原创连载 | 负鼠之爱 01

April is the cruelest month in the wasteland

Grown with cloves, put memories and desires

Mixed together, and let the spring rain

Urge those sluggish root shoots.

——T.S.艾略特《荒原》(赵萝蕤译)

On the first weekend of April, we decided to try to start a small new section – the serialization of original works.

The first work comes from an unexpected submission email, which is a suspenseful creation from the perspective of "her". There are daily routines that we are accustomed to and unfamiliar with, as well as the cruel power hidden under the inadvertent daily life.

The hanging heart was still in his throat, and the police did not reveal anything. Lin Ruoyu must be innocent, they were clearly together that night, she knew that he couldn't do anything, he couldn't do anything, so why did he take him away?

Curiosity and fear stirred her heart, and she didn't know which side had the upper hand. What's even more disturbing is that after returning from the police station, she can no longer dial the phone number of Lin Ruoyu's parents, and it is always a short tick. She didn't know who to talk to now. Telling her parents or her best friend's boyfriend that she was taken away by the police only worries them, and it takes a lot of time to explain that she doesn't want to do it. In the end, the words that she couldn't say and couldn't swallow were like a mess in her heart.

After thinking about it, she still dialed the phone, otherwise she wouldn't have wanted to fall asleep tonight.

"Yao Yao...... Are you alright?" the voice on the other end of the line calmed her down for a moment.

"Are the police looking for you too?"

"A few of us must have been searched. I couldn't hear the bitter laughter of emotion, "I didn't expect Ruoyu to get involved in this kind of thing." ”

"You know what's going on?" she was a little surprised.

The police didn't say...... But there is a lot of noise on the Internet now, and a vicious traffic accident occurred in the suburbs at one o'clock on the night of the meal, and the bodies at the scene were all crushed. The report said that he took away a related person surnamed Lin, which should be ...... Ruoyu bar......"

"No way! He's already home at one o'clock!"

"I know it's hard to accept, but Yao Yao ......"

"You're a college friend who lived with him for four years, and you believe he would do such a thing?"

"Yao Yao, let's calm down first, that ...... If you need any help, feel free to let me know. ”

She was out of breath, her chest tightened, and there was no room to refute.

Like her, Li Ji didn't know anything about what was going on, and telling her that it was just a kind reminder that she wanted her to know the worst, but that was too blunt.

What's more, she couldn't understand why Li Ji believed the rumors on the Internet. He should know better than anyone that Lin Ruoyu has no conditions for committing a crime.

Two days earlier, on the evening of May 3, the three of them had eaten together, with a newlywed couple in the middle of the dinner — an example of their love for the future. Maybe it was because Yao Yao's job had just been determined, and she was one step closer to the marriage of the two, Lin Ruoyu had a few more drinks, so naturally there was no way to drive her home.

It would take half an hour for the substitute driver to arrive, so Ruoyu troubled Li Ji to take a taxi to take her home first. However, not long after Yao Yao and Li Ji got into the taxi, Ruoyu sent a message saying that he was already on his way home. The next day, she also contacted Ruoyu several times, until yesterday, when the phone suddenly couldn't be connected.

Why was he taken away by the police?

Yao Yao didn't want to read the rumors on the Internet. When she felt her fingers trembling uncontrollably, she realized that she was opening the search bar, and the eight words "Nanping suburban traffic accident" were not typed accurately, and it took more than a dozen times to send them out.

Sure enough, there was a lot of news, and there was even a video of the accident taken by an anonymous witness. Eyewitness videos have been reposted in large numbers, and most of the links have failed, but there are still a few coded ones that are spreading at a frightening rate, and all of them have more than a million views.

Yao Yao clicked on one casually. Even though the corpse was mosaiced into a pile of scattered squares, which were basically unrecognizable, it still caused her strong discomfort,

I almost want to flush it down the toilet and spit it out. On the desolate road, the black sedan rushed straight towards the man on the side of the road, and it was not enough to see the other party fall to the ground, so it ran back and forth many times, and then walked away. What made her even more sick to her stomach was that in the corner of the street lamp, she saw the last three digits of the license plate - 3, 1 and a vague number like 0 and 8. I couldn't help but think of Lin Ruoyu's proud and proud face when he first returned to China.

"How's it going? This car is not bad, you see, the license plate is my birthday! ”

A black sedan.

His birthday, 3.18.

No, drive away such thoughts! It can't be him, he knows best. Maybe it was because of the similar license plates that the police invited Ruoyu over, maybe someone stole his car? Yao Yao told herself to be calm while searching and browsing relevant information on various platforms.

It seems that curiosity prevails.

There were only three police reports.

The accident occurred at 1 a.m. on May 4 in the eastern suburbs of Nanping City, and the body was seriously injured. Due to the sparse population nearby, a resident alarm was received at 6 o'clock in the morning on the 4th, and in order to protect the scene, the surrounding road section was restricted for two hours.

At 8:30 a.m. on the 4th, traffic had returned to normal.

As of the morning of May 6, the deceased was Li, his identity had been determined, and Lin was cooperating with the police investigation as a related person.

A few words have been fermented and inflated on the Internet, and they have been interpreted beyond recognition. Although it was a local case, the tragic appearance of the corpse made countless media people rush to hear the news, and they couldn't wait to write a 100,000-word exclusive report. In this traffic whirlpool, the first share is the blogger "Yuting's Crime Notes", the popularity of the article is several orders of magnitude higher than the police report, and netizens are basically quoting her views in discussions.

