Chapter 23 – He Was Shy?

Editor: kllua

Proofreader: watermelon

Bai Zhun’s gaze swept past the yellow siskin and pursed his lips. “If it is broken, it is broken. Why did you still pick it up?”

In spite of his words, Bai Zhun’s hand was already outstretched and his fingertips gently caressed its broken wing.

Seeing that, Huo ZhenYe smiled. Although Bai Zhun had a harsh mouth, his heart was actually soft.

Huo ZhenYe grabbed the handles of Bai Zhun’s wheelchair and pushed him into the inner rooms. “It has saved me at least once so how can I not care? Take a look at it. Can it be saved?”

He pushed Bai Zhun to the table and helped him pull open the bamboo drawers on the table one by one. He also took out a thin bamboo knife.

Seeing that, Bai Zhun raised his eyebrows. He had only made a paper boat in front of Huo ZhenYe once and yet he had remembered the procedures firmly. Reaching out to take the bamboo knife, he then moved the tip of the knife and pried open the broken half of the bird’s wings.

Bai Zhun proceeded to cut a small slit in the bamboo strip and pulled out the bamboo splint. Flexible and light, the bamboo splint would not break even if it bent. This was the bird’s bone.

Huo ZhenYe watched all this from the side. As there was no chair in the room, he did not sit but squatted in front of the table and stared at Bai Zhun’s hands.

Bai Zhun’s ten fingers were long and slender with distinct, bony joints, looking both nimble and powerful. Folding the bamboo splint like paper, his ten fingers seemed to fly in the air. A three inch long bamboo splint eventually turned into a bird’s wing in his palm.

After that, Bai Zhun picked out a piece of white paper. Dyeing his brush black and yellow, he helped the yellow siskin paint on a yellow and black wing.

Bai Zhun shook the paper after finishing his painting. “Its name is Jin Chi¹ “金翅” (Jin Chi) literally means “golden wings” which I guess is fancier than the “Ah Jiu” that Feng Huan named it..” The name Ah Jiu was hardly worthy of the feathers he painted for it.

“Then… just call it Ah Jin?”

When the paper touched the bird’s bone, Jin Chi immediately came “alive” and it was like a small ball, similar to before. With its tail sticking upwards, it took two steps forward with both of its wings lifted and its eyes flitting around.

It twisted his head and rushed towards Bai Zhun with its beak opened. With a flap of its wings, it circled around before landing on Bai Zhun’s shoulder and intimately rubbing Bai Zhun’s earlobe with his beak.

This caused Bai Zhun to feel itchy and he stretched out a hand to rub Jin Chi’s head. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

All this while, Huo ZhenYe was looking at them. He suddenly said, “Why don’t I give you a bird? A real one that can sing. Or do you like one that can recite poetry and talk?”

Huo ZhenYe constantly wanted to add a little noise to the room. He could not bear to see Bai Zhun like this, being happy in loneliness.

Bai Zhun turned his face slightly. However, before he could speak, Jin Chi jumped up and swooped down on Huo ZhenYe’s face. Using its small sharp beak, it fiercely pecked on Huo ZhenYe’s face. If it could cry, it must have been chirping angrily at this moment.

Huo ZhenYe retreated a few steps and covered his forehead. “Does it dislike the name I gave it?”

Bai Zhun held his head with one hand while the other rested on the armrest of the wheelchair. For a while, he watched the scene with a smile on his face, before finally saying, “It saved you once and yet you still want to get another bird to fight with him for affection.”

Was this little thing this easily jealous?

Knowing that, Huo ZhenYe wanted to laugh and cover his face at the same time. “Then I will find a female bird for it! How about a common redpoll²“白腰朱顶” aka acanthis flammea is known as the common redpoll or mealy redpoll.?”

Jin Chi suddenly stopped its attacks and tilted its head. With a twist of its round body, it accepted Huo ZhenYe’s proposal.

Huo ZhenYe rubbed his cheek and muttered, “I guess it is true that things follow their master.”

Bai Zhun did not hear it clearly and asked, “What did you say?”

“Nothing.” Huo ZhenYe quickly shook his head. “Have you eaten? What do you want to eat? I will go buy it?”

