Chapter 200 Boring and Interesting

The next morning, the sun was shining brightly.

Ian was discharged from hospital.

The person who came to pick him up was Annie Jones, the body's mother, a 39-year-old blonde woman.

"Glad to see you back to health, babe!"

Anne looked very tired, but she hugged him immediately and kissed her son's pale cheek, "Ian, the past is the past, everything will be fine!"

Ian nodded and gave her a forced smile, "Is Uncle William's family okay?"

"Don't worry, this accident wasn't your fault. They'll figure it out."

Anne comforted her son and reminded him cryptically, "But they are very busy with the funeral recently, so you should stay at home for a while."

"I see." Ian lowered his head sullenly.

Seabirds flew across the sky, chirping.

The white car drove along the cobblestone road and stopped in front of a small white building with a courtyard.

The house is quiet.

Ian's father, Ken Jones, is still helping out at William's house. If it weren't for picking Ian up from the hospital, Anne would be there too.

After all, it was an accident that happened when he was out with his son, so it is reasonable and necessary to express his attitude.

In addition to his parents, Ian also has an older sister, Emma Jones, who is three years older than him and is at the critical juncture of her GCSE exams.

This exam will determine whether she will drop out and look for a job or prepare for university entrance exams after completing five years of secondary education.

So even when her own brother drowned and was hospitalized, she couldn't spare the time to come back from the cram school.

"Go back to your room and rest for a while. What do you want to eat for lunch?" Annie asked.

"Shrimp sandwich!" Ian replied.

"Okay, I know."

Annie didn't get out of the car. She waved at him through the window before leaving again. "I'm going to find Dad now. I'll be back at 11 o'clock to make it for you. Just stay home."

Ian watched her drive around the corner in front of the road, opened the door, and returned to his room on the third floor.

This is a very childlike room, with cream-white wallpaper and a poster of Beckham kicking the "Crescent Moon Scimitar". The door faces the window and a wooden desk, and there is a soft bed that is large enough for a child on the side.

"How do you feel?" The child suddenly appeared, rolled on the bed, sat up and asked.

"well enough."

Su Beixun walked to the desk and looked through the things piled in the drawer. "It's like a sitcom that's too bland."

"Oh, brother! The most dedicated actors will give 100% even when playing a corpse. Besides, isn't it fun to experience a completely different life?"

"Maybe." Su Beixun said calmly.

He put aside the building blocks and toys in the drawer and took out the notebook with writing on it to look through it.

"Well, he doesn't seem to have the habit of writing a diary." Su Beixun threw the homework book in his hand back on the table. "This is really bad news."

There aren't many memories left in his mind.

"Brother, you misunderstood!"

The child said, "You don't need to act, you just need to experience it... experience the feelings, experience the relationships, and then find what you are missing from them."

Su Beixun looked at him and said nothing more.

He opened Ian's schoolbag, took out the textbook, and read it from the beginning.

……

The morning passed quickly in silence.

Anne and Ken come back from William's house.

Ken was a sturdy man with dark skin and a big beard. His black vest was stretched tight by his bulging muscles.

The three of them sat around the dining table eating, and the TV mounted on the wall was playing the local news from Brixham.

The photo of the fishing boat with its torn planks was enlarged and displayed on the screen.

[The accident is still under investigation. But according to relevant personnel, it is likely due to an attack by a school of swordfish in the sea. Local residents who have recently gone out to sea are requested to pay more attention.]

The female announcer on TV reminded solemnly.

"That's bullshit!" Ken angrily smashed his wine glass on the table, spilling the orange-yellow wine. "I've been going to sea since I was 15. How come I didn't know there were swordfish in this area?"

Anne seemed very angry. "The police station in this town is really getting more and more perfunctory! There are no schools of swordfish in our area!"

She studied the behavior of marine species in college, so she was indignant about the blatant nonsense on TV.

Anne was about to complain, but stopped immediately when she saw her son sitting across from her. "I'm sorry, honey, I reminded you of something sad."

"It's okay, Mom." Ian shook his head, looking very sad but pretending not to care.

Ken patted his shoulder. "Cheer up, Ian. How about going to the beach this afternoon? Maybe you'd like an outdoor barbecue?"

"No thanks." Ian rubbed his head. "I want to have a good sleep this afternoon. You know, it's really hard to sleep well in a place like a hospital."

##
The black curtain slid down, the moon hung high in the sky, and the lonely reflection of the stone was reflected on the sea.

John threw the cigarette in his hand onto the beach and crushed it with his foot.

It was one in the morning, the lights of Brixham had all gone out, and the only sound in the sleeping world was the roar of the waves.

"Damn it! I must be crazy."

