one
In a daze, Mr. Wang felt that there seemed to be a small person standing on the floor beside the bed.
In the darkness, there stood such a small figure.
He woke up with a start.
He sat up and turned on the bedside lamp.
It turned out to be a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter.
She stared blankly at her father.
At this time, the wife also woke up. The wife quickly got out of bed and hugged her daughter.
"Why don't you go to bed? Why do you run into Dad's bedroom at midnight?" Mother asked pleasantly.
The daughter didn't answer, she just stared at her father blankly.
For a moment, Mr. Wang felt that his daughter's eyes were a little strange.
"What's the matter? Why are you looking at your father like this?" Mother still asked kindly.
In fact, the mother was so worried that her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter was sleepwalking.
But the daughter did not sleepwalk. She finally moved her eyes away, no longer looking at her father, but at her mother.
"What's the matter?" Mother asked, keeping her tone soft.
The daughter shook her head.
"It's all right," said the daughter.
"It's okay, why don't you sleep in your own room, why go to the bedroom of mom and dad?"
The daughter hesitated.
"Someone asked me to come to see my father," said the daughter.
"Someone sent you here? Who?"
But the daughter refused to say anything.
No matter how much she asked, she refused to say anything.
Mr. Wang went around and the door was locked. Except for the three of them, he didn't see anyone. When he came back from the inspection, the daughter had fallen asleep in her mother's arms.
"Maybe it was a dream." Mom said, glancing at her husband.
The next day, the mother pretended to ask her daughter casually.
"Baby, you ran into Dad's bedroom last night, do you remember?" Mom asked.
The daughter was playing with a toy on the ground without raising her head.
Mom asked again.
"Remember." The daughter said, still not looking up.
"You also said last night that someone asked you to visit Dad."
"Yes."
Mom laughed.
"Who's that guy? There's no one else in the house," said Mom.
The daughter's head still did not lift.
"That person is not at home, that person is standing outside the window." The daughter said.
Standing outside the window? How is it possible, their house is on the 20th floor.
But the daughter insisted that the man was standing outside the window.
Mom had to change the subject.
"Is that man a man or a woman?" Mom asked.
This time, the daughter raised her head, and she smiled sheepishly.
"I can't tell if it's a man or a woman," said the daughter.
"Can't you tell the difference between a man and a woman?"
The daughter was even more embarrassed.
"I can't tell. He wears women's clothes and has long hair, but he speaks in a man's voice," the daughter said.
Mom laughed.
"Really? It's so strange. How old is this man?" Mom asked.
"He's quite old, he said he knew Dad." The daughter said.
The daughter bowed her head to play with toys again, and stopped talking to her mother.
"Know Dad? Huh, that's weird," Mom said, her eyes turned to her husband, and then her smile froze.
She noticed that her husband's face had turned pale.
two
Mr. Wang seems to know such a person.
It's his sixth uncle.
Sixth Uncle was born fair, gentle, and soft-spoken since he was a child, completely different from the rough men that abounded in their area. Everyone said that he looked like a bitch, but later, after all, he got married and had children, and such remarks were only at the stage of joking.
But I didn't expect that Sixth Uncle wanted to play for real.
He wants to be a woman. He has had this dream all his life.
In the 1990s when it was just opened, Uncle Liu opened a small factory in his hometown. Uncle Liu has a gentle personality, is careful and honest, so the business is booming, and soon, he is almost the richest man in his hometown.
But Uncle Six was not satisfied.
He has other dreams.
He went to Thailand many times. One day, he finally made up his mind and had a showdown with his wife and son.
He wants to become a woman, go to Thailand for surgery, and become a real woman. Half of the property is left to his wife and son.
Words such as homosexuality and sex reassignment surgery were still very fresh at that time, and they were very negative, so negative that his wife and son turned against him on the spot, and the son beat him up violently.
The son is already in junior high school, and he has grown into a big and round young man. He already has a sense of dignity. If his father wants to become a woman, he can't tolerate this happening no matter what.
