Chapter 48 Chu Feng Doesn’t Want to Bother With You
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
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Click—
On a winter night, the door of Room 504 opened.
The tall, thin man walked out, putting the prepared invoice in his pocket and taking out the key. He turned the door a few times, locked it, pulled the door handle again to confirm it was securely locked, and then slowly went downstairs.
Tonight, there was a slight drizzle outside, with clouds covering the moon, and the corridor was pitch black.
Actually, he could find his way back in the dark, but… the tall, thin man had had a bit of a disagreement with Auntie today, and he didn’t feel like making himself miserable. Besides, there was no one here, so why bother being so careful?
Click. The tall, thin man turned on a flashlight, and an orange light illuminated the corridor.
Auntie from 401 room, monitoring from across the way, rolled her eyes fiercely when she saw the bright yellow light in the fifth-floor corridor. This spineless man was so afraid of others not knowing he was smuggling!
The tall, thin man could almost imagine Auntie’s infuriated expression. If she was upset, then he was happy. He deliberately swung the flashlight, swaggering down the stairs with an extremely arrogant attitude.
Just as he descended seven or eight steps, the flashlight illuminated something, and the tall, thin man paused, squatting down:
—A piece of cardboard?
The tall, thin man picked it up and examined it carefully. It was tan-colored, like it had been cut from a cardboard box.
—The stairs were clean when he and Auntie came up, there was no sign of this thing.
The tall, thin man suddenly had a suspicion in his mind: Could it be that just now…
He suddenly remembered that when he first entered Room 504, he didn’t bother to close the door behind him. When Auntie left halfway through, he didn’t bother to confirm if the door was closed, he just heard a sound.
The tall, thin man immediately turned back, swiftly opened the door to Room 504, and began searching, turning over every single crate, checking their backsides, opening up the tobacco covered by cloth, under the table, under the bed, in the wardrobe, on the chairs, he checked every possible place…
But there was no one.
A drop of cold sweat formed on his forehead, and the tall, thin man held onto that small piece of cardboard, the suspicion growing more and more real in his mind:
Just now, someone had entered their smuggling warehouse.
***
It’s almost Chinese New Year.
The streets were lined with stalls selling red envelopes, couplets, and big red lanterns, and every shop was decorated joyfully, hoping to make a little extra profit before the New Year.
Uncle Ji Shiming’s convenience store was no exception. He used his well-maintained hands to stick a large red “Fu” character upside down at the entrance of the convenience store.
“Uncle, it’s crooked.”
Little Shiyu held a pack of spicy strips, his index finger and the corner of his mouth stained with the red oil from the spicy strips. He didn’t bother wiping it off and kept eating, his hands and mouth stained red like a foolish child.
“Oh, move it a bit to the left?”
Ji Shiming smiled, adopting the gentle uncle look to deal with the silly kid. This kid had been coming to his convenience store for some time now for some reason.
The surveillance camera he installed in the store was broken. It had rained a few days ago, and the raincoat above his store somehow got a hole in it. The cold rainwater flowed down the wall, soaked the camera, and broke it instantly.
Ji Shiming hadn’t bothered to fix it yet. If other neighbors saw a not-so-wealthy middle-aged man like him installing expensive surveillance cameras in his shabby convenience store and still fixing cameras, it wouldn’t be good.
“I’ll help you, Uncle!”
Innocent and carefree, Little Shiyu came over, wiping his hands stained with spicy oil on his pants and reaching out to help Uncle Ji Shiming stick the red characters.
Snap! His little dirty hand accidentally touched Uncle Ji Shiming’s hand.
Uncle Ji Shiming felt extremely repulsed. Although he was now a middle-aged man running a convenience store, he was secretly someone who used French imported women’s hand cream for moisturizing. This naughty kid’s hand had just eaten cheap spicy strips, dirty and greasy, and it dared to touch his things!
Uncle Ji Shiming restrained the expression on his face and gently pushed away Little Shiyu: “No need, Uncle will do it himself.”
He put down the “Fu” character, quickly went to the back of the convenience store, took out his imported Aesop hand wash, carefully washed his hands three times, and then applied L’OCCITANE cherry blossom hand cream.
Little Shiyu watched Uncle Ji Shiming’s back, raised his eyebrows, took advantage of the opportunity, and calmly walked to the glass cabinet of the convenience store.
The glass cabinet displayed packs of cigarettes.
