Dazzling

Huang Mao had a bad habit of preferring to watch movies on DVD because he thought computer screens were too small and it felt cramped when several people crowded around. Watching on TV was more satisfying, but DVDs were gradually becoming obsolete, and Xing Wu was the only one around who could still get them.

Seeing Pang Hu and Xing Wu return, he eagerly took the DVD and plugged it in, muttering, "I think I might've fried something in this thing last night when my dad suddenly came home and I panicked while unplugging it. Wu Ge, let me bring it to you later to fix it, alright? My life depends on this thing."

Quan Ya laughed beside him, "Would you die if you went one day without jerking off?"

The group bantered back and forth as they slid the disc in. Meanwhile, Xing Wu had already sat down in front of the seasoned hot pot and started dipping lamb slices. Soon, indescribable scenes began playing on the TV. A bunch of guys around twenty years old watched excitedly, urging Huang Mao to fast-forward.

Huang Mao skipped to the steamy parts with the remote, grinning widely. "Check it out, doesn't she look like that girl we saw on the street earlier?"

The guys practically pressed their faces against the TV, their pants straining. Xing Wu glanced over, then coldly averted his gaze.

Huang Mao turned to Xing Wu excitedly, "So, Wu Ge, what do you think? She's hot, right? That girl from earlier would probably be just as wild naked.The moment he finished speaking, the atmosphere in the room turned subtle. Instead of cursing him out like usual, Xing Wu remained silent, his brow slightly furrowed. A chill seemed to emanate from him as he said calmly but firmly, "Turn it off."

Huang Mao thought he misheard. "Huh?"

Pang Hu, standing to the side, frantically signaled Huang Mao with his eyes, but Huang Mao didn't catch on. Still enthusiastic, he asked, "Wu Ge, isn't this girl hot?"

Pang Hu hurried over, snatched the remote, turned off the TV, and bumped Huang Mao. "Sh-shut the hell up. Th-that girl from earlier... sh-she's Wu Ge's cousin."

Instantly, the room fell silent. Everyone exchanged glances, staring bewildered at Xing Wu.

Seeing the cold severity in Xing Wu's expression, Huang Mao awkwardly said, "Sorry, Wu Ge, I didn't know that girl was... Wait, since when do you have a cousin? And from Beijing?"

Xing Wu recalled how Qing Ye had stood on the street earlier, head bowed as tears fell, her frail figure looking as if it might be blown away by the wind at any moment—desperate and helpless.

He picked up his glass, downed the alcohol in one go, stood up, and tossed out, "You guys eat. I'm leaving first."

Huang Mao panicked, chasing after him. "You're leaving without eating?"

Xing Wu opened the door and left without looking back. Soon, Little Angel sped past the window. Huang Mao scratched his head, "Did I say something wrong?"

Pang Hu patted him. "Pr-probably. Wu Ge's got stuff going on at home. L-lately, everyone should leave him alone. With his family situation and suddenly gaining a cousin out of nowhere, who'd be in a good mood?"

...Qing Ye lay on the bed staring vacantly at the mottled ceiling. She had been like this for half an hour, genuinely afraid that the peeling paint might suddenly fall. Beneath her was a scalp-tingling bright red peony-patterned bedsheet. She hadn't slept at all last night, thinking she would collapse into sleep as soon as she hit the bed, but the moment she closed her eyes, all she could see were the dirty, gray streets and a sky devoid of even a single bird. The world outside the window seemed veiled, separating her from her former life. Everything felt like a dream—so unreal. Several times when she opened her eyes, she wished she were still lying in her own soft, large bed at home.

However, the sounds of mahjong from downstairs, the chatter with heavy accents, and the spitting of pedestrians outside the window all reminded her that this was no dream.

She tossed and turned like this until after dark, when Li Lanfang finally called her downstairs for dinner. Qing Ye sat up abruptly, her head aching slightly.

She glanced at her dirty leather shoes, and that inexplicable anger suddenly flared up again. The stairs were steep and narrow, making her eyes ache even more. She rubbed them, steadied herself against the wall, and carefully made her way down.

The barbershop was mostly empty now. The two Wash, Cut and Blow-Dry employees seemed to have clocked out. Small towns were nothing like big cities—the streets emptied early at night, and shops closed sooner. Li Lanfang called out to Qing Ye from the backyard. She passed through the barbershop toward the back, relieved to find the yard quite spacious. The kitchen was on the right side of the yard, right next to the toilet. What on earth was going through the mind of whoever designed it like that?

