Give a bellflower to the drowning ghost

27

Wang Ze is probably the kind of person who sleeps poorly.

He was always dreaming, dreams like that.

In the dream he must be by the lake in the forest.

He didn't like this lake, it was too primitive, there was no warning sign, no indication of its depth, it just appeared out of the woods like that, like a small puddle in the mountains, but it was enough for people to drown in it.

Even though so many people choose to be swallowed by nature in this lake, this lake is still quiet and clean.

Then a visitor must appear in his dream.

The man parted the branches with teeth and claws and appeared, like Moses parted the ocean. He appeared naked, with a blurred face, and walked straight to the lake.Disturbed by his steady and firm footsteps, the lake surrounded and patted his calf, eager to welcome the visitor.

Wang Ze thought, he was going to go naked.

"No, please," he hoarsely tried to hold back, "please..."

28

Two hands grabbed him.

"Shh, shhh, relax."

Wang Ze struggled to wake up, a warm and dry hand pressed against his cheek, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

He adapted to the darkness, opened his eyes from the nightmare, grabbed the hand vigorously, and said brokenly: "Wait for me..."

29

The ranger turned on the light and made a cup of hot tea for Wang Ze.

"Do you always have nightmares?" the ranger asked suddenly.

Wang Ze came back to his senses: "Why do you say that?"

Without looking back, the ranger tightened the tea pot methodically: "It's not the first time you woke me up in the middle of the night."

Wang Ze was silent.

The ranger said gently, "I'm not concerned about you, it's just that you're disturbing my sleep."

30

"I've been having nightmares since he died." Wang Zexu held a stainless steel teacup.

"And here, your nightmares are more concrete, so you should go back," the ranger noted.

Wang Ze said: "When I know the reason, I will go back and put a large sum of money on your card."

"If I told you he didn't kill himself, he just came here looking for inspiration and was killed by a ranger who wanted money, and the ranger faked his suicide scene," the ranger said, showing off with an exaggerated gesture A messy gaming console in the house, "and taking all his money to buy games — can you feel better?"

If it was before, after hearing these words, Wang Ze would probably have fought hard with him long ago.

But in the remote mountains isolated from the world, watching this person say these hurtful words with a blank face, Wang Ze actually felt that this person really didn't understand, and he was really just asking questions.

31

Wang Ze said, "No, no, because you didn't kill people, and you don't have the eyes of a murderer."

The ranger asked curiously: "You are a second-rate mystery novel, have you read too many brains?"

Wang Ze smiled weakly: "Anyway, you... didn't kill him."

The ranger withdrew his finger from the handle of the cup and slowly stroked his tiger's mouth.

32

Wang Ze said: "As you mentioned before, I don't know him at all. It's only because of his dramatic departure that I have a curiosity-seeking mentality. I came here."

The ranger said: "I didn't say that, I just said, let you go."

Wang Ze spread his hands: "Anyway, that's what you mean...but I actually went to get to know him."

The ranger raised his head and looked at Wang Ze: "Pass what?"

Wang Ze said: "The letter sent by readers to the editorial department is the kind of activity that allows consumers to give feedback... It's about the same."

The ranger said, "Are you serious? You call that understanding?"

Wang Ze blushed slightly, and subconsciously picked the stain on the stainless steel cup with his nails: "Of course I'm serious. I wrote a letter, sent it out, and received a reply. It's not the kind of reader interaction that is published in a magazine." , but personal, also written in pen on paper. I am his reader, of course I recognize his writing and signature, that is his reply."

The ranger leaned forward slightly: "Maybe you were too excited and made a mistake in your judgment, and that was just a reply letter written to you by a poor intern in the editorial department. It was perfectly completed in accordance with the official reply format. The first sentence is dear reader XX, The last sentence is thank you for your support and encouragement."

Wang Ze shook his head: "No, because the letter I sent at that time was about my experience of being kidnapped."

The ranger paused.

33

"The person who kidnapped me was my little uncle who was very close to me," Wang Ze continued on his own, "I am not much different in age from him, and his relationship with me is more like a cousin, almost playing with him since childhood." I was an old friend, but he raped me, had leather shoes kick me in the stomach when I was making a fuss, and when my parents didn’t respond, he pulled off my nails and sent them to them.”

Wang Ze played with the stainless steel cup, leaving shallow water marks on the table: "After half a month, the police rescued me, but I never got any information about my uncle. My parents forbid me to tell other people Discussing this matter, so I was very contradictory at the time. Although I didn’t want others to know that I was kidnapped by my relatives, I wanted to know how this kind of thing should be explained in the eyes of ordinary people. So I sent it to him in the name of a servant A letter."

The ranger said: "In his eyes, how does he think?"

Wang Ze recalled: "He said, it's not anyone's fault in our family, it's just because human beings are animals that only think about themselves... Also, he asked me one thing."

Wang Ze said slowly: "'Do you regret it? Regret that you didn't die before discovering this fact?' Then he begged me to write back."

The corner of the forest ranger's mouth turned slightly: "Then what did you write and send back?"

Wang Ze said: "I wrote it, and I don't regret it. I just hope that my little uncle will never be released, and I won't let me meet him again."

"In a way," said the ranger, "your reply fits his animal theory perfectly."

Wang Ze took a sip of hot tea slowly.

The forest guard suddenly said, "So, the one with the eyes of a murderer is your uncle."

34

The ranger said, "And then?"

Wang Ze said, "What then?"

The forest ranger said: "Just such a letter may not be enough for you to come here like a bewitched man to remember the bitterness and sweetness."

Wang Ze smiled: "He wrote a novella based on the situation I described. The male protagonist was kidnapped. He saw his favorite little uncle among the kidnappers, but he also met another kidnapped The little boy. The little boy was very smart, and allowed the protagonist to avoid a lot of torture, and cleverly deduced that the little uncle pretended to join the kidnapping plan to save the hero. In the end, the happy ending, the little uncle and the two children were rescued gone."

"I think I've heard of this book, but I didn't buy it because it was the worst seller," said the ranger.

Wang Ze said, "I actually bought a lot of copies."

"But it's still selling poorly," the ranger noted.

Wang Ze smiled: "Probably because the story is a bit too fake." He lowered his head and watched the tea leaves floating in the stainless steel cup, "But at the time, I believed it."

The author has something to say:

My mom, this column is finally unlocked