Bao Long was transferred back from Beijing, and I went to visit him.

He had divorced his wife years ago. By his bedside was a girl who looked like a middle schooler, speaking to me like a little adult: “Thank you, Auntie, but my dad’s health isn’t good right now. He can’t chat for long.”

“Talk stink milk bad! Shut up lah!” Bao Long glared, cursing in Hokkien.

The little girl wrinkled her nose: “Old Bao, glare one more time! I won’t help you to the bathroom!”

Bao Long had a particularly refined name—Bao Wenchen.

After the little girl went to get food, he said to me, “My kid! First in her grade, heh.”

“Yes, I can tell she’s smart.”

I sat by the bed and said, “The work injury assessment is done. We’ll cover all medical expenses. As for compensation, the process is underway. Don’t worry, it won’t be less.”

Bao Long hesitated to speak. I quickly said, “We’re keeping your position. Once you’ve rested up, come back to work.”

Only then did Bao Long relax, grinning, “Thank you, boss.”

“It’s what I should do.” I bit my lip and still said it: “If I hadn’t asked you to take this project, none of this would have happened…”

I knew the last thing I should do right now was take all the blame on myself.

But this sentence was like a boulder pressing on my chest. If I didn’t say it, I couldn’t breathe.

“Forget it, it’s all for making money.” Bao Long said, “I know my lousy connections. You running around for me like this, I followed the right person…”

He went to the county to buy materials—he could have taken the company car. Him riding with the transport convoy was against regulations. Some people at the company questioned whether this could be classified as a work injury, but I forcefully suppressed them all.

Bao Long wasn’t talkative, and at this moment, I didn’t know what to say either, so we were silent for a while.

Bao Long suddenly said, “Boss, don’t go back.”

“Why?”

“That place has ghosts.”

I looked up at him in disbelief. He scratched his head irritably and said, “After jumping from the car, I quickly thrashed to the shore. I wanted to find someone, or at least a tree branch to save my life, but just then, someone pressed me down.”

Bao Long gestured above his head: “Pushed me into the water with deadly force. That was murderous strength.”

My heart suddenly constricted.

There were no surveillance cameras nearby, no residents. Either it was that driver, or… someone had ambushed there in advance.

Bao Long said coldly, “At that moment I thought, if you’re going to kill me, I won’t let you live either! So I dragged that damned bastard down, and only then did he finally break free and run…”

“Did you tell the police?”

“I did. They think it was a hallucination,” he said, “But I know it wasn’t.”

“That night, I was originally going to take the company car out. It was that kid who insisted on giving me a ride, saying he got drowsy driving at night and wanted me to chat with him… Now thinking back, his eyes were especially wide open then, his smile looked like crying.” Bao Long took a deep breath: “That look in his eyes was like he’d been scared out of his wits.”

I felt like I was sinking into a pitch-black nightmare: “You mean, Qinglong knew something was going to happen to him…”

Bao Long said, “I only know that day he was doomed to die. Normally convoys cross bridges one vehicle at a time, but after he got on the bridge, those two vehicles followed up. Three vehicles going up at once—that’s when the bridge would collapse. And there was someone by the bridge…”

I murmured, “So… it wasn’t just to create trouble for us. Someone wanted to kill Qinglong…”

Bao Long didn’t answer. He only said, “Boss, the poorer the place, the closer people are to beasts.”

The Jiaolong Village project was like a fat, strong bull thrown into a pack of long-starved beasts. All the jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards wanted to tear off a piece of meat.

They were so hungry that even if kicked by the bull’s hooves until their guts spilled out, they still wanted a full meal.

At this moment, Bao Long’s daughter returned, openly shooing me away: “Auntie, the doctor said my dad can’t sit for too long.”

“Okay.” I came to my senses, stood up and said, “I’ll come see you again next time.”

Bao Long was helped by his daughter to lie down, and he advised me, “Don’t push yourself too hard. Think about your family. If it were my daughter, I’d never let her go even if it killed me.”

I walked out of the hospital, feeling cold throughout my entire body, to the point where my teeth were chattering.

Outside the glass window were continuous lines of rain and traffic jammed solid.

This place wasn’t far from Cheng Xia’s workplace, so I bought an umbrella and went to find Cheng Xia for dinner.

That red building really was beautiful, with walls full of ivy, washed clear and emerald green by the rain. Everyone was rushing out.

At this moment, I saw Cheng Xia walk out from inside. He wore a black trench coat, tall and handsome. Through a layer of rain mist, he looked like a male lead from a romance novel.

Just as I was about to call out to him, a young man rushed over from inside, asking, “Engineer Cheng, do you have an umbrella? I have one!”

