Uncle Dasi was all along a timid individual. Furthermore, there seemed to be no abnormalities with his body, apart from the slight dull warm feeling in his wrapped hands, thus he agreed at once.
In the end, his hands started itching and aching unbearably in the night. Grinding his teeth and enduring bitterly, that sensation faded away when it was nearing twilight. He then fell into a groggy sleep and only woke up in the afternoon.
Upon waking, Uncle Dasi instantly felt as though something was different. After a slight bafflement, he discovered to his amazement, his fingers had actually had actually rejuvenated!
Amidst the shock, Uncle Dasi was obviously surging with ecstasy. After calming down, he naturally remembered that this should be related to that physician the day ago.
When he affirmed that the United States’ high-end research medical technologies had truly rejuvenated his limbs, his heart flushed with horror. Fearing that his newly grown fingers would be taken for research, he immediately sought out the reliable Sheyan; intending to flee from this region.
This matter had in fact been entirely manipulated by Sheyan. Through the local tyrant Gu Yuean’s connection, he managed to contact an unlawful president of a prominent hospital; offering a donation of 10 million, and invited them here for a charity medical examination. This request was naturally passable. That president naturally consented cheerfully, knowing this was a chance to increase his reputation and illicitly bottle perhaps 5 million.
Follow that, Sheyan sought out an ‘extra actor’ who was in rather dire straits. He then told him about his plan to swindle a rich tycoon of his money, notifying that if he coordinated with him, he would receive a hundred thousand regardless of anything.
This extra was presently in dire straits and couldn’t even afford normal meals. Presented with this offer, he gladly accepted. At present, he became afraid of being sued for being in cahoots with a swindler and vanished after receiving his money.
************************
Sheyan was long prepared to handle Uncle Dasi’s inquiries. He showed Uncle Dasi many reports of advanced medical technologies on the internet. News articles ranging all the way to growing out new human ears of guinea pigs, to solidify Uncle Dasi’s confidence. Then, he advised Uncle Dasi to wait and observe the situation.
Anyway, the Fuyuan was nearly completed and they could just flee towards the boundless ocean, following the soaring birds and the leaping fishes.
Uncle Dasi and Sanzi were both individuals who were naturally indecisive, yet they would become free of worries as long as someone could make the decisions. After hearing Sheyan’s words, they finally calmed down.
At this moment, Uncle Dasi suddenly sighed.
"Hais, if only we could return to Siqiao."
Reminiscing the past, Uncle Dasi had lived in Siqiao town for twenty years and could deem it as his second hometown. After leaving for so long, he definitely felt a longing.
Yet once Uncle Dasi raised the issue of Siqiao, Sheyan immediately felt a faint throbbing pain in his chest; relieving the agony of having been beaten by those thugs in the past.
"Ah, Huashan Fei…" Sheyan’s lips curled into a sinister smile.
Uncle Dasi instead continued dwelling in the excitement of his regrown fingers, not noticing the ruthless ferocity in his foster son’s eyes.
The next day, Sheyan directly bought a ticket back to Guangzhou. At present, there was no longer any problems pertaining to his identity, and he could naturally return to the mainland openly. Along the way, Sheyan hired a taxi straight for Fang Cheng Gang, and casually stole a Motorbike before speeding to the familiar Siqiao town.
The smell of the
sea breeze remained starkly familiar to him, while the trees and village huts remained prominent in his dreams. The current drizzles dawned the unique moist and chill of the southern region.
Sheyan deliberately rode through the roads where he had once he forced to flee for his life.
He first passed through that previous factory construction site of his preliminary entry to the nightmare realm. It seemed that the previous murder cases here hadn’t affected the investment confidence of those old bosses. These whitewashed walls were now filled with machines and multitudes of workers pacing busily around. They all looked like hard working worker ants.
After here, Sheyan couldn’t help but feel the fluctuating changes of life, an illusion of things remaining the same while people changing. The next tiny road he passed through would lead to Siqiao town.
According to present-day conditions, this road was a severely polluted district. Even drinking water and the air there would release a dilapidated rubber odor. Yet Sheyan could feel a sense of cordiality towards this road of archaic taste. It resembled the engine oil of turbine ships, or perhaps, the sweat of pirates and the fishiness of the seawater....such a flavor had permeated deep into his blood and bones.
After this village, Siqiao town would be right ahead. Sheyan felt that this current pathway he took was filled with unkempt long grass.
Apparently, not a single person had walked through here for a long time, and only his motorbike left a deep tire trail along the soft mud.
