Prologue
The corpse lay there with its right arm stretched out as if it was trying to fish something floating out of the water of the stinking ditch.
It is a very famous flower street in the Xiajie area, called "Liuxuanduan" Street. The river ditch flows along the alley behind Flower Street. No, it doesn't flow so much as it flows all year round, blocked by mud and garbage on the streets, so much so that even the residents there have forgotten its name.
After a heavy storm last night, although the wind and rain stopped, some iron roof hairpins and bridge boards seemed to be still tightening. In this scenery, only the smelly water ditch was strangely still.
She only wore underwear and torn pants. Such an outfit was quite common during the scorching summer heat two or three days ago. However, after being hit by the wind and rain at night, the body seemed to be covered with a layer of mud, with only the clothes and pants clinging to the body.
It happened to be in such a location, so it looked particularly shabby and desolate.
He must be in his mid-thirties or so - later
It was found out that this man was a man in the "Liuxuanduan" area who was known to everyone when talking about "one-cent pine", and this name was given to him because he had a red spot the size of a penny coin under his left ear. Called out. As if trying to wrap around this red spot, there were bruises on the neck of the corpse where two hemp ropes had been strangled. The identification showed that this was the cause of death.
The time of the murder was a few hours before the body was found, so it must have been a stormy time!
Since it is a lively Flower Street, there will be some pedestrians even in the alleys at the back. It was because of that storm that there were no pedestrians on the streets, homes were closed early, and neon lights were turned off, so it took so long to be discovered.
When we arrived at the scene, it was not bright yet, but we saw a faint hint of fish belly white in the sky on the other side. It must be the remaining rain clouds, a purple cloud hanging there - I still remember that it happened to be the same color as the purple spots on the corpse's face. The two eyes seemed unaware that the sky was getting slightly brighter, staring blankly into the dark night sky.
The hanging right arm almost touched the water, and the clenched fist, we all thought was caused by the pain before death.
It was the coroner who first discovered this. it starts from
Exposed between the ring finger and little finger. "It's Platycodon flower!"
The coroner took some effort to open his stiff fingers, leaned his face forward and said. In the man's blackened fingers, the petals were torn into pieces. Among the flower stems and leaves that were covered in mud, only the flower was strangely white. The thick fingers seemed to have a slight odor. I suddenly had a strange idea that the flower was the dream that this man caught before he died.
The strange corpse I witnessed for the first time in my life made me forget my duty. I stood upright with a pale face, and suddenly a picture flashed through my mind.
——In the backstreet alley under the beating of the storm, two figures were arguing fiercely. One of them violently strangled the neck of the other who was lying on the ground. The man struggled painfully. At this time, on the dark water, he saw the white flower rising faintly from the water under the light of the prostitute's house. A muddy ditch in a back alley is bearing the pouring rain, but it can surface. In the eyes of a man, this should not be realistic, but dreamlike. He stretched out his hand, forgetting that he was on the verge of death, desperately trying to catch the dreamy flower. It was a flower swaying between the waves in the strong wind. He stretched out his hand desperately to the flower...
At this moment, the sound of a bell came, tearing apart the scene in my imagination. It was only later that I learned that at the west end of Liuxuanduan, there was a small temple called Lingyun Temple. The bones of the unfortunate women who died on this street were buried in the temple. It was the dawn bell that came from this small temple.
In the morning glow, it dragged a long lingering sound until the next bell rang. I think it was also the mourning for the death of a man and the accompanying death of a flower.
This was my first encounter with Nahua. It was at the end of September in the third year of Showa (1928 AD). I had just graduated from the police academy. This was the first case I took on after becoming a criminal police officer. It was because of this flower that it became a case that I will never forget. Three days later, I accompanied my senior detective Hishida to a small prostitute house in Rokkenduan, Sofengkan.
After two days of investigation, although I knew some things, I still had no idea how to solve the case.
