TA • Chapter 20

Cheng Ke had originally been thinking of asking Jiang Yuduo again today about what that "them" was all about, but after hearing Jiang Yuduo say, "Wherever you are, that’s where I am," he suddenly couldn’t spare any attention for anything else.

"Can you explain what that means?" he asked, looking at Jiang Yuduo.

"It means exactly what it sounds like," Jiang Yuduo said as he walked over to the window and looked outside. "Chen Qing is here."

Cheng Ke didn’t care at all whether Chen Qing came or not, and he didn’t want to eat the breakfast either. He stood by the table, completely dazed. He had already been a little foggy-headed when he woke up in the morning, and he hadn’t slept enough last night either, so right now his brain simply couldn’t digest what Jiang Yuduo had said.

Jiang Yuduo went to open the door, and Chen Qing came in carrying breakfast.

"You might as well throw those keys away," he said as he set the breakfast on the table. "Why be so disgusted with having them?"

"He’s planning to change to a fingerprint lock," Jiang Yuduo said.

"A fingerprint lock?" Chen Qing blinked. "Oh, I get it! Your place used to have a fingerprint lock, right? So that’s why you never carried keys?"

"You finally noticed," Cheng Ke said.

"Then your family isn’t that rich either. Lots of people use fingerprint locks," Chen Qing said.

"Mm." Cheng Ke felt like he couldn’t even get through three sentences with Chen Qing.

The breakfast was soy milk and fried dough sticks, something Cheng Ke had been wanting to eat. One look at it and he suddenly got an appetite.

For the past two months, he hadn’t really eaten breakfast at all. He didn’t get up especially late in the morning, but he was too lazy to go out and eat. He also couldn’t cook for himself, so he usually just dragged things out until noon and ordered takeout.

They said that if you didn’t eat breakfast for a long time, you’d get dumber. He didn’t know whether his intelligence had actually dropped recently.

He just kept being blank.

"Make do with this breakfast," Chen Qing said. "I don’t have money to buy anything like abalone, and Third Brother sometimes even runs out on the bill."

"Get lost," Jiang Yuduo said.

"In a bit," Chen Qing said, sitting down at the table. "I haven’t eaten yet."

"I actually like these pretty much," Cheng Ke said too, sitting down as well. He looked at the breakfast in the bag and took out a fried dough stick.

"Soy milk." Chen Qing put the soy milk in front of him and Jiang Yuduo. "And there’s also fried pancakes. I like fried pancakes more. There are a few meat pies too. The pure meat filling sold out, so I bought the ones with vegetables added."

"Chive ones?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Yeah," Chen Qing nodded.

"Oh, then I’ll just eat the fried dough sticks and fried pancakes," Cheng Ke said.

"Why?" Chen Qing asked.

"Afraid it’ll smell!" Jiang Yuduo said impatiently.

"So much trouble," Chen Qing sighed, looking at Cheng Ke. "Hey, what kind of background does your family actually have? What does your dad do?"

Cheng Ke didn’t say anything. He bit into the fried dough stick.

"He must be in business, right?" Chen Qing asked. "What kind of business?"

Cheng Ke smiled but still didn’t say anything.

"It’s fine, I’m not imagining you as some huge rich guy anyway. After all, the really rich ones wear watches worth hundreds of thousands or even millions," Chen Qing said. "Your watch only cost 170,000."

"Mm." Cheng Ke nodded.

Chen Qing stared at him. After waiting a while, he got a little unhappy. "Then say something. I’ve been waiting forever."

Cheng Ke turned to look at Jiang Yuduo, hoping he would stop this total lack of manners and digging into everything, but Jiang Yuduo was holding a fried pancake, eating while looking at him with obvious interest.

Seemed like he was waiting for his answer too.

"Just," Cheng Ke sighed, "real estate and stuff."

"Ohhh, real estate," Chen Qing dragged out the words. "Then there’s really nothing special. The only real estate guys around here who are impressive are… um… that group, what was it called again?"

Chen Qing turned to Jiang Yuduo, and Jiang Yuduo asked while chewing, "What? How would I know?"

"Aren’t these two streets around here all developed by them?" Chen Qing wore an expression of trying really hard to remember. "The boss’s surname is Cheng, the…"

Halfway through, Chen Qing stopped. After a pause, he turned back to look at Cheng Ke. "What was your surname again?"

"Ji." Cheng Ke said.

"Fuck! Your surname is Cheng, right!" Chen Qing suddenly slapped the table hard. Jiang Yuduo jumped in fright, and the fried pancake in his hand fell onto the table. Chen Qing kept looking at Cheng Ke excitedly. "Cheng Ke! Do you take your dad’s surname? Right? That group or whatever! Right?"

