As soon as Xing Wu reached the backyard, he saw Qing Ye trembling and hugging herself, and Wu Lao’er standing shirtless at the bathroom door.
Walking over, he asked in an unfriendly tone, “What’s going on?”
Qing Ye was so frightened her eyes turned red, and she instinctively moved closer to Xing Wu: “This person snuck into your family’s bathroom.”
Wu Lao’er looked completely confused and turned to Xing Wu: “Wu-zi, what do you mean ‘your family’s’? The bathroom has always been shared. Who’s this woman?”
Qing Ye’s worldview was shocked once again – a bathroom shared among neighbors? What era were they living in?
Xing Wu glanced at the utterly shocked Qing Ye and said coldly to Wu Lao’er, “She’s my relative. She’ll bathe first, you wait.”
Wu Lao’er wasn’t particularly upset, but his eyes kept staring at Qing Ye. Xing Wu shot him a fierce glare and pushed Qing Ye inside, only then noticing her dress zipper was halfway down, revealing her smooth, delicate white shoulder blades. The scenes from Huang Mao’s house that afternoon suddenly flooded his mind.
He furrowed his brows and said harshly, “Why the fuck don’t you lock the door?”
Qing Ye replied in confusion, “What lock?”
Xing Wu walked into the bathroom, closed the door, and there was a broken rope tied to an iron plate on the door frame – wrapping it around a few times counted as locking. Qing Ye’s vision went dark – what kind of incomprehensible operation was this?
Xing Wu untied the rope and asked her, “Got it now?”
Qing Ye stared at the “lock” for a moment. Just as Xing Wu was about to pull the door open to leave, she suddenly called out, “Wait, why is there a hole in the door?”
Xing Wu glanced at it and replied, “Old lock hole. Fell off.”
Fell off, leaving just a hole, and he answered so matter-of-factly. Qing Ye became agitated and raised her voice, “How am I supposed to bathe? What if someone stands outside and peeks through the hole? They’ll see me bathing!”
Xing Wu said incredulously, “Who the hell would stand in the yard in this heat to watch you bathe?”
But he saw Qing Ye’s eyes looking behind him, full of wariness. Xing Wu followed her gaze and turned his head – Wu Lao’er was still standing shirtless in front of his house, smoking and staring in the direction of the bathroom.
Xing Wu fell silent, then said impatiently, “I’ll smoke a cigarette by the kitchen door. Be quick.”
Qing Ye watched Xing Wu walk to the shed a few steps away, take out a cigarette and light it, before returning to the bathroom and tying the “lock” like he had shown her.
Just after securing it, Qing Ye looked back and suddenly called out, “Xing Wu, are you there?”
“Um…”
Footsteps quickly approached, and Xing Wu’s voice came from outside: “Speak.”
Qing Ye quickly undid the “lock,” opened the door, and squinted at him in the moonlight: “Why isn’t there even shampoo in the bathroom?”
“Troublesome.” Xing Wu tossed these two words and turned to go inside, returning shortly with a bottle of Head & Shoulders and a bar of soap for her.
Qing Ye looked at the items in her hands, her frown deepening: “Just these?”
“What? You want Pantene?” Xing Wu’s lips curled with impatience.
“Do you have conditioner?”
Xing Wu reacted as if he’d heard something ridiculous, touching his crew cut: “Do I look like I need conditioner?”
“…” Qing Ye slammed the door shut.
Her hair was long, and with the dry climate here, without conditioner, her hair would be dry and difficult to comb. But forget conditioner – they didn’t even have facial cleanser. This distant aunt’s family even had just a thin sliver of soap left. Having lived a privileged life, Qing Ye never imagined she’d one day be bathing in a place without even a proper lock. It all felt absurdly surreal.
Usually taking over half an hour to bathe, Qing Ye finished in less than ten minutes due to her heightened state of tension.
Qing Ye put on clean clothes and was about to open the door when suddenly something dark moved in the corner.
