Burning fire

"You're not a bad boy, really not." Zhou Qizun grabbed Jin Mingyu's shoulders and pulled him into his arms.

"Mom will be angry. She will definitely blame me." Jin Mingyu cried with his face on Zhou Qizun's chest.

Zhou Qizun rubbed the hair on the back of Jin Mingyu's head, and the hair that stood upright by him before was rubbed down.

Zhou Qizun: "Mom is because she is sick. She treats you like that when she is sick. When her illness is cured, she will definitely treat you well and will not blame you."

"Really?" Jin Mingyu asked tremblingly.

"Really." Zhou Qizun closed his eyes and sighed in his heart.

.

Jin Mingyu cried in Zhou Qizun's arms for a long time, and when his sobs gradually subsided, Zhou Qizun let him go.

Zhou Qizun looked at Jin Mingyu's face for a while—crying too much, with his pale skin as the background color, the whole face was covered with a haggard but intense redness, and the eyelids were swollen, which made people look at him Feeling sad.

"Crying so much, does it hurt?" Zhou Qizun asked.

"It doesn't hurt." Jin Mingyu sniffed, then rubbed his face several times with his small hands.

He said, "Thank you, Uncle Zhou."

Zhou Qizun smiled faintly at Jin Mingyu: "You're welcome."

"Jiang Liu is my younger brother, and you are Jiang Liu's younger brother, so you are my... nephew?" Zhou Qizun clicked his tongue, "This generation is messed up."

A look finally flashed across Jin Mingyu's eyes, he tilted his head and thought for a while: "Then I'll call you Brother Zhou?"

"Don't." Zhou Qizun straightened Jin Mingyu's collar, "You are only eight years old, and I'm already 33. You should call me uncle. I'm not that thick-skinned."

"Let's be chaotic if seniority is chaotic, it's okay." Zhou Qizun patted Jin Mingyu's small face, and was suddenly stunned.

For a child like Jin Mingyu, since he knows the truth... Even if Jin Mingyu is greedy for chocolate, Jiang Liu's ugly skull necklace is his last relic, Jin Mingyu shouldn't exchange it for it.

Just now Jin Mingyu cried and said "I like brother Jiangliu the most".

This logic doesn't make any sense.It's not right, it's lame.

Zhou Qizun frowned and looked at Jin Mingyu, he asked: "Xiaoyu, Uncle Zhou asked you something, tell me the truth, okay?"

Jin Mingyu nodded.

Zhou Qizun: "Uncle Zhou asked you. You like Brother Jiang Liu so much, why are you willing to trade the necklace he gave you for chocolate?"

Jin Mingyu hesitated for a moment: "Uncle Zhou, if I tell the truth, will you believe me?"

Jin Mingyu lowered his head, and Zhou Qizun could feel that he was even more uneasy: "I said that I brought Brother Jiang Liu home to give him a magic bead. But they didn't believe it."

Mentioned "beads".But don't be in a hurry, just be patient and let Jin Mingyu speak out on his own initiative.If you are not careful, you may tear the child's wound even more.

"Uncle Zhou's letter, tell me." Zhou Qizun squeezed Jin Mingyu's shoulder to make him relax.

Jin Mingyu hesitated for a while, and finally whispered, "I was told in the dream."

"In a dream?" Zhou Qizun was a little surprised.

"Yeah." Jin Mingyu raised his head, and Zhou Qizun stared into his eyes, staring really clearly.Jin Mingyu said earnestly, "For three days in a row, I dreamed of brother Jiangliu. In the dream, brother Jiangliu said that he wanted me to take the necklace and go to the supermarket at Caishi Street to exchange for chocolates. He also said that as long as I do this, I will see you, and you will save me."

Zhou Qizun almost gasped on the spot, his eyelids started to twitch: "Jiang Liu told you in a dream?"

"Yeah." Jin Mingyu grabbed Zhou Qizun's sleeve with his hands, "Brother Jiang Liu really didn't lie to me. Uncle Zhou, it's Brother Jiang Liu...Did you entrust me with a dream?"

"..." Zhou Qizun was speechless, all he wanted to do now was to take out the cell phone in his pocket and shout at Zhang Jueming on the other end of the phone, "What's going on here? A ghost is in a dream?"

