TA • Chapter 8

Cheng Ke just stood there outside the elevator, staring at the numbers changing above the doors, not knowing what the hell he was supposed to do.

Should he wait until Jiang Yuduo left before going downstairs, or take another elevator down?

Call again, or just chase him down and ask what was going on?

Or go back inside and wait?

No. Why was he even worrying about Jiang Yuduo?

A so-called boss, the kind who could even get into a fight with someone on a dumpster, what was there to care about if he’d gotten his head split open… But then why had he come up here in the first place?

Cheng Ke couldn’t figure it out, but he still decided to stand there and wait until Jiang Yuduo was gone before going downstairs to eat.

The elevator’s numbers stopped at the eighth floor for a moment, then continued downward. On the elevator next to it, the numbers started changing too, from the ninth floor to the eighth, then all the way back up.

Cheng Ke suddenly tensed up. He stared at the elevator rising floor by floor and picked out the right spot to kick. If the person coming out of that elevator was Jiang Yuduo, he could just send him right back inside with one kick.

The elevator never stopped again. It came straight to his floor and the doors opened.

Jiang Yuduo really did walk out.

But Cheng Ke didn’t kick him, because when Jiang Yuduo stepped out, one hand was pressed against his temple, and the blood still seeping out had already smeared over his left eye. He looked more miserable than before by at least twenty times.

"What are you doing, marching in a parade here?" Cheng Ke was truly speechless.

"A woman got on on the eighth floor," Jiang Yuduo said. "I was afraid she wouldn’t be able to hold it in for two floors and start screaming."

"Then how come it still…" Cheng Ke glared at his face.

"Open the door," Jiang Yuduo said, looking at him with one eye. "I need to use your first-aid kit."

"…I don’t have a first-aid kit," Cheng Ke said.

"You do," Jiang Yuduo said. "In the little cabinet on the TV stand."

Cheng Ke froze.

"I put it there," Jiang Yuduo said, waving a hand. "Hurry up. My platelets are low, I could bleed into a human puddle and die at your door any minute. Then Chen Qing would call the police and say you killed me."

Cheng Ke said nothing and didn’t move, just stared at Jiang Yuduo’s face.

He didn’t know how big the cut on his head was, but it was obvious that pressing it with his hand hadn’t stopped the bleeding. Blood kept seeping out from under his palm.

"Why didn’t you go to the hospital?" Cheng Ke gritted out, then turned and opened the apartment door.

"Scared," Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke couldn’t help looking back at him.

"Weird?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"Yeah," Cheng Ke said with a nod.

"Then you’re scared of mice too." Jiang Yuduo sat down in the chair.

Cheng Ke froze. Yes, he was scared of mice, but how the hell did Jiang Yuduo know that?

"Open that cabinet door," Jiang Yuduo said, pointing at the TV stand. "Take the first-aid kit out and bring it to me… You know how to open a cabinet door, right?"

Cheng Ke had already bent down to open it, but at that line he immediately sat down in the chair beside it. "Sorry, I don’t."

Jiang Yuduo said nothing. He got up, walked over, and opened the cabinet door himself, pulling out a small first-aid kit.

When his hand left his temple, two drops of blood fell onto the floor.

Cheng Ke watched the blood on his face and felt like this injury wasn’t something he could just deal with casually himself, but he didn’t say anything. He just sat there and watched as Jiang Yuduo skillfully took alcohol, gauze, and medical tape out of the kit, and somehow there was even a pair of scissors.

When Jiang Yuduo took off his jacket and carried those things into the bathroom, Cheng Ke couldn’t hold back and said, "You shouldn’t rinse that wound with tap water."

"Mm, use alcohol," Jiang Yuduo said, turning his head to look at him. "You even know that?"

"How about you sit down and keep mocking me for a while longer, two full hours if you can," Cheng Ke said. "Try to bleed out and die."

Jiang Yuduo turned and went into the bathroom.

Since this apartment was technically his territory now, Cheng Ke hesitated for a few seconds before following to the bathroom door.

Jiang Yuduo hadn’t closed the bathroom door. He stood with his back to Cheng Ke in front of the mirror, yanked off his T-shirt with one hand, and tossed it aside.

