Chapter 3. Drowning
Unable to fall asleep, Jiang Yan approached the window with a stern expression, but as she reached the edge, she halted her movements.
The two people crying outside were surprisingly familiar to her.
One was the girl from the couple she had seen last night, and the other was the little girl who had stood behind her that morning.
The girl was shaking the little girl’s shoulders desperately, her expression crumbling, unable to utter a word as tears streamed down her face. The little girl was clearly in pain from being shaken, hunching her shoulders and shaking her head as she cried.
“I-I’m sorry, sob sob, it’s my fault, I’m sorry, sister…”
Perhaps frightened, the little girl choked on her words, stumbling over her apologies. Soon, her mother rushed over, but for some reason, she reached out several times without forcefully pulling the girl’s hand away. Instead, she tightly embraced her daughter, quickly covering the little girl’s ears with both hands.
Some onlookers were scolding the little girl:
“You’re in elementary school now, right? I remember you’re in second grade? You can’t jump in to save someone, but can’t you at least shout for help? A person that big fell into the pond, and you just stood there watching him drown without calling for adults?”
“Yeah, at your age you can’t jump in to save someone, but you should at least help by shouting for help!”
There were also some clear-headed bystanders trying to mediate:
“Hey... let’s not be too harsh on a child. She might have thought her brother was just playing in the water.”
“Exactly, you can’t blame the little girl for this. It’s a life lost... so young, just engaged and now... sigh!”
Jiang Yan scanned the scene and quickly understood what was happening.
The community was built on the foundation of a city garden, which originally had a pond. The residents found the pond beautiful, so they didn’t let the workers fill it in completely, leaving a height of thirty centimeters to raise fish.
At that moment, a man lay on the ground beside the pond, his body soaked with water, his chest showing no signs of rising and falling. Three doctors were bent over, packing up their equipment.
It was clear that the man was completely dead, and there was no need for further attempts to save him.
The girl was on the verge of a breakdown, gripping the little girl, who barely reached her waist, and shouted in anger, “All you do is cry! When Chen He fell into the water, why didn’t you cry out loudly?!”
“This is murder! Chen He died because of you!!”
The girl's mother covered her daughter's ears while apologizing to the girl, “It’s my fault for not teaching her properly. I’m really very sorry; I didn’t teach her how to handle this kind of situation. She was scared at that moment... Please calm down. Pulling the child from both sides will only hurt her. I’m truly sorry...”
However, the girl did not accept this explanation. After calling the police, she forcefully grabbed the little girl’s wrist and began to pull her toward the pond.
But how could such a thing be settled with a life for a life? Seeing the girl completely lose her rationality, Xiang Qing stepped in to separate the girl from the child, while the residents of the community quickly moved forward to stop her.
“This child is still so young; just talking it out is enough. Let’s all calm down,” they urged.
“Yeah, and such a shallow pond can’t drown anyone. The depth doesn’t even reach your boyfriend’s calves. Could he have had a sudden illness? Otherwise, it’s impossible for him to drown.”
“Right, it seems more like he was convulsing in pain, which is why his face ended up submerged in the water and he couldn’t get back up.”
After a long while, the girl finally slowly crouched down.
She helplessly shook her head, “No, he didn’t have that kind of illness...”
Xiang Qing kept comforting the little girl, and perhaps finally regaining her composure, the adorable little girl suddenly hugged her and began to wail loudly.
The cries were heart-wrenching, filled with deep sorrow, as if she had suffered a tremendous injustice.
Xiang Qing's eyes were filled with compassion, but at that moment, to comfort the girl who had lost her boyfriend, she couldn’t simply side with her own child. Otherwise, the girl might act even more irrationally, possibly even physically attacking her daughter.
There were many onlookers taking photos, and as a social psychology professor, she had conducted various case analyses in the past. If she had immediately stepped in to shield her daughter, pushed the girl away, and ordered everyone to be quiet, the girl would have completely broken down. The calmer bystanders might refuse to support her daughter, likely ignoring the little girl’s young age and launching a second round of criticism. In a fit of collective outrage, the incident could quickly escalate online, and she would become the “mad mother” in the video, while her daughter would face far more criticism than at that moment. Any defense she made then would be futile.
So, she had to wait for everyone to regain their composure.
Three minutes later, as the girl's emotions finally calmed down a bit, Xiang Qing took a deep breath, lowered her hand that had been covering her daughter's ears, and gently asked, “Zhi Zhi, how’s your wrist? Does it hurt?”
