"That kid bolts out of here after school every time, like he's racing off to be reborn!" Watching Zhang Tie wave and disappear in a flash, Barry clicked his tongue and said with a helpless sigh.
"Is he going to work at the grocery store?" Shavin added.
"He goes there twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He already went yesterday, and today's Friday. What would he be going there for?" Barry explained.
"Maybe he's in a hurry to get home!" Since making up with Zhang Tie, Doug had actually said a good word for him for once.
"Men who go straight home after school are going nowhere!" Baghdad said proudly, folding his arms.
"What are you planning to do?" Light asked Baghdad.
"I'm going to try my luck at the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall. They're hiring a few part-time attendants this weekend. If I get in, I'll have a chance to use their training equipment for free. And if I'm lucky, maybe I'll even meet a few experts who can give me some pointers!"
"Then good luck. That place is for rich people. I heard Gelis goes to the hall for several hours of training every day after school..." Light shrugged.
"Gelis goes to the Blazing Fire Martial Hall. It's one of the best martial halls in Black Flame City!" Baghdad's voice brimmed with envy. "If only they were hiring trainee attendants there, too!"
Barry rolled his eyes at Baghdad's words.
"What about you, Light? Any plans for the weekend?" Shavin asked.
Light hesitated, but in the end decided to be honest. "My dad's taking me to visit an old friend of his this weekend. His friend just arrived in Black Flame City a couple of days ago and has been appointed deputy manager of the Storm Merchant Group's branch here. Dad probably wants to make some connections and help me prepare for the future. What about you, Shavin?"
"I'm tutoring this weekend. I can earn forty copper coins in a day!" Shavin said, a little sheepishly.
"Your old man's stingy. You're only fifteen, and he's already making you earn money for the family on weekends!" Doug said bluntly.
"What can you do? Shavin has two younger brothers. Being the eldest comes with a heavy responsibility!"
"Right. What about you, Sista? What are you doing this weekend?"
"Heh-heh, I've saved up a little money this month, so I can go relax this weekend!" Sista said, thrusting his hips back and forth.
"Look at you. You saved your pocket money for a whole month and even skipped breakfast, all for one day like this. Would you die if you didn't visit a brothel?" Baghdad said with disdain.
"I'd die if I didn't visit one! After my first time, I realized I was born to live for women..." Sista replied earnestly. Then he slung an arm around Barry's shoulders, and the two of them began whispering together...
And so, with the weekend upon them, the core members of the Airplane Brotherhood hung around outside the school, shooting the breeze for a while before heading off in different directions.
Meanwhile, Zhang Tie was sprinting through the narrow alleys near the school. After running until he was about two blocks away, he finally reached the place he had visited countless times: a tram stop on Wesley Street. He stopped at the mouth of an alley beside the platform, panting heavily as he stared quietly at the street corner. Over the past two years, he had waited here countless times, and most days he had seen the person he was waiting for. In the past, he and a crowd of others would wait outside the school after classes, then follow that person for nearly two whole blocks. But after the terrifying One-Eyed Dragon arrived at the school and began pursuing that person, every student reckless enough to follow was beaten into giving it up. Zhang Tie was the only one who kept at it. He no longer dared follow, either, so he had found this spot instead. Every day after school, unless he had work, he came here ahead of time just to catch a glimpse of that person. Even one glance was enough to make him happy.
After waiting quietly for more than ten minutes, that person appeared at the street corner about forty meters from the stop, just as always. The moment Zhang Tie saw Teacher Daina, he felt as though he wasn't looking at a person, but at a painting—a living, breathing painting. When Teacher Daina appeared, it was as if the whole world finally gained color and came to life. The fifteen-year-old boy felt his breath catch in his throat.
Teacher Daina walked over from afar and arrived at the stop, her back to Zhang Tie. From the mouth of the alley, more than twenty meters away, he stared blankly at her. It was the most beautiful back, with the most beautiful hair and figure, dressed in the most beautiful clothes, showing the most beautiful stretch of calf—and those dangerously sexy black high heels. Zhang Tie felt that Teacher Daina was the very embodiment of a goddess.
