TCOR CH30

Chapter 30: Mimic

Yu Xiaoshan’s exhibition was about Redvein Syndrome.

I was a little surprised to see the list of exhibits, which had never appeared on the internet before. It was full of large installations with various red lines intersecting.

I had done some research with Shen Wunian, and I knew that Yu Xiaoshan’s art had always been about people and nature, environmental pollution, and so on. But he had never dealt with a particular disease before.

“Little Ai…Zhong Ai!”

I looked towards the sound and saw Ni Shan standing behind the bar, pushing towards me a tray with four cups of freshly ground coffee that she had just made.

‘I have a bit of a stomachache. Could you please take this up to me? Please?’ She prayed, covering her stomach, and ran quickly to the bathroom.

It was the same time I needed to deliver the materials, so I didn’t make a second trip.

I carried the tray to the second floor and could hear an argument coming from inside the office.

‘Have you looked hard enough for a venue? How can this kind of venue match my art?’Or maybe it wasn’t an argument, just Yu Xiaoshan telling off someone.

When I pushed open the door, Xu Meiqing was explaining that Jiang City had found it difficult to find a venue that met all of Yu Xiaoshan’s requirements, especially in the city centre, where the space was either not big enough or not suitable.

Yu Xiaoshan slammed the folder down on the table and said firmly, ‘I don’t care, I’m not having the exhibition in this rubbish place.’

I squatted down and put the coffee and documents on the coffee table one by one, while secretly judging Yu Xiaoshan.

When I first saw him, I was surprised. The photos on the internet were from years ago, when Yu Xiaoshan still looked sprightly, with long black hair and always wearing a dark blue Tang suit, which made him stand out. Now he really has aged a lot, not only is his hair completely white, but he is also thin and dry. If it weren’t for the unchanged Tang suit, it would be hard to believe that it is the same person.

‘Teacher, don’t be angry, have a drink.’The man in his forties standing next to Yu Xiaoshan took the coffee from me and gave it to Yu Xiaoshan respectfully.

This person seems to be Yu Xiaoshan’s disciple, and I often see him in the corners of Yu Xiaoshan’s photos. He is in his forties, and he seems very honest, but he doesn’t take care of his hair very well, and his bangs cover his eyes.

Xu Meiqing said, ‘Yes, Mr Yu, don’t get excited. The location hasn’t been chosen yet, so it can still be changed.’

‘This may be the last exhibition of my life, and I won’t allow any mistakes…’

There were four people there, but only two were talking.Yu Xiaoshan’s disciple didn’t even have the right to sit, so it’s understandable that he couldn’t express an opinion.Shen Wunian…he’s been looking at the documents in his hands since I came in, as if he’s not at all concerned about what’s going on around him.

After I put down the exhibit list, he quickly picked it up again and started looking through it.When I put the coffee in front of him and it made a ‘dripping’ sound, he finally looked up and saw it was me.He blinked, and the corner of his mouth twitched, gradually spreading a vivid smile on his originally expressionless face.

‘Thank you,’ he said quietly.

I smiled back, picked up the tray, stood up, and walked out quickly.Even before I reached the ground floor, I could hear Shen Wunian speaking for the first time since I had walked outside the office.

“What matters is the result, not the process.Mr Yu and Mr Liang sponsored this exhibition, which was a brave move against the majority opinion.You should understand that without their support, these exhibits would never have seen the light of day.I know you have your artistic pursuits, but let’s talk about reality first…”

Mr Liang? Is Mr Liang here?

I can’t believe Mr Liang would sponsor an art exhibition like this.With these thoughts, I slowly walked downstairs.

‘Yu Xiaoshan?’ Pei Huanchen tilted his head, clearly unfamiliar with the name, ‘I don’t seem to know him. What does he do?’

‘He makes installations.’I sat down with him in the school cafeteria. ‘This exhibition in Jiangsu City seems to have been sponsored by Mr. Liang. It’s about Redvein Syndrome. Do you know about Redvein Syndrome?’

I thought that Pei Huanchen, who was so lacking in common sense, would not know about such an obscure disease, so I searched my mind for an explanation of Redvein Syndrome and planned to give him a popular science lecture.

‘Redvein Syndrome is…’

‘I know.’Pei Huanchen’s chopsticks caught a piece of scrambled egg, and with a little force, he split it in half. “The cure is the antidote for Redvein, and only by receiving the love of the cure can the disease of Redvein be cured. This disease torments Redvein, causing them to suffer and lose their dignity, so they need the help of Mimic…”

Mimic?

I don’t know much about Redvein Syndrome, so I’m not familiar with Pei Huachen’s ‘Mimic’. I thought it was some kind of medicine made for patients with Redvein Syndrome.

