The hooting of night owls tore through the silence of the night like a devil's incantation, and the shadowy tree shadows stood like death guards on the mountainside, protecting this world that belonged to the dead.
The starlight sprinkled down, casting a hazy, silvery glow on a solitary grave.
Yu Meiren knelt before the grave, her hands bound behind her back with transparent tape, her braids loose, and the wind blew from behind, her disheveled hair covering her forehead and half her face.
Even at night, she knew where she was. She recognized every tree, every blade of grass, every clod of earth. She was familiar with the unique scent of the air, carrying the fragrance and tenderness of the soil, like the scent of her mother and father.
When her mother was still alive, she often brought her here, saying that her father was buried here. At that time, she thought her father was a bad person.
Later, her mother was also buried there, right next to her father. She felt that her father had taken her mother away. She used to hate her father very much.
Now she knows that her father is a good man, a hero!
She realized a truth—a person's character is not as simple as legend or appearance suggests. Like the man standing before her now, judging solely by his refined appearance, who would believe he was a bad person?
"Is this the place? I haven't gone the wrong way. This must be your wicked father's grave, right?" Mu Ka spoke in a polite manner.
"My dad is a policeman, a hero!" Yu Meiren exclaimed.
Mu Ka chuckled. His laughter echoed through the dark forest, mingling with the calls of night owls, like the mournful cries of ghosts.
"A hero? Hahaha..."
Mu Ka laughed harder and harder, until tears streamed down his face. He took off his glasses, breathed on them, wiped them with a handkerchief, then put them back on. He knelt down and whispered in the Beauty's ear, "They were lying to you."
"No way!" the Beauty said, "Daddy wouldn't lie to me! Qingmu -Yeye wouldn't lie to me!"
Mu Ka said, "Your father is a chain smoker and Poison Scorpion!"
"No! My dad is a policeman!" Yu Meiren cried.
"Okay, okay, it's the police," Mu Ka said. "But there are bad policemen too! Your dad is a bad policeman."
Yu Meiren shook her head, stubbornly saying, "My father is a good man."
Mu Ka asked, "What kind of person is a bad person?"
Yu Meiren bit her lip and said, "You're a bad person."
"How do you know I'm a bad person? Just because I captured you and brought you here?" Mu Ka asked earnestly. "If I were a bad person, I would have killed you long ago. But I won't do that because you're different from your father; you're a good person."
"I'm a good person too." Mu Ka brushed a speck of dust off his white clothes and continued, "I don't smoke or do drugs; I studied hard from a young age, achieved excellent grades, and later got my doctorate from Imperial College; I gave up the opportunity to work in one of the best laboratories in Europe and returned to my hometown to help people escape poverty and become prosperous. How could someone like me be a bad person?"
Yu Meiren didn't know how to answer. What this refined man said seemed to make sense, but she was convinced that he was a bad person.
"Okay, it seems you're still young and there are some things you don't quite understand. So let's analyze it one by one, what kind of person is a bad person."
Mu Ka squatted down in front of Yu Meiren, looking at her face like two elementary school students having a serious discussion.
Are drug dealers considered bad people?
Yu Meiren thought for a moment, and finally nodded.
Mu Ka then asked, "Is someone who kills their own brother a bad person?"
Yu Meiren nodded again.
"Is someone who not only uses drugs themselves but also encourages and tempts those around them to use drugs a bad person?"
Yu Meiren nodded again.
Mu Ka smiled with satisfaction, "Your father did all these things. He was a heavy opium addict; he couldn't go a day without it. He bought opium from Masuba and then sold it in Mangdian. Otherwise, why do you think the people in Mangdian call him Poison Scorpion?"
"I have an older brother named Mu Kuo. Your father worked for my brother back then. After gaining my brother's trust, he betrayed him, had the police beat him to death, and then took over my brother's business, becoming the big boss of tobacco in Masuba."
"Your father not only smoked it himself, but he also forced those around him to smoke it. Many people in Mangdian became addicted to opium because of him, including your mother. Your mother died because of this, didn't she?"
Do you still think your father is a good person?
Mu Ka's words struck Yu Meiren's heart like the shockwaves of a bomb.
Suddenly the starlight shone brightly, the flowers in the cemetery bloomed, and she saw her mother lying in the flowerbed, her face, gaunt from opium smoking, devoid of any color.
Tears streamed down the Beauty's face as she choked out, "Uncle wouldn't lie to me! Qingmu wouldn't lie to me! Yeye wouldn't lie to me! Dad is a good man, a policeman, a hero!"
Mu Ka exclaimed "Huh?" seemingly surprised. "Someone actually reinforced your impression of your father in your mind!"
He looked up at the mountain shadows to the north, and could faintly hear the sound of cars driving along the winding mountain road in the distance.
"Oh, you're here so soon?"
Mu Ka snorted, took a small notebook from his backpack which was lying on the ground, used his phone to light it, quickly wrote a few words on it, then tore off the paper, placed it on the raised mound of earth, and weighed it down with a stone.
After doing all that, he took out a white, flour-like substance from his bag and kneaded it into a dough ball.
"Do you know what this is called?" Mu Ka pressed the face mask onto the grave. "It's called C4 explosive."
He then took out a small yellow tube, about the size of a syringe, and said, "This is called a detonator."
Mu Ka tucked the detonator under his face and pulled out a long, thin thread that was completely invisible in the dark, as if it were invisible.
"Your great-uncle is too clever; he'll definitely figure out I'd bring you here." Mu Ka stretched the wire all the way to the tree next to them. "When he comes, as soon as he touches this wire, the detonator will explode, and the detonator will trigger the C4 explosion. Then this place will—'BOOM!'—your great-uncle, and your father in the grave, will all be blown to bits!"
He finished pulling the string, stood up, and clapped his hands. "Well, you'll learn about these things when you take chemistry class. But..." He turned to look at Yu Meiren, his eyes filled with endless sympathy and pity, "It seems you won't have the chance to go to school again."
Just then, a tall man with long hair arrived and said to Mu Ka, "Everything is set up."
Mu Ka nodded and said, "Let's go."
The long-haired man came over, picked up the Beauty, carried her on his shoulder, and walked out of the cemetery.
They entered the forest via a small path Kuaziba, trudging forward in the darkness. The dense thorns cut into the Beauty's arms and face, causing a burning pain.
After a while, a burst of light suddenly appeared in the direction of Kuaziba. Then, a deafening roar shattered the silence of the night, and at the same time, it struck the Beauty's chest like a boulder, shattering her hopes.
"Grandpa!..." she cried out, her eyes filled with tears.
Mu Ka was walking ahead, stopped and turned around, saying, "Little girl, do you know why we see the flash first and then hear the explosion?" He pushed up his glasses, looking like a high school teacher, "Because light travels faster than sound."