Distrust, when it comes to people, is absolutely justified, but these brothers and sisters from the Four Colors, Ke Yingying, Xiao Zian, and the others, truly don't make things easy. Ever since I returned from Hong Kong, the crisis of trust has been relentless.
Ke Yingying has reason to suspect Xiao Zian, and Xiao Zian has reason to suspect Ke Yingying. But I don't want to doubt either of them. The people from Li Jiu's training class are not to be judged by appearances; not a single one of them is ordinary.
I pondered for a moment, intending to change the subject.
“Old Ke,” I asked, “how many people were in your training class?”
“Quite a few!”
“I mean the first batch, those taught by the great god Li Jiu.”
Ke Yingying’s eyelids flickered upwards. “Let me think… a manager, a driver, a gambler, myself, Fast-Mouth Duck, Train K, Mudball, Ning Caishen, two pretty young sisters, Burmese Girl, Cat-Eye Man, and Cold-Words Cold-Speech.”
“How many is that?” he asked me.
“Twelve!”
“There’s one more, isn’t there? I recall Teacher Li Jiu smiling and saying we were the thirteen disciples, born with rebellious bones.”
“Who is Burmese Girl?”
“Qin Sisi!”
I knew Cat-Eye Man, Liu Chenxi, who jumped to his death right before my eyes. I also knew Cold-Words Cold-Speech; Cold-Words nearly killed me. And Cold-Speech was the leader of the twelve tools, Queen of Hearts, who met her end at the hands of Da Huang. I’d met the manager too, who sacrificed his life for the driver. The driver was my father-in-law, and the gambler, I’m not unfamiliar with him, he died in an explosion. My old friend Tie and I made our first fortune with him. Fast-Mouth Duck was Teacher Ye, who now rests eternally in Sichuan. Train K was Xiao Zian. Mudball also died, subjected to Teacher Ye’s agonizing death by a thousand cuts. Cold-Words is also dead, sentenced to death for multiple murders. Ning Caishen met no better end; as he tried to kill me, he was shot by a swift police officer.
“I’ve accounted for most of them. Who was the thirteenth person?”
“I can’t remember?”
“Is that polite? He was your classmate, and you can’t remember him.”
“He didn’t leave a deep impression. It’s been fifteen or sixteen years, and I haven’t seen him since.”
“Male or female?”
“Male.”
“Are you sure?”
“Not sure?”
“You’re lying to me, aren’t you? There weren’t thirteen people at all, were there?”
“There were, absolutely. Teacher Li Jiu called us the thirteen disciples of God, though I preferred to call us the Thirteen Unreliable.”
“What does Thirteen Unreliable mean?”
Ke Yingying grinned. “It’s a way to win in Mahjong. Thirteen cards, none of them can form a hand. But later, later Old Liu changed that saying to Seven Stars Unreliable.”
“And what does Seven Stars Unreliable mean?”
“That’s another Mahjong winning hand, an upgraded version. The seven stars are East, South, West, North, Center, White, and Red Dragon.”
“Who were the seven stars?”
“Center, White, and Red Dragon were the Manager, the Driver, and the Gambler. East was me, West was Fast-Mouth Duck, North was Train K. South… who was South? Why can’t I remember his name?”
I frowned, looking at Ke Yingying, watching his act. I couldn’t help but laugh. “Why were the other six excluded?”
“Burmese Girl and Cat-Eye Man were just young sisters. Cold-Words and Cold-Speech lacked the aptitude, so they were assigned to the killing department. You know Mudball was a late bloomer. As for Ning Caishen, you know him even better, a super repeater.”
“You know everyone else perfectly, so why can’t you remember ‘South’?”
Ke Yingying’s face turned serious. He looked at me without speaking, his gaze unwavering. He seemed to be thinking, but I didn’t know what about. Finally, Ke Yingying shook his head. “Now that you mention it, it seems like there wasn’t anyone like that in our training class. But yet, in my memory, there seems to be. How strange!”
Ke Yingying’s demeanor completely bewildered me. Honestly, I only brought this up to divert the conversation, to avoid suspecting him and Xiao Zian. I prompted him, “There was someone named Lina, who took over Liu Chenxi’s killing game. Could she have been ‘South’?”
“Her? How could she? Lina, along with the later Ox-Head, Horse-Face, Black and White Impermanence, were all disciples of the Manager. They never went through Teacher Li Jiu’s tutelage; they’re not quick to learn.”
“Then who was he?”
“This isn’t right. I’ll go back and check my records, see if there’s anything. Sect Leader, you mean that ‘imposter’ was killed by this ‘South’? I didn’t expect our training class to have such a mysterious figure. If he was one of the Seven Stars, how could I have forgotten his name, appearance, and gender? There must be a problem, definitely a problem.”
I frowned, looking at Ke Yingying. Whether he was acting or genuinely sensed a problem, Ke Yingying turned and left, muttering, “Where did it go wrong?”
