Chapter 0003 The Younger Son
I took the bus from Bangkok to my cousin's house in Rayong City. He was exceptionally happy to see me, though it had been less than a month since we last parted. This showed how deeply he missed his family back home.
During dinner, I asked my cousin, "Did your friend, Old Li, take his son to the hospital? You can't just assume an illness is caused by an evil spirit, right?"
My cousin said, "Of course he went to the hospital, but they couldn't find any medical cause for the problem."
"What exactly is the abnormality?" I asked.
My cousin replied, "Old Li said his son suddenly started acting strangely—super bizarre—one day. The boy was completely normal before that, no history of autism or mental health issues. Old Li and I are good friends, so why don't you just go take a look? He's coming over to my place tomorrow evening, and then you can drive my car to his house. It's not far, they're also in Rayong, about twenty minutes away by car." I agreed.
The next evening, dinner was ready, but Old Li was running late. I asked if my cousin thought he'd forgotten. Just as I spoke, Old Li arrived. He smiled and shook my hand the moment he walked in. "You must be Mr. Tien Chi, Boss Wu's cousin? A pleasure, a pleasure. I'm so sorry, it's the issue with the boy again. I was delayed by half an hour, I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long. I really didn't mean to." I quickly assured him it was fine.
My cousin asked, "Did your son's condition flare up again?"
"Yes, it did. Alas!" Judging by his clothes and demeanor, Old Li clearly came from a very ordinary, humble background. After dinner at my cousin's, since my phone lacked international roaming and my cousin had two phones, he handed me one to use for emergency contact. So, I drove my cousin's car, taking Old Li to his home in the northwest of Rayong City.
The area was a low-income residential district. The apartments were old and dilapidated. Downstairs, there were concrete water reservoirs where young men and women were bathing. The men only wore underwear, and the women just wrapped themselves in a sarong.
Looking at the bathers through the car window, I was shocked. "These men and women are bathing together? My God."
Old Li gave a bitter smile. "What's so strange? Poor people don't have money, and their homes don't have showers, so they have to wash this way."
"So there are still poor people whose homes don't have showers..." I couldn't help but sigh.
We parked in front of an old apartment building. We went up to the fifth floor and entered Old Li's home. The room was very simple and gave off a strong smell of traditional Chinese herbal medicine. There were two plates of leftovers on the dining table. A low, muffled sound, like someone speaking with their mouth covered, faintly came from the bedroom. A middle-aged woman walked out from the inner room, drenched in sweat. Her face, tear-streaked, was smeared with a large patch of medicinal paste, and her eyes were bruised and swollen. Clearly, the herbal smell was coming from her. Seeing us enter, she quickly wiped her tears, instinctively turning her face sideways to hide the injury.
"Mr. Tien, this is my wife. Mr. Tien, Boss Wu's cousin, is here. Get him some water!" Old Li told his wife. His wife quickly poured water and wiped the table.
Old Li apologized sheepishly, "We're working overseas. We rented the cheapest apartment possible to save more money. Please don't mind the state of the place." I quickly said it was fine, then got straight to the point. I asked Old Li about his son's condition and where the boy was now. Old Li pointed to the inner room: "In the bedroom. We've tied him up."
I was stunned. "Why would you tie him up?"
Old Li kept shaking his head, not answering. I walked to the bedroom and opened the door. Tied to the bed was a small boy, maybe six or seven years old, bound like a dumpling with cloth strips, his mouth also gagged. Seeing people enter, the boy rolled back and forth, making muffled whimpering sounds. Tears and snot streamed down his face. He looked at us pitifully.
Seeing this, I rushed over, ready to untie him. Old Li quickly came up to stop me. I was furious. "Do you realize this is illegal? Are you abusing your child? You're a pervert!"
Old Li shouted, "You can't let him go until you understand why! If you do, we'll all be in trouble!"
I scoffed, "How is that possible? A six- or seven-year-old boy can kill someone?"
