Le ciel est le rivage de la poussière mortelle

Chapitre 15

Xiao Lie said that a person's heart has two chambers: the left chamber is Zu'er, and the right chamber is Doukou.

This is Xiao Lie.

[Modern Era: 006 The 101st Silk Figure]

The wooden planks creaked and trembled underfoot, and years of dust and grime seeped up like mist from the cracks.

The auspicious patterns on the carved railing at the corner were still faintly discernible. When I reached out to touch it, a section of the railing creaked and fell down the stairs with a wisp of smoke.

Where am I? Where is this?

This building might be unable to withstand my footsteps and instantly turn to dust?

It must be a dream, a dream. Wake up, wake up quickly! I tried to open my eyes wide, but all I saw was this dilapidated wooden building.

"You've come, you've come."

Who? Who's speaking?

"You've come, you've come." The deep, rough voice seemed to come from inside the building. I glanced outside; the sky was clear, and a clear stream rippled below.

What could happen?

I slowly pushed open the half-closed wooden door, and it took me a while to see that it was completely empty. How could this be? I clearly heard a sound.

"Feimeng, Feimeng!" Tianqing actually climbed up from downstairs.

Seeing Tianqing covered in sweat, I realized this wasn't a dream.

"What are you doing here so early in the morning?"

"I... I can't explain it either."

"Weren't you going to visit your great-aunt?"

I followed Tianqing in a daze. The road was a little wet; had it rained? Yes, the wind rustled the leaves of the mimosa trees, scattering strings of water droplets, and the air had that cool, sweet feeling after the rain. There weren't many pedestrians on the road, but everyone who passed by turned to look at me with strange eyes. Something was wrong. I couldn't help but look at myself. Wait, why was I wearing a white wedding dress? Then I looked at Tianqing, who was dressed formally in a suit and tie. Tianqing hates wearing suits the most. What were we going to do? Get married? No, didn't Tianqing say we were going to visit his aunt?

My aunt was as old as I had imagined, but her orange-peel-like face had a pair of gleaming, piercing eyes. Those eyes were now brazenly scrutinizing me from head to toe, as she nodded slightly. "You're the one hundred and first silk doll?!" A deep, rough voice emanated from her thin, wrinkled lips, startling me. The voice was so similar to the one in the wooden building. Terrified, I hid behind Tianqing, but Tianqing pushed me back in front of my aunt. My aunt trembled as she reached out her hands, gently caressing the lace of my wedding dress, seemingly lost in reverie. Gradually, those terrifying, withered hands began to move over my skin, creeping like snakes.

"How could I be the 101st silk doll?" I asked Tianqing, who was sitting in the living room drinking tea, as I took off my wedding dress and diligently washed my arms, which had been touched by my old aunt.

Do you want to marry me?

"I think so."

"If that's the case, then don't ask," Tian Qing said coldly.

"But what's with this wedding dress?"

"I put it on you."

"It's not our wedding day, why would we wear a wedding dress?"

"Because I'm going to visit my great-aunt!"

I sat down opposite Tianqing in disbelief, swallowing hard. "Do we need my aunt's permission to get married?" Perhaps that was the reason.

However, Tianqing had actually fallen asleep on the sofa. This inexplicable morning, this inexplicable wooden building, this inexplicable old aunt, and… 101… I felt a chill run down my spine. “Tianqing, wake up! Tianqing, wake up!” I shook Tianqing’s head violently, and Tianqing’s neck snapped with a “crack”! I killed Tianqing?!

"ah!!"

"Feimeng, Feimeng, wake up, wake up, what are you doing sleeping here?"

I woke up abruptly. Thank goodness, it was just a dream. "Tianqing!" I threw myself into Tianqing's warm embrace, my fingers tightly gripping the strong, resilient body that gave me so much security. Tianqing smiled, cupped my face, and gently ran his soft lips across my tear-stained eyelashes. "Had a nightmare, didn't you?"

Last night, I actually fell asleep in the wooden building, Tianqing's abandoned ancestral home. Tianqing said he came looking for me this morning after discovering I was missing.

A piece of the carved railing at the corner was indeed broken. "When did it break?" I asked Tianqing tremblingly.

"Well, around this time last year, after my great-aunt fell from here, no one has lived in this building since."

My legs suddenly felt weak, like a piece of cloth hanging on Tianqing's body. Tianqing smiled and shook his head, then carefully picked me up and carried me downstairs.

I have a fever, and Tianqing said it must be because I caught a chill in the old house. While feeding me medicine, Tianqing complained, "Miss, how could you get sick at a time like this? We're having our wedding tomorrow."

"Can you tell me the story of the silk figurine?"