The dead man's name was Ida Matsugoro. It was said that until two years ago he was still working as a pimp at Kinrei Hall, the largest brothel in Rokugenduan. It was already a bit sneaky at that time, and the boss said that the name might also be fake. Since two years ago, the union decided not to allow pimps anymore, people have disappeared. Unexpectedly, after the spring of this year, he suddenly changed his identity and became a guest, often appearing at Liuxuanduan. He is generous with his money and often shows off his thick wallet in front of the girls. He claims to be doing some shady business, but some people have heard that he is engaged in some kind of shady business.
Some people disagree with this statement. For example, his old sweetheart, Toyoko from Yoshizuya, said: "He doesn't look like a person crossing a dangerous bridge." Women can often smell out the places where people wanted by the police like to sneak in and out. Men have a dark side, so maybe this girl’s statement is more reliable.
We guessed that the murderer's purpose might be the banknotes that Yiqiansong took out to show off, because there was no wallet found on the body.
There is another one, which was loosened for one penny that night.
action. That night, as usual, Yi Qiansong had visited a certain brothel in Liuxuanduan. This was confirmed by the fact that the murder scene was not far away.
We went door to door looking for the prostitutes, but found nothing for two days. At this moment, we received the tip-off letter. What is written is:
At nine o'clock that night, I saw Yi Qiansong entering Shaofeng Pavilion.
Just a few words like this, no signature. The clumsy and right-leaning handwriting was probably written with the left hand to avoid being recognized.
There are inevitably some grudges and grudges between prostitutes, so this letter may be a false accusation, but you have to check it anyway. Just when I was about to get off the tram at Liuxuanduan Station, the sunny sky suddenly changed, rain clouds gathered, and a sudden gust of wind swept up paper, garbage, and sand dust. The road was blackened by large raindrops, and in the blink of an eye, the streets It's full of raindrops. Thunder can be heard in the distance, which is the belated northwest rain. After the storm left a body behind and the autumn colors suddenly became thicker, it came so suddenly to the flower street.
Detective Hisashida and I passed the Liuxuan Duan Archway and ran quickly under the eaves of the first house. During the day, it was dead silent anyway, and the sudden rain made the entire street deserted. The originally leaden-gray house almost melted away under the cloudy bronze sky, leaving only the sound of rain hitting the iron roof.
Under the eaves of two or three houses in front, a girl rolled up the hem of her dress to hide from the rain. Her exposed feet were covered with mud.
Asked her where the Shaofeng Pavilion was, she shook her head silently. It is said that there are 250 restaurants in this small area, so even if this woman is in the same industry, she may not know about it. She didn't seem to care much and squatted down and started smoking.
I don't know if she was chasing the drifting smoke, or looking at the rain feet falling like a waterfall, but she looked up with dead eyes. It is unbelievable that such a woman would dress up in all kinds of ways at night and flirt with the sex-seekers.
The family who was taking shelter from the rain walked out of Shaofeng Pavilion. After the rain subsided a little, we walked back to the road.
At the end of the street, the road suddenly became smaller and more complicated. I have obviously walked several times in the past two days, but I still feel lost after getting here. The same thin iron roofs connect one to another, and the road divides left and right like a network, and then returns to the same place. On the small window in the back alley, a few withered morning glory vines were equally listless.
Detective Hishida must have been familiar with this high-crime area, and he moved forward at a steady pace as if he was fully confident after hearing about it once. The puddles formed by the heavy rain three days ago started to rain again before they dried up. Rolling turbid water overflowed from the ditch. His little back seemed so familiar as he shuttled through the alleys that became the black mud river. I But he got stuck in the mud more than once and almost lost his way.
After crossing the narrow ditch, we came to the area called the second area. This ditch seemed to be a tributary of the one at the murder scene. It and a thin iron fence marked the boundary with the first area. Although this iron wall is thin, it has the same function as the fence that imprisons the women. As soon as I stepped into the second area, I was immediately hit by a strange smell that was not found in the first area. It was not just the stench of the river ditch, but also a rancid smell. The wooden walls and roof of the house are thinner and thinner than those in the first area, and the mud on the road is more embarrassing than in the first area.
