Following the sound of the singing, Cui Dong Dong ran half a street before finally stopping beneath a brothel in the red-light district. She made Liu Yi serve as a stepping stone below, climbed onto his shoulders, and pulled herself up to the window, peering inside through the tightly packed iron bars.
She had expected to see some uniquely striking beauty, but was disappointed to find a filthy, disheveled, yellow-haired girl instead. The little girl was curled in a corner of the room, wrapped in a thin garment whose original color could no longer be discerned. A dim, humid red wall lamp of the sort commonly used in brothels hung inside. Even though the night was already deep and quiet, she was still humming softly, singing Xiao Man’s “Baby’s Breath.”
Cui Dong Dong climbed down in disappointment and said to Liu Yi, “Tch. Just a kid.”
They were about to leave when they heard sounds of beating and cursing from inside. Cui Dong Dong hurriedly stepped on Liu Yi and climbed back up. The room door had been opened, and bright light from the corridor poured inside. A gangster-looking man had seized the little girl’s arm and was forcibly tying a tourniquet around it, trying to drive a syringe of narcotics into her thin arm. The girl was so emaciated that her cheeks had sunk inward, and she looked extremely weak, yet she fought desperately with both hands and feet, scratching and biting. The man slapped her several times in succession, then grabbed her hair and smashed her head against the wall.
“This is bad. That bastard is trying to inject her. I’m going to save her!” Cui Dong Dong jumped down from Liu Yi, bent over to pull the dagger from beside her boot, and tossed him a set of keys. “Go and bring my bike!”
Without another word, Liu Yi turned and ran. Five minutes later, with his twin blades strapped to his back, he came roaring back on a motorcycle as scarlet as blazing fire—just in time to see Cui Dong Dong burst through the brothel’s side door!
Cui Dong Dong gripped the little girl’s arm with one hand while wildly swinging her dagger with the other to force back the large men pursuing them. Liu Yi executed a practiced drift and stopped sharply in front of them. The three squeezed onto the motorcycle like the layers of a sandwich, with a string of men chasing behind them, shouting and swinging blades as they raced madly through the deserted streets and alleys in the dead of night.
Shielding the little girl in her arms, Cui Dong Dong twisted around and gave the pursuing men the middle finger, leaving them with a trail of wildly arrogant laughter.
Only after they had ridden a considerable distance did Liu Yi have the chance to look back and ask, “Whose establishment was that?”
“Cough. I didn’t notice,” Cui Dong Dong replied.
“It—it belongs to the He Sheng Society,” the little girl said weakly. “They’ll… they’ll kill you… Don’t worry about me anymore.”
“What foolish nonsense are you saying?” Cui Dong Dong said. “I never return a girl I’ve stolen! Besides, none of them recognized me just now. Hahaha!”
The moment the words left her mouth, a van shot out diagonally from the side. A large man thrust his head out of the passenger window and roared, “It’s Little Sister Cui from Xiao Qi Hall! She’s the one who smashed our establishment! Catch her and kill her!”
“…” Cui Dong Dong fell silent.
Another van appeared at the intersection ahead. Four or five large men jumped out and blocked the narrow road. Seeing that they were trapped from both sides, Liu Yi slowed the motorcycle. Cui Dong Dong urged him, “What are you afraid of? Ram through them!”
“Big Sister, there are three people squeezed onto this bike! If I ram through them, do you want all three of us to go flying?” Liu Yi said.
“Fuck. Then what do we do?”
“Get off! Fight them!”
“Damn it!” Cui Dong Dong said. “Fine, let’s fight!”
They dismounted in the middle of the road. Four or five men also emerged from the van behind them, each dragging out a machete. Cui Dong Dong placed the little girl behind her, drew her dagger, and assumed a fighting stance. With murderous intent covering her face, she watched the men charge toward them with machetes raised—only for them to begin backing away just as quickly, still clutching their weapons.
“It’s the Blood Asura! It’s Twin-Blade Xia!” “He can cut down forty men by himself!”
“Run! Hurry and run!”
The men shrieked noisily, scrambled back the way they had come, floored the accelerators, and fled at tremendous speed.
Cui Dong Dong turned speechlessly toward Liu Yi. He stood in the middle of the road holding two Azure Dragon sabers, initially looking even more bewildered than she did. Once he understood what had happened, however, his expression gradually became smug.
“What are you acting so impressive for? Is knowing how to cut people down so remarkable? Who was the one crying like a dog after getting drunk earlier?”
“You didn’t cry? Your disgusting snot is still on my clothes!”
