The day after Ding Panling and his group left, Yi Sa set out early the next morning.
She borrowed a motorcycle from the local Ding family, agreeing to return it once they reached Taiyuan. Although the major issues were resolved, there might still be loose ends to tie up. She planned to stay in Taiyuan for a few days first to monitor the situation. Once she confirmed there were no matters concerning her, she could return to Cambodia.
She also made plans for Zong Hang: “You can think about going home now. Don’t let people say raising a son is worse than keeping a postcard.”
Zong Hang defended himself: “That was strategy! A strategy to protect myself and my family!”
Yi Sa rolled her eyes at him: he had the same kind of brain as Ding Yudie, yet kept talking about strategy as if he and strategy were old friends.
Since there was no pressure and no rush, she let Zong Hang drive most of the way back.
Zong Hang drove steadily, and finding an opportunity, he hesitantly asked: “Yi Sa, before you go back to Cambodia, won’t you come visit my home?”
“Why should I visit your home?”
“I owe you money! All these days, eating your food, drinking your drinks, I owe you a lot. Won’t you come collect it?”
“Just give me an account number, estimate it, and transfer whatever you think is fair.”
“Then… do you have a fixed address? How will I find you in the future?”
“Would you even be able to come out? Once you’re home, won’t your parents be watching you twenty-four hours a day? You think they’ll let you out again?”
Zong Hang fell silent, feeling a bit angry: how could Yi Sa be so unsentimental? With their parting approaching, he was desperately trying to create opportunities to bring them together again, but she shot down everything he said.
He stopped talking, feeling upset, planning to think of more ways in a few days.
Yi Sa held his waist, calmly watching the scenery along the way, pretending not to notice his sudden silence.
She realized she enjoyed teasing Zong Hang. When he brought up one thing, she would deliberately pull in another direction, just to see him secretly fuming but staying quiet.
At noon, they ate at a self-service restaurant.
The restaurant had a stylish decoration, with several signature dishes that needed to be collected personally. The food collection was unique: through a large glass window, you could see the chefs preparing meals, and the preparation process was quite interesting, drawing many onlookers.
Yi Sa also went to watch the spectacle, leaving Zong Hang to find seats.
The restaurant was crowded, and it took Zong Hang quite a while to find a table for two. After placing the table number, he sat waiting patiently.
Just as he was getting impatient, a hesitant voice suddenly came from beside him: “Handsome?”
What? Handsome? Such a unique form of address must have been meant for him. After all, when he sat down, he had looked around at the other diners – of the only two other males nearby, one had graying hair and the other had a protruding belly. Within a five-meter radius, only he could match this title.
Zong Hang quickly looked up.
It turned out to be a young woman who looked like a college student, quite pretty, with a blushing face and somewhat nervous manner.
Not far behind her at another table were four or five young women, all excitedly watching this direction, either making faces or pretending to cough.
They were probably dormmates or traveling together.
The girl probably thought he was around her age, and stammered a different form of address: “Um, classmate, can I add you on WeChat?”
Zong Hang asked curiously: “Did you lose a game or something?”
In the past, his group of friends often played this kind of prank – the loser had to go ask for someone’s number or confess to them.
The girl burst out laughing, feeling he was easy to talk to, and became less nervous: “No, I just wanted to… get to know you.”
Her friends coughed even louder, and one tried to whistle, though technical limitations prevented it from sounding.
It took Zong Hang a moment to realize what was happening, and now it was his turn to be nervous: “Add… add WeChat?”
Just then, Yi Sa’s voice suddenly came from behind: “Excuse me, please make way.”
Zong Hang’s scalp tingled – strange, he hadn’t done anything, yet he felt as guilty as if he’d been caught in an affair.
The girl thought she was blocking someone’s path and quickly moved aside, only to realize that Yi Sa had put down her tray and sat directly opposite Zong Hang.
She was suddenly stunned, her pretty face turning completely red: “I’m sorry, I thought you were alone, I didn’t know…”
Yi Sa couldn’t have been more polite: “No, no, you misunderstand, it’s not what you think. Please continue, don’t mind me.”
After saying this, she smiled as she tore open the paper sleeve of the disposable chopsticks.
So, not his girlfriend? The girl wasn’t sure anymore.
The situation couldn’t stay awkward forever. Zong Hang smiled apologetically at the girl: “I’m sorry, I can’t add you, I don’t have a phone.”
The girl was stunned, visible disappointment crossing her eyes. After a pause, she said softly: “Who doesn’t have a phone these days? If you don’t want to add me, just say so, it’s fine.”
Yi Sa, with a mouthful of soup, explained to Zong Hang in a muffled voice: “No, beautiful, you misunderstand. He’s not lying, really doesn’t have one. His phone was just stolen. Why don’t you leave your number, and he’ll add you when he gets a new one.”
The girl felt awkward and wanted to retreat, but with so many people watching, she felt she couldn’t leave so ungracefully. She had to borrow a pen from a passing waiter and hastily wrote her number on a napkin, internally deciding that even if Zong Hang did add her, she wouldn’t accept.
This kind of impulsive asking for contact information was unreliable – those encounter posts online must all be written by professional writers.
After this incident, the rest of the meal felt off somehow. Zong Hang felt like there were needles in his chair, sitting uncomfortably, while Yi Sa ate slowly and methodically. When finished, she wiped her mouth with a napkin and said: “Didn’t know you were so popular.”
Zong Hang muttered: “It’s not like I asked her to come over.”
Yi Sa snorted: “Let’s go, don’t forget anything, especially someone’s number – better keep that safe.”
With that, she picked up her helmet and strode out haughtily. Zong Hang followed behind listlessly. When he got outside, Yi Sa was already on the bike, revving the engine.