Cheng Ke didn’t even get a good look at his body before the scars on him hit him so hard he couldn’t think. "You…"

There were several huge scars crisscrossing Jiang Yuduo’s back. One of them ran from shoulder to waist, crossing his entire back. It was horrifying.

"What?" Jiang Yuduo unscrewed the bottle of alcohol and poured it straight onto his temple.

"N-nothing… fuck." Cheng Ke felt a stab of pain in his own forehead just watching. But Jiang Yuduo’s expression stayed calm, as if he had poured plain water on himself.

Jiang Yuduo’s movements were brutally rough. Clean the wound, pour on the medicine powder, press on the gauze, then tape it down. Every motion made it seem like he was treating someone else’s head, and not just anyone, but an enemy’s.

After he’d wrapped the wound up in a flash, Jiang Yuduo turned on the faucet, washed the blood off his face and body, then casually yanked a towel off the rack and wiped himself down.

That was my fucking face towel!

Cheng Ke stared at him, speechless. After holding it in for a long time, he turned and went back to the living room, sat down on the sofa, and lit a cigarette.

To calm his nerves.

When Jiang Yuduo came out of the bathroom, he’d already put his T-shirt back on. As he was packing the first-aid kit to put it back in the cabinet, Cheng Ke cleared his throat. "Don’t put it there. Take it with you."

Jiang Yuduo looked at him, as if he didn’t understand what he meant.

"This apartment’s already rented to me," Cheng Ke said. "You can’t keep your stuff here too, can you? If I hadn’t been home today, were you planning to just open the door and come in by yourself?"

"Yes." Jiang Yuduo said. For once, the always expressionless him finally showed some change. Cheng Ke was very surprised that he could actually make a face like “sorry.”

"I didn’t change the lock because the lease said not to," Cheng Ke said. "Could you maybe respect the tenant a little?"

"Sorry," Jiang Yuduo said. "I was in a hurry, and this was the closest place, so I came over."

With a cigarette in his mouth, Cheng Ke had been ready for a full battle. Even if they didn’t start throwing punches, he still intended to trade some barbs. But now Jiang Yuduo had suddenly apologized so honestly and obediently that Cheng Ke felt like he’d stepped into empty air and didn’t know what to say.

"I’m leaving." After saying that, Jiang Yuduo put on his jacket, grabbed the first-aid kit, and headed for the door.

"Oh." Cheng Ke answered, then after thinking about it, called him back. "Hey."

"Mm?" Jiang Yuduo turned around.

"Let me ask you something, just…" Cheng Ke pointed toward the kitchen. "That gas stove, is it working?"

"It’s not just working. It’s new," Jiang Yuduo said.

"It… won’t light," Cheng Ke said.

Jiang Yuduo set down the first-aid kit and walked into the kitchen. From inside, he said, "Come here and show me how you’re trying to turn it on."

Cheng Ke stubbed out his cigarette and went into the kitchen. "Why don’t you just try it yourself?"

"No. I want to see," Jiang Yuduo said. "How did you manage that, a brand-new water heater with no hot water, a brand-new gas stove that won’t light?"

Cheng Ke hesitated, then reached out and opened the gas valve.

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo responded.

Cheng Ke reached out and twisted the knob on the stove.

Da-da-da-da-da…

"See." Cheng Ke pointed at the stove.

Jiang Yuduo inhaled sharply, slowly exhaled, then grabbed his hand. Before Cheng Ke could pull away, his hand had already been dragged onto the knob.

Cheng Ke frowned. "You can just say it…"

Jiang Yuduo made no sound, only pressed his hand down. "Get it?"

Cheng Ke felt the knob pushed down.

"Turn it," Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke turned it once.

Da-da-da-da… poof…

A flame shot up from the burner, two rings of little blue fire.

"Is your ID card real?" Jiang Yuduo walked out of the kitchen.

"What do you mean?" Cheng Ke turned off the flame.

"In your twenty-seven years," Jiang Yuduo said, picking up the first-aid kit again and heading for the door, "has somebody always helped you take your clothes off when you went to sleep?"

"Fuck your mother," Cheng Ke said, staring at him.

"The instruction manuals for the appliances are all in the TV stand drawer," Jiang Yuduo said as he opened the door. "If you can’t figure them out, look."

