Zong Hang wore Ding Xi’s pants, following several steps behind Yi Sa.
She had instructed him: “Take off the work uniform, wear these into the cabin. Afraid people won’t remember you? Don’t follow too closely, act natural. There are hundreds of people on this ship, many don’t know each other.”
Zong Hang tried his best to appear natural, but whenever someone approached, he would unconsciously lower his head or pretend to fix his hair. The injured wrist was wrapped in a plastic bag containing some grapes – this way, his broken fingers weren’t so noticeable.
After reaching the top floor and turning two corners, Yi Sa suddenly stopped her hand at her side making a slight backward gesture.
This meant the “road conditions” ahead weren’t ideal. Zong Hang quickly lowered his head, using his other hand to pretend to examine the grapes in the plastic bag.
Yi Sa looked at the cruise ship tourism brochure posted in the corridor – surprisingly, one section was titled “Explore Poyang Lake, the Mysterious Oriental Bermuda Triangle.”
While multitasking, she glanced in that direction several times with her peripheral vision. Finally, when the moment was right, she urgently turned back and urged him: “Quick, quick!”
She started running, and Zong Hang followed with quick small steps.
At the doorway, Yi Sa was already turning the key when suddenly, the door latch behind them clicked.
Yi Sa reacted extremely fast, grabbing Zong Hang by the back of his shirt and shoving him through the door. Then, gripping the doorknob, she turned around with her arm twisted behind her back, smiling very sweetly: “Aunt Yunqiao.”
Facing her was Yi Yunqiao, another water ghost of the Yi family.
While Yi Sa remained calm, Yi Yunqiao was caught somewhat off guard. “Oh my!” she exclaimed, clutching her chest. “Sasa, are you trying to frighten me to death?”
Yi Sa thought to herself: Who’s frightening whom?
Yi Yunqiao was short and quite ordinary-looking, just an aunty with a common face. However, she always attracted attention on the streets because of her passionate dedication to plastic hair curlers. Perhaps finding the colorful curlers attractive, she often left them in.
Even now, she had one wobbling in her bangs.
Yi Sa used to call her “Aunt Qiao,” but Yi Yunqiao disliked it, saying it sounded like an ancient drama servant girl’s name, and insisted on being called “Aunt Yunqiao” instead.
This late at night, most people were already asleep…
Yi Sa asked curiously: “Aunt Yunqiao, you’re going out?”
Yi Yunqiao said: “I’m going to ask around the Jiang family’s side about whether the Jin Tang will still open…”
Looking around, knowing it wouldn’t be good if others overheard: “In a few days, my grand-nephew is getting married, and I’m hosting…”
Yi Sa didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She stepped closer and lowered her voice: “With such a big incident happening to Uncle Jiang, isn’t this inappropriate?”
Yi Yunqiao gave her a look: “At my age, don’t I know basic courtesy? Of course, I’ll appear very grief-stricken in front of him, but everyone knows it definitely won’t open – after Jiang Jun’s incident, logically Jiang Xiaoguang should take over, but firstly, this situation has never happened before, it’s questionable whether he can even produce the Jin Tang map in his mind; secondly, as a father losing his son, how devastated must he be? White-haired sending off black-haired, it should take at least three to five months to recover, right? Urging him to open Jin Tang now would be inconsiderate.”
“So it’s better to disperse early, we handle our business, the Jiang family handles the funeral, and once all these distressing matters are over, we can discuss reopening.”
Yi Yunqiao had a somewhat stubborn personality, and Yi Sa knew she couldn’t be persuaded: “Then be careful, everyone suspects Young Master Jiang’s matter was deliberate, the culprit might still be on the ship.”
Entering the room, she saw Zong Hang still standing – probably where she had shoved him earlier, he remained there, not knowing how to find a place to sit.
She had intended to start questioning him, but seeing his panda eyes from the smeared makeup and broken fingers, she found him both amusing and pitiful.
Yi Sa pointed to the bathroom: “Go wash your face first.”
The bathroom was small, and Zong Hang could only wash with one hand, slow and laborious. Midway through, Yi Sa came in to wash a popsicle stick at the faucet. Zong Hang quickly made room for her, inadvertently glimpsing her lowered head, her hair sliding to the side of her neck, revealing the nape – given her hair length and dislike for tying it up, that area rarely saw the sun, appearing whiter than elsewhere, with a tiny, extremely cute mole among the fine downy hair.
Given Yi Sa’s usual impression, even when deliberately smiling sweetly, “cute” wouldn’t be a fitting description. Zong Hang found it fascinating, feeling that this area always hidden by her hair concealed some particularly warm secret that he had discovered.
The neck’s curves were also soft, sliding delicately and warmly into the back collar, drawing his gaze along…
Zong Hang suddenly became alert: what was he looking at? These eyes, how base! Too base!
His face burning red, Yi Sa urged him: “Hurry up, what are you dawdling for?”
She pointed at the hand soap: “Use soap to scrub! This makeup, though cheap, is quite waterproof.”