The next day, as I was playing with Tang Yi, Xiao Zian arrived alone. She looked the same, her face sallow, her clothes simple and dated. I looked closely at her sallow face, sometimes thinking it was fake. Xiao Zian was clearly a great beauty with excellent skin; she just preferred to look unsightly. Even interacting with her son daily didn’t require her to dress so old-fashioned, like a grandmother.
“Have you considered it? Should we investigate Ke Yingying?”
It seemed Xiao Zian still insisted that Ke Yingying was playing the game of murder and cover-up. I smiled helplessly and used the same tactic as before. “Madam Xiao, who were in the great god Li Jiu’s training class?”
“Let me think, Liu Shou, Lin Zhijun, Jin Bengui, Ke Yingying, Ye Qingcheng, myself, Lu Yao, Ning Caishen, Leng Yan, Leng Yu, Qin Sisi, Liu Chenxi…”
At this point, Xiao Zian stopped, her expression confused.
“What’s wrong?”
“How many have I listed?”
Ke Yingying used code names, while Xiao Zian used real names. Ning Caishen and Leng Yan, Leng Yu were orphans and didn’t use birth names. The others were the same people I had encountered.
Of these twelve, only Ke Yingying and Xiao Zian are still alive. If there are only two of them left, why are they still at odds with each other?
“Twelve.”
“There should be one more, right? Huh? It seems not…”
“Why do you say that?”
“I remember Teacher Li Jiu saying that we all had rebellious bones, like Jesus’s thirteen disciples. I also remember Ke Yingying calling us Thirteen Unreliable at the time. Later, Liu Shou felt some people didn’t measure up, and changed Thirteen Unreliable to Seven Stars Unreliable.”
This was almost identical to what Ke Yingying said. I frowned, looking at Xiao Zian. Now the problem was, she and Ke Yingying were on the same level; neither of them remembered who the thirteenth person was!
Now, I was starting to think this was a problem.
“Who were the ones who didn’t measure up?”
“Liu Chenxi and Qin Sisi were young sisters, not yet fully developed, but very intelligent. Leng Yan and Leng Yu lacked the aptitude. Mudball was always muddled. Ning Caishen was too lazy. The rest were the seven stars.”
“And then?”
Xiao Zian almost counted on her fingers. “Me, Ke Yingying, Sister Ye, Old Liu, Uncle Jin, Brother Lin… uh… uh… Huh? There’s no one else. Why did we call ourselves Seven Stars Unreliable? No, no, there’s one more.”
“Male or female?”
“Female!”
“Are you sure?”
“Not sure!”
The answer was exactly the same as Ke Yingying’s. These two were really driving me crazy.
I tried asking the same question. “What about someone named Lina?”
“Who is she?”
“What about Ox-Head, Horse-Face, Black and White Impermanence?”
“Just some lowly subordinates from where? Oh, oh, these must be people Old Liu brought in later for training. They never went through Teacher Li Jiu’s tutelage; they can’t be considered schemers.”
“Then, who was she?”
“Why can’t I remember? This is not right. If we studied under Teacher Li Jiu together, there’s no reason I wouldn’t remember this person.”
This matter was becoming strange. There was a person like this, who had vanished from everyone’s memory. The problem was, these people were no ordinary individuals.
Xiao Zian pondered for a while, becoming more convinced that something was amiss. She asked me, “Sect Leader, is this some kind of scheme? You’ve muddled my head.”
“I was about to ask you! Is this your scheme? You and Ke Yingying are colluding, aren’t you?”
“You asked me first! How could it be my scheme?”
Hearing Xiao Zian say that, I felt it made sense. I looked at Xiao Zian, and she looked at me. “Sect Leader, I’ll go back and think about it carefully. There’s definitely something wrong with this. I also roughly understand what you mean. This person who committed murder and cover-up might be this individual. But we only remember that this person existed, yet we don’t remember what they looked like, nor do we know who they are! That’s the biggest problem.”
A while after Xiao Zian left, Lin Han came in. She handed me a photograph. I recognized the woman. She was Tang Yi’s adoptive mother, who sold fruit at a market in a county town in Sichuan.
“We found her,” Lin Han said.
“Didn’t we agree that I would live with Tang Yi? Why are you still looking for her?”
Lin Han looked at Tang Yi, who was happily playing with toys on the floor, and whispered to me, “Legal adoption. However, this woman cannot provide any information. Her death has been confirmed in the earthquake-stricken area.”
As Lin Han was speaking, a gust of wind blew in from the window, scattering the photograph onto the floor. Tang Yi walked over, picked it up, and tilted her head, looking at the picture.
I took a deep breath and smiled, asking Tang Yi, “Yibao, do you miss Auntie?”
“Which auntie?”
“The auntie in the photo?”
From Tang Yi’s expression, she didn’t seem to have been abused; she should have been close to the deceased woman. Yet Tang Yi shook her head. “I don’t know this auntie.”
“What?”