madness

The brain was dizzy and aching, there was a thick blackness in front of his eyes, he couldn't breathe heavily, his hands and feet were twisted behind his back, and the rough hemp rope almost sank into his flesh.

The voice of Su Tianlin talking to someone was vaguely heard from a distance.

There is a subtle fishy smell lingering at the tip of the nose.

Su Zhiyun could hear his own heartbeat echoing in his ears, accompanied by the roar of the car that seemed to grow louder in his hazy consciousness.

The nerves deep in the brain are twitching and throbbing with pain.

The car stopped, the engine turned off, and everything gradually became silent amidst the sound of light rain.

The black mist in front of him suddenly lifted from bottom to top, and Tang Hong's face was shone cold and bright by the orange light after the black mist dissipated.

Su Zhiyun curled up in the trunk, with winding bloodstains flowing from his forehead, his chest heaving slightly, the injury and the long time in a confined space made him look very weak and vulnerable.

Tang Hong stared at him with gentle eyes, as if staring at his own cub who was too ignorant and reckless.

"Would you like to make a bet?"

"Bet on whether your mother will choose you or your brother."

Su Zhiyun's fingertips twitched slightly, the towel strangled his lips and pulled them upwards, unable to make a sound, only a few meaningless breath sounds.

Seeing this, Tang Hong smiled slightly, and said to himself: "I will always win the bet with you."

"Is it because I'm always slightly better than you, or is it simply because you're too stupid to believe the truth?"

……

Li Yanjiao's cell phone vibrated, she glanced down, the cell phone number displayed Su Zhiyun's name, the woman frowned slightly, avoided the crowd, and walked into the corner.

She slid open the phone and pressed the answer button, but the other end was strangely dull and silent.

"Hello? Su Zhiyun?"

Because there was no response from the other end, Li Yanjiao managed to deal with other guests who came forward to say hello amidst the noise.

She raised the goblet in her hand to a middle-aged man in a suit and leather shoes, smiled slightly, drank the red wine in the glass, and then lowered her voice: "Su Zhiyun, now is not the time to joke, I am The banquet here is very busy, you..."

Before he could finish speaking, the phone was hung up without hesitation with a "beep".

But after a while, a message from Su Zhiyun popped up on Li Yanjiao's cell phone, which contained two photos, namely Su Zhiyun and Su Tianlin, and a very short and clear sentence - "Choose one."

Li Yanjiao looked around, but couldn't find the shadow of the two of them, and her fingers that were holding the phone began to tremble gradually.

……

"Let's call the police."

After a long time, Su Tianhe stood up.

"No, you can't call the police, absolutely don't call the police!"

Li Yanjiao rushed forward almost immediately, snatched the phone from Su Tianhe's hand, with a flustered expression.

"What if they hurt Tianlin? Tianlin is still so young...he has just been admitted to university, if something bad happens, no, absolutely not."

"Then what are you going to do? Huh? Just sit here? Just wait for the time to pass?"

Countless phone calls to Su Zhiyun and the two brothers were unanswered, and Su Tianhe's expression gradually became gloomy as time passed. He paced up and down the bright floor with a gloomy tone.

"Until now we don't even know what the kidnappers want!"

It stands to reason that ordinary kidnappers would take the initiative to leave a message to the victim's family, explaining their intentions, but until now, except for the message sent 10 minutes ago on Su Zhiyun's mobile phone, they have not received any more. Any other news from the kidnappers.

Calls to Su Zhiyun, who sent the message, have also been in a state of no one answering.

Li Yanjiao sat blankly on the spot, lost in spirits, without a trace of her radiance just now.

The knuckles of her clutching the phone turned white, and she said to herself: "You can't call the police... What's the use of calling the police?

Tears condensed from her eyes, big ones fell down, Li Yanjiao stood up and grabbed Su Tianhe's collar, her expression was almost hysterical: "You comforted me back then and said that Xiao Hua would be fine, you said to believe you , You have to believe the police, I believe it, and then! Then?"

"Anyway, don't you want to choose one of the two, then choose one."

"There's nothing to hesitate, nothing to be surprised about, anyway, he...anyway, he..." Li Yanjiao calmed down, and muttered to herself as if comforting herself: "Anyway, he knows it himself, anyway, he knows it himself, Can't blame others."

Su Tianhe seemed to sense what Li Yanjiao was thinking: "Could it be that you..."

Li Yanjiao took out the mirror with trembling hands, and carefully patched up her own lipstick. The two of them are now in the changing room upstairs. After a while, the rest of the guests downstairs will start a new dance.

The entrance banquet has already missed the protagonist, and the protagonist's parents can no longer be absent.

Until she made sure that there were no blemishes on her face, she still looked very decent and radiant, Li Yanjiao straightened her messy cuffs in front of the mirror.

Her long black hair fluffed out like seaweed, and was pinned behind her snow-white ears with turquoise hairpins.

"Do you have any other better way?"

She said it in a tone that was almost cruel.

Su Tianhe was also silent.

