Clawed toad
Zhao Lingcen
overture
Five familiar strangers were trapped in the great hall, the Huanshui Bridge was blown up, the road through the mountain gate was cut off, and the 401 factory had become a desperate situation. The ravioli was on the table and it was cold. The snow outside the window seemed to be a long-lasting soup heat, blurring the entire factory area outside the auditorium. Everybody stayed up. When the lights on the illuminated stadium, the screening room sang again:
The wind shook the heart
Shaken to the sky
Want to find you can't find it
How not to be anxious...
Liu Haining's gauze-wrapped hand knocked on the aluminum lunch box containing wontons, and sang along to this point, saying: "Come on one!" ”
Five middle-aged people played the "telephone pole" game again after twenty-five years. Li Xue, who guessed the boxing and lost, stood with his back to everyone not far away from ten steps, Cao Ning, Cub Er, Liu Haining, and He Xin stood at intervals behind them, from ten countdowns to one, within ten sounds Li Xue could shout "telephone pole" at any time, and the people running behind could touch Li Xue at will within ten sounds, and after hearing the "pole", they would stand still. Li Xue selected a person and took five steps towards him, but when he couldn't touch the other party, Li Xue continued to turn his back on everyone and touch who would replace her.
Count to five, and the pendulum clock is twenty-three o'clock. The singing in the screening room suddenly stopped, and a strange voice came out:
"'Utility pole'. Yes, this is the scene, twenty-five years, will not pass so easily... Long time no see, folks. Chef Li Fanping and Milk Bagao's son who played a small book became the anchor, and he became the most powerful person among the five of you; the son of the secretary Liu Heping actually started a business; He Xin... Li Xue and Cao Ning heard that they would get married in half a month, and Cao Ning, the son who had the least personality like Director Cao, became the director of the Bureau of Culture and Sports. Ten years after his release from prison, Director Cao has been obsessed with the Mountain Gate Pass, and he always likes the secret room, such as the prison. Tomorrow at three o'clock in the afternoon the construction team will be closed at the mountain gate, and it is expected to enter the factory area at five o'clock in the morning the next day, during which time I need all of you to turn the clock back to the day of the fire twenty-five years ago, and tell the memory of the midnight dream that awakened you, the rules are the rules of the game, the people who turn their backs on everyone ask questions, the rest of the people run within ten sounds, and the words are also said, after the 'telephone pole', the people who are touched within five steps continue to ask questions to everyone. ”
"What about the people who lose?"
"There are no losers, only dead people. It has now been half an hour, twenty-nine and a half hours before five o'clock in the morning the day after tomorrow, and if you have not given me an answer satisfactory to me during this period, then you will not have to waste your efforts to calculate how to escape, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, not one less. ”
"What do you want and what do we know?" The person who spoke was Cao Ning, with a small red rope tied around his left wrist.
Liang Yanling's singing continued to cycle.
First round
Li Xue turned his back on everyone and asked, "Who saw Liu Haining on the night of the Workers' Games?" ”
"Games? What are you talking about! On the day of the fire, the factory area was cut off, not to mention the sports meeting, and the color TV was too late to lift! Huh, Huh? ”
"The day of the big fire... On Monday that day, after the Games, each family distributed rice, and my father wrapped wontons stuffed with tofu and proposed that each family take a dish and everyone would eat flowing water mats on the lighted court. ”
"I remember, but where's the rice?" That night my mom also had a fight with my dad, saying that he had lost everything when he was drunk. ”
"It's not that it's lost, it's that everyone didn't get the rice." The next day, my father asked Liu Haining's father to check the personnel arrangements for the night of the Games, awarding awards, receiving awards, drinking water, eating melons, cleaning up the stadium full of melon shells, and moving tables and chairs to the auditorium. ”
"The Great Hall? Didn't He Xin just say that the flowing water seat is in the lighting court? ”
"It rained at dusk. My father also proposed to change the flowing water mat to the great hall, open the door, listen to the rain, just to see the dusk rain to the early morning rain, in the brilliant light and shadow, in the sound of the rain, everyone drank a lot. At the time of the award ceremony, Cao Ning's father had just returned from the provincial city and won back the brand of the famous brand enterprise in the province, and the whole factory was very excited, men, women and children. ”
"What about the rice?"
"Disappearing with Mi was Liu Haining, the cub's parents fighting alarmed the bungalow area, and the cub ran out in a chaotic way..."
"Li Xue, are you crazy?" Cub Er looked at He Xin, scolded Li Xue, and took back the hand that extended to Li Xue's back.
Li Xue shouted, "Telephone pole." ”
In the first step, Li Xue said, "He Xin, you know everything..."
The second step, "Cao Ning doesn't talk much..."
The third step, "... Liu Haining, on the night of the Games, you lost your appointment and turned out to be moving rice. She touched Liu Haining's hand.
Second round
Liu Haining turned his back on the rest of the people and asked: "At three o'clock in the middle of the night, I answered a phone call, saying that there was a fire in my shop, and when I arrived, there was a burning brazier in front of the store, and I saved a photo from the brazier, which was twenty-five years ago when we were playing 'telephone poles' in the lighting stadium, and there was a note posted on the side of the roller shutter door, which said' 'What your gambler dad said is true, twenty-five years ago, the fire in the 401 factory killed a person', this is what happened to me last night, what I want to ask is you, what happened to you? How did five people who had not seen each other for twenty-five years suddenly reunite at the 401 Factory in Shanmenguan? Before you answer the question, I would like to remind you that no matter who turns your back on everyone, ask the question, 'Who is missing after the fire'. ”
"Haining, aren't you a platform?" How to do entities? A week ago, I was at a readers' meeting at Mudu Academy, and someone in the Q&A session asked me if "Clawed Toad" wrote the second part, whether the murderer hiding in the shadows would hurt the thank you gift who had already lived a normal life. I forgot how to perfunctory past, that day there were a lot of readers, new questions kept being raised, at the end I felt a little strange, and when I looked at it again, people had gone, and it was until last night, I received a courier, which was a ticket to the Mountain Gate Pass, accompanied by a note that said, 'Tonight at 8:00 the construction team will blow up the Huanshui Bridge, and in three days, Xie Dan's ashes will be poured into the cement and built into a new high wall'. Shedan is the dead man in my new book, Clawed Toad. ”
The rest fell silent and stopped running.
The cub screamed bitterly, and when everyone looked over, the cub was shot in the arm, and there was blood on the ground.
The voice in the screening hall said: "This is not good, study hard, you must play seriously when it is time to play." Cao Ning didn't need to speak, you had to go back to the mountain gate every week to see your father. Get moving, kids. ”
The cub was in severe pain, trembling, and rushed to say, "I want you to wait a while, no matter whose turn it is to ask only one question, 'Who walked closest to our five families twenty-five years ago, but then broke off contact', this person may now be in the screening hall watching our every move, that is, he just gave me a shot, maybe the next second will be your turn." As for how I went back to the mountain gate, I have a fan who has long given me a generous tip, a week of soft grinding hard bubble several times said to see me, I do not have the habit of online dating, just hope that the other party can continue to tip, just the day before yesterday promised, see you today, and then it is like this. ”
Liu Haining shouted: "Pole! ”
In the first step, Liu Haining asked: "Cub, do you mean that the other party is a woman?" ”
In the second step, Liu Haining asked: "He Xin, the person who asked questions at the reader's meeting, the person who burned photos at the entrance of my shop, the person who paid the cub live for a long time, and the person who monitored Li Xue and Cao Ning, if it is the same person, a condition needs to be met." The voice I heard that night was processed, and I couldn't tell the gender, He Xin, you have to think carefully, was the person who asked the question on the day of the meeting male or female? If it's a woman, it might be the same person who deliberately approached us, but if it's a man who asks questions at the meeting, then at least one thing can be certain: we're facing at least two enemies. ”
Step three: "First, I started by asking the next question, 'Who is missing after the fire', and the cub just reminded me, and he said that he should ask 'who was closest to our five families twenty-five years ago, but later broke off contact', then there should be at least two fewer people after the fire, one may have died twenty-five years ago, and the other is hidden to avenge the dead. Second, if it was a man who asked the question at the He Xin readers' meeting, then at least a third possibility emerged: twenty-five years ago, it was not just two people, but three people. He Xin, I hope you grasp the opportunity of the third round, now is..."
