The Video Parlor

Less than a meter past the threshold stood a large wooden board plastered with movie posters of all sizes. The largest among them featured Joey Wong. To the left of the board was an open passage that served as the entrance, provided you first bought a ticket at the small desk to the right. Behind the desk sat a woman in her early thirties. She wore a red tank top and jeans, her figure tall and slender. The low-cut neckline revealed a tattooed butterfly fluttering near her collarbone. With a cigarette pinched in her left hand and fingers working a pager in her right, she asked without looking up, "How many?" "Four, Sister Mei. Haven't seen you in a while—you've gotten even prettier." "Sister Mei, isn't Brother-in-Law around? You minding the shop all by yourself today?" Pan Zi and Lei Zi handed over the money while buttering her up, angling for favor. In truth, they weren't particularly close to Sister Mei. But they were at that awkward age between boy and man; with a sweet tongue and a bit of street sense, so long as the parlor wasn't packed, buying a ticket for one movie gave them the cheek to linger and sponge an extra show or two. Sister Mei swept the cash into a drawer, tore off four tickets, and blew a smoke ring as she cursed, "Who knows where that bastard ran off to today!" Her husband's moniker was Panther, a local thug of some renown in these parts, usually called Brother Bao. Without that sort of backing, a woman like Sister Mei would never have been able to run a video parlor like this. Tickets in hand, Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng followed Pan Zi and Lei Zi through the passage on the left. The wooden board not only cordoned off the entrance, but also kept the daylight outside from washing into the room. The space inside was fairly spacious, ringed with low wooden benches like a stripped-down cinema. In the past, the township movie theater had relied on group ticket sales from local state-owned factories and institutions, as well as serving as a makeshift stage for public events, to keep seats filled. Now, having gradually severed ties with the state system, it was inevitably sliding into decline. This had created the fertile soil for private video parlors like Sister Mei's to sprout and multiply like wild weeds. Against the north wall stood a long low console with an old color TV set perched on top and a VCR tucked beneath. Runsheng leaned excitedly toward Li Zhuiyuan's ear and whispered, "Xiao Yuan, this TV is way bigger than the one Great-Grandpa bought yesterday!" Li Zhuiyuan smiled in response. "No matter how big this one is, everyone shares it. However small the one at home is, it's yours alone to watch." Runsheng nodded in agreement. "That's true. Though once night comes, every channel freezes on a single test pattern and just goes 'beep.' I was terrified I'd broken the new TV the very day we got it. Scared the life out of me! Thank goodness the channels came back this morning." "Brother Runsheng, maybe the folks at the television station need to sleep at night too." "Yeah," Runsheng said wistfully. "Too bad. Couldn't they just take day and night shifts?" "Brother Runsheng, let's sit down." Though it was only afternoon, quite a few people were already seated inside. The film playing was *Prison on Fire*, starring Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung Ka-fai. At the moment, it was only halfway through. Barring any major mishaps, the showtimes were basically fixed every day, so Pan Zi and the others had deliberately timed their arrival to catch the back half of this movie for free. Pocket money didn't come easily to young boys, so they had naturally mastered the art of pinching pennies in half, maximizing their entertainment at minimal cost. Li Zhuiyuan also noticed a curtained doorway tucked in the southeast corner of the room, looking deep and mysterious. It didn't seem to be a kitchen, since there wasn't the faintest smell of cooking oil or smoke. Even though they had come in halfway through, that didn't stop them from quickly getting swept up in the plot. Time flew by, and the movie drew to a close with the bleak, melancholic cinematography so characteristic of Hong Kong films from that era. Before the credits finished rolling, Sister Mei had already stepped in and stood by the TV. Without the slightest care for ruining the mood, she called out that the next screening would be *A Better Tomorrow*, and anyone staying for the next show had better get their tickets ready. When the lights came on, a few people left to attend to other business, but most chose to pay for another round. Sister Mei's gaze swept over Pan Zi and his group. She said nothing, tacitly acknowledging that their original tickets covered this next showing. *A Better Tomorrow* began to play. Hong Kong cinema was in its golden age, virtually dominating the entire Chinese cultural sphere while exerting immense