Paper Baby - Chapter 18
"Stop!" I suddenly shouted.
Detective Wang stared wide-eyed at the screen, craned his neck, and then turned to ask me, "What? What did you see?"
"Don't stare at the toilet door, don't look at the entrance!" I said excitedly. "Look next to Zhu Baohua, who are those two people standing there!"
This is the person Zhu Baohua mentioned earlier, who had looked at them curiously before quickly walking away.
We all initially thought they were just insignificant passersby.
But no!
This is a middle-aged woman with a child, wearing sunglasses that cover half of her face.
The detective stared at the man for two seconds, then suddenly slammed his fist on the table.
"It's Xue Ying, Xue Ying!" he said viciously, the cigarette that was dangling from his mouth had fallen to the ground at some point.
"I guess the little girl she was with was Zhou Qianqian."
Chapter Fifteen: Delving into the Core
If fate could be predicted, it wouldn't be fate.
Although you can't know it beforehand, hidden in the void, once it happens, you feel that everything was predetermined, inescapable, and unavoidable. This is called fate.
Sometimes, the fate of a song is just as unpredictable as that of a person.
I once heard the story behind a song.
Back then, Zhou Zhiping wrote songs for Tony Leung. Actually, this amazing guy's name is Zhou Zhiping, but at the height of his fame, he could buy a Mercedes-Benz with just one song he wrote, so he was also known as Zhou Pingzhi. I fantasize about the day when I can buy a Mercedes-Benz with just one news article I write—no, no, just a Xiali (a small, affordable car) will do. Suddenly, my mouth is watering.
When you start daydreaming, it's easy to go off-topic. Zhou Niuren Pingzhi wrote songs for Tony Leung, enough for an entire album, but found that none of the songs were substantial enough to be the lead single. With the deadline fast approaching and him in a difficult situation, fearing he might ruin his reputation, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and wrote "Trapped by Love." So he removed a song from the original album and replaced it with "Trapped by Love," and the album indeed sold very well.
The song that was removed was sold to a struggling singer, but this singer's career was terrible; he couldn't make it big and eventually gave up and changed careers. The song was then resold to another unknown singer. This unknown singer, with this song, became a sensation across the Taiwan Strait and throughout China. This singer's name was Dick Cowboy, and the song was called "How Much Love Can Be Relived."
If this song had been sung by Tony Leung or Chou Chih-ping, it certainly wouldn't have become a hit. Chou Chih-ping's decision to replace the song back then was very wise. Only in Dick Cowboy's hands did it unleash its dazzling vitality.
How much love can be rekindled? How many people are worth waiting for?
I sang the song at the top of my lungs, and then requested "Betrayal".
This song tells another story.
This is a song by Gary Cao. Many people weren't familiar with him before, as he wasn't exactly a famous singer. His song "Betrayal" was also relatively unknown initially, but it was performed on a Taiwanese talent show by two popular singers, Aska Yang and Jam Hsiao. The latter, in particular, caused the song to skyrocket to the top of karaoke charts in Taiwan. Gary Cao's rendition is tender, while Jam Hsiao's is powerful; everyone who sings it in karaoke does so with great passion, and people love this style of singing.
I betrayed myself to fulfill your expectations.
The shift from "expectation" to "anticipation" is a magnificent leap from low to high notes; I gather all my energy from my diaphragm and let it surge from the back of my head to my forehead.
"It's broken."
He Xi opened the door with her toes, carrying a large tray as she walked in. Her first words made me feel dejected.
"I've been practicing for a long time."
“But it still sang off.” He Xi’s reply made me think that the previous explanation was extremely stupid.
He Xi placed the tray on the table, and the sight of it overflowing with food left me speechless.
"How could there be so much? Three servings of fish fillet hand rolls, a sizzling beef platter that's more than enough for two people, and a huge pile of beef balls. Aren't the rules that each person can only take a small portion of these pre-made items at a time?"
“How should I know? I told them to give me a little more, and they did.”
"That's so unfair! But why is there only one tempura shrimp?"
"If you want more, go get it yourself." He Xi rolled her eyes at me.
I understood what was going on when I went to get it myself. Only the chef making the tempura and shrimp was a woman; all the other chefs were men…
"Where do you want to eat?" I asked He Xi an hour ago.
"Besides eating, what else can you do?"
I really wanted to say to her with a lewd expression, "Actually, I know a lot of things, oh hahaha..." But I'm ashamed to say that I'm not bold enough to do that, so in the end I just made plans to go to KTV to sing, since there's self-service there for dinner anyway.
I think I really need to relax by singing, otherwise having all those unresolved issues in my head will strangle me.
He Xi spent a few years in an orphanage in Hong Kong when she was very young, and then lived in Switzerland, so she didn't have many opportunities to be exposed to Chinese songs. When she was a child, her adoptive father would sometimes bring her a few Hong Kong song tapes, and in recent months, after coming to Shanghai to work as a forensic doctor, she would occasionally hear songs. Naturally, the songs she chose today were either very old or very new.
She is now singing Priscilla Chan's "Chong Cha Guan," a former Hong Kong diva. How many people still know her now?
He Xi's voice was deep and magnetic when she sang. That song still lingers in my memory, but why does that memory not match the tune she's singing now?
"Did you sing it correctly?" I asked doubtfully after she finished singing.
“No,” she answered bluntly, “I’ve forgotten what key it was originally.”
"You're really strong," I said sincerely.
Even after going off-key, she still managed to sing the song with unwavering passion and even sing it in a different melody. If I hadn't heard the song before, I wouldn't have been sure she was singing off-key.
"This shows that I have a good sense of music," He Xi said.
I suddenly realized that He Xi also has a thick skin.
"Your phone is ringing," she reminded me.
I picked up my phone from the table, glanced at the screen, and my expression immediately changed.