Cao Ning walked behind Liu Haining, patted him and said, "Before you meet He Xin, I move first, I foul, count me lost, it is my turn to turn my back on everyone." ”
Third round
When Cao Ning turned his back on everyone, the screening hall changed a song:
You love to say you're a speck of dust
Occasionally it would drift mischievously into my eyes
I'd rather I cry than let me love you
You are really like dust disappearing into the wind
Hearing this, Cao Ning said: "Haining is the most dazzling presence of the 401 Factory Children's School. He was cleanly dressed and his face clean, do you remember? After the 'poles' ended, the five of us walked up to the fish pond mound and rounded a cedar tree. The cedar was so big that the five of us couldn't hold it, and the adult said that there was a lion mountain and then there was the 401 factory, and the cedar had always been there. It was blown up and dug into a fish pond when we were children. At about nine o'clock in the night after the end of the 'telephone pole', we climbed up the edge of the lion ridge through the sparkling fish pond, and the cubs always asked Haining for two pieces of toilet paper, squatted in the toilet for half a day, and waited for the rockery in front of the canteen to catch up with us. When the hot ravioli was on the table, he still gasped and asked Haining for two pieces of toilet paper to wipe his saliva. Haining and his father were very thin when they came to the factory, and after a few years they were still very thin, and when we ate the wontons and even cleaned the green onions, Haining had already dried his mouth and sat quietly waiting. I was angry with him at that time, deliberately choking him as an old cadre wearing a red scarf, and he did not return his mouth, saying that it was not good to eat too much before going to bed. My father didn't put me in Haining before the night shift, Uncle Peace entered the factory, and there were only documents in this factory, until the fire twenty-five years ago, Uncle Peace was the spiritual totem of the 401 factory. My dad always said, 'The development of a third-line factory like the 401 factory depends on the children of these veterans, intellectuals, college and secondary school students, and farm workers in the factory.' To learn. Wandering around the canteen and fish pond all day long, after fifteen or sixteen years old, he went to the production line, wasn't he standing still? Don't always worry about the privileges of the original construction corps, and forget that we are making shoes, I see that the article published by your uncle Peace is very well written: There was no road in the world, and the more people who walked, the more roads it became! There were no shoes in the world, and to conquer the road under your feet, you have shoes. There are as many kinds of roads as there are in the world, and there are as many kinds of shoes as people. No matter how long the road is on the ground, there are shoes that are longer than the road. ”
The screening hall laughed.
Cao Ning did not stop, "'The children of the 401 factory must take the road that others have not taken, conquer more roads, and the shoes of the 401 can be sold to more places'. Haining's words reminded me, who was close to our five families twenty-five years ago? But being close does not mean that the relationship is good, and being close to the five does not mean being as good as the five. At the beginning of the game, Cher asks a question that seems to focus on the lost rice and Henin, and I can tell you that the forgotten rice on the day of the Games was moved by Henin. On the day of the sports meeting, my father received the brand of the famous brand enterprise in the provincial city, very excited, hugged the brand and rushed to the factory, and really caught up with the final award ceremony, holding the trophy on the stage and saying a few words, so that the winners took turns to touch the brand of the famous enterprise. Everyone was excited and gathered around him to ask this and that. At that time, there was a sudden thunder, so he instructed Uncle Ping to move the rice to the office building, thinking that the next day he would order the directors of the workshops to receive it and distribute it. Uncle Heping just happened to be pestered by a child to ask questions, when Haining came to ask him for the bicycle key, he gave Haining the car key and the office building key, and instructed Haining to drive Mi Du to the office building. On the day of the rice loss, only Haining held the key to the office building where the rice was piled up. My dad never hid his liking for Henin, and that was over. Of course, no one will be so bored, after twenty-five years of seeking justice for those bags of rice, Haining does not seem to care, but you find that no, when I said Haining's father, the screening hall did not have any reaction, until I talked about my father, the screening hall issued a sneer, so trouble you, try to think about who has the greatest opinion of my father at that time, as long as we find out the identity of the person in the screening hall, we can know why he came. ”
"Color TV, video recorder each, cash 10,000, this is three hours before the fire police searched out of my home, the search for Cao Factory director should be carried out at the same time, so cub you said the first round is not right, three hours before the fire, the color TV has disappeared."
"He Xin, I found out that you are a silent dog." Ask who has had a festival with Cao Ning and his father, is it as long as you can throw dirty water on me, even if you want to talk about your own father's embezzlement of public funds over and over again? At that time, the factory wanted to build a new staff dormitory, and the happiest person in the whole factory was you? A person as tall as you, even your father is not qualified to squeeze into a house with you, you are so calculated, right? Changed the big house map to be quiet. As far as your father saw Cao Ning's father's servile nature, don't talk about you, I looked at it and was disgusting. I tell you, the brick and tile bungalow area wants to live in a neat unit building, do you mean? The whole factory has color TVs on your home and Cao's family, Cao Ning's father will not let him watch TV, well, call Cao Ning, Li Xue, Liu Haining, I, go to your house to watch "Dragon Ball". At that time, the button that the remote control could press was pressed all over the table, and the video tape of "Dragon Ball" was played at dinner, and you thought we were going to your house to rub rice? At that time, like now, watching the drama and eating, didn't we all eat and eat the drama at that time? You don't like it, that house belongs to your father, as long as you take Cao Ning with you, your father will take us to the day Wang Laozi. Speaking of the matter of building the staff dormitory, Cao Ning's father received the lockbox of the boss of the construction team, so why was he bumped into by my mother? The boss is a cheater who gambles indiscriminately at Shanmen Pass, you ask Liu Haining, you ask him, how his father gambled and even lost his underwear. At that time, whoever opened a small shop, whose home was equivalent to a monitor and an information station, I tell you, don't say that men and women prostitutes, corruption and bribery are so eye-catching, even if it is early love, calling beds, changing diapers, this file is broken, my mother also knows the roots. Speaking of Liu Haining, Li Xue, you are a woman who is about to get married, why do you ask irrelevant questions about you and Liu Haining as soon as you come up, how much time is wasted? Don't think I don't know, they are secretly well, my mother told me, several times at night to see Liu Haining and Li Xueqing and me, do you think Li Xue is really a young jade girl? Cao Ning, Xiao Cao Factory Director, I'm afraid you're wearing a pair of broken shoes. They all say that you are not like your father, your father was born in the army, strong like a cow, you are a paper tiger, fierce. Just now Cao Ning, did he praise Liu Haining? Can he not boast? How many times did Liu Haining beat him in private, I could see it with my own eyes. I think I will ask Cao Ning and Liu Haining about the feud between the two families, just said how his father appreciates Liu Heping, and how to cover up Liu Haining, who stole rice, I am afraid that he is riveted enough to want to clean it up, right? Then, I said one last time, Cao Ning's father, that is, Cao Minmin, he received the 300,000 yuan lockbox personally sent by the boss of the construction team, and later the newspaper did not write it, he lost his reason and the principle of party spirit, tarnished the holy title of communist party member, and degenerated from a hero of the people to a sinner of the people. My dad reported that he was a hero of the people and had no personal grudges at all. ”
Cao Ning shouted "telephone pole", did not speak, directly walked to Liu Haining, touched him.
