3
The funeral took place in winter. Early in the morning, the sky was overcast, sleeting, and snowing. My family and I boarded the funeral company bus, slowly driving along a country road. The driver activated the windshield wipers, and I gazed wistfully at the shattering snow. While this wasn't my first funeral, it was still incredibly emotionally difficult.
Often, the process of a person's passing is like the ebb and flow of a musical piece. Fate strikes the first note when we hear the news of their serious illness. Then comes a long prelude, as our patience wears thin during repeated hospital visits, and the melody gradually fades. But after a certain climax, the tempo quickens again, and we are informed of the end of the piece, waiting by the bedside to hear their final words. The funeral is the lingering finale.
But sometimes fate plays a malicious trick and someone suddenly disappears from our lives, and it is difficult to accept the fact at this time. The pianist randomly presses a key, making a noise, and the music stops abruptly.
To get the ashes into the box, you had to wait for your number to be called. The stifling air inside was unbearable. I excused myself to go to the restroom, left the number list with my relatives, and went out for a walk. I smelled something burning, and I looked up. Above the boiler room, a column of black smoke rose straight into the snow-covered sky.
That person was the closest thing to me in the world. I couldn't move, staring at the smoke's trajectory. The wind twisted the smoke's path, until the two finally tangled together and dissipated toward the eastern horizon. That was the direction of the sea, and I hoped the destination would be the vast Pacific Ocean.
After the burial, the relatives suggested, as was customary, that we go out for dinner. I declined, citing my poor health. I drove to the old house alone. According to the deceased's will (which, until my lawyer informed me, I had no idea there was a pre-written will), the house was left to me.
I wasn't sure what to do with this house. I definitely wouldn't live there, but I couldn't bring myself to rent it out or sell it. After much deliberation, I finally decided to clean it up first, removing any useless clutter and preventing dust from accumulating.
But as I put on my mask and apron and prepared to clean, I suddenly felt deflated. The furnishings in my room hadn't changed in years, and everything I saw evoked memories. Even moving even a centimeter, let alone throwing it away, felt like I'd lost something.
I dropped the broom and sat in the living room in a daze. Suddenly, the ringing of my cell phone saved me. It was Li Zitong calling.
"Is Dad's funeral over?" she asked.
"It's finished this morning. I'm cleaning up in the old house."
"You feel bad, don't you? Why don't you come back first? There's no rush to deal with the chores."
"It's okay." I said stubbornly, "How about you? It must be very troublesome to prepare for it."
"Luckily, I managed it all by myself. But after thinking about it, I decided that this wasn't going to work..." She hesitated for a long time, "Let's cancel the wedding."
"You're talking nonsense again," I said gently, "It's going to be okay. I've already bought a return ticket for tonight, and I'll leave as soon as I finish cleaning. I'm sure we'll make it and won't be late for tomorrow's wedding."
"That's not the problem. I just think it's inappropriate... After all, my father just passed away, and the funeral and wedding are too close together. It's better to postpone it."
"This isn't a matter of a few days or months. The hotel you booked is a leader in the industry, and the next available reservation is two years from now. Furthermore, relatives and friends have already been notified. Many have already taken time off, bought tickets, and arranged their trips. They won't accept a last-minute change of schedule."
“Hmm…”
"Don't worry, my father has always been a casual person and doesn't care about worldly etiquette. Doesn't he approve of you as his daughter-in-law? If he were still alive, he certainly wouldn't want us to postpone the wedding."
After my repeated persuasion, Li Zitong finally let go of the topic of canceling the wedding.
"Come back early in the evening. I'll be scared home alone." She begged before hanging up the phone.
"I'll be home before nine o'clock."
After hanging up the phone, I sighed. Two years had passed since the kidnapping, but the aftermath still hung over us like a dark cloud. Li Zitong had become timid and sensitive, barely daring to be alone after dark. It wasn't her fault; anyone who had experienced a life-or-death crisis would be afraid.
The police investigation results were partially disclosed to us. On the day of the kidnapping, Li Tianci arrived at the Jiang'an dock early, masked, and held hostage a yawning cruise ship captain heading home, threatening to take his boat down the Yangtze River under cover of darkness. He then instructed me over the phone to circle around, preventing the police from deploying effective tracking forces. Ultimately, worried about Li Zitong, I boarded the boat alone, fell into his trap, and was tricked into taking possession of the "Dawn Star."
His plan was flawless. To disrupt the pursuing police and silence him, he locked Li Zitong in the lower cabin and drilled a hole through the hull. Naturally, everyone's priority shifted from hunting the perpetrator to saving lives. It was a ruthless move. Due to the rain, the police rescue efforts were delayed, and Li Zitong and I nearly perished at the bottom of the river.
Fortunately, just as the water reached my neck, Li Zitong told me to grab a lifebuoy and leave quickly. I then realized there were several lifebuoys hanging from the bottom deck, all inflated. I quickly took one and put it around Li Zitong's neck, removed the air plug, inserted it into her mouth, and swam to the deck to call the police for help.
