As someone who has always wanted to ape the great Sherlock Holmes, I’ve always liked to sit and observe those around me. While it’s not as quaint as sussing out if someone passes the ‘vibe check’ as per Gen Z slang or as astute as the way the detective is able to deduce the brand of cigarettes a person smokes simply by the ash they find on the side of the road, I like to think I’m a dab hand at reading those around me to a fairly accurate degree.
So it was that when asked who was more inclined to murder the other atop a cableway up on Maya Mountain, which overlooks Tianchi Lake, I felt compelled to offer up my deduction. Suffice it to say, my response seemed to surprise both my aunt and cousin.
But first, some context!
During some downtime between my next grand adventure and the visit I paid to my elderly grandparents, my cousin and aunt saw fit to take me out to see the sights and sounds of Xinjiang. One particular point of interest not too far from the city of Urumqi is Tianchi. Translated to Heavenly Lake, it is an an alpine lake located in the Tian Shan Mountain range.
Tian Shan, itself, is supposedly the seventh highest mountain range in Eurasia (although someone will probably need to fact check me) and runs between China, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. According to Wikipedia, its highest peak is Jengish Chokusu and its lowest point is the Turpan Depression. Formed from the collision of the Indian and Eurasion tectonic plates, it is also part of the Himalayan orogenic belt.
My aunt and cousin picked me up via taxi from the hotel I was staying at. Earlier in the day, my mother had left on a short trip to Alar with Popo in Aksu Prefecture. The reason? Popo had wanted to see the sights of the place she had lived in during the Cultural Revolution and see if much had changed. As for me, I was to stay for a few more days in Urumqi until my mother returned and we could finally head out on a proper trip to a few places I wanted to cross off my bucket list.
From the hotel, the taxi took us to the airport where my cousin had rented a hire car. Once we had located the SUV Volkswagen, my cousin offered his wife the option to drive. But though she managed to get it started, he soon took over (deeming her driving subpar). before we’d even left the carpark. This, of course, was before he’d even set the navigation (which was the one thing she wanted as she had no idea where to go).
All throughout the drive, the two of them bickered in the front two seats. According to my aunt, the two of them bantered quite a lot though there were moments my cousin would take it too far.
This, I saw in spades during the hour long drive to Tianchi.
Even as we parked and headed in through the entrance, I quietly watched the dynamic between them. And so, once we up on the cableway and I was asked to use my criminology prowess to decide the likely culprit in a murder, I was quick to indicate it would be the quiet introvert wife who would end up murdering my cousin if he wasn’t careful. After all, I’d endured many a death threat from bleachpanda while we were in Japan and South Korea despite my fairly innocent japes.
This, of course, was during the return trip back down the cableway where we’d bonded over the arduous hike up to the second observation platform and had enjoyed a moment’s rest at the overpriced cafe (to my vast disappointment, hot chocolate was not an option and I had to make do with hot milk instead. Which, to be fair, was better than the caffeinated hazelnut latte).
Once we’d drunk our fill of the wonderful sights and sounds of Tianchi, we hopped back into the car. Curious about my cousin’s claims regarding the less than stellar performance of the hire car in question, I gave it a bit of a whirl in the carpark before deferring to my cousin’s wife.
Now that she was behind the wheel for the second time, however, she refused to relinquish control. The drive back across the highway was a hair-raising experience but not as terrifying as the adrenaline-filled close-calls we had during peak hour traffic within the city of Urumqi itself. There were so many times I thought another car would clip the hire car. Yet, despite the fact I’d kept a tight hand on the handle, we arrived back at my grandparents’ house unscathed.
Still, it might take me some time before I trust her behind the wheel. Though, I have to say, my cousin was probably the more scared out of all four of us in the car. And when he’s stressed, his voice rises. Another sure sign that the reason why the two of them sometimes end up fighting is because he needs to learn some tact when it comes to conversing with his wife.
After all, the adage does go: Happy Wife, Happy Life.
Or maybe they’ll seek a marriage counsellor in the future. Who knows.
Certainly not me.
Suffice it to say, my cousin was not found dead in my aunt’s house the next day. Rather, the two headed out early to catch a flight so they could return to Shenzhen.
I, on the other hand, was required to relocate from the hotel and stay an entire afternoon with little stimulation in my grandparents’ house as officials wished to grant to my grandfather a medal to commemorate 80 years since the end of World War II.
Admittedly, I would have liked to have spent another day with my cousin to see the sights and sounds of Xinjiang but given the responsibilities he had at work, it was a little difficult to extend his break. Even during our trip to Tianchi, he was on a call with his underlings back in the office, painstakingly going over the PowerPoint presentation they had created for some project or other.
A day after, my mother returned with Popo in tow.
The adventure was about to begin.
The Writing Corner 