There is still ink on the back of the paper, faintly visible.
When I smelled it, I turned the paper over and saw a large cloud of ink. It should be the young master Shen Mansheng who wrote a paragraph as an excuse to respond to Mr. Li's criticism. But for some reason, it was painted over again.
This piece of ink is of different shades, and the beginning of the original can be barely discernible against the light—
"I don't..." Xia Qiao turned the paper upside down, and after several attempts, he said, "I tried my best, but I really can't see clearly from the back, only these two words can be read."
But what am I not
I'm not? I don't change? Or should I not
After he painted out those words, Shen Mansheng wrote a new sentence next to him as his final answer to Mr. Li.
He wrote: Got it, sir.
Xia Qiao stared at the piece of paper with a very responsible expression, somewhere between thoughtfulness and confusion: "I'm confused now, I feel like I've caught something, but I'm a little confused."
He frowned and mumbled, "I have to stroke it... So this young master of the Shen family is deliberately learning to write from Brother Jun?"
Jokes among children are often incomprehensible, even if they are unintentional or malicious. Xia Qiao remembered that when he was a child, there was a little boy stuttering across the street, so other children followed him in groups.
It's hard to define why those kids learn to stutter, some for fun, others for real fun.
"If it's to make fun of it, it's really bad. But he honestly said that he knows." Xia Qiao always felt that the image of this young master Shen was full of contradictions and confusing, "I don't know if he changed it later— "
"Obviously, it hasn't changed, or it can't be changed." Xie asked.
He said it firmly, but Xia Qiao didn't react, and was very puzzled: "How do you know?"
Xie Wen pointed to the bookcase and said, "The words are all there, did you read it the other way around?"
Xia Qiao was stunned for a moment, and suddenly blushed. He realizes he's made the most basic mistake—
The words in the box are stacked one by one, and the bottom one is the earliest. That is to say, after Mr. Li commented "Don't learn A Jun to write", Shen Mansheng's handwriting still did not change much. On the basis of "Learn A Jun", he wrote a whole box day by day.
And Mr. Li didn't say anything more, and the comments were only a little bit, maybe it's because this young master has nothing to do, maybe he just doesn't care about it.
No wonder Xie asked that.
After writing it down for such a long time, even if Shen Mansheng wanted to change it, he might not be able to change it. For whatever reason, the words he learned had slowly become his own.
Xia Qiao said slowly, "So, it's possible that Shen Mansheng and Brother Jun's words are the same?"
When smelling: "The difference won't be big."
Xia Qiao's eyes widened: "If you want to say that..."
The words on the diary suddenly have two meanings: they are both Shen Mansheng's words and Jun Ge's words.
If the diary is really written by Shen Mansheng himself, that's all. What if there is a part written by Ah Jun? Even... it was written by Ah Jun at all
Before that, Wen Shi had never made a vicious conclusion to the young master Shen Mansheng. Just because of the bed in the bedroom and because of that diary.
He always felt that a child who didn't want others to sleep in a simple servant bed and split half of his own bed would not fold her into the sofa simply because her sister liked to laugh and was a little noisy.
And that diary was always talking about Brother Jun—Shen Manyi often dragged Brother Jun to play games out of time, so it was annoying. Mr. Li often picks on Brother Jun's thorns in his writing, so he is mean.
When I heard it, I felt that the diary was split and weird, and that was it—because the cause and effect of everyone and everything in the diary had nothing to do with the young master himself.
Moreover, the content is often contradictory. For a while, he said, "Shen Manyi only takes girls to play with real and fake brides, and he often pulls Jun brother", and later said, "Shen Manyi still likes to let me guess the real and fake brides."
Before that, Wen Shi thought that the person who wrote the diary was in a wrong state, showing a suffocating madness, so the content was a bit upside down.
But now, when these points all come together, the line suddenly becomes clear.
If the words in the diary belong to Ah Jun; if the events in the diary are that Ah Jun is telling his own suffering through the mouth of the young master; if the words "Brother Jun" and "I" between the lines sometimes refer to the same person, then everything It seems to make sense.
Just still have a question...
A Jun and Shen Mansheng are about the same age, and they are both smaller than Shen Manyi. What Shen Mansheng can't do, why can he do it
…
He pondered for a moment when he smelled it.
