sbdcsierra Chapter 1687 Ma Ling Recites Poetry
Chapter 1687 Ma Ling Recites Poetry
Chapter 1687 Ma Ling Recites Poetry
In 1994, before the internet was even around the corner, the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet event occurred.
While the world was anticipating the Big Bang, an unidentified object, suspected to be an alien spaceship, was reportedly discovered on Phoenix Mountain, not far from Yong'an Village.
This happened in May, and in June a mountain villager surnamed Meng said that he was abducted by aliens, and that many "horrifying" things happened during the days he was abducted.
Years later, CCTV specially set up a program team to come to Phoenix Mountain to interview and report on him.
That spectacle was much bigger than when Zhao Jun appeared on television last year.
During the interview, the man said that after he was taken away by aliens, a female alien with a naturally open crotch was very affectionate with him and said that she would send him a child after many years.
He said something so exaggerated that even if the TV station recorded it, they wouldn't dare to broadcast it.
However, according to reports, after experiencing that incident, the person became afraid of light and blunt objects and had slowed down their reactions, as if it were a kind of aftereffect caused by technology.
This happened in 94, but CCTV didn't come to record it until after the millennium. By then, Zhao Jun had become successful, and he happened to be returning from out of town when he heard about the excitement, so he drove all the way to Phoenix Mountain to see it.
Actually, that villager had been talking nonsense since 94, but the locals didn't take him seriously because he... was a village guardian.
So, they're slow to react.
Phoenix Mountain is not far from Yong'an Village, and many employees of the local forest farm know Zhao Jun. Especially since Zhou Jianjun was already the head of the production section of the forestry bureau at that time, and everyone had heard that Zhao Jun had become successful.
So Zhao Jun, who came to Phoenix Mountain to see the excitement, was warmly received by several acquaintances in Yushugou.
It was already past seven o'clock when we finished dinner that day, but it was summer and it wasn't dark yet.
In those days in the countryside, around six or seven in the evening, everyone would go outside to cool off and chat.
Zhao Jun went outside and ran into an acquaintance. When he went over to say hello, someone next to him chimed in, saying that Lian Qiao was also in the Yong'an Forest Area and lived in the same residential area.
Zhao Jun asked him who Lian Qiao was, and he said it was Wang the carpenter. And that Wang the carpenter was Wang Jiusheng's second son.
Later, when Zhao Jun got on the bus, he glanced back and saw that Wang the carpenter was walking with a limp. Zhao Jun casually asked the person who had invited him to dinner, "Is that man a cripple?"
The person who hosted the dinner laughed and said that the lame man wasn't actually lame. One year, he was chopping firewood quickly and used a large, mirror-like axe, which resulted in him cutting off two of his toes.
The person who hosted the dinner didn't mention the cripple's surname, but when he heard him say that, Zhao Jun just smiled and let it go.
This kind of thing was very common in the forest areas in the past. Chopping firewood was an inevitable part of forest life, and normally a large axe was used for chopping firewood. But the large, mirror-finish axe produced in Dandong was used for pruning branches, and that large axe could chop very quickly.
Some people, eager for quick results, use a large axe to chop firewood. People, when nothing happens, think everything's fine. But when something does happen, they're dumbfounded.
At that time, many people in the forest area would injure themselves because the large axes were so fast that after splitting the firewood, they would continue to move forward without changing direction.
The lame man was more seriously injured; his big toe and half of his second toe had been cut off by a large axe.
As soon as Chen Weiyi mentioned Phoenix Mountain, Zhao Jun instantly pictured the limp man's blurry figure in his mind.
Zhao Jun intuitively concluded that the man from back then was Hu the Cripple. And this man was connected to Wang Jiusheng's second son. Considering that Hu the Cripple had come to his house today and sold twenty-two yellow leaves, Zhao Jun felt that Hu the Cripple must be related to this case.
When Zhao Jun made the call, he wasn't on guard with his family. After he hung up, Li Dazhi came over and said, "Jun, Wang Jiusheng's eldest son is named Wang Yuntao, and he works in our forestry afforestation. His second son is named Wang Haitao. They said he went to work outside, and they've already sent him a message, but he hasn't come home yet."
Zhao Jun nodded upon hearing this; he genuinely didn't know the carpenter Wang's name.
In his previous life, Hua Gui Yang was not imprisoned for harboring or concealing anyone, so before 97, carpentry work in the surrounding villages was all done by Hua Gui Yang.
It wasn't until after 97, when Yang, the painter, could no longer work, that Wang Haitao returned to Lingxi. Before that, he had always worked for others.
In his previous life, Zhao Jun had never dealt with this person, but one year when he returned to Yong'an, he happened to be there when Zhao Hong's family was cleaning up their house. As the older brother, he went over to take a look.
When he arrived at Zhao Hong's house, the house was all tidied up, and they were laying bricks in the yard.
Zhao Jun walked around the house, inside and out, and saw that the kang cabinet and wall cabinet were well made. He casually asked who made the cabinet, and his second sister's husband, Sun Ruihai, said that it was made by carpenter Wang.
