Chapter Seven: Being Together
They had arrived at the stop, and someone bolted the moment they got off.
The rain fell with increasing tenderness, weaving a soft curtain between heaven and earth.
Lu Qiang got off the bus unhurriedly, both hands in his pockets, watching her back. This was a light industrial district built in Zhangchuan City in recent years. There were no residents nearby, only rows upon rows of gray factory buildings. A garment factory stood just ahead. Outside its stark prefab buildings was a spacious courtyard, with people coming and going. Above the iron gate were several large characters: “Duhua Garment Factory.”
The bus stop was less than a hundred meters from the factory. Halfway there, someone called out to Lu Yin.
She stopped. Before she could turn around, everything above her head darkened as a large black umbrella covered her.
Lu Yin turned her head. “...Good morning.”
“Morning.” Chen Rui asked, “You didn't bring an umbrella?”
Lu Yin tilted her head to look at Chen Rui, taking the opportunity to glance backward from the corner of her eye. That person had gotten off the bus too, standing on the steps and looking in this direction. She pressed her lips together and did not turn around.
“Lu Yin?”
“Hm?” She came back to herself, her gaze focusing on Chen Rui. “What did you say?”
“I said, it's raining today. How come you didn't bring an umbrella?”
She hadn't heard half of what he said, and her attention wandered again of its own accord. Traffic streamed endlessly along the street, the noise sliding through its midst; fine rain fell like woven threads, shrouding everything in a light mist.
That person stood there dressed entirely in black, his presence strikingly strong. He did not move at all, like a statue without any warmth.
“Hey!”
Lu Yin startled and tucked back a strand of hair at her temple. “Sorry, I didn't...”
Chen Rui smiled generously and did not repeat himself. “It's okay.”
The two of them walked toward the courtyard. Lu Yin pushed the umbrella handle farther away. “Thank you, but I'm already soaked anyway. You use it.”
Chen Rui tilted it toward her again. “I'm a grown man. What am I afraid of? Don't catch a cold.”
Lu Yin gave him a polite, distant smile and said nothing more.
Lu Qiang narrowed his eyes as he watched the two of them jostling and fussing their way into the courtyard.
The man was half a head taller than her, lean and clean-cut, dressed appropriately and with care. The black umbrella was tilted sharply to the right, leaving his left shoulder soaked through.
The woman was all small-bird-like dependence, shoulders hunched, just short of pressing herself completely against him.
Lu Qiang ground his teeth and looked down at himself.
The other man wore a blue shirt, black trousers, and leather shoes that the rain had washed so clean they looked brand-new and gleaming.
He wore an old undershirt, loose-legged pants, and cloth shoes that had been soaked by the rain and were shabby and tattered.
Lu Qiang looked in that direction again. The two of them were already out of sight. From beginning to end, she hadn't turned around to look at him even once.
Lu Qiang gave a mocking snort. “Show off.”
He took shelter from the rain at the bus stop for a while, but the rain showed no sign of letting up. He smoked a cigarette, then, having lost his patience, braved the rain to find somewhere to make a call.
Genzi asked, “Ge, where are you? I'll come pick you up.”
Lu Qiang looked around and spat, “Who the hell knows what godforsaken place this is.”
***
It took Genzi another half hour to find him. Lu Qiang was squatting by the roadside, smoking. Behind him was a shabby little general store, discarded books and cardboard piled beneath the windowsill. Beside it lay a bicycle that was practically falling apart, covered in rust and long past being rideable. Water dripped from the eaves onto the road, rippling outward into one little splash after another.
His arms hung over his knees as he sucked on his cigarette, lost in thought. He narrowed one eye and slowly breathed out. Smoke drifted upward, hazy and indistinct, through the drenched world.
He seemed to have melted into this decrepit, weathered rainy day.
Genzi honked twice.
Lu Qiang didn't move. He only drew his gaze back, saw that it was Genzi, took one hard drag, and flicked the cigarette butt into a puddle.
He got into the car and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. Though there was a piece of roof overhead to shelter his head, his shoulder was still soaked through.
Genzi handed him a towel. He didn't object, simply taking it and rubbing his hair dry.
“Ge.” Genzi glanced sideways at him. “Where are we going?”
Lu Qiang said, “Go shopping.”
His eyes lit up, and he hurriedly pulled out his phone. “Then wait a second. I'll quickly call Li Qing and have her wait for me.”
Lu Qiang shot him a glance. “In broad daylight, what are you getting horny for?”
