Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Shi Jianmin was dead, so naturally I became a suspect. Given everything between us, and that deep, stubborn hatred that never faded, the police had every reason to be suspicious. They kept questioning me about the past, and I seemed lost in my pain, unwilling to say much. Fortunately, Lu Ning’s camera happened to record my drunken confession that night.

But after learning about my history with Shi Jianmin, the suspicion hanging over me only grew heavier. My motive seemed too clear, and that conveniently recorded video only made it look like a carefully staged performance. Was that night’s outpouring drunken honesty, or a calculated script? In that moment, no one could really tell.

Though Tang Jing and Lu Ning spoke up for me, saying that confession was only recorded at their request, just to add depth to my story as an intangible cultural heritage inheritor, I was still brought into the police station, placed in the interrogation room, and questioned.

“Officer,” I looked up cautiously, “how exactly did Shi Jianmin die?”

The two officers exchanged a glance. The older one slid several photos across the table to me. I pressed my lips together and picked them up.

The photos showed an abandoned, unfinished building deep in Wild Mountain-a place everyone in town knew. Long ago, a developer tried to build a vacation hotel there, but from the moment work began, strange incidents occurred, even causing deaths. Later, rumors claimed they’d disturbed the dragon vein buried at the mountain’s base. The project had been abandoned ever since, and now the spot was a temporary supply stop for backpackers and a hideout for a few hunters.

Snow had swallowed up the ruins, and lying amid the wreckage was a stiff, frozen corpse-Shi Jianmin.

His face was coated in a thin layer of ice crystals; beneath them, his skin showed an eerie peach-pink and bluish-purple, his mouth stretched into an unnaturally wide, terrifying grin. Half his body was buried under snow, and the snow piled around his ankles was stained a jarring scarlet.

My stomach churned with nausea. I gagged twice, then pulled my gaze from the photos. “Is he… smiling?”

“That ‘smile’ has a medical name-‘risus sardonicus,'” the officer answered patiently. “It’s a common sign in deaths from freezing.”

“So Shi Jianmin died from the cold?”

“The preliminary autopsy reports say he was trapped by a hidden animal trap, which caused blood loss and hypothermia, as well as various stress reactions.”

There was a lot of professional jargon, most of which sailed over my head, so I asked, “So… did he die in pain?” As I said it, a trace of satisfaction almost slipped into my voice.

“Does his death make you feel relieved?” The officer seemed to pick up on my emotion, his tone calm yet sharp.

“A little.” I forced a small smile. “He was the person I hated most in this life. Even after all these years, I still wished him a horrible end. But… cursing someone isn’t illegal, right, officer?”

“A simple curse isn’t a crime.” The officer with a buzz cut and glasses chimed in, taking out an evidence bag. Inside was a faded, grayish-pink ribbon, and the shape of a Bow-knot could just barely be made out. “Recognize this?”

“A… Bow-knot.” My eyes and voice both trembled, as if tugged by something from a distant memory. “Where did you find it?”

“In the inner pocket of Shi Jianmin’s clothes.”

Gradually, reason returned, and I finally saw through it-it was a trap she’d set for me. That Bow-knot was once a joke between us in our youth, a secret code, a symbol for a promise: whoever saw it owed the other a favor, repayment for Returning a Favor. So Shi Jianmin’s death was the ‘gift’ she’d left for me.
Such a grand gift requires me to return the favor. So, she wants me to help her kill someone-who? Ge Wei?

My scalp prickled, as if someone was gripping it tight. She knows Shi Jianmin is the person I hate most, so is Ge Wei the person she hates most? But she’d clearly said, even though their love ended without result, he was still her beloved…

If it were only a matter of love, she wouldn’t wish for his death. What happened that she couldn’t explain in time, so all she could do was send me this “big gift,” hoping I’d understand her intent and reciprocate.

But how could this gift have been “delivered” by someone who died half a month before him? Who was her accomplice?

The police fixed their gaze on me: “Let me ask you again: have you seen this before?”

My jumbled, dazed thoughts were interrupted. I feigned a closer look at the evidence bag. “It looks familiar. Like the kind of ribbon that was tied around old cream cake boxes when I was young. I even used it to tie my hair, but that was so many years ago. I lost mine long ago, and those old-style cakes are rare these days. This ribbon definitely isn’t mine.”

The interrogation went on, but ultimately it was futile. Shi Jianmin’s death had nothing to do with me; yes, I hated him, but hate alone isn’t a crime.

I told them: after leaving Bei Village, I wandered all over, sometimes sleeping outdoors, dragging an old opera trunk and performing wherever I could to earn a living. I never went back to Bei Village. I only bought a secondhand cell phone a few years after leaving; I had no way to contact Shi Jianmin.

“Diao Hongmei,” the crew-cut cop interrupted me. “Why did you choose to settle in this town?”

“I drifted from place to place with no real home. After staying in town for a few days, it happened that a family was holding a funeral. They hired me to sing a few nights, and that’s how I met Boss Ge. He said his guesthouse needed a new signboard, liked my shadow puppetry, and offered me a job. When you get older, you look for some stability, so I stayed.”

That was the truth. Back then, I had no idea that Qiu Ling had pulled strings to make it happen.

“In the past month, have you gone into Wild Mountain?” His question suddenly sharpened.

My heart tensed, but I forced a look of confusion. “Didn’t he just… wasn’t he only dead half a month? If I went up the mountain before that, how could his death land on me?”

“Answer the question.” The officer’s voice was calm but had a cold, irresistible firmness. “Did you go, or not?”

The air was still for a moment. I met his eyes and nodded. “I went. On New Year’s Eve, I went once.”

“So, during the period when the victim died, you appeared at the scene of his death.”

“I-I went first. How was I supposed to know he’d go there too?” I started to panic, trying to explain.

“Our investigation found that the animal trap is one used by the mountain’s hunters. Someone unfamiliar with Wild Mountain wouldn’t be able to find one so quickly.”

“I’ve never even seen one of those before, and I’ve never contacted Shi Jianmin.”

“Then why did you go to Wild Mountain?”

“I… I had my reasons…”