John smiled wryly and sighed.

He found the small boat he had rented in the afternoon by the harbor, started the engine and sailed towards the moonlit sea in the distance.

After 30 minutes, John stopped the boat.

He did not stray too far from the shore, but decided to go into the water from close by to take a quick look.

Throwing the backpack behind him onto the boat, he took out a red diving suit from it - this thing was not difficult to get in a small seaside town, and there were even special rental shops next to the tourist attractions.

“I hope I haven’t given back all that I learned.”

John muttered as he strapped his oxygen tank on his back, connected himself to the railing of the boat with a long rope, and then plunged into the cold water.

The ear is covered with cold and wet liquid.

Everything was black, like a jungle of monsters in a fairy tale.

John slit his wrists with a knife.

The blood-colored fog spread little by little.

Schools of fish appeared and disappeared in the beam of light, and the sound of their tails swimming was magnified in the silence to be terrifying enough.

John's eyes twitched, and he silently said "Amitabha, God bless" in his heart. Then, holding the only light in his hand, he dived towards the bottom of the water which was deeper than ink.

##
the next day.

Ian went to school.

It is the public elementary school in town.

Su Beixun was quite used to this, after all, it had only been a few months since he left high school.

There are about 40 people in his class.

At this time, the chalk head was rubbing and colliding on the blackboard.

The teacher on the podium wrote a series of English words, telling the story of how the Battle of Gravelines in 1588 defeated the Spanish Armada and enabled Britain to thwart the invasion of foreign Catholic forces.

This is a history lesson.

It is obvious that the level of teachers in public schools is not good enough, and they basically read from the textbooks.

"This is so boring." The boy at the next table muttered quietly, poking out with his elbow, "Hey, Ian, did you really fall into the water yesterday?"

'Isn't it in that Brixham Journal which you have in your drawer?'

"Sorry, I'm just too curious." The boy lowered his voice. "I heard from people at the port that the ship was overturned by a giant sea monster covered with thorns... Is this true?"

"Come on, Andre, this is just a rumor."

Ian propped his cheek up and idly flipped through the open textbook. "There was no sea monster. It was just an ordinary accident."

"Really?" Andre was still interested and continued to ask to kill time. "Then do you like sea monsters?"

He leaned his book towards Ian and asked, "Which do you think is more powerful, a sea monster covered with scales or a monster covered with tentacles?"

Ian glanced sideways.

In the side gaps of Andre's textbook, several abstract monsters were drawn with a black pen, and the large black spots made them look very ugly.

"Your drawing is really ugly." Ian laughed at him.

Andre retorted unconvincedly, "I scored higher than you in the art test last week!"

"Okay." Ian shrugged, "But at least I won't take the initiative to get close to others and make fun of them."

"Humph! This is what a real sea monster looks like! I'll prove it to you when I catch it!" Andre said stubbornly.

The classroom was getting noisier and noisier. Ian looked up at the teacher who was "reading" a book and found that she had no intention of managing it.

So we continued chatting, "You like sea monsters?"

"Of course!" Andre looked at him strangely. "Didn't I tell you? My dream is to become a great pirate like my great-great-grandfather and search for lost treasures and monsters around the world with my friends."

"One Piece?" Ian shrugged. "Everything in anime is fake. There is no devil fruit in reality that can make you bigger or smaller."

"But pirates are real!" Andre glared, "I still have my great-great-grandfather's adventure diary at home! I'll show it to you when I steal it from my dad!"

……

Time passed quickly while we were chatting.

History, mathematics, English, science, art...

It's easy to get through five classes a day.

Through the day's experience, Su Beixun also roughly sorted out Ian's interpersonal relationships.

Apart from Andre, there are two other people in the class who have a good relationship with him, and the others are just ordinary classmates.

back home.

It's five o'clock in the afternoon.

Anne and Ken were still busy with the funeral and compensation matters at William's house. According to them, they were willing to pay for a new fishing boat, but the other party obviously wanted more.

Emma's cram school lasts until eight o'clock, so Ian is the only one left at home.

In the room, the sun shone through the glass angrily.

The child pulled his collar, sat on the bed and fanned himself with a folding fan. He was very hot.

"Brother, aren't you going out to play?" he asked, sticking out his tongue. "Shouldn't you gladly accept your friend's invitation after school?"

"I don't want to go digging for shells on the beach with them."

Su Beixun threw his schoolbag on the table, took out today's homework, and just as the black pen rubbed out a line of subtitles on the paper, he suddenly stopped.

"It's so boring! This kind of life has no meaning except to waste time!"

He took a deep breath, suppressed the irritation in his heart, and wrote on the white paper with black handwriting.

