Editor: kllua
Proofreader: watermelon
When Bai Zhun opened his eyes again, it was already bright outside.
“Are you awake?” Huo ZhenYe grinned and poked his head out the door. With his shirt’s sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his arms stained with ash, Huo ZhenYe was holding a tray with food.
“I figured that you would be hungry when you woke up so I made you something to eat.”
Huo ZhenYe had taken almost half a day to learn how to fire the stove, boil milk in a small pot and make French toast. With the aroma of butter and milk together, Bai Zhun felt languid and did not want to move.
Besides adding maple syrup to the milk, he also placed a ring of cut fruits on the toast. Apparently, Huo ZhenYe had previously filled the refrigerator with such items unconsciously. While watching Bai Zhun take small bites of the toast, he said, “Wait till I find some German sausages to fry for you. German sausages with beer are delicious.”
Bai Zhun drank a mouthful of milk that had become even more fragrant and sweet with the addition of syrup. Even the breaths he let out contained some milky fragrance.
“Does it taste as good as Chinese sausages?”
“Of course not. Chinese sausages are very fragrant, do you want to eat them? When winter comes, I will buy some and hang it all over the house.”
“Don’t you feel shameless? Do you intend to stay until winter?” Despite Bai Zhun’s words, he still ended up finishing the toast and milk.
After eating and drinking to his heart’s content, Bai Zhun lay on the bed comfortably.
“I have to go to the precinct today and then head to the hospital to see Xiao Kai. I will bring the Royal Pot to you in the evening.”
“Go,” Bai Zhun responded in a gracious tone. It was only when Huo ZhenYe left that he found out he was wearing his flannel pyjamas. No wonder they were so soft.
Bai Zhun frowned and glanced at the paper servant beside his bed. “Are you the one who changed my clothes?”
The paper servant lowered his head and looked down at his feet.
Bai Zhun asked again, “Then was it Ah Xiu?”
As the two paper servants jostled each other, unwilling to answer, Bai Zhun finally knew that Huo ZhenYe was the one who changed his clothes.
Meanwhile, when Huo ZhenYe walked out of Bai’s house, it was YuQing’s busiest period. Every household was cooking breakfast and could not help but smile when they saw him. “Mr. Huo, are you going to work?”
They spoke as if he was part of the community. This caused the corners of Huo ZhenYe’s mouth to lift and he smiled.
He drove to the Song family house first which had been cordoned off with policemen watching over it. He flashed his consultant card before entering the scene.
Before going upstairs, he carefully searched the grounds of the garden and eventually found a mass of yellow paper in the bushes. The little yellow siskin had no “life” at all. With a hole in his body and one side of his wings folded, the bamboo skeleton inside was revealed.
Huo ZhenYe rubbed its little head with his fingers. “Don’t be afraid, I will take you home and let your master fix you.”
The yellow siskin remained motionless and its bright eyes had also turned into a little ink spot on the paper. Huo ZhenYe placed it in his pocket.
Going upstairs, he went around the building.
On the first floor, there still remained traces of a happy family. The house was full of children’s toys, including badminton rackets.On the piano, a family photo of the three of them, taken during Christmas, could be found.
While Song MingJie was holding a sack of Christmas gifts, Mrs. Song was wearing a fur coat. Song FuSheng was holding his wife in one hand and child in the other.
Huo ZhenYe took the picture out of the frame and put it in his pocket.
Next, he bought some sweets and biscuits before heading to the hospital. Last night, Cheng LianKai’s heartbeat suddenly recovered back to normal and his body also slowly started to warm up. By morning, he could already speak.
Lying on the hospital bed, he was surrounded by his family. Cheng JunYi was holding onto her brother’s hand tightly as she was still afraid that her brother would be lost again.
When she saw Huo ZhenYe, the little girl greeted him politely before secretly asking, “Are those the ones who kidnapped Xiao Kai, Song MingJie’s parents?”
The news of Song FuSheng and his wife kidnapping children was on the front page of today’s newspaper. She had overhead it when the adults were whispering about it.
“Last night, I saw Song MingJie.” She did not reveal this to her parents and only told Huo ZhenYe, “I saw him in the garden behind the church.”
Cheng JunYi lowered her voice. “He had helped me and Xiao Kai. However, he was locked out of the house.”
Huo ZhenYe nodded, “I will inform Song MingJie’s parents.”
As Song FuSheng was detained in the precinct, all the previous servants of the Song family were called for questioning.
The female servant shook her head. “I cannot do it. No matter how much money they give, I cannot stay in that house.” Every night, she would hear the sound of small leather shoes running back and forth in the house and the sounds of children bouncing balls and riding bicycles.
The female servant had locked herself in her room and was unwilling to stay regardless of how much money Song FuSheng offered.
The gardener said, “His wife is crazy and she will play with the young master every night.” Although he did not live in the big house and stayed in the small house near the garden, he would occasionally see the Madam coming to the garden. The master had told him that he should act as if he had seen nothing whenever that happened.
