Chapter One: The Son’s Crime

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The seafood shop owned by the Liu family had been doing well these past few days. The couple was busy beyond measure, barely noticing that their son hadn’t returned home at night. During dinner, the sky outside had already turned pitch black. Suddenly, Ye Huiqiong asked about Liu Sanjun. Sitting across the table, Liu Jiajv took a sip of wine and answered with a smile, “He’s a grown man. What’s there to fear about him getting lost? Isn’t he just with that rascal Cai Zhongsheng? It’s better he’s not home. If he does come back, he won’t stay long before that old Cai Mao comes looking for us again—what a nuisance.”

Ye Huiqiong glanced casually at a spiderweb in the corner of the window, where a fly was struggling but couldn’t break free, being dragged away by a spider. Suddenly, she focused intently and saw the spider pulling the fly into the shadows, vanishing from sight. She was unfazed; such things held no interest for her. Her mind was solely on her son.

She said, “Sanjun is a disobedient child. I worry he’s up to no good outside and might get into trouble.”

Liu Jiajv responded candidly, “Whatever trouble could befall him has already happened. What more mischief could Sanjun possibly be up to?”

Ye Huiqiong glanced again at the spiderweb on the window corner—it was now empty, swaying in an invisible breeze that seemed to carry a hint of foreboding. Yet she remained indifferent, her only concern being her son, who hadn’t returned for two nights.

She said, “Jiajv, I’m still uneasy. Tomorrow, you stay at the shop while I go to Cai Mao’s house to see if Sanjun really is with that Cai Zhongsheng.”

Liu Jiajv’s face flushed red, not from drink but from understanding. He tapped his chopsticks on the table, displeased. “Huiqiong, there’s no need to visit Cai Mao’s place. Plenty of people come from their bay here. Just ask anyone if they’ve seen Sanjun these past few days. Isn’t that easier?”

Ye Huiqiong fell silent, deciding to inquire the next morning among those passing from Cai’s bay.

The next morning, the couple busied themselves as usual. Customers from other nearby bays came in droves, but none from Cai’s bay. It was as if they were missing the very ingredient they needed.

Ye Huiqiong’s mind was preoccupied with this matter, making it hard to focus on anything else. When selling seafood and handling change, she was slower than usual, counting repeatedly to avoid mistakes, wasting time.

The customers waiting outside the shop grew impatient, grumbling, “Twelve layers of quilt for one person—far too much fuss.”

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At that moment, Ye Huiqiong looked up to find a man in a security guard uniform standing before her. Thinking he was there to buy seafood, she was about to ask what kind of seafood he wanted. Instead, the man asked if she was Liu Sanjun’s parent.

Ye Huiqiong nodded and inquired what had happened to Sanjun. The guard informed her that around 9 p.m. the previous night, a resident of Meteor Apartment in Harbor Town reported a theft—someone was stealing their chickens. The thief was a young man who hadn’t yet escaped the yard. As he was climbing over the wall, one foot extended outside but he hadn’t yet escaped when the security guard caught him and took him to the police station for initial questioning. The young man gave his name as Liu Sanjun and stated where he lived. The police station sent the guard to inform her. “I’m the security guard from Meteor Apartment,” he said. “Please come to Harbor Police Station to see your son.”

Ye Huiqiong frowned anxiously. “Why wasn’t I informed last night?”

The guard explained, “He was taken to the station last night but refused to say anything. It was late, and when his mental defenses finally broke down, he confessed.”

Ye Huiqiong’s emotions surged. She exclaimed, “That can’t be! My son never steals or does anything wrong. He has no record. Maybe some troublemaker is using his name. Sanjun is with his new girlfriend Cai Zhongsheng—how could he steal chickens?”

Although skeptical, she couldn’t dismiss the possibility entirely.

The guard said, “If that’s the case, you should go and see for yourself. It’ll be clear once you meet him. The young man claimed his name was Liu Sanjun. His father is Liu Jiajv and his mother is Ye Huiqiong.”

Ye Huiqiong waved her hand, telling the customers waiting outside to buy elsewhere or come back in the afternoon.

By a twist of fate, her husband, who had gone out to restock, wouldn’t return soon. She had no choice but to close the shop and follow the guard north along the street toward Harbor Police Station.

Upon arriving, she saw a broken branch from a coconut tree scattered on the ground outside the station. She recalled last night’s strong wind that had rattled her tightly shut shop door, the noise seeming to linger in her ears. She now stepped unknowingly on the fallen branch, feeling as if she had trodden on her own heart, a faint ache stirring within her. Her son had gotten into trouble and was locked inside the station. This broken coconut branch was a stark omen of misfortune.

At that moment, the guard pointed Ye Huiqiong toward a policeman at the station entrance, saying, “This is Liu Sanjun’s mother.”

Ye Huiqiong anxiously shouted at the policeman, “Where is my son?”

“Follow me,” the policeman said gently, motioning with his hand. Ye Huiqiong followed behind.

The police station was a two-story building with a large courtyard in front, surrounded by walls and gates. Tropical plants lined the road outside and the courtyard within.

A police officer was sweeping fallen coconut leaves with a bamboo broom.

The officer guiding Ye Huiqiong said to the sweeper, “This courtyard is hard to clean. Every time a typhoon hits, a new layer of leaves falls. It’s never-ending.”

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The sweeper, seeing a woman arrive and knowing another case had come in, smiled wryly. “Natural garbage is easy to clean, but cleaning up social trash is much harder. We police handle social garbage every day, investigating and processing cases. It’s truly overwhelming.”

Ye Huiqiong glanced at the sweeper, feeling uneasy and resentful. She thought, Could my son, who’s committed a crime, be considered social trash?

That thought gripped her mind like an invisible hand, pressing her down with shame, making her too embarrassed to raise her head.

At that moment, Ye Huiqiong heard a familiar, agitated voice from a room at the north end of the police station’s ground floor: “I’ve confessed! Why won’t you release me?”

She hurried toward the sound, overtaking the officer leading her, and abruptly entered the interrogation room.

Inside, a young man shackled to an iron barred window stood with his back to the wall, chest facing the room, head hanging low. His face was full of sorrow and exhaustion, as if too ashamed to look at anyone, staring only at the floor. He kept repeating the same pleading question, “I’ve confessed! Why won’t you release me?”

“Xiao Liu, see who’s here,” said the policeman who came in after Ye Huiqiong, addressing Liu Sanjun.

Liu Sanjun looked up and saw his mother standing before him.

Before he could speak, his mother burst out, “Son, what law did you break? Weren’t you supposed to be at sea? How did you end up here?”

Recalling the guard’s report that Sanjun was caught stealing chickens, she scolded him relentlessly, “Son, what’s a chicken or a few ducks worth? Why would you steal? We have everything at home—food, drink, even delicacies. Why would you need to steal?”

At that moment, a police officer taking notes told her to be quiet, reminding her that this was a police station, not her home or elsewhere, and urged her to maintain order.

Ye Huiqiong struggled to control her emotions but then knelt like a beggar before the officers, pleading, “Please release my son. I’ll pay for whatever chicken was stolen. This is his first offense; I promise he won’t do it again.”

Hearing his mother speak this way, Liu Sanjun, who hadn’t cried all night, suddenly wept loudly, calling out, “Mom, please get me out of here.”

“No! No one can save you,” a policeman sitting at a table suddenly stood up, slammed the table, and shouted loudly.