fool.

2008 years.

Si Zhao sat alone in his study and wrote letters.

"Congratulations, I'm really happy for you. I was admitted to my favorite school and major. It's really a pity that I didn't send my blessings at the first time. Recently, I have almost dealt with the things at hand. In a while I might go…”

At this point, Si Zhao stopped writing, and he looked at the open window beside the desk. Outside the window, there were coconut groves swaying in the wind, sandy beaches, and the sea.He couldn't see the moon, but it was unusually bright outside.There was a big bonfire on the beach, and many people were singing and dancing around the bonfire.The women's soft singing floated in, accompanied by clear acoustic guitars, and young men and women dressed in linen clothes of the same color and style swayed their bodies to the rhythm of the music and clapped their hands in time.

Si Zhao's eyes suddenly hurt, and he couldn't write any more, so he simply put down his pen, took out a bunch of keys, opened the locked drawer under the table, and then put the letter paper in. A letter in that drawer.The letter has been opened, the sender is a bank in the Cayman Islands, sent to Hong Kong, and the recipient is William.s.Wang.

Si Zhao covered the letter with the letter paper, locked the drawer, and stood up while leaning on the table.For some reason, he was a little dizzy, maybe it was because he had just taken a few sips of whiskey, he hadn't touched alcohol for a long time, and a few sips of wine was overwhelming.The wine stored in this study room has always entered Zhu Tianyun's stomach, no, he still has to be called Mr. Shanlin, and even today, perhaps, he has already forgotten the name "Zhu Tianyun".Si Zhao thought endlessly, picked up the half-full wine glass on the table, walked to the small bar full of various foreign wine bottles, and poured some more whiskey.When he put down the wine bottle, his hands were trembling, and the high-end watch on his wrist hit a glass wine cork with a "groan".Si Zhao tugged at his collar, raised his wrist and looked at the watch, which he had worn for ten years.Mechanical watches need to be wound up manually and need careful care. The needles move like thousands of ants crawling behind the dial.Si Zhao took a sip of his drink, and his ears were quiet for a moment. He walked back to the desk, leaned against the window, and stood leaning against the desk. He was really dizzy, but he didn't want to sit down. Once he sat down, he would be caught. The ubiquitous Shanlin in this study room is completely surrounded - the slogan "Leap to become a better me" is hung on the wall of the study room. Below the slogan is a group photo of Shanlin and many celebrities. Below the group photo is written Understand the identities of those celebrities, their two identities, the first identity is "student", and then the chairman of a certain chamber of commerce, the executive of a certain company, the chairman of a certain company, and Some big stars, some writers, some artists, these photos almost occupy most of the places on the wall.

This study is also the place where Shanlin usually meets "students". Those who come to the training class are "students", and those who work in the training class and help with daily operations are also "students".Shanlin would sit in a corner of a sofa in that room, and he would stand behind him. If Shanlin wanted to say something, he would first whisper to him, and then he would convey it on his behalf.It has been a long time since he gave any speeches or speeches in front of many people. If he wants to see him, he must be a student of the training class held every three years, or come to the training class to do odd jobs, run errands, and live in this isolated place. Life on a deserted island.

Si Zhao took off his watch and put it on the table. Shanlin's name was engraved on the back of the dial.Originally, it was given to Shanlin by others, and Shanlin gave it to him.Si Zhao remembered that it was a year when they held a charity gala in Hong Kong. Many people came that day, including political and business celebrities, entertainers, and many people gave gifts. Among them, two watches were the most expensive.This one is one of them.This is just the cheaper of the two.

When Xiufen saw this watch later, her eyes became straight: "William, what an expensive watch! Teacher Shanlin doesn't even want such an expensive watch?"

Teacher Shanlin never wears any expensive watches and jewelry in front of others.They're all in his personal safe.

Si Zhao took another sip of wine, perhaps, he was no longer Si Zhao, but William.William what?king?maybe.

King William glanced at the study room, where there were still some lockers filled with filing boxes.The box is marked "1989, on tape", or "2000, on CD".

Someone knocks on the door.Si Zhao put down his wine glass and went to the door, there was Xiufen standing outside the door, she was really surprised to see him, and said, "Are you drinking?"

Her Putonghua has improved, Si Zhao said with a smile: "Occasionally I drink some."

Xiufen smiled and said: "I saw that the light in the study room was still on, so I thought you were still busy, but it turned out that you were drinking alone."

Si Zhao asked him: "By the way, have you seen Teacher Shanlin?"

Xiufen said: "He's in his log cabin, what time is it now, it's long past Teacher Shanlin's rest time." She pulled Si Zhao down: "Let's go sit on the beach together, Ah Cai We only found out about her birthday, a cake was baked in a hurry in the kitchen, I asked them to take the cake over first, and I said I came to find you to go there together, let's go, let's sing her birthday song together."