The rustling sound seemed very chaotic.

"You'll get used to it." The child lay flat on the bed and said in a pretentious manner, "Didn't you live like this before you entered Kassel? If you can't adapt now, it's because you're too wild!"

Su Beixun snorted lightly, shook his head and stopped talking.

He lowered his head and finished his homework at Ian's level. His sea-blue eyes narrowed, and it was unknown what he was thinking.

##
The years do not live, the seasons flow.

Two days passed in a flash. It was Saturday and the school was closed.

Early in the morning, just after dawn, Andre called, "Ian, you haven't participated in our group activities for four days! You must come today!"

"Okay." Ian agreed, "Where are we going?"

"How about the beach southwest of town? It's the least crowded there, so you don't have to squeeze with tourists!"

"Got it. Wait for me."

Ian hung up the phone, said hello to Annie and ran out of the house.

"That's great! The child is finally back to normal." In the living room, Anne breathed a sigh of relief as she looked at her son who had regained his energy.

Seeing Ian always staying in his room these days, she has been worried.

Ken, who was packing up, also looked at his son's back as he ran out, smiled slightly, and continued to organize the tools for going to sea.

The sun was jumping very quickly, and a thin mist was rising from the sea in the distance, floating hazily.

When Ian arrived, Andre was already waiting there.

There was a tall and fat boy next to him, holding a red plastic bucket and waving at Ian.

"Good morning, Daniel." Ian smiled at him, "Isn't Ryan here?"

"Oh, he has to help his family run the store today, so he'll be free this afternoon," Daniel explained. He and Ryan are neighbors, and they've been inseparable since they were little.

Andre waited for them to finish talking and asked eagerly, "What shall we do first today?"

"How about fishing?" Ian raised the fishing rod in his hand. "While it's still cool, let's see who catches the most fish."

"Okay! The loser gets a drink!"

Andre laughed.

For him, playing anything is fun.

The three men found an area of ​​deeper water, sat on a raised rock wall, and threw the hook into the sea.

The red buoy rose and fell, and ripples appeared on the blue mirror surface.

The three of them were chatting, and Andre was telling the gossip he heard from the dock. After Daniel found out the loophole, the two of them started beating each other.

The result is predictable. After two whole hours, not a single fish was caught.

"Well, it looks like a draw."

Andre couldn't sit still any longer, so he pulled up the fishing line and said, "Want to go sit in the ice cream shop? I'm almost dying of thirst."

"Agree." Daniel also got up.

The two men looked at Ian who was silent and were about to call him when the only buoy left in the water suddenly began to twitch violently.

"Hooked?!"

Andre's eyes widened, and he was about to interfere with him with a wicked grin, but Ian raised his arm and pulled the fish out directly.

The splashing water droplets were blown away by the wind, and the sunlight illuminated an inky spot.

"My God!" Andre exclaimed, "This thing is beautiful!"

It was a palm-sized fish with a flat body and small, densely arranged black scales in a diamond shape.

The smooth surface reflects sunlight in a variety of colors.

Daniel was dazzled by the splendor and murmured in a low voice, "What kind of fish is this? Why have I never seen it before?"

Andre was the first to react.

"Hey! Ian! How about giving it to me?" He grabbed Ian's sleeve, "I'll treat you to dinner! For a week! Anything is fine!"

He really likes this kind of handsome and rare thing. Others will definitely be envious if he raises it!

Daniel shook his head and came back to his senses, and said quickly, "I can do it, too! Ian! You know, my family runs a pet store, I can definitely take good care of it!"

Andre glared.

Ian took the fish off the hook and threw it into the bucket. "You two decide. I don't want it anyway."

The two people argued endlessly, and finally, Daniel won the custody of the strange fish by playing rock-paper-scissors with two out of three rounds.

"Great, I'll take it home now!"

The chubby boy picked up the bucket and ran home, "Ian, I'll bring you a drink!"

Andre quickly said, "Hey! I want it too!"

"Go buy it yourself!" Daniel's voice came from afar.

"Stingy!"

Andre yelled angrily.

He glanced at Ian who was still sitting there and scratched his head. "Okay, I'll go get something to drink now... Ian, please give me another fishing rod!"

Andre put the fishing rod and bucket on the rock wall and left.

The small fishing spot became quiet again.

White clouds blocked the sun. Su Beixun looked at the vast skyline with a smile on his face.

"elder brother!!"

A voice with suppressed anger came from behind him.

"Ah, you're here." Su Beixun turned around with a smile and patted the stone beside him. "Would you like to sit?"

The child said nothing, his black eyes fixed on him, "Why did you do this?"

"For... fun?" Su Beixun thought for a moment and shrugged, "That should be the reason."

