Geisteswissenschaftliche Fakultät

Kapitel 17

"Don't think about it anymore. Although things ended abruptly, the case is finally solved. All that's left is to find the girls' bodies to close the case. Is Han's mother still unwilling to reveal where the bodies were disposed of?"

Luo Jian shook his head. What was he really concerned about? The matter was already clear: it was all Han's mother's doing, though it sounded absurd. Han's mother hadn't suffered a stroke; she had porphyria. She had lied to everyone around her, including her own daughter. She had murdered the caregivers in the house, sucked their blood, and then hidden their bodies.

"Dr. Guo, do you remember that girl? The one who was hit by a car on the street, she..."

"I know, you want to ask why she was able to walk on the street like a normal person even without blood, right?" Dr. Guo patted Luo Jian on the shoulder. "Young man, don't be too fixated on those inexplicable questions. Maybe the driver misremembered; the girl might have been abandoned on the road from the beginning instead of being hit. Okay, I'm going back to the police station now. What about you?"

"I...I still have some things to take care of." Luo Jian thought for a moment, then turned around and went back.

"I'm not sick, all of you get out of here!"

From afar, Luo Jian could hear Han's mother's hysterical voice. As he reached the door of the ward, an IV drip bottle flew out and nearly hit him. Inside the ward, several nurses frantically tried to calm Han's mother down.

"Quickly administer a sedative, quick!" the head nurse shouted frantically, and several nursing assistants rushed in to help stop Han's mother.

"She's not Han Qingyin, she's not! She's not my daughter!" In the chaos, Han's mother kept repeating the same words.

"The patient is exhibiting manic symptoms, quickly restrain her!"

"The needle broke!"

"Hold her feet down!"

During the struggle, Han's mother's hospital gown was pulled open. Luo Jian instinctively looked away, but his gaze involuntarily fell on her back—there! Luo Jian gasped!

****

"Please sit wherever you like." In the dark screening room, Han Qingyin sat alone in the front row, her beautiful face shrouded in dim light, making it impossible to discern her expression.

Luo Jian hesitated for a moment, then sat down in a seat on the side.

The black and white film on the screen is showing the charm of the last century. In 1930s Shanghai, rickshaw pullers shuttle back and forth, young women in cheongsams sway gracefully, and gramophones play melodious songs of decadence and extravagance.

"This is the first film I've ever acted in." Han Qingyin's voice came through the darkness. "I was sixteen years old that year, and I came to Shanghai from Suzhou all by myself. I didn't know anything."

Luo Jian stared at Han Qingyin on the screen. She wore a simple cheongsam, her hair pulled back, exuding the charm of that era and a delicate, fragile beauty. He didn't understand the film's plot; all he saw was the youthful Han Qingyin coming and going, wearing different clothes, each displaying a different kind of beauty.

"You already know, right? She's the real Han Qingyin." Han Qingyin said lazily, her tone carrying a fearless despair. She stretched her body slightly and curled up in her seat.

“Hmm,” Luo Jian replied. On “Han’s mother’s” back, he saw the scar that only the real Han Qingyin had, a mark left from a car accident Han Qingyin suffered as a child.

"She is Han Qingyin, then who are you?"

"Me?" Han Qingyin thought for a moment, "I am Huang Wanling."

"Huang Wanling is a character in a movie, not you." Luo Jian didn't know what kind of riddle Han Qingyin was playing on him. Everyone is born with an identity, and no one is born without an identity and needs to steal a fictional character to achieve their own.

“That’s true.” Han Qingyin smiled. “I’m not Huang Wanling, I’m Wang Meifen.”

Luo Jian was stunned. Wang Meifen, that was Han Qingyin's mother's name.

“I am not her daughter.” In the dim light, Han Qingyin gestured absently. “I am her mother. She is Han Qingyin, my adopted daughter.”

"Adopted?" Luo Jian asked in surprise.

“I forged my birth certificate because I can’t have children at all.” “Han Qingyin” laughed, her words seemingly implying something.

"If you are Wang Meifen, why are you still so young?" Luo Jian was completely confused about the situation. What was Han Qingyin talking about?

The movie seemed to be nearing its end. Luo Jian only felt the screen go black for a moment, then light up again, displaying a long credits. The female lead, Bai Mei, the male lead…

The female lead, Bai Mei? Luo Jian was puzzled. Wasn't the female lead Han Qingyin? Why was it Bai Mei?

"Captain Luo, have you heard of Bai Mei?" Han Qingyin asked casually, opening a can of cola and taking a sip. The sound of the pull tab being pulled and the bubbling of the bubbles suddenly made Luo Jian tense, as if he was about to be told something terrible. Luo Jian felt his whole body stiffen.