"You fucking…" Jiang Yuduo smacked his arm. "Are you sick?"

"Holy shit," Chen Qing had no reaction at all to the slap. He rubbed his arm. "Then your family really is pretty rich…"

"Take your breakfast and get lost!" Jiang Yuduo picked up the fried pancake, looked at it, took a bite, then thought about it and slapped Chen Qing’s arm again, knocking the half-fried dough stick in Chen Qing’s hand onto the table. "Get lost already!"

Chen Qing picked up the fried dough stick and stuffed two bites into his mouth. He glanced at the time on his phone, grabbed the soy milk, then took another meat pie from the bag and hurried toward the door. "I’m off."

"Don’t broadcast it everywhere," Jiang Yuduo added.

"Don’t worry." Chen Qing left.

Cheng Ke felt like he really did think too little. Only after Jiang Yuduo added that last line did he suddenly feel worried. He didn’t want a bunch of inexplicable people to know that he was the young master of some group who’d been kicked out of the house, and even once rummaged through trash cans…

"He’s tight-lipped about important things, so don’t worry," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Mm." Cheng Ke nodded.

"Your dad’s group, whatever it is, is it really that impressive?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

Cheng Ke looked at him and only then realized that Jiang Yuduo probably didn’t know anything about that group at all. He suddenly felt like laughing a little.

His dad’s proud career.

"It’s okay, I guess," Cheng Ke said with a smile. "The apartment you rented from me was probably one of his."

"Oh." Jiang Yuduo nodded. "Pretty expensive. Lu Xi kept cursing when she bought it."

Cheng Ke didn’t say anything. He lowered his head and took a sip of soy milk. "Is there sugar? Plain soy milk tastes bad."

"Kitchen, go get it yourself," Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke took the soy milk into the kitchen. On the counter was a row of small jars, some containing powder, some small granules, some larger granules. They were all about the same color.

His idea of sugar was basically rock sugar. After hesitating for a moment, he picked up one jar, opened it, pinched out a little with his fingers, and tasted it.

Salt. And because he’d accidentally licked too much, it was so salty he nearly shuddered. He quickly went to the sink beside him and rinsed his mouth.

He picked up another jar that looked about the same, opened it, and carefully dipped a tiny bit with his finger.

Just as he stuck out his tongue to lick it, Jiang Yuduo’s voice came from the door. "That’s it."

"…Oh." Cheng Ke turned back to look at him.

Jiang Yuduo turned and went back to sit at the table.

Cheng Ke got a spoon, guessed at about four spoonfuls, stirred it, and returned to the living room.

"You already added it?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"Mm," Cheng Ke nodded. "This stuff looks too much like salt. I couldn’t tell them apart."

"Sometimes I can’t tell either," Jiang Yuduo said after a moment’s hesitation, then asked, "How much did you put in?"

Cheng Ke was holding the soy milk while drinking it, and he held up four fingers to Jiang Yuduo.

Jiang Yuduo looked at him but didn’t say anything.

Cheng Ke only took one sip of the soy milk before he set the cup down and stared at it.

Damn, what sugar was this? So sweet?

It was almost choking his throat!

Jiang Yuduo stood up, took his own cup of soy milk into the kitchen, and after a while came back out, placed his cup in front of Cheng Ke, and took the earlier one away.

"Hm?" Cheng Ke looked at him.

"I only took one sip," Jiang Yuduo said. "Drink mine. I like it a little sweeter."

"Okay." Cheng Ke picked up the cup and tasted it. Not bad.

Jiang Yuduo took a sip of soy milk and frowned, looking painful. "Which spoon did you use?"

"Just… that plastic round spoon," Cheng Ke said, a little guilty. "Or should we switch them back?"

"It’s fine." Jiang Yuduo tilted his head back and gulped down the whole cup of soy milk, then went to get a glass of water and drank that too. "You… take it slow."

After breakfast, Cheng Ke was preparing to go back. Only after standing up did he remember that he didn’t have a coat now.

"The mall should be open by now, right?" He walked over to the window and looked outside. "Fuck? It’s snowing!"

"Wear mine for now," Jiang Yuduo went into the bedroom and came back out with a down jacket, handing it to him. "Don’t go wandering around today. It’s not like you only have one coat."

"I only have two down jackets." Cheng Ke took the coat.

"Then wear that one first," Jiang Yuduo said.

"That one’s too thin, and…" Cheng Ke sighed. "After washing, it turns into clumps."

