Editor: kllua
Proofreader: watermelon
“A paper doll?”
Song FuSheng sank into his memories and held his head in his hands. His eyes were unfocused and his voice was mechanical. Using this method, Song FuSheng maintained his sense of reason during his narration.
“We… we planned to perform some rituals for Xiao Jie.”
They were clearly Christians but when their son died, they had hoped that he could enjoy his parents’ love and a rich material life as when he was alive, so they found a shop selling paper products.
A very expensive but exquisite paper products shop.
In that store, they customised everything for their son.
Song FuSheng trembled. Looking back now, the shop was obviously different from other shops. Everything in it was arranged with care, as if it was all for the purpose of attracting them to enter the shop.
Song FuSheng closed his eyes, refusing to recall but said in a lowered voice, “We… we bought a Xiao Jie. A paper doll Xiao Jie.”
Huo ZhenYe’s facial expression shifted slightly.
Paper boat, silver bridge1“法舟银桥” (literally “boat and silver bridge”). Regarding this, I am unable to find any information so I left a literal translation. I suspected that the silver bridge probably represents the silver bridge that one desires to cross before entering the underworld in Chinese beliefs (something about being able to enter heaven and become a god?) but I am not too sure., and golden boy and jade girl2“金童玉女” (“golden boy and jade girl”) are favoured servants of the Jade Emperor and XuanWu (a high-ranking deity in Taoism). They are believed to serve as guides in the underworld and the protectors of houses and temples. were originally the most common paper products for funerals. However, Song FuSheng and his wife did not commission such ordinary paper products for their son.
They requested for a full set of customised modern funeral paper products such as small western-styled villas, cars and toy trains. They even wanted to burn playmates for Xiao Jie.
Xiao Jie also loved the large, golden-haired dog at home very much. When playing pretend, he always imagined himself as a general and the dog as his steed.
So, out of love for her son, Mrs. Song earnestly requested the shopkeeper to make a dog after seeing the final product of the Western-styled villas and cars that he made.
“I can definitely do it, but it will be more expensive.” The person sitting behind the curtains had the voice of a young man.
Money was not a problem. They were more than willing to spend it. After two days, they received an exact replica of the golden dog.
When it sat there, one could not even tell which one was alive!
Song Ying stared at the paper dog in a daze before bursting into tears. The shopkeeper sat behind the curtain and laughed lightly, “It is not impossible for me to make a paper doll for you either.”
Hearing that, Song Ying abruptly raised her head, desperately wanting to see through the curtain. “Is that really possible?”
Song FuSheng frowned and grabbed his wife’s shoulder. “YingYing, we have done enough. We will have other children in the future.”
He knew that his wife had been punishing herself because Xiao Jie was kidnapped when they went out together. Nonetheless, it was not her fault but the kidnapper’s.
However, ever since Song Ying heard the shopkeeper’s words, she had become fixated. “Others are not considered Xiao Jie. What I want is my Xiao Jie.”
Song FuSheng’s heart softened. “Can you really make a paper doll that looks exactly like our son?”
The shopkeeper was still sitting behind the curtain. Only his slender hands, clasped together could be seen. “Have you both thought about it properly?”
“We have decided.” Mrs. Song responded eagerly as she was afraid that the shopkeeper would change his mind. Not having enough money on her, she took off her watch and put it on the table.
A week later, they received “Xiao Jie”.
“Xiao Jie” slept in a long paper box. It was much smaller and had a rounder face than the real Xiao Jie, looking child-like.
The shopkeeper did not fill in the eyes for “Xiao Jie”. He smiled lightly and told them, “Do not fill in the eyes.”
Song FuSheng frowned at the paper doll. “It looks different from our son.” This was not Xiao Jie at all. How could this be him?
However, Song Ying was completely invested. As soon as she saw “Xiao Jie”, she refused to put down the box and gently stroked the face of the paper doll. “Xiao Jie, Mom is bringing you home.”