Sheyan was rather perplexed. Though his route was tough to travel, it could save half an hour of the journey. Normally, it would be an inevitable route for fishermen who wished to save time. Hence, there would always be people shuttling through here, and would absolutely prevent this place from looking so overgrown.
"Could it be that Huashan Fei’s conscience had prompted him to construct a new route?" Sheyan guessed in his heart.
He stepped his oil pedal, triggering a clutter of black fumes to puff out of the motor’s exhaust. As this motorbike speared through the mud, he should already be seeing the silhouette of Siqiao town.
Yet within a split second, Sheyan became utterly dumbstruck by his viewable horizon…...because, in this world, there was no longer a Siqiao town.
That town constructed with substandard planks, worn out tires and rusty machinery was no more.
That illegal tiny town.
Before his very eyes, was shockingly a field of desolation!
The deep crisscrossed tire tracks of excavators, disorderly heaps of soil and sediments, buried shoddy building materials leaking out of the soil, gaudy plastic bags that were drifting about by the winds…..this was the image Sheyan was beholding.
Even that pier…..a pier constructed with the sweat of Siqiao’s citizens including himself, Uncle Dasi and Sanzi…..had utterly vanished.
What was left, was a sludge of cement still obstinately floating along the seawater, alongside steel reinforcing bars brimming with grimacing rusty stains.
After a momentary lapse of attention, Sheyan relied on his memories to bore through the ruinous emptiness. He finally reached his own hut. This was the area that appeared to have received the full brunt of demolition. What was left was a giant pit with a ten over metres radius.
Nevertheless, a three-ply plank semi-buried in the ground in a distant roused his memories. Sheyan pulled out that plank. Posted on it, was a female celebrity beaming splendidly, while her breasts had been shamelessly nailed by a thumbtack by Sanzi in the past. This plank had been nailed atop his bed.....
Sheyan stayed for roughly an hour here. He suddenly felt his enthusiasm waning, and even his impulse of paying back his debt to Huashan Fei had faded.
He wasn’t crumbled but rather feeling dispirited with a dull melancholy. This melancholy banished all other emotions for some unknown reason, and thoroughly commanded Sheyan’s soul.
"Forget it. In the past, we would also be lacking money to fill our bodies back at Fang Cheng Gang. Tonight, let me pay a visit and have a good meal of pig’s red at the Piggery Roll. I’ll leave tomorrow in the morning. Huashan Fei, count it as your fortune, dog." Sheyan mounted the motorbike and determined his plans.
As for the Piggery Roll Sheyan just mentioned, it was an exceedingly well-known restaurant. Its boss, surnamed Zhu*, appeared to be a civilized man running a kitchen. The signature dish they sold was pig’s red, where every dish was infused with it. The restaurant’s original name was poetically graceful, known as the Pavilion for returning exhausted. When this restaurant gradually became popular, and their customers were mostly ordinary natives, they bluntly named it the Piggery Roll.
(TN:*Zhu is pig in Chinese but author uses another zhu)
Probably many do not know what pig’s read is. Actually, this is something most have eaten before. It is pig’s blood.
Every single dish of the Piggery Roll was related to pig’s blood. Their best seller was the Pig’s red soup, going at 3 dollars per bowl. Drinking several mouthfuls of this piping hot soup would immediately unleash a comfortably warm feeling throughout one’s body. It was said that at their peak, the Piggery Roll could sell off over two thousand bowls during the twenty-seven days after the winter solstice.
Sheyan’s previous economic state could only allow him to live frugally. Hence, he would only share a single bowl of pig’s red soup with Sanzi whenever he frequented Fang Cheng Gang. All along, he was aware that the second floor of the Piggery Roll sold rice and dishes, which were all related to pig’s red. Yet he couldn’t afford to patronize the second floor, even for a single good meal.
Today, Sheyan had returned to his hometown filled with indignation and murderous intent. In the end, he discovered fleetingness of life where his home was already inexistent. His fluctuating emotions propelled him to search for the flavor of his childhood.
After an hour, Sheyan was back outside the Piggery Roll.
This was a civilian district encircled by skyscrapers and clamorous liveliness.
Old-fashioned roof houses filled this place, along with damaged and muddy streets. Street stalls selling mantous could be seen emitting piping hot white steam, flushing against passers-by.
The air also contained a trace of fishiness. With every sensory organ being overwhelmed, it could only be described with a single phrase – Brimming with vitality.