“Where did those new blades come from? Let me see.”
“No! Go away!”
“Tch, tch, tch. Azure Dragon gave them to you, didn’t he? Why don’t you hug them while crying yourself to sleep tonight?”
Bickering the entire way, the two brought the girl to a private hospital. Her name was Xiao Luo. Although she looked extremely young, she was actually only two years younger than them and had just turned eighteen that year. The examination revealed malnutrition, drug abuse, and numerous old and new injuries across her body. Her family owed the He Sheng Society an enormous high-interest debt, so her father had used her as merchandise to repay it. She refused to receive customers, fought with everything she had, and even went on a hunger strike. In the end, they forcibly injected her with drugs. Fortunately, because she had resisted so desperately, she had been injected only twice, with a very low concentration, and had not yet developed a serious addiction.
“Tch, tch. She looks so plain, yet they still wanted to make her receive customers. How tragic,” Cui Dong Dong secretly said to Liu Yi outside the ward.
Liu Yi could not distinguish beauty from ugliness and refused to discuss such a pointless topic. “What are you planning to do with her?”
“You raise her?”
“Is that possible?!”
“Exactly. Then I’m the only one who can. What else should we do—send her back so that worthless father of hers can sell her again?”
This pair of disreputable friends had smashed someone else’s establishment in the middle of the night and stolen their girl, forcing Azure Dragon Boss to “hold a meeting” with Fat Seven, the boss of the He Sheng Society, on the second day of his marriage. In the end, Azure Dragon Boss provided the face, while Little Sister Cui, who had caused the trouble, provided the money. They paid the He Sheng Society three times the “price of the goods,” thereby officially “buying” the little girl back.
For once, Cui Dong Dong did not develop any lustful thoughts. She provided Xiao Luo with good food and drink and raised her as a future gangster girl. First, she accompanied her through withdrawal. Then she personally taught her motorcycle racing and fighting, smoking, drinking, gambling, visiting bars, engaging in group brawls, and extracting confessions through torture. Whatever was wild and vicious, she taught it. Xiao Luo was intelligent and hardworking, refusing nothing and eagerly learning every fierce skill. In only half a year, Cui Dong Dong had raised a vigorous and formidable gangster girl.
Xiao Luo was petite and disliked carrying large blades, preferring guns instead. Cui Dong Dong spent a considerable sum to obtain a good gun for her and found a remote, deserted place to use as a shooting range, loading it with real bullets one by one. One day, Cui Dong Dong excitedly brought Liu Yi to watch Xiao Luo shoot empty bottles. In the distance, a row of bottles exploded into fragments one after another with repeated bangs.
“Impressive, isn’t she? Isn’t she?” Cui Dong Dong boasted to Liu Yi.
By then, Liu Yi had been a Red Pole for half a year and had accompanied Azure Dragon on a trip to Thailand. He had grown at an astonishing pace and had already become quite skilled at putting on a dignified front. He gave a cool, indifferent snort. “You’re not the one who can shoot. What are you so proud of?”
Xiao Luo lowered the gun and walked over, calling softly and gently, “Sister Dong, Brother Liu Yi, I’ve finished practicing.”
Observing her speech, behavior, and clothing, Liu Yi vaguely sensed that something was strange. Xiao Luo had gained some weight over the past six months, and her small round face had become plump and rosy. Liu Yi did not care about beauty or ugliness, but he admitted that she certainly looked much more striking than when they first met. She clearly had a generous and adorable appearance, yet she deliberately spoke in a soft, gentle voice, and both her hairstyle and makeup looked somewhat familiar to him.
Liu Yi lacked the rough carelessness common among straight men and was somewhat more sensitive. He kept feeling that Xiao Luo was not truly as gentle and shy as she appeared. His sister was genuinely gentle and shy, and he could tell the difference.
Later, he found an opportunity to discuss the matter privately with Dong Dong, but by then, it was already too late.
“Too late for what?” He Chu San asked curiously.
Big Sister Cui bashfully covered her face. “Your Sister Luo had already slept with me.”
“Cough, cough, cough.” He Chu San choked on his coffee. “I thought—cough—wasn’t it you who made the first move?”
“How could that be possible? I was completely obsessed with Xiao Man at the time. Xiao Luo wasn’t as beautiful or gentle as Xiao Man. Only her singing sounded like Xiao Man’s. Besides, I had personally raised her. A rabbit doesn’t eat the grass beside its own burrow. I never considered sleeping with her.”