"…Then wear mine first," Jiang Yuduo opened the door. "I’ll send you back."

"Fine." Cheng Ke took his keys and went out with him.

The moment they stepped outside, Cheng Ke shrank his neck. It was obviously much colder than yesterday. He took out his phone and checked, and the temperature had dropped by almost ten degrees.

Luckily, the down jacket Jiang Yuduo had given him was very thick. He pulled up the hood and then looked at Jiang Yuduo.

This guy was still wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt with a cotton jacket over it, the zipper not even pulled up. He only had a ski cap on, yet he could still walk through the wind with his whole body loose and easy.

"Aren’t you cold?" Cheng Ke couldn’t help asking.

"A little," Jiang Yuduo said.

"If you’re cold, then zip it up," Cheng Ke was practically baffled. "What are you being so cool for?"

"I’m used to it," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Used to what?" Cheng Ke didn’t understand.

"For example, this winter, you only have one thick coat," Jiang Yuduo said. "At the beginning, when it’s a little cold, you put it on. Then what do you do when it gets colder? What about when it gets even colder?"

Cheng Ke looked at him.

"When it gets too cold to stand, add a long-sleeved layer," Jiang Yuduo said. "When that still isn’t enough, add a sweater, then another… and so on. Get it?"

"Get your ass, and so on," Cheng Ke pulled up his coat to cover half his face. "Do you only have one thick coat right now?"

"Used to," Jiang Yuduo said, zipping up his jacket. "But I’m not especially afraid of the cold."

"Really?" Cheng Ke didn’t know what he should say.

Used to? How far back did that go? That "not-so-good" childhood?

Jiang Yuduo didn’t say anything. Suddenly he reached into Cheng Ke’s coat pocket, grabbed his hand, and squeezed it.

After Cheng Ke reacted, he was dizzy for a moment. When the wind hit him from behind like a blow, he staggered two steps and turned to glare at Jiang Yuduo.

"How is it?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"How is what?" Cheng Ke was still glaring at him.

"My hand’s been outside this whole time and it’s still warm," Jiang Yuduo said, with a hint of smugness on his face. "You’ve been keeping yours in your pocket, and it’s still ice-cold."

"…Oh!" Cheng Ke suddenly understood. In his embarrassment, he unconsciously raised his voice, emphasizing his realization. "Oh!"

"Oh my ass," Jiang Yuduo glanced at him.

Cheng Ke had nothing to say.

When they reached the intersection, Jiang Yuduo stopped for a moment and looked back. Cheng Ke followed his gaze and looked back too, but all he saw were pedestrians with their heads down, walking quickly through the wind.

"Those ‘they’ you mentioned yesterday," Cheng Ke said, "what’s going on?"

"They’ve been following me for many years," Jiang Yuduo said.

"What kind of people are they?" Cheng Ke asked.

Jiang Yuduo didn’t answer.

"Were they the ones who hurt you yesterday?" Cheng Ke asked again.

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo frowned.

"Why didn’t you call the police?" Cheng Ke kept asking.

"Call the police?" Jiang Yuduo turned to look at him. "When have you ever seen someone from the streets call the police?"

"They were threatening your personal safety." Cheng Ke said.

"These injuries?" Jiang Yuduo smiled. "This doesn’t count for shit."

Cheng Ke opened his mouth but didn’t manage to say anything.

"When I’m hurt so badly I can’t move anymore," Jiang Yuduo said, "you can help me call the police."

Cheng Ke didn’t know what to say.

Sometimes he felt like Jiang Yuduo was acting crazy, sometimes he felt like he was too sensitive, and sometimes he felt like everything he said was true.

If it was all true, then it seemed like it was already involving him too. Call the police?

What would he even say if he did?

Halfway there, Jiang Yuduo gave him a push and led him into a side street, into an old-looking market full of spice stalls. The moment they went in, all kinds of strange smells hit him.

Cheng Ke had lived in this area for two months, and this was the first time he’d known such a place existed.

Coming out the side of the market, crossing the street and turning the corner, he saw a gate with the name of their neighborhood on it, but it wasn’t the one he usually went through.

"This is the back gate?" Cheng Ke asked.

"East Gate," Jiang Yuduo said. "The one you usually use is South Gate."

"Oh." Cheng Ke answered.

When they reached the bottom of his building, Jiang Yuduo stopped. "I’m not going up."

"Okay," Cheng Ke said. After hesitating, he added, "Thanks."

"Get used to local customs. Don’t be this polite with people like us," Jiang Yuduo said, rummaging in his pocket. "Every time you say thanks, I don’t even feel like talking anymore."