Little Shiyu glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost time. According to his observation, the tall, thin man would leave every evening, and before leaving, he would buy a pack of cigarettes from the convenience store.
Little Shiyu knew that there was a surveillance camera behind the clock on the wall, recording everything. But he had already taken advantage of the rainy weather to disable it.
For the past few days, he had been hanging around the convenience store, waiting for the right opportunity. If there wasn’t one, he could create it, like today with the spicy strips.
Little Shiyu had observed that it took Uncle Ji Shiming at least three minutes to wash and moisturize his hands. Little Shiyu peeked out again. At the staircase of the residential building, the tall, thin man had already come out.
Three minutes was enough.
Little Shiyu took out the pack of smuggled cigarettes from his pocket and placed it in the glass cabinet of the convenience store.
He didn’t put it in the center, as it would seem a bit too deliberate. He intentionally placed the pack of cigarettes in the far left corner of the glass cabinet.
The brand and packaging of this cigarette were not sold in any shops in the city. Even in the corner, regular smokers would be curious about what new item this was. Moreover, the tall, thin man was the one personally smuggling it.
27, 28 seconds…
The tall, thin man came over.
Little Shiyu was playing in the convenience store as if no one else was there. He took out a small dinosaur from his pocket, held it in his hand, waved it around, and made sounds like “biubiubiu” and “jiujiujiu,” the onomatopoeia children would make when talking to themselves.
The tall, thin man stepped into the convenience store.
As soon as he lowered his head, he saw the playful little devil.
He didn’t like kids at all. He glanced at the seven-year-old Little Shiyu talking to himself and thought to himself: Idiot.
It seemed that the convenience store owner sometimes let this naughty kid watch the store. The tall, thin man thought today was the same. He impatiently tapped on the glass cabinet with his finger:
“Give me a pack…”
Suddenly, the tall, thin man choked.
He saw… the cigarettes he was smuggling!
The pack of cigarettes was right in front of him, completely out of place among the surrounding cigarette packs.
The tall, thin man felt like his throat had been grabbed, his vocal cords torn out, and he couldn’t speak for a long time.
In his ears, there was the childish playfulness of a seven-year-old child.
The tall, thin man’s murky eyes darted around. He took advantage of the moment when Little Shiyu turned his back, quickly went to open the glass cabinet, intending to steal the pack of smuggled cigarettes.
Little Shiyu knew exactly what this man was doing behind him. Just as the man’s hand was about to reach for the cigarettes, Little Shiyu suddenly turned his head and caught him red-handed:
“Wow—”
Little Shiyu raised the small tyrannosaurus rex in his hand and aimed it at the tall, thin man:
“Uncle is stealing things!”
“No, no!” The tall, thin man forced a somewhat pleasant expression as he faced the annoying kid, “Uncle was just watching you play. Sorry for disturbing you.”
The tall, thin man picked up the pack of smuggled cigarettes, quickly pulled out a bill from his pocket, and handed it to Little Shiyu with flattery:
“Here, this is the money Uncle is using to buy the cigarettes.”
Little Shiyu took it first, then looked at it with disdain, saying, “Five yuan…”
The tall, thin man gritted his teeth. This annoying kid!
He wanted to steal the cigarettes and leave quickly. With a sigh, he reluctantly pulled out a fifty and handed it to Little Shiyu, forcing himself to squeeze out a friendly smile:
“Here, take it. Uncle is leaving!” The tall, thin man pocketed the pack of cigarettes and slipped away, “Oh, and don’t tell the shopkeeper I was here, okay?”
Little Shiyu held fifty-five yuan in his hand and smiled cutely:
“Okay!”
***
Subtle fragrances of flowers wafted through the air.
Ji Shiming wiped his hands with a pink silk scarf and applied L’OCCITANE cherry blossom hand cream. He lowered his head, leaned over his hands, and sniffed with delight.
—The fragrance was intoxicating.
The mood disturbed by the seven-year-old’s spicy strips had returned to a calm and gentle state. Ji Shiming, with a gentle smile on his face, walked in through the back door of the convenience store.
The naughty kid, Little Shiyu, was wandering around his convenience store with a small dinosaur. Ji Shiming walked over gently, squatting down to chase him away:
“Little Shiyu, don’t you want to go home? What if your mom can’t find you later?”
“Oh—”
Little Shiyu knew his mom was never at home, so she wouldn’t come looking for him. But he was waiting for the convenience store owner to personally come and chase him away.
