Hidden Assassin

Pale lights hit the stage, rendering an old-fashioned, nostalgic dark scene. With the long prelude mixed with a raving monologue, "In the Name of the Father" is the most three-dimensional song. , several years in advance, appeared in this world.

In the wine, in the drizzle, with the melody of the singing falling into silence, the neon lights flickering in the distance, and the vehicles passing by, the number of things can really explain the problem sometimes, when all the people gathered together keep Keep silent, listen attentively, and stand in it, you will feel that the melody almost drowns the whole city and the whole world under the sky.

Speaking of which, the group of people standing in the rain may be more fortunate than those who entered the wine room. Although the stage was blurred in black and white by the lights, in the gray atmosphere, they occasionally looked up and saw clearly. Those ridiculous fruit masks will still dilute the atmosphere that can be felt. Being in the crowd, regardless of Joseph's perception of the lyrics, he was obviously also infected by the melody of the song. The reason why Marilyn and Heidi were intoxicated by it may be that there is more love for the house and the crow. Sitting by the side, Fang Yusi's mood can only be described as shock.

Just like Huang Lao and Zheng Zepei heard "Dongfeng Po" for the first time, they are different from ordinary people who simply comment on "whether it sounds good" or "like it or not" when listening to the song. As relatively professional musicians, while feeling the song, they will also feel the song Evaluate the weight of this song in your heart, judge whether it will be popular, whether it will become popular. In fact, most of the songs have to rely on the musician's vision, packaging and publicity to get to the top. However, there are also a small number of songs that can be deeply remembered by people and will undoubtedly lead the trend. Almost all the songs produced by the concept band belong to this type.

In the few months since the concept band was established, less than half of the more than ten songs released have actually sold the singing rights. However, after each song is released, the tapes hired by various performing arts companies to record live The fastest format was sent to some singers. Fang Yusi also listened to several songs repeatedly, and every time he could not help but imagine: If this song is sung to me, what kind of huge impact it will have...

But there is no doubt that compared to those unreal tapes accompanied by noises, the singing heard at the scene at this moment is even more shocking to people, just like a jade picker discovering the embryo of He's Bi , she can even clearly see in front of her eyes how powerful these songs will be once they are professionally processed, sung, and packaged.

Each song has a different style, each song has the power to shake people's hearts, and each song is guaranteed to be popular... No, no matter who he is, he must make it clear, even if he pays some promises and prices, it doesn't matter. If only he could write me songs...

Her heart fluctuated due to fantasies. Looking at the slightly dull performance on the stage, a strange feeling suddenly flashed in her mind during the interval of the song: the member of the concept band wearing a cucumber mask seemed to have a bit of a dance move. Familiar... This thought disappeared in my mind immediately, because the girl didn't make any more movements or gestures—she was playing the electric piano, and her hands were busy at this time.

It was also at this time that a waiter at the wine came over with two cotton candies and handed them to the mother and daughter Marilyn beside Fang Yusi. They seemed to have said something in between, but Fang Yusi was in no mood to pay attention at this time.

The black and white melody continued to advance, and gradually came to the end. After the final mixed rap, the surrounding silence lasted for a while, as if still immersed in the tight sense of the picture and could not break free. Banana, the lead singer on stage, knocked on the microphone, coughed twice, and then said, "Uh...it's over."

"It's like this for the time being. Of course, I can't sing well. This song still has room for improvement... On Saturday, everyone is busy resting, and I am the same. That's all for today. Goodbye." It seems to be the consistent style of concept bands , without too much embellishment, without prudent rhetoric, and without taking care of the audience's feelings. After speaking simply, holding the stand with the microphone on it, he was ready to evade. Some people have heard the name of the concept for a long time, but it is the first time to come, so they want to rush up in the front row. This kind of scene happened almost every time, but Blue Bird Wine had already prepared for it. More than ten strong men surrounded the small stage tightly, and no one could rush over.

Seeing the concept band leaving the stage neatly, Sister Lan not far away made a hasty gesture to this side and said sorry to Joseph and Marilyn. Fang Yusi walked towards the entrance of the passageway to the backstage. After a while, Heidi jumped off the sofa contentedly after eating the marshmallow, and looked around: "Mum, where is the bathroom?"

"The bathroom...I'll take you there."

They greeted Joseph with a smile, took Heidi's hand, and the mother and daughter walked towards the bathroom on the other side of the hall. After a while, they disappeared from Joseph's sight.

After the concept band left the stage, the restrictions on entry were meaningless. Most of the security guards at the entrance were removed, and the music became a little more soothing. Many people came in from the outside, asking others about the situation on the stage just now, aiming at the new song. communicate with each other. Although many fans have been lost because of the concept's unique style, when this style becomes a habit, there are still many die-hard fans, who are discussing that if the concept band enters the music scene, it will definitely sweep the army, The so-called singer stars were swept away.

