Your Homeland Will Find You

A Xing came sprinting into the hall, clutching two envelopes.

"Ming Ge! Ming Ge! The station sent us tickets! This is great! We've got another adventure!"

Jiang Xueming had just finished serving breakfast when he heard this not-so-welcome piece of good news.

For someone who just wanted to live a quiet life, taking a train wasn't good news. Treating it as a high-paying job came with far too many things beyond his control.

Xue Ming just wanted to stay safe and sound while slowly paying off what he owed Bu Liuxing. He had no other plans.

"Oh." Jiang Xueming pulled out a chair for Bu Liuxing and made room for him. "Let's eat first, okay?"

Bu Liuxing froze.

"Who are you, handsome?"

Bailu snapped her fingers, her eyes playful. "A bet's a bet. Pay up with the candy!"

Xiao Qi stuffed a milk candy into his sister-in-law's mouth, indignant. "You really can't recognize him?"

After a long while, Bu Liuxing rubbed Jiang Xueming's face, squishing it this way and that before tugging at his cheeks.

Only then did A Xing finally confirm it. "It really is you, Ming Ge?"

"Yeah. I've changed quite a bit, haven't I?" Jiang Xueming picked up a piece of beef from the plate with his fork and fed it to A Xing, keeping up two conversations at once. "Try it. Do you think Sansan would like it?"

"You've really changed a lot." A Xing chewed, his eyes growing brighter and brighter. "It's delicious! I don't know if Sansan would like it, but I do."

Jiang Xueming kept that in mind and ended the two-track conversation. It seemed A Xing wasn't that close to Sansan, and their relationship hadn't gone beyond friendship. He didn't even know what the girl liked to eat.

"There's something I need to ask you." Xue Ming set down his plate. "Has Sansan told you about the Armadillo Hunters?"

Bu Liuxing said, "She has."

Jiang Xueming asked, "Does it bother you?"

Bu Liuxing replied, "No. They're enemies. If they show up, we fight. If we can't beat them, we run."

It seemed the kid really hadn't taken this to heart.

Jiang Xueming continued, making sure to get to the point.

"Then let's make this clear, A Xing. I'll take these two tickets. You're expecting me to ride with you, right?"

Bu Liuxing nodded hard. "Yeah!"

Jiang Xueming continued, "Then promise me that at the station, you won't reveal our real identities to anyone. Don't mention anything about our lives outside the station. Can you do that?"

Bu Liuxing fell silent.

His expression didn't change at all.

It was as if his brain had overloaded.

Thirty seconds passed.

At last, Bu Liuxing answered, "Yeah!"

"You were silent for so long." Jiang Xueming sat down beside A Xing. "What were you thinking about? You didn't tell someone our real identities and home addresses, did you?"

Bu Liuxing laughed awkwardly. "Hahahahahahaha."

Jiang Xueming asked, "You already told someone?"

Bu Liuxing's smile grew even more awkward. "Hahahahahahaha."

Jiang Xueming spoke calmly, trying to get to the bottom of it.

"Who did you tell?"

Meanwhile—

—Jason Megan had completed his fourteen-day quarantine.

He believed this was a trial sent by Heaven.

A necessary test in life.

In that memory-filled hotel, he had left all the happy moments of his childhood behind, one movie at a time.

He would become a ruthless hunter and strip his targets down to the bone.

A nurse at the quarantine station shouted, "Family members, come collect Jason Megan! Hey! Do you want to scan your health code or not?! Where are you going?!"

"Oh! Oh, right!" Mr. Megan hurried over and answered in broken Chinese. "Sorry. I'm sorry."

The nurse pointed impatiently at the official account's QR code on the table. "Scan and register! Remember to get vaccinated! Move along! Your family's waiting in the rest area."

The rising star of the underworld hadn't even made it two or three steps out before he came to his senses. "Family? What family?"

Jason Megan grew wary and looked toward the family waiting area.

His maid stood in the walkway, looking worried. Wearing a mask, she waved to passersby and showed them a photograph, as if she were searching for someone.

Mr. Megan immediately wanted to avoid her. After all, he'd burned all his passenger documents and wanted to cut ties with the people at the station for good.

His maid had vanished into the underworld.

He refused to admit that this young girl was his new maid. What right did a little girl who looked so young have to become the maid of Jason Megan?

He wanted to book a flight to Hong Kong. But as soon as he opened his phone, he saw more than two hundred missed calls.

They were all from that little girl.

