The detention center’s meals consisted of a white steamed bun and two carrot strips for breakfast and boiled vegetables for lunch and dinner.

Xu Dalong, used to fine dining at home, suddenly fell from feasting on meat and wine to eating boiled cabbage with fatty pork. Unable to accept this dramatic change, he would lament about life’s cruelty several times each day.

In the cafeteria.

Xie Huai picked out the cabbage leaves from his bowl, leaving behind half a bowl of fatty meat floating in oil.

Xu Dalong: “If you’re not eating it, give me the meat. These vegetables are so plain I can barely eat them.”

He rambled while eating: “Nothing’s easy to do these days. A few years ago, contracting projects were both profitable and prestigious. You’d have crowds of workers under you, drive a Mercedes-Benz out the door, and come home to your lover – truly riding the wave of the times.”

“Now when people hear ‘contractor,’ they think of unpaid wages and debt collection. Look at that crew-cut guy.” Xu Dalong glanced over. “I keep feeling like he wants to punch me.”

With a belly full of cabbage stems, after meals, he dragged Xie Huai to the small store to buy bread. An old man sat behind the counter. When Xu Dalong asked for cigarettes, the old man rolled his milky white eyes and held up one finger. Xu Dalong placed a hundred yuan note on the counter, and the old man pulled out one cigarette from under the desk.

Xu Dalong: “?”

Old man: “One hundred per cigarette.”

“…”

Xu Dalong didn’t dare complain in detention, so he took out another bill: “One more, please. Little Xie, have a smoke, Brother Xu’s treat.”

He appeared simple but was quite shrewd.

This place wasn’t as terrifying as one might think, but it wasn’t easy to get by either. He and Xie Huai had arrived on the same day, making it easy to talk to each other. Xie Huai had helped him, and he seemed different from the thugs who’d gotten in for gang fights. He had a cold pride about him, unlike others in this place, and rarely spoke to anyone.

These past couple of days, Xu Dalong had been eating meals, exercising, and attending thought education sessions with Xie Huai, affectionately calling him “Little Xie.”

Xie Huai: “I don’t smoke.”

After meals, there was a half-hour exercise period. He walked a circle to the back of the store under the Jacaranda trees.

In the warm April weather, a gentle breeze rustled the branches overhead, scattering light purple petals on the ground.

Xie Huai lay on the grass with a blade of grass between his teeth, squinting in the sunlight, watching as the bright rays made the Jacaranda petals appear translucently thin. Smoke rings drifted upward, dispersing when they met the falling petals in the wind.

“Little Xie, you helped Brother Xu that day, and I’ll remember this favor and repay it someday,” Xu Dalong asked with a smile. “You fold those perfect squares so skillfully – were you in the military before?”

Xie Huai didn’t respond. Xu Dalong studied his expression: “Then you must have been in jail before. Who would practice folding blankets into perfect squares at home?”

Xie Huai remained silent, and Xu Dalong was tactful enough not to press further.

Xie Huai possessed a maturity far beyond his years. Though curious about this young man, Xu Dalong was deterred from asking more by his cold demeanor.

Xu Dalong exhaled smoke contentedly: “Thinking about girls?”

Xie Huai: “No.”

“Though Brother Xu isn’t young anymore, I can tell what you young people are thinking with just one look – I’ve been through that phase too,” Xu Dalong said. “If you weren’t thinking about women, what man would stare at a flower in a daze?”

“The guys in the next bed get up to mischief every night, but you’re the only one who doesn’t make a sound.” Xu Dalong smirked. “Must be tough going so long without relief?”

Xie Huai listlessly chewed the grass blade before spitting it out: “It’s fine.”

Xu Dalong: “There’s no shame in thinking about women. Men are made and broken by women. Look at Brother Xu – ten years ago I was just a loading team leader, managing a dozen laborers daily. Couldn’t afford a Mercedes or a sea-view apartment. If it was just me alone, I would have muddled through life just like that.”

“But your sister-in-law was with me, and while I could handle hardship, I couldn’t let her suffer with me. If I hadn’t wanted to take a chance for her sake, who knows if I’d still be unloading cargo in some corner?”

Xie Huai: “Then why did you visit prostitutes?”

“That’s what I mean about being broken by women. Men turn bad when they get money, there’s no way around it,” Xu Dalong said. “In my line of work, you have to entertain construction company people above you, drink with workers below you, get massages – how else can you negotiate business? How else can you make money to support your family? If everyone else visits prostitutes but you don’t, the people doing business with you won’t trust you. If you don’t participate, they’ll suspect you’re setting them up for extortion, wondering if you’ll use it as leverage to get contracts. What can you do?”

“You’re too young to understand these things. In our line of work, men who can control their lower half exist, but they’re as rare as pandas.”

Xie Huai: “My father isn’t like that.”

Xu Dalong: “Who’s your father? Business varies – when you’re dealing with hundreds of thousands or millions, this stuff is unavoidable. Your father probably just hasn’t reached that level yet.”

Xie Huai gave him a look.

Xu Dalong: “But I’ve learned my lesson this time. After getting out, I need to change tactics. There’s not much money in contracting projects nowadays, and you get grief from both sides. Better to become a materials supplier, dealing in steel and cement. Once you have good connections on both ends, you can make money while lying down.”