"I only say it out of habit." Cheng Ke watched him pull out a piece of cigarette pack paper and immediately felt speechless. "Can I ask something?"

"Ask." Jiang Yuduo also pulled out a pen and started writing on the cigarette paper.

"Do you go out every day carrying a stack of cigarette pack paper?" Cheng Ke asked. "Why not bring sticky notes? You could carry more."

"This doesn’t wrinkle easily," Jiang Yuduo said. After he finished writing, he handed the paper over. "This is Chen Qing’s number. If something happens here and you can’t reach me, call him."

"…Oh." Cheng Ke took the cigarette paper.

"Go upstairs," Jiang Yuduo said. "If you see anything suspicious, call me."

Cheng Ke wanted to say that he lived on the top floor, so if he looked down from upstairs, all he’d see was the tops of people’s heads, but after thinking about it, he still nodded and turned to go inside.

"That down jacket of yours, the one that’s in clumps." Jiang Yuduo said from behind him.

"Hm?" Cheng Ke paused and turned back to look at him. "What?"

"Just use a hanger and pat it a few times," Jiang Yuduo said. "Fluff the filling. Later, when you wash it, lay it flat while it dries."

"…Ah." Cheng Ke nodded.

After he got inside, he took it off, sat on the floor by the heater, and it took quite a while before the chilling cold from the whole walk finally faded away.

Why hadn’t he taken a taxi?

Yeah, why hadn’t he?

Jiang Yuduo hadn’t mentioned taking a taxi at all, and he’d actually not thought of it either.

He sighed, stood up, picked up Jiang Yuduo’s coat that he’d thrown onto the sofa, shook it out, folded it, and put it into a bag.

After some hesitation, he went to the closet and took out that down jacket that had clumped up. His original plan had been to just throw it away.

But now he wanted to try Jiang Yuduo’s method.

He held up the collar and used a hanger to smack the down jacket twice.

It seemed to hold up.

So he swung the hanger and whacked the jacket, top and bottom, inside and out, crackling away. Then he felt it again. It seemed to be a little better than before?

His arm was a bit sore, though. That was physical labor.

Cheng Ke threw the coat back into the closet. He should still just go buy a new one.

He took fresh clothes into the bathroom, planning to shower and make up for some sleep.

When he came out of the bathroom and passed the living room window, Cheng Ke stopped and looked outside.

He rarely looked down from his building. Now that it was cold, the flowers and plants in the little garden below had all turned yellow and withered, looking dull and lifeless. There were basically no people around either, making the place seem especially lonely.

But after looking for a couple of times, he froze, staring at the bench beside the fountain in the little garden for a while longer.

To make sure he hadn’t seen wrong, he picked up his phone and took a picture of the bench, then zoomed in.

Jiang Yuduo was sitting on the bench, a cigarette in his mouth, his arms braced on his knees as he played on his phone.

The little garden, which already looked extremely lonely, became even lonelier because of this scene.

Cheng Ke stood by the window for almost ten minutes. Jiang Yuduo kept sitting there. The cigarette in his mouth had already been stubbed out, but he was still absorbed in his phone.

He was probably reading that cultivation novel.

Cheng Ke really admired him. He watched a while longer, and since it didn’t seem like he was going to leave anytime soon, he picked up his phone and dialed Jiang Yuduo’s number.

When the ringtone started up in the receiver, Jiang Yuduo looked up toward his window, then answered the call. "What’s wrong? Saw someone suspicious?"

"Third Brother," Cheng Ke opened the window, leaned out, and waved hard while pointing all around the little garden. "Take a look for yourself. Other than you, is there anyone else under this building?"

"Then what are you nervous about?" Jiang Yuduo said.

"I’m not nervous," Cheng Ke said. "I’m telling you to go back."

"I’ll leave in a bit," Jiang Yuduo said. "After I finish this chapter."

"Leave right now." Just opening the window for this short while had already made Cheng Ke feel like his face was freezing painfully. "Take a taxi back. It’s too cold."

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo answered and stood up.

"If something’s really off, I’ll definitely call you," Cheng Ke said. "You don’t need to keep standing guard like this."

"Okay." Jiang Yuduo turned and walked toward the neighborhood gate.

"Then I’m hanging up." Cheng Ke watched his back, feeling something hard to describe. His mood suddenly dipped a little.

"Hang up then." Jiang Yuduo said.

Over the next few days, Jiang Yuduo didn’t appear downstairs again, and he didn’t contact him either. Cheng Ke breathed a sigh of relief.

He had never had much contact with people like Jiang Yuduo, people who seemed to live on the edge of the world. Stimulating and lonely, maybe that was just how people like that were. When they had nothing to do all day, they had to find some amusement.

