Black Gold 1983

Chapter 52

The path to the back mountain was more difficult to traverse than the way up. The dirt road, which was relatively smooth during the day, changed drastically at night, becoming full of potholes, and one could easily step into one if not careful. Renye walked ahead, illuminating the path with his headlamp, while Tian Suier followed behind him, clutching the collar of her cotton-padded coat with both hands, her head down, watching her feet.

The wind was stronger than before, making the withered grass by the roadside rustle like the tide.

After walking for about twenty minutes, they reached the flat area behind the mountain. Renye stopped, raised his headlamp, and the beam of light shone on the newly built mound of earth. It wasn't big or high, and a few stones were scattered around it, dark in the moonlight, like a small hat placed on the ground.

Tian Sui'er stood behind him, quietly watching the small grave. After a while, she squatted down, picked up a stone from the ground beside her, and gently placed it on the grave mound. Not throwing it, but placing it, as if adding something to the mound of earth.

Then she stood up and stepped back to Jinye's side.

"Aren't you going to burn incense?" Renye asked.

Tian Sui'er shook her head, her gaze falling on the new grave. The moonlight fell on her face, making her features appear soft.

"I don't believe in those things. But she's lying here all alone, and I came to see her; that should let her know."

Renye did not speak.

The two men stood before the grave, neither speaking again. The wind swept down from the mountain ridge, bending the surrounding weeds, causing them to stand up again, then bend again. In the distance, the lights of the mining area flickered, like an inverted Milky Way reflected on the ground.

"Let's go," Tian Sui'er said. "You have things to do tomorrow."

Renye responded and turned around.

On the way back, Tian Sui'er walked ahead of him, her pace neither fast nor slow, her hands still in her pockets. The moonlight cast her shadow behind her, falling right at Ren Ye's feet. Ren Ye glanced down, but didn't go around it, simply stepping on that shadow as he walked forward.

When she reached the entrance of the family compound, Tian Sui'er stopped.

"We've arrived," she said. "You can go back now."

"I'll watch you go in."

Tian Sui'er glanced at him, said nothing, and turned to walk into the gate of the residential compound. When she reached the entrance to the building, she stopped, turned back, and looked at him from half a courtyard away. The streetlights shone from behind her, casting a warm yellow glow around her shadow.

"Rinno," she called out in the darkness, "I won't tell anyone about tonight's events."

Then she turned around and went upstairs.

Renye stood at the entrance of the residential compound, watching the door close. The light in the stairwell flickered on for a moment, then went out again. He took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag. Smoke billowed from his nostrils, dissipated under the streetlights, and was then blown away by the night wind.

He turned around and walked towards his home. When he got downstairs, he saw that the light was still on in his window. Li Yue'e's figure was reflected on the curtains, pacing back and forth, as if waiting for someone.

Renye stood downstairs for a while, finished his cigarette, stubbed it out on the sole of his shoe, threw the cigarette butt into the trash can by the roadside, and went upstairs.

When Renye pushed open the door, Li Yue'e was sitting on a bench in the main room, sewing shoe soles. The needle pierced the thick fabric, was pulled out, and then thrust back in—her movements were quick and efficient, as if she were sulking. Hearing the door open, she didn't even look up, only saying, "You're back?"

"Um."

Have you eaten?

"have eaten."

Li Yue'e then raised her head, looked him up and down, her gaze lingering on his mud-covered trousers and rubber shoes. She frowned slightly, but didn't ask anything, and lowered her head again to continue sewing the soles.

Ren Shouyi sat in the old rattan chair, clutching the expired newspaper in his hand. He had read it countless times; the edges were curled up. He didn't look at Ren Ye, only peeking out from behind the newspaper, and muttered, "There are leftovers in the kitchen. Heat them up yourself."

Renye responded, but didn't go to the kitchen. He pulled up a chair and sat down. He took out a cigarette from his pocket, pulled one out, looked at Li Yue'e, and then put it back.

Li Yue'e glanced at him: "Smoke if you want, it's not like we haven't smoked in the house before."

Renye took out his cigarette again, lit it, and took a drag. The smoke slowly dissipated in the dim light, and Li Yue'e coughed, choked by the smoke, but didn't say anything more. The three of them sat there, the old grandfather clock ticking on the wall, like someone tapping bones in the dark.

