Based on her status as a flower picker, she didn't know that Lan Ting was widowed.
Hearing this, Lanting lowered his face, his eyes darkened, and slowly turned around, looking at the flowers under the night without saying a word.
When Shi Xiaonian saw his hand move and hold the car key tightly, he was about to turn around and face the antique car. She quickly said, "Should I not ask? Mr. Lan, I'm so sorry."
Lan Ting, who was about to get on the bus, lowered her hands when she heard this and looked back at her. She was standing there, wearing the dress of a flower-picking girl that is very common on Langhua Island. Her face under the headscarf was bare, without any makeup, and she was clear. Lightly.
The feeling between her brows always gave him the strongest illusion.
Just like his wife standing in front of him.
Lanting turned around and looked in one direction, "Xiao Nian, this place is very close to the Flower Sea Tunnel, why don't we go there and take a walk?"
Shi Xiaonian put his hands in his pockets and didn't wait until his phone vibrated, and he didn't know whether Lan Xiaoqi had followed her instructions.
Now she could only hold Lan Ting back. She nodded, "Okay."
Shi Xiaonian walked forward, walking side by side with Lanting. There was a forest beside the road, and the sound of birds came from the forest at night, making this night particularly lively.
Lantings walked gracefully beside her. Even though he kept saying that she looked like his wife, he did not cross the line at all.
But the scars on Lan Xiaoqi's body were still imprinted on her eyes, so she couldn't help but believe it.
As the two were walking on the road, they could clearly hear their own steps. Lan Ting's voice suddenly sounded in her ears, "Xiao Nian, let me tell you a story."
"good."
Shi Xiaonian needed something to hold up Lan Ting's time. He wanted to tell a story, which she couldn't ask for.
Lan Ting put one hand in his trouser pocket, looked at the sea of flowers in front of him, and spoke in a calm voice, "About nine years ago, a young man met a destined girl. They fell in love, got married, had children, everything. It’s all plain and happy, everything goes smoothly.”
Many stories are like this, and one of them is myself.
This male protagonist should be Lan Ting.
"and after?"
Shi Xiaonian asked.
"Why do you ask later?" Lan Ting asked, narrowing his eyes and looking at her, as if he was dissatisfied with her asking.
She really didn't like the look in his eyes.
"It's nothing." Shi Xiaonian smiled lightly, "Don't all stories have ups and downs? A story without ups and downs is not worth telling."
Lan Ting listened and looked at her intently, with a pale look on his face, "A story without twists and turns is not worth telling?"
"yes."
Shi Xiaonian is a cartoonist. She knows that if the story is poorly conceived, no matter how beautiful the drawing is, how many people will read it
"That's right." Lan Ting smiled bitterly and continued to walk forward, "The story of the man is the same. Their family of three originally lived a happy life. He was appreciated at work, had a great breakthrough, and received a generous salary. The remuneration has improved my family’s material conditions.”
"Wouldn't that be nice?"
Shi Xiaonian spoke lightly, mentally calculating how much time had passed and why Lan Ting's phone never vibrated.
I don’t know if Gong Ou has come out.
"Acquisition of fame and wealth always requires sacrifice. A man becomes busier and busier and has less and less time to go home. His wife repeatedly told him not to do this job anymore. The family needs a husband and father. , rather than a money-making machine." Lan Ting said in a low voice, and the two of them were getting closer and closer to the sea of flowers channel.
“…”
Shi Xiaonian silently observed Lan Ting's expression. He was already trapped in his own memories, and the light in his eyes was colorless.
He loved his wife, there was no doubt about it.
"But the man couldn't listen. He stubbornly pursued his job. In the end, in order to keep the nature of his work confidential, his boss asked to shorten the time for his family to get together, or to have all his family members live with him and be under the supervision of others 24 hours a day. Surveillance." Lan Ting said.
Shi Xiaonian listened, the boss should be the Lancaster family. If you serve in such a big family, the more you know, the more you will get trapped. How can you easily quit
"That man didn't give up his job?"
Shi Xiaonian asked.
"No, you don't know how big of a figure his boss is, how can he give up just because he says he wants to? Besides, fame and fortune are what every man wants to have, right? No man can give up!" Speaking of this, Lan Ting sounded a little excited.
He explained desperately, as if he wanted to gain recognition.
Lan Ting looked at Shi Xiaonian and saw a look of indifference in Shi Xiaonian's eyes. His breathing was stagnant, "Don't you agree?"
"I have no idea."
Shi Xiaonian shook his head lightly, not irritating Lan Ting.
In fact, what she was thinking was that if it were Gong Ou now, he would not even wait for her to speak, he would have already realized that he was ignoring her and would give up everything on his own initiative.
Well, that's what she believed.
