NOVEL NEXT vol. 1 chapter 16 - "Or does justice not belong to me?"
Chapter 16 – “Or does justice not belong to me?”
The fire made the morning news.
In a sombre voice, the newsreader announced, “School fire caused by aging electrical lines leads to unfortunate death of student”, and then, with an expert shift of tone, focused at length on the exemplary leadership of local authorities, as well as the selfless bravery of the firefighters. In this tale of courage and heroes, the death of Lang Feiran was but a mere trivial detail of a nameless extra, his defiance but a small paragraph that was skimmed over. In life, he was a “troublemaker”; in death, they called it “unfortunate”. His life passed as inconsequential as a softly fallen snowflake that quietly melted in the light of the dawn.
The fire, however, did claim a life. It left a blemish on K City’s production safety record. And, with the particular sensitivity leading up to the Spring Festival*, it drew significant public reaction. The higher-ups were forced to issue an official instruction to temporarily close Eternal Peace Juvenile Reform School for further reorganisation.
No sooner had the iron gates of the school been locked than Liang Yong emerged from the school courtyard, grinning ear to ear, with a permit for reconstruction and expansion. Lately, more and more students had been sent over, the dorms were nearly out of space. Once things quieted down, it was the perfect moment, whilst repairs were being done, to erect two new buildings. “Wildfire does not burn it completely, when the spring winds blow, it lives again”*, he would do another round of enrollments in the spring, and another tidy profit would be made.
The students who had survived the fire were gradually taken home by their parents. After their successful reformation, the children were all exceptionally well-behaved; they were absolutely obedient to their parents and did exactly as they were told. The parents, comforted and content, anticipated a happy New Year’s family reunion.
By the time Zheng Yan rushed to the school, Qin Mu had already left. She initially thought Qin Mu had returned home by himself, but when night came, there was still no sign of him. Frantically, she seized Qin Aihua’s arm, saying they needed to call the police. But before they made the call, the police did in fact show up at their door, asking them to come into the station and cooperate with an investigation.
As it turned out, Qin Mu, with the accompaniment of Shen Liu, Chubby and the others, had gone to the police. As per standard procedure, he underwent a medical examination for his injuries and gave a detailed statement. The school, in turn, had flatly denied all allegations of physical assault and attempted rape, insisting instead that Qin Mu had run away after being defiant of school management, and accused him, with righteous indignation, of being an unrepentant troublemaker who sought revenge on his teachers.
Upon hearing this, Zheng Yan immediately chastised her son with anguish and dismay, “How could you lie like this?! I am so disappointed.” She threw a glare at Shen Liu, who was sitting aside, and explained to the police, “My son isn’t a bad kid. He’s probably been influenced by somebody to act like this. You know teenagers. They’re muddled in the head. They think in extremes, oversimplifications. They can’t even tell the difference between right and wrong. Always clueless about the good intentions we parents and teachers have. And, of course, so difficult to manage. It’s the correct educational method for teachers to be harsh. Even if they hit them a few times or punish them a few times, it’s alright. Sometimes they can only remember to listen when there’s pain. As parents, we are completely approving. Besides, why did the teachers only hit him and not the other kids? It must be because he did something wrong. We can’t even thank the teachers enough. We would never report them to you.”
Her absurd speech drew frowns from the group of university students standing by. Li Feiyan mumbled, “How the hell is she a mother? I say she’s the one who can’t tell the difference between right and wrong. Treating her own child like some privately owned slave. I really want to go up there and slap her.”
Chubby nervously grabbed hold of her arm, advising, “Don’t be impulsive. Your one hit could cause serious injury. Then you’ll get locked up by the police.”
Li Feiyan gritted her teeth in anger, “She deserves to be hit. Why else would I hit her and not someone else?”
Glasses looked at Qin Mu with sympathy and sighed quietly, muttering, “No wonder he didn’t want to come.”
The police had a pile of work to get through and were impatient with Zheng Yan’s ramblings, “Enough. You all go and work it out yourselves. It’s best if you can settle this privately.” The injuries on Qin Mu, though they looked black and blue, were not serious enough to be classified as minor injuries, and so even if they did file the case, it wouldn’t be counted as a serious offence, let alone the fact that the legal guardians didn’t want to press charges.
