Chapter Forty-Nine: "The Scarlet Apricot Slips Over the Wall"

The look on Liu Yuxiang’s face, as if he had just swallowed a live fly, made An Changpu almost laugh out loud, though he kindly suppressed it. With a tone bordering on consolation, he said to Liu Yuxiang, “Actually, it’s not so bad this way. Just imagine, if he hadn’t claimed to be conservative in his thinking, the shock you’d have suffered might have been far greater.”

Liu Yuxiang shivered at these words, rubbing his arms as though he could scrub away all the goosebumps.

“So by your logic, I should be thanking him?” he retorted, annoyance evident in his voice.

An Changpu merely smiled, not taking the comment to heart. What mattered more to him was whether, apart from Lu Min concealing his gender, there were any other conflicts or frictions between Liu Yuxiang and Lu Min.

“How long were you two together? How did you get along before you found out Lu Min was a man?” Qin Ruonan asked, seizing the moment when An Changpu didn’t continue with his line of questioning.

Liu Yuxiang seemed somewhat wary of this stern-faced, decisive policewoman. He grimaced, tilted his head in thought, and even made a show of counting on his fingers before replying, “We weren’t together long, just two or three months at most—definitely not more than three. Things were fine before, but then I heard about his situation from neighbors, and he ran off. Thinking back, I suppose it was my fault—clouded judgment at the time, far too careless. If I’d paid more attention, I’d have realized he always spoke as if pinching his voice, always had a scarf around his neck. That was to hide his Adam’s apple!”

“Because of this, you went to see Lu Jun?”

“Did Lu Jun tell on me?” Liu Yuxiang’s eyes widened at the question. “Honestly, do the Lu family have any shame? Their son causes such a scandal and instead of keeping him at home, they let him out to disgust people. Now that something’s happened to him, they have the nerve to turn on me? I was polite enough the last time I went to Lu Jun—just told him to keep his disgraceful brother in line. I didn’t even ask him for the money back! But you tell me, am I not within my rights? His brother owes me money—shouldn’t I ask him for it?”

“Lu Min owed you money? How much?” This detail hadn’t come up when An Changpu and Qin Ruonan had spoken with Lu Jun, though they’d heard some gossip at a nearby pharmacy that Liu Yuxiang had spent quite a bit on Lu Min.

“He pretended to be a woman, deceived me emotionally, acted like he was my girlfriend—ate my food, drank my drinks, got me to buy him clothes and makeup. I must have spent at least eight or ten thousand on him! And in the end, he turned out to be a man just like me! Why on earth should I spend that much on another man? Of course, I count it as money he borrowed from me.” Liu Yuxiang paused, as if suddenly recalling that Lu Min was dead. “Forget it, forget it. He’s lost his life—what’s the point in saying all this? Am I supposed to collect a debt from a ghost?”

At the mention of “collecting a debt,” An Changpu suddenly remembered Liu Yuxiang’s initial reaction when he’d visited.

“Why did you assume I was a debt collector when I asked if you knew Lu Min?” he asked.

“That’s thanks to that pervert’s handiwork,” Liu Yuxiang replied bitterly. “He borrowed money from God knows who and then disappeared. Someone—who knows which scoundrel—told the creditors I was connected to ‘Lu Bing’, so they came after me for the money! Because of this, my own son turned against me, and a crowd of people are waiting to laugh at my misfortune. I’ve suffered in silence!”

Throughout the questioning, Qin Ruonan had felt that something was off about Liu Yuxiang’s demeanor. She’d been mulling it over while listening to him and An Changpu, trying to pinpoint what made her so uneasy. Suddenly, the answer dawned on her.

“Liu Yuxiang, you’ve talked all this while, but you haven’t shown the slightest curiosity about how Lu Min died.” She pressed him as soon as he finished, not giving him a moment’s respite.

Liu Yuxiang froze, realizing the implication behind her words. Flustered but unable to vent his frustration, he responded with a sour face, “Would I dare be curious about how he died? Even before I knew he was dead—when I thought he was still alive—I had nightmares every night. How could I dare be curious about something like this? Besides, I had nothing to do with his death—whether he died this way or that, what difference does it make to me? If you want to ask questions, go find his lover!”

“What did you say?” Qin Ruonan’s voice involuntarily rose in pitch. She was beginning to wonder how much longer she could investigate this case without coughing up blood.

This Lu Min—after selling his parents’ graves to fund a sex change at his age, having breast augmentation but not completing the rest of the surgeries, borrowing from loan sharks, carrying on with Liu Yuxiang while still maintaining a marital relationship with his legal wife—now, from Liu Yuxiang’s mouth, there was mention of yet another lover.

If life is like a play, then Lu Min’s half a lifetime had certainly packed in more chaos and melodrama than most people see in their entire lives.

Startled by Qin Ruonan’s raised voice, Liu Yuxiang shrank back, mistaking her astonishment for intimidation. Aggrieved yet desperate not to appear evasive, he explained, “I’m not making things up. Go check for yourselves! There was a time he’d always sneak out, and back then I had no idea he was a fake woman. I thought he was cheating on me with another man, so I secretly followed him a few times. I discovered he’d always take a bus to County T! His hometown isn’t there—why would he keep sneaking off, staying the whole day and only coming back at night, if not to meet a lover? If you do find out he had a lover, let me know—I’d like to see which other poor devil he conned!”

“Did you ever fight with Lu Min over this? Did you hit him?” An Changpu asked.

“No, no, never! I won’t say I’m a saint, but I’ve never raised a hand to anyone—not to him or even to my late wife, who lived with me for half my life. I don’t hit people!” Liu Yuxiang hurriedly clarified, rolling up his sleeve to show his flabby arm as proof. “Look at me—if I’d known he was a man, I’d have counted myself lucky if he didn’t hit me first!”