Even so, at night, the place will still be decorated like a happy street with colorful lights and women's sweet voices. But in the leaden rain curtain, it was so helpless. I was reminded of an old rumor: In the early Taisho period, typhoid fever was prevalent in this area, and most of the victims were residents of this area.
At this time, all the small windows for customers to look at women were closed, but there was one that was not closed. A woman was there. When she saw us, she smiled professionally.
Shaofeng Pavilion is located at the corner of a small alley, no different from the neighboring stores. A chandelier at the entrance has the store number written on it.
“It’s very close to the scene.
Detective Hishida said this meaningfully to me who had completely lost my sense of direction. We went in through the entrance and shouted. It was quiet inside, and it didn't look like anyone would come out.
I took off my glasses, took out my handkerchief and wiped my face and lenses.
At this moment, I felt a gaze coming towards me.
Putting on his glasses and looking over, he saw a face hurriedly returning from the wooden floor of the entrance to the stairs. Even though it was just a glimpse, I felt like she was a young girl.
After shouting a few more times, a woman who looked like a boss lady finally appeared from behind the curtain.
"We won't entertain you until five o'clock. It's a rule set by the union." The woman seemed impatient, but when she understood that we were police, she immediately smiled. She must have put on too much makeup when she was young, her face is slightly dark, and she may be in her late fifties.
Detective Hishida sat down on the wooden steps and immediately started questioning. Surprisingly, the other party answered simply.
It is said that a strange guest did come at about nine o'clock that night.
"No, I guess it's because other places closed early, so they came to our place - yes, strangers. How could there be guests coming to our door on such a stormy night? I thought it was a bit strange, so I remember it clearly. "The guest's figure and clothing are similar to Ichimatsu.
"Is there a red spot like this here?"
Detective Hishida drew a circle on his neck.
"I didn't notice that."
"What time did you leave?"
"About eleven o'clock - after that, the wind and rain got stronger, and I was worried about how he would go back." "I want to meet the girl he called that night."
The woman looked a little displeased, but she still called up the stairs: "Changzi—Changzi—" There was no reply, but soon a woman's feet appeared at the top of the stairs, dragging her scattered clothes down. As if he was still sleeping, he sat down lazily on the last step. After applying makeup and makeup, her face looked a bit muddy, but she looked pretty good. She must have been in her mid-twenties. Not the girl I had just glimpsed on the stairs.
The landlady told her that we were from the police. She still had no reaction at all.
"It's so scary! The man who was killed in the back was, well, the one that everyone has been talking about these days. He seemed to be the guest that night!"
"Really?" the woman responded casually as if she was bored. "Hmm..." the woman replied to Detective Hisashida, "There is indeed such a red spot."
After the woman said that, she glanced in my direction.
I quickly lowered my head. I don't like to look at women because I know how women feel about my appearance. He is still only twenty-five years old, but his hair is thin and he wears a pair of thick round glasses. Because of this appearance, a marriage in his hometown last year fell through.
"What kind of man is he?"
"It's annoying. Showing off the banknotes, and saying that if it weren't for the weather, I would have found a better one..." "How much does it cost?"
"Five hundred dollars. He said so himself."
Detective Hishida and I looked at each other. This seems like a murder attempt, but it’s a huge sum of money!
"I want to see the room he went up to."
The landlady obviously found it troublesome, so the woman said, "Then please!"
She still got up impatiently, and we followed her up. There was a purple dress exposed at the door of a room, and she quickly retracted it. The faint shadow cast from the room on the corridor quickly slid away and disappeared - I once again felt someone's eyes falling on me. Apart from the brightly colored curtains, Changzi's room is a clean room, but it still feels empty.
Detective Kuta didn't go in. Guang glanced inside from the corridor and said, "How many of you are working here?"
“Now it’s me and one other person — there were three in the spring.”
"Were there any other guests besides Ichinson that night?"
"There is also someone over there at A Ling."
"Is it the same time as Ichinson?"
