Chapter Six (Part 2): It’s All You
Yesterday, Ye Fan had invited Lu Yin to dinner. Afterward, they went to Starbucks and ordered coffee, talking for a long time. They sat there for the entire evening, and by the time she got home, it was already eleven at night.
She took a shower, then stood on the balcony for a while, letting the breeze blow over her. The view before her was wide open, facing directly toward the residential compound's garden. Deep into the night, there was a peaceful silence outside the window, with pitifully few people in sight. On the path, only a couple was walking farther and farther away.
Lu Yin ran her fingers through her hair, letting the cool breeze gently stir the ends. Everything was utterly silent. The privet trees along the roadside swayed in the breeze, the moonlight stretched endlessly, as though all the stars in the sky were watching over her. Among the trees, a red point flickered on and off. For a moment, it was impossible to tell what it was. In her moment of distraction, the ember seemed almost like stars twinkling in the night sky.
Lu Yin did not pay particular attention to it. She gazed at the sky and took a deep breath, and her mood suddenly calmed considerably.
That night, she forced herself not to touch alcohol. When she lay down in bed, she unexpectedly felt sleepy.
She spent the night in a hazy, restless sleep. It was not particularly sound, but she slept longer than usual. When she opened her eyes, it was six o’clock. She went for two laps around the residential compound at an easy jog, changed her clothes, and went to work.
Today was overcast. Thick dark clouds covered half the sky, turning the whole world gray. In the middle of summer, she unexpectedly felt cold.
Lu Yin looked up at the sky and regretted it a little. She wanted to go back and get an umbrella, but she was too lazy to climb the stairs. After hesitating for two seconds, she still hurried outside.
The bus arrived within a few minutes. It was packed with people, and Lu Yin squeezed onto it at the very last moment.
The doors barely managed to close. At the final second, a man suddenly squeezed aboard behind her and lightly bumped her back. Lu Yin instinctively drew her shoulders in. She glanced over from the corner of her eye and found the silhouette strangely familiar. Her heart inexplicably skipped faster for a beat, but she resisted the urge to turn around.
There was little room to stand in front, so Lu Yin made do with stepping up one step, her hand gripping the railing.
The driver called toward the person behind her, “Last one on, pay your fare... I’m talking to you! Put in two yuan.”
There was no response from behind. The driver did not start moving either, craning his head back to see whether someone was trying to ride without paying. After a while, a hand appeared to Lu Yin’s right. Clink, clink. Two coins dropped in.
Only then did the driver close the doors and start the bus.
The person behind her could not get up the step, so he stood beside the door, leaning against it at an angle. It was the morning rush hour, and the roads were heavily congested. The bus could barely move. Because of the weather, the air conditioning was not on. Both windows were wide open, and warm air poured inside, making it unbearably stuffy.
Sweat had already broken out across Lu Yin’s back. Behind her, it was as though a furnace were roasting her.
The bus stopped every few steps, and time slowly passed. Everyone on board was becoming increasingly anxious and irritable.
The person behind her said, “Driver, it’s too hot. Turn on the air conditioning.”
The driver lazily stared ahead, not even bothering to respond.
After a while, the man spoke again. “I told you to turn on the air conditioning. You pretending you can’t hear me?” His voice was lowered a few degrees, hoarse and carrying a slight tremor. It was not particularly loud, yet it carried an intimidating force that seemed to command respect without anger.
The driver could not help turning his head to look at him. He stared back, a pair of eyes dark and somber. Beneath his short, bristly buzz cut, the scar on his forehead was deeply etched, enough to make anyone uneasy.
The driver swallowed and stubbornly refused to move.
Someone spoke up, and naturally, others chimed in: “Exactly, exactly… Turn on the air conditioning. I’m going to die of heat…”
Before long, everyone toward the back was shouting, chaotic as a pot of porridge.
The driver took the opportunity to give in and shouted toward the back, “Close all the windows beside you.”
The air conditioning ran for five minutes before the temperature inside the bus gradually dropped.
The oppressive heat subsided, but Lu Yin’s back remained rigid, and she could not relax. It was only when she heard him speak just now that she realized his voice was circling right beside her ear, like a fine string tugging at her nerves. He was so incredibly close to her.
Lu Yin lowered her head, lightly pressing her teeth against her fingernail, and instinctively shifted half a step forward.
They had been stuck at the intersection just now, and they had not even reached the first stop. After passing the red light, the traffic cleared up. The driver slammed down on the accelerator, as though he wished he could drive the bus like an airplane.
The bus turned left, sending everyone leaning to the right. Lu Yin was standing at the edge of the step. Her knees suddenly weakened, and inertia sent her falling backward.
A small cry caught in her throat. Her buttocks struck the man's stomach first. Unable to control her body, she fell completely into his arms. Before she could react, she only felt an arm suddenly stretch out from behind and wrap around her waist, catching her.
Lu Yin went up onto her tiptoes, barely managing to hang on to the step. In her panic, she grabbed the arm around her waist. Her fingertips touched his skin, rough and hard.
Lu Yin instinctively lowered her head. His arm was like a steel reinforcing bar, clamped tightly beneath her chest.
The bus reached a straight stretch of road and gradually steadied.
Lu Yin's ears grew hot. She tried to pry his arm away.
Lu Qiang leaned his head closer. “Don't move.”
Lu Yin could no longer pretend not to know him. She turned her head, slightly surprised. “It's you.”
Lu Qiang raised an eyebrow. “I thought you'd noticed me a long time ago.”