“...Aren't we going to pick up girls?”
Lu Qiang laughed. “Pick up your damn grandpa.”
Genzi was rather disappointed. The call had already connected, but he hung it up immediately.
Lu Qiang said, “Where's the nearest shopping mall around here? I need to buy a phone.”
Only then did Genzi remember. “Got it.”
He turned the steering wheel, and the car changed course.
Even the nearest shopping mall was more than ten minutes away. The rain had eased somewhat, falling in a soft drizzle. The rainy season still wasn't over, and there was no telling how long this damp weather would continue.
Lu Qiang opened the window a crack, letting warm air mixed with fine threads of rain blow inside.
Genzi made small talk. “Ge, what were you doing all the way out here so early in the morning?”
Lu Qiang said, “Got on the wrong bus.”
“Then where were you supposed to go?”
“Home.”
Genzi was puzzled. “Don't you live right across from the residential compound? Why'd you need to take a bus?”
Lu Qiang gave him a chilly sideways glance, and Genzi shut his mouth.
They wandered around the shopping mall for a while and found a brand-name counter. After the sales clerk gave them a simple introduction, Lu Qiang hadn't understood much of it, but he bought it and paid anyway.
Lu Qiang's rough fingers tapped at it a few times, not knowing how to use it.
Genzi laughed beside him.
He shot him a look. “What are you laughing at?”
Genzi said, “Ge, this phone doesn't look like it's yours.”
Lu Qiang looked at him.
He said, “With the way you're dressed, you look like you stole it.”
Lu Qiang cursed and raised his arm to hit him. Genzi shrank back with a cheeky grin.
Lu Qiang flicked at the hem of his clothes, then, somewhat awkwardly, thought again of that man just now: blue shirt, black trousers, a black umbrella covering Lu Yin completely, his manner gentlemanly and considerate.
His chest felt horribly constricted. Naturally, he was in no mood to be pleasant. He put away the phone and walked ahead on his own.
Genzi hurried after him for a few steps. “Where are we going next?”
Lu Qiang lifted his head and looked around. “Let's go upstairs and take a look.”
“What are we going upstairs for?” Genzi was puzzled, but followed closely behind. “They sell clothes up there.”
***
Lu Yin was distracted at work that morning. She recorded the sample garment's measurements incorrectly twice. If her colleague hadn't reminded her from beside her, she would almost have taken them to show her superiors.
At lunchtime, she shared a table with her colleagues. A few of them chatted idly for a while, but she wasn't in the mood, only burying her head in her food.
She had eaten only half when Chen Rui walked in from outside. He stood at the door and looked around for a long while. His eyes lit up when he spotted her, and he came straight over.
There was an empty seat opposite Lu Yin. He sat down without ceremony, exchanged a few words of greeting with the others, then shifted his gaze to her.
He said, “I had the cook make some ginger tea. You got caught in the rain. Have a few sips to warm yourself up.”
The two female colleagues beside her exchanged a glance, silently understanding each other without a word.
Lu Yin was still distracted. She looked up, and a thermos had appeared in front of her.
It took her a few seconds to react. She quickly glanced to the side and pushed it back. “No need, thank you. You drink it yourself.”
Chen Rui said, “Don't be stubborn. If you wait until you catch a cold to drink it, it'll be too late.” As he spoke, he unscrewed the lid. The smell of fresh ginger drifted out, and steam still rose from the mouth of the cup.
Lu Yin frowned. Continuing to refuse would look bad, so she got up, went to the window, and took four empty cups, placing them in front of her colleagues.
He didn't have time to stop her. She divided the ginger tea into four portions and joked, “Chen Rui is pretty thoughtful, really went to great lengths for us female colleagues.”
Chen Rui thought about it, guessed what she was concerned about, and played along. “Have some, all of you. You women are just too delicate.”
The colleagues exchanged another glance and responded with vague murmurs of agreement.
It was only a small interlude, but Lu Yin didn't eat well. She barely moved her chopsticks before making an excuse to return to the office first.
The afternoon's work remained scattered and unfocused. The rain outside never stopped. By the time work ended, it had thinned to a fine drizzle, turning into a light, hazy mist.
Chen Rui was like a lingering ghost, waiting for her at the entrance again.
Lu Yin was inexplicably irritated. She lowered her head and pretended not to see him.
Chen Rui followed her for a few steps. At the bottom of the stairs, he opened his umbrella. “Take this and use it. I live nearby, so I'll be home in a little while.”
