REDPEAFOWL, Chapter 21: The Mysterious Dead Peacock
No matter how long we live, everyone has inevitably gone through childhood. It is said that memories of childhood will stimulate the formation of individual characteristics, whether desirable or not, as a result of the emotions that arise.
…
Late at night…
A boy around seven or eight years old was comfortably asleep under a soft blanket on a small bed. In the smallest room in the big house. Even so, he slept comfortably in this room every night. The small face that peeked out from the blanket showed a faint smile, as he was probably falling into a very happy dream.
While he was dreaming, the little boy had to wake up abruptly when someone shook him. When he opened his eyes, he saw a boy about twelve or thirteen sitting next to the bed.
“Brother, come down with me for a bit.”
“Uh… it’s late, where else are you going, big brother?”
“Brother, I will take you up to the moon, just like we talked about yesterday.”
The little boy’s eyes widened with excitement, “Really? Let’s go then.”
The older boy held the little boy’s hand as they walked out of the room and onto the grass field. Two or three older boys, called big brothers, were standing there waiting. When they saw the little boy walking down, they spoke with excitement.
“Today we will take you up to paradise. Are you ready?”
The little boy nodded and turned to look at the older brother holding his hand, “Will you come with me, big brother?”
“Yes. As soon as you go up, I will follow.”
The little boy nodded with joy before being led to a smooth rock, “Lie down here, little brother. I will perform a ritual to summon the princess to take you up.”
The little boy climbed up and lay down on the rock easily. The remaining boys formed a circle around them and began chanting something. Then the little boy had to shudder, as someone tied a rope around his neck.
“Where’s the sword?” One of the older boys asked. Another boy replied, “My father didn’t allow me to bring it out. We can use the rope to tie his neck instead.”
The little boy squirmed on the rock with fear. The rope tightened more and more, and the boy next to him knelt down, holding his hand, “Hold on, little brother. You will be in paradise soon.”
The little boy glanced around. Apart from the face of the older brother, the hazy thing he saw in the midst of the choked air was the silver moon hanging prominently in the sky.
It was as if it was chuckling mockingly at their foolishness.
Sometimes the actions of these children, devoid of logic, were no different than the word “savage.” Just because they were children, the word “savage” was replaced with “without logic.”
The little boy barely survived a near-death experience because his father happened to come up to boil hot water for his chronically ill wife and, by chance, heard the noise and came in to stop it. The remaining children, mostly neighborhood kids, were scolded by their own parents, as they were playing something strange, most likely because of the person they called the older brother.
Shortly after that incident, the older sibling was sent to study at a regular school in Taiwan, just like the other neighborhood kids had to do. The only children left at home were the younger ones. The little ones, growing up day and night, were taught all household chores, home management, and administration. They were told that they would be tasked to help the older sibling when they grew up.
Even though he used to dislike the moon before, the little boy was determined to study following the instructions of the adults, hoping that when the older brother returned, they would be able to work together.
Two years passed, and the little boy grew up a lot. One day, the older brother who had gone abroad to study returned to visit.
This year, the older brother, now fifteen years old, is entering his teenage years. He is so handsome that everyone admires him just like his grandfather.
The younger sibling is proud of him.
The older brother is scheduled to return home for a week. It is certain that the room he stayed in is still well maintained, just the same as two years ago in every way. But that night, he walked to the smallest room in the house to find his younger brother.
“Little brother, can I come in?”
The younger brother opened the door to let the older brother enter. As he entered the room, the older brother looked around before speaking up,
“Brother, do you know that when we were kids, I always wondered why your room was so small, and why we never slept together.”
“I know… because I’m not really dad’s biological child. He kept me to raise me. That’s why we had to have separate rooms.” The younger brother answered. The older brother turned to face him and continued, “Do you love me?”
“Yes.”
“How much do you love me?”
“I love you the most.” The younger brother replied. The older brother looked at him for a while, then spoke slowly, “So, if I were to love you more than this, love you more than before, would you accept me?”
“Yeah.” The younger brother replied softly before bursting into tears, and when the older brother hugged him tightly on the bed.
“What are you doing!!”
