Lady's Home

Chapter 1

Lady's House

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Jian Dongping last saw Zhou Jin on May 7, 2007.

It was a Friday. He was driving his Beijing Jeep back to Shanghai from the mountains of Zhejiang when he encountered a heavy rain. It was also nearing evening, and the traffic was terrible. Since the place where he was stranded was at least 20 kilometers away from home, he decided to find a place to rest first.

So, once the traffic ahead eased up a bit, he drove off the main road and onto a relatively quiet side street. He stopped in front of a convenience store, bought a steaming cup of instant coffee, and then leisurely sat by the window, enjoying the rain outside. His car was parked brazenly in the rain, and as he was congratulating himself on saving himself a car wash fee, a man suddenly caught his attention. In the downpour, the man, wearing a brown suit, was furtively peering into his car through the window.

Could it be a thief? His heart tightened.

"Hey, is that your car parked outside? Go check it out!" The convenience store clerk seemed to have noticed the man as well, and she nervously reminded him.

Jian Dongping got up, pushed open the door, and went out. His car was about five or six meters away from the convenience store. As he walked out, the automatic glass door of the store still made a loud "ding." He thought that the noise would be enough to alert the audacious thief, but to his surprise, the thief seemed completely oblivious to his surroundings, continuing to peer through the car window. "Looks like inexperienced, a first-time offender," Jian Dongping thought. He couldn't help but scrutinize the thief from behind. The suit was too big, making him look small, and the ill-fitting suit was paired with white sneakers. Wearing sneakers was probably for a quick escape after the theft; the shoe size was very small, at least for a man, it was extra small. "Maybe he's a child," Jian Dongping thought, his tension easing slightly. He didn't like fighting; if the other person was just a child driven by greed, he decided to scare him away.

He stepped forward and patted the thief on the shoulder. The man immediately turned around. Although it was nearly 6 p.m. and raining, the outdoor light was very limited, but the white light shining from the convenience store still allowed Jian Dongping to see the person in front of him clearly. The strangely made-up face almost made him take a step back. He hadn't expected that the "thief" with a mustache and dressed in men's clothing was actually Zhou Jin, a columnist under his management.

Jian Dongping manages two sections in the weekly magazine *Xin*, one of which is a travelogue section. Three months ago, Jian Dongping began receiving submissions from Zhou Jin in his email inbox. Zhou Jin's articles are concise, witty, and full of charm, mostly describing her observations and experiences in small inns. In her emails, Zhou Jin introduced herself, saying that since graduating from university, she had been working while traveling throughout the country. Jian Dongping found her writing fluent and her perspective unique, so he invited her to write a column. To date, Zhou Jin's column, "My Small Inn Travelogue," has been published for eight consecutive issues, and the response has been very positive.

"Hi! Editor Jian." She smiled at him casually, and when she saw him staring at her, she gave him a playful push. "Oh dear, look at you, you keep staring at me like that, it makes me feel embarrassed."

It was exactly her usual coquettish tone.

Jian Dongping truly couldn't understand why this woman, who couldn't help but act affectionately towards any man, would wear a fake mustache and this ugly suit, peering at his car in the pouring rain. For a moment, he wondered if he had encountered a mental patient.

"Zhou Jin, what are you up to? I almost didn't recognize you," he said.

She didn't answer him, but looked up at the sky and said, "Oh, the rain is really heavy today. I'm almost soaked to the bone." Then she hurried into the convenience store.

Jian Dongping followed behind.

"You two know each other?" The shop assistant looked at the two of them with suspicion.

“We are friends,” Jian Dongping replied briefly, then returned to his seat to continue drinking his coffee.

Zhou Jin wandered around the convenience store for a while, eventually buying a lollipop with a cat's head on it and two brightly colored ballpoint pens. The purely feminine voice emanating from this male body had probably already confused the clerk, especially since she bought such childish items. This only made the clerk more puzzled, so she was several steps slower in paying, preoccupied with watching Zhou Jin. The latter, however, didn't seem to mind at all, even appearing somewhat smug. Jian Dongping almost suspected that she was deliberately dressed to attract attention.

