zhanyang also often saw Qiu Shili squinting his eyes silly by his side, teasing him again, his smooth ponytail would tremble with the laughter, and every time at this time, he would suddenly feel that this People are quite leisurely, and there is no need for him to think about it.

It must be admitted that some people are extroverted, and some people are introverted, and it is not good to force it. Anyway, Qiu Shili didn't talk to him, and he was the luckiest one.

So Shi Zhanyang raised his spirits, put the handle of the knife in Qiu Shili's palm, and used a ten-kilogram piece of beef as a prop, and taught him hand in hand. Days passed, and he changed the number of pieces of beef. He started from how to hold the knife and how to use it. Power, teaching different cutting effects from various angles, and then the most efficient cutting method.

Occasionally, Shi Zhanyang would be in a trance. He felt that the hands he was holding were too small, and the saber was too heavy and too wide. These two things should not belong to the same world.

But hands will always grow, and it must be a very glorious and happy day when these hands can master a sharp knife skillfully.

Shi Zhanyang himself twirls the saber in his hand every day as if nothing had happened, and puts it beside his pillow when he sleeps, and is also looking forward to the moment when it will really come in handy.

Qiu Shili studied very seriously and understood quickly. Mrs. Qiu was very satisfied with the results of the two, so she gave them two days off and asked Shi Zhanyang to take the younger brother to the city center.Shi Zhanyang immediately took Qiu Shili to the fast food restaurant, because his younger brother hadn't seen what a freshly baked pizza looked like.

The cheese stretched into long strands, Shi Zhanyang held the pizza in his hand, and handed it to the younger brother when it was no longer hot.

He also took a piece himself, and while chewing, he told Qiu Shili: "You can try to use your knife to peel fruit, squeeze juice for me to make a milkshake, or try to use it to dig soil for fun, you can even Use it to mow grass, stir eggs, screw screws, you can try anything but kill. When you hold it and don't worry about being cut by it anymore, it is a part of you, then you are close It worked."

That afternoon, Qiu Shili was obsessed with the taste of pizza and potato griddles, and he kept this incident in his heart. A few days later, in the middle of the night, he went to look for Shi Zhanyang with his messy hair like a bird's nest.

Shi Zhanyang got up from the bed, with sleepy eyes, "ナナ?"

Qiu Shili looked a little innocent, more aggrieved, "Brother, I cut it with my knife."

Even though Shi Zhanyang felt so sorry for the sacrifice of his pitch-black hair, he still smiled. He jumped out of bed, squatted down, shook off the broken hair from Qiu Shili's neckline and pajamas, and rubbed it. His bangs are like a dog gnawing, "It's good if you don't cut yourself."

The next day, Mrs. Qiu sighed and called the barber to "clean up the wreckage" of her youngest son's messy hair. She never thought that her eldest son would also ask for a haircut.Shi Zhanyang was confident, moved a chair, and sat beside Qiu Shili with Erlang's legs crossed, and said, "It's getting hotter, I want to be shorter."

When Qiu Shili was nine years old, in addition to these trivial matters, two major events happened.

In the winter before his birthday in May, a young pregnant woman suddenly came to the family. She was very beautiful. Although she had a big belly, she always looked like a naive young girl.She is independent in her daily life and does not see her family much.

According to Shi Zhanyang, she is a Brazilian, neither Chinese nor English. Inside her stomach is their common brother or sister. Shi Yizhou picked her to pass by one day, and said loudly at the dinner table: "She is Papa's mistress!"

After the meal, he was beaten up by Shi Zhanyang. If Shi Zhanyang didn't strike first, then his father would beat him up himself, and it would only be worse.

But Shi Yizhou didn't understand this truth, he stared at Shi Zhanyang and Qiu Shili sadly, "I hate you!" He turned his head and ran away.

At the end of March, Shi's family had an extra baby, just like his mother, with fiery red fetal hair and green eyes.Mrs. Qiu showed a laissez-faire attitude towards this. Shi Zhanyang had no interest in this new brother, neither liked nor disliked him. Anyway, the fourth floor was crying. He and Qiu Shili both lived on the second floor, so the influence was not great. .

Seeing that his well-behaved little brother has improved with the knife again, he plans to start training his endurance.

The second big event happened after Qiu Shili's ninth birthday. On that birthday, Shi Zhanyang gave him a turquoise mountain bike, and he left home within two days, wearing a well-fitting suit.The father also disappeared together. The mother just explained that the eldest will be 16 years old soon, and it is time to learn how to do things from his father.

Qiu Shili carefully counted the days, stayed alone every day, and the life of being picked on by the second child from time to time was too boring. He could only study hard, run hard, and practice knife skills hard. No one would accompany him to eat pizza. , he rode his bicycle fiercely, around his family's woodland, lap after lap.

After 43 days, 37 hours and [-] minutes, Shi Zhanyang returned home with his father on a bright starry morning.

There was a bruise on his face, but the rest was fine, he just looked very tired and fell asleep on the sofa in the lobby on the first floor.Qiu Shili was reprimanded by Mrs. Qiu for being onlookers. He pretended to go back to sleep obediently, and when the whole house became quiet again, he tiptoed to the first floor and knelt down next to the sleeping Shi Zhanyang.