Xie Huai said: “The golden age of real estate has passed. Infrastructure development is uneven, market demand is low – you won’t make much money reselling steel.”

Xu Dalong was stunned: “What would a student like you know? I’ve been in this business for over a decade, I see things clearer than you.”

“Oh,” he suddenly realized. “I forgot you’re from Zhang City – you must have heard about Xie Zhisheng’s bankruptcy and suicide. In that case, let me tell you how Xie Zhisheng made his fortune.”

“You know Xie Zhisheng, right? Once Zhang City’s richest man, even appeared on CCTV Finance – everyone in our line has heard of him. He was talented and made his first bucket of gold dealing steel in the 1980s. People were timid back then – who dared touch steel? Get caught and you could be charged with speculation. He deserved his success for daring to be the first.”

“He used the money from steel trading to open a steel mill, gradually building it up. For a private enterprise to reach his level was quite impressive. What a shame.”

Xu Dalong said: “I won’t open a factory, just be a middleman making a profit on the difference. Even if there’s bankruptcy, it won’t affect me. Your Brother Xu is different from Xie Zhisheng – I want to ride the wave of the times, while he was the tears of the era, sand washed away by the great waves.”

“If Xie Zhisheng himself told me this today, not only would I seriously consider it, I’d pay him handsomely to be my consultant.” Xu Dalong wagged his finger at Xie Huai, boasting, “But you, kid, you don’t cut it. You haven’t seen the world.”

Xie Huai’s clear black and white eyes stared at him.

Xu Dalong asked: “What are you looking at?”

Xie Huai said: “Xie Zhisheng – he’s my father.”

The spring night was warm in the southern city, with insects chirping in the grass outside.

After lights out at ten, Xie Huai washed up and went to bed.

There was no entertainment at night, and after playing cards for over ten days, no one wanted to touch them anymore.

Xie Huai lay there trying to fall asleep. After chatting for a while, the young men covered themselves with blankets and dozed off.

In the night’s silence, suddenly came muffled grunting sounds from the bed behind him. Xie Huai wasn’t asleep yet and opened his eyes at the sound.

Someone mocked: “Crew-cut, you can’t do it every day no matter how pent up you are. Aren’t you worried about becoming impotent?”

Crew-cut: “No woman would want me anyway, so who cares if I can’t perform?”

Xie Huai tore off a piece of tissue, rolled it up, and stuffed it in his ears. He tossed and turned, unable to sleep, until drowsiness finally came in the early hours.

Warmth surrounded him as he opened his eyes, lying under the Jacaranda tree.

Warm sunlight filtered down, falling between his brows. Xie Huai propped himself up on his arms, touching something smooth on the grass.

He turned his head to see Xia Xia lying beside him in a white gauze dress. Under his palm was her arm’s delicate skin, cool and soft like the finest white jade.

Xie Huai’s Adam’s apple bobbed: “Why are you here?”

Xia Xia propped herself up halfway, looking down at him, her hair falling forward with the ends tickling his face.

“Brother Huai, do you like me?” Her eyes were wide, her expression sweet and innocent.

Xie Huai turned away, using impatience to mask his emotional turmoil: “I only see you as a brother, how many times do I have to say it?”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Believe what you want.”

Xia Xia choked back sobs quietly. She didn’t speak or reproach him, just silently cried until her face was streaked with tears.

Xie Huai wiped her tears: “Can you stop crying? Weren’t you so tough when you were fighting?”

Xia Xia cried even harder.

Xie Huai’s voice softened: “Stop crying, Xia Xia. Brother Huai has never had to comfort someone like this before.”

Xia Xia’s dress was wet with tears, the transparent fabric clinging to her shapely figure. She reached out with arms like white lotus roots and wrapped them around Xie Huai’s neck.

“Xia Xia!” Xie Huai backed away, falling onto the grass behind him with the girl on top.

The girl straddled his waist, pinning his arms: “No, you have to like me.”

Xie Huai laughed: “So forceful?”

Xia Xia kissed him without warning. The girl’s mouth was soft as jelly, brushing across his brow and cheeks before sealing his lips, her agile tongue quickly slipping in to entwine with his.

At that moment, Xie Huai’s whole body went numb.

Her gaze pure and innocent, she pressed against him and asked softly: “Will you like me this way?”

Xie Huai’s voice was hoarse: “Stop fooling around.”

Everything in his sight was blindingly white, like spring painted into a picture, making his body heat uncontrollably.

He closed his eyes, and the young girl’s beautiful form seemed magical, sprawled before him.

Xia Xia embraced him.

His eyes were blood-red, his breathing increasingly heavy as his hands gripped her slender waist, pushing her away: “I told you to stop fooling around. You’re not going to listen?”

The girl paid no attention and hugged him again.

Spring made people restless – this season’s wind, clouds, blooming flowers, and sunlight all made one’s heart itch with desire.

Xie Huai had reached his limit, no longer able to contain his surging impulses. He turned over, pinning the girl beneath him.

…

When Xie Huai woke, the sky outside was just beginning to show a hint of light.

At five in the morning, he lay on his bed soaked in sweat, staring blankly at the ceiling.

The dream had been too real, its lingering sensations still present.

His morning reaction was uncomfortable. He got up with his towel to take a shower but stopped when he felt his pants were sticky.

After about ten seconds, his expression turned ugly as he cursed under his breath: “F*ck.”