traces of all things

"O sea."

The thin little old man sat on a four-corner stool in the interrogation area, staring blankly at his grandson sitting in the restricted area with a pair of dim old eyes, as if he was a little confused.

What's going on?

This morning he was still happily leaving the stall, chatting with the aunt in the next stall, talking about his proudest grandson.

"Our Dahai family, this kid, just makes people feel distressed. The baby's life is miserable. He lost his parents at a young age, but hey, I never cared about his studies. An old man, what do you know? It all depends on his self-consciousness. .As a result, when I go out on Monday, people say that I am the grandfather of the doctor. Ouch, I am really blessed by the ancestors, and give our Zhou family a Wenqu star!"

The aunt at the booth next door has heard Zhou Xuehai's story countless times, but she still couldn't hide her envious look: "Hey, Lao Zhou, why don't you think about my little niece? I have a photo here, she looks like my sister, she looks pretty Yeah. Why don't you let the two kids add a WeChat first and chat?"

"Cough, cough, cough." Lao Zhou smiled and waved the bamboo pusher in his hand: "Our sea is not in a hurry. Their young people are all about free love. I can't interfere, lest he get angry with me."

"Hey, how can it be, the sea is so filial!"

When Lao Zhou handed out the first pancake of the day, he suddenly found a familiar figure in front of him.

"Hey, Xiao Lu is here?" Uncle Zhou really likes this young man. When he saw Lu Zheng standing tall and straight in front of the stall, he immediately smiled: "After the night shift? Why didn't you wear a police uniform today? Here's a pancake ?”

Lu Zheng thought for a while before going to find Uncle Zhou, and quietly walked back home from the other side of the alley, changed into casual clothes before going downstairs.

"No need, Uncle Zhou." Lu Zheng looked a bit complicated, but Uncle Zhou, who was stirring the batter with his head down, didn't see clearly, he was silent for a few seconds, and said softly: "Uncle, there is something wrong, please help me ,Okay?"

Under Lu Zheng's arrangement, Uncle Zhou's departure did not alarm anyone.

A few minutes later, he appeared in the interrogation room of the Municipal Bureau.

Uncle Zhou, who has been honest and responsible all his life, never thought that he would come to such a place one day, and sitting face to face with him was Zhou Xuehai, who was firmly fixed on the stool by the restraint chair, with bloodshot eyes and a tired face. ——His only relative, the precious grandson he raised for 20 years.

Seeing such a scene, Uncle Zhou's hands, which were steady and quick when spreading pancakes on weekdays, trembled slightly at this moment, and a line of turbid tears slowly flowed from his dim old eyes, which flowed down his face, which was tempered by wind, frost, rain and snow. ravine slipped.

He shook his lips, a little sad, but his eyes were filled with love and tolerance, and he said hoarsely:

"O sea, don't be afraid."

"Grandpa is here."

Zhou Xuehai opened his mouth, but did not make a sound, but burst into tears at this moment.

**

"Have you finished your confession?" Geng Zhizhong's steady voice sounded beside Tang Shaoyuan.

"Boss." Tang Shaoyuan withdrew his gaze from Lu Zheng, and responded, "Well, the transcript is also finished."

Geng Zhizhong looked at the back of Zhou Xuehai in handcuffs and accompanied by two criminal policemen in the corridor in the distance, and couldn't help sighing: "This kid, it's a pity."

Tang Shaoyuan nodded slightly, then turned his head to the other side of the corridor.

Lu Zheng was supporting Uncle Zhou's shoulder there, without saying anything, but the slightly protruding arm muscles showed his silent support.I saw him wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of simple cotton trousers—in order to avoid attracting too much attention when picking up Uncle Zhou, he returned to the police station in casual clothes—in the past, he only wore uniform I feel very heroic, but the current attire makes him look smaller, and it is impossible to tell that he is almost 30 years old.

On the contrary, there is not much difference from when we first met more than ten years ago.

