30 - Wait for me to come back

Sunrise was rapidly approaching. Under the cold light, the frost pattern on the window glittered, and the mountain scenery was indistinct and dreamlike 1 . Although Wu Fengrong was aware of the sky’s swift brightening, it was only the blowing wind which changed its course as the train wound down the mountain.

Something vibrated against his thigh. His exhausted body jerked as he nearly jumped out of his seat. Zhou Yanling sat beside him, smiling as he looked at a cell phone. From his expression, Wu Fengrong guessed that Huang Ye had texted him back. The fish had taken the bait.

“He invited me to meet him at seven o’clock in the back of the engine room.” Zhou Yanling glanced at his wrist watch. “That’s in less than half an hour. I’ll check in and see if Zhou Chi needs any help on the way. This tough young lady pulled an all-nighter, so she’s also tired. If these people can endure until arrival, then they should pull through.”

Wu Fengrong did not move. He only smiled vacantly: “Good.”

Zhou Yabnling knew that he wasn’t in the best frame of mind. He put the cell phone down, put his arm around him, and pulled him towards himself so he could rest against his shoulder. Wu Fengrong’s legs swung across his lap. He whistled a little tune, a bright and distant melody that echoed off the glass windows. Zhou Yanling rubbed his eyes, thinking to himself that he could probably sleep for ten more minutes.

After a while, Wu Fengrong said: “You go, alright? I want to sit here for a bit longer.”

Zhou Yanling patted him on the shoulder and stood. He took a step away, then turned back. The two kissed, then Zhou Yanling said: “Wait for me to come back so we can eat breakfast together.” Wu Fengrong nodded and watched him disappear down the aisle.

Dawn. The sunlight refracting on the early frost stung Wu Fengrong’s eyes. Two trails of tears flowed down as he blinked.

Zhao Xintao and Zhou Yanling brushed past each other. Zhao Xintao’s expression indicated that the engine room had already been prepared.

The engine room was beside a train door. Its placement was actually a little dangerous. As Zhou Yanling bowed his head to light a cigarette, someone walked up from behind him. He didn’t move, and a shoulder gently leaned against him. The lighter spring rebounded. Zhou Yanling exhaled a mouthful of smoke and shoved the mobile hard-drive through his coat’s inner pocket. The two men stood back-to-back, neither turning their heads.

“I’ve inconvenienced Lao-ge 2 to make this trip, only this time it’s not to borrow his phone,” Zhou Yanling said.

The man let out a low laugh: “It’s crazy. I didn’t expect that you’d be that insurance investigator. The world sure is small.”

“Is that so bad? I almost didn’t remember handling this case.”

“What do you want?”

“I want the child surnamed Hé.”

“You were framed by Hé Da and you still want to protect his son?”

Zhou Yanling ashed his cigarette: “Hey, why do you think I’m protecting his son? Xiao Quan’s murder is still connected to me. I have to find someone to carry this pot 3 .” When he didn’t hear the man respond, Zhou Yanling knew that he had doubts and said, unhurriedly: “Let’s make a deal, yeah. I’ll give you this to help win the lawsuit against Hé Da, and you leave his son to me. I’ll have this child take the murderer’s place. When Hé Da loses his money, company and son, the two of us will be satisfied to our heart’s content 4 . How about it?”

Huang Ye hummed: “I actually like the way you think.”

Zhou Yanling said: “Lao-ge, you and I are alike. We’ve both been injured. I won’t keep any secrets from you. Since the two of us are in the same boat, we should help each other. Otherwise letting Hé Da tyrannically abuse us would make us more miserable. Meeting you on this train now is fate. Ge 5 , if you’re willing to quickly help me, then I’ll treat you to a drink later.”

Huang Ye didn’t speak immediately. Zhou Yanling didn’t urge him, patiently finishing his cigarette. He didn’t often have the urge to smoke. These past few years he’d been deliberately exercising control, so he’d been smoking less. Only when he needed to concentrate his thoughts and reflect for a length of time would he have one. Huang Ye abruptly coughed. Zhou Yanling slightly turned his head to see him stooped over, coughing hard, and smelled the faint scent of traditional medicine.

“I want to see the information first,” Huang Ye said: “Don’t try to fool me. I know you insurance sellers are the best at trickery.”

Zhou Yanling calmly handed him the hard drive: “Okay, consider it a gift for our first meeting.”

Huang Ye turned the small black plastic box every which way, unintelligible mumbles issuing from his throat. Zhou Yanling was under the impression that he was being mocked but then heard him ask: “How much did Hé Da pay you to help him get the result appraised as an accident?”

Zhou Yanling said: “He didn’t pay me. We used the police report as the basis of our appraisal. Sometimes, it just so happens that the appraisal results are incorrect.”

“You didn’t get anything from him? You people from large companies collude together to kill us and then divy up the money. Don’t think I don’t know that! It’s only now that you’re being harmed by Hé Da that you’re coming to me saying that we could help each other. Hmph. Isn’t that seeing the wind and setting the helm 6 ?”

