Chapter 3 Belated Love 1. Red Cheongsam Girl
"The eyebrows are drawn on the swing, and the north wind is telling the story of the dragon turning red. The peony painted by the birds on the screen is just like you dressing up. The fragrance is faintly wafting through the window. I understand your thoughts..." Wu Yu impatiently reached out to touch the bed and finally touched the mobile phone. He answered without opening his eyes: "Who is it?" The person on the other end of the phone seemed to be stunned for a moment, and then said faintly: "Excuse me, is this Wu Yu?" Wu Yu was suddenly awakened by the ghost-like low voice. He opened his eyes and looked at the phone. It was an unfamiliar number, so he timidly said: "I am, you are..." "Please come to the police station." The voice on the other end seemed to be clearer. "Police station?" Wu Yu couldn't help but put a question mark in his mind. He suddenly remembered that he went to the police station yesterday, and he felt that the woman on the other end of the phone was the one he saw in the station yesterday. So he hurriedly said politely: "Please wait a moment, I'll come." As soon as he finished speaking, the other end hung up.
"Who is it? Calling so early in the morning?" Yunyun looked at him with sleepy eyes.
"It should be the frighteningly thin girl from the police station who asked me to go over there." Wu Yu said as he got up and put on his clothes.
"Would you like me to go with you?"
"No need, you wait for me in the room. As for breakfast, I'll buy it on the way back. Or if Yun feels hungry, you can go out." Wu Yu said as he opened the door. The room, which was originally dimly lit, became much brighter in an instant, but outside it was still gloomy and drizzling.
Wu Yu originally planned to walk out like this, but Yunyun in the room suddenly called out: "Yu, take this umbrella with you." Yunyun said and walked to the cabinet where the red cheongsam was placed, seemed to take something out of it, and walked to the door after a while.
When Wu Yu saw the Xishi umbrella in Yunyun's hand, he was stunned. He opened his eyes wide and asked in amazement: "How is it possible? How is it possible?"
Yunyun was confused by Wu Yu's sudden strange look and asked quickly, "What's wrong, Yu? What's wrong, Yu?"
Wu Yu was afraid that Yunyun would be suspicious, so he quickly covered it up and said, "Nothing, I just felt strange. Didn't Yunyun put the umbrella in the corner of the inner door last night?"
"Yes, at first, but later I felt uneasy leaving it in the corner, so I put it away." Yunyun stroked her scattered hair and smiled teasingly.
"You are such a fool." Wu Yu took the umbrella and turned to walk towards the courtyard gate. He remembered that Yunyun had a habit of collecting things she liked. He suddenly remembered the mysterious woman in the red cheongsam last night, "What about her umbrella?" Wu Yu was stunned. He recalled what happened last night, as if it was a dream. He didn't pay attention to whether the umbrella was a Xishi umbrella at that time.
He walked out of the courtyard with doubts, passed through the alley where wisteria grew, and then went out to the deserted street.
Wu Yu left the deserted courtyard and hurried to the police station based on his memory. He kept his head down and thought: "Could it be that the police station has found the truth about Su Wei's mysterious death? Or..."
Wu Yu walked through two streets and onto the stone arch bridge, watching the people coming and going. Some were walking in the rain with umbrellas, while others were running in a hurry without umbrellas. Looking up and down the river, he saw small boats carrying tourists gently rippling on the turquoise water, and women by the river slapping their clothes. The soft rain fell softly like a person's murmur, making the surroundings misty. Wu Yu admired the scenery of this small town in the south of the Yangtze River and walked across the bridge. Suddenly, he recalled the female ghost in the red cheongsam last night. Didn't she disappear after walking across this stone arch bridge? When he thought of this, he couldn't help but feel cold in his heart.
Without time to think, he hurried to the police station. Wu Yu turned around the two white-walled and black-tiled houses facing the river and was about to walk into the police station when he suddenly heard a burst of singing. Wu Yu immediately recognized it as the sound of dancing. He looked towards the house where the singing came from. He saw "Xinluo Dance School" hanging outside the door of the house, and he was shocked. He thought about it and laughed. How could someone have the same name as the legendary Xinluo? If it was somewhere else, it wouldn't be strange, but in Wuzhen, this well-known name...
