fool.

The enthusiastic security guard directly brought Xiao Man and Yi Hua to the front of Villa No. 6. There was a crowd of people in front of Villa No. 6, and there were already some flower pots and some cardboard boxes labeled "White Rose".Many people were taking photos of the flowers and plants in the community with their mobile phones, while others stood in front of the iron gate of the villa for a group photo.This place has become a small scenic spot.

Xiaoman caught a glimpse of the man in jumpsuit from the flower shop talking on the phone and jumped onto a tram, beckoning some small workers to follow him.The tram passed by the one he was sitting in, and Xiaoman got off.He made a point of mentioning: "Is this the Yan family who is doing funerals here? There should be only one family in this community who is doing funerals today. This place is so big. If you send me the wrong one, I will move it here and there." What a waste of time to go there..."

The security guard waved his hands and got out of the car, pointed at No. 6, took off his hat and wiped his sweat, wrinkled his nose and wrinkled his face, and said, "That's the only family! How can there be so many funerals?"

Xiaoman put on a smiley face, sent a cigarette to the security guard, apologized in a low voice, and said, "Brother, just to confirm with you, I am afraid that I will make a mistake and be reprimanded by the boss and deducted wages. I will tell you the truth." , They are in urgent need of people today, I came here temporarily to help, my wife has a house loan, car loan and milk powder, everything has to spend money, an extra earn is a share."

Entering this way, Xiaoman discovered that Times Garden covers a vast area, but the number of households is only a handful. They are all single-family villas, and the villas are separated by a long distance. The villas are all equipped with iron gates and walls. Some were built very high, and others had waist-high wooden fences behind which tall, neat elms or cypresses were planted.What you can see through the gate is only a spacious driveway, with some green grass faintly flashing on both sides of the road. Standing outside the gate, you can't see the end of the driveway, and you can't see the appearance of the villa behind the gate. The concealment work is complete.

The grass near the entrance of Villa No. 6 is different from the surrounding villas. It seems that it has been turned over by someone, which is not very elegant.

The security guard looked at Xiaoman, took a cigarette, and said, "Don't call me brother."

With a smile on his face, Xiao Man first helped the security guard light a cigarette, then lit one for himself, biting the cigarette, and began to move the flower pots under the car, working very hard.The security guard was indeed a warm-hearted person. After watching him smoke for a while, he took off his security cap and rolled up his sleeves to help him.Xiaoman took the opportunity to chat with him a few more words.He said: "This house is so big, three generations can live there, right?"

The security guard said: "What three generations, they were a couple living together before."

"Then there are only two people living in such a big house?" Xiao Man shook his head foolishly, incredulous, "Could this be the world of the rich?"

The security guard raised his eyebrows and smiled, and pointed forward and backward: "Only the front and rear houses are unoccupied in summer. The first 8 houses, the ones on the border between Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia, are miners, and they live here for a year. No more than two months, just the two winter months, 5 buildings, the one diagonally opposite, do you know what he changed to that house after you bought it?"

"What? The airport? Can you still park helicopters here?"

"Hey, it's changed to a parking lot!"

"PARKING LOT?"

"That's right, there are a total of [-] cars parked underground! Have you seen that American movie about Iron Man and Batman?"

"Oh, I know what you're talking about." Xiaoman puffed out a puff of cigarettes, and put down a flower pot panting, "I won't be able to make that much money in 500 years!"

He stood and wiped the sweat from his face. People who took pictures chattered into the villa, a group of children chased and made a scene behind the open iron gate, and a boy urinated in front of a marble sculpture.The ground in the villa also seemed to have been turned over and excavated, and the dark mud was gathered on both sides of the driveway.

"Don't look at how much money they make." The security guard also stopped, stood panting, smoked, pouted his chin towards Villa No. 6, and whispered, "If you have money to earn, don't you have money to spend? Isn't the money in? someone else's pocket."

Xiao Man leaned over and asked him softly, "What do you mean? Her family didn't help her with the funeral? I heard that a female boss died here, right?"

"I've been working here as a security guard since the community was built. No. 6 is a female boss. That's right. After the house was built, I moved in by myself."

"Alone? No, it's not that she was raped by her husband..." Xiaoman wiped his neck.I don't know where the children found the two garden rakes. The two older boys waved each other and started fighting. One shouted: "I am the Monkey King Monkey King! Give me a stick!"

