Chapter 4

“Bian Ranxin? Are you familiar with her?”

“Not really. My dad and her dad used to be coworkers. When we were kids, we lived in the same building in the company dormitory. Later, her dad was transferred to teach at a university. The year I started elementary school, that building was demolished, and after that I hardly ever saw her.”

“Do you know what Bian Ranxin’s situation is like now?”

“Hey, who wouldn’t know!”

Old Liu suddenly perked up. He stood and walked to the wrought-iron bookshelf, pulled a magazine out from a pile of messy magazines and picture albums, and tossed it onto the coffee table in front of Yan Dongcheng and Wang Rui.

It was a fashion magazine. The woman on the cover had sparse brows and faint eyes, skin so white it seemed to shine, and light flaxen hair cut very thin, falling over her shoulders.

There were several lines of headlines at the bottom of the cover, the first line in eye-catching Song typeface, Designer Talk, Bian Ranxin’s Fashion Life.

“Bian Ranxin, is this the girl Bai Yong fell in love with in high school?”

“Yes.”

“She’s mixed-race?” Wang Rui picked up the magazine and examined it.

“No.” Old Liu let out a snort of laughter. “She’s been a blond-haired girl since she was a kid, and her skin was whiter than most people’s. You could spot her in a crowd at a glance. Anyway, she was especially eye-catching at school, and now that she’s become a famous person, that’s still within everyone’s expectations.”

Yan Dongcheng stared at Old Liu without blinking.

A childhood neighbor being featured in a long magazine article was indeed a happy thing. But Old Liu’s expression and actions carried an excitement that was hard to suppress, like a man in love unable to resist showing off his beautiful, outstanding girlfriend to others.

“Are you married?” Yan Dongcheng asked.

“Me? Divorced.” The smile faded from Old Liu’s face.

“What year did you divorce? Any children?”

“Five years ago. No children.”

“Where were you last March or April?”

“I stayed here during the day and went to the bar to perform at night. My life has always been like this.”

“Did you go out of town last year?”

“No.”

Old Liu picked up the ashtray, now full, stood up, walked behind the door, and dumped the ashes into a black iron bucket shaped like a gasoline drum.

Yan Dongcheng silently watched his back.

After he came back and sat down, Yan Dongcheng continued asking.

“Did Bai Yong and Bian Ranxin stay in touch after graduation?”

“No.” Old Liu sighed, crossed his legs, and lit a cigarette. “On New Year’s Day last year, Bai Yong came to me for a drink. We talked the whole night. He had always been keeping an eye on Bian Ranxin, and he also knew Bian Ranxin wasn’t married. He just didn’t dare go looking for her.”

“But Bai Yong was married. Was his marriage unhappy?”

“He was pretty depressed.” Old Liu tilted his head back and exhaled a string of smoke rings. “He married a wife ten years younger than him. That woman didn’t know how to take care of children. At first she said the child had ADHD, then later she said it had autism, and every day she ran to the hospital to torment the child. As for Bai Yong, he just hung around outside, feeling that life had no meaning.”

“Back then, when Bai Yong pursued Bian Ranxin, was he rejected?” Wang Rui was still holding the magazine in his hands.

“It was only a secret crush. Bai Yong didn’t dare confess. In the early years, Bai Yong’s family was a farm household in the urban-rural fringe, and Bian Ranxin’s father was a university professor. Bai Yong was terribly insecure. Later, the urban-rural fringe was demolished, and Bai Yong’s family got rich overnight. He was the only son, and all at once he had a large sum of cash and property, so he started living it up, eating, drinking, and having fun. When he met Sun Yiyi, he was quickly tied down, and in a daze he got married and had a child. On the surface everything seemed to go smoothly, but the more he lived, the more dissatisfied he became. Several times when he got drunk, he shouted that he didn’t want to live anymore...”

“Didn’t want to live anymore? Did Bai Yong have suicidal tendencies?”

“Yes!” Old Liu nodded hard. “That’s why I kept telling him not to go to Hokkaido. I was afraid that if he went alone to that icy, snowy place, he’d suddenly do something rash...”

His voice caught in his throat. He took a hard drag on his cigarette, held it in for a long time, and only then let out a long breath, exhaling thick smoke.

“But Bai Yong still went to Hokkaido alone.”

“It’s all my fault!” Old Liu flung away the cigarette butt, clenched his fist, and pounded his own chest. “My fault! I should have gone with him. If someone had been beside him, drinking and talking with him, he wouldn’t have done something rash... I’m so stupid, it’s all my fault...”

His hysterical howling seemed as if it had been prepared specifically for Bai Yong’s death. In Yan Dongcheng’s eyes, the sudden shift from grief to agitation and back again was a little unnatural.

A man immersed in grief was hard to talk to calmly, so Yan Dongcheng and Wang Rui got up to take their leave.

Old Liu was in so much pain that he covered his forehead with one hand and pointed toward the front door with the other, signaling for them to leave on their own.

By the time they left Dingshan Art Park and hurried back to the police station, it was already noon. Yan Dongcheng and Wang Rui went to the cafeteria for a simple work lunch, then quickly returned to Yan Dongcheng’s office.

Wang Rui converted the morning’s investigation recordings into text and organized them for filing. Yan Dongcheng, as always, scribbled in his notebook, sorting out his thoughts.

“Captain Yan,” Wang Rui said, turning back in front of the copier, “did you notice that Old Liu never asked where the body was found? It seemed like he already knew.”