Fourth round
Liu Haining glanced at Li Xue and turned his back on everyone.
Liu Haining asked: "On the night after the end of the games, He Xin said that I disappeared with Mi, and then you said that when the flowing water table in the auditorium was over, Li Fanping, who returned home drunk, that is, the cub's father, had a big fight with the sober cub's mother, not only moved his hands, but also alarmed the neighbors, and then the cub ran out in a mess." So if I admit now that I did move the rice, it proves that what you said is true, which means that you have seen with your own eyes everything you have just described, and that proves that you are lying. Isn't it more convincing to say that 'liu Haining disappeared with rice on the night of the games', and to put it bluntly, 'I saw Liu Haining riding a bicycle to move all of rice away'? Why do you act as if you know everything, want to say everything, and at the same time hide something? Don't worry, this is not my problem, what I want to ask is: what did the cubs do after the games were over and the flowing water mat was over? ”
Cao Ning fouled again.
Liu Haining shouted, "What are you doing!" I haven't counted down yet! I thought that as before, your father in the factory had the final say, the five of us had the final say, where to play the 'telephone pole' you had the final say, from where the upper edge of the Lion Ridge you had the final say, on the canteen to eat supper you had the final say, supper to eat wontons you have the final say... Or are you trying to hide something, you're asking? You want everyone to drive backwards with you and bring the topic back, what are you trying to hide? Didn't you all see the wound on Li Xue's right arm on the day of the fire? Did you always know what happened at night, or did you say... Do you have a share? Isn't it you? Otherwise, how can Li Xue follow you. ”
Liu Haining and Cao Ning were hit in a wrestling, and Liu Haining was shot in the lower leg.
Cao Ning showed a look of surprise and picked up the rope that had been twisted and interrupted and fell to the ground.
At this time, the wind swept the snow to form a small whirlpool, and for a moment it was not clear whether the huge white "silkworm cocoon" came too hastily to bring the wind and snow, or whether the wind and snow were kind, and took the time out of the busy to send a huge white "silkworm cocoon" and floated outside the open door of the great hall. Cub, Liu Haining, and He Xin slapped off the cocoon snow coat, revealing a huge crystal clear ice ball. The cub somehow brought a hot water kettle, and the boiling water pouring down the pot met the ice and steamed up, forcing the three people to close their eyes. When the three opened their eyes, the ice balls that became larger and larger formed a new surface, smooth and sturdy. Cao Ning pushed the cub away and waved the iron rod in his hand to strike the hard ice ball. The cracked wound on the cub's arm was punctured by ice bars, and he fainted, and he struggled to walk to the place where Liu Haining was sitting. He Xin and Cao Ning did not say a word for half a day, motionless.
"What's inside?" Liu Haining asked.
"Smashed open?" Liu Haining asked again.
"He Xin, what's inside?" Liu Haining shouted at He Xin, who had retreated to the audience and sat down.
Liu Haining dragged a discarded right leg to the front of the huge ice ball. Liu Haining and Cao Ning continued to say nothing and did not move.
interlude
There is a mysterious mailbox 401 at the mountain gate. All letters sent to the employees of the 401 factory have this address written on the envelope. Thirty years ago, after many on-site surveys, the leaders of the Yunchuan Production and Construction Corps selected the barren hillside on the south bank of the Guanli River in Shanmen as the entrepreneurial base of the independent third battalion of the Fourth Agricultural Reclamation Division.
There is a small river on the north side of the barren hillside, called Huanshui. The water is very dirty, the narrow river surface is floating with all kinds of debris, broken tables and chairs, wood chips, cartons, plastic tableware, children's inflatable toys... All those who have lost the bet, are counted, are damaged during the fight, and have no value are drifting on this shallow river. A piece of water is the gambling luck of the mountain gate, and the throat of fate in this town famous for gambling is as fragile as a water, thin and curved, and stuffed with garbage. There was a young retired cadre in the inspection team of the Yunchuan Production and Construction Corps, who was then the instructor of the third battalion of the Construction Corps, who boldly proposed to bury the water, take the road directly from the Li River, rename the Li River "Huanshui", build a bridge and walk in a straight line, facilitate the export of raw materials and products, and at the same time block the spiritual erosion of local bad customs on employees. On the banks of the Lijiang River, where pomegranate flowers bloomed, a group of peasant reclamation soldiers were ushered in, and the soldiers of the three independent battalions dug pits, filled in, built factories, built bridges, and built roads on the slopes of the mass graves.
At that time, the young battalion commander took the transformation of the 401 factory, from the rubber products factory to the Yunchuan Huishui Rubber Factory and the Shilin Footwear Group Company, he successively won the honorary titles of "Consumer Trust Famous Brand" and "Yunchuan's First Batch of Famous Brand Products", and the 401 Factory, which won the "First Footwear King Expo 'Golden Shoes' Award" and "Provincial Advanced Enterprise", was once a large taxpayer in the whole of Yunchuan, and he himself was rated as advanced in the county, state and provincial levels for many times, and was elected as a deputy to the county people's congress for two consecutive terms. On the day of the Games, he not only won back the brand of brand-name products, but also the honorary certificate of "Yunchuan Excellent Entrepreneur".
At this moment, he was curled up in the doorway of the great hall, a large area of burnt yellow necrotic flesh and dendritic embolized blood vessels, making him look like a delicate sculpture. His body was wrapped in ice and snow, like a work of art to be unveiled, and his entire body except his limbs were tied with red knots. A red rope folded in half in the middle is placed around the neck, and the ends are tied down the anterior chest, knotted in turn at the collarbone, in the middle of the cleavage, the sword process and the pubic bone, and then from the crotch down, along the spine to the back of the neck. After passing through the back neck rope loop, separate the two ends of the rope, go back to the front from the armpit, and cross the rope circle in front of the body and the back from top to bottom, and the rope net is like a turtle shell pattern.
Cao Ning untied the knot in turn, and the flesh and blood that were pulled up fell on the ground where the blood and snow blended, and after melting the ice, it became soft and collapsed. Some parts of the body touched like coke.
It's been a long time since dawn. The sun hung high somewhere in the sky.
The screening hall changed a song, or the same person sang:
Peers forget the mottled heart
The one who will accompany me the longest will be you
Become beautiful for you
Become sweet for you
……
The voice in the screening room said, "He especially likes this song." ”
Fifth round
Liu Haining vomited several times on the way back, and he turned his back on everyone and asked, "He Xin, what does your "Clawed Toad" say?" ”
"Don't go around in circles... We all have to die like that, Cao Ning, what did your father do, offended someone, don't go around in circles..." The cub cried uncontrollably, scratching his hair for a while, and crying out in pain for a while.
"It's 12:35 noon, except just now... Two hours or so, four rounds of games took eleven hours in total, which is equivalent to three hours per round of games, and by five o'clock tomorrow morning, we have about fourteen and a half hours, which means that we have to find out in the next four rounds of games. ”
"The answer? What the answer... What are we looking for? What do we know? ”
"He Xin, can you describe your novel carefully?" Liu Haining requested.
