5
The next day was Saturday, and the forecast called for sleet. I put on my raincoat and rode my bike out of the house. I was supposed to go to extracurricular math classes, but I decided to skip them.
The downpour arrived as expected. The fierce wind tugged at the hem of my raincoat, and icy raindrops mercilessly pelted my exposed face. After an hour of arduous cycling, I finally spotted the familiar music store through the white mist. It had been a long time since I'd been here.
I parked the car under the eaves and took off my raincoat. I glanced at my watch. It was one in the afternoon. Li Zitong was supposed to be in charge of the store on weekend afternoons. But I couldn't muster the resolve to go in. My legs and feet felt heavy as if they were filled with lead. We hadn't spoken in over two years. How should I start the conversation when we met? Having never met anyone my age who had lost a loved one, I lacked the experience or confidence to offer comfort in such a situation.
After much hesitation, I finally decided to clear my mind and improvise. Upon entering, I saw a young man I didn't recognize sitting unceremoniously behind the counter. He had an unlit cigarette in his mouth, his hair slicked back, revealing a bald forehead. His gaunt face looked a bit nervous, reminiscent of Gary Oldman, the drug lord cop in "Léon: The Professional."
"There are no Ring discs, not even parts one to three. They've all been rented out. There's not a single horror movie left." He said without looking up.
I was stunned. "I didn't plan on borrowing a horror movie."
"So you're just here to watch the fun? Please, can you little devils just quiet down? I'm running a business, not a haunted house in an amusement park. You've scared away all the legitimate customers. If you keep this up, I'm really going to have to sell tickets..."
"I have a membership and am a regular customer here."
He raised his head, frowning with worry, "Oh, you're here to return your deposit?"
"I never said that."
"Hehe!" Gary Oldman suddenly stood up, making a series of strange "Hehe" sounds, and walked towards me with his arms open. I was so scared that I instinctively raised my arms to block.
In the end, he just patted my upper right arm. "I thought it was another person asking questions and taking pictures."
“Are there many people like this?”
"There are more people here than flies in a rural dry toilet. Since I took over this store, besides people coming to watch the fun, there are old customers who come to refund their membership deposits. The cash in the counter is getting less and less every day. I'm almost having a nervous breakdown."
"Take over—you mean the original owner quit?"
"I'm so unlucky. Ever since I retired, I've been looking for a small business to start. Somehow, I got wind of that man named Li Xueqiang, and he came to me, saying he wanted to sublet his music store. He also said business was booming and the rent was cheap. I was suspicious and asked him why he quit with such a good offer. He said his wife had just passed away and he couldn't run the business on his own. Foolishly, I believed him, but who could have known he would die in such a way..."
At this point, he suddenly fell silent, probably because he was afraid that I would ask for my deposit back after learning the truth. "What kind of discs do you want to rent? Besides horror movies, they have a pretty good selection of other genres."
It looked like I wouldn't be seeing Li Zitong today. Feeling slightly disappointed, I pretended to browse the store, browsing through discs. The store's layout remained largely unchanged from my last visit two years ago. Movies were categorized and arranged on the same shelves, now on discs. Only the curtain on the back room door had vanished, and a warm orange light flooded the once dim and secluded room. The content not suitable for children had completely vanished.
I was somewhat surprised and shouted from behind the shelf, "Boss, are all the videotapes in the back room gone?"
"I've put it away for now." Gary Oldman let out an awkward fake laugh, as if to lighten the mood. "The police came here last month and warned us that those videotapes were contraband. I said they were left by the previous owner and had been selling them openly for years. He said it was none of his business and anyone who sold them again would be fined. What a mess!"
"What are the police doing here?"
"Who knew? They said they were investigating a case, but ended up closing the shop for days. They moved in and turned the place upside down, leaving dust everywhere. They wanted to leave it to me to clean up. I'm going to clean it!"
I recalled the news reports I'd read: Xu Lan was last seen in this music store. Did the police think there were any clues here?
The sound of footsteps and the smell of rain became stronger, as if a new customer had entered the store.
"Want to rent a disc?" Gary Oldman asked.
"Just take a look." The voice sounded familiar.
"Oh." Gary Oldman obviously lost interest.
I peeked out from behind the shelves and froze in fear. The man approaching looked remarkably familiar. If my eyes were correct, it must have been Zheng Kun, the hoodlum who had left me with a dark memory for the entire summer. Instinctively, I curled up and hid behind the shelves of Hong Kong films. Fortunately, he looked preoccupied and didn't glance around, heading straight for the back room where the porn films were sold.
My heartbeat gradually calmed down. Thinking carefully, I realized that he no longer had any leverage over me and there was no need to be afraid.
Zheng Kun paused at the doorway to the inner room. He had become thinner, his cheekbones particularly striking. His once cold, pale corneas were now bloodshot. He wasn't holding an umbrella, his hair was damp, and the rain soaked his clothes, revealing the distinct mark of his collarbone at his collar. Since entering high school, my height has grown by six centimeters, like ears of wheat. Now, not only am I half a head taller than him, I'm also much stronger.
I took a deep breath, mustering the courage to leave the shadow beneath the shelf. Zheng Kun had already entered the inner room. He leaned sideways, resting his shoulder against a shelf against the wall, exerting all his strength. The shelf creaked and moved about five centimeters outward, creating a gap between it and the wall. He pressed his face against the wall, peering through the gap.
"Is there anything in there?" I asked curiously.
"Wow!" He jumped up against the wall like a spring frog toy, soaring half a meter into the air. I was so scared that I stepped back repeatedly.