It seemed he had known since he was young that after finishing something, he shouldn’t leave in a hurry, otherwise, people would easily figure out his intentions. He deliberately wanted to linger in the convenience store, chat a bit more with the shopkeeper, and then be chased away, which would make it seem more natural.
Little Shiyu waved his hand: “Then… bye-bye, Uncle!”
“Bye-bye, Little Shiyu~”
The kind uncle and the innocent child waved to each other.
Little Shiyu bounced away…
“Meow, meow—”
The black and white cat, Little Qi, strolled back from the side of the convenience store. It stopped on the steps, squinting its emerald green eyes and licking its small paws with its tender pink tongue.
“Little Qi.” Ji Shiming smiled and walked over to pet the cat…
Suddenly! The seven-year-old Little Shiyu in front turned around abruptly and shouted like a little rascal:
“Cat! It’s a cat!”
Little Shiyu rushed over, blocking Uncle’s way, and grabbed the cat before him.
Ji Shiming struggled to keep a straight face, not rolling his eyes. The cat he hadn’t even touched yet was taken away by the annoying kid.
What’s more infuriating was that this cat had no loyalty. When Little Shiyu held it, it didn’t struggle at all, obediently lying in his arms. Ji Shiming would normally reach out and touch it, and the d*mn thing would scratch him.
“Meow—”
The next moment, Ji Shiming saw his own cat rubbing affectionately against Little Shiyu’s arms.
Ji Shiming: “…”
“Uncle, can I take it out to play?” Little Shiyu looked up with an innocent face.
Ji Shiming suddenly understood. This little brat was hanging around his convenience store every day just to play with his cat.
“Meow—meow—”
Little Shiyu blinked with childlike eyes. “It seems to really like me!”
In the evening, people passed by on the street, and residents might come out at any time. Ji Shiming couldn’t afford to break his honest and good-natured persona as “Li Dawei,” so he could only smile kindly:
“Sure, then later you remember to bring Uncle’s cat back.”
“Okay!”
Little Shiyu then ran off with the cat, skipping and hopping.
Under the setting sun, one person holding a cat walked on the old street.
After walking a couple of streets, Little Shiyu stopped bouncing around. He put his hands in his pockets, only to find that the pack of smuggled cigarettes was no longer there.
The first spark successfully fell between the tall, thin man and the convenience store uncle.
***
Little Chu Feng stood alone at the entrance of the Youth Palace.
As usual, he was the top of the class in the final exams, with full marks of 300 in Chinese, Math, and English, surpassing the rest of the class who scored 99 or 98 points.
But doing well in exams didn’t mean he would have a good winter vacation.
However, his parents would have a good time. During the New Year, at the family banquet in the round-table restaurant, his parents could look forward to eagerly awaiting the inquiries from their aunts and uncles about their son’s grades.
By then, his mother could modestly reply:
“His grades are okay, he got 300 in Chinese, Math, and English… Well, he’s only in first grade, who knows how he’ll do in the future, let’s just let him study happily for now.”
The orange-yellow sunset floated on the grass.
There was a large lawn at the entrance of the Youth Palace. Flower beds, shrubs, trees, statues, small squares, and many children from interest classes were playing on it after school.
Piano, Chinese classics, English, abacus, calligraphy… each class was twice a week. Little Chu Feng had almost no free time during the day, and in the evening, he had to practice piano and complete several not-so-enjoyable “Happy Winter Vacation” homework assignments.
17:00
Little Chu Feng bounced out of the abacus interest class with his schoolbag on his back, waiting on the lawn.
Every Monday, his mom had to work overtime at the education bureau, and his dad had evening classes at the university. They wouldn’t be home so early.
He could play outside a little longer before going home.
“Hi~”
As Little Chu Feng turned around, Little Shiyu popped out from behind him.
Little Chu Feng was about to greet him…
“Meow—meow—”
A fluffy little cat was raised up to Chu Feng’s face.
“Kitty!”
Little Chu Feng’s eyes sparkled as he looked at the little cat, reaching out to touch it. The fur was fluffy, and the little cat even stretched out its tender pink paw, placing it in his palm.
The pads on the cat’s paw were soft and squishy, so comfortable to pinch. The gloom from spending the whole day in interest classes vanished into thin air for Little Chu Feng.
Everyone who works or goes to school hates Mondays, but Little Chu Feng always looked forward to Mondays.
After 5 p.m. on Mondays, he could happily play with Little Shiyu on the large lawn in front of the Youth Palace for an hour before going home!
