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墨書 Inktalez
At the age of 35, Zhang Tiangang had dressed up in a high-quality imitation outfit, got a stylish haircut at a barbershop, and even borrowed some perfume from a young girl. He entered the PINK Bar with hopes of finding romance, but unfortunately, his looks were not appealing, and he had gained weight. He nursed a Screaming Orgasm cocktail from ten o'clock until two in the morning without attracting any beautiful women.
At 2:13 AM, frustrated and filled with resentment, he stepped out of the bar to relieve himself. Across a twenty-meter-wide pedestrian street, he walked down several steps and looked left at the brightly lit Guansheng Bridge over the Zhaowang River.
The name "Zhaowang" is said to have cultural significance, tracing back to a story from over a hundred years ago during the Qing Dynasty. Back then, the area where Hailin City now stands was merely a small county town, smaller than Mingxin District. The river that flowed through the town supported a thriving fishing and shipbuilding industry that sustained many families. However, due to the cultural attitudes of the time, many baby girls were abandoned in the river to drown. Kind-hearted traveling nuns established shelters to care for these abandoned girls, gradually forming a street of incense offerings by the riverside. Some men would come under the pretense of making offerings to flirt with the young nuns who had grown up in these shelters, leading to romantic entanglements that introduced worldly desires into their lives.
The protagonist of this story was one such nun, around fifteen or sixteen years old. She was often sent on errands by an older nun due to her beauty and gained considerable attention from local gentry. One particularly wealthy man treated her well, showering her with gifts and visiting her every few days without fail. The young nun developed genuine feelings for him and considered leaving the convent to become his concubine. However, his mother opposed this idea, while the older nun sought to sell her for a high price. Caught between these two forces, the young nun realized that she was no longer a virgin and compared herself to courtesans; both were merely objects for men’s desires.
Eventually, after months of being treated poorly and relegated to menial tasks in the convent, she was redeemed by the gentry who paid a large sum for her freedom and brought her into his home as a concubine. She thought she would be content serving her husband and bearing children. However, within six months, he left her for another woman from a brothel and returned with her openly.
Feeling betrayed, the young nun contemplated suicide by drowning herself in the river. But as she gazed into the water, she experienced an epiphany about life and love—realizing that neither her former lover nor any man truly loved her; they only loved themselves. After years of chanting sutras in ignorance, she finally understood something profound—though what exactly remained unknown.
"Without self or other," she reflected. "I see myself as female; he sees himself as male. In truth, there is no distinction between genders; all is illusory."
She shaved her head and quietly left the world behind. A scholar passing by heard this tale and felt inspired enough to write "Zhaowang River" in bold calligraphy on a large stone by the riverbank.
To this day, the library in Mingxin District still houses records from that era along with rare original woodblock scripts adapted from local chronicles.
At this moment, Zhang Tiangang stood before Zhaowang River, unbuckling his belt and relieving himself into the flowing water when he inadvertently glanced to his right and met a pair of cold eyes glimmering ominously from beneath a wide-brimmed hat. Startled, he shivered and accidentally urinated on his beloved imitation shoes.
If he hadn’t been caught off guard by surprise, he might have regained his composure upon realizing it was just another person standing there—provided they weren’t significantly taller than him or dressed in long black robes that concealed their skin color or identity. He certainly didn’t want someone wielding a sharp knife threatening him while he stood there exposed.
Zhang Tiangang hesitated to move as his nervousness made him feel small; he stammered out "Big Brother," but before he could finish saying "Brother," the figure turned around to reveal someone of average height wearing a baseball cap.
Oh no! Was it a gang? Zhang Tiangang's knees buckled as he dropped to the ground with an audible thud. But unlike him, who fell clumsily, the tall man brandished his knife with alarming speed and began stabbing the man in the baseball cap repeatedly.
"How many times did he stab him? Goodness! I lost count! The speed was incredible—like something out of an action movie! Only someone who has been single for thirty years could develop such skill!" Xu Liang exclaimed while standing with hands on hips, looking at Zhang Tiangang with curiosity.
"Did you have something to say? Speak clearly! What happened next?" Xu Liang pressed.
"Then he just stabbed him to death! Grabbed both legs and tossed him into the river to destroy evidence before walking away," Zhang Tiangang recounted.
"He just walked away?" Both Xu Liang and Ji Qinchou were taken aback by this abrupt conclusion.
Zhang Tiangang cupped his cheeks in frustration and said pitifully, "Officer, if he didn’t leave then I would have!"
Xu Liang scrutinized Zhang Tiangang from head to toe before glancing at Ji Qinchou's open notebook. "Hmm... A month in the hospital wasn’t wasted; where did you learn your handwriting? Quite confidential."
Ji Qinchou silently closed his notebook just as Ye Ying rushed over calling out "Director." Upon reaching them, she didn’t immediately report but told Zhang Tiangang instead: "You might need to wait for some time; colleagues from the criminal investigation team will come over shortly for more detailed inquiries about what happened last night." Zhang Tiangang nodded slowly.
With those words exchanged, Yu Liangcai and Ji Qinchou shared knowing glances as they turned slightly away from Zhang Tiangang while observing bloodstains on the stone railing below—a dark red pool surrounded by scattered droplets glistening ominously under the lights.
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