Cub Er suddenly realized, "He Xin... Cao Ning his father... I know! Every year, the children's school holds an award ceremony for outstanding students in the auditorium, the whole factory goes up and down, every year there is Liu Haining, and the second time is his first stop in the whole school, high and thin to go there, the left and right sides of the women's brush brush to him to see, squinting, disgusting. Every time, Cao Ning and his father presented the full merit award, and Liu Haining, who received this award and that award and came to the stage, really made the limelight. Who knew then that he was a disgraceful thief. The light on the podium hit him, off the field, just these red chairs sitting on the parents who do not say 'look at people Liu Haining', no children single or about to get married said 'really want to have a Liu Haining'. That is the highlight of the whole factory, where to go a harmonious whisper, smiling like a flower. Now that I think about it, the only sober person in the 401 factory is my mother, who said at that time that Cao Minmin's favorite is neither his own son Cao Ning, nor Liu Haining, the son of Zhiqing Liu Heping. At that time, I also booed her, saying that she was ridiculous, pointing to the Cao Militia who was awarding Liu Haining on the podium and saying, You adults are all talking about a long-term relationship, not to mention Cao Ning's father and Liu Haining, two honors and other bodies to see each other on the annual awards table, that is called pity for each other. My mother laughed at my childishness, said I was shallow, pointed to the malnourished bone rod next to Liu Haining and said, 'Your Uncle Cao's favorite is this person'. Malnutrition, bone rods, who do you think I'm talking about? Isn't it you Ho-xin? From before to now, Liu Haining is the most dazzling existence, his He Xin's light is covered by Liu Haining, I guess you don't remember that there are three people on the podium every year, one is undoubtedly Cao Ning and his father, the other is of course Liu Haining, the forgotten third is He Xin who never entered your eyes. But my mother's small shop is not the monitor and information station of the whole factory, my mother said that Cao Minmin did give Liu Haining pocket money from time to time, that is to see his pity, the stall is such a gambler father, the whole family's pots and pans are given to him. But the Cao militia was different from He Xin, and many people had seen him and He Xin busy in the great hall together. Who knows what kind of ghost they are doing together, but the two people who can share a secret and can maintain it for so long must be very close. 'Look, your Uncle Cao gave He Xin a red scarf!' My mom found out then. Ask, indeed, you should ask He Xin what he wrote, and the counterattack has become the most dazzling writer among the five of us... Oh, maybe, I'm just guessing, maybe Liu Haining, who owes a bunch of debts, has red eyes and doesn't stop doing two, hired one person to tie up all four of us, let us watch the Cao militia who once played him die, and then clean us up one by one. I ask you a question, did he borrow money from you when his online platform collapsed? I just hung up on him and deleted his contact information... Then He Xin, you really have to hurry up and explain clearly, otherwise, I think it is you who dies the earliest. What exactly did you write about that. ”
"The Clawed Toad." My new book is called Claw toad. The Clawed Toad is an aquatic frog from South Africa that hides deep underwater for most of the day and climbs up shoals at night. Prefers quiet waters. The clawed toad has no tongue and can only use its forelimbs to catch prey in the water..."
"Putting aside all this unnecessary, what is your novel about?"
"A homicide. It's not a case, because it's never been filed, and no one knows. ”
"Just so you know! How do you know everything? Why do you know? ”
"Twenty-five years ago, there was a fire in a third-line shoe factory in a small frontier town, and the source of the fire was located in a separate brick house at the back of the lighting stadium. Two dead, a man and a woman. But no one knows. Because just three hours before the fire, the factory director was arrested for accepting bribes, and at the same time, the accountant who embezzled public funds was arrested. People were busy putting out the raging fires, which burned to the meadows, to the fields of the fish ponds, to the ancient cedars, and the cedars became a huge ball of fire... In the past, people's roads to work burned into a sea of fire, and the people who extinguished the fires were half extinguished, and then fled back, and some people took advantage of the chaos to pack up their things, destroy the evidence, and finally fled. The fire burned for a day and a night, and it took the fire of the whole mountain gate to extinguish it at five o'clock in the morning the next day. ”
“...... What about casualties? Are there no statistics of casualties? ”
"It is written in the book, and statistics have been made afterwards: twenty dead diphtheria noisy grebes, more than thirty black-tailed wax-billed finches, sixty yellow-breasted weavers, thirty thrushes, four gray rat snakes, more than ten purple sand snakes, and two flower-faced beavers; four dead crested diving ducks and ten flower-faced ducks in fish ponds; two peacocks kept in captivity outside the office building..."
"What else?"
"Thirteen wild dogs, twenty wild cats..."
"What about people?"
"Who is the murderer?"
"Cao Ning and his father had already been arrested three hours before the fire, and the murderer was definitely not him."
"I'm writing fiction."
"The murderer was a child." Cao Ning said, "... I've seen "Clawed Toad." He Xin wrote a story about growing up. Five good friends grew up in the factory area, went to school together, finished school together, watched "Dragon Ball" together, watched together to play 'telephone poles' at the lighting stadium, walked through the fish pond together, climbed up the Lion Ridge, and went to the canteen to eat wontons. Sometimes it was too dark, and the eldest child would light a torch and walk in the front, sometimes the wild dog would catch up, and the boy who walked at the end would turn his back on everyone and pull out the branches to scare the wild dogs... He was the best at school, the best looking, and the most likable, and he took the initiative to protect the only girl behind the palace. Later, the wild dogs gradually became less afraid of them, but liked to accompany these five children, the youngest child who always ate a lot and did not eat fat, always walked to the cedar and shouted 'want to defecate'. At the beginning, the public toilet was built by the fish pond for this reason, the wind and grass, the moon scales, and the sound of cedar hoarse trembling... Wild dogs also like toilets and like to follow him the most, and he is the best of the five. When we ran out of ravioli and went downhill, the wild dog was fed by the ravioli he carried in the toilet paper.
"The most beautiful and excellent boy would hand him a tissue to wipe his mouth, he didn't use it, pulled up the small vest and wiped it off, spread out the toilet paper to wrap the ravioli, and came out of the canteen to greet the wild dogs resting on the rockery. The only girl of the five liked the best boy, not because he was good, but because he protected her. Although it was five people, it was as if only he and she could be seen, so dazzling, so... Match. The other boys chased her, she didn't like it, after school five people talked and laughed, each went back to their own home, the boy was different, he sent her home first, watched her close the door and then leave. The girl's mother could not speak to the women in the factory, she was a local Yi ethnic group, and the women in the factory were basically military dependents, or young women who had just been assigned to the factory. The girl's mother didn't even have a Han name, she couldn't say a word of Chinese, she couldn't write a single Chinese character..."
"No, she would write two words, 'snow' for snow, 'pear' for pear blossoms. Her hometown is Nei'an Village, Yueshan Township, a remote village located in a mountain pass at an altitude of 1,600 meters above sea level, and the altitude difference between the bottom of the mountain and the village on the top of the mountain is 1,000 meters. Up to the top of the mountain, there is a long stretch of tundra, the houses are interspersed, and the pear blossoms fall. To go to the outside world, the villagers need to climb the cliff with a difference of 800 meters and cross the thirteen steps with a total of 218 steps. ”
The four of them were no longer running because of the game, and they were all frozen in place at this time.
