Trafford’s Trading Club

“… The contract has been set. We’ll achieve what customer asks for in the future and collect the transaction fee at the end of your life. Is that OK?”

“Yeah… That will be OK. I can accept it… I can make it up…”

…

…

Finally, the big fire in the banquet hall had been put out with the firemen’s effort.

“Sir! You cannot enter!”

Outside the fire, a man was kept at bay by the fireman. However, the man pushed them away forcefully, “My sister is inside the hall, you guys… get lost!”

He burst through the fireman, rushing into the scene with haste.

There was a pungent smell of burning plastic, with substances mixed with ash and water stains. However, the man didn’t take notice of those, taking the route based on his memory.

There was no time for the firemen putting out the fire to stop him now. However, not long after, the man dashing into the hall halted his footsteps.

He saw Guo Yushuo and his sister as well.

He witnessed him hugging his sister, sitting down on the ground quietly. He looked down as if peering at something. The surroundings were clean… and tranquil.

The fire just now did not seem to have the heart to spread out, giving space for the embrace of the bitter pair. The man was lost in thought for a second, walking ahead to get close.

One step followed another pace, he went to them, looking down at his sister held in Guo Yushuo’s arms.

What was incredible was, he had seen a … decayed dead body a while back. A body which would have also scared her relatives. Yet, at present, she looked so beautiful.

Like she was still alive, just falling into deep sleep.

Her hands were placed on her chest in a cross. Eyes closed but with a faint smile.

“You…” A hoarse voice from his throat was released.

Guo Yushuo’s shoulder flickered slightly, raising his head slowly, “Can I wait for one more second? I know the policeman is outside now… I’ll turn myself in. But, can I wait for another minute, please? I just, want to have another look at her.”

“You… Your eyes.” The man took two steps back unconsciously.

He had lost his eyes. A pitch-black empty cavity occupied the space of Guo Yushuo’s eyes, looking like he had lost them since he was born.

“I can see, I could always see everything…” Guo Yushuo laughed followed by gently saying, “I’m afraid I may forget, so I turned it into the last thing I will ever see and imprint it in my mind forever.”

The man… Wenwen’s brother watched his sister with that peaceful smile. He wasn’t aware of the meaning behind the smile.

Her brother would rather think it was because his sister lying in Guo Yushuo’s arms felt relieved of this man’s guilt and shame.

Wenwen’s brother took a deep breath, watching them quietly.

Soon, the police came in. Guo Yushuo brought up directly the matter, saying that he murdered his girlfriend because he couldn’t sustain the pressure and escaped from reality, without resistance.

But he never breathed a word about why the dead body was so well kept, nor the judgment about the time of death and so forth.

…

Wenwen’s brother took two days to deal with the aftermath and deal with the dead body. After working until he felt exhausted, he suddenly received a call from some stranger.

“Hi, is that Mr. Wang Guoliang?”

“Yeah… Who’s calling?”

“Yeah. Hi, Mr. Wang. I just want to confirm, are you Wang Jingwen’s biological elder brother, her direct relative, right?”

“Who are you?”

“Well, I’m with the Comfort Insurance Company. Ms. Wang Jingwen has covered accident insurances for her mother, father and you… They are large quantity insurances, so we have to ask for the documents such as identity cards of you and your parents…”

Wang Guoliang was shocked by the phone call and the amount of the so-called insurance proceeds.

That might be a wealth that he will never be able to earn even if he had another life.

Nevertheless, unimaginable matters kept happening one after another.

“Hi, Guoliang, the doctor said your father recovered from his diabetes! And I feel energetic somehow these two days, and I can see things clearly. The presbyopia is actually gone!”

Even the new-born child, who had bronchial asthma managed to be freed from the torment of the disease. His wife cried with joy, reporting the good news by the phone.

Wang Guoliang sat here in a trance. His brain blanked while waiting to sign the documents and the dead body back.

Despite his sister having thought of to purchase insurances; nonetheless, he didn’t think she could afford the sum insured because of the large amount of the insurance indemnity.

“Today… what happened?” Wang Guoliang gazed at the wall clock in a daze, sadly yet happily. Was it because his dead sister was blessing her family from the realm of the shades?

This seemed to be the only thing he could guess.

…

…

Serenade for Strings in C major.

This dance music had been repeated in the messy flat. It might be replayed for a long while. Some days? Maybe even more.

He compared the music he played using the saxophone with the Serenade for Strings in C major from Tchaikovsky. It couldn’t even raise a candle to old Tchaikovsky… Boss Luo mocked himself.

He hadn’t touched the saxophone for a long time but could still finish the whole melody.

Luo Qiu’s vision fell upon the surroundings of the flat.

Pigments had been splattered everywhere. On the wall, the floor, the sofa… and a disgusting putrid odor came from the kitchen.

It was hard for people to approach several portions of red-cooked eggplant that had started growing mold a long time ago.

Boss Luo decided not to go in.

Instead, he looked at the city through the picture window.

He knew Guo Yushuo did the same, maybe with his girlfriend when she was alive.

They were young at that time with a dream to work hard in this big city. He probably said he tried to earn more to buy a house here and she perhaps had looked forward to it.

The future they imagined then, might be the most wonderful dream in life.

But now, she would never see it, he either… what he could ‘see’, might be his girlfriend’s smile at the last dance in his memory.

Luo Qiu held a small bottle in his hands. In it were a pair of eyeballs —the price for the last dance.

He let the pair of eyes see everything in the city beyond the window. Finally, Luo Qiu covered up the bottle with a piece of black cloth.

He turned off the gramophone and the atmosphere became lonesome.

Yet there were still myriad twinkling lights outside the window.

After all, this city was prosperous.