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墨書 Inktalez
Xiao Xuanmiao left the Azure Garden District by car, leaving behind the helpless members of the project team. Xu Yiman did not share the content of her conversation with Xiao Xuanmiao with the others; she simply let everything pass lightly. Yet, when she said this, there was a lack of confidence in her voice.
A week passed.
Li Liangcai's coffin had been at home for seven days and was finally laid to rest. There were not many relatives attending the funeral, just a sparse gathering that stirred no waves. The project team members did not attend the funeral; it was only after Li Liangcai was buried that they visited the cemetery.
This was a village, and also Li Liangcai's hometown, where the grave was located on an inconspicuous hillock. The soil on the grave was still fresh, and traces of burned paper surrounded it. The solitary grave stood there, appearing very desolate. Somewhere in the distance, an old man tending sheep began to sing a mountain song, its vastness and sorrow carried by the wind.
Everyone noticed a detail on the tombstone: it read, "The Grave of My Daughter Li Liangcai."
Old Shao pulled out a crumpled note from his pocket. This paper had been found earlier among Li Liangcai's belongings wrapped in brown paper; at first, Old Shao thought it was merely wrapping for money until he later discovered that this wrinkled paper contained many words.
The handwriting was crooked and uneven, indicating that the writer seldom wrote or practiced writing. It looked like worms crawling across the page as it read:
To my son Li Liangcai:
During your time in the hospital, I thought a lot. I have always been a person of hardship, unable to afford an education, so I could only do hard labor when I grew up. I do not want you to suffer like this in the future; therefore, I urge you to study hard, go to university, and find a good job.
I do not expect you to earn a lot of money or become a millionaire. I only hope that you will have choices in your life, be able to choose a job you like, and support yourself with it. Not like me, doing work that anyone can replace.
Having choices means having dignity.
Many things come with choices, but many do not. You cannot choose who your parents are; you cannot choose when you are born; you cannot choose your gender. I do not understand why you insist on seeing yourself as a girl; I also do not know what else I can do.
Your mother has searched online extensively about this; she understands it better than I do. All I know is that you were born here, and by chance, I became your father.
Parents do not stop loving their children, regardless of whether they are boys or girls, or what they choose to be.
If being a girl brings you joy and happiness, and if you have truly made up your mind, then Dad supports you.
Choosing this path will certainly expose you to criticism from others, and some may look down on you. But that's okay; Dad will bear it with you.
Dad is waiting for you to come home.
This letter ends here. There are many corrections above; in the short five hundred words, the crossed-out text probably amounts to another five hundred. One can imagine how much deliberation, how much conflict, and how inarticulate Li Father was while writing this letter. Unfortunately, Li Liangcai did not get the chance to read it before jumping from the building.
Old Shao pulled out a lighter from his pocket. As the flames flickered, he wondered if Li Liangcai would receive this letter from his father down below.
A lonely grave, the setting sun, the distant rising smoke, and the ethereal sound of a horn.
They could not stay here for long because Captain Liu notified everyone—Zhuang Qinyun had been found.
After returning from Jingzhong City, Captain Liu went straight to Dongxing City without resting. However, when he finally located the online friend, it turned out to be a sixty-year-old man who was Zhuang Qinyun's soulmate. It turned out that this old man was bored after retirement and sought entertainment online; he never truly intended to find Zhuang Qinyun, and she had never been to Dongxing City.
Previously, the task force members speculated that Zhuang Qinyun must have gone to Dongxing City to meet her online friend, but in reality, she had never left Dragon City.
Finding Zhuang Qinyun was unexpected. When the vice squad arrived at a rundown hotel, she was lying naked on a bed with two men.
The task force members saw Zhuang Qinyun again in the detention center of the Public Security Bureau.
She had cut her long hair into a pink bob and wore heavy Gothic makeup on her face. She was dressed in a short-sleeved top paired with extremely short shorts. One hand held a women's cigarette as she crossed her legs and said, "I was with them voluntarily; why did you arrest my boyfriend and my brother?"
"I’m already sixteen, okay? I have the right to sleep with someone. Stupid idiot, what are you going to do about it? If you have the guts, take me to jail! Or just kill me; otherwise, when I get out, I’ll burn down your police station."
Zhuang Qinyun was aggressive.
The members of the task force didn’t enter; they just watched through the glass as Zhuang Qinyun transformed into someone completely unrecognizable. Just a month ago, she was a good girl. But now, upon seeing her again, she had clearly become a different person.
The police had arrested three people in total. According to Zhuang Qinyun herself, one was her boyfriend and the other was her older brother figure.