influence across Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. The videotapes in the parlor were mostly Hong Kong productions. Occasionally there were foreign films, but those all sported rather explicit covers. Still, having just finished one Brother Fat movie only to jump straight into another, Li Zhuiyuan found it a little hard to immerse himself. The feeling was strikingly similar to the time those older boys back in the work-unit family compound, wanting to thank him for helping with their homework, had insisted on dragging him along to watch *Ultraman Leo* for an entire day. Episode after episode, skipping the opening and ending themes each time. What had once been the exquisite bliss of a single episode a day turned, through sheer gorging, into nothing more than aesthetic fatigue under identical formulas. During the tape change earlier, Lei Zi had slipped out to the small shop next door and brought back four bottles of soda, one for each of them. Moving bricks at the kiln hadn't earned them much to begin with, and their parents had confiscated half of it. What little remained in their pockets was just enough for small indulgences like this. About fifteen minutes into the movie, four young men swaggered in. The leader, indifferent to the heat, wore an ill-fitting suit vest, while the other three had stripped off their shirts and slung them over their shoulders, practically reeking of thuggish arrogance. They smoked, talked at the top of their lungs, and burst into exaggerated laughter as they chatted. Evidently, they had already seen the film before. As they talked, they threw out spoilers, habitually capping the beginning or end of every sentence with a curse. The people around them were annoyed, but no one dared speak up; after all, there were four of them. Pan Zi and Lei Zi leaned over to whisper introductions to Runsheng and Li Zhuiyuan, detailing who these four were and what reputations they held on the streets. Teens of this age often harbored a peculiar admiration for such ruffians, as if being acquainted with them was something profoundly impressive. However, in the Old Li family's generation, thanks to Li Lan, education was taken seriously. Both Pan Zi and Lei Zi were already in high school. Had they dropped out after middle school, they very well might have ended up running with crowds like this. Li Zhuiyuan didn't mind the smell of tobacco—Li Weihan and Great-Grandpa both smoked, after all—but he couldn't stand the booming voices of those four. Unable to bear it any longer, he stood up and walked to the back row against the wall. There were actual chairs there, significantly higher than the low benches in front. Pan Zi and Lei Zi looked back to confirm that Li Zhuiyuan was still there and had merely shifted to the back, then turned back to continue watching the movie. Just then, the man in the suit vest shouted toward the rear, "Sister Mei! Where are they? Where are they? We've been here forever, where are they!" Sister Mei poked her head out from behind the wooden partition and snapped, "Yell, yell, yell! Yelling as if your mother died! Don't you know what time it is? I already sent for them, they'll be here in a minute!" "Hehehe." The suited man didn't take offense. He simply blew a whistle at Sister Mei. "Looks like Brother Bao's been puffing too much junk. Look at you—you're already sagging." "Look at your grandmother!" Sister Mei cursed again and ducked back behind the partition. Before long, two women walked in. Both were well past thirty, wearing heavy makeup and dresses. After entering, they sat down on either side of Li Zhuiyuan, then looked down, eyeing the boy with curiosity. "Well, aren't you a handsome little guy? Sitting here waiting for your big sisters?" "Such tender skin, so fair. But are you already old enough to understand these things?" The two began to tease him. At that moment, two of the suited man's lackeys stood up and strolled over, each sitting beside one of the women. Their hands immediately grew improper, groping and exploring. The women offered little resistance, laughing and bantering along. Li Zhuiyuan realized that the chairs in this back row were never meant for regular viewers. Just as he prepared to leave and head back to Runsheng's side, the two couples rose before him, drew back the curtain, and slipped into the mysterious passage. Soon, two doors clicked shut. There had to be several small partitioned cubicles back there. Meanwhile, the suited man began hollering, "Sister Mei! Sister Mei! Change the tape! Change the tape!" Sister Mei poked her head out and snapped, "It's not even dark yet! Change what tape!" The suited man complained, "Add a little fire, set the mood! Change the tape!" A few other patrons in the room chimed in, egging her on. Though Sister Mei had Brother Bao backing her, these were all street hoodlums. Cursing them out was one thing, but she still had to humor them to