Chapter 39 The Story of the Retard

  I didn’t think it was an easy thing, between Li Muzi and Wu Hua.

  At lease, he was not as heroic as Li Muzi said... Or else, she would not be smiling so evilly in the mirror.

  So, did it matter even though he was not as heroic as Li Muzi said?

  How dared I offend a woman like Li Muzi, who could eat human meat?

  I shook my head and thought what she said was the truth.

  Anyway, was it important if it was right or wrong? Sometimes it was not really so important.

  I left her office and went to the campus. I watched their smiling faces as the boys and girls were passing by.

  It was a world that I was unfamiliar with, filled with sunshine and vitality.

  After the experience with Li Muzi, I sat at the football field in Minnan University, and went back to my studio as I recovered my emotions after watching them playing football.

  It was rather rare for me to enjoy this quiet time.

  Ii was after only a short moment when suddenly a person came up to me, walking shapelessly and twisted.

  That man had slanted lips with both of his hands bowed in front of his chest, and there was some water in his mouth... He was mentally retarded.

  That retard stood in front of me. I could sense the fishy smell from him and covered my nose. I was about to leave when that retard called me: “Mr. Yu, please stay.”

  I just thought it was impossible for that retard to speak like that.

  And the tone when he spoke - dignified and positive, it was rather difficult for me to connect the speaker with a retard.

  But how could it be anyone else? There was no one else around.

  “Mr. Yu, please sit and let’s have a talk.” That retard smiled to me, he didn’t move his mouth but I could hear the words clearly.

I was a little confused and wanted to turn and leave, but that retard spoke again: “it’s about Li Muzi and me.”

Li Muzi?

Hearing this name, I sat quickly and asked him: “Who are you?”

“I’m Wu Hua.” This retard sat there too and smiled.

I was shocked. Was it Wu Hua? Wasn’t he killed by a car one week ago?

So who was this retard in front of me?

Wu Hua looked at me and asked: “You are in the ghost business and you must know about ghostly possession, right?”

I understood when Wu Hua said it.

My master once told me, retarded people lacked some soul in their body and were easily possessed by ghosts.

Those crazy ones who hit everyone they saw, were actually possessed by ghosts.

Now this retard was possessed by Wu Hu’s ghost?

“I’ve heard the story outside the door by Li Muzi when you stayed in her office,” the retard said.

I asked him, “Was it true, what Li Muzi said?”

“Yes, but not all of it.” Wu Hua asked me if I had a cigarette.

I took out a cigarette and gave it to him.

He took the cigarette and said: “it was true that my parents died at sea, and I also like salty coffee, but did you know who killed me?”

“Who was it?” I asked him.

He told me it was Li Muzi who killed him.

It sent a chill up my spine. I asked him why she killed him, since they were lovers.

Wu Hua smoked the cigarette, he said it was because he wanted to break up with her.

Wu Hua told me: “Every time we walked on the street, she would be passive-aggressive whenever I gave a look to the women nearby. She took my phone away and installed a camera in my office; she wanted to control me.”

“Well, whenever I was away on business, she would check my phone call list and told me to open my phone camera, she wanted to check whether there were any other women around me.”

I asked him, “Was Li Muzi really such a control freak?”

“Hum, there was one time which was the most terrible. I was working overtime and she called a prostitute and wanted to... She said she just wanted to test if I was really loyal to her.” Wu Hua sighed and said: “We were in love, but it was rather terrible in the process of love: suspiciousness, control and ambition. I wanted to get rid of this situation and break up with Li Muzi, so, on that day, she drove the car... and killed me.”

“Is it a psychological problem?” I asked Wu Hua?

Wu Hua replied: “Yes... I knew psychology, that’s why I decided to leave her. But I never knew I was killed by her on that day when I wanted to break up with her.”

“When she killed me, she didn’t park the car far away but stopped fifty meter from me. Then she went out of the car and looked at me coldly till I died.” Wu Hua said: “Li Muzi had such personality. She had a strong motherly instinct and a very aggressive temper. She would destroy what she couldn’t get.”

Wu Hua smoked again and said: “Mr. Yu, Li Muzi really can do some Miao magic, but it was witchcraft. It just told her to eat my hands and scalp to imprison my soul, so that I could stay with her forever. As time went by, my soul had melted in Li Muzi’s body, and then I became her, and she became me.”

