Chapter 23.2

Yao Yuange’s story – Dead Soul (Part 2)

The day Zhang Jufang was brought home, the atmosphere was especially quiet. Ming Lang sat in the seat next to Yao Yuange’s, not speaking. Ming Yue was at a loss what to do. Zhang Jufang was not someone who was easy to deal with. She sweetly called them ‘older sister’, then, after dinner, pulled on Yao Yuange’s arm and returned to the room with him. Although there were several walls between them, Ming Lan could still hear her overwrought cries.

That night, Yao Yuange and Zhang Jufang rolled in the hay until late at night, whereupon he returned to Ming Lan’s room. At that time, Ming Lan’s heart stirred with emotion – she had through Yao Yuange would not be going to her that night. Then, Yao Yuange had sex with her aggressively, until she begged for mercy. He laughed as he sat at the side of the bed, and took another pill of the drug he had sourced from Thailand, which was good for men. He then said to her, “Ming Lan, I don’t treat all women the same. I will always regard and recognise you as my wife because you look after this family. How can they compare with you?”

From then on, a strange sense of superiority slowly took hold of Ming Lan’s heart. After all, which  rich man doesn’t play around with women? Other families were rife with divorces, arguments and betrayals. Yao Yuange was so wealthy, and had so many ladies attracted to him, but he made a clear distinction between wife and mistress. He was truly a paragon every should look up to. As for those other women, what did it matter if another came in? Wouldn’t they still have to respect her and be under her authority? Her name was the only one on the marriage certificate, haha.

A new Yao family, with one wife and 4 mistresses, was born in ancient Yao family residence, like a new family clan. Outside the door was the lively hustle and bustle of the modern world, but within was their own little world. The Yao family principles and regulations were very strict. Only female servants were allowed in the residence; every day,  they would get up, eat breakfast, eat lunch, eat dinner, turn off the lights in unison and sleep; Yao Yuange would choose whose room to sleep in according to his fancy. The women in the rooms each harboured different thoughts. Moreover, Ming Lan, as Yao Yuange’s second in command, was the guardian of this order. In this grand courtyard, only Ming Lan was happy every day. She drove her stylish Audi, she handled the tremendously large revenue raked in by the bar, she looked upon her husband’s collection of female toys with a smile that never reached her eyes.

……

Yao Yuange first noticed that girl in the bar. When he dropped hints about her to Ming Lan thereafter, even she, who had gotten used to her husband’s amorous nature and sexual appetite, was shocked. This girl was so young, only 20 years old. Her looks weren’t bad, but she seemed to be introverted, and had no companion.

Ming Lan said, “Her . . . I’m afraid it might be difficult.”

Yao Yuange downed the wine in his glass in one gulp, hugged Ming Lan by the waist and whispered, “I’m going to sleep with her tonight. I haven’t felt so excited for a long time! You figure out how to get it done. When it’s done, I’ll buy you the new bag you’ve been eyeing.” After speaking, he laughed, then got up to play the part of the bar owner. He walked over to greet the girl, and even gave her a bowl of popcorn. The girl didn’t understand why, and she looked up in confusion to ask, “Thank you, Uncle. Are you the boss at this bar?”

At that moment, Ming Lan saw the gleam in her husband’s eyes. “Oh, yes. The bar . . . was opened by Uncle.”

Then he turned his head, glanced at Ming Lan, and walked out.

Ming Lan’s heart thudded, and she suddenly understood. Nobody could stop him. Even if she didn’t do it for him, he would find a way to get what he wanted. This man’s ego was like an inflated balloon. Over time, slowly, it had swollen in size. Finally this time, no one was able to suppress him.

Ming Lan tricked Tang Lianlian into the car, and enticed her to drink the drugged water. The bar had plenty of crooks mixed in with the honest customers.* So, procuring this drug was no problem.

*T/N 鱼龙混杂 (yu long hun zha) – lit. fish and dragons mixed together

That night, Yao Yuange achieved his desire.