In the end, the gardener had left too.
Another female servant left even earlier. She told the policeman, “The Madam is such a nice person and the young master is so cute. Damn kidnapper.”
Originally, Mrs. Song was a devout believer, converting her whole family to Christians and donating a lot of money to the church.
However, after losing her son, she kept thinking of him at home. Eventually, one day, she smashed the figures of Virgin Mary and Jesus in the house. She probably felt that despite donating a lot of money, her son still did not get the blessing of the Lord.
“The husband did a lot of things to make his wife happy such as buying clothes and jewellery. His wife also did get better and could go to church again. However, she suddenly became more ill.”
She would stay in the room during the day and only wander about at night.
Saying that, the female servant sighed, “I told the master that he had to find a nun to collect his soul. After that, everything would have been better.”
In the end, he did not listen to her. He chose to consult western medicine and drink holy water, which was not as effective as talismanic water in her opinion. Unable to stay any longer, she quit her job and left.
After looking at the statements made, Huo ZhenYe asked Da Tou, “Where is Song FuSheng? Is he awake?”
“He is awake. He woke up yesterday but refused to say anything.”
“Let me try questioning him.” Huo ZhenYe entered the interrogation room and saw Song FuSheng sitting dazedly across the long table. He was still muttering his wife’s name.
When Da Tou saw that, he was slightly scared. “Has this man become crazy?” If he had not been crazy, why would he kidnap so many children to play family?
One of the older children was finally willing to speak. He said that every night, they were forced by Mrs. Song to play games with a doll.
Huo ZhenYe sat opposite Song FuSheng. He took out the family picture and pushed it in front of Song FuSheng.
When Song FuSheng took a glance, he acted as if he was burned and lowered his head. However, in the end, he could not help it and looked at the picture while crying.
“Mr. Song, please tell me honestly, what is he?”
Song FuSheng shook his head. With a pale face, he reached out to touch the cross between his neck before pressing it close to his forehead and murmuring something.
Seeing Song FuSheng acting like this, Huo ZhenYe asked specifically, “Did you seek a priest to exorcise demons? Perhaps a Taoist priest or a monk?”
Song FuSheng bowed his head. It was “XiaoJie”. Even if he was disobedient now, he was still “XiaoJie”. He only wished that his wife would go back to normal and send “XiaoJie” away instead of hurting him.
“Does Mr. Huo know any experts that perform salvation rituals1 “超度” (literally “chaodu”) is a salvation ritual performed by Taoists and Buddhists. For Taoists, they will lay out food and drink, and invite their ancestors to be preached to by priests, imploring them to let go of their anger so that they may be released from purgatory.?”
As long as he could get his wife back to normal and send “XiaoJie” away, he was willing to pay any price!
Hearing that, Huo ZhenYe thought of someone who sat on a wheelchair and loved western desserts—Bai Zhun. However, he kept his face impassive. “First, tell me more about the three children. How did you meet them?”
“Through–through church donations.” They were donors and knew that those children had the same birthday as Xiao Jie. The way his wife had looked at them back then made Song FuSheng feel heartache.
“How did your wife kidnap those children?”
Song FuSheng shook his head. “I do not know.” It was just that, as the number of children increased at home, the sounds of their running and playing made him think that “XiaoJie” had conjured up more “friends”.
It was only when Song FuSheng saw the news about the missing children in the newspaper that he was relieved.
Huo ZhenYe asked, “Then why did you not call the police?”
Song FuSheng bowed his head. He just wanted his wife to become clear-headed. Once that happened, they could quietly send the children back or leave Shanghai. He could also go to Hong Kong to do business.
However, what he did not foresee was his wife becoming embroiled in the matter.
“Well, what is that thing?” Huo ZhenYe stared at Song FuSheng directly.
Intending to conceal it, Song FuSheng’s eyes flashed.
“Mr. Song, let me remind you. That thing, no matter what he is, he is always at your wife’s side and may hurt her.”
Despite such words, Song FuSheng only sighed and said in a reassuring tone, “No, he would not hurt my wife.” After all, Xiao Jie loved his mother very much.
Huo ZhenYe knocked on the wooden table. “Your son has a friend from choir named Cheng JunYi, right?”
Song FuSheng was stunned and nodded. When his son was alive, he had secretly told him that he liked a girl named Cheng JunYi in the choir.
Although she was very fierce and had a loud voice, she was very cute.
“She said she saw your son and he was in the garden behind the church.” If the real Xiao Jie was there, who was the one accompanying Song FuSheng and his wife?
Song FuSheng’s lips trembled violently. He seemed to gasp for breath a few times and grabbed his hair unbelievably. There was no garden behind the church, only the cemetery, where Xiao Jie was buried.
If his son had stayed there obediently, what was that thing accompanying them for a year?
“Tell me, what is it?”
“It… it is a paper doll!”