"Dad," Renye said.

Ren Shouyi peeked out from the newspaper.

"Tonight, Tianfang, Tiejun, and I went down the mine."

Ren Shouyi put down the newspaper. Li Yue'e also stopped sewing the soles of her shoes.

"We brought the woman's body up here. We buried it on the back hill."

The room fell silent for a moment. Li Yue'e opened her mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again. She looked at Ren Shouyi, then at Ren Ye, and slowly lowered her hand that was holding the needle and thread.

Ren Shouyi remained silent for a long time, so long that Ren Ye thought he had forgotten how to speak. Then he spoke, his voice soft but steady: "Is it buried?"

"It's buried."

"Did anyone see it?"

"No. We went there in the middle of the night, and there was no one on the back mountain."

Ren Shouyi nodded, put the cigarette in his mouth without lighting it, just left it there.

Li Yue'e suddenly stood up, put the shoe soles and needle and thread she was holding on the table, and went into the kitchen. Renye heard her lifting the pot lid in the kitchen, followed by the clatter of bowls and chopsticks.

A moment later, she came out carrying a bowl of reheated leftover rice and placed it in front of Renye: "Eat."

Renye glanced at her. Li Yue'e's face was expressionless, but her eyes were red. She didn't look at him, turned around and went back to her seat, picked up the shoe sole, and continued sewing. The needle went in and out, in and out, her movements more forceful than before.

Renye picked up the bowl and shoveled down a couple of mouthfuls. The rice was leftover from lunch and was a bit hard, but he ate quickly and finished the bowl in no time.

Li Yue'e stood up again, collected the bowls, and took them to the kitchen to wash. The tap was running, mixed with the clinking of bowls and chopsticks, and the sound of her blowing her nose.

Ren Shouyi took the unlit cigarette from his lips, squeezed it in his hand, and then put it back in the cigarette pack. He looked at Ren Ye, his gaze softer than usual, as if it had been soaked in something, shedding its hard shell.

"Does Han Changhe know?"

"I don't know," Renye said. "Tianfang said not to tell him yet."

Ren Shouyi nodded, offering no comment on whether the decision was right or wrong. He simply asked again, "What about the cave? What do you plan to do with it?"

"It's blown up. Next time we go down, we'll bring some explosives and blow up that cavern and the nearby alleyways, connecting it to the collapse that happened three years ago. Then no one will ever know what was down there."

Ren Shouyi frowned slightly. It wasn't an objection; he was calculating.

"The amount of explosives has to be calculated carefully," he said. "The roof at that location is already loose. If the blast is too strong, it might shatter the coal seam above; if it's too weak, it won't collapse completely."

"Tianfang said he would handle it. He said he could get into the transport team's explosives warehouse."

Ren Shouyi's brow furrowed even more. He glanced at Ren Ye, not asking "Do you believe him?" or "Can he do it?", but only asking, "Does he understand explosives?"

He said he learned it in the mines.

Ren Shouyi was silent for a moment, then nodded. He didn't ask any further questions, but Ren Ye noticed that the hand on his knee was slightly clenched.

The kitchen tap was turned off. Li Yue'e came out and wiped her hands on her apron. She glanced at Ren Ye, then at Ren Shouyi, her lips moved a few times, but she couldn't hold back in the end.

"What exactly are you two up to?"

Ren Shouyi didn't respond. Neither did Ren Ye.

Li Yue'e looked at the two of them, her eyes reddening again, but she didn't let the tears fall. She draped the apron she was holding over the back of the chair, turned and went into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. The sound wasn't heavy, but it wasn't light either; just enough for someone outside to hear the muffled thud.

Only the father and son remained in the main room.

"Your mother is worried about you," Ren Shouyi said.

"I know."

"She's not saying you shouldn't get involved in this. She's afraid you'll get yourself involved."

Renye nodded. He knew. Li Yue'e was sharp-tongued, but soft-hearted. She scolded Renye, Ren Shouyi, the family's poverty, and their difficult life, but she never truly stopped them from doing anything. She was just afraid. Afraid that something would happen to her son, afraid that something would happen to her husband, afraid that the family would fall apart.

"Dad," Renye stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, "I want to ask you something."

"explain."

"Three years ago, when you and Han Changhe went down the mine for inspection and found someone in that chamber, did you ever consider that the woman might be being held captive there?"

