Two weeks later, Poker-Face was discharged from the hospital. I went to Beijing to meet him and Fatty, and discuss what happened next.
The most difficult thing for me after I came back was how to deal with the mess left by my uncle. The events of the past year, although intense, were all done in secret. My family had no idea of the drastic changes that took place on my side, and my uncle was really missing and might never appear. It was one thing to try to explain the events from this side, but on the other side was Poker-face.
He had now become a dead weight, and as his memory recovered, I had to face the problem of getting to know him again.
He had no relatives, left no trace in this world, and didn't know where he lived. He asked a lot of people, but hadn't heard anything back. As he had said before, he had almost no connections with this world. All his equipment was left in the basin, he had no money or documents, and at this time, he was left alone. I was afraid he had no other choice but to go to the side of the road to be a tramp.
Fatty had done quite well and opened a shop in Liulichang. We decided to meet there since we hadn't seen each other for several months. Poker-Face had regained his former complexion, and apart from the furrow between his eyebrows, the other things gave me a familiar feeling that made me feel relieved.
When I saw him, he was leaning against the window and didn't look at me. His eyes were like a mirror, paler than before, as if his mind had already ceased to exist in this world.
I said some conventional remarks at first, but he didn't respond, so I asked Fatty how he was and what the doctor had said.
Fatty shook his head: "Don't worry about it. They said he recalled some fragments. The doctor said he had been under a lot of stress, so he needs to be mentally stimulated to get better, otherwise it would be useless to stew pig's brain every day."
I sighed, not knowing what had happened in the meteorite at the last minute to make him like this.
"Do you have any plans?" Fatty asked me after discussing the boring stuff. "I only have little more than forty square meters here, so it's really cramped. If you want him to live here, I won't even be able to find a lover. When people see me hiding such a pretty face, they'll think I'm a pimp."
"You really have no conscience. He's saved our lives on more than one occasion. What are you worried about?" I retorted angrily.
"He's not living at your place, so of course it doesn't hurt for you to stand there and talk. You want me to pay to find a house for Little Brother [1] ? Say the word. He wants to live in a courtyard? I'll take him down. But he can't live with me; it has nothing to do with whether he saved my life or not." Fatty said. "How about this, I'll pay the rent and you pay for a babysitter. Let's settle him in the neighborhood and give him some good food and drink. We'll visit him on the weekends."
"You son of a bitch. You're acting like a sugar daddy." I said, "He's not a fool. You have to ask him what he thinks."
So Fatty looked at the Poker-Face and said, "Little Brother, what do you say? What are your plans for the future?"
Poker-Face closed its eyes and seemed to be thinking. It took a long time before he finally said, "I want to go somewhere."
I asked, "Go for a walk? Where to? Do you have a destination?"
"I don't know," he said calmly," I'll go to the places you're talking about– Changsha, Hangzhou, Shandong– and see if I can remember anything."
My heart thumped, as this was the last thing I wanted to hear–he originally wanted to remember something, but now his mind was blank and his past was a huge mystery.
But the bigger the mystery, the more it eats at you, and if his memory started to recover during his travels, then the emotional fragments that would emerge in his mind would be extremely tempting. A little hint would reveal all kinds of threads, which would make him miserable in the end.
I understood that for those who lost their memories, their whole purpose in life was to find their past. There was no way to avoid it, but I really didn't want him to take that old road again.
Seeing my face change, Fatty knew there was a knot in my heart, so he patted me and said: "We agreed to let nature take its course. It's unrealistic for you to keep him here."
I sighed. If that was the case, then the only thing I could do was think about these things with him and look after him. After all, we had been through so much, so there were many things we could do to prevent him from going to any extremes.
I also thought over his idea. I had planned to take him to some people in Changsha, but now that the situation over there was chaotic, I didn't know who to look for. At that moment, I suddenly thought of something and asked Fatty, "Didn't you say last time that you had a way to learn about Little Brother's background? Why didn't you check with them?"
"Don't mention it, it makes me sick." Fatty said, "I had planned at that time to find those information brokers to ask. They have a lot of information, so I figured that since Little Brother could be contacted by your uncle, he must have left some information with them and we could find out this way."
I listened, thinking that this was a viable way, so how was it disgusting? Fatty continued, "I didn't think that all these people would shake their heads and go quiet. They're in the procuring business, but at this time, they pretend to be saints and gentlemen."
I snorted, thinking that it was obvious. There were rules in this business, so you couldn't blame them. They probably counted on that information to eat, but once it was revealed, they may not only be unable to put food on the table, but may even be killed.
"These people are extremely tough, so this was also a dead end." Fatty said. "How about you?"