Hearing the praise and admiration from the crowd around him, Joseph was drinking red wine while thinking about some things he wanted to explore during his trip to China. The most important thing was, of course, who was the one who saved Marilyn and her daughter three years ago? .

After Marilyn's incident three years ago, the relationship between Salier and Gambino's two mafia families had a period of relaxation. However, the peace has continued until now, and many conflicts that were originally suppressed have reached the brink of intensification. Seeing that the family war was about to break out, the Salier family, which was at a disadvantage in strength, naturally wanted to find more help. Among them, the mysterious power that had saved Marilyn's mother and daughter naturally became one of the points of contact.

Regarding the experience of being rescued for more than a month, after returning to the United States, Marilyn and Heidi, the mother and daughter, kept tight-lipped. Energy, once someone's words involve this aspect intentionally or unintentionally, the atmosphere of chatting with them will immediately cool down, Marilyn will still be a little round, and Heidi's rejection is even more direct, originally very lively and innocent She no longer likes interacting with strangers, not to mention, even if relatives in the family made insinuations about that matter, she would turn around and leave. When she first returned to New York, the people at the dinner table This embarrassment has happened dozens of times. .

Many people in the family said that the mother and daughter were too ignorant, but as Marilyn's father, he seemed to have always felt guilty about Tang Jingyao's daughter for his daughter, and since then suppressed this matter. However, when the family once again felt the coming crisis, some of the guilt of course disappeared in front of the family's interests, so Joseph's trip to China came about.

Recalling the performance of Marilyn's mother and daughter in the past two days, Joseph is almost sure that the lead singer of the concept band, the boy named Gu Jiaming is definitely one of the important people, and Heidi must be in the period three years ago. During the time, I met this young man and became friends. Now, as long as I investigate the young man's background, many things should be revealed by me. Thinking this way in my heart, as time passed by, a certain feeling of uneasiness gradually rose up.

For ten minutes, Marilyn and the others did not come.

Passing through the crowd, he walked to the door of the restroom. He waited quietly for a while, then took a breath, reached out and knocked on the door of the women's restroom: "Marilyn, Heidi!"

The music was blaring, the crowd was loud, and there was no response from the restrooms.

Frowning, he slammed the wooden door open, and a fat woman who was washing her hands in front of the mirror stared dumbfounded at the foreign man who came in and kicked open the cubicles aggressively, and the nakedness of several women was completely exposed Under the man's eagle-like sharp eyes. Because the murderous aura that could be felt personally was too great, no one dared to call out for a while. It wasn't until the man looked at all the places with complete dissatisfaction, and turned his eyes fiercely to the fat woman, that finally there was a high-pitched, high-pitched cry for help.

"Rape-rape-ah-"

Turning around abruptly, Joseph ignored her and rushed out towards the door. The first security guard who came in swung his baton at his head and was kicked away by him. The second security guard just took a blow. With a fierce straight fist, the back of the neck was cut by the hand knife, and he fainted. With incomparable momentum, Joseph rushed into the small passage outside the bathroom like a chariot.

Whether it was security guards, hooligans, or righteous people, a large number of people surrounded them from both sides.

Kicking, punching, violent over-the-shoulder throws, in an instant, the first four people who rushed forward fell to the ground, and the people behind wanted to continue to rush forward, but they stopped because the man in front of him had already gone straight from the ground. Two pistols were drawn out of the clothes and aimed at both ends of the passage.

Since the members of the Shazhu Gang blocked the passage at this time, no one screamed for a while, so that the riot would not spread to the hall. After a while, a middle-aged man in a suit separated from the crowd. He came over, looked at the pistol, and couldn't help frowning: "My friend, why are you making trouble in my place?"

After he said that, a man next to him translated in English. Joseph lowered the muzzle of his gun slightly and said in Chinese: "My two friends are missing from your place."

"Two friends?" The middle-aged man looked at the men around him, and a security guard squeezed over and whispered something in his ear, and then the middle-aged man asked, "Is your friend a woman? Blonde? Her daughter?"

"That's right."

"My people saw them go to the parking lot below. No one threatened them. The little girl seemed quite happy. Why didn't they greet you in advance?"

Startled slightly, Joseph's ferocious expression remained unchanged. After a while, he put the pistol back, took out a check book and wrote a number, then tore off the first one and handed it over: "Thank you, these are my compensation. .” After speaking, he parted the crowd and ran towards the stairs going down to the parking lot.

The parking lot on the ground floor was brightly lit. From the first time he realized that Marilyn and her daughter had disappeared, he probably understood what was going on, so he didn't doubt what the middle-aged man said, and ran to the car he rented. Beside the vehicle, there was a piece of paper clipped on the windshield wiper, and it was indeed Marilyn's handwriting:

Don't worry, we'll be back when the time comes.

Then, the sound of the engine starting sounded in the parking lot. Turning around, a small black car circled towards the exit not far away. On the back seat, Marilyn and Heidi smiled and waved. "Don't worry!" That was Marilyn's melodious laughter, with a hint of guilt in her charming smile.

