20 Gender Identity Disorder

 

We finally arrived at Zhang Mingliang’s home at 12.30 pm. “Now let’s see what the home of a 3rd sex person looks like.” I said as we walked through the front door.

“Don’t be crass. Medically speaking, they are people who experience gender identity disorder.” Guan Zhenglin took pictures of the house as she started an impromptu lecture, “The individual exhibits marked and persistent identification with the opposite sex and persistent discomfort with his or her own sex or sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex. They hope to use medical and hormonal assistance to fix that problem but there are not many who dare to make that transition in China, after all, the societal pressure will be enormous.”

“Is this congenital or acquired later in life?” I asked while I took in the décor. This was a very normal looking apartment, it had 2 rooms, 1 living room, 1 kitchen, 1 bathroom and 1 balcony. The size was small and the décor was alright. A sectional couch took up most of the space in the small living room. Facing the couch was a big television and a television cabinet.

“It differs according to the individual.” Guan Zhenglin answered. I nodded. I pressed the on button on the remote and the television switched on. Looks like Zhang Mingliang didn’t fully plug off her television set the night she died. This was not that uncommon of a habit. Most people these days only switched off the tv with their remote and did not turn off the power switch. “The match is heating up. An alley-oop dunk by James…” The announcer’s voice boomed from the tv. Looks like Zhang Mingliang was watching the sports channel before she switched it off.

As the tv continued to play, the 3 of us entered the first bedroom. The bedroom had a large closet and a large bed. Next to the bed was a small bookshelf. There were some philosophy books, romance novels and even some crime thrillers. Zhang Mingliang had an eclectic taste in reading. I picked up a few random books and flipped through them.

“What is the sexual orientation of a trans person?” I asked.

Guan Zhenglin continued to take pictures. “They might be gay or straight, it’s hard to say. Gender identity disorder affects only gender identity but not sexual orientation.”

The other bedroom had a yoga mat and a computer. In today’s age, to get to know someone, the best method was through their computer. However, none of us there was an expert in this. We had to ask Mary for help. When I called Mary, she told me to log into my social media account on Zhang Mingliang’s computer. “Go and investigate the other rooms, I’ll wait for the result on this computer.” I told Guan Zhenglin and Gu Chen. While I waited for Mary to work her magic, I stood there and pondered some questions. The timing when Zhang Mingliang chose to do the surgery both on her body and face was too coincidental with the time when Wu Jiajia received the threatening letter. It’s too intricately linked to be a coincidence. Furthermore, what was Zhang Mingliang doing at the abandoned building site that night?

While the questions bounced through my mind, suddenly a groaning and moaning sound came from Zhang Mingliang’s computer. I was spooked and hurried to glance at the screen. The computer was playing lesbian porn. Two women were in bed servicing each other.

“The fuck.” Gu Chen appeared behind me. “Brother Wu Meng, I know you have needs but can’t you wait until we’re done with the investigation first?”

Guan Zhenglin also appeared at the bedroom door and scoffed. “Pervert.”

“I’m innocent!” I pleaded. I instantly knew what was the problem, I was being set up by Mary. As the best hacker in the country, remotely controlling a computer wasn’t going to be too hard. I immediately sent a message to Mary, “Big Sister Mary, can you please not do this to me? Did you find anything other than this video?”

Right then, a hidden file popped up on screen. It had many word files and each of them was marked with individual dates. The earliest date started 4 weeks ago. When the 3 of us finished reading all the files, we were silent.

17 years ago, a kid from primary one was kicked to the ground and berated, “Even at your age, you’re already stealing a girl’s skirt?! I need to talk to your parents about this! Someone needs to teach you better manners!”

“We’re so sorry. We’ll teach our son better. Sir, please give him another chance.” The boy’s parents pleaded.

“Little Pervert, Little Pervert.” All the other kids called him that. To be honest though, the kid’s parents were relieved because they had survived yet another close brush with the truth. The kid’s parents would rather their son be called a prevent than to face the actual truth. This was not the first time something like this had happened.

In fact, when this happened for the first time, his father demanded in mock-sternness, “Why did you go and steal that girl’s dress?” Then the father turned to whisper to the boy’s mother, “Our son is already quite mature despite his age, huh.” There was even pride in his voice. The boy’s parents tried to hold in their smiles. In the eyes of these two simple farmers, it meant that their boy had grown into a man. However, the answer from their son took that smile forever away.

“The dress is pretty, I want to wear it too. I’m a girl.”

From then on, the boy’s parents had to help him find excuses for his behaviour again and again. They were the ones who released the rumors that their son was a pervert who had a penchant to steal other girls’ clothes. One time, his father finally lost it. The father undid his pants, pointed at his penis and testicles and told his son, “You have the thing that I do. How is it that you can’t tell whether you’re a boy or a girl?!”