Mrs. Li stood at the door, covering her mouth and sobbing. Old Li said, "The injury on my wife's face? He did that with a hammer."
I was shocked. Old Li closed and locked the door. The three of us sat at the table. Old Li sighed repeatedly. "My son is called Xiaoyong. He's always been a good boy, but about a month ago, he suddenly started acting abnormal. First, he'd talk in his sleep with very strange content—things like, 'Why today of all days?' and 'You hit me, so I'll hit you, too.' We didn't know what it meant. A few days later, Xiaoyong started sleepwalking. Sometimes we'd wake up in the morning and find him standing by the bed, staring at us with his eyes open. If you called his name, he couldn't explain what was happening."
Mrs. Li, wiping away tears, took over the story: "That wasn't even the worst of it. It got more serious later. Sometimes, while eating, Xiaoyong would suddenly speak in an adult voice, a woman's voice. He'd blurt out nonsensical things like, 'Don't I look pretty, dear?' or 'Tonight, I'm all yours.' We got more and more worried, and when we asked what he was saying, he'd go back to normal, continue eating, and look confused, asking why we were questioning him about things he swore he hadn't said."
After hearing this account, I couldn't help but ask, "Could the boy be faking it? Boys can be mischievous, you know!"
Old Li shook his head. "Even if he were mischievous, do you think a boy under seven years old could say something like this?"
"Like what?" I asked.
Old Li recounted: "He said, 'My family is poor, and I don't have much of a dowry. Your parents will definitely look down on me. If that happens, can we move to Phetchaburi?' Phetchaburi is a province in southern Thailand. My son is little, he doesn't even know that place exists, and we've never been there. How could he possibly come up with such a complicated place name?"
Indeed, that was a very strange phenomenon. I thought for a moment. "If I'm not wrong, it must have escalated from muttering to sleepwalking, then to throwing things, throwing tantrums, and finally, hitting people?"
Mrs. Li nodded. "Yes. That night, we were sound asleep, and he suddenly picked up a hammer and smashed my face, screaming things like, 'You drove me to death, so I'll smash you to death!' over and over again. Luckily, he's only seven and doesn't have much strength, but he still fractured my cheekbone. Our family is already poor, and now the medical bills for me and for his condition have cost us a fortune..." Mrs. Li started sobbing quietly again. I felt deep sympathy and tried my best to comfort her.
I thought for a while and asked Old Li, "Did anything happen before your son started showing these abnormalities?"
Old Li said, "Someone else asked that, too. Honestly, no. We've thought long and hard. Xiaoyong is introverted and never causes trouble. Even when playing outside, he wouldn't dare speak up if he was bullied. Nothing unusual has happened in our home, either." I told him he had better recall carefully. Every instance of an evil affliction has a cause; it doesn't happen for no reason. What seems like a trivial matter to you could be the root of the problem. Something must have been overlooked.
Old Li and his wife exchanged glances but still shook their heads. To be honest, the Lis were so poor that even if this was a Negative-energy situation, there wouldn't be much money in it. I was already tempted to drop the matter. But Old Li was my cousin's friend, so I called Frank Fang.
Music and women's laughter spilled through the phone—he was clearly at a karaoke bar. I explained the situation to him. Frank Fang chuckled, his tongue thick, constantly hiccupping. "Not bad, looks like I'm gaining another middleman! You're catching on, kid. Listen up. Next time, for these kinds of cases, you need to gather all the relevant info. For example, did the family run into any strangers during that time? Did they argue with anyone? Did they offend any person or even animal? Did they cause harm to any life? Did they move houses, break anything, buy or sell anything, lose or pick up anything, or see anything they shouldn't have? Ask around more, and if anything suspicious comes up, call me back."
I hung up and relayed all of this to the Li couple. Mrs. Li suddenly asked, "Does picking up something count?"
"Of course, it does," I said. "What did you pick up?"
Old Li also asked his wife, "Did we?"