Burning fire

"It has been confirmed that the name of the deceased is Jiang Liu, 17 years old."

"The body is still undergoing an autopsy, but it is preliminarily determined that he was probably stabbed in the heart with a knife, and after he died, he was thrown into the river."

"The specific time of death still needs to wait for the results of the autopsy. However, judging from the condition of the corpse, it should have been thrown away long after death."

In the police station, Gao Yan was wrapped in a dusty coat, sitting by the electric heater to warm himself up.

This day was so busy that he was on his heels, his face was full of exhaustion, and his eyes were sore: "Jiang Liu came out of the orphanage. He had no relatives and no friends. His body after the incident..."

"I'll take it away." Zhou Qizun said suddenly.

Gao Yan froze for a moment, staring at the man across from him for a while.

Zhou Qizun was biting a cigarette, but because he was in the police station, he didn't light the cigarette.

Zhou Qizun couldn't see any unnecessary expressions when he spoke, only his eyelashes drooped slightly: "Let me know when the autopsy is over, and I'll just take him away."

"He called me Brother Zhou." Zhou Qizun pulled the smoke down and held it between two fingers, "I'm his brother for the time being."

"It's okay to arrive." Gao Yan nodded, "Then I'll ask you to go through the formalities then."

"En." Zhou Qizun said a word.

"Brother, I'll ask you directly when you come here, so as not to ask you to find out the situation." Gao Yan picked up the teapot, poured a cup of tea for Zhou Qizun and pushed it over, "When was the last time you saw Jiang Liu?"

"Thirty of the twelfth lunar month, New Year's Eve."

The Municipal Bureau may be too poor, the smell of tattered tea is not good, and Zhou Qizun is in a bad mood at the moment, especially not pleasing to the eye, I feel that the brewed tea is like moldy seaweed soup, even the cup is not uncommon one time.

Zhou Qizun waved his hand at Gao Yan, indicating that he would not drink tea.He threw the chewed cigarette into the trash can: "Thirty night, less than eight o'clock, I didn't pay attention to the time. At that time, the Spring Festival Gala hadn't started yet. The bastard was wandering outside my door, and I gave him a bag of quick-frozen Dumplings, he left."

Thinking about it now, Zhou Qizun might as well have opened the door and let the bastard beat him down.He always felt that although the bastard was poor and unremarkable, he was cowardly and would not get into any serious troubles. If he had known this, it would be more cost-effective to be kicked to death by himself early.

"Okay, I see."

Gao Yan: "We are still investigating here, and it is difficult to disclose more information to you now."

Gao Yan: "At present, the modus operandi is low-level. Jiang Liu still has a lot of bruises on his body. It should not be a deliberate murder and dumping of the body, but more like a sudden murder during a dispute."

Zhou Qizun let out a breath slowly from the cracks in his lips: "Thanks for your hard work, please contact me when you have any definite news."

After finishing speaking, he stood up: "You are still busy tonight, so I won't bother you. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Gao Yan also stood up, wanting to send Zhou Qizun out.

"That's enough, there's no need to send it away." Zhou Qizun told Gao Yan back, "Don't talk about that, just work hard."

Both Gao Yan's eyeballs were red, Zhou Qizun saw it, reached out his hand to feel in his pocket, but failed, he went to his trouser pocket again, and finally found two mints.

Zhou Qizun threw the candy into Gao Yan's hands: "I just brought two pieces, take them. It smells like toothpaste, refreshing."

"Thank you Brother Zhou." Gao Yan laughed.

As soon as Zhou Qizun turned and walked out the gate, the colleague opposite Gao Yan came over: "Hey, Dayan, give me a piece."

Gao Yan threw one piece to him, peeled off the other and ate it into his mouth.Zhou Qizun's candy really smelled like toothpaste, and the spicy smell went straight to the top of his head, after taking two sips, it felt like his scalp could be peeled off.Really refreshing.

"This candy is strong enough." The colleague also woke up after eating the spirit, and he suddenly asked Gao Yan in a low voice, "Brother Zhou said you want to take it away from the corpse?"

"Yeah." Gao Yan was bitten in half by the mint candy, and his nose was cold from choking, "Brother Zhou is really a good man."

"Who says it's not? Who is willing to cause this kind of bad luck? Let others be far away."

"It's a pity that Brother Zhou is such a good person, why is he so good and not rewarded? The unsolved case of the Zhou family..."

"Shut up." Gao Yan kicked his colleague and took off his coat, "Go to work."

"Come on, tonight is another night..."

.

After leaving the city bureau and crossing a long road, Zhou Qizun stood by the side of the road, staring at the girl with big eyes.

"Didn't I tell you to go? Waited for me until now?" Zhou Qizun frowned, sure that the girl had something wrong with her.

"Be coquettish, just be coquettish." Miss Spades muttered to herself, and slid to Zhou Qizun's feet.

It hesitated for a moment, then pushed its head against Zhou Qizun's trouser legs, meowing softly while doing so.

Zhou Qizun: "..."

Zhou Qizun watched it condescendingly, until Spades bald Zhou Qizun's socks, and then Zhou Qizun bent down to pick it up.