"Of course you don't know. You are just a woman. Women and men have completely different ideas." Lanting attributed this to the difference between men and women and continued, "That wife doesn't understand a man's ambitions either. She doesn't want to be monitored, nor does she want to Knowing the nature of a man’s job, he chose to take his children back to his hometown.”
"That's it, men won't accompany them either?"
Shi Xiaonian couldn't help but ask how much he had ignored Lan Xiaoqi and her mother before.
"A man has his own ideas. As long as he works for a few more years and earns fame and fortune, he can spend time with their mother and daughter." Lan Ting turned to look at Shi Xiaonian with excitement in his eyes, "He Isn’t he a good man? How can he support his wife and children without money?”
His tone became increasingly agitated.
Shi Xiaonian couldn't feel any emotion on the phone, and she didn't know if Lan Ting had turned off the vibration for incoming calls. She could only bite the bullet and continue to delay the time.
"You're right. In fact, the wife should also understand."
Shi Xiaonian said, her tone was soft and indifferent, without any irritating meaning.
Sure enough, Lan Ting's mood eased a lot when he heard what she said, and he continued as if seeking approval, "Yes, that man knew that his wife's hometown was relatively backward and had inconvenient transportation, and he also spent money to build roads and tunnels. He How can you do this if you don’t make money?”
Tunnel.
When Xiaonian looked at the tunnel not far away, his eyelids twitched, this is it.
It turns out that Lanting was the one who wanted to build the tunnel in the first place, for his wife.
Under the bright moonlight, the sea of flowers has its own characteristics. All the flowers seem to be dyed with a strange color, exuding a delicate fragrance, which is refreshing.
Seeing that Xiao Nian was silent, Lan Ting grabbed her arm and said eagerly, "Do you think a man loves his wife very much? He can give everything for his wife, he just wants to make a few more years of money."
Shi Xiaonian's arm was scratched and hurt.
She took out her hand and said with a sneer, "Mr. Lan, don't be so excited. What happened next? Can his wife understand him?"
"No, during that period, due to the confidentiality of the work, he and his wife had no contact." Lanting said, walking step by step to the front of the tunnel, looking at the long cave, "And they The last exchange was about a fight about a man’s job.”
Shi Xiaonian stood aside and followed Lan Ting's gaze towards the long tunnel, and suddenly thought of what Lan Xiaoqi had said to her.
Piecing it together, she had already pieced together the ending.
She suddenly didn't want to listen anymore, but Lanting continued, "Then, three months later, the man received news that his wife took her daughter out to buy snacks at night and was raped in front of the unfinished tunnel. Sharp murder."
Shi Xiaonian stretched out her hand to cover her mouth, took a few steps back involuntarily, and stared blankly at the tunnel.
It's here.
It turned out to be here.
Lan Ting looked at her reaction and said, "It seems you have guessed that the man in the story is me."
“…”
"My wife's body was found in this tunnel. She didn't have any clothes on her body. She was all black and blue, and her mouth was full of blood. My daughter was crying next to her." Lanting said, "She was lying on my wife's body. She was crying all over her body. She was less than two years old at the time and couldn't even speak completely."
Just listening to it made Shi Xiaonian feel extremely depressed.
"Do you know the subsequent autopsy results?" Lan Ting suddenly laughed mockingly, his eyes full of bitterness, "My wife was ravaged and tortured for two hours. Her arms and legs were all beaten and fractured. She was injured He died in great pain! And there was more than one murderer!"
Shi Xiaonian felt very sad to hear that a woman suffered so much pain before dying, "What happened next? Was the murderer caught?"
"Ah."
Lan Ting smiled again, the laughter was full of ridicule and sadness.
Shi Xiaonian looked at him with a frown, and Lan Ting also looked at her, smiling, tears falling, "No, in the past five years, I have used all the methods, but I can't find the murderer!"
“…”
Shi Xiaonian was shocked that the murderer had not yet been brought to justice.
"I can't find it, I really can't find it!" Lanting said, clenching and unclenching his hands feebly, and then clenching them again. "I changed my name and ran to Langhua Island. I investigated every household. I’ve searched every house, but I still can’t find it! I’ve been looking for five years! I still can’t find it!”
He was very excited.
Shi Xiaonian subconsciously stood aside and stepped on the flowers next to her shoes. She lowered her head and suddenly heard a small sound.
She looked towards the source of the sound and saw a small figure leaning against the tunnel, almost submerged in the flowers.
The little figure moved, and soon returned to silence, without any movement at all.
It's all like an illusion.
It seemed that there were only flowers and plants moving in the wind, and no one there.
Shi Xiaonian opened her eyes wide in shock. She saw a small hand behind the flowers. Even in the darkness, she could recognize it as Gong Yao's at a glance. (To be continued)