“I want to love you.” After saying that, he pulled out the sleep shirt of the other person. Then he bent down to kiss that flat chest. The person being kissed was startled. He raised his hand to push the other person away with surprise.
“Who said he loved me?” The person being pushed asked with a puzzled voice, before pushing him down on the bed again, “I missed you all the time when I was studying. I think about your white skin, I think about your eyes when you look at me. You make me have no feelings for other women, do you understand that you have to take responsibility?”
The younger brother looked at his older brother in disbelief, “Are you crazy?”
“Yes!” The older brother replied, “I’m crazy about you.”
The younger brother looked at his older brother with a bewildered expression, before being tied to the bedpost with a shirt. Then his pants were pulled off.
“Little brother, from now on you belong to me. Only me.”
“No, don’t! Please!!” The younger brother cried out as the older brother clapped his hands between his legs, then forcefully twisted them open as if to break them.
“Ah!!” The younger brother screamed before trying to push the person on top of him away, only to be grabbed tightly again.
“Don’t do this, please don’t do this.” The other person begged, tears starting to fall on his face. The older brother looked on for a moment, then bent down to bite his neck forcefully.
“No, you have to belong to me. Only me.”
…
Hong Kongque sighed and then opened his eyes. The clock next to the bed said it was a few minutes past five. He sat up for a while before hearing a knock on the door, so he walked over to open it.
“Mister Li.” Hong Kongque called out to the elderly man who brought in a tray of medicine. Li Kong looked at his boss before bowing his head, “Yes, sir.”
“You’ve been working with me for over thirty years, have you ever felt sorry?” Hong Kongque asked.
“?!” Li Kong looked at his boss again before asking, “Why are you suddenly asking about this, Kongque?”
Hong Kongque raised the medicine cup in his hand before speaking calmly,
“If I could go back in time to that day, would you choose to stand by my side again?”
“I never regretted choosing to stand by you.” Li Kong replied. He looked at the medicine cup and then sighed, “I dreamt of him.”
“?!”
“Jinyin called me yesterday and said that a strange man sailed in. A man aged between fifty and sixty with a scar on his forehead as if someone had shot him point blank. Hey… Mister Li. If that man is not dead, he would be fifty-seven or fifty-eight this year.”
“There is no way it’s possible.” replied another person, “He is already dead. I saw it with my own eyes. You are the one who killed him.”
“Uh-huh.” Hong Kongque nodded, then raised the medicine cup to drink, “I killed him myself, with these hands… but… we couldn’t find his body, right?”
“It’s been thirty years since then, Kongque. If he were still alive, he wouldn’t let so much time pass.”
“Exactly.” Hong Kongque said with a smile, “I’ve thought about it a lot, thanks.”
Today, Paechikchik seemed to be in a special mood. It might be because Luo Songzhi, his regular playmate, went out on business. So when Hong Kongque saw the little bird, he flapped his wings and chirped loudly.
“Kongque is here, Kongque is here.”
Hong Kongque smiled at the bird before extending his arm for it to perch,
“Paechik, do you want to go for a ride in the car today?”
“Let’s go, let’s go.” replied the little bird, then rubbed its head against Hong
Kongque’s arm in excitement. Hong Kongque moved his arm with the bird perched on it closer, and then extended his other hand to gently stroke the little bird’s head.
“Let’s invite Pengpeng to go out together, it would be better.”
The cockatoo looked excited as he walked into the room, hearing the name of the Police Young Man, “Go with Pengpeng, go with Pengpeng.”
Hong Kongque chuckled with delight before walking out of the room, thinking of asking Li Kong to make a phone call to Lu Yipeng. Just then, Li Kong walked in to find him.
“Kongque.” Li Kong called his name with a frown, causing Hong Kongque to raise an eyebrow. Then he continued with a surprised tone, “Someone threw a peacock carcass into the front yard.”
“!!!” Hong Kongque’s eyes widened before he rushed out, “Who?!”
“The city thugs. We’ve caught them, but… it’s better if you see it yourself.”
The peacock carcass was dyed in an unrecognizable color, either red or black, making it seem as if it had been soaked in blood until it dried up. The dead crow was placed neatly on a white cloth. When Hong Kongque arrived, he looked at
it with trembling eyes before turning to face the four young men who were caught, their hands tied above their heads.