He pushed too hard, and the hair on Spade's head was covered with octagonal hairs. Zhou Qizun smoothed it out, then threw it on his shoulders and hung it up.

Zhou Qizun didn't shake his face to chase it away, he just walked to the barber shop with his hunchback.

After recognizing the direction to go home, Spades heaved a sigh of relief. ——It's coquettish is a success.

——Zhang Jueming was right.

.

It was very late at night, and there were fewer and fewer pedestrians on the road. Walking down the avenue, only a few pairs of feet walked quickly.

All the people in the city who have experienced the cool breeze want to go home early in this slightly cold night, embrace a soft embrace, or nestle into their own warm blanket.

Rising from dawn to dusk and walking in haste, our final destination is nothing more than this.

Miss Spades must have gained weight, Zhou Qizun hunched over her and walked all the way, and when she reached the barber shop, her shoulders had already started to turn sour.

He rolls the cat off his shoulders and wraps it in his arms.Just about to take out the key to open the door, Zhou Qizun turned his head and met a pair of eyes by the wall.

He is the grandson of the old man upstairs.Duan Ziyang leaned against the wall, stuck his head out and stared at Zhou Qizun.

"Ziyang?" Zhou Qizun put down the hand that took out the keys, and he walked towards Duan Ziyang, "You don't come home at night, what are you doing downstairs?"

"Uncle Zhou." Duan Ziyang's voice was so low that Zhou Qizun almost scratched his ears on the spot.

Duan Ziyang has been ill since he was a child, and chronic aplastic anemia exhausted him physically and mentally.All the innocence of this child has been soaked in the hospital, and the youthful vigor has long been killed by the smell of disinfectant.Contrary to other hot-blooded teenagers aged thirteen or fourteen, Duan Ziyang is very introverted, even a little autistic.

Therefore, Zhou Qizun was rarely patient with him.

Zhou Qizun squatted down and turned his ear towards Duan Ziyang: "Huh?"

"...Brother Jiang Liu..." Duan Ziyang's lips squirmed, Zhou Qizun got so close, but he still couldn't hear clearly, only vaguely heard Jiang Liu's name.

Zhou Qizun frowned: "Do you know about Jiang Liu?"

Duan Ziyang paused, then nodded slightly: "During dinner... Mom said it, she heard it when she was shopping for vegetables today."

Zhou Qizun could probably imagine what some people would think of the death of a bum.It's roughly similar to "that little bastard didn't do good things, and finally killed himself".

A human life, in the mouth of a chicken feather, is divided into high and low, and it may even become a few yin and yang satires.Those words and phrases brought to the dinner table were so sad that people couldn't help but feel sad.

Zhou Qizun sighed, he just took it as a mother's wickedness and frightened the child.He touched Duan Ziyang's head with his generous palm: "Ziyang, don't be afraid."

But Duan Ziyang still stood still, he didn't react any more, he just looked at Zhou Qizun eagerly.

Zhou Qizun felt strange: "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

Duan Ziyang opened his mouth, seemed embarrassed for a while, turned and left.Zhou Qizun stood in the corner without moving, while Duan Ziyang didn't take a few steps, then suddenly turned around and came back.

"I don't know if I should say it or not." Duan Ziyang murmured, "I can't say it well, I just saw it, maybe I was wrong."

"Say, it's okay. There's nothing you can't say to Uncle Zhou." Zhou Qizun laughed, grabbed the girl's cat's paw, and patted Duan Ziyang's shoulder lightly, "Say it."

Girl of Spades: "..."

Being teased by Zhou Qizun, Duan Ziyang really relaxed a bit.

His voice was still not loud, not much louder than the mosquitoes in autumn: "I saw Brother Jiang Liu's necklace. He always wears a skull necklace. That chain is very similar to his."

Zhou Qizun's nerves tensed, and he asked calmly, "Where did you see it?"

"I'm going to buy biscuits at the supermarket at the corner of the street." Duan Ziyang said, stretching out his hand from his back, Zhou Qizun saw that he was holding a box of three plus two in his hand, "I saw a chain hanging on the cash register of the supermarket. Really very similar."

Duan Ziyang: "Brother Jiang Liu's necklace has a pair of black gemstones embedded in the skull's eyes, I recognize it."

Zhou Qizun: "..."

He didn't pay much attention to it, but after hearing what Duan Ziyang said, he had the impression that there was indeed such a necklace around Er Liuzi's neck.In short, this level of aesthetics is very in line with Jiangliu.

"I see." Zhou Qizun smiled at Duan Ziyang again.

He pinched the girl's paw and patted Duan Ziyang's shoulder twice: "Thank you Ziyang."

Duan Ziyang finally showed a smile.

Zhou Qizun looked at him for a while, his little face was pale.This child is very smart, and he found out that he knew how to come and tell himself.If it hadn't been delayed by that grueling illness...

Zhou Qizun felt pity, but there was nothing he could do.He said to Duan Ziyang: "Hurry up and go upstairs, grandpa will be worried if it's late."

"That's why grandpa will be worried." Duan Ziyang lowered his head and blurted out unconsciously, "If dad doesn't come home, mom will only quarrel with grandma."

