Black Gold 1983

Han Changhe was not in his office.

A worker who was repairing an electric motor looked up at him and gestured towards the back of the warehouse: "The back is where the new equipment arrived. Section Chief Han is inspecting the goods over there."

Renye walked through the yard filled with old equipment and onto the open space behind the warehouse. Han Changhe was squatting next to a newly arrived explosion-proof switch, holding the instruction manual in his hand, his brows furrowed in worry.

Two young men in overalls were standing nearby; they looked like they were there to deliver goods.

"This parameter is wrong." Han Changhe pointed to a line of numbers on the instruction manual, his voice quite loud. "We ordered 660 volts, but you've marked it as 380. Did you send the wrong one?"

The two young men looked at each other, and one of them said with a forced smile, "Section Chief Han, we're not too sure about this either. We'll have to go back and ask the factory."

"I don't know what you're delivering?" Han Changhe slapped the instruction manual onto the box. "Take it back, and come back when you get the right one."

The two young men didn't dare say anything more and quickly reloaded the equipment onto the vehicle. Han Changhe patted the dust off his sleeves, turned around, and immediately saw Ren Ye.

"Nephew? What brings you here again?"

Renye smiled and said, "I had nothing else to do, so I came to see you."

Han Changhe looked him up and down, a glint of something flashing in his small eyes, but it was quickly covered up by a smile: "Come on, let's go inside and talk, it's windy outside."

The two entered the office. Han Changhe closed the door, pulled out two chairs from under the desk, sat down in one, and pushed the other to Renye.

"Speak, what is it?"

Renye didn't sit down immediately. He took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, handed one to Han Changhe, and lit one for himself.

Han Changhe took it, squeezed it in his hand, but didn't light it. He looked at Ren Ye, a smile still on his face, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

Renye lit a cigarette, took a puff, and looked at Han Changhe through the smoke.

"Uncle Han, my dad told me something yesterday."

Han Changhe's brow twitched slightly.

"What is it?"

"The inspection before the well in the West Second Mining Area was sealed."

The air in the office suddenly tightened. Han Changhe's smile slowly faded, like a piece of paper being smoothed out bit by bit, until finally there was no expression at all. He placed the cigarette on the table and slowly rubbed his fingers on it.

"What did your dad say to you?"

"He said you two went down the well together that day. He said you went to that rest chamber. He said there was a woman in the chamber."

Han Changhe's fingers stopped.

Silent for a long time.

Renye finished his cigarette and stubbed it out in the ashtray. The ashtray was issued by the mine; it was enamel and had the words "Safety Production" printed on it, with several pieces of porcelain chipped off the corners.

"Uncle Han, I don't mean anything by it. I just want to know who she is."

"So what if I know?" Han Changhe's voice suddenly became hoarse, like sandpaper.

"Knowing who she is is the key to knowing how to handle the situation."

"Deal with her?" Han Changhe slowly raised his head and looked at Ren Ye. His eyes lacked their usual shrewdness and calculation, and were as murky as water that had been accumulating in a well for too long. "So what if you know who she is? Report it, have someone investigate, dig up her remains, and then what? Will the mine give her a martyr's title or an award? She was an outsider who died in the mine. The mine will only say that she violated regulations by going down the mine without permission, and that she deserved to die."

Renye did not speak.

Han Changhe picked up the cigarette on the table and squeezed it. Cigarette residue was coming out of the filter, but he ignored it and put it down again.

"Did your dad tell you what he wrote in the patrol log after the patrol ended that day?"

"It says 'Everything is normal'."

"Yes." Han Changhe gave a wry smile. "Everything is normal. Those four words sum it all up."

He stood up, walked to the window, and turned his back to Renye. The yard outside the window was filled with rusty old equipment, like rows of grave mounds.

"I brought her down with me," Han Changhe said softly. "She came down with me through the auxiliary shaft, using the material transport route to avoid the main shaft's safety checkpoint. There were no safety inspectors patrolling the mine at that time; I timed it perfectly."

Renye's fingers tightened slightly.

"She's not an employee of Hongxing Mine; she's a distant relative of mine from my hometown. Something happened to her family, and she was homeless, so she came to me for help." Han Changhe paused for a moment. "A woman, without a household registration, without a job, she couldn't stay in the mine. I had nowhere to put her, so I could only let her stay temporarily in that underground chamber."

"How long did you stay?"

"Less than a month."

"And then?"

"Then the mine suddenly notified us that the West No. 2 mining area was to be sealed off." Han Changhe's voice lowered even further. "The news of the mine closure came down too quickly; I didn't have time to get her out. By the time I went back down the mine, the tunnels were already..."

He didn't go on.

