"1918..." Wen Shi whispered.
"18 years?" Xia Qiao didn't dare to bother, but he was still stunned when he stretched out his head to see the date. "How could it be 18 years? It was clearly written in 1913 in the diary—"
Before he finished speaking, he looked up and saw Xie Wen. So I remembered what Xie Wen said before, not every sentence in the cage is true, they are often affected by the consciousness of the cage owner, and they are more or less different from the truth.
"Diaries are all written by people." Wen Shi said without looking up.
Xia Qiao's doubts persisted, but he nodded honestly.
On the other hand, Xie Wen gave Wen Shi a very appreciative look and added: "Some are even written on purpose, just to show others, such as this one in your brother's pocket."
He pointed to the diary rolled up in the pocket of Wen Shi's jeans and said, "If even the 'I' in it is fake, then why do you seriously believe it and make the person who wrote it happy?"
Xia Qiao hurriedly shook his head, as if he had said something stupid.
Just after persuading Xiao Qiao, Xie Wen changed his voice, looked at Wen Shi and said, "But the letters are also written by people, and they are half a catty."
When smelling: "… "
This guy is here to mess with things.
Wen Shi raised his head, looked at him numbly, then folded the letter, turned the envelope over, and sent the piece with the seal to Xie Wen's eyelids.
"Look at the letter stamp." Wen Shi said.
There is no need to explain these details. After all, it was him who was released from the cage, and Xie Wen's physique couldn't participate. Just like Xia Qiao or others, knowing or not knowing the truth would have no effect.
But when he asked Xie, he still couldn't hold back.
It's hard to tell what the reason is, maybe it's because I don't want to appear too arbitrary.
The letter almost stuck to the tip of his nose, Xie Wen smiled and turned back an inch: "I see."
Letters are indeed written by people, and if you have to say it, it is not much different from a diary, but the letter stamp is not.
When I heard it before, I said that it is precisely because the words in the cage are not all true, that it is necessary to gather all the detailed information, check it again, and then distinguish the true from the false. It is much easier.
Because even the subconscious of the cage owner cannot take care of all aspects, there are always omissions in lying.
The circular stamp on the envelope was dated May 6, 1918, and the square stamp on the return letter was dated May 17, 1918. It matches the date of Mr. Li's signature in the letter.
Xie Wen took the letter in Wen Shi's hand and asked, "What day is it in the diary?"
When sniffing, he took out the diary from his pocket and turned to the folded page. When he saw the date, he frowned: "May 19."
Xie Wen carried the stationery: "It's a coincidence, it's the same day as the nurse."
In this letter, Mr. Li did not mention the year in which the nurse died, but when he looked at the diary, he suddenly realized that this "May 19, 1913" might not be a date that was written casually.
He rummaged through the letterbox again, and this time the goal was very clear - if the nurse really committed suicide on that day of the year, then Mr. Li's habit of communicating with his wife would probably have been mentioned in the letter.
Mr. Li is an organized person, and the letters he receives are arranged by date. Wen Shi quickly found the ones from five years ago, and picked out the three letters after May.
Before he explained the purpose, Xie Wen had already drawn one of them: "One for each person, it seems to be faster."
When Xia Qiao heard this, he also received a letter, but his expression was stunned.
"Do you know what to watch?" Xie asked.
Xia Qiao's face was already red, this color obviously means not knowing.
Xie Wen's eyes swept across Wen Shi's face, and he didn't know what he was thinking at that moment. Maybe it's because they are brothers in the same family, but they are very different.
"See if the letter mentions the death of the nurse." Xie asked.
Xia Qiao nodded quickly and opened the letter.
Wen Shi closed his mouth as soon as he opened it, omitting the need for explanation. He also lowered his eyes and opened the envelope. After a while, he couldn't help but ask, "How do you know?"
Xie Wen raised his head and glanced at him, then bent his eyes and lowered his gaze, opened the letter and said, "Are you the only one allowed to be smart?"
When he smelled it, he should have retorted or simply ignored it, just like he used to do. But he stared at Xie Wen for a moment, then suddenly closed his eyes and said, "Yes."
There was a "click" sound next to it, which was caused by Xia Qiao raising his head too violently. Xiaoqiao looked at his brother in shock, for a while it was difficult to tell whether his brother had taken the wrong medicine or his account had been hacked.
Xie asked also looked over.