One of the men was seventeen and the other was twenty. According to their testimonies, they found Zhuang Qinyun at that hotel a month ago. The shabby hotel was known for attracting wayward youths, with a constant flow of people coming and going. Innocent Zhuang Qinyun didn’t understand anything and quickly got involved with both men under their persistent flirting and heavy drinking.
They learned that Zhuang Qinyun had come to another city to meet an online friend, and under their sweet talk, the confused Zhuang Qinyun stayed at the hotel.
It’s hard for someone to improve themselves, but it’s easy to fall into depravity. They got Zhuang Qinyun to drink and take drugs, keeping her in a dazed state all day long.
Zhuang Qinyun had completely changed; she had bid farewell to her former self.
Through the glass window, they watched her smoke and curse.
"How could she have turned into this?" Xu Yiman found it hard to imagine.
"Can you give me a straight answer? What happened to them?" Zhuang Qinyun continued to ask.
But at that moment, she suddenly started convulsing; the cigarette she held fell to the ground. She curled up almost into a ball, beads of sweat rolling down her forehead and face. Her complexion turned pale as her teeth chattered. On her fair arms, bulging veins were visible.
"Please, please give me some powder." Zhuang Qinyun almost screamed: "As long as you give me a little, I’ll do anything for you. Do you want me? Just give me some, and I’ll be yours. Please, my stuff is in my bag; I beg you, let me have a little hit!"
"When did she get hooked?" Old Shao looked at Captain Liu, who stood nearby.
"About half a month ago," Captain Liu replied. "We found powder and syringes in the house where the three of them were staying. Fortunately, she hasn't been using for long, so it hasn't progressed to injecting yet. I've already contacted her parents; she needs to go to rehab."
"And there's more," Captain Liu added. "She's pregnant."
Zhuang Qinyun was still inside, pleading desperately. No one doubted that if given a little powder, she would do anything. The sounds she made were not those of a normal person; her voice was hoarse, like dry branches snapping, as if a demon within her was speaking.
Suddenly, she began banging her head against the ground, trying to alleviate her pain through self-harm.
Seeing this, several people rushed in to restrain her.
Old Shao felt a wave of helplessness and irritation wash over him; he needed some fresh air. After stepping outside for a short distance, he saw a female officer laughing while holding her phone. Old Shao asked, "What are you watching?"
The officer turned the phone screen toward him and said, "I'm watching that show with Xiao Xuanmiao. It seems the production team brought her biological father back without notifying her first. Now her birth father wants Xiao Xuanmiao to acknowledge him, but she refuses to agree. The experts from the show are trying to mediate."
Old Shao looked at the phone; an expert was speaking: "Xiao Xuanmiao, everyone knows you are a kind and filial daughter. Your father abandoned you and your mother; doesn't he have his own reasons? Look at him—he's been living on the streets. Don't you feel any guilt? If you don't acknowledge your biological father, you'll never find happiness in your life."
Xiao Xuanmiao clearly hadn't expected the production team to do this. Tears welled up in her eyes as she said, "No, I won't acknowledge him. He abandoned us when we were at our lowest point. Now that I have money, he thinks he can come back? I refuse to accept him as my father; I hate him. He's nothing but scum; I absolutely won't recognize him."
"Xiao Xuanmiao, where has your kindness gone?" someone chimed in.
"Xuanmiao, he's still your biological father," another added.
"Absolutely not." Xiao Xuanmiao glared fiercely at them, threw the microphone to the ground, and stormed off in anger.
The female officer said, "Right now, the online uproar is overwhelming. Most people are saying that Xiao Xuanmiao's persona has collapsed. There are also those who think it's outrageous for her to act so high and mighty before she even became famous. If this continues, her dreams of stardom will likely be dashed."
Xiao Xuanmiao was someone who excelled at disguising herself, yet there were moments when she could no longer maintain that facade. She would rather destroy everything than acknowledge her biological father.
"You can abandon us, but have the guts to never come back."
Xiao Xuanmiao left only this sentence on her Weibo, while the comments section was filled with endless insults. He recalled the words of the Vice Principal of the Fourth High School: "The memory of internet users is like that of goldfish; it lasts only seven seconds."
A person can quickly redeem themselves, just as easily as they can fall from grace. One moment they are fans of someone, and the next they turn against them. Indeed, what a charming group of goldfish they are, swimming through the currents of the internet, darting here and there.
Old Shao stood alone in the courtyard of the police station, gazing at the crescent moon above, and thought of a story he had come across online that he particularly liked:
Once upon a time, a monster returned to its cave. It did nothing but stand there and drink honey. The other monsters were puzzled and asked him, "Weren't you supposed to go down the mountain to eat people? Aren't they tasty?" The monster wiped his mouth and cursed, "Damn it, who’s tasty? All beings suffer too much."
All beings suffer too much.
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