Chapter 39: CH 39

Wei Shi and I went to Shen Xiao Shi’s house to look for him, and we knocked on the door for ages without receiving a response.

Shen Xiao Shi was a local, but ever since he got out of prison he hadn’t been in contact with family, as he lived away from home. He was someone who had an exuberant and rambunctious demeanour, however he was very guarded when it came to certain things. He never brought up anything to do with family, and Wei Shi and I had never asked him.

Nowadays, everyone had a secret that they weren’t willing to divulge.

“What should we do?” Wei Shi stared at the lock on the door, brows deeply furrowed, “Should we enter by force?”

It was already half past nine at night, and due to the appalling sound proofing of the older apartments, the corridors were filled with sounds of someone’s wartime TV show, as gunshots and grenades went off incessantly. If we entered by force under such circumstances, then it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the residents of the block might all come out to take a peek at what was going on.

“That wouldn’t be a good idea, everyone would think we’re committing burglary.” I looked like your average civilian, so it was fine for me, however Wei Shi by my side had floral tattoos spiralling up his arm and an undercut, so anyone who glanced at him would assume he wasn’t a benign presence.

Wei Shi scratched his head and glanced at me with an appraising gaze, “You were in there for so long, did you not become a disciple of anyone there and learn any mysterious skills?”

I stared back at him askance, “Yeah, I did.” He was excited at my response, “I learnt how to differentiate dumbasses.”

Wei Shi muttered a ‘fuck’, then continued to bang on the door.

“San Ge? Feng Ge?” All of a sudden, from the darkness came a drawn out male voice.

Wei Shi and I were simultaneously alerted by this sound, and turned around.

Shen Xiao Shi stood not far from us, holding a huge plastic bag in his hand, as if he had just returned from a grocery run. His complexion did not look good, with dark circles lining his eyes, and his clothes creased as if he hadn’t showered or changed in the past few days.

The most important thing was that he was okay and nothing had happened to him. I let out a breath, and just when I was about to speak, Wei Shi stormed over and a resounding slap echoed from him hitting the back of Xiao Shi’s head. It was a loud smack, and I felt myself tense reflexively in fear.

“Is something wrong with you?” Wei Shi was a demon come to life, as he howled, “Would it kill you to charge your phone!”

The strength Wei Shi had was not a joke, he had previously used sheer force to split a solid piece of wood in half.

Shen Xiao Shi clasped both hands over his head and looked slightly as if he had been wronged, “I just returned home today… and there’s nowhere to charge my phone outside.“

“Just returned? Where did you go to just return now? Do you not know that people would worry about you like this?” Wei Shi continued hounding.

“Alright, alright, the most important thing is that he’s okay, we can talk further inside.” I motioned for Shen Xiao Shi to first open the door.

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“Come in once you’ve calmed down.” I remarked.

Wei Shi had not gotten to the point where his anger could be carried over to me yet, so after staring at me with a darkened expression, he turned away and went to smoke by the window.

I walked into the room and saw Shen Xiao Shi sitting on the sofa, with his knees to his chest, appearing simultaneously small, pitiful and helpless. I went over and patted his head as I asked, “What happened? Run it by Feng Ge.”

Though Shen Xiao Shi still looked fresh faced and marginally puerile, he wasn’t someone who didn’t have a sense of responsibility. If he requested a day’s leave, then it would be one day off to him. For him to have disappeared for all these days without a single message, must mean that something had transpired which he had not been able to account for.

Shen Xiao Shi remained quiet for a long as he stayed silent. I didn’t push him, but I did notice that in his grocery bag were all food. Coupled with his disheveled attire, I guessed that he hadn’t had a meal yet.

“How about I make some instant noodles for you?”

I took out a cup noodle from the bag and turned to head to the kitchen.

“My mother called me…” Shen Xiao Shi suddenly began talking, “She wanted me to go back home, and said she wanted to see me one last time before she died.”

Startled and stunned by his words, I held onto the noodles and circled back, taking a seat as I offered him my undivided attention.

“My father passed away when I was very young, and later my mother remarried, so I have a younger brother…” Shen Xiao Shi rubbed his eyes, as he spoke with a low voice.

