Dazzling

Half an hour later, Xing Wu was lying on the recliner in the back room of Shunyi, with Quan Ya sitting opposite him. Hua Bi tossed each of them a cigarette.

Xing Wu took it, lowered his head to light it, while Quan Ya placed his cigarette behind his ear and got straight to the point: "What are you thinking?"

Xing Wu took a casual drag and countered, "What do you mean?"

Quan Ya curled the corner of his mouth into a smirk: "I heard from that little Huang Mao at your school—she's got good grades and plans to study abroad?"

"Yeah." Xing Wu flicked the ash off his cigarette, expressionless.

Quan Ya leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees: "I'm not saying this for my sister's sake. You're not a fool. Even if it's for her own good, you shouldn't get involved with her."

"I haven't touched her." Xing Wu lifted his gaze to stare at him.

Quan Ya's eyes scanned Xing Wu's face: "Then what's your plan? Have a pure romance with her? Or keep her here in Zhazha Pavilion?"

Xing Wu's brow furrowed tightly: "I've never thought of keeping her here. She wouldn't stay for anyone."

Hua Bi, standing nearby, grew more confused as he listened and interjected, "So what do you mean, Wu? Go abroad with her?"

"I'm not leaving." Xing Wu crushed out his cigarette with a fierce motion.

Quan Ya shook his head and let out a long sigh, saying nothing more. After so many years as brothers, he understood Xing Wu's situation better than anyone.

Xing Wu didn't go back that night. The next day, Qing Ye went to school as usual, but Xing Wu didn't show up all day. Between classes, she drafted several messages, wanting to ask where he was or if things had gone badly with Quan Ya and the others the previous night, but in the end, she deleted them.

Qing Ye had assumed Xing Wu wouldn't come to school at all that day. Unexpectedly, during the third period in the afternoon, right before school ended, he sauntered in through the back door. As soon as he sat down, Qing Ye turned around and asked, "Why are you coming now?"

Xing Wu grinned and mouthed two silent words: "Pick you up."

A faint blush crept across Qing Ye's cheeks, and she immediately turned back to bury herself in her homework.

After school, Qing Ye rode her hoverboard, sometimes speeding ahead of Xing Wu, sometimes gliding back to ride alongside him. "Why can't you just come to class properly?" she asked.

Xing Wu kept his head down. In the glow of the sunset, his profile was sharp and clear, tinged with an elusive nonchalance. "Come to class, and then what? There are no universities here."

The hoverboard's wheels glided silently over the ground. Qing Ye fell silent, but she understood: there were no universities here. To attend college, one had to leave town. And if he could have left Zhazha Pavilion back then, maybe he wouldn't need to prove himself through the college entrance exam now.

So the word "class" was deeply contradictory for him. It wasn't a way out for Xing Wu. Unlike her, he couldn't rely on education to escape his current life.

Qing Ye suddenly accelerated and sped ahead of Xing Wu because she didn't want him to see the disappointment and confusion in her eyes.

Xing Wu continued to follow slowly behind, watching her back. The sunset burned crimson across the sky, reflected in his eyes like a blazing fire—intense and fervent—yet his expression remained grave.

Qing Ye glanced back at him from time to time, and he would smile at her. But each time she turned away, his smile vanished again.

It wasn't until they reached Dazzle Island that Qing Ye got a shock. Before they even reached the door, a bag was suddenly thrown down from the second floor, followed by a washbasin, slippers, and even a man's wig?What the hell is going on here? Qing Ye stood frozen at the doorway clutching her bag, not daring to enter for a long while, thinking Xing Wu's house had been robbed. Then she heard Li Lanfang's piercing wails coming from the second floor.

Seeing Liu Nian and Du Qiyan standing rigidly inside the shop, Qing Ye rushed in to ask them what happened. Liu Nian looked constipated as he said: "Boss Li's man is back. They're upstairs right now."

It suddenly dawned on Qing Ye - Xing Wu's father had returned home, that legendary man who came back less than twice a year.

When she turned around, Xing Wu happened to walk in, his expression grim.

Qing Ye had previously imagined what Xing Wu's father might look like. Given Xing Wu's height, build, and appearance, his father should have been a handsome, rugged uncle-type - perhaps like Zhang Hanyu or Duan Yihong. At the very least, he should have resembled someone like Sun Honglei. Who would have thought Xing Wu's father would look like Uncle Benshan's long-lost brother?