Zhou Qizun tensed his face, and said to Jin Mingyu after a while, "Brother Jiang Liu was worried about you, so he entrusted you with a dream."

"I also think that this is also my brother Jiang Liu's secret." Jin Mingyu pursed the corners of his lips, showing a child's unique expression on his face.

This is probably the most naive and contradictory part of children.They are the most vulnerable and seem to be the strongest in the world.They are so simple, yet so complicated, they will be very painful when they are injured, when someone blows gently on his wound, he will cry, laugh, and naively scab and grow scars.

Zhou Qizun sighed.He didn't forget the key - the "bead".

Zhou Qizun followed the words and asked casually: "What secrets do you and your elder brother Jiang Liu have? For example, that magic bead? Can you tell me?"

——It was because of this bead that Jiang Liu died in a misfortune.

Jin Mingyu: "It's that big."

Jin Mingyu gestured for a goose egg with his small hands: "I picked it up in the grove at school. It really has magic, really. Every time I hold it to sleep, I can have good dreams."

Jin Mingyu: "I was afraid of being discovered by my mother, so I kept hiding it in the toilet tank."

Zhou Qizun: "..."

The place where the child hides things is also a diaphragm. ——Perhaps for Jin Mingyu, only the small and dirty third of the toilet is safe in the whole family.

Zhou Qizun thought for a while, and then asked: "You go to Chuying Primary School which is closest to your home?"

"Yeah." Jin Mingyu nodded, "Brother Jiangliu often picks me up from school and buys me delicious food."

The corners of Jin Mingyu's mouth twitched again as he spoke: "Brother Jiang Liu bought me delicious food, and I wanted to give him the most precious pearls, so I took him to my house."

His cry is weaker than a winter mosquito: "I didn't mean to."

"Brother Jiang Liu won't blame you." Zhou Qizun reached out to stroke Jin Mingyu's vest again, and he asked again, "Where is the bead now?"

When asking, Zhou Qizun deliberately adjusted his tone, hoping to sound lighter.

"I still gave it to Brother Jiang Liu." Jin Mingyu said, "Uncle Yang is not here. One night, when my mother fell asleep, I stole the key to the kitchen. I saw..."

Jin Mingyu's eyes changed obviously, and his crying red eyes were full of panic: "I saw brother Jiang Liu on the ground... I gave him the beads, and I cried and called him, but he... ...with blood...”

Zhou Qizun didn't let Jin Mingyu continue, he hugged the child into his arms: "Okay, Uncle Zhou knows. We don't think about it anymore, don't think about it anymore."

"Later, my mother hit me with a leather belt. It hurt so much." Jin Mingyu closed his eyes in Zhou Qizun's arms. With his eyelids closed like this, tears were squeezed out again.

.

After a long time, Zhou Qizun's butt was numb, and Jin Mingyu finally fell asleep in his arms.This time he really fell asleep, and he could hear it from the sound of breathing.

Zhou Qizun stuck out his numb buttocks, and insisted on holding the sleeping Jin Mingyu for a while longer.He carefully ran things through in his mind.

It was the necklace that Zhou Qizun and Jin Mingyu saw.As for the clue of the necklace, Zhou Qizun heard it from Duan Ziyang.Is it a coincidence?Or did Duan Ziyang get involved?

How should Jiang Liu explain Jin Mingyu's "entrusted dreams"?

Everyone can't tell the truth.

Speaking of "beads", according to Jin Mingyu, he put the beads on Jiang Liu's body.However, the police probably did not find any beads on Jiang Liu.Or did the body sink into the river, and the beads also fell into the river, but were not fished out?

There are too many doubts.

Zhou Qizun looked down at Jin Mingyu, he put Jin Mingyu back on the bed, and covered the child with a quilt.Zhou Qizun touched Jin Mingyu's forehead, grabbed a handful of chocolates from his pocket and put them beside the pillow, then turned and went out.

As soon as he came out of the bedroom, Gao Yan and Xiaowen in the living room immediately came over.

"How is it?" Xiaowen asked first.

