Chapter 78 (1/2)

Liu Huai'an collapsed to the ground in fear, and then cried loudly: ”I didn't mean to... I didn't expect... The fire was so big... I didn't know my father was inside...”

At this time, there were many people outside, pointing at the door of the consulting room. They didn't know what had happened.

Before long, director Liu separated the crowd and asked, ”Oh, what's the matter, what's the matter?”

Seeing Liu Huaian shivering on the ground and wailing endlessly, director Liu accused Aoki and said, ”I let you see if you can stop him, but I didn't let you scare him! It's going to scare him for good or ill... Alas, I knew I wouldn't bring him.”

She pulled Liu Huaian up and scolded, ”it's a big dog day. Why are people still crying? Come on, let's go home!”

In the afternoon, director Liu came back.

”Oh, Mr. Aoki, I'm sorry about that just now. I didn't expect him to do that. Don't mind!” director Liu probably apologized for Aoki's abandonment.

Aoki smiled and said, ”is he okay?”

Director Liu said, ”who? Oh, you said Huai'an! It's all right! What can he do?”

”Director Liu, do you know the details of the fire more than 20 years ago?” Aoki asked.

”Yes, what's the matter?”

”Then tell me about the situation.”

”Oh, I'm flustered when I say this. Let me think about it.” director Liu took a glass of pure water from the water dispenser and took a gulp of it, as if the water could put out the fire, ”The fire started from the Internet cafe. That fire killed many people! At that time, your eldest sister, I was still young and occasionally went online. Fortunately, I wasn't there that day. Ouch, I'm afraid when I think of it!”

”Did Liu Huai'an open the Internet cafe?”

”How could it be?” director Liu looked disdainful. ”At that time, Liu Huaian was in his early twenties. He was a little gangster. We called them 'rotten wood', just a rotten wood. How could it be possible to open an Internet cafe?”

Aoki thinks the title ”rotten wood” is appropriate. The so-called rotten wood can't be carved, which is a lot more than the name image of a small gangster.

Director Liu said: ”Liu Huai'an's family conditions are not good. His parents are laid off. His father sells baked cakes at the entrance of the alley. We all call him Wu Dalang. His mother is not local and looks handsome. Everyone also jokingly calls her Pan Jinlian. It's his second uncle who has been wandering outside for several years and has opened a wool textile factory. It's very big. The Internet cafe is next to the wool textile factory. It seems that his second uncle and others jointly opened it.”

”What about Liu Huaian? He didn't go out to work?” Aoki asked.

”That rotten wood is idle all day. When he has no money to spend, he goes to his second uncle's Internet cafe to eat, drink and play for free. He also enlarges the belly of the little girl at the cashier of others' Internet cafe and is beaten up by his second uncle.” director Liu said angrily and sighed again, ”But don't say, this man's life is doomed. The fire burned the Internet cafe and wool mill, but didn't burn Liu Huaian to death. Do you think it was his life?”

”He wasn't there that day?”

”Yes, I was surfing the Internet in the Internet cafe, but it was so coincidental that when the fire broke out, he went out to buy snacks.” director Liu said.

Aoki said ”Oh” and understood what was going on. He asked director Liu, ”his second uncle was burned?”

”It's not just his second uncle! His father, his mother, his aunt, his uncle and his cousins are all dead!” director Liu thought of it and his teeth trembled and his face turned blue. ”At that time, they all worked in the wool mill and slept in the mill at night. I don't know why Wu Dalang and Pan Jinlian went there that day. Alas! It's all fate!”

Aoki asked, ”have you found out the cause of the fire?”

Director Liu said: ”the fire control said it was caused by the fire of Internet cafe wires. Anyway, it has been difficult to approve the license of Internet cafe since then.”

Aoki understands that in the 1990s, the fire inspection will not be as strict as it is now.

Every improvement in the system comes after a major accident; every change in concept comes from bloody lessons. Our respect for life and our awe of nature are far from enough.

Liu Huaian is a patient with severe paranoia. I don't know why the identification given to him by the hospital can't reach the standard of mental disability.