This was a last resort, a last resort. Fortunately, luck was on our side. The police rescue was swift, and a speedboat arrived promptly, carrying divers and specialized tools. (My father had anticipated various possibilities when he discovered my last location near the river's edge.) While awaiting rescue, I repeatedly dived back to the bottom hold to replace Li Zitong's air buoy. Due to the limitations of the tools, the leak Li Tianci created was small, and the boat sank very slowly. When the rescue was finally successful, the river water barely covered the deck. And the high-intensity flashlight he left behind happened to be waterproof, allowing me to repeatedly navigate the dark, flooded bottom hold.
After that night, Li Tianci and the "Dawn Star" vanished completely. We thought he'd gotten his wish, sold the crown, and fled the country. But six months ago, we suddenly received a police notice asking us to go to the Chongming Island police station to identify a body.
The body was found on a mudflat, just a hundred meters from the Yangtze River estuary. It was so decomposed that it was difficult to identify. However, a waterproof canvas bag was found tied around the body's waist. Inside, the "Dawn Star" was intact, with over 3,000 diamonds, every one of them intact. In my opinion, this completely confirmed the deceased's identity and foreshadowed Li Tianci's final fate. Had he not met with the accident, he would never have let go of the "Dawn Star."
However, the police have been extremely cautious and have yet to confirm the identity of the body or share any progress in their investigation. I suspect that, legally speaking, Li Tianci is already a deregistered deceased, making the aftermath of the case difficult to address.
As for why he died in the river, I pondered it for a long time and came to my own conclusion. The person I saw that night, leaping into the water and swimming toward shore, was probably not Li Tianci. It was the tour boat crew member he had first kidnapped and then released. He hid in the shadows of the boat and swam in the other direction, toward the far bank. As cunning as he was, he probably guessed I would call the police. The shore was adjacent to the highway, with streetlights and surveillance cameras. It would have been easy for the police to catch him if he came ashore wet from there. On the other side, there was a vast, overgrown wasteland, making it an easy hiding place.
He'd planned this impromptu kidnapping with such meticulous planning, a true mastermind. But as fate would have it, man proposes. That night, it began to rain, the wind picked up, and the river current surged. Normally, a skilled swimmer could easily swim a hundred meters, but facing the turbulent current, with its combined wind and rain, the situation was much more complex. Ultimately, he perished in the river, carrying the jewels he'd painstakingly obtained. A case of outsmarting himself. No, "evil will be punished with evil" would be a more accurate description.
I didn't tell Li Zitong about my suspicions. But she must have guessed the truth. After returning from the police station to identify the body, she appeared calm, but she must have been deeply shaken. She had somewhat recovered from the trauma of the kidnapping, but now she was back to square one. Sometimes, when I woke up at night, I'd find her gone, alone in her pajamas, gazing at the moonlight in the living room.
One time when I was cleaning, I accidentally found an empty medicine bottle in the bedside table. The name was familiar. I had prescribed many of them for my mother from the hospital. They were sedatives.
I forced her to cancel her new film project, took a long vacation, and dragged her on a European trip. While passing through Greece, she became fascinated by the culture and scenery of the Aegean Sea. So I changed her itinerary and stopped at an island she'd only been passing by on a boat. Tourists were rare there, and the locals, most of whom spoke no English, were warm and welcoming.
The food in the restaurant always had a strong olive flavor, which was hard to get used to. But the fish was fresh and the wine was high quality. We ended up buying pots and pans and cooking our own fish using Chinese cooking methods.
The island wasn't big, and there weren't any tourist attractions. With nothing to do each day, we'd head to the beach early in the morning, watch the fishing boats go out to sea, and then stroll around until evening. The coastline was breathtakingly beautiful. The sand was pure white, without a single speck of color. A smile gradually returned to Li Zitong's face. On the last day of our trip, I planned to propose to her.
I called the restaurant in advance, and the waiter, suppressing his smile, brought the champagne glass containing the ring to the table.
But she didn't even look at the wine glass. She stared at me and said, "I have something to ask you."
"Let's wait and see. Let's take a sip first. This is the Pink Lady champagne I finally bought."
"No, I have something to say before dinner." She said seriously, "Marry me?"
The wine in my mouth sprayed onto the table, and she covered her mouth and laughed so hard that her whole body shook.
"The diamond ring box wasn't hidden properly. I saw it several times in my suitcase. This was your first time in the store, but the waiter showed us the best seats. The champagne wasn't even opened in front of me." She laughed and said, "Your acting is terrible. You might fool a little girl, but you can't fool a working director like me."
"Even if you see through it, can't you just cooperate with the performance?" I protested. "There has to be some sense of ceremony."
"But that's not fair."
"Unfair?"
"Yes. Traditionally, proposals are always initiated by men, and women are passive recipients. I want to do the opposite and let you be the one receiving the surprise. This way, it will be memorable and you'll never forget it."
"You talk as if we're about to be separated by life and death." I laughed.
"That's right, we're about to be tied together." Li Zitong pinched the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp. When there was nothing left in the glass, she narrowed her right eye and playfully stuck out her tongue, the diamond sparkling between her lips and teeth.
