13 Lai San

 

There was nothing in this world which was perfectly black and white. A drug addict could have something that was positive about him. If Lin Su had left Long Ze City, he might be able to escape. This reminded me of another drug baron whom I met in prison. When he was captured, he was playing with his daughter at a theme park. Those who could not abandon material and emotional ties would always have their weaknesses. Lin Su’s crime was enough to send him to the needle but he did not want to die. I told him, if he still wished to see his grandmother again in his life, he better tell everything he knew to the police. This was Lin Su’s weakness, the joy and tragedy of his life.

In any case, Lin Su provided us with a name, Lai San. Lai San was Lin Su’s supplier. Lai San was also the one person Lin Su knew who had successfully overcome drug addiction. With Lin Su’s help, we soon had in our hands Lai San’s files. Lai San was currently 32 years old but had already spent 5 years in prison. Lai San had a colorful history and it was something which was worth sharing.

Lai San had 2 older brothers and 2 older sisters, he was the runt of the family. His family was poor, his brothers and sisters had to work menial jobs every day but Lai San would get buns every meal, his parents pampered their youngest the most. Out of their concern, Lai San’s parents decided to abandon Lai San. They dropped him off at the Shaolin Temple because the boy was getting older and the family couldn’t keep him fed anymore. At the temple, at least Lai San would be cared for, that was the best home Lai San’s parents could give him. And Lai San stayed at Shaolin Temple for 15 years.

Lai San left Shaolin Temple with a mastery in martial arts when he was 18. Like the heroes in the wuxia novels he liked, he decided to travel around China. With the intention of spreading the glory of Shaolin Kung Fu, Lai San would challenge any martial arts centre that he came across. Armed with a cleaver, Lai San would stomp into any Taekwondo, Judo, boxing centres that he encountered. Even the strongest fighter would fear a blade in a battle, furthermore, this was a normal, scientific world that we lived in, not a wuxia world. People practiced martial arts for health reasons, not to become the Jiang Hu Supreme. In any case, Lai San couldn’t care less about that distinction. The fact that none of the fighters he came across were willing to fight him boosted his ego further. When he left, just like any Jiang Hu fighter worth his salt, Lai San would bow and announce, “Thank you for the victory, I am Shaolin’s Lai San.” Thus, the story of a strange and crazy man going around challenging random people with a knife to a fistfight started to spread among the martial arts circle.

One day, after one too many ‘wins’, Lai San examined his blade and then his arms. For the first time, he asked himself, ‘Are they afraid of my knife or my prowess?’ That day, Lai San had just arrived in a new district. From afar, he saw a big sign that said, “Hwa San.” As a wuxia novels aficionado, Lai San naturally knew about Hwa San Sect, they were often praised as the sect most skilled in blades. That got Lai San’s blood boiling. Through his year of journey, he had not come across any big sects before, finally, this time the heroes at Hwa San would be able to show him where his actual ability lay. With a howl, Lai San charged into the building with the Hwa San sign brandishing his knife. Then he met his first loss in his life. Several guns pointed right at Lai San.

“Who is so brave to rob a police station?” A senior officer questioned. What Lai San did not know was that while Shaolin Sect was a real sect based on a real place, Hwa San Sect was a fictionalized sect… but there was indeed a district in China called Hwa San. The ‘Hwa San Sect’ that Lai San attempted to challenge was actually Hwa San Police Station. When the officers found out about Lai San’s real reason for being there, they had a laugh among themselves. They symbolically detained Lai San for a few days and then confiscated his knife. However, what they did to Lai San was more serious than that, they shattered his bubble and made him lose his purpose in life. Lai San then understood how easily he could be kicked out of Jiang Hu, they only needed to take away his knife. When asked about his home address, he had no answer. He had not been home for 15 years already. It was not that he hadn’t had the thought of going home but he had no idea where that was. After his parents sent him to Shaolin temple, they never expected him to return. They had nothing to feed him so for what would they want him back?

After Lai San was released, the first thing he did was to find himself a new knife. Therefore, he came to a hardware store and told the owner, “I need the sharpest knife you have.”

The boss took out a cleaver. “This knife is incredibly sharp, it can be used to slice up vegetables and pick off the bones of any meat. It can help skin fish too. I assure you with 120 percent guarantee that you’ll never need a second knife after you buy this one. I’ll put it like this, if you find this blade not sharp enough, come back and chop me with it. Then you’ll see how sharp it really is.” The next day, his customers found the boss lying in the pool of his own blood. The assailant was none other than Lai San. Lai San knew that the cleaver was not sharper than his old knife so he came back to take the boss up on his promise. He landed a square chop on the boss’ chest. Thankfully, the cleaver was truly not as sharp as the boss claimed and he survived. This was the first time Lai San was sent into prison.

