Just moments before, the two had been sweetly eating cake together. There was still an injury on He Yu’s cheekbone from a recent fight, and with deep affection he asked Wu Nian to feed him. Wu Nian fed him a bite and said, “Oh right, I found you a job. At a gym, as a trainer. The commission is really high.”

He Yu was a year older than Wu Nian. After graduating from vocational school, he had not looked for a job either. His family might have tens of thousands in savings. At present, he was doing full-time investing—according to Wu Nian, He Yu went to buy lottery tickets every day.

He Yu’s luck was not particularly good, but probably a bit better than Jin Zhao’s. It was said that the most he had ever scratched off was six hundred yuan.

He Yu seemed firmly convinced that he could strike it rich through buying lottery tickets. Wu Nian helping him find a job made his face go cold on the spot. “Did you go look for Feng Chao again? Did you let him fuck you?”

With such crude wording, Wu Nian did not even get angry. Indifferently, she said, “Who cares who found it? Isn’t it fine as long as there’s a job?”

“Bang!”

He Yu slammed his glass hard onto the floor. Glass shards mixed with alcohol splashed everywhere.

“Fuck your job! Don’t stop me from getting rich!”

“Smack!”

Wu Nian swung her hand backhanded and slapped He Yu across the face.

The two who had been kissing so passionately just moments earlier nearly started fighting on the spot. Their friends and coworkers hurried to pull them apart on both sides, while the two cursed at each other from a distance.

The cursing was filthy—most of the words would never appear even in television dramas, and would never pass censorship.

Jin Zhao shrank into the corner of the sofa, badly frightened, not daring to move at all.

-♥︎ ྀི◟ ͜ ◞♥︎ ྀི◟ ͜ ◞♥︎ ྀི

Wu Nian’s coming-of-age celebration ultimately ended in discord.

At 8:35 p.m., Jin Zhao accompanied Wu Nian out of the bar.

The sky was completely dark now. Against the pitch-black curtain of night, Yunsheng Tower across the way stood brilliantly illuminated. It was exactly the time for the fireworks show. With one dull boom after another, fireworks shot straight up, bursting into magnificent blooms over the tower, as if someone had crushed the stars filling the sky and scattered their light—red, pink, blue, purple—dazzling colors dyeing even the clouds in the darkness bright.

Jin Zhao lifted her head to watch the fireworks, her eyes filled with falling light.

“Is it pretty?”

Wu Nian looked indifferently at the crowd lingering on the street, watching them scramble to take out their phones to snap photos and videos.

Jin Zhao nodded. “It’s pretty.”

“Did you know, Yunsheng Tower is actually very far from here. If I ride my little e-scooter over there, it takes forty minutes. It’s just because the houses here are old and low that we get to take advantage of it—just by lifting our heads, we can see the fireworks.”

Jin Zhao did not know what Wu Nian was trying to say. She quietly looked at her.

Wu Nian had put on very heavy makeup today. Because she had gotten into a fight with He Yu, her makeup was ruined—dark eyeshadow smudged and spread. Paired with her dry yellow hair, it made her look mature in a broken sort of way.

“Do you know the crown prince of Yunsheng Group?” Wu Nian asked.

Jin Zhao felt the question was absurd. “How could I possibly know him?”

“I do,” Wu Nian said. “He’s a year and a half younger than me. When I was very young, I still lived over there. Mr. Wu once took me to visit the Meng family.”

Wu Nian imitated Yiping, using “over there” to describe her former home, and calling her father “Mr. Wu.”

“The Meng family?” The familiar name made Jin Zhao’s eyelashes tremble slightly.

“Mhm. Yunsheng Tower belongs to the Meng family. The Mengs had a brother and sister, very good-looking, but mischievous to no end. When the two of them got together, they could turn the whole house upside down. Uncle Meng was such a steady person, yet he was driven to the point of snapping branches everywhere to beat them.”

As Wu Nian spoke, a nostalgic look appeared on her face. “But do you know? Their family’s much-pampered crown prince, who feared neither heaven nor earth, was afraid of bugs. That year, a spider fell from a tree and scared Meng Yanxi so badly he screamed while running away. I was the one who went to catch the spider for him.”

“Meng Yanxi?”

It was as if the tip of her heart had been stung by a bee without warning.

Another cluster of fireworks exploded in the sky, pink light illuminating one side of Jin Zhao’s face until it was translucent.

“It was Meng Yanxi, I think,” Wu Nian rubbed her temples. “I only saw him once. I don’t remember clearly, might even be wrong. But it’s not important. What I mean is—look. Yunsheng Tower looks like it’s so close to us, close enough to see just by lifting our heads, but in truth it’s very, very far. They’re like clouds in the sky. We’re mud on the ground. We’ll never have any intersection.”

Jin Zhao lowered her head and silently looked at her feet.

“I’m going to ride the e-scooter.”

“Don’t. You drank alcohol,” Jin Zhao grabbed her. “Let’s take the bus.”

“The bus stop is eight hundred meters from here. Riding the e-scooter will be faster.”

Wu Nian was already holding her keys and going to get the e-scooter. Soon, she tossed a helmet into Jin Zhao’s arms. “We’re just riding to the bus stop.”

Jin Zhao hesitated for a moment, then put it on.

Crossing the main road, the e-scooter skillfully turned into a dark, shadowy alley.

Jin Zhao hurriedly stopped her. “It’s too late. Let’s take the main road instead.”

“It’s fine. I take this route every day. We’ll be through in no time.” In the time it took to say that sentence, Wu Nian had already ridden far ahead.