Cheng Ke said nothing.

Jiang Yuduo walked out and closed the door.

The sound of the door closing was very light, much more civilized than when Chen Qing closed a door.

Cheng Ke sat back down on the sofa, lit another cigarette, and stared blankly at the drawer in the TV stand for a very long time.

When Jiang Yuduo got home, there was an Audi parked downstairs with the engine still running. By his experience, the person inside was probably Chen Qing.

Sure enough, just as he got within a few meters, the car door opened and Chen Qing jumped out, rushing over to him in a few quick strides.

"What happened?" Chen Qing stared at the gauze on his head. "Who did this? Fuck! Who did this!"

"Didn’t see clearly," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Where did it happen?" Chen Qing asked. "Why didn’t you call me!"

"By the small streets," Jiang Yuduo said, frowning. "I didn’t even see the person clearly."

"Is it serious?" Chen Qing asked.

"Not serious." Jiang Yuduo walked into the building. "Move the car into the parking spot. Looking for a beating by blocking the way? Auntie Wang’s gonna toss another medicine jar down later, and then this month’s salary will go to repairs."

Chen Qing went to park. Jiang Yuduo went inside and checked in the mirror to see whether the gauze had been taped on properly.

When he’d put the gauze on earlier, Cheng Ke had been staring at him from behind the whole time. He’d felt a little awkward being watched, so he’d just wanted to finish quickly and leave. He’d basically slapped it on there haphazardly.

"Should you go to the hospital for that?" Chen Qing asked after parking and coming inside. He set a large plastic bag of who knew what on the table. "What hit you?"

"A brick," Jiang Yuduo said, walking up to the table. "Or a knife."

"…Third Brother," Chen Qing looked at him. "Those two things are pretty damn far apart."

"I didn’t even get a good look at the person. The first hit hurt so much it stunned me," Jiang Yuduo sighed. "That bastard hit way too hard."

"It’s been how many years now," Chen Qing said, kicking the table. "Still haunting us. I don’t even know what the hell they want! What do you think they’re trying to do?"

"No idea," Jiang Yuduo said. "Maybe make sure I never have a peaceful day."

"Damn it." Chen Qing thought about it, then leaned closer and examined the gauze. "Did you go to the hospital?… This isn’t hospital bandaging, right? The workmanship is way too lousy. Where’d you get it wrapped?"

"At Ji… Cheng Ke’s place. I did it myself," Jiang Yuduo said, opening the bag and immediately catching the smell of dried beef. "You’re really too thoughtful."

"My aunt brought it over. Basically all of it’s here," Chen Qing said. "Enough for you to gnaw on for a while."

"Your mom didn’t smack you?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"She doesn’t like these hard-to-chew things," Chen Qing said, looking at him. "You really went to Ji Cheng Ke’s place to bandage it? How did you even explain it to him?"

"Didn’t say anything," Jiang Yuduo said, taking out a piece of beef and slowly chewing it. "I was afraid if I waited any longer I’d end up covered in blood, and if someone called the police or whatever, it’d be too much trouble."

"With your clotting ability basically nonexistent," Chen Qing said, "by the time you got to him you’d already be covered in blood."

"It was fine. I pressed really hard, used eighty-five percent of my strength," Jiang Yuduo said. "I only let go when I suddenly saw him and got startled. That’s when the blood came out."

"Were you planning to sneak inside and bandage yourself up?" Chen Qing was very surprised.

"I thought he probably wouldn’t be home," Jiang Yuduo sighed. "The agent said he was an artist. I didn’t expect artists to be so free, that they wouldn’t be busy at their studio doing art for a while."

"I’m not trying to say anything, Third Brother," Chen Qing looked at him for a long while, then sighed too. "But this was really a bit inappropriate."

Jiang Yuduo said nothing, only nodded.

Chen Qing rarely had such a clear head. Jiang Yuduo was very moved.

Running over there like that today really had been inappropriate. It counted as trespassing, and even if Cheng Ke really hadn’t had a problem…

"Now he’s definitely on guard," Chen Qing continued. "It’ll probably be a lot harder if we try sneaking in to look for clues again."

Jiang Yuduo looked up at Chen Qing.

"You think so, right?" Chen Qing said.