In the end, “Xiao Jie” went home like this.
At first, Mrs. Song only put “Xiao Jie” in the room. When she held it, she would pour out her thoughts and slowly, she soon thought that her son was still alive.
She also brought out the children’s bed. “Xiao Jie” would get up in the morning and go to bed at night.
With Song FuSheng being able to work normally again, and his wife well enough to make black tea and biscuits for him, they seemed to return to the same life as before.
One day when Song Fusheng came home, he saw that the paper doll “Xiao Jie” had eyes. His wife held “Xiao Jie” with a happy smile on her face and said to him, “How can Xiao Jie not have eyes?”
At that time, Song FuSheng recalled what the shopkeeper said but he did not pay much attention to it. After all, it was just a paper doll and it would be the same whether the eyes were painted in or not.
Then, his wife started buying more new toys as if Xiao Jie could play with her.
Initially, Song FuSheng indulged his wife as her spirit was getting better. She could communicate with people normally and they even went to church together.
However, slowly, Song FuSheng began to feel that something was wrong. There would be toys lying around at home whether it was in the living room or in the garden.
The female servant would always say that she had definitely cleared them up but Song FuSheng thought that she must have been slacking.
The golden haired dog, whom Xiao Jie liked very much, was even sent away by his wife. She said in disgust, “The dog is crazy. He does not recognize Xiao Jie anymore.”
The dog would always scratch at his wife’s door. Whenever it had the ability to move, it would walk in circles around Mrs. Song and growl at the paper doll in the cradle.
After the dog was sent away, the female servants also left one by one.
One night, Song FuSheng was awakened by some sound.
When he got up, he saw his wife and “Xiao Jie” sitting on the rug of the playroom on the second floor playing games.
At the start, he felt distressed that his wife’s illness did not get better but became worse. As soon as he wanted to go forth and hug her, he heard her talk to the paper doll, “Does Xiao Jie like this toy?”
“Xiao Jie” nodded.
Song FuSheng stood at the door, frightened. His wife looked back and saw him. Smiling gently and sweetly at him, she waved to him. “FuSheng, come quickly. See how smart Xiao Jie is. He built this on his own with the building blocks.”
The building blocks on the ground were stacked together crudely, just like those built by children.
She even said to the paper doll, “Xiao Jie, go and call dad.”
“Xiao Jie” stood up. He ran to the door, grabbed Song FuSheng’s hand and led him to sit in the game room. His father and mother then watched him play together.
Song FuSheng forced out a smile and played with “Xiao Jie” until dawn.
It was finally dawn!
While his wife took “Xiao Jie” to bed, he hurried to the paper products shop. He wanted the shopkeeper to take “Xiao Jie” back.
However, the store no longer existed. It had closed down.
“Every night…” Song FuSheng said while tugging at his hair, “Every night, he would come to find me.”
There was no use in closing the study door as it would lie and watch him through the bottom crack of the door. It would even climb and knock on the window, asking his father to play with it.
Its demands also increased. Although it could not speak, his wife could understand its thoughts such as wanting toys and playmates.
Huo ZhenYe listened in silence. He then asked, “Are those three children the playmates it chose?”
Huo ZhenYe used the word “choose” and he seemed to immediately accept that paper dolls could move and think. Song FuSheng, who was on the verge of collapse, felt more clear-headed upon hearing Huo ZhenYe speaking in such a calm tone.
He looked at Huo ZhenYe with a strange gaze and laughed nervously. “It wants to… it wants to be a person.”
Huo ZhenYe was unconvinced. “It wants to be a person? How?”
Song FuSheng stopped talking. He did not know but his wife obviously knew how. After all, she had brought home the children born on the same day as Xiao Jie one after another.
“What else do you know?”
Huo ZhenYe’s unusually calm attitude made Song FuSheng feel better as he could finally talk about it. Although his body was close to the limit, his mental state had relaxed.