“No...” Lu Yin said quietly. Her entire back was in his arms. He stood one step below her, yet the two of them were actually the same height.
She pried at his arm again. “Let go first.”
“Wait,” he said softly. The breath he exhaled blew into her ear. “There's another turn ahead.”
A few seconds later, the bus made the turn and finally pulled into the stop. Some people got off, while others boarded.
Lu Qiang lifted his arm and hoisted her up, then raised his leg and followed her up the step. The two of them were now at the same height. His arm naturally lifted a little higher, his thumb moving back and forth.
Lu Yin clenched her lips and grabbed the webbing between his thumb and forefinger in one motion. The bus was already crowded. His movement had been casual, and under these particular circumstances, there was nothing obviously wrong with it. Lu Yin was furious inside. He held her as they moved farther into the bus. Once they reached a place to stand, he released her, yet remained pressed against her back.
Lu Yin was secretly angry, her eyes lowered.
The bus pulled away from the stop. Lu Qiang lowered his head and asked, “Is it like this every day when you go to work?”
After several seconds, she answered reluctantly, “Not always. There are more people on Mondays.”
“How long to get to work?”
“Half an hour.”
“Still working at that garment factory?”
Lu Yin said nothing.
He paused, then added, “The same one where you came to take measurements for the clothes when I was in prison?”
Lu Yin remembered the circumstances of their first meeting. The things that had left the deepest impression on her were the dragon across his chest, the scar on his forehead, and those four numbers, 0852.
She nodded. “Yes.”
Lu Qiang asked, “What's the name of the factory?”
“...Duhua Garment Factory.”
Lu Qiang murmured the name once under his breath, as though he did not really want to know it.
The sky outside grew lower and heavier. Strips of water streaked diagonally across the bus windows. Before long, people by the roadside began opening umbrellas. It was as though fog had suddenly risen, turning the world chaotic and blurred. The rain had finally begun to fall.
Lu Yin shifted slightly forward. The rain did not make things any easier for her. Being pressed so close still made her feel hot, but before long, the furnace behind her caught up again.
He continued asking, “Where were you last night?”
Lu Yin did not understand for a moment.
“I saw you at the guard booth. A few of us were eating at the time.”
Lu Yin said, “Did you? It was too dark. I didn't notice.”
Lu Qiang lowered his eyes to the top of her head and curled his lips. “Come back earlier next time. You're a woman by yourself. It's not safe.”
Lu Yin froze. She lowered her head shamefully. The polite concern of a stranger somehow made her heart beat a little faster.
Lu Qiang asked, “Heard me?”
Lu Yin gave a soft little “Mm” in her throat.
Lu Qiang glanced at her but did not say anything more.
Their pattern seemed to have always been that he asked and she answered. Now that neither of them was speaking, their bodies remained pressed together, and the atmosphere was even more awkward than before.
Lu Yin suddenly could not resist asking, “You take this bus. Do you live around here?”
After two seconds, “No.”
She turned back in surprise.
Lu Qiang also lowered his head to look at her. “I got on with you.”
Lu Yin was speechless. She had not expected him to answer like that. She had casually picked a topic, assuming the answer would be yes. Who would have thought he'd be crazy enough to say he'd gotten on the bus with someone he barely knew?
The most natural response to an answer like that would be to ask, “Why?”
But women were naturally sensitive, and besides, he had made his meaning so bluntly clear that she could more or less guess what was on his mind. If she kept asking, she would really be an idiot.
Lu Yin fell silent.
But because she stopped talking, he had no intention of letting her off.
Lu Qiang hunched his back to accommodate her height, lowered his chin and brushed it against the tip of her ear. In a voice only the two of them could hear, he said, “Aren't you going to ask why?”
Lu Yin drew her neck in and bit her lip tightly.
Lu Qiang continued, “Old Li said your wedding was called off and you broke up with your man?”
A buzzing exploded beside her ear. The surrounding noise seemed to amplify countless times over. Clear teeth marks showed on her lower lip, and her back straightened rigidly.
Lu Qiang said, “Where'd you get yourself a husband?”
The crowded bus swayed and jolted. Lu Qiang held her trapped in a small corner. Behind her was a restless, agitated crowd. He used his arm to separate her from the rest of the world, as though only she could breathe freely within it.
Lu Yin said nothing. The man gripped the overhead rail, hunched his back, lowered his head, and half-encircled her. It was as though the two of them had fallen into another dimension, while all the passengers around them had become invisible.
After a long while, Lu Yin looked away and forcefully exhaled. This was her taboo. Every time she was about to forget, someone would inevitably bring it up in front of her again, stabbing directly into her heart. The calm surface of the lake was finally shattered by the churning whirlpool of the undercurrent. She had always retreated and avoided it, but all of a sudden, it seemed she had nothing left to fear.
“Hm?” The man behind her lazily pressed for an answer. “Tell me. Where'd you get him?”
Lu Yin's expression turned cold. “None of your business.”
“What if it is my business?”
She drove her elbow backward into him. “What do you want?”
“What could I want?” Lu Qiang's eyes and brows carried a smile. “I kind of like you.”
Lu Yin was rendered speechless.
A few seconds later, Lu Qiang said, “I was drunk last night. I was afraid I wasn't thinking clearly. When I lay down in bed, I thought, if I woke up and you were still the one on my mind, I'd go find you.”
Lu Yin: “…”
Lu Qiang moved a little closer. “Guess whether I've missed you or not.”
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