Chapter 14

Chapter 14

After the two police officers left, I lay in bed, unable to sleep.

I couldn’t make sense of it.

In my memories, although I was physically disabled, I had a father who loved me and a mother who loved me.

After my father died, my mother and I lived together happily enough.

During my childhood, compared to other children, my mother never let me go without anything.

Why did everything change after she died?

It was like a thin sheet of paper that finally failed to contain the fire; the raging flames had surrounded me, burning everything to ashes.

“Dad, are you really still alive?”

As dawn approached, I finally drifted into a hazy sleep.

I dreamed of my father.

We were sitting in the courtyard of our old home in the countryside.

He looked at me with a face full of regret, as if he had done something wrong.

I was angry, too, turning my head away and ignoring him.

He pulled two pitch-black stones out of his bag.

“Xiao Geng, do you know how to tell the difference between coal and gangue?”

“Coal and gangue look the same, but coal can burn. It can provide warmth. Gangue can’t.”

“If you want to know which is coal and which is stone, you have to do it yourself. Touch them. Break them open.”

“Coal is brittle; the inside of coal is still coal. Gangue is hard and won’t break easily. Even if you do break it, the inside is just rough stone.”

“A lot of truth is buried under the filth. If you want to understand it, you have to break it open.”

…

“A lot of truth is buried under the filth. If you want to understand it, you have to break it open.”

…

“A lot of truth is buried under the filth. If you want to understand it, you have to break it open.”

I snapped my eyes open.

I struggled to get dressed and out of bed. My father was right. If I wanted to understand the truth of what happened back then, I had to do it myself. I couldn’t be afraid of getting my hands dirty.

Mingshan Mining was gone.

It had been rebranded as Mingshan Group, with many subsidiary companies covering a wide range of industries.

Real estate, finance, medical care, and more.

This enterprise had successfully laundered its image and transitioned from the coal mine company of the past.

Fu Mingshan had also become a famous and distinguished entrepreneur in the city.

I had no idea what had become of the mining site near Mingshan Village.

After all these years, I returned to Mingshan Village once again.

I went back to the old courtyard of my family home.

A flood of memories rushed over me-some good, some bad.

The yard was overgrown with weeds. The shed on the left had lost its main support beam and had collapsed against the courtyard wall, looking utterly dilapidated.

I pushed open the gate and struggled through the weeds to reach the front door.

I had been worried about leaving in a hurry and forgetting my keys.

In reality, the lock on the door had been smashed open long ago.

When my mother and I left, there wasn’t much left in the house to begin with.

Now, there was nothing left but the plaster on the walls. Everything that could be carried away had been taken; everything that could be dismantled had been stripped.

That’s how it is in the countryside-even a piece of wood can be torn down for firewood.

The house was filled with an inexplicable stench.

Visible piles of excrement were scattered across the floor.

Apparently, people had been using this place as a temporary toilet.

It made sense; it was better than an outdoor pit latrine, and your backside wouldn’t freeze as much in the winter.

I wasn’t angry.

Although this small house was the most important place in my memories, the people from those memories were gone. What was the point of a house left empty?

I left the old house.

I slowly pushed my wheelchair toward the coal mine. I wanted to take one more look at the place where my father lost his life.