Chapter 24 Chapter Twenty-Four

The address was a dilapidated house in a rundown area.The owner of the house is recycling, renting out every penny before the house is pulled down and rebuilt.Nearby are warehouses, small factories with noise and waste smell, crowded together.Without these dilapidated houses, the land might be worth more. The address we were looking for was an unpainted, undecorated bungalow with simple steps in front of the door and a little sloping. We climb up the porch.There is no doorbell.I had to knock on the door. For a long while, there was no response from inside.I knock again.We waited in silence again, disappointed by the oaths of the neighbors.

Somewhere there is a smell from garbage, and someone is burning garbage, the smell has been diluted by the atmosphere, but it stays around here and becomes a very unbearable stench. I decided to give up, and when it was time to return to my car, I realized that I expected too much from this Mrs. Li, so I was very unhappy and disappointed. try again.Donna suggested: Maybe maybe she's old and deaf.I have a hunch.Try again, tapping harder and harder. I knocked, this time even more, I kicked the bottom half of the door. After the echo inside died down, we stood on the smelly porch and waited.Donna took mine in hers, digging her nails into my palm.She was listening, and temporarily stopped breathing.

Suddenly she said: I heard a voice, someone, someone is coming. At this time, I also heard wearing slippers and slowly shuffling on the ground without carpet. The door was opened some. A woman's hoarse voice choked and said: Who is it? From the tone of the question, I got a hint that the woman should not reason with her, nor would she accept the question.She's the kind of person who only takes orders from others.will succumb to the means of coercion.The person who made this kind of voice must have been used for a long time. I pressed my shoulders against the door and I said: We're coming in, we want to see you.

The woman inside accepts the truth and thinks it should be. I supported Godona with one hand and guided her into the door.The house smelled of cheap gin. In the back of the house, in the kitchen, a red floral wire stained with fly piss hangs from the ceiling.The light bulbs hanging from the flower wires gave off a dim red light.I lead Donna down the deserted corridor toward the light. Behind us, with a monotonous, feeble shuffling, the woman followed us. Apparently, only one room in the entire house is furnished, and that is the mixed-use kitchen, bedroom and living room.The porcelain on the sink has long since been touched, and the current color is rust with beige spots.None of the chairs were paired, and the legs were repaired.The iron bedstead, once white, was now gray and dirty.The pillow on the bed had a dirty pillowcase on it.There were no sheets on the bed, blankets were laid on the bed, and a quilt was left unfolded at one corner.

The woman who came in after us stepped into the dimly lit circle. An elderly woman, and these years must have been difficult for her.Under the swollen eyelids, there are a pair of large fat bags.Coarse white hair was matted and uncombed.From the skin and face shape, it can be seen that it is a mixed race of Indian and Spanish.A wrinkled face, dark and heavy. I pointed to a chair, as if I owned the place, and I said: sit down and talk. She sat down to the place I designated and looked at me calmly, calmly but curiously. Behind her, under the sink, I saw a pile of discarded clutter and garbage.The neck of a gin bottle poked out on top of the rubbish.There was another half bottle of gin in the sink.

I said: You know Phillips.Murindo? She nodded. How long have you known each other? He is my son. Send you money? For the first time, her eyes showed caution.why ask?She said: Who are you? I said: Who else will give you money? She said nothing. I said: I am here today to make money for you.You really shouldn't live in such a bad environment.I raised my hand and compared everything in this room. nothing.She said rationally: It's not too bad. At least not good.You should have clothes to wear, better food to eat, and someone to do your heavy work for you. Her eyes returned to the expressionless and indifferent state.

Nothing, she said: here is enough for me to live. I said: How long has it been since I went to Colombia? I don't know, it's been a long time. I said: It's really not right, you don't have a chance to go back and see your old friends.You should be able to buy some new clothes, have a plane ticket, go back to Colombia once or twice a year, and see your old friends. She looked up with interest.Who are you?any idea? I said: I'll take care of everything, you want to go back to Colombia, don't you? do you speak spanishshe asked. I said: This lady will. The woman was bursting out a lot of words in Spanish, faster and faster, more and more.These words hit my eardrums continuously, like an urchin scratching the bamboo fence next door with a pen while walking.

