C38 (2/2)

”...” Is the name of our child pleasant to the ears? ” my mother asked.

”Pleasant, as nice as your name sounds.” My father smiled and then stood up with me in his arms, lining up behind the registration line.

”Hello, please show me your ID and your child's ID.” A white woman said politely.

My father took my birth certificate and passport from his ID. She looked back at my mother, who was sitting a long way from the boarding party.

”Apostle Ao Qing, is it this child?”

My father nodded.

”Good, you can go in now.”

After my father boarded the plane for a while, my mother slowly got up and boarded the plane.

1990. The year I went to preschool.

”What's my name, Mom?”

”Your name is Niu Niu.”

My mother took a pen and wrote two words on the paper: ”GIRL — GIRL —”

”No, no. Next door, Auntie Liu's child is also called Niu Niu, but Niu Niu said she's not surnamed Niu, and her surname is Huang...” I looked at my mother.

”Ring, ring, ring, ring …” The phone rang and Dad, who was sitting in the living room watching TV, picked it up.

”Yes, yes, it's me. Yes, is anyone willing? ”Okay, I'll come over now.” His father seemed quite happy. He hung up the phone, put on his coat and prepared to leave.

”Daddy, where are you going? Are you going to play? Take Niuniu with you, Niuniu is going as well.” I held on to my father's thigh and wouldn't let him go.

”Niuniu, can Mommy take you to eat ice cream?” Mom pulled me back. ”Daddy will come and find us when he's done.”

”Oh!” When I heard about ice cream, I let go of my father and forgot about it.

My dad went out the door and rode the motorcycle to the Municipal Cancer Hospital. A fat man in his thirties, a little older than my father, was standing under the Inpatient Department building, wiping sweat away in the sun with a slightly dirty T-shirt.

”Big brother,” Fatty welcomed him happily when he saw my father, ”The person you are looking for has been found for you, so it's not hard to find. All the people you are looking for live in this building with cancer, Teacher Zhao was originally a high school teacher who passed out half a year ago. ”The treatment lasted for at least half a year, it's hard to say if it won't go well …”

The fat man chattered on as he led my father up the stairs.

”Ah, this teacher, although he is an iron grubber, but the money he earns is not much – after multiple chemotherapy treatments, his family's money has also been involved in this. Teacher Zhao said that he doesn't have any requirements, as long as he doesn't commit murder or arson, he can do some work for his family's children before his death and leave some money behind, and that he will satisfy them – your conditions are met, although it is only the end, two steps is not a problem, and his thinking is clear – just what do you want him to do?” The fatty continued talking endlessly all the way to the fifth floor. In the end, he could not help but ask.

My father took a stack of money from his briefcase and the fat man dipped it in his saliva. Five hundred. He was surprised.

”Yo, this is —” In the nineties, even if you put five hundred yuan in a first-tier city, it would still be enough for a month's income. Fatty had worked as a nurse in the oncology hospital for so long, but he had never seen anyone so generous.

”You've worked hard. I paid you an extra two hundred.” My father smiled. ”Don't ask.”

A day later, my father and another old man with a pale, haggard face took a taxi to New Town. At that time, it was still not the new city district, but only the development zone, because the skyscraper had not been built yet, the construction site and the countryside were interwoven, the reinforced concrete here was still being built, and the villagers there were still farming.

”Cough cough, this... Isn't this just a construction site? Didn't you say you were going to take me to the bank? ” As soon as the old man spoke, he began to cough violently, as if any gust of wind could blow him down.

”Teacher Zhao, although the floor of this bank building isn't fully built, the underground vault is already built.” My father supported the old man as they walked around the main entrance of the construction site and entered an elevator with an undismantled wooden board on the inside through the side door.

”I won't go in with you.” My father stopped outside the vault.

When they heard that my father wasn't going in, the security personnel were also surprised. After all, this vault was opened by my father.

My father took a box and two envelopes from his bag. One was an old looking yellow envelope, and the other was a brand-new blue envelope.

”Uncle Zhao, please put this box into the safe.” My father said, ”As for the setting of the code for the safe, in these two envelopes — first you open the blue one with my daughter's name in it, and then you find the corresponding number in the yellow one and set it up as a code.”

My father waited outside for about fifteen minutes before Uncle Zhao came out, accompanied by a security guard.

Taking the two envelopes, my father dug out the engine, quickly destroyed the envelope containing my name, and resealed the envelope containing the thousand words. He then handed a piece of paper to the security manager. On it was the requirements for entering the vault:

”You can only enter the password for both of them at the same time, and —”

My father thought for a moment. ”I, the person who opened the account, will never come in.”

Since he had nothing to say to Teacher Zhao on the way back to the hospital, his father helped him upstairs, ”Uncle Zhao, I've already given you the promised money. I've already given it to your family. Thank you for not asking me anything. ”

Teacher Zhao smiled as two deep lines appeared on his face. His body was already so thin that there was not a bit of flesh left. ”People who are about to die will always want to do something for those they care about. Be it loved ones or lovers, what do you want to leave behind?”

Teacher Zhao turned his head to the side and looked at his father, ”You too.”

”I just want to protect the people I love.” My father lowered his head.

A month later, Teacher Zhao passed away because of the spread of cancer cells.

Just this year, the maze's door opened, and no one knew the full answer anymore.

My mother, who invented a new thousand word code, did not know my real name since I was born;

My dad chose two words and gave me a name, but he didn't know the password for the word …

Then, my father wrote to Shuyue.

”With only 20 pieces of jigsaw puzzles, even a child can put them together for a few seconds. But what if there was a jigsaw puzzle of 2000? What about the twenty thousand yuan? ”

”To prevent a day when 43 would suddenly appear, your father designed the real” labyrinth ”and broke the mystery into pieces. Even if 43 found the vault, kidnapped your parents, and used telepathy to interrogate them, they wouldn't know the answer. Not only that, your father also had double insurance, which is to send you to me, and then raise a substitute for you at home. ”

After Shuyue finished speaking, she looked straight into my eyes.