"Fall asleep." Zhou Qizun lifted the corner of his mouth and smiled, "This time I really fell asleep."

Xiaowen was taken aback for a moment, then smiled embarrassedly.

Gao Yan shook his head, and saw that there was a darker piece of clothing on Zhou Qizun's chest, which must have been wet just now.

He could basically imagine that Jin Mingyu was crying in Zhou Qizun's arms, and the stone in his heart fell away.Gao Yan smiled dryly: "I've always thought about taking Jin Mingyu to see a psychiatrist. But you know, many things are double-edged swords."

"Yeah." Zhou Qizun nodded and patted Gao Yan on the shoulder, "Don't worry too much, he is a strong boy."

Zhou Qizun: "Children are very sensitive. If we 'adults' are too anxious, he will be sad too."

Gao Yan was silent for a while, then laughed again: "Don't worry, I know how to do it."

Gao Yan told Xiaowen beside him: "Take care of Jin Mingyu."

"Don't worry, Brother Yan." Xiaowen said seriously.

Zhou Qizun and Gao Yan did not stay at Xiaowen's house any longer.The three said a few more words, and they left first.

"Jin Mingyu actually wants to play with Jiang Liu, right? My little niece also likes to play, and the glass beads are like eggs."

Gao Yan: "She also likes to mess around, put a curtain on her body, and pretend that she is the princess of the magic castle..."

Gao Yan sighed after speaking: "Children are both sensible and ignorant."

Zhou Qizun didn't answer much.He's a little tired and doesn't want to lie around anymore.

Anyway, "magic beads", this kind of magical thing, no one would believe it unless they saw it with their own eyes.In particular, people's policemen like Gao Yan, whose roots are young and popular, are even less likely to be trusted.

"Jiang Liu's body, I will take it away as soon as possible." Zhou Qizun said wearily.

"Yeah." Gao Yan took out the car key and unlocked his car, "Brother Zhou, thank you."

"What are you thanking me for? Nonsense." Zhou Qizun waved his hand.After hearing this, he seemed to ask unintentionally, "By the way, is there anything else on Jiang Liu?"

Gao Yan shook his head: "There is nothing, the clothes are soaked by the river water, and there is nothing left. I also fished it in the river, nothing special, it's all garbage thrown by others..."

"Is that so." Zhou Qizun felt his stomach twitch slightly, just a little.

"Poor man." Gao Yan sighed, it's better not to say anything.

He pouted his chin toward the car: "Get in the car, Brother Zhou, I'll see you off."

"No need." Zhou Qizun refused, put his hand into his trouser pocket, and touched the hot phone again, "I'll go."

"It's quite far from your home. Or where are you going?" Gao Yan asked.

"I'm not going anywhere. I just want to take a walk." Zhou Qizun looked up at the sky, "Let's relax."

It is reasonable for him to put on this sad look.When Gao Yan saw it, he felt the same way.

Gao Yan didn't talk nonsense, got into the car by himself, and before leaving, he just rolled down the window and said to Zhou Qizun, "Call me if you have anything to do, I'll go back to the bureau first."

"Well, let's go. Thanks." Zhou Qizun replied.

Gao Yan wanted to open his mouth to comfort him, but he couldn't utter a word after thinking about it, so he simply rolled up the car window, stepped on the accelerator, feeling depressed himself, and returned to the police station.

The exhaust of the car sprayed out far away, Gao Yan's car turned a corner and disappeared in front of him.

Zhou Qizun stood downstairs at Xiaowen's house for a while, then turned around and walked towards the road behind him.

The main road at the back was wide and long. When waiting for the red light, Zhou Qizun took the phone out of his pocket and stuck it to his ear.

Also shows active call.Zhou Qizun asked: "Are you still there?"

"En." Zhang Jueming's voice came over immediately.

"Where are you? I'm looking for you." When the light turned red, Zhou Qizun crossed the road holding his phone.

"With you..." Zhang Jueming on the other end of the phone paused for a short moment, "I'm by your side, you can see me when you look up."

"Huh?" Zhou Qizun walked across the sidewalk and raised his head after listening to Zhang Jueming's words. Sure enough, Zhang Jueming's face appeared in his sight.