River Beach (short story)

We're the kind of people who are always waiting for a call. Waiting, and afraid. Xiao Yunsheng said, the phone is a bit like a ghost. I asked, what do you mean? Xiao Yunsheng said, you didn't know before you came, you just came. After receiving the call, I went to the banks of the Nile. The car was driven out by Xiao Yunsheng, I asked him what to do, and he said, either wait for me, or you take a taxi. I didn't bother to wait for him, I didn't take a taxi, just a little bit of road, I thought to myself, no. As a result, the community was built on the mountain, and the altitude gradually rose from the first phase to the fourth phase, and the phone said that it was the fourth phase, and I had to walk up in a circle for about half an hour, and I was sweating, and the heat was not very hot, but the moisture in Sichuan was like a snake, tightly wrapping everyone inside.

In May, the mountain peach bears small green hard fruits, and a woman stands under a peach tree waiting for me. I was taken aback from afar, it was a beautiful woman, with long hair spread out, wearing a beautiful green silk dress, a knot tied haphazardly around her waist, and a thin gold chain, spreading into an unknown area. I didn't dare to look at her directly, but I hurriedly looked at her, and I could see that she was very haggard, and she had no makeup, and she knew at a glance that she was forty years old, but it was strange, and for days to come, I was thinking about her tired eyes and haggard face. I settled down before I spoke: "Miss Yi?" She nodded, pointing to a broken window on the first floor: "Someone entered in the middle of the night." ”

I turned on the body camera and casually said, "I have to wait for a colleague...... Forget it, let's go, let's go check it out first. "A three-bedroom apartment on the ground floor with a small courtyard of about fifty square meters, the living room and kitchen have doors open and open directly to the courtyard. I went in from the yard and there was a mess everywhere, half hardened tiles, half planted with dense flowers, and the hardened ground was piled with cardboard boxes and woven bags, and two rattan chairs, next to the fence, in front of a large canopy of hydrangeas. Hydrangea is uncooked, but it is still blue and prosperous, I don't know who threw a cigarette butt, good to hold a flower, looking at the trouble, I subconsciously brushed the cigarette butt down. The cigarette butt fell on the mud, and I just wanted to pick it up and throw it away, when Miss Yi came over and kicked open a few cardboard boxes. Just moved in, and hasn't packed up yet, she said. There is a ficus in the corner, early summer, the leaves are faint, and her skirt is a green, the kind of green is gloomy, with a bit of ghostly atmosphere.

The master bedroom did not open the door, but there was a corner bay window, from which the man came in, and there was no blood stains on the ground, and the man was very careful. The bedroom was turned over everywhere, a place of clothes, I put on gloves, picked up a dark green dress and looked at it, found that it was a lace underwear, and hurriedly put it down: "What's missing?" A watch, a pair of earrings. "How much is it worth?" she thought for a moment: "More than 20,000 yuan, more than 20,000 watches, earrings are not worth much." "What's the character?" "Nothing special, Omega, blue, basic." The earrings are a pair of little stars, faded from many years ago. I looked at the bed in the bedroom, which was only two meters away from the window: "You didn't hear such a big movement?" "I slept in the living room last night, and I was tired of packing up my things, and I don't know why I fell asleep. "What about the rest of your family?" she laughed, "I don't have anyone else in my family." I was a little embarrassed and looked at her again. The kettle screamed, and she made tea and handed it to me, making herself a cup.

I was blowing tea foam, not the jasmine tea that the Zigong people drank, but the West Lake Longjing. The brown was turquoise, and I thought of the lush grapefruit trees in the yard, and looked at the green dress on her body. Everywhere is green, deep and shallow, like one green vortex after another. I gradually felt dizzy. "Is there surveillance in the house?" I asked. She shook her head. "Is there one in the community?" "Yes, but not here." "I looked around, her row of houses was facing the community wall, and on the other side of the wall was the shooting range of the armed police, and the shooting range was open-air, and there were no monitoring heads in this row.

The shooting range goes down the Xushui River, so here is the "Nile River", that is a shoal, the water is also clean, although the government does not allow the water, but in the middle of summer, there are still many people soaking in the water. The water along the beach is not deep, so you can soak while reaching out to pick the snails at the bottom of the river. If you can't open it, you swim forward, and the water is shallow at first, but there is a vortex further downstream, and people die in the vortex every year. Everyone says that there is a river demon over there, and one person is accepted as a sacrifice every year, and if you believe this, wait until that person dies this year before going into the water. I didn't live in this area when I was a child, but some of my classmates always said that people who died this year can go down to the river. After that person drowned last year, Xiao Yunsheng and I came over, and I said, after so many years, this river demon has not moved anywhere, nor has he cultivated. Xiao Yunsheng didn't speak, Tie Qing looked at the river beach in front of him with a face. I went into the courtyard again, and for a moment I didn't know what else to do, so I simply sat down on the wicker chair. The rattan chair is next to the yard, looking like no one has lived in it for a long time, there is a wild cat flexibly shuttling between the two yards, falling and generous, this is its territory.

