The literary era since 1979

Chapter 305 Motive for murder

December 11, Yanjing Railway Station.

"Woo!"

The green train slowly stopped.

Gong Xing looked out through the window and saw a dense crowd of people standing on the platform. It was a sea of ​​black people as far as the eye could see.

The luggage was carefully protected, as it contained not only letters of introduction and spare clothes, but also gifts specially given to people.

Walking through the crowd, I saw wooden signs at the exit, one of which clearly read:

"Gang Shizi, welcome home!"

"It's really bad."

Gong Xing recognized his nickname at a glance, bit his lip, and ran over quickly.

When she saw Fang Yan with a smirk on his face, she was about to "take action to find out the culprit", but suddenly she found that Fang Hong was also there to greet her.

"Xiaoxiang, you're finally here!"

“Red, red…”

"Look, you forgot again, what should you call it?"

"sister."

Gong Xing blushed and his voice was as soft as a mosquito.

Seeing this, Fang Yan chuckled, which immediately earned Fang Hong's glare. She lectured him unhappily:
"Xiaoxiaoxiao, what are you still standing there for? Hurry up and help Xiaoxiang carry his luggage!"

"Eh!"

Seeing his deflated look, Gong Xing's mouth curled up. It turned out that no matter how strong a brother is, he cannot escape the suppression of his sister's bloodline.

"If he bullies you in the future, tell me."

Fang Hong held her arm and they walked like sisters.

Gong Xing asked the question he wanted to ask, "Sister, why are you here?"

"Then you have to ask him."

Fang Hong glanced at Fang Yan who was carrying the luggage behind her.

Two days ago, Fang Yan just returned to Yanjing from Tokyo. Taking the opportunity of distributing gifts, he explained everything about Gong Xing in front of the whole family.

Even though he and Yang Xia had been mentally prepared, they were still caught off guard by this sudden situation.

When she thought of the noisy scene at that time, she glared at the instigator with surprise and resentment.

"All, all said?!"

Gong Xing fiddled with the emerald ring in a panic.

"He even told me about his visit to your family."

Fang Hong half-jokingly said, "You two have done a really good job of keeping this secret. You managed to hide it from us for so long."

"I'm sorry, sister, I..."

Seeing his silly wife with a remorseful look on her face, Fang Yan curled his lips and said, "Sister, don't make fun of her. You and mom have known about our relationship for a long time!"

Fang Hong patted the back of Gong Xing's hand and said, "When I got married, I knew that you two were going to have a relationship, and I've been waiting to see when you two would finally get it done." She looked her up and down and said, "Now, we can finally put our minds at ease."

Gong Xing chatted about family matters as he walked.

"Why are you staying in a guesthouse when you have a house to live in?"

Fang Hong whispered that Fang Yan had spent lavishly to buy several courtyard houses and had also led Han Yuemin astray.

"Yanzi has this problem. When he was in Shanghai, he asked me if he could buy a house in Shanghai."

Gong Xing smiled and said that he wanted to live in the house on Yandaixie Street in Shichahai, which would be closer to Fang Hong's home.

"Shichahai is great, it's what I was thinking."

Seeing them talking and laughing, Fangyan started laughing too.

Afterwards, the three of them came to the courtyard house in Shichahai, and Fang Hong was tactful enough to give the young couple some space to be alone together.

"It's getting late. I should go back to the crew."

"The crew?"

Gong Xing couldn't help but wonder, and looked at Fang Yan, and heard him say that Fang Hong had broken her iron rice bowl and was now working as a costume designer in the crew of "Dream of Red Mansions".

"Yes, I just took half a day off today."

Fang Hong waved goodbye, "Yanzi, take good care of Xiaoxiang, and remember to bring her home for dinner in a few days."

When Gong Xing heard that he was going to meet the parents, his heart tightened. When he saw Fang Yan smiling and saying "Slow down", he pursed his lips:
"Are you staying here today too?"

"So do you want me to stay, or not?"

Fangyan gave a playful smile.

"It's your own house, you can live in it if you want!"

Gong Xing shyly quickened her pace and went to her room.

It was clean and tidy, and had obviously been carefully decorated. It actually looked a bit like a wedding room, which immediately made me feel confused.

After Fang Yan helped her settle down, he said jokingly, "I've told my family that I'll stay here tonight, too. I'll stay at..."

Gong Xing's heart was pounding, and his face was red from his neck to his ears. He opened his mouth and said, "Can you...can you...wait..."

Fang Yan took her hand and walked out of the house with a smile, "I live next door to you, in this room!"

Gong Xing looked in the direction of his finger, and then realized that he was being "teased". He raised his fist in shame and anger and hit him:
"You are so bad!"

"Bad? I haven't started to be bad yet!"

