Chapter 4 - The Shadow of the Past
Bai Shi and Pei Cangyu complied, raising their hands in a gesture of total cooperation. Fei Zuohua reached toward the small of his back to retrieve his handcuffs, but the older officer interjected, stopping him with a steady hand.
"There’s no need for that," the veteran cop said, his voice carrying a jovial, easy-going tone. "Let’s just all head back in the car together."
Fei Zuohua turned to him, his brow furrowed in a sharp line of disapproval. "But, sir..."
"They’re your old classmates, aren't they?" The older man smiled, gesturing toward their parked cruiser. "I’ll take the wheel. You three can use the time to catch up."
Pei Cangyu felt an immediate surge of gratitude toward this amiable stranger. As if sensing the shift in Pei’s mood, the older officer turned toward him and offered a small, knowing smile. "The name is Tu Ziyun. I’d offer a handshake, but seeing as your hands are covered in blood, I think I’ll pass for now."
The casual trust inherent in the man’s words allowed Pei to finally exhale, the tension in his shoulders bleeding away. He nodded in acknowledgment.
Tu Ziyun gestured toward the forensic team currently swarming the scene with their flashing cameras. "Give me a moment. I need to go have a word with the boys."
As Pei watched the man’s retreating back, he couldn't help but think that being a cop was undeniably cool—to have the presence of mind to "have a word" in the middle of a gruesome murder scene was a level of composure he admired.
A sharp cough from Fei Zuohua broke his reverie. The young officer’s voice was cold as he commanded Pei to look back at him. Pei complied, only to find himself staring into Fei’s stoic, humorless face. Feeling a prickle of irritation, he shifted his gaze to Bai Shi. The other man merely offered a helpless, gentle shake of his head, his smile intended to be soothing.
Despite the earlier suggestion, it was Fei Zuohua who ended up in the driver's seat. Tu Ziyun sat in the front passenger side, occupied with peeling a tangerine. He twisted his body around to face the back seat, popped a segment into his own mouth, and then offered one to Fei Zuohua. Fei shook his head, his eyes fixed firmly on the road.
Tu Ziyun then turned his attention to the two in the back. "Want some?"
Bai Shi declined with a polite gesture. Tu Ziyun’s gaze lingered on Pei Cangyu. "Your Oden was confiscated as evidence back there. Aren't you hungry?"
Pei Cangyu nodded. Truthfully, his stomach was beginning to ache with emptiness. As Tu Ziyun reached back to hand him a segment, his hand suddenly paused.
"Ah, wait..." Tu Ziyun chuckled softly. "Your hands are still bloody. Tell you what—lean in a bit, and I’ll feed you."
Pei froze, finding the prospect a bit troublesome, but seeing the genuine kindness on Tu Ziyun’s face, he pulled his hands back and leaned forward. He pressed his face against the metal partition of the police cruiser, his features slightly distorted by the bars. He poked out the tip of his tongue, reaching for the fruit.
Tu Ziyun didn't reach through the bars; he simply placed the tangerine segment onto the tip of Pei’s tongue. The sudden chill of the fruit made Pei flinch. In a desperate attempt to end the awkward encounter as quickly as possible, his tongue curled instinctively to pull the segment in. In the process, he accidentally licked the tip of Tu Ziyun’s finger. He recoiled instantly, retreating into the shadows of the back seat.
Pei leaned back against the upholstery, his face burning with a sudden, sharp regret for ever wanting that tangerine.
But before he could process the embarrassment, Tu Ziyun dropped a bombshell. "Are you gay?"
Pei Cangyu choked, his eyes widening in shock. His first, purely instinctive reaction was to turn his head and look directly at Bai Shi.
Bai Shi slowly turned to meet his gaze. He maintained that same gentle, composed smile, but there was a flicker in his eyes that suggested he was anything but pleased.
Tu Ziyun merely chuckled and went back to eating his tangerine. Pei Cangyu lowered his head, staring at his blood-stained knees.