Renye watched his back. His usually straight back was now hunched over, like a person whose bones had been removed.

"That day during the patrol, your dad was walking ahead. When he saw her posture, he knew at a glance that the woman wasn't locked up inside, but couldn't leave."

Han Changhe turned around, his eyes red, but no tears fell. He looked at Ren Ye.

"Your dad wanted to report it, and I said those things to him. I told him that if he reported it, I'd be finished, and there would be no one to fix the fully mechanized mining equipment. He hesitated. He didn't report it."

Renye lit his second cigarette.

"That work uniform is yours."

"Yes." Han Changhe didn't deny it. "When she went down the mine, she was wearing my work uniform, a men's style, a size too big. There were name tags on the lining of the pockets, which I didn't have time to remove. I thought I could remove them after she came out, but who knew..."

The room was quiet for a while.

"Uncle Han, tell me the truth. That woman, is she really just a distant relative of yours?"

Han Changhe's eyes flickered, like a miner's lamp flashing past a corner in a tunnel.

What do you think?

Renye did not answer.

He stood up, stubbed out his cigarette, and looked at Han Changhe.

"Uncle Han, I believe what you're saying. But there's one thing you need to think about. She's been dead in the well for over three years. Are her family still looking for her? Is she still registered in her hometown? Has anyone reported her missing? These are things that others won't find out just because you don't tell them."

Han Changhe's face paled slightly.

"What do you want to do?" he asked.

Renye looked at him and said something that made Han Changhe freeze in place.

"It's not about what I want to do. It's just that this matter needs to be resolved. No matter who she is to you, she's been lying in the well for over three years; she can't just stay there like that forever."

Han Changhe opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Renye stood up from the chair, walked to the door, and then stopped.

"Uncle Han, I'm not here today to investigate you. I'm here for that person who died more than three years ago."

He pushed open the door and went out.

The sunlight outside was dazzling. He squinted and stood there for a while, going over what Han Changhe had just said in his mind.

He believed most of what Han Changhe said, but not all of it.

A distant relative? A woman, alone, came from her hometown to seek refuge with a distant relative, who then hid her in a well dozens of meters underground? This claim is untenable, or rather, not entirely plausible.

Moreover, Han Changhe never mentioned the woman's name throughout his entire narration.

Renye didn't press the matter on the spot. He knew that he had reached his limit in getting this much information out of Han Changhe. If he pressed further, Han Changhe wouldn't tell him anything, and even if he did, it might not be the truth.

But he had already obtained the most important information: Han Changhe had admitted it.

He admitted that the woman was the one he brought down the mine, that the work clothes were his, and that the woman died in the mine.

Next comes the verification.

After leaving the mechanical and electrical department warehouse, Renye did not go home to his family compound, but instead walked eastward along the cement road in the mining area.

To the east lies the old dormitory area of ​​the mine, rows of red brick bungalows, mostly inhabited by retired mine workers and their families. Unlike the tenement buildings in the family compound, this area is much quieter. Each household has some scallions, garlic, and chili peppers growing in front of their doors, and some have even built trellises for loofah, with withered vines swaying in the wind.

Renye found the person he was looking for at the far east end of a row of bungalows.

The door was open, and an old man with gray hair was sitting on a small stool by the door, basking in the sun, holding a radio in his hand, which was playing Peking Opera, crackling and creaking.

"Master Liu."

The old man looked up, squinted for a while, and then recognized him: "Oh, Shouyi's son? What are you doing here?"

Old Liu's real name is Liu Dehou. In his early years, he worked as a support worker in the No. 2 Coal Mining Team and worked with Ren Shouyi for several years. Later, he got older and his back couldn't take it anymore, so he was transferred to the surface to watch the warehouse. He retired a couple of years ago and now lives in this row of bungalows.

Renye moved a small stool and sat down next to him, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, and handed one to him.

Liu Dehou took the sign, looked at it, and grinned: "Daqianmen? You've struck it rich, kid?"

"No way, it's my dad's."

"Your dad actually smokes this?" Liu Dehou lit a cigarette, took a drag, squinted his eyes, and looked pleased. "So, what do you want? You never come here without a reason, is that what your dad taught you?"

Renye smiled and said without beating around the bush, "Mr. Liu, I'd like to ask you about someone."

"Who?"

"My Uncle Han. Han Changhe."

Liu Dehou paused for a moment, slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, and said nothing.

"You've worked with my Uncle Han before, what do you think of him?"

Liu Dehou turned the radio volume down a bit, turned his head to look at Renye, and there was something in his cloudy old eyes that Renye couldn't quite understand.

"Hey kid, have you heard some rumors?"

I guess so.

