When she said that, Dai Yu looked so melancholic before she forced herself to turn her lips into a bitter smile. In that moment, I could see Dai Yu being a beautiful woman, she felt so fragile. Honesty was one of the most beautiful things about human beings. However, the next moment, Dai Yu started to scratch between her toes again. “I’ve already told you everything I know. By the way, kid, would you like to stay the night with me?” I realized Zhao Mingkun had said something similar to me, instantly my body shivered and I quickly shook my head. “Thank you but I have a date already tonight. Let’s have coffee next time we meet instead. Goodbye!” Then I escaped like the wind.
On the way back, I pulled on my hair as I ruminated over the stories Dai Yu told us. “Big Sister Queen, was Wei Er’s gang in the neighbourhood 5 years ago? Would you know about that?” Logically speaking, Chu Mei was gangraped and then murdered, so her target should be her rapists and murderers, why would she instead target those who organized Minghun? Chu Mei should have no issue with them. Did this mean someone was using Chu Mei’s name to put a stop to the culture of Minghun around this district? Unfortunately the 6 rapists were wearing masks so Dai Yu couldn’t get a good look at them. If she could give us a description of the 6 rapists, we could have compared them to Wei Er’s gang.
On the other hand, who would be so against Minghun? Granted, Minghun was an obsolete culture but to kill to put a stop to it? Wasn’t that a bit too over the top? One of the major components of Minghun was the dead bodies, or this was a sign that someone wanted people to stop disturbing the dead?
Zhao Mingkun thought about it and said, “Wei Er’s gang did have their start at Lin Fen but I’m not sure whether they are locals of this place or not. However, if they knew the thing about the party after them, I believe they would have told us. Regardless, I think we should proceed with finding out how many cases related to Minghun have happened over the past 5 years.” Zhao Mingkun placed her finger on her lips.
“How are we supposed to do that?” I asked.
Zhao Mingkun smiled. “Leave that to me.”
That afternoon, Zhao Mingkun left her room carrying a stack of documents and a large map with her. I looked closer and realized she had jotted down all the murder cases that happened at Ba Jia Zi district related to Minghun over the past 5 years. The documents were all the information on those specific cases. Zhao Mingkun slowly filtered through them while I observed her quietly. How did she manage to do this? Without police help, she wouldn’t be able to get these confidential documents. Did that mean Zhao Mingkun had someone working for her in the police force? Things were getting curiouser and curiouser. This woman appeared like she was capable of anything. Furthermore, why was she so interested in investigating this case, how would she benefit from it?
“Got them all!” Zhao Mingkun announced. Guan Zhenglin and I leaned over to check out the files. The timeline spanned for 5 years and it started with Chu Mei’s case.
4 years ago, Luo family organized a Minghun. The day after, Ol’ Luo and his wife were found dead in their home. Cause of death was gas leakage, there was no sign of home invasion. The police discovered footprints and they matched the shoes the dead bride was wearing during the Minghun ceremony; Similarly, 4 years ago, Ol’ Zhang helped his son organize a Minghun. The very night of the wedding, Ol’ Zhang drowned in a small river. The river was very shallow, the deepest part only reached one’s calf but somehow Ol’ Zhang drowned in it. When they salvaged Ol’ Zhang out of the water, he was wearing a qipao, the same one worn by the bride at his son’s Minghun; 3 years ago, Wang To arranged a Minghun for his father so that his father could have some company in the afterlife. Several days later, the villagers found Wang To dead in the vats used to pickle salted vegetables; he was chopped into meat pieces to fit into the vat. The vat was covered with a red veil, the exact wedding veil that the bride wore from his father’s Minghun; 2 years ago, Uncle Wu arranged a Minghun for his younger brother. Several days after the Minghun, Uncle Wu’s brother’s carcass was found lying on the street but Uncle Wu himself had gone missing. The villagers decided to unearth the brother’s coffin. They found Uncle Wu buried alive inside the coffin and the bride’s body had gone missing. From then on, the villagers stopped arranging Minghun.
The last case happened the night before, at Zheng Family’s Minghun. This time, the victim Little Three was found inside the coffin meant for the groom. The bride’s body also disappeared in the commotion. However, she did appear in our rental Siheyuan yesterday night for unknown purposes.
These were all the cases related to Minghun from the past 5 years.
Guan Zhenglin said worriedly, “Look at these cases, the victims are all the organizers of Minghun, does that mean Ol’ Zheng…” Guan Zhenglin didn’t finish the sentence but we knew what she meant.