That was the only time in his seven-day week that he felt free and happy.
They had fed the cat together, caught butterflies together, Little Shiyu had taught him to climb pomegranate trees, pick oranges stealthily, lie under the pine trees, dig in the ground with little shovels, and build their underground “hideout,” where they stored their treasures: notes passed in school, pretty stones collected by Little Chu Feng, flutes made by Little Shiyu from leaves, pine cones they picked together, blue jay feathers found on the grass…
If Little Chu Feng took these “treasures” home by himself, his mother would soon find them when inspecting his room.
“What are these?” “Where did you get them from?” “Why are there so many dirty stones and leaves?” “Why did you pick up all this junk from the ground?” “Your room looks like a mess!”
“Get rid of them quickly!”
Little Chu Feng could almost imagine what his mother would say.
“Here.”
Little Shiyu handed over the little shovel he had brought to Chu Feng.
17:45
With only 15 minutes left, by 6 p.m., Chu Feng had to rush back home, or else if his parents came back and found out that he, who finished school at 5 p.m., wasn’t at home, he would be in trouble.
In these last fifteen minutes, he and Little Shiyu would dig open their underground “hideout” and bury today’s “harvest”!
“Meow—”
The black and white kitten with its emerald-like eyes watched the two kids digging diligently in front of it.
“Wow! Everything we buried last time is still here!”
Little Chu Feng exclaimed in surprise, “I heard that someone was trimming the lawn at the Youth Palace last week, and I was worried they might destroy our hideout!”
Little Shiyu said, “They won’t. I chose a safe place. It’ll be fine even if we bury it for ten or twenty years!”
Little Chu Feng and Little Shiyu were like two little squirrels. They took the pine cones they had found today and buried them.
“Then…” Little Chu Feng looked up at Little Shiyu, “Let’s wait until we grow up to dig it up together!”
Little Shiyu, who was digging, suddenly stiffened.
—-Little Chu Feng was the only classmate who would play with him. He was happy about that, but he didn’t dare to hope for more.
Although Little Shiyu was very young, he could feel that the reason his classmates didn’t exclude him like they did in kindergarten was partly due to Little Chu Feng’s influence.
With Little Chu Feng’s affluent family background and excellent academic performance, he was the core figure in the class and also a prominent figure in the first grade. Apart from Class One, students from Classes Two to Six also knew about Little Chu Feng.
It wasn’t necessary to offend Little Shiyu, who had a good relationship with Little Chu Feng.
So, in this first grade class, Little Shiyu didn’t experience the same isolation as he did in kindergarten.
Every time Little Shiyu invited Chu Feng to play, he would make an effort to make his home more fun, bringing big spiders and cute kittens that Chu Feng wanted to see. Next spring when the swallows came, he would invite Chu Feng to his home to see the swallow nests.
—-But that was it.
Being able to do this was already good enough. Little Shiyu didn’t ask for more. Perhaps one day, when they were separated into different classes, and if they weren’t together anymore, Chu Feng would gradually distance himself from him.
Or perhaps, before they were separated into different classes, Chu Feng would lose interest in the common animals in his house.
But now, Chu Feng was saying to him, “Let’s wait ten years, twenty years, and then we’ll dig up our childhood treasures together.”
—-Let’s grow up together!
Little Shiyu suddenly lowered his head, not letting Chu Feng see his expression.
His hand trembled.
When he was lurking in the warehouse of the smugglers, he didn’t tremble, nor did he tremble when he put the smuggled tobacco into the store and blamed it on his uncle.
But now, holding the little shovel in his hand, it trembled violently. He quickly put down the little shovel, pretending nothing had happened, as if he hadn’t heard anything.
Chu Feng frowned, displeased. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Huh?”
Little Shiyu suppressed his emotions, comforting himself that Chu Feng probably didn’t realize how significant a promise like “growing up together” was.
Perhaps Chu Feng just said it casually, so it was better not to have too high expectations. The higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment. Even if in the future he remained as lonely as he was in kindergarten, it wouldn’t be a big deal.
Little Shiyu acted as if nothing had happened, calmly saying, “What did you just say? I didn’t hear.”
Chu Feng snorted. “You never listen to me seriously.” He forcefully dug the shovel into the ground twice. “I said, let’s dig it up together when we grow up!”
Chu Feng looked at the various graffiti notes, feathers, pine cones, and stones buried in the ground.
