The Swan Bay Murders

Chapter 14 Xing Baichuan 0.6

The family has completely changed.

From the moment I took out the death certificate, I knew that the last thing I wanted to see happened.

The cries of my parents continued to be heard in my ears, and the heart-piercing crying made me extremely painful.

And my mother asked "why" over and over again. Seeing her in pain, I could only kneel there and couldn't even say a word of comfort.

There is nothing to comfort, saying is futile, in the face of the facts, we can only cry.

The second elder still couldn't accept this fact, and was even crazier than I was at the beginning. My mother pulled my clothes and said with tears all over her face, "Bai Chuan, take mom back, mom has to go see your brother."

My dad is an optimistic and open-minded man. He has always been a role model for me and Berlin all these years. He educated us well and told us that men should be responsible.

But now, Berlin has chosen the most irresponsible way to leave this world. I looked at my dad's white hair at the temples, hugged my mom tightly and wept together.

Elderly people are not in good health. I helped my mother back to the bedroom and wanted her to rest.

She clasped my wrist tightly, weeping uncontrollably.

I coaxed her, wrapped her hands in mine, and said, "Mom, I'm going to book a plane ticket, and we'll go back to China as soon as possible, okay?"

She kept nodding and said intermittently: "Berlin is not dead, is he? Bai Chuan, what is your brother doing?"

I know that my current state is very ugly, and the family must be supported by me, and I can't fall down again.

"Mom, Berlin will always be by our side." After I finished speaking, tears streamed down my cheeks, I wiped the tears from her face, and held her in my arms, "Mom, you must be fine, You still have me."

My mother was already in poor health, so she took some medicine and finally lay down.

When I closed the door and went out, I heard the sound of whimpering, knowing that she was hiding in the quilt and crying, I didn't dare to talk to her anymore, and I was also afraid.

Back in the living room, Dad was still sitting on the sofa holding the water glass.

He had remained in that position ever since he saw Berlin's death certificate.

Their generation, accustomed to putting love into action, silently gave everything for us.

I walked over and gently took the water glass in his hand and put it down. He didn't move, which made me very sad.

I squatted beside his legs, pulled his hand over and held it, and tried to calm myself down. I said, "Dad, you also go to rest, I..."

"Berlin said we came together for Christmas." My dad said suddenly, his lips trembling, his eyes staring at the death certificate without blinking, his hands were cold.

I knelt down, held his face in my hands and made him look at me: "Dad, let's go home and stay with Berlin from now on."

I don't know how I booked the plane ticket and got on the plane with my parents out of their wits.

The flight attendants saw that we were all in a bad state, so they took extra care of us.

During the flight for more than ten hours, my dad was in a daze, and my mother kept wiping tears. I know that they, like me, tried hard to suppress the painful groans that were about to burst out in their hearts. There are funerals in Berlin.

Li Jiangluo came to pick us up, and my mother looked at him with hatred.

I understood what she was thinking, and while Li Jiangluo was queuing up to take a taxi, I explained to my parents that the whole thing had nothing to do with him.

I was vague about the reasons for the suicide in Berlin, and my mother kept asking.

As if in a daze, she said repeatedly: "My son will not die, and he will not abandon his mother cruelly."

My mother is usually a very particular woman, but now she is emaciated, her broken hair is glued to her face with tears.

I put my arm around her and my dad in the other. From now on, there will only be three members of the family of four.

Li Jiangluo got a taxi, put our luggage in the trunk, opened the door and waited for us to get in.

I sat outside, patted his shoulder before going in, and said softly, "Thank you."

Li Jiangluo glanced at my parents secretly, her eyes turned red instantly, she didn't speak, and got into the co-pilot.

Along the way, no one in the car spoke, only the sound of my mother sobbing.

Ever since she knew about Berlin, her tears have never stopped.

I was worried about her body, but no matter how much I tried to persuade her, it was useless, and sometimes it even made me wipe tears along with her.

It is said that men do not shed tears lightly, but my dearest brother is dead, so how can I care so much.

But no matter how sad, no matter how many tears, Berlin will not come back, his death is a fact, the cause of his death is disgraceful, his funeral is waiting for us, his tombstone is waiting for us to put a bouquet of flowers .

We went to the police station again, and Xu Zhao was smoking a cigarette by the window.

It was the same words from the beginning, Xu Zhao said it to my parents again in a cold tone.