Wu Yu thought it might be someone from another place who did it. He thought so and walked into the police station unconsciously. Wu Yu raised his head inadvertently and was suddenly startled to see a pair of dark eyes almost touching him. Wu Yu stepped back a few times in fear. When he looked closely, he saw that it was the policewoman from yesterday. He felt relieved and said quickly, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." The policewoman saw that it was Wu Yu and seemed to recognize him. She said without any blame, "I'm here." Wu Yu nodded apologetically.
The female police officer asked Wu Yu to sit on a long bench, then thought for a while and said, "Regarding the mysterious death of your colleague Su Wei, according to the police investigation at the time, the body found at No. 109 Minxin Road had numerous scratches on its face, so the true identity of the body could not be determined. However, your colleague Su Wei's ID card was found on the body, and after verification, they concluded that it was Su Wei without a doubt."
Wu Yu felt that judging based on superficial facts alone seemed to be a hasty handling of the case. Wu Yu believed that if he wanted to know the truth of the matter, he had to find the person involved to know the specific situation, so he asked the female police officer: "I want to ask, who was in charge of this case at the time?"
"It's a male police officer named Zhong."
"Can you give me his phone number? I want to ask what happened at that time."
"That's fine. Wait a minute." The policewoman reached out to the desk, picked up a pen, wrote quickly, and then handed it to Wu Yu, saying quietly, "Please don't call strangers..."
Wu Yu took it and was startled. He remembered a ghost movie called: Please don't call strangers. Wu Yu didn't expect the policewoman to be so humorous, so he smiled and said to her: "Thank you for your help, goodbye." The policewoman turned around silently and walked inside.
Wu Yu went out to the street in amazement. It was still raining, like a woman lingering with a man. Wu Yu didn't seem to notice many subtle things, such as the consequences of living in that old house. It was gloomy everywhere since they entered Wuzhen. The people in the town were weird... Wu Yu looked at the phone number and dialed it, but the other party answered busy. Wu Yu thought it was because the other party was busy. He suddenly remembered what the policewoman said just now: "Please don't call strangers." Did she have a hidden meaning? Or was this phone number fake, and she wrote it randomly on purpose?
As he was thinking, he walked toward the street. Suddenly, someone bumped into him from behind, causing him to stumble. He wanted to curse the man, but he found that the man walked forward as if he had seen a ghost. Wu Yu got angry and wondered why the man was like that. He stared at the man's back and was stunned for a moment. Suddenly, he felt that the back was so familiar. He searched in his mind, "Su Wei?" He was startled and chased after the man. In his haste, he was busy collecting his Xishi umbrella - it was almost blown away.
The man walked very fast, and in a blink of an eye he reached the end of the street and turned a corner. When Wu Yu chased after him, he found that the man was walking towards the riverside. Wu Yu was afraid of losing him, so he hurriedly walked a few steps faster.
Wu Yu followed the man to the riverside, but the man suddenly disappeared in the crowd by the river. Wu Yu saw many small boats moored at the riverside, and some people by the river were holding umbrellas and looking at the scenery by the river. Wu Yu saw the spring rain falling on the river, making it misty.
Wu Yu searched for the person in the crowd for a while, but still couldn't find him. He was a little disappointed. He was about to leave in confusion, when he suddenly saw a girl in a red cheongsam appearing and disappearing in the crowd. Wu Yu didn't see her face clearly. Wu Yu suddenly remembered the legend in Wuzhen about Xinluo and her maid Niao Niao always coming to the riverside, and he was startled. While he was surprised, the girl in the red cheongsam disappeared from the crowd, which made him even more frightened.
"Sir, do you want a boat?" Wu Yu was startled when he suddenly heard a man's voice behind him. He turned around and saw a male boatman in his forties.
"No." Wu Yu smiled apologetically.
"Sir, I can tell at first glance that you are here for tourism. If you don't visit the Qingyin Temple across the river, it would be a waste of your trip to Wuzhen. My boat will be full if it only has one passenger. I wonder if you..." the boatman said, pointing to one of the small boats on the river.