But Uncle Six has made up his mind, even if it means cutting off contact with his family, he will not hesitate to do so.
Uncle Six just left.
He went to Thailand without hesitation, but there was no news.
About five or six years later, Mr. Wang suddenly received a call from a strange foreign country.
It's Uncle Six.
Uncle Liu hopes that Mr. Wang can go to Thailand to visit him, and he wants to ask him something.
Mr. Wang hesitated for a moment, and went to Thailand anyway.
Uncle Liu came to see him after he stayed in the hotel.
He almost didn't dare to recognize it. The old woman with heavy makeup who came to the door was actually his sixth uncle?
Although the chest is high, it is already a bit out of shape.
Uncle Six was a little sorry for his appearance, but he still got to the point.
"During the operation, I took a lot of hormones and took a lot of medicine, er, and my lifestyle is not so healthy, I am afraid I will die soon." Uncle Liu said, he paused, and then He continued: "Uh, I have something to entrust to you."
Uncle Six looked at Mr. Wang eagerly, but Mr. Wang didn't say anything, and waited quietly for Uncle Six to continue.
Uncle Six took out a ruby from his pocket.
"Half of the family property I brought out, part of it was spent on surgery, and some was left over. I also saved a little money in Thailand over the years. I put all my money together and bought this ruby. I want to You keep this ruby for me." Sixth Uncle said.
Mr. Wang didn't reach out to take the ruby.
"Why do you want me to keep it for you?" Mr. Wang asked.
Uncle Six was a little embarrassed.
"I can only count on you." Uncle Liu said, "In this world, the only person I am sorry for is my son. I wanted to leave something for him, but he hated me. When I called him, when I heard it was me , he hung up the phone and ignored me at all. I can only entrust it to you. You keep it for me. If my son has any difficulties in the future, you sell this gem and subsidize him. But, trouble , don’t tell him, it’s my money. He dislikes me, alas, my son dislikes me, he dislikes anything about me.”
President Wang was silent for a while before accepting the gem.
Then one year, Mr. Wang encountered a problem in terms of funds for his business, and he couldn't get a loan from the bank. He thought of the ruby by chance.
He took the ruby to the authoritative department for appraisal, and it turned out to be worth a lot of money.
His financial problems were resolved.
Since then, Mr. Wang's business has been going smoothly. He naturally put the ruby matter in the forgotten area of his mind, and naturally thought that his business relied entirely on his own hard work to overcome the ups and downs.
It's just so natural.
three
Mr. Wang's full-time driver was a little irritable. Early on Sunday morning, Mr. Wang suddenly called him and asked him to leave immediately. They were going to Mr. Wang's hometown hundreds of kilometers away. The tone is still unquestionable.
Originally, it was Sunday and the driver had his own arrangements in advance, but Mr. Wang's tone was so non-negotiable that the driver didn't dare to complain.
After getting in the car, the driver found that Mr. Wang was completely different from his usual amiable appearance. He looked nervous, closed his lips tightly, and didn't say anything to the driver.
Fortunately, the whole journey is now at high speed, and before noon, I arrived at Mr. Wang's hometown, a small county town.
Relying on his memory, Mr. Wang directed the driver to turn east and west, and finally found the factory where Uncle Liu used to be.
Today, the factory is completely dilapidated and turned into a scrap yard.
Mr. Wang reported the name of the sixth uncle's son, but the female owner of the waste collection station had no impression at all.
Mr. Wang was a little disappointed.
"My boss may know," said the hostess.
"Oh, is your master here? Please ask him to come out and ask."
"He went out to do some errands and should be back soon," said the female boss.
However, the female boss didn't come right away. Mr. Wang waited for more than an hour, and the head of the waste collection station still didn't come back. I called him, but he couldn't get through.
The lady boss was a little apologetic.
"Maybe it's out of electricity, you can wait a little longer." The female boss said.
Mr. Wang continued to wait in the stinking waste station. The smell in the scrap yard is not good. This is one aspect. The key point is that this place is a gathering place for mosquitoes. Without much effort, Mr. Wang was bitten all over his body.