Liu Haining, who turned his back on everyone, turned around, and the people in the screening hall did not shoot bullets because of his violation. Liu Haining said: "... What you're saying is... Cher's mother? ”
"Li Xue, what about your mother?" What about your mom after the fire? Your mom was the one who was less after the fire? ”
In addition to the first question in the first round, Li Xue, who never said a word or ran, and had been violating the rules of the game from beginning to end, opened his mouth: "Are you saying hello to her?" You who have never said a word to her have finally remembered her. ”
"Wait, think about it, there was a round before, Cao Ning, did you foul?" The people in the screening hall did not move, but there was a round of Liu Haining you fouled, and cao Ning fought, but you were only shot... And Li Xue was even more exaggerated, from beginning to end except for the first round, she had been fouling, but intact. She sat in the audience like an instructor... She and Cao Ning are two sons, and the one in the screening hall... Is it a group? ”
"The first foul came in the second round and the person who fouled it was your cub and you got shot in the arm. Cao Ning fouled twice, in the second and fourth rounds, each time because the person he wanted to ask questions seemed to be unwilling to make any progress, but he was safe. I was fouled in the fourth round for wrestling with Cao Ning and was shot in the right leg. Liu Haining looked at Cao Ning, then at Li Xue, and finally at He Xin, "He Xin, in the first round, you deliberately focused your contradictions on the cubs, just now Cao Ning claimed to have read your novel, and told a story similar to the experience of the five of us, saying that it was obtained from reading your novel." And he said the murderer was one of our five children, so I ask you, cub... Are you a murderer? ”
The mad cub threw down Liu Haining, stuck his head under his right leg knee, and sneered a few times before releasing the sweaty Liu Haining, "I was like a ghost like you now, a chicken in the soup." Five good friends... When did the four of you ever make me friends? One is the son of the factory director, one is the son of the secretary, one is the daughter of the chief of the propaganda section, one is the son of the accountant, one is rich in the family, one is a decathlon top student, a school flower, the most inconspicuous skinny rod or the most favored one of the factory managers, what am I? I am the son of a cook. Do you think I don't know what people are saying about my mother behind my back? Just because she is black and fat, just because the small shop sells milk, they go to the store to consume, pull up the curtain and laugh at my mother is the 'big African milk bully' when any of you have refute it? Do any of you think that it is the friend's mother who is being scolded? Do you remember once, after playing with the 'telephone pole', I went to the fish pond, and Li Xue lied to me that the red scarf fell into the water, and all three of you encouraged me to dive into the water to fish. I tentatively went into the water, the water's edge was wet and slippery, there was a lot of duck,, cow, who pushed me from behind, directly pushed me into the fish pond? And then what? You laughed and ran, Cao Ning, do you remember, you ran back not to pull me, but to drag Liu Haining, who was left there to save me. That day I was like Liu Haining, now a ghost, soaking wet, like a chicken in the soup, like a crippled person who can't take care of himself, and like the residue leaves in the water that my father dealt with in the canteen every day and night... Cao Ning, you said that every time I walk to the fish pond I have to go to the toilet, I have in my stomach to pull? I have long had a psychological shadow, but whenever I walked to the edge of the fish pond, I felt that I had fallen into the water, and I could not climb ashore no matter how to climb, so I climbed hard and dragged the branches and grass leaves, grabbed a hand of animal feces, and had to find a way to float on the surface of the water without sinking. If I had been alone on the mound, I would have to bury my head in the water, and if I were a mixed couple, I would have to keep breathing in the and urine. It's all your fault, it's you, it's your fault! ”
"Li Xue was struck by you... Hurt? Liu Haining grabbed He Xin.
"Oh Henin! First, you don't dare to face up to He Xin's success. Second, you don't dare to read what he wrote. One and two are because you can't get past your own level. The teachers in the school are holding it, and the high light on the podium is shining... I surround you with my likes, but you know in your own heart that you are the son of a gambler, and no matter how talented your father is, he can't stand the sugar-coated shells of the construction team boss. The boss is not famous for doing a good job in the mountain gate, it is a complete liar, your father is just an insignificant one of the deceived people, no one cares, but you have to care, you have to sell this and sell that to pay him back, from time to time... And steal some rice. Don't pretend, the next day after the fire you obviously saw Lee... I saw the wound on my arm, and then it was gone. Li Xue looked at Liu Haining with disdain.
"Cher... On the day of the Games, the boss was also there, and he forced me to send him money to the town nightclub that night, and I..."
"Pull far away, say near, just say after the fire, the fire from the lighting stadium ... That house... Burned to the unit building, you see, why didn't you think of saving me? Didn't I show up in front of you scarred in the morning? Even if you don't ask anything and don't pursue anything, the fire has burned downstairs in my house, why don't you save me? I'm so pathetic... It's going to die. ”
"The cubs are gone!" He Xin chased after him, and the door of the great hall was slammed by the cubs.
After a while, a familiar figure appeared at the door of the great hall, holding a gun in his right hand and a cub who had passed out in his left hand. The three men who rushed halfway through frightened back a few steps.
"It's been too long." Come on people say.
a big broadcast
Li Xue did not show pride, happiness or excitement of a long-term reunion. Li Baolu, head of the propaganda section, deliberately stayed away from Li Xue and behaved more restrained. When he faced the other four, he seemed to go back to more than twenty years ago, showing an amiable smile: "Hello, this is not good, study hard, you have to play seriously when you should play." ”
"I remember, Uncle Li, at that time, the only adults in the factory were you who would talk to us like this, 'Hello everyone,' and treat us as equals." After dinner, Cao Ning came to my house and shouted at me, Cao Ning and I went downstairs, then went to the third floor of the second unit to knock on the door of Liu Haining's house, and then went out of the dormitory area to the commissary to find the cubs, and finally Cao Ning, me, Liu Haining, and cubs went to the office building to publicize Li Xue. At that time, after work and before the evening shift, you took Li Xue to the canteen to fight and return to the propaganda department to eat, you always ate very slowly, pretending that the meal was not finished, and guarding Li Xue to do his homework while eating. When the four of us knocked on the door, every time I saw your lunch box of dishes were cold and lumpy, but as soon as we saw us, we were very happy, bent down and said 'hello', and when we were sent downstairs, we said 'study hard, and play seriously when it's time to play'... Time flies so fast, twenty-five years have passed, Uncle Li... you...... Are you okay? ”
Li Baolu, who turned his back on everyone, ignored it, turned around and said, "Well, since the rules are all broken, just turn it upside down, and I will join you this round." ”
"You fouled ... Twenty-five years ago it was a game of five people, and today it has to be five people. The awakened cub was dying, still angry and refusing.
"Are you sure it was a game of five people twenty-five years ago?" Li Xue asked.
"This round is turned upside down, I turn my back on you, you ask, I answer... Just give it away. ”
"Cher... Say you..." Cao Ning finally eased up, but he said it was incomplete and couldn't go on.
"How many people died in the fire twenty-five years ago?" Who died? How did he die? Who is the murderer? The cub asked in front of Liu Haining.
Li Baolu waited for a while, saw that no one asked any more questions, moved a chair and sat down with his back to everyone.
"What He Xin wrote in the book is true, two people died. One of them is snow... It's Cher's mother, my wife. Burned alive... Thirty years ago, I was the only one in Nei'an Village, and Li Xue's mother and I knew each other, but not in the matchmaker's house. Nei'an Village is a typical cliff village in the territory of Shanmenguan, from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain, to climb 800 meters of cliffs, over the thirteen steps of a total of 218 steps of rattan ladders, up to the top of the mountain, suddenly a continuous rice field, the houses are colorful... That day, I happened to rush to the market, and I went out on the ma li slope, and I wanted to buy some melon and fruit snacks to entertain the blind date girl later. Li Dan is Li Xue's mother. Li Dan was the Han chinese name I gave her. Li Dan came down from the slope of Mali to go to the market to catch medicine for her seriously ill father. The pear blossoms bloomed just right that day... She stepped barefoot on the flower mud that the villagers had trampled on, and I pulled her along. I was in the village for three years, I knew a little basic Yi dialect, and I asked her, 'Why don't you wear shoes?'" The poor people in Neian village who have no land can't afford plastic shoes, but at least they can weave straw shoes. She said that the hay was used to burn the fire to give her father medicine. I didn't hear it very clearly, but I guessed that she was in financial difficulty, so I tricked her into doing something with me and buying her shoes after the matter was completed. She didn't agree, and I lied to her again, saying that I was a doctor and that I could cure her father. Then he pulled her to buy some rough snacks, took her home, and sat hand in hand opposite the blind date, who spilled the snack and threw her hands away, but she was not lightly frightened. Afraid that I would not understand, she reminded me with a picture that the girl who had left was the daughter of the village chief. I comforted her not to be afraid, I told her that I was not afraid of officials, even the biggest officials were not afraid, and swore to her, 'I am only afraid that you will not be happy in my life'..."
