45 Bean Paste Noodle

 

Of the 6 brothers, Little Three was garrotted; Ol’ Six was skinned and left standing in the yard; Qian San was ambushed; Big Egg and Wei Er died killing each other. Among them, Ol’ Six’s death was the most suspicious, in fact we couldn’t be sure if that skinned body actually was Ol’ Six. Qian Er was now missing. I pulled on my hair and tried to formulate the motives behind all these.

5 years ago, these 6 brothers killed Chu Ye and raped Xiao Mei. 5 years later, they were requested by Zhao Mingkun to do something and at the same time, they returned to Lin Fen to clean out Chu Ye’s tomb. Over the past 5 years, whenever someone organized Minghun, the organizers would die, there was no exception. No wait, that was not entirely true because at least when we left, Ol’ Zheng was still alive. If there was an actual Chu Mei’s curse, did that mean Ol’ Zheng was going to die soon? If that was the case, Chu Mei’s ghost should be out there haunting Ol’ Zheng, and not like Wei Er said, inside the tomb with us.

On top of that, if Chu Mei was Chu Ye’s child bride and was an orphan adopted by Chu Ye, then who were the parents who organized Minghun for Chu Mei? Where did the 2 parents come from? Could it be Chu Ye’s lawfully wedded wife and her new husband? As I followed Zhao Mingkun along the giant tomb to search for Qian Er, I parsed through the details of this case in my mind. Slowly, the clues started to link together. The death of Chu Mei 5 years ago; and Chu Mei’s curse 5 years later... things were falling into place. As long as the last piece of the puzzle was solved, the truth would be revealed.

The dead Chu Mei, the rapists and grave robbers, Ol’ Six who was necrophiliac, and the good friend, Lin Dai Yu. The characters and events rolled through my head like a movie. With some more clues, things would be able to play in a logical sequence. I was so deep in my thoughts that I did not notice Zhao Mingkun had stopped. I ran into her. I was about to apologize, when Zhao Mingkun used her finger to make a shushing gesture. She closed her eyes and pushed her ear forward as if listening for something.

Human beings were extremely sensitive creatures. God has given us 5 senses so that we could experience this world from different angles; however, human beings were also sensitively dull creatures. Our sense of smell was worse than dogs; our sense of sight worse than cat; our sense of hearing worse than bat. That was because these creatures focused on mastering one sense, unlike us humans. Looking from these examples, humans could also temporarily heighten our specific sense by eclipsing the others. As I closed my eyes, and focused on my hearing, it came to me. It came from ahead. It was the sound of daggers cutting through air, it was sharp and soft. If one did not hear closely, it would be easily missed. There were people down the passage and there should be more than one of them.

“Switch off your flashlight, we’ll sneak over.” Zhao Mingkun whispered behind my ear. I nodded. I tiptoed beside Zhao Mingkun and slowly edged our way forward. The sound of slashing stopped and someone spoke, “Ol’ Six, why are you doing this?” The voice belonged to Qian Er!

The voice was trembling. Qian Er appeared to be weakened because he was injured or exhausted. Qian Er mentioned Ol’ Six so the skinned body was indeed not Ol’ Six, so who did the body belong to? Was Ol’ Six behind Chu Mei’s curse? But why would Ol’ Six murder all the Minghun organizers and murder his own disciple brothers?

“Why? You dare to ask me why?” Ol’ Six’s voice boomed inside the tomb, it even echoed. “All of you should know the consequences of betraying our master, I am merely doing what is expected of me!”

Qian Er scoffed. “Ol’ Six, you participated in the murder 5 years ago. Even though you didn’t get to have a turn with Chu Mei, that is your problem, not ours. So don’t you dare stand on the moral high ground and judge us now. Remember, you were the one who delivered the first blow.”

“You people should know Chu Ye better than I do, some of you have followed Chu Ye for years, even decades. When has he ever treated us badly? He saw us all as his own sons. And you people were cold-hearted enough to kill him simply because you lusted after his woman. There is nothing else I hate more than betrayal in this world!”

That reminded me of something. When Ol’ Six was 7 or 8, his mother was discovered to have cheated in their marriage and was killed by his father. When the police arrived, Ol’ Six’s mother had been dead for over 10 days already. The police at the time thought Ol’ Six was too young to call the police but now hearing Ol’ Six, I had another thought. Perhaps back then, Ol’ Six already understood everything and he agreed with his father. His father was teaching him one last lesson, traitors deserve nothing better than death.

