Fatal Weakness—Yang Hengjun (2.1)

致命弱点 杨恒均
Fatal Weakness Yang Hengjun

第一章 我是谁?
Chapter 1 Who am I?

Part 2.1

I've been living here for over two years, and I've never heard anyone be so persistent in knocking on my door. In two years, in fact, I can't remember anyone ever knocking on my door. Not counting the landlord Old Bo, of course, when he comes for rent. Even if I pay it on time, every now and then he finds an excuse to come in and check out the room.

The knocking sound picks up again, this time it's more hurried. I snap out of my daze. The sun has already moved up past my feet and is shining on my butt; judging from the path the summer sun takes here in my small bachelor pad, I guess it's already past ten o'clock. I stay as still as a log, squinting, lying on the bed, thinking about waiting until the person outside my door loses patience, or decides nobody's at home and gives up. The knocking starts again, and I give in first. I climb up, pull the towel off the chair beside my bed and wrap it around my waist, opening the door with a bare chest. When I open the door I see Landlord Bo trying to jam the key in the hole with shaking hands. From the looks of it, he's been trying for a while. Before I even have time to get angry, I see standing behind him two middle-aged men, one tall, one short. The old landlord backs off to one side, and the short, fat one of the two strangers flashes his ID in front of my face; before I have time to react, he says, "we're the police. You are Yang Wenfeng, is that correct?"

I nod my head, carefully sizing up the fat cop. Fat cop's face shows exhaustion; he's wearing a t-shirt so dirty it's not not clear what color it once was. His dark grey pants are wrinkled. The one with him is much taller, and looks fast and tough, standing there staring at me with a dark look in his eyes.

"Change your clothes. You're coming with us to the station to help with an investigation!"

I'm thinking they've been waiting out here so long they probably have no more patience left. He was probably planning on saying, 'please come with us down to the station, assist our investigation into a case.'

I ask them to wait outside for a moment while I go in to get some clothes on. The two cops look at each other, then the tall one sticks his head over my shoulder to check out my room, only to see there's no way for me to escape out the window, fitted with security bars, and they both nod. As I'm getting dressed, I make some noises they'll hear from the other side of the door. I'm thinking, if they can't hear any noise coming from the room, they'll get nervous. If the cops get nervous, I'll get nervous too.

Sitting in the back of the cop car, nobody speaks on the way there. When we arrive at the Huqiao branch of the Guangzhou city police department, I follow them up to the second floor. The fat cop takes me into a room that just looks just like a waiting room. The tall cop goes down the hall. The fat cop gestures for me to sit down, asks if I smoke; I shake my head and he says no more. About ten minutes later, the tall cop opens the door and comes in. In his hands he's holding three paper cups and a bottle of water. Tucked under one arm is a folder. The two of them sit down in front of me.

"You don't seem very surprised. Do you spend a lot of time in police stations?" the fat cop asks, watching me with a strange expression.

"I've been to take care of my temporary residence permit and hukou, but it's my first time to come in like this in one of your cars."

"Do you know what we've brought you here to do?"

"Didn't you say you wanted my help in an investigation?"

"Right!" The fat cop looks a little silly. "So you know what case it is?"

I shake my head.

"You just say if you know or not. From now on when we ask you questions, you answer. No more shaking or nodding your head," the tall cop says, sternly. He stops for a second, and like on cue, the fat cop says, "he's Section Chief Zhang. My name is Li. We're from homicide." Without waiting for him to finish, Section Chief Zhang adds: "He's Section Chief Li."

"Section chiefs Zhang and Li, good day to you." Now that I know their names, I feel I should be a little more formal, more polite, but I tone it down as I introduce myself. After hearing them say "homicide", I don't feel so much like talking. Wiry Section Chief Li's face is defined, edges and corners, a little boyish; the only facial fault he has is a pair of triangular eyes. Fatty Section Chief Li's body shape is rather undefined, round like a ball from head to toe, no corners at all, just a thick double chin. He doesn't look the least bit like a public security fighter.