But Mr. Wang still persisted.
Mr. Wang knew that what happened last night was definitely not a coincidence. As soon as he recognized Uncle Liu from his daughter, Mr. Wang decided that no matter what, he must see Uncle Liu's son today.
The male boss finally came back. He knew Uncle Six's son and his cell phone number.
"He still has a few things with me, so I saved his mobile phone number." The male boss said.
"what?"
"Hey, it's the old broken equipment in the factory. I suggested that he sell it as scrap iron, and he could sell it for some money, but he disagreed. He said he could find a buyer. However, after a few years, he also I didn't find a buyer. I planned to contact him in the past few days. His broken equipment takes up too much space. If he doesn't want to sell it, he can take it away."
President Wang was silent for a while.
"How is he doing?" Mr. Wang asked.
The male boss sneered.
"How? Hey, not so good." He said.
"What's wrong?" Mr. Wang asked again.
"Hehe, very bad. As bad as you can imagine, he is as bad as he is." The male boss said, he still looked casual.
Mr. Wang suddenly remembered that he still had a pack of cigarettes in his briefcase. He doesn't smoke himself, but he also prepared a good pack of cigarettes for some occasions.
Mr. Wang took out the good pack of cigarettes.
Smoking, the attitude of the male boss is obviously much better.
"He is my cousin. Please tell me about his specific situation." Mr. Wang said.
"Oh? He's your cousin, so why don't you have his cell phone number?"
When the male boss asked this question, Mr. Wang immediately blushed.
He tried to justify.
"Business is too busy. I haven't returned to my hometown for many years, and I don't have much contact with people in my hometown." Mr. Wang said, but even he felt that his reasons were not so sufficient.
Anyway, the male boss will no longer pursue Mr. Wang's reasons.
"Your cousin is miserable." The male boss said, "Very miserable, very, very miserable."
"Tell me about the specific situation."
The male boss took a deep breath before continuing.
"The former factory closed down and sold it to me. You should be able to see that. Then, he seems to have changed his career to start a pesticide business, and he has been paying for it. I heard that he even lost his house. His wife and him Divorced, he has nothing now, and rented a small house on the edge of the county town."
Mr. Wang didn't answer.
The male boss sighed.
"Hey, life is really impermanent. In the past, his family was so rich, and he was a well-known rich man. I didn't expect that today he got mixed up in such a field. Alas, life is really impermanent, life is impermanent." He said.
Mr. Wang didn't want to hear his exclamation, so he dialed his cousin's number.
Dial the first time, no one answered.
The male boss checked the number and confirmed that it was correct, then Mr. Wang dialed the number a second time.
Got through, but still no one answered.
Mr. Wang persistently dialed the third time.
Finally someone answered, it was a man's impatient voice.
Mr. Wang reported his name. After a while, the person on the other end of the phone figured out who he was, but his tone was still not very enthusiastic.
"Cousin, are you busy right now? I want to treat you to lunch." Mr. Wang said.
The cousin hesitated.
"But I've already had lunch," said the cousin.
Mr. Wang laughed along with him.
"But I haven't had lunch yet. Hey, come with me. We haven't seen each other for so many years. I really want to see you." Mr. Wang said.
The cousin is still hesitating.
"Brother, do you want to save face?" Mr. Wang continued to persuade him.
The cousin loosened up a bit.
"Where are you going?" asked the cousin.
"Tell me which restaurant is closest to you, tell me, and I'll go find you," Mr. Wang said.
When he arrived at the restaurant, Mr. Wang asked the driver to find a place to eat by himself, and he wanted to meet his cousin alone.
The cousin is already sitting in the private room.
Doesn't it look so bad? The beauty wears death shackles , is clean-shaven, smokes high-grade cigarettes, and is neatly dressed.
But Boss Wang always has a feeling that this is probably the most decent outfit for his cousin.
"Did you drink at noon?" Mr. Wang asked, he smelled alcohol on his cousin.
The cousin nodded.
