Coming back to his hometown felt strange.
He watched the old streets, shabby just a few years ago, being renovated as the airport bus carried him back to Yuming River Bridge in the county-level city.
In just over a thousand days and nights, everything had changed.
Ordinary people's lives had never been as full of ceremony as a BOSS's.
There were no grand, towering buildings here, no dazzling, bustling streets.
Looking out the bus window, he couldn't find a single building over thirty stories tall along either of the two riverside promenades.
The ferries at the docks were still hauling cargo, and the sand-dredging boats rumbled along the riverbanks.
On the fishing boats around the artificial island of Xiaoxizhou, men still basked in the July sun, straining to drag their nets and haul in shrimp as they shouted work chants loud enough to shake the heavens.
In the little streets and alleys off the main riverside road, the stalls in front of the small market were piled with secondhand computers and phones. The entrance to the employment market was still just as quiet and deserted.
There were few people at the big L-shaped counters in the People's Department Store. The gold jewelry beneath the counter was the same stock as it had been years ago, though the salesclerks were new faces.
The asphalt on Greater Khingan Range Road had been resurfaced. A few years ago, it would have taken half an hour to get through that intersection; now it took only eight minutes to make it through the lights.
The old residential district west of the river still hadn't been demolished. They said the compensation would cost too much, and the place was beyond redevelopment. In the end, the city government simply designated the area a historic site and opened it to visitors.
One could still see old posters from a few years ago here, claiming a meteor had once landed in an old house. Even the TV station had come to report on it, but nothing had ever come of the story.
Now and then, a few familiar faces appeared in the busy streets and alleys.
All of it filled Jiang Xueming with an inexplicable sense of comfort.
The place was full of everyday life, full of people rushing about to make ends meet.
This was Hengyin City, the "big city" Xue Ming had visited as a child. Growing up, whenever there was something novel or interesting, it had always come from this city to his hometown, Pingyang County.
"Brother, look!" Jiang Bailu sat beside Xue Ming and pointed out the bus window. "That's where you used to work!"
Jiang Xueming followed his sister's gesture and looked.
The battery plant's environmental treatment tower stood there, beside several cooling towers that had long since been abandoned.
The workers wore simple blue uniforms and yellow hard hats as they rode electric scooters, squeezing through the factory gates.
Jiang Xueming had once been one of them.
"Yeah," he replied.
Jiang Bailu spoke excitedly. "Brother, back when you worked the second shift, you'd ride your bike to pick me up from school as soon as you got off work! I'd sit behind you and hug you, and then we'd zoom all the way home—whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
He thought back to when he'd worked rotating shifts. The second shift had been the closest to a normal schedule: start at eight in the morning, finish at four in the afternoon. He'd had only two days a week when he could pick Bailu up and take her home.
Sitting on her brother's bike was the happiest time for Bailu.
Jiang Xueming still only grunted in response, like a block of wood.
Perhaps finding her brother unbearably dull, Jiang Bailu pouted and looked glum.
Across the bus aisle, she reached out a small hand and tugged at Xiao Qi's clothes.
"Sister-in-law! Sister-in-law! Brother's ignoring me! Now that he has you, he doesn't care about me anymore."
Xiao Qi was sleeping soundly and didn't wake up at all.
"Don't bother her while she's sleeping." Jiang Xueming patted his sister's head. "Be good and listen. I'll take you to buy new clothes, get you something tasty, and take you to see the kitties."
"Okay!" Bailu cheered up at once and stopped disturbing Xiao Qi's sleep.
Xiao Qi, sitting beside them, seemed to be having some sort of dream.
A few indistinct murmurs escaped her, along with a crazed grin.
"Hold me. Yeah, yeah. Hold me tighter. That's it..."
Hearing those incomprehensible words, Xue Ming and Bailu both wore strange expressions.
The bus stopped at the Pingyang Agricultural University bus stop. This part of Hengyin City was in the western suburbs, close to the countryside.
From here, they would have to find another way to get back to Pingyang County.
Before going home, Xue Ming still had a few things to take care of.
After getting off, he put a hat and mask on Bailu so nobody who knew her would recognize her.
First, he took the two girls to the small market near Pingyang Agricultural University. They bought a few cheap outfits, then picked out a quiet shop near the farmers' market and brought back six pairs of fake shoes to fool their parents.
Then they followed the food street at Xiao Dong Men toward the university entrance.
Many people along the way recognized Jiang Xueming and greeted him.
The owner of a convenience store with a red sign, a knockoff of Meiyijia called Xinmeijia, came over to offer Xue Ming a cigarette.
"Well, look who's back! It's been years! Your family's been looking for you, I think!"