***
It wasn't a formal interrogation, merely a routine questioning of witnesses. Consequently, they weren't taken to a grim interview room but were seated in Fei Zuohua’s office. Fei sat on one side of the desk, a heavy, yellow-paged ledger spread out before him. Bai Shi and Pei Cangyu sat opposite him, providing their statements.
After a few minutes, Tu Ziyun approached the desk, pocketing his phone as he finished a call. He sat down and flipped through the notes Fei had taken, then looked up at the two of them with a thin smile. "You two certainly did a number on that crime scene. It’s a total mess."
Pei Cangyu swallowed hard, the guilt of his clumsiness weighing on him.
Suddenly, Bai Shi spoke up. "We were actually planning to leave."
"Oh?" Tu Ziyun’s expression remained unreadable. "And why was that?"
"We were covered in blood, and the prospect of coming to the station to give a statement seemed like a massive hassle," Bai Shi replied smoothly.
Tu Ziyun shifted his gaze to Pei. "Did you think about leaving too?"
Pei hesitated, then scratched his head, confessing with a sense of weary resignation. "Yeah. I didn't realize it would be this much trouble. I thought I could just tell you guys what happened and go. I didn't even know who the dead guy was..."
"About that," Tu Ziyun said, casting a glance at Bai Shi. "You’re about to find out." He paused, then leaned forward. "But first, I have to ask—why were you heading toward the intersection of Beitong Street?"
Pei blinked, caught off guard. "Me?"
His mind felt foggy, but he saw the keen, inquisitive look in Tu Ziyun’s eyes. "Why go from Dongtong Street to Beitong Street?"
Pei’s response came almost automatically, the words Bai Shi had whispered earlier surfacing in his mind like a programmed command. "I was going to buy Oden. There’s a convenience store there."
Tu Ziyun nodded slowly, then turned back to Bai Shi. "Mr. Bai, do you have any idea who the victim is?"
Bai Shi shook his head.
Tu Ziyun pointed to Bai Shi’s clothes. "There’s blood on the front of your coat and dust on the hem. The notes say you knelt down to check on the victim?"
Bai Shi nodded.
"And you didn't see his face clearly then?"
"No. It was too dark."
Tu Ziyun turned back to Pei. "Mr. Pei, did you attempt to move the body?"
"No."
"Did you walk around the immediate vicinity of the corpse?"
"...Yes."
"How much time passed between the discovery and the police report?"
"...About ten minutes, I guess."
"And was Mr. Bai with you the entire time?"
"Yes."
Tu Ziyun closed the ledger with a definitive snap. He looked at Bai Shi, his voice dropping into a more somber register. "Mr. Bai, I’m sorry to inform you that you did know the victim. It was Bai Yinhua."
Pei Cangyu’s head whipped around to look at Bai Shi. He didn't know who Bai Yinhua was, but he saw Bai Shi freeze. In an instant, Bai Shi’s eyes turned a raw, painful red. Tears welled up and spilled over as his hands began to tremble, his fists clenching white-knuckled.
"Are you telling me..." Bai Shi’s voice was a jagged whisper. "That the scene I wanted to run away from... the man murdered there... was my brother?"
Pei was stunned.
Bai Shi’s head slumped forward, his shoulders collapsing as he seemed to shrink into himself. Pei reached out to comfort him, then hesitated, his hand hovering in the air. Instead, he turned a glare toward Tu Ziyun. "He’s family! If you knew that, why didn't you say something sooner?"
As if the bones had been removed from his body, Bai Shi leaned heavily against Pei Cangyu’s shoulder. Pei stiffened for a moment but didn't pull away.
"If only I hadn't tried to run," Bai Shi murmured, his voice thick with a simulated, crushing regret. "Maybe... maybe things would be different..."
Pei slowly reached out and patted his shoulder.
Watching this display, Fei Zuohua lowered his eyes, while Tu Ziyun remained entirely expressionless.
Once the statements were signed and fingerprints taken, their clothes were confiscated as evidence. Under the swift intervention of Bai Shi’s lawyer, they were permitted to leave the station.