Zhao Jun wasn't familiar with this person, so he muttered, "He does a pretty good job," and then prepared to leave and go home. Just then, a head suddenly poked in through the window.
Zhao Jun looked and saw it was Li Ruhai.
In his previous life, Zhao Jun's son, Li Ruhai, didn't even have a proper job. He just wandered around the village every day and was much more talkative than he is now. He had a very simple, unassuming personality, and his wife and children didn't want to talk to him.
When Li Ruhai heard Sun Ruihai mention Wang the carpenter, he told Zhao Jun, "That Wang carpenter's family is quite interesting. Before, when Wang the carpenter wasn't home, his wife and children lived comfortably in the village."
But as soon as Wang the carpenter returned, his wife divorced him a few days later and ran away with the child.
Zhao Jun understood from Li Ruhai's implication that Wang the carpenter's wife had been cheating on him for a long time.
At the time, Zhao Jun just laughed it off, but now that he thinks about it, if that carpenter Wang was the murderer who killed Bai Sanzhi's family of four, then the deaths of his wife and children wouldn't be as simple as being cuckolded.
Just as Zhao Jun was recalling these events, a voice suddenly appeared in his ear.
"Kid, something's not right," Xing San said to Zhao Jun. "You suspect it's Hu the Cripple, and that Old Wang the Second?"
Seeing Zhao Jun nod, Xing San added, "If it's the two of them, Old Xu can't let them live in a shack."
Upon hearing Xing San's words, Zhao Jun was taken aback. Then, Zhao Jun hurriedly grabbed the phone and made another call to the local police station.
After the call connected, Chen Weiyi's voice came from the other end.
"Chief Chen," Zhao Jun said, "Our station is investigating Wang Jiusheng's family situation. Does his family have any relatives with Xu Changming and Song Laowai?"
"No." Chen Weiyi answered decisively, then said, "Team Leader Zhao, I was thinking of calling you. I just told Director Sun your thoughts, and Director Sun said that Xu Changming and Song Laowai were beaten to death on the kang (a heated brick bed) after they fell asleep. This person must have been someone they trusted very much."
Chen Weiyi meant that neither Hu the Cripple nor Wang Haitao could do that, and Zhao Jun's suspicions were probably misguided.
"Brother!" Suddenly, Li Baoyu's voice came from behind Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun turned around and looked at Li Baoyu with the microphone in his hand.
At this moment, Li Baoyu pushed past Zhang Yuanmin and Li Ruhai, came to Zhao Jun, and said, "If it were Wang Haitao, neither Old Xu nor Uncle Song could guard against him!"
"Huh?" Zhao Jun was taken aback, then heard Li Baoyu explain, "What if Wang Haitao said he came back for the funeral after hearing the news? Who can guard against him?"
"Oh!" Li Baoyu's words gave Zhao Jun a sense of sudden enlightenment.
He told Chen Weiyi what he had said, and Chen Weiyi quickly replied, "Team Leader Zhao, let's set off immediately. First, let's go to Yongli to see if Wang Haitao has returned, and then we'll go to Yushugou."
"Director Chen," Zhao Jun called out to Chen Weiyi, "Don't mention anywhere that Hu the Cripple came to my house to sell leather. Just pretend I wasn't involved."
After saying that, Zhao Jun immediately explained the reason, saying, "Why? Because I suspect that they tricked Master Xu into giving away those nine pieces of leather. If we can't be sure they're bad people, we won't mention selling yellow leaves. Maybe they'll come to my house to sell leather again later."
Zhao Jun knew about the legendary memory restoration techniques these days, but people in forest areas and rural villages were quite united. If the evidence was conclusive, anything was permissible. Otherwise, if a whole village or hamlet started making a scene, the investigators might be in serious trouble.
Chen Weiyi wasn't born and raised in Yong'an, but he had been working there for years, so he moved his family to Yushu Township. Chen Weiyi understood Zhao Jun's concerns. Therefore, he readily agreed to Zhao Jun's suggestion.
As soon as Zhao Jun hung up the phone, Li Baoyu came over.
"Brother," Li Baoyu looked at Zhao Jun expectantly and asked, "Does what I said make sense?"
"That makes perfect sense!" Zhao Jun praised Li Baoyu, "Baoyu, I've noticed you've been working on this for a while now!"
Zhao Jun's words came from the bottom of his heart. Li Baoyu had performed well yesterday under the bluestone cliff. Today, Li Baoyu was able to unravel the mystery and find the key to the problem, which truly made Zhao Jun think highly of him.
Thinking about Li Baoyu's incredible speed, Zhao Jun really considered finding someone to arrange for Li Baoyu to become a police officer. He reasoned that, even without any other means of transportation, no bad guy could escape Li Baoyu's pursuit.
"Brother!" Li Baoyu was the kind of person who would take advantage of anyone who gave him a little credit. After being praised by Zhao Jun, Li Baoyu laughed loudly, "This case has been solved, I should be credited the most, right?"