"Yes. Not long after that man left, A Ling
The ones over there are gone too. "A flash of light flashed in Detective Hishida's eyes. Not long after Ichino Matsu left - these words made him notice something.
"I want to meet that lady."
"A Ling doesn't understand anything..."
Even though Changzi said this, he walked to the other end of the corridor and called out from outside the paper door: "A Ling, Mr. Police has something to ask you. I'm opening the door!"
It was the room where the purple clothes shrank back. I peered over Detective Hishida’s low head from behind.
It was narrow, like a storage room where sundries were piled. The tatami was dark and damp, and a stench rushed over it. On the mottled wall, Nanzhu flows like a curtain.
The girl sat beside a tea chest with peeling paint. It was very dark inside, like a turbid darkness.
He seems to be only fifteen or sixteen years old. There was makeup on her face, even the outline of her face was covered by white powder, and her lips were also thickly red. The slanted face should be to avoid our eyes, but the childishness in the eyes cannot be hidden. No, I would rather say that the heavy makeup just revealed the childishness of his face. The faded purple clothes and the silver wave pattern on the headquarters are also incompatible with her age. They must have been given to her by someone else!
When the girl saw us coming in, she hurriedly tucked the doll she was holding behind her back. It is a big doll that is half as tall as a girl, wearing crimson clothes. There were various dolls stuffed in a cupboard by the window, like a mountain of corpses.
"Is your name A Ling? How old are you?"
Detective Hishida asked gently, but the girl just looked at him in horror.
"Eighteen years old!"
At some point, the landlady came to the door and answered. Changzi leaned against a pillar behind the landlady and wrote meaningless words on the corridor with her toes.
"Are you eighteen?"
The girl nodded and looked up at the landlady as if asking for help.
"So, what's that man's name?"
The girl remained silent for a long time before speaking softly
Said: "Brother A Jin."
After that, there was a back-and-forth conversation for about five minutes, but the girl didn't say a word. She kept looking back and forth between Detective Hisashida and the landlady with frightened eyes. Sometimes she wanted to speak, but the landlady would immediately snatch her away.
Everything about Brother A Jin was also told by the landlady.
The man's name was Fukumura Jinichiro. From his accent, he knew he was from Kansai. In fact, he also said that he used to be a puppet show artist in Osaka. Once when he was performing in Tokyo, there was a fire backstage. In order to save the puppets, he burned his hands. From then on, he could no longer play puppets. He had a bandage on his hand to cover the injury. After leaving the Muppets, he lived in Tokyo. She didn't know what she was doing for a living now.
Whether it's Yiqiansong or Fucun, people can't figure out their current living conditions. This is rather natural in such a flower street. Usually, customers will not tell women their personal details, and women will not be happy to tell customers how they fell into prostitution. No matter how good they are, this is just a world where men and women meet by chance.
It is said that Fukumura got to know Suzue this spring and often came to see her.
"A Ling, hasn't Brother A Jin told you what he does?"
"He always sits silently..."
Suzue could only say this. That lazy voice really didn't fit that childish face. I feel like the women on this street all have the same voice.
Suzue still maintained her posture as if her hands were being scissored behind her back. The hidden doll looks like it was used in a puppet show. But if you look closely, you can see that the face is made of crude paper clay, and the clothes are also made of cheap cloth.
"Did you do it yourself?" Detective Hishida asked again.
Suzue shook her head and said, "Brother Ajin made it and gave it to me." Seeing the blackened and worn-out dolls piled up in the cupboard, I seemed to have glimpsed the life of a man I had never met. In my imagination, Fukumura is a dejected man squatting under the red light of a foreign lamp, staring blankly at his own shadow, and he himself is like a shadow.
"I want to ask you about this glass."
Detective Hishida pointed to the cup placed on the coffee table in the corner and said. He must have noticed that the water in the cup was very turbid.
"Did you arrange flowers?"
Suzue glanced at the landlady first and then nodded.
