The Hope You Gave Me: 66-Jiangtan

The three of them went out together. Xin Qi said he wanted to go back to the car to pick up something. Min Hui followed him to the parking lot. Seeing him open the trunk, he took out three flashlights and a brown crocodile leather suitcase. It followed Xu Zhihua to the direction of the reeds.

The wind on the riverside was strong, and the waves squeaked. The reeds in the moonlight were silver and danced in the wind. In the distance are the silent mountains, and a row of white farmhouses on the mountainside, some of which have been lit, make the surroundings darker and darker.

The trail was covered with tall grass, Min Hui couldn't see the river water, but could smell the smell of corrupt water plants. The gurgling sound of water proved that they were walking along the river.

But she was wrong.

Su Tian's burial is not the reed field near the head of the village, but a deeper and farther place. Xu Zhihua led them on the muddy river beach for more than 40 minutes before finally stopping.

He looked around, turned and walked to a high ground to the north.

Xin Qi and Min Hui also went uphill.

The high ground is actually a forest, and up there is a big mountain. The sound of various grass and insects came from the grass and trees, the air was moist, and the wind through the forest hit the face cold and sticky. There are many huge and exposed rocks in the forest, and the roots of the trees cannot penetrate deep, so they have to meander in the thin soil on the rocks. Min Hui was startled when she stepped on it for the first time, thinking she had stepped on a few snakes.

Xu Zhihua walked to the side of a big rock and poked the shovel on the ground: "It should be right here."

Xin Qi looked around and felt that the stone was no different from the nearby stones, so he could not help frowning: "Do you have a mark?"

"No need. I grew up here, and I'm very familiar with this area. I chose a good place for your girlfriend. You see—" Xu Zhihua said to himself, "there is water ahead, There is a mountain behind, and the top of the mountain is round. This is called 'the guest and the host greet each other, the vermillion bird hangs the bell', and if she is buried here, the descendants will follow and enjoy happiness..."

Probably feeling that the atmosphere was too weird, he deliberately smiled lightly, and was chased by Xin Qi's hateful gaze, hitting him in the face, and the smile froze forcibly.

"Since you are so thoughtful, you might as well inform me earlier, and I can bury her in a more auspicious place." Xin Qi said.

"There are often female corpses floating down from the upstream. There are many water plants and it is easy to get caught. The villagers feel bad, and usually they just pull the water plants away and let them go down the river... I also wanted to do this at the time, but then I thought about it. I thought that meeting her was also a fate, so I dragged her up and buried her, as a way of accumulating virtue for myself."

The implication is that if it weren't for his kindness, Xin Qi would never have found Su Tian in his life.

At this moment, the sky suddenly started to rain lightly, and then, the raindrops got bigger and bigger.

"Let's dig." Min Hui said.

Xu Zhihua used a shovel to draw a box on the spot, and together with Xin Qi, excavated from the left and right ends at the same time. Min Hui stood in the middle and illuminated them with a flashlight.

The soil was loose and moist, and after a while, the two dug a hole one meter square. Min Hui took a look inside with a flashlight, but there was nothing but dirt and grass roots.

"Probably how deep is it buried?" Xin Qi asked while digging.

"It's not very deep, it's in this position, about half a meter down... Hey, what's going on?" He scratched his head, "Why did the person disappear?"

"Isn't it wrong?" Min Hui said, "It's so dark?"

"Let me think about it." Xu Zhihua put the shovel on the ground, turned around the stone twice, looked left and right, and suddenly patted his head, "It's wrong, it's not this stone. This is waiting, I'll look around for it-"

Before Xin Qi could react, his people suddenly disappeared.

The two men before leaving the pit looked at each other.

It was pitch black all around, and it was raining more and more.

"Did you meet a liar?" Min Hui couldn't help but say, "This person is too unreliable, we shouldn't have given the check so soon."

She had a darker idea in her heart: Xu Zhihua may have seen Su Tian, ​​but he didn't know the whereabouts of the body. In order to get one million, he would not hesitate to lure them here to make money and kill them.

Xin Qi seemed to see her guess, shook his head and said, "He doesn't dare."

"What's wrong with him? He has a criminal record!"

"Deng Chen will be here tomorrow, he will definitely not be able to run away if he wants to do something bad."

Min Hui thought about it and thought it was right.

In any case, Xu Zhihua must have seen Su Tian's body. The silverfish bracelet and the photo of the body cannot be faked. But how the remains were ultimately disposed of—whether or not remains were found, is hard to say.