“But you still killed him!” Qian Er countered.

“Yes, I did.” Ol’ Six’s voice lowered like a panther ready to pounce. “Because if I didn’t, I would die. Master was not dumb, he knew that I was caught in this death trap. He saw me hesitating. Do you remember? It was him who ordered us to kill him.” Ol’ Six continued, “I remember walking forward with shaking steps. I stood beside our master and bent down but I couldn’t bring myself to kill him. But did you know what our master told me then?”

“Told you?” Qian Er was confused. “What did he say, how come we didn’t hear anything?”

Ol’ Six chuckled mirthlessly. “Of course, you didn’t. I was blocking his face from your view. I hesitated with the dagger in my arm. Master looked me in the eyes and mouthed something, it was why I finally delivered that blow.”

“What did that old man tell you?” Qian Er demanded. “Was it related to the other half of his inheritance?”

“Money, women!” Ol’ Six hissed, “Are those the only things in your minds?! What our master told me was this, revenge is a dish best served cold.”

Qian Er was silent for a long time before he said, “Chu Ye was just a grave robber, was it worth it to do all these things for him? You collaborated with Chu Mei just to sow panic among us! Now all of our brothers are dead and only the two of us remain. Wait a minute. We can just split that bag of funereal wares and we’ll have a life of endless luxury, isn’t that the better solution? Furthermore, you’ve just studied under that old man for half a year, I’ve been with him for 2 years already, you are not my competition in a dagger match!”

“Is it worth it?” That question unlocked the vault within Ol’ Six. To survive, Ol’ Six had done everything, security guard, fast food restaurant worker but he never lasted long at those jobs because Ol’ Six was very anti-social, he didn’t like to talk to others. He was afraid of betrayal, afraid that he’d be forgotten by his boss on the second day of work, afraid that no one would remember his name. If there was no beginning, then there would be no ending. People say that once someone gets older, they will get more nostalgic. Ol’ Six did not think that was true because he lived in a life of nostalgia. He didn’t dare to turn to the future because he belonged in the past. He wore clothes of one brand, he shopped from one convenience store and he watched the same channel. His mother died and his father went to prison.

After he was left an orphan, Ol’ Six chose an old noodle shop to patronize on his first outing. He ordered a bowl of bean paste noodles to go and when he got his order, he hurried home. In the subsequent 10 years, he ordered the same menu from the same shop for every single one of his meals. If the shop closed, Ol’ Six would starve that day.

At the 11th year, the old noodle shop went out of business. Ol’ Six stood before the shop and cried. When her mother died, Ol’ Six did not cry; when his father was sent to prison, Ol’ Six did not cry; however when this noodle shop closed, Ol’ Six cried like his parents had died. The pedestrians walked around him but none had any idea why this young man about 18 to 19 was crying so hard. They suspected he had lost his parents, lover or work, but no one got the truth, he was crying because of this noodle shop.

Someone stopped beside him. Ol’ Six ignored the person and he continued to cry as if the melancholy and sadness he kept bottled up inside him had found a vent that day. Ol’ Six cried for a whole hour and the man beside him waited with him for a whole hour. Ol’ Six cried until his throat turned sour and his tear ducts dried. He turned to look at the man. It was a middle-aged man, he looked around 40. The middle-aged man looked at the empty noodle shop, Ol’ Six looked at the middle-aged man. The duo stood like that for a long time before the middle-aged man spoke. “Such a shame. This place sold good bean paste noodles but it had to close because the aged boss passed away.”

“I’m not crying because of him.” Ol’ Six uttered lightly.

The middle-aged man chuckled. “I wasn’t lamenting the loss of the old boss either, I was lamenting the loss of the bean paste noodles. There are many good cooks in this world but there is only that one type of bean paste noodle.”

Actually, in China alone, there were many various kinds of bean paste noodles so the middle-aged man was factually wrong. However Ol’ Six understood what he meant. At that moment, something clicked within Ol’ Six. It was like he had finally found someone who could understand him in this big wide world. So he was not alone after all. The middle-aged man smiled and said with an ease in his tone, “Would you like to come with me?”

Ol’ Six nodded. “I promise to serve you as long as I live.”

The middle-aged man laughed and the two of them walked down the street. The middle-aged man said, “Right, like everyone else, you can call me Chu Ye.”