I put my palm in front of her nose and said, "Stop it. It will be troublesome if you accidentally swallow it."
Her face darkened. "Are you planning to pry it out of my mouth with your fingers? Can't you think of any other way?"
I understood what she meant, "You are such a jerk."
She closed her eyes. I kicked the chair away and leaned forward.
I had inadvertently become the center of attention in the restaurant, but none of us paid much attention. Seagulls frolicked near the surface of the water, and the pink lady was even sweeter than I'd imagined.
I spit out the ring and say, "Wait a minute, I'll ask the waiter for a tissue to wipe it off."
"No, I can't wait any longer. Put it on me now."
"It's so wet."
"I don't mind."
After putting the ring on, she took the opportunity to hold my hand, holding it tighter than ever before.
"Let's be together forever." Her voice was small and weak, and so pious as if she was praying to some god.
After returning home, we began preparing for the wedding. My mother had no objections, but my father's attitude was unexpected. Even after the truth of the case came to light, he still harbored prejudices against Li Zitong. However, after much persuasion and a special visit with Li Zitong, his attitude somewhat changed.
I guess it was after actual contact that he changed his opinion of Li Zitong.
Unexpectedly, that would be the last time I saw my father. With our wedding approaching, he and I agreed on a time to come to Shanghai. But the day before he was due to leave, he collapsed at home from a cerebral thrombosis. With prompt medical attention, he could have been saved, but he had already lived alone for years. By the time he was found, it was too late.
The old-fashioned clock at home began to chime the hours. I came back to reality from my memories and sighed.
If I don't get started now, it'll be too late to return to Shanghai. I made up my mind and began cleaning diligently. I couldn't bear to throw things away, so I packed them into cardboard boxes to prevent them from gathering dust. After cleaning the living room, I pushed open the door to my side bedroom and was stunned.
For as long as I can remember, this has been my room, my own personal territory. Until my mother took me away from home over a decade ago. Unexpectedly, my father hasn't touched a single thing here since then. It's as if time has stood still. I casually flipped open the homework book on the desk. It still contained unfinished high school exercises and my childish handwriting. I touched the tabletop; there wasn't a speck of dust; it was cleaner than the living room. It seemed my father cleaned here regularly.
The smells, the silence, the light falling on the wardrobe—everything in the room whispered to me. I'd never had a long conversation with my father. Growing up, I could count the number of times we'd spoken on my hands. The last time we had a proper heart-to-heart was probably in middle school.
I fell into a sentimental trance. I don't know how long it took, but someone rang the doorbell. I wiped my eyes, stood up, and opened the door. Outside was a deliveryman carrying a large cardboard box.
"Did you send it to the wrong place?" I asked subconsciously.
"It can't be wrong." He put down the cardboard box and took out his phone to check the recipient's name. It turned out to be something his father had bought online before he died.
I apologized and accepted the box. After some thought, I decided to open the package and see what it was. At the time, I had no idea how serious the consequences of this decision would be.
Inside the box was a square device resembling a printer. Only after reading the instructions did I realize it was a paper shredder. Why did my father buy this thing? Did he have a lot of secrets to get rid of?
I searched the house and soon found it. The target was obvious: there was not a single piece of clothing in the master bedroom closet, and it was filled from top to bottom with files.
I flipped through it briefly. It was filled with photocopies of case files. The top layer was torn and held together with scotch tape. The torn area had a glaring color, like dried red bean soup.
I flipped through it curiously and found it was actually the investigation record of the body found on the mudflat. After reading a few more lines, I saw some incredible words.
My head spun, and I clutched the wardrobe for a moment, recovering after a long moment. My mind told me to stop reading and just throw all this garbage into the shredder, as my father had wished. But then I came to my senses, picked up the investigation records again, and continued reading them like a madman.
I can't remember how long I continued watching after that; I completely lost track of time. As darkness fell, I brought in a desk lamp and continued watching, completely forgetting I'd booked a high-speed rail ticket or that I had a wedding the next day.
It was already late at night when I finished reading all the files.
Although the files are numerous and messy, after reading them all, they can still be roughly categorized. All the files point to three cases:
The first was the case of an unidentified corpse found floating on the riverbank. The file stated that the corpse was carrying a diamond crown worth 82 million (appraised value).
The second missing person case occurred in Pingyao City, Shanxi Province. A security guard at the People's Hospital disappeared after work. A week later, the outsourcing company where he worked reported the case to the police.
The third case was an old one in Chengguan City. At the turn of the century, during a crackdown, police dismantled a long-established criminal gang operating at the train station, arresting most of its key members. The file contained a sketch, and I vaguely recognized the face.
For the first time in my life, I hated my own keen perception and thinking ability so much. I wish I hadn't noticed the subtle connection between these three cases.
I leaped up, grabbed the document, and tore it to shreds. Paper scraps flew everywhere, and a strange man let out a heartbreaking howl, piercing the silent night air. It was only much later that I realized the sound came from my own mouth.
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