Jiang Mu suspected Jin Chao was doing something illegal behind Jin Qiang’s back. If she didn’t know about it, that would be one thing, but since it seemed to be life-threatening, she couldn’t just ignore it.
Fortunately, she had found a lead—the “Director” Pan Kai had mentioned.
Since Jin Chao had specifically come to the affiliated school to find this person, he must know something. However, despite watching for him for several days, Jiang Mu hadn’t managed to catch him.
This Zhang Fan was always late to arrive and early to leave, spending breaks holed up in the boys’ bathroom—truly living up to his title of “Director,” dedicated to his post. Since Jiang Mu obviously couldn’t burst into the boys’ bathroom to find him, several days passed fruitlessly.
Senior Year 3 students at the affiliated school had to attend on Saturdays, but the upside was no evening self-study on Fridays. So Jiang Mu packed up early and rushed to Class 1 as soon as school ended. She got lucky—Zhang Fan was just walking out of the classroom, swinging his arms.
She called out immediately: “Zhang Fan.”
Zhang Fan looked around confused, while Jiang Mu’s figure remained hidden behind a pillar as she called again: “Over here.”
Zhang Fan turned toward the voice and saw Jiang Mu. He walked over, recognizing her as the girl from Brother You Jiu’s car that day, and his attitude became friendly: “Oh, it’s you.”
Jiang Mu stepped out from behind the pillar and asked, “You know Jin… I mean, you know Brother You Jiu, right?”
“What’s up?”
“I saw you meet him that day. Are you close with him?”
Zhang Fan’s answer surprised Jiang Mu. He told her, “That was my first time meeting Brother You Jiu. I’d just heard my brother mention him often before.”
Jiang Mu followed up: “Your brother is?”
“My brother was in the same high school class as Brother You Jiu. What’s your relationship with him?”
Jiang Mu remembered Jin Chao saying he wasn’t a positive figure at school and telling her not to mention knowing him. She hesitated before responding, “I’m renting a room at his place. By the way, what was in that package you gave him that day?”
Jiang Mu felt nervous asking this, worried about touching on some unspeakable secret. However, Zhang Fan answered directly: “Blueprints. My brother asked me to deliver them to Brother You Jiu.”
This answer was completely unexpected. She asked in surprise: “Blueprints? What kind?”
Zhang Fan laughed: “I can’t even understand function graphs, how would I know what kind of blueprints?”
Jiang Mu lowered her gaze, thoughts churning. After a moment, she looked up and asked Zhang Fan: “Are you free right now?”
“Meeting someone at the internet cafe. Why?”
Jiang Mu delivered her prepared speech in one breath: “I need to find Brother You Jiu about something. Do you know where I can find him?”
Zhang Fan replied: “Probably at the shop. Why don’t you call him?”
“I tried, but he was busy and didn’t answer. Could you take me there? I don’t know where it is.”
Zhang Fan didn’t think much of it and replied: “Sure, I’ll take you.”
Outside the school gate, Zhang Fan immediately hailed a taxi. After a short ride at the base fare, they stopped beside a street in Tongren Lane. As soon as they got out, Zhang Fan pointed across the road: “It’s over there, let’s go.”
Jiang Mu grabbed his clothes and pulled him behind a white wax tree. She quietly observed the shop across the street. It had a small storefront with a red sign above the rolling shutter door reading “Feichi Auto Repair.” Several private cars were scattered in the space in front, and inside the shutter door, a car was raised on a lift with two workers bustling about.
Someone called out, and suddenly a person emerged from under the lifted car at the entrance. Jiang Mu could now see clearly it was Jin Chao. Half of his body moved out as he talked to someone, his blue coveralls soaked with sweat and so dirty the original color was barely visible. The ground around was covered in black oil and scattered parts as he worked lying down in the intense outdoor heat.
The dilapidated street, rusty iron gates, barking mongrels, shirtless men smoking, electric bikes scattered about—this was the face of the entire street.
Jiang Mu gazed at the scene in a daze. Even if Jin Chao was bold enough to do something risky, she couldn’t imagine him now lying on the dirty ground doing such hard, exhausting work.
In her memory, her brother had always been very clean. When he’d get hot playing football, the first thing he’d do upon returning home was shower and wash his dirty clothes. She had never seen him looking unkempt and had always thought of him as a golden child. In the many years that followed, she might have forgotten what he looked like, but she could still remember the clean, sunny smell of him.