For a moment, Joseph's heart sank.

I still remember that when I first met Marilyn, she gave birth to little Heidi for that Chinese man, and the Chinese man returned to his hometown. At that time, Marilyn was very sad. She lived at home and did not participate in any social activities, and did not have many friends. Under the deliberate arrangement of Marilyn's father, she went to the mansion by herself, and occasionally had the opportunity to get close to her. After becoming friends, Marilyn would occasionally talk about Tang Jingyao who was far away in China, and a bright smile would bloom on her face. He once thought that maybe he was conquered by this kind of smile, and one day, he would make her smile so brightly and charmingly when she thought of him.

Three years ago, Marilyn came to China with Tang Jingyao, and what happened afterwards caught everyone by surprise, but no matter what, Tang Jingyao died and took Marilyn back to New York. She began to actively contact the things in the family, He began to smile and laugh politely and appropriately. He knew that the death of the Chinese man had hit her hard, but at least he had had a chance. He had tried his best to move her for three years, and there seemed to be some progress. . But occasionally, in a place where no one is around, Marilyn will suddenly think of something, with a bright and charming smile, he has seen it twice inadvertently—when someone is around, such a smile tends to shrink—that smile makes people feel He felt flustered.

But now, looking at Marilyn's smile, a certain kind of enlightenment suddenly rose up in his heart. She was going to get away from herself and meet someone, so she smiled so charmingly. No matter how hard she tried, she was still one step too late. This American woman who had loved China since childhood, after Tang Jingyao's death, still chose a certain Chinese as her sustenance.

In this matter, I may never have had the opportunity.

Standing there, he quietly looked at Marilyn in the back row. A few seconds later, the car drove into the rain outside and out of his sight.

***************************************************** *****

Probably during the time when classmate Joseph was rushing into the bathroom, he lowered the brim of his hat as much as possible, and Fang Yusi, who was like a spy, found the lounge of the concept band.

When passing through the passage in front, it seemed that money had played a huge role, and the security guards in charge did not stop her. However, Fang Yusi still felt a sense of tension and anxiety when she watched the staff around her come and go. The excitement combined with anxiety is like the feeling of acting on TV—in fact, Fang Yusi's big dream is to act in movies and TV shows, but unfortunately her acting skills are in a mess, and idols were not very popular at this time in 1998 , so this dream has never been realized. .

The aisle on this side is quiet, it seems that the concept band is very powerful, no one dares to come and disturb. Standing at the door, Fang Yusi hesitated what to say the first sentence after knocking on the door, listening to the conversation coming from inside.

"...What kind of friend did you meet last night? But, you're not at home, and I had a great time with..."

"What little foreign girl and her mother, I don't remember..."

"That time I went to Shasha's house after beating someone? The time I gave everything to the little girl? I remember... Shasha, we wanted to withdraw money and give it to them the next day, but the two of them are no longer there ...Wow, didn't we inadvertently save the rich man, and then the good man will be rewarded? This is something that only happens in novels..."

"He is a foreigner, but he is not necessarily a rich man..."

"Whatever, whatever, anyway, we don't want other people's money, I still remember that little girl is very beautiful, as cute as a doll..."

The voices of young men and women came from the door, intermittently, as if they were talking about a strange thing that they had rescued a certain foreigner who was in trouble since childhood, and now that the foreigner came back, they encountered strange things by accident. Fang Yusi was about to knock on the door when suddenly his arm hurt, and then his whole body was pushed down to the ground.

"Who are you? What do you want to do!"

He couldn't help but let out a cry of pain, this time the accident was caught off guard, his arm was almost twisted, and his chest hit the ground firmly, without any cushion at all, and then the hat was taken off by the man, revealing his long hair. hair. Seeing that it was a woman, the person who held her down seemed a little puzzled, but his hands did not relax at all.

Being caught acting like a thief, Fang Yusi didn't know how to explain it for a while, so she could only lie on the ground humming. After a while, the door next to her opened, and a girl in a long skirt walked out. The voice of Ning Xin was pleasant: "Uncle Gu, what's wrong?"

"There's a foreigner making trouble ahead. I happened to come over to take a look, and I saw this woman stealthily eavesdropping on your door... Heh, could it be your groupie or something..." The man behind As he said that, he also relaxed his grip slightly. With disheveled hair, Fang Yusi struggled to raise his head, and what he saw was the girl's gradually shocked expression. After the chaos, Fang Yusi also gradually remembered the girl in front of him, and opened his mouth wide for a while, unable to close it for a long time.

"Ah, ah... Uncle Gu, you arrested the wrong person, you caught the wrong person... She, she is a friend we brought, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, did you hurt you, Sister Yusi, oh... no , Miss Fang, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, you...uh, I'm so sorry..."

Helping her up in a hurry, the girl named Ling Jing patted the dust off her body in fear and apology. And Fang Yusi's eyes were full of astonishment, slightly dull.

What suddenly arises in my heart is a terrible mistake...