He stared at my face in shock, "Why is it you?"
"I'm here to borrow a disc. What about you?"
"I...of course, I'm here to borrow some discs."
I observed the recently moved shelves. Compared to the pornographic films they once held, the discs now displayed a brighter, healthier palette, featuring films and animations geared towards children. The shelves themselves were primarily wooden, reinforced with stainless steel crossbeams. A crack appeared in the wood that originally faced the wall, a subtle one. Without a closer look, one might mistake it for the natural wood grain. Deep within the crack, a black stain loomed, making it look suspicious.
"Did you leave something behind the shelf?" I asked again.
"None of your business!" He seemed to finally calm down, his shoulders no longer shaking, and a familiar look of arrogance appeared on his face. He reached for my collar. But I grabbed his wrist and twisted it, throwing his arm behind his back. He cried out in pain. The whole process was effortless, the difference in strength like a head-on collision between a fishing boat and a cruiser.
"Stop, are you looking for death?"
I let go of her hand, "You were the one who started it."
"Just wait and see," he said harshly, turning to try to escape. But I opened my arms to block the door to the inner room.
“Get out of the way!”
"First, explain clearly why you want to move the shelves."
He rubbed the red mark on his wrist, his eyes becoming bloodshot and sharp. "Mind your own business, does this kind of question make sense?"
"That makes sense. I just spoke to the new owner here. He's been so fussy lately that he has absolutely no plans to clean up." I reached into the gap between the shelves and the wall and felt around. "But this side of the shelves against the wall is spotless, not a speck of dust on it. Could it be that some customers are volunteering to help with the cleaning?"
“Maybe the previous owner cleaned it.”
"Speaking of the previous owner, did you know she passed away unexpectedly?" I secretly observed Zheng Kun's expression. He looked disinterested, his eyes shifting upwards, his lips curled. But from my rather brief encounters with him, I knew this man was adept at displaying expressions that had nothing to do with his intentions, or were even completely contrary to them.
"I've heard of it. Everyone around here knows it. That proprietress named Xu Lan must be dead. What bad luck." He spat on the ground. Despite his rude and aggressive words, his body language was defensive, his center of gravity noticeably shifting backward.
"I heard that the police closed this store for investigation last month. Do you think it has anything to do with Xu Lan's death?"
"God knows what those detectives are thinking."
"I suspect there's a connection. The newspaper reported that the last witness statement about Xu Lan's death came from the owner of the stationery store across the street. At five o'clock in the afternoon on New Year's Day, he saw Xu Lan had already pulled down the shutters and curiously inquired about the reason. Xu Lan said she was closing the store to take inventory, and no one has seen her since. So, this store could be the scene of the murder."
"How is that possible? Everyone knows she committed suicide in the steel mill in Wudu City."
His words only heightened my suspicions. He didn't mention the "police" as they're commonly called, referring to them directly as "criminal police." Most people don't understand or care about the division of responsibilities between police departments. People often remember bizarre crime mechanics reported in the newspapers, like the "Ring" videotape found with a body, but they don't recall insignificant details like the exact location of the crime.
"That's not necessarily true. The police haven't released a statement confirming the nature of the case yet. Perhaps the murderer killed Xu Lan and then moved the body all the way to Wudu City."
"Why go to such trouble?"
"To conceal their presence. If this music store was the crime scene, there would surely be many relevant traces left behind. For example, the murderer struggled with the victim, knocking over the cabinet and causing a crack. Or, blood splattered everywhere, forcing the murderer to carefully wipe the bloody floor and shelves. But there might be something he missed." I pointed to the crack on the back of the shelf. "The black stain in the crack looks like blood that wasn't wiped clean."
Zheng Kun didn't answer, staring intently at the stain. I heard the sound of water dripping onto the ground, and I realized it was the rain running down his body. Looking closely, I saw his entire body was trembling slightly.
"Hey, you're not really..."
Before he could finish his words, Zheng Kun suddenly stretched out his arms, pounced forward, and made a trumpet sound from his mouth, as sharp and piercing as an owl in the forest.
I jumped, startled, and dodged sideways. But his target wasn't me; it was the shelf. He squeezed into the gap between the shelf and the wall, pushing his legs against it. The shelf collapsed with a crash, and the discs scattering everywhere with a deafening roar.
"What are you doing?" Gary Oldman rushed over at the noise, stunned. Before his eyes, Zheng Kun threw himself on the fallen shelf, licking and biting at a crack, then frantically wiping it with his sleeve. The stain in the crack quickly disappeared.
Gary Oldman tried to pull Zheng Kun to his feet, but Zheng Kun shook his hand off, his eyes red as he rushed out into the dark rain. Gary Oldman and I were left staring at each other in shock.
"Is this man possessed?" Gary Oldman asked in a trembling voice.
I shook my head repeatedly, unable to make a sound.
"It's over, it's all over." He squatted down, covering the back of his head with his hands, "This place is really haunted."
I stared at the shelf. The crack had been gnawed into several jagged and interlaced tooth marks, and its original shape could no longer be seen.
Naturally, an imaginary scene emerged in my mind, playing automatically like a movie: Late on New Year's Eve, Zheng Kun discovered the shutter door of a video store was unlocked. Overjoyed, he sneaked in to steal something. He happened to run into Xu Lan, who was doing inventory behind closed doors. A fight ensued, and Zheng Kun, desperate to escape, pushed hard, causing Xu Lan's back to collide with a container, which then fell and struck her head...
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