REDPEAFOWL, Chapter 25: Broken Pieces
Since childhood, Lu Yipeng has dreamed of becoming a good police officer and a pillar of the community. He excelled in his entrance exam to the police academy, scoring the highest marks and graduating with honors at the top of his class, earning praise in every subject.
He began his civil service career by closing several important cases, until he became an inspector at the age of twenty-four. Lu Yipeng’s civil service life was just beginning. He had only been in office for five years… Four out of five of those years were spent working with the legendary mafia that called himself Red Peafowl.
…
Lu Yipeng blinked and found himself in the light.
Where am I?
Someone walked up and sat beside him, “Do you regret becoming a police officer now or not?”
Lu Yipeng tried to look at the face of the person, but he saw nothing but the shining light, “Why should I regret?”
It seemed like he heard the person chuckle, “That’s right. Why should you regret? You chose this yourself. No need to regret at all.”
After speaking, the person got up and walked away. Lu Yipeng shouted after them, “Wait. Who are you?”
The figure in the light seemed to turn to look at him. Then they replied, “I am the person you didn’t choose.”
?!!
Lu Yipeng blinked again. He saw a white ceiling above his head. After blinking several times, the smell of disinfectant used to clean the floor floated up and touched his nose. The young police officer quickly got up.
“Ah, Inspector Lu, you are awake?!” Someone sitting on the sofa exclaimed. As Lu Yipeng looked, he vaguely remembered this was the police officer who had worked with him before.
“What happened to me?” The young inspector asked, looking puzzled. The police officer looked at him with a confused expression, “Inspector, don’t you remember? You went on the ship with Heiying and Hong Kongque. Then those two blew up the ship. You’re the only one who survived.”
?!! Lu Yipeng’s eyes widened, “What? Am I the only one? Have you found the bodies of the others?”
“Well… in the morning, we took the boat around to look for them again, but then again the boat had exploded violently and the water was too deep. No one would have survived. Only you, Inspector.”
“!”
“Inspector?!” The old police officer called out to him, his voice sounding alarmed, “Are you crying?!”
Lu Yipeng raised his hand to touch his face. Then he realized that warm tears were flowing out of his eyes, and his throat tightened instantly. Before the tears could burst out uncontrollably, the old inspector looked at him for a moment before slowly backing away.
This was the first time in his memory that Lu Yipeng cried. His father always taught him to never let anyone see him shed tears, but today, he couldn’t hold back the tears from flowing uncontrollably.
No one survived…
Lu Yipeng clenched his fists… on the boat, he held onto Hong Kongque’s hand tightly…
Warm tears fell onto his cheeks.
On that boat, Hong Kongque followed his plan.
Warm tears dripped and wet his shirt collar.
On that boat, Hong Kongque sacrificed himself to help him.
The image of the white, clean, snow-like structure that had been violated still remained clear in his mind, even though there was no need for such clarity at all.
But Hong Kongque agreed… agreed to help him…
Lu Yipeng’s throat constricted almost to the point of feeling hard swallowing his saliva.
He knew from the start that Hong Kongque would not let the man be captured. He knew that Hong Kongque wanted to kill the man with his own hands.
But Lu Yipeng was confident that he could persuade Hong Kongque. Lu Yipeng swallowed hard, trying to suppress the sobs.
That day, Hong Kongque came to visit him… even agreeing to put on handcuffs himself. Just to have a conversation with him. Just to get him to come along…
Lu Yipeng’s heart was so painful that it felt like it was about to tear apart.
A person like Hong Kongque. There was no need to wear handcuffs. Just to talk to a small police officer like him. If not for…
The words that almost slipped out of his mouth as they danced together that night, Hong Kongque stopped himself… that person knew even better than him in the end. What would he choose?
Lu Yipeng closed his eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks soaking them completely.
He and Hong Kongque didn’t start their relationship on a good note at all. Everything that man did to him… it was insanity to the end.
But sometimes, in his dreams, he still saw the smile, and those hands trying to feed him snow fish.
Lu Yipeng never really liked snow fish before. He only started to like them because of Hong Kongque, but he would never be able to tell that man again.
Tears flowing uncontrollably.
He was the one who brought Hong Kongque onto that ship, forcing him to do everything just for…
The young police officer’s throat was full. He tried to swallow his saliva again.