"Thanks, boss, but I don't smoke." Xue Ming politely refused the cigarette with a fake smile.
He led his sister onward, hearing the owner chuckle behind them.
"And you've even got yourself a wife! Looks like you've made a fortune out there!"
At that, Xiao Qi's face lit up with a smile.
Jiang Xueming turned back and played along.
"Fortune? I lost big! I lost a ton! I brought my wife back to settle down. Doesn't my family still have a house?"
The chatter behind them turned cheerful too.
"This kid's come home to freeload off his parents! Hahahaha!"
At the far end of Xiao Dong Men stood a paper effigy shop, selling funeral goods.
Xue Ming stopped at the entrance and gazed inside.
Xiao Qi asked, "Why'd you stop?"
"I'm here to see someone," Xue Ming answered at once. "The owner of this shop is close with an older brother of mine. After I quit the battery plant, they treated me well and found me all sorts of odd jobs."
"Oh, what kind of work?" Xiao Qi peered into the shop at the rows of deities and felt an inexplicable chill. "This place looks pretty creepy."
The Buddhist statues looked different from the gilded figures one usually saw in temples. Under the red lantern light, they seemed almost sinister.
People said that human figures and dolls took on a craftsman's spirit when they were made. Whoever had made these statues probably wasn't normal either.
Jiang Xueming paid no heed to Xiao Qi's comment.
He simply went inside and pulled the red cord for the lanterns, turning them off. Then he switched on a bright white light.
When Xiao Qi looked at the Buddhist statues lining both sides of the shop again, they seemed solemn and serene, full of joy and peace.
A statue of the Martial Sage stood enshrined in the hall, with a couplet on plaques beside it.
The first line read, "Just do good deeds; don't go asking the gods and ghosts."
The second read, "If your conscience is guilty, how dare you enter my door?"
The horizontal plaque bore three large characters:
"Who gives a damn?"
Xiao Qi mused that the couplet was strangely playful and cute, righteous yet wicked.
She also noticed that the Green Dragon Crescent Blade in the Martial Sage's hand had a broken section. She wondered why they had placed a damaged old statue in the shrine's main position.
Just then, a foreigner with blond hair, blue eyes, and round sunglasses emerged from the back room.
"Mr. Chen," Jiang Xueming said at once. "I came back to visit my parents."
This Mr. Chen was the paper effigy shop's owner, a bona fide American who had been running a funeral business outside the university for over a decade.
Jiang Xueming wasn't sure exactly when he'd arrived. He only knew that this fake foreigner was a shrewd businessman who spoke Chinese.
Back when Xue Ming hadn't wanted to waste his youth selling batteries at the plant, the owner had put in a word for him. He'd gone to work odd jobs at the milk tea shop outside the university and occasionally delivered takeout.
"Oh! You finally came home!" Mr. Chen took off his sunglasses, revealing a pair of bright blue eyes. Then, speaking in an authentic Beijing accent, he looked Xiao Qi up and down. "And you brought your girlfriend back! If Old Jiang finds out, word'll spread from Bakou to Shiwan. Everyone within a hundred miles will hear him bragging."
"Is Boss Ye at the milk tea shop?" Jiang Xueming asked about another old acquaintance.
Boss Ye had been Xue Ming's former employer. He had plenty of connections in Hengyin, and Xue Ming had seen him deal with the police. He was someone Xue Ming could count on.
Xue Ming planned to leave his sister at Boss Ye's shop for a couple of days, where she could keep out of sight.
"Bailu can't go home, right?" Mr. Chen instantly saw the problem Jiang Xueming was facing. "I know. Your parents would probably go crazy if they saw Bailu again. I'll keep this secret for you. Ye Bei should be at the shop right now. He's on a long break, so just go find him."
"Okay, thank you, Mr. Chen." Jiang Xueming thanked him as he backed out.
Bailu followed suit and bowed. "Thank you, Uncle Chen!"
Mr. Chen pursed his lips in annoyance. "Call me big brother! And make your voice sweeter! I hate you Gen Z kids and your blunt honesty!"
Xue Ming was about to leave.
"Wait! Wait, wait, Xiao Jiang!" Mr. Chen came out of the back room with an oil-paper package and stuffed it into Jiang Xueming's large backpack.
"What is it?" Xue Ming asked.
After putting the package away, Mr. Chen zipped up the bag and dusted off his hands. "Since you're going home, I'll ask you to take something to your parents. Don't ask what it is, and don't open it. I'm not sending a bomb to your house, so don't worry."
"Mm." Xue Ming nodded. "Then I'll thank you on behalf of my family."