"interesting?"

"Yes, a monotonous life is too boring." Su Beixun looked at the fishing rod in his hand and threw it out again. "How can I gain enlightenment from a life that I cannot accept?"

The child frowned, "What on earth do you want to do?"

Su Beixun chuckled.

"Well, let me ask you."

He lay on his back against the stone wall, the misty white clouds casting a shadow on his profile.

"If you have two books in front of you, one is about the daily expenses of food, clothing, housing and transportation, and the other is about the great adventure of love and sacrifice...which one will make you more excited?"

The child stopped talking.

He already understood what Su Beixun meant.

After a long while, he said viciously, "Brother, you are just too much! If you jump like this, you will attract Cassel and the secret party again. Let's see what you can do!"

"Then bring it here."

Su Beixun smiled indifferently, "Let's have some fun again... Of course, this time, it's on our home court!"

……

Click~

Behind me, I heard the sound of slippers hitting rocks.

Daniel returns with Andre.

"Here you go!" The fat boy handed over the soda.

Su Beixun sat up and took it with a smile, "Thank you!"

He unscrewed the lid and let the "boiling" orange-flavored syrup slide down his throat.

Andre couldn't wait to roll up his sleeves and picked up the fishing rod again with high morale. "Okay! Today I'll show you how strong the future pirate is when he gets serious!"

The buoy sank into the water with a plop, and the peaceful time passed slowly amid laughter and joy.

……

The green leaves are blowing away in the wind.

Ian seemed to have finally come out of the shadows and became cheerful again, playing and joking with his friends every day.

Anne and Ken finally reached an agreement with William's family and resolved all issues.

The shipwreck and death gradually drifted away from this small town. After a period of anxiety, everyone found that there was no second accident, so they put their hearts at ease.

And in this ordinary life...

Some people are waiting for the moment when the flowers bloom and bear fruit.

##
"Ah!"

John spat out saliva fiercely.

Henry quickly fanned the notebook in front of him and said with a bitter face, "Please, Boss! Go back and rest if your cold is not completely healed. I have a date this weekend, please don't infect me!"

"What does it matter?" John sniffed. "You'll be dumped in five days at most. Whether it's contagious or not doesn't matter at all."

Henry had a blank expression on his face, “Boss, if you don’t respect the elderly and love the young, I really want to punch you to death!”

"Ha!" John looked at his fat belly provocatively and hooked his fingers, "I'll give you one hand!"

George listened to the noise around him, without raising his head, flipping through a big book about marine life.

This is the daily routine of a small town police station. Although the salary is not high, every day is really leisurely.

While John was arguing with Henry, he glanced at George who was reading a book and hummed in dissatisfaction.

If this guy hadn't said a lot of things that kept him awake, he wouldn't have dived into the sea late at night to check for hidden dangers.

Not only was my effort in vain, but I got sick again after 30 years!
"Ah!"

John deliberately sprayed Henry, laughing as he watched the guy launch himself into action and wipe his nose with a tissue, "Damn it! It's been five days and it's still not healed!"

"Do you want to take medicine?" George opened the side drawer. "I have some special medicine here, but I'm not sure if it will conflict with the medicine you took before?"

"Huh? Will the drugs conflict with each other? How come I didn't know that?"

John reached out and took it, swallowed the white medicine dryly, and slumped in the chair, "Well! This is really a great help! If you were a girl, I would definitely marry you!"

George shook his head at the teasing and suddenly asked, "By the way, Boss, hasn't the Devonshire Police sent anyone yet?"

John rolled his eyes. "Just wait. If they don't delay for half a month, they won't even remember us. After all, we don't have much money for them to make."

George sighed.

He was about to speak, but the phone on the table suddenly started vibrating!

"Hello! Hello!"

Henry, who was standing, took it first and said formally, "This is Brixham Town Police Station. How can I help you?"

His expression was casual.

The most reported crime in Brixham is petty theft among tourists, but due to the excessive mobility, unless something very valuable is lost, it is just a formality.

But soon, Henry's expression changed.

He opened his eyes wide in disbelief and asked, "Wait! What did you say...where is the location...Okay, I got it! We'll be there right away!"

John and George looked at each other and asked curiously, "What happened? Was the person you were dating reported for soliciting prostitution?"

But Henry was in no mood for joking.

He took a deep breath and said grimly, "Boss! Something happened! Three dead bodies were found in Brixham town!"

John stood up with a bang, his nonchalant expression turned dignified and serious, "What did you say?"

George quickly packed up his things, put on his coat, and cocked his pistol. "Where was the body found?"

"Moore's Pet Shop!"

(End of this chapter)