Qin Mu remained silent. His hair hung over his forehead, covering his eyes, utterly empty of all light. Like an old man who had seen through all the warmth and cold of the world, who knew how everything would end, he sat indifferent to all that happened around him. Shen Liu, who stayed next to him without saying a word, waited until the police had finished all the paperwork, and then touched Qin Mu on his arm, lifted his chin towards the direction of the end of the hallway, “Didn’t you say you wanted to go to the bathroom before?”
Qin Mu looked into his eyes for a brief moment, his eyelashes quivered, and then quietly stood up. Shen Liu gave Chubby a look and also stood up. Smiling, he said to Qin Aihua, “Uncle, now that he is in your care, we don’t need to worry anymore. We still have class later, so we’ll take our leave.”
Qin Aihua gave him an insincere thank you, waited till they all left, and then spat into a corner. He cursed in his mind these spoiled uni students who had nothing better to do, who called the police over a tiny-ass thing and made him look like an idiot over absolutely nothing. If word got out that he didn’t know how to raise his child and his child was gay, how was he ever going to show his face again? He impatiently nagged Zheng Yan that it was time to leave. The two of them threw blame at each other and only realised when they reached the door that Qin Mu was missing again. All that was left was a note in the main hall saying he was staying at a friend’s, and he’d return in a few days.
Zheng Yan was furious and shouted at the police to help her find her son. There weren’t that many surveillance cameras during those years. All they saw was Qin Mu leaving by himself, walking into the small alley across the street, and there was no footage after that. Zheng Yan lost her temper and became hysterical. She cried and shouted and screamed, accusing the police of losing her son. She was almost detained.
Qin Mu got into the taxi that was waiting ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) in the alley. Before they came to the police station, Shen Liu made an agreement with him that if things weren’t resolved properly, he would help him.
Shen Liu took him back to his place.
Though Young Master Shen roamed free in the world, he did not escape the picky tendencies of a pampered young gentleman. He couldn’t get used to the standard six-person dorm, and rented instead an 80 square meter apartment near K Uni. His gang of friends would regularly come over for parties. It was a lively home. Now, it was conveniently available for Qin Mu to settle in.
However, Liang Yong’s success within the bounds of K City clearly meant he had his ways. The all-powerful deities that he paid respect to every day protected him like a golden bell; it was hardly something a few inexperienced students could shake. Moreover, at that time, the internet was still underdeveloped, the media, feeling pressured by the higher-ups, remained silent, and so the bullet of public opinion quickly fizzled out.
Indignant and outraged, the students racked their brains for another strategy. Li Feiyan, the belle of the law faculty, sprang into action. Working her way through all her contacts, she roped in a whole group of faculty alumni and even enlisted the help of the faculty chair, Xiao Chengzong. With the support of these legal professionals, Qin Mu formally filed a lawsuit for abuse against Liang Yong and the other ‘teachers’. What surprised Shen Liu was that, after consultation with Professor Xiao, Qin Mu listed Qin Aihua and Zheng Yan as “accomplices” and requested a change of custody.
Xiao Chengzong explained the predicament with a sincere seriousness, “In the traditional culture of our country, the relationship between parent and child has always been bound by the principle of filial piety. Doing so, you will be accused of betraying your parents’ debt of nurture, defiant of your parents’ authority, utterly unfilial, and deserving of public condemnation. Furthermore, irrespective of the outcome of the lawsuit, the relationship between you and your parents will be difficult to ever repair.”
Qin Mu lowered his eyes and said, “From the moment they sent me there, our relationship was already irreparable. I do not wish to give them any more opportunities to abandon and torment me.”
Gibran once said, “Every man is two men; one is awake in the darkness, the other asleep in the light”.
Between the serene and unperturbed Qin Mu who stood before him and the Qin Mu who had cried with anguish that snow-laden night, Shen Liu couldn’t tell who was awake and who asleep. But he could sense the small, subtle changes that were happening within this teenage boy. It was as if a cold, icy armour was slowly growing from his flesh and bones, covering him from head to toe. From the exterior, he appeared sufficiently strong, without any need for comfort or pity.
But the reality was not so.
Shortly after Shen Liu and Qin Mu started living together, he noticed something was off. Once, he woke up in the middle of the night and was frightened to discover Qin Mu was missing. Walking closer, he found Qin Mu wrapped in his quilt and sleeping on the carpet, curled up like a tiny shrimp. Shen Liu assumed he had accidentally fallen off the bed. As he was about to wake him, he noticed, wrapped on the wrist that poked out from underneath the quilt, a pale blue ribbon.