“It has been delivered.” Bai Zhun smiled meaningfully and wheeled himself into the living room where the dishes and utensils were already set up by Ah Xiu. On the table, there were several delicious vegetable dishes with an eight treasure gourd duck³ “八宝葫芦鸭” (literally “eight treasure gourd duck”) is a duck dish where it is stuffed with eight other ingredients, including rice, mushrooms and shrimp. Mostly, it is called eight treasure duck but in this case, the name included a “gourd” because it is purposely shaped like one. A video with it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM4eSHKHoQ0 placed in the middle.

Making an eight treasure gourd duck was a test of one’s skills. First, one had to empty the duck of its internal organs and fully debone it. After filling it with sea cucumber, chicken breast, ham, dried scallops and glutinous rice, the duck had to be tied into the shape of a gourd. This kind of dish had to be ordered in advance.

Bai Zhun smiled. Pointing at the duck with his chopsticks, he politely said, “Help yourself.”

Saying that, his chopsticks pierced the belly of the duck before digging out the ham and shrimps to eat.

At that moment, Huo ZhenYe thought of those people who died in the Hongkou warehouse. Recalling the thin skin and intestines found all over the ground, his face turned green.

He looked at Bai Zhun and thought: This man must have done it on purpose!

Bai Zhun was still smiling. As his chopsticks sent the shrimps to his mouth, Huo ZhenYe’s face became greener.

In the end, Huo ZhenYe only ate the vegetable dishes, feeling that he would not be able to touch meat for half a month. Meanwhile, Bai Zhun was in a good mood and ate half a bowl of eight treasure duck.

Once the tea finished brewing, Huo ZhenYe took a big gulp of it. The more Bai Zhun saw his expression, the slower he ate and he even ate more than usual. Eventually, Huo ZhenYe deliberately put on a suffering expression so as to encourage Bai Zhun to eat more.

“Why are you not discussing the case today?” In Bai Zhun’s hands was an olive green tea cup. Using the lid to lightly skim the top, he gently blew at the tea, feeling that he had eaten too much today.

Taking a sip of black tea, Bai Zhun’s pale lips were stained with colour, making him seem more alive.

Huo ZhenYe hesitated.

Bai Zhun’s gaze was unfathomable as he swept his eyes over Huo ZhenYe’s suit pocket. With a tap of his fingertip, the yellow siskin flew up and dived towards Huo ZhenYe before worming its way into his suit pocket.

“Hey.” Huo ZhenYe wanted to throw the little yellow siskin out of his pocket but he was afraid of hurting it. He only managed to touch its tail before he got pecked at, leaving him with a white mark on the skin between his thumb and index finger.

The yellow siskin eventually retrieved a piece of paper and flew to Bai Zhun’s palm. It shook its head once, looking proud of itself.

Huo ZhenYe glared at the bird as it practically bit the hand that fed it.

However, Bai Zhun only scratched the ball of yellow feathers perched on his shoulders and nodded while praising it, “Well done.”

After reading its contents, Bai Zhun folded the paper again. The yellow siskin grabbed it with its beak, intending to return it. It was even about to worm its way into Huo ZhenYe’s pocket again but he managed to grab it with his hand. Rubbing it in the palm of his hand like he was dishing out punishment, he said, “Bad thing!”

“Who are you scolding?” Bai Zhun suspected that Huo ZhenYe was referring to him through the bird.

“I am scolding myself.” Huo ZhenYe moved a small bamboo stool and sat beside Bai Zhun. “Song FuSheng and his wife are raising a paper doll and it appears to have gained spirit. This is the address of the paper products store.”

“They are raising a paper doll?” Bai Zhun’s face remained unchanged. After all, those who had such skills were all members of the seventh door. He was part of the seventh door; why did that person not come to see him?

“What on earth is attached to the paper doll?” Huo ZhenYe, who fought back so vigorously upon seeing the female ghost, could be considered someone with great courage. However, when he thought of paper dolls, he was still quite creeped out.

“Anything is possible. In any case, it is not their son.”

“All things on earth, upon reaching a certain stage, can fake a human form.” Saying that, Bai Zhun unhurriedly took a sip of tea. Inanimate objects could develop their own consciousness and turn into a spirit, but it would require more than a hundred years of effort for them to become human. Therefore, for wandering ghosts and spirits, paper dolls were the best objects to attach themselves to.