Xing Wu had finished his cigarette and was getting hot waiting when he suddenly heard another scream from the bathroom, mixed with terrified sounds. He reflexively stood up from the wooden stool and hurriedly walked over, raising his voice to ask: “What the fuck is it now?”
Just as he reached the bathroom door, someone suddenly rushed out and crashed straight into his chest. Xing Wu felt a soft, fragrant warmth hit him, and looking down, the girl before him lifted her pale face and pointed behind her: “In there.”
Xing Wu consciously stepped back and raised an eyebrow: “A ghost?”
But unexpectedly, Qing Ye’s eyes went wide as she cried out: “There’s a spider!”
“…”
Xing Wu wordlessly opened the door, looked in, and said casually: “So it’s just a spider.”
As he was about to turn away, Qing Ye suddenly became anxious. It was truly her first time seeing such a large live spider, and her whole body was covered in goosebumps. She demanded: “Aren’t you going to kill it?”
Xing Wu’s expression became serious: “I don’t kill living things.”
He then watched as Qing Ye’s expression changed from shock to anger, and added playfully: “Spiders eat mosquitoes, why kill them?”
Qing Ye’s constantly changing expressions amused Xing Wu, and he said carelessly: “Besides, how do you know it’s not my pet?”
At this moment, Qing Ye truly wanted to throw the Head & Shoulders bottle at him.
Xing Wu went inside, with Qing Ye following behind, but then she stopped short – this was a hair salon, after all. How could even the most run-down salon not have conditioner? Xing Wu turned on the lights, and Qing Ye, her hair still dripping wet, went straight to the washing station, bent down to look around for a while, then picked up a bottle of cheap conditioner and questioned Xing Wu: “If this isn’t conditioner, what is it?”
Xing Wu completely ignored her, hands in his jeans pockets, merely grunting “Oh” before heading upstairs.
Qing Ye had never met such an annoying person – would it kill him to speak properly?
After entering the room, she immediately pulled the floral curtain between them tightly shut and said: “Your mom said you don’t come back to sleep at night.”
“If my mom said I turn into Spider-Man every night to save the world, would you believe that too?”
Qing Ye threw the essential balm oil from the bed to the adjacent bed and pulled over the blanket, but didn’t cover herself. Having just bathed, she felt like she was sweating again, unbearably hot.
She sat up again and couldn’t help but ask: “Why don’t you install a lock on your bathroom door?”
Game sounds came from the other side as Xing Wu asked flatly: “Which family would install it?”
Qing Ye understood – with a shared bathroom, no family wanted to take the loss. Just for a cheap lock. Qing Ye gave a cold laugh.
She simply got up to stand in front of the electric fan to cool off. The standing fan was placed in front of the curtain, which Xing Wu had moved earlier to face her side, meaning his side got no breeze at all.
Qing Ye curiously glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He was wearing a black T-shirt, leaning against the headboard, truly without a drop of sweat.
She couldn’t help but ask: “Aren’t you hot?”
“A calm mind stays cool.” Xing Wu focused on his game.
“Why don’t you install air conditioning in your room? Is this how you spend every summer?”
Xing Wu suddenly raised his eyebrows, coldly stared at her for a few seconds, and without warning threw his phone onto the bed: “If you have money, I don’t mind you installing locks and air conditioning for my family. If you can’t stand living here, then get out.”
The air suddenly grew still. Qing Ye stood motionless at the foot of the bed, staring at him. Neither spoke. In the next second, Qing Ye’s eyes suddenly turned red, and Xing Wu’s sharp gaze flickered slightly.
Qing Ye turned around, grabbed her phone, and headed straight out. Soon, footsteps could be heard going down the stairs. Xing Wu stayed frozen on the bed for a few seconds, then cursed under his breath: “Damn it!”