Tang Lianlian stayed in the basement room in the Yao residence for 5 days. She was drugged all the time and was always in a muddled and dazed state. At night, Yao Yuange would go down. In the daytime, Ming Lan and Ming Yue, as well as the exceedingly honest and sincere Zhao Xia, would take turns to advise her to give in, “Look, we women all stay with him, and our lives are fine. You are an ordinary university graduate, your family is poor, what kind of work can you find? Become a member of the Yao family, and you’ll never have anything to worry about in your lifetime.”

At the beginning, Tang Lianlian just kept crying. Finally, on the sixth day, she nodded, “All right, I’ll marry him.” After that, she was really docile and obedient towards Yao Yuange, and even had the spirit to be jealous, and demanded things such as money, an apartment, a car, and so on. This made Yao Yuange so happy that he gifted each wife an expensive present. Looking at all this, it seemed that Wife no. 6 was about to enter the household.

They even invited a few of his old buddies and served wine. As this was Yao Yuange’s first time marrying such a young wife, and a university student at that, he felt as if he were welcoming his second spring.

Who would have thought, not several days after the wedding, when everyone had relaxed their vigilance considerably, Tang Lianlian ran away!

As it turned out, this little lady was extremely clever, and also able to patiently endure. She had not wanted to live such a life, and was just biding her time to put her escape plan into motion.

Only Ming Lan had kept watching her closely. After all, she was a university student and must possess both knowledge and experience, thus causing Ming Lan to feel uncertain and anxious. Thus, she had exhorted the servants to keep an eye on Tang Lianlian secretly.

It happened early one morning, when the sky was still dark. Tang Lianlian had only escaped from the Yao residence for 5 minutes before her flight was discovered. There were too few people on the streets, so she was unable to ask for help. When she tried to make a run for the police station, the way was blocked by Yao family members. She could only head for the mountains. In the end, she was still caught and brought back. Yao Yuange dragged her by the hair to the basement room.

Actually, it wasn’t that she hadn’t met anyone on the road. She had met two people, but both of them, on hearing that it was a Yao family situation, decided to keep well clear of the situation despite Tang Lianlian’s pleas and cries. Thus, she could only keep running until she had nowhere left to go, and once again fell into the devil’s den.

That night, everyone in the Yao family felt unsettled, because Yao Yuange and Tang Lianlian were alone in the basement room the entire night.

That night, Ming Lan tossed and turned in bed without finding sleep. She knew that her husband would be in a raging fury. In her heart, she blamed Tang Lianlian for deceiving them and bringing chaos to the family. However, when she closed her eyes, the image of Tang Lianlian’s face as she was dragged into the basement kept confronting her. Why did she feel such a heavy sense of oppression that made her breathless?

……

When morning broke, the door was pushed open. Ming Lan straightened up and saw her husband’s icy-cold demeanor. His hand still had some traces of blood. Her heart jumped, and she whispered, “What’s happened? Whose blood is that?”

Yao Yuange looked at her with a strange expression and said dumbly, “Come with me for a while.”

With great unease, she followed him into the basement room.

The bed was still bare, with the shackles at the head of the bed. A body lay on the ground, covered in blood, with signs of trauma all around the neck. Unmoving. Ming Lan’s entire body went soft, and she eked out, “She, she . . .”

Yao Yuange’s voice was as cold as well water as he unhurriedly commented, “Yeah, it was too much for her. She’s dead.” Towards the end of his speech his voice sounded marginally flustered.

Ming Lan immediately cried out, “Dead? Then what do we do? What do we do?!”

Yao Yuange lifted her up from the floor with one move. “Damn it! Why are you panicking? Dead is dead, so let’s think of a way out! We need to cover this up so that no one ever finds out*, otherwise our entire family is a gone case! Tell everyone who asks that she ran away! Ran away! Tell Jufang and the others as well that she ran away! The fewer people who know, the better! As long as there’s no evidence, the police won’t be able to pin anything on us!”