Zong Hang came out after washing thoroughly.
Yi Sa sat on the bed, with scissors, gauze, and folded towels beside her. She had cut the popsicle stick shorter and was using nail clippers to file the broken end smoothly.
She gestured to her side: “Sit.”
After he sat down, she brought the towel to his mouth: “Bite this, give me your hand.”
Zong Hang bit the towel and extended his hand.
Yi Sa cradled his wrist with her left hand, her right hand poised over his broken, swollen fingers. Zong Hang knew she was probably going to set the bones, and thinking about the impending piercing pain, his arm started trembling slightly.
Yi Sa noticed this and frowned, saying: “How about this…”
“I’ll knock you out first, then set your bones. Knocking someone out is easy, it doesn’t hurt, just a quick chop to the back of the neck and you’ll be out quickly.”
Such a good option existed?
Just as Zong Hang was nodding vigorously in delight, Yi Sa’s grip tightened, and she pulled, pressed, and pushed, setting one finger, then immediately the next, three fingers done in one go.
Zong Hang’s body contorted in pain, his teeth clenched tightly, probably biting through the towel, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
The most difficult part complete, Yi Sa shook her hand and picked up the cut popsicle stick, using two pieces to splint each finger like a brace, then wrapped them with gauze: “I have no way to find plaster, so this will have to do for now. You’re actually lucky I carry a first aid kit… your hand will swell more later, if necessary, I’ll figure out how to let some blood.”
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
Yi Sa’s expression changed slightly. She secured the gauze with tape, made a silencing gesture to Zong Hang, walked to the door, first looked through the peephole, then opened it just a crack, her body completely hidden behind the door, showing only a thin slice of her face: “Aunt Yunqiao, I was about to shower, I’ve already undressed, so I won’t open the door fully.”
Yi Yunqiao didn’t care about that, speaking in a very low voice: “Sasa, I just asked around, they say it’s postponed, everyone can leave the ship in the next day or two.”
Why the secretive expression when this should be good news, now you can go host your grand-nephew’s wedding…
“But there’s something strange. After I finished talking with Jiang Xiaoguang, when I opened the door to leave, Ding Changsheng came looking for him, saying he couldn’t find Ding Xi anywhere. When I heard this, I thought, this killer is quite brazen, could they have struck again? So I paused.”
“At that moment, I heard Jiang Xiaoguang ask Ding Changsheng, ‘Has the ship arrived?'”
Yi Sa didn’t understand: “What does he mean by ‘has the ship arrived?'”
“Exactly, that’s what I’m saying,” Yi Yunqiao’s eyes held the shrewdness and worldliness unique to her age, “He only said these few words, then suddenly noticed I hadn’t left, immediately changed the subject to show concern about Ding Xi.”
“Think about it, aren’t we all on this one ship, and it’s already anchored, where else could it ‘arrive’? Is there another ship? If you’re talking about those rubber boats sent out to search for people, haven’t they all returned already?”
Yi Sa made a sound of acknowledgment: she had Zong Hang hidden in her room, anxious to question him about Chen Tu’s matter, yet Yi Yunqiao seemed endless.
She was somewhat distracted: “So?”
“Sasa, are you brainless?”
If the door crack had been wider, Yi Yunqiao would have poked her forehead: “With your capabilities, and you call yourself a water ghost? You’re just like your sister, she’s just a pretty face with no brains; you look clever, but you’re also brainless.”
“Jiang Xiaoguang asked ‘Has the ship arrived,’ not ‘Has the ship come’ or ‘Has the ship returned,’ what does this indicate? Think about it!”
She probably didn’t trust Yi Sa’s thinking ability either, immediately revealing the answer: “It means there’s likely another location, another ship! The Dings know about it, the Jiangs know about it, only we Yis don’t know!”
“Think about it further, he told me Jin Tang is postponed and we should leave in the next couple of days, yet there’s another ship! Isn’t he trying to exclude us and open Jin Tang by himself? In that Three Rivers source incident, most of the dead were Yi family members, we’re already few, in remote areas, and severely weakened, those two families live close to each other, them joining forces is just a matter of time!”
“Also, isn’t Jiang Jun’s death suspicious? He’s using this to disperse us, knowing we’ll be considerate since human life is paramount…”
Yi Sa found it both amusing and exasperating that someone with such screenwriting talent ended up as a water ghost: “Aunt Yunqiao, Jiang Jun was Uncle Jiang’s only son! Are you suggesting Uncle Jiang killed his son just to monopolize Jin Tang?”
Yi Yunqiao was momentarily speechless but wouldn’t admit defeat: “Well, what if it wasn’t the real Jiang Jun who died, but a body double?”
Yi Sa said: “I saw Young Master Jiang’s body myself in the rubber boat after Uncle Jiang confirmed it. I can guarantee it was him, not someone in makeup or a similar-looking impersonator. Besides, does Uncle Jiang lack money? Would he fear sharing profits with us? Even if we opened Jin Tang on December 3rd, we’d still have to share with him.”