I sat for a while, watching as the wild cat picked up the cigarette butt and carefully hid it in a cardboard box in the corner, which was probably its nest, and there were many bits and pieces from a distance.

I also lit a cigarette and called Xiao Yunsheng: "Boss, why haven't you arrived?" There was a boiling voice on the other side of the phone, and he yawned: "Burglary? "People are not in a hurry if they are fine. You come back first, I don't want to move today. I was a little upset: "I came up." ”

He yawned again: "You're a young man." Xiao Yunsheng hung up the phone. She also came out, holding my cup of tea, and I was a little sorry: "My colleague has another case, or you should go to the office first and make a record." She thought about it. "When all of you guys come, I'll go back with you, I'm a little busy today. She pointed to the glass ballast, "I'll have to clean it up." "Then don't sleep at home tonight. Do you have another place to sleep?" "Yes, my parents live in Lijing Garden. I nodded, that neighborhood was very close to our criminal investigation team. There are two rows of food streets at the entrance of the community, and colleagues always go there to drink after work, boiled cat (bullfrog), braised rabbit, grilled crucian carp with green onions, and roasted duck with konjac.

Xiao Yunsheng must go home for dinner after work, but he will go to a cold vegetable restaurant every once in a while to pack and take away, the owner is his middle school classmate, they don't seem to know each other very well, and they are polite to meet. Xiao Yunsheng always called the same thing: three taels of cold pork fragrant mouth, two rabbit brains, rabbit brains are not spicy, and they are for his younger sister to gnaw. Rabbit meat is highly nutritious and pure protein, Xiao Yunsheng always said. The boss is a real boss, he has a lot of business, and he is not always there, but whenever he is in the store, as soon as Xiao Yunsheng shows his face, he always has to receive him in person. The boss's surname is Wang, and his name seems to be Boss Wang, because no one has ever called him by another name, and as soon as he stands in the cold vegetable shop, everyone shouts "Boss Wang".

When Boss Wang saw Xiao Yunsheng, he would never accept money, but Xiao Yunsheng would always give it, and the two of them sometimes almost had to fight, and Xiao Yunsheng always won. has been in the police station for so many years, Xiao Yunsheng has not had any major incidents, and he can't be promoted, only here, it seems that he must win.

Later, I heard from others that Boss Wang was also divorced and had no children. I was just about to feel a little sympathy, but others said, "Sympathize with you, shovel, you know who his father is?" It was our former vice mayor! I said, the son of the vice mayor opened a cold vegetable restaurant? And then what about it? People are down, the capital is still there, the son of the other people's own business, now there are 28 branches around the world. I said, the farthest in the world is so far? Others say, I don't know, anyway, Neijiang has it. I said, "Well, what?" people say, money, what do you have, and then people live in big villas, you can change your girlfriend if you want to change your girlfriend, and if you want to lie down and count the money, you can lie down and count the money, and you have what you want. I said, "Sounds like other rich people?" People say, rich people, they're all about the same, and they only smoke gold leaf.

I said, my boss also smokes gold leaves, not a dozen yuan a pack? The other party looks at me, Tianye knows? You go and search Tianye for a lot of money. I was searching, and the man sighed again, I heard that even the innermost molars were rotten, and they were inlaid with gold teeth. I said, "Pure gold?" Others say, "Ah, what do you think?" I said, "Isn't it a little soft to bite into pure gold?" and "Pure gold?"

After listening to the story of the golden tooth, and thinking of Xiao Yunsheng's monthly salary slip, and the simple face that only I will call him the boss, I thought I understood Xiao Yunsheng and why he had to pay for this fight. When they fought, it was like they were really fighting, and both of them were full of swearing, with bruises on their foreheads, and they were sweating profusely for thirty dollars.

Boss Wang's appearance is weird, and ugliness can't be said to be ugly, it just makes your heart feel uncomfortable, and you want to punch him twice in a fight. It's impossible to beat, I just keep trying to see if people really have gold teeth in their mouths, whether they are pure gold or gold-plated, but Boss Wang's mouth is never so wide. Xiao Yunsheng clearly could not go, but he didn't know what was going on, so he still went to buy rabbit brains again and again, eager to meet Boss Wang, eager to meet Boss Wang and then fight.

Once, after the fight, I asked Xiao Yunsheng, can't you change to a cold vegetable shop? Xiao Yun was panting angrily, carrying two plastic bags of cold vegetables, two rabbit brains cut into four pieces, and the brain flowers were exposed outside. He said, you know a piece of. I should go, but I couldn't help but go to the living room and sit for a while. The living room is empty, the green sofa, the solid wood coffee table, there is no TV on the TV cabinet, but there is a photo, probably turned out by moving, the plastic seal is leaking, and the photos are all spotted and yellow. There is a row of red letters on the top, which reads "Xushui Middle School Senior One (Second) Class Singing Competition", and the boys and girls wearing school uniforms are densely packed below, the boys are wearing ill-fitting gray suits, and the girls are wearing white shirts, with large collars turned out, and blue strap skirts. I wanted to find Miss Yi from inside, but it was almost impossible, everyone had exactly the same red face, boys and girls were all spared, girls were combed with high ponytails, and boys were all Aaron Kwok.