"Are you going to act in a play or attend a masquerade ball tonight? You look just like Zhou Chong from 'Thunderstorm' right now," he said with a smile, looking her up and down after she sat down next to him.

"Acting?" She smiled. "It's half and half, I guess."

Just as Jian Dongping was about to ask her what she meant by that, she spoke again.

"Editor Jian, could you give me a ride later?" she said.

"No problem, where are you going?"

"Xincheng Road".

"It seems to be not far from here," Jian Dongping thought. If there is no traffic jam, it should only take about 15 minutes to drive there.

"It's not far, but it's inconvenient. I was supposed to just transfer to bus 57 at the same stop, but when I got there I found out the bus stop for 57 had moved. I asked several people and they didn't know where it was. And now it's raining so hard, I can't even get a taxi." She muttered to herself in annoyance, "Why did it have to be today of all days?"

"Looking like that, you're lucky if people don't scare you away when you ask for directions," Jian Dongping thought to himself. Then he thought, "So, she was probably eyeing his car because she wanted him to give her a ride. But how would she know his car?"

"You recognize my car?" Jian Dongping asked.

Yes, I remember your license plate.

However, he only drove her around once.

"You have a really good memory," Jian Dongping said.

“I have a compulsion to memorize numbers,” she said.

Jian Dongping had never heard of this disease before.

"No matter what situation I encounter or who I meet, I force myself to count and then memorize it," she explained with a smile, seeing his puzzled expression.

Could you give me an example?

"The first time I went to the weekly magazine to see you, I took a 5-stop bus ride, walked 4 corners, crossed 2 crossroads, and climbed 10 steps. You were wearing a blue shirt with 15 buttons that day. The ring on your hand had 4 horizontal lines. There were 12 magazines, 14 newspapers, 3 maps, and 14 books on your desk. There were 6 categories of things on your desk. There were 20 tea leaves in your teacup... That's about all I remember."

Jian Dongping was dumbfounded.

“You must have had excellent grades in math, physics, and chemistry when you were in school,” he said.

"No way, I'm not a good student at all." She sighed with a hint of sadness. "This is probably just a kind of mental illness. Actually, there are a lot of things I don't want to remember."

Jian Dongping glanced at her. He couldn't imagine what it would be like if his brain were like hers, forced to store so much irrelevant data every day. He thought he might rather have brain surgery than count everything he came across, let alone count things that made him unhappy, especially not just memorize everything he counted. That was indeed a painful skill.

They lingered in the convenience store for a few minutes before leaving.

Jian Dongping drove her through the side streets, and in less than 15 minutes they arrived at the intersection of Xincheng Road and Datong Road.

“This is Xincheng Road. How do I get there?” he asked her.

"Have we arrived at Xincheng Road?" She put her hand on his shoulder and looked out the car window, her voice trembling slightly.

“Yes, we’re here. 15 Xincheng Road is ahead.” Jian Dongping looked at the road sign.

"Just drive a little further. It's... number 45." She hesitated for a moment before saying.

Jian Dongping drove a little further before stopping.

"This is it!" Zhou Jin suddenly exclaimed excitedly.

He discovered that No. 45 Xincheng Road was a winding alley, very deep, with no houses visible from the entrance. Jian Dongping knew that these kinds of alleys were usually interconnected, and if you kept walking, you would find hidden gems hidden inside, including several residential complexes.

Jian Dongping was eager to know why she was so agitated. But he knew she definitely wouldn't tell him. So he decided not to ask anything.

"Ah, so this is where it is." Zhou Jin said, and was about to open the car door when she suddenly turned around and smiled at him. "Thank you, Editor Jian. I'm so grateful to have you here today."

Jian Dongping knew she was smiling seductively at him. If she were dressed as a woman, it would probably be a rather alluring smile, but at this moment, her strange little mustache and wet brown suit made her feminine charm seem terrifying.