"Bai Mei, a once-popular movie star in the 1930s, starred in over 40 films. At the height of her fame, she was disfigured due to jealousy and disappeared afterward. Captain Luo, I am Bai Mei." Han Qingyin turned her face, and Luo Jian gasped. This was no longer the innocent-looking Han Qingyin; what lay before him was a face covered in twisted scars, a grotesque and terrifying sight!

"I couldn't bear to have my life ruined like this, so I tried everything to heal my face. My face was healed, but at a price," Han Qingyin sighed. "Medications always have some side effects."

"Although I regained my beauty, the drug also altered my constitution. The drug was excellent; it made me beautiful and young. I almost thought it was the legendary elixir of immortality, but I soon discovered it wasn't! The first flare-up occurred shortly after liberation, and every twenty years thereafter, my old ailment would recur. When it flared up, my limbs and bones felt like they were falling apart, especially my face. It felt like someone was slowly, inch by inch, cutting my flesh with a red-hot knife. And the way to alleviate this pain was..." Han Qingyin seemed to smile. Luo Jian was very familiar with that smile; it was a common sight on the beautiful, youthful face of Han Qingyin. But now, on this ugly face, even the same gesture only evoked a sense of dread.

“I need to replenish my blood with young girls for a month, otherwise the effects of the drug will gradually wear off until I return to my original state. This is the whole truth behind the case you investigated, Captain Luo.”

"Then what about your mother... I mean, the real Han Qingyin?" Luo Jian swallowed hard, forcing himself to muster the courage to speak with Han Qingyin.

"To conceal my identity, I married that chronically ill man twenty years ago, and later adopted her. After the man died, I took on the responsibility of caring for her. If she hadn't stolen my medicine, I wouldn't be in this predicament now."

"You mean Han Qingyin also took that drug? But why did she become like that?" Luo Jian couldn't help but shudder at the thought of Han Qingyin's face, which looked older than an eighty-year-old woman.

“The medicine isn’t suitable for everyone’s constitution. She just happened to experience… well, rejection.” Han Qingyin shrugged. “Many people had already wondered why my appearance hadn’t changed. Even if I deliberately tried to hide my appearance, I probably couldn’t keep it a secret for long. I figured this was a good opportunity, so I took the chance to fake a stroke and quit my job at the school. I didn’t want to be famous, but I was discovered by a talent scout on the street. Maybe I still have a soft spot for the screen. When they asked me my name, I said Han Qingyin without thinking. From that moment on, our identities were switched.”

"It's a pity she was so stupid. She saw me drinking Zhang Yueyue's blood and thought she could return to her original form by drinking blood. She followed the girl who came to my house asking for an autograph and killed her. Maybe this is retribution. If she hadn't been so flamboyant, I wouldn't have caught your attention." Han Qingyin paused. "But this seems not so bad. If a secret is never discovered, the person keeping it will be very boring."

"What are you doing?" Luo Jian shouted. Han Qingyin pulled out a knife from somewhere, the blade gleaming faintly in the dim light.

"Playing the same game gets boring, I refuse to play anymore, so goodbye!" Before Luo Jian could react, Han Qingyin had already turned the blade and plunged the dagger deep into her own chest...

In the darkness, the ceiling rose before her eyes, and Han Qingyin—no, it should be Bai Mei—seemed to see the scene from years past again. In the chilly autumn night of the shop, the master and servant with their crimson and blue eyes handed her a small, fish-shaped medicine bottle, saying, "One day, you will pay the price for your decisions!"

A forced, amused smile appeared on the scarred corner of his lips: "Huang Wanling, I'm happier than you. At least, when I want to die, I can easily end my... life!"

****

"This case is really bizarre. I never thought that Han Qingyin, who seems so gentle, would kill someone to help her mother. It's not without its pitiful aspects." Xiao Jin muttered, toying with the small fish-shaped medicine bottle on Luo Jian's desk, and clicking her tongue with a sigh. "Captain Luo, how about we go out for barbecue after get off work today?"

Luo Jian stood up, walked past Xiao Jin, paused, took the medicine bottle from his hand, then opened the door. The wooden door slammed shut behind him, creating an echo in the empty corridor.

"It's Pomeranian again!" Snuggling the medicine bottle labeled Pomeranian into his pocket, Luo Jian put on his helmet, started the engine, and with a sudden jerk of the accelerator, the motorcycle shot off like an arrow...

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Mirror of Three Lives

Name: Zhao Jian Gender: Probably male (keeps changing) Age: Unable to determine, but very old

Occupation: Owner of Jianxingju Restaurant Address: No. 34-38, Dongshi Street, Bomei

There are currently over 5 billion people living on this earth, of whom at least 50% are women. Naturally curious, many enjoy fortune-telling, and over 80% of them have consulted a fortune teller more than once. The methods used may include face reading, bone weighing, tarot, or other unusual approaches. Regardless of the method, country, or environment, the purpose of fortune-telling is the same—to understand the unknown part of oneself. I am no exception.