Of course, paper dolls would also possess spirit and a strong love would slowly make the paper doll more “alive”.

Bai Zhun looked down and sipped at his tea, before looking out to the courtyard.

Across the courtyard wall, there were the sounds of shuttlecock kicking coming from outside. Xiao Yan was clapping her hands while counting for Ah Xiu, “98, 99, 100!”

The colourful shuttlecock strung with chicken feathers flew above Ah Xiu’s feet as she kicked it higher and higher. Appearing from time to time above the gray eaves, the shuttlecock could be seen from the house.

The higher Ah Xiu kicked the shuttlecock, the higher Xiao Yan’s voice went. “Ah Xiu! You are awesome! Do you know how to jump rope with rubber bands? Let me teach you.”

Ah Xiu was becoming more and more like a living person. It was also because of Xiao Yan’s obsession with her that she knew to desire good-looking clothes and learn human activities such as drinking afternoon tea and kicking shuttlecocks.

Bai Zhun did not deliberately stop it as he felt that Xiao Yan’s heart was pure enough.

“Then why did it want to kill people? It is not Xiao Jie, but it killed the kidnappers who took Xiao Jie away.” Huo ZhenYe did not understand. He originally thought that it was the ghost of Xiao Jie who was attached to the paper doll.

“Someone gave it enough love and enough resentment.” Bai Zhun gently rubbed his stomach as he felt that the glutinous rice was really difficult to digest. It seemed that he had really eaten too much.

For the paper doll to kill the kidnappers in such a cruel way, it was because it had completely inherited Mrs. Song’s hatred and murderous intentions towards them.

“Song FuSheng said it wants to be a human. How can it do so?”

Bai Zhun’s long eyelashes fluttered close and he yawned.

The seventh master was tired. He did not want to say anything.

Huo ZhenYe gave a conniving, light laugh. He pushed Bai Zhun into the inner room, extended his arms to pick him up and put him on the bed. With Bai Zhun so close to him, he could see his every eyelash clearly.

With Bai Zhun in his arms, Huo ZhenYe was about to put him down but did not release his hold. Sensing this, Bai Zhun slightly opened his eyes and glanced at him.

Huo ZhenYe’s Adam’s apple bobbed. With Bai Zhun staring at him like this, his heart gave a thump before beating quickly.

However, even then, he did not let go. Bai Zhun moved between his pillows and mercifully told him, “It wants a human skin. If the doll does not get it, it will keep on looking for a skin.”

That was the reason why Mrs. Song kidnapped those children home. She was looking for a suitable skin for “Xiao Jie”.

Finding it both absurd and ghastly, Huo ZhenYe asked, “Can the paper doll really become a living person with human skin?”

Bai Zhun turned his head. “I do not know.” A bamboo skeleton covered with human skin was a forbidden art in the seventh door. Those who practiced this art would be punished by the heavens.

“Does this have anything to do with you?” Paper dolls, 77. Huo ZhenYe’s intuition was that things were not so simple as it appeared to be targeting Bai Zhun.

“Yes.” Bai Zhun’s voice was getting lighter. Thinking back, he owed Huo ZhenYe. If he had not tracked down the Song family so soon, the paper doll would have caused some unimaginable troubles.

Regardless of whether it was targeting him or not, the seventh door had an inescapable responsibility. It would be hard to explain the murders committed by the paper doll to the City God.

However, he did not intend to remind Huo ZhenYe.

As Bai Zhun spoke, his nose brushed across Huo ZhenYe’s cheek, bringing along the faint fragrance of tea.

Huo ZhenYe quickly let him go and his facial expression was a little unnatural. “Then I will go back to the precinct. We will need more manpower.” After all, that thing might kill and skin people. “Is there any way to restrain it?”

“Fire.” Bai Zhun yawned languidly and nestled in the quilt.

After getting his answer, Huo ZhenYe turned his head and left Bai’s building. Bai Zhun then held up his head and looked at the door. That man’s skin had always been thicker than the city wall. Just now… was he shy?

