white restricted area

Xia Huai was still too young when she left her hometown, and she had long forgotten what the hometown she saw last time looked like.But when he came back to this place again, Xia Huai could see that his hometown hadn’t developed much. The biggest change was that there were fewer people. There were not many young people walking down the road. I heard from the old man that the young people in the village went to the nearby cities to develop. There are especially many people going to the island. Now this village, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a village for the elderly.

His uncle's house was the closest to the station where Xia Huai got off the bus. Years of shadows made him feel guilty about his uncle's family, and he was afraid of meeting him.But this time when he came back, his mentality changed inexplicably. Instead of making him avoid the way to his uncle's house as much as possible, the heavy guilt made him want to go and see if his uncle's family is doing well.

Xia Huai hesitated whether to visit his uncle's house or not. After hesitating, he found that he had come to his uncle's house unconsciously.

My uncle's house is an earthen house built with mud, which has not been renovated and strengthened in the past few years.On the earthen walls, someone sprayed them with big characters like earthworms, "Pay back your debts, it's justified", "If you don't pay your debts, you will chop off your hands and feet", "Strangle your tongue and kill your wife"!

Although it was only a few words, the content was enough to make Xia Huai's heart shudder.It seems that the uncle's family is not doing well at all.

The door of the house was open and no one was inside.Rural people seldom close their doors during the day, even if no one is at home, the door is still open.

Xia Huai walked into the room, and the posthumous photo on the wooden table in the middle was very conspicuous. When she looked closely, Xia Huai couldn't help being shocked, it was the posthumous photo of her aunt!

Aunt actually passed away?When did this happen?How come they never heard of it?

While in shock and doubt, there was movement behind him.Xia Huai turned around to look, and her unsteady surprise was hit hard again.

The person who appeared in front of him had no left leg and right hand, and only his left hand supported a crutch to support his whole body.Xia Huai was shocked for a long time before she was willing to admit that the person in front of her was his uncle!

Seeing Xia Huai, Uncle Xia was probably equally frightened, and his slightly protruding eyeballs seemed to burst out under the stare.Xia Huai saw that he opened his mouth to say something, but the only sound he could make was an indistinct whine. Looking closely, it turned out that his tongue was gone.

The shadow of looking forward to escaping from the past disappeared in an instant.With trembling hands, he slowly stretched out towards the broken part of his uncle's mutilated limb, his voice trembling: "Uncle? Uncle, how could you..."

When Xia Huai touched him, his uncle screamed like he was struck by lightning, and leaned on a cane to dodge Xia Huai frantically.

Uncle's reaction was like seeing snakes and scorpions, seeing jackals, tigers and leopards, Xia Huai came up and grabbed his shoulders, and he twisted his body with difficulty with the greatest strength to shake off Xia Huai's hand.

"Uncle, what's going on? Why is this happening!"

Facing Xia Huai's questioning, my uncle panicked and hid in the toilet closest to him, quickly closing the door. Ren Xia Huai called "Uncle" outside the door a few more times, but he refused to come out.

Surprise, shock, doubt, and helplessness flooded into Xia Huai's heart one after the other in a very short period of time.

He left his uncle's house with a sigh, looked at the distorted characters sprayed on the dirt wall outside the house, and thought to himself: Did uncle really become like this because of debts?

The family is broken up, the wife dies and the son dies.Xia Huai never imagined that her uncle, whom she had avoided seeing for many years, would become what she is today.

Uncle's house is no longer going, Xia Huai went back to his original home to have a look.

The day they left the island, the mother sold the old house to someone else.I heard from people in the village that since they left, the house was like a haunted house. There were problems with anyone who lived in it. Later, it was resold several times, and this problem always occurred. For a long time, no one dared to buy or live in it.Now their old residence is an empty house, with only a few pieces of broken furniture left in it, which they used back then.

Xia Huai walked into the old residence and sat on the old, gray and dirty wooden sofa. He sat facing the small courtyard outside the door.

The old memories deep in his mind were uncovered layer by layer, and the day he least wanted to face, quietly climbed onto the stage of memories at this moment.

What happened that day?

Xia Huai's limited memory of the time when she was 10 years old, after sitting in this place, seems to have been developed to the limit, and the most inconspicuous details have been chiseled out from the cracks in the memory.

My cousin's full moon wine, there are more than ten or twenty banquets in the courtyard, and most of the dishes are ordered by restaurants outside, but the roast suckling pig requires my mother to do it herself, so my mother almost stays busy in the kitchen that day.

The folks drank very happily, and some people had already drunk within two hours.My aunt was out entertaining folks, and during that time she came in and called my uncle who was staying in the room to come out to help.Uncle went out to socialize with aunt.

Aunt Xiang was still there back then, and Aunt Xiang took care of Man Yue's little cousin.After taking care of her cousin to sleep, Aunt Xiang went back to her room to work on her own affairs for a while, and then came out to help carry the newly brought wine.

Xia Huai walked into the room and saw his little cousin lying on his bed sleeping soundly. Because the weather was cold that day, he was afraid that his little cousin would be cold, so he put a quilt on his cousin.It was the most regrettable move he had ever made in his life.