"What silk doll? Oh, the one your great-aunt gave you. There's a legend about it. If you want to hear it, drink your medicine first."

I obediently swallowed the bitter medicine and urged Tianqing to hurry up and speak. Tianqing stared at the corner of my mouth with sticky eyes, then slowly leaned down. "Tianqing!" What a rascal! He always has to take advantage of me. I struggled to support his large body. "Hurry up and speak, or no one will be there to hold your wedding tomorrow!"

This trick worked quite well; Tianqing's face twitched, and he slowly sat up straight.

"There's a story about the River God's wedding in our elementary school textbooks, right? Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a River God here who loved to snatch brides. Whenever the suona horns played during a wedding procession, he would seize the opportunity to snatch the bride. Who could compete with the incomparably powerful River God? So the clever people came up with a plan: on the wedding day, the bride would throw a silk doll that looked exactly like her into the river from her sedan chair. The River God would then believe that he had truly obtained the bride and would stop his festivities and return home."

The story sounded plausible, but it was just a legend, and I felt it wasn't the truth. I was so tired, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Tianqing, please leave this place. Don't hold the wedding. I beg you!"

"No, I promised Feimeng that I would give her a perfect wedding!"

I could faintly hear Tianqing arguing with her mother downstairs, it seemed to be related to our wedding.

"Otherwise, I'll talk to Feimeng, and I think she'll understand."

"Nonsense! Do you think Fei Meng would believe that? We are modern people, who would believe in those ancient spells?"

"But your great-aunt..."

There was silence downstairs. I slowly walked downstairs, and Tianqing and his mother stared at me in surprise.

"Tianqing, you should let me know the real reason now."

Tianqing lowered her head in anguish, choking back tears as she said, "I don't want you to feel burdened. I want you to be a happy bride!"

“Feimeng, you’re from the North, you don’t know about some of our strange customs,” my future mother-in-law finally couldn’t help but tell me. “Long ago, Tianqing’s ancestor was a Han official sent by the emperor to govern this place. A beautiful Miao woman fell in love with him and became pregnant with his child. However, he didn’t marry her; he married a Han woman instead. On the very night of his wedding to the Han woman, the Miao woman gave birth to a baby boy. The Miao woman resented her ancestor’s heartlessness and used the life of her own child to cast a blood curse on the River God, cursing every man in Tianqing’s family who married a Han woman to die a tragic death on his wedding night. Tianqing’s great-aunt was actually the bride of Tianqing’s uncle. She was Han, but Tianqing’s uncle loved her so much that on their wedding night, Tianqing’s uncle…”

"He'll die with his neck broken!"

"How did you know?" Tianqing and his mother looked at me in fear.

My uncle died, and his burial offering was a silk doll that looked very much like my great-aunt; it was the hundredth silk doll in the Tianqing family. So, what will I be...?

I dare not imagine that I love Tianqing so much that without him, I would be a lifeless silk doll.

Before dawn, I had already boarded the barge that was about to set sail. I did not want to be the 101st silk-clad person, so I gave Tianqing to Yun, a Miao woman who had always loved him deeply.

Tianqing must still be asleep; he must be exhausted.

[Modern Era: 007 Robber]

"Damn it! What kind of lousy job is this!" Fang Xiaoping slammed his hat onto the table.

The hat spun a few times on the peeling, dark yellow tabletop before landing at Lao Liu's feet in a freefall motion, like a front flip.

"Heh heh, kid, you're getting annoyed again." Old Liu chuckled to himself, bent down to pick up the hat, carefully blew the dust off the cap badge, placed it neatly in the middle of the table with both hands, and then examined it from head to toe with a feigned look.

You can't blame Fang Xiaoping for lacking the demeanor of a people's police officer. A phrase Fang Xiaoping often utters is, "What the hell do I, a mere beat cop, need to have any manners about me!" True, his classmates from police academy have gone on to different places: some were assigned to the municipal public security bureau, some to the criminal investigation team, some to the bomb disposal team, and of course, some were placed as figureheads by leaders. But frankly, any of them are better than Fang Xiaoping. He was a top student in school, and now he's a beat cop—and a damn intern one at that.

In Fang Xiaoping's jurisdiction, there are a total of 108 households. The people who come to them for trouble are mostly elderly people who have retired but still want to contribute.

Today, Zhang's daughter-in-law is disrespectful to her mother-in-law; tomorrow, Li's family keeps pigeons on their balcony; the day after, so-and-so keeps a mistress and lives with her illegally, and so on—these are just some of the trivial, old stories.

When it comes to getting straight to the point, things often get rambling and confusing, going back and forth from cause to beginning to end.