Ren Shouyi's fingers trembled slightly.

"I've thought about it," he said. "Ever since I saw that lit lantern, I've been wondering. If she went down there by herself, why would she light a lamp? There's no shortage of lighting underground—miner's lamps, tunnel lights, there's light everywhere. The fact that she lit a lantern means she needed that light. And the fact that she needed that light means there was no other light source in that chamber."

Ren Shouyi lowered his voice, as if afraid of disturbing something.

"An underground chamber without miners' lamps or tunnel lights indicates it's not a normal rest chamber. A normal chamber would at least have a power line for lighting. That chamber didn't. She was groping her way in the dark."

Renye gripped his knees tightly.

"Then why didn't you report it?"

Ren Shouyi did not answer immediately. He stared at the yellowed calendar on the wall for a long time.

"Because there's no evidence," he said. "I only have guesses, only suspicions. I don't know if she went down there on her own, or if someone took her down. I don't know if it was voluntary or forced. I don't know if she lit the lamp herself, or if someone else did. How can I report something when I know nothing?"

He paused for a moment, then lowered his voice.

"If I report it, the police come, investigate, find nothing, and classify it as an accident, the woman's family will get no explanation, and Han Changhe won't be punished. And me—a disabled miner who retired early, reporting the head of the electromechanical department without any evidence—what will my fate be?"

Renye didn't answer. They both knew the answer.

"So you waited three years," Jinye said.

"I've been waiting for an opportunity. An opportunity that allows me to bring this up again without getting myself involved." Ren Shouyi looked at Ren Ye, his eyes holding a light Ren Ye had never seen before. "I never expected that this opportunity would be with you."

Renye opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"What did Han Changhe say to you when you went to see him?" Ren Shouyi asked.

Renye repeated Han Changhe's words. A distant relative, due to a family crisis, came to seek refuge with him and was temporarily housed in the underground mine chamber. Before he could send him away, West Second Mine was sealed off.

After listening, Ren Shouyi offered no comment, only asking, "Do you believe it?"

Renye thought for a moment, then shook his head: "I don't believe it completely."

"Which part do you not believe?"

“A distant relative,” Renye said. “When he mentioned that woman, his eyes were off. Not the kind of look you give someone mentioning a relative, it was…”

He couldn't find the right words.

"It's the look in his eyes when he mentions someone he owes something to," Ren Shouyi said for him. "Your dad has lived this long, and I can still judge people well. Han Changhe has owed a lot of people in his life, but there are very few that he can remember in his heart and dare not face."

Renye nodded.

"There's one more thing," Ren Shouyi said. "He said he brought the woman down from the auxiliary shaft, using the material transport route, thus avoiding the main shaft's security checkpoint. That claim is problematic."

Renye looked up at him.

"Although there is a material transport route in the auxiliary shaft, the entrance is locked with an iron gate, and the transport team and the electromechanical department each have a key. The transport team's key is with the captain, and the electromechanical department's key—" Ren Shouyi looked at him, "is with Han Changhe.

Something in Renye's mind connected.

"So, he was able to take that woman downstairs because he had the key. He had the key because he was the head of the electromechanical department. This whole thing wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision; it was a private matter he did by abusing his power."

"Yes," Ren Shouyi said. "So when he says 'a distant relative has come to seek refuge,' you have to think about this: is it really necessary to use the authority of the head of the electromechanical department to take a distant relative down the auxiliary shaft and hide them in an underground chamber?"

Renye fell silent. He understood what Ren Shouyi meant.

The logical thing to do is: if it were just a distant relative coming to stay, Han Changhe could have easily found her temporary accommodation at the mine, or even just rented a room in a nearby village; that would have been far more reasonable than hiding her underground. The fact that he didn't do that means the woman couldn't be seen by others. And if she couldn't be seen, it means there's something wrong with her identity.

Or perhaps—Han Changhe's identity is questionable.

Renye stood up, walked to the window, and opened it to let the night breeze in. The residential compound outside the window was pitch black, with only a few lights still shining in the direction of the distant mining area, like embers that refused to be extinguished.

"Dad, who do you think that woman is?"

Ren Shouyi didn't answer. He picked up the cigarette case on the coffee table, took out a cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled. The smoke formed a thin barrier in front of him, separating him from Ren Ye.