33 The Bride in the Palanquin

 

Eventually it was a dog who rescued Doggie Wang Er, a wild dog to be precise. For some reason, the dog decided to dig at the gravesite that day. It dug and dug until it unearthed a person, even though by then Doggie Wang Er no longer looked like a person. He had been trapped inside the grave for 3 days and 4 nights already. He watched the sun rise thrice and fall thrice. He swore inside the grave that if he could escape from the grave, he would cut his father into pieces.

Some say that blood is thicker than water but that unfortunately was not the case with Doggie Wang Er and his father. In fact, his father felt no responsibility to his son at all. Doggie Wang Er’s father probably never considered the man inside the hole as his son but a tool to achieve his goal. A tongue lapped on Doggie Wang Er’s face and the man’s eyes flickered open. A giant wild dog was licking his face. Doggie Wang Er was so thirsty and hungry. He grabbed the dog by its front paw and used his canines to bite into the dog’s neck. He soon tasted blood and life. Doggie Wang Er lived but the dog died. When his desire for life was quenched, Doggie Wang Er held the dead creature in his arms and he cried. Remorse weighed down heavily on his heart. The last time he cried so hard was when he was 7 and his mother passed away from illness.

The tears kept on falling but Doggie Wang Er couldn’t really tell why. Perhaps there was no reason and his body just needed to let the emotions out. Doggie Wang Er gave the dog, his life savior, the best burial he could manage. Before he left, he proclaimed to the heavens. “My dad is dead.”

Indeed, later Doggie Wang Er’s father was found dead. When his neighbours smelled the stench coming from the man’s house, Doggie Wang Er’s father was dead for 3 days already. The villagers had never seen such a macabre scene before. Doggie Wang Er’s father was strung from a pole and his mouth was sewn shut with thread. Wang Liancheng, Doggie Wang Er’s father was found naked and there was no piece of flesh on his body which was complete. There were numerous holes on his body, his arms, his stomach, his back and his buttocks. Some of the gaps went so deep that one could see the bone and the fat was leaking out. The skin at some places was pulled back with hooks. The man’s genitalia and eyelids were not spared. The only part untouched about his body was his hair.

The blood slid down the body and pooled around the floor. It had already dried when the body was discovered. The stench attracted a lot of flies. The shock of the scene took away the villagers’ gag reflex. An old man from the village said, “They have cut off his eyelids, so that he would have to watch himself being tortured to death. This is such intense cruelty!”

Another senior over 100 pointed with his cane. His eyes were filled with terror as he claimed shakingly, “It’s more than that! Look closer, the holes are not made by knives but bitten off by actual human teeth!” Indeed, when the villagers took a closer look, they could see lines of neat teeth mark along the wounds. Someone had bitten this man to his death. No wonder the expression on his face was so disturbing. The expression represented a primal form of fear but without his eyelids, Wang Liancheng was forced to watch his life seep away. This kind of death was slow and incredibly painful. The senior was suddenly reminded of a term, “This, this is Lingchi Execution, or a death of a thousand cuts.”

However, this form of torture was often done with knife and not teeth. The traitors in the grave-robbers’ ranks would be given Lingchi Execution, that was the rules. And the person who executed that punishment on Doggie Wang Er’s father was none other than his own son.

When he emerged from the grave and executed his father, Doggie Wang Er was reborn as a dog.

“Look, what is that at the corner!” Someone shouted. “Wait, isn’t that Lian Cheng’s son? Why would he be here? He was probably stunned into disbelief when he walked into seeing his father like this.” They slowly approached Doggie Wang Er who was facing away from them. Hearing their voices, Doggie Wang Er turned around. When the villagers saw his face, they all took an involuntary step back, and no one dared to say a word. Doggie Wang Er’s eyes were red and they pooled with melancholy and hatred that wouldn’t dissipate.

According to the villager senior, only those who had consumed human meat would have eyes of such colors. So whose meat had Doggie Wang Er consumed? The answer was quite obvious. Doggie Wang Er gnashed his teeth and the villagers saw the flesh and blood stuck between them. Clearly, it was Doggie Wang Er who bit his own father to death.

“Woof, woof, go away. I’m the guard dog of this house. You people don’t belong here. Woof woof.” Doggie Wang Er got down on all fours and barked at the retreating villagers. The villagers knew what Doggie Wang Er did for a living so they believed the man was taken over by some kind of evil spirit when he was inside the graves. In any case, one thing was clear. If they did not move away, they would be attacked by Doggie Wang Er like how the man had attacked his own father.

“Fuck, there are so many of us, why are we afraid of him?” One of the villagers shouted.

“Are you crazy? If you wish to die, then you can stay here!” Someone countered.

By then, Doggie Wang Er had already jumped at them. The villagers scattered like chickens, except one girl. She did not run away. Doggie Wang Er landed before her and then stopped. He leaned down and started to lick the girl’s toes.

“Good doggie.” The girl said.