At eleven or twelve, he had been confident and spirited, telling her: “I’m going to try to become a scientist, preferably an astronomer, to study the mysteries of the universe.”
Back then, Jiang Mu had believed her brother’s words completely. After they separated, she had imagined what he might be like as an adult—a lawyer, doctor, teacher, or maybe an office worker in some high-rise, or perhaps he really would go into research. But whatever profession he chose, she was sure he would be neat and dignified. She never imagined the scene before her would completely shatter her fantasies.
She should have noticed earlier. The day she first arrived in Tonggang, Jin Chao’s white T-shirt had been stained with dirt. When she noticed, he had casually rolled it up, hiding his current situation along with it.
She had asked him what he was doing now, but he had never given her a straight answer. He didn’t want her to know about his life—something Jiang Mu had never considered before coming here.
Seeing her just hiding behind the tree and peeking, not going over, Zhang Fan said: “What are you doing? Didn’t you need to see Brother You Jiu? He’s right there.”
Jiang Mu suddenly regretted coming. Right now her heart felt heavy, an indescribable feeling choking her. She shook her head: “Never mind, let’s go.”
Seeing her cautious behavior, Zhang Fan grinned mischievously: “You came all this way just to get a glimpse of Brother You Jiu? Don’t tell me you have a secret crush on him?”
Jiang Mu froze, telling Zhang Fan: “Don’t talk nonsense.”
Zhang Fan clearly couldn’t understand Jiang Mu’s behavior. He tugged at her backpack, joking: “What are you afraid of? Go say hi! I can’t stand people who like someone but keep hesitating.”
Jiang Mu grabbed her backpack and backed away urgently: “Stop it, I don’t want to go. I need to head back.”
As they were tugging back and forth, San Lai, who had just come out of the pet shop next to the auto repair shop, saw them and looked across the street, calling out: “Zhang Fan.”
Zhang Fan let go of Jiang Mu’s backpack and looked over, hearing San Lai shout: “What are you doing pulling and pushing around there?”
By now Jiang Mu had also seen the man—it was the tall, thin bearded guy she’d met twice before. His shout had drawn the attention of the workers at the repair shop, and Jiang Mu quickly turned away, only to hear Zhang Fan call out: “This girl has a crush on Brother You Jiu but is too shy to go say hi!”
Jiang Mu stared at Zhang Fan in shock as the men across the street burst out laughing. Someone called out “You Jiu, a girl is looking for you,” while another patted the red Lavida raised on the lift. Hearing this, Jin Chao emerged from under the car and slowly stood up.
His assistant Xiao Yang moved forward and pointed across the street. The sky had darkened, and the street lights had all come on. The moment Jin Chao looked over, the streetlight above illuminated Jiang Mu’s figure clearly. She tried to hide behind the white wax tree, but the trunk was too thin to conceal her, making her attempt look somewhat ridiculous.
Jin Chao first narrowed his eyes, his expression darkening, but when he saw her trying to hide, he sighed lightly and beckoned to her.
Jiang Mu couldn’t pretend not to see and had to honestly walk out from behind the tree. She heard Zhang Fan still chattering beside her: “See? Brother You Jiu is calling you over. What are you afraid of? Be brave, the chase is half won already.”
Jiang Mu turned to him expressionlessly and said: “Has anyone ever told you you look like Takeshi Kaneshiro when you shut up?”
Then she walked straight toward the repair shop. By now, all the men at the shop were looking at her—two car owners who were familiar with Jin Chao, and two workers, all watching her with amused expressions that made her extremely uncomfortable.
Getting closer, she recognized the two workers as the ones who had gone to the school with Jin Chao that day. They clearly recognized her too, greeting her: “Hi, little sister.”
Jiang Mu stiffly raised her hand to wave at them, stealing a glance at Jin Chao. He stood by a large iron barrel three steps away from her, removing his oil-stained gloves and placing them on the barrel, watching her with dark eyes.
Jiang Mu had to admit Jin Chao’s gaze was intimidating. Even though he hadn’t asked why she was there, his naturally commanding presence made her feel as if she had done something wrong.
She took a step toward him, looking down as she explained quietly: “I just… came to borrow a house key. I didn’t tell them I didn’t have evening self-study today. I was worried they might be at the supermarket…”
As Jiang Mu made her weak explanation, her approach made Jin Chao step back. Only then did she look up and see that even with gloves, his exposed arms were covered in grayish-black dirt, and his clothes gave off an unpleasant smell of engine oil. The coveralls looked thick and not at all breathable. Jin Chao was covered in sweat and deliberately kept his distance from her.