While thinking about it, I heard Xu Zhihua whisper not far away: "Come here, it should be this stone."

The two picked up the shovel and followed the sound. After walking a hundred paces, they saw Xu Zhihua pointing at another big rock and saying, "It should be this one."

Xin Qi was a little impatient and asked, "Are you sure?"

Xu Zhihua nodded: "Dig it."

The two dug together for more than half an hour, and then dug a large hole one meter deep.

Afraid of missing any clues, Min Hui lay on the ground to observe carefully, Xin Qi and Xu Zhihua also explored separately, and finally determined that there was nothing belonging to Su Tian in the pit.

"So this time, you're wrong again?" Xin Qi said coldly.

"How about - let's go back first?" Xu Zhihua looked guilty, "Come again when it's dawn. The light is too bad, and there is no reference nearby, so it's hard to find."

"Don't make so many excuses!" Xin Qi walked around restlessly, and was about to have a seizure, "Do you know or don't you know?"

"How dare I take so much money if I don't know it in my heart? It's just that it's so dark now—"

"If you dare to fool us—"

The two were about to quarrel, but Min Hui quickly stopped her: "Brother Xu, please recall carefully, how did you bury it at that time? It's quite far from the riverside."

Min Hui felt that after Xu Zhiyuan found his body, it was unlikely that he would carry such a heavy person to the hillside for burial.

"It seems far away now, but it was raining heavily on the day of the accident, and the river swelled so much that it overflowed the hillside." Xu Zhihua said, "I remember that I buried her in a piece near the river. Next to the stone. I was a little scared at the time, ran home and got a shovel, and dug a hole nearby and buried her."

"Have you been here since then?" Min Hui asked.

"No, I went out to work." Xu Zhihua said, "But I remember very clearly that she was buried in a higher place, where the water often rises, and I am afraid that the water will wash her away after the rise. "

"A higher place? This is your position?" Xin Qi grabbed Xu Zhihua's collar and roared, "You want to play with me, right?" Xu Zhihua knew that he was right, took a few steps back, raised his hands and surrendered: "I didn't lie to you! I lied to you! She is buried near here, I swear! I remember the location, and she was buried right in the middle of a big rock. On the north side, there is a locust tree next to it. If it was daytime, I would definitely find it right away. It is too dark now, and there are only two stones left except for the place I dug just now. one of them."

Xin Qi had to pick up the shovel and continue digging in the direction pointed by Xu Zhihua, while Min Hui held a flashlight to illuminate him.

After digging for another hour, Xin Qi's hand suddenly stopped.

"Give me the flashlight," he said.

He squatted at the bottom of the pit with a flashlight in his mouth, flipping his hands gently in the dirt.

Xu Zhihua walked over with a shovel and asked, "Have you found it?"

Xin Qi kept his head down, and after a while, nodded silently.

"I'll help you." Xu Zhihua stood by the pit and whispered, "My grandma has a coffin at home, she bought it for herself. I'll talk to her later and let her take it out first. your girlfriend?"

Xin Qi kept his head down and didn't answer for a long time.

Min Hui patted Xu Zhihua and said softly, "Go back first and keep the tools."

"You're welcome, I'm very willing to help." Xu Zhihua said, "really."

"No need. Thank you." Min Hui sighed.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the water in the pit soon accumulated more than half a foot deep.

Xin Qi bent his knees and knelt at the bottom of the pit, digging his hands in the soil. In the late autumn weather, the rain was freezing to the bone. Min Hui was afraid that he would catch the cold, so she picked up the iron bucket left by Xu Zhihua, lay on the edge of the pit and asked, "Can I come down and help you scoop out the water?"

The pit was actually very small, especially with Xin Qi kneeling in the middle, if Min Hui also went down, she wouldn't be able to move.

Xin Qi looked up at her and shook his head: "No. I need this bucket, you go, wait for me in my car, and avoid the rain by the way. I'll be alone here."

"How about that? We came together." Min Hui said softly, "Why don't we go back first, and come over when the rain stops and it's dawn?"

Xin Qi's health is not good, and many cold medicines cannot be taken because they will interfere with the efficacy of anticoagulant drugs. However, at this time, Min Hui didn't dare to persuade him, so she could only hand him the iron bucket by her side.

He took it and put it beside him, stopped talking, and concentrated on digging the soil with his hands. After a while, she heard the sound of "ding dong, ding dong", probably found the bones and put them down one by one into the iron bucket.

