Chapter 10
Jiang Mu stood up with her backpack and followed Jin Chao into the small maintenance room behind them. The car that had been hoisted up was already lowered and driven out. There was only a narrow aisle beside them, and after passing through it, there was a small lounge room of less than ten square meters. When they pushed open the door, there was a metal rack inside, stacked with many parts, repair orders, a water dispenser, and two wooden chairs.
Further inside, there was a cloth curtain blocking the view, hiding the space behind it. Jin Chao stopped and asked her, “Have you finished your homework?”
Jiang Mu shook her head. Jin Chao moved all the repair orders from the desk onto one of the chairs. The old desk was roughly cleared, and he moved another chair to the desk and said to Jiang Mu, “Do your homework here for now. I’ll take a shower.”
Jiang Mu set her backpack down and nodded.
After sitting down, she turned around and saw Jin Chao lifting the curtain to enter. From the corner of the curtain, she glimpsed another smaller room, which was small enough to see all the way to the end. There was just a steel wire bed and a very low bedside table. The curtain was dropped, and soon Jiang Mu could hear the sound of water.
She took out a math test paper and spread it on the desk. Then she looked around the lounge. Just as she lifted her head, she suddenly caught sight of a familiar box on top of the metal rack.
Although the black camouflage packaging on the box had been torn off, the contents inside were still unopened. The prancing horse design on the box remained intact. It was a Parker “Dream as a Horse” gift set, containing a black, gold-plated, frosted pen that she had carefully chosen for Jin Chao. It cost over two thousand, not using Jiang Yinghan’s money but the performance fee she had saved up from a previous performance. She had secretly bought it for Jin Chao after coming to Tonggang.
Jiang Mu lowered her gaze and took out the somewhat worn Parker pen from the pen case. She had always considered this pen her lucky pen, only using it during competitions or exams. Over the years, although the nib and ink refill had been replaced several times, she had always kept the pen barrel, unable to part with it. The pen had quietly rested in her pen case, witnessing her countless major and minor exams, accompanying her through all the ups and downs.
When Jin Chao left Suzhou all those years ago, he had left this pen with her. After so many years, she gave him a new one, thinking he might find use for it. She believed that this gift would hold the most meaning for them. However, she never expected that, now, Jin Chao no longer needed a flashy, impractical pen.
“Dream as a horse,” she thought. His dream of joining the aerospace industry had probably shattered years ago.
Jiang Mu was so lost in thought that she didn’t even hear the water stop running behind her. It wasn’t until footsteps approached that she hurriedly stuffed the old pen back into the case and quickly closed it.
Jin Chao, with a towel draped over his shoulders, approached her while drying his hair. Jiang Mu didn’t turn around. Her heart was still pounding, and she didn’t want Jin Chao to see that old pen, that precious memory of hers. To him, it might have long since lost its meaning, much like the gift box carelessly discarded on the metal rack. All of this made Jiang Mu feel embarrassed.
The warm steam from the bathroom enveloped her, and Jin Chao stopped behind her, glancing down before speaking, “Why haven’t you written a big character yet after so long?”
When Jiang Mu didn’t respond, he tossed the towel onto his shoulder, picked up her test paper, and asked in a flat tone, “What are you thinking about?”
Jiang Mu couldn’t exactly say she was contemplating which of the two of them was more self-destructive, so she could only turn around and try to grab her test paper back. But she realized that Jin Chao’s gaze wasn’t on the paper but on her face.
He had changed out of his dirty clothes and was now wearing a clean, fresh T-shirt and loose khaki pants. The faint, pleasant scent of mint from his shower lingered in the air, and water droplets trickled from his short hair, resting at his temple. His jawline was tense, and without meaning to, Jiang Mu found her gaze landing on his Adam’s apple.
Jin Chao had always been good-looking as a child. She couldn’t remember exactly what grade it was, but there was a time when he had to perform in a school show, and the teachers had even put lipstick and eyeshadow on him, painting his face white. He’d looked displeased the whole time, and back then, she was young enough to think her older brother was upset, so she pulled his hand and told him not to be angry. Jin Chao had only coolly said, “I’m not angry. I just think I look so ugly.”
She had disagreed strongly, drawing a large circle on a piece of paper and telling him, “Chao Chao, you’re the most handsome in the whole universe.”
Back then, she would only call him “Chao Chao” when she was excited, and every time Jin Chao would scold her for being so disrespectful, but that time, he didn’t say a word.
She still thought Jin Chao was very good-looking, though he was different now from when they were children. For example, she didn’t know when he had developed such a noticeable Adam’s apple. She had never thought much about people’s Adam’s apples, but at this moment, she found that Jin Chao’s Adam’s apple was very masculine.
Jin Chao placed the test paper back on the desk, lifted his eyes to glance at her, and asked, “What are you looking at?”
His voice was close, reverberating like a bass in a confined space. Jiang Mu hurriedly pushed away the stray thoughts in her mind and said, “I have a habit of meditating before doing my homework.”
Jin Chao lifted his head and said, “Why don’t you use your mind to solve the problems? Come out for dinner.”
With that, he walked out, and Jiang Mu followed, asking, “Will I be disturbing your work here?”