Nine-year-old Xia Nan ran to the kitchen to find her mother. She said something wrong and angered her. After being yelled at by her mother, she started crying.My aunt happened to come into the house to get a wine glass, saw her crying, and went to comfort her.The uncle who followed in felt that the aunt spoiled the children too much, saying that Xia Nan should be scolded for doing something wrong.Xia Nan cried louder and ran to Aunt Xiang for comfort.

Xia Huai wanted to ask Xia Nan what happened, but she didn't go to ask, and ran to the courtyard to shuttle between the banquets.The adults in the village caught him and forced him, who was only 10 years old, to drink.He was forced to take a sip, and his face turned red from choking, and the adults in the village laughed happily when they saw his funny appearance.

When Xia Huai was coughing, Qin Fei, who drank the most, went into their house to borrow the toilet. When he came out, he saw his face was quite different, and he stopped drinking with others.He must have seen something, knew something.

Finally, the cousin was found dead.The whole family, those who were hiding in the house and those who were outside, all ran to surround the door of the room where the cousin died. There was a chaos, and the guests had different opinions about the death of the cousin. Qin Fei insisted that the cousin was murdered. The younger brother died of "quilt syndrome", and the case was closed on the same day.

And Xia Huai, from that day on, was also infamous for manslaughtering her cousin.

Sitting here, Xia Huai kept replaying this memory in her mind.Following him who had dealt with criminal cases, he finally realized that something was wrong at this time.Someone must have killed my cousin, but as police officer Qin Fei said, based on the circumstances that day, anyone present could have killed his cousin, even police officer Qin Fei himself.

Everyone is suspect, who will be the most suspect?Xia Huai couldn't figure out this doubt all night alone in this haunted house.

Early the next morning, Xia Huai was going back to the island.

When I went out, I slipped around the back of the house. The flower tree that Xia Nan planted behind the house when he was 9 years old was unexpectedly still alive.No one takes care of it, and weeds are overgrown, but they are still growing vigorously, and the flowers are blooming beautifully.

Xia Huai picked off a branch, wrapped it up, and prepared to give it to Xia Nan at her wedding tomorrow.No matter what happened at that wedding, it was also his sister's most important day after all.

After returning to the island, Xia Huai went to the hospital to see her mother alone.The nurse said that since she was transferred to the new ward, her mother liked to sit on the balcony and watch the scenery outside. She sat for a whole day without doing anything, just counting the days.Count to the end and start counting again.

Xia Nan and Xiang Yuxin came here this morning, because they wanted the old man to attend the wedding tomorrow, and planned to take her to live at home.Unexpectedly, the old man would make a fuss when he left this ward, and refused to go out desperately.

The Xiangs had no choice but to let their mother stay in the ward, saying that they would try again early.But the doctor's suggestion is that it is best not to let the elderly go out.

The mother was still sitting on the balcony, Xia Huai walked up to her and called "Mom".

Xia's mother didn't respond, she said to herself: "3000 two hundred and ten days, 3000 two hundred and twelve days, 3000 two hundred and thirteen days..."

"Mom, I went back to my hometown yesterday."

"3000 two hundred and fourteen days, 3000 two hundred and fifteen days..."

"Mom, do you believe that I didn't kill my cousin?"

"3000 two hundred and sixteen days, 3000 two hundred and seventeen days..."

Dragging his tired body back to school, Xia Huai came to the door of the dormitory, and Xia Huai saw Yin Shun leaning against the door wearing a black windbreaker.

"Yin Shun?" Xia Huai's eyes brightened slightly, her tiredness disappeared a lot, and she was a little happy in her heart.

It's just that I haven't seen each other for a day, it seems that after a few springs and autumns, there is a feeling of reunion after a long absence at this moment.

Seeing him, Yin Shun slightly bent his lips, and took out a box of exquisitely packaged Swiss chocolates from behind.

"Chocolate?" Xia Huai quickly went up to pick it up, opened the box, and saw the chocolates in the box surrounded by a heart shape, lying in the middle of the chocolate was a necklace with a sword-shaped pendant, the necklace was perfectly made and simple, unlike this products of the era.Xia Huai asked, "Is there another necklace?"

"This necklace was made in Greece in the last century and is modeled on the sword of Damocles. Although the sword represents the danger of the moment, the necklace is a talisman, and a European nobleman who once wore it relied on it. I have narrowly escaped death many times." Yin Shun took the necklace out of the box and said, "I made a bet with my professor yesterday and won it back. Now I give it to you."

Xia Huai smiled and asked, "Why did you suddenly give me a gift?"

"Today is your birthday, have you forgotten?"

Xia Huai was startled suddenly.Suddenly remembered, today is November 11st.He only remembered that tomorrow was Xia Nan's wedding, but he really forgot that today was his birthday.

Yin Shun put the necklace on Xia Huai himself, kissed him on the forehead, and said softly, "Happy 25th birthday."

Xia Huai was stunned for a few seconds, then slowly stretched out her arms to hug Yin Shun, and buried her face in his chest.It's like a person who has been wandering for a day, and now finally finds support.

Taking a deep breath, Xia Huai whispered, "Thank you."

He thanked Yin Shun for making him feel a little warm in such a tired and dark moment.