The little girl had been covering her ears with her mother’s hand, so she hadn’t heard much of the blame. After crying, her emotions had improved significantly. She sniffled and shook her head, saying, “Mommy, it doesn’t hurt.”
Xiang Qing gently patted her daughter’s head.
After a moment, she recalled a similar situation from before and gently guided her, “Do you remember the time when the puppy fell into the water? You were so anxious, looking everywhere for someone to help. Why didn’t you call for help when your brother fell in?”
“Did you think the water was too shallow, and that your brother wouldn’t get hurt? Or did you think he was just playing with you?”
“Were you too scared at that moment, so scared that you couldn’t even speak?”
Instinctively, even though everyone was saying it was her daughter's fault and the little girl had apologized, admitting that she hadn’t called for help, Xiang Qing still felt that something was off about the situation.
Although Zhi Zhi was young, she had always been particularly brave and had a strong sense of justice. How could she watch someone drowning right in front of her and not say a word?
Was it simply that she was too young, too frightened by the scene to speak?
Zhi Zhi clutched her mother’s sleeve tightly, sniffling continuously. Xiang Qing felt a wave of compassion and took out a tissue to gently wipe her little face clean.
“Mommy…”
Xiang Qing responded softly, and Zhi Zhi quickly looked up at her mother, sniffling quietly, “Wuwu, I’m sorry, Mommy. I promise I won’t feel uncomfortable next time.”
“Uncomfortable?”
Xiang Qing thought Zhi Zhi was referring to the discomfort from being pulled earlier, but to her surprise, after saying that, Zhi Zhi lifted her shirt, revealing her soft little belly.
There was a red mark the size of a palm on it.
Xiang Qing felt a surge of pain in her heart, “Did your sister do that just now?”
Zhi Zhi shook her head, “It was my brother…”
Xiang Qing furrowed her brows, “What?”
The murmurs of the crowd around them gradually faded away.
Zhi Zhi hung her head, tears glistening on her eyelashes: “Just now, I was playing by the water with the little ants. My brother said we should play a secret game and tickle each other. But his hands were so hard, pinching my waist, and he made me sit on his lap. It was so uncomfortable, I didn’t want to play, and then my brother got sad and covered his eyes, and he fell into the water all crooked and twisted.”
“Zhi Zhi was also sad and didn’t want to talk.”
The little girl was still in second grade and didn’t understand what Chen He was doing, but out of instinctive sadness and discomfort, she hadn’t called for help for him.
Xiang Qing remained silent for a moment before standing up.
She looked at the girl, “I will call the police immediately. The red marks on my daughter must be examined. If they were caused by your boyfriend, I will use all my power to hold him accountable.”
Although Zhi Zhi’s voice had been soft, it was loud enough for those around to hear, including Chen He’s girlfriend, whose lips began to tremble. “W-what did you say?”
“What are you talking about?!”
Jiang Yan was no longer sleepy, sitting on the balcony and watching the noisy crowd below.
Earlier, Chen He’s girlfriend had already called the police, and now the sound of sirens could be heard as two trained officers arrived at the scene.
Jiangcheng is built next to a river, and every year, there are numerous drowning incidents. In most cases, drownings don't require police intervention; 120 [1] simply confirms the death, and the body is immediately taken away by the funeral home. However, since the caller claimed it was a "homicide," everything changed. The police approached Chen He’s body and briefly examined it.
They checked his mouth and nose, and as they examined Chen He’s pants pocket, a pink hair tie suddenly fell out.
The hair tie had a little rabbit on it, with two red gems glued where the rabbit's eyes should be, making it quite delicate and beautiful.
One of the officers quickly picked up the hair tie and handed it to his partner, saying, “Doesn’t this look like...”
“.........”
The two exchanged glances, and in each other's eyes, they saw shock.
At that moment, someone in the crowd suddenly exclaimed, “Huh?” and everyone turned to look at him.
The person scratched his head, “That one, the little model who died by the river yesterday. The news said she was wearing a pink rabbit hair tie when she went out, but when they found her body, her hair was down…”
“……….”
“……….”
“That girl from the news... her name was Xiao Xiao, right? She seemed to be only about eight or nine years old.”
"Is this pedophilia?"
"Not necessarily. Maybe he's too afraid to harm adult women, so he only targets pretty children..."