"Hello everyone, I'm Yuting. ”

The brief opening statement is followed by a long analysis. In the blogger's view, the identity of the victim as an adult male and the murderer's treatment of the body are enough to prove that this is not an indiscriminate homicide case. The murderer had premeditated.

As for the video of the accident scene scattered on the Internet, Yao Yao also learned the exact source of information from here. Blogger Yu Ting received a mysterious submission before the police issued a notice, in addition to pictures and videos, there was only a sensational title: "Nanping City Cruel Torture and Killing: With First-hand Information". This submission was sent in groups, but Yuting sorted out the manuscript as quickly as possible and won the game. After that, she updated several articles in a row, and picked up the situation of the deceased through the Internet.

The deceased's name was Li Xiang, who was in his early 30s and had no regular job. After graduation, with the help of his father's relationship, he had a short work experience, but because his personality was too withdrawn, he left his job after a conflict with his colleagues. The parents of the old man quickly accepted the fact that his son was at home.

Yuting also learned from Li Xiang's social media account that Li Xiang was addicted to a mobile game and had insulted the game operator for "messing up" the game market, with fierce rhetoric and a paranoid attitude. For the past three years, his main spending seems to have been online, playing more than ten hours a day and owning a large number of high-priced rare cards. Offline life is not worth mentioning, in the photos on his social accounts, he is always wearing discounted or old clothes, and it seems that he doesn't care about anything other than electronic products.

The more she read Yu Ting's article, the more Yao Yao couldn't sympathize with Li Xiang who died tragically on the road late at night, and even once felt that the murderer who drove over the body was Li Xiang.

He has relied on violence since junior high school, once beating a classmate until he fractured his nose, and finally ended with his parents coming forward to apologize and the school to suspend classes for two weeks.

What Yao Yao hates most is to use violence to solve problems. In her opinion, those who use violence are the most cowardly and despicable, and when they really encounter something big, they will only fear the power holders. This kind of person is the best at venting his frustration to the weak, and he is prone to make big mistakes on impulse.

Sure enough, in the following article, she read Li Xiang's criminal record four years ago dug up by Yu Ting.

During the investigation, Yu Ting found that Li Xiang had an argument with others in 2019, which was characterized as a medical incident. (Link: Due to cutting in line, young men and doctors got into a fight, and a crowded stampede occurred in the emergency room) This is also the most influential incident that happened after Li Xiang left his job.

Mr. Li's parents later responded to the incident, but there were slight discrepancies from the news reports. Li's father said that he had a sudden illness at night and was sent to the emergency department, Li Xiang was anxious to know the results of the examination, and hurriedly went to the doctor to inquire, but was misunderstood by passers-by and cut in line, and had a verbal altercation with passers-by in excitement.

In the news report, Li Xiang cut the queue without authorization, and the doctor reminded him that he needed to print the examination report before continuing the consultation, but because he could not skillfully operate the machine to get the printed report, he suddenly became emotional, argued with the people around him and fought violently, injuring the doctor.

The emergency room was already understaffed in the middle of the night, and when people seriously injured in car accidents were sent to the hospital, the corridors were crowded. Li Xiang's medical troubles were undoubtedly worse, and the access road was temporarily blocked, and finally in the chaos and screams, a child suffocated and died in his mother's arms.

Li Xiang was sentenced to 10 days of detention after the incident.

Writing this, Yu Ting couldn't help but feel a little emotional, an innocent little life fell and became a cold corpse, forever losing the opportunity to see the future. And Li Xiang's parents said in their later response that this punishment was enough for Li Xiang, after all, he didn't mean it, everything was an accident.

"Isn't unintentional evil evil? I'm afraid this thing is evil and has evil retribution!" The comment with the most likes expressed Yao Yao's feelings.

Yao Yao, who still didn't want to be separated from her plush doll when she grew up, was moved by Yuting's article, and she couldn't imagine how painful the mother who died in her arms was, and how she would face the following years.

After an unconscious sigh, Yao Yao suddenly felt that Yu Ting's official article was very valuable. If it weren't for her excavation, everyone would only think that Li Xiang was a poor man who died tragically on the street, and they never thought that he would have such a past, and even killed a child who died tragically. She nodded decisively and even marked a star. These well-founded articles made her begin to believe and even vaguely expect that this person would find out the truth and return Lin Ruoyu's innocence earlier.

She put down her phone, stood up and walked a few steps, suddenly laughing and shaking her head. Lin Ruoyu, a young boy who came back from studying abroad with her and had a great future, how could he have a relationship with a violent criminal squatting at home. She has been with Lin Ruoyu for more than a year, and his family and friends have known each other, but they have never heard of a person named Li Xiang, let alone seen this face in any photos. Don't be too nervous, Yao Yao told herself, rest for a while and relax your nerves. She walked back and picked up her phone and was about to check the time, when a reminder popped up, "Yuting's criminal notes" has been updated. After a moment's hesitation, she clicked in again.

My heart was half cold, my trust was fleeting, and my forehead began to heat up. The more she looked down, the more incredulous she became, and her anger was about to erupt. Who allowed this despicable self-media person to write like this?