Jiang Bailu put on a sweet voice and spoke in an affected, coquettish tone. "Thank you, Uncle Chen!"
Mr. Chen rolled his eyes. On his way back into the shop, he nearly tripped on the threshold and fell to his death. "I hate kids!"
After leaving the paper effigy shop, Jiang Xueming headed for the university's main entrance and finally reached the first destination of his trip.
It was an elaborately decorated drink shop, with an oil-painted, tiled ceiling and dragons and snakes carved along the two pillars in its entrance corridor. He still remembered dozing against one of those pillars while delivering takeout for the place.
Inside the entrance corridor were a redwood counter and two rows of seats.
The sign above the entrance read [Forget Worry Milk Tea].
It was the kind of flashy, nouveau riche aesthetic one would expect from someone with more money than sense, the sort of person who'd spend a fortune on a drink shop's decor.
Jiang Xueming had once suspected the owner must have some mysterious side business and had opened the shop purely as a hobby.
The cat café and pet clinic next door were still open. Nothing had changed.
As they walked along, Bailu and Xiao Qi became so entranced by the cats next door that they turned their heads and veered right into the café.
Jiang Xueming didn't pay it much mind. He was only there to ask someone for help, so he went straight into the milk tea shop.
The three young women behind the counter hadn't changed. The last time he'd seen them, they'd been first-year students working part-time while studying. Now they had graduated and still hadn't changed jobs. Boss Ye must have paid very well.
Jiang Xueming greeted them politely. "Hello. Is Boss Ye here?"
"Oh, he's crouched in the stockroom." The young woman at the register didn't even look up. With few customers around, she was playing on her phone.
Jiang Xueming headed farther inside. "Okay, thanks."
The young woman suddenly sensed something was off and jerked her head up.
"Brother Xue Ming! Is that you, Brother Xue Ming?!"
"Yeah." Jiang Xueming sped up when he heard her, sensing trouble. "Let's catch up later. Thanks."
He turned into the kitchen, dodged the pots and bottles, and reached the stockroom door. He was about to knock, then stopped.
He could hear what sounded like people talking inside.
He thought Boss Ye might be meeting with a visitor and that it wouldn't be polite to interrupt, so he waited a little longer.
An argument broke out inside, along with Boss Ye's low, teasing laughter.
After waiting a while, Jiang Xueming grew impatient.
At last, he raised his hand and knocked, then immediately pushed open the door.
"Boss Ye, I came to ask you for a favor—"
Jiang Xueming was immediately confronted with a scene that contained a lot to process.
Inside the room, a man was crouching. A scar split one eyebrow, and he wore a neat hoodie and jeans that made him look quite young. His messy hair was tied back in a small braid.
It was Ye Bei himself, Boss Ye.
A game of Ludo was set up on the floor.
There was no one else.
The scene was deeply bizarre.
That was because the one playing Ludo against Boss Ye was a huge white cat.
The cat had a remarkably high level of synchronization with Ye Bei. It was crouched beside the board just like a human. It wore a little dress and a flower crown, with a flame-lotus marking on its forehead.
Its little paws clutched the dice and game pieces. Its eyes were red from losing, and it looked both aggrieved and ferocious as it stuck out its tongue in frustration.
Judging by the board, it had lost many turns and many pieces already. The score on the scoreboard was even more pitiful.
The man and the cat in the room both turned their heads in unison and stared at Jiang Xueming.
Jiang Xueming's brain couldn't quite handle all that information, so he politely closed the door.
Something seemed off. He knocked again at once. "Sorry, I barged in."
Boss Ye's low voice came from inside the room.
"Come in, kid. Don't worry about it. My cat and I were just messing around."
Hearing Boss Ye call him in, Jiang Xueming calmed himself and opened the door again. This time, he properly entered the stockroom.
The table had been moved to the very center of the stockroom.
Boss Ye sat upright, looking every inch the respectable gentleman.
The cat's bizarre outfit was gone. Its earlier getup had looked more like a punishment in some kind of prank game, where the loser had to wear a dress.
After going over it all, Jiang Xueming arrived at a wildly unlikely conclusion: Boss Ye had been playing Ludo with the cat, and whoever lost had to wear the little dress.
After all, Xue Ming had already been to the underground world. The BOSS there was also a black cat, though it looked far more dignified than the big white one beside Boss Ye.
Putting all that aside, Xue Ming got straight to the point. "Boss Ye, I'm going home. I want to leave Bailu at your shop for a few days. She can help out, and I'm asking you to look after her. Would that be okay?"
Ye Bei grinned, full of confidence. "No problem!"
The cat gave a blank-faced reply, as if greeting him.
"Meow."
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