“Yes, I’m a good doggie, the best doggie in the world.” Doggie Wang Er answered.

The girl responded with tears.

“Xiao Cui, you need to get back. He’s too dangerous.” The villagers pleaded.

…

Qing Cheng Mental Hospital.

“Good doggie, sit.” Guan Zhenglin told Doggie Wang Er. Doggie Wang Er laid down beside Guan Zhenglin’s feet and licked at her toes that poked out from her flats. Guan Zhenglin was clearly uncomfortable, not with the unsanitary action but the dehumanization of the man, but I told her that this was the only way we could communicate with the man. “Yes, I’m a good doggie, the best doggie in the world.” Doggie Wang Er replied.

Guan Zhenglin’s eyes immediately watered. She said, “For some reasons, I just want to cry. The poor thing, what happened with Xiao Cui then?”

“Xiao Cui would still come visit him occasionally,” I sighed. “When I was a resident here, I saw Xiao Cui come several times. She is a pretty girl.”

The nurse shook his head weakly, “Wu Meng, it’s one thing for Captain Zhao to spring you out of here, after all, you’re one of the more optimistic cases here, but look at Doggie Wang Er. You want to bring him out? Do you think we’re some kind of pet shop?”

“Brother, you’re exaggerating.” I countered. “He believes he’s a dog but he has the memory and intelligence of a normal person, so why can’t I bring him with me?” Then I turned around to speak to Doggie Wang Er. “Who’s the cleverest doggie in the world?”

“I am, I am the cleverest doggie in the world, the best doggie in the world!” Doggie Wang Er said proudly.

“Then you must know about the grave robbers based around Lin Fen.” I asked.

“Of course.” Doggie Wang Er nodded confidently. For Mingjun, the most important component was a dead body. And to source a dead body without attracting the attention of law enforcement, then the most instrumental link was naturally the professional grave robbers. Even though Doggie Wang Er had become a dog, he was a dog who knew how to raid tombs.

…

3 days later, Lin Fen City Ba Jia Zi District.

With the team composition of 1 male, 1 female and 1 dog, their percentage of causing people to turn around was 200 percent. This unique group consisted of me, Guan Zhenglin and Doggie Wang Er who walked on all fours.

“I’m a grave robber, you’re my wife and you’re my dog, is there any problem?” I asked Guan Zhenglin and Doggie Wang Er again.

“Of course, you’ve asked the same question about 300 times already.” Guan Zhenglin groused. Doggie Wang Er licked my hand and said, “No problem, after all I’m the best doggie in the world.”

“My plan was to bring Gu Chen along. If not for the fact that you insisted on coming, I wouldn’t have brought a little girl with me!” I grumbled.

“Gu Chen had to tail us from the sidelines, if we’re in danger, we have to depend on him to save us!” Guan Zhenglin shook her fist. “Plus, who are you calling a young girl?! Furthermore, how is Gu Chen a better company than me?”

I chided, “Well, for one, your body proportion proves that you are a young girl; and for another, Gu Chen has a bigger chest than you do.” Then I pulled on the Doggie Wang Er’s leash and ran.

“Stop right there, I’m going to kill you!” Guan Zhenglin chased after us.

After taking the corner I stopped, Guan Zhenglin wanted to give me a punch but when she saw what I saw, she paused as well.

A wedding procession. This was the first time I’ve come across such a unique wedding process. The bride’s palanquin was covered in sutras and instead of the common red, the palanquin was white. The 8 carriers were all in white shirts and black cotton shoes. They were all blindfolded with a black cloth. But they probably were able to see through them because their visibility wasn’t affected. The person who led the procession held a black dog’s head high above his human head to lead the way. The strange thing was the man was walking backwards and there were steel needles pierced into the dog’s eyes. The needles were hollow because beads of blood leaked out from the needles and formed a thin trail on the ground.

The palanquin carriers moved in a unique rhythm, they took 5 steps forward and then 1 step back.

Seeing his ‘kin’ being treated with such brutality, Doggie Wang Er barked fiendishly. If I didn’t pull on his leash tightly, he would have run into the procession to bite the leading man. The whole procession was silent but a woman’s singing could be heard coming from inside the palanquin. The voice was soft and melancholic. It caused goosebumps to rise on my skin.

The procession passed by us but none of them paid us any attention, not even when we had Doggie Wang Er in our midst. It was like we were living in parallel universes.

The wind picked up and lifted up the white palanquin curtain. The face of an incredibly pale woman flashed before our eyes. The woman’s eyes were closed but her lips opened and closed. The song came from her mouth. It was not until the procession moved far away that Guan Zhenglin dared to breathe. She said carefully, “Wu Meng, that was a dead woman sitting inside that palanquin.”

“You sure?” I shivered.

“I’m a coroner, do you think I can’t tell the difference between a dead person and a living person?” Guan Zhenglin hissed.

A strange wedding procession with strange carriers and a leading man.

A dead woman sitting inside the palanquin singing a ditty.