Fangyan hugged her waist and held her in his arms, like a closed valley suddenly opened up, and the wind blew in endlessly. The fallen leaves in the yard were like a thick pile of longing for each other.

It was clearly autumn, but on her lips, there was the hint of spring.

…………

Before I knew it, a long time had passed.

Fangyan held Gong Xing's hand and walked around the entire yard, looking it over inside and out.

"In the future, we can plant some flowers and plants here, build a doghouse there, and raise two dogs, one for you and one for me..."

“This is the warehouse!”

“Why are there so many boxes?”

Gong Xing saw the piles of boxes and asked, "What's in them?"

Fangyan opened one of the boxes, "Of course it's your favorite calligraphy and paintings. There are probably more than 9000 of them here."

"Nine thousand?!" Gong Xian said in disbelief: "How can there be so much? How much will it cost!"

"It's not expensive, only about 20 yuan."

With the popularity of "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" in Japan, Fangyan's pockets are bulging and he is rich.

Gong Xing was stunned, but he quickly recovered.

After all, he was either buying a house in Hong Kong or investing in stocks in the United States. He gradually became numb and even started to get used to it.

"You like calligraphy and painting, don't you? You can enjoy them anytime and anywhere. How about that? Are you happy?"

Fangyan blinked his right eye.

"I am happy indeed."

Gong Xing said: "But it seems that you are not telling the truth?"

Fangyan did not hide anything and told him the truth, "In the future, we will open a private art museum, and you will be the curator."

"We also have two British butlers at the door, wearing wigs and looking very gentlemanly. When tourists come in, they will say 'may I help you, sir', no matter if they have anything to do or not, with an authentic London accent, which makes them look very respectable!"

"In addition to calligraphy and paintings, there are also some old items, and the aromatherapy burner is lit with good smoke. In one word, it is very classy!"

"..."

"Xiaoxiang, if an art museum like this is open to the public in the future, what is the appropriate admission fee?"

"Ten dollars?"

Gong Xing tried hard to hold back his laughter and continued to perform crosstalk with him.

"Ten dollars? That's the cost, it should be at least twenty dollars!"

Fang Yan said happily: "Don't complain about the high price, there's no discount!"

"So are you the director, or am I?" Gong Xing rolled his eyes. "Who makes the decision, you or me?"

Fang Yan said, "Of course you are the director, you make the decision."

"That's it. If I were in charge, I would like more people to have the opportunity to appreciate these calligraphy and paintings."

Gong Xing followed him out of the warehouse and into the study.

Fang Yan said: "Here, you have been here last time."

"I came here with Xiaojing, Xiaoyu and the others."

Gong Xing hummed, looked around, and his eyes quickly fell on the piles of detective suspense novels on the table.

Fangyan simply explained the whole story, "So, I plan to write a mystery novel."

Gong Xing asked, "Have you decided what to write?"

"I have two directions. One is historical reasoning that is more inclined towards ancient public case novels."

Fangyan said, "The other is social reasoning, using narrative tricks to write a good play."

Gong Xing asked: "What is narrative trickery?"

"Narrative trickery is a common pattern in mystery fiction, just like the locked room, prophecy, and Snowstorm Heights."

Fangyan smiled and said, "In fact, it is nothing more than using narrative techniques, playing with words, setting traps, and misleading readers."

Gong Xing was held in his arms and sat down on his lap, blushing as he listened to him give examples.

"For example, I am a worker. Although I smoke, drink and have my hair permed, my boss praises me as an activist and my neighbors praise me as a good person. I always behave kindly and do no harm to people or animals."

"One day, I went to visit my friend and found that he was dead. It was obviously a murder."

"I called the police immediately. They took my statement and I provided some seemingly reliable clues. Finally, I told the police, 'After my friend was killed, I cried all day and my mood fell to the bottom. Please make sure to find the murderer who killed my friend!'"

"The situation progressed quickly. The case was solved in less than two days. The police summoned me to the police station to hold a celebration party together."

"At the celebration party, the police told me that the criminal who killed my friend had been found, and then they put silver handcuffs on me."

"So, this 'I' is the murderer, right?"

Gong Xing's eyes suddenly lit up.

"That's right. This is using the identity of the first discoverer to create false clues in order to gain the readers' trust."

Fangyan smiled and said, "Of course this is the simplest. The more complicated ones are age, gender, and cognition."

Gong Xing became more and more interested: "What about you?"

Fang Yan said: "I plan to put some thought into the motive."

Gong Xing asked curiously: "Motive?"

"As the saying goes, every cause has its effect. Does it mean that there must be a motive for every murder? Or does it mean that there must be a motive that everyone agrees on for a murder?" Fang Yan said, "Behind the motive for murder, there may be social issues, conflicts in human nature, and even warmth. Look, how interesting!"

(End of this chapter)