Liu Huaian was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground, then burst into tears, crying, "I didn't mean to... I didn't expect... the fire to be so big... I didn't know my dad was inside too..."
By this time, a large crowd had gathered outside, pointing and whispering towards the consultation room door, unaware of what had happened.
Not long after, Director Liu pushed through the crowd and came in, asking, "Oh dear, what's wrong? What happened?"
Seeing Liu Huaian trembling on the ground and wailing incessantly, Director Liu scolded Qingmu, "I told you to see if you could subdue him, not to scare him! If this frightens him badly... Sigh, I should have known better than to bring him."
She grabbed Liu Huaian and pulled him up, yelling, "You son of a bitch, why are you crying like this? Alright, alright, stop crying, let's go home!"
In the afternoon, Director Liu returned.
"Oh dear, Teacher Qingmu, I'm so sorry about that. I didn't expect him to do that, please don't mind!" Director Liu kept apologizing, probably because he was afraid Qingmu would quit.
Qingmu smiled and asked, "Is he alright?"
Director Liu said, "Who? Oh, you mean Huai'an! It's nothing! What could possibly happen to him?"
" Director Liu, do you know the specifics of that fire more than twenty years ago?" Qingmu asked.
"Yes, I know. What's wrong?"
"Then tell me what happened back then."
"Oh dear, just thinking about it makes my heart race. Let me think about it." Director Liu took a glass of purified water from the water dispenser and gulped it down as if the water could extinguish the fire. "The fire started in the internet cafe. That fire killed so many people! Back then, I was young and occasionally went to the internet cafe. Luckily, I wasn't there that day. Oh, just thinking about it makes me scared!"
"Is that internet cafe owned by Liu Huaian?"
"How could that be?" Director Liu said with a look of disdain. "Back then, Liu Huaian was only in his early twenties, a petty hoodlum. We called people like him 'rotten wood.' How could a piece of rotten wood possibly open an internet cafe?"
Qingmu thought the term "rotten wood" was quite fitting; it was a case of "rotten wood cannot be carved," and it was much more vivid than calling someone a petty thug.
Director Liu continued, " Liu Huaian's family isn't well-off. His parents were laid off, and his father sells pancakes at the alley entrance; we all call him Wu Dalang from Journey to the West). His mother isn't a local; she's quite pretty, and everyone jokingly calls her Pan Jinlian'er a character from Journey to the West). His second uncle, on the other hand, worked away from home for a few years before returning to open a wool textile factory, which he's quite successful with. That internet cafe is right next to the wool textile factory; it seems his second uncle also co-founded it with someone else."
"What about Liu Huaian? Didn't he go out to work or anything?" Qingmu asked.
"That good-for-nothing was always loafing around. When he ran out of money, he'd go to his second uncle's internet cafe to eat, drink, and play for free. He even got the cashier there pregnant, and his second uncle gave him a good beating." Director Liu finished speaking indignantly, then sighed, "But you know what, a person's fate is predetermined. That fire burned the internet cafe and the wool mill to the ground, yet Liu Huaian somehow survived. Isn't that fate?"
Was he not there that day?
"He was at the internet cafe, surfing the internet. But it just so happened that he went out to buy late-night snacks when the fire broke out," Director Liu said.
Qingmu said "Oh," indicating he roughly understood what was going on, and then asked Director Liu, "His second uncle was burned to death?"
"It wasn't just his second uncle! His father, his mother, his aunt, his uncle-in-law, and his cousins—they were all dead!" Director Liu's teeth chattered and his face turned pale as he recalled the incident. "They were all working at the wool mill at the time, and they slept there at night. That day, for some reason, Wu Dalang and Pan Jinlian also went there. Alas! It's all fate!"
Qingmu asked, "Have you found out the cause of the fire?"
Director Liu said, "The fire department said it was caused by a fire in the internet cafe's electrical wiring. Anyway, ever since then, it's been very difficult to get an internet cafe license."