"If you want to thank me, submit your manuscript early next week." He avoided her gaze, trying to forget that ugly face.

"Don't worry. I'll submit the manuscript on time," she said in a clear voice. Then, she did something that took him by surprise: she turned around and hugged him warmly.

"Zhou Jin, you... um... are you being too polite?" Reason told Jian Dongping that the person next to him was a woman, and a rather charming one at that, but his senses still made him feel like a man was being intimate with him. So he felt very resistant and didn't know whether to push her away or just let her be.

Fortunately, she let go of him immediately.

“Thank you, Editor Jane, I’m so grateful to have you here today.” She repeated herself, her voice trembling, and this time she added, “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this day. I’m so happy today.”

Then, she opened the car door and rushed into the alley at No. 45 Xincheng Road.

Jian Dongping always remembered Zhou Jin's excited voice, her strange behavior, and the scene of her running in the rain. He never imagined that this would be the last time he would see her.

2. The male owner in the box

That smell again!

As Zhang Yufen walked through the kitchen aisle, a gentle breeze carried that unsettling smell back to her nose. She paced anxiously back and forth in the aisle several times, trying to find the source of the strange odor, but it vanished in an instant. Where did it come from?

For the past few days, Zhang Yufen has been smelling a foul odor every time she walks through the kitchen hallway. This smell reminds her of something she desperately wants to remember. A few months ago, her dog, Glass, had somehow offended someone in the family; someone smashed its head and dumped it in a cardboard box, mixed in with a dozen or so boxes of beer and food in the backyard. Back then, every time Zhang Yufen went to collect the laundry in the backyard, she would smell a very similar odor. Later, when she finally found Glass's body among those boxes, she discovered it was already decomposed. She vividly remembers the feeling when she opened the cardboard box; the overwhelming stench almost made her faint.

Could something have died here? It must be. Was it a rat, a stray cat, or a stray dog? For the past few days, she had been speculating in her mind, feeling as if a dark cloud was pressing down on her, making it hard to breathe. She was determined to solve this problem and find the source of the smell again.

Although the house was large with 20 rooms, she was certain that the smell was coming from the area around the kitchen on the ground floor. She had already thoroughly searched the kitchen and the connecting hallway, but to no avail. Now, all that remained was the basement storage room next to the kitchen.

The storage room was a forbidden area in the house, the private kingdom of the mistress of the house, Shen Biyun. She kept many personal belongings there, so she rarely allowed anyone other than herself to enter. Since Zhang Yufen moved into this large villa with Shen Biyun, she would never set foot in the storage room unless specifically permitted by the mistress. She remembered that Shen Biyun's eldest daughter, Fang Qi, had once been beaten for sneaking in to play. The key to the storage room had always been solely possessed by Shen Biyun. If the mistress hadn't asked her this morning to take out the old cheongsams from the storage room to air them in the sun, she wouldn't be holding this heavy brass key now.

"Yufen, take the cheongsam trunk to the yard. The sun is so nice, it's a good time to take those old things out to air them." Shen Biyun handed her the keys as she left.

The lady of the house hasn't been feeling well lately and went to see the doctor again this morning. Despite this, her sense of smell is still very sharp.

"Yufen, can you smell something?"

"Of course! I smelled it too."

"You'd better investigate this thoroughly while I'm gone, and ideally resolve it before I return. I don't want to smell this odor when I come back. If all else fails, just spray some perfume," the hostess said, covering her nose with a Suzhou-embroidered silk handkerchief and frowning.

Zhang Yufen knew that the woman also suspected there were dead cats and dogs in the house.

Now that the mistress of the house has left and no one else is around, Zhang Yufen decides to go to the storage room alone to take a good look around.

With a heavy heart, she took the large brass key from the kitchen cabinet and went to the storage room door. Suddenly, a breeze blew in from somewhere, and she smelled that scent again. Could it really be in the storage room? What could it be? Could it really be stray cats and dogs? If it was them, how did they get into the storage room? Her mind was filled with questions.

The key worked smoothly, and the storage room door opened in no time.