At a certain moment, he felt that he had thought of something, but before he could catch it, he was interrupted by Mr. Li's scratching voice.
Mr. Li dipped a pen full of Chen blood, and was going to compete with the repeated "Shen" character, but he blocked the tip of the pen when he smelled it.
"Wait." Wen Shi looked at his empty eye sockets and asked, "Did you say something or do something abnormal?"
Otherwise, why would "Little Master" write "Mr. Li found it" in his diary and kill him in a hurry.
Mr. Li's movements suddenly stopped, and the blood from the tip of the pen fell on the paper, turning into a rusty red. He grabbed his wrist, and for a long time wrote three words forcefully on the paper:
come to me.
"Aren't you here?" Xia Qiao said blankly.
After he finished speaking, he suddenly realized that the only one here was "Mr. Li" who returned late at night. The real Mr. Li was like Shen Manyi on the sofa, still trapped in a corner without seeing the light of day.
"Then where are you?" Xia Qiao asked quickly.
"I can't ask." Xie Wen closed the bookcase and stood up straight. He took the calligraphy paper on the table, folded it into a strip, pointed to the door and said to Wen Shi, "Let's go, find him."
They know too much about Mr. Li's existence. You can ask him many things, and he will always try to tell you when he cooperates. The only place to die is a taboo.
Just like Shen Manyi before, I don't want to see it, so I can't mention it.
Sure enough, Xia Qiao saw that Mr. Li was holding the pen and did not speak. The next second, the tip of the pen snapped, and the blood suddenly flowed continuously, filling the entire desk in the blink of an eye.
Xia Qiao turned his head and saw that his brother and Boss Xie had already left the door one after the other. There were only him and two "ghosts" staring at each other in the room. He didn't even care about screaming and ran away.
As a result, Shen Manyi and Mr. Li ran faster than him on the horse.
Wen Shi stood in the middle of the corridor and tugged on the puppet wire, and only after pulling it did I remember that I had to tug on one more—
Shen Manyi and Mr. Li, the two puppets, were fluttering and appeared in front of him instantly. As for the third one...
The third one came over from behind, lightly supported him on the shoulder before standing still, and asked incredulously, "You are so simple, did you forget that there is still a person tied to the line?"
Yes…
But will you admit it when you smell it
impossible.
He flatly denied it, and said in a deep voice, "There's something wrong."
Xie Wen nodded, and let go of his hands with a look of listening intently: "You can't tell anything if you stay three or five steps away, I'll listen to it."
"… "
I couldn't make it up when I heard it, so I just gave up. He turned to Mr. Li and said, "Looking around is a waste of time, so..."
He picked the puppet thread that tied Mr. Li, lowered his eyes and said, "Offended."
After finishing speaking, Wen Shi hooked the puppet line with one hand, grabbed Mr. Li's shoulder with the other, and pushed him to take a step in each of the four directions of east, west, north and south.
Mr. Li was dazed, and when he smelled it, he could turn whatever he wanted, but he hesitated when he was heading east. It seems that there is some resistance to that direction.
He wanted to step back, but he was blocked by Wen Shi.
The other party did the opposite, pushed him a step in the direction he was most afraid of, and whispered, "Keep walking, don't stop."
When Xia Qiao chased after him, he saw his brother walking all the way, adjusting his direction according to Mr. Li's reaction. It's exactly the same as when he opened the navigation app and turned the arrow while exploring the way forward.
"This is also possible???"
Xia Qiao couldn't dress well, so he obediently followed behind Wen Shi and Xie Wen, walking all the way to look around, from the ceiling to the cracks in the carpet, not even the glass wall.
"You don't need to look everywhere." Xie Wen reminded lightly.
Xia Qiao asked quietly, "Then where should I look?"
"A place with a beam, a place to tie a rope, and a place with water." Wen Shi replied without turning his head. He has a clear goal, and his eyes never fall, so he scans quickly.
"The bathroom, the eaves, the beams near the windows, or—" he said halfway through, and suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"What's wrong?" Xia Qiao asked.
But he realized the reason why his brother stopped in the next second, because when Mr. Li was approaching the backyard door, he suddenly flinched and wanted to retreat like crazy.
