(This chapter is told from Liu Xiaoyan’s perspective)
After taking a bath at this point, Liu Xiaoyan stepped out of the bathtub with her wet feet on the non-slip mat.
She stood in front of the mirror, took out a tissue and wiped the fog from the mirror.
On the mirror, Liu Xiaoyan saw the redness and swelling on her forehead. She approached the mirror and carefully touched the redness and swelling, sighed and wrapped her hair skillfully.
The TV in the room was playing the news, and she liked to turn the sound of the TV program very loud so that it could spread to every corner of the room.
In this way, you can hear it when cleaning the room, cooking, ironing clothes, and even taking a shower.
It seems that as long as there are other sounds in the room, you will not be lonely when you live alone.
She bent down and took out the hair dryer from the drawer and plugged it in.
Just as I was about to dry my hair, I heard a knock on the door.
Liu Xiaoyan turned around suddenly, looked quickly in the direction of the door, and then held her breath to observe the movement.
The person outside the door continued to knock on the door with increasing intensity: "I hear you are at home, open the door quickly!!"
Hearing the voice from the house downstairs, Liu Xiaoyan breathed a sigh of relief, opened her mouth and responded in a low voice: "Here he comes."
As soon as the door opened, it was indeed the male owner of the household downstairs who came, standing menacingly outside the door.
Seeing that Liu Xiaoyan had just finished taking a shower, the man said rudely: "Why are you watching TV while taking a shower? The TV is turned up so loud. Do you know that I am disturbing people downstairs?"
The man's angry roar even overshadowed the TV. Liu Xiaoyan bowed and apologized: "Sorry... the soundproofing here is not very good. Is it too loud to disturb you? I, I will turn it off right now."
"The poor sound insulation is not just a matter of one or two days, and I knock on the door not once or twice." The man continued to complain and dropped harsh words, "If you do this again, I can only complain to your landlord. Then you can't I want to renew my lease!”
"I'm really sorry..." Liu Xiaoyan kept bowing and admitting her mistake. It wasn't until the man left that she slowly closed the door.
She had no expression on her face during the whole process, until after the door closed, she even curled up her lips and said, "Tch, this is something that happens to men."
After turning down the TV volume in the living room, Liu Xiaoyan returned to the bathroom and picked up the hair dryer again.
After blow-drying my hair, the time on the wall clock pointed to 10 o'clock.
Just when she was about to go to sleep, her cell phone rang at an inappropriate time.
It's particularly jarring in a quiet room.
Liu Xiaoyan quickly picked up her phone and saw that the call information showed that it was an unknown call.
Liu Xiaoyan hesitated for a moment, then answered the phone: "Hello?"
There was a hissing sound on the other end of the phone, but otherwise it was quiet and no sound could be heard.
"Hello, can you hear me?" Liu Xiaoyan said again, "If it's a prank call, I'll hang up."
After she finished speaking, she paused for two seconds, and the weird children's laughter came from the other end of the phone again.
"Hee... hee... hee..." The voice was intermittent, and it sounded like the voice of a little boy.
Liu Xiaoyan felt a chill in her back and decided it was a prank call.
"Children can't make random calls to strangers. The police can find you based on your phone number!"
Half coaxing and half threatening, the laughter on the other end of the phone suddenly stopped.
What was replaced was the sound of tape rewinding, and the next second, Liu Xiaoyan found her own voice coming from the other end of the phone.
'Son, if you continue to gamble like this, you will be ruined. It is impossible for me to give you money today. '
'Smelly bitch, give me money quickly! '
'(There was a scramble for objects falling)'
'It's just such a small amount of money, Xiu Wai Wai Wai, I, I didn't push you, you fell down on your own! ! '
These lines of dialogue felt very familiar to Liu Xiaoyan, and when she recalled them carefully, she instantly felt chills running down her spine.
This was clearly the conversation they had last night when their son came to ask for money!
"Who are you, you...how do you have this recording?!" Liu Xiaoyan held the phone in both hands and put it to her ear.
After Liu Xiaoyan finished saying this, the recording on the other end of the phone stopped abruptly.
Then came a voice that had been changed with a voice changer: "Nurse Liu, long time no see."
"Who are you?" Liu Xiaoyan kept asking.
"Maybe you don't know me, no... you definitely don't remember me." The person on the other end of the phone muttered to himself, and then changed his tone: "So, do you still remember Xiaochi?"
Liu Xiaoyan repeated the name briefly and quickly: "Xiaochi..."
Liu Xiaoyan was deeply impressed by this name.
At this moment, Liu Xiaoyan thought of the desolate back garden, the sink, and the biting cold night.
"Judging from your reaction, I think you haven't forgotten him yet."
Liu Xiaoyan panicked instantly: "He is already dead, he should be dead, right? Who are you?"
There was only a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, and the cold AI voice sounded again.
"Don't think you can escape your guilt. Come to the backyard of the Red Heart Orphanage. I will wait for you there."
"I'll go if you ask me to?" Liu Xiaoyan said, "It's been decades, and I won't go."
"...You have only two choices." The mysterious man continued in a calm tone, "Come to the appointment at one o'clock in the morning, or wait until the police come to your door tomorrow. You will spend the rest of your life in the bureau. You are on your own. Choose."
Cold sweat broke out on Liu Xiaoyan's forehead, and the hand holding the phone was trembling slightly.
She glanced at the time on the wall: "It's already eleven o'clock now. The orphanage is too far away. I might not be able to make it in time."
"It's just a taxi ride away." The mysterious man continued, "Don't play tricks. I know you much better than you think."
After the mysterious man finished speaking, he hung up the phone.
After the call was hung up, Liu Xiaoyan dropped her cell phone and started searching frantically in every corner of her home.
She opened up the sofa and checked the bottom of the sofa, checked under the coffee table, and finally found a bug behind the TV.
"Fuck..." Liu Xiaoyan unplugged the bug, threw it on the floor and crushed it with her feet.
Her heart was pounding, and she kept thinking about who had been at home recently.
Liu Xiaoyan stood barefoot on the floor of the living room, standing there constantly hesitating, not knowing how to make a choice.
Should you believe that madman and go to the appointment? What will happen to you if you go to the appointment rashly...
With her thoughts in a mess, Liu Xiaoyan quickly raised her head and glanced at the clock. Time kept ticking by.
I turned on my phone and calculated the time. It was exactly two hours by taxi and it was exactly one o'clock when I arrived at the orphanage.
If we hesitated for another ten minutes, we would be too late.
During the period of hesitation, the image of Xiaochi's death suddenly appeared in his mind.
The next second, Liu Xiaoyan opened the mobile car software...