Wen Shi did not speak, but just lowered his head and scanned the contents of the letter in his hand.
This is a reply letter from Mr. Li's wife Xu Yarong, dated July 2, 1913 on the letter stamp, and signed on June 14, 1913.
He swiped to the second line and saw the content about the nurse.
"I often heard you mention the housekeeper and the young master of the Shen family, but this sister Cai didn't say much, only that she lived with her son A Jun in the Shen family. I didn't expect to mention it again this time. It's actually such a sad thing. How can a good person suddenly hang up
Her son, Jun, is about the same age as the young master of the Shen family, nine or ten? When I was young, I lost my trust. What should I do in the future? You should take care of it more. 』
Although there are not many words, but one thing can be confirmed - Mama Cai passed away on May 19, 1913.
When Wen Shi's eyes fell on the question in the letter, he suddenly raised his head and asked, "Who is that letter in August?"
Xie asked: "I am here."
Wen Shi: "Did you mention the reason why the nurse was hanging the beam?"
Since Xu Yarong asked in the letter, "Why do good people suddenly hang up?", normally, Mr. Li will more or less explain the reason in the next letter, so Xu Yarong will probably mention it in his reply.
Sure enough, Xie Wen pointed to a line in the letter and said, "Go to the water."
This statement is a bit old-fashioned, Wen Shi glanced at him and took the letter. See inside it says:
"Although it is very dangerous to burn the bed tent, but after all, she was rescued, and Miss Shen was not injured. I sincerely apologize and pay more attention in the future. If I quit this job and go home, why can't I think about it
Hey, I don't know much, so bad review. I just feel that this sister Cai is also a poor person.
Is Miss Shen better? You said in your letter that her high fever will not go away, and I am also a little worried. She is as big as our nan-nan. I have never seen her appearance. Every time I see you mention her, all I think of is our nan-nan's face. Children are always afraid of fever, so they must take good care of them and grow up. 』
Although there are only a few sentences in the letter, but you can get a rough idea of the ins and outs by piecing it together—
I'm afraid that Cai's mother was careless that day, the house caught fire, and Shen Manyi almost had an accident. Fortunately, it was timely, and it didn't cause a catastrophe, and it was a false alarm.
But Mama Cai couldn't get over that hurdle in her heart. As Mr. Li said in her letter, she used to live as a young lady, and then she came to the Shen family when her family was down, and she was often unhappy. Maybe it was because I was afraid of people complaining, maybe it was because I felt that life was boring, and I didn't think about it for a while and then hung it up.
When it came to Xiaqiao's October letter, there was less content about this matter, and only one sentence was mentioned, "Do you remember the third child of the Zhu family in our county? He also had a high fever when he was a child, and he became like that, similar to the illness of Miss Shen's family. 』
When smelling, he folded the paper and put it back in the envelope, and walked back to the backyard door with the box in his hand, and put the letters that were once buried deep in the well into Mr. Li's hands.
The teacher in a long gown stared at the copper box in a daze, and first glanced over his head, as if he was still sitting in that deep well that didn't see the light of day.
As a result, he saw the eaves and the moon.
With trembling fingers, he hurriedly opened the copper box, and eagerly flipped through the contents. Seeing that the sender Xu Yarong was written on each envelope, he slowly slumped his shoulders and hugged him like he was holding all his belongings. holding that box.
At that moment, the strands of black smoke floating around him erupted, like a group of snakes suddenly awakened, and they began to show signs of wreaking havoc.
This is the confused person finally remembering what he wants.
He remembered his reluctance to let go, the deepest obsession before his death, and the reason why he lingered in the world for a long time and never left.
Just like Shen Manyi before.
The black fog was like an uncontrollable lancet blade, flying in all directions, swiping across Wen Shi's arm, leaving a few openings, very thin and deep. When he smelled it, he did not evade, nor did he walk away.
He bent down in the black mist that was tearing and twisting, and asked Mr. Li: What disease did Shen Manyi have? "
Mr. Li looked at him, picked up a wooden branch, and wrote stiffly on the muddy ground in the garden: I don't remember anything, it won't grow up.
Wen Shi turned to look at Shen Manyi, the little girl pinched her fingers and looked up at him ignorantly.
"How old are you this year?" Wen Shi asked.
The little girl clenched her fingers, obviously she was already sixteen, but she said softly, "It's 11 years old."