The sound of ding dong and ding dong continued, hitting her heart like gongs and drums. Min Hui felt a chill down her spine, and her whole body started to tremble. She couldn't help but think of the rainy day when she first met Su Tian. On the bus, Su Tian tried to talk to her several times, but she didn't even have a smile on her face. If it was someone else, she didn't know how angry she should be. I didn't think that it was such an ordinary person who had nothing to do with him. That night, in order to save himself, he took a life in vain.

So many unfulfilled wishes evaporated in an instant.

There is so much happiness at your fingertips, no chance to hold hands.

A benefactor she will never forget, with her only one day's fate.

At that time, Su Tian had just taken a bath, his face was flushed, and his voice, face and smile were in front of him.

The barrel is small and fills up quickly. Min Hui took over the bones. She was afraid and didn't dare to take a closer look. She had to untie the scarf and put it under a tree. She found a plastic bag and handed it over to Xin Qi.

Another hour later, she heard Xin Qi sigh heavily in the pit, raised her flashlight and asked, "Is everything okay?"

He shook his head: "It's still two dollars."

She didn't react for a while.

"There are a total of 204 bones in the human body, and I only found 112. It's a lot worse." Xin Qi murmured, leaning down and continuing to **** in the muddy water.

Looking at the dark sky and the pattering autumn rain, Min Hui jumped into the pit with a flashlight: "I'll search with you, the two of you will be faster."

If every bone represents a part of the soul, she understands that Xin Qi wants to take Su Tian away completely.

They knelt side by side in the muddy water, drenched from the cold rain even though they were both wearing coats. Both of them were shaking involuntarily, and their teeth were chattering with cold.

But they kept digging and no one stopped.

There was a strange smell in the soil, Min Hui smelled it, and after adding a little imagination, she only felt nauseated. And Xin Qi, who was beside him, was still concentrating on searching. She couldn't help coughing and asked, "Where do you plan to bury her? Here? Bincheng? Or her hometown, Hechi, Guangxi?"

"Bencheng." Xin Qi said, "This way I can visit her often."

"Bencheng is pretty good." Min Hui nodded in agreement. She touched a smooth and hard object and lit it with a flashlight. It was a small bone. She didn't know where it was on the human body. She hurriedly handed it to Xin Qi: "I found a piece."

He took a closer look and then touched again: "You're quite brave."

"Atheist."

She wanted to say a few light words to lighten the heavy atmosphere. However, it felt inappropriate to speak several times, so he had to remain silent.

The two searched silently for more than an hour and found seven more bones. The sky was bright, and the rain gradually stopped. The pit got bigger and bigger. Xin Qi finally said, "That's it. She was buried too shallowly. It's not easy to find so many bones."

The two climbed out of the pit. Because they kneeled for too long, their knees were sore that they couldn't stand up straight for a long time, so they had to support each other and lean on the tree trunk.

A light of dawn appeared in the sky, just hitting Xin Qi's face, Min Hui stared at him blankly.

He was wet, his suit and shirt were covered with a thick layer of mud, his face was pale, he looked extremely haggard, and the erythema with hemorrhages under his eyes was bigger and more obvious, occupying almost the entire white of his eyes.

"Your eyes—"

"I can see."

He took the bucket and plastic bag with the bones in his hand, Min Hui asked, "You brought a box, do you want to put them all in?"

The crocodile leather case was placed next to the barrel, and it seemed to be thickly coated with a water-repellent layer, and it seemed that there was not even a single drop of water.

Xin Qi didn't answer, just said: "You go back first."

"You're not going back?"

"I'm going to the river to clean these bones."

"Need you - do you wash yourself?"

Min Hui felt that finding the remains was enough to respect the deceased, and it would be too cruel for Xin Qi to clean them by hand. At this moment, he is shaky and may fall ill at any time.

"The custom of Su Tian's hometown is to wash the bones, also known as the second burial." He said, "She told me before that her grandmother and grandmother were buried like this."

Seeing her surprised, he smiled wryly: "You don't have to know the details. This kind of thing needs relatives to do."

"Then I'll wash with you," she said.

"You are not required to attend."

"Why?"

"You are not her family."

This is a bit hurtful, but she doesn't want to argue: "Then I'll wait for you by the river. Let's go together after you wash up."

"I want to be alone."

"Don't worry about me, okay?" she said softly.

"Don't worry about you?" he sneered. "So it's all about you? You're the center of the universe?"

She cried all the way back to the car.