He turned away again, hiding outside the quarantine passage. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, he saw the girl wearing a heavy dress with a split tail, still in her white gloves, taking care not to neglect the slightest courtesy. Sweat covered her head as she kept bowing to thank and apologize to people, anxiously searching for something.

He had changed into a light T-shirt and shorts and hidden himself in the crowd at the station plaza.

Mr. Megan felt awful. Amid the noise of the station, he heard the girl searching for someone in broken Chinese, her accent Romanian.

He wondered whether that young woman had also been driven away by security at this miserable airport and sent to spend fourteen days in a hotel.

"Megan! Megan! Have some dignity! She won't recognize you. She can't recognize you, so don't worry. You've shaved off your beard. That photo's useless, completely useless!"

He gritted his teeth.

"She can't see you! She can't see you! She can't see you! She could search till the end of time and nobody would help her."

His phone started ringing again.

He squeezed his eyes shut, then, as if possessed, couldn't stop himself from checking who was calling.

It was the young maid.

His brow furrowed. He reached out with gritted teeth, then pulled his hand back.

"Listen to me, hand! You have to listen. You are not allowed to answer!"

Megan was losing the battle with his arm.

"Fine! I give up! Is there any way to make everyone happy? I'm a sexy tough guy. I can't make a girl cry. I've got it!"

In the end, he answered the phone. When he heard the familiar accent on the other end, he felt, in that moment, as though he were back beside the harbor in Constanța.

It felt like he had never left his homeland and gone so very far away.

The young maid sounded both aggrieved and overwhelmed, her voice thick with tears. "Sir, my sir, my Mr. Megan, where have you gone? I've been looking for you for such a long, long time."

"I'm just outside." Megan held back his tears. He could almost hear the sea breeze and the gulls.

"I took three flights to get here, to this little place, and I almost got lost. Do you hate me? The boss said there aren't many people at this station who speak your hometown dialect anymore. I want to take good care of you, too. Please don't just leave me behind without a word, okay? Next time you run off, at least tell me you're safe."

Megan saw the young maid dash out of the rest area.

Megan said, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

She had brown curls, like ripe chestnuts, that shone rose gold in the sunlight.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" the maid sobbed as she ran.

The moment she spotted Mr. Megan, she began wailing and ran toward him, stumbling all the way.

"I almost didn't recognize you. Why did you shave off your beard? I brought you a big clay pot. It had two layers: tripe soup on one side and cabbage rolls on the other. And a few boxes of mici—"

The girl crashed into Mr. Megan's arms, sobbing loudly and gesturing emphatically, as though she were afraid he wouldn't understand what she was saying.

"But they couldn't keep for fourteen days, just like the cornmeal! So I ate them all. They were really delicious. I wanted to bring them for you."

Your homeland will find you, no matter where you are.

Jason Megan wept just as hard.

Because he still couldn't forget Jiang Xueming—his first prey. He absolutely couldn't be the last. That was a promise the sexy tough guy had made to himself.

On the balcony—

—Bu Liuxing explained with complete sincerity.

"When I went to the bathroom at the station, I left my passenger coat outside. Someone watched it for me so nobody would steal anything.

"He seemed pretty reliable, like an experienced passenger. I thought we might look out for each other in the future, so I chatted with him a bit and tried to make a friend."

Xue Ming furrowed his brows. "And then you told him everything?"

"Yeah. Friends shouldn't have secrets, right?" Bu Liuxing said, sounding hurt. "I even wanted to introduce him to you! I told him about you and your sister so we could get to know each other first."

Jiang Xueming continued, "What did he look like?"

Bu Liuxing pursed his lips. "I didn't get a good look. When I came out of the bathroom and washed my hands, he was already gone. I think he had a pretty big beard. He liked talking to himself and muttering, and he walked really fast, like he was in a hurry."

Xue Ming said nothing.

Bu Liuxing hurriedly asked, "You're not mad at me, are you?"

Jiang Xueming nodded first, but said, "No, don't worry. Just don't do that again. Be careful at the station."

Only Xiao Qi stood off to the side, so jealous he was scrunching up his face. He barked angrily, "Go on, spoil him rotten! Woof woof woof!"

Jiang Xueming glanced back at Brother Seven.

Brother Seven immediately turned sweet, waving his little hands like paws. "Meow! Meow! Meow meow meow!~ Am I cute?"

Bailu tugged at her big brother's clothes and reminded him softly, "Save your sister-in-law some face. Her candy is really delicious."

Jiang Xueming smiled and nodded at Xiao Qi.

"You're very cute."

I also post a bunch of rambling thoughts in the author's notes with every update.

It's basically an update diary. Feel free to check it out if you're interested.