"My God... Auntie was wrong about you, I’m so sorry, sweetheart. What would you like to eat?"
"Perverts deserve to die. They shouldn’t even be saved!"
"Shh, it might not even be Chen He. It hasn’t been confirmed yet."
Everyone suddenly fell silent, exchanging meaningful glances and stepping away from Chen He’s body.
Chen He's girlfriend stared intently at the hair tie. She was certain she had never seen this hair tie before, and since she had short hair, it couldn’t have been something Chen He bought for her. Moreover, Chen He had only returned home early the night before...
The girl’s body swayed, her legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.
Everyone fell silent. Chen He’s body seemed to have turned into something filthy, and everyone’s expressions were eerily similar — subtly complicated.
Jiang Yan’s expression became indifferent. She averted her gaze, her foot pressing against the floor. The floor now emitted a faint fragrance of flowers and grass; the greasy smell had completely disappeared, along with the man’s desires and life.
The root cause of Chen He’s death lay with her, but Jiang Yan felt not a shred of guilt.
She had only killed Chen He’s desires.
Nothing more.
Jiang Yan's ability wasn't to kill people by killing their desires. Human desires are endless, and even if they are momentarily suppressed, they will quickly regenerate.
But the desires killed by Jiang Yan, each time they regenerate, are accompanied by a pain that feels like a knife grinding through bone.
So, Chen He simply couldn’t endure the pain of his desires regenerating.
But could she be blamed for that?
Jiang Yan didn’t think so.
What she killed last night was Chen He’s extreme “sexual desire,” the kind that was twisted and perverse. The blood vessels behind his eyeballs were unusually numerous and bright red — something only long-term indulgence in such desires could cultivate. Jiang Yan considered herself incredibly merciful. After all, as long as Chen He could suppress these desires for the rest of his life, he wouldn’t be affected. His body wouldn’t hurt, and he wouldn’t fall face-first into a pond only thirty centimeters deep, unable to get up, ultimately drowning.
But who told him to go look at and touch a girl’s body?
Who told him that even after falling into the water, he wouldn’t stop his perverse desires?
So, his death was his own fault.
Sleepiness washed over her, and Jiang Yan collapsed back onto the sofa and continued sleeping.
At 7:20 in the evening, she was awakened again, but this time it was by the alarm she had set earlier.
Jiang Yan got up and went to the bedroom to pack her luggage. The dresses in red, white, and black were neatly folded and placed in the suitcase, followed by her toiletries. Finally, she stuffed in two pairs of high heels.
While on a mission for the Supernatural Management Bureau, knives weren’t allowed, but the heels of her shoes could be used to kill. Breaking necks and crushing finger bones were far easier that way.
Outside the window, it was pitch black, and the sky began to drizzle lightly, showing no signs of stopping.
At 7:40, Jiang Yan stepped out the door with a black umbrella. The rain wasn’t heavy, and walking wasn’t difficult. She leisurely calculated the time as she made her way out of the community, the flowers in the garden along the path drooping slightly under the raindrops. After about seven or eight minutes, Jiang Yan stepped out of the community gate.
Outside the gate, two or three yellow and white flower wreaths stood leaning against each other in the rain.
Chen He’s girlfriend stood with her head lowered to one side. Though the police hadn’t made an official public announcement, the notification she received just a minute ago confirmed that Chen He was indeed a pervert. The fact that he had chased a child model, causing her to fall into the water and drown, was now established.
Now, the crime had been repaid with death. Chen He had died justly. Though she felt sad for the years she had wasted with him, she knew she should feel lucky.
She and Chen He were only engaged; she would have a better future.
Thinking of this, the girl let out a breath.
It was time to go and apologize to the little girl.
At that moment, she hadn’t known anything and had been too harsh on that child.
As she passed by Jiang Yan, she nodded at the beautiful stranger.
The wind began to pick up, causing the flower wreaths to sway and tilt, the paper flowers making a crinkling sound as they toppled over within seconds, scattering in front of Jiang Yan.
The bus with the license plate Jiang F17995 honked not far away, and Jiang Yan smiled as she walked over.
The white flower wreath inscribed with the name "Chen He" was crushed under her high heels, soaking into the filthy concrete ground.
Just like Chen He himself.
Drowned, filthy, and forgotten.
Notes:
[1] 120 is the emergency medical services hotline. It's the number people dial for an ambulance in China, similar to "911" in the United States.