“Ol’ Zheng shouldn’t be in any danger.” Zhao Mingkun assured us. “Based on my knowledge, Ol’ Zheng is still at the police station. They will probably keep him there for a while to protect him. If anyone wants to harm Ol’ Zheng, they’ll have to infiltrate the police station which isn’t easy.”
I nodded and began carefully. “It sounds like Big Sister Queen and the police…” Before I finished, Zhao Mingkun lifted her head and shot me a cold gaze. “I’ve told you, the clever ones know when to be quiet. The more you know, the more danger you expose yourself to, do you understand?” Then surprisingly, her voice softened, “You remind me too much of my younger brother. Actually he’d be your age by now, I wonder if you…” With a sigh, Zhao Mingkun changed the subject, “Never mind, forget what I said. Well, tell me, what are your thoughts?”
For some reasons, I had a feeling that Zhao Mingkun had something that she wanted to tell me or else why would she seduce me to join her in the bedroom when she had just met me and why bring up her family affair at such a curious timing? While I was testing Zhao Mingkun, was she testing me too? She had secrets that she wanted to draw out from me? But what secret could I possibly possess that might interest her?
In any case, like she said, I better focus on this issue for now. I commented, “Over the 5 years, including the most recent one, there have been 5 murders related to Minghun, and all of them have a similarity, I wonder if you’ve noticed it.”
“The Minghuns were all arranged for males.” Zhao Mingkun said, “And every time after the deaths, the bride’s body would disappear. Someone has stolen them away. After the person swiped the bodies, they went and killed the people who organized the Minghuns. Perhaps this is some kind of territorial message, something like you can’t have the dead brides because they belong to me.” I snapped my fingers. Zhao Mingkun basically read my mind. Why only steal the brides’ bodies? And why kill the organizers? The only reason was so that the brides would not fall into these people’s hands. For normal people like us, a dead body was something we’d stay away from but for certain people, they were like treasures.
“Were there any Minghuns arranged for dead daughters over the past five years?” I looked into Zhao Mingkun’s eyes and asked.
“There is but one. No one died from it, other than the already dead.” Zhao Mingkun answered. I closed my eyes and pulled my hair as I tried to think. If this was the case, the necrophiliac Ol’ Six was indeed the most suspicious. “We need to find out more about Ol’ Six.” I said. Zhao Mingkun nodded.
At that moment, my phone rang. To my surprise, it was a message from Wei Er. Strange, I did not remember giving Wei Er my phone number. So it could only mean that he had entered his number into my phone when he confiscated it from me. But why would he do that? Unless he wasn’t really being suspicious of me but instead his suspicion was thrown towards his brothers whom he spent his days and nights with. In that case, he had no choice but to reach out to an outsider for help… But everyone had a clear alibi, why would Wei Er suspect them? Had this got to do with their group’s secret? Many questions exploded in my mind but none of them really made sense.
I clicked on the message. “Little Brother Wu, due to the urgency of the situation, I can’t explain too much. We plan to hide in a tomb at Ba Jia Zi Mountain. Go along the western track from our base and you’ll soon come across a hole. Chu Ye is back and has collaborated with someone among us. I cannot trust anyone but you, because you are an outsider and aren't involved in our past. I fear they might kill me while we’re inside the tomb. Little brother, my life is in your hands. Please come and save me.”
With a severe frown, I told Zhao Mingkun and Guan Zhenglin what happened. I read the message out loud and told them it came from Wei Er. The fact that Wei Er could still send the message meant that they hadn’t entered the tomb for there would be no signal underground but they should be close. It would explain the tone and the mistyped words. Chu Ye should be Chu Mei.
‘Chu Mei is back and has collaborated with someone among us.’ But how could a dead woman come back and collaborate with one of them? Furthermore, wouldn’t this message prove indirectly that this group of 6 had done something wrong by Chu Mei? Was this a message of admission? They were the rapists from 5 years ago? Also why were they heading underground instead of just staying up the mountain where they could also have easily hidden from the police? There were so many puzzles.
“Should we go?” Guan Zhenglin looked at me.
I answered. “I have no clue what’s happening. This might be dangerous. How about this? You and Big Sister Queen should stay and I’ll go there with Doggie Wang Er.”
“I’ll go with you.” Before I could say anything else, Zhao Mingkun cut in. I looked troubled but internally I was overjoyed. This was because once Zhao Mingkun came along with me, Guan Zhenglin could meet up with Captain Zhao.
“I am a much better fighter than you.” Zhao Mingkun saw my hesitation and reasserted. “Plus, I wish to see what this group of grave robbers is up to.”
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