The next day, Cen Jin slept almost until midday. Wei Lai had woken earlier — but not by much. When she opened her eyes, he was standing with his back to her at the side of the bed, just finishing buckling his belt.
He heard her stir and turned to look at her with an expression that was half smile and half knowing look.
Cen Jin was disoriented for a moment. Then gradually the memories of last night came back, and her face burned. She yanked the pillow over and pressed it across her face.
The bed dipped slightly beside her. Wei Lai sat down.
He said: “I think I finally understand why you once said you hoped your husband would die before you — married life does accumulate a fair number of secrets, and once they got out, they wouldn’t exactly be flattering…”
Cen Jin said through clenched teeth: “Are you done or not?”
Wei Lai moved the pillow aside: “When I’m strict with you, you’re perfectly well-behaved. When I’m good to you, you get all excited — like a wild little cat, biting and scratching. If I hadn’t managed to hold you down, I think you might have scrambled up to the roof beams.”
Cen Jin kept her eyes cast downward, refusing to look at him. Her eyelashes fluttered for a long moment before she managed to squeeze out: “Does it hurt?”
Wei Lai burst out laughing.
“You think I’m like you? That bite of yours, that scratching — it’s basically tickling me. Go ahead and call it ‘scratching an itch.'”
Cen Jin sat up and looked at him. The bite marks on his shoulder had nearly faded. Across his back were several red marks — in some places the skin had been broken, with small, beaded points of red — she still couldn’t quite believe that in a moment of abandon she had been so unrestrained. Perhaps for anyone, man or woman, when emotion reaches an extreme, it always carries some destructive impulse.
She rested her chin on his bare shoulder, wrapped her arms around him from behind, and quietly took in the warmth of his body. His upper back was broad and solid; there was a deep hollow running down the center, flanked by firm, well-defined muscle. Even in this light embrace, she felt an immense sense of security.
Cen Jin asked softly: “Why do you like me?”
Wei Lai laughed: “How could anyone explain something like that.”
Just as he accepted without question that the interior angles of a triangle always sum to 180 degrees — without ever thinking to ask why.
It was genuinely beyond explaining. She wasn’t the most beautiful woman he had ever protected. His clients had included supermodels and famous actresses of a sensual sort. At most he had regarded them with a man’s appreciative gaze, exchanged a few harmless jokes with colleagues, and then returned to being an expressionless wall.
The person who dazzles your eyes and the person who moves your heart are often two entirely different kinds of people. You can clearly describe who can take your breath away visually — but you can never quite say who will be the one to knock on the door of your heart. You have to open it yourself to see the face of the person standing outside.
Cen Jin said: “I can’t explain it either. If I had known it would come to this…”
If she had known it would come to this, would she still have chosen him on that first interview day?
A voice deep inside answered: Absolutely not.
But if she hadn’t chosen him — that would mean missing him forever, wouldn’t it?
She was briefly lost in thought, until Wei Lai pressed the unfinished question: “Don’t leave things half said. If you had known it would come to this — what then?”
Cen Jin smiled and changed the subject: “Look at that.”
He followed her gaze. The burned-down candle — spread into a thin, smooth pool, with two or three wax drips hanging frozen along the edge.
The world and its chaos are a consuming fire; a person is the wax. From birth to death, you are slowly worn down, softened and melted. Even without love, even spending your life beside the wrong person, you melt away all the same — life as the beginning, death as the end. It makes no difference.
But if you are fortunate enough to meet the right person, he becomes the wick — when the fire comes, he helps you burn into light and warmth and heat. And then he stays beside you, all the way to the very last moment.
Wei Lai asked: “What are you showing me?”
Cen Jin snapped at him: “I’m telling you to look — the candle burned out. Go ask the innkeeper for a new one.”
——
Opening the door to go out, the air was damp. It must have rained again in the morning. Wei Lai loosened his muscles, and in the middle of a stretching bend, he noticed the Egao girl — Ji Ni — upside-down in his field of vision, running in this direction, then coming to a halt in the middle of the courtyard.
She was probably mindful of his earlier words: “Don’t come disturbing me again.”
Wei Lai smiled and walked over to meet her, gesturing for her to follow him to one side of the wall. From this angle he had a clear line of sight, and could also monitor any movement inside Cen Jin’s room.
Ji Ni was visibly excited. She held out a cigarette, struck a match, and lit it for him: “Someone’s been asking about you.”
Wei Lai felt a subtle alertness, but he didn’t want to show urgency.
He took a slow, unhurried drag, then asked: “What’s your name?”
“Ji Ni.”
“Who’s been asking about me?”
“Not exactly asking about you — asking about your car.” Ji Ni pointed toward his car parked in the corner of the courtyard. “A jeep with a palm-leaf mat on top — there can only be one in all of Egao, right?”
She gave a little giggle.
Wei Lai gave nothing away: “Go on.”
“They came into town before dawn. Driving a van — two or three people inside. They didn’t stay at the inn; apparently they settled in at someone’s private home.”
“Which house?”
Ji Ni said nothing. Her palm turned upward, fingers curled — the universal gesture for money. She smiled with unexpected depth.
Wei Lai smiled back: “You got news this fast — I only asked you to keep watch last night, and by this morning you already have something. Don’t you know that information gathered too quickly can also make a person suspicious?”
Ji Ni scoffed: “Women like us have no steady work, so we gather together and gossip endlessly. The town is this small. If a wolf comes in from some direction in the morning, we’ll all know by noon which way it came from and what it carried in its mouth.”