"What flower? Platycodon, right?" Suzue nodded again. Every time she nodded, two or three thin strands of hair would fall off her bun and lick her white collar. "White platycodon? Well, it was also inserted that night, right?"
"When did you disappear?"
Suzue shook her head this time, as if she didn't know. "Changzi, do you have flowers in your room?"
"No."
Changzi's answer came from the corner of the corridor.
Detective Hishida asked these questions, it seems
I felt that there would be nothing wrong if I continued to ask, so I glanced around the room, walked to the window, and opened it. With a groan, the window opened, and the light gray roof appeared in front of him like it was lying on its stomach. I don't know when the rain stopped. In the steaming mist, the river ditch turned into a black belt and meandered past.
Yes, this is very close to the scene.
However, what caught our attention at this time was not the scenery outside the window, but the clusters of flowers that suddenly appeared on the balcony. In this rotten room, the girl must have carefully cultivated it as the only solace. Countless flowers bloomed on the five or six flower pots, as if to pray for the soul of this young girl who was about to decay in a hurry. What does it mean? It doesn't sway in the wind, rejects the turbid air, and spreads vigorously. Then I scanned the room for a week, walked to the window, and opened the window. With a groan, the window opened, and the light gray roof appeared in front of him like it was lying on its stomach. I don't know when the rain stopped. In the steaming mist, the river ditch turned into a black belt and meandered past.
Yes, this is very close to the scene.
However, what caught our attention at this time was not the scenery outside the window, but the clusters of flowers that suddenly appeared on the balcony. In this rotten room, the girl must have carefully cultivated it as the only solace. Countless flowers bloomed on the five or six flower pots, as if to pray for the soul of this young girl who was about to decay in a hurry. What does it represent? It does not sway in the wind, rejects the turbid air, and continuously scatters the light of rain and dew, blooming into a large area in vain. ——This is my second encounter with the flower.
two
When they met for the third time, the flower was dyed a bright red like the whole room under the colored lamp. Two days after my first visit to Sofukan, I met Suzue in that room not as a policeman but as a guest—and there was a reason for that.
Detective Hishida judged from the words of the proprietress, Masako and Suzue that the customer Suzue picked up that night, Fukumura Jinichiro, was the murderer.
It is said that Ichinomatsu did not enter Suzue's room, so why is Ichinomatsu's corpse holding a platycodon flower that only exists in Suzue's room? There is only one answer. In other words, when a murder occurred, it was not the victim who had platycodon flowers on his body, but the perpetrator. When Ichinson was fighting with the murderer, the murderer most likely had a flower on his chest and he caught it by accident. Thinking about it this way, the murderer was the only person who might have had contact with the flower on the glass in Suzue's room. There was no other person except Fukumura.
Fukumura should have left the Shoofengkan immediately after Ichinamatsu left, rushed over from behind, attacked Ichinomatsu at the scene, strangled him and took away the 500 yuan from Ichinomatsu's arms.
However, there is still a problem.
One of Fukumura's hands was injured by fire and could hardly be used. Could such a person strangle the one-centred pine tree? In addition, how did Fukumura know that the one-cented pine tree in another room had money? Detective Hishida thought that Fukumura might have gone to the toilet or something. Yes, I probably overheard the conversation in Masako's room outside the paper door when passing by, but I thought Suzue seemed to be hiding something at this point.
The reason I wanted to have a private conversation with Suzue without the landlady was because I wanted to figure this out. I think Suzue is more afraid of the boss lady than us so much. I believe that as long as the boss lady can't hear her, she will say more.
I also need to explain that the reason why I took off my glasses, put on a hat to cover my thin hair, and almost put on makeup before approaching Suzue as a casual guest was that in addition to my duties, , there is also an element of emotion included. In my childhood memory, the shadow of a girl has always been imprinted on me. My hometown is a small village at the foot of Mount Fuji. At that time, my neighbor had a girl named Sachiko. Sachiko loves me like a sister who babysits for others. She often gives me a ride or holds my hand to play. Although Sachiko was only a little girl herself, I still remember her hands firmly. Because she often did rough work, they were thick, black and big, like a man's. Now I can't remember how Sachiko played with me, but one morning, Sachiko suddenly hugged a bundle and was taken away from the embankment by a man who looked like a businessman. The scene is still vivid in my mind. I chased her from behind. When Sachiko reached the bridge, she turned back, smiled at me and waved her hand. In my childish heart, I knew that Sachiko had been sold to a sad place, but her smile was no different from usual, completely cheerful.