His mother was a woman who was especially soft mannered and had a pusillanimous personality. Being born with a weaker body, she allowed people to get their way with her. Though it was evident that there wasn’t much love between the two of them, due to traditional views on marriage, she was already counting her blessings to have someone who was willing to accept a widow with a child. Therefore, she hastily accepted and got into her second marriage.

It turns out that the second marriage was a living hell, easy to enter into but hard to escape.

Shen Xiao Shi’s step father was violent and easily angered, if there was anything in his everyday life which didn’t go his way, he would beat and castigate his wife, with Shen Xiao Shi watching in silent disapproval. However, he was still young then, so even if went up to help, he would end up being the one getting pummeled by his step father, and in the end his mother would have to beg for mercy on his behalf, resulting in her suffering from even greater humiliation in the end.

“My mother always told me not to argue with him, as she wanted me to be more quiet, so I could be docile just like her, enduring everything.” Shen Xiao Shi however did not want to go along with it, and the older he got the less he could endure. However his mother did not understand and thought he was acting reckless and rebelling, as he continued to make trouble. “I wanted to help her, yet she always treated me like I was the outsider. In the end, they were the real, happy family.”

As a youth, having been deeply betrayed by his mother in this way, he treated the PC cafe as his home, and surrounded himself with similar troubled youths, as they squandered their time together.

“If she had told me that she wanted a divorce, then without another word, I would’ve helped her get away from that man. She wouldn’t have had to worry about money, I could have gone out to earn money and provide for her and my younger brother. However, this thought had never crossed her mind. Even just a trace – there was never any semblance of the idea.” Shen Xiao Shi closed his eyes, his complexion paling, “I loathed her. Loathe how she did nothing, loathe how irresolute she was, loathe how she wanted me to live in that despicable household, having a childhood like that.”

The feelings of sorrow and happiness were not linked to each other, and it was the same for fury and fear. The mother was unable to understand the reason behind the son’s anger, and likewise, the son could not empathise with the mother’s trepidation, which became the root of all issues thereafter.

Before he turned eighteen, Shen Xiao Shi was a hedgehog prone to violent fits of rage, and would stab anyone with his spikes. He engaged in fights and fought viciously, which in the end resulted in him serving time in prison. After he turned eighteen, after the keen guidance Wei Shi and I provided him, his spikes were worn down, as he lost some of his cynicism and bitterness, becoming more content with himself. He pretty much had recovered the temperament that most teenagers should have, however he still did not want to come to an amicable outcome with his mother, as he refused all attempts from her to visit. After he got out of prison, they still maintained no contact.

Shen Xiao Shi continued, “I thought this would be how it is, for the rest of my life. If that man one day died, I might go back to visit her, and alongside my younger brother attend to my filial duties as she got old. If that man doesn’t die, then I absolutely would not return home, and that place isn’t even home to me. However, three days ago, I suddenly received a call from a number I didn’t recognise…”

Shen Xiao Shi’s mother had called, and haphazardly asked if she could see him for the last time, as she pleaded for him to return home as soon as he could. Shen Xiao Shi did not know the reason behind this request, and just when he was about to ask, the other side had already hung up. After which, no matter how he tried, the line never connected again.

This type of situation was truly strange, even though they hadn’t met in many years, and still bore the same grudges of old, but in the end, the bond between mother and son still existed. Shen Xiao Shi was afraid that something really might have happened to his mother, so he hastily requested for one day of leave and then ushered a taxi to his old residential address.

However, once he opened the door he was stunned…

“My mother used a hammer to smash him and he died.” He held himself in a tighter embrace, his voice hoarse and perplexed, “She brought down the hammer so many times that the floor was a sea of blood, and the contents of his brain had spilled onto the ground. She said she wanted to see me one last time, and planned on seeking death after she got to see me. How could such a thing happen, Feng Ge? Couldn’t she just leave him? Why did she have to trade her life for such an ending? If she had left that bastard ten or so years earlier, then how would it ever have gotten this bad?”

This development was also one that I had not expected. I thought at most his mother might have fallen seriously ill, and wanted him to return home so she could see him one last time, as per the usual family drama convention. I didn’t expect that at the next turn, the plot twisted to become a suspenseful murder. At this, I was also at a loss for words for a long while.

