210 Twelve Bowls

 

The night darkened like a black cloth was pulled over us. Xiao Liu hopped into the car and drove away without even looking at us. In the end, the car’s taillights cut a red scar through the darkness and disappeared. The motor buzzed in my head. Gu Chen, who always had an opinion of Xiao Liu, was silent.

It was Guan Zhenglin who said, “So what are we supposed to do now? If Xiao Liu catches the killer first, then we’ll have to leave Dong Xing City.” I turned to look at her. “Actually, what difference does it make?”

Guan Zhenglin stretched and yawned. “That’s right. I don’t mind. After all, our main goal is to find Zhao Mingkun. If there’s no case, then we’ll focus on finding her. It doesn’t matter where we are.”

Gu Chen shrugged. “Even though I don’t mind either, I can’t stand being looked down on like this. Plus, didn’t you say his direction is wrong? Since Xiao Liu doesn’t trust us and refuses to tell us the key evidence, then we’ll continue the investigation on our own.”

I sighed. “That’s not what I meant. I do believe that Xiao Liu has led himself to a dead end. I have no idea what the clue is but based on the current situation, and he won’t find the killer earlier than we do. Of course, unless he is willing to change his perspective.” I turned to look at the starry sky. “What I meant was, no matter where we are, where there is human, there is darkness and murder. In the nation or abroad, in the countryside or in the city, such is human nature.”

Xiao Liu’s farewell made us see that Xiao Liu cared about power more than we did. This was readable from how Xiao Liu had bought the lottery for 3 years nonstop. I had no idea Xiao Liu needed money that much, and I never asked him for it. But I knew that Xiao Liu would grab onto power as long as it didn’t violate the law.

“Then what should we do now?” Guan Zhenglin turned to me.

“We wait,” I said. “The bowls are our breakthrough because they mean a lot to the killer. Since we already know the factory that produces them, even though 10 years have already passed, with Sister Mary’s ability, I’m sure she’ll help us find the location.”

…

Noon arrived. Mary placed an address before us. Gu Chen stood up with his unfinished bowl of noodles. “This is the address for the factory?”

Mary nodded and pointed at the map. “Yes, and I have another good news. Through the internet, I found one of the managers. Well, she’s not really a manager. This is more of a workshop than a factory. It was run by a small family. They didn’t produce many things.” We nodded. Sister Mary continued, “With Dong Xing City’s development, many factories came into being, squeezing them out. However, I did find one of their addresses. Her name is Wu Xiufen, and she’s 60 plus already. But this was a small workshop. I really have no idea if she still remembers this specific set of bowls or not.”

I finished my rice. “No matter what, back then, Dong Xing City was just a very small place. No one would travel far to buy plates and bowls. Internet shopping wasn’t a thing back then. So the killer must live very close to this workshop.” I wiped my mouth. “Let’s go.”

The address was at Dong Xing City’s old village. It would take at least 3 hours of driving, and that was when there was no traffic. When we finally arrived at our destination, the surroundings had turned into grasses and fields.

It was not easy to find a peaceful village like this at Dong Xing City. Interestingly enough, this village was called Dong Xing Village, but after Dong Xing City came into being, to prevent confusion, the village changed its name to Xing Dong Village.

“It’s just up ahead.” Gu Chen parked the car and pointed at a small house. The door was a wooden door, and it was mottled and aged. We knocked on the door, and soon, a muddled female voice said, “Who is it?”

At the same time, the door opened, and an old lady walked out. The lady looked kind and friendly. She looked at us and asked, “Who are you looking for?” Guan Zhenglin introduced ourselves and asked about the Moulin Rouge Workshop.

The old lady nodded and said that her family did run the place back then. The old lady opened the door for us. This was a very normal village yard. It was a San Heyuan layout. The old lady led us into the main house. As she invited us to sit down, she poured water for us.

I sat on the chair and looked around. The house was in disrepair, and the walls were cracked. From the furniture, it looked like the old lady lived alone. The single set of utensils on the table and the single pair of shoes at the door suggested that. I wondered if her partner had died or she didn’t marry.

I glanced from the corner of my eyes at a picture frame on the bedside table. A pretty woman was featured in the picture. Despite the low-quality dress, she still looked very pretty. In the background were a truck and a mud road that led out from the village.

The girl’s eyes were very similar to the old lady’s, so I believed it was a picture of her from when she was young. Guan Zhenglin took down the picture. I glanced at the date at the corner, and the picture was from more than 30 years ago.

“Grandma is such a beauty when she was young.” Guan Zhenglin shook the picture and said. The old lady turned around and laughed, “Oh, yes, the boys that wanted to marry me could form a line around the village.” Suddenly the old lady’s smile disappeared, and it was replaced by a strange sadness. We didn’t know what happened and what had brought on this sadness.

Guan Zhenglin replaced the picture and walked over to hold the old lady’s hand, “Granny, what’s wrong?”

The old lady wiped at her eyes. “Oh, I couldn’t help but remember my partner. He has left me for more than a decade already, and I’m going to join him soon. As you get older, you forget many things but certain things you’ll remember forever.”

“Granny, you were so pretty. Grandpa must be lucky to have found you.” Guan Zhenglin said, “He must have led a happy life.”

The old lady smiled. “Sorry, forget about that. Such is life, be it good or bad. It is what God has given you, so you have to bear with it. If you surrender, you will lose all chances.” I frowned. The old lady seemed to have hidden meanings in her words.

The old lady sighed, “Why did you come to find me?”

Guan Zhenglin switched on her phone to pull up the pictures of the bowls. “Granny, I know your family used to run a workshop, the Moulin Rouge. Can you check if these are your products?” Guan Zhenglin showed the lady her phone. The old lady stared at the picture for a long time. And then she said, “Yes. The workshop ran for several decades, and my father operated it. Unlike now, where everything is automated, back then, we had to burn the pottery ourselves. Women like us are there to help with the glaze.”

I said, “So you painted the patterns on the bowls yourselves?”

The old lady nodded. “Yes, we did. But as the country advances, the factories can do better than us and sell at a lower price than us. Eventually, the workshop died out. However, since it was my father’s workshop, my father didn’t want to sell. Most of the workers had left, and only the family stayed to keep the workshop running, but near the end, we weren’t earning money anymore. My father only kept it as a remembrance.”

“Then who bought these bowls?” I asked.

The old lady thought for a long time before admitting, “I don’t know. But I remember they come in a set. There are 12 bowls in a set.”

“12?” We asked in unison.

The old lady nodded. “Yes, I painted these bowls myself. They are a set of Chinese zodiac signs. See, what you have are rat, cock, dog, and pig. So there should be 8 more bowls.”

8 bowls, 8 victims.