She almost died in a fire, and saw with her own eyes that Mama Cai, who brought her up and sewed bows for her, was hanged from the beams of the house.
The window of that room faced the backyard. She used to swing in the yard. Mother Cai sat by the window and worked as a female worker. From time to time, she looked up at her and told her not to swing too high and be careful not to fall.
The window was also open that day, and Cai's mother was still by the window. She was hanging so high. The wind blew into the house and she made a slow circle on the rope.
Shen Manyi burned on and off for more than half a month, dreaming all the time.
She dreamed that she was playing hide-and-seek with her younger brother and sister and A Jun. She hid very seriously, lying under the bed, wrapped in a hanging curtain, but fell asleep accidentally. When she woke up and opened her eyes, there was fire all around her.
She also dreamed that she climbed out of the fire and saw Mama Cai's embroidered shoes hanging high.
She slept for a long time, until she stopped having these dreams and slowly woke up. Since then, her time has been stuck in the summer of 1913.
The high fever left sequelae, her younger siblings and Ah Jun have been growing, but she has always been so old. The clothes were torn, and she was sitting on the bed in the bedroom downstairs with her skirt in her arms, waiting for Mother Cai to sew. When the swing was high, she would turn her head to look at the window and wave to it.
Mr. Li no longer forced her to do her homework, and Ms. Cai no longer taught her to be a female worker, so she had more time to play.
Her favorite thing is actually swinging, but the family is always unhappy for some reason. She wants to make everyone laugh, so she thinks of a lot of games and pulls a lot of people to play together.
Ah Jun was the most unhappy, so she always took him with her.
After all, she is a sister.
It's just that her older sister didn't play with her younger siblings for long. She died in the summer of another year, and Ah Jun was very unhappy that day, so she tried her best to tease him, laughing and making trouble, until she was hidden in the sofa.
That day was May 19, the same day that Cai's mother's skirt floated out of the window.
That year, Man Sheng and A Jun were both 15 and tall like adults, but she was still 11 years old and the little one.
There was also dust and cobwebs under the sofa. It was the same as when she was lying under the bed in hide-and-seek. It was just that she didn't need to twist her neck, hands and feet, and it didn't hurt that much.
Everything seems to travel through time, one life is one life.
The little girl squatted by the backyard door, her ignorant expression gradually faded, and the corners of her mouth slowly pulled down.
At that moment, the things that restrained her in the cage loosened, and the entire Shen Family Mansion shook like a sudden earthquake.
A question woke her up when she smelled it.
Xia Qiao was startled, half squatted down to stabilize his body, and hurriedly said: "What's the situation?"
Xie asked: "The cage is about to disperse."
Xiaqiao: "Really? Why?"
"You were hiding behind the curtains, holding several toy balls in your hands, and suddenly some of them fell out uncontrollably. Would you rush out to pick them up?"
"meeting."
"That's the truth." Xie Wen raised his foot and walked towards Wen Shi, "Your brother is leading the cage owner."
Hearing what he said, Xia Qiao suddenly felt unsafe everywhere, and there seemed to be people staring at them from behind. After all, the cage owner didn't seem to show up until now: "Where will he hide?"
Xie Wen said without turning his head, "It's possible anywhere, any place where people can appear."
any
Xia Qiao nervously turned his head and glanced, then hurriedly chased after him.
Xie Wen stopped beside Wen Shi and raised his hand to sweep away a black fog. When he heard the news, he asked Mr. Li, "Where are you going with the letterbox?"
Mr. Li shook in the tremor, and wrote two words on the ground with a wooden stick: Police Station.
After a while, he wrote again under these two words: go home.
"First go to the police station to report the case, then go home with your letter, and never come back, right?"
Mr. Li hadn't thought about this issue for a long time, so that when Wen Shi said this sentence clearly, he subconsciously shrank back.
It was a gesture of fear and rejection.
But after a long time, he still clasped his hands and nodded.
Yes, he almost forgot that he was going to the police station to report the crime and then go home.
He is not a very courageous person, and even if he discovers something, he will not say it face to face. He thought very well at the beginning. Taking advantage of the dead of night, he hugged his precious copper box, and then brought a letter to the police station, and walked out of the backyard without anyone disturbed.
The wall in the backyard is not high, and if you put a stone on the well, you can go out with a tiptoe, and his height is not a problem.
Afraid that other people would worry and think too much, he also left a note on the coffee table, saying that there was an urgent matter at home and he would return temporarily.