“No need. It's not raining that hard.” Lu Yin's tone was stiff. Her refusal was already unmistakably clear.
A colleague came over and greeted them with a smile.
Chen Rui awkwardly withdrew his hand. “You... are you free tonight? If you have nothing going on, want to have dinner together?”
“I am free.”
Lu Yin stopped and made herself clear. “But I can't go out with you. A man and a woman alone together, what do you think other people will say?”
Chen Rui said, “Why worry about what other people think? I don't have a girlfriend, and you...”
Lu Yin interrupted him. “If I care about someone, then other people really are just other people. I won't think about what they think.” She paused. “But right now, there isn't anyone in my heart I can care about.”
Chen Rui's eyes darkened. He still wanted to try. “I want to...”
Lu Yin smiled faintly. “No matter what you think, Chen Rui, I don't have those kinds of thoughts right now. And even less do I want to become something for other people to gossip about. I appreciate your kindness. I'm really sorry.”
She didn't give him a chance to speak. A taxi came along the roadside. Lu Yin waved, and it stopped. She quickly opened the door and got in.
In the taxi, she called Ye Fan, wanting to ask her out to sit and chat. Ye Fan said the company had just hired a batch of graduate students and was busy training them, so she couldn't get away.
Ye Fan gave her five minutes and chatted with her for a few moments.
Lu Yin felt a little better. After hesitating for a moment, she said, “There's something I want to tell you.”
Ye Fan was filling out a training form, holding the phone between her shoulder and ear. “What is it?”
Lu Yin bit her lip. “That man I told you about last time, the security guard at our residential compound.” She paused. “Today he... again...”
“Wait, Yinyin.” Ye Fan stopped her, pressed the phone against her chest, and called out, “Wu Qiong! Send me the form. We'll need it for the training later.”
Soon after, she returned to the phone. “Yinyin, go on. What happened today?”
Lu Yin let out a breath and said with a smile, “It's nothing, really. Let's meet another day. I'll tell you when we meet. You go ahead and stay busy.”
Ye Fan didn't bother being polite with her either. She hung up and walked into the meeting room.
Lu Yin didn't want to go home. She ate dinner at a nearby shopping mall, then wandered through several shops downstairs and tried on two pieces of clothing, but didn't particularly like either of them.
She drifted around aimlessly for an hour. When she came out, the musical fountain in the plaza had already started. Children played beside the water, while couples held their phones high to take pictures.
The rain had washed the city clean and bright. A pool of water had gathered across the marble pavement, reflecting the colorful night. The air was cool and refreshing. Lu Yin found a dry chair and sat there foolishly for a while.
At nine-thirty, when she truly had nowhere else to go, she finally began making her slow way back.
Lu Yin had walked the entire way home tonight. She had left that morning wearing high heels, and the roads were already slippery from the rain, so she had been especially careful with every step. Her feet were aching, and the bones around her ankles had already been rubbed red.
The walk had taken twenty minutes. After rounding the corner, she quickly looked up. Because of the weather, there wasn't a single person around the entrance that was usually the liveliest. The shabby guard booth was closed up, utterly lifeless.
Lu Yin breathed a sigh of relief, then couldn't help mocking herself inwardly. This whole evening had been nothing but pointless fussing. Someone had simply been teasing her for fun, and she had gone and taken it seriously like some idiot. Thinking this, she grew a little angry again, and in the end, even she couldn't figure out what exactly she was feeling.
It was only after a fully drawn bow snapped that she realized how tired she was. She quickened her steps toward home. She passed through the small gate when, beside her, there was a sudden creak. Before she could react, a force yanked her into the guard booth.
Stumbling and staggering all the way, Lu Yin's head spun. By the time her mind recovered enough to think, she had already been pinned against the wooden door by someone. The room was pitch-black. Moonlight filtered through the gap in the curtains, the windows and door were tightly shut, and the air around them was thin and damp.
She pressed her palm against a hard chest, but couldn't push it away.
In desperation, Lu Yin struck him twice, hard. It was like hitting a stone. “Get away from me.”
“This is my territory. Where am I supposed to go?” His voice was low and soft, faintly amused. His large palm gripped her waist and rubbed it deliberately.
This was even more brazen than that morning. Once the paper between them had been pierced, the fierce wind could blow inside without restraint. There was no longer any need for concealment or restraint.
Lu Yin breathed heavily. “Then let me go.”
“You can't go either.”