Godona said: Her only wish is to go back to her hometown in Colombia. Her friends are all in her hometown.Here, she has no friends. I said: This matter can be arranged.I'm a broker who specializes in this kind of thing.If she trusts me and entrusts me to do it, she can get more money. The woman heard what I said and understood exactly what I meant.But she looked at Donna, and before she could answer, she asked Donna to translate for her.Then she asked in Spanish: What does he want? I said: You have been in the Shuangclover Mine for many years? She nodded. You are a cook and a caretaker.Did you bring up the little girl that Hou Shanhu took over there?

She was about to nod, but stopped herself.There was an expression of concern and suspicion in his eyes.He turned to Donna and said: Translate. Donna translated what I said into Spanish. Xiniu Lali was really suspicious now.She has played so far, and seems unwilling to continue playing. I can't do it halfway.I said: The children brought back to the United States are not the children Hou Shanhu brought to the mines.After Ms. Hou died, someone changed the baby.The wife of the mine manager replaced the child, and she pretended to be her own child and sent it to the United States to receive a large amount of inheritance.The little girl that Hou Shanhu took to the mine turned into Ge Zhenni's daughter, you know that.This thing is worth a lot of money.

The woman said nothing.Looking at me, she showed greedy eyes.Then, belatedly, she turned to Donna for an interpreter. Godona herself was looking at me with an expression of disbelief. I said: Now is not the time to be emotional.Forget about yourself, don't think about personal involvement.God!Quickly translate and tell her. The girl and Siu Lali converse in Spanish.The old woman answered her in one tone.Godona uses more Spanish and adds various gestures.Words shot out of Donna's mouth like a machine gun, and the old woman still answered her in simple words.Godona used some words again, and Xiniu spoke sharply this time.As she spoke, she increased her speed and gradually changed. She wished she could finish speaking at once, and the expressions on her face became more and more colorful.After a while, she stopped.

Godona turned to me.Her eyes were confused and wounded, her lips quivered, but she spoke calmly.She said: It's true.The wife didn't know how much benefit this Gu Zhenni would get from the replacement of her daughter.She thought that changing her daughter was just a cover-up for a trivial matter that could not be tolerated by the law.She is willing to leave everything to you to handle. I said: one thing, very important.Ask her if Melobe ever came to see her. Xiniu Lali didn't wait for an interpreter at all on this question: Is that the killed Xiniu?she asked. Yes, that's him. He was nice and he gave me money. when? The day before he died.Give me money the first day, and he dies the next day. you talk to him? A little bit. Still a little bit. Yes, a little bit. Have you ever told anyone that he talked to you? No. No one? Absolutely not. I said to Donna: tell her she must repeat it in detail to someone who will write down every word she utters in Spanish.When you're done, you have to sign it.That way, she'd have money to buy clothes and go back to Colombia to visit her old friends.I'll be her manager and everything will be on me. There is still no need for translation of these words.Xiniu Lali is a person who has long been used to resigning himself to fate.She said: I agree.Let's have a drink. not now.I said: we don't drink. I turned to Godona.Call Police Headquarters.Get Sergeant Misanlou, tell him to find a Spanish stenographer, find a notary, and come here immediately. We can take her there.Donna said. I want him to come here and have a look.I want him to be in this room and hear her tell the story.This way the impression will be deeper, besides, I must keep an eye on her and never let her leave my sight. can we go over to him and explain to him I said: I just left a witness and a ton of dynamite exploded behind him.I'm sorry, you have to use my company car to find a payphone by yourself, and I'm here with this lady.I don't want any surprises for her until the testimony is written.Let me add one more sentence: Do you understand what this situation is? She said: Tang Nuo.I've also been wondering how this would turn out. So she went out.I was left alone, in a messy kitchen, facing an old woman, sniffing the unhygienic air that smelled of gin and garbage.