“Xiao Jie sucks Ah Ying’s blood.” The paper doll did not need to eat but his wife was treating it as if it was a real person. She would personally cook for it and made enough food to fill the whole table, all in the hopes that her son could taste her cooking.
However, “Xiao Jie” was never interested. He was a paper doll so he naturally could not eat anything. This lasted until Ah Ying accidentally cut her finger.
It looked at its “mother” and expressed its desire. Seeing this, Ah Ying stretched her finger out.
Song FuSheng finally grabbed Huo ZhenYe’s hand. His eyes looked as if they were on the verge of popping right out.”Where has it gone? Where has Ah Ying gone?! It is not Xiao Jie and will suck her dry. Please, I beg of you, burn it.”
That young shopkeeper had said, “If you do not want it anymore, you just have to burn it.”
“Where is that store?”
“It is no use, I cannot find that store anymore.” Song FuSheng was still pulling at his hair. “I go every day, but it just does not open. There is no such store at all.”
In his despair, he searched everywhere but he still could not find the shadow of the shopkeeper.
“Give me the address.”
“San Guan Tang, No. 77.”
Huo ZhenYe wrote down the address and put his foundation pen into his pocket. He said to Song FuSheng, “You should know how this will end.”
Even if Song FuSheng was willing to share the story, nobody would believe his words. They would definitely say that Mrs. Song kidnapped the children and hid them in the attic. Meanwhile, Song Fusheng would either be considered an accomplice or as someone who had knowledge of the crime but failed to report it.
The reason why Song FuSheng had been concealing it was because of this. If he had repented earlier, things would not have developed like so.
Huo ZhenYe then thought of Xiao Kai, whose soul was taken away and felt no sympathy for Song FuSheng. He stood up and left the interrogation room. “You should think about what to say later.”
As soon as he left the room, Da Tou came up. “Young Master Huo, did you manage to get anything?”
“No,” Huo ZhenYe shook the empty confession paper in his hand. “He did not say anything.”
At that time, Da Tou was taken by surprise and knocked unconscious. It was fortunate that his head was sturdy. However, he did not see who hit him and thus assumed that it was Mrs. Song.
“Chief Song said that it does not matter if he does not talk. After all, the person has already been caught.”
In fact, the case could be considered solved as the children ended up alright. However, it could also be considered unresolved as Mrs. Song was still missing.
Among them, the oldest child was willing to speak. He said that he was brought home and locked up by Mrs. Song. Meanwhile, Song FuSheng would secretly sneak them something to eat.
Huo ZhenYe gave Da Tou a glance. “He said that his son wanted a playmate.”
“Ah?” Da Tou’s mouth was agape. Song MingJie has been dead for a year. This man was indeed crazy.
Huo ZhenYe asked, “You do not believe that?”
“How is that possible?” Touching the white gauze on his head, Da Tou almost laughed.
Huo ZhenYe stuffed the blank confession paper into Da Tou’s hand. “Yes, I do not believe it either.”
However, journalists liked such stories the best.
There was a special supernatural column in Shen Bao and its articles were usually about ghosts entering into dreams to express their grievances, and which judges misjudged a case, leading to death.
Anyway, the articles usually wrote about unfounded and ambiguous supernatural activities. With such a good opportunity this time, how could one miss it?
So, outside the precinct, reporters were all seen to gather around to inquire about the kidnappings.
Huo ZhenYe hurried away from the precinct to Bai’s house. This time it was Bai Zhun who opened the door for him and he looked at Huo ZhenYe coldly through a small crack. “What is the matter?”
From the crack of the door, one could glimpse the shadow of the flannel pyjamas. Bai Zhun had deliberately thrown it on the ground so that he could see it.
Huo ZhenYe held back his smile, knowing that Bai Zhun was definitely angry. It was almost evening and yet he was still holding onto his anger from morning.
However, Huo ZhenYe was long prepared. He put his hand through the crack of the door, holding the yellow paper siskin in his palm. “Look, I found Ah Jiu.”