"If I wasn’t worried my wound would split open," Jiang Yuduo looked at him, "I’d really shove your head in a toilet and let you drink your fill right now."

"Third Brother," Chen Qing said helplessly. "Can’t you speak properly?"

"Spare me," Jiang Yuduo said, patting his shoulder. "Disappear within three seconds, or I’ll spray blood all over you."

"I’m going. I only came by to bring you beef anyway, and I still have to take the car back to the shop," Chen Qing said, quickly heading for the door. After a couple of steps, he stopped again. "Is beef considered a trigger food? Is it not good for the wound?"

"Get lost." Jiang Yuduo took another bite.

"There’s also a bag of cat food downstairs," Chen Qing said. "Maybe don’t follow me around eating my meals. If it gets salty, it’ll shed hair, what a pain."

"Can you leave already?" Jiang Yuduo looked at him.

Chen Qing slipped out the door.

Jiang Yuduo stood by the table and slowly finished the piece of beef, then dug out the bag of cat food from the bottom of the plastic bag and shook it at Miao, who had been staring at his hands from the side. "Want some?"

Miao meowed once, very hard, very loudly.

Jiang Yuduo poured a little cat food into its bowl. Miao walked over, sniffed it, then took a somewhat disgusted step back and sat down, tilting its head up and meowing at him again.

"Eat it if you want it, don’t if you don’t," Jiang Yuduo said, pointing at its nose. "A stray cat and you’re even picky?"

Miao turned back to stare at the bowl. It didn’t eat, didn’t move, just froze there with stubborn determination.

Jiang Yuduo ignored it and lay down on the sofa.

His head felt a little swollen. He didn’t know if he’d given himself a concussion, so he closed his eyes and pressed at the gauze. The wound still hurt, a dull ache mixed with sharp stabs. It was a very complicated kind of pain.

This business today was probably because he’d been distracted.

His mood had been off ever since he came out of Building 1. Maybe it was because he hadn’t slept well last night. Anything could make him think too much. Once certain feelings showed up, it was hard to shake them off, to the point that he didn’t even know when the person behind him had started watching him.

No warning, no sound, no sight of anyone.

Just pain, and then total darkness.

Pathetic.

The last time he’d been this pathetic was two years ago… no, the last time he’d been this pathetic was when he fought Cheng Ke on top of a dumpster…

He opened his eyes and looked at Miao, who was still staging a hunger strike in front of the food bowl. "Hurry up and eat. When you get fat, I’ll send you to Chen Qing’s place for hot pot… Have you ever had hot pot? It’s really good. The kind that just thinking about makes you hungry."

Cheng Ke wiped the two drops of Jiang Yuduo’s blood off the floor with a wet tissue. He didn’t have a cleanliness obsession, but when he saw that the tissue had not only blood on it, but a patch of black ash too, he was still a little surprised.

The floor had looked pretty clean. He hadn’t expected it to be this dirty!

But that made sense too, since the place had been empty before, and Jiang Yuduo hadn’t changed his shoes when he came in just now. He probably hadn’t exactly come over bloodied up for the first time, either… Thinking of that, he suddenly felt like there was probably dust everywhere in this apartment.

He tried wiping the table, and there was dust. The chair… already got sat clean. The bedside table, too, was dusty.

The sofa, though, had no dust, because it was upholstered.

Cheng Ke wandered back and forth through the apartment several times. If he really had to clean everything, with his level of skill it would probably take him one or two full days.

After thinking in the living room for a while, he took his keys and left.

Forget cleaning it.

He’d go eat.

There was still some time before dinner. Cheng Ke wandered around the neighborhood for a bit, but couldn’t find any shop he wanted to go into. In the end he ended up on the same street where he’d fought Jiang Yuduo.

After all, he used to come here a lot. He was used to the bustle, used to the crowds. These last few days he’d been in a constant state of unease, and any bit of familiarity made him want to get closer.

Even though this place already held memories that weren’t exactly pleasant for him.

There was a Starbucks ahead, and Cheng Ke decided to go sit there for a while and eat something.

There weren’t too many people in the shop. When Cheng Ke finished ordering and paid, he suddenly realized it was the first time he had actually noticed the price of coffee.