“Their address… what do you want for it?”
Ji Ni licked her lips: “Ten… dollars?”
“Fine, I’ll give it to you shortly.”
Ji Ni smiled and let her outstretched hand fall: “Go out the main gate, turn left. Follow the road all the way to the end of the street. There’s a row of houses there, the walls are made of stone, and the rooftops are green and red. They’re staying in the one with the red roof. They drove the car into the forest behind the house — you won’t easily spot it.”
“The people in the car — any distinguishing features?”
Ji Ni thought for a moment: “Pretty ordinary looking — not much different from the locals. Except one of them is wearing sunglasses.”
She added her reasoning: “It’s the short rainy season right now. It rains often. Sunny days are rare. Dark sunglasses at the crack of dawn — that’s very strange.”
Wei Lai’s brow furrowed.
Sunglasses…
Could it be Dao Ba — the man with the scar — the one they had encountered earlier on the fake pirate ship? He hadn’t drowned? Someone had pulled him out?
Ji Ni gauged his expression carefully: “That’s all I have — when can I…”
Wei Lai snapped back: “One last thing.”
“You’ve been selling his information to me — what’s to stop you from selling mine to him?”
Ji Ni’s eyes went wide. At first she didn’t understand — then it dawned on her, and her cheeks flushed crimson: “I didn’t do that, I only asked around…”
Wei Lai raised one finger to his lips: “Shhh…”
Ji Ni stopped. Her chest rose and fell violently.
Wei Lai smiled: “I know you didn’t. I’m simply reminding you — a person who feeds from two tables will face the knives from both. So you have to be firm about this: being friends with me is always better than being an enemy. Not only will you get paid, you’ll still have your life to enjoy. Understood?”
“When I leave, go find my girlfriend and collect the money from her. Be polite with her — she has a very good temper. She might even give you more.”
——
When Wei Lai returned to the room, the innkeeper happened to be bringing coffee — he explained: “All guests get coffee included with the room. You were asleep this morning so this is a make-up delivery.”
As he spoke, several men came through the main entrance. They were dressed like locals, young, their expressions shy and awkward, nudging and jostling each other as they filed in.
Noticing Cen Jin watching them, the innkeeper offered: “These are young men heading south for work. They’ve come to find a girl.”
Cen Jin smiled and said: “Going to Kenya, aren’t they. It’s not easy.”
The exchange made no sense to Wei Lai.
After the innkeeper left, Cen Jin explained: “Egao’s economy has been stagnant for years, and many people have left their homes and crossed into Kenya illegally to find work — it’s practically become a popular trend. And within this trend, a custom has emerged.”
“Because sexual services are illegal in Kenya, and the prices are too high for anyone to spend their hard-earned savings on women there — so before the crossing, they come to find a girl from home for one last night of comfort.”
“Didn’t you notice? This small town doesn’t have many outside visitors, yet it’s very lively — because it’s a gathering point. Men from villages ten miles in every direction who have this kind of need come here to find girls. Once a price is agreed on, they can get a room at the inn.”
Wei Lai looked at those young faces for a moment, and an idea formed rapidly in his mind.
He dragged the canvas bag out from under the bed, selected two Beretta M9 pistols to carry, tucked a dagger into the back of his belt, and picked out a set of four-finger iron knuckle dusters — the kind that fit over the fingers with sharp blades on top, so that a single punch could maim if not kill.
Cen Jin sat on the bed, watching him in silence.
Even Wei Lai felt a pang of guilt. He thought about it, and swapped the bladed knuckle dusters for a plain pair.
Then he looked up at Cen Jin and smiled: “In the future, if you ever see men in a fight — stay well away. There’s no such thing as a light touch — even the lightest blow is enough to put you out of action for ten days to two weeks.”
His preparations done, he stood up and let out a long breath.
Then he looked at her and smiled: “I’m going now. Anything you want to say?”
Cen Jin said: “If there’s any way to negotiate rather than fight, please try that first.”
Wei Lai smiled, reached out and drew her into his arms, holding her gently.
“Remember what I’m about to say.”
“I’ve always believed the best protection is not to lock you behind closed doors and windows so that no attack can get through — it’s to keep both of us in constant motion, unpredictable and uncatchable.”
“After I leave, get enough US dollars ready. Ji Ni — the Egao girl — will come find you for the money.”
“Have her work with you. You’re going to do a switcheroo: tell her that someone outside is watching you, and that you need to escape — your boyfriend will meet you outside town. You put on her clothes and leave, with the shama covering your face. No one will be able to tell it’s you. She stays in this room for at least one hour before opening the door.”
Cen Jin asked quietly: “Where do I escape to?”
Wei Lai smiled: “Take the Desert Eagle and the outfit you bought yesterday. Find a bathroom somewhere to change again — many people know Ji Ni and her clothes, so you need one more change.”
“Then go out onto the street and pick a trustworthy-looking man — one of the young men coming to find girls. Tell him you’re willing to go with him for the night, but the condition is going back here, and choosing a room.”
He gestured to a small vacant guest room diagonally across the courtyard: “That one. Book that room.”
“Wait for me there. Only open the door when you hear my voice. If that man turns out to be trouble, fire the gun — press the muzzle into a pillow first. That will muffle the sound.”
Cen Jin looked up at him: “Then you have to come back.”
Wei Lai smiled: “Of course I’ll come back. I still have to come back and take you home.”