Li Xue interrupted him: "Remember this sentence, he is not afraid of officials, and even the biggest officials are not afraid." ”
Suddenly there was a murmur. The cub said, "Didn't you turn off the horn when you came down from the screening hall?" Is it an old tape? ”
Li Baolu ignored it, did not continue, and stopped for a minute or so before continuing: "Later I really bought her a pair of shoes, white high heels." Then Li Dan married me. Haven't taught her To speak Chinese yet... Cao Militia went to Yueshan Township to recruit people, and later I learned that at that time, the production and construction corps had just transformed into an enterprise, and the soldiers were all big bosses, and he wanted to make some efforts in the promotion of products through transformation. I went down from the mountain pass at an altitude of 1,600 meters to the bottom of the mountain, took a minibus to the Yueshan Township Government, negotiated well, took a minibus back to the bottom of the mountain, climbed the eight-hundred-meter cliff back to the village, took Li Dan to hold the one-year-old Li Xue, and after a simple farewell to the people in the village, I went down the eight-hundred-meter cliff for the last time, and crossed the thirteenth level with a total of two hundred and eighteen steps of rattan ladders... At that time, Li Dan's father had died of illness, and she was raised by her old father, relying on the cliff to collect medicinal herbs to live. So when she first arrived at the factory, she was a little sad. ”
"Li Xue... I remember uncle Li's family going to the factory. That day, Uncle Cao and I painted oil in the auditorium. Uncle Li was carrying a military bag in his left hand, holding his aunt in his right hand, and his aunt was holding Li Xue, you settled down your aunt, and walked forward without saying a word for a long time, we were too attentive to pay attention, I didn't know you were coming. After Uncle Cao scraped the red-lettered slogan on the right side of the rostrum, he went down the escalator to see you. He said, 'Come on? You say, 'Are you going to paint a new pattern?' ''Phoenix... Or pomegranates? I haven't figured it out yet. As I scraped the remaining coating, I secretly watched, and my aunt couldn't sit still, got up, and walked gently around the chair where Li Xue was lying. Li Xue, who was asleep, seemed to be choked by his own spit bubbles, and he cried with his eyes closed, and his aunt, who had already walked to the front row, coaxed Li Xue across a row of chairs. At that time, the aunt was dressed in national costumes, with a pair of white leather shoes on her bare feet, and her neck seemed to be blistered with red feet. ”
Li Xue smiled at He Xin: "You look at you as a person, people are two eyes, a nose, a mouth, two arms and two legs, when you come here, you have two eyes and one mouth, you will only look at it, dryly say, no, add another hand to you, now you have more skills, make up stories." No, give you another hand, after all, twenty-five years ago on the night of the Games, you saved me... Yes, thank you for coming home with a back injury. Cao Ning, don't be surprised anymore, still playing with your broken red rope, you look at your nest of sacs, a knot in anxiety, which point is not like your animal father? Don't look at He Xin, he didn't write it in the novel, probably for my sake, afraid that if I watch "Claw toad" sad, I am afraid that acquaintances will guess that I was raped by a cub. ”
"I didn't rape, I just..."
"Just what? Just lurking behind the toilet, he hugged me, blindfolded me with one hand and touched my lower body with the other. ”
"I didn't ambush, I..."
"In the first round, I asked the Games twenty-five years ago, how come you don't remember anything, you remember the blackout? Why do you care so much about electricity? Oh, by the way, didn't you just claim that the experience of the fish pond falling into the water left a psychological shadow on you... Having said a bunch of things, are you hiding in the toilet because of psychological shadows or are you hiding in the toilet reading pornographic books? After all, at night, the whole factory will light up the public toilet until dawn. ”
"Even if I kiss your mouth, even if I touch you, what if you don't already talk to Liu Haining and you?" According to what you just said, why didn't He Xin also touch you? Isn't the game always touching and touching? Besides, I didn't do anything with you at all! Aren't you good friends? Isn't it normal for a child to cuddle and cuddle? Aren't you happy now? They are all going to marry the director of the Bureau of Culture and Sports. ”
"If it wasn't for me... If someone hadn't spoken out and scared you away as a wild dog, who knows what you would have done? ”
"At that time... Well, I understand, He Xin, it turned out to be you at that time! Then why didn't You Li Xue ask him, the same man, why is he also ambushed next to the toilet, is he always following you? If it wasn't for me, it would have been him. Listen, I'm not guilty. When the cub said his last sentence, his head tilted toward the waistband of his pants.
"I'm secretly protecting her. I know a lot of boys like her, I'm afraid of her... I'm just afraid she'll get hurt. ”
Liu Haining beat the cub, and the cub shouted, "Why am I again?" ”
Li Xue laughed.
Liu Haining looked at Li Xue sadly and rushed to Cao Ning: "What have you done to her all these years?" How did Cher become like this? ”
"Isn't it strange?" Does it feel like you don't know the person in front of you at all? Li Xue smiled happily.
Liu Haining rushed to Li Baolu and asked, "You said that two people died, one is Li Xue's mother, and the other is who?" ”
"Li Xue's father." Cao Ning said this, and the other two people could not slow down with him.
rollback
The music stopped, and so did the snow.
When Li Xue looked up, he was innocent again: "Well, the six of us will play a round of 'telephone poles' at the end." ”
"We guess boxing, who loses and who has their backs to everyone standing ten steps away, counting 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, or not counting to 1, shouting 'pole' at any time. In the process of shouting, the people behind them run casually, but as soon as they hear the 'telephone pole', they must stop, they must not move, and the people who are waiting for the shouting numbers to turn around to see who is closest to whom. If you touch it within five steps, even if the other party loses, the person who loses will turn his back on everyone..."
Cao Ning really lost this time, with his back to everyone... In a trance it was as if everyone had returned to the past, carefully dodging, carefully teasing, cautiously attacking, cautiously advancing, cautiously retreating, carefully touching, in the dim and flickering light... This is childhood, a little desire in the little body of a child, a little sadness, a little fear, a little inferiority, a little stupidity, a little evil, a little person together. When you are old, you can calculate the gains and losses, and then end it all.
Five children twenty-five years ago... Twenty-five years later, middle age twenty-five years later, playing, running, and touching each other innocently like children twenty-five years ago. Cao Ning suddenly pounced on Li Xue and lifted the long sleeve on Li Xue's right side.
“...... Who are you? ”
The other three looked at Li Xuexue's snow-white right arm, each with their own discomfort.
The dying cub sighed, "Aren't you both going to get married?" You don't know what her arm looks like? On the night of the Games, I rushed up from behind and scratched her arm. I ran home and turned on the light to see that I had blood on my fingernails. ”
Liu Haining lifted Li Xue's collar, and there was no birthmark on the bare back of his neck.
No one said a word.
Li Xue was a little disappointed: "Liu Haining, Liu Haining, didn't I burn some photos in front of your shop?" Isn't that picture you saved now in your jacket pocket? Didn't you mention this photo in the first round? ”
Cao Ning retrieved a photo from Liu Haining. In the center of the photo is a floodlit court with five children playing games. On the left is a lush bougainvillea with a man underneath it... Liu Haining grabbed the photo and carefully compared it, looking up and down at Li Xue.