It was a ribbon leftover from some gift-wrapping for Feiyan’s birthday party a few days ago. Qin Mu had tied his hands to the foot of the bed with it. Since the foot was the only place he could tie it, and the ribbon wasn’t very long, he ended up sleeping on the floor.
The shell of his body had escaped hell, but his heart remained locked in the abyss. Enduring that long period of brutal torment plunged Qin Mu into an extreme state of insecurity. Despite his best efforts to make himself appear normal, he couldn’t hide the fear inside his heart. Seemingly absurd paranoias of persecution haunted him, fearing that the moment he fell asleep, he’d sink back into hell.
Shen Liu quietly stepped back out. After tossing and turning on the sofa all night, he decided he would seek help from a psychology professor. Upon understanding Qin Mu’s situation, the professor contacted one of his former students, who had since achieved an even more illustrious career than his own. The expert was renowned in the field of PTSD and was willing to provide assistance for free. The first time Shen Liu took Qin Mu, he was worried that Qin Mu would be somewhat resistant, but Qin Mu’s response surprised him.
Qin Mu was very cooperative, you could even say his attitude was proactive. He understood that he was unwell and was willing to put in the effort to get better. Shen Liu breathed a deep sigh of relief. Like a responsible and devoted pet owner, he often got up in the middle of the night to check up on the poor little creature. One night, he discovered to his surprise that Qin Mu had fallen asleep without a rope tied to his wrist. He was so happy that he covered his mouth and leapt around in joy right then and there.
Shen Liu had originally planned to go home for the Spring Festival, but as he was about to leave, his heart gave in, and he stayed to keep Qin Mu, who was without a home, company. He couldn’t say exactly why he cared so much about this child. Perhaps it was pity, perhaps it was a sense of fun, perhaps it was the feeling of accomplishment he felt when Qin Mu depended on him, or perhaps it was as Feiyan said, “you're in full maternal mode, you’ve gotten used to raising a child”. Whatever the reason, one thing he did know, every time he heard Qin Mu call him “Shen Liu ge”, he was in good spirits.
Although Shen Liu stayed behind, he wasn’t much use. When it came to domestic chores, he was certifiably useless. His fingers never touched a bit of housework. He could neither cook nor clean. Qin Mu knew how to do the laundry, but hadn’t cooked much. With all the restaurants closed, the two of them had two days straight of frozen dumplings and were utterly sick of it. As the one living under someone else’s roof, Qin Mu felt bad. So he picked up a cookbook and tried to follow it. In the end, he ruined a pot, steamed to mush a steamer basket, and burnt several ingredients. By the time his food was finally somewhat palatable, the New Year’s was over.
For Qin Mu, having been freed after a long period of oppression, spending time with Shen Liu during the festival was relaxing, easy, almost like a rebirth. But for Qin Aihua and Zheng Yan, it was unbearably painful. The two of them stared silently at their cold Spring Festival meal. When Zheng Yan couldn’t take it anymore, she covered her face and started to cry, “I’m his mother. I gave birth to him. I raised him. How much did I sacrifice?! Everything I ever did was for him! Everything for his own good! In the end, he disowns me, he even wants to sue me… Ungrateful bastard! My life’s ruined. What’s the point of living anymore…”
With a scowl on his face, Qin Aihua grabbed two chopsticks of food and said nothing. Listening to the frantic crying next to him, he started to grow angry. He slammed the glass of alcohol and snapped, “Shut up! You raised the damn brat. Better off you never had him! Complete embarrassment!”
One remark, and the fire of conflict was ignited. Zheng Yan unleashed all the suffering she had endured in her marriage, all the resentment she had swallowed, all the misfortunes she had faced, letting loose upon Qin Aihua a torrent of curses. Furious and humiliated, Qin Aihua threw down the line, “If you can’t stand it, then divorce me!”, slammed the door and left, leaving behind a crazed Zheng Yan, who did nothing but throw plates. After leaving the house, he found that he had nowhere to go, so he wandered around in the ice and snow for a while, then returned home humiliated and defeated.
After the New Year, Qin Mu’s case went to trial. However, with insufficient evidence, a lack of witnesses, electroshock therapy being contentious, and pressure from all sides, the trial didn’t go smoothly. In the end, quietly and in a slapdash manner, the case was lost.
Walking out of the courthouse, Qin Mu stood on the stairs of the entrance and gazed up at the scales of justice that hung above. He asked in a quiet voice, “Is there no justice in this world? Or does justice not belong to me?”