When he saw the other pistol on Shi Zhanyang's waist, he felt that it would sleep on him, so he stretched out his hand and took it gently, "Sleep, brother, sleep comfortably." He lip-synced, barely making a sound, As if praying to the Lord before going to bed, Shi Zhanyang moved a few times, but did not wake up.

Qiu Shili put down the pistol on the coffee table, and didn't intend to try to remove the dagger with the leather sheath pinned to the back of the elder brother, even if the elder brother turned over and the angle was right, he didn't want it.

"Your knife must never leave you. Whenever it is gone, you must be aware." These are the words he has always engraved in his heart.

The next day, when Qiu Shili woke up, he found himself lying on the sofa, curled up into a ball, and his elder brother was sitting beside him, staring at him softly under the shining light.

"Nana, has the second child bullied you recently?" Shi Zhanyang asked hoarsely.

Qiu Shili rubbed his eyes, and put his foot on the elder brother's lap back, "No, I'm doing fine. Where's brother?"

Shi Zhanyang was silent for a while, and said with a long sigh of relief: "I went to Colombia, and my father sold a batch of weapons to the local drug dealer leader, and I participated."

Qiu Shili didn't react for a while, and stared at the new injury on his brother's face with wide eyes.

Shi Zhanyang smiled and rubbed his hair, "It's grown again, I'll cut it with you in two days."

Qiu Shili nodded ignorantly, and the birdsong could be heard clearly through the arched glass window. It sounded like a great tit, but was quickly interrupted by a heavy female voice, "Yangyang," Mrs. Qiu called from the stairs , "It's about to start, Dad told you to go up now."

"Okay." Shi Zhanyang stood up.He lowered his eyes to look at Qiu Shili again, "Let me see how your saber practice is doing this afternoon."

At lunch, Qiu Shili sat opposite Shi Zhanyang, and Shi Zhanyang peeled the lobster that he couldn't handle and put it on his plate.He noticed that he hadn't seen him for a few hours, but his eldest brother had two earrings on his ears, half the size of a fingernail, diamond-shaped and silver.

This kind of earrings is not uncommon in the Shi family, the father wears black, the mother wears silver, many thugs wear red, and the helpers and drivers wear white.

It seems that the three brothers are the only ones who don't have it, plus the newborn baby.Now my brother has it too.

What do the various colors mean?

Most importantly, what does silver mean?

That afternoon, after practicing the knife, facing a piece of beef that had been stabbed in a mess, Qiu Shili sat next to Shi Zhanyang, and leaned his head on Shi Zhanyang's arm as he usually liked.

"Brother," he asked cautiously, "what is it on your ear?"

"It's ear studs, our family's specialty." Shi Zhanyang wiped the cow's blood off the blade with a clean white handkerchief.

"Will I wear it when I grow up?"

"...you will grow up," Shi Zhanyang's hands stiffened, "but ナナ, I hope you will never wear this kind of thing."

Qiu Shili sat up straight, "Why?"

Shi Zhanyang closed his eyes, and his eyes became clear again, "I killed someone. A member of a local gang organization, who had a deep hatred with drug dealers, came to make trouble when we were trading," he threw the white handkerchief on the ground , holding a shiny saber, "There was a shootout, and I shot and killed the man who was about to stab my father more than a meter away. His brains splashed on my face."

Qiu Shili didn't say a word, but tightly grasped Shi Zhanyang's snow-white shirt cuff.

Shi Zhanyang turned to look at him, "Don't be afraid. Brother won't let you encounter this kind of thing, I will do everything possible..." He paused, as if he also lacked confidence in himself, showing that Qiu Shili The hesitation that has never been seen on his face, "Just, ナナ, if you wear this kind of silver earrings one day, it means that you will have to kill, often kill, and you can't turn back."

"Brother, you killed someone, or my brother, my smartest and best brother." Qiu Shili grabbed Shi Zhanyang's wrist with both hands, and touched the cold wristwatch, "You just started The bad guy protected my father. If I want to kill you to protect you, I'm willing too."

Shi Zhanyang's gaze was like a pool of warm deep water, "But I don't want my smartest and best brother to kill people."

Qiu Shili was taken aback.

Shi Zhanyang smiled briefly again, and frowned, "I used to think that if this matter is placed in our family, even if we have the ability and responsibility, the Lord will forgive this matter. I even secretly hoped to do it myself. The day of murder. But now I realize that this matter is painful, because it is a sin, and even members of our family cannot avoid it at all," he gently stroked the smooth blade, "I taught you, It’s also the way to make yourself miserable.”

Qiu Shili was speechless for a while, he lowered his head and thought, is it because my Chinese is not good enough?But even in Japanese, he didn't know what he was going to say.

He didn't want Shi Zhanyang to be in pain, he wanted to learn to relieve his pain.

But this seems out of reach for nine-year-old Qiu Shili.

Shi Zhanyang also lowered his head for a while, staring at the flowing tree shadows on the ground, then he suddenly turned his face and put the handle of the knife in Qiu Shili's palm, as if he had figured something out, "Time flies too fast, ナナ, When you grow taller, I can teach you Sanda, and when you grow up, I should teach you how to use a gun. You don’t use a gun to kill others, you use it to protect yourself.”