Or when he smelled, his eyes quickly went around a line, and he was able to stabilize him in time.
backyard
He frowned when he heard it.
He decisively opened the door and turned on the porch light in the backyard.
As soon as I stepped in, I smelled a strong burnt smell. The whole yard is full of flowers. As Shen Manyi said, there is a large area of goose-yellow surrounding the swing frame. Those flowers are like vertical rabbit ears and elongated bows.
When I smelled it, I suddenly remembered for no reason that there was once a large piece of this kind of flower at the foot of Songyun Mountain. It was white and clean like the snow on the top of the mountain, and it was more lively and agile than the snow.
He remembered that the flower was called cyclamen.
"Rabbit ears!" Shen Manyi called out, trying to pounce. She hadn't seen this back garden in a long time, but she had just stepped in with one foot, and then pulled back suddenly, as if she had been scalded.
Then she squatted by the door, silent.
This garden is colorful and rich, but inexplicably has a dead air.
The wind was blowing in the courtyard, and the swing was swaying gently, but the goose-yellow flowers and vines didn't move, not even trembling.
Wen Shi glanced around, except for the swings and grape trellis in the entire yard, there was no place higher than people. Even if it is a swing, if you want to hang Mr. Li up, you can't find any focus.
But Mr. Li was already too scared.
He was at a loss, not knowing whether to cover his neck first or block his eyes first, and ran around in a corner of the backyard.
Wen Shi took a step forward, and he panicked even more.
In the restlessness, the creaking sound resounded again, echoing in the dead silence of the night, like a hemp rope wrapped around a weak wooden pole, and a heavy object swayed left and right.
Mr. Li curled up against the wall and looked up at the top of his head, as if he was looking at a non-existent sling.
Xie Wen stood beside him, looked down at Mr. Li for a while, and raised his head. Wen Shi thought he knew something, and glanced at him, only to find that he was looking at the moon.
There is a full moon on the horizon, the edge lines are not clear, the moonlight is covered with a layer of fog, and it is as lifeless as the motionless flowers in the backyard. It is filled by a poor craftsman, and it is like a sudden hole.
Wen Shi stared at the "hole" for a few seconds, and suddenly changed his face.
He thought of a place.
There is a wooden pole, which can be tied with hemp rope, and it does not need to be very tall and does not require too much effort, it is easy to hang people—
"It's a well."
He said, striding across the backyard. A well was found not far from the swing set.
This well has been deserted for a long time, the crossbar that was originally on the well was broken, and it fell to the ground. There was still a stone slab at the mouth of the well. It was obscured by the overgrown weeds, and it was impossible to see it if you were not careful.
He knelt down when he smelled it, stretched out his hand to lift the slate, and a strong rotten smell hit his face.
Xia Qiao was half a step behind Xie Wen, and hurried over. He was smoked by the smell on the spot, and sat down by the well. He held his breath and looked at the probe, there was no blood at all—
The well was not dry, and there was still a puddle of water, and the thin teacher was in the puddle.
He was sitting at the bottom of the well, with rotten hemp rope around his neck, and his swollen and white face that had been soaked up had lost its original shape, and was leaning up. Hair floats in the water, like floating aquatic plants, connected with the moss on the wall of the well.
Looking at the top of his head like this, he must not rest in peace. I don't know how long I sat, and finally waited for someone to come.
Wen Shi held the edge of the well and didn't speak for a long time.
He frowned slightly, and his drooping eyes were deeply restrained, falling straight to the bottom of the well.
After a long time, someone lightly touched the back of his head with a finger. When he smelled, he turned his head and saw the person standing behind him. Xie Wen lowered his head and said, "I'm blocking him, he can't see it. Pick up the person."
He used "connect", a very simple word, which is different from too many people.
He looked at Xie Wen when he smelled it, and his eyes moved. At that moment, he seemed to want to say something, but in the end he just let out an "um" in his throat, then he narrowed his eyes and looked back at the bottom of the well.
He released the puppet line and clasped the cotton-wool man at the bottom of the well.
"Be tight." He said without looking back.
"Okay." Xie asked in response.
