The sound traveled far and wide, and I cursed internally. Gu Chen pulled me down, and the three of us hid behind a tree. Even though we had no idea what Wu Xiufen was doing, we knew we couldn’t let her discover us. We slowly retreated, and we only stopped when we were more than 10 meters away.
I nodded as I felt my heart beating. After it slowed down, I said, “She has to have her reasons for doing all these things. She knelt and crawled all the way to the tombstone. What she did probably have to do with the person who was buried there. The grave should belong to her husband, Zhang Qiang.”
“Zhang Qiang?” Gu Chen looked around. “But she made it look like she was apologizing to him. Why else would a wife come kneeling at her husband’s grave after his death? Plus, she was burning black paper.”
I frowned. “Perhaps this is some unknown culture. I’ll have Sister Mary look into it. I’m sure she can find something. I know people burn white and yellow paper money for the dead, but I haven’t heard people burning black paper before.” I poked Gu Chen in his ribs and said, “Why don’t you go back there and see if Wu Xiufen is still there?”
Gu Chen nodded and stood up. With the burning black paper, we could still see our way in the dark, but now it was complete darkness. The only source of light was the twinkling from the stars in the sky. At that moment, the sparks from the burning black paper faded away.
Gu Chen turned to tell us. “I’ll go take a look. The two of you stay here. It’s very dark. If we get separated, it’ll be hard to find each other.” We nodded as Gu Chen crawled away. Gu Chen kept his body close to the ground. He moved very fast but without sound. Guan Zhenglin and I stayed in the dark. Guan Zhenglin sat down beside me and waited for Gu Chen to come back.
I turned to her, thought about it, and asked, “Our task force is formed specifically to hunt down Zhao Mingkun. Have you considered what would happen if we never get to find her?”
Guan Zhenglin turned back to look at me. She was silent for a while before she said, “I don’t know. All I know is that I will work hard as long as I am alive. You think you know Zhao Mingkun, but you really don’t. She has committed so many cruel crimes.”
The Zhao Mingkun Guan Zhenglin described overlapped with the Zhao Mingkun that I knew. They didn’t sound the same. Perhaps when she was with me, Zhao Mingkun never showed her cruel side, even though that was how she described herself. I rubbed my eyes and said, “She was forced to do most of those things by her adopted father, Si Hwacheng. So Si Hwacheng is the real mastermind. Plus, he was a cop.”
Guan Zhenglin concurred, “You’re right. That’s why Captain Zhao looks down on his teacher, Si Hwacheng. He has forgotten his identity. He should use his knowledge to protect others and not harm others.”
“But didn’t he do all these things to help his daughter?” I asked.
Guan Zhenglin said, “Yes, but that is just an excuse. Wu Meng, Auntie Yang Xiaojuan is a very important person in my life. She taught me many things. When we were at Lin Fen and saw Zhao Mingkun, do you know how eager I was to snatch the pistol from her and shoot her? But I didn’t do so because we were on another case.” Guan Zhenglin’s voice was soft but firm. “So I contained myself. I held myself back from trying to kill her so many times. I have already let her go once, I don’t know if we’ll find her again, but you’ll help me capture her, right?” She turned to look at me.
I also looked at her. An indescribable emotion rose within me. I could have told her that I would help her, but I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t use a lie to repay her honesty. I didn’t want to brush her off. But I couldn’t tell her the truth either. For some unknown reason, I didn’t want to capture Zhao Mingkun. At least after I had met her, she hadn’t killed anyone.
“I.” Before I could answer, Gu Chen’s voice came over. “Come on, Wu Xiufen has left. This is indeed Zhang Qiang’s grave.”
We followed the voice, and soon we saw Gu Chen waving at us. I pulled Guan Zhenglin towards Gu Chen. We met up with him and moved towards the grave. We could smell burning paper in the air. However, the weather was damp, so we didn’t need to worry about a forest fire. I only had the chance to study the tombstone when we were standing before it. The tombstone was built into a cliffside that protruded out. Standing there, one could look far into the distance. Not far away was Xing Dong City. Most of the lights were out already.
With the starlight, I studied the words on the tombstone. This was indeed Zhang Qiang’s tombstone. However, we couldn’t see a grave. I wondered if it had been flattened by time. I touched the tombstone, and it did feel worn.
Gu Chen offered, “Is it possible that Zhang Qiang didn’t die from lung disease but…” Gu Chen didn’t finish his sentence, but we all knew what he meant. Gu Chen suspected that it was Wu Xiufen who had killed Zhang Qiang. It was why Wu Xiufen came every day to beg for mercy. However, this happened more than 30 years ago. It would be hard to start a case now.
“30 years nonstop.” I began. “Say, do you think Wu Xiufen does this every day because she fears Zhang Qiang that much or she misses him that much? Also, I remembered the village head said something interesting. Everyone said Zhang Qiang would die before Wu Xiufen even married him. However, Zhang Qiang lived for a few more years after the marriage so much so that the villagers were talking about their lack of children.”
Gu Chen tapped the tombstone, “Are you trying to say that Wu Xiufen married Zhang Qiang because he was going to die, but Zhang Qiang stubbornly lived on, so she had to kill him? But why would she do that?”
Guan Zhenglin shook her head and was about to say something when we heard another snap. It sounded very clear in the silent night. It might as well be as loud as an explosion. Guan Zhenglin screamed, frightened by the sound. I was frightened by Guan Zhenglin’s scream. Guan Zhenglin crawled into my arms, and I could feel her shaking. The snap was terrifying because it came from right beside us. That was quite suspicious. So what made that sound?
I pat Guan Zhenglin on her back to help her calm down.
When I was about to speak, I could feel something tap my head from my back. It was a person’s hand. Gu Chen was standing before me, and Guan Zhenglin was in my arms so who could be behind me?
The hand tapped me again and again. I could feel that that person’s fingers were facing downwards. You would do this if you were to tussle the head of a child. This meant that the person tapping my head was much taller than I was. At that moment, I was reminded of many ghost stories and the story that the village head told us. My body froze, and I didn’t dare to turn back to look. I was afraid that I’d see someone three meters tall, looking down at me and smiling creepily. The hand was still tapping my head.
I hugged Guan Zhenglin tighter and shivered alongside her. I could feel her chest rising and smell the scent on her. However, Guan Zhenglin was slowly recovering from her shock. As my arms tightened around her, I could feel her struggling against me.
Guan Zhenglin whispered, “Wu Meng, why are you hugging me so tightly?”
“Don’t look behind me,” I warned.
However, humans were curious creatures.
“Wu, Wu Meng…”
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