On that ship, Hong Kongque asked a simple question, a question he couldn’t answer…
Question that might make that man not leave him.
And then he heard the word “love.” For the first time, and the last time.
From the mouth of the man who exchanged his life for him.
Lu Yipeng couldn’t hold back his feelings anymore. The young man cried out, screaming with the sadness compressed in his chest.
He was sad that he had gotten to know that man.
I regret falling in love with that man, and what I regret the most is not realizing how much he loved that man until… losing that man.
Lu Yipeng screamed like a madman, until both the male nurses and the police officers standing outside had to rush in and grab him.
The young police officer screamed almost voicelessly, but filled with emotions that could never be conveyed to that man again.
Never will that Red Peafowl allow him to speak his heart out again.
Hong Kongque…
…
The explosion incident became big news that week. The names of Black Eagle and Red Peafowl resurfaced in the headlines once again, followed by the coverage of a massive fire at the riverside mansion owned by Red Peafowl.
Both the newspapers and the television reported this news with great excitement. Old photos of the disgraced police superintendent were shown on television. As the prime suspect in the bombings of a police patrol car and a pleasure boat, followed by images of the young Hong Paijue, believed to be the real Red Peafowl, all headlines aligned that the two legendary monsters from the past were likely dead. Even though their bodies had not been found.
It took Lu Yipeng three days to come to terms with what had happened. He visited Duan Feng, who was still in quarantine. As he saw his face, the first thing Duan Feng said was, “Inspector, you did your best. Don’t be sad.”
Lu Yipeng looked at his colleague in silence, unable to find any words to say.
He couldn’t catch anyone, and on top of that…
After that, he was called in for questioning.
The investigation team gathered together as a large group, because they were closing three major cases. Starting from the case of the massacre of the Hong family thirty-six years ago, the case of planting a bomb in a detective inspector’s car, and the latest case of planting a bomb on a luxury yacht. Recorded statements passed through the phone of Hong Kongque, which were secretly recorded from a bug device and used to assist in the investigation.
Lu Yipeng testified with a heart that was about to burst. The images of those events were vivid in his memory, as if emphasizing the feelings he was facing. After finishing the interrogation, he felt exhausted, drained of energy, as if the spark of life had disappeared from his heart.
The young inspector drowned in sorrow once again. He locked himself in a recovery room, rejecting both visits from psychiatrists and psychologists. He was fixated on a single photo of a person that broke his heart the most.
The black and white photo that was taken from an old picture frame, another round of it.
The photo of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy looking up at something above. He must be in the place he dreamed of being now. And left the person who had just realized his feelings alone in despair.
Lu Yipeng wanted to be as strong as Hong Kong, to bravely pass through this period, but it seemed that people like him would collapse and crumble.
The red peafowl did not chirp or quack to mock him, pushing him further into despair.
…
The young inspector had been immersed in himself for almost a week. One day, Chen Qian brought something to him.
“Pengpeng.”
The sound he heard immediately softened the heart of Lu Yipeng, which seemed to have died. The thing brought to him was a white-collared cockatoo, in a beautifully crafted cage. The person who brought it told him, “Someone left this for the inspector before the incident happened, but it seems you are having a problem. So… I’ll keep it for now.”
Lu Yipeng looked at the little bird dancing in the cage with an excited expression, feeling touched to have found it. Its feathers used to be clean and white, neatly arranged, but now they were messy and disheveled, yet it still had a touch of charm, as the person who brought the bird explained.
“Recently, it has stopped shedding its feathers on its own. It must be missing its old owner a lot, so we thought it would be good to give it to you, inspector.
Maybe it will stop shedding its feathers, and the inspector won’t feel lonely anymore.”
Lu Yipeng smiled for the first time. He thanked the person who brought the bird to him. After they left, Lu Yipeng opened the cage. The bird hopped in towards him as if it missed him greatly. He then gently stroked its head and cheeks as before.
“Pengpeng, Pengpeng.”
Lu Yipeng raised his hand and petted the bird. Tears welled in his eyes.
…
Two days later, Lu Yipeng left the hospital along with the bird. Duan Feng was also discharged from the isolation room, scheduled for surgery to remove the explosive shrapnel embedded in his back the following week.