a point. Reluctantly, she walked over to the VCR, ejected *A Better Tomorrow*, rummaged through the console drawer for another cassette, and slipped it in. Li Zhuiyuan noticed Pan Zi and Lei Zi's faces lighting up with excitement and anticipation, looking for all the world like tribal youths about to undergo their rawest rite of passage. Soon, the new film began to play. It was a period piece. There was no Mandarin dubbing, only Cantonese. Fortunately, there were subtitles, though as the scene unfolded, it became clear that subtitles hardly mattered. At first, the plot seemed ordinary enough, carrying a light, theatrical comedy tone. Li Zhuiyuan spotted a short man peddling steamed flatbreads and thought this must be a Hong Kong adaptation of *Water Margin*. Until a man and woman stepped into a room to drink wine, collapsed onto a table, and began shedding more and more clothes. Only then did Li Zhuiyuan realize what kind of film this was. Pan Zi and Lei Zi stared wide-eyed, far more captivated than they had been during Brother Fat's movie. Terrified of missing a single detail, they seemed determined to sear every frame into their brains so they could savor it after going home. Li Zhuiyuan figured his two older cousins certainly never looked at the blackboard in class with that kind of devotion. Runsheng's face flushed red, and he lowered his head. He wasn't playing coy; he was genuinely too embarrassed to look. This era was the golden age of midnight-show cinema across Hong Kong and Taiwan, birthing a slew of classics that left an indelible mark on cinematic history. Before long, the two men who had gone in earlier emerged. Striking a jaunty pose, they pulled out cigarettes and lit them, seemingly using the smoke to mask a touch of awkwardness. "That fast?" The suited man showed no regard for his underlings' pride. "I haven't even gotten into the mood yet." Despite the jab, he was unwilling to wait any longer. Rising, he and the remaining lackey headed into the dark passage as well. Yet before the steamy scene on screen had even finished playing, the two of them walked right back out. Now all four men sat in the chairs, puffing on cigarettes. Gone was their earlier rowdiness; they had finally quieted down. It was as if they were demonstrating what it meant to lay down the butcher's blade and attain instant enlightenment. After a moment, the suited man shouted, "Sister Mei! Sister Mei! Put *A Better Tomorrow* back on!" In a state of enlightenment, the heart was full of mercy and could not bear to witness the taking of life. "Damn it, so many goddamn demands!" Sister Mei was thoroughly annoyed, though she understood well enough. She came back in, swapped the tapes, and rewound to where they had paused earlier. Once finished, she deliberately glanced at them, a mocking smirk playing on her lips. She knew exactly when a man became a declawed tiger. Sure enough, all four men averted their eyes, suddenly acting like upright gentlemen who would never look upon anything improper. The two women remained seated in the back. They shouldn't have been on duty this early; they had merely been summoned ahead of time for four quick jobs. At this point, they couldn't be bothered to leave, since they would have to come back once night fell anyway. Before long, they stood up and began sitting down beside other moviegoers, leaning close, murmuring softly, their fingers teasing over the men's bodies. At first, the chosen patrons rejected them with righteous indignation, then shifted to polite refusals, followed by a coy show of reluctance... Then, each let out a sigh and stood up, as if resigning themselves to feed the tiger out of sheer helplessness, or perhaps performing an act of charity to lend a helping hand. Finally, with the resolute spirit of "if I don't enter hell, who will?" They were led into the dark corridor. Pan Zi, Lei Zi, and Runsheng, meanwhile, were completely ignored from start to finish. The women had sharp eyes; they knew better than to waste time on the wrong crowd. If someone was remarkably good-looking, they wouldn't mind sitting together to watch a movie and chat—they would even gladly do it for free, since desire had always been a two-way street. Unfortunately, Pan Zi and Lei Zi didn't fit the bill. There was indeed one exceptionally handsome boy, but he was far too young. If only he were a few years older. Still, the afternoon crowd was sparse, and most were there purely for the films. Soon running out of prospective marks, the women stopped lingering on the chairs and stepped outside to chat with Sister Mei. By the time the movie ended, dusk was already settling in. Seeing that the crowd was thin this evening, Pan Zi and Lei Zi tactfully shifted from the center area to seats on the perimeter, intending to freeload another show. Li Zhuiyuan needed to head home for dinner, so he said goodbye to Pan Zi and Lei Zi before walking out of the video