One replied loudly: "I am Erlang Shen!"

He pointed behind him, and several young children were vying to be the sky howling dog.The kids had a blast.

The security guard glanced at Xiaoman: "She has not been married for long, tell me, a female boss, what kind of man does she want, and she found a lame old man, what do you think she wants?"

Xiaoman said: "I heard that the man is much older than her, why is he still disabled?"

"That's right, I don't go to work, I don't work, I rarely go out, I don't know what I do all day when I stay at home, and I have to go back to my hometown for two months every year, and I don't..." The security guard swallowed and stopped.

Xiao Man said, "They don't have any children either? The old man has never been married before?"

"First marriage! All first marriages! No children."

Xiaoman smiled: "I think it's dizzy, dizzy."

The security guard also laughed, and the group of children chased them outside the villa, knocked on the iron gate with a rake, and the security guard yelled, "Hey!"

The children ran in again, laughing and beating on the marble statue in the front yard.

"Do her parents agree?" Xiaoman asked again.

"Who knows, anyway, she has lived here for so long, and she hasn't seen a single relative. In our community, only people whose names are on the house book can apply for a key card. The key card must be compared with the information when entering the community. It is very strict. I don't agree with it. You are lying, I think this female boss is quite pitiful. Usually the driver picks up and goes to and from work, sometimes she leaves the house very early, and she leaves work very late. that's it……"

Xiaoman sucked in the last puff of cigarette forcefully, and said: "I think it's still a comfortable day when my wife and children are hot on the kiln. Being popular means having the breath of life, you know?"

The security guard nodded with a smile: "Yeah, I don't think there is anything good about this big house, so let's do that."

Both of them threw away their cigarette butts, and started moving the flower pots again. After all the flower pots on this car were moved, the security guard said, "Do it again?"

Xiaoman pretended to send a message: "Let me ask our boss, if they have finished moving that trip just now, I will start to decorate here directly." He typed pretendingly, but in fact he told Yin Miaozai on WeChat: "I am here It's number 6."

Yin Miaozai replied: "On the way to the taxi company."

Xiao Man then said to the security guard: "The boss told me to stay here in the villa, please, thank you, thank you."

The security guard waved to him and got on the tram: "I'm driving this car away," he changed the direction, "I don't know how many relatives are coming!"

Xiaoman smiled and waved to him, picked up a potted lily placed at the door and entered the villa, the children climbed trees and statues, sweating profusely, a woman ran out of the room and shouted: "Come down! Come down!" !! You will be scolded by your big aunt!! Come down!"

No one listened to her.Xiao Man asked the woman, "Sister, where do you put the flowers?"

The woman pointed to the house, and rushed into the yard to catch those children. The yard was too big for her to catch them by herself, and she cursed angrily: "Little beast! Little beast!"

Entering the entrance of the villa, you can see a spacious living room with a very high floor, a huge crystal chandelier hanging, and a large color TV with at least [-] inches. peanut.

There is a wooden screen on one side of the entrance, and a shoe cabinet on the other side.Xiao Man looked around, and everyone in the living room was wearing shoes, either standing or sitting.There are many dirty footprints on the ground.He carried the flower pot and continued to walk in. No one stopped him, or no one bothered to pay attention to him. Everyone was drinking tea and chatting, or waving their arms and talking.People spoke in a dialect that Xiao Man could not understand.Seeing the direction of the stairs, Xiao Man touched there.Unexpectedly, he had just stepped on the stairs to the second floor when he was stopped by a woman coming down the stairs.Xiao Man poked his head out from the edge of the blooming lilies and looked up at the woman, smiling all over his face: "Do you want to decorate the flowers upstairs? I don't think the coffin is on the first floor..."

He had seen this woman at Shanshui Law Firm, and it was Guan Meiyan who was wearing a black skirt and a nomination bag among a group of men and women he and Yin Miaozai had seen that day when they were looking for a lawyer.

"Go, go, how could the coffin be placed upstairs! The coffin hasn't been delivered yet! Didn't I tell your boss that in the lily yard, my daughter likes white flowers best! Plant the whole front yard for me. lily!"

It turned out that Guan Meiyan was Yan Mingming's mother.

Guan Meiyan pushed Xiaoman downstairs and said, "You know, the owner's house shouldn't be wandering around! Hey, look at your shoes, they're so dirty!"

