Qiming Chapter 13

Chapter 13

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Nanpu City was divided in two by the Yangtze River, flowing from west to east. The criminal investigation team of Jinping District, where Gu Yunfeng worked, was on the west side. He was currently driving to his father's house on the east side of the river.

His mother had passed away from illness during his middle school years. After that, he lived with his father, Gu Tao, until he finished university. After starting work, he bought a house near his workplace with a loan and invited his father to live with him, but his father refused.

The old neighbourhood where Gu Tao lived had a one-way street in front of it, allowing only exit but no entry. To get in, one had to drive five or six kilometres around. Because of the inconvenient traffic and the age of the area, the number of residents had dwindled, with most of the houses rented out to people working nearby. The community had become a mix of different people.

Few people had sold their houses here, all hoping that one day the area would be redeveloped, leading to a windfall from the relocation. Gu Yunfeng had also fantasised about becoming rich overnight through such a redevelopment. However, in recent years, the cost of demolition and relocation had become too high, and he estimated that such good fortune would not come his way for at least another decade.

Gu Yunfeng parked his car in a parking lot a kilometre away and walked along the moss-covered stone path, carrying the fruits he had bought.

It had rained last night, leaving the ground wet and the path somewhat slippery. Although it was a one-way street, there were hardly any motor vehicles passing through. The neighbourhood had been around for nearly forty years and had undergone renovation a decade ago, turning the grey walls into a bright yellow. Over the years, the bright yellow had faded to an unappealing dirt yellow.

The uncle selling snacks on the street greeted him, "Yunfeng'ah, here to see your dad?"

"Yes, Uncle Yu." He smiled and nodded. A gust of wind blew, and black fruits from the camphor trees along the road fell to the ground, leaving a few black marks on him.

Looking up, he saw that he had arrived home.

He took out his key and skilfully opened the door, a pungent smell of alcohol hitting his nose.

He changed into slippers and walked through the damp, dark corridor. The old wooden floorboards creaked under his feet, and the walls were decorated with retro designs popular a decade ago. In the centre of the living room, an elderly man with grey hair sat on the floor beside a few overturned wine glasses.

Two incense sticks and a cup of sake lay before him. He held the cup and stared blankly at a black-and-white photograph amidst the smoke. After a while, he drank the sake in one gulp, a tear falling from his left eye. The TV played an opera that Gu Yunfeng could not appreciate, and a wind chime on the doorframe tinkled softly in the breeze.

He looked up at the neatly arranged photo frames on the cabinet. The girl in the photos smiled brightly, but she had passed away on a rainy summer night.

Sometimes, Gu Yunfeng felt afraid to enter this house. Everything inside remained exactly as it had been eighteen years ago. Time seemed to have stopped at that moment, with the only changes being the sky-blue clock on the wall and his father's gradually greying hair.

"Dad, why are you drinking again?" Two or three empty bottles lay on the floor, two of beer and one of white wine. He bent down to pick up the bottles and glasses, placing them on the table.

Mixing drinks was bad for health and made it easier to get drunk. He had mentioned this several times, but the old man never listened.

"Tomorrow is the anniversary of your sister Chunqiu's death." Gu Tao turned to look at him. His hair seemed whiter, his face flushed, his eyes bloodshot, and his wrinkles deeper than during Gu Yunfeng's last visit.

Gu Tao was somewhat drunk. He struggled to stand up, muttering, "A few days ago, I dreamt of your sister. She said someone would soon avenge her, and she could finally rest in peace."

"Do you think Chunqiu is trying to tell me something?"

"You're overthinking it." Gu Yunfeng helped him to the sofa, covering him with a grey robe and turning on the fan that had been used for many years, listening to its creaking sound as it rotated.

"We were all there for the court's verdict. Those who deserved to die were sentenced to death, and those who deserved other punishments received them, right?"

"But what if those who deserved to die weren't executed?" Gu Tao grabbed Gu Yunfeng's hand, his eyes suddenly fierce before turning vacant again. He stared out of the window, seemingly at the setting sun in the distance, or perhaps just at the faint shadow of the moon.

He reached out, tapped his head, and let out a long sigh. "Ai, I'm the one who's wronged her, the one who's wronged them."

"What are you talking about, Dad? You're just too fixated on the past, life has to go on." Gu Yunfeng was startled by the look in Gu Tao's eyes.

Gu Tao just shook his head and withdrew his gaze, taking an empty lighter case from the cabinet. "If it weren't for me wanting to go out for a walk, she wouldn't have gone to that park. If it weren't for my craving for a cigarette and leaving her alone to buy some, none of this would have happened."

"She could still be alive, going to university, finding a job close to home, getting married, and having children." As he spoke, he lowered his head, tears streaming down his wrinkled cheeks. He stared blankly at the floor before reaching out to grab his daughter's photo again.

"If she were still here, her children would be a few years old by now, and there'd be a little boy or girl calling me Grandpa."

When his sister passed away, he was only eight, in the third grade. He was young then, but he remembered everything from that year vividly.

Every year on this day since then, Gu Tao would drink himself into a stupor, talking nonsense as if doing so would bring forgiveness.

"Your mother resented me, hated me, and it made her sick. I hated myself too, hated myself to death. When you suggested I move to your new place, I didn't dare. Every night, I dreamt of your sister and your mother, dressed beautifully, coming to see me under the moonlight and stardust. I was afraid they wouldn't find the door if they came back. I'd have to open it for them, wouldn't I?"

