Chapter Five: To Help or Not to Help

I paced back and forth in the shop, scratching my head repeatedly. I circled around again and again, nearly scraping off all the skin on my scalp, yet I still couldn’t come up with a solution. Just as I was about to call Liu Shan for help, the phone rang. When I answered, I found myself blurting out, “Hello, whoever this is, you’d better have something important to say. Otherwise, even if the sky falls, don’t you dare bother me!”

A woman’s anxious voice came through the line: “Brother Li, something bad happened! My brother got into an accident! Hurry to the People’s Hospital!”

I instantly recognized the voice as Liu Wei’s. She’s Liu Shan’s younger sister, a writer of supernatural fiction with clubfoot, and a third-rate reporter at a newspaper. She idolizes me and often drops by my shop under the pretense of gathering material for her stories, asking all sorts of questions. Although she’s annoying, it’s better than being alone in the shop. Faced with this situation, I quickly packed up, hung a “temporarily closed” sign on the door, locked up, and rushed outside to hail a cab.

Chengyang City First People’s Hospital.

I pulled out my phone and called Liu Wei. “Where are you?” I asked.

“Second floor of the inpatient department, room 203,” she replied.

After inquiring at the hospital information desk, I hurried to the specified room.

Just as I entered, an apple flew straight at me. I didn’t have time to dodge and got hit square on the head.

I shouted angrily, “Damn it! Which blind bastard threw that? How dare you mess with me! Didn’t you know there are more eyes on the Horse King’s head than you can count?”

I heard Liu Shan say, “Great, here comes someone with a temper. Uncle Xu, look, your witness has arrived.”

Inside the room, which wasn’t very big, there were two beds. An old man lay on one bed, his legs gone below the knees—half a man now. Around him stood Liu Shan, Liu Wei, a girl about Liu Wei’s age, and two police officers—five people in total. The girl looked quite reserved, and more importantly, she was definitely more attractive than Liu Wei; at least she was presentable. They surrounded the old man.

I calmed down and asked, “What’s going on here? Who’s the witness? How did I end up as the witness?”

Liu Wei ran over and whispered in my ear, “Well, it’s like this: my brother got into a car accident on his way to work today. Someone hit him, and my brother tried to help out. But then Uncle Xu insisted that it was my brother who did it. So…” I caught on—Liu Shan had been framed for a scam.

Just then, Uncle Xu knocked on the bed frame and called out, “Hey, you there, come here!” He pointed at me, then looked at me and said, “You’re his witness? I don’t think so. Look at your face—your features are decent, with a scholarly air, kind of like a soldier. Much better than that fat guy. You look alright, but too bad you wear those little four-eyed glasses.”

I replied, “Whether I look good or not is none of your business. Now tell me, what happened? How did this scam end up with Liu Shan, the stingiest man alive? If you want him to pay, it’s going to be tough.”

Liu Shan shouted, “Who the hell are you calling stingy? Let’s all be honest here—who’s the stingy one? Like last time, you borrowed a thousand from me, and I’m not pestering you every day to pay it back!”

I retorted, “You just talk loud, so what? Have you ever thought about how much you make a month? Tens of thousands, five figures all around, ten times what I make! Not counting bonuses and commissions. And you call me stingy?”

The old man on the bed yelled louder, “Enough! Stop fighting! Wait a minute, weren’t you all here to settle this? Why am I the peacemaker now? And you, saying I’m extorting money—when have I ever extorted money from him? Listen, this was his doing—36,000 yuan, not a cent less!”

Liu Shan slammed the table and said, “Are you even being reasonable? This really wasn’t me. I was just walking today; I didn’t drive.”

I suggested, “How about we all sit down and talk this over calmly, get on the same page? What do you say?” Everyone agreed, finding seats or sitting on the beds. I took the middle spot and surveyed the scene:

Uncle Xu lay on bed one, with the girl beside him; Liu Shan and Liu Wei sat on bed two; the two police officers and I were squeezed in between.

Uncle Xu repeated, “Like I said, 36,000 yuan—no less.”

Liu Shan replied, “No way. At most, I’ll pay 10,000. What did I owe you in a past life? Why do you always pick on me?”

I said, “Here’s what we do: whoever caused the accident pays. Let’s check the surveillance footage from that time; it’ll clear things up.”

The girl by the bedside whispered, “No, the footage isn’t clear at all.”

I asked, “How do you know? Did you see it?”

She said, “My dad told me.”

I turned to Uncle Xu. “Did you watch the footage? Is it really unclear?”

He asked, “How do you know that?”

I pointed to the girl. “She said so. What’s the matter?”

Uncle Xu said, “Nonsense! She’s mute!”

I said, “No, I really heard her speak. By the way, what’s your name?”

She said, “Xu Fen. You really heard me?”

I said, “Yes, I heard you clearly. Xu Fen, right?”

Xu Fen said, “You’re the first person who’s ever heard me speak! Ten years—ten whole years! I’ve finally been waiting for this day! I don’t want to keep this secret bottled up anymore!”

I asked, “What secret? What is it…” I was about to continue when I noticed Xu Fen exchanging glances with me. I realized this was no ordinary matter. Changing the subject, I said, “How about we watch the footage again? Officers, could you help us?”

Officer A began, “There are regulations, and we—” I discreetly showed him my paranormal bureau ID. After looking at it, he immediately changed his tune: “Alright, let’s see it.” I was speechless.

He pulled a laptop from his bag and played an edited version of the surveillance footage. I watched it once; it really was hard to make out anything. Thinking a moment, I said, “I’ve got it. Let me borrow the computer. I’ll be right back.”

After a while, I returned and showed them the footage.

I said, “Look for yourselves. It wasn’t Liu Shan. So, Uncle Xu, you should find the real culprit and get compensation from them.”

Liu Shan asked, “How did you do it?”

I replied, “I had a computer engineer from the bureau help me. Honestly, that camera was so old it was ridiculous—it’s time for an upgrade.”

Uncle Xu, perhaps realizing he was in the wrong, said, “Then I…”

I interrupted, “Like I said, whoever caused it pays. Officers, thank you for your hard work. Please make sure to catch the culprit and give the public a satisfactory explanation!”

The two police officers stood and said in unison, “At your service!” Then they saluted us.

I said, “That’s all. Everyone, you can leave now.”

As we left, I quietly slipped a note into Xu Fen’s hand. The room was left with just the father and daughter of the Xu family. I hope she will make the right choice after reading it.

Reader Q&A:

Q: Author, how do you usually relax?

A: There are many ways—reading, surfing the internet, photography, exercising, and so on. Right now, I’m relaxing by trying to finish this novel as best I can.