So when the family gathered around the dinner table that evening, Qing Ye couldn't tear her eyes away from Xing Wu's father's weathered face. The key point was, he was wearing that wig - the same one Li Lanfang had thrown downstairs when Qing Ye first arrived home. The style of this wig was exactly the same as their school Principal Zhong's. Anyone who didn't know better might think they'd bought them as a set.

However, Xing Wu showed no warmth toward his father. What was even more bizarre was that Li Lanfang and Xing Wu's father had been fighting fiercely earlier that evening - the house-wrecking intensity had made Qing Ye afraid to go upstairs. Yet now they were acting like nothing had happened, with Li Lanfang even serving rice to Xing Wu's father, which thoroughly confused Qing Ye.

Even more puzzling was Xing Wu's grandmother. The moment his father returned, she refused to let Xing Wu feed her anymore, instead staring fixedly at her son. You'd think with her cerebral palsy she wouldn't recognize people, but when Xing Wu's father fed her, she actually ate.

Even Xing Wu found it remarkable. In any case, during all the time Qing Ye had lived here, this old woman had always been an enigma to her. For example, despite having cerebral palsy, she insisted on watching TV all day. Well, "watching" meant Xing Wu had placed an old television in her room, though she never actually looked at the screen. But if anyone turned off the TV, the old woman would definitely emit an eerie sound that made everyone's hair stand on end. Therefore, the television in Xing Wu's grandmother's room remained on almost year-round.

Although Xing Wu's father had returned in time for the Mid-Autumn Festival, the meal carried little sense of reunion. Instead, Xing Wu was the first to slam his bowl down and storm upstairs.

When Xing Wu's father met Qing Ye for the first time, he chatted with her while drinking baijiu, opening with: "When did your mother die?"

"..." Qing Ye had never met anyone so terrible at conversation.

After his father's return, Xing Wu didn't leave his room even once, just lay on his bed wearing headphones while watching game streams. By the time Qing Ye finished her homework, it was already late. She simply turned off the light and went to bed.

Lying down, Qing Ye couldn't help asking: "Why are you treating your father like that?"

Xing Wu didn't respond. Qing Ye pulled open the curtain between them, thinking he was still gaming, but actually he wasn't playing anything - just staring blankly at his black phone screen.

Qing Ye called out to him softly again: "Hey."The moonlight outside the window crept in silently, casting a clear, three-dimensional outline on his absorbed profile. He glanced sideways at her: "Wanna know?"

Qing Ye blinked her eyes, and then... he suddenly started taking off his pants.

Qing Ye was so startled she bolted upright and asked him, "What are you doing?"

Xing Wu looked at her nervous expression speechlessly, simply tugged down his sweatpants, and revealed a long, shocking scar on his hip bone.

Qing Ye immediately got off the bed and leaned in for a closer look. By the moonlight, she could vaguely see what appeared to be a knife wound, quite long, seemingly extending all the way to his thigh. Qing Ye couldn't help but poke it with her finger and asked, "How did this happen? Does it hurt?"

Xing Wu's breath hitched, and he quickly pulled up his pants. He never expected Qing Ye not only to look but also to touch it, her hand merely a fist's distance away from a sensitive area. Xing Wu's expression suddenly tightened.

Seeing he had fallen silent, Qing Ye looked up at him and noticed his awkward demeanor. Only then did the image from moments ago flash in her mind—the distinct v-line below the scar. Her face flushed bright red, and she hurriedly burrowed back under the covers, hiding half her face with the blanket.

Xing Wu's voice, however, came calmly from beside her: "When I first started middle school, I was tall and stood out too much. Some third-year students picked a fight with me. A few guys cornered me in an alley to beat me up. To defend myself, I had to fight back. One of them missed a swing, lost his balance, fell to the ground, and got his eye poked out by a thumbtack."

"Huh?" Qing Ye stuck her head out in surprise.