“No, the shop is mine,” Jin Chao replied.
Jiang Mu thought that was fine, at least he wasn’t working for someone else and he had his own shop.
But then she heard him add, “It’s a joint venture.”
Jiang Mu suddenly felt uneasy. The shop wasn’t big, and if it was a partnership, would it be profitable?
Of course, she could only keep these doubts to herself.
Outside the shop, a table had been set up, and San Lai and Tie Gongji had dragged over a few stools. On the table were freshly delivered dishes and rice, along with several bottles of beer. Xiao Yang had already washed his hands and came over to open the takeout boxes. Zhang Fan, she assumed, had gone to the internet café, as he was already gone.
San Lai had no awareness of being a freeloader. Instead, he acted as if he were the host, greeting Jiang Mu, “Little Jiang Mu, come on, feel free to sit anywhere.”
Seeing his behavior, Jiang Mu asked, “Do you work here too?”
Tie Gongji bit open a beer bottle cap, spat it out with a scowl, and said, “Look at those hands, what kind of work can he do? He’s the owner of the pet shop next door.”
Jiang Mu blinked in surprise and turned her head to look at the “Golden Triangle Pet Shop” next door, its sign brightly lit. She then glanced back at San Lai, who had a scruffy face, a little braid on his head, and was sitting with his legs crossed. He didn’t look like a pet shop owner who cared for animals at all.
Seeing her confused expression, San Lai said, “After dinner, come over to my shop and take a look. Pick whatever you like, I’ll let you…”
He shot a half-smiling, teasing look at Jin Chao, adding, “I’ll have your big brother you admired pay for you.”
Jin Chao immediately threw his chopsticks at San Lai’s face, his voice cold as he said, “Get lost.”
San Lai, with impeccable timing, caught the chopsticks and handed them to Jiang Mu. She took them and said, “It’s not admire and you can drop the ‘big’ part.”
San Lai grabbed a pair of chopsticks for himself, laughing, “If you drop the ‘big’ part, does that mean it’s not ‘Big Brother,’ but just ‘brother’ now?”
Jiang Mu didn’t reply, lowering her head to eat the white rice. San Lai looked at Jin Chao with some surprise. “Is she really your sister? The one you…”
Jin Chao shot him a cold glance, and San Lai quickly swallowed the rest of his sentence, curling his lips into a knowing smile as he looked meaningfully at Jiang Mu.
Jiang Mu was the only one eating, while the others were drinking. San Lai started a conversation, somehow leading it to the topic of delivering puppies. He said that the big golden retriever in his shop had given birth to puppies the night before, and he hadn’t slept at all, staying up all night to watch over the dog. The problem was that no one knew who had gotten the dog pregnant. The father of the puppies had no “dog nature” at all and had never come to check on her. Since he didn’t even have a wife, his first experience with delivery had been with a dog, and he jokingly said, “It’s like I’ve been a ‘dog’ myself.”
Tie Gongji took a sip of his beer and said, “It’s normal. Just look at your Xishi, every time she’s let out to pee, she runs around everywhere. If she gets pregnant, who can she blame? If she’s got a problem, blame her flirtatious owner nature.”
As the alcohol flowed, even though they were still talking about the dog, the jokes became increasingly inappropriate.
Jin Chao slammed the beer bottle down on the table and said, “That’s enough, there’s a kid present.”
Jiang Mu didn’t feel comfortable joining the conversation about the golden retriever’s chaotic private life, and fortunately, Jin Chao stopped the awkward topic just in time.
At that moment, a car pulled over to the side of the road, and a middle-aged man rolled down his window, calling out, “Youjiu?”
Jin Chao put down his chopsticks and walked over a few steps to chat with the man by the roadside.
Jiang Mu glanced over and asked San Lai, “Why do you all call him ‘Youjiu’?”
San Lai had already finished a bottle of beer and was playing with the empty one in front of him. “It’s from a saying: ‘Today there’s alcohol, Jin Chao gets drunk.’ Your brother, when he had nothing left, it was only a bottle of alcohol that kept him going through those days.”
Jiang Mu wasn’t sure if it was just her perception, but there seemed to be a trace of sarcasm in San Lai’s tone when he said that.
She asked again, “Then why do they call him ‘Touqi’?”
San Lai’s expression changed slightly. He glanced in Jin Chao’s direction, lowering his voice a little, “I advise you not to ask such questions in the future, especially in front of Youjiu.”
After speaking, San Lai stretched lazily, his eyes cloudy yet filled with a hint of complexity. “After all, that nickname represents the end of an era. Not many people like to bring up old, unpleasant things to bring bad luck to themselves.”
Jiang Mu fell silent. She felt that this matter might be related to Jin Chao dropping out of school. If she was right, something significant must have happened during his high school years, but all his brothers around him kept their mouths shut about it. She could only push her questions back deep inside for now.
Translator’s Note:
Youjiu – Jin Chao’s nickname among his friends. The words directly translate to “have alcohol” in English.
Touqi – Jin Chao’s past nickname. The words directly translate to “First Seventh” in English, which normally relates to the first of a series of seven-day memorials held for the deceased.