Yi Yunqiao had no response.
But unwilling to admit she’d been convinced, she continued muttering as she left: “Anyway, I still think… something’s not right…”
After closing the door, Yi Sa briefly reviewed Yi Yunqiao’s words.
That question “Has the ship arrived?” was indeed puzzling, but there were more pressing matters at hand.
She looked at Zong Hang: “Have you recovered?”
More or less, Zong Hang nodded: the pain was gone, from wrist to fingertips everything was mostly numb, without feeling.
“That day in Fu Village, was it Chen He who sent you away?”
Zong Hang shook his head: “No.”
After thinking, he added: “Ding Xi woke me up, said plans had changed, put me in a woven bag and carried me out. I never saw Mr. Chen at all.”
“Then what? Did you leave by boat? A large boat?”
Zong Hang recalled: “It was a large boat, but very slow at first, no sound like it was being poled out slowly. After quite a while, I heard machinery, and then the boat speed increased.”
This matched her speculation almost perfectly. Yi Sa’s heart beat faster: “Then what?”
“We sailed for a long time, then suddenly stopped. I thought we’d arrived, but he carried me to a smaller boat. He’d told me earlier not to move or make sound, so I stayed curled up in the bag, and didn’t dare look.”
“But you could hear, right? Were there any noises?”
Indeed there were, Zong Hang nodded.
That part had always been confusing to him: “I heard the boat start, moving very fast with loud splashing water, finally seeming to reach shore because the sounds became dull and heavy. Then there was light, like fire burning – the bag wasn’t very thick, so the light’s intensity was very clear.”
Damn, it matched up. Ding Xi dared!
Yi Sa was so angry her temples throbbed. She bent down to rummage through her luggage, took out an old silver cigarette case, opened it, and picked one from the neatly arranged wooden cigarettes to light, using the inhaling and exhaling to do deep breathing.
The 19th was approaching, she needed to avoid getting angry.
After quite a while, she finally looked up at Zong Hang: “Then what? What did he do with you?”
“I always thought Chen Tu had sent you away safely, figured nothing serious had happened, so I didn’t ask further. Until a month later, when I met Long Song in Siem Reap and saw your family’s missing person notice…”
“Someone as homesick as you, how could you not contact your family? And why are you working as a cook on this boat? And fighting with Ding Xi?”
She sensed there must be a story here, probably as complex as Chen Tu’s death.
Unexpectedly, Zong Hang now became tight-lipped.
His face alternated between pale and flushed, avoiding her gaze. After a pause, he said quietly: “Could I not talk about it? It’s not very convenient to say.”
Yi Sa said: “Sure, everyone has their little secrets.”
Zong Hang looked at her gratefully, but then she pointed to the door: “Then you can leave.”
Zong Hang was stunned: “Go where?”
“The water, the sky, Beijing, Shanghai, wherever you want.”
Zong Hang began to understand: “Are you unhappy because I won’t tell you?”
Yi Sa laughed: “No, no, please don’t misunderstand, I’m not unhappy. Privacy deserves respect, keep your secrets, no matter how sweet I’m not interested in tasting them.”
“But I have one rule: I never shelter anyone with secrets. I can help people, but they must show their cards.”
“I saved you the first time because I roughly knew your background, you were simple and clean. But now it’s different – it’s been almost two months since we last met, and people can turn bad in an instant. Two months is enough time for too many things to happen…”
At this point, her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Zong Hang with his eye makeup and scar, pretending to be a cook on the ship – Ding Xi had been investigating Jiang Jun’s case since evening – Zong Hang and Ding Xi fighting in the kitchen, and now being evasive…
Setting aside her dislike for Ding Xi and preconceptions, looking at facts, not people, what if Zong Hang was involved in Jiang Jun’s incident?
She suddenly lost patience. She’d already figured out Chen Tu’s matter anyway, so call her ungrateful if you want, but she didn’t want to get mixed up in Jiang Jun’s murder case, or she’d never clear her name.
“Get out now, immediately, right away.”
After saying this, feeling her words weren’t threatening enough, she mercilessly reached to grab his collar.
Zong Hang hadn’t expected her to change face so quickly and get physical. His back broke out in sweat as she yanked his collar, nearly pulling it over his head. In a panic, he tried to grab something…
The guest room bed had no frame, he only caught the sheet, which couldn’t withstand the pull. With a swoosh, pillows, scissors, and gauze all fell to the floor.
Zong Hang was so anxious he started stuttering: “You can’t… do this. I’m not refusing to tell on purpose, it involves others, you have to let me… think about it.”
Even in sports competitions, there’s a buffer countdown of “3, 2, 1” before the starting gun. How could she be like this, saying hanging means immediate coffin painting – if you don’t die you’re not worth the coffin cost? She was… quite something.
Yi Sa said: “Oh really?”
Sensing an opening, she released Zong Hang, took out her phone, set the timer, and showed him the screen: “You have five minutes.”
After a pause, she added: “And make the bed.”