“He assumed it was in Hokkaido on his own. It’s also possible he deliberately avoided the question of location. And he said Bai Yong had suicidal tendencies, something Sun Yiyi never mentioned.”

“Bai Yong performed in entertainment venues every day, eating, drinking, and having fun, with plenty of friends. I don’t think a person like that would have depressive suicidal tendencies unless there was some other hidden reason.”

Yan Dongcheng nodded silently, and his fountain pen drew a circle around Old Liu’s name.

Scene 1

Sun Yiyi’s relatives took away Bai Yong’s body and arranged for the cremation to take place on Saturday, with the funeral service held at the funeral home at the same time.

At 9:45 on Saturday morning, Yan Dongcheng and Wang Rui came to the funeral home to attend the funeral. It was a rare chance to see Bai Yong’s relatives and friends.

The two deliberately arrived fifteen minutes late, and only entered the funeral home’s memorial hall through the side door after the funeral had already started. Yan Dongcheng wore a black suit, while Wang Rui wore a black jacket and black pants, and they stood quietly in the back row.

The case was complicated, and it still had not been solved, so some secrecy was necessary. Following the police’s advice, Sun Yiyi had invited only relatives and a few friends to the funeral. When friends asked about the cause of death, she only gave the vague answer that it had been an accident.

Inside the memorial hall, everyone stood in a semicircle, and Sun Yiyi’s maternal uncle stood in the center, reading the eulogy in standard Mandarin with a heavy regional accent.

Sun Yiyi wore a tight black knitted dress, a style more elaborate than the one she had worn when she went to the police station last time, with layers of handmade crocheted lace gathered at the hem.

She stood to one side of the maternal uncle reading the eulogy, her expression wooden. Heavy foundation made her skin look somewhat aged. On her feet were still those stubborn sky-high platform heels, as if she had dozens of pairs of such shoes.

A short, fat man stood behind Sun Yiyi, dressed like everyone else in a black suit. The difference was that he wore not a tie, but a black velvet bow tie with subtle patterns around his neck.

Sun Yiyi’s mother was holding a chubby boy. The boy’s cheeks were round and puffed out, his eyelids drooped as if he had not woken up yet, but his hand kept reaching out to grab Sun Yiyi’s hair.

Sun Yiyi tilted her head and dodged again and again. Finally losing patience, she slapped the boy’s hand.

The little boy did not cry out. He slowly lowered his head and became motionless.

“I’m done,” Sun Yiyi’s maternal uncle said, folding the manuscript paper in half and putting it into his jacket pocket. “Next, let us invite Bai Yong’s spouse, my niece Sun Yiyi, to speak!”

Sun Yiyi’s face instantly flushed red. She grabbed her uncle and complained softly in his ear. She had not prepared to speak at the funeral.

The hall was silent, the atmosphere awkward.

The fat man wearing the bow tie patted Sun Yiyi on the shoulder, signaling for her not to worry. He walked to the center, cleared his throat, and loudly helped Sun Yiyi out of the embarrassment.

“Elders, friends, I’m Bai Yong’s good friend Fan Mingyuan. Let me say a few words. I’ve known Bai Yong for many years. He sang at my performance bar, and he was a singer famous far and wide in this city. Even now, customers still often ask us when Bai Yong will come back to sing...”

Yan Dongcheng watched Sun Yiyi from afar.

Her tired eyes suddenly brightened, and she looked gratefully at the eloquent bar owner Fan Mingyuan.

Fan Mingyuan was very articulate. He spoke at length without stopping, as if he had rehearsed it in advance.

“Bai Yong’s singing talent was obvious to all. Losing him was a major loss for the city’s entertainment circle. As a friend, Bai Yong was also a rare good friend, sincere, warm, and kind...”

Yan Dongcheng vaguely heard the sound of a motorcycle outside, drawing closer and closer, rumbling to a stop in front of the steps outside the funeral hall.

It was a high-displacement motorcycle, an old Harley.

As expected, after a moment, Old Liu pushed the door open and stumbled in.

He was scruffy, as if he had not shaved for several days. He wore a black motorcycle leather jacket with studs, and his black jeans had several rows of white English letters on the thighs. This was probably already the darkest and most formal outfit in his wardrobe.

“Captain Yan,” Wang Rui said in a low voice, “look, Sun Yiyi and that man...” He lifted his chin, pointing toward Fan Mingyuan, who had just finished speaking and was walking back to Sun Yiyi.

Sun Yiyi’s posture was gentle. Like a little bird nestling against someone, she tilted her head toward Fan Mingyuan. The two of them kept a body-length distance from each other, leaning together and whispering.

Bai Yong’s friends came up one after another to speak, expressing their feelings of remembrance. Bai Yong really was very well liked.

Sun Yiyi and Fan Mingyuan stood side by side in the back. Clearly not listening to Bai Yong’s friends, they were immersed in their own little world, muttering to each other about something.

Fan Mingyuan probably said something that made her happy, and the tiredness on Sun Yiyi’s face vanished. The corners of her mouth tugged upward, revealing a knowing smile.

She casually lifted her eyes, and suddenly met a pair of familiar eyes...

Sun Yiyi jolted. She hurriedly pressed her lips together and forcefully pulled the corners of her mouth downward, making herself look dispirited.

Yan Dongcheng’s gaze was like a torch. Beneath his high brow ridges, his sharp eyes were full of an air of mystery.

He liked staring at people.

Sun Yiyi felt uncomfortable all over, and imperceptibly moved a little to the side, putting distance between herself and Fan Mingyuan.