Even worse, they started meddling in Fang Xiaoping's marriage, as if his unmarried status had become a major concern for everyone in the area. Often, after finishing their conversations about this or that, older women and men would start asking about his age, place of origin, family members, home address, and so on, with a level of detail a hundred times more thorough than when they were checking his household registration.

At times like these, Fang Xiaoping reveals the weaknesses of youth. He cannot be like Lao Liu, smiling slyly, nodding intermittently, and enthusiastically offering tea and water to those spittle-splattering mouths.

Therefore, Fang Xiaoping always tried his best to handle any matters that required him to go out. Over time, this led to the formation of a circle of activity and a pattern of activities centered on Lao Liu and with Fang Xiaoping as the radius.

Oh, I forgot to mention that there are only two staff members in Fang Xiaoping's 20-square-meter unit: Director Liu and intern police officer Xiaoping.

When Lao Liu said with a smile that he had something to do in the afternoon, Fang Xiaoping could only nod. Sigh, he'll have to stand on his own again. Hopefully, all those old folks who love to nag him will have a card game this afternoon.

Some events have both accidental and inevitable aspects, and people often attribute unexpected results to coincidence after they occur. Therefore, Fang Xiaoping's solo shift that afternoon created an opportunity for what was originally a minor matter to become a major event that shocked the entire city and even the province.

That afternoon, Police Officer Xiaoping was leisurely sitting in a chair, flipping through a detective novel. Old Yang happened to walk in just as the sun was slightly past its zenith. Old Yang said, "I haven't eaten!"

Fang Xiaoping was taken aback for a moment, "This is a police station, not a restaurant!"

"You're new here, aren't you?" Old Yang said dismissively, easily hitting Fang Xiaoping's weak point.

"What's wrong with someone who just arrived?" Fang Xiaoping's smile gradually faded from his face.

"Nothing much. Usually when I say that, Lao Liu will buy me food."

"Heh, is that a rule?" Fang Xiaoping was amused and irritated, giving Old Yang a thorough once-over. His gray, wrinkled face, with its indistinct lines, was framed by a pair of small eyes, equally indistinct in black and white, occasionally reflecting a sliver of light when he blinked—the only sign of life on his face. He wore an outdated, slightly worn Zhongshan suit and carried a yellow canvas bag. Nothing particularly remarkable about him. Why would Old Liu buy you food?

"Are you related to Lao Liu?" Fang Xiaoping asked tentatively. If so, he would still have to give him face by buying him a boxed lunch.

"no."

"So, you're from his hometown?"

"No!" Old Yang was clearly getting impatient, and he stretched out one of his slightly stiff legs. "Are you going to buy me food or not?"

"Why should I? Me!"

"Just because you're from this police station! The area under your jurisdiction has produced bad guys who don't pay their debts!" As he spoke, Old Yang pulled a small tin box out of his canvas bag, and then took out a crumpled piece of paper from the tin box.

I borrow 60,000 yuan in cash from Yang Qingshan.

Li Desheng, the person who signed the agreement

[Date]

"Heh, you're here to collect a debt from Li Desheng, aren't you? How did you end up at the police station?" Fang Xiaoping was furious at the mention of Li Desheng. This morning, the couple had a fight at home. Li Desheng's wife called, saying that Li Desheng was abusing her and demanding that the police come to her rescue. By the time Fang Xiaoping arrived, panting, Li Desheng's wife had already been coaxed into a smile by Li Desheng. She didn't even let him in the door and dismissed the righteous policeman with a single sentence, hence Fang Xiaoping's anger at the beginning.

So when Old Yang said, "That bastard says he has no money!" Fang Xiaoping couldn't hold back any longer. "Sue him! Let the court punish him!"

“He has connections in the court, so there’s nowhere to sue him, and I don’t have the money to bribe him.”

"Then go to his door with a detonator or something. If he doesn't give it to you, blow that bastard up," Fang Xiaoping said, half in anger and half in jest.

"A detonator?!" Old Yang's small eyes widened instantly, with two tiny flames flickering upwards inside.

No one bought food, so Old Yang, with one stiff leg, slowly and laboriously walked out. (II)

As Old Yang gradually disappeared from Fang Xiaoping's sight, Fang Xiaoping turned his attention back to his detective mystery. He had no idea that Old Yang would bring him such a thrill in the next moment.

At 2:16, Fang Xiaoping's phone suddenly rang.

Fang Xiaoping lazily stretched for a bit, and only picked up the phone after it rang for the fifth time: "Hello, where is this?"

"Robbery! Robbery!" came a woman's low, trembling voice from the phone.

"What did you say? Speak louder!"