Si Zhao said: "You guys have fun, I do have some things to do, and I must confirm with Teacher Shanlin today about some details related to the memoir."

Xiufen said: "Is it the writer who attended the class the year before last and said he wanted to write a memoir for Teacher Shanlin?"

Si Zhao smiled: "You know, Teacher Shanlin doesn't like this kind of thing the most, and he rejected it several times when he was in Hong Kong, but this is equivalent to helping Teacher Xing complete his transformation, right? When a writer writes a book, even if he writes the biographies of others, what he writes is his own story. Even after completing the course, his life still has a long way to go.”

Xiufen said, "Take a flashlight."

She and Si Zhao went to the kitchen. The kitchen seemed to have been in a war, with eggshells and flour all over the floor.The two found two flashlights and went out through the back door of the kitchen.Happy birthday sang from the direction of the bonfire on the beach.Xiufen said, "Let me walk with you for a while."

"It's okay, I can go alone." Si Zhao looked at the bonfire, "Go and play."

Xiufen hesitated a little, and Si Zhao said, "Okay, let's go for a walk together." He smiled at her: "Anyway, it feels like there are people celebrating birthdays here every day."

Xiufen nodded, showing a bright smile again.She carried a bottle of mini bug spray with her and sprayed them several times until they smelled like two mint leaves before they walked into a wooded area together.The aroma of ripe jackfruit wafted through the forest. Xiufen pointed a flashlight to the high place and said, "Did you know that it's the season when jackfruit and durians are ripe, and they fall down all day long."

"is it?"

"Do you think it hurts more to be hit by a durian, or more painful to be hit by a jackfruit?"

"What do you think?"

The flashlight in Xiufen's hand illuminated the road in front of Si Zhao, Si Zhao turned to look at her and smiled, Xiufen also looked at him: "Is there something on your mind?"

She said softly, "You can tell me."

Si Zhao said: "Xiufen, over the years, I really appreciate you helping me and Teacher Shanlin at school. From Hong Kong to the mainland, to this island with nothing, you have suffered a lot..."

Xiufen laughed: "Did you send me a Thanksgiving card in advance?" She shrugged, "Well, it doesn't matter if you don't want to tell me what's on your mind. You, what difficulties have you encountered and what can I do for you? Just tell me."

She said again: "By the way, you should tell Teacher Shanlin that tomorrow's interview may have to be rescheduled. Brother Fang explained that there may be a typhoon every day, and ships will not be able to get in."

As if to prove her statement, there was indeed a sudden gust of wind, which made the surrounding trees rattle.Si Zhao asked, "Interview?"

"That's right, Teacher Shanlin said that the kitchen is too busy and needs to recruit ten more capable girls."

"Really? I remember that I just recruited kitchen helpers a while ago? Do kitchen helpers still need interviews?"

"Mr. Shanlin said that we should recruit more predestined people. You can only know if you have a predestined relationship."

Si Zhao laughed, and he looked back, he and Xiu Fen were deep in the dense forest, he could no longer see the beach, nor the bonfire, but he still seemed to be able to see those young, beautiful girls working in the kitchen.He was a little dizzy again, as if he heard ants crawling again, but he didn't take out his watch, and the ants seemed to be crawling in his veins.

Si Zhao swallowed his saliva, walked forward with his head down, and said, "I might have to leave school."

"Ah? Going out to do some errands? Where are you going?" Xiufen asked briskly.

Si Zhao shook his head, and when he was hesitating, Xiufen suddenly asked him: "Are we going the right way?"

Si Zhao was startled, and glanced forward in a trance, among the layers of gray and black double shadows, a wooden house could be vaguely seen, the light in his hand flickered, and the wooden house disappeared.He couldn't help muttering: "Is it the right way?"

"Ah? You don't remember the way?" Xiufen patted him and laughed, "What are you doing, we are alone, in the wilderness, I'm so scared."

Si Zhao walked forward a few steps quickly, and then turned the flashlight forward, and it really showed a wooden house hidden in the forest.The appearance of this wooden house is simple, even rudimentary, as if it was built out of random pieces of trees that were cut off by lightning.The cabin is dark.

"It's here, otherwise you should go back first, just walk along the way you came." Si Zhao said according to the footprints on the ground, "You can see the footprints."

The large beam of light from the flashlight not only illuminated the footprints of him and Xiufen, but also illuminated a row of skinny footprints behind him on the last section of the path leading to the wooden house.Si Zhao hastily moved the flashlight away, and Xiufen said, "Okay, then I'll go first."

She left him the bug spray.She said to him, "Leave a piece of cake for you?"