parlor with Runsheng. Runsheng liked movies, but he loved food even more. Li Zhuiyuan went to the neighboring shop, bought four bottles of soda and several bags of snacks, and prepared to take them to Pan Zi and Lei Zi. Passing Sister Mei's small desk, he saw her chatting with the two women. They shared a business arrangement: Sister Mei provided the venue and kept lookout, while they gave her a cut of every job. Seeing Li Zhuiyuan return with snacks in his hands, Sister Mei teased, "Oh my, little brother brought treats for big sister? How sweet of you." With that, Sister Mei made a show of reaching out to take them. She had only meant to tease the boy, never expecting that instead of clutching the items to himself and backing away, he would actually hold them out closer to make it easier for her to grab. Caught off guard, she actually took a bottle of soda. Li Zhuiyuan also set down a packet of spicy gluten strips for her. This gesture momentarily threw Sister Mei off. Li Zhuiyuan then went inside and handed the soda and remaining snacks to Lei Zi and Pan Zi. When he emerged again, Sister Mei pointed at the soda and snacks on her desk. "Take them back. How could I eat a child's things?" "It's fine, my treat." Li Zhuiyuan shook his head. He had no intention of currying favor with Sister Mei, and in all likelihood he would never return to this parlor. But Sister Mei had let them watch half a movie for free today, and Pan Zi and Lei Zi were still inside, tacitly permitted to sponge another show. "Hehehe." Sister Mei and the two women behind her laughed, finding the boy quite amusing. Just then, shouting came from outside. An elderly man pedaled a tricycle over while yelling. In the cart lay a middle-aged man splayed out flat on his back, hands and feet dangling limply over the sides like an overturned turtle. Li Zhuiyuan noticed that all ten of the middle-aged man's fingertips were tinged with a bruised blue, and his lips were an alarming shade of purple. Sister Mei rushed out in a panic, getting into a loud argument with the elderly tricycle driver. The old man waved his hands in distress, explaining that he had only taken the fare to deliver the person here; it had nothing to do with him. Through the heated exchange, the sequence of events became clear. The unconscious middle-aged man was Brother Bao, Sister Mei's husband. That afternoon, he had gone to a bathhouse in Shigang Town for a soak and treated himself to a heavy back massage. Li Zhuiyuan didn't understand why anyone would need to go to a bathhouse in the summer. Much less did he know what a heavy back massage entailed. He could only assume it was an especially forceful massage, and Brother Bao, unable to take the strain, had passed out in the middle of it. The bathhouse owner hadn't taken him to a hospital. Instead, he had hailed a tricycle to cart him back home. A hospital visit cost money, and the owner had no intention of footing the bill. Sister Mei's face flushed red and white with fury. She pinched the man hard several times, while the two women beside her tried to talk her down. In the end, Sister Mei paid a little extra, climbed onto the cart herself, and urged the old man to pedal to the township health center. But the old man had already pedaled the man all the way from Shigang to Shinan, exhausting the last of his strength. After all, his usual work in Shigang Town was only short hauls. Even with Sister Mei offering more money, he simply couldn't turn the pedals anymore. Yet the unconscious man was already in dire straits. He couldn't be woken no matter how hard they slapped his face; if they didn't get him to the hospital now, his life might be forfeit. Sister Mei was reduced to a frantic mess of tears and curses. "Xiao Yuan?" Runsheng looked at Li Zhuiyuan. Li Zhuiyuan understood his meaning and nodded. Runsheng stepped forward, motioning for the old man to sit in the back, then mounted the tricycle. Great-Grandpa had a tricycle cart at home. On Great-Grandpa's instructions, Runsheng had spent the last few days practicing, and he had already learned how to ride. It was just that for short-distance hauling, a handcart was still more convenient. At the moment, although three adults sat in the cart, that meager weight was nothing to Runsheng. He pedaled smoothly away in an instant. Li Zhuiyuan had to wait where he was for Runsheng to return before they could go home together. Rather than returning to the video parlor, however, he went to the adjacent shop, bought another bottle of soda, and sat down on a bench outside to sip it while waiting. A pool table stood on the open ground outside the shop, where two young fellows were currently playing. Their skill was atrocious. After watching for a short while, Li Zhuiyuan began to feel drowsy, leaning sideways against the shop wall and yawning. About half an hour later, Li Zhuiyuan saw Brother Bao return. Li Zhuiyuan was bewildered. The