I sighed and told him that if my uncle were here, I might be able to find something out. But the people I was in contact with weren't qualified enough. Those old vultures were eccentric by nature and were now watching the situation on my side. If I wanted to get especially close to them, and not give them any food... it wasn't something people like me could do.
"Let's not think about it, and just do as Little Brother said. We'll sign him up for a tour group, prepare some money, and let him go out for a walk," Fatty said. "Why don't we just ask for a marriage for him, and give him to a rich woman? With his good looks, I think we could still make some money. Later, he could look into the past on his own. What do you think?"
This is bullshit, I said to myself, as I shook my head and didn't say a word. Thinking about what Fatty had said before, I figured it was a good idea. When he couldn't think of an idea, he thought of turning to a person: "No, you just find a way to contact the broker. Maybe it's not a dead end."
"How?"
"The brokers refused to say anything, maybe because they were afraid of offending someone, or didn't know, or were afraid of revealing it. But there's one person who doesn't have this problem. Maybe we can start with them."
"Who?" Fatty asked. Poker-Face also turned his head.
"When I went to Changbai Mountain, it was a man named Brother Chu who took over the arrangements for my uncle. Do you remember?"
"You mean the bald one?"
I nodded, Bald Brother Chu was the boss of the underground bank who cooperated with Uncle Three. After being bought out by Chen Pei Ah Si, he was arrested, but I didn't know which prison he was sent to.
He had contacted Poker-Face and Fatty before, and certainly knew their information. Moreover, he was in prison now and had nothing to worry about. I just didn't know how to find him, or make him speak. Not having any worries, after all, meant that he also didn't have a reason to help us.
Fatty looked thoughtful: "Oh, that's true." Understanding my train of thought, he then added, "I didn't expect that, but if we go to him, would he report us?"
"This kind of person is very shrewd. He has a lot of information in his hands, so if he wants to spill it, Changsha will fall. He can't bear to say it because he knows that it's in his interests not to." I said. "He's in trouble now, and doesn't have many places to turn to for help. I don't think it'll be hard to find a way." With that said, I already knew what to do. I couldn't trouble Pan Zi with some things, but this wasn't a sensitive matter, so we could entrust him to make some inquiries.
So it was decided that we would help Poker-Face check it out. Our intervention was better than letting him run around, but I couldn't do it alone. I was extremely busy and the situation was chaotic, meaning I couldn't let Poker-Face follow me around everywhere. There was no way I could control him, and in case he suddenly remembered something and ran away again, I wouldn't know where to look. In the end, I had to drag Fatty into the water with me.
After discussing it with him, Fatty had to agree. "If nothing else, it's better to find a place for Little Brother to live. That way we can save a lot of energy."
So it was agreed: I would go ask Pan Zi to handle our business, Poker-Face and Fatty would live together first, and then we would discuss the rest of the situation together later. Anyway, this matter couldn't be tossed aside with three people involved, so it was better to handle it ourselves. It could even be regarded as a favor to Poker-Face.
As the saying goes, it's hard to persuade fierce ghosts with good words. Such a decision would be followed by good and bad things.
When I returned to Hangzhou, I called Pan Zi and explained the whole story. He was also a loyal person, and promised to be very efficient. Three days later, I received his call.
I thought he had some answers, and asked him how he was doing.
He sighed and said to me, "I ran into some trouble. I asked him. He does know what you want to know, but he refused to say it without something in exchange. He has some conditions."
"What conditions?" I asked. This was to be expected. I knew that I would also make conditions if I was in his situation.
"He wants 100,000 yuan and for you to meet him. He wants to talk to you in person."
"Meet me?" I paused, a little surprised, and said in my heart: money is easy, but what do you want to see me for? It sounds a little inappropriate.
"Is it because he wants to draw me out to redeem himself?" My heart was cold, and I imagined I could hear the sound of iron chains in my ears.
"I also think it's possible." Pan Zi gave a tsk. "However, he asked me to bring you something. He said that if you look at it, you'll definitely see him."
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's an old photo." Pan Zi paused. "A very old photo; a black and white photo of people from my generation when they were young."
I suddenly got goose bumps. My first reaction was to think of the group photo of my uncle at Xisha before he went out to sea. That shitty photo was a mistake for me. Then I thought, does Brother Chu also know the secret behind this matter? But it was rather late for him to use this to talk about conditions.
Thinking about it, I asked, "What's the picture of?"
After a long pause, Pan Zi said, "I'm not sure. I feel like it's a ghost."
******************
Note:
[1] Characters are 小哥 (pinyin: Xiao Ge), which can be literally translated into "little older brother." It's actually used to address some young man informally when you don't know his name. There's probably not an equivalent word in English, but my lazy ass isn't searching through almost 500 posts to fix it, so "Little Brother" it is lol. It's also why you'll see a lot of fans refer to Poker-Face as "Xiao Ge".