Zong Hang asked in surprise: “Wasn’t I supposed to drive?”
“Stop with all the questions, hurry up, we’re in a rush.”
Since when were they in a rush?
Zong Hang had no choice but to get in the back seat. As soon as his bottom touched the seat, the bike took off, racing like lightning, taking turns without any cushioning. The passenger experience was terrible. Finally, when they were riding smoothly, there was suddenly another sharp stop.
There were no traffic lights or congestion, so why stop here? While Zong Hang was puzzled, Yi Sa took off her helmet and nodded toward a storefront on the right.
Looking over, it was a China Telecom business hall.
Zong Hang didn’t understand: “You need to top up your phone?”
Yi Sa answered: “Getting you a phone, so I don’t hold up your life’s big events and have you blame me later.”
What big events? Who had big events?
Zong Hang sat there, watching Yi Sa walk up the steps, and shouted: “No ID card, can’t get one!”
Yi Sa looked back at him with a very kind smile: “We’ll use mine. I don’t have a China Telecom number, can get one for you to use.”
That night, they stayed in Lingshi, in the usual twin room.
After dinner, Zong Hang sat on the bed fiddling with his new phone. Honestly, after so many days without a phone, suddenly having access again felt strange.
But it was time to gradually restore external communications. Zong Hang downloaded WeChat, registered his profile, and set up his avatar.
Next… time to add friends.
He glanced at Yi Sa.
She was sitting on her bed watching TV, eyes straight ahead. In fact, since handing him the phone and instructing “Better add that girl quickly,” she hadn’t looked at him properly. Though she was still smiling politely, there was something sinister in her politeness – did she think he couldn’t tell?
Zong Hang hesitated for a moment, then got up and walked to her bedside: “Yi Sa, let’s add each other on WeChat.”
Yi Sa didn’t look at him, as if the News Broadcast was fascinating: “We see each other every day, is it necessary?”
Zong Hang said: “We’ll be separating in a few days, right? Then you’ll go back to Cambodia, I’ll go home, we should at least have a way to keep in touch.”
This reasoning was hard to deflect or refute. Yi Sa said nothing, then after a while took out her phone, and pulled up her QR code with an impatient expression.
Zong Hang quickly scanned the code, sent the friend request, and saw Yi Sa confirm it. He couldn’t have been happier: in his empty friend list, he had his first friend – the first one, very important, very meaningful.
Lying on his bed, Zong Hang opened Yi Sa’s profile.
Her name was just Yi Sa, no nickname, and her profile picture was of water, probably Tonle Sap Lake.
He clicked into her Moments feed.
A bit disappointed – Yi Sa didn’t like posting things, it was completely empty. He had thought he could secretly look through her past posts all night.
Just one contact looked lonely.
Who else should he add?
Tong Hong and Zong Bishi could wait a couple of days, the girl from the restaurant – forget it, he couldn’t chat with unfamiliar people, besides, Yi Sa didn’t like it. And then…
He suddenly remembered something, scrambled up, and dug out a note from his luggage.
The one Jing Xiu had given him, saying it was both a phone number and WeChat ID.
They were friends, after all, he should ask about what happened afterward.
He first sent a friend request on WeChat, planning to send a text message if there was no response, but unexpectedly, the other side accepted quickly and sent back a half-doubtful message: “Is this Zong Hang?”
Typing wasn’t good for proving identity, so Zong Hang simply sent a voice message: “Jing Xiu, it’s me, how are you? Everything okay?”
He wanted to ask if she had made a clean break with Ding Xi.
Yi Sa heard it too, and muted the TV.
After a while, Jing Xiu sent back a message: I heard you all are coming back, come visit me then, and we’ll talk in person.
Followed by an address.
Zong Hang read the message to Yi Sa: “What do you think… she means?”
Yi Sa sneered: “‘Heard,’ heard from whom? Must have heard from Ding Xi, which means she’s still with him. She even gave the address it’s about meeting up.”
Zong Hang said: “I know that, but the key is, there doesn’t seem to be anything important that needs to be discussed in person with Jing Xiu.”
Yi Sa was crystal clear: “Then it must be Ding Xi who arranged it.”
Ding Xi? Zong Hang was puzzled: “He wants to meet me?”
Yi Sa said: “He wants to meet me.”
Zong Hang froze for a moment.
The good mood of these past few days, that sense of relief and ease he hadn’t felt in so long, suddenly all drained away at the mention of this name.
Yi Sa saw what he was thinking: “It’s fine, probably nothing major, just tying up loose ends about Chen Tu.”
Nothing major?
Zong Hang still felt uneasy. After lying down, he tossed and turned, having many chaotic dreams. In one, he dreamed of Yi Xiao: she stood silently in the darkness, and just when Zong Hang almost thought she was a lifelike wax figure, she suddenly sighed.
This sigh made the sky seem dark, the earth desolate, and the heart empty.
So empty it tore through the dream.
Zong Hang woke up in the darkness, lay melancholy for a while, then turned on his bedside lamp, trying to move as quietly as possible as he went to the bathroom.
Coming back, drowsy and drooping onto the bed, he was about to reach for the light switch when he suddenly froze.
He looked toward Yi Sa’s bed.
The bedside lamp’s light was weak, and Yi Sa’s bed was still in shadow, but there was a large dark outline around her pillow.
An ominous feeling rose in Zong Hang’s heart. His fingers trembling, he felt along the row of switches at the headboard and pressed the main light.
In the sudden burst of light, he saw Yi Sa, or more precisely, her entire head, almost lying in a pool of blood.
Was Yi Sa… dead?
Zong Hang’s mind went completely blank, his throat dry. He wanted to call her name, but his voice was too hoarse to make a sound.
Then, he saw Yi Sa open her eyes and ask him: “What’s wrong?”