“You are…” A woman who wore a wine-red coat asked. She hugged a large bag of miscellaneous objects. She appeared tired and listless.
“Are you the boss?” Hua Luo asked.
The woman nodded. “Yes.” Then, she added with apology, “I’m sorry. I’m just packing up to move. I’m here to collect my stuff, so I cannot…” At this point, her eyes were caught by the splash of red on the ground as well as the broken glass around it.
Yu Lan moved to block her sight. She explained, “I accidentally knocked over it. Please see how much it was. I’ll pay you for it.” She had no money. She was too cowardly, so she did not ransack her rental room like Banana Wolf, and the rest did. In the end, she found a blue purse inside the pocket of a pair of jeans. It contained a lot of membership cards with unfamiliar names and a few paper notes.
She turned to Banana Wolf for aid. Before she could say anything, the woman said, “It won’t be necessary. These things are not worth much. I’m not going to keep on working as a manicurist anyway. Let them break.”
“That won’t do.” Banana Wolf glanced at the price tag on the table and took out a 20-paper note. “We should compensate for the broken bottle, and I’ll take an extra one.” Banana Wolf turned to his friend, “Hua Luo, pick one that you like.”
Hua Luo walked over naturally. He purposely lifted the corner of his skirt as he walked past the splashed polish as if worried that his skirt might get stained. Then, he took his time to look through the basket of nail polishes. While Hua Luo delayed the time, Wan Xiaoning found a place to sit. She looked around naturally as if waiting for someone.
“Even though this place is secluded, we haven’t seen a second manicure shop.” Wan Xiaoning looked at the woman, “Plus, I hear most shops like yours depend on word of mouth to retain customers. Why not hold out longer?”
After taking the money, the woman was friendlier. She put the things down. “You’re right. Actually, my business here is… not too bad.”
The woman was silent before shaking her head, “It’s cheap. I just… want to switch a career path.”
Hua Luo noticed the woman’s eyes darting about. He put down the polish and enquired, “Is it because you can’t handle all the appointments on your own?”
The woman was visibly shaken.
“Why not consider hiring a helper?” Wan Xiaoning picked up the conversation. “They can help share the workload.”
The woman started to panic. She stood up and smiled faintly at them. “I’m sorry. I still need to pack. I can’t accompany you anymore. You… If you want to do manicures, go to the shop in the east of the city. It’s very popular. You can ask around.”
Banana Wolf naturally wouldn’t let her go so easily. He stopped her, “Boss, since you’re moving, if your rental period is not up yet, can you… lease this lot to us?”
“No!” The woman rejected him harshly.
“Why?” Banana Wolf asked.
“Don’t ask so many questions. You need to leave. To tell you the truth, I haven’t returned since that incident. Today is the last day of the rental lease. I have to move, or else I won’t be here today.” The woman pursed her lips before adding rapidly, “Listen to me. Don’t be fooled by the cheap rental here. Can’t you see how empty this place is despite the low rental?”
Everyone looked around. There were two more rows of shop lots nearby. However, since no one managed them, they looked dark. The doors of these lots had white rental notices on the window displays. An unknown wind caused the white flyers to flap. The rustling sound travelled into the dark. Yu Lan had a strange feeling. She felt like she was at a grave. The white flyers turned into soul banners.
“What happened here?” Banana Wolf and Wan Xiaoning asked simultaneously.
The woman hesitated and invited them in. The woman didn’t wish to get close to the dark. The woman invited them into the inner room where she came out of.
She turned to pour warm water into white paper cups for the travellers. Then, she sat down. After a long sigh, she added, “You asked me about hiring a helper, right? Actually, I did. I had a part-timer who came here to help when I was overly booked.” Her throat moved audibly. “The incident… is related to her.
“Right. Her name was Song Jianyou.” The woman supplied, “Jianyou was a good girl. She was a university student. Other than my place, she worked at another shop.
“It was a shop that sold wigs. The incident…” The woman pressed her lips. “It happened over there.
“That day, I was not here because I went to restock my inventory. When I came back, I saw many police cars at the entrance. Many police officers were moving around. When I came in, I noticed the wig shop was sealed. There was a quarantine line set up. The staff near the wig shop was summoned for questioning. I saw an officer taking down notes.
“That afternoon, a boss of a nearby shop… told me that Jianyou had died.”
Even though they had guessed this ending, Banana Wolf, Wan Xiaoning, and Hua Luo acted surprised to appear normal. Yu Lan even started shaking. Wan Xiaoning scanned her swiftly as something flashed in her eyes.
“How did she die?” Hua Luo pressed.
The woman tightened the collar of her coat. Fear swirled in her eyes. “Based on what he said, the wig shop boss came to open for business early that morning. He noticed that the door was not locked. He entered his shop and saw that his place was a mess. A lot of things were broken, and wigs were strewn on the floor. He thought he was robbed.
“It was Jianyou who was responsible for cleaning up the shop before closing, so he immediately called her. He wanted to ask her if she knew anything. However…” The woman looked at Yu Lan, who was closest to her, and lowered her voice, “The phone… rang in the storage at the back.”