She called a man named Da Zhuang from the living room and said, "Help my aunt guard this staircase, no one can go upstairs without my aunt's consent, do you understand?"

Da Zhuang was about sixteen or seventeen years old, and he was indeed a strong man. He sat on the stairs like a tree stump blocking the way up and down.He glared at Xiaoman, took out his mobile phone and started playing the game.Guan Meiyan stood at the stairs and stared at Xiaoman, but Xiaoman had no choice but to walk out holding the flower pot.In the living room, the gongs and drums were set up, the old people sat and played the snare drums, played the erhu, and an actor in a costume with sleeves, full of jewels and emerald hair, and a face full of ink floated out from a corridor, and stood in front of the TV. When he showed his face, everyone clapped their hands and applauded.

Outside the house, the children were still playing, but there were a few more laborers who were working hard. Xiao Man hurriedly joined them, and under the scorching sun, he found a shovel and began to dig the soil.There is a foreman among these small workers. The man in jumpsuit appears from time to time to give instructions to the foreman. The foreman calls him "Boss Jun". finished.Guan Meiyan often said this sentence: "Boss Jun, don't you know how many people are coming tonight?"

A small worker was very disdainful when he heard this, and said: "If you don't know, you may think it's some kind of party at home. You need carpets and lights."

Right now, Shaoxing opera is playing in the big villa.It seems to be singing "Dream of Red Mansions".

Xiao Man happened to be busy next to him, so he asked, "What's the situation? Do you still need the lighting and stage design? How much will this funeral cost?"

"The money is not paid by them."

"Huh? Didn't they come from their house?"

The little worker said, "Are you a temporary worker?"

Xiaoman nodded straightly.The little worker blinked his eyes in a showy manner, and shook his head: "Does Xi Meihua know?"

"The one who runs the hotel? I knew it was Xi Meihua's female boss who died."

"What, it's not the female boss, it's the CEO. Do you know what a CEO is?"

Xiao Man stared blankly at the little worker.

"Anyway, the deposit was given by Chen Tezhu from Ximeihua."

"Hey! What are you doing?!" As soon as the foreman's voice sounded, Xiaoman and the little worker consciously separated. The foreman strode over, kicked Xiaoman's feet, and said, "You! Gossip here, put these flowers on the cart and push them to the backyard!"

"Do you want to plant lilies in the backyard?" Xiao Man asked.

"You're the one who talks a lot, right?? Come with me!" The foreman glared, Xiaoman lowered his head, moved flowers, pushed the cart, and followed the foreman to the backyard.

The back yard, where the garage is, is quiet and the turf is visibly turned over.Only some men were smoking, and the music was soft.Xiaoman put down the cart, and the foreman said, "That's all, all right, you stay here! When you're done with the flowers, go to the front and move them!"

Xiao Man's face was not very happy, but his heart was very happy. The running in the front and back yards gave him a lot of opportunities and time to study the layout of the villa and the surveillance around it. The angle is very tricky. Although there are no surveillance cameras installed under the gate and garage door of Villa No. 6, Villa No. 6 is no better than other villas. There are no high walls here, and there are not many surveillance cameras that are tall enough to block the roadside of the community. The trees of the camera, it can be said that every accessible place in the entire villa is within the field of view of the surveillance camera of the community.It is an impossible task to enter and exit this villa without being caught by surveillance.

When Xiaoman was so busy, the people who came to smoke in the backyard changed wave after wave. He also saw the short and fat man and the thin man who had seen at Lawyer Hu's place walking with Guan Meiyan.Listening to their conversations with other people, the two seem to be Yan Mingming's second uncle and uncle.

The rest of the people who came to express their condolences were also relatives of Yan Mingming's hometown, such as uncles, grandparents, grandparents, distant cousins, and cousins.

The Yue opera was still being sung in the living room, from "A Dream of Red Mansions" to "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", and "Farewell to the Eighteen" over and over again.Xiaoman really couldn't find a chance to touch the villa again.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, a large batch of white roses arrived, and Yin Miaozai's new message also came: "The video is done! Are you still in Times Garden?"

Xiaoman looked around, taking advantage of the fact that no one came to smoke in the backyard at this time, wiped his hands, lit a cigarette, put on his earphones, and clicked on the video sent by Yin Miaozai.This video was shot in a car at 8 am on August 10. At the beginning of the video, a woman wearing a red straw hat, sunglasses, a floral skirt and a black leather bag opened the door and sat in the back seat.