patient was back, so why hadn't the people who took him to the hospital returned? Fortunately, before leaving home, he had told Auntie Liu and the others that he was going to the town's video parlor with Pan Zi. Even if he returned late, Great-Grandpa wouldn't worry, assuming the boys had simply lost track of time while playing. Brother Bao showed none of the listless, broken stupor from earlier. As he walked, he carried himself with the swagger and haughty disdain typical of a middle-aged street thug, his head bobbing and shoulders twitching. Pity was that the two youths playing pool didn't seem to know street business; when Brother Bao walked past them, neither had the sense to call out a loud greeting. Just then, as Brother Bao stepped past the pool table's shadow, Li Zhuiyuan suddenly noticed that the heels of the leather shoes on his feet were lifted completely off the ground. The sight instantly brought back the memory of Big Beard and his son leaving their house and heading toward the fish pond that night. They had walked the same way—tiptoeing, their heels suspended in empty air, staggering and swaying with every step. Li Zhuiyuan's heart clenched tight. A sudden realization hit him. At the same time, Brother Bao seemed to sense a gaze upon him. He paused, still on tiptoe, and slowly turned his head to scan the small shop. Li Zhuiyuan immediately rested his head back against the wall, took a sip of his soda, and feigned bored indifference as he stared at the pool table. Brother Bao's gaze swept back and forth several times without finding that particular look. Then, still tiptoeing, he continued forward and walked into his own video parlor. Li Zhuiyuan remained frozen in place, thinking: *Even though the touqi hasn't arrived yet, it makes sense that Brother Bao would be eager to come home and take a look.* Immediately after, worry seized him. Lei Zi and Pan Zi were still inside that parlor. *Surely they wouldn't be that unlucky, right?* Just then, one of the skirt-wearing women emerged from the parlor. When Sister Mei left to take Brother Bao to the hospital, she had asked them to watch the shop. The woman walked straight toward the grocery store. Since Li Zhuiyuan was sitting right by the entrance, that meant she had to pass almost brushing against him. Li Zhuiyuan noticed that she too was walking on tiptoe. But unlike Brother Bao earlier, beneath her feet was another pair of feet. A pair of leather shoes. Familiar ones. Behind her legs, another pair of men's legs pressed flush against hers. As for the upper half, Li Zhuiyuan couldn't see it unless he looked up, but he could roughly picture it: Brother Bao was pressed almost entirely against her, her feet treading atop Brother Bao's. She was essentially serving as Brother Bao's garment—or rather, his puppet. *So what is this?* Neither *Jianghu Zhiguai Lu*, which he had read before, nor *Zhengdao Fumo Lu*, which he was reading now, dealt with anything other than dead-flippers. A non-dead-flipper existence was outside the scope of his knowledge. The two youths by the pool table whistled at the woman. She ignored them, walked up to the shopkeeper, and asked for a pack of cigarettes. The shopkeeper asked in surprise, "Since when do you smoke this kind?" "Felt like a change," she replied. The shopkeeper handed over the cigarettes and was about to make a few customary crude jokes, but seeing her stony expression, the teasing words died in his throat. The woman turned around, tore open the packaging, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag. *Hiss—exhale...* *Hiss—exhale...* Li Zhuiyuan heard two distinct drafts of breath, one male and one female. Clearly, the one craving this drag wasn't the woman herself. She was clearly meant to head back to the video parlor, yet she halted before Li Zhuiyuan, leaning down to look at the boy who appeared to be dozing off in a daze. Li Zhuiyuan had hoped to bluff his way through. He knew Brother Bao hadn't been visible earlier, but the woman could be seen by everyone around. Yet the woman reached out and nudged his shoulder. Left with no choice, Li Zhuiyuan adopted the look of someone just snapping out of a stupor, looking up at her in mild confusion. "Little handsome, come wait inside." Her face was now extremely close to Li Zhuiyuan's, allowing him to clearly see the second face—a man's face—resting right behind hers. When the woman spoke, Brother Bao's mouth moved in unison. "No thanks. It's too smoky in there, it makes me dizzy. I'll wait out here." "It's almost dark. It's not safe out here. Come, follow big sister inside." The woman took Li Zhuiyuan's hand. In that instant, Li Zhuiyuan felt two hands clamp onto his wrist simultaneously—one warm, one icy cold. "No, I don't want to!" Li Zhuiyuan shook his head and forcefully shook off the grip of those "two" hands, scampering toward the pool table. "I want to watch them play pool! I want to learn. These