"What, who called?"
“Yuan Ji, that follower of the Holy Maiden Cult. I’ve been waiting for his call for a long time.”
"Hey, Na Duo, this is Lao Yuan." Yuan Ji's voice came from the phone, and the loud music around them suddenly stopped. He Xi pressed the mute button.
"Oh, hello."
Did you go to the court hearing the day before yesterday afternoon?
"I went."
"You haven't called me, I thought you didn't go. Now you must know what the miracle I was talking about is."
I took a slow breath.
Two days ago, when we spotted Xue Ying and Zhou Qianqian in the surveillance footage, we thought we had found a clue to solve the mystery of Lü Wanqiang's disappearance, but the truth was quite the opposite.
No one believed that these two people appearing at such a place at such a time was a coincidence. However, just as the bailiff with the bulbous nose had said, they only stood there for a short while before leaving. The surveillance footage showed no unusual activity on their part. Could they really just stand outside the restroom and make a living person inside disappear?
The results of the comparison between the urine and footprints in the toilet have come back, confirming that they were left by Lü Wanqiang. No other traces were found. This casts a huge question mark over whether Lü Wanqiang intentionally escaped.
They checked every nook and cranny, from ventilation ducts to drainpipes, and found nothing had been disturbed. They even knocked on the toilet from ceiling to floor and all the surrounding walls, proving there were no hidden doors. The criminal investigation team dug deep into the tiny toilet; as Detective Wang put it, even if Lü Wanqiang had spontaneously combusted and turned to ashes while urinating, he couldn't have disappeared so completely.
What exactly did Xue Ying and Zhou Qianqian do after they entered the court disguised as ordinary citizens?
"The trial was suddenly extended, and no verdict was announced that day. I don't know what happened," I said. As an ordinary observer, this was all the information I had.
"Ha, what do you mean by extended recess? I heard from a fellow church member who went that day that the judges had already taken their seats again, and it was only announced suddenly after a long time. Don't you find that strange?"
"It's very strange."
“Let me tell you what happened. Because the defendant suddenly disappeared, right under their noses, the trial could no longer proceed without the defendant.”
"Disappeared suddenly? Did he run away?" I asked tentatively.
"No, they either ran away or disappeared. This person no longer exists in this world."
"He's dead?" I asked, somewhat surprised.
"You could say that, but you couldn't say that either. This is a miracle manifested by the great divine power of the Celestial Venerable; he has returned to the original nothingness."
I have too many questions in my mind, but I think now is not the time to ask them. What I should show is a different attitude that will satisfy Yuan Ji.
"This is incredible! Does God really exist? Oh my god! I'm sorry, I have mixed feelings right now."
"Are you feeling a little excited, a little confused, and a little lost?" He chuckled twice and said, "That's alright. Every true believer goes through this stage at first. Faced with God's greatness, we tremble because of our insignificance. Now, I invite you to join us, to bask in God's glory, and to see the truth at the end of the world."
I put down the phone, looking a little excited.
"What did he say?" He Xi asked me.
"He wanted me to join the Church of St. Mary and attend more formal and core doctrinal sermons."
"when?"
He said he would tell me the specific time and place after I had seriously considered it and made up my mind. I didn't reply immediately, but kept him in suspense for a bit before calling him again, which is quite reasonable. He said that if I became a formal believer, a miracle would happen again.
"Take me with you, I've been a bit bored lately because there's nothing to cut."
"No, no." I quickly shook my head. "How can this be? This is deep behind enemy lines, not child's play."
I suddenly realized I had spoken without thinking, and then I saw He Xi narrow her light blue eyes.
"So you thought I was a woman who liked to play house like a child.
"No, no, no, of course not, of course not..."
Before replying to Yuan Ji, I planned to contact Director Pang. Although the thought of her plump figure made me feel uncomfortable, like a lump of fat was lodged in my throat, agreeing to Yuan Ji's request meant I would be more deeply involved. She would need to provide advice and necessary support on how to handle certain situations.
After she contacted me that night, she hasn't said anything since. I can't figure out if she's planning to just wash her hands of the matter and let me do whatever I want, or if she's actually aware of everything I do. Both possibilities are despicable, but given how despicable she is, I think the latter is more likely.
As I diligently escorted He Xi back to her place, I had already made up my mind. Once home, I'd take a shower, then surf the internet, maybe watch some TV, and around midnight, I'd call Auntie Pang and give her a hard time. Even as I saw a black Buick parked at the main entrance of the complex, I was still indulging in these fantasies.
I stared at the car, wondering if it was a coincidence, since there are at least several thousand such cars in Shanghai.
The dark brown glass on the car window made it impossible for me to see inside; I could only hear the low rumble of the engine.
I knocked on the car door: "Is anyone home?"
Then the car door slowly slid open automatically.
"Please come in."
Looking at that chubby face, I asked in surprise, "Why didn't you wait for me downstairs this time?"
"Because I know you're a proactive and good child," the plump auntie said with a smile.
A sense of powerlessness welled up inside me. I had wanted to regain some initiative, but she could even guess what I was thinking. It seems I should be glad that I didn't stand on the opposite side of this middle-aged woman.
"You seem to understand the importance of balancing work and rest. I knew I wouldn't choose the wrong person." The plump aunt's expression and tone were always so kind.
Work-life balance? I paused for a moment, then immediately realized that she was referring to my date with He Xi, singing and having fun. She was giving me a warning.
"Yuan Ji called me during dinner tonight." Trying to beat around the bush with someone like that is pointless; our abilities and experience are clearly not on the same level, so it's better to be direct.
The plump woman glanced at me with a hint of approval. But this only made me more annoyed, and I silently repeated everything Yuan Ji had said on the phone.
"Okay, it's up to you now!"