Under a shed outside the kitchen stood a wooden table, with a broken lightbulb dangling overhead. Moths, fearless, kept crashing into the light.

Sitting at the table was an elderly woman with completely white hair, her head tilted unnaturally. Li Lanfang came out carrying a dish of greens with meatballs and said to Qing Ye, "Come eat. Oh, this is Xing Wu's grandmother. She has cerebral palsy and doesn’t recognize anyone."

Qing Ye sat down awkwardly, glancing at Xing Wu's grandmother. Drool had dripped down to her chest and even formed bubbles—it was almost too much to look at.

Li Lanfang served rice and handed it to Qing Ye, telling her to start eating. Then she called out to Xing Wu's grandmother, "Oh dear, look at you. Are you hungry?"

Li Lanfang tugged at the old woman’s collar, wiping her haphazardly, then picked up a bowl to feed her first.

Qing Ye had completely lost her appetite by then. She poked at the hard rice with her chopsticks. Just then, a light turned on inside, as if someone had returned.

Li Lanfang craned her neck to look, put down the bowl, stood up, and said to Qing Ye, "I’ll go check. You eat first."

As soon as Li Lanfang entered the shop, she saw Xing Wu, who had just come in, and asked in surprise, "Have you eaten?"

"No."

"I thought you said you weren’t coming back to eat?"

"None of your business."

Xing Wu moved to bypass her and head to the backyard, but Li Lanfang grabbed him and said in a hushed tone, "I’m telling you, rein in that foul temper. Your cousin’s mother just died, and her father’s in prison. She’s pitiful and counting on us now."

Xing Wu shook her off and said impatiently, "You took money to look after her, so do your job. What’s it got to do with me? Don’t call her 'cousin'—they didn’t even acknowledge you back then. And here you are, eagerly taking care of her daughter. Trying to be a living Lei Feng? Why don’t you just open a shelter?"

With that, he pushed open the backyard door, his face full of hostility. Li Lanfang scolded, "Is that any way to talk? Why did you even come back? You come home just to piss me off, you brat."After Li Lanfang left, Qing Ye found herself facing an elderly woman with cerebral palsy who was drooling while staring at her. The atmosphere was eerily unsettling. Just as Qing Ye took a bite of food, the old woman's drool dripped down with a splatter, nearly making her vomit again.

She glanced around, then took out a pack of tissues from her pocket, folded several layers with a look of disgust, wiped the old woman's mouth, and tossed the tissue aside. The old woman swayed back and forth, her eyes fixed on the rice bowl in front of her.

Qing Ye looked toward the inside of the barbershop—Li Lanfang hadn't come out yet. With no other choice, she picked up the bowl and fed Xing Wu's grandmother a bite.

Just then, Xing Wu pushed the door open and stepped out. Seeing Qing Ye's action, he froze for a moment, his initial surge of anger suddenly extinguished as if doused in ice water.

Expressionless, he walked over, snatched the bowl from her, hooked a wooden stool with his foot, pulled it over, and sat down.

Qing Ye's inexplicable irritation resurfaced with Xing Wu's appearance. Without even glancing at him, she averted her gaze and continued eating.

With Xing Wu feeding his grandmother, Li Lanfang started eating on her own.

Li Lanfang had cooked with lard, which Qing Ye wasn't used to. She already had little appetite, and coupled with Li Lanfang's questionable cooking skills—the vegetables were so crunchy they were practically inedible—Qing Ye could only manage to eat plain rice.

Li Lanfang had thought Xing Wu wouldn't be back for dinner, so she had prepared only four meatballs. She ate two herself, the old woman had one, and by the time Xing Wu finished feeding his grandmother, only one meatball remained in the bowl.

After finishing her meal, Li Lanfang wheeled the old woman back to her room—a small self-built shack in the courtyard, directly opposite the toilet. Xing Wu served himself a bowl of rice and sat across from Qing Ye. Neither of them spoke to the other.

After a while, Xing Wu noticed that the person across from him hadn't touched any of the dishes. He glanced at the two hastily prepared, unappetizing dishes on the table and suddenly erupted in anger, cursing, "All you fucking do is gamble all day! Why don't we just all starve to death!"

Qing Ye was startled, jerking her head up to look at Xing Wu. Only four words crossed her mind: "What a psychopath."

From the old woman's room, Li Lanfang yelled back, "Why don't you go curse at your dad? He's never home all year, and you just take it out on me. Did I owe you in a past life? If you don't like it, cook for yourself! You're a grown man!"