"Nie Xinluo, are you going back now?"

"Well, there's nothing else to do anyway, so let's go back early." I waved to Han Zhu. "Just call me if anything comes up."

"If it's not too much trouble, could you wait a little longer? There's something I'd like you to give to Professor Nie."

Professor Nie is my father, whose full name is Nie Tianxiang. He is fifty-three years old this year. He works part-time as a visiting lecturer in the History Department of Nanwen University and is somewhat well-known in the industry. However, he is actually the owner of a poor, dilapidated antique shop that loses money every time. No matter how successful he is on the outside, in the eyes of his unfilial daughter, he is just an old man who does not do his job properly and idles away his time.

“This is a collection gift from a local antique mirror enthusiast when I went to Xi’an for an academic exchange conference some time ago. He asked me to pass it on to Professor Nie, so I’m just asking you to take it with you.” Han Zhu handed me a bundle wrapped in layers of red cloth. “Judging from its age, it’s probably an item from the Ming Dynasty. It’s not particularly valuable, but what he said about it is quite interesting.”

"What did he say?" I took the bundle, stuffed it into my bag without even glancing at it. I've never been interested in antiques. I don't know if it's because of my rebellious attitude towards the old man, but since I was a child, I've always looked down on those antiques that others treasured as if they were junk.

"He said this mirror allows people to see their past and future lives." Han Zhu smiled憨厚ly, revealing a set of bright white teeth. This young man, who came to the city from the countryside of eastern Zhejiang, possessed a simplicity and innocence rarely seen in modern people, which was why the old man always liked him very much.

"That's incredible." I laughed too. If it were really that magical, why would I be willing to give it away so easily?

“I’m leaving now. Come over for dinner sometime. The old man keeps asking to see you. I think you should just be adopted into our family and become his son. You’d be a better match for Professor Nie’s offspring than an unfilial daughter like me.”

"No...nothing like that." Upon hearing my words, Han Zhu immediately became flustered, his face turning as red as a shrimp. "I...I'm not good enough for you."

"What are you talking about? It's my old man who's not good enough for you." I laughed. I meant it. My eccentric old man didn't seem like the kind of blessed man who could raise such an outstanding son. If Han Zhu could really be adopted, it wouldn't be a bad thing. Although I've always known that he likes me, my heart isn't with him.

"I'm leaving, see you tomorrow." I waved again, turned and left. Suddenly, a lyric came to mind: "When you get down to it, relationships are nothing more than one person breaking free and the other picking up the pieces."

"Xinluo, I've been waiting for you for a long time." Sure enough, I ran into my nemesis in the alley near my house. I don't know what trick I fell for today.

"Move aside, I need to get through." I had no intention of giving that handsome face a friendly look. Since we had already broken up, there was no need to keep pestering each other or clinging to the past. That's always been my personality, and besides, he was the one who brought it up first.

"Xinluo, it was my fault back then. I shouldn't have lost my temper and done something that hurt you." Zhang Rui looked haggard, with a few strands of messy hair hanging down his handsome face, giving him the look of a playboy from a movie. Years ago, I would have had him completely under my thumb, but unfortunately, Nie Xinluo is no longer the naive little girl she once was.

“Zhang Rui, if you dare to show your face in front of me again and spout those clichés that even third-rate screenwriters wouldn’t stoop to, I’ll call the police.” I said coldly, “We’ve been broken up for three months and fourteen days, and we have absolutely nothing to do with each other anymore.”

"Xinluo, in his haste, reached out to grab me, but I seized the opportunity, twisted him behind his back, and made him grimace and yell in pain."

"See? You've already forgotten that your ex-girlfriend studied martial arts, haven't you?" I laughed self-deprecatingly. He once said he admired me because I was different from others, and when we broke up, he said I had no femininity whatsoever. To put it bluntly, I was just a thin layer of lips.

"Xinluo, you, you, you forgive me." Zhang Rui remained persistent. I don't know why, but I don't believe in such a far-fetched story as a prodigal son returning home, especially since he's been a womanizer more than once or twice.

"Go find your current girlfriend, don't embarrass yourself here." I let go of his hand, and seeing him about to follow, I turned around, raised my fist, and said, "If you dare show your face in front of me again, I definitely won't let you off so easily next time!" After saying that, I turned and left, not wanting to look at his bitter face again. After walking a long way, I suddenly felt my eyes getting wet, and I didn't know why tears were flowing down my face.

"Dad, Han Zhu asked me to bring you something." I took off my backpack, haphazardly pulled out the red bundle, and handed it to the old man who was wearing a tank top and was drinking and reading the newspaper in a very unseemly manner.