Teacher Daina's hair must smell wonderful, just like the fragrance of her body! Looking at her lovely hair, Zhang Tie thought so. He wondered what it would feel like to touch it, and the boy drifted into a daydream...
A few passengers waiting on the platform had been loudly discussing something. When Teacher Daina arrived, Zhang Tie noticed their voices drop at once. The two gentlemen who had been sitting and reading newspapers quietly straightened their backs. One fellow even turned toward the reflection in an advertisement beside the stop and discreetly fixed his hair.
Zhang Tie wished the tram Teacher Daina was waiting for would never come, so he could keep watching her in silence. But just five minutes later, a Black Flame City tram slowly approached from the distance. The city's trams were simply smaller versions of trains, with narrower tracks, smaller engines, lower-powered steam units, slower speeds, and less carrying capacity—but they were better suited for use within the city.
As the tram pulled in, it slowed down, and steam hissed from the deceleration valve at the rear of the carriage. The conductor stood with one foot in the doorway, leaning half his body outside as he rang his bell and called out, reminding passengers to pay their fare. The people at the stop began boarding...
Only after Teacher Daina had boarded and the tram had slowly rolled far away did Zhang Tie finally tear his gaze from it, feeling as though he had lost something. Then, carrying a feeling he couldn't quite name or understand, he headed home.
Since it was the weekend, Zhang Yang would be coming home, too. As was customary, Friday was the one night of the week when the whole family always gathered for dinner, so the meal was especially plentiful. Mom had cooked a pot of beans with the little bit of cured meat they had left. Before Zhang Tie even stepped inside, the familiar smell of meat broth reached him. When he saw the milky-white broth, glistening with oil as it bubbled in the clay pot on the little stove, his appetite leapt to life. He picked up the ladle, scooped out a spoonful, puffed out his cheeks and blew on it a few times, then gulped it down despite the heat. A taste he could only describe as happiness slid into his mouth.
"You little glutton. If you're hungry, go ahead and have a bowl to tide you over!" Mom came over from the shop and affectionately ruffled Zhang Tie's hair, just as she had always done. Nothing had changed in more than ten years.
Zhang Tie swallowed. "No, I'm not hungry. I'll wait until Dad and my brother get back!"
"Our Guoguo's all grown up!" Mom said as she tied on her apron. "Your dad has to work late today, so he'll probably be home a little later. Go watch the shop while I cook!"
"Sure!"
Half an hour later, Zhang Tie's father came home. He greeted Zhang Tie, then went into the kitchen to help. More than twenty minutes after that, just when Zhang Tie had already taken his seat at the table and thought Zhang Yang wouldn't be coming home, Zhang Yang arrived.
Zhang Yang stood 1.88 meters tall, with a sturdy build and long hands. His face resembled Zhang Tie's in several ways, but his eyes and brows were narrower and longer, lending him a lively, hard-to-read air. He wore the dark uniform of the Black Flame City Guard, with a yellow-buckled leather belt around his waist and a regulation longsword hanging from it. His shoulder bore the insignia of a sergeant first class. He was a squad leader in the Black Flame City Guard, just one step away from becoming an officer.
Ever since he was little, Zhang Tie had looked up to his older brother as his idol.
Zhang Yang came home carrying a backpack. Without a word, he opened it and pulled out two things, pressing them into Zhang Tie's hands. "Here. Open them up. There's just enough for one meal for the family!"
"Canned beef!" Zhang Tie's eyes lit up as he took them, and his mouth began watering even more. He hadn't expected his brother to bring back such a treat this time.
"Sit down. I'll take care of it..." Mom took the two cans from Zhang Tie without giving him a chance to protest. As she went to the kitchen to get Zhang Yang a bowl and chopsticks, she tucked one can into a cupboard and opened only the other. The three men at the table watched her and smiled. Mom was always careful with money; sometimes she could make one copper coin do the work of two. The whole family was used to it.
"Bro, what else did you bring?" Zhang Tie stared eagerly at the backpack in Zhang Yang's hands. It was stuffed full, with plenty left inside. In Zhang Tie's eyes, his brother was sometimes like a magician, always pulling out all sorts of things.