*T/N 神不知鬼不觉 (shen bu zhi gui bu jue) – lit. the spirits and ghosts don’t know

……

The events that followed took up their time for an entire week. It was ‘fortunate’ that Yao Yuange had a sudden brainwave, and hit upon the idea of substitution. Ming Yue dressed up as Tang Lianlian and ‘departed’ the ancient city. At the same time, he announced that the Yao family’s No. 6 wife had run away to several close friends and relatives. Previously, as he had wanted to keep the fuss to a minimum, he had not made Tang Lianlian’s full name known to the banquet guests, only referring to her as ‘Xiao Lian’*. Although this would constitute a loss of face for Yao Yuange, it was far better than becoming a murder suspect. Moreover, Tang Lianlian had been alone. It wasn’t until half a month later that the police came around investigating her disappearance. As expected, the police followed the trail that Ming Lan and Ming Yue had set, and went off to the neighbouring county. What connection was there with the Yao family?

*T/N 小 (xiao) means ‘small’; when used in conjunction with part of a name it is form of address (usually an endearment) for someone younger than oneself.

After all the dust had settled, that evening, Yao Yuange again visited Ming Lan’s room. To her surprise, her husband treated her with a passion she had not seen in the past few years. She had thought that he would be depressed and uneasy as a result of Tang Lianlian. Who knew, after sex, he lay beside her smoking a cigarette. After a while, he muttered, “Ming Lan, although Xiao Liu*  was not obedient, when I think about it now, that night, it was really something else. I’ve never felt so invigorated before.”

*T/N 小六 = ‘small (ref to note above) six’ i.e. Tang Lianlian, the 6th wife

Trembling, Ming Lan raised her head to look at him.

He had also opened his eyes, and there was a surging darkness within them. He slowly smiled.

A long, long time after that, Ming Lan finally understood: from that night onwards, from the time that Tang Lianlian had died by Yao Yuange’s hand, he was a totally different person. That long-suppressed balloon had finally exploded in a way he had always sought after. Thereafter, the body of every young girl he fancied was always marked with a sticky, used condom, and so were the bodies of the five women of the Yao family – these greedy women who were resigned to their fate.

……

When Tong Sheng appeared at the bar, she attracted the attention of every man present. She was too beautiful, and her beauty had a pure and almost spiritual aspect. Moreover, she was unpretentious, dressed simply in a white shirt and jeans, and her eyes looked upon the hedonistic scene before her with an air of timidity. She truly seemed like a stalk of fragrant narcissus.

Of course, she also attracted the gaze of Yao Yuange, who was poking around behind the scenes on the second floor.

After that, Ming Lan worked with her usual skill and left no traces. She successfully abducted Tong Sheng and brought her to the Yao residence, then completed the subsequent cover-up work on the second day. It was just that, as she did all this, her heart felt empty, as always. As empty as an abyss. She was well aware that this lifetime of hers was just like a length of elegant brocade teeming with maggots. There was no way to turn back, so she would have to keep going forward until it was entirely rotten.

These few days, Yao Yuange was especially happy, and told Ming Lan more than once: This Tong Sheng is too beautiful, her skin is too exquisite. This is the most exceptional woman I have ever collected.

Even when Tong Sheng died, Yao Yuange was reluctant to part with her. He deliberately buried her bones in a particularly secluded forest. After that, he even visited that forest several times, just to look around.

Winter turned to spring. The servants in the outer buildings of the residence changed, and changed again. Yao Yuange still ruled over all like an emperor, and his women lived like ants.

Later, one morning, a servant suddenly pushed open Ming Lan’s door in a panic. She and Yao Yuange looked up at the same time and heard the servant hurriedly gasp out, “A guest at our Inn died in the back lane last night!” Yao Yuange immediately stood up. Ming Lan put down the glass she was holding, but did not set it down firmly. It fell with a ‘crash’ and shattered. Ming Lan looked down to see the water flowing in all directions. It was just like that first night, when she had seen the fresh blood. There would be no way to stop it.