I hate long-distance flights.
The dryness in the cabin is very uncomfortable for the eyes, and after more than five hours, the nose will smell disgusting.
The last time I went back to China was a year ago, during the Spring Festival, to visit my mom. Between studying and working, I can't go back more than once a year. But even if I do, long-distance flights make me want to never take one again.
We landed at 1 a.m. Jet lag made me drowsy. Even though I'd taken a sleeping pill on the plane to help with the jet lag, I still nearly missed a step when getting off the jet bridge.
I was waiting at the baggage carousel for my two large suitcases. The wait was ridiculously long—flying from Atlanta and with two layovers, it wouldn't have been surprising if I'd lost a suitcase.
Yawning, I switched to my Chinese SIM card and texted my mom that I had landed. She was already waiting outside the airport, but judging by the situation, she might have to wait a long time.
Twenty minutes later, my luggage finally arrived. We'd agreed to meet in the terminal parking lot, about a ten-minute walk. I stopped by the restroom and washed every part of my exposed skin, trying to get rid of the strange smell of the plane.
At 2:30 in the morning, there were not many flights taking off and landing at the domestic airport.
I was the only one in the bathroom. When I wiped the water off my hands and prepared to leave, the door of the cubicle behind me suddenly opened, and a hand pulled me in, strangling my neck tightly.
I smelled a familiar scent on that guy.
The murder lasted less than ten seconds. I sat on the toilet lid, clutching my neck, coughing for a long time. He was about to speak when I kicked him mid-shin, and he jumped away with a hiss, clutching his leg.
"Why do you look so different now that you've graduated from college?" Xu Tuo hopped over on one foot and pushed aside my bangs. "You've grown your hair so long and wear glasses. Are you nearsighted?"
I pretended to kick him again, but he opened the cubicle door and ran out.
After my father passed away, Xu Tuo continued to live in my house. He would occasionally go out of town for a few days under the pretext of a business trip, and I was the only one who knew what he was doing there.
Every year when I visit my family in China, I'll see him. It's the same old thing: we'll go to the convenience store to buy some junk food, go to the internet cafe to play online games, or chat in my bedroom about the latest guy he's been tracking. I used to think he only liked to hunt down murderers who hadn't been caught, but I've learned that his hunting range is much wider than that.
The most painful thing was playing with him. He was terrible at the game: "The health setting is so unreasonable. Why can't the monster die after being stabbed so many times..."
"Because it's weird."
"Our character didn't die even after being chopped so many times."
"Because that's just program data."
He may still think it's more fun to kill monsters in the three-dimensional world.
My mother has always been indecisive, but after my father's accident, she decisively used the pension to arrange for my study abroad. At that time, I was hesitant, considering whether to refuse to go abroad and stay here to take care of her.
Xu Tuo asked me to go out for a walk: "Anyway, the tuition problem has been solved with the pension..."
"You have one more chance to speak humanly before I call the police."
"——When you are young, you should go out and explore more."
On the day I left for the US, my mom and he saw me off to the airport. When I graduated and returned to China, my mom and he were still there to pick me up.
My mother sent me a message in advance and said that she was waiting for me in the parking lot, and Xu Tuo would come to the arrival floor of the airport to wait for me.
This guy really didn't wait at the exit.
We each pushed a suitcase down the elevator and found our car in the parking lot. My mom complained that my hair was too long: "You should get a trim before the interview. You're not nearsighted, so why are you wearing glasses? I'm worried Xiao Xu won't recognize you."
"I almost didn't recognize him. I was worried that I caught the wrong person." He laughed softly while sitting in the back seat.
I glanced at his hand. There was a wound on the back of Xu Tuo's left hand, like a knife wound.
"What's wrong with your hand?" I asked softly.
"—Work injury," he said. "The client was furious and wanted to fire me if their request wasn't met."
"Is that so?" I sneered. "Then why don't you treat the customer like God and fulfill his needs?"
"If the needs are met, why would he stay? He can just leave. First of all, we must ensure that the customer does not leave. If people stay, then the business will be successful."
"Uncle Zhou will come to our house tomorrow after get off work, right?" Too lazy to argue with him, I asked my mother about tomorrow's matter. "I think it's about helping me with my resume."