Today Cheng Ke got up earlier than usual. Xu Ding’s live performance was scheduled for 11:00, and worried that he might oversleep, Xu Ding had called him to wake him up.

After washing up, Cheng Ke checked the time and saw that he still had plenty. So he picked up his phone and planned to order takeout to eat, in case he got hungry before the performance even started.

There were only a few places to choose from for breakfast. He flipped back and forth through the listings on his screen, then walked to the window and lit a cigarette.

Although he felt like Jiang Yuduo was just looking for entertainment, when he stood by the window, he still subconsciously looked down.

No suspicious people. He could go out with peace of mind.

Actually, there weren’t even any non-suspicious people. In weather like this, there weren’t even any energetic old men out doing their fancy morning exercises.

After scrolling around on his phone for a long time, he still couldn’t find a single thing he wanted to eat. Cheng Ke sighed, sat down on the sofa, set an alarm for himself, and lay back down.

An hour later, the alarm went off. He got up, tidied himself, and left.

First he’d eat something, then head straight to the event venue.

He was still wearing Jiang Yuduo’s coat. Over the past few days, he’d been a little lazy. He’d only gone to the supermarket twice, and several times he’d thought about going a few more steps to the mall to buy clothes, but in the end he always gave up.

When the weather turned cold, people lost their courage. Even going out to buy food took the bravery of going off to die.

Jiang Yuduo’s down jacket was pretty thick and warm, and the style was nice too. He could ask him where he bought it sometime… But when he walked out of the corridor, the north wind slapped his face and still made him sneeze.

Today he planned to leave through the East Gate. When Jiang Yuduo had brought him in through the East Gate that day, he’d realized that street was more bustling, so getting a taxi should be easier.

He had only walked a few steps when he heard footsteps behind him.

Those footsteps were keeping almost the same rhythm as his, landing on the snow nearly at the same time. If he hadn’t listened carefully, he wouldn’t have noticed them at all.

Cheng Ke suddenly stopped and turned around.

When he saw Jiang Yuduo behind him, he couldn’t speak for at least ten seconds.

"Where are you going?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"…To do art," Cheng Ke answered.

"Oh." Jiang Yuduo nodded.

Cheng Ke looked at his nose, red from the cold, and didn’t even know whether what he felt now was anger, helplessness, irritation, or some strange, inexplicable emotion.

They stared at each other for a long time before he finally spoke. "Are you here to collect rent?"

"You still know you’re a week late?" Jiang Yuduo said.

"I forgot," Cheng Ke said.

"Let’s go, I’ll go with you," Jiang Yuduo tilted his head. "Pay rent after you’re done doing your art."

Only then did Cheng Ke suddenly understand that Jiang Yuduo really was someone who meant what he said. If he said he’d keep following him, then he really would keep following him.

"You haven’t been downstairs these past few days, have you?" Cheng Ke asked.

"No," Jiang Yuduo said. "I only come over when I have nothing else to do."

I feel like you don’t have anything to do twenty-four hours a day.

Cheng Ke didn’t dare say that out loud.

"You don’t need to worry about me," Jiang Yuduo said. "I just… don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of me again."

Cheng Ke sighed. At this moment, he suddenly really wished that Chen Qing, the chatterbox, were here. In this kind of situation, he was probably the one who could say something useful.

"This event of mine today…" Cheng Ke said with some difficulty, "it’s private. You need an invitation to get in…"

"I’m not going in," Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke looked at him for a while, then finally turned around. "Let’s go."

Hello, Third Brother.

May I ask, does your Third Brother have some kind of problem?

"Did you eat breakfast?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"No." Cheng Ke answered.

Jiang Yuduo took his hand out of his pocket and held out what he was carrying.

Cheng Ke looked. It was a glutinous rice ball that was still steaming.

"This is insanely delicious," Jiang Yuduo said. "You have to line up early in the morning, at least half an hour to buy it."

"You stood in line for half an hour?" Cheng Ke took the rice ball.

"No," Jiang Yuduo laughed. "I went over and bought it straight away."

Cheng Ke looked at the rice ball and took a bite.

The glutinous rice was soft and springy, with red bean paste and chopped sausage inside. It was pretty good.

"How is it?" Jiang Yuduo asked. "Good, right? If you’d been five minutes later, I would’ve eaten it already."

"Mm." Cheng Ke nodded. For some reason, looking at Jiang Yuduo’s smile right now, his nose suddenly felt a little sour.

Author’s note:

Chen the Guardian, please reveal Third Brother’s secret!