“Lao-ge, insurance companies also want to make money, and if they don’t have to pay then of course they wouldn’t want to pay. In the event that the investigation found that the safety rope broke because of human interference, then I’d be even happier because we wouldn’t have to pay out. The construction company and I certainly did not collude.”

“What do you mean? Then could it be that you want to blackmail me?”

Zhou Yanling tossed the cigarette and extinguished it under his foot. He knew that there was no point continuing to speak. Huang Ye had already made up his mind that the construction company and the insurance company were colluding together, that Hé Da had bribed the insurance company, and that even the police and the judge had been bribed, so that he would not be able to win the lawsuit. This way of thinking sounded reasonable, but was actually full of holes. In the first place, the construction companies had a legal responsibility to buy occupational accident insurance for the workers. The insurance company did not force them to buy it, so there was no conflict of interest between the insurance company and the construction company. Secondly, the police had already investigated the case and announced their findings. So it was that the police had already carried out their duties before the judge rejected the appeal on the grounds of insufficient evidence. It wasn’t because of a coverup. And a coverup had its own costs and risks.

Of course, it was only natural that a case like this had mistakes and omissions. If Tongda Construction company had destroyed evidence, had tampered with the scene, had bribed witnesses, and had interfered with the judgement of the police and judge, it could have led to unjust and false charges. However, this was totally different from Tongda colluding with the insurance company, and bribing law enforcement and judicial institutions. Huang Ye obstinately believed that, as long as the outcome wasn’t one that he desired, the adjudicator was a villain.

A simple conspiracy theory could beat everyone to death with a stick 7 because conspiracy theorists don’t want the truth but only an imaginary enemy to bear their anger. If the judge won’t give him the justice he wanted, then he’ll create his own “justice”.

“Calm down, lao-ge. Listen to me.” Zhou Yanling said: “Let’s look at the evidence. I’m as angry as you are, so I understand your frame of mind. But you can’t be so inflexible in handling these things. Would taking another’s life make the court rehear this case? Of course not. It would only mean that more people have been ruined at the hands of the Hé family.”

Huang Ye said gruffly: “Go and investigate how many people have died at that company in the past five years, then you’ll know! They always use this trick. Someone dies in a fall from an accident then they cheat the family members by settling out of court. The family only received 2000 yuan. How much did the insurance company pay to compensate him? Certainly more than 2000 yuan, right? I think it’s a little more than that!”

“When he paid did you 8 have to sign a document? Is there a receipt?”

“He had the family sign a document. After signing, we took the cash and left. When we asked later, he said that didn’t happen.”

Zhou Yanling understood. Hé Da hadn’t been about to let these people have the chance to bite him back. If it was all in cash, with no bank transaction and no transfer records, then he’d be in the clear in later investigations. But for Huang Ye, collecting evidence was now a disaster.

“Based on what you know, about how many more deaths were ‘accidental’?”

“At least six more.”

“All from within the past five years?”

“There must have been others before that. Anyway, others just believe that the feng shui wasn’t good.”

Zhou Yanling remembered what Huang Ye told him before. The area of Tongzhou was full of yīn qì 9 . There were always deaths not only at the construction sites and the factories, but even suicides in office buildings. Because of Tongzhou’s history and culture, when someone fell to their death rumors circulated that the resulting vengeful ghost had a debt to collect. Adding in the poor economy from the last few years, there was too much pressure for foreign companies to survive, and many people did commit suicide. As a result, people were already more willing to be convinced that these workers died for some unknowable reason. Many people even believed that it was worthwhile to sacrifice one or two people in large-scale construction and engineering projects to “avoid calamities”. Since many construction workers came from extremely rural and destitute areas, their families would be pleased with the compensation received and wouldn’t dare to say anything. In the event that Hé Da threatened them, it would be even more unlikely that they would resist.

There had never been any ghosts of the unjustly killed demanding vengeance for their grievances. It had only ever been the living poisoning each other, plunging the world into hell.

Huang Ye said, sorrowfully: “He’s harmed so many people’s lives. His son will continue by harming our family’s Xiaoran. If it weren’t for him, there wouldn’t have been so many deaths and his son and our Xiaoran wouldn’t be in this kind of situation today. I don’t want his money or his reputation. I just want a life for a life!”

Zhou Yanling had a feeling of foreboding. He immediately turned to grab his shoulder, but Huang Ye nimbly dodged. He raised his hand and out from under his cuff slipped a small black plastic box, about the size of a thumb, with a single red button on top. Zhou Yanling heard a slight clunk, and then the steel plate under his feet shook and from the back of the train car came a distant roar. For a split second, it felt as though the train had jumped the track and the cars behind were a tail, jerking along behind it. Zhou Yanling couldn’t stand fast. He was knocked against the wall, and hurriedly supported himself against a window just in time to see the window at the back of the car explode. Glass shards pierced the air.

It was an explosion! The familiar fumes of chlorine gas entered Zhou Yanling’s nose as he stared coldly at Huang Ye, resisting the urge to vomit.

Huang Ye held up the detonator with a nasty laugh, his dark earthy skin appearing increasingly sinister .

“Don’t move or I will blow up another car. It won’t be my fault if the wrong one explodes and that kid Hé dies in the blast.”