Only when Xiao Man saw this, a female voice suddenly sounded: "Can I borrow a fire?"

The voice was a little far away from him. Xiao Man quickly took off the earphones, put away the phone, and followed the sound. It turned out that the person talking to him was a Caucasian woman, about 40 years old, with many fine lines on her face and flaxen hair. Dress casually.Her Chinese is very standard.A woman holds a cigarette in her hand,

"Ah, yes, yes." Xiaoman took out the lighter, walked over to light the slender lady's cigarette in the woman's hand, and said with a smile, "Sorry, your appearance doesn't match the Mandarin I just heard .”

The woman smiled.

"Are you also here to express condolences?" Xiaoman asked.

"Well." The woman slowly protruded a stream of smoke, flicked the ash, stood in the shadow under the eaves of the garage, looked into the distance and said, "I want to see her, she helped me a lot when my husband left. The woman glanced in the direction of the gate of the villa, and the corners of her mouth slightly curled up, "They are very good friends. My husband always calls her Master. They used to work together in an advertising company, and she always took good care of him."

"Your husband died sick?"

"suicide."

Xiao Man took a puff of cigarette, lowered his head: "I'm sorry..."

The woman asked him, "Are you a gardener?"

"I'm here to help."

"Are you... are you the gardener?" The woman asked again, this time in a playful tone, Xiaoman raised her eyes to look at her, and the woman was also looking at him, her eyes narrowed, as if she was confirming something and looking for something in him clue.

"I'm not." Xiao Man said.

The woman nodded, without asking any further questions, her eyes turned away, and then returned to a far away place: "I don't like her family."

"You don't like to listen to Yue opera? Chinese opera."

The woman laughed and shrugged her shoulders: "But that's how people die. It's not up to you to decide who will organize your funeral, what kind of flowers to use, and what kind of music to play. It's not up to you to decide." What kind of person are you yourself?"

"You can write a suicide note." Xiaoman paused, "I heard that she was killed by her husband."

The woman was still smiling, with a shallow smile, as if she was stuck in some memory, she didn't hear Xiao Man's words, so she didn't answer.

"Isn't it? Is the news wrong?" Xiaoman said again.

The woman snorted and flicked the cigarette ash: "I don't know. After my husband passed away three years ago, I went back to France. We occasionally contact each other by email. I only know that their husband and wife are very loving. If you have to say what kind of family she has If not, it’s her husband. I only know that I heard from a friend yesterday that she died, so I bought a plane ticket and rushed back to see her.”

Xiao Man asked her, "Have you been here before?"

The woman turned her face to look at Xiaoman: "Are you a reporter?"

"Of course not." Xiaoman said, "I'm a gardener." He smiled and smoked, "Did some tall trees be planted here before? They were dug up and the soil was turned up like this."

The woman shook her head: "No, it has always been like this here. As for the trees, I planted osmanthus trees in the atrium, and later replanted hawthorn trees, and some olive trees."

"She doesn't like white flowers," said the woman.

Xiaoman was speechless, at this moment, Guan Meiyan came out from a small road, holding a painting in her hand, with a happy face, strode up to them, grabbed the woman's hand and said: "Xiaoyi! Come, take this painting if you like it!"

The woman did not refuse, and took the small painting.Guan Meiyan looked at her, still smiling: "We will visit you in France in the future, you will show us around! Auntie can't speak a word of French!"

The woman hands her a business card.Guan Meiyan stroked her shoulder: "Yes, yes, forget that you have a bad cold and lost your voice! Oh, let's smoke less, why don't you stay here for dinner? Assistant Chen called the chef from Huangquelou to come over Cooking!"

The woman smiled and compared the cigarettes in her hands.Guan Meiyan wanted to say something more, but Yan Mingming's uncle ran over from where she came from, grabbed her and said, "Sister! Miss Bao San is here!"

Guan Meiyan left the woman behind.

Xiaoman looked at the painting in the woman's hand, and the woman also looked down at the painting, and said, "Obvious Mr. Zhou drew it, it's not bad."

"The painting is quite good. Is he a painter?"

The painting showed several green apples covered with black spots.