The moment they stepped out into the night air, Pei Cangyu shivered. He was wearing nothing but a short-sleeved t-shirt now that his bloodied jacket was gone. Bai Shi, though also missing his overcoat, still had a knit sweater on.
As Pei rubbed his arms to ward off the chill, he felt a weight settle over his shoulders. Bai Shi had stripped off his own sweater and draped it over him. Pei looked at him, surprised. Bai Shi was now left in only a light blue button-down shirt, the faint outline of a pendant visible beneath the fabric.
Pei felt a flush of embarrassment. "Hey, won't you be cold?"
Bai Shi just gave him a small, tired smile.
A vibrant green Porsche 911 was idling at the curb, looking wildly out of place among the drab, utilitarian vehicles in the police lot. A young man in a sharp suit, standing about six feet tall, stepped out of the car. He approached them with a casual, almost indolent gait, a diamond stud in his left ear catching the moonlight. Without so much as a glance at Pei Cangyu, he handed a fresh coat to Bai Shi.
Bai Shi took the coat but kept his eyes on Pei. "Let me give you a ride home."
Pei looked at Bai Shi’s eyes, still rimmed with red from his earlier outburst, and shook his head. "No, it’s fine. You should get some rest."
"I’ll drop you off. It’ll be faster. Don't you have classes tomorrow?"
The man in the suit chuckled, finally acknowledging Pei’s presence. "You’re still a student? Which university?"
Pei Cangyu lowered his head, feeling the sting of his own circumstances.
Bai Shi turned a cold gaze on the man. "You can go."
Pei watched as the man pulled his hands from his pockets and straightened his posture with sudden, military precision. He began to bow deeply, a gesture of profound respect, but Bai Shi cut him off with a sharp movement, preventing him from finishing the salute.
Bai Shi jerked his chin toward the man. "Leave your jacket."
The man wordlessly stripped off his suit jacket and handed it over.
With a dismissive wave from Bai Shi, the man turned and vanished into the night.
Bai Shi then turned to Pei, holding out the suit jacket. "It might be a bit large, but wear it for now. You can give it back when we get to your place."
Pei’s eyes widened. "Wait, you’re walking me home?"
Bai Shi let out a soft, melodic laugh. "Well, you clearly don't want to take the car."
"It’s not... it’s not that," Pei stammered. "I just thought you’d want to be alone for a while."
A profound sadness flickered in Bai Shi’s eyes. "It’s better to have someone to talk to."
Pei sighed, took the jacket, and slipped it on. "Fine. Let’s walk."
As they began to head out, Bai Shi offered a small nod to a black Cayenne idling further down the street.
"Who’s that?" Pei asked curiously.
"The driver," Bai Shi replied simply.
Pei Cangyu couldn't help but reflect on the sheer absurdity of this reunion. He pulled out his phone: 12:30 AM.
In truth, Pei’s memories of Bai Shi were a tangled mess of nuance and mystery. Since Bai Shi’s abrupt transfer in middle school, there had been zero contact. They had been desk mates for a time, and Pei had always sensed a complexity in him—a lingering shadow of melancholy. Pei had considered himself the person closest to Bai Shi in their class, yet even then, he felt he didn't truly know the boy.
His other friendships were simple. They walked home together, swapped seats during breaks, and hung out at each other's desks until the bell rang. They played ball, ate together, and shared everything. He remembered a friend stealing his father’s "adult" books to show Pei, only to get caught; the friend’s father had beaten both of them without hesitation. Pei had "broken off" the friendship in a fit of pique, only to reconcile a week later when the boy bought him soy milk for a month.
Those were the fragmented, mundane pieces of a normal adolescence.
But Bai Shi was different.