two big brothers are really good!" "Haha, kid's got an eye for talent!" "Come on, little brother, stand close and watch. We'll show you how it's done!" The two youths, whose pool skills were dreadful, felt an immense surge of pride from the boy's flattery. They eagerly pulled Li Zhuiyuan between them, letting him watch their "professional" form. The woman straightened up. She didn't press the matter of bringing Li Zhuiyuan back into the parlor, turning and walking back on her own. Beside the pool table, though Li Zhuiyuan watched the cue ball clumsily sink into a pocket, his peripheral vision never left the woman's retreating figure. The sight of two people walking pressed together like that was deeply unsettling. For safety's sake, he really ought to call his two cousins out right now. "Hey, hey, hey!" The shopkeeper came out, looking disgruntled. "The frame isn't finished yet. Either pay for another or pack it in!" Pool wasn't timed back then; it was charged per frame. When two strangers shared a table, the loser covered the fee. Because of that, the owner hated pairs of friends with terrible skills the most—a single frame took forever. "What are you shouting for? It's just adding a little cash!" "Exactly! Acting like we can't afford it!" Both youths reached into their pockets, but once their hands went in, they seemed to forget how to pull them back out. It was hard to tell whether their pockets were truly empty or if they were deliberately waiting for the other to pay first. Li Zhuiyuan reached into his pocket as well. The two youths' eyes snapped to him immediately. "Little brother, you got money?" "Yeah, a bit." "Then how about you pay for another frame? We were only playing slowly just now to teach you, and the boss got mad." "Yeah, we did it all for you!" "Oh, sorry, my fault." Li Zhuiyuan pulled a paper bill from his pocket. "I'll pay for your frame." Broad smiles broke out across both young men's faces. Li Zhuiyuan pointed toward the video parlor. "My cousins Pan Zi and Lei Zi are inside. Could one of you help me call them out so they can take me home?" "Little brother, why don't you just go in and get them yourself?" Li Zhuiyuan answered bashfully, "They're showing a movie with men and women doing stuff in there. I'm too embarrassed to go in." "Hahahahahaha!" Li Zhuiyuan took the money to the shopkeeper to pay for the table. One of the young men walked into the video parlor to help fetch the boys. A moment later, he emerged. Li Zhuiyuan checked carefully: there was no one behind him, and he wasn't walking on tiptoe. Only Pan Zi and Lei Zi hadn't come out. "Little brother, your cousins said to go home on your own. They want to finish the movie." The other young man asked curiously, "What movie is playing now?" "Dunno, but it's pretty intense! The guy's standing, holding the girl upside down—wild stuff!" The youth made graphic gestures as he spoke. "Damn, they can shoot it like that? How about we go check it out too?" "I'm not going. I'm heading home after this frame. If I'm too late, my mom'll skin me alive." Li Zhuiyuan frowned. Pan Zi and Lei Zi might be playful at times, but when it came to being older brothers, they took their responsibility seriously. Even setting aside the fact that they should have wondered why their younger brother—who should have gone home long ago—was still lingering outside, under normal circumstances, hearing that he was calling for them, they would have at least stepped out to explain things in person. To merely have someone pass a message outside was blatantly abnormal. Yet even though that young man had gone in and come back out unharmed, Li Zhuiyuan still didn't dare step foot inside that video parlor. *If only Brother Runsheng were here...* Last time during the posthumous birthday rites for Old Lady Niu, when facing the possessed Blind Liu and Grandpa Shan, Runsheng's slaps had been marvelously crisp and clean. At that moment, two people staggered out of the video parlor with their arms draped over each other's shoulders—two of the original four ruffians. There was nothing clinging to their backs, but their steps were floaty and unsteady, swaying as if they were dead drunk. Their eye sockets were sunken, dark circles bruised beneath them, looking like men who had pulled all-nighters for days on end. Yet when he had seen them inside earlier, although quieted after their "enlightenment," they had still been energetic enough. How could watching a movie for just a short while leave them so thoroughly depleted, as if their very essence had been hollowed out? Strangest of all, Li Zhuiyuan noticed a dark, wet stain soaking the crotch of their pants, spreading downward past their ankles and spilling onto their slippers. It looked like incontinence... No, it didn't look like urine, because it was somewhat whitish and thick. Gradually, the fluid took on a brownish-red hue. They stumbled off into the distance, leaving