…
This day had been terrible for Qing Ye. She had suddenly fallen from a bright, glamorous world into a slum, surrounded by strange people, an unfamiliar environment, dilapidated streets, barely edible food, and relatives with no blood ties. All of this, coupled with Xing Wu’s “get out,” had pushed her last nerve to the breaking point.
She felt her head buzzing, her chest tight, her whole body burning hot as if about to combust. She didn’t know where she would go after opening this door, but she didn’t want to stay here anymore, not even for a minute.
Just as she pulled the door open, suddenly a dark figure appeared before her. Xing Wu’s tall figure loomed over her, exuding a fierce wildness in the darkness, his eyes staring at her like a wolf’s, his voice deep: “Want to go out? Fine. Let me tell you about our area first. After nine at night, the only people you’ll see on the streets are gamblers, drunks, and perverts. With your looks, you’d be considered provocative around here – guaranteed to attract attention the moment you step out. By the way, people in our small town can barely make ends meet, nobody likes to get involved in trouble. No matter how loud you scream, no one will risk getting involved. Call 110, and you’ll be lucky if the old police officer arrives within an hour. As for what might happen during that hour, you can try going out if you’re brave enough.”
With that, Xing Wu opened the door, watching her. A stuffy wind blew against Qing Ye, and as she looked at the empty street outside, she suddenly shivered.
Her mind was clearer now. Whether what Xing Wu said was true or false, there was no need to risk her safety just to spite him.
So she decisively turned around and went back upstairs to the room. Fortunately, Xing Wu didn’t come up again – Qing Ye wasn’t sure if he had gone out.
Qing Ye lay there in a daze for two or three hours, unsure if she had actually fallen asleep, just feeling her stomach constantly growling until she was finally awakened by hunger. She rummaged through her luggage – when leaving, she had indeed planned to bring a pack of snacks, but thinking she could buy snacks or order takeout anywhere, she thought it would be troublesome to carry them and didn’t bring any.
Who could have imagined there really were places where you couldn’t order takeout or buy things at night?
Qing Ye tossed and turned in bed, then really needed to use the bathroom, so she finally sat up and put on her slippers. Outside was pitch black. She didn’t know if Li Lanfang had returned from playing mahjong, and it wasn’t appropriate to call her at this hour.
She could only walk toward the stairs using her phone’s light. She felt her eyes hurt more after waking up and blinked hard several times. Passing by the sofa, she suddenly kicked a leg that startled her. She quickly shone her phone light on the sofa – someone was lying there. He raised his hand to block the harsh light, his voice somewhat hoarse: “What is it?”
Qing Ye then realized it was Xing Wu lying there. He hadn’t gone out that night but had fallen asleep on the sofa.
She quickly moved the light away and said: “I’m going to the bathroom.”
After speaking, she fumbled her way to the stairs. Halfway down, looking at the pitch-black salon below with its eerily reflecting mirrors, she suddenly stopped and quietly called up: “Hey… are you asleep?”
“Mm.”
Qing Ye stood on the stairs holding it in for a while until Xing Wu impatiently said: “Speak.”
“Can you… accompany me to the bathroom?”
“…”
There was no movement from upstairs, and just as Qing Ye thought Xing Wu wasn’t going to respond, she heard the shuffling sound of slippers, and Xing Wu’s tall figure appeared at the top of the stairs.
The backyard was extraordinarily quiet at night. There were no trees here, not even cicada sounds. Her hearing seemed magnified countless times, making Qing Ye somewhat nervous.
Xing Wu stopped at the back door, wearing a loose number 14 basketball T-shirt and gray sweatpants, leaning against the door frame with his tall frame. Qing Ye walked a few steps, and hearing no sound behind her, turned back to look at him: “Why did you stop?”
Xing Wu lowered his head to light a cigarette, took a drag, and said with a crooked smile: “Stop where? Stand by the toilet waiting for you?”
“Weirdo.” Qing Ye took small quick steps and rushed into the toilet, closing the door.