The first place the young police officer headed was not his own residence, but the site of the once magnificent mansion of the Red Peafowl Family. It now lay in ruins, a mere shell of its former self, with debris and ashes scattered around.
He had heard earlier that after the incident on the ship, the Red Peafowl Family mansion was set ablaze. All the servants and siblings had disappeared without a trace, leaving the grand mansion to fall into the flames as if to engulf its owner in the loss.
Was this Hong Kongque’s final command? Had the man anticipated this fate, or was it always destined to end this way?
Was this the end of the legend of Hong Kongque?
Lu Yipeng stepped out of the car, carrying the cage with the white bird inside. He stopped in front of the yellow and black tape that had been set up to keep people out. He looked at the broken ruins that once used to be a place he frequented.
The smell of smoke still lingered. Though it had been over a week, the extent of the damage was still visible enough to imagine how intense the fire must have been. It was said that the fire burned for two days and two nights, but it was eventually brought under control.
The young police officer looked towards what used to be the garden, the grand front gate, and the reception room where he often found Hong Kongque sitting.
The room was no more. The chair was gone. The person who used to sit there was gone too.
He lifted his head slightly. The part that used to be a wing with a swimming pool collapsed down at nightfall, leaving only the ruins of black bricks and elegant cement. There was no swimming pool where he could swim without fearing anyone seeing the scars on his legs. No one was there to coax him into the pool anymore.
Those paths of circles. He probably never had the chance to explore them.
Even the room adjacent to the balcony where he and Hong Kongque used to dance together. It was desolate, nothing left.
No dining table. No hand to force-feed him anything.
There was nothing left at all. No one left truly.
Hong Kongque had disappeared, destroying everything. Only the painful memories remained in his mind.
He left the cruel burden to the person who had just found confidence in himself that day…
There was nothing left but sorrow…
Lu Yipeng let the wind blow his tears dry before bending down to look at the little white feathered bird in the cage. The little bird looked back at him, as if feeling sad as well.
Hong Kongque loved this bird the most, but he left it behind for someone to take care of it, or perhaps one day he would realize his mistake and leave the bird for him to forgive…
“Pengpeng…” The bird called his name. A name that only its one owner had called. Its voice drifted away with the wind as Lu Yipeng looked at it and smiled, then turned back to the car.
…
Lu Yipeng’s small, cramped apartment was the same as always. The bed was still cold due to the cold weather outside. Lu Yipeng laid the hot water bag that had just been boiled down on the bed before climbing onto it. He hugged the warm bag close to him. To absorb the warmth and prevent his body from feeling too cold.
But his heart was frozen beyond words.
The cage of Paechikchik is situated on a chair near the little bird. It bends its neck to look at him before using its beak to unlock itself and flapping its wings to land on the metal rod at the head of his bed. Lu Yipeng raises his head to look at it and then raises his hand to stroke its white and black feathers lightly.
There are many words and emotions packed tightly in his heart, but the owner of this little bird is no longer there to listen. Lu Yipeng raises his hand to stroke the bird, stroking it until the image in front slowly fades away.
In his dream, Lu Yipeng also sees Hong Kongque sitting at a table eating rice. He uses chopsticks to pick up some food, occasionally pinching his nose. In the dream, he raises his hand to the left and then gestures to the right, but nothing is done on that side. In the dream, Hong Kongque chuckles and smiles at him, as though replaying a scene from a previous day for him to see again.
Then he finds himself in a bathtub with Hong Kongque, seeing a large red peafowl on a clean white back. Hong Kongque then turns his face back, embracing him.
A cold breeze envelops Lu Yipeng as he wakes up and finds the sun shining once again. The little bird is still perched on the bed, looking at him intently. Lu Yipeng sits up, and the little bird jumps to perch on his shoulder, pecking at his hair before chirping out.
“Good morning, good morning.”
Lu Yipeng manages to force a smile, wrapping himself in a thick winter jacket before tucking in the bed and heading to the kitchen.
Paechikchik is still perched on his shoulder, its demeanor seeming somewhat cold as it snuggles close to his cheek. It rubs its head against his cheek, almost as if shedding feathers. Lu Yipeng smiles and turns to pay attention to the noodles boiling in the pot.