Finally, he added: "Li Jiangluo almost became Xing Bailin's funeral object. From the perspective of friends, I hope you will not make things difficult for him."

I frowned, feeling a little displeased.

My parents are both educated and reasonable people. Although my mother really suspected that this matter had something to do with Li Jiangluo at first, after listening to my explanation, she still held my hand and said that the child is also a poor person.

I gave him a cold look and said, "Jiang Luo will be our family from now on. Officer Xu doesn't need to worry about such things."

I left the police station with my parents, and Li Jiangluo was waiting for us outside.

He was wearing very little, and the collar of his coat fluttered around his neck when the cold wind from the north blew.

"Jiang Luo." I called him.

He turned his head immediately, then ran over and whispered cautiously, "Go back?"

Because of what happened just now, I became disgusted with Xu Zhao, and his words also hurt my parents. I don't want them to live in that person's house, and I don't want to go back.

"Let's go to the hotel." I said.

Li Jiangluo froze for a moment, a little confused.

But he didn't ask much, nodded and ran out to take a taxi.

My mother leaned against me, she was not crying so hard, I glanced at my father, he let out a long sigh, followed Li Jiangluo to the side of the road.

"Mom, go back and have a good rest first, we have to finish the business in Berlin as soon as possible." I didn't say "funeral", and I couldn't say it at all.

We checked into the previous hotel and got two rooms.

It was originally planned that my parents would share one room, and I would live in the next room, but my mother kept holding me, so I had to stay with her when she was sleeping.

My dad looked at my mom who finally fell asleep and stroked her hair distressedly, shook her head, and sat on the sofa in a daze.

Li Jiangluo bought rice and put it next door, and nervously asked my dad to eat something first.

No one can eat it, I saw my dad secretly wiped his eyes.

I never imagined what it would be like to die, let alone watch my brother be cremated one day.

My parents finally broke down and wailed in front of the crematorium at the funeral home.

Li Jiangluo leaned against the wall, biting the back of his hand and crying so much that his clothes were wet.

I pulled my mother who was trying to get closer to the cremation furnace. She half knelt on the ground and called Berlin's name loudly.

My dad helped her up with me, then hugged my mom, coaxing her while crying, "Berlin is watching us, you can't do this."

I looked up at the gray sky, and there were black crows flying by.

Berlin, are you really looking at us?

You said, why do you want to do this?

We didn't have time to buy a cemetery for Berlin, nor did we have a stable place to live, so we could only temporarily store his ashes in a funeral home.

My mother hugged the urn and refused to let go, crying until she passed out.

I called an ambulance, followed the medical staff and forgot about Li Jiangluo.

When my mother was all right, I turned around to look for him, and finally saw him in the room where the ashes were kept.

The sunny Berlin with a smile turned into a black-and-white photo, looking lonely and helpless among the rows of urns.

Li Jiangluo stood in front of him with a lonely expression, gently stroking the cold rosewood box with his hand.

I walked over and put my arms around his shoulders.

He seemed startled, turned to see me, and relaxed.

"I miss him so much." Li Jiangluo said lightly, "It would be great if this was a dream, a nightmare, and I can wake up at dawn."

I don't know how to comfort him, so I can only pat him on the shoulder to comfort him.

I looked at my brother's smiling face, and remembered that when I was a child, he always liked to let me walk in the alley with him on my back.

At that time we were seven or eight years old. Now, more than 20 years later, I want to carry him again.

"Jiang Luo." I said, "Berlin is my younger brother, but his current results are all caused by himself. Not only that, but he also hurt you."

Li Jiangluo's hand stroking the longevity box stopped, he shook his head and said, "No, it's my fault."

"Our family originally consisted of four people. Berlin is no longer here. If you want, you are our family." I let go of him, turned to him and said, "You are Berlin's lover. He mentioned before that you have no other family, and I think that's probably what he wanted to see."

Li Jiangluo turned to me slowly, remained silent for a long time, and finally spoke.

He choked up and said to me, "Brother."

At that moment, I was probably hallucinating.

The sound of "Brother" seemed to come from Berlin.

I know this is impossible, probably due to grief and longing.

But I still held back my tears and nodded, hugging Li Jiangluo.

We are all outcasts, abandoned by my cruel brother.

It's just that Li Jiangluo is even more pitiful, he has absolutely no support in this world.

As I said, to take care of my brother is also to atone for the evil guy.

Love is not meant to be spoiled like that.