reddish slipper prints in their wake. Li Zhuiyuan tugged on the sleeve of one of the pool-playing youths and pointed at the marks. "Look." "What? Look at what?" The youth asked, baffled. "The footprints." "What footprints?" Li Zhuiyuan turned back to look, only to find that the red slipper prints on the ground had vanished. Even though it was summer, evaporation couldn't possibly be that fast, especially with colored fluid. Just then, two more people emerged from inside: the suited man and his remaining lackey. They walked out one after the other, the lackey in front, the suited man behind. Both looked on the verge of collapsing at any moment. The suited man muttered under his breath, "Too wild, too damn wild... So good, so good... What a movie..." Li Zhuiyuan's gaze dropped. The suited man's pants were entirely soaked red. The crimson fluid was dripping steadily from his pant cuffs. At a glance, one might have thought he had just been dipped in a vat of red dye. After a moment's hesitation, Li Zhuiyuan stepped forward and asked the suited man, "Brother, what's happening inside?" "What's happening?" The suited man blearily peered at Li Zhuiyuan. Looking utterly drunk, it seemed to take him a long time to register that a boy was speaking to him. "Hehehe, let me tell you... Good stuff playing in there... But not for kids, not for kids, hehehe..." With that, the suited man waved toward the lackey ahead. "Wait for me, wait up... Let's walk together." With a thud, the suited man collapsed, but he scrambled right back up and kept staggering forward. The red trail he left behind looked as though a street-cleaning tanker had just rolled through. This time, Li Zhuiyuan didn't look away. He reached out to pull the pool-playing youth to look again, but the moment his hand moved, the trail vanished right before his eyes at a speed visible to the naked eye. Those four men didn't seem in immediate mortal danger, but Li Zhuiyuan could sense that they had lost something vital. Volume six of *Yinyang Xiangxue Jingjie* contained this passage: *Physiognomy arises from the heart; the heart anchors the origin. When the origin is depleted, the heart scatters; when the heart scatters, the visage declines.* In short, a person's physiognomy was not fixed in stone; it was constantly influenced in real time by factors like vital essence, breath, and spirit. The four men's original visages had only rated a lower lot—one tier below an average lot, portending a lifetime of muddle-headed drift. But now, the physiognomy across all four faces showed signs of collapsing and sliding into ruin. Although his readings had quickly proven accurate with Xue Liangliang and Zhao Hequan, Li Zhuiyuan was not blindly superstitious about such things, nor did he believe that glancing at a face and deducing a destiny could define a person's entire life. Yet, much like a medical examination, it at least proved that these four men's bodies had suffered devastating harm. If Pan Zi and Lei Zi remained inside, would they meet the same fate? *But what can I do right now?* He had already realized that after the incident with Little Oriole, some change had occurred within him, granting him a sharper perception of unclean things. The problem was, he had also discovered that possessing this perception seemed to make unclean things more interested in him in return. Earlier, that woman—or rather, Brother Bao—had inexplicably tried to coax him into the video parlor. The pool-playing fellow had gone in and come out safely, but Li Zhuiyuan had a feeling that if he set foot inside, something terrible would happen. Finally, Li Zhuiyuan's gaze settled on the telephone sitting beside the shopkeeper. Fortunately, Great-Grandpa had already provided him with a model example. He walked back into the shop. The shopkeeper chuckled, genuinely curious; this boy seemed to have quite a bit of pocket money, making him wonder whose family he belonged to. "What are you buying this time?" "Boss, I need to make a phone call." "Sure, go ahead." Li Zhuiyuan lifted the receiver to his ear, his eyes narrowing in thought as if recalling the number. After watching him for a second, the shopkeeper turned back to his ledger. Li Zhuiyuan seized the chance to quickly dial three digits. After two slow rings on the other end, the call connected. In a clear, steady voice, Li Zhuiyuan began giving their exact location, even pausing to confirm a few details with the shopkeeper and letting him clarify the address. The shopkeeper figured the boy was calling family to pick him up from the store. *Yep, definitely a well-off household.* But Li Zhuiyuan's next words caused the pen in the shopkeeper's hand to drop clattering to the counter, his face freezing solid. "I want to report Sister Mei's Video Parlor next door to this grocery shop. Not only are they illegally screening pornographic videos, they are also organizing and running prostitution!"