"They only know this way, they don't know the way to your place." As he said this, Gu Tao laughed, pouring a drink for his son and pushing it towards him.

"Alright, Dad, don't think about it too much." Gu Yunfeng took the glass and drank it in one gulp. "I took tomorrow off to visit my sister. Think about what to prepare for her. She used to like comics, right? Do you remember her favourite one?"

"Think about it, and I'll go to the bookstore with you to find it. She'll be happy to receive it tomorrow." After saying this, he helped Gu Tao sit on the sofa. Before long, Gu Tao fell asleep, wrapped in a blanket.

Gu Yunfeng had taken the day off, as he did every year on this day. Director Zhao hadn't said much and quickly approved his leave. Tomorrow morning, he would visit his sister's grave with incense and bring her her favourite fruits and snacks.

His memories of his sister had grown vague. He only remembered her originally gentle face filled with horror and pain when they visited her in the hospital, dying in the middle of nowhere with humiliation and no dignity. Gu Yunfeng didn't want to imagine her final moments. From then on, he fantasised about being a hero, eradicating evil and protecting the weak.

After finally getting his father to settle down, he checked his phone. Yuan Man's WeChat avatar popped up, flooding his screen with cute, excited, and hug-seeking stickers, making him feel awkward. He didn't know how to deal with this idol star who had inexplicably become so familiar with him. They had exchanged WeChat contacts purely for work when he had sent them home. After a minute of hesitation, he decided not to reply to her messages.

– Officer Gu, are you watching TV? Turn on Xigua Channel right now. I'm recording a show.

– Is it live?

He replied.

– Of course it's live! Turn on your TV and get ready. The little fairies are about to perform!"

– So late, and you're still recording a show?

– This is considered early, okay? We often record until dawn!

Gu Yunfeng lay on his bed and turned on the TV. On the screen, five girls in sky-blue JK uniforms were dancing. Apart from Yuan Man, he didn't recognise the others. They wore similar clothes and performed synchronised moves, looking like identical twins except for their different hairstyles. It appeared to be a competitive variety show, with AIR invited as guest performers to warm up the audience.

The girl group AIR had skyrocketed to fame a few months ago. However, their foundation was shaky, as they were popular but not widely respected within the industry. For someone like Gu Yunfeng, who lacked an interest in entertainment, their beauty and sweet voices were not enough to captivate him. After watching for less than half an hour, he began to yawn and soon fell asleep.

In a half-dreaming, half-awake state, he seemed to see Gu Chunqiu walking towards him. She still had the face of an eighteen-year-old, with short, fresh hair, wearing a white dress. The hem of the dress was stained with blood. She crouched slightly, reached out, and gently scraped his nose with her fingertips, smiling both sweetly and sorrowfully.

"Yunfeng, was it you who helped avenge my death?" Her wide eyes were full of sorrow as she cried in a despairing, distorted tone. "Were you there when I left? It hurt so much. They violated me, kicked me, beat me, and finally walked towards me with a knife, aiming it at my body. When you found me, was I still whole?"

He shook his head in fear, unwilling to answer. Gu Chunqiu sighed, stood up, and looked at the moonlit lake in the distance. "So, I wasn't whole." She then grabbed his hand, carefully examining the scar on his palm. "Yunfeng, why are you bleeding? Your palm is bleeding so much."

"It's nothing. I'll bandage it, and it will stop soon." He blinked at her nonchalantly, but Gu Chunqiu seemed not to hear him. She continued to mutter to herself, "It seems it wasn't you who avenged me. But whoever it was, a blood debt must be repaid in blood. I have no regrets." Then she turned and left, her dress fluttering in the wind. He reached out to grab her but touched nothing.

When he woke up, it was already the next day. He sat up abruptly, his sister's repeated appearances in his and his father's dreams, talking about revenge, made him shiver.

The perpetrators of the case from back then had all been judged, but there were still controversies.

The biggest controversy was over the verdict on Cao Yan – Who was the real murderer? The autopsy showed that Gu Chunqiu had been beaten for two hours before dying from a Swiss army knife being stabbed into her carotid artery. The knife was owned by Shen Shisheng, who was sentenced to immediate execution. He admitted in court that he had violated Gu Chunqiu and killed her with the knife because she had woken up during transport, struggled, and screamed for help.

The place where she got out of the car was not remote, so they killed her brutally in fear of exposure and dumped her body in the wilderness. However, there were two carotid artery wounds that caused Gu Chunqiu's death, and from the force and angle of the cuts, it was clear that they were not inflicted by the same person.

Gu Yunfeng got up and washed up. His father was already in the kitchen cutting vegetables. Seeing him awake, he urged him to get ready quickly to visit his sister.

"I dreamt of my sister yesterday." Gu Yunfeng washed his face and looked at his bloodshot eyes in the mirror. Although he didn't sleep late, the dream unsettled him, leaving him looking unrested.

"She said 'a blood debt must be repaid in blood. I have no regrets.' I don't understand what it means."

Gu Tao didn't respond immediately. The rhythm of his chopping stopped abruptly. After half a minute, he finally spoke in a faint voice. "I heard that the woman who killed Chunqiu has been released from prison?"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: June 28, 2024 by Angel

Edited: July 2, 2024 by Angel