Geng Zhizhong followed his gaze and said clearly, "Xiao Lu is a good policeman."

"That's for sure." Tang Shaoyuan took a deep look in that direction and turned his gaze back.

In that direction, Lu Zheng was helping Uncle Zhou out of the gate of the police station without a trace, and the morning light shimmered, covering his whole body with a layer of gold, shining brightly.

Light up him in the shadows.

"Brother, he has always wanted to be a good policeman."

The day finally dawned.

**

After Zhou Xuehai met his only relative, Uncle Zhou, the barriers in his heart were completely broken, and he confessed his crime happily.

"I really love scientific research. Before my Ph.D., I never thought that scientific research could become such a painful thing for me." Zhou Xuehai said with a wry smile: "Guan Bin is young and talented. It is indeed very rewarding to study with him. Harvesting, even if it is hard, I can bear it, but I didn't expect to bear it, these emotions accumulated in my heart, like a pile of hay, usually nothing, as long as there is a spark, it will burn up It's..."

People who are engaged in academics probably know that the blowout of many articles among bigwigs is due to the rivalry. Today you post a result, and tomorrow I will repeat it without repeating it. Post a "On a certain paper The non-applicable parts of the article", spraying around, everyone's article volume and citations have gone up.And Zhou Xuehai just caught up with the important period when Guan Bin returned to the country to open up territory. During this period, he almost became a gun in Guan Bin's hand, pointing to where to shoot.

Zhou Xuehai is not only excellent in academic ability, but also very obedient, so he has become Guan Bin's confidant and favorite general.It's just that many people may be more considerate of a certain student because they love him, but Guan Bin will definitely not be among these people.In his eyes, Zhou Xuehai = easy to use = obedient = then use it more = he will definitely be happy.

Such an equation undoubtedly cast a shadow over Zhou Xuehai's academic career.

He is on call 24 hours a day, and if he does not reply to emails within 10 minutes, he will get angry. Not only does he accompany Guan Bin throughout the academic process, he cooks for Guan Bin, picks up his children from the kindergarten, and helps him clean the office. I have to play with Guan Bin, and I can't let him lose...

Every day, he was exhausted, even if he managed to fall asleep, he couldn't sleep peacefully. Guan Bin's work and rest schedule was very unstable, and he didn't know when he would receive another call from Guan Bin.

The roommates in the dormitory all had a lot of opinions because of this: "Why is your supervisor like this? Does he treat you as a Filipino maid? You are too. Why do you listen to him like that?"

Yeah, why am I listening to him like that?

Zhou Xuehai said while shedding tears.

Maybe it's because he has tasted the warmth and coldness of the world since he was a child, which made him soft and unable to resist, so he just warned himself: "Just be patient, just these few years..."; maybe it's because he knows that his family has a heavy burden. You can only rely on the approval of your tutor to develop well in the academic circle...

In order to get Guan Bin's recommendation after graduation and go abroad as a postdoctoral fellow, Zhou Xuehai never dared to openly resist like Xiong Boyi. He just gritted his teeth and endured Guan Bin's excessive demands and Guan Bin's bad temper without warning. After being patient, Guan Bin gave his scholarship to someone else, because he himself received the scholarship last year - knowing that the level of the recipient was far inferior to his...

During the nights when he couldn’t sleep well, he kept comforting himself: It will be all right in a few years, when he gets rid of Guan Bin, he will be free—by then he will be a postdoctoral fellow for two stations, return to China to find a stable job, and Grandpa took over to take care of the elderly, and he will no longer have to work hard in the morning and night...

However, even such a small wish was ruined by Guan Bin.

When Guan Bin found him as a matter of course and said that because the project in hand was not completed and no suitable successor was found, he needed to stay for one more year and leave after finishing, his fragile nerves finally broke like tight strings opened.

Sparks flew everywhere, instantly igniting a raging fire in his heart.