It was pitch black inside. Zhang Yufen turned on the wall light and went down the steps. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but the smell suddenly seemed even stronger. Her heart pounded, and she began to regret not bringing her heart medication. She absolutely hated the chore of cleaning up animal carcasses; she had been responsible for disposing of her dog Glass's body last time. The image of her running out the door with a stench-filled box in her hand was still vivid in her mind—it made her nauseous just thinking about it!

Sigh, what can I do? I'm the only maid in this house. If I don't do this kind of work, who will? Every time she thought about this, she felt indignant about her fate.

She entered the second door of the storage room with resentment and disgust.

The smell seemed to have intensified.

She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, covered her nose, and turned on the light. The scene in the storage room stunned her. It was a complete mess. She wasn't sure if it had always been like this, as she hadn't been inside for months, but something felt off. The woman who owned the room was a very tidy person; she wouldn't open every box, nor would she leave her beautiful cheongsams scattered on the floor, let alone leave broken vase pieces on them.

Could this place have been burgled?! A thought flashed through her mind.

The increasingly strong smell quickly made her forget her suspicion. Could it be a stray dog causing trouble? Had it accidentally slipped in, become trapped, and gone mad? But thinking back over the past few days, she hadn't heard a dog bark at all.

All around was silent; she could only hear her own heartbeat and rapid breathing.

She sniffed around, following the scent, and finally stopped in front of an iron box more than two meters long and one meter high. She recognized the box; it was the one Shen Biyun had specifically used to store the sculpture when they moved into the villa. Someone had sculpted a bronze statue of her stepfather, the famous painter Huang Yaliu, and now that statue sat in a corner of the yard. Since the sculpture was removed from the box, it had remained empty. At least a few months ago, it had been empty. How could the stench be coming from here? Was something hidden inside?

She discovered that of all the boxes, only this iron box was covered.

She slowly approached the large iron box, feeling like she was suffocating from the increasingly strong smell. Holding her breath, she stuffed her handkerchief into her pocket and reached for the handles. Ah! She almost screamed. The box wasn't locked, and a rolling pin was stuck into one of its two metal rings! No wonder she couldn't find the rolling pin! A few days ago, Fang Qi wanted to eat hand-pulled noodles, and she even went out of her way to buy a new one! Who brought it here? What happened?

Without a second thought, she slowly opened the lid of the box. A strangely familiar stench assaulted her nostrils, making her dizzy. A chill ran down her spine, and she paused for two seconds, trying to calm herself. She told herself she'd expected this; there was nothing surprising or frightening about it. It was just a rotting corpse! She'd seen plenty of dead cats and dogs. She forced her head down…

She thought she would find the carcass of a wild dog in the iron box, but to her horror, she saw a man instead!

Moreover, she immediately recognized him as the hostess's young husband, Su Zhiwen!

He said he went to Hong Kong with friends, how could that be... how could that be...

ah!--

She screamed, and extreme fear made her turn and run away. She felt as if a ghost was following her closely, trying to take her life. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Because she was running so fast, she tripped and fell twice on the stairs. She practically crawled out of the storage room, telling herself to call the police, call the police, as she stumbled and staggered to the telephone in the living room.

She picked up the phone, panting heavily.

"This is No. 28 Datong Road. There is someone dead here. Hurry, hurry up..." she stammered, then put down the phone, her legs gave way, and she collapsed to the ground.

3. A wasteland

"I'm surprised you haven't gotten SARS yet?" Ling Ge banged his chopsticks against the plate.

Jian Dongping believed that it was highly unlikely anyone, past, present, or future, would say such vicious things to him at the dinner table. He was enjoying a plate of freshly cooked shrimp when he was unjustly accused. He looked up blankly at the woman in red sitting opposite him and asked:

"What do you mean?"

“Do you think that by getting them drunk and eating them, they won’t suffer? They’re still alive! Did you consider their feelings when you ate them? They also have the right to live!” She glared at him, her tone like that of a lawyer representing the shrimp.