Liu Dehou remained silent for a while, then sighed and flicked the cigarette ash onto the ground.

"Changhe is a capable man. When it comes to electromechanical matters, he's second to none in the entire mine. He's quick-witted, has a sweet tongue, and everyone likes him."

He paused for a moment, squinting at the hazy sky in the distance.

"But he's too shrewd. So shrewd that sometimes you can't tell which of his words are true and which are false."

Renye didn't respond, waiting for him to continue.

"Back in the Second Mining Team, your dad was the team leader, and he was the deputy team leader. You know your dad, he's stubborn and inflexible, he just does things the way they should. Changhe is different; he's always looking for shortcuts. He'd use exactly the required amount of material for the underground support, but sometimes he'd try to save it, and he'd take the saved material..."

Liu Dehou didn't continue, and waved his hand.

"Never mind what I said. It's all in the past."

Renye held a cigarette in his mouth, his mind racing.

What happened to the saved support material? Every piece of timber in the mine is recorded; any saved material is either returned to the warehouse or used for other purposes. If Han Changhe saved material but didn't return it to the warehouse, where did it go?

The timber used for the support of that secluded rest chamber in the West Second Mining Area was approved by Han Changhe. Ren Shouyi said that the material requisition was reported to the transportation team, and the reports were also submitted by the transportation team.

Han Changhe has connections in the transportation team.

Renye held the end of the thread in his hand, but did not pull it off on the spot.

"Mr. Liu, I have one more question for you."

"you say."

"Before the West No. 2 mining area was sealed off, did you hear any reports of anything being stolen from the mine? Or of any people who shouldn't be underground being found there?"

Liu Dehou's eyelid twitched.

That jump was so fast that if Renye hadn't been staring at his face the whole time, he wouldn't have noticed it at all.

"Why are you asking this?" Liu Dehou's voice lowered, no longer as casual as before.

"I was just asking casually."

Liu Dehou stared at him for a long time, his eyes filled with scrutiny, hesitation, and something else that was hard to describe.

"Did your dad send you to ask this?"

Renye thought for a moment, neither denying nor admitting it, and only said, "My dad wouldn't harm you."

Liu Dehou fell silent again.

The Peking Opera on the radio changed from "The Empty City Stratagem" to "Catching and Releasing Cao Cao," and the erhu was played urgently and rapidly, as if urging something on.

"In the period before the mine was sealed, things were in complete chaos at the mine," Liu Dehou finally spoke, his voice low, as if talking to himself. "After the news came down that West No. 2 was going to be sealed, a lot of things had to be moved out. Equipment, tools, materials, truckloads were being hauled out. Those few days, the mine was even more bustling than the surface."

"Was anyone taking this opportunity to smuggle in their own agenda?"

Liu Dehou glanced at him, but didn't answer directly. He only said two words: "Often."

Renye nodded.

"Did anyone...?" He paused, then rephrased his question, "After the well was sealed, did anyone suddenly disappear?"

Liu Dehou's hand trembled violently, and the radio almost fell to the ground. He caught it in a flurry, turned it off, and the courtyard fell silent.

"What exactly do you want to ask?"

Renye looked at Liu Dehou and knew he couldn't beat around the bush any longer. This old man had worked in the mine for most of his life; he had seen all sorts of things and weathered all kinds of storms. He couldn't be fooled.

"Mr. Liu, I found something underground in the West Second Mining Area."

Liu Dehou's expression changed.

It wasn't the kind of doubt that asks "What are you talking about?" but rather the tension that feels like "You knew all along."

"What is it?"

"A chamber. On the side wall of the transport tunnel, in a very remote location, not on the patrol route. There is a female corpse inside."

The radio in Liu Dehou's hand slipped to the ground, but he didn't pick it up.

Only the sound of the wind and the distant roar of machinery from the mining area remained in the courtyard, seemingly separated by a layer of something.

"You...you went down?" Liu Dehou's voice trembled.

Renye nodded.

Liu Dehou closed his eyes, leaned back on the small stool, and remained motionless for a long time. Ren Ye thought he had fallen asleep and was about to speak when Liu Dehou suddenly spoke.

"I've seen that woman before."

Renye's fingers tightened suddenly.

"When? Where?"

"Two days before the well was sealed," Liu Dehou's voice seemed to drift from a very, very far place, elusive and uncertain, "I was inspecting equipment underground, passing through the transport tunnel, when I saw Han Changhe come out of that chamber. After he came out, he used a piece of brambles to block the entrance."

"When he came out, did you see anyone else inside?"

Liu Dehou shook his head.

"No. He blocked the entrance after he came out, so I didn't see anyone inside."

"How did you find out later that there was a woman inside?"