There are two lead singers in front, holding the class name card together, the boy's hairstyle is between Aaron Kwok and Andy Lau, except for being tall, there is nothing else to say, he has a simple face, he is next to a stunningly beautiful girl, her red face is very red, but her whole person is quiet, like the beauty in "Liao Zhai", she came to the world by mistake, and she has to participate in the singing competition. There is really no reason not to leave, the noon sun hits the grapefruit tree, I should take a taxi, but I am also like the scholar who spent the night in "Liao Zhai", a little trance, I only know to walk slowly and leisurely, until I walk out of the wet sweat one after another. I passed by the food court and went to the cold vegetable shop to buy two taels of pig's tails, and a young man chopped my tails.

I said, "Boss Wang didn't come today?" He nodded and shook his head again: "Boss Wang closed all the business, and the boss said that he wanted to get married and immigrate." I was carrying that little bit of pig's tail, thinking, hell, Xiao Yunsheng doesn't know what to do now. After gnawing on the pig's tail, Xiao Yunsheng came in from outside, with a scruffy beard, dripping oil soup on his police uniform, and carrying a boxed lunch. After graduating from the police academy last year, I smoothly entered the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Gongjing Sub-Bureau, with a salary of 3,050 during the probation period and 5,033 after becoming a regular.

This kind of work is now too good to be true, I entered it in high spirits, and as soon as I entered, I met Xiao Yunsheng, the deputy squadron leader, and then I arrived today. Xiao Yunsheng is afraid that he will be forty-five or sixteen years old, divorced two years ago, and lived back to his parents' house with his daughter alone. The house is on a slope, which was the fund-raising fund to build the house back then, and across the road is the Zhangjia Garden.

I have been to his house, there are a few towering old trees outside the door, there is no light in the middle of summer, the house is large and broken, and it smells of old people. There is a patio at the back, with seven or eight pots of flowers, Xiao Yinuo is holding a toy shovel and looking for earthworms to play in the soil. The fat earthworm came out of the soil, I thought the little girl would throw away the shovel and cry, but she calmly pinched the earthworm to show us, Xiao Yunsheng was very patient, and looked at the earthworm carefully. Xiao Yinuo was very happy and went to the refrigerator to get popsicles, we squatted and ate popsicles, and after watching for a while, the earthworm slowly crawled back into the soil. Xiao Yunsheng is nothing, it's just a little rough.

Last year, he also ran to the community every day, let the fooled father-in-law and mother-in-law register, and the workload of 12 hours a day never listened to his complaints. But it's strange, just such a person, like the vortex in the Xushui River, seems to be able to drag the person next to him into it. I've been following him for a year, and I'm used to going to the team every day to unscrew the thermos cup and throw two fat seas into it. I'm still used to telling myself, if the case is not solved, it will not be solved, and it is impossible to solve all of them.

Xiao Yunsheng ate the boxed lunch with relish, and after eating for a while, he remembered: "The transcript is done? I changed two fat seas: "No, I said that there was something in the afternoon, and we will go up again." "This man is not panicking. The gloomy face floated in front of him: "That's it, don't panic at all." He picked up a piece of meat back to the pot with chopsticks and rolled some rice: "Burglary is not easy to break, you have to persuade people to want to open it." "I think of that woman, the green yard, the green bedroom, the green skirt tightly wrapped around the body when the wind is blowing, and I am a little confused for a while, that woman, looking at anything, can think of anything.

Another colleague in the team came in from outside: "Boss, I went to the police, and several dolls were robbed at the gate of Xushui Middle School." Xiao Yunsheng raised his head: "Wait for me for ten minutes, I'll go too." He ate in a hurry, Xiao Yunsheng is also from Xushui Middle School, he doesn't know what feelings he has for that school, last year the school cafeteria was stolen three free-range chickens, he ran back and forth five times, and finally caught an aunt who looked honest.

I felt that something was wrong, like something was floating in front of me, I looked at him, and then at him, and finally caught something: "Boss, what hairstyle did you learn?" He felt puzzled and replied, "Hairstyle? Aaron Kwok, right? At that time, everyone was not Aaron Kwok...... No, there is also a little Andy Lau. A tall red-faced teenager gradually appeared on his unshaven face, and I was very excited: "Boss, it turns out that the girl is your high school classmate." "Which?" "The burglary one, the hair is so long." I paused, "That woman is a little weird, everything is green." ”

Xiao Yunsheng's dark face suddenly turned white: "...... What's the name? What's that woman's name?" I turned on my phone and flipped out the ID card I had taken in the morning: "Yi Wanxing." Her name is Yi Wanxing. ”

After a long, long time, Xiao Yunsheng said, "Oh. ”......

Author: Li Jingrui