Qinghong

Wang Ximei sat on the lower bunk sewing socks, while Liu Qiaoling on the upper bunk turned over a page of a magazine.

"Whoa."

The door opened, and the prison guard said, "You live here."

Wang Ximei raised her head in response, stepped over the threshold with one foot, and looked up. She was a thin girl with transparent white skin. She looked 24 or [-] years old, and her eyes were as dark as a dry well.Holding the toiletries and the bed sheet and quilt cover, she stood awkwardly at the door, and the iron door closed with a bang, which made her shiver in shock.

Wang Ximei frowned. Why was this little girl as weak as a rabbit assigned to the death row prisoner's room?

Liu Qiaoling said, "Nannan, have you gone the wrong way?"

"Probably not." The girl said timidly, "My name is Xia Xianxian."

"It's empty there." Liu Qiaoling pointed to the upper bunk on the iron frame bed opposite, "Your sister on the lower bunk will come back at night."

"Okay, thank you." Xia Xiansian struggled to climb to the upper bunk, hunched over and spread the sheets and quilts. Wang Ximei sighed because of her clumsy appearance, and she said, "I'll help you."

Xia Xianxian wiped off the sweat from her forehead and shook the quilt vigorously.

Wang Ximei flattened the quilt and said, "You don't do much work at home, do you?"

"...Yes." Xia Xianxian said.

Liu Qiaoling was straightforward, and she asked carelessly, "What did you do to get in here?"

Xia Xianxian said, "Kill."

"You have thin arms and legs, can you kill?" Wang Ximei didn't believe it.

"Apply rat poison," Xia Xianxian said.

"Hey, that's amazing." Liu Qiaoling said, "How many have you killed? If you kill one, you won't be able to enter our house."

Xia Xianxian folded the quilt and said flatly, "Eleven."

Eleven.

Wang Ximei gasped, never expecting that the total of the three desperadoes in the cell could not compare with a frail little girl, she gave a thumbs up: "Sister admires you."

Liu Qiaoling said, "Would you like roasted sweet potatoes? Bring one for dinner."

Xia Xianxian asked, "Is it delicious?"

"It's delicious, very sweet, and they can't beat us." Wang Ximei said, "It's only a few days away anyway, so eat whatever you want."

Xia Xianxian nodded: "Okay."

"Sister will bring you a big one." Liu Qiaoling said enthusiastically.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, Xia Xianxian's lower bunk, Ni Yan, came back. She had an old face, in her early fifties, with white temples and wrinkles at the end of her eyes. She walked in with two pockets of oranges: "Qiaoling, Ximei, Come and taste it, it's sweet."

"Your sister brought it again?" Liu Qiaoling rolled over and got out of bed, "A very good kid came today."

Ni Yan looked up at Xia Xianxian who was sitting on the upper bunk, and handed her an orange: "Come, try it."

"Thank you." Xia Xianxian took the orange and peeled one. The juice from the orange peel was extremely sweet.

Wang Ximei said lightly: "You are going on the road tomorrow, remember to dress nicely."

Ni Yan said, "Ah, good."

Liu Qiaoling said: "Old sister, walk slowly, wait for me."

Xia Xianxian silently ate the orange petals in her hand, but for some reason it was hard to swallow.

"Little sister, tell me your story." Ni Yan said, "Just give me a ride."

Xia Xianxian ate the last piece of orange, wiped her hands on the quilt, and said, "I don't want to get married."

She slowly told the story, from the time when she fell in love with Lian Junya, when Xiao Ke was sent to Qingxin Cultivation College, when she went back to her hometown to get married, and when she put rat poison in a pot of porridge, she said: "I did something wrong. , I should not have forced the teacher to marry me."

She never regretted killing eleven people.

This was the bravest and most decisive moment in her short life of more than 20 years.

Xia Xianxian said: "I have been relying on others to help me. My junior said that I would come out when he came out. He jumped off the building and died. A part of me also went with him. I thought what I lost was hope. Actually not, what I lost was cowardice."

The moment she picked up the butcher's knife, the roles of hunter and prey suddenly changed, and Xia Xianxian tasted the joy of controlling other people's life and death for the first time.

She didn't need to cry, beg, or hope for other people's pity, she sat firmly at the table, and stretched out her hand to grab a piece of hairtail.

Ni Yan grinned, she was missing five teeth, and the skin of her mouth was retracted, she looked quite old: "I killed five people."

"Before you came, Sister Ni was the most powerful among us." Liu Qiaoling said.

Ni Yan draws the tone: "That's all in the past."