Lu Yin startled. “...Psycho.” She twisted herself desperately in the narrow space between them.
Something pressed against her from the front that was unusually soft. Lu Qiang's breathing faltered slightly, and a surge of heat shot through him, unbearably hot. Her breath happened to brush against his neck, and it felt as though a feather were sweeping back and forth inside his throat.
Lu Qiang grabbed the wrist she was flailing with and pinned it against the door. “Stop moving.”
His voice had suddenly turned hoarse. The three words were almost a reprimand. Lu Yin was startled by him and immediately froze, not daring to move.
Lu Qiang steadied his breathing and let his body pull away slightly.
He asked quietly, “You're still coming home this late?”
Lu Yin bit her lip and didn't answer.
Lu Qiang asked, “Where's your phone?”
Lu Yin raised her head in the darkness. The faint light from outside reflected in her eyes, making them glitter.
Lu Qiang explained, “I bought a new phone today. Give me your number. I'll save it.”
“No need,” Lu Yin said. “We're not even familiar with each other.”
He lowered his eyes and glanced at their bodies pressed close together, smiling. “Not familiar?”
Lu Yin bit her lip.
“Are you giving it to me or not?”
“I don't have it.”
Lu Qiang took another inch. “Then I'll find it myself.”
As he spoke, his hand had already moved downward, grabbing her buttock.
Lu Yin jerked in surprise, rising onto her toes and twisting again. He alternated between using both hands as she dodged left and right, verbally trying to stop him, her voice already carrying a hint of tears.
Lu Yin's voice trembled. “I'll give it to you, I'll give it to you. Stop searching. I don't have my phone on me.”
Lu Qiang reluctantly withdrew his hand. She recited her number, and he entered it into his phone with some difficulty, then called it. Only after hearing the ringtone did he finally stop.
Taking advantage of his distraction, Lu Yin stepped to the right, trying to escape his control. But how could she possibly be a match for a man? Lu Qiang caught her and pulled her back in one motion.
He said, “I haven't finished asking you something.”
“What else do you want?”
Lu Qiang was silent for a moment. “Have you thought about what I said this morning?”
When he spoke again, the previous flippancy was gone. Every word sounded excessively solemn. His eyes fixed intently on her in the darkness, waiting for her answer.
Lu Yin was irritated. “No.”
Knowing he had gotten on her nerves, Lu Qiang didn't press her. “There's no rush. This is a big thing. You should think about it carefully.” He paused for two seconds. “I've never been the kind of person who beats around the bush. Dragging things out and hemming and hawing isn't my style. Once I've made up my mind about someone, I take the initiative. I took a liking to you the second time I saw you. And being able to keep running into you afterward, I suppose that's fate.”
In the darkness, he touched his forehead. Saying all of this seemed to embarrass him quite a bit too.
“Anyway, think about it.”
“You...” Lu Yin was at a loss for words. After holding it in for a long time, she actually had no idea how to refute him.
When she had been facing Chen Rui earlier, her thoughts had been calm, her words crisp and decisive. A few sentences had been enough to make everything clear. But now, she had somehow become mute.
In her panic, she managed only three words: “...Shameless.”
Lu Qiang smiled. “I'm not joking.”
“Neither am I.”
“I'm serious.”
“Whether you're serious or not...”
Lu Qiang pressed his thumb against her lips. “Don't rush to answer. Think about it properly. Or, if you'd rather get to know each other first, that's fine too. We live close by, so it'll be convenient for us to spend more time together and build some feelings.”
After saying this, he stepped back, leaving space for her.
The door was directly behind Lu Yin. She reached back and grasped the handle, and just before escaping, she finally called out, “There's no chance for us.”
Those words had absolutely no force behind them. They sounded more like lovers bickering and throwing a little tantrum. Lu Yin regretted it so much she wanted to bite her tongue off.
She ran several steps with all her strength, her little heels going click-clack against the concrete road, but her heartbeat still wouldn't settle.
Thinking back over their conversation, she realized there hadn't been a single sentence that was decisive enough to completely extinguish his hopes.
Then she thought of Chen Rui again. Once she had calmed down, she finally saw the difference between the two men.
Chen Rui was a person.
And he was a beast that devoured people without even spitting out the bones.
***
The sleep she had finally managed to get back under control failed her once again.
Lu Yin lay in bed, tossing and turning, his words echoing endlessly in her ears.
“Guess whether I've missed you or not.”
He had said at the time,
“It's you I dream about every night.”
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