"Not Found. We have no record of this person."
The system did a lookup of Rong Qiuchen's face and fingerprints, but came up with nothing.
"You can leave him here if you like. Chief Lee can question him properly later."
The policeman on duty eyes Rong Qiuchen's waist-length plait with a puzzled look on his face. Yuan Ge then realises that Rong Qiuchen has plaited his hair into a long plait, probably out of boredom when he was home alone, which makes him look even more like a Qing dynasty person.
"I've just questioned him. This young man seems delirious. Instead of bringing him to the police station, you should have taken him to a mental hospital and get his head examined first."
An older looking policeman comes over with a thermal mug in his hand and says pleasantly.
It turns out that he is Chief Lee mentioned by the duty officer just now.
He narrows his eyes, looks at Yuan Ge up and down and says, "Young man, we can't find him in the system, and we don't know his family. So, who are you? How are you two related?"
"Me?"
Yes, who am I to him? Why the hell should I care so much about him!
Yuan Ge is a bit speechless, cursing himself silently, but could only answer Chief Lee's question politely, "I'm a film director. He was wandering about in our film set one day, and I took him home out of pity. I thought he was just pretending to be crazy, but today he turned on the gas in my flat and almost set the whole building on fire."
"A director? So young …" Chief Lee looks at Yuan Ge and Rong Qiuchen up and down again and frowns, "So you're both in show business, no wonder you're both so good looking. Where are your IDs? We must register the case for the record."
Yuan Ge pulls out his ID card and says resentfully, "So, what's wrong with show business? He doesn't have any ID. I've already asked him about it before."
"Comrade, please show me your papers. How is it possible that you don't have any documents? An identity card? Residence permit? Student card? …" Chief Lee ignores Yuan Ge's statement and says directly to Qiuchen, "You've been fobbing me off before, but now we need to register for the record. Don't waste any more of our time. Show me your ID."
"There's no need to force him. He really doesn't have any papers! When I found him, he …"
Remembering that night when he first saw Rong Qiuchen by the Dragon Pond at the Rong Mansion, that jade-like body, Yuan Ge's face goes red, unable to go on.
Chief Lee looks at the two men, pondering, with a wry look in his eyes.
As it happens, two hooligans are escorted in through the door, obviously drunk, with bruises and blood on their faces, and are pushed by the two police officers on duty behind them to go through the fingerprinting and registration procedures.
Chief Lee frowns at the sight, "It's you two again!"
"Chief, a few days no see, you look younger again - what's on the menu tonight?" The hooligans are obviously regulars at the police station.
One of them passes by Rong Qiuchen and whistles, humming incoherently, "A girl from Dabancheng, with long plaits and two pretty eyes!"[1]
The other one tugs on his hair insolently and whistles in surprise, "This is a real plait! Are you a bloke or a chick? How many years have you had this plait?"
Seeing the shifty-eyes of these two rogues, Rong Qiuchen shrinks back towards Yuan Ge and asks nervously, "What is this place, is it a yamen[2]?" The slight panic in his voice still can't hide the magnetic and melodious tone that sounds like heavenly music, causing everyone around him to look at him in amazement.
Yuan Ge sighs, "Sort of."
Rong Qiuchen's face changed at his words and he asks warily, "Why did Childe Yuan bring me here? What is my crime? Qiuchen doesn't want to see an officer!"
When a few policemen at the side hear their conversation and see Qiuchen cowering beside Yuan Ge, they all cover their mouths and snigger.
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[1] The Girl from Dabancheng is a well known folk song with Chinese lyric translated by Wang Luobin, and adapted from the Uyghur folksong Qamberxan. The song talks about a girl in Dabancheng (or Davanching in the Uyghur language) which lies between Turpan and Urumqi, and is well known as an entrepot on inter-oasis travel. The reputation of the beauty of local girls is partly due to the mixing among the different populations that travelled through it.
[2] Yamen refers to a government office in Feudal China.