"No. My husband works in an auction house. He wanted to exhibit this painting several times in the auction house. Lao Zhou refused, saying that he painted casually and it would be embarrassing to exhibit it. I don't understand. I think this It's unnecessary modesty, my husband understands," the woman stopped, pursed her lips, lowered her head and scratched the center of her eyebrows, took a puff of cigarette before continuing: "I can't understand many things he can understand, maybe he committed suicide The reason is hidden in those things."

After Xiaoman finished smoking the cigarette in his hand, he waved to the woman and signaled her to follow her.He went to the front yard, and the woman followed him to the front yard.The children are gone, and only workers in straw hats are planting flowers.Xiaoman slipped into the villa, and the women also went in, the opera was still being performed in the villa, some audience members had lost interest, while others were still in high spirits.Some children sleep on the laps of adults.

The room smelled heavily of alcohol and sweat.

Xiao Man opened a cardboard box containing white roses, and gave a white rose to the woman.The foreman scolded again: "It's you again! What are you doing? Have all the flowers in the backyard been planted?!"

The woman handed Xiaoman a business card, all in foreign languages, Xiaoman could only understand that the woman was working in Paris, and her name was Hélène Francoeur.

The foreman came over and pulled Xiaoman and went out. It happened that Boss Jun asked the foreman to help lay the floor. Instruct the workers to lay carpets on the road leading to the villa and some roads in the community.There are also people who are sent to hang elegiac couplets, two thickly rolled elegiac couplets, which need to be hung from the balcony of the villa by stepping on a ladder.

After Xiaoman laid the carpet, she was called to help in the front yard.The sun was not so hot, and the sky was getting darker. Xiaoman looked up at the elegiac couplet, which read: I don't know where to look for immortals.On the other side, it reads: Go to Nanshan to collect herbs.

A worker hanging an elegy couplet was still standing on a high place holding a ladder. Boss Jun shouted, "Move to the left."

The lilies in the yard are fragrant, and there are flowers with white petals and red heads and green stamens everywhere.I don't know who said: "I heard that the woman's body may be buried in the ground!"

One person replied: "Nonsense, the police have gone through it several times! And the news is not all, the person died in Jiangsu!"

"Do you think this is considered a happy funeral?"

"You care so much about other people!"

Xiaoman didn't answer a word, and knelt on the ground and worked hard to tamp the soil under the lily.He knew that Yan Mingming's body was not here, and he knew that her body had been found in a cave in Jiangsu.

The cave should be very damp, and it should be covered with moss, and the moss may feel the same as these wet black soils.

Would she die with the thought that her funeral would be filled with white flowers that she didn't like?

Suddenly, the scent of flowers floating around changed, and a hint of pungent smoke was mixed into it.Xiao Man raised his head and saw Zhao You.For a moment he wanted to cry, but he wasn't sure whether it was because of longing or excitement that touched his tear glands, or because he suddenly found that there was still a Zhao You between him and death.He just appeared without warning and broke in without warning. He was afraid that he was a hallucination.How could there be such a coincidence in the world?Just when he was feeling heavy and dazed, as if he was being dragged into a lonely boat again, Zhao You appeared.

Xiaoman wiped his hands, trying to calm down, then stroked his hair, trying to stabilize his emotions.He looked at Zhao You carefully.Under the sun, he had a shadow, and under the sun, he also wiped his face and stared at him stupidly, thinking of something happy, his eyes lit up, and he smiled.

Xiao Man winked at Zhao You, signaling him not to approach, since there are so many people, it is best for them to keep their distance.

Zhao You took another drag on his cigarette, and went straight into the villa, but did not approach him.But after a while, he and Guan Meiyan appeared at the door together, the two were chatting and laughing, Zhao You looked around, greeted Xiaoman, and asked him: "Do you have strength?"

Xiaoman nodded.Zhao You pointed to the villa: "Help me go in and move something."

Xiao Man looked at the foreman.Zhao You said, "The police are here to investigate."

The foreman looked puzzled, and Guan Meiyan said: "There are so many of you and there is no shortage of this one, come here, come here, and do a favor to Police Officer Xiao Zhao!"

Xiao Man passed by, kept wiping his hands, and when he arrived at the villa, he asked Zhao You, "What are you moving?"

Zhao You said, "Go to the attic."

Then Guan Meiyan will be in charge, sitting horizontally on the stairs with a big sound, Da Zhuang moves aside, Xiaoman followed Zhao You upstairs.

The author says:

See you again next week!