The bedroom door was ajar, and the atmosphere inside was anxious.
Liang Zhe deliberately stayed in the living room for a while, listening to Deng Zhongquan talk about the brand of furniture and how much it cost to decorate. Then he opened the door and entered the bedroom. The sheets were wrinkled, the quilt was messy, the pillows were skewed, and there was no one on the bed. There was a pair of glasses on the bedside table. The lenses were as thick as the bottom of a beer bottle. He knew they belonged to Pang Yi. Before Deng Zhongquan came in, he put the glasses and a small key into his pocket and kicked a piece of women's underwear on the floor into the bed. end.
"Why is the bed so messy?" Deng Zhongquan walked in and frowned slightly.
"It's okay." Liang Zhe bent down, smoothed the sheets and straightened the pillows.
Deng Zhongquan smiled and then explained the layout of the bedroom.
"Is there a coffee machine?" Liang Zhe suddenly asked.
"We don't have this one yet, but you reminded me to buy it tomorrow." Deng Zhongquan looked at Liang Zhe with affection in his eyes, "Liang Zhe, it's been a long time since we had such a good chat. I miss it so much."
"Indeed." Liang Zhe nodded. Although he and Pang Yi have more common topics, Deng Zhongquan is also an indispensable part of their trio. Deng Zhongquan has strong social skills and broad vision. He provided them with a lot of advice in the early stages of their careers, and occasionally showed his temperament. They even had a fight together in college.
"Can I trouble you with something?" Liang Zhe looked at Deng Zhongquan.
"Say." Deng Zhongquan put his hands behind his back.
"I want to drink coffee. I see there is one outside the community."
Deng Zhongquan observed Liang Zhe's face intently, and after a moment, he smiled heartily.
"That's you." Deng Zhongquan patted Liang Zhe on the shoulder, "If it were anyone else, let alone asking me to buy coffee, I would get scolded just for making this request. Okay, I'll buy it for you, you Just wander around.”
After Deng Zhongquan left, Liang Zhe closed the bedroom door, took out his mobile phone, turned on the video mode, and opened the double-door wardrobe. Pang Yi and Feng Yuan were hiding inside. Pang Yi was half-naked and hugging his clothes, and Feng Yuan was disheveled. , there were handcuffs on their wrists. When they saw Liang Zhe, they both opened their eyes wide and looked nervous and panicked.
"Deng Zhongquan is gone?" Feng Yuan came out first, "Liang Zhe, just pretend you didn't see anything. I owe you a favor and I will pay it back in the future." Then she shouted to Pang Yi: "Hurry up and get dressed and leave. !”
Pang Yi hurriedly put on his clothes, but his glasses were nowhere to be found. He put his face close to the bedside table and groped around with both hands. Not only was his glasses missing, but the handcuff keys were also missing. At this time, Feng Yuan was still handcuffed.
"What a waste!" Feng Yuan cursed angrily, "Stop looking for her and leave here first."
"I have the handcuff keys and the glasses." Liang Zhe took a chair and sat in front of the door, blocking the door with his body. "If you want to walk out of this door safely, you need to answer a question."
"What's the problem?" Feng Yuan didn't find any underwear, so she hurriedly put on a skirt.
"Where did you take Yangyang?!"
"What nonsense are you talking about-" Feng Yuan's face turned cold.
"I don't want to repeat it, and you don't have time." Liang Zhe happened to receive a call from Deng Zhongquan, asking him what kind of coffee he drank. He turned on the speakerphone and said, "Come back, I found Feng here -"
Feng Yuan immediately rushed to Liang Zhe and gestured to Liang Zhe with her mouth, indicating that she would fully cooperate.
"Cockroaches were found." Liang Zhe changed his words.
After hanging up the phone, Feng Yuan squatted beside Liang Zhe's legs, put her palms on Liang Zhe's thighs, and begged Liang Zhe to open her handcuffs first. Liang Zhe ignored her, and she acted coquettishly towards Liang Zhe again, but it still didn't work, which was unexpected. On the ground, she suddenly bumped into Liang Zhe, knocking Liang Zhe to the ground, pressing Liang Zhe sideways, and shouted to Pang Yi: "Hurry up!"