“I wonder if these things will still be here when we grow up?”
“They will.” Little Shiyu picked up the little shovel, looking up at Chu Feng. The last rays of the setting sun shone behind them.
Little Shiyu leaned a little closer to Chu Feng and smiled, saying, “They will be here. I said, I chose a safe place.”
—-As long as you remember this promise.
The twilight sky was painted with vibrant colors, and the kitten played at their feet. Chu Feng put the treasures they had picked up today into their “hideout,” feeling excited:
He wondered what he and Little Shiyu would be like twenty years from now.
That evening sky and the cat were rare colorful memories in Chu Feng’s childhood, which was filled with endless classes.
***
29-year-old Chu Feng opened his eyes.
He stared at the ceiling of his bedroom.
Suddenly, he sat up in bed.
Last night, he dreamed of digging the ground with Xie Little Shiyu on the lawn of the youth palace.
During this period of time, he had been investigating the events of his seven-year-old self. He found out that Little Shiyu lived in an apartment building with a pedophile uncle. Chu Feng initially thought this might help solve the mystery of the 7-year-old Xie’s password:
- Who was the victim?
- What was the door number of the murderer?
But when he asked, the criminal uncle lived in Room 104.
It was someone unrelated to the case.
The clue was broken, and there was no progress.
Seven years old, first grade, it was 22 years ago. Chu Feng tried to recall some details, but couldn’t remember much.
With thoughts in his mind and dreams at night, he remembered the treasure “hideout” on the lawn of the youth palace twenty-two years ago. Chu Feng suddenly thought, could the seven-year-old Xie Little Shiyu have secretly hidden something important there?
Chu Feng immediately got up, put on his clothes, and bought a train ticket.
“Hey? Cousin, are you awake? I ordered takeout… Oh, you don’t want it? Huh? Going back to our hometown? Now???”
“Yeah.”
Chu Feng bought the nearest train ticket. With modern transportation, it would only take a few hours to go back, which wasn’t troublesome.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard this train G1314…”
Chu Feng bought a window seat. Just as he sat down, his phone vibrated:
X sent a message:
[Good morning]
Chu Feng raised an eyebrow.
—-They were both adults. One person sending “good morning” to another so enthusiastically wasn’t a good sign.
Chu Feng had decided to continue his life with the Xie Shiyu in the game, without starting another relationship. He didn’t want to engage in small talk with people.
He didn’t feel like responding to questions like “good morning” or “goodnight,” or “are you free? Want to go out together?” which would be followed by a lot of other questions.
Chu Feng silently placed his phone on the small table and didn’t reply for now.
***
In the southern hemisphere, Pacific Ocean, a certain island country. X stared at the WeChat on his phone, waiting for fifteen minutes.
No one replied.
He thought for a moment, remembered Chu Feng’s cousin Lin Lan’s game ID, and sent a private message to Lin Lan through Dream City:
[Is your cousin here?]
Lin Lan, a gaming nerd, hugged his phone first thing in the morning. He saw a pop-up message on his phone: The account of the highest regulator, Gold-plated!
D*mn!! God X personally sent him a private message! What an honor! It was worth it in this lifetime!!!
Lin Lan hadn’t even finished spitting out the toothpaste foam from his mouth, he immediately opened his phone and replied:
[My cousin isn’t here right now, he… is on the high-speed train]
X: [Can he receive WeChat?]
[Of course he can], Lin Lan replied, then checked the WeChat chat box. His cousin sent two messages to him, letting him know he was safe:
[Boarded the train]
[Coming back tomorrow.]
Lin Lan turned to X with excitement: [My cousin just sent me a WeChat, the signal on the high-speed train is good!]
X: Huh.
He looked at the blank chat box in front of him. X thought for a moment, then sent another message.
Buzz…
Chu Feng’s phone vibrated again.
He didn’t really want to check it.
After a while, it was a bit boring on the high-speed train.
Chu Feng opened his phone. He wanted to see what the highest regulator could say after being ignored for sending a good morning message. Would it be pure small talk?
A line of text appeared in the chat box:
X: [I seem to have found some clues about your husband. I don’t know if they’re useful.]
0.5 seconds later
Chu Feng’s reply quickly popped up in X’s WeChat chat box:
[Good morning~]
[What clues?]
With an emoji:
A shy and blushing kitten extending its pink claws towards him.jpg
X looked at the kitten emoji Chu Feng sent with interest, raising an eyebrow with a smile.
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