Talking about this, Wu Hua stood up and spoke to me: “By the way, Mr. Yu, your ring blocked Li Muzi’s witchcraft and released me... I was free afterwards.”

I called him: “Do you want me to call the police for you?”

I just wanted to do something for Wu Hua. Li Muzi was such a vicious woman, I felt nervous thinking she was out there.

Wu Hua shook and said: “No need... no need... I had only the wrong beginning with Muzi. Now I am free, so just let it be. In any case, I felt very happy during the first month when we were in love... Without her, I would always have lived in the shadow of my parents' death, and I wouldn’t have been free then, either.

“Time for me to go now, I have to reincarnate. Thank you, Mr, Yu, you are the only person who knows the story between Li Muzi and me. Now you can just regard it as a scene where this retard is telling you a story that make you laugh. Good bye.”

After that, this fool became a retard again and smiled fatuously to me, drooling extensively.

I said goodbye to this fool and left the football field, then I went into my studio.

It was for the best that Wu Hua told me not to call the police. It’s better to avoid stirring up trouble.

For this couple, it started in honey but ended up with ‘psychological illness’. Psychological illness was really such a terrible disease in the city.

Since then, I had never seem Li Muzi, but only heard of her from Liu the Sixth.

He told me Li Muzi got crazy now.

She was either crying or scratching the wall, or even chanting sutras. She was always saying things like “I can see nothing but Buddha chanting sutras”.

I can see nothing but Buddha chanting sutras.

I just thought this chant was taught to Li Muzi by the ‘tattoo spirit’ in the Ananda Buddhist Ring.

The Ananda Buddhist Ring symbolized pure love, but for Li Muzi it was never like this, and such a tattoo might cause trouble rather than benefit for her as time passed by.

This might be a case where I created a Yin tattoo effect with a Yang tattoo.

...

That afternoon, l left Li Muzi, Wu Hua, and that retard, and went back to my tattoo studio.

I was there sighing for Li Muzi and Wu Hua.

But I was too busy to sigh for so long. Soon came new customers asking me to draw a tattoo for them.

I was very busy the whole day, and was about leave when I got a strange guest.

This guest was a woman.

She was wearing black tights, which pressed against her breasts and made her cleavage more obvious.

Her face was half covered by her hair.

“Hello... Yin and Yang tattoos, the tattoos for Yin and Yang; for death and life; riches and honor; safe travel. So, are Yin and Yang tattoos so amazing?” that woman asked me.

I replied: ‘Why do you want to have this Yin and Yang tattoo?”

That woman said: “I’ve been seeing something strange... I had been given a tattoo here before, now I came to you when I got the ad via WeChat.”

“Oh? You’ve been here for a tattoo before?” I looked at her for some time but couldn’t recall her name.

It might not be so. I had many customers, but why couldn’t I remember her since she was so unusual?

Even though I couldn’t recall her, I would remember those big breasts, right?

She pulled up her sleeves and exposed the tattoo on her arm.

It was the tattoo of a ‘Yin and Yang ring’. It tattoo was traced with elements of Tai Chi.

I remembered this tattoo.

I also remembered the story then.

That woman was a basketball fan. She liked the start of McGrady, and on her left arm there was a “ring tattoo”, which was very beautiful.

That woman told me she wanted that tattoo to commemorate the retirement of her favorite star.

I told her at that time: ”Your arm is very thin and the skin is very white. It would make you imposing if you had that western style ring tattoo.”

Then I drew an outline of that “Yin and Yang ring” and asked her whether she could accept this style.

She liked that ring very much and told me to give her this “Yin and Yang ring” tattoo.

She spent one thousand Yuan for this tattoo. I was impressed by both the tattoo and the money.

But two years ago, this woman didn’t have such big breasts. Maybe there have been some bad omens that gave her a second development?

I shook my head and got rid of those ideas. Then I sat down and asked her: “Oh, oh... I remember. So have you seen something strange recently?”

“Yes.”

The woman said: “I can always see a fire pot, and it is here too.”

Then she pointed at my tattoo couch: “The fire pot. Very fine copper basin, the fire is very strong there.”

“It’s good when you get a vision of fire.” I told her: “Everything will become prosperous... Is that bad?”

She shook her head, for everyone else, seeing fire is a good omen, but for me, it is bad. I even nearly lost my job recently because of this.