Mom was about to drive away, without looking back: "It's okay if he doesn't come."
"I'm applying for a technical position, not one that requires field work."
"It's better for you to join an ordinary company like Xiao Xu," she said. "Mom can ask old classmates to help you promote the joint venture..."
I pushed my glasses up on my nose, hiding myself behind them and avoiding her words. My father's death had frightened her like a bird with a broken heart, and she was filled with anxiety about my future career.
Xu Tuo was equally uneasy. He saw the job aspirations written on my notebook and swallowed hard.
"How is it? Are you uneasy?" I pulled the notebook back.
"No, when did you become interested in trace research..."
"I changed my major on purpose when I was in college. Uncle Zhou happened to be able to help me send my files to the research institute. The job and income are stable, so what's wrong with that?"
I don't know if it's an illusion, but I've grown taller in the past few years, and when we walk together, we seem to be about the same height.
The first thing we did after returning home was move—my mom decided to bring my grandma over to take care of her, and I took my belongings and moved directly to the apartment Xu Tuo rented upstairs. This was something I had decided before returning to China, as Xu Tuo's rent could be cut in half.
Xu Tuo had been renting my house for years, but we rarely visited. I was worried I'd see something bloody when I opened the door, but the upstairs room was surprisingly clean.
There are no extra decorations or ornaments. Everything is neatly arranged. The large suitcase is placed by the window, and the wallet and ID folder are placed on top of the suitcase. Even in a power outage, you can still remember where everything is.
"This is where people who are always ready to flee live," he said. "If you see someone else's house like this, be careful."
I pulled out two posters of basketball stars and a few men's magazines from my luggage and threw them at him. "Uncle Zhou will be here tomorrow to discuss employment with me. You'd better clean up the house."
Uncle Zhou is my father's superior and he has been preparing to retire in the next two years.
The veteran police officer's intuition was as sharp as a shark's. I initially considered making an excuse, saying I lived upstairs and my roommate and his girlfriend would hang out in the living room at night, and relocating the conversation to the cafe downstairs. But then I realized a lie could snowball into more trouble. What if Uncle Zhou remembered that my roommate had a girlfriend? Then I'd have to find an actress to justify this lie...
It would be better to make the room a little messy and make it look like an ordinary bachelor dormitory.
Before the agreed time, Xu Tuo and I deliberately messed up the living room. We put a few posters on the wall, placed a pile of erotic men's magazines in the corner of the coffee table, and threw a few coats on the back of the chair.
After doing all this, I waited for Uncle Zhou to come with peace of mind. And Xu Tuo also brought us iced Coke like an enthusiastic friend.
"I'd like to assign you to the Third Institute in the New District," he said. "It's not an old institute, but a newly established unit within the department. It's doing traceology research. First, it's more in line with your major, and second, they're in urgent need of new talent. As a public institution, they have some requirements for average academic qualifications. Your resume is impressive, so they'll want you there, too."
"Uncle, let me arrange it."
"Then next Thursday, go to the area around Henan Road and Xinqu Road..." He recalled the address, his eyes falling on the magazine on the coffee table. I don't know if I'm being suspicious, but Uncle Zhou's eyes changed - was the magazine cover too sexy? I should have bought something more conservative...
Then he turned back to look at the coat thrown on the back of the sofa. My heart suddenly sank - in the middle of summer, we took an autumn cardigan and threw it there.
Although cardigans are not as out of place as down jackets, few young men still wear long-sleeved cardigans in summer.
This room feels awkward everywhere. I deliberately aged the magazines, curling up the corners, but unfortunately, I'm not very skilled at aging them, so they don't hold up to scrutiny. There's not a single scrap of paper on the coffee table, and the trash can is clean...
"What are you hiding from your uncle?"
When I came to my senses, Uncle Zhou was looking at me and Xu Tuo, who was looking at his laptop at the table behind me. Xu Tuo's face was blocked by the screen, and I was worried about his expression.
"Don't do anything that would make your father angry and come back to life, Xueming." Uncle Zhou said this after a long silence.
I heard Xu Tuo choking on water behind me, and he couldn't help laughing.
I didn't have the guts to let him stay here any longer. The weather was nice tonight, so I said to Uncle Zhou, "Let's go for a walk."