While I check them out for a while, they exchange glances. It seems they've decided Zhang will lead the interrogation.

Chief Zhang clears his throat. "Do you know Xie Wanrong?"

I ask him to repeat the name. Xie Wanrong. I think I've heard this name before, but I do a quick search through my memory and can't seem to place this name to any of the women in my head. I pretend like I'm trying hard to remember, when actually there aren't many women in my memory whose last names I know. Most of the faces are of women I've seen in movies, on TV, at the mall or on the street, the ones that caught my eye. But they have no names. I don't want the police sirs to think I'm not trying to answer them, but I'm almost forty. I don't want them to be able to tell there's not much about women up in my brain. Finally, I tell them with no shortage of regret, "I don't know her, or at least I can't remember now."

"You sure about that? Keep thinking."

Again, I go through the motions of thinking and, shaking my head, tell them I definitely don't know any women by that name.

The two section chiefs glance at each other, then they both stare at me. The look on Chief Zhang's face changes to one of happiness, and even the sombre, serious-faced Chief Li shows a faint smile. "Well that makes things better," Chief Li says, standing up, walking once around the room, sitting down again. Chief Zhang takes a big, long, sip of water. I feel the atmosphere in the room change along with their moods, clearing up. I feel a bit confused and wait until they sit down before I mumble, "I don't know what you mean. Better how?"

"We just feel this case is finally starting to take shape."

"Because I don't know this woman?"

"No. Because you're lying!" Chief Li cuts in. "And we don't like it when our suspects lie. But, the more you keep trying to cover up your lies, the better it is for us." As he speaks, he pulls a large photo out from the folder and slowly lays it down, covering the table. I can already tell from the blurred edges of this black and white photo that it's a picture of Rong'er lying down on the bed. She always puts on these kinds of provocative poses for me on the bed, with half of her jet black hair spread on the pillow, the other half draped over her snow-white neck down to her plump breasts, one leg slightly raised, suggestively revealing the sexy g-string she wears. Nine times out of ten, this is enough to make me jiz. These things flash through my brain. The photo has already been placed in front of me, and I realize it was taken by police at the scene. Rong'er's mouth is firmly shut, but her eyes are open wide. My heart contracts for an instant and I look away from the empty eyes in the photo.

"What, you know her? Her sisters found her lying on the bed this morning, dead."

"Rong'er! I know her, I just saw her yesterday." I don't want to see the photo anymore, but I can tell those empty eyes are still watching me.

"And yet you just said you don't know her. Need I remind you, you're lying!" Chief Li's voice suddenly bears a solemn tone. "The one thing you should tell the truth on, and you lie about it! This is what I mean by better."

Chief Zhang watches me silently, then grabs the chance to clarify: "to save everybody's time, you might as well just come clean and tell us. What's your connection to Wanrong's death? Or you can just tell us, did you kill Xie Wanrong?"

I force myself to look back at the photo of Rong'er lying still, and accept that she really is dead. "Did someone kill her? Or did she kill herself?"

"You should be answering questions, not asking them." Chief Zhang puts on an angry air. "We're still waiting for a final verification, but guessing from what we already know, she was murdered. You see how she was put in this pose after her death? People who commit suicide can't do this themselves as they're dying. You ready to start answering questions now?"

"I can't remember her name, I've always called her Rong'er. She likes it when I call her that, and I like it too."

"Rong'er? I see." The two officers look disbelieving, and disappointed. "So tell us, how did she die?"

"Chief Li, Chief Zhang, it should be you telling me that. I don't know anything, really!" I say with urgency. Then I get to thinking, learning about Rong'er's death here and now isn't doing much to help ease my sorrow. Not only do I have to watch what I say to these two cops, long used to seeing deaths like this, I'm being forced to defend myself as well. Otherwise, the news of Rong'er's death would have me crying my eyes out by now.