Cheng Xia hesitated, then looked up and saw me. His features relaxed into a smile as he said to the young man, “No need, my wife came to bring me an umbrella.”

The young men saw me and started teasing, “Hello, sister-in-law! Your relationship is so good!”

My face exploded red. I could only say awkwardly, “It was on the way… on the way…”

“We finally get to see her.” A woman nearby also teased, “Little Cheng mentions you constantly, but we’d never seen you. We thought he made you up!”

The young man winked: “How could that be? Didn’t Engineer Yan say so! Sister-in-law works at S Construction, surrounded by muscle-bound tough guys. That’s why Engineer Cheng plays basketball and works out every day!”

Cheng Xia’s face turned red immediately: “You’re drawing all the blueprints tomorrow!”

The young men ran off laughing.

Cheng Xia took the umbrella from my hand and said gently, “Let’s go.”

I said, “I just came to have dinner with you. What’s this about bringing you an umbrella! So corny!”

“Cough, men also have a bit of vanity.”

We walked side by side. One umbrella was ultimately too small, so he tilted it as much as possible toward me.

I turned my head to look at our tightly pressed shoulders, remembering long ago, that distance of one fist.

My heart felt both sour and warm.

At this moment, Cheng Xia raised his arm and draped it over my shoulders.

I felt as if struck by a warm electric current, my whole body tingling numbly, with a dizzy feeling.

Ah ah why is it like this! It’s just an arm over the shoulders, but we’ve! We’ve even been to bed together!

I shouted silently in my heart, but my body couldn’t move, letting him hold me as we kept walking forward.

The leaves in the south still maintained lush greenness in autumn. Cool rainwater dripped down through the interlaced green leaves. I was protected under the umbrella without a gap, and just like this, slowly, we walked down a long street.

“I remember my dad said before,” Cheng Xia said, “Back when he and my mom were dating, he would often ride his bicycle to pick my mom up from work. The two of them wouldn’t ride, just push the bike all the way home, but their hearts felt especially settled… So this is what it feels like.”

I smiled and said, “Then will you ride a bicycle to pick me up in the future?”

“Sure, I’ll pick you up from work every day in the future. We’ll eat together, then walk home together.” He put his arm around my waist, laughing softly: “If we have children in the future, we can also pick up the little one from school together…”

“You can, but with my job, the kid will have turned to stone before I might show up.”

“Then what can we do? Our child is destined to be closer to Dad!”

“She wouldn’t dare! I’ll definitely spank her bottom until it blooms!”

We bantered as we walked to the street corner, where there was a large coral tree. Rain hit the leaves with a rustling sound.

I was slightly distracted. I was thinking that right now, I should be only one step away from that dream of years ago.

I would have a presentable degree, then work at headquarters. The salary wouldn’t be too high, but respectable, no longer needing to rush around construction sites.

Then marry Cheng Xia—we’d probably live that standard middle-class life. Going to work together, getting off work, watching theater and concerts together, driving to see the ocean on weekends, barbecuing, camping, traveling abroad during holidays. After having a child, moving to a bigger, more beautiful house…

I looked at Cheng Xia, thinking, my child would definitely be beautiful!

Cheng Xia also looked down at me. He suddenly smiled: “Why are you looking at me?”

I awkwardly tried to explain, but just as I opened my mouth, my lips were gently covered by his.

The rain was still heavy. Under the umbrella was like a small universe—safe, gentle, with only him and me.

The fresh fragrance on him, the extremely tender entanglement between lips and tongues.

“Are you hungry? If not, let’s go home first, okay?” Cheng Xia said softly in my ear.

I knew what he meant and quickly shook my head: “I’m hungry, I’m hungry, I’m really hungry.”

Compared to going to bed, I preferred kissing and hugging.

Because Cheng Xia in bed was too aggressive, always carrying a kind of unfamiliar madness. He wanted me to lose control together with him.

But I didn’t like losing control, nor did I like overly fierce desire.

I liked this kind of innocent, tender kiss.

It made me feel like that seventeen-year-old boy was kissing me.

Cheng Xia laughed: “Why are you panicking? I’m not in a rush. We have all the time in the world anyway.”

——

We went to a Western restaurant with a nice atmosphere.

I kept spacing out. When I came to my senses, I discovered Cheng Xia was looking at me.

I said, “What? Have you finished ordering?”

Cheng Xia said, “I’m counting… seeing how many counts before my girlfriend looks at me once.”

“You seem to have that major illness—”

“Just now it was three hundred seventy-two counts.” He put down the menu and said, “Speak up, what’s really on your mind?”

I took a deep breath and said, “The company notified that the Jiaolong Village contract was saved.”

“So?”

“I want to go back and finish it.”