Wu Yu was originally impatient to pay attention to him, but he still looked in the direction he pointed out out of curiosity. Suddenly, he opened his eyes wide in surprise, and saw the girl in the red cheongsam standing on the boat, staring at the boatman and Wu Yu intently.
Wu Yu then asked the boatman, "The girl in the red cheongsam is also going to the other side, right?"
The boatman thought Wu Yu was attracted to the girl, so he smiled and said, "Yes."
"Since the boatman is so sincere, I can't refuse." Wu Yu said as he walked towards the girl in the red cheongsam.
Wu Yu got on the boat and saw that the girl had put away her umbrella and went into the cabin, so he put away his umbrella and went in too. Wu Yu looked up at the girl and was stunned. The girl had fair and delicate skin and a pair of eyes as beautiful as the emerald green river water. Wu Yu saw that the girl was also looking at him timidly. Seeing Wu Yu's stupid look, the girl couldn't help but burst out laughing. Wu Yu felt a little embarrassed for a moment and wanted to find a seat to sit down, but there was only an empty seat next to the girl in the boat. Wu Yu felt that it would be awkward to sit over there, so he turned around and went out of the cabin, opened his umbrella and looked at the river where the rain was falling.
The boatman rowed the boat with a faded bamboo pole and said to Wu Yu, "Sir, do you want to go out of the boat to see the scenery?"
"Yeah." Wu Yu responded in a low voice. He seemed to feel a sense of uneasiness at this moment. What kind of uneasiness was that? Wu Yu felt that the feeling had not appeared since he had Yunyun. But why did he feel so uneasy when he saw her today? Wu Yu couldn't understand why she was wearing a red cheongsam, why she looked so attractive, he wondered how this Jiangnan water town could raise such a beautiful woman.
Wu Yu pondered for a while, and the spring rain suddenly got heavier. The boatman shouted, "It's raining so hard, sir, you should go inside to avoid the rain."
Wu Yu felt that the rain was too heavy, and the umbrella was shaking. He was afraid that he could not stop it, so he followed the boatman's instructions and went into the cabin. He originally wanted to stay there, but unexpectedly the girl said, "Please come and sit here." She moved her body and made room for him. Wu Yu couldn't refuse, so he smiled at her and sat beside her.
After Wu Yu sat down, he vaguely sensed the girl's uneasiness. The girl suddenly asked him, "Excuse me, how did you get this umbrella?"
Wu Yu was surprised, looked at her beauty and said, "I bought this from a shop called Xishi Umbrella Shop in the town."
"Oh." The girl nodded slightly and said nothing.
Although Wu Yu felt that the girl's question was a bit curious, they were not familiar with each other and it was inconvenient for him to ask more questions. Moreover, he did not want to ask why she was wearing a red cheongsam.
The heavy rain continued to fall for a long time, and only stopped when they reached the other side. Wu Yu and the girl were silent along the way. Except for a few words from the tourists on the boat, the only sound they could hear was the rain.
After getting off the boat, Wu Yu watched the girl follow the crowd to Qingyin Temple like other tourists. Wu Yu thought that since he was here, although he didn't find anything, he might as well have some fun and have some fun, so he relaxed and walked towards Qingyin Temple.
Qingyin Temple is a place where good men and women pray for marriage. There is a tall and lush marriage tree in front of the temple, and the wishes of good men and women are hung on the tree - they write words on paper in embroidery bags bought from the temple and throw them on the tree. Although it is a rainy day, many people still come here to pray for marriage.
Wu Yu seemed to be bewitched by the girl, and his eyes could not leave her. He secretly photographed every step of the girl. After praying in the nunnery, the girl bought an embroidery bag, wrote something on a piece of paper, and then closed her eyes and threw the embroidery bag onto the tree. Unexpectedly, the girl succeeded after one throw. The girl seemed to sense Wu Yu's peeking, and looked at Wu Yu from time to time. Wu Yu pretended to look elsewhere.
Wu Yu originally planned to take a boat back to Wuzhen with the girl , but suddenly he thought of Yunyun, so he hurried to the riverside to find a boat back to Wuzhen.