The young police officer was about to drain the noodles into a bowl and was about to pour the warm soup over them. Just as the cell phone rings loudly, the young police officer removes his hand from the pot and walks over to answer the phone.
“Inspector-Lu, sorry to disturb you this early in the morning, but we have found a body… would you mind coming to confirm?”
The warmth in Lu Yipeng’s hand that was starting to come from the hot steam from the stove quickly dissipates. He responds back, “Um… I’ll be there in a moment.”
Then the young police officer slumped down to sit at a small table to eat his meal, looking at the noodles in the bowl that were starting to get soggy. After a moment, he walked back upstairs, carrying a bird cage down and placing it on the other side of the table, then grabbing a box of seeds to add to the food bowl.
It was the first time Lu Yipeng ate with a bird… He sat eating noodles at one corner of the table, glancing at Paechikchik pecking at the seeds on the other side of the table.
Not knowing if at other times when he didn’t eat with him Hong Kongque ate alone, or if someone else came to sit with him, or if he did it like him.
Lu Yipeng ate only half a bowl of noodles. He started to feel a little nauseous. The phone beeped, telling him to go confirm the body… If it was a relative or someone he knew, they would have already removed the names… and he had no close relatives to go and confirm the body…
There was only one person’s body that needed him to go and confirm.
…
The air in the room was kept at a cool temperature. When he opened the door, the stench of decay hit his nostrils, making him almost gag. Lu Yipeng had been a police officer for five years, and had never encountered such a smell before, but with this level of decay, even an experienced police officer had to resist the urge to retch.
The forensic doctor and Chen Qian were waiting inside with a team of investigators. On the autopsy table was the body of a person lying on their back. In a charred and bloated state, almost unrecognizable, some parts of the skin were starting to peel away to reveal sections of white bone.
What shocked the young police officer the most was the pants that were tightly attached to the body… Dark red pants, like the blood that was beginning to dry…
As far as Lu Yipeng could remember, the deceased was wearing black pants. As for Hong Kongque, he was wearing a red coat… and after taking off his upper body shirt…
The young police officer was so shocked that he bit his lip, trying to contain the tumult in his mind. Chen Qian opened his mouth to speak to him.
“Inspector-Lu. We only found this body this morning, floating on a fishing boat. The condition of the burns and some missing organs like this… We suspect it may be the body of the deceased. Either it’s Hong Sujue or Hong Kongque. Can you help confirm? You are only one person who has seen both of them alive clearly, “
Lu Yipeng swallowed his saliva, mustered up the courage to walk closer to the dissected corpse on the autopsy table, and looked at the body clearly. The head was charred and most of the back skin had peeled off, revealing only a skull and some decaying muscles. He couldn’t recognize the original face.
The body had been burned more than halfway, one arm was missing, and the remaining skin, if not peeled off, had changed color to the point where it was difficult to determine its original condition. But his pants…
Lu Yipeng swallowed his saliva again. Even though it was clear to this extent, he still didn’t want to believe it. He didn’t want to believe that this was the end of that bird. The young police officer spoke, his voice hoarse.
“Turn… Turn him over so I can see his back.”
The doctor and his assistant helped to turn the almost complete rotten body over, the stench of decay filling the room. When they flipped the back up, Lu Yipeng raised his hands to cover his mouth, widened his eyes, before exclaiming,
“Hong Kongque! I confirm that he is Hong Kongque.”
All the police officers looked at him. Before Chen Qian asked, “Inspector, are you sure?”
Lu Yipeng nodded, his lips pressed tight, “I am sure…”
…
After certifying the body, Lu Yipeng walked out, almost unable to hold back his tears. He almost ran back to the car to go back. Tears began to flow down his face.
Those pants were definitely Hong Kongque’s, the young police officer was sure. No one else wore pants of that color except for that man. But…
On the back of the body… There was no tattoo of a peacock.
There was nothing at all that could point to any previous markings or anything that had been on there before.
Lu Yipeng slammed himself into the car seat before raising his hand to wipe away the tears that were flowing uncontrollably.
Hong Kongque!!
…
** Well~ Congratulations to all of you for finishing this bowl of instant noodles.. Yeah~
Is everyone stunned or not? (Got hit)
This bowl of noodles is finished, just a little more water left. Next time, let’s cook noodles together, okay?
I’ve already said that my noodles are delicious. Hehe.
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