Bai Shi’s presence had acted like a barrier, gradually isolating Pei from the rest of the group until he occupied nearly all of Pei’s time. Yet, they never talked about girls or classmates. They never met up outside of school unless it was by chance. Pei had often felt that Bai Shi was strangely dependent on him—though he wondered now if that had been a delusion. It was only after Bai Shi left that Pei realized how much of his life had been consumed by the other boy; he had neglected his other friends so thoroughly that he found himself standing in a sudden, silent void. It was as if they had shared an exclusive, private world, and then one of them had simply vanished without a word, leaving no trace and no way to follow.
It was a bizarre, haunting dynamic.
Seeing him now, however, the old gloom seemed to have vanished. Perhaps life had treated him well. Bai Shi had always been striking—pale and elegant even as a teenager—but now he had truly come into his own. The boyish softness had been replaced by sharp, aristocratic lines. He was tall, easily 190 centimeters, towering over Pei’s 178. And he was smiling. That was the most jarring part; Pei didn't remember him smiling much at all.
The only thing that remained unchanged were his eyes—obsidian orbs that seemed to lack any of the usual flecks of color found in human irises. They were a deep, unsettling black if one looked too closely. But then again, who would stare that intently? Pei only knew because of a few accidental glances years ago.
Bai Shi reached out, adjusting the suit jacket that was slipping off Pei’s shoulder. "What are you thinking about?" he asked softly.
The tone hit Pei with a wave of nostalgia. It was exactly how Bai Shi used to speak—a calm, level delivery that turned questions into statements, carrying an underlying sense of absolute control.
Pei shook his head and pulled out a cigarette. "What do you do now?"
"I work for the family business."
"Oh."
Pei tried to flick his lighter, but it wouldn't catch. He stopped, shaking the device. The air was damp, the ground slick with moisture. He thought, irrelevantly, about how they must have trampled the evidence at the scene.
As he stood there with the cigarette between his lips, a flame appeared. A sleek, matte-black lighter, engraved with a cyan eagle, hissed to life. The golden flame hovered exactly one finger’s width away, waiting for him to move.
Pei leaned forward to catch the light. Bai Shi snapped the lighter shut.
"We have to go back to the station tomorrow. Will it interfere with your classes?"
Pei ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "I’ll go during the long break. I can't have the cops showing up at school."
"True. Especially given your... record."
Pei fell silent. A few schoolyard brawls and a couple of nights in detention hardly constituted a "record," but he didn't argue. To be honest, he felt a visceral rejection of this version of Bai Shi. The man was too soft, too polished. He was a stranger.
"So... why was your brother in that alley anyway?"
"I don't know. We haven't seen each other in a long time."
"Did he have enemies? Did he owe money?"
Bai Shi offered a thin, enigmatic smile. "He didn't need money. As for enemies... quite possibly."
Pei yawned, spotting the familiar silhouette of his apartment complex around the corner. He shrugged off the suit jacket and handed it back. "Alright, I’m home. You should get going."
Bai Shi took the jacket but suddenly grabbed Pei’s arm.
"What is it?"
"I was thinking," Bai Shi said, his gaze pinning Pei in place. "When we found my brother, he wasn't entirely dead yet, was he?"
Pei nodded slowly. "Yeah."
"The killer might not have been far away," Bai Shi continued, his eyes burning with a sudden intensity. "He might have stayed nearby to ensure the job was finished."
"You mean..."
"If he thinks we saw him..."
Pei’s eyes widened as the implication sank in.
"He might come looking for us," Bai Shi whispered. Then, just as quickly, he smiled and let go. "But don't worry. I’m sure it’ll be fine. Even if he wants to tie up loose ends, it won't be tonight."
He gave a casual wave and walked toward the curb. The black Cayenne that had been trailing them pulled up immediately, and a driver stepped out to open the door.
Pei watched as Bai Shi tossed the jacket to the driver and slid his long legs into the car. The luxury vehicle glided away, disappearing into the city's arteries.
Left alone in the shadows of his dilapidated neighborhood, Pei felt a sudden, icy chill that had nothing to do with the wind. He didn't have a driver or a lawyer. He looked at the dark, crumbling buildings around him, took a sharp breath, and bolted for the stairs.