This fire burned for a whole year. During this period, he meticulously prepared a foolproof murder plan. In fact, he didn't care whether he was arrested or not. After all, in countless nights, he wanted to get up the next day with a knife. It's over with Guan Bin.But thinking of his elderly grandfather, Zhou Xuehai still flinched.

"When I take care of my grandfather and make him feel at ease, I will surrender myself."

"I can't disappoint him."

Thinking of this, Zhou Xuehai bought a whole box of milk and injected a large amount of GHB into the box with a syringe.

GHB comes from the medicines used to treat diseases for the children of host families when he was exchanging in the United States, and the boxed milk is because he can’t wait to work with Guan Bin 24 hours a day, and he knows Guan Bin’s habits very well—he will drink a little milk before taking a nap sleep aid.

He hid the carton of milk in his trouser pocket and brought it into Guan Bin's office, and put it on the outermost layer of the milk carton in the office when Guan Bin was not paying attention, so he could get it with his hand.

After all this was done, he suddenly felt relaxed.

He pointed to the culprit, which made him unable to graduate due to Guan Bin's restrictions. With a self-destructive mood, he threw a few pages of paper into Guan Bin's office through the cracks in the upstairs office floor.

Through that gap, he saw the burning paper fell on the fabric sofa like a shooting star, and instantly ignited a flame.

In the light of the fire, he felt relieved for a while, touched his eyes, and actually burst into tears.

All the resentment, resentment, grievance, and unwillingness are burning in the fire, just like the fire in his heart. After living for more than 20 years to please and wronged himself, this is the first time that he really feels the freedom to do whatever he wants .

**

It has been more than half a month since the fire in Professor Guan Bin's office was solved.

It was another rest day, Lu Zheng woke up, squinted and looked out the window.

The blinds couldn't block the light, but the sky was still very dark. He got up and leaned over to take a look through the cracks. The sky was overcast, there was no sun, and occasionally there were a few black clouds passing by, and the raindrops seemed to be unable to fall.

Looking at the gloomy scenery in the sky, Lu Zheng somehow thought of Tang Shaoyuan.

"It would be great if Shao Yuan was here." He suddenly thought curiously: "If you touch his hair, you will know if it will rain later."

Thinking of this, he couldn't help laughing, and shook his head: "What are you thinking about?"

He didn't go to work today, and he didn't have any special plans for the time being, so he sat back on the bed, picked up the notebook on the bedside table, and gently stroked it twice to open it.

There are some vague graffiti and sporadic handwriting in the book, page by page, from some childish strokes to the beautiful continuous strokes of the word "straw" on the latest page, as if carrying a boy The years of growing up.

Recently he has had few dreams.

Don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing.

Sighing, Lu Zheng gently turned over the last page of the notebook. On this page was printed a small map of Huaguo, on which a dozen or so provinces had been crossed out with a black pen. In those provinces, some places are marked with red five-pointed stars, some places are drawn with circles, and there are dense notes on the side.

"Yu Province: Jianping County, Platform Township, Deshan County"

"Lu Province: Dalai County, Lijing County"

"Su Province: Qingma Township, Chengnan County, Suitai County, Hejing County"

……

After staring at it for a while, the mobile phone in his hand suddenly rang.

Clicking on it, it was a WeChat message sent to him by Tang Shaoyuan.

"Brother, there is a farewell ceremony for Professor Guan Bin at the School of Chemistry, Provincial Normal University at [-] o'clock this morning, are you coming?"

Lu Zheng turned his wrist and glanced at the time, it was just 07:30.

After a few quick finger movements, a WeChat message was sent back: "Okay, come here."

After a brief freshening up, Lu Zheng picked up the key and went downstairs. When he passed by a row of breakfast stalls downstairs, he couldn't help but stop, and couldn't help but cast his eyes on the small empty seat next to Auntie's stall.

It is more than one meter wide, and the stall owners on both sides have reserved this open space tacitly, as if waiting for the return of Uncle Zhou.