Zhou Yanling clenched his teeth and restrained himself: “You got the thing. Now where’s the one with the family name Hé?”

Huang Ye said: “Don’t be in such a rush. First get the driver to stop. Xiaoran and I want to disembark. Only after we leave will I tell you where the one named Hé is.”

He feared that if this continued, the entire train would explode, car by car. If that happened many would be dead or injured, and both he and Xiaoran would flee, never to be found again. Zhou Yanling thought to him, when all was said and done, what kind of role did Xiaoran play in this course of events?

“What would Xiaoran do if she knew that her dear maternal uncle was going to kill her boyfriend?” Zhou Yanling asked.

Huang Ye did not care: “She won’t understand now, but she’ll understand later that I’m only doing this for her own good.”

Go fuck yourself! Zhou Yanling said: “No. She will risk everything to protect Hé. At that time she killed Xiao Quan for Hé, there’s no guarantee that she won’t do something extreme like that again. Besides, after killing Hé Youan, do you think that Hé Da would let you and Xiaoran just slip away? He’s not incapable. You can keep Shi Xiaoran from being caught by the police, but can you protect her from being assassinated? If revenge breeds revenge, will there ever be an end to it?”

Huang Ye only maintained a simple point of view: “As expected, you are colluding with the police.”

After saying that, he turned around and fled. Zhou Yanling followed him closely to try to overtake him.

Outside, the car was already chaotic. The second explosion had caused all to be panic-stricken. Thick smoke and debris were everywhere, and the smell of blood was pervasive. People shouted and cursed. Others, clutching bleeding shoulders, ran past Zhou Yanling. And still others sat against the foot of the walls, staring blankly. Zhou Yanling caught up to Huang Ye’s powerful back, but was met by a sweep of Huang Ye’s leg which loosened his grip. He avoided Huang Ye and swung his fist at his left side, but Huang Ye caught his wrist. Zhou Yanling’s gaze fell on the detonator in his cuff, and he easily leveled a knife-like strike at his wrist. The controller fell from his cuff, and Zhou Yanling immediately bent down to grab it. Huang Ye, seeing that he almost had it, raised a leg and kicked him in the head!

Zhou Yanling backflipped just in time to avoid him. It had been so many years since he had last performed this action that his waist almost couldn’t keep up and his lumbar vertebrae clacked together. Regardless, he didn’t hesitate to stretch out a leg to try to move the detonator closer to his own body. Just as he was about to hook it, the train turned a corner. The car swayed ferociously, and the small plastic box slid underneath a seat. Huang Ye lay on his stomach to pick it up, then rolled sideways to dodge Zhou Yanling’s fist. No one paid the two men fighting much attention. Flames from the explosion reached through the windows to the outside.

This fire was a little different from that of the first explosion. The turbulent black smoke seemed as though it were going to burn a hole through the sky as dense and colorful tongues of flame burst through the windows, twisting with baring fangs brandishing claws 10 . Zhou Yanling finally had the detonator under his foot, although he knew that it was too late. He kicked out at Huang Ye, who was holding onto his leg, and bent to seize the detonator. Huang Ye lowered his head, panting for breath, and laughed with a pleased expression. Zhou Yanling’s heart sank. The boiler room must have exploded or else the fire wouldn’t be this intense. This person actually set off a chlorine gas explosion near the boiler room! It was nothing short of a miracle that the train hadn’t derailed!

Before Zhou Yanling knew what had happened, Huang Ye kicked him into the nearby engine room. The door was immediately closed and locked behind him. Pitch darkness descended. Zhou Yanling yelled, pounding on the door. But, if Huang Ye was outside, he didn’t acknowledge him. It was entirely quiet. In order to not beat the grass and scare the snake 11 , Zhao Xintao had recently relieved the service crew from the engine room. He was alone. And since there had been an explosion at the back of the train car, the service crew would likely be busy at the scene of the explosion. It was unlikely that anyone would come and open the door.

Zhou Yanling took out his cell phone and called Wu Fengrong: “RongRong, I’m in the engine room. Can you find someone to open the door for me?” He calmed his mind, thinking about how Wu Fengrong would surely come soaring over personally to open the door for him. He only needed to wait patiently.

At that moment, his nose was enveloped with the smell of burning. Zhou Yanling choked and drew back, fleeing from the thick smoke converging around the soles of his feet. Frightened, he covered his mouth and nose then ruthlessly kicked at the hard stainless steel door, swallowing down the urge to kill.

#@&% Huang Ye. He didn’t want to asphyxiate and die!

T/N:

昏沉: means dim and unclear; also drowsy. Dreamlike was my best approximation 老哥: respected elder brother idiom meaning to find someone to take the blame 称心如意: idiom used to describe someone’s satisfaction that events have developed exactly as planned or wishe d older brother 见风使舵: idiom meaning adapting to the situation (by watching what others are doing) and acting accordingly 一棒子把人打死: idiom meaning one size fits all; a similar idiom in English would be to tar with the same brush plural specifically talking about how it relates to feng shui 张牙舞爪: idiom: make threatening gestures 打草惊蛇: idiom: inadvertently alert the enemy