I don’t know what happened to Sachiko later, but that smile was the last portrait Sachiko left for me, and it is deeply imprinted on my heart, as clear as yesterday. Ever since she saw Suzue, who was the same age as Sachiko, her and Sachiko's essentially sad smiles overlapped. If possible, I hope to save her from that kind of world - probably a sense of justice for this type of young people. I planned to report it to Detective Hishida afterward, so I decided to do so without saying anything beforehand. But I was a little worried about going alone, so I found a friend who was familiar with Huajie to go with me. I don’t know much about having fun, and I have never set foot in this area before this case happened. I don’t even know how a thief can get in. Although my glasses and hair, the two biggest features of my appearance, are hidden, I am still worried that if I act alone, I will be seen as a police officer.
The dark gray twilight was mixed with mottled sunset light, and the lanterns at Liuxuanduan began to light up one by one here and there. We entered the second area through the back door near the scene. I couldn't find the path I took two days ago. I wandered around in the alley for a while, but I didn't find the building of Shaofengkan, but I found Suzue first. We accidentally turned a corner, and unexpectedly the face that appeared in a window there was hers. Under the dim light, she was not like the other girls at the window, who would make a charming face when she saw a man walking by. She seemed to deliberately turn her eyes away from the alley, with a look of languor on her face that was inconsistent with her age. The handle of the round fan was brought to her mouth, biting it with her two small lips as if she was bored.
My friend who was traveling with me used his eloquent tongue and cleverly covered it up for me, hiding it from the landlady and letting Suzue and I go up to the second floor. Suzue didn't notice it right away. She turned her back and began to undress in the dim red light.
"no thanks!"
She turned around quickly and saw me taking off my hat and putting on my glasses, then she let out a low voice, as if she still remembered me. I was worried that she would run away, but she sat down and stared at me intently. Her face is decorated with red lights and white powder, but she still retains the childishness that has not completely turned into a prostitute.
I explained the reason why I wanted to meet alone, and immediately started asking about that night. Did Ichinatsu and Fukumura have any contact that night? But when I mentioned what happened that night, she lowered her head just like she did two days ago. Ringed. The difference is that tonight there is indeed no panic like that night, so it can be concluded that she has reservations. She must have noticed that we were suspicious of Fukumura. Her silence seemed to be deliberately hiding something for Fukumura.
I had no choice but to give up, but Suzue seemed to understand my intention, and suddenly became approachable after being relieved of her tension.
"These glasses are so interesting." She said, reaching out her hand, taking off my glasses and putting them on herself.
"You can't see it, can you?"
"Um···..."
She responded boredly.
"I thought I could see something else...but it's so interesting! If you don't wear this, you can't see anything, right?"
She said this childish thing and laughed. It was the first time I'd seen her smile, innocently, and it made me feel strange but reassuring.
After returning the glasses to me, Suzue suddenly said: "Are you sleeping?"
I am silent. "first?"
"If it's your first time, then Sister Changzi is better."
"No, I didn't mean it in the first place."
"Yeah····.."
Suzue nodded, and then whispered as if she was talking to herself: "It's the same as Brother Ajin."
"You said Brother Ajin... he doesn't sleep either?"
"Well - let me lie alone in the quilt, and he sat by himself without making a sound. Sometimes he played a spinning top, sometimes he twisted paper... and sometimes he performed a puppet show for me."
After Suzue said this, she took out the puppet from the cupboard. The crimson clothes looked like red mourning clothes under the red light.
"He said that the eyes and mouth of a real puppet can move. But this one seems to actually shed tears when Brother A Jin plays with it!