Bai Zhun released a muffled chuckle, causing all the paper dolls in the house to know that their master was in a good mood. After laughing, he laid halfway on his pillow and moved two of his fingers. In an instant, more than ten birds flew out from his house.

“Go and find the paper doll.” He wanted to see who had dared to perform such tricks under his nose.

The birds flew out of the courtyard, weaved through the alleys, and entered the blue sky.

Meanwhile, Huo ZhenYe, who arrived at the precinct, first asked about the progress of the case. Da Tou answered sadly, “There are no clues, only several false reports.”

Various tabloids had tried their best to exaggerate the children’s disappearance case. Who knew where they got the news but they managed to dig out the fact that these children had the same birthday.

They even made up a story of “using a corpse to resurrect a dead soul”, which frightened many families with children. Some of the families’ children were obviously just playing outside. However, once the parents lost sight of them for a moment, they would hurry to the precinct to report a case.

In addition, some even said that they saw Mrs. Song somewhere but when the policemen rushed over, they either got nothing or they caught the wrong person.

The higher ups ordered them to patrol in shifts. Initially, the teams would work on alternate days but now, both groups had to be out riding on their bicycles. When they saw suspicious people, they would have to interrogate them, allowing them to catch several small thieves, burglars, etc.

“Which areas have you searched so far?”

“Railway stations, the ports, and so on.” They were afraid that she would leave Shanghai. Besides, Mrs. Song was a woman so they did not search in brothels or opium shops.

Huo ZhenYe thought for a moment. “Song Ying has a good life. Even if she runs away, she will not hide in those places. Instead, she will choose a safe, comfortable and undisturbed place.”

Da Tou thought for a long time. “Is there such a place where she can go in easily?”

“Hotel.” As long as one changed their name, one could stay in a hotel temporarily, not to mention the fact that Song Ying had money.

As soon as Huo ZhenYe finished speaking, news came that the Song family’s car had been found parked by the PuJiang River, which was located near large luxury hotels.

The precinct immediately began to check every single woman in the various hotels. The Indians and room attendants in one of the hotels remembered Song Ying because she was very beautiful. At that time, she was carrying a small suitcase and had a six to seven year old boy with her.

Once Song Ying entered the private room, she never came out. However, when they broke into the room, there was no one inside.

Mrs. Song had run away again.

Huo ZhenYe searched the private room carefully as Song Ying might have left clues that pointed to where she would go next. He heard some sounds coming from the window—“Du du du”.

Looking up, Ah Jiu, the little yellow siskin, was standing on the sill of the window on the room’s outer wall. It was currently knocking on the glass with its beak.

Huo ZhenYe opened the window, allowing the yellow siskin to fly inside. It landed on his shoulder and batted him with its wings.

“You found Song Ying?” Huo ZhenYe avoided the rest of the people and asked in a low voice.

The little yellow siskin puffed out its chest and nodded spiritedly.

While the other policemen were still searching. Huo ZhenYe patted Da Tou. “Come with me. Let us go somewhere else to search.”

With the yellow siskin leading, Huo ZhenYe drove and followed after it. Da Tou noticed it and asked, “Young Master Huo… we are following the bird?”

As Huo ZhenYe really had no way to explain, he remained silent. Soon, they drove out of the city to the outer suburb farmlands where there were around ten plus people milling around. The yellow siskin eventually stopped on the tree beside the farmland.

Huo ZhenYe stopped the car and Da Tou followed after him.

They found Song Ying.

To be exact, what they found was Song Ying’s body. She was curled up in the middle of a farmland with the skin on her back torn off.

The author has something to say:
Bai: You’re shy now?
Huo: A little

• 1
  “金翅” (Jin Chi) literally means “golden wings” which I guess is fancier than the “Ah Jiu” that Feng Huan named it.
• 2
  “白腰朱顶” aka acanthis flammea is known as the common redpoll or mealy redpoll.
• 3
  “八宝葫芦鸭” (literally “eight treasure gourd duck”) is a duck dish where it is stuffed with eight other ingredients, including rice, mushrooms and shrimp. Mostly, it is called eight treasure duck but in this case, the name included a “gourd” because it is purposely shaped like one. A video with it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM4eSHKHoQ0