40 Beauty of Ugliness

 

Were there really ghosts in this world? At least in my 20 years of living, I had not seen one, but I had seen many humans pretending to be ghosts. Furthermore, if there were really ghosts in this world, I didn’t think they’d be that scary. Human beings were often scarier than ghosts.

Take for example, this extremely ugly woman before me. If she was out walking at night, people could easily mistake her as a ghost.

Early this morning, Zhao Mingkun led us to investigate the truth, and to do that, we had to first find out who this Chu Mei was, why the villagers were so afraid of her and what was her relationship with Wei Er’s gang, if any. And that led us to this place, sitting before this woman. I studied the woman closely, I tried my best to find something charming about her. A great sculptor once said, there was no lack of beauty in life, only eyes who failed to recognize beauty. If that was the case, then I must be blind. I had never seen someone so ugly in my life, there was nothing redeeming about her facial features. Her eyes were too small, they were barely more than slits. Her eyes were murky and crusts formed at the edges. Her nostrils were turned outwards, exposing her long and unkempt nasal hair. Her mouth hung open to show yellow teeth. They were not the result of smoking but a lack of oral hygiene. Her ears were flat and small, from afar, they were barely visible.

The pimples pockmarking her face indicated that she wasn’t that old. Based on her body proportions, she looked like she was in her 30s, around the same age as Zhao Mingkun. However, the two women could not have been more different.

This woman’s name was Dai Yu, perhaps her parents got inspired by Dream of Red Chamber. According to village rumours, before Chu Mei died, her best friend was Dai Yu. However, after Chu Mei died 5 years ago, Dai Yu became devastated by grief and some claimed a bit unhinged in the head. Dai Yu at least still took care of her appearance and personal hygiene when she was young but that stopped 5 years ago. If her parents didn’t come every month to help wash and cut her hair, they would be matted and filled by lice. Even so, sitting there, we were still surrounded by a haze of stench. It came from Dai Yu’s feet. Based on how black they were, she probably hadn’t washed them for a long time already. Even someone like Doggie Wang Er couldn’t help but stay away from her, that should tell you how repulsive the woman was.

I had the belief that appearance wasn’t everything, because I was often called a murderer’s son when I was young. However, when I sat across from Dai Yu, I found it hard to not form a bad impression about her. Human nature is evil, no matter how hard you try to hide it. Noting that I had been watching her feet, Dai Yu purposely moved her toes and asked challengingly, “Would you like to lean closer for a better sniff?”

I almost unloaded my morning breakfast. I changed the subject, “We’re here to find out more about Chu Mei. Why are the villagers so afraid of her?” After Zhao Mingkun offered her 1000 RMB, Dai Yu told us a story. Dai Yu was indeed Chu Mei’s best friend, they ate together, drank together, and sometimes even shared a bed together. They had been best pals since primary school. The friendship lasted through high school and secondary school. Both of them were good students, in fact, Chu Mei was a better student than Dai Yu. After high school, both of the girls applied for the same school. Luckily, they both got accepted. Their bond was so strong that some of the villagers suspected there was more than platonic relationship between the two.

However, the rumors instantly died after Chu Mei got herself a boyfriend. However, Chu Mei still went everywhere and did everything with Dai Yu, other than sex. For that, Chu Mei had her boyfriend. Quite a number of girls were envious of their relationship, such a sisterhood was hard to come by. However, the thing they were not envious of was Dai Yu’s looks. Dai Yu had very few friends because of it. Even when they agreed to play with her, they would involuntarily regard her in a special way. Even though her university mates tried to keep it as subtle as possible and never made fun of her looks, Dai Yu knew they looked down on her.

Dai Yu could still remember how the classmates in her class would giggle whenever her primary school teacher called out her name for the roll call.

Lin Dai Yu, it was a beautiful name. Even though these kids might not have read Dream of Red Chamber, they knew it was one of the four most famous Chinese literature. Lin Dai Yu was the beautiful female main character. His parents gave her that name because they hoped that their daughter would be as beautiful and as talented as Lin Dai Yu but as farmers, they probably had no idea how Lin Dai Yu had suffered in the masterpiece. The one thing Dai Yu had going in her life was she had one true friend and that was Chu Mei. But one time, when they were back from semester break, Lin Dai Yu lost her only friend.

That was a night 5 years ago. When Chu Mei and Dai Yu descended the train, it was already 11 pm. They took a taxi to reach the district and then walked back to their home. By then it was already 2 am. That semester break, Chu Mei and Dai Yu originally planned to spend it working in the city but their families begged them to return. Their families weren’t that poor that they needed their girls to work to support the family but what kind of parents wouldn’t want their daughters to be by their side for as long as possible. After all, after marriage, their daughters would start a new family of their own.

