Fang Yi didn’t try to stop those boys, coincidentally he had a bottle of mineral water in his hand.
The girl didn’t cry, but simply sat there, somewhat distracted. Fang Yi saw her take out a book from her backpack, opened it, and began reading silently where she sat.
It was only when Fang Yi approached that the little girl noticed him. She looked up to see Fang Yi, a stranger, with bright, spirited eyes. When she saw the bottle of mineral water in Fang Yi’s hand, she swallowed hard.
"What’s your name?" Fang Yi asked with a smile.
"Lin Lin," the girl said with emphasis, "the Lin of forests, and the Lin of a myriad of beautiful things."
"Your grades must be very good," Fang Yi said smiling.
"Of course." Lin Lin’s somewhat dirty face showed a proud expression, one that children have when they’ve done something remarkable.
Fang Yi walked over, not minding the dirt and mess, and sat down beside the girl, then handed her the bottle of mineral water.
Lin Lin said politely and then opened the cap to drink. She didn’t drink quickly or slowly, showing no signs of being thirsty, clearly suppressing her own urge.
The sun beat down fiercely, and the place—a garbage dump—smelled awful, no one would choose to be here. But Lin Lin could stand it, and Fang Yi saw that her burlap sack was filled with a lot of empty drink bottles.
Fang Yi glanced at the book in her hands, it was a Chinese language textbook.
"Does it taste good?" Fang Yi asked.
"Aren’t you afraid that I’m a bad person, and I put drugs in the water?"
"Because you’re just like him, he said you wouldn’t hurt me."
"Also my big brother, he said he would marry me when I grow up."
Fang Yi couldn’t help but cover his face, cursing inwardly, "Damn, you effeminate bastard, corrupting such a young girl, I curse you!"
Now that he was certain she was the girl Lin Shang had mentioned, things were easier. Fang Yi said, "My name is Fang Yi, you can call me big brother from now on. By the way, where do you live?"
Lin Lin pointed towards a distant part of the garbage mountain, by the river, where a shack made of tin sheets stood.
"Can you take me there?" Fang Yi asked.
"Of course." Lin Lin put her language book into her backpack, stood up with her backpack on, and carrying the burlap sack filled with mostly empty drink bottles, walked over.
"What grade are you in?"
Fang Yi was silent. Thirteen and already in ninth grade?
Lin Lin seemed to understand Fang Yi’s confusion and said, "I’m really smart, I could go to high school with no problem. I score full marks in every exam, honestly speaking I’m a genius, of course, I admit that I’m a genius, but I don’t have the money to go to school."
Although Lin Lin was only thirteen, she knew far too much, even her way of speaking was like an adult’s, full of maturity and world-weariness.
"I can provide for your education," Fang Yi said.
"It’s alright, even if I had the money, I still couldn’t go to school."
"Because someone doesn’t want me to study. They call me a bastard, and even my own biological father doesn’t want me. Only that big sister is willing to take me in, but her words don’t hold much weight.
But maybe it’s for the best, he now has another little daughter, he probably doesn’t think of me."
Lin Lin, carrying a hemp sack, walked slowly but not with difficulty, as if she was used to it.
But Fang Yi’s heart was not at peace. He had vaguely guessed the identity of this girl: a sister, a younger sister, and the surname Lin—where else could she be from?
They... must be the Lin Family’s middle generation...
As they were almost at the metal shack, Fang Yi asked, "Do you want to go back?"
Lin Lin paused for a moment, then turned around with a smile on her face, "I’m doing quite well here."
Fang Yi remained silent. Even though Lin Lin was smiling, the smile seemed forced. She hadn’t said she didn’t want to go back, so she must surely want to. A thirteen-year-old girl, no matter how mature and experienced she tried to appear, couldn’t hide the longing deep in her heart.
The metal shack was very crude. The metal roof only ensured that rain wouldn’t leak through, but wind could easily blow inside. It was summer, making the shack especially stuffy.
"It’s too hot inside, let’s go to the riverside for some breeze," said Lin Lin.
By the river, Lin Lin sat on a rock at the water’s edge, took off her shoes, and dipped her pale, bare feet into the cool water.
Fang Yi, smoking a cigarette, sat there as well, observing this resilient girl, and asked, "Aren’t you afraid, living here by yourself?"
Lin Lin smiled shyly, "I guess I am a bit, yeah. There was one time during thunder and lightning, I was inside the shack and saw a person, really frightening. One eye was bigger than the other, and they—along with several people—threw a hemp sack into this river. It was terrifying."
"Hold on, describe that person again, one eye larger than the other?" Fang Yi’s expression turned grave. He remembered what Yao Tong had described, someone with one eye larger than the other.
"Yes, it was really dark, but the lightning flashed and I truly saw it, it was scary," Lin Lin said.
Fang Yi couldn’t sit still any longer. He immediately made a phone call to Li Xue, then another call to have Yao Dong and the others come over.
Seeing Fang Yi making calls, Lin Lin considerately kept quiet until he finished speaking. Then Fang Yi turned to the little girl and asked, "Lin Lin, do you want to go to school?"
Lin Lin hesitated for a moment, then asked timidly, "Can I... go to school?"
"Don’t worry, with me here, they can’t send you away," Fang Yi assured.
Soon, Li Xue arrived, bringing the investigative team’s guard with her. They immediately began to dredge the river.
Upon seeing Fang Yi, Li Xue hurried over and asked, "What’s going on? You even told me to bring the team over the phone. If we don’t dredge up anything, my reputation could be on the line."
"Just dredge it up," said Fang Yi with confidence.
After three or four hours, Yao Dong and the others had also arrived. Li Xue had results as well; they dredged up a hemp sack from the riverbed and when they opened it, there was a woman inside. Fang Yi immediately had Yao Dong and Yao Bo go to identify her.
However, the result of their identification led both to shake their heads.
"We’ve never seen this woman before," said Yao Dong.
"That’s right, she’s not from our village," said Yao Bo as well.
Fang Yi was puzzled. If she wasn’t from their village, then who could she be?
"I’ve figured it out," Li Xue said as she ran over, her face flushed, speaking quickly, "This woman was one of Hong Cheng’s mistresses. Hong Cheng had three mistresses, and two of them had boys for him, except for this one. Maybe Hong Cheng was furious and murdered her, then had someone throw her body in the river."
Fang Yi shook his head, "It’s not that simple."
Li Xue asked in confusion, "If it’s not that, what else could it be?"
Fang Yi lit another cigarette, looked up at the sky, and muttered, "Perhaps it’s an internal conflict."
(Please support with a like from behind!)