Chapter Ten: The Death of Bai Mu

The neon lights flashing past the window cast shifting shadows on Lin Tang's face, but they couldn't warm the coldness in her eyes in the slightest.

“People can be similar, and things can be alike.” She said slowly, her voice low, as if trying to convince Ah Chen, but more like trying to convince herself. “Bai Mu is just a poor student from out of town, rootless and adrift, who has to earn his tuition by copying books and letters. How could he possibly be… a government official like the Chen family?”

Her gaze fell on the blurry night outside the car window, as if trying to pierce through the mist of time. "Besides, it's been six years... If he were alive, how could there be no news of him? I clearly saw him get shot back then..." Her voice grew softer and softer, the last few words almost inaudible, carrying a deep sorrow, as if the flames of that memory had burned her throat.

Ah Chen fell silent. Of course he knew that Bai Mu couldn't possibly be alive, but the impact of that face was too real. The eerie feeling brought by that uncanny resemblance was like cold vines entwining his heart.

Lin Tang closed her eyes wearily again, clearly unwilling to talk any further.

...

Lin Tang remembers that five years ago, the day she was released from prison was the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the Little New Year, and it was snowing lightly.

She went to the police station and, stubbornly, lifted each white sheet covering a corpse in front of the morgue's wooden door. The morgue reeked of formaldehyde; the corpses' skin was bluish-gray, some had faces riddled with bullet holes, and others had limbs twisted into strange shapes.

"Bai Mu..." she called softly, trembling as she lifted the white sheet. His face was so swollen that it was unrecognizable.

The policeman on duty yawned as he walked over and said impatiently, "Miss, don't bother looking anymore. More than forty people died on the day of the protest. Some were taken directly to Wusong Wharf and thrown into the river. This body was just pulled up this morning, and no one has claimed it."

"Jintang, let's go back..." Qiao Yuan stood behind her, draping the fox fur coat over her shoulders. "When a person dies..."

Lin Tang suddenly threw herself into his arms and cried like a child.

Qiao Yuan stroked her hair and said softly, "Cry, it'll make you feel better."

Later, she finally lost all hope.

Qiao Yuan proposed to her on the Lantern Festival that year. He took out a small box from his pocket, opened it, and inside was a gold ring. The design was simple, but it was very shiny.

"Tangtang, marry me." He looked into her eyes and said, "I know you haven't forgotten him yet, but I will wait for you to slowly forget. I will make sure you live a good life and never have to suffer again."

Lin Tang looked at the ring, then at Qiao Yuan's eyes. After a long while, she finally nodded and said, "Okay."

...

Ah Chen swallowed back his surprise and doubts, and drove off in silence, the car once again falling into a suffocating stillness.

The car finally drove through the ornate iron gates of the Qiao residence. The brightly lit mansion, shrouded in the deep night, resembled a floating island, isolated from the storms of the outside world.

As soon as they stepped into the brightly lit and warmly decorated hall, a clear, bell-like laugh greeted them. Cheng Qing was sitting on a large velvet sofa, surrounded by colorful shopping bags. She was holding up a brand-new royal blue cheongsam with silver trim, gesturing to Qiao Yuan.

“Master Qiao, look, look! This fabric is so fine, it’s genuine Hangzhou silk! And this one,” she picked up an exquisite enamel powder box, “a new Western import from Yong’an Company, the powder inside has a rose scent…” She was beaming, her cheeks flushed with excitement, like a child who had received a beloved toy.

Qiao Yuan stood at the study doorway, his tall figure elongated by the living room lights. A hint of weariness lingered on his face as he simply said, "Hmm, beautiful."

His voice was deep and reassuring, but his gaze unconsciously drifted past Cheng Qing's shoulder and landed on Lin Tang, who had just walked in from the entrance.

Lin Tang paused almost imperceptibly at the entrance of the hall.

Cheng Qing also noticed Lin Tang. She stood up, clutching her cheongsam, and said in a slightly ingratiating tone, "Sister Tang, you're back? Are you tired? I... I bought some almond candy, wrapped in cellophane, it's so pretty, I saved a box for you." She pointed to a beautifully packaged little box on the coffee table.

Lin Tang felt a sudden surge of nausea rising in her throat, even more intense than the dizziness she had experienced in Chen Kan's office.

"No need," she said, her voice sounding as if it had been pulled from an icebox. "Please enjoy your meal."

She didn't even glance at Qiao Yuan again. She tapped her cane almost silently on the carpet and walked straight through the hall toward the spiral staircase leading to the second floor.

That figure, like a wooden sculpture forcibly pieced together, refused anyone's approach or prying.

Qiao Yuan's gaze followed the dark figure intently, his brows furrowed so deeply they could trap a fly.

Holding the new cheongsam, Cheng Qing's smile froze. A hint of grievance and a deeper resentment flashed across her eyes, turning into a low, timid voice: "Master Qiao, is Sister Tang... angry with me?"

Qiao Yuan didn't answer. He turned to Achen, who had been standing silently in the shadows of the entryway, and said, "Achen, come to the study with me."