……

The sky outside was dark and heavy, and the clouds were heavy. In the long and cold rain, Su Zhiyun hid under the eaves, watching the drops of water dripping down from the corners of the eaves. It was still cool to put one in his mouth. Yes, sweet.

The room is a slightly dark gray, and only some dim skylight leaks in from the open courtyard, bathed in the rain, the room is covered with a layer of dim and heavy mist.

Someone patted Su Zhiyun on the shoulder from behind.

Su Zhiyun retracted his legs from between the iron railings and turned his body.

He seemed to have a youthful vigor that had not yet grown up, like a dandelion growing wildly in the courtyard outside, seeing that it was inch by inch tall and foot by foot long, and the hair was still fluffy with a layer of mist, shaking. Once shaken, it will shake down a lot.

Tang Hong showed him two sealed plastic boxes in his hand.

"pick one of two."

You don't have to think about it, but the plastic boxes contain different desserts.

Tang Hong is very good at all kinds of desserts, from Western to Chinese to Japanese, from cakes to shortbread to Daifuku.

Su Zhiyun asked: "Can't I have both?"

There was a crooked smile in Tang Hong's eyes. In midsummer, he exuded a dense aroma that could only be soaked in the dessert room for a long time.

"That would be too greedy, you can't have your cake and eat it too."

The two plastic boxes looked exactly the same, and the silver foil wrapping paper printed with cherry blossoms was carefully pasted, so it was impossible to tell what was inside.

"Well, let's make a bet. If you win the bet, I will give you both desserts."

Tang Hong seemed to see Su Zhiyun's embarrassment.

"You just have to guess what kind of pastry I'm holding in my right hand."

Su Zhiyun said: "The scope is too large, can you narrow it down a bit?"

When he said this, he looked serious, and a drop of mist dripped from the corner of his eyebrows, looking wet, furry and innocent like a cub.

Tang Hong sighed in compromise: "Strawberry Daifuku or Chocolate Mousse?"

"Chocolate mousse."

Su Zhiyun blurted out.

Tang Hong tore off the wrapping paper of the plastic box little by little in front of him.

Strawberry Daifuku.

"I won."

There was some genuine joy in Tang Hong's slightly raised tone.

Su Zhiyun took the chocolate mousse from Tang Hong's left hand.

He lost his chance to get two pastries.

In midsummer, the grass grows and warblers fly, thick green and wet.

At that time, Su Zhiyun only thought that chocolate mousse was also very good.

Su Zhiyun flinched subconsciously when touched by the cool fingertips covered in water vapor. For a moment, he couldn't distinguish the dividing line between the past and reality.

There was a sharp pain coming from the back of the head.

Amidst the sound of dripping rain, he slowly realized that he was curled up in the trunk of Tang Hong's car, his hands and feet were tightly bound with hemp rope.

The night near the forest park is dark, and the shadows of the trees whirling around, like ghosts and monsters in a chat room, baring their teeth and dancing their claws.

He saw Tang Hong smiling and making a silence gesture, pointing to Su Tianlin who was still sleeping in the back seat, and revealed the phone screen in his hand.

It was a message from Li Yanjiao, with three big characters written clearly - "Su Tianlin."

"I won," he said softly.

Su Zhiyun's body began to tremble unconsciously.

……

Not long after Li Yanjiao sent the message, Su Tianhe miraculously dialed Su Tianlin's cell phone number.

"Hello? Where are you? Okay, I see. I'll pick you up now."

When Su Tianhe arrived near the forest park and saw Su Tianlin standing under the street lamp, Li Yanjiao immediately opened the car door and rushed up, took Su Tianlin's arm and checked him up and down repeatedly until he was sure that he was safe and sound, then she suddenly let go Long breath.

"Where did you go just now? Why can't you get through the phone?"

Su Tianlin saw the missed call on his phone just after waking up. Because he was going to a banquet today, he set his phone to silent: "I came out to look for Su Zhiyun before, and I fell asleep in the car before I knew it. I realized that almost an hour has passed, by the way, parents, did you see where Su Zhiyun is on the way here?"

Sensing the silence of the two, Su Tianlin showed a puzzled expression.

"what happened?"

It wasn't until they got home that Li Yanjiao handed over the phone to Su Tianlin.

The screen of the mobile phone, which was so hot and hot in the palm of the hand, was quietly lit up, and the room was completely silent, and no one spoke.

Even Li Yanjiao and Su Tianhe just stood silently.

After a while, Su Tianlin raised his head, showing a somewhat strange expression.

"Dad, Mom, I think this message was not sent by the kidnappers, but by Su Zhiyun."

The author says:

The next few chapters will basically follow the plot, Xiao Gu will appear, and we will enter the memory chapter to decipher Xiao Hua's death and Su Zhiyun's shadow.Don’t urge, don’t urge, really don’t urge, I will adjust the rhythm, I’m already writing, the more I urge, the more anxious I become, the more anxious I am, the worse my writing will be… I’ve been urged, I dreamed last night that I was writing a novel to adjust Tempo... spare my life