The Second Fallen Leaf
Wu Yu was awakened by a knock at the door. The moment she lifted her eyelids, she was stabbed by the half-obscured rosy clouds behind the window curtains and immediately squeezed her eyes shut. They seemed as though they were about to burn straight into her eyeballs.
“Who is it...” Wu Yu lazily propped herself upright.
Sister Lin’s voice came from outside the door. “Girl, someone’s looking for you.”
Wu Yu perked up and got out of bed to slip on her shoes.
She thought the slippers at the shop were dirty, so she only wore her own canvas shoes. They were knockoffs of Converse 1970s, and she had flattened the heels and used them like slippers.
She dragged them across the floor with a few pattering sounds before opening the door and seeing the young man behind Sister Lin.
From his appearance to his height, he gave her far too many pleasant surprises.
Sister Lin was not exactly short, only half a forehead shorter than Wu Yu, but at this moment, the person behind her made her look like a quail.
Wu Yu smiled faintly and asked despite already knowing the answer, “Looking for me?”
The young man said nothing, which amounted to an admission.
Sister Lin was curious. “Who’s this?”
Wu Yu said, “You don’t need to worry about it.”
Sister Lin put on an expression of disdain that clearly said she wanted no part of it, and stepped aside to clear the doorway.
She dusted her apron twice, her eyes moving back and forth between the two people inside and outside the doorframe, before finally settling on Wu Yu. “Should I bring you... you two dinner?”
Wu Yu glanced at her. “Depends on your mood.”
Sister Lin rolled her eyes and turned to go downstairs.
Once she was out of sight, Wu Yu’s gaze returned to the person in front of her. He did not move, and neither did she, remaining perfectly at ease.
After they stood there in a stalemate for a while, Wu Yu asked, “Why are you just standing there? Aren’t you coming in?”
As she said this, she lightly placed her hand against the doorframe.
No matter how slender a woman’s arms were, no matter how thin her figure, she still managed to occupy most of the doorway.
There was simply nowhere to pass.
The young man noticed that she was deliberately making things difficult for him and said coldly, “How am I supposed to get in when you’re blocking me?”
Wu Yu curled her lips. She did not move aside, merely shifting her hand away from the doorframe and pressing it against his left chest.
There happened to be a pocket there.
He looked to be in poor condition, yet his reaction was extraordinarily swift. He immediately seized her wrist and pulled it away. “What are you doing?”
His grip hurt badly, but Wu Yu did not struggle. Her brows drew together slightly. “Searching you. What if you brought something that could threaten me?”
As she spoke, her hand reached over again.
The young man’s patience was clearly exhausted. After giving her an incredulous glare, he hooked an arm around Wu Yu’s shoulders and shoved her several steps into the room, pinning her arms behind her back against the door. His chest pressed against her back, his legs braced against hers, and from top to bottom, he held her firmly in place.
“Is there a difference?”
His five fingers clasped the back of her head.
Wu Yu could not move. Her face and upper body were pressed tightly against the hard wall. One side of her features was also tangled among strands of hair, blurred and indistinct.
She neither resisted nor begged for mercy. Instead, she squeezed out a smile. With a hum, soft and cool, there was a hint of mockery in it.
The person behind her let go.
Wu Yu worked her aching jaw a little, then turned back to continue observing the opposite sex who had suddenly appeared in her room.
The brief confrontation seemed to have left him utterly exhausted. He took the unopened box of condoms from his trouser pocket and tossed it onto the bed. Then he took off his hat and sat down on the edge of the bed.
Wu Yu walked back to the table, pulled a bottle of water from the plastic bag, and handed it to him.
The young man took it, tipped his head back, and drank more than half the bottle before screwing the cap back on and returning it.
Throughout it all, he did not give her so much as a glance.
As though feeding an animal, Wu Yu tossed a bag of bread at him as well. It landed squarely in his arms. The young man paused, but did not open it.
For some unknown reason, despite having a face that seemed so arrogant and imposing, despite being tall and broad-shouldered, he looked as though he were withering away.
“Eat something,” Wu Yu said, standing beside the table. “Don’t pass out later while you’re doing it.”
After saying that, she tilted her head to look out the window, unconsciously tapping the floor lightly with the toe of her shoe, making a faint thumping sound.
At this moment, the sky was spread with drifting rosy clouds, pink mixed with purple, like a gentle velvet blanket.
After a while, Wu Yu heard the sound of someone biting into bread and turned her eyes back. “What’s your name?”
The young man stopped chewing. “Does it matter?”
After their two rounds of sparring, she had more or less figured out where his weak point lay, so she asked again, “Then later, when we’re on the bed, what should I call you?”
The person eating the bread fell silent.
After a few seconds of quiet, he said, “Ji Shiqiu.”
“Ji... Shi... Qiu.” She repeated his name one character at a time. “Which characters?”
Before he could answer, Wu Yu seized the initiative, hopping down from the slightly higher edge of the table. “Let me guess. Season, time, autumn.”
One word was one step. She eventually stopped in front of him. “Am I right?”
The young man did not answer.
“Should I call you by your full name, or call you Xiao Qiu?”
The woman’s figure loomed over him at close range, making him completely lose his appetite as well. He put down the half-eaten bread.
Wu Yu could tell that he was putting up with her, and also brushing her off. She could not help but laugh.
Her eyes fell on his black hair, flattened by his hat, and his messy bangs. She raised a hand and reached up to grab them.
Ji Shiqiu dodged away, his face full of disgust. “What now?”
Wu Yu spread open the hand that had just rubbed his hair and rubbed her fingers together, as if savoring the sensation. Then she looked up. “Fixing your hair.”