Li Xue leaned on Liu Haining's shoulder, pointed to the person under the triangle plum and said, "Well, I am this, Li Xue is that." I am two years younger than Li Xue, and I am the child born in the second year of Li Dan's entry into the factory. It is not possible to talk about entering the factory, Li Dan is locked up in the factory. Didn't Li Baolu say anything, he didn't teach her Chinese and took her down the mountain and into the factory. What is the use of speaking Chinese, gossiping with the mother-in-law in the factory? Li Baolu didn't need to teach her anything, as long as she knew what he was, she wouldn't be burned to ashes by the fire. He Li Baolu is a liar, a bastard who betrays his wife, garbage, miscellaneous. The most ridiculous thing is that Li Baolu betrayed his wife and kept a position as the head of the propaganda section. In the end, he slept with his wife and went to prison as a corrupt criminal. He Xin thinks he stayed in the office of the Propaganda Section all day long, which was diligent and sincere? Do you think he guards Li Xue all day long and doesn't let her go home, that is to protect her and accompany her? He was making room for the Cao militia, so that the old bastard of the Cao militia could meet his wife Li Dan, and he couldn't imagine that there were such shameless people in the world. There are so many things you can't think of if you want to break your head. Who took this picture? Who saw that there was an extra child in the factory who had never seen anything at all, who would be silent, not gossipy, and could always keep this photo? Isn't it Li Baolu himself? What's even more bizarre is that you think about it, when were you playing games with Li Xue at that time? The children are playing at home or on the lighted court, the adults are on the night shift, the separate bungalow behind the lighting court, that is, the house with the obvious skull painted on the outer wall, who was inside at that time? ”
"Cao Militia!" The cub blurted out, "But who the hell are you?" ”
"I am Cao Ning's half-sister, Li Xue's half-sister, I am the child born to Cao Militia's rape of Li Dan, and I am the child that Li Baolu secretly raised in the family of the elderly. Just like when he lied to Li Dan, Li Dan gave birth to me, and Li Baolu lied to Li Dan, saying that raising him in the factory would affect the physical and mental health of the child, raising a rich family in the town, away from the Cao militia, away from these bad things, and the child would be healthy and healthy. Of course, it is not fair to say that Li Baolu deceived Li Dan, after all, Li Dan should have gone crazy at that time. After the fire, there is no one missing, and you will certainly not think of this person when you turn it over, and it is no wonder that, it seems, I have seen it several times in my memory, I can't speak Chinese, I wear Yi costumes, and I rarely go out. Originally, it was really staying at home, wasn't Li Baolu kind enough to make room for Cao Minmin, and then he built a bungalow directly behind the lighted stadium, and painted a skull on the outer wall to scare the children who played. Li Dan finally died in the house and turned to ashes. The first day she was put in the bungalow was her death. Cao Minmin was really capable, and even if he had a conscience, he built a tomb for her in advance. ”
Li Xue walked over to the dying cub and squatted on the ground to tease him: "Eh! The person who scared you on the night of the Games was me, not He Xin, and you misunderstood He Xin. Of course, He Xin, a pair of eyes and a mouth, what does he not know? What didn't he see? Didn't your mother say that Cao Minmin loved him the most, that is, He Xin's paintings were taught by hand. He Xin didn't say it, and when he beat Xiao Cao militia, he took him to the auditorium to paint the decorative frame of the rostrum, painted and painted, painted and erased, just like he did to Li Dan, tied and loosened, loosened and tied. Well, just the kind of red rope that Cao Ning is fiddling with in his hand now, he can play all kinds of tricks. He Xin saw it clearly, got off work, ate dinner and went to the night shift, Cao Minmin took He Xin into the great hall to repair and tidy up, and when the rest of the people went to the night shift, he left He Xin alone in the big hall, and ran to the small bungalow behind the lighting stadium to repair Li Danxiu. This also blames me, when I can jump on my own, Cao Minmin wants to take me back to the factory from the old man's house, and the boss put forward a quid pro quo: the project of the new staff dormitory in the factory belongs to him. I returned to the factory and lived with Li Dan in a small bungalow. After dinner, the Cao militia separated me and let me go to Li Xue's house. Although Li Xue and I are half-sisters, we look very similar, I walked from a small bungalow to Li Xue's home, and the people in the factory regarded me as Li Xue and greeted me. One day I had a conflict with Li Xue, rushing out of the dormitory area to swing outside the auditorium, probably just then he was seen by He Xin, he shouted 'Li Xue' behind his back, of course, I did not react, thinking that the time was almost up and I went to the small bungalow. He Xin probably saw Cao Minmin and Li Dan through the window at that time, and then saw two Li Xue on the night of the Games. ”
The cub was tied up by "Li Xue", and at the same time, Cao Ning, Liu Haining, and He Xin were all tied up by Li Baolu.
This Li Xue is actually called Li Li, which is why Li Dan can write the Chinese character "pear". Li Li scolded Li Baolu: "I said you, why did you tie them up?" He Xin is depressed, why do you think he came? He knew everything about why he would come back? He was bent on death. Okay, forget it! Tied together, it seems to look a little better, neatly and neatly. In this way, you move Cao Ning over some, put Liu Haining in the middle, he is tall and thin, put to the side, the picture looks unbalanced, put him in the middle. Oops, this garbage, count him the dirtiest, in order to remove him to get a bloody, African big tits! She spat into the cub's face and pulled the rag from his arm to wipe the blood around him.
"What's your name?" Cub asked.
"Li Li."
"Lee Pear! Li Li killed people! Old irons, Li Li killed people! She stole the identity of a man named Li Xue to kill people! I tell you, do you think that by scouring my whole body and taking away my mobile phone, I will not be able to record your crime? I'm a video anchor, and for live streaming, I carry two phones with me anytime, anywhere. Why did I dare to run away? As soon as I woke up and saw this battle, when I saw this place, I kept broadcasting, and you were all broadcast. Someone will come to our rescue soon, I am a popular anchor with millions of fans, and the police can send a helicopter to come and kill you in minutes! ”
"Mm-hmm, I know, didn't your phone ring once halfway through?" You also asked Li Baolu' 'Ouch! Are you not turning off the equipment of the screening hall, using old tapes', others may not pay attention, I can admire you, that is the only highlight in your cub's life, you see what is this? Well! I told your fans a long time ago that this is a new sitcom, and your millions of fans are happy! You see, how many 666, all say you are talented! No, now is my fan, in the future 'Cub's live room' is mine, I am now a popular anchor with millions of fans, speak to me politely. ”
"Bridges, bridges... The bridge is blown up, how do you get out? You see the time, it's not five o'clock in the morning, even if you kill it and we run to the broken bridge and wait, we have to wait until five o'clock in the morning when the construction team comes. When the time comes, people ask you' 'How did you get into the factory when the bridge blew up', 'Are you alone', 'Are there any others'... If you don't lie to them, they'll come in, and you'll be able to run? ”
He Xin sat where he was: "The Huanshui Bridge exploded, did you see it with your own eyes?" The construction team built a new bridge at five o'clock in the morning, who did you listen to? No one remembers, 401 has long been forgotten. Nobody knows. ”
"You are Cher's sister, you are here, Cher is not here, your father said that the fire killed two people, one is your mother, the other... It's Cher. Can you tell me how Cher died? ”
Li Li was a little tired, and poked Li Baolu, and Li Baolu said: "It is still the most fundamental question, who is the murderer." In fact, I didn't ask or force you to continue the game, because the murderer himself had already admitted it. Who has seen it... Cao Militia and... My wife? Who was the first to propose playing 'utility poles' on a floodlit pitch? Who said you can't play in the center of the court, who said you have to lean a little to the left, and what can be seen a little to the left? Is it the bungalow with the skull painted? Who always scares you into saying there are ghosts in the skull room? Who used to light a torch when they took you to the fish pond at night? What happened to the plant blackout on the day of the fire? Who had the most motive to destroy evidence of the Cao militia's crimes? ”
"Become beautiful for you, become sweet for you, I love you quietly, sweet words become superfluous, you also become stable for me..."