The heavy oak door to the study closed behind me, shutting out the faint sounds from downstairs.

Qiao Yuan didn't turn on the main light, but only turned on the lonely desk lamp on his desk.

The dim, yellowish light barely illuminated the desktop, casting his tall figure onto the dark wallpaper, making him appear particularly oppressive.

"What happened?" Qiao Yuan turned around, his back to the light, his face hidden in the shadows, only his eyes sharp as a hawk's, fixed firmly on A Chen. "The negotiations with the Chamber of Commerce didn't go smoothly?"

“Master Qiao…” Ah Chen’s voice trembled with a sense of desperation, “That Chairman Chen Kan… he looks… he looks so much like Mr. Bai! They’re practically identical!”

Qiao Yuan's body tensed almost imperceptibly for a moment, his silhouette in the shadows seemingly frozen.

Ah Chen didn't stop. Driven by fear, he poured out a secret buried deep in his heart for many years: "And...and that dirty job with the Japanese that Huang Jinhu took on at the docks back then! He didn't dare to get involved himself, so he dumped the dirty work on you!"

Everyone said that his break with Huang Jinhu was due to his ingratitude and greed, but only he knew the real reason. But could he really escape this quagmire by leaving the Black Tiger Gang? Now that Huang Jinhu has been defeated and he has become the biggest gangster in Jiangcheng, would the various forces let him go?

Ah Chen, unaware of Qiao Yuan's thoughts, continued, "I...I heard him tell you with my own ears to open fire and create chaos during the march! But...but you clearly notified the workers to take shelter beforehand...why...why did Mr. Bai still..."

His voice choked with emotion, the immense pain and bewilderment making it almost impossible for him to continue, "Who exactly did you shoot? Golden Tiger wanted chaos, but why... why did you kill Mr. Bai?!"

The last few words exploded like thunder in the silent study.

The air seemed to be sucked out instantly, leaving only the faint hissing sound of the lamp filament.

Qiao Yuan's figure stood frozen in the dim light, like a cold stone statue.

Outside the heavy doors of the study, in the shadows cast by the pillars, Cheng Qing clung to the cold wall like a silent gecko.

She held her breath, her heart pounding wildly in her chest, almost shattering her ribs.

That face, which always wore a charming smile, had shed all its pretense, leaving only a twisted look of horror and greed. She covered her mouth tightly, her nails digging deep into the soft flesh of her cheeks, barely managing to suppress the scream that was about to burst out.

In the dark corridor, after the initial shock, Cheng Qing's eyes suddenly lit up with a cold, almost ecstatic light.

A deliberately suppressed cough sounded from behind, startling Cheng Qing so much that he turned around abruptly!

Uncle Chen's hunched figure had silently appeared a few steps away in the shadows. The dim light from his pipe illuminated his deeply wrinkled face, and his cloudy yet sharp eyes, like knives, were fixed directly on Cheng Qing's face.

“Miss Cheng,” Uncle Chen’s voice was hoarse, carrying undisguised scrutiny and coldness, “what are you listening to in this dark corridor…?”

Cheng Qing's heart nearly leaped out of her throat, her face drained of color, but she forced a naive and bewildered smile in an instant, even deliberately adding a touch of frightened grievance: "Uncle Chen? You scared me to death! I... I just went to the kitchen to get some snacks, and I was thinking that Master Qiao and Ah Chen were talking in the study, and I was worried they might be hungry, so I was just about to knock on the door to ask if they wanted some sent in..."

As she spoke, she shook the pastry plate in her hand, and the small pastries on the plate trembled weakly.

"Oh?" Uncle Chen tapped his pipe against his palm, sparks flickering, his tone thick with suspicion. "To deliver snacks, do you need to be this close to the door?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the heavy oak door creaked open from the inside without warning!

Qiao Yuan's tall figure blocked the doorway, and the dim light from the desk lamp in the study cast an uneven glow on half of his face.

"Are you all here?" Qiao Yuan's voice was unreadable, low and heavy like a dark cloud pressing down on a city. "Since you're all here, then come in."

Uncle Chen frowned and stepped inside first. Cheng Qing, carrying a plate of pastries, followed, forcing herself to remain calm and maintaining an innocent, bewildered expression. Ah Chen stood deep inside the study, her face ashen, head bowed, not daring to look at anyone.

The study door closed silently behind me, leaving only a stifling silence and the faint glow of the solitary lamp.

Cheng Qing looked up abruptly, her eyes instantly reddening: "Master Qiao! I... I really didn't hear anything! I just wanted to go to the kitchen to get some snacks, and as I passed the study door, Uncle Chen... he suddenly appeared, and startled me..."

Qiao Yuan didn't speak, he just stared at her, as if trying to see right through her.

After a few seconds of deathly silence, he waved his hand very slightly, his voice carrying a barely perceptible hint of weariness and annoyance: "Alright. Put the snacks down and you can leave."

This casual expulsion felt like a pardon to Cheng Qing. She quickly put down the pastry plate and fled the study as if escaping, a ghostly smile appearing on her face the moment she turned around.