Yang Fan returned upstairs, his heart pounding. He went to the bathroom first, then brushed his teeth and washed his face thoroughly.
Before he was about to go out, he paused, turned back and lifted the toilet lid.
After a while, Yang Fan came out and tiptoed to the door of Liu Yueyue's room.
Put your hand on the door handle and turn it gently.
Um
Can't turn it!
Yang Fan exerted force.
Still can’t turn it!
Yang Fan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This girl locked the door.
The last time Thirteen and Liu Qianqian stayed in this room, they never locked the door at night.
"Yueyue, open the door." Yang Fan knocked on the door gently and called in a low voice.
I called out a few times, but the door didn't open and Liu Yueyue didn't respond. I didn't know if she was asleep.
Sighing secretly, Yang Fan had to give up.
If I knock on the door again or shout again, my parents might be able to hear me.
This girl must be afraid of what will happen if she opens the door.
Yang Fan didn't say much, Liu Yueyue had enough reasons not to open the door.
On the contrary, the next day, after getting up, Liu Yueyue saw Yang Fan and asked him timidly: "Yang Fan, you are not angry, right?"
"Why are you angry?" Yang Fan pinched her smooth face.
Afterwards, after breakfast, they said goodbye to Yang's father and mother, and went out to start work.
Before four o'clock in the afternoon, the two said goodbye to their colleagues in the project team and went home.
Before going up the mountain, passing by the village called Muwu Village at the foot of the mountain, Yang Fan turned the steering wheel and drove in.
More than half an hour later, the car drove out again.
"Yang Fan, are that family your relatives? Why did you make a special trip there?" Liu Yueyue asked in the car.
"They are not relatives. The male owner used to have a very good relationship with my father. They did carpentry work together and often went up and down the mountain to drink with each other." Yang Fan sighed.
"Your father's good friend?" Liu Yueyue asked, "Isn't he at home today?"
After a moment of silence, Yang Fan said, "Uncle Tang has been dead for many years."
"Ah?" Liu Yueyue was surprised.
Yang Fan said: "Before Uncle Tang passed away, he worked as a carpenter to earn money to support the family, and the family conditions were relatively good in the countryside. After he passed away, the family became extremely poor."
Liu Yueyue was silent.
Afterwards, Yang Fan talked about Uncle Tang's family while driving.
The year Uncle Tang passed away, his youngest daughter was only 3 years old.
The little daughter still remembers that when her father was leaving, he said he would be back in half a month.
At that time, she and her second brother were standing at the door asking their father to come back and bring some delicious food. Their father laughed and said yes.
Since then, they have never seen their father again.
After Uncle Tang passed away, her family lived a hard life.
The mud house at home collapsed during a heavy rain. His wife Zhu Hong stuffed the family's clothes into three or four snakeskin bags and took the children to take shelter under an eaves.
In this way, for a long time, Zhu Hong and the children ran around and stayed at relatives' homes.
Zhu Hong is the only labor force in the family. She has to go out to work and leave the children at home. The children have to learn to take care of themselves.
The children all saw how hard it was for their mother to raise three children alone.
There was no way to harvest the rice in the fields, so she asked others to use a tractor to pull the rice back.
The dilapidated house was renovated into a brick house, and it was built with money borrowed by my mother.
"Birth, aging, sickness and death... it sounds very sad." Liu Yueyue said.
Yang Fan's words struck Liu Yueyue like lightning: "Uncle Tang didn't die of illness, he was murdered for money."
Then Yang Fan said: "More than ten years ago, the main culprit was arrested and executed, and the other murderer was only caught three years ago."
After being shocked, Liu Yueyue's pretty face was filled with anger: "The murderer is so inhumane."
Then, she asked, "Yang Fan, has the murderer who was caught three years ago been executed?"
Yang Fan shook his head: "Not yet. The criminals do not plead guilty, and the trial is very time-consuming. The principal criminal who killed Uncle Tang was executed more than ten years ago, and there is no evidence. The accomplices have been able to keep trying, and their crimes have not yet been determined."
Wooden house village.
Zhu Hong, who is less than 45 years old but looks like she is over 60, has dim eyesight and is touching the big bag of fruit on the table, tears streaming down her face.
The son of her husband's best friend has become so successful, and the child she has with her husband...
Until now, Zhu Hong still often cannot sleep at night when she thinks of her husband's tragic death.
Her biggest regret is the sudden death of her husband, which completely changed the lives of her children.
Due to sudden changes in the family, her three children were unable to continue their schooling after completing compulsory education.
The family has no money and cannot buy a house, and my son has not yet started a family even though he has reached marriageable age.
Zhu Hong has worked as a cleaner in a hotel in Qianjiang for more than ten years. She works more than ten hours a day and has long suffered from back pain.
But only by persisting in working can she get the salary of two to three thousand yuan every month.
It was not until August this year that Zhu Hong returned to the village after she fell and injured her leg while at work and was unable to take care of herself.
Recently, she has been able to walk with a limp, but cannot go very far.
When the first trial opened, Zhu Hong traveled thousands of miles to appear in court.
She cried continuously during the trial and was almost emotionally broken. She asked her female accomplice: "Do you have a heart made of flesh?"
The accomplice apologized to Zhu Hong, but Zhu Hong did not accept it.
A life cannot be erased with just an apology.
"Old Tang, Xiaofan, who used to play with our son in the mountains, is in college. He now drives a nice car and has returned home with an incredibly beautiful girlfriend. He said he plans to get married next year. Our son went out to work after graduating from junior high school. He is two or three years older than Xiaofan, and he still hasn't got a girlfriend." Zhu Hong put on his reading glasses, limped to the gate of the yard, and sat on the stone slab.
I remember that year, there were five of us in the family, and the yard was full of laughter and joy, it was so lively.
During the Chinese New Year, the children all wore new clothes and went to buy fireworks with their father after dinner.
Even if Old Tang goes away for work and doesn't come back for a month or two, or even several months, the family is filled with joy and smiles, and they look forward to Old Tang's return every day.
But since Old Tang never came back, this family seems to have fallen apart, no longer complete and full of holes.
"I can't go to the next court session." Zhu Hong wiped her tears.
She wanted to go and hear the words "death penalty, immediate execution".
The cell phone rang and Zhu Hong answered the call.
A voice came from the other end: "Mom, the court session is about to begin again. I'm leaving tomorrow."
"Dong'er, it's too far and the fare is expensive. Otherwise, you shouldn't go. It won't affect the result even if you go." Zhu Hong said.
"No, I want to go!" the son said firmly.
Zhu Hong burst into tears.
All three children could have gone to college and escaped from the bottom of society.
But now, the situation of children is even more miserable than that of their parents.
Old Tang has land and a way out.
The children only have the foundation to build a house, but they have no land left.
There are two brothers in the same village. Their family is poor and they don't have many fields. The elder brother went to the southern coastal area to be a son-in-law and has not returned for many years.
My younger brother works outside and has earned some money. He recently wants to build a new house.
When the old father heard the news, he stopped them from moving, saying that this was your eldest brother's foundation and his final resting place. He was old and wanted to return to his roots, so his roots could not be cut off.