It's very cold tonight. Before yesterday, the weather was not too cold. Last night, the weather forecast on the TV said that the temperature will start to drop sharply from today, and the weather has indeed become colder.
Cheng Mingxiang walked along the dark part of the road. It was now 0:15 in the middle of the night. She had slipped out of the back door of "Fangxian Hotel" seven minutes ago, and her time was calculated accurately. She tried to avoid the bright streetlights, except for the taxi's headlights that streaked past her. There are the most taxis coming and going during this period, and cars are constantly coming from the direction of the city center, and each car is traveling very fast.
Cheng Mingxiang walked up the ramp, holding a gasoline bottle wrapped in a cloth towel. She lowered her head as much as possible to avoid the headlights of oncoming cars. At one end of the road was a long mansion wall, and at the other end was an ordinary There are very few shops nearby private houses, and it is late at night. Occasionally, small food stalls can be seen with lights on, and Cheng Mingxiang speeds up and passes in front.
She walked to a place about a thousand meters away from "Fangxian Hotel" and turned from the road into a dark alley. When she decided on this plan, she had already taken the route and time into account. After a while, she walked towards the wider road again. There is a small temple just in front of the road, vaguely visible. She deliberately squatted in the darkness under the eaves of a house and searched for taxis on the road with their empty lights on. An empty car was approaching from a distance, and Cheng Mingxiang quickly rushed out from under the eaves at the right time. The taxi made an emergency braking sound and stopped.
"Where?"
The driver is an old gentleman. Cheng Mingxiang occasionally took taxis before, but this time she took a closer look at the driver's appearance. Cheng Mingxiang wore a mask and a simple thin square scarf wrapped around her neck. The weather is very cold at night, so dressing up like this does not look unnatural. She deliberately put on an ordinary one-piece formal suit and a black and gray coat, and tried her best to avoid making any noise from the gasoline bottle in her hand. She told the driver how to go faster.
"Miss, you are quite familiar with this area."
"No, I've only been here once."
"Then you have a really good memory."
She was startled.
Get off the car a little far away from your home. There is only a small alley leading to your home, and there is no direct main road. You can get off the bus here and walk home without being noticed. At this time, a small sound came from Cheng Mingxiang's ears, which may have been a temporary auditory hallucination because the surroundings were too quiet. Along the way, she met no one, and the alley was dark. She walked to the door of her house and looked at her watch: at 00:40, it took her a total of thirty-two minutes to get here from "Fangxian Hotel".
She took out the key and opened the door quietly. Sister Guan closed the door before she left, so Sister Guan did not spend the night here tonight. She opened the door a crack first and listened carefully to what was going on in the room. Only faint snores came from the room. She listened carefully for three minutes before slowly opening the door. Because it was her own door, she was familiar with how to open it and knew how to prevent it from making any noise.
There was a slight musty smell in the darkness. bright--
There is a long light rope hanging under the electric light in the room, and only a small bulb is on. Zhao Kuan, who is lying under the light, only needs to pull the light rope, and the light bulb will light up. Just like now, the dim light is projected on the hair. On the red door.
She glanced towards the coal stove. There was still fire inside. Although it was covered with charcoal ash, there was still a slight fire underneath the briquettes. Zhao Kuan fell asleep on the shabby quilt, with his mouth open and snoring coming from his nose from time to time. His cheeks were thin, his eye sockets were sunken, and there were faint dark shadows on his face. His head was resting on the quilt, the pillow fell aside, and his skinny arms stretched out from the thin quilt.
Cheng Mingxiang stood beside the pillow and looked down at her husband's sleeping form, which was a pale face. However, from the slight ooze of oil on the face, it can be seen that it is the face of a haggard patient, like the mucus left behind by insects. Tonight, he slept in ordinary pajamas, but he could still see the long red shirt underneath.
It was quiet outside the house, without any sound, and the dark silence seemed to swallow up the entire home.
I have lived with this husband for five years, and it has been two years since he fell ill. This unsatisfactory man has always made my life miserable. He was lazy, idle, and a drunkard. There were not many happy memories of his marriage, but mostly boring ones. He is lustful by nature and hangs out all day long. Not only that, he often suspects that his wife is having an affair and is always monitoring Cheng Mingxiang's every move. This worsened after he fell ill. For Cheng Mingxiang now, there is no burden heavier than her husband.