‘Everything is for the sake of medicine, everything is for the sake of mankind. Someone must make a sacrifice, and I must be the one to make the sacrifice…’Pei Huachen’s hands began to shake violently, and his eyes showed an unknown fear.

‘Huanchen, what’s wrong?’ I tried to calm him, waving my hand in front of his face, but he didn’t respond.

It was as if he had fallen into some kind of scary memory, unable to escape easily, and could only let the old haze come back and drag him into an even deeper problem.

The chopsticks fell out of his hands and rolled to the ground.He was gasping for breath, clutching his chest, his eyes wide open.

‘But it hurts, the experiment hurts… Daddy, I’m in so much pain…’ He silently shed two clear tears that ran down his pale cheeks.

What is going on?

I got up and went to him, patting his back and saying, “Huanchen, breathe deeply and relax…” I then called his bodyguard over.

The two black men seemed calm and collected. They exchanged glances, one pulled out a syringe from his jacket and the other knelt down next to Pei Huanchen.

Before I could react, the one with the syringe stuck it into Pei Huanchen’s neck.Within seconds, Pei Huanchen, who had been shaking and crying uncontrollably, collapsed.He was supported by the black man and carried onto the back of the other black man.

‘Young master has a seizure. We need to take him back.’Xiahei, who had given the injection, calmly replaced the transparent cover on the needle and then slipped the syringe into the inside of his shirt.

“Don’t worry, young master has this problem all the time, it’s not life-threatening,” Xiahei added, seeing how pale I looked and wanting to reassure me.

Even so, when I got into Shen Wunian’s car, I still felt cold all over and my heart was racing.

Shen Wunian noticed this and asked what was wrong.

I fastened my seatbelt and explained what had happened in the cafeteria.

‘Since his bodyguard said it’s fine, don’t worry,’ Shen Wunian said.

I kept searching for words with similar pronunciations, but I couldn’t find any relevant information.

‘Do you think… is it possible that there are really people in the world who experiment on living people?’I made it clear that I was talking about ‘the kind of experiment that really takes place in a laboratory, treating humans like mice’ and not the kind of experiment we do.

‘Why? Do you think Pei Huanchen has been part of some kind of cruel experiment?’

I don’t know, but he is really strange. He has never been to school, has no friends, and has never even eaten hotpot… He feels like he is something other than a human, and sometimes shows sympathy for humans, and sometimes looks down on them.’As I spoke, I rubbed the goosebumps on my arms and looked at Shen Wunian, who was engrossed in his own thoughts, with trepidation. ‘You…you rich people don’t have a special place to keep these humanoid pets, do you?’

‘Yes, we’ll send the pretty kids we like to the lab, inject them with a drug that turns them into brainless idiots, and send them to school,’ Shen Wunian said calmly, staring ahead.

I moved away quickly: “Don’t joke. I’m serious.”

Shen Wunian was silent for a moment, and sighed at the windshield in front of him.

“Pei Huanchen is not Liang Zai’s pet, so don’t worry. Or rather, Pei Huanchen is only safe when he is around Liang Zai.”

He obviously knew something, but it might be about Liang Zai’s privacy and it would be awkward to tell me.

I didn’t press the matter, and felt that I had covered the topic, so I changed the subject to the destination of the trip.

‘Did Teacher Xu really say he wants me to go to the banquet with you?’Two days ago, Shen Wunian suddenly told me that Xu Ao was hosting a banquet at home to entertain some friends, that he had invited him, and that he had specifically asked to bring me.

‘I would never lie to you about something like this,’ he said, looking at me with the corner of his eye, praising me for the umpteenth time, ‘you look great in this.’

Today, I’m dressing more formally because I’m going to meet Xu Ao. I’m wearing a jacket and trousers that Shen Wunian had custom-made for me.

But even though it’s called a suit, it’s actually more like a trench coat.The latte-coloured, lightweight and soft fabric is very different from traditional suits, both in terms of style and material.It’s more casual and fashionable.

Underneath is a small crew-neck cashmere undershirt in the same colour, but a much lighter shade.The undershirt’s hem is tucked into the trousers, revealing a woven waistband around the waist, as Shen Wunian had taught me to wear it.

‘You’ve said that many times already,’ I say, turning my head to look out of the window.My cheeks slowly warm up, and the heat climbs up to my ears.

I’ve heard it many times, but I still feel embarrassed every time.

Xu Ao lives on the edge of the city, in a different direction from my school.There was some traffic, and the navigation system said it would take two and a half hours to get there.

But I was chatting with Shen Wunian and taking photos of the sky and the traffic from my backpack the whole way, so I wasn’t bored.

I still don’t know what this dinner party tonight really means to Xu Ao, and I also don’t know what I’ll do to Shen Wunian when I’ve had a few drinks.