False evidence

Chapter 421 Rekindling the Bond (6)

I felt my mind was a bit muddled again, so I stuffed the remaining half of the fried dough stick into my mouth, chewed it, and waved to Gu Haitao.

I think the first thing to do is to clarify some things.

I swallowed the fried dough stick and asked, "Is that tilted table still there?"

Gu Haitao said, "It's always been there, it wasn't tilted originally. It's because every time I got drunk, I would fall asleep on the table. Gradually, it got damaged. The tabletop is made of particleboard, and after being repaired so many times, it stopped holding nails. It can't be repaired anymore."

I nodded. "So, the first thing I dreamed about was you, drunk and all alone."

Before he could speak, I recounted a few more details about the appearances of the other three people in the dream, as I remembered them.

"You've really met my parents-in-law? You've met Qiaomei?!"

Gu Haitao was both excited and puzzled. "How is that possible? Your age... Could you really be that 'prophet' from twenty-one years ago? That can't be right, my parents-in-law passed away back in our hometown. Shouldn't you have met them?"

As my thoughts gradually came together, I realized that last night's dream was partly due to my personal emotions, but mainly it was due to the dream itself.

I believe that what I saw in my dream was all from Luo Yinsheng's past experiences.

And so, the appearance of that last cigarette butt...

I pulled out the pack of cigarettes that the cigarette butt had given me last time from my bag.

The packaging has been opened, and one is missing, leaving only nineteen.

Gu Haitao was clearly controlling his emotions. He glanced at it and said, "Wow, Pegasus. I used to smoke this when there were no outsiders around. It used to cost 1.7 yuan a pack. You still have this cigarette? Where did you buy it?"

"Tell me first, what exactly was the time of Ji Qiaomei's death?" I asked.

Gu Haitao replied without hesitation, "It was 12:40 on the night of April 8th. At that time, I felt that Qiaomei was experiencing a final burst of energy before death. I kept thinking that as long as I survived until dawn, the ghost messengers would not come to take her away! So I kept secretly watching the time!"

That would be the early morning of the ninth day of the fourth lunar month.

Gu Haitao nodded, "My birthday just passed."

Suddenly, Lü Xin said in his mind's eye, "His birthday and Ji Qiaomei's death anniversary can't be on the same day! How come I remember there's only one saying about this kind of 'life and death in succession'? What was it again..."

"A book can save a life!"

I suddenly stood up.

Erpang was startled and stood up. "What's going on?"

I stared at Gu Haitao, who had also stood up, for a while, then slowly nodded and said:

"Perhaps Ji Qiaomei and you are not truly destined to be apart."

In his mind, Lü Xin was filled with doubt: "The Heart Book for Life? What is that?"

"Come with me!"

I turned and walked out, while secretly asking Lü Xin, "Do you remember the murals we saw in the city gate tower when Jiang Baohan was buried?"

"You're not trying to say again that I was a fallen woman in my previous nine lives, are you?" Lu Xin was a little deflated.

"I'm referring to the first floor, the second set of murals!"

Liang Kaiyuan interjected, "I remember that set of paintings was very chaotic. The first painting depicted a marketplace, and at the time I thought the Qingming Scroll I had seen before was fake. But upon closer inspection, although it was a marketplace, the people in the painting didn't look like living people. Looking back, I felt that it wasn't an ordinary marketplace in the mortal world, but rather... like a ghost market in the underworld!"

The murals I saw inside the city gate tower back then are now flashing through my mind quickly and clearly again.

Lü Xin and Liang Kaiyuan must have shared this 'visual spectacle'.

Soon, the three of them fixed their gaze on a spot in the mural...

No, to be precise, it was as if the three of us entered the mural at the same time.

The originally static murals came to life, and the figures in them seemed to come alive, performing various actions around us. The three of them stood side by side in front of an ancient pavilion, so focused that they ignored everyone else around them.

Inside the pavilion, a man with his chest exposed was holding an object and writing furiously on a stone table.

This is indeed exactly the same as the content of the first mural in the second set of murals in that eerie city gate tower.

But now we can see it more clearly.

The man's open chest was cut open, and what he held in his hand was not a pen, but a heart!

A human heart that has just been dissected!
"What...what is he writing?" Lu Xin was clearly stunned by the visual spectacle, and his words were somewhat stammering.

I pointed at the figure who seemed both ancient and modern, with a blank expression, writing with his heart, and asked, "Just looking at his expression, who do you think he resembles?"

"It's like..."

Lu Xin and Liang Kaiyuan were both filled with doubt and did not continue speaking... or perhaps they simply could not tell who this person resembled.

At this moment, Liang Yuan suddenly appeared, pointed at the man, and said:
“Look at his expression, isn’t it exactly the same as Luo Yinsheng’s last night?”

"Cena!"

"It really is!"

Lu Xin and Liang Kaiyuan both gasped for breath.

Upon seeing Liangyuan, I couldn't help but wonder, "Did you dream about this last night too?"

Lu Xin turned his face to the side.

Liang Kaiyuan sighed, "Everyone is here, but the transition from a happy family to someone drinking alone... it's just too fast. Who could bear such a blow?"

"So they all went to the side and played cards," Liang Yuan interjected.

It took me a while to realize, "They were all there, but they felt too sad to watch the scenes of life and death, so they all went to play cards in the corner? And I was the only one there, holding on?"

Liang Kaiyuan and Lü Xin both turned their faces to the sides at the same time.

Liang Yuan nodded directly at me, "I didn't play, I don't know how to play cards. I just watched those people, observed their expressions, and wanted to draw them."

"Draw it?"

Liang Kaiyuan, Lü Xin, and I all looked at him with suspicion.

Liang Yuan waved her hands and said, "I can't really explain it. I usually drive for ride-hailing services, and I like to observe the passengers' appearances and imagine what their lives are like. I... I used to study fine arts. But then there were too many painters, and I couldn't make it, so I became a driver..."

"I still don't understand. What exactly do you mean?" Liang Kaiyuan asked.

Lu Xin's eyes darted around. "So this kid is a painter."

Before I could react, he slapped my arm. "That day at the city gate tower, we only glanced at the murals briefly. Do you think he could see them more clearly from a professional perspective?"

"Hey!" With a soft, feminine voice, Eunuch Sun also appeared in this 'special world'.

He glanced sideways at the person still writing furiously in the pavilion for a moment, then turned to me and said:
"We are servants, unlike you who are so clever. But I feel that solving the immediate problem is the most important thing."

"Tell me, how do you plan to solve this?"

Lu Xin and Liang Kaiyuan asked at the same time.

Eunuch Sun adjusted his recently changed leather coat and spread his hands, saying:

“Actually, we’ve thought of everything the boss has thought of. It’s just that our approaches are different, so we can’t agree on anything. The boss just mentioned ‘a letter from the heart for a life.’ Now look at this fool in the pavilion. Doesn’t he look like one of those officials writing a memorial to the emperor? I think he’s using his heart as a pen to petition the emperor!”

(End of this chapter)