Mian was moved for a moment, and Zhao Kuan turned over. Cheng Mingxiang was so frightened that she took a few steps back. Zhao Kuan seemed to wake up and stretched out a hand on the bedside table. He held the duckbill pot with his skinny fingers, which Mrs. Guan had put on the bedside table before she left. There was still half a pot of water in the duckbill pot. Zhao Kuan raised his shoulders and put the curved spout into his mouth, his protruding Adam's apple sliding up and down. After about three drinks of water, he put the duckbill pot back on the bedside table and lay back on the bed without noticing Cheng Mingxiang at all. The small plate beside the pillow also contained steamed buns and pickles prepared for the patient, but the steamed bun seemed to have been bitten by a mouse, and only half of it was left.
Cheng Mingxiang thought that his disease was incurable and the doctor was helpless. My actions only sped up the process.
There was a stuffy smell in the air, which was emitted by Zhao Kuan's excrement. In the morning, when Mrs. Guan came, she first took out the bedpan and emptied it out, cleaned it, and then put it back. She was such a diligent woman. Zhao Kuan rested his head on the pillow for a moment, and after a while, he snored evenly again.
Cheng Mingxiang looked at her watch again: 00:50. She calculated carefully and found out that it was 00:08 when she slipped out of "Fangxian Hotel". In any case, she had to go back before 1:30. She included the round-trip taxi ride because the time it took to return to the hotel served as proof of her alibi.
The face of the man waiting for her to return appeared in Cheng Mingxiang's mind. At this moment, he should be drinking quietly in the guest room. She looked around the room: What a humble house this is! Then she turned her attention to the door.
She stared at the coal stove on the threshold, which was the only heating device in the cold room. A wooden seat covered with iron sheets was laid under the coal stove. Mrs. Guan added briquettes to the stove before leaving, and came back the next morning to pour ashes and start the fire again. This coal stove is used both for cooking and heating. She stared carefully at the briquettes covered with a layer of white ash. The briquettes were slightly reddish, indicating that the fire had not been completely extinguished, so she stretched her hand towards the coal stove.
At this time, there was a sound from the other side of the bed. She looked back in surprise and saw that it was the collision sound made by Zhao Kuan when he raised his hand. He didn't seem to wake up, but his snoring stopped, which had to make Cheng Mingxiang be on guard. She quietly moved the coal stove to the door and placed it on the worn floor. Normally, Mrs. Guan placed the coal stove a little further away from the door frame, just to avoid a fire if it tipped over. However, Mrs. Guan is a mentally retarded woman. If the police ask her tomorrow where the coal stove is, she will probably not be able to tell.
Cheng Mingxiang took out the toilet paper from her coat pocket. Since the paper was packed tightly, it was quite heavy. She spread it out and stuffed it all into the coal stove. Piles of white toilet paper were stacked on the briquettes covered with white ash. Soon, a faint white smoke began to rise from the bottom, which was a weak wisp of smoke. She untied the cloth and took out the gasoline bottle. The liquid in the bottle sloshed. The cork at the mouth of the bottle was tight, and she had to pull it out with a lot of force. She turned back to observe Zhao Kuan's condition. Perhaps because he drank some water just now, he snored evenly again, and the quilt undulated slightly.
Cheng Mingxiang walked to the cement floor at the entrance again, where there was a pair of Mrs. Guan's slippers. She put on her slippers and walked to the door, opening it quietly. A cold night air hit her face, and she put her head out to look around. There were no cars passing by on the narrow road, and there were no traces of pedestrians. The neighboring houses were shrouded in darkness.
0:55. She closed the door and walked back into the house, holding the gasoline bottle in one hand. There seemed to be a bit of smoke smell in the room, and wisps of green smoke appeared in the air. She pointed the gasoline bottle at the coal stove filled with toilet paper, and then poured the liquid out of the bottle as a prank.
As soon as the pile of wet toilet paper collapsed, the flames quickly grew. There was still two-thirds of the gasoline in the bottle, so Cheng Mingxiang poured water on the floor again, and then poured it on the door next to the coal stove. The flames in the coal stove jumped up quickly, and suddenly, the whole room lit up. Because Zhao Kuan had just turned over and slept on his side, he didn't see the blazing flames. No, it should be said that even if he noticed it, his body could not move: he could not crawl out, and his cry for help could not be heard from outside.
Finally, Cheng Mingxiang poured all the remaining gasoline on the worn floor. Then, she quietly put on her shoes. The fire was bright behind her, and her figure was swaying on the wall, which made her a little startled.