Si Zhao nodded, Xiu Fen turned and left, Si Zhao watched all the way, Xiu Fen looked back several times, seeing him looking at her, and shining a flashlight on her from a distance, she smiled happily, for a long time, until she saw him completely. When Xiufen disappeared, Si Zhao went to push the door of the wooden house.The wooden house was locked from the inside, Si Zhao knocked on the door and said, "It's me, William, I have something important to do."

There was a commotion from inside the door, which was still locked. Si Zhao walked around to the back of the wooden house, and saw a nearby bush shaking and whirling.He walked over and took a picture of the leaves. A fair-skinned young girl in a suspender skirt stared at him in bewilderment with a pair of deer eyes.She smelled strongly of alcohol and ephedra.The girl sniffed.There was some white powder under her nose.

Si Zhao wiped her face and said, "Put on your shoes."

He has never seen this girl.She was very pretty, and looked about fifteen or sixteen years old.

The girl put on her shoes while sniffing, slapping her neck from time to time.Si Zhao sprayed some insect repellent spray around her, saw that she had put on her shoes, and gave her both the spray and the flashlight.He asked again, "Are you a new recruit in the kitchen?"

The girl nodded.

"Is this your first time here tonight?"

The girl shook her head.

"what's your name?"

"Arlene..."

"A Lin," Si Zhao stroked A Lin's long hair lightly, "you must keep the matter of your coming here a secret, and you must not tell others, you understand?"

"I promised Teacher Shanlin, no one will tell, and you can't tell." Arlene stretched out her hand to cover Si Zhao's mouth.

Si Zhao patted her thin shoulder and said, "I won't tell."

"If you tell me, Teacher Shanlin will dislike me." Arlene stared at Si Zhao vigilantly, and she didn't let go until Si Zhao swore an oath.She left silently.

Si Zhao went to knock on the door of the wooden house again, and this time the door opened quickly. It was Shan Lin who opened the door, holding a lighted candle in his hand, dressed in linen clothes and trousers, bare feet, and several clothes hanging around his neck. A necklace made of wooden beads, he blocked the door, and asked Si Zhao kindly: "What's the matter so late?"

Si Zhao looked at him and said, "I haven't been back to Hong Kong for many years. Unlike you, I have to go back once a month. After all, it is my hometown. You are homesick. It is completely understandable, but I didn't expect that I would receive a letter when I went back this time." A letter from Cayman, from a bank there, addressed to me, which is strange.”

Shanlin cleared his throat and said, "Come in and talk."

He lit many candles in the room one by one. Some candles were placed on a broken wooden table, and some were just placed on the ground, fixed by wax oil. The smell of honey floated in the room, and women's panties were scattered on the ground. , bras, and Shanlin kicked them under the bed—as far as furniture in the room was concerned, there was only the wooden bed with the snow-white mosquito net hanging on it.Also scattered on the floor are numerous wine bottles, incense herbs, metal pots, piles of wooden boxes and paints.

Shanlin sat cross-legged on the ground, found a bunch of leaves, lit them in a small metal pot, and made incense.

Si Zhao sat opposite him: "Maybe I'm getting older, my memory is getting worse, and I can't remember what I have done. I just found out that I opened a consulting company in Cayman and also have a bank in Cayman. accounts and credit cards.”

Shanlin waved the bundle of leaves in his hand around and said, "Oh, what do we divide between you and me, William, what's mine is yours, and we two brothers don't separate!"

Si Zhao asked him, "Are you helping people launder money?"

Shanlin laughed: "Oh, what you said, you laundered money, what you said..." He rubbed his knees and laughed, his eyes fluttered.

"Boss Liu's nephew came to study the year before last and brought ten suitcases with him. At first I thought he was a son of a bitch. If he hadn't been drinking and leaking the truth, I would never have thought of it..." Si Zhao didn't continue, he looked Shanlin, "Old Zhu, don't you feel that what you are doing now has deviated from your ideals and the direction you set for yourself?"

Shanlin's eyes changed, and he dropped the bundle of incense leaves viciously: "What do you mean I deviated from my direction? I didn't set my direction myself? How much money do you think the training class can make? Without money, where would we go?" How can we support so many idlers? If I hadn’t tried to make money, how do you think we bought this island and built these houses?” He suddenly spoke earnestly and persuasively, “William, I did this for our own good and also For the good of our school, you and I said this back then. Only when you use money to package yourself well will others be willing to listen to us and believe what we say! Si Zhao, we are here to achieve a greater goal The goal is to let more people understand us and know our philosophy, we are using our own small moral sacrifices in exchange for the hope of saving all mankind."

Si Zhao lowered his head, Shanlin moved to his side, put his arms around his shoulders and said, "Look, you are now the big boss of our Bate, and you don't know how famous Bate is in the country now, right? The mysterious route we took was also your idea. Others want to see us more because they can’t see through us. How do you say about our influence now... There is a lot of response! I will print a business card for you later, and you go to see your dad, your dad That old pedant will respect you even after seeing it!"