His action made Jiang Mu’s heart ache. Her voice grew increasingly quiet until it finally disappeared completely. Jin Chao picked up a tire iron and asked flatly: “Now that you’ve seen, are you disappointed?”
The question made Jiang Mu’s eyes sting. She kept her head down without saying a word. Jin Chao told her: “Wait over there until dinner.”
Then he went back to work. Jiang Mu felt she should leave and turned to go, but San Lai appeared in front of her holding a teacup, smiling as he said: “Where are you going? You Jiu said to stay for dinner. Here, let me get you a stool.”
He walked into the shop familiar with its layout and brought out a small wooden stool, placing it at the shop entrance. Seeing Jiang Mu still standing at the door properly holding her backpack, he laughed: “What got gold bars in that bag you can’t put down?”
Jiang Mu awkwardly took off her backpack, hugging it as she sat on the small stool. Beard Brother leaned next to her and introduced: “That’s Xiao Yang, You Jiu’s apprentice, and the other one is called Iron Rooster because he’s so stingy he won’t part with a single feather.”
Iron Rooster was working nearby and heard this. He picked up a bolt and threw it at San Lai, cursing: “Am I like you? Mister Generous, doesn’t know how to save money.”
San Lai dodged, the bolt grazing his shorts as it flew past. He laughed and cursed back: “Watch it, don’t hit the pretty lady.”
Then he bent down to tell her: “Everyone calls me San Lai, got it?”
Jiang Mu nodded: “San Lai.”
He corrected her: “It’s Brother San Lai.”
“…”
Iron Rooster turned back and called out: “Do you know why he’s called San Lai? Because he’s always lounging around other people’s places, occupying space without doing anything useful.”
While San Lai and Iron Rooster traded verbal jabs, Jiang Mu’s gaze fell on Jin Chao on the other side. He worked very seriously, changing a tire. The car owner was older than him but still quite polite, squatting down to ask: “You Jiu, should we change all four tires?”
Jin Chao replied: “No need, save some money. Move the front ones to the back, just change two for now.”
The car owner nodded repeatedly: “Whatever you think is best.”
Jiang Mu watched him silently. The dark blue coveralls were filled out by his tall figure. He carried out a new tire from the shop effortlessly, and when he squatted down, his latissimus dorsi muscles showed through the fabric. His arms, the only exposed part, were full of strength. Jiang Mu had noticed before but had assumed Jin Chao just worked out regularly. She didn’t know his muscles came from hard labor.
While she was lost in thought, San Lai bent down and asked: “So, what’s your name?”
“Jiang Mu,” she replied absent-mindedly.
San Lai’s teacup paused halfway to his mouth. He looked down at the quiet girl again and asked: “Mu as in ‘evening thoughts’?”
Jiang Mu nodded. San Lai took a sip of tea, looked at Jin Chao in the distance, and seemed deep in thought.
Jin Chao worked efficiently, and soon all four tires were changed. He shared a cigarette with the car owner, chatted briefly, and saw him off. When he turned around, he saw Jiang Mu sitting in the corner. The stool was very low, and she sat there hugging her backpack, curled up into a ball. The scene seemed somehow familiar.
He remembered a scene from long ago. That day, Jiang Yinghan had something come up and couldn’t pick up Jiang Mu from school on time. The teacher told her to wait at the security office for her mother and not wander off. Later, the security guard told Jin Chao that the little girl wouldn’t sit down or drink water, just stood there. Her backpack was heavy, and her little legs were shaking, unsteady from standing so long. She waited who knows how long, from the class bell to the dismissal bell, but her mother never came. Seeing the little girl holding back tears while trying to act strong, he agreed to let her look for her brother.
Little Jiang Mu walked back into the school campus. Just starting first grade, she had no sense of direction and searched floor by floor until she finally found Class 6-3.
When Jin Chao finished school that day, he found a little pitiful figure crouching in the corner hugging her backpack. When she saw him, her eyes were bright red.
Back then, he had a group of little brothers who helped him cheer her up and play with her. Soon she was laughing through her tears, though she held his hand tightly all the way home, afraid of getting lost.
His thoughts returned to the present. Everything seemed different, yet some things remained the same. Jiang Mu had come to find him alone, hugging her backpack in the corner while San Lai kept her company.
Jin Chao walked over in a few steps. When Jiang Mu looked up at him, he said: “Come with me inside.”