Zhou Qizun was speechless.

But the little boy's loss was only for a moment.Duan Ziyang raised his head quickly, as if he hadn't said anything to Zhou Qizun just now.Duan Ziyang smiled at Zhou Qizun: "Goodbye, Uncle Zhou, I'm going home."

"Yeah." Zhou Qizun hugged the cat, and didn't turn back to the barber shop until he saw the slender figure turning into the building and disappearing up the stairs.

.

The next morning, just after seven o'clock.It was cloudy again, the sun was still covered, Bai Yuxing came to Zhou Qizun with a bag of pancakes.

Bai Yuxing already had the key to the barber shop, he thought that Zhou Qizun hadn't woken up yet, so he unlocked it and entered by himself.

So, when he saw Zhou Qizun sitting on the sofa with the girl on his back, silently, he was taken aback immediately.

"Why didn't you make a sound when you got up? Didn't you hear me coming in?" Bai Yuxing put the pancakes on the side of the table, and looked down at Zhou Qizun's hands, "You didn't suffer from insomnia again last night, did you?"

Zhou Qizun looked at the trash with his rough hands, but they were actually very dexterous and could do fine work.

——He was kneading a piece of pure white light clay: "No, I just wanted to get up early and go to the supermarket, but I got up too early, and I realized that the supermarket is not open yet."

"What are you in a hurry to buy at the supermarket early in the morning?" Bai Yuxing asked casually, seeing Zhou Qizun's quick strokes and pinch out a chubby rabbit body.

Zhou Qizun has a job that is very inconsistent with his temperament. - Make light clay.He has a shop on the Internet, which only accepts custom orders, and a few orders per month can be counted as income.

Otherwise, it's not a problem, although Zhou Yunheng left him a considerable amount of savings, but after all these years, Zhou Qizun has no serious job and is looking around for news about Zhou Yi, so he has already failed.There is no way to live if you eat and wait for death, you always have to barely earn a few bucks.

However, since Jiang Qiuqin left, Bai Yuxing saw Zhou Qizun making light clay for the first time: "You finally can't eat, do you want to do some work?"

Zhou Qizun smiled, pulled out two ears for the little rabbit, took the tweezers and slowly hooked the ears: "Didn't you honor me with pancakes? I don't have to pay rent, so I can live no matter what."

"Stop talking nonsense." Bai Yuxing squinted at him, "Is this custom-made? When will it be air-dried?"

"Don't worry." Zhou Qizun put down the rabbit in his hand, and picked up a piece of red clay to make eyes for the rabbit.

With clay on his fingertips, he asked, "Why are you here so early?"

"I'm too lazy to start a fire in the morning, so I came out to buy breakfast, and I brought you some along the way." Bai Yuxing said with a pursed mouth, "Then I want to tell you... about the bastard, last night I still Didn't hide it, your sister-in-law found out."

Zhou Qizun's movements paused, and he finally raised his head to look at Bai Yuxing, and he sighed: "I think so, you can't hide anything from your sister-in-law."

"She said that I was in a bad mood when I was eating. As soon as she asked, I said it. Then I was scolded..." Bai Yuxing rubbed his face.

Zhou Qizun: "Well..."

Bai Yuxing: "Then what, your sister-in-law said, after the autopsy is finished, she will bring it back to the bastard. The child was not hurt when he was alive, so he should be decent when he leaves. Man'er will hold a funeral for him."

Zhou Qizun was about to open his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Bai Yuxing: "Your sister-in-law also said that even if we don't bring it back, Zun'er will."

Bai Yuxing: "Zhou Qizun doesn't even know how to take care of himself. If you're a big-budget guy, let's get rid of them as soon as possible. I don't think he would like to be beaten by a bastard all the time. Don't worry about what happens next."

Zhou Qizun: "..."

Li Man is a transparent person with a good eye, she is worthy of being Bai Yuxing's wife.Zhou Qizun laughed, and simply followed the couple: "Do as you please."

"By the way, do you remember Er Liuzi's necklace?" Zhou Qizun suddenly asked Bai Yuxing.

"I remember, of course I remember." Bai Yuxing said, "It's so stupid. I told him to pick it off, big skull."

"En." Zhou Qizun cleaned up the light clay on the table, rubbed his hands perfunctorily, pulled out a piece of pancake and gnawed it, "Does the skull have two big black gemstone eyes?"

"That's right." Bai Yuxing recalled for a moment, "Yes, that's right. Plastic black gems. It's ugly and blind."

Zhou Qizun nodded and said nothing.

"Why do you ask this?" Bai Yuxing poured out a glass of water.

"I just remembered it suddenly." Zhou Qizun was vague and did not explain.

After eating a piece of cake, Zhou Qizun glanced at the time, stretched his hand around his back, and pulled the girl down.

He stood up and stretched himself: "I'm going to the supermarket, it should be opening soon."

"No, what are you buying in such a hurry?" Bai Yuxing asked again.

Zhou Qizun opened his mouth this time and said casually, "Buy cigarettes."

Bai Yuxing and Miss Spade, one person and one cat, respectively gave him two eyes.