To save everyone's time, I tell the police that Rong'er is from western Hunan, and I'm from western Hubei. Where we're from, when a man and a woman fall in love, they like to call each other "Yang'er", "Wan'er", or "Rong'er". For people like us who drift around, names like these provide intimacy. I think Rong'er had another reason for wanting me to call her that; she really wanted to be like Huang Rong from Louis Cha novels. She always said, if this life she doesn't find a man as dumb and foolish as Guo Qing—a tall, strong fighter who loves her too much to ever leave—living wouldn't have much meaning.

I tell the two Chiefs everything I know. Chief Zhang is a little fascinated to hear it all, but Chief Li is obviously impatient. I think Chief Zhang might have read a few Louis Cha novels, but someone as serious as Chief Li never would. I talk for half an hour, until Chief Li can't take it anymore and cuts me off.

"I think, from listening to what you've been saying, that we can conclude that if Rong'er were unable to find her shining knight Guo Qing true love, that she would feel life were meaningless. Are you suggesting that she might have killed herself?"

"What I'm saying, I mean, I'm not saying she might have killed herself, that it might have been a suicide. That's for you police to decide." And with this, I'm on guard against Chief Li for the first time since coming to the station: "Didn't I already tell you? When people use the name Rong'er, it means they're in love with each other."

"Oh you were in love with each other, were you?" Chief Li looks me over carefully for a bit, then eyes the photo on the table. I feel very uncomfortable. I'm thirty-seven; the photo of Rong'er is her at twenty-two. Rong'er will always be twenty-two, but I'll keep getting older year after year.

"This is some love!" sighs Chief Li after listening closely to my story. "Does she have a steady job?"

"She's a hooker, I don't know if that counts as a steady job or not," I say dryly.

The enchanted and yearning look on Chief Zhang's face suddenly solidifies, responding instantly: "we know what she does. This morning we went through her room, and yet the only address and telephone numbers she had were yours. We found your photo, your address and your clothes stuffed in each of her drawers. I think she must have...loved you?"

The way Chief Zhang draws the word 'love' out makes it sound strange. I guess he's probably holding himself back. I can understand; in this metropolis Guangzhou, with all the migrant workers, transients and karaoke hostesses gathered here, this word love isn't often used.

"I think she might have been in love with me, no less than I was with her." I'm speaking from the heart, "I can tell you, you're wasting your time. I had nothing to do with her death. After I saw her yesterday, I went home in the evening. You can see we only live a few blocks from each other." I pause when I see the two of them have gone silent, then continue, "Chief Li, Chief Zhang, I've said everything there is to say. Can I leave now?"

They ask me to wait for a bit, and go out, returning after about fifteen minutes. Chief Zhang says to me, "today was a good start, I hope we can continue to cooperate." He then tells me they're worried that because I have no job and my hukou has expired, that if they let me leave, I'll disappear into thin air, never to be seen by them again. I'm the key suspect in this important 'murder case', so he asks me with an advisory tone: "would you be able to stay here for a few days? Let us work the truth out before you go?"

Shocked, I stare. Thinking of what little law I know, I don't know what to say. Chief Li, it seems, can sense this, and explains, "this isn't like being arrested, it's only in consideration of your unique circumstances. We hope you'll stay here and work with us in solving this case. We've gone through the deceased's possessions and have yet to find proof that she had another lover. I think you also want the killer found as soon as possible, am I right? For the duration of your stay here, we'd take care of the cost of food. You'd be living in a cell, but the door won't be locked. We'll explain to the guards that you're free to leave any time you choose. Although, we hope you understand; if the the deceased has in fact been murdered, you would be our most likely suspect. You're also our only lead, so if you do decide to go, we'll be keeping you under surveillance twenty-four hours a day. You know, even the police have limits on spending; as a common citizen, don't you think you should do what's in your power to make a little contribution to the work of the police and social order?"