Pang Yi quickly stepped forward, but without his glasses, he almost lost his fighting ability. He went to press Liang Zhe, but he tripped to the ground first. He opened his eyes wide and grabbed his hands in the air. He couldn't even tell which one was Liang Zhe. .
Feng Yuan took the opportunity to open the door, but before she could go out, Liang Zhe grabbed her hair and pulled her back, throwing her directly to the ground. Liang Zhe closed the door forcefully, his face red with anger. He originally wanted to resolve the matter peacefully, but he didn't want to use force. He didn't expect Feng Yuan to be so stubborn. In this case, there was no need for him to hold back. He took out the earring in the plastic bag from his pocket and said in a loud voice: "I dug this earring in the grove. Five years ago, the night Yangyang disappeared, you two were in the grove. During the tryst, that’s when the earrings fell off, right?!”
Pang Yi got close to the plastic bag, looked carefully with his eyes wide open, and saw the two letters on the earrings: LO. He screamed, climbed back as if he had seen a ghost, bumped into Feng Yuan, and was kicked away by Feng Yuan.
Liang Zhe stared at Pang Yi: "This earring was your birthday gift to He Ranran that year."
Pang Yi looked left and right, his eyes bulging out, and his hands groped randomly on the floor.
Liang Zhe dialed He Ranran's number and pressed the speakerphone.
He Ranran's voice came: "Liang Zhe, is something wrong?"
Liang Zhe said: "I am with Pang Yi, he is -"
Pang Yi crawled forward and tried to snatch the phone. Liang Zhe was well prepared and took a step back. While picking up the phone, he pulled out the switchblade from his waist, opened it with a snap, and pointed the tip of the knife at Pang Yi. Pang Yi froze on the spot, slowly moved his face forward, and after seeing clearly that it was a real knife, he immediately took two steps back. Liang Zhe threw Pang Yi's glasses over, and Pang Yi put them on hastily, clearly seeing Liang Zhe's resolute expression and determined gaze.
He Ranran's voice came: "Where are you? Did something happen?"
Just as Liang Zhe was about to speak, Pang Yi knelt on the ground with a pop.
Liang Zhe pressed the speakerphone and covered the receiver.
Pang Yi hugged Liang Zhe's legs: "Please, don't tell Ranran."
Liang Zhe said nothing and the call was not interrupted.
Pang Yi raised his head: "Yangyang's disappearance really has nothing to do with us, we just happened to meet -"
Liang Zhe immediately asked: "What did you meet?"
Pang Yi looked back at Feng Yuan. Feng Yuan stood in front of the window at some point. She saw Deng Zhongquan walking towards the building with two cups of coffee. Compared to He Ranran, Deng Zhongquan's crisis was more imminent.
Feng Yuan turned around and came back with a hurried tone: "Do you swear that you won't tell anyone what happened today?"
Liang Zhe nodded: "I just want to get Yangyang back, I don't care about your affairs."
Feng Yuan and Pang Yi looked at each other, with the same nervousness and panic in their eyes. On one side was Deng Zhongquan who was walking over, and on the other side was He Ranran who answered the phone. One can imagine how furious Feng Yuan's reaction would be if Deng Zhongquan found out that they were having an affair in their new home. Feng Yuan was still thinking about getting a large portion of her property after the divorce, so she was probably going to be purged and left the house. As for Pang Yi, how should he face He Ranran's storm? Just thinking about it makes his scalp numb.
"We lost the earrings." Feng Yuan finally spoke, "We did meet Yang Yang that night."
Under Feng Yuan's narration, the curtain of the truth opened to a new corner after five years.
It’s 9:30 pm on July 9, 2018.
Half an hour before Yangyang disappeared.
Feng Yuan and Pang Yi, who are five years younger than they are now, meet in the woods.
In the caress of the shadows of the trees, Pang Yi, who had missed him for a long time, hugged Feng Yuan's warm body tightly.
"Where are the earrings?" Feng Yuan pushed Pang Yi away, her eyes shining, and she pointed at Pang Yi's chest with her index finger.
"Here it is." Pang Yi quickly handed over the earring, "Why do you like this earring? It's not worth a lot of money."