“Cough, cough. Then she…”
Cui Dong Dong cupped her face bashfully and said with intoxicated nostalgia, “One night, while I was drunk, she tied me up and then did this and that, and that and this… Your Sister Luo was fierce!”
“???” He Chu San stared at her.
“Ah, afterward I told Liu Yi, ‘You should learn from Xiao Luo. If you fancy someone, tie him up, bring him home, and sleep with him. How formidable.’”
“???” He Chu San stared at her again. That was not something a good child should learn! Although Brother Liu Yi was not exactly a good child…
“But a few years later, didn’t he tie you up and bring you home?”
He Chu San asked somewhat nervously, “Back then, how did Brother Liu Yi know about me?”
“Your father set off firecrackers. You were the first university student from the Walled City, so you were famous! Ah, but let me think…” Cui Dong Dong rubbed her forehead vigorously. “I think he really had seen you before that…”
He Chu San leaned even farther forward, unconsciously fiddling gently with the diamond ring on his left ring finger. “Sister Dong Dong, when did he see me?”
Cui Dong Dong frowned and thought for quite some time. “I think it was the day your father set off the firecrackers. I remember that I, Liu Yi, and Xiao Luo were all there… Oh! Xiao Ma was there that day too!”
Speaking of Xiao Ma would lead to an entirely different story. However, since He Chu San was extremely impatient to hear about their first meeting, Cui Dong Dong kept it brief. Xiao Ma was a relative of a butcher’s family in the Walled City and came from the rural mainland. His parents had died when he was young, and he could not survive in the countryside, so he came to Hong Kong to seek refuge with his elderly uncle. The boy was large and powerfully built, yet extremely timid. Once, a group of gangsters cornered him in an alley and robbed him. He attempted to talk his way out with clever arguments, but it was completely useless. They beat him badly until Liu Yi happened to pass by and rescued him.
Cui Dong Dong later teased Liu Yi, saying that according to the pattern of Liu Yi liking Azure Dragon and Xiao Luo liking her, Xiao Ma ought to like Liu Yi. The boy was somewhat ordinary-looking, but he had the advantage of being lively and honest, so the two of them might as well become a pair of gay brothers. Liu Yi scoffed at the suggestion. It naturally evaporated altogether after Cui Dong Dong witnessed Xiao Ma’s persistent pursuit of the large breasts of pretty girls.
Liu Yi was twenty that year. Having personally brought about Azure Dragon and Xiao Man’s marriage, he moved out of the villa and into a village house alone, burdened by disappointment, pain, and an unwillingness to disturb their happiness. Azure Dragon provided him with a car. One warm early-summer evening, with the sea breeze blowing gently, the young Red Pole—now without a boss present to discipline him—drove through the narrow, cramped streets and alleys of the Walled City with a group of noisy, laughing friends inside: Dong Dong, Xiao Ma, and Xiao Luo.
“Boss, Boss! The road ahead is blocked!” Xiao Ma, who knew the area, screamed from the passenger seat while clutching his seat belt.
“Who cares? Drive through and smash the wall down! The world is enormous—there’s nowhere we can’t go!” Dong Dong sat in the back seat with a cigarette between her lips, smugly issuing commands. Xiao Luo held her arm and pretended to be obedient and frightened, although her eyes shone with barely restrained excitement.
Liu Yi laughed loudly. Amid Dong Dong’s howls and Xiao Ma’s screams, he truly drove straight through the crumbling wall at the end of the alley and burst out through the back courtyard of another resident’s home! As the residents chased after them shouting curses, he extended an arm through the window and generously scattered a thick stack of banknotes.
“Woo—! Whoa—! Hahahahaha!” Cui Dong Dong climbed through the car’s sunroof and stretched both arms into the wind while screaming, “WE ARE THE WORLD!”
“Stop speaking bird language!” Liu Yi’s voice drifted out from the driver’s window.
“I love all of you—! Hahahahaha!”
They tore wildly through the Walled City, making a spectacle of themselves and recklessly scattering what seemed like an endless supply of youth. Suddenly, a rapid series of firecrackers shook the entire dark city, their echoes buzzing endlessly among the densely packed buildings.
“It’s nearby! Let’s take a look! See whether someone died or got married!” Cui Dong Dong urged.
The alley beside the road was too narrow for the car. The young people laughingly jumped out and passed through it, arriving before a cluster of dilapidated residential buildings. A sizable crowd had already gathered there. Covering her ears, Cui Dong Dong rose onto her toes and peered ahead. A middle-aged man dressed in worn but simple, clean clothing stood in the center of the crowd, holding the incense used to light the firecrackers, his face unable to conceal his joy.