This one's name is Sister A Qi. "
At this time, Suzue noticed my gaze. I was looking at a platycodon flower in a glass cup on the coffee table. As if to avoid talking about flowers, Suzue added: "Are you sleeping?"
"
No, I'm still like Brother A Jin
Come on!" "Then can I sleep by myself?"
"OK!"
Ling Hui turned her back and lay on the quilt, but then turned around and said, "But you are still different from Brother A Jin."
"What's different?"
"When Brother A Jin doesn't speak, his face looks angry. He stays alone every time and doesn't like to talk to me very much."
I feel so pitiful for Suzue, and at the same time I feel pity for Fukumura who had to abandon himself to the bottom of society due to a sudden misfortune. Coming to a brothel and doing nothing but just playing with yourself is such a stupid behavior. It is really pathetic. "Do you want to play with fireworks?" Suzue suddenly asked again, "There are still some fireworks that Brother Jin bought for me, and they are placed in a bag in the closet."
"Brother A Jin likes to play with fireworks, right?"
"Yes. I often play alone and laugh endlessly just looking at the scattered sparks. Would you like to come too, big brother?"
"I don't."
"It's still different from Brother Ajin."
"How old are you this year?"
".…eighteen."
"Tell me the truth, I won't tell anyone else." "...Sixteen." She lowered her head shyly, and it turned out to be a lie. The law stipulates that girls under the age of 18 are not allowed to be hired as prostitutes.
Suzue just lay there and answered my questions, gradually telling her own story.
The story of how Suzue was sold here is commonplace. She came to Beijing from a cold village in the Northeast. She originally planned to be a female worker, but she was not very strong, so she was sold with several girls. It suddenly occurred to me that Suzue might have had a five or six-year-old child whom she loved dearly. When she left her hometown, did she also wave her hands to that child and pretend to smile? In Suzue's childish and mature expression, I felt like I feel as strong as Sachiko. "What are you going to do after the debt is paid off?"
"Nothing else to do, just stay here!"
"Isn't it free?"
"I can't pay it back. I heard it's five hundred yuan. The longer it goes, the more it will be - I'm used to it. Although the boss lady is scary, Sister Changzi loves me very much."
As we talked, Suzue fell asleep. Looking at the innocent sleeping face and listening to the peaceful breath, I suddenly thought that Fukumura also thought of pulling her out of the sea of suffering because of the innocent sleeping face of the girl. ?Five hundred yuan, this amount is exactly the same as the amount of money Yiqiansong has on him, which makes me unable to take it lightly. Really, there was no way I could get this money unless I robbed it. There is really nothing I can do. Not only the money like five hundred yuan, but also the red lights, white powder, the stench of the ditch, the mosquito coils lit and the swarms of mosquitoes, everything was a helpless reality in front of me at such a young age. . A platycodon flower can return to its pure white color as long as it is placed in the sun. However, how can I bleach the dark red light that penetrates into Suzue's skin? Once the flower begins to wither, there is no other way except to let it decay - with Suzue's dirty skin, I must know this better than anyone else. The sadness of a young boy who met by chance cannot save this girl's fate. This is certain. At night in the Flower Street, the screams of the girls and the laughter of the tourists, plus the wandering singers The sound of the piano began to come together.
Then, the bell of Lingyun Temple at the end of the street broke through the noise. It was the same bell as that morning. Quiet, yet it seems to contain a bell that can accommodate all sounds. I looked at Suzue's childish sleeping face that smelled like a corpse, and I felt as if I was in a dark coffin, listening to the bells like a funeral bell.
That night, when I was about to leave the room, Suzue called out.
"that......."
I looked back. For a moment, a bright light flashed across Suzue's eyes, as if she was about to open her lips. But before I was about to ask her something, Suzue shook her head and turned her face away. She really couldn't speak. Why didn't I sit down and ask her what she wanted to say? I still regret this to this day. If I could get something out of her mouth, I could at least prevent the second incident from happening.