“No need.” He shook his head twice, avoiding eye contact with her once again. It was as though her body were coated in poison, and looking at her for one second longer carried a fatal risk.
Wu Yu’s temper flared for no reason. Her hand suddenly shot upward and caught his chin. He tried to dodge, so she pressed harder, letting his faint bluish stubble prick into her soft skin.
“Is this your... attitude when you’re asking someone to take you in?”
Her thumb rubbed over an imperceptible groove in his chin.
But not with the pad of her finger.
With her fingernail, the edge of her fingernail.
Wu Yu had painted her nails two days before coming here. They were a cherry-red so dark it was almost black, the color of blood just before it finished coagulating.
She scraped back and forth.
Ji Shiqiu’s breathing grew slightly heavier.
She turned his face toward her, more forcefully than before. The young man did not resist, letting her fingernail drag from his chin to his lower lip. When she curled her dark-red thumb upward and lightly slipped it into the center of his dry lips, as though she were about to feed it to him, his hands resting on his thighs had already clenched tightly, every vein standing out.
Wu Yu lowered her lashes and noticed his reaction. Satisfied, she released his face. “Go take a shower.”
—
The sound of water trickled from the bathroom. Wu Yu glanced at the tightly closed door, then looked around the room again.
Her idea of taking the opportunity to inspect Ji Shiqiu’s clothes had fallen through. This man was too modest. He only took off his clothes after going inside.
But he looked completely empty-handed, carrying nothing with him. He probably had not prepared any clothes to change into.
Thinking of this, Wu Yu went downstairs and found Sister Lin watching television beside the coffee table. The woman had just finished dinner, and the fragrance of noodles still lingered in the air.
Wu Yu stopped at the corner of the stairs and sniffed. “You were sneaking food, huh?”
Sister Lin looked up. “You’re done?” Then she lowered her voice. “What about that person?”
Wu Yu pretended not to understand. “Done with what?”
Sister Lin gave her a sidelong look. “Do I have to spell it out for you? Shameless.”
Wu Yu smiled faintly and did not answer directly. Instead, she asked, “Where in the village can I buy men’s clothes?”
Sister Lin was stunned for a moment. “I have some. They’re a dead man’s clothes. Do you want them?”
Wu Yu was slightly surprised. “Why are you still keeping a dead man’s clothes?”
“My husband’s. He went out to work two years ago and never came back. I couldn’t get in touch with him either, so I assumed he was dead.” Sister Lin was very enthusiastic. “If you want them, I can sell them to you for ten yuan apiece.”
Wu Yu was a little surprised, but agreed anyway. “Let me take a look. If they fit, I’ll buy them.”
“What kind of person did you bring here? He doesn’t even have any clothes,” Sister Lin muttered strangely. She got up and headed toward the bedroom, but stopped halfway. “He’s not leaving tonight?”
“I told you, don’t worry about it.” Wu Yu followed her.
Sister Lin sighed and crouched down, dragging out a large, flat storage box from underneath the bed.
She rummaged around and pulled out a neat stack of clothes, trousers and shirts together, tossing them all onto the bed. She pointed at them. “Pick them yourself.”
Wu Yu asked, “How tall was your dead man?” What if she turned around and found the size didn’t fit, leaving her to waste her money for nothing?
Sister Lin smiled and seriously thought back for a few seconds. “I really forgot.”
Wu Yu was helpless. She could only pick up one piece, spread it flat, and hold it up to estimate the size.
It seemed more or less right, so she picked out three solid-colored pieces and carried them upstairs in the crook of her arm.
When she entered the room again, the young man had already taken a shower and was fully dressed, still wearing his original clothes. He stood by the window, his wet hair fluffed out behind his head, dampening the back of his collar. The moisture spread across his broad back like the twilight outside the window, gradually growing denser.
Wu Yu stared at him there and did not walk any farther into the room.
Ji Shiqiu heard the door open and turned to look at her.
They stared at each other.
Wu Yu locked the door and placed the old clothes, which carried the smell of camphor, on the bed. “Take your clothes off.”
Ji Shiqiu furrowed his thick brows.
But he did not ask any further. One shower seemed to have filled his head with water, or perhaps cleared his head.
In any case, the man who had been adamantly refusing to cooperate ever since entering the room now became obedient and resigned himself to it.
He pulled his shirt over his head and took it off, his movements brisk. He moved swiftly through the dim room. His young body was like a cheetah after a famine, lean and taut, solid and full of strength. As he passed Wu Yu, she could feel that if he so desired, he could pounce on her at any moment, use his sharp teeth to sever her artery, tear her apart, and drink her blood.
The nerve at the side of Wu Yu’s neck gave a faint twitch.
Then she saw Ji Shiqiu crumple the clothes into a ball and hurl them heavily into the trash can.
A smile spread through Wu Yu’s heart.
...It seemed he was not so obedient after all.
He had simply found another way to vent his anger.
Her eyes followed him as he walked to the bedside and reached for the clothes she had brought upstairs.
Wu Yu quickly stepped forward and stopped his arm. “Did I tell you to put them on?”
Ji Shiqiu stopped his hand. He did not pull away, merely lowered his face and looked over at her.
There was no light in the room, making Ji Shiqiu’s features appear dark and sharply defined. At such a close distance, the faint fragrance of her body wash could be smelled, wafting from his body and quietly diffusing through the air.
Wu Yu could not help but lose herself in it.
In her daze, the young man above her moved his lips and asked without emotion, “What exactly am I supposed to do?”
His lips were not thin, their contours sharply defined, almost bloodless in color. He looked like a man capable of deep feeling, and yet completely without feeling.
Wu Yu stared at them, entranced, and then heard her own voice say:
“Fuck me.”
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