"He really sings!" You see, Cao Ning is exactly the same as his father, exactly the same animals and beasts, exactly the same love to listen to Liang Yanling's song "Become Beautiful for You". After five years with him, he sang this song in his dreams. ”
"Don't you be disgusted here, aren't you and him half-siblings?" Evil is not disgusting! ”
"It's half-brother and sister, but there's no incest." It's not because I'm a principled person, but because Cao Ning can't, cao Ning is not? He knew that he could talk about dreams, and it was all 'beautiful for you', which was also Cao Militia's favorite song. ”
Li Xue untied He Xin and pointed at Li Baolu. Li Baolu was already sitting on the chair, facing the other three people, and said, "Tie my left hand and two legs to the chair, and I still have to hold a gun in my right hand." ”
"Tie him up!" Heck, you are not afraid of what you are afraid of when you die, the world is worth your nostalgia, why do you want to die? Yes, tie him up, Cao Ning, you tie him up to look better. ”
"What did Cher say at the end?"
Li Li, who had already turned around, stopped where she was and said, "She said' Roll! That day, the Cao militia seemed to be very happy, and unusually, they came to the small bungalow before dark, but they were called home by the police for a fishing call, and they were arrested. Cao Ning saw it all, pulled the electric gate and then set a fire, thinking that all the evidence of his father's crime, including Li Danquan, had been burned. It wasn't until five years ago that I approached him and told him that the fire had killed both of my parents. Until today, he didn't know that the other person who died was Li Xue. He thought that he had lived with Li Xue for five years and would have lived for a lifetime, but if it weren't for the fact that he had saved enough money for sentencing after he had accepted bribes, I would have done so long ago, how could I have let you live one by one until today. At that time Liu Haining, you saw that there was a fire under the dormitory building, your first reaction was to steal something again, instead of saving Li Xue, you still want Li Xue to say something to you? She grabbed the door and rushed to the small bungalow, looking at a red human ball burning in the fire and me fainting, what could she say? Li Li said as he moved out the gasoline canister, poured the auditorium over, set aside the place around the five people, and clicked: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, exactly five." Come on, the real game has begun, you don't know how much I wanted to play 'poles' with you twenty-five years ago, but then you were E. coli, I was a small piece of DNA on the clawed toad chromosome, and I could only hide and watch your five good friends play happily. When Li Xue is in a good mood, she will let me pretend that she is playing with you. Well, now let's have fun together! ”
While shouting counting, Li Li dragged li baolu and he xin outside the three people around... Then put them back in place. She poured the rest of the gasoline on the five men, ignited the cubs, and lit the rags on the podium. "He Xin, it's been a busy day, and I have to go." The story of The Clawed Toad and the GMO, just bother you to explain it to them. Crossing the Huishui Bridge... Walking through the pomegranate forest, passing a hardware shop, the rice noodle shop should be open, right? I'm hungry now," Li Li muttered, "Actually, you all know it..."
"Li Li, can you tell me your name yourself..." Cao Ning shouted in the fire.
HE
The strings of lights in the illuminated stadium are on again, and the screening hall directly opposite the auditorium has a familiar melody:
How not to be anxious
Li Li stood on the Bridge and glanced back. Mailbox 401 was like a letter to the deceased.
Actually, you all know it...
Rabbits and nails
"Clawed Toad" creation talk
I like rabbits, I chased rabbits, a rusty nail in the deserted backyard penetrated the soles of my feet, when I was young, I was chasing rabbits, I liked rabbits...
"Clawed Toad" is an adaptation of another unpublished novel, Sydney. In 2018, when I wrote Sydney, I wanted to create a kind of dialogue body - pretending to be a third-person omniscient perspective, in fact, the first-person narration of events, and the narration is all false, in fact, the accomplice at the time, the current narrator "I" pretended to be telling, in fact, at the beginning of the initiation of a dialogue with another suspect, like the accomplice of the two people turned their faces, one person constantly released information, threatening the other. I want double suspense, double deception, double disintegration: who died/who killed and who was speaking/telling whom; who lied at the time/who is lying now; who was then, now, involved, and told. I want people to be able to deceive, people to kill, words to deceive, words to kill. I want words to both exacerbate the tension of the murderous suspense and erupt its own violence, and the scene I want to write and the scene of reading is another scene of crime.
But I didn't succeed. I always seem to think too much, arm myself too tightly, and write it too carefully to guard against death, and while defending the city, the city becomes a desert island. The isolated island that no one watches is destined to become a desert island, and the only wealth on the island - murder, human evil or evil - these things will eventually disappear. It doesn't matter whether there is goodness or beauty or hope. It's like a house, and the best repair is for someone to live in. This is a dilemma that I have created for myself: I obviously want to invite curious eyes to look at me, to see the evil I have encountered, the evil that I cannot push away, to see the pity and richness of the wicked, and finally to be able to feel a little emotion because of me, even if the last curious person is no longer curious, and the people who pass by have passed by. They could accompany me for a while because they had seen the emotions I had generated, but my invitation was a very good design and painstaking defense, and it was clear that they wanted to drive people away.
So I thought of Sydney and wanted to do a major operation for Sydney. I start by asking myself: What do I most want to achieve? I thought: I want you to experience for yourself that no one is innocent, that we are unexpectedly equal and unexpectedly plump in the aspects of evil. As long as the evil is full, it is enough, and there is no need for side events.
So I had a self-harm surgery. Man's innocence lies in ignorance, deception and concealment, and the innocence of words lies in ignorance, deception and concealment. I want to be the first to appear directly disabled in front of the reader, so I open the book with all the characters inexplicably trapped in an open, deserted auditorium. First, they don't know what exactly happened that led them to this situation; second, they don't know what will happen next; third, the open rather than closed environment is more helpless, and the most helpless is that even if they know that there is no one to help, even if they know that there is a door, there is no way to escape; fourth, behind the inexplicable, isolated and helpless, someone is deliberately concealing and deceiving, and the victim who inexplicably falls into the isolated situation may be the perpetrator, the narrator, the author. "Clawed Toad" appears in front of everyone innocently, because innocence can only be an illusion created by man, and the illusion is the best window for calling for help, and the victim cannot call for help like the perpetrator, but only asks for help from strangers who know nothing - the reader. So I chose to welcome the readers who visited with a weak posture.
The scene took place in factory 401, in a very small town in Yunnan. Every time I write, I think of this scene, the innocent white rabbit that led me to chase, the forgotten, useless, bloody, painful nail. I think that writing is chasing rabbits, not avoiding the chase of nails.
* Published in Youth Magazine, No. 8, 2020
Zhao Lingcen is a doctoral candidate at the School of Foreign Chinese of Nanjing University, and a contracted writer of the second phase of the "Youth Literature Talent Program" in Nanjing. He has published and translated books such as "Book of the Future", "The Responsibility of Artists", "The Road of Artamon", etc., and his poems have appeared in Poetry Journal, Literature and Art Daily, Wen Wei Po, etc. In August 2017, he won the Literary Translation Award of the 6th Jiangsu Purple Mountain Literature Award, and was a student of the 35th Advanced Seminar for Young and Middle-Aged Writers of Lu Xun Literature Institute.
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