Give a bellflower to the drowning ghost

40

"I'm so sorry for last night."

Wang Ze stood by the bed, bent at [-] degrees and said to the ranger.

The ranger just got out of his sleeping bag, his hair limply stuck to his forehead, and he said listlessly, "For what?"

Wang Ze said: "Because of the stupid things I said yesterday, you are so desperate to save that lady, but I accuse you like this...I feel 12 ashamed for my stupidity."

The ranger said flatly: "It's okay, I don't care about this."

41

Wang Ze didn't go out with the forest ranger's routine mountain patrol today.

Partly because the Ranger was clearly still angry—he hadn't heard the Ranger catchphrase in a while—and partly because he was trying to figure out what he was supposed to be looking for.

Originally, he had thought that the forest ranger was the prisoner who killed the writer, or in other words, it was an indirect murder.So he tried his best to sneak into the ranger's living area, closely watched every move of the ranger, trying to find the ranger's flaws, and find out the truth for the writer.

But now Wang Ze feels that his direction is wrong and his thinking is wrong.

Rangers almost lost control yesterday.The moment he knew that someone might seek death, he even forgot about Wang Ze's existence, and was only thinking about how to catch up with that woman.

Rangers are also unlikely to kill for property.He wants money just because he needs money in his life, just like trees need sunlight, and grass needs water. He has no obvious preferences, and the game consoles all over the floor are just tools to pass the time at night when he can't patrol.

The ranger couldn't be the murderer.

But Rangers understand writers.He has read the books he wrote, and he is sincerely cynical that no one seriously understands the author, and he is even interested in the story between the author and Wang Ze.

That's not a "don't care about this" response.

And yesterday's police also confirmed that the writer had indeed had an intersection with the ranger during his lifetime.

If Wang Ze wanted to know why the writer left, he should first get to know the ranger.

The ranger didn't even want to tell Wang Ze his name.

42

It took Wang Ze some time to come to the only nearby village.

Because the terrain is relatively flat and the traffic is relatively developed, this small village has also opened a medium-sized supermarket.On weekdays, Wang Ze would entrust his family's driver to purchase supplies for him and deliver them to the foot of the mountain, so he hardly had the chance to set foot here.

But today he decided to take a walk here by himself, to meet the policeman who had a slight complaint about the ranger.

"Is the girl from yesterday okay?" Wang Ze said.

Sitting next to a blacked-out landline, the young policeman casually poked at his tattered notebook with a ballpoint pen: "Sent to the hospital in the town, it seems that there is no serious problem. Why, that guy sent you down to buy it." thing?"

Wang Ze took out a can of Coke from the plastic bag: "I stopped by to chat a few words, do you want?"

The policeman stretched his waist: "Let's save the small talk, you came here because you have something to say, is it about that kid?"

Wang Ze took out another pack of cigarettes and put it on the table: "You two knew each other before?"

The policeman took out a lighter: "It's not considered acquaintance, just a high school classmate. To be honest, none of our former classmates knew him. If you want to know anything, just ask him directly, but he probably won't answer. You, he is a boring gourd, and his eyes are biased when looking at people."

Wang Ze doesn't think so.

Probably the ranger's eyes just fell on a place he couldn't see.

43

The ranger knew that Wang Ze had gone down the mountain, and maybe he asked the talkative policeman for questioning. After all, Wang Ze spent a lot of money to come here for that matter, and it was normal to investigate everywhere.

His understanding of this mountain is much deeper than Wang Ze imagined. This is the place where he grew up. He has traveled every inch of land here and is familiar with every tree here.He could see exactly what was going on in the mountains just by observing the direction in which the branches and leaves of the bushes were pushed aside.

—even though he knows everything.

He sank his body into the lake and closed his eyes.

-01

It was cloudy that day.

From the bottom of the water, he could see the gray sky was cut into countless pieces, dancing with his movements.

Weather not suitable for swimming.

The ranger floated up from the lake, brushed his hair back casually: "What are you looking at here?"

"Look at you," the visitor said with a smile, "you are the only one worth seeing here."

The ranger frowned.

The visitor raised his hands and gestured his fingers into the shape of a photo frame: "Very beautiful, the lake surrounded by oblique trees, dotted with unknown wild flowers, you inhabit the lake like a mermaid... No, it should be said, like Ophelia Loved by the lake as well."

The ranger said blankly: "I'm a man, and I'm here to take a shower, and I'm not singing. If you're not gay, I hope you can curb your creepy sensuality a little bit."

The visitor poked his head out of the "photo frame": "If you are gay, can you continue?"

"No, that's definitely not what I meant," said the ranger.

The visitor said with a smile: "Don't worry, I'm not gay, I just came here to collect materials. I'm a second-rate writer, and I came here because I heard that the ecology here is relatively primitive..."

"You're lying," the ranger interrupted.

He walked straight up to the visitor, and the water dripped over his skin and fell on the weeds, melting into the soil under the visitor's gaze.

The forest ranger said: "You didn't bring a backpack. If you want to collect materials, you should at least bring a camera, or even a notebook, great writer."

The visitor smiles at the ranger.

It was a very clean face, with taut skin, regular facial features, and full lips. It was obviously a pampered face, but his eyes never came into contact with the forest ranger.

The ranger said firmly: "You are here to find a holy place for suicide."

The visitor said: "At least, the part about your beauty is not a lie."

"Thanks, but I'm not gay either," the ranger said.

The visitor smiled and said, "I think I'm starting to like you a little bit."