Qingmu understood that in the 1990s, fire safety inspections were not as strict as they are now.
Every institutional improvement comes after a major accident; every change in mindset is learned through bloody lessons. Our respect for life and our reverence for nature are far from sufficient.
Liu Huaian is a patient with severe paranoia. I don't know why the hospital's assessment of him does not meet the criteria for mental disability.
Qingmu can now conclude that Liu Huaian the fire.
Perhaps he didn't do it on purpose; perhaps he was just trying to get revenge on his second uncle. He probably didn't expect the fire to grow so large that it would burn his entire family to death.
From then on, he became mentally unstable. He found many reasons to justify setting the fire in order to make his actions seem less heinous.
He began to fantasize that his mother had an affair with his second uncle, and the legends about Pan Jinlian and Wu Er, as well as his father's weak character, provided the basis for his fantasies.
Liu Huaian " The Matrix," a movie from the late 1990s. Perhaps it was after watching this movie that he began to fantasize about having a chip implanted in his body. He imagined the Internet as a vast, intelligent network that connects computers and terminals worldwide as its nerve endings, monitoring human behavior and ultimately destroying humanity.
He fantasized that he had become a double agent between humanity and the Internet, so his fire became a fire of justice. Although he sacrificed his family, he saved humanity. He became a hero who put righteousness before family.
Qingmu had thought of many things, but he didn't tell Director Liu about these speculations. He believed that there must be intelligent people who had thought of these things, but there was no evidence.
More than 20 years ago, not only were fire safety inspections lax and public safety awareness low, but the methods and efficiency of case investigation were also far inferior to what they are now. It was quite normal to treat an arson case as an accident.
Qingmu also had no evidence.
But he doesn't need it.
He only needs to enter Liu Huaian's subconscious. No one can hide their thoughts in the subconscious dream realm unless the other party's Mental Power is strong enough to resist his intrusion. At least, Qingmu has not encountered such a person yet.
But what can be done?
The police wouldn't believe him, and they wouldn't be willing to overturn a case that was classified as an accident more than 20 years ago and change it to arson, especially since this potential murderer is a well-known Madman.
In the evening, after closing up shop, Qingmu did not return to Ruhua Bar. Lately, in order to meet the deadline, the renovation workers always stayed until dark.
He took the Boss Coal out for a stroll, and at a famous noodle shop in Liuying Lane, he ordered a bowl of braised fish noodles and a plate of stir-fried shrimp for the Boss Coal.
Many people were eating noodles, and naturally, they gave Qingmu's outfit a cold shoulder, especially since he had brought a bird that was generally considered an ominous sign.
Qingmu, on the other hand, had the air of defiantly defying the criticism of others, and with the hearty satisfaction of eating fried fish noodles, he usually didn't attract too much controversy as long as the Boss Coal didn't make a fuss.
However, he knew that the Crow wouldn't shut its beak for long; it would start babbling again after finishing the shrimp, so he devoured it as quickly as possible.
While paying, he casually asked, "Boss, has this noodle shop been open for many years?"
"It's been over twenty years, everyone in the Wuzhong knows that," the boss said.
"More than twenty years..." Qingmu sighed. "I heard there used to be a wool mill, but it burned down."
"Oh, that was a long time ago." The shop owner seemed to be reminiscing about his eighteen-year-old self. "Back then, my shop hadn't been open for long, and that fire burned for a whole day and night! Good heavens!"
Quite a few people must have died, right?
"Of course! The official number is nine, but in reality, we know sixteen or seventeen of them." The boss shook his head and sighed.
Where is that factory located?
"It's not far down the alley at the entrance, near the old farmers' market. Originally, they said they were going to build residential buildings, but the real estate company was worried about the feng shui and didn't build them, so they changed it into a farmers' market instead."
"Oh, thank you."
Qingmu led the Boss Coal, clattering and clattering, into the alley at the entrance.