A pang of indescribable bitterness rose in Shen Liu’s heart. He reached out his arm and hugged the boy tightly. He said softly, “It will belong to you. I promise.”
Qin Mu looked at him and said, “Ge, thank you. I will definitely repay you in this life.”
“Alright, alright. Enough with the ‘I’ll repay you’ talk, what, you’re going to offer yourself in marriage or something?” Shen Liu forced down the despondency in his heart, made a joke and ruffled Qin Mu’s hair. He watched Qin Mu obediently follow Zheng Yan into the taxi and stood silently in the winter wind for a long while. Then turned, got on a taxi, headed for the airport and flew back that very night to J City.
This was the first time in his life that Shen Liu asked Shen Lan to step in and help him resolve a problem. Shen Lan seized the opportunity to impose the condition of “studying abroad”*. To his surprise, Shen Liu agreed without hesitation.
Half a month later, a nationwide newspaper spotlighted the case and devoted a full half-page exposé to the issue. The headline was eye-catching: “Beware the Devil’s Hand Reaching for Your Children”. The next day, the leading state media mouthpiece* issued an editorial on the need for a serious crackdown on unlicensed, fraudulent schools. Its wording was unwaveringly severe, its stance absolutely clear.
Carrying with it the tide of public opinion, a fierce wind tore through every corner of K City.
Before the officials and bureaucrats of K City had even registered what was happening, the axe of the Commission for Discipline Inspection fell upon them like a flash of lightning. Incomplete official registrations, dubious teaching qualifications, questionable financial records… Cleaving open the exterior skin of lies and falsehoods, the inside was nothing but repulsive cancers.
One by one, former students of the school came forward, testifying to the beatings, threats and torture they had endured. Liang Yong was very quickly arrested, and like pulling on the roots of a radish, a whole string of officials were caught in the mud. On the surface of the water, the whole affair appeared to be a struggle between good and evil; below the surface of the water, an invisible battle of politics was being played out. The shuffles of personnel in the positions of K City brought about a shift in the balance of power. The Shen Family dislodged the Zhao Family’s influence in K City and replaced the pieces of the board with their own.
By the time the spring wind blew again, Eternal Peace Reform School, which was still halfway through its renovations, closed its doors forever. And the student abuse case, which had been thrust into the centre of the public spotlight, was given victory with the hammer of a gavel. Qin Mu, as one of the victims, received 35000 in civil damages.
In this way, this terrifying nightmare finally came to a close. The teenage boy, who had been tormented by this very nightmare, like a plant that had been bent low by the violent storm, now strained with all its strength and grew towards the light. The light, which was lit by the kindness of a thousand souls, like the red sun breaking through clouds unhindered, dispelled the endless night.
When the verdict came, Shen Liu held Qin Mu within his arms and said to him, “You see, justice will always come.”
Qin Mu buried his face against Shen Liu’s shoulder, his tears streaming, and nodded.
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Translator’s Note:
1.The Spring Festival or Lunar New Year is the most important holiday in Chinese culture. It marks a 15-day period of official celebrations. The vast majority of Chinese people take time off for this festival and travel home for reunion with family. Politically, many important policy decisions or maneuvers happen around this time.
2.Taken from Bai Juyi’s 9th-century poem “Farewells on Grassland”, translation from eastasiastudent.net:
Lush grass on the plains,
in one year, withers and thrives once each.
Wildire does not burn it completely;
when spring winds blow, it lives again,
afar, fragrance occupies ancient roads;
a fine jade-green stretches to a ruined city.
Once more I see off a nobleman;
The lush grasses full of the emotion of departure.
3.For many prominent families in China, gaining a qualification from a prestigious university overseas is often a stipulation upon the younger generations before they are given positions of power in the family or, even, eligibility for inheritance. What Shen Liu has agreed to here is more than just studying abroad; he is submitting himself to the rules of power as dictated by his family.
4.Perhaps unfamiliar to many democratic Western countries, where the media is meant to function as the “fourth estate”, in China, official state media such as CCTV function more as mouthpieces of state intention. For anyone wishing to be successful politically or economically, it is a necessity to daily read between the lines of state media reports to understand the intentions of the higher-ups. Not only is this an essential skill of any politician or businessman, this is an ‘art form’. Thus, if the wording of a state media report is unambiguous, then the issue is unequivocally serious and representative of the desire of the higher authorities.