"You don't understand, the important thing is not money." Feng Yuan raised her pointed chin, observed the amber earrings in the cold sky, and showed a satisfied smile. She didn't want to wear this earring at all. She had many better ones, but she felt uncomfortable when she saw He Ranran's triumphant look while wearing the earring. She wanted to prove that Pang Yi cared about her more than He Ranran. This was also used to test Pang Yi's obedience to her and lay a solid foundation for future training.
Pang Yi hugged Feng Yuan tightly again and pecked Feng Yuan's slender neck quickly, making a sizzling sound.
"Take off your glasses." Feng Yuan said, "That's what you look like if you don't wear glasses."
Pang Yi took off his glasses obediently and put them in his shirt pocket. When he was kissing Feng Yuan, he heard the sound of soft footsteps. Pang Yi turned around and saw Yang Yang standing nearby, holding a wicker in his hand. Yuan also saw Yangyang. Yangyang screamed, turned around and ran away. Feng Yuan pushed Pang Yi. Pang Yi didn't even think about it, he immediately chased after her and covered Yangyang's mouth. At this time, voices came from outside the woods. Pang Yi was distracted and was bitten by Yang Yang. After Yang Yang broke free, he ran towards the direction of the sound. Feng Yuan followed quickly and stepped on Pang Yi, who fell to the ground. glasses.
When they hurriedly left the woods, they discovered that one of their earrings had fallen off.
"That's all." Feng Yuan breathed a long sigh of relief, as if she felt relieved after saying it.
"The whole family will die if you lie." Pang Yi looked solemn. At this time, Liang Zhe had already hung up the phone on He Ranran.
Liang Zhe held his chin and thought. There was a sound of opening the door from outside. It must be that Deng Zhongquan was back.
"Whose voice did you hear in the woods?" Liang Zhe asked.
"I don't know..." Pang Yi waved his hands in panic.
"There were only a few people at that time!" Liang Zhe raised his voice.
"It's He Ranran and their son Pang Jinjin." Feng Yuan said first.
"Is there anything else?" Liang Zhe stared into the eyes of the two of them.
"There really aren't any more." Feng Yuan and Pang Yi replied in unison.
Liang Zhe took a deep breath, a little disappointed with the result, but his anger also rose.
"Pang Yi, I regard you as my best friend." Liang Zhe gritted his teeth and said, "But because you had an affair with Feng Yuan, you concealed the clues. If you had told it at that time, maybe the result would have been completely different."
"Liang Zhe——" Deng Zhongquan's voice sounded outside.
Pang Yi hid in the closet and whispered: "I'm sorry..."
Liang Zhe saw tears flashing in Pang Yi's eyes. He knew that it was caused by nervousness and fear, rather than remorse and guilt. If Pang Yi was really conscience-stricken, he would not have watched him search all over the world for five years. The clues indeed have nothing to do with Yangyang's disappearance, but being able to sort out Yangyang's path before his disappearance will help the investigation.
Pang Yi is not his friend at all. Fortunately, he still misses Pang Yi.
A drop of clear tears fell from the corner of Liang Zhe's eyes, for Yangyang and himself.
The door opened and Deng Zhongquan stood at the door, looking at Liang Zhe with confusion and sympathy.
"Thank you." Liang Zhe took the coffee with a bitter look on his face, "And your new home."
"We are brothers." Deng Zhongquan patted Liang Zhe on the shoulder, "If you have any difficulties, just ask. I will help if I can."
The two went downstairs together. In the elevator, Deng Zhongquan invited Liang Zhe again.
"You don't have to come when we move tomorrow. You have to come when we open the stove and warm the house the day after tomorrow. There is no one else but you and Pang Yi's family. You know, in this city, I only have you two friends, and the rest are just some Benefit partners.”
"Let me take a look." Liang Zhe saw the sincerity in Deng Zhongquan's eyes and felt a little relieved. He realized that Deng Zhongquan's attitude towards him had never changed in the past five years, and was even better than before. .
The two parted outside the community.
After Liang Zhe got in the car, he received a text from his wife: Put on your earrings and let's go find He Ranran.
Liang Zhe had this intention. He nodded and glanced at the empty back row: "Are you seated?"
My wife sent a text: Sit down, not in the back row, but next to you.
Liang Zhe looked at the passenger seat and showed a long-lost smile: "Then let's set off."