Qing Ye felt her ears buzzing, as if a swarm of flies were relentlessly bombarding her eardrums. Ever since she arrived at this wretched place in the afternoon, she hadn't encountered a single normal person. Everyone communicated by shouting, which only fueled her already agitated state, pushing her closer to the brink.

Xing Wu was about to retort when he noticed Qing Ye sitting across from him, head bowed, unusually quiet, her chopsticks still. In the end, he didn't argue further with Li Lanfang and fell into a rare silence.

Xing Wu's eyes drifted to the lone meatball left in the bowl. He reached out and pushed the plate toward Qing Ye. At the same moment, Qing Ye slammed her chopsticks down, stood up, and walked inside.

Seeing that she had barely touched the rice in her bowl, Xing Wu grew angry again. He turned his head and coldly called after her retreating figure, "If there's food, eat it. Only a fool fights with their own stomach. No one here is going to cater to you."

Qing Ye paused for just a moment before lifting the door curtain and stepping inside. Eat? Eat your sister! If she stayed any longer, the mosquitoes would eat her alive.

She had been thinking since the afternoon: Was Li Lanfang missing a screw? Her husband wasn't even home, and Qing Ye was a girl. Instead of letting her share a room with her, she had arranged for her to sleep in her son's room?Until Qing Ye went upstairs and glanced at Li Lanfang's room, all those thoughts vanished.

Li Lanfang's room was like a damn warehouse, piled high with shabby cardboard boxes. Hair dye, shampoo, and conditioning treatment boxes were thrown everywhere. In the middle was a bed surrounded by messy clothes, with bras scattered around like a pigsty. She immediately dismissed her earlier thoughts—at least Xing Wu's room, though small, was tidy and clean.

Qing Ye turned back to her room, frantically scratching her legs. They were both painful and itchy, quickly turning red in large patches. Even the mosquitoes here were this vicious? Truly, barren mountains and turbulent waters breed unruly pests.

Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs. Xing Wu stopped at her doorway, glanced at her legs, but didn’t enter immediately. Qing Ye pulled the hideous floral curtain shut with a sour expression, drawing a clear boundary.

Footsteps moved next door. Qing Ye heard the sound of a cabinet door opening and rummaging. Suddenly, a green bottle flew over from behind the floral curtain and landed on the bed. Qing Ye picked it up—a bottle of Balm.

She hated the smell of Balm and casually tossed it back. The floral curtain was yanked open. Xing Wu, holding the small bottle indifferently, looked at her: "The mosquitoes here are toxic. If you don’t want to scratch scars into your skin, stop being so damn fussy."

Qing Ye gritted her teeth and stayed silent. Xing Wu threw the Balm back to her. Soon, the room was filled with the scent of Balm. Qing Ye applied it, sweating profusely from the heat, her skin sticky, sweat dripping down her cheeks.

A moment later, a cool breeze swept in, bringing relief to the areas where she’d applied the Balm. She looked up at Xing Wu, who sat by the window with his legs propped on the desk, smoking.

Qing Ye frowned, irritated by the smoke, and stared at him sternly: "Put out the cigarette."

Xing Wu curled his lips mockingly, took a deliberate drag, and exhaled slowly: "Get this straight—this is my house, my room."

Qing Ye screwed the cap back on the Balm, pulled open her suitcase, quickly grabbed some clothes, and hurried downstairs with loud, hurried steps.

Xing Wu shifted his gaze from the doorway to the window, frowning slightly.

Downstairs, Qing Ye ran into Li Lanfang, who was about to go next door to play mahjong. She couldn’t believe Li Lanfang played during the day at the shop and still rushed out to play at night—how addicted could she be?

Watching Li Lanfang head out, Qing Ye asked, "Where’s the shower?"

Li Lanfang pointed to the backyard: "Next to the toilet. If you need anything, call Xing Wu. I’ll be back later."

With that, she hurried off.

Qing Ye turned and walked into the backyard. She glanced at Xing Wu’s grandmother’s room—the lights were off, pitch black. The courtyard was empty, with the other side connected to a few neighboring households. Qing Ye averted her eyes and headed toward the so-called shower room.

As soon as she entered, Qing Ye froze. Cement floor, cement walls, a rusted showerhead, a yellowish lightbulb covered in tiny gnats—disgusting.

A wooden stool stood by the shower room entrance, apparently for placing clothes. Qing Ye laid out tissues on it, set down her clean clothes, and unzipped her dress. Suddenly, a shirtless man barged in.

Xing Wu, sitting by the window, had just put out his cigarette when he heard a sharp scream from downstairs. He immediately stood up and rushed down.