At ten o'clock, Deng Chen and Chen Jiajun's car also arrived. They were going to take the train, because they were worried that Xin Qi would be too sad and wanted to come over to help earlier, so they decided to drive by themselves.

"We notified the police." Deng Chen said in the hotel, "After all, they also need to investigate. If it is Su Tian, ​​the case can be closed."

"Xu Zhihua is reluctant to let the police know."

"I'll do his work."

An hour later, Xin Qi returned to the hotel with a crocodile suitcase. He took a serious shower and came to the restaurant for breakfast in a pure black suit.

Min Hui, Deng Chen, and Jia Jun all looked at him worriedly.

"Xin Qi, have you taken your medicine?" Min Hui asked, "Warfarin?"

"I forgot to bring it," he said.

"How can we do it then!" Min Hui said anxiously, "Why don't we go home quickly, you also need a doctor to have a look at your eyes."

"Go back in two days." He said lightly, "I want to hire a few people to search for her remains carefully and try to find as much as possible."

"How about that, you have to go back! I can stay here for the funeral."

"Why are you staying? Su Tian's funeral has nothing to do with you." He stared at her fiercely, "You don't have to care about me, because I have nothing to do with you either! You can go."

His voice was hoarse, and his eyes were bloodshot.

Her heart suddenly became sour, and tears fell: "I know you hate me, Xin Qi. But I really didn't mean it! I didn't want to hurt Su Tian, ​​and I didn't have a bad heart. I was thinking, what did I do to get Su Tian's attention? Cause her to sacrifice her life for me? - I didn't do anything, really, I didn't do anything bad to her." She sobbed, "We They were all strangers, and I was also kind to her. She wanted to go to the toilet in the car, and I looked at the bag for her. After getting off the car, it was raining heavily. She wanted to squeeze a room with me in the hotel, and I agreed. You say I'm selfish and I'm bad, but in fact I'm bad enough. If I'm bad enough, I won't promise to let her live with me, so that she won't find out that I went to Mushuihe, and won't save me , I will live well! I didn't talk to her seriously along the way, and I even gave her a look, but she just doesn't hate me... I don't know why she has to save me, I really don't know why !”

"Because that day, on the bus, everyone in the bus knew that you wanted to die!" Xin Qi said word by word, "You started crying as soon as you got on the bus, and many people saw it. Later Encountered a mudslide, all the people in the car got down and prepared to escape. You were the only one sitting in the car and refused to move. The driver pulled you and you didn’t leave! Do you remember the aunt who was chatting with Su Tian? She told Su Tian Say that you have been crying, you must have encountered something you can’t think of, let her talk to you more and enlighten you. Su Tian just wanted to save you, so he did everything possible to approach you. Don’t find excuses to excuse yourself, when you are single-minded and only When you think about yourself and are wholeheartedly sad about your own suffering, please think about others! She may not be as smart, beautiful, or **** as you, but at the moment of saving you, she didn't think about herself at all, she put her own The universe that was handed over to you is not for you to be the center of the universe, but to tell you that no one is the center of the universe."

"I have no excuse. I just want to live well. The rest of my life was given to me by Su Tian, ​​I can't waste it, I can't mess around, I want to live a beautiful, wonderful and happy life, I want Su Tian not to regret giving me this life in heaven! So Xin Qi—" Min Hui wiped her tears, "I won't spend the rest of my life in resentment and remorse like you did. "

"Wow, Min Hui, it's no wonder you live such a wonderful life, because your ability to forgive yourself is so wonderful!" Xin Qi sneered.

Min Hui stood up abruptly, gritted her teeth, and strode out the door.

Deng Chen and Jia Jun looked at each other.

"Ethan, I think-" Deng Chen said lightly, "What I said just now is a bit too much."

"I'm not going too far!" Xin Qi said angrily.

"Brother Xin Qi," Jia Jun said shyly, "I also think you're blaming Sister Min Hui. What Sister Su Tian has done doesn't really need anything in return. She doesn't need you to come back from the U.S. to make up for everything. What she wants, to give her a happy life, this is not her wish. At most, she just wants to know if you are doing well, whether you are happy or not, that's all. Just like that night four years ago, she jumped in to save people If you go to Mushuihe, you don't need anything in return. Because this is not a deal, it's just a gift she gave you with her life. You just have to accept it well. Sister Minhui doesn't owe Sister Sutian anything, you I don't owe Sister Su Tian anything. Sister Min Hui doesn't owe you anything. You shouldn't blame her endlessly, and there's no need to add to her guilt, because she's already very guilty."