There are plenty of places to stroll in the city center at night, and there's a green park right next to my house. We passed a group of people doing square dancing and managed to chat with each other over the blaring music.
We were still talking about my dad.
My dad chased a knife-wielding robber, but something happened and he never returned. Uncle Zhou's expression becomes bewildered when he talks about this. He and my dad had been partners for years and had agreed on where to buy a retirement home after retirement, but then he suddenly disappeared.
It happened so suddenly that it didn't feel real. Sadness was like loading an incorrect template, it didn't stay for long, it was gone in a flash.
"Then we went to catch that grandson," he said, referring to the robber who stabbed my father to death. "We learned that he was planning to flee to another city by train."
"I know. He later committed suicide out of fear of punishment."
"We only told you he was dead. After all, you were young at the time and were preparing for exams, so we didn't dare tell you many details. The arrest site was set at the train station. He couldn't bring a weapon into the station, so the difficulty and danger of closing the net were not too high. We planned to capture him on the platform to avoid a conflict in a crowded place like the waiting hall."
Next, Uncle Zhou told me the hardcore version of the story. The interceptors had surrounded the platform from both sides, essentially trapping the man. The man, sensing something was amiss, tried to leave the platform and take the overpass back to the waiting room.
At this time, a train was approaching. They were about to take action. However, they saw the target person fall under the tracks and was instantly swept into the train.
Half of his body was twisted in there and he didn't die for a while. He screamed and shouted, "Someone stab my leg and get me down."
Whether someone had stabbed his legs and forced him to fall onto the platform was impossible to determine, as his lower body had been crushed. By the time the construction team arrived and sawed open the platform, he was already dead.
"That was only said privately. Everyone thought it was retribution." Uncle Zhou smiled bitterly. "It was a tragic death. Later, a department organized psychological counseling and comforted the other passengers on the platform that day... How could someone stab him with a knife? That's a train station. You can't bring knives through inspection..."
I turned around and threw the contents of my pocket into the trash can. Now I finally understood why Xu Tuo gave me a dead fountain pen as a souvenir before I boarded the plane. The nib was sharpened to a point, and I thought it was a special handmade fountain pen.
The work was finalized. When I returned, Xu Tuo had already tidied the house.
I told him I had lost my pen, and he felt sorry for it: "Maybe it will be useful in the future."
"Wait until someone discovers that the pen that can't write ink is actually blood. Then do some testing. It's exciting."
"You don't enjoy the uncertainty of life."
"If I could enjoy that, I wouldn't have this hobby."
I took out the newly bought rope from my bag. It was a high-code climbing rope made in Germany. It was of uniform thickness and would not rub the skin. I brought it back from the United States specially.
Life after returning home was peaceful and stable. I went to and from get off work on time every day, with no overtime and, of course, no bonuses. When I got home, I cooked on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and Xu Tuo cooked on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Saturdays. It was a verbal agreement, as he often came home late.
"I've got my eye on a guy who's about to be released from prison," he said. "He has a long record of fighting, having caused severe head injuries three times, and a long history of petty thefts. He's been a regular at the police station since he was fourteen, and he's thirty-one this year. Come see my treasure boy."
He held the laptop in front of me. I was hanging on the doorknob, staring blankly ahead.
"I wish you happiness," I said.
"Anyway, I might not be back in the next two days. He asked a friend in the next city to pick him up from prison."
"Why don't you go wait for him at the prison gate?" I loosened the rope and sat down. "Perhaps by the time you buy a train ticket, he'll be in jail again for fighting."
"I'm the one who took the initiative, Xueming."
The next morning, Xu Tuo, who had taken the initiative, went to the train station to chase his treasured old man. I went to work as usual, and when I passed by my colleague's workstation, he was entering new case photos.
——The body of a young woman with marks of strangulation on her neck.
"Suicide." He noticed my interest and handed me the photo. "But the rope marks are very unique. Let's record it in the system."
I touched my neck: "Suicide?"
"Well, there were no signs of a struggle, and no abnormal drug levels... In short, it meets the criteria for suicide, so it's closed as such."
When these photos were taken, the body had already begun to show obvious signs of livor mortis. A bright and even purple mark ran down her neck, like the lace painted on ancient pottery.
Maybe I'm the only one who realizes this isn't suicide.