In the alley, the fireworks were no longer visible. Only the starlight at the edge of the sky flickered now and then, reflecting a faint, pallid glow on the stone-paved road.

On one side were abandoned factories; on the other was the wall of an old residential complex. The factory was no longer operating, pitch-black all over. On the other side, far away beyond the complex’s perimeter, a single streetlamp glowed dimly.

Jin Zhao sat on the back seat behind Wu Nian. With the National Day cold snap, the wind rushed toward her head-on, a little chilly. Wu Nian was still wearing a camisole; the elastic fabric clung tightly around her young, graceful body, revealing her slender arms and shoulders and back. From her hair came the strong smell of hair dye.

She suddenly noticed a red mark on the back side of Wu Nian’s neck. In the dim light, Jin Zhao could not tell whether it was from fingernails digging in, or from a bite.

Jin Zhao fell silent for a few seconds, then said softly, “Nian-nian, you should still go take the college entrance exam.”

The e-scooter came to a sudden stop.

The inertia sent Jin Zhao’s body lurching forward uncontrollably; her chest slammed into Wu Nian’s back, and their helmets knocked together as well.

“Get off first.”

Wu Nian planted her foot on the ground and turned back to say to Jin Zhao.

Jin Zhao lifted her head in confusion, and when she saw the three men blocking the road ahead, her heart leaped straight up to her throat.

The three were swallowed by the darkness, their features indistinct. One could only judge from their builds that they were men—not short, not tall, some fat, some thin.

They stood in a line staring at them, holding clubs, patting them against their palms again and again.

Jin Zhao had grown up following rules every step of the way. When had she ever seen a scene like this? She had never even watched television dramas with this kind of subject matter.

“Re-report it, call the police.” Jin Zhao was terrified. The moment she came to her senses, she hurriedly reached for Wu Nian’s bag.

She did not have a phone. Jin Wenhui had said that as a high school student, the most important thing was to study well, and she agreed.

Wu Nian snatched the bag back in one motion. “It’s fine. I know them. You go first.”

Jin Zhao still tried to grab Wu Nian’s bag to get the phone and call the police, but Wu Nian suddenly barked at her, “Get lost!”

Jin Zhao was frightened by Wu Nian’s sudden outburst. Stunned, she got down from the e-scooter.

At this moment, the three men ahead walked closer. The leading one had hair dyed a color that was hard to make out, his voice muddy and hoarse. “Nian-nian, long time no see. Is this your new little sister?”

A sticky gaze fell on Jin Zhao. Jin Zhao went pale and retreated again and again.

Wu Nian rode the e-scooter to block in front of her. “Just a kid I ran into on the road. I’m giving her a ride to the bus stop. Have some decency. She’s still in high school, going to get into a good university in the future.”

“Sure, we never touch good students. But you…”

“Did you hear me? Hurry up and go!” Wu Nian turned back and looked at Jin Zhao coldly.

Jin Zhao’s gaze flicked once between the three men blocking the road and Wu Nian, then she turned and ran outward.

Very quickly, a sharp “smack” sounded behind her—the sound of a slap. Immediately after came the sounds of punches and kicks in a scuffle, mixed with men and women cursing at each other, crude and direct, making one’s heart race in terror.

Jin Zhao did not dare turn her head back. She could only run outward with all her might.

She had never run this fast.

In the distance, the fireworks at Yunsheng Tower were still going on. Ten thousand rays of light could not always reach into this dark alley; only on extremely rare instants did the light briefly sweep in, illuminating Jin Zhao’s face, flushed from lack of oxygen as she ran with all her strength.

The cold wind scraped across her face like a knife, and her tears were like knives as well.

There were three of them, and they were men. The mutual scuffle quickly turned into one-sided bullying. Wu Nian struggled, crying and screaming.

Jin Zhao finally ran out of that lightless alley. Her face was already covered in tears.

Across the street, there were many people. The fireworks were still going, and they were gathered together watching them. Jin Zhao wanted to go and beg for help—anyone at all, to save Wu Nian.

Tears blurred her vision—or perhaps she was too frightened. When she rushed out, she did not notice the skateboard boy coming toward her.

“Move!”

The boy’s cold, sharp shout startled the girl who had panicked and lost her way.

Jin Zhao turned her head.

Nine o’clock arrived. With a dull boom above Yunsheng Tower, the final cluster of fireworks exploded across the sky, like crushed red and blue stars, dazzling and flowing, scattering brilliance across the world.

Against that backdrop, Meng Yanxi rode in on his skateboard, appearing before her like the wind, as if descending from the sky.

The two nearly collided, yet Jin Zhao did not even have time to be afraid. Or perhaps she was so afraid that she stood frozen in place, unmoving, staring blankly in his direction.

Fortunately, Meng Yanxi’s skill was superb. With a stunning carve, shifting his center of gravity sharply, the board tilting, he instantly changed direction and smoothly swept past her, who stood blocking the way.

The black T-shirt of the boy brushed against Jin Zhao’s pale arm, carrying with it a veil of that cold mountain pine and mist scent.

Meng Yanxi stepped one foot onto the ground, the other pressing down on the tail of the skateboard. The board sprang upright at once.

Suddenly, someone had rushed out, nearly colliding with him. The boy’s brows and eyes darkened with displeasure as he was about to ask what was going on—but when he turned his head, he met a face drenched in tears.

“Meng Yanxi, help!”

Jin Zhao clutched the corner of his clothes tightly, like grasping a life-saving straw. She looked up at him, choking back sobs. “Please!”