"Here. It's all for you!" Zhang Yang tossed the whole bag into Zhang Tie's hands. Zhang Tie eagerly opened it. The first things he saw were a pair of black training boots, two dark green vests, two pairs of dark green underwear, a towel, and a bar of soap. The boots, vests, underwear, towel, and soap were all personal supplies issued to members of the Black Flame City Guard. They were also hot commodities on Black Flame City's black market. His big brother had saved them from his own share and brought them home for him. Looking at the brand-new boots, then at his brother's worn-out pair with the nap rubbed away, Zhang Tie felt his nose prick with emotion.
"I had someone trade them for the right sizes, so they should fit you perfectly. Mom says you're a grown man now. Don't start bawling!" As Zhang Yang spoke, he reached out with one big hand and ruffled Zhang Tie's hair until it was a mess.
Zhang Tie's nose had just begun to sting, but when he heard his brother's last words, he immediately felt humiliated. In an instant, he was both embarrassed and annoyed. His brother, though, still thought it was hilarious. He turned to say something to their father, who burst out laughing, too. Neither of them gave a thought to how mortified the youngster was.
"Mom!" Zhang Tie shouted indignantly.
"All right, all right. Dinner's ready, dinner's ready. I won't say it again, okay?" Mom came over with the opened can of beef, grinning broadly.
The family sat down to eat, their hearts warm and happy...
"Don't go wandering around outside at night for a while," Zhang Yang told Zhang Tie at the dinner table. "Things might get unsettled in Black Flame City."
"What happened?" Their father grew tense, and their mother pricked up her ears. Zhang Tie, meanwhile, chewed glumly on the piece of tendon in his bowl. "Did you hear something?"
"A few days ago, Bloody Hand Butcher Sara, the Red Scarf Bandit Group's second-in-command, was caught in Andaman City. Yesterday, the Alliance Council voted to execute him, and the Red Scarf Bandits announced they would take terrible revenge!"
"This... surely they wouldn't come after Black Flame City, would they?" their father asked doubtfully.
"Of the seventeen city-state representatives in the Andaman City-State Alliance, eleven voted in favor of executing Bloody Hand Butcher. Black Flame City's representative voted yes, too. Somehow, the result of the vote leaked, and the Red Scarf Bandits have marked those eleven Alliance members who voted in favor as their targets. Black Flame City is in a relatively remote location at the northernmost end of the Alliance, surrounded by areas where the Alliance's forces are weak. That makes it one of the most likely places for the Red Scarf Bandits to attack!" His older brother spoke calmly.
"Has the Alliance fallen so far? How did the result of the Alliance Council's vote leak? There must be a conspiracy behind this. Those Red Scarf Bandits are a pack of butchers who've committed every sin under the sun, and yet there are still people who want to let them off the hook..." Their father spoke with bitter indignation.
"I don't know anything about a conspiracy. Anyway, all leave for the Black Flame City Guard has been canceled for the next two months. I won't be able to come home during that time." His older brother spread his hands.
"Son, are you in danger?" Mom asked worriedly.
"Mom, don't worry. The Red Scarf Bandits aren't strong enough to lay siege to the city. Black Flame City's defenses and fortifications aren't for show. At most, they'll hide in the shadows and carry out terrorist attacks and sabotage. The City Guard won't be under much pressure. Just be careful yourselves!"
Zhang Tie opened his mouth. At that moment, he wanted to tell them about Castle of Black Iron, but reason told him that revealing this secret to his family might bring disaster upon them—disaster no one could foresee. He, his brother, even his parents, were all just small fry in Black Flame City. Zhang Tie had heard stories of small fry coming into possession of treasures before, but in the end, none of them seemed to meet a good end. Perhaps keeping the secret to himself forever, so that his parents wouldn't have to worry, was the best choice...
After dinner, his brother left. His father went to play chess with the neighbors, his greatest hobby. His mother went to church. Once the door was closed, Zhang Tie was alone at home again. After washing the dishes, he returned to his little room.
Now it was time to investigate the secrets of Castle of Black Iron again...