Si Zhao felt nauseous for a while, pushed Shanlin away, stared at him and said, "Money is not for you to suck white noodles, it is not for you to play with little girls!"

Shanlin also glared at him, pointed at his nose, with a big mouth, then his eyes changed, and he fiddled with the incense ash in the metal basin with a smirk, saying: "Anyway, you know the matter, anyway, this The school, the company outside, and the company in Cayman are all registered with your name and your certificate, I am just a paid external teacher, if you want to blame it, you can blame yourself for not locking the certificate in the safe."

Si Zhao shouted: "Those are all fake names and fake documents!"

"Isn't this a bigger problem! You are deliberate, deliberate deception!"

Si Zhao got up on his knees, grabbed Shan Lin's collar, and his eyes were moist: "How could you do this to me!! I believe in you so much! I have done so much for you! When you Zhu Tianyun is worthless, I will fuck you Follow you, saddle up for you, contact venues, record tapes, which time I don’t pay for it, I contribute!” He really cried out, “I fucking trust you too much! I trust you too much!”

Shanlin had a leisurely expression on his face, unmoved: "Isn't it because you couldn't get into the graduate school and didn't do scientific research like your father and brother..."

Si Zhao punched out, Shan Lin would avoid him, and he kicked Si Zhao away: "If I hadn't found the gold, you would have lived like a dog to this day?" He was also furious. Bian Sheng threw himself on Si Zhao, and hit him when he was under pressure.His physique and strength were bigger than Si Zhao's, and Si Zhao couldn't break free at all.

"You're a fucking mistake! Stupid! Your stupidity... your fucking stupidity is born with you! You're a fucking mistake! Go to hell with you! Without you, I, Shanlin, can still do well Life is good! Without you! There are tens of thousands of you who are willing to be my cows and horses!!" Shan Lin spit, and punched Si Zhao's face with his fists. Sweeping a wine bottle that fell on the ground, he reached out to grab it, touched the neck of the bottle, grabbed Shanlin's head and smashed it.

a bit.

Twice.

Three times.

At the fourth blow, the wine bottle shattered, and Si Zhao grabbed the broken bottle and stabbed Shan Lin in the face.Shanlin fell to the ground, his clothes disheveled, and the candlelight shone on his huge belly, giving off a layer of oily light.Shi Zhao spat it out.Alcohol was flowing on the ground, and some low-burning candles on the ground seemed to be extremely excited by the smell of alcohol, and the long flames flickered violently.

Si Zhao wiped his mouth, and he looked at Shan Lin's fat and motionless body.He smiled: "You are not Lao Zhu, not that talented thinker, you are Shan Lin, Shan Lin is not a good thing, Lao Zhu..."

He licked his lips: "Lao Zhu died a long time ago. Lao Zhu has no dream to fulfill. I will fulfill it for him."

He poured all the wine in the cabin on the ground, kicked down a candle, and in an instant, the floor of the cabin was billowing with fire.Shi Zhao walked out.He stood in the woods, watching the burning cabin from a distance.He waited, waited, the red orange flame burned through the dark night in the dense forest, Si Zhao continued to wait until many trees in the forest were destroyed, white smoke rose from the forest, and someone shouted "Fire! "It's on fire", a group of panicked people came to put out the fire, and he walked out of his hiding place, and he hurriedly joined the ranks of firefighters.But the fire was too big to be extinguished, so everyone had to dig a ditch to contain the fire.When there was nothing to burn in the isolated area and only sporadic flames remained, Si Zhao wiped his dirty face and looked at the top of the woods where a hole had been burned. At some point, It was daylight.

Crowds wailed around the burnt-out hut.All that was left of the wooden house was a pitch-black frame, and under that frame lay a ball of scorched meat, which must have been Shanlin.

Si Zhao organized all the "students" and initiated a proposal: "Brothers and sisters, don't cry, everything is arranged by God. He saw everything that Teacher Shanlin did in heaven. He envied that there is such a good teacher in the world. Teacher, he took him away and asked him to go to heaven to teach his people, we are here, we must continue to promote the ideas of Teacher Shanlin, continue to help those who are trapped by themselves, and help those who are blinded by the stupidity of the group For those who lost their eyes, let us bury Teacher Shanlin properly now."

A young girl in the crowd glanced at Si Zhao.Si Zhao recognized her.Arlene.Arlene walked towards him with red eyes, but Xiufen suddenly called out after a few steps: "Why are you standing there stupidly, why don't you go there to help!"

Si Zhao and his students dug a grave for Shan Lin and buried him with his own hands.

In the afternoon, the typhoon really came.The people who hadn't fully digested their grief had to gather in the study to light candles, pick up guitars and sing.

The singing continued until the next morning.