He grabbed his most important thing and touched the wall in the backyard. He didn't realize that someone was already waiting for him there.
At the moment when he was wrapped around his neck by the hemp rope and fell into the well, he heard the clock in the living room of the Shen family rang with a "dang", like a chiming bell at the head of Huangquan Road.
At that moment, many thoughts flashed in his mind.
He thought he shouldn't have set the clock back. The housekeeper wakes up for a while every night when he hears the bell, and gets up to drink a glass of water. If the time is not adjusted, the housekeeper will wake up earlier, and he will definitely find these movements in the backyard, which may save his life.
He thought again that Ya Rong and Nan Nan would never receive his letter in the future, and he wondered if they would cry.
He also thought, how wonderful it would be if this was all a dream.
It must be a dream.
…
So every long night after that day, when everyone fell asleep, Mr. Li would sit up from the bed in that bedroom. He would write a note for the housekeeper on the bed, then go to the closet to look for his copper letterbox when no one was awake.
That is his belongings, as long as he takes it, he can leave here. But he searched every night, but couldn't find it.
… until today.
He clasped the letter box tightly and wrote again with a wooden stick: Now, can I go home
The moment the last word fell, the small building of the Shen family trembled even more.
Xia Qiao remembered what Xie Wen said just now, and silently counted in his heart: Two balls fell.
The cage owner was probably really anxious, because the whole Shen family mansion suddenly turned golden red, the walls were swaying with firelight, and the shadows of several people trembled in the firelight.
Then came the crackling sound one after another, like dry wood burning in the hearth.
Then, a scorching wind blew from the depths of the hallway, and the heat wave twisted every line in the house.
It was as if they were in a strange sea of fire—everything but no fire in sight.
At the same time as this thought flashed by, Wen Shi suddenly raised his head and looked at the top of the corridor.
"Close the door!!!" someone shouted from a distance.
The voice is not loud, but it travels very far, straight to the eardrum.
The suffix of the word "door" has not been dispersed, and a group of figures circled the corner and ran wildly!
The cluttered footsteps echoed across the corridor, appearing nervous and anxious.
At the head was Dadong, who gestured frantically and roared: "Fire! Fire is chasing after him!"
The group of people who were asleep in the room woke up for some reason. Although there were not many people, they ran out of a mighty momentum.
Xia Qiao was at a loss and shouted at them, "What's going on?"
"I'm dreaming!" Sun Siqi quickly overtook Dadong and headed straight here. He rushed so fast that Xiaqiao retreated several steps and slammed into the wall.
"What kind of mother-in-law am I!" Sun Siqi struggled from the wall, "I was going to that small room to add oil to the Everbright Lamp, but that room caught fire!"
Xia Qiao was stunned: "Then what?"
Sun Siqi slapped his thigh: "Then it really burned, the whole building was on fire!"
"Who burned it?" Wen Shi asked.
"Ah Jun!" Sun Siqi was stunned for a moment after saying that. He might want to change, but it was too late.
The tremor of the whole building doubled again, and the windows upstairs and downstairs rattled frantically.
At first glance, Sun Siqi had a dream with the people in the cage, and accidentally dreamed of the experience of the Shen family's mother-in-law cooking. Usually, in this situation, he could sleep directly until he was released from the cage when he smelled it, but he actually woke up.
"How did you wake up?" Wen Shi asked.
Sun Siqi covered his face, turned his head and pointed at the person behind him: "Old Mao slapped me several times!"
When he smelled it, he looked up and saw Lao Mao running behind everyone. When he turned the corner and rushed towards this side, the long-dragon-like flames rolled over with a "boom".
The fire instantly engulfed the few people behind.
Sun Siqi and Xia Qiao gasped, their blood all cold.
At that moment, Xie Wen's fingers hanging by his side moved out of thin air. I just heard a clear and long howl coming from the fire, like a long wind going straight down the ridge and passing through the hundred-mile pine forest.
A huge feathered wing gilded all over, swept across the sea of fire, and the wind wall lifted up has an imposing aura!
The sky-high fire slammed into the wind wall, and it suddenly opened like a large fire lotus, but it didn't splash a single bit on everyone.
Dadong, Zhou Xu and Lao Mao ran out of the fire, intact under the care of the feather wings.
Under the firelight, they turned their heads in panic, but all they saw was the phantom of the golden wings.