“Hey, what happened?” Cui Dong Dong elbowed a nearby bystander and shouted.
“A top scholar has emerged! Old He’s son got into university!”
“Which university student? Where is he?”
“There! Behind his father!”
Cui Dong Dong stretched out her neck and looked again. At last, she spotted a slender boy standing behind the middle-aged man, covering his ears and smiling faintly. He was already old enough to attend university, yet he had not developed the slightest trace of a manly appearance. Thin and pale, he looked like an obvious bookworm.
“Tch. What’s so interesting about a university student?” Cui Dong Dong said disdainfully. She had never attended a single day of school and had educated herself entirely through independent study until she became a general manager. She did not believe in anything like formal education.
She turned and called for her companions to leave, only to discover that Xiao Ma and Xiao Luo looked equally uninterested. Liu Yi alone remained standing where he was, staring fixedly at the boy who was about to enter university.
“What is it?” Cui Dong Dong slapped him. “Love at first sight?”
Returning to his senses, Liu Yi smiled somewhat embarrassedly. “No. I only think being good at studying is impressive. All I know how to do is fight and kill. I barely recognize many characters. Look at how well his father treats him. He taught him to study from childhood and even set off firecrackers for him.”
“What’s so impressive about a bookworm?” Cui Dong Dong said, pushing him away. “You’re the youngest Red Pole in the Walled City. Could you possibly be inferior to some little brat who studied himself stupid?”
“I saw his eyes just now. They were very bright and lively. He didn’t look foolish.”
“All right! Let’s go! He’s an innocent scholar, while we’re gangsters wandering the jianghu. The broad road reaches the heavens, and each of us walks our own side. Stop staring!”
He Chu San lowered his head, smiling as he stroked the diamond ring on his finger. “So he remembered me?”
“Of course he remembered you. That’s why he later specifically demanded that you be captured to write the script. He probably wanted to see up close what a scholar was actually like,” Cui Dong Dong said cheerfully. “Then he fell in love with you at second sight.”
He Chu San’s smile turned bitter. “Who falls in love at second sight by bloodily tearing out another person’s fingernails and breaking someone’s fingers for me to watch? He even hit me afterward… Although he did treat me to beef offal that day and let me watch television. Only much later did I discover that all his vicious behavior was merely an act. He had to be a Red Pole and a boss, so he had to put on that biting appearance. If he wanted to help Azure Dragon, he had to go out fighting and killing every day. In truth, he’s extremely lazy by nature. He doesn’t like bloody things. He doesn’t even enjoy killing fish. He only likes collapsing on the sofa to watch television, eating little snacks, sleeping late, helping me wash the dishes, and going on dates at the cinema…”
He stopped himself and lowered his head to rub the ring. After a long while, he said, “Thank you for coming out to talk with me today, Sister Dong Dong. When he refused to see me again several days ago, I felt as though I truly couldn’t endure it any longer. Three years—he really has the heart to do this. I felt as though I was going to collapse. But after hearing you speak about the past, I can understand why he is always so foolish. Much of the time, even he doesn’t know what he truly wants. You’re right. Something needs to strike him hard and knock him awake. Doesn’t he want me to live happily and perfectly? Then I’ll show him how happy I am. Sister Dong Dong, the next time you visit him, please tell him that I have a girlfriend.”
“Ah, would he believe that?” Cui Dong Dong knew perfectly well how He Chu San had once used Xiao He as a shield.
“If he doesn’t believe it after one day, then after a month, or a year, he eventually will. If you tell him alone, he won’t believe it. But if Brother Xiao Ma says the same thing and Sister Xiao Luo says it too, then with enough people telling him, he eventually will. If he doesn’t believe mere words, there can be photographs, letters, even a marriage certificate. Eventually, he’ll believe it.”
“Uh… Even if he believes it, then what?”
He Chu San raised his eyes and looked at Cui Dong Dong. Just as Liu Yi had said back then, his eyes were bright and full of life. Even in lightless darkness, he could always carve out a patch of sky for himself. Even amid loneliness and repression, he could always preserve that trace of tender, fervent hope.
“As long as he agrees to see me, that’s enough. It isn’t that he hasn’t wanted to see me these past few years. He hasn’t dared to. He knows that once we meet, I have plenty of ways to deal with him. He’s afraid that if he sees me, he won’t be able to restrain himself.”
He Chu San smiled, thoroughly pleased with himself.
“He knows how much he loves me. And I know too.”
…
Tales From the Walled City, END.