The girls chatted as they walked home. The road was long and dark. There were no streetlights. Lining the street was an endless stretch of maize farm. The harvest was going to be good that year because the corn stalks were about the height of half a man!

Corn was their district’s biggest export. After the two girls moved to the big city and got exposed to western media where horrible things often happened in cornfields, the waving corn stalks that danced from the wind felt a lot more sinister than normal. Then two men charged out from the field. Dai Yu screamed and her shout cut through the night. Several bugs flapped from being shocked. But the next moment, a giant palm closed over her mouth. Dai Yu struggled but it was pointless, the man was 1.75 metres tall and was extremely powerful. Dai Yu couldn’t wrestle loose at all. She saw from the corner of her eye that Chu Mei was being apprehended as well. The two girls were dragged into the cornfield. The bugs continued to sing, the wind moved the cornstalks and the stalks danced. Everything was so idyllic and peaceful.

But inside the cornfield, things were different. Someone had used clothes to gag Dai Yu and Chu Mei. They tore apart their dresses and undid their own clothes. Under the moonlight, Dai Yu saw a penis for the first time. She was so afraid, she didn’t know what to do, so she turned to Chu Mei for help. She saw that someone already climbed onto Chu Mei. All the men were wearing plastic cartoon masks. The man who straddled Chu Mei had his tongue lolling out from the mask. The tongue slithered on Chu Mei’s face like a snake, slobbering everywhere. At the same time, his body started to rock back and forth. Dai Yu knew the same fate would befall her but she suddenly realized the man above her had stopped. “This bitch is so fucking ugly!” The man suddenly groused. “What a boner killer!”

Another voice said, “Fuck, didn’t you say that every woman looks the same in the dark? You should get your thing checked out. Get off, if you don’t want to, then let me.” Then there was movement through the field. However, when the man saw Dai Yu’s face, the rapist sighed. “Aiz, God must be nodding off when he made you. I am a bad person but I have a limit too. Regardless, I’m sure that one girl can still satisfy the 6 of us. You, keep this one still, don’t let her run away.” Then he turned to the one raping Chu Mei. “Hurry up over there. There’s a long line now.” The other men nodded, even rapists had standards too.

Therefore, Dai Yu watched through tears how the six men took turns crawling over Chu Mei. There were times where her best friend was forced to service 3 men at the same time. Dai Yu was held to the ground and she could only look on helplessly. That was the most painful 3 hours of her life.

By the end, Chu Mei was barely herself anymore. The men surrounded Chu Mei and peed on her. Chu Mei shivered non-stop. The gag was still tied around her mouth. Chu Mei had lost her scream a long time ago. Filtered through the gagging cloth, her weak cries sounded like giggling to Dai Yu’s ears. Dai Yu had no idea how to describe her feelings. If not for her face, she would have undergone the same torture as her best friend. The six men looked at Chu Mei on the ground and the catatonic Dai Yu.

“Bitch, your hole was already loose before we got to you. How could you lose your virginity at such a young age?” The leading man spat on Chu Mei. He then turned to Dai Yu. “Well, what about you? Are you a virgin?”

Dai Yu nodded quickly.

“Big brother, isn’t that a given?” Another man joked. “Only the blind can fuck someone with her face.” That earned a laugh from the whole crew. The ‘big brother’ found a big rock in the field. Looking at Chu Mei who was still twitching on the ground, he told Dai Yu. “A slutty bitch has no right to live in this world. But you, you’re not bad. Keeping it up, okay? Ha ha.” With his eyes on Dai Yu, the ‘big brother’ slammed the rock heavily downwards. Instantly, blood and brain matter splattered. It splashed on the ‘big brother’ and on Dai Yu. It covered her hair, and her face. Dai Yu was stunned. She didn’t even dare to move as the six men disappeared among the field.

After a long time, Dai Yu finally realized what she should do. She sat beside Chu Mei’s dead body and called the police. The rock had smashed into the back of Chu Mei’s head. The brain matter and blood were still slowly oozing out to mix with the 6 rapists’ pee. They soaked the field and Dai Yu’s heart. Chu Mei’s face was turned towards Dai Yu, her eyes were still open. Perhaps at her death, Chu Mei was thinking, ‘Why are you spared?’

The police soon arrived and took Dai Yu’s testimony. The six rapists were not found. When Dai Yu called the police, it was already too late. They were still free today. From that day onwards, Dai Yu stopped washing her face and took care of her appearance.

“I survived because I am ugly.” Dai Yu would tell them the story in detail whenever the villager asked about that night. However, 5 years had passed since then. No one was interested in Dai Yu’s stories anymore. She was left alone, living in this small hut without any visitors and disturbance.