When the dinner bell rang, Wang Ximei and Liu Qiaoling rushed out the door pushing each other.Xia Xianxian climbed down the ladder awkwardly, Ni Yan put the orange on the bed and said, "Let's go together."

"Okay." Xia Xianxian nodded.

Ni Yan is short, about 1.5 meters. She reached out to hold Xia Xianxian's arm, and limped out of the cell: "My husband beat me very hard."

Xia Xian looked at her with twinkling eyes: "And then?"

"Then, I killed their family and the little boys in the police station." Ni Yan said happily, imitating the action of chopping ribs, "I was deaf on one side, five teeth were missing, and my whole body was broken. I don’t know how many times, and there is necrosis of the femoral head, I don’t want to live for a long time.”

"But I can't die. What will happen to my daughter if I die?" Ni Yan said, "My daughter was admitted to university last year, and she has a book. She has a bright mind since she was a child, and she is good at arithmetic. She went to the Department of Mathematics."

"I also studied mathematics." Xia Xianxian said.

"How old do you think I am?" Ni Yan tilted her head to look at Xia Xianxian, showing a playful expression.

Xia Xianxian tentatively guessed: "Er... 45?"

"I'm 40 years old." Ni Yan said, "My daughter went to school late and was admitted to university at the age of 19. The night after the notice came, I sent her father away."

"My daughter-in-law is very sensible and keeps saying, 'Mom, when I graduate from college, I will take you with me and we will live together.'" Ni Yan wiped her tears, "I can't wait four years, that bastard will beat me to death of."

"Come, come, eat." Liu Qiaoling stuffed Xia Xianxian with half a sweet potato, "Be careful it's hot."

Wang Ximei broke off half of the sweet potato for Ni Yan, and it was so hot that it sizzled, and she couldn't stop saying, "Old sister, walk slowly." "Don't look at me, this is scalded."

They sat around a table, three middle-aged women and a young student.No one dared to sit around them, and the women who occasionally passed by with a plate looked at them in awe, bowed their heads and walked away.

After dinner for an hour, Liu Qiaoling killed three rapists. Wang Ximei was special, she killed two elementary school teachers.

"They are my colleagues." Wang Ximei said, "I can't see how children can be tricked into their office."

Xia Xianxian asked, "How long do you usually live before you can leave?"

"A year and a half." Wang Ximei said.

Xia Xianxian nodded: "Oh."

Early the next morning, the three of them got up and put on makeup for Ni Yan.

Ni Yan refused: "No need, a shot to the head will turn into a ghost."

Xia Xianxian held the eyebrow pencil in her hand and carefully traced Ni Yan's eyebrows: "Wearing flowers in this life will be beautiful in the next life."

"It just so happens that I have flowers here." Wang Ximei picked up a hairpin with red flowers on it and pinned it on Ni Yan's hair, "It's pretty, it complements your skin well."

Ni Yan smiled and said, "Okay."

Xia Xianxian opened the lid of the lipstick, and there was a smell of cheap essence. She closed the lid and said, "Don't use this, I brought a lipstick." She dug out an Armani from her bag, "This is what my mother bought. For my wedding day."

Ni Yan sat quietly and let Xia Xianxian apply lipstick on her.

After putting on her makeup, Wang Ximei picked up the mirror: "Look, how beautiful it is."

Ni Yan stared blankly at herself in the mirror, she was old, her skin was finely wrinkled, her slender eyebrows, and her red lips reminded her of herself who married more than 20 years ago, waiting for her beloved with joy, However, the dark night of 20 years came.

She laughed, and the old and dim pupils revealed a light of joy and anticipation: "Yes, it's so beautiful." She was beautiful before, a teenage girl, with moist and smooth skin, a round oval face, thick and slender Eyelashes, a pair of enviable big eyes, she almost forgot that she was once beautiful.

"It's almost over, old sister." Liu Qiaoling said, "You will be a lady in the next life."

"No." Ni Yan said, "I don't want to be a human in my next life, I want to be a magpie."

Flying in the sky carefree with its tail cocked, it is also endowed with a beautiful meaning.

"It's time."

The door of the room opened, and the prison guard said, "Let's go."

Ni Yan stood up, touched the red flower hairpin on her head, and waved to them: "I'm leaving." She didn't say goodbye.

Liu Qiaoling squatted down and cried, Wang Ximei stood and lowered her head to wipe her tears, Xia Xianxian said, "Old sister, walk slowly."

Ni Yan said lightly, "Okay, I'll wait for you in front."

[Special episode: The end of the black prison]