The body was placed lightly on the ground, covered with overgrown weeds and large flowers and leaves, and when he stood farther away, he could not see anything. But there was a puppet line attached, and when I smelled it, I could still feel Mr. Li, who was curled up by the backyard door, trembling.
But anyone who is quick-tempered can overturn the entire backyard with resentment. But those black smoke just continued to overflow from Mr. Li's body, just like the water in his eye sockets, turbulent but silent.
"Brother, there seems to be something in the well." Xia Qiao suddenly whispered.
When I smelled it, I saw that there was something in the mud at the bottom of the well that glowed red-green in the moonlight, like rust.
It was a small copper box with a thin skin and a good seal. Maybe it's dead rust, maybe it's silt wrapping. When I smelled it, I fished it out and forcibly opened it, and found that the contents inside were not much damaged.
It was a stack of letters.
When I smelled it, I picked it up and looked at it. The information of the recipient and sender was written on the envelope, stamped and stamped. Most of them were received by Mr. Li, and those letters came from the same person named Xu Yarong.
The top letter was the opposite. The sender was Mr. Li, and the recipient was Xu Yarong. It also had a stamp on it, but it was returned for some reason.
Obviously, this is Mr. Li's letterbox. I just don't know why I sank at the bottom of the well with him.
Maybe Mr. Li discovered the truth about Shen Manyi's disappearance, did something or was going to do something, and then planned to leave Shen's house with the letterbox
There is something in the intuition letter when I hear it, otherwise Mr. Li will not go against his instinct and write to him: Come to me.
He picked out the letter that Mr. Li could not send, and opened it first.
The gentle and orthodox characters of the teacher fill the pages, which are different from the twisted "Shen" characters. At first glance, they have been trained since childhood, and they have a bookish air.
***
My wife, Ya Rong, is like a meeting.
You wrote back last time that you caught a cold and caught a cold, and it didn't heal for half a month. I was so anxious that I had two sores on my tongue. I wonder if you were feeling better when you received the letter this time. If the improvement is not obvious, you must go to Nanfengli to find Dr. Zeng, let him take another look, and give you a prescription. Don't be mistaken by calling some unremarkable Langzhong.
I still can't go back this month, Mr. and Mrs. Shen's family has not returned, and there is no response to the telegram sent, so I really can't go away. The 19th is Sister Cai's death anniversary, and it's not too far away, so I can't leave that house of girls and boys alone. You know, I also told you that on the day Sister Cai left, Man Yi was frightened and fell ill, and her condition has not improved in the past few years. When I wait until around the 19th, I am afraid that there will be a little trouble again.
You said last time, ask me to send you a photo with the letter. I had my hair cut the day before yesterday, and I went to the photo studio specially to take a photo of it and attached it to the letter. I don't know if I'm older than last year.
The photos of other people will not be posted. The last time I took a group photo in the Shen family was when Sister Cai was there. I wanted to print one and send it to you for recognition, but there were not all the people in the group photo. Granny Dou, who was cooking, still felt that taking pictures would make people lose their lives, so she refused to take pictures.
Speaking of Granny Dou, when she saw that we were obsessed with taking pictures, she kindly offered us a longevity lamp for each of us. She often went to read some scriptures, add some fuel, and said that she wanted to protect the soul and longevity. It didn't take long for Sister Cai to hang up. Her ever-bright lamp is still offering offerings,
Granny Dou has not retreated. She passed by the hut the day before yesterday and felt a little embarrassed.
When the photo was just posted, Sister Cai's son, A Jun, came to hand in his homework. I put this aside for a while, the ink is a little dry, you will see it.
Speaking of Ah Jun... It is said that Sister Cai was the one who lived the life of a young lady. Later, her family was in trouble. She died, walked, and survived. She came to the Shen family. No wonder she was always unhappy.
This Ah Jun was supposed to be a young master, but it took me all these years to learn some words with me, and the article could barely be read through. Sometimes I think about it, and it is equally embarrassing.
It's just that I don't like his temperament, it's too narrow.
…
After that, Mr. Li wrote some daily news, which were all trivial matters and had little to do with the Shen family. Wen Shi swept to the end with one glance and ten lines, and his eyes were pinned on the signature.
There is the date Mr. Lee wrote the letter - May 5, 1918.