“Since I came to know of this incident, there was no way I would let her die. I convinced her to turn herself in, and escorted her to the police station myself.” He swallowed, then continued, “These few days I have just been sorting this mess out, I need to respond to the police, deal with the bothersome relatives of that man, and I also have to hide this all from my younger brother so he doesn’t find out. Ah, I’m only just twenty three, why did it have to be like this, I still hadn’t sorted out my own things, all of a sudden with everything turning out this way I feel like I can’t handle it all…”

He seemed to finally not be able to endure it all as like a kitten, he dropped his head to his knees, and began crying in small, choking sobs. I sighed inwardly, and shifted over to wrap him in a gentle embrace as I pat him on his back to console him.

“It’s okay, you have us, we’re here with you.”

Wei Shi leaned against the door, his cigarette in his mouth and his expression heavy, and I had no idea how long he had been listening in for.

He looked as if he wanted to come over, but was scared to do so at the same time. In the end, he let out a puff of white smoke in frustration, and turned to return by the windowsill, probably because he had no clue how he should comfort Shen Xiao Shi.

“Feng Ge, can I please ask for a favour…” After crying for a long while, Shen Xiao Shi raised his head, both eyes glimmering with tears as he sniffled and continued, “It’s okay if you don’t agree to it.”

The child was already pitiful to this state, if I didn’t agree to his request then how would I deserve to be called ‘Ge’ by him?

I drew two sheets of tissues and wiped his tears for him as I gently replied, “Go ahead and ask.”

Shen Xiao Shi spoke with a stuffy voice, “Can I… please ask for Lawyer Sheng to defend my mother in court?”

My movement stilled, and Shen Xiao Shi felt it as he hurriedly held onto my hand and continued, “I know he excels at his job, and he’s very expensive, but I’ll pay him. I have a hundred thousand renminbi saved up, and if this isn’t enough, I can write up a slip of how much I owe him… no matter whether it’s in the hundreds of thousands or the millions, I’m willing to pay it all.” The rims of his eyes were red as he spoke, “She gave birth to me and raised me up, I despise her, but I can’t not assist her when she’s in dire straits like this.”

I knew what he meant, and understood his request, however the problem was… Sheng Min Ou might not be willing to listen to me.

Last time, because of Wei Shi, I had already traded in the favour that he owed me, and this time I really had no idea on how I could persuade him to help. Especially since recently his temper had been especially strange, if Shen Xiao Shi went to plead for help, it probably would be much more effective than if I went.

However, when faced with Shen Xiao Shi’s expectant gaze, I found myself unable to say no.

In the end, I patted the back of his hand and nodded as I replied, “Okay, I’ll ask for you.”

Since he had owed me a favour before, there had to be a way for me to get him to owe me once more again.

After returning home from Shen Xiao Shi’s place, I thought hard about the issue for the whole night. The next day at seven in the morning, I called Sheng Min Ou – I knew by this time he would already be awake.

“I’ll help you win Mrs Yang’s case, so could you do me a favour in return please?” After the call connected, I raced to speak first.

Sheng Min Ou might have really felt like he had no response to what I said, as he was quiet for a while before he replied in an arrogant tone, as if it was inevitable and should be expected, “I can win anyways.”

“I can make it so you win it even faster.” After pausing for a second, I added another point, “It might even result in more compensation.”

“Oh?”

I sensed considerable disdain in his voice, yet I was not vexed by it as I continued, “If you don’t want my help that’s fine as well, you can visit this prostitute again and the end result is the same.”

On the other side, I heard his breathing come to a still, as Sheng Min Ou replied in a cold voice, “No need.”

“Then given what you’ve said it’s better for me to assist you in the case, yeah?” In a flash, I pulled the phone away from myself as I continued speaking, “If you don’t respond then I’ll take it as you’ve agreed? Hello? How come the signal got bad… hello? Hello?”

After pretending to say a few more ‘hellos’, I decisively hung up the call.

Faced with the phone screen which showed the end of the call, I let out a long breath, then became slightly annoyed.

“I let you use me as a prostitute and you aren’t even willing to do so, what was I going to do, poison you or something?” I threw my phone to the side and dropped to the bed as I fell asleep.