"What do you mean you deserve the credit?" Before Zhao Jun could speak, Li Ruhai shouted, "I found out Hu the Cripple's identity myself. Without my efforts, would you have had the chance to show off?"
"I'm going to get angry..." Li Baoyu's eyes narrowed, about to explode, but Zhao Jun stopped him.
Thinking that the bad guy might be brought to justice, Zhao Jun happily ate an extra half bowl of rice.
The train car will be heading into the Yong'an forest area tomorrow, and there will likely be a lot of things to do. So, it was only a little past 8:30, and the Zhao family's diners had already gone home.
Zhao Jun sat on the edge of the kang (heated brick bed) in the west room washing his feet, while Ma Ling made the bed and warmed him with quilts.
Ma Ling seemed very happy, warming herself under the covers while humming a song softly.
"Why are you so happy?" Zhao Jun asked with a smile, while Ma Ling countered with a laugh, "What could be making me unhappy?"
That's true. Ma Ling's married life was very happy. She ate and drank well, her parents-in-law were kind, and her husband was in good health. There was really nothing that made her unhappy.
Zhao Jun smiled upon hearing this and said, "I'll make you even happier in a moment."
"Huh?" Ma Ling was taken aback. When she saw the wicked smile on Zhao Jun's face, she came to her senses and, feeling embarrassed and annoyed, slapped Zhao Jun on the back twice.
Zhao Jun hadn't finished washing his feet yet, so the young couple couldn't enjoy their time together. After warming herself in the quilt, Ma Ling got up and took a book from her dowry cabinet. Zhao Jun immediately recognized it as the Wang family's ancestral cookbook.
"Oh my god!" Zhao Jun exclaimed in surprise, "Wife, how did this end up in your hands?"
“Ah,” Ma Ling said proudly, “My dad said that the book should be passed down to his wife but not to his daughter, so it was passed down to me.”
Zhao Jun's lips twitched. His wife was too naive. She believed everything people told her. This book belonged to the Wang family. If it was truly a case of passing it down to the wife but not the daughter, then it should have been passed down to his maternal uncle, Zhao Ling, not to you, Ma Ling.
As a son, Zhao Jun couldn't bring himself to speak ill of Zhao Youcai to his wife.
Ma Ling sat to the side flipping through a book. Zhao Jun peeked out and saw that the traditional Chinese characters in the book had been marked with pinyin in pencil.
"Did your mom teach you that?" Zhao Jun asked. Ma Ling nodded and smiled, jokingly replying, "Yeah, do you know it?"
“I know him too, haha…” Zhao Jun laughed, “I was a good student before I started school.”
"You're kidding me," Ma Ling laughed. "The other day, when Mom and I went to the market, we saw you and Baoyu carrying your schoolbags and running towards the woods to the north."
"Haha..." Zhao Jun laughed after being exposed, and said to Ma Ling, "You're good at studying, but you haven't even studied for two years."
Upon hearing Zhao Jun mention this, Ma Ling rolled her eyes and glared at him fiercely.
These days, most girls from families in forest areas who don't go to high school can finish junior high school.
Ma Ling dropped out of school early mainly because of the "Stinky Ling" incident years ago. When Zhao Jun brought it up again that day, Ma Ling thought he was going to make fun of her again.
"Oh dear." Zhao Jun sighed and said with a wry smile, "Wife, I reckon our child won't do well in school either."
“You can’t say that!” Ma Ling retorted, “Our family is so well-off, we should let him study hard, get into high school and then university. There aren’t any university students in our forest area yet!”
"Alright!" Seeing Ma Ling's determination, Zhao Jun laughed and said, "Then let him study hard from now on. If he doesn't do well, we'll beat him up!"
"Tsk!" Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Ma Ling nudged him lightly with her elbow and said, "As a father, you can't just beat your child; you have to teach him."
"How could I possibly teach that?" Zhao Jun said with a wry smile. "I can barely do arithmetic if I don't get more than 100. As for recognizing characters... I don't know anything too complicated."
Ma Ling has big, bright eyes, but she doesn't know many characters.
At this moment, Zhao Jun added, "And their ancient poems, I certainly don't know those either."
“I know classical poems,” Ma Ling suddenly said, surprising Zhao Jun, who looked at her and said, “Wife, you know classical poems?”
"Ah!" Ma Ling proudly tilted her head back and said, "I know quite a lot."
"Ouch." Zhao Jun said while wiping his feet, "You recite one, let me hear it."
"Carry one on your back..." Suddenly asked to carry someone, Ma Ling was momentarily at a loss. However, it was clear that Ma Ling had a rich reserve of "poetry," as she immediately recited: "The Azure Dragon Sword is carried on my back, my face expressionless and my eyes full of majesty. I sweep away all demons and monsters, I am the Python of the Python Family, Python Sky Darkness."
Zhao Jun: "..."
(End of this chapter)