Of course he’d seen it before, but never had this feeling. The price suddenly stopped being just a number, and that feeling yanked him out of the little bit of "familiarity" he’d just regained.

Cheng Ke found a sofa in the corner and sat down. After taking two sips of coffee, he pulled out his phone, but after staring at it for a long time, he still didn’t know what to do with it. In the end he put it back in his pocket.

Even though he had slept until the afternoon today, maybe because he’d been tense the whole time, he actually dozed off there in the sofa.

When he woke up, the coffee was completely cold.

Cheng Ke left with endless admiration for himself.

He couldn’t figure out what it meant that these past few days he could fall asleep anywhere and every time, but this nap had actually been pretty decent, so now he could just find somewhere to eat dinner.

Since he hadn’t eaten properly for several days, and his stomach growled the moment he smelled anything good, he decided to have hot pot, right ahead, at the place called Laomaduo where he used to go all the time with Liu Tiancheng.

Thinking of Liu Tiancheng, he frowned.

They’d been friends for so many years, and in the end he was still not as close as Xu Ding, someone he’d only known for two or three years and could hardly even call familiar.

He took out his phone and sent Xu Ding a message.

– Let’s get dinner tomorrow

– I’m going on a business trip tomorrow. Today then

Xu Ding replied pretty quickly.

Cheng Ke froze, glanced at the time on his phone, and sent Xu Ding another message.

– Laomaduo

– Be there in half an hour

Cheng Ke smiled. At a time like this, having someone willing to make dinner plans with him like that made him feel a little emotional.

But the moment he reached the entrance of Laomaduo, he couldn’t keep feeling that way. A few people were walking toward him from across the street, arriving at the restaurant door at the same time.

By the time Cheng Ke wanted to turn and leave, it was already too late. Cheng Yi called out to him, "Brother."

Cheng Ke looked at him, tugged at the corner of his mouth, and said nothing. He looked at Liu Tiancheng beside Cheng Yi, along with a few other friends he used to eat, drink, and have fun with. He didn’t seem to have anything to say to them either.

He couldn’t hide this awkwardness. He didn’t have Cheng Yi’s ability. Even something like "What a coincidence" just wouldn’t come out of his mouth.

"Hey, Xiao Ke! What a coincidence!" Liu Tiancheng said with a smile as he walked up to him. "Why don’t you join us?"

"I… already ate," Cheng Ke said.

"No way, it’s only this early and you’ve already eaten?" Cheng Yi said.

Cheng Ke looked at him without speaking.

"Brother," Cheng Yi said with a smile that was gentle and just a little flattering, "let’s eat together."

"No." Cheng Ke said.

"Hey, this guy," Liu Tiancheng said softly. "You won’t even give your own little brother some face?"

What the hell was face supposed to be.

Cheng Ke looked at his own little brother. The little face he had left had already been smashed to pieces by a dumpster these past few days. Nobody gave him face, and he couldn’t be bothered to give anyone else face either.

"Brother," Cheng Yi took two steps toward him, "why don’t we…"

"Move aside." Someone beside them spoke.

Cheng Ke stepped back. When that person walked between him and Cheng Yi, he suddenly stopped.

Cheng Ke glanced at that face.

…

A wounded man whose head had just been split open had actually run out to eat spicy hot pot?

"Eating?" Jiang Yuduo looked at him.

"Mm, you…" Cheng Ke cleared his throat. "Eating too?"

"Yeah." Jiang Yuduo looked behind him.

Cheng Ke saw the few young people trailing behind him. More precisely, young punks, all of them with the air of people about to end up in prison.

Cheng Yi’s expression across from them turned complicated.

Cheng Ke could understand that very well. At this moment, Jiang Yuduo stood there with a bloodstained bandage on his head and a few underlings behind him, his bully aura fully unleashed. He was the kind of person Cheng Yi could never possibly have any connection with in this lifetime.

Jiang Yuduo turned to look at Cheng Yi, then looked back at him. After hesitating for two seconds, he asked, "Going in together?"

"Huh?" Cheng Ke looked at him, then quickly nodded. "Okay."

Jiang Yuduo reached out and shoved Liu Tiancheng, who still looked completely bewildered, aside. "Move."

Cheng Ke followed behind him into the restaurant.