The Subway Car

At that, the fat man couldn't help shrinking his neck. He seemed to feel a deep kinship with the girl the owner had been talking about.

The owner rubbed his face hard. His posture slumped, and he fell silent for a long while. Jiang Cheng and Xia Qiang stayed with him quietly, without urging him to continue.

"I... I want to have a cigarette," the owner pleaded, lifting his head with a slight tremor in his voice.

"This is your shop. Do as you like," Xia Qiang said softly. His usually resolute face had softened, as he worried about upsetting the man.

The owner pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, then searched all over himself before finding a lighter in the innermost pocket of his clothes.

"Click—"

"Click—"

The owner tried several times in a row, but couldn't get the lighter going.

It wasn't entirely the lighter's fault. The owner's hands were shaking. His fingers clenched around the lighter so tightly that his knuckles had gone pale.

Perhaps he'd thought of something, because the owner grew more and more tense. At last, a hand reached over and steadily took the lighter from him. With a click, it lit the flame for him.

The owner froze for a moment, then hurriedly put the cigarette between his lips and leaned in. As the tobacco began to burn, Jiang Cheng flicked the lighter shut.

The owner took a long drag, as if trying to inhale the entire cigarette in one breath, then broke into a violent coughing fit.

Coughing, he waved at Jiang Cheng, Xia Qiang, and the others to show them he was fine and they didn't need to worry.

When the cigarette had burned down, the owner casually tossed away the butt. He crossed his hands and lowered his