President Wang heartily patted his cousin on the shoulder.
"Did you live a very leisurely life, and you drank some wine at noon, not bad, not bad." Mr. Wang said.
My cousin laughed too, but not so naturally.
"Accompany me for a drink?" Mr. Wang proposed.
The cousin nodded indifferently.
President Wang ordered the best wine in the hotel and ordered a few dishes.
The two brothers drank one glass at a time, and when they were about to finish the whole bottle, the cousin suddenly raised his face and burst into tears.
He didn't mind at all that tears were all over his face, and he didn't mind that his cousin saw his tears.
Mr. Wang was a little at a loss.
He wanted to comfort his cousin, but he didn't know where to start.
"Brother, do you know that if you call me one minute later, I'm afraid you will never see me again." said the cousin.
Mr. Wang was a little shocked.
"What's wrong?" Mr. Wang asked.
"I've already tied the rope on the beam, and I've even, hehe, even stood on the stool." My cousin stammered a bit.
Mr. Wang was dumbfounded.
But my cousin laughed out loud.
"But the beauty is wearing death shackles . At this time, my mobile phone rang and kept ringing. It really hindered me. I had no choice but to get off the stool again and answer the phone." The cousin said.
Mr. Wang still didn't know what to say.
The cousin looked at Mr. Wang.
"Originally, I took a shower, shaved my beard, ate enough, and gathered up my courage, so I was ready to go on the road, but your phone rang and I was called here to drink. Oh, I don't know, Should I thank you, or should I hate you." said the cousin.
Mr. Wang was silent.
The cousin raised his head and drank a full glass of wine. He coughed a few times before speaking again.
"I still should thank you. Anyway, you let me live a little longer in this world and drink a few more glasses of wine, I should thank you." The cousin said.
"Why are you so overwhelmed?" Mr. Wang said softly.
The cousin laughed again.
"Maybe it's because I'm too incompetent." My cousin said, "Anyway, I feel that I have no hope of living, so I might as well hang myself on a rope, and it'll be over once and for all."
"Is it because the business is not going well?" Mr. Wang asked softly again.
The cousin still laughed.
"Business, that's an important reason, but not the whole reason." He said, "Well, anyway, everything doesn't go well. In the past, I didn't know how to do business, so I lost all my money. I finally learned some experience. Let’s figure out some tricks of doing business, but I have no capital. Hehe, life is really funny, funny.”
"Without capital, it's not a big deal." Mr. Wang said flatly.
The cousin gave Mr. Wang a blank look.
"Hey, you don't hurt your back when you stand and talk. You don't know how bad it feels to have no money," said the cousin.
Mr. Wang looked at his cousin.
"How much do you need?" President Wang asked him.
"what?"
"How much money do you need to turn your business around again?" Mr. Wang asked.
The cousin didn't speak for a while.
"Are you going to lend me money?" the cousin asked.
Mr. Wang didn't answer him, but went on talking on his own.
"Is one million enough?" Mr. Wang asked.
Mr. Wang could feel that his cousin's eyes seemed to light up.
Four
That ruby sold for two million at that time.
Mr. Wang's plan is to give his cousin one million first, and then subsidize another one million when he is in trouble again.
Of course, Mr. Wang didn't tell his cousin about his plan, nor about the ruby, and he didn't even say a word about Uncle Six to his cousin. Sixth Uncle is a taboo of his cousin, so it's better not to mention it. Besides, Sixth Uncle also confessed at that time that he was not allowed to tell his son the truth.
One morning a few days later, when her daughter was drinking from the bottle, she suddenly put down the bottle and turned to look at her father.
"Last night I saw the man outside the window again," said the daughter.
Mr. Wang's face turned pale all of a sudden.
"What did he tell you again?" President Wang asked nervously.
The daughter's expression was particularly relaxed.
"He didn't say anything, he just waved goodbye to me." The daughter said.
"goodbye?"
"Yeah, he said goodbye to me. He said he was leaving and would never come again," said the daughter, and then she picked up the bottle and drank vigorously.