"Oh, it's that mirror." The old man put down his newspaper. "Girl, have you been crying?"

"No, that's not true. I probably just got some sand in my eyes," I replied firmly. "I had some pastries in the lab this afternoon, so I'm not hungry yet. Don't worry about me, I'll make myself something to eat later."

"Girl, girl!" Ignoring the old man's voice, I slammed the door shut, threw myself onto the bed, and pulled the blanket over myself. Zhang Rui, you bastard!!

It felt like I was having a dream. In the dream, there was a large garden and a tall flower pavilion. I sat by the window, looking at myself in the mirror, my face streaked with tears.

“Miss, please stop crying. Marrying the Minister of History is not a bad thing. You are well-matched in terms of social status and background. It’s a match made in heaven. Besides, the Minister is young, handsome and talented. Countless young ladies in the capital are eagerly hoping to enter his household. It’s rare that the Minister likes only you. How can you not like him?”

"Lixiang, don't try to persuade me anymore. You know perfectly well that I like him. I have no desire to marry that Minister."

"Miss, you really are... sigh..." the maid sighed softly, then turned and left.

"Brother Ye, why aren't you here yet? Didn't we agree to meet in the backyard of Zhonglang Mansion on the tenth of the third month?" I looked at myself in the mirror and slumped my head helplessly.

"Ring ring~~~~~~~~" The alarm clock wailed terribly. I groggily stretched out a hand from under the covers and held the alarm clock up to my eyes. In the dim light of the night, I saw that the hands on the clock showed midnight.

Are you kidding me? Who set their alarm for this time?! I lay down, intending to go back to sleep, but my stomach protested at just the right moment. I remembered that I hadn't eaten dinner yet.

Reluctantly, I got up and turned on the light. Oh well, I might as well go get something good to eat. As I pushed open the door, I didn't see a round bronze mirror on my desk, silently gleaming with an eerie light.

"So you just sent him back like that?" Wang Min asked me, while quickly moving the test tube that had just boiled on the alcohol stove away, opening the iodine bottle, taking a little iodine and dripping it into the test tube. With a hiss, a foul odor came out of the test tube, and the liquid inside instantly boiled, turning from peach pink to blood red.

"Hmm, any insights?" I used my hand to expel the unpleasant stench. Chemistry is such a troublesome thing. Luckily, I studied mechanical engineering.

"You did the right thing." Wang Min placed the blood-red test tube on the test tube rack next to her with satisfaction, and casually pulled out a tissue to wipe her hands. "You're being quite polite to that kind of playboy. If it were me, I probably would have already splashed sulfuric acid on him."

I laughed awkwardly. It seems that it's good to offend anyone, but you should never offend a woman who studies chemistry.

"Miss, how about wearing this outfit to the mountain to pray for blessings tomorrow?" Lixiang dragged and pulled out a huge pile of clothes of various colors. She was already small, and with the pile of clothes covering her, she could hardly be seen at all. "This one...this one...oh dear!"

I watched, both amused and annoyed, as she tumbled onto a pile of clothes, looking utterly disheveled, her hair disheveled.

“This pale yellow gauze dress suits your skin tone best, Miss. You look just like a fairy in a painting when you wear it~” Pear Fragrance didn’t care at all. The little girl clapped her hands, got up from the ground, and neatly dusted off a large bunch of clothes one by one, then carried them to the table next to her.

"Miss, would you like to wear this?" She excitedly pulled out a pale yellow long dress with rolled-up sleeves and a gold belt from the pile of clothes and gave it to me. The dress, embroidered with magnolia flowers, looked elegant and beautiful in the early spring sunshine.

"As you wish," I laughed. This girl was even more excited than I was. It was just going to Jixiang Mountain to burn incense and pray for blessings. But then again, in all my years, not only she but even I had hardly ever left the manor. Thinking of this, I inexplicably felt my mood brighten up as well.

"Miss, you, you run! I'll hold them off for you here!" I panicked and hid behind Lixiang. The little maid clutched a thin twig tightly in her hand and waved it nervously. I knew that she was no more composed than I was when facing those tall and burly bandits.

The sedan chair overturned behind us. The sedan chair bearers had long since fled, and the guards, Wang Da and Zhou Quan, had also been taken down by the enemy. At this moment, there was no one around. Only the two of us, weak women, were left on the secluded path to face this pack of wolves and tigers.

"I've long heard that the young lady of the Zhonglang Mansion is beautiful, and seeing her today, I can confirm that her reputation is well-deserved." The leading man stepped forward, bowed like a scholar, and said in a refined manner.

"What do you want?" I don't know where I got the courage, but I knew that it was no use running away now, so I simply stepped out from behind Rika.

“Miss, you…” Pear Blossom hurriedly tried to stop me, but I stopped her.