Thinking about his close brush with death, the boss would still shiver. When the new customers saw the large scar on the boss’ chest, they would assume the boss had a background in the underground world and hoped that he would regale them with some stories. Often, the boss would just smile. In the end, he;d just say, “The biggest lesson this scar has taught me is not to rely on bluffing as a marketing tactic.”

Lai San lost his blade again and this was his first time in prison.

The second time Lai San was sent to prison, it was because he was desperate. He was robbing people because he was too hungry. Although Lai San did not see it that way. Lai San would approach young women on the streets and pleaded, “Miss, please be kind. I’m too poor, I have no car, no house and no money. I can’t afford any food, what I have is only this knife. Please spare some change for me.” When the girls saw the knife, they would quickly open their wallets. Lai San had never felt such kindness in his life before. People would hand him money whenever he ‘begged’ from them. But finally one day, a calm woman took out her phone to take Lai San’s picture after giving him some change and called the police. And that was how Lai San landed for his second time in prison.

After that, Lin Su met Lai San at rehab. No one knew how Lai San got into the drug habit but everyone at rehab would come to know how he got off the habit. There were many ways to kick off the habit but mostly it revolved around 2 steps; 1, stop the physical reliance on the drug; 2, stop the psychological reliance on the drug. Many people could do the first but most failed the second.

Lin Su and Lai San shared the same room, they were responsible to watch over each other. If the other was spotted to take drugs, they had to report to the worker immediately. After 2 months of living together, they had basically known about each other’s habits, things like withdrawal period and symptoms. One night, according to Lin Su’s calculation, Lai San would be suffering from relapse soon. So he laid waiting in the dark. But there was no sound from Lai San’s bed. There was no hissing or groaning.

Lin Su thought, perhaps the activity at the centre had worked and it had extended the period between each of Lai San’s withdrawals. With that in mind, Lin Su slowly drifted off to bed. When he woke up, Lin Su was shocked. How did he manage to sleep through Lai San’s withdrawal, which was often loud and noisy? But when he saw Lai San, he understood everything.

Lai San’s bed was covered in blood and most of them had already dried. Lai San was sitting cross-legged on them. Based on Lin Su’s observation, the blood mainly came from Lai San’s limbs. Lin Su’s mouth fell open, he did not know how to describe this. Lai San’s skin was everted, only his face looked like a human. Lin Su had no idea where Lai San got a small nail but he had used the nail to carve out lines on his body. Lai San had turned the pain from withdrawal to actual physical pain. Lin Su could understand that feeling, when withdrawal hit, it was like your whole body was crawling with biting ants, the ants were under your skin and in your brain. Compared to normal physical pain, this mental torture was more painful… unless of course you could top it further with more intense physical pain.

Self-mutilation was actually a common recourse among drug reformers, however, Lin Su had not seen anyone take it to such extremes before. Through the night, Lai San had not made a sound, the bed did not even shake or else Lin Su wouldn’t have slept so soundly. In the silent night, a man was sitting on his bed, holding a small nail in his finger. He cut lines on his body and peeled the skin back, just like how a farmer would plough his acres of field. When there was no skin left on his arms to work with, he moved to his legs and then his body. Thankfully, Lin Su woke up before Lai San died from blood loss.

When Lai San saw Lin Su, he smiled and told Lin Su, “I think I just cured myself of the addiction.” Lin Su always thought he was already quite a mentally strong person but now he understood, he was nothing. Lai San spent a whole month recuperating at the hospital and throughout that period, he never once touched drugs. Soon Lai San was released from the rehab.

One year later, Lin Su left rehab too. However, it did not take long for Lin Su to relapse. When Lin Su met Lai San again, the latter was already a drug baron. When former roommates met, Lai San was rich from drugs and Lin Su was poor because of drugs. Thus, Lai San provided an out for Lin Su. He would recruit Lin Su as a distributor and he could use that to fund his own drug use. Lin Su agreed.

As mentioned before, mental reliance on drugs was the hardest hurdle to overcome for someone kicking the drug habit. A study was done at a rehab before, if pleasure could be measured, then sex was 3 and taking a drug hit was at 10. The sensation was indescribable. Therefore, if you are someone who cannot even handle something at a mere 3, better stay away from drugs.

However, Lai San beat the statistics. He knew the taste of drugs but he never touched it again. Lin Su though couldn’t do it. Therefore, Lin Su agreed to be a drug mule for Lai San. Over the past 3 months, Lin Su had been doing that for money. After spending the necessary money on drugs, the rest he left for his grandmother. With Lin Su’s brilliance, he knew that he would eventually be captured, so he kept a store of money for his grandmother so she could look after herself after he was gone.

With regards to Lai San, naturally he had left Long Ze City already. We were only responsible for the murder so the info on Lai San was handed over to the narcotics unit, and our case was officially over.

“Lai San, now this man is quite interesting. I wonder if we’ll cross paths with him in the future.” I studied the picture of Lai San in my hands, he looked like an honest farmer.

Captain Zhao glanced at me and said, “He will eventually fall in our hands.”