“Who ordered the thugs to do this?!!”
All four of them, in a state of fear and shock, turned to face each other before one of them spoke with a shaky voice.
“He… He said his name is… Heiying.”
“?!!” Hong Kongque’s eyes widened even more. He walked towards the men and asked loudly, “What does he look like?!!”
“Uh… he’s an old man, and he has a scar on his forehead, right?” The man answered and turned to ask his friend, who quickly nodded, “Yes yes, an old man with a scar.”
Hong Kongque’s eyes seemed to almost pop out of his head, “Where did you find him?, When?”
“This morning.” One of them answered and continued, “We found him at…
Oh yes, by Highway Twelve. He was standing in front of our car.”
When he mentioned this point, all four of them looked at each other again,
“He smashed one of our motorcycles with his bare hands, and left the carcass of a peacock, saying it was for his younger brother. We didn’t want to be killed.
So…”
Hong Kongque snarled before looking at all four of them, “I will roast you all in the middle of Hong Kong Bay and burn you to ashes like that crazy guy’s name!!”
The four teenage boys cried out desperately, “Please don’t, don’t do this to us. Whatever you want, I will do it. Just don’t kill us.”
Hong Kongque stared at all four of them before retorting, “So be it.”
“Xiao Feng, go and get the hot iron stove, bring two sets of iron.”
The servant standing nearby nodded before walking out. After a while, the hot iron stove was brought in.
“I have a simple proposal for you. Use this hot iron, write the words Red peafowl on the backs of each of your friends neatly, don’t let a single stroke fall. If you can’t even handle something as simple as this, then…” pausing for a moment, “You will be roasted alive in the middle of Hong Kong Bay for sure.”
After finishing speaking, he walked back out, leaving all four of them to look at the hot iron stove with fearful eyes.
…
“Kongque.” Li Kong called out as he walked out into the large courtyard. Paechikchik had already been led out before Hong Kongque went to meet with the leader waiting in the room. Hong Kongque gazed at the pheasant in front of him before sweeping his gaze over the standing servants, then turned back to Li Kong.
“It’s him, for sure.”
The old master stood still for a moment. He nodded slowly.
“No one would dare to go against me to this extent. Except for that madman!” Hong Kongque spoke, with an air of someone trying to provoke rage visibly, “From now on, if anyone hears the name ‘Heiying’, or meets anyone who speaks that name, ask them where they found it. Whoever dares to use that name, they shall not escape death!”
All of Hong Kongque’s servants stood cautiously as he approached and sat down on the original leather chair. The tense atmosphere inside the room was palpable, even Paechikchik, who was usually cheerful all the time, could feel the pressure. The little bird slowly moved from Hong Kongque’s neck to perch on his shoulder, then nuzzled his head against the cheek of that person lightly.
Hong Kongque let out a big sigh.
“Chik… today we will not go out in the car together.”
The little bird turned his head as if he had heard Hong Kongque’s words. He looked at his employer in silence for a moment. Then he turned to Li Kong.
“Mister Li, please call Inspector-Lu. I have a bad feeling.”
“Yes, sir.”
Before Li Kong could make the call, Luo Songzhi rushed in, “Kongque, have you seen the news?”
“What news?”
“The explosion news.” Luo Songzhi spoke, taking a deep breath before continuing, “The news just came out a while ago that the police inspection car was bombed. I heard that Inspector-Lu’s name is among the list of injured.”
“What!!” Hong Kongque exclaimed before turning to look at Li Kong.
“Heiying (Black Eagle)!!”
…
**Finally, Kongque’s secret is revealed a bit more, I am confessing that I am now at THE RED PEAFOWL CHAPTERS HOME
REDPEAFOWL, Chapter 23, and facing writer’s block… as in, the story is getting tangled, making it hard to continue (getting reader’s wrath ). Even though the story is planned until the end and placed accordingly, it seems like it’s becoming messy due to inconsistency (not in terms of the plot, but in terms of how to narrate it
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It may sound confusing, but in summary… the story has just started to simmer~ Oh my (gets scolded again )
Thank you for following along.
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