His father thought this would be a rude awakening for his son but he was the one who got the awakening that he did not expect. His son said, “Does that mean I will be a girl if I remove those things?”

When the boy grew into a young man and entered high school, that was also the first time he stole his own mother’s dress to wear. He put on make-up and high heels. His father walked into the scene when he was twirling around the house. The father beat him for a full hour until he was exhausted. The father collapsed to the ground and asked in a chokingly voice, “Are you a boy or a girl?”

Despite the wounds all over his body, the young man pushed out with a determined breath, “I’m a girl.”

That was the first and last time his father hit him. Even though he had trouble with his gender identity, he was a clever student and understanding son. As he grew older, he could empathize with his parents further. How could he expect a pair of farmers from the countryside to understand gender identity disorder and that he was born with it. The young man knew that his parents loved him in their own way or else they wouldn’t have supported him for so long. On the young man’s 18th birthday, the family of 3 hugged one another and cried non-stop. The old father who never drank finished two bottles of strong liquor and his mother finished one. His father told him, “My child, this life is yours to live. You should be free to live it however you want to. No matter if you're a boy or a girl, you’ll always be my child.”

From then on, the young man never brought up the fact that he was a woman anymore and he kept his crossdressing habits from his parents. The first year he entered university, his father passed away from an illness. 2 years later, his mother went to join his father. His parents did not leave much for him. When he saw his mother for the last time, his mother told him, “For so many years, we know what you’ve been going through even though you’ve not uttered a word. Please don’t worry about us anymore. You can now walk your own path without us holding you back. Promise me that you’ll be yourself from now on, okay?”

He cried by his mother’s bedside.

After graduation, he moved to this city. He fell in love with a person, a man. The man was an intern teacher at a school, his name was Gao Rui. Gao Rui satisfied everything he was looking for in a partner. He was kind, gentle, handsome and surprisingly muscular. He did everything he could to dig up all the info on Gao Rui and he was devastated to find out Gao Rui already had a girlfriend. He thought about stealing Gao Rui away from his girlfriend but he knew it would be hard, especially when he still looked like a man.

To rectify that, he couldn’t wait longer, he pushed his gender reassignment surgery ahead of time. To get to know Gao Rui, he stalked Gao Rui for a long time. Even just from afar, he was satisfied as long as he could see Gao Rui. He stalked Gao Rui for months (There were many pictures inside the hidden folder, they were all of Gao Rui). But one day, Gao Rui moved in with a woman. That woman was none other than Wu Jiajia. Therefore, 3 weeks ago, he finally completed the lifelong dream that he had for 20 plus years. When Zhang Mingliang left the hospital, he had become her.

Zhang Mingliang modelled her new appearance after Wu Jiajia. Her plan was to confess her love to Gao Rui after she had fully recovered from the surgery. She was taller than Wu Jiajia and due to artificial enhancement, her boobs were bigger. She was a better version of Wu Jiajia, there was no reason Gao Rui wouldn’t pick her. The plan was to get Gao Rui first, before slowly easing him into the truth that she was a transwoman.

She continued to follow Gao Rui for a few more weeks and she noticed something interesting. While she was stalking Gao Rui, someone was stalking Wu Jiajia. This was not the first time she had run into this person who was doing the same thing as she was, plus his action was even more extreme than hers. Zhang Mingliang saw with her own eyes the man enter Wu Jiajia’s apartment with a pail of paint, but she had no idea what he was up to. But Zhang Mingliang believed that this man could help promote her own agenda, after all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Therefore Zhang Mingliang dropped a note at the common locations where the stalker would usually hide, “I am Wu Jiajia, please meet me at the abandoned building site east of Yu Cai High School. I have something to discuss with you.” That was Zhang Mingliang’s last word document. Inside the document, on a comment tab, Zhang Mingliang appended this, “The stalker will be there when he sees my note. I will propose a cooperation. I’ll help him get Wu Jiajia and he’ll help me get Gao Rui. I’m so happy, I’ll be with Gao Rui soon.”

“Zhang Mingliang didn’t know the other stalker had sent Wu Jiajia the threatening letter, or else she wouldn’t have the audacity to use Wu Jiajia’s name to invite the killer. And the killer thought his threatening letter had worked and hence the invitation from Wu Jiajia.” Guan Zhenglin gasped. “The killer probably couldn’t recognize Zhang Mingliang’s real identity at that dark building site, perhaps he has indeed killed the wrong person!”

Gu Chen sighed. “This is as dramatic as a real movie.”

“But why would Zhang Mingliang ask the other stalker to meet her at an abandoned building site of all places? Why was Zhang Mingliang so confident that the cooperation she proposed would be successful? How could she be sure that this person wouldn’t harm her? Wouldn’t she be worried about her personal safety dealing with a stranger?” I frowned. “There is only one explanation.”

“What is it?” Both of them asked in unison.

“Zhang Mingliang perhaps knew this other stalker.”