Xing Wu spun his phone in his hand, a faint, roguish smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "After he ran home, his family came to the school and made a scene, saying I was the one who poked his eye out. They demanded my family pay compensation and that I be expelled. I told them a hundred times—they started it, and he fell on his own. What the hell did it have to do with me? But no one listened. Everyone said I was lying. My dad, Comrade Xing Guodong, a pillar of the nation, decided to force a confession out of his son. He locked me in the bathroom and gave me a 'loving' beating to make me tell the truth and personally apologize to that family. I'm stubborn and refused to back down. When he saw the belt wasn't working, for some reason, he went to the kitchen next door and grabbed a knife to confront me.

When I saw him with that knife, I thought, 'Fuck it, let's settle this once and for all.'"

Qing Ye turned her head to look at him. His expression was half nonchalant, half indifferent, as if he were recounting someone else's story. But Qing Ye had also been through adolescence; she knew all too well how extreme a middle schooler's mindset could be—yearning to be understood by the world yet terrified of being seen through. She could imagine the despair and anger Xing Wu must have felt when he saw his dad with the knife. Maybe fear, too. He was so young, just 13 years old.

Xing Wu glanced at Qing Ye and said, "I'm gonna smoke a cigarette," as if seeking her permission.

Qing Ye leaned against the headboard and looked at him. "Go ahead."

Xing Wu then got up and opened the window. His figure sat by the desk, his face hidden in the darkness, making it hard for Qing Ye to see him clearly.

She only heard him sigh and say, "I guess I was just too hardheaded, refusing to admit it no matter what. Comrade Guodong got so enraged he said he'd ruin me and actually swung the knife at my family jewels. I don't know what he was thinking. Luckily, I dodged fast, or I'd be a eunuch now."Although Xing Wu brought up that incident from back then in a joking tone, Qing Ye didn't find it funny at all. She suddenly remembered the tone Xing Wu used when installing the air conditioner and mentioning his father—"dead," he had said. Perhaps at the moment his father raised a knife to slash at him, his father had already died in his heart.

Qing Ye didn't say anything, just slid entirely under the covers, suddenly feeling a suffocating discomfort. She couldn't put this feeling into words; she had never experienced anything like it growing up—a sense of powerlessness.

Qing Ye didn't resent others cursing her, envying her, or even ostracizing her, but what she hated most was being wrongfully accused. Fortunately, although her father might not have been a competent husband, he was still a good dad. No matter what happened, he would patiently listen to her thoughts and the whole story, then rationally help her analyze the situation, offer advice, and assist in resolving it. He never blamed or scolded her without understanding the facts. Because of this, despite her young age, Qing Ye lived with more confidence and self-assurance than many of her peers.

But Xing Wu was different. She couldn't imagine how helpless he must have felt at just 13 years old, facing accusations, pressure, and false charges from school administrators and classmates' parents. In the end, even his own parents, who should have protected him, cast doubt on him. She even felt that if something like that had happened to her, she might have really torn that blind person's mouth and gone down with them. The fact that Xing Wu had managed to live to this age was nothing short of a miracle.

She couldn't help but ask, "How was the matter handled in the end?"

Xing Wu took a drag of his cigarette, looked out the window, and said indifferently, "Scraped together five thousand yuan in compensation, and I was put on probation at school."

Qing Ye reckoned that five thousand yuan must have been a significant sum for their family back then. She had previously heard Li Lanfang say that Xing Wu's grandmother had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage four or five years ago. Doing the math, that would have been around the time Xing Wu had just started middle school.

Although the incident wasn't a catastrophic disaster, for a young kid, it was basically a bolt from the blue. And to make matters worse, his grandmother, who had been the kindest to him, fell ill around then. For Xing Wu, that must have been true isolation with no one to turn to.

In the trajectory of Xing Wu's growth, this incident was both the cause of his successes and his failures.

After this incident, Xing Wu's reputation at school skyrocketed. Everyone knew about him—the new seventh-grader who had blinded a ninth-grader in one eye. So, no one dared to provoke him. He was already tall, and the way he looked at people had a menacing edge to it. Even the troublemaker boys would steer clear of him when they saw him.

But precisely because of these events, more and more troubles came his way. It was then that he learned one truth.

In this place, no one would listen to what you had to say; people only cared about how hard your fists were. As long as he was strong enough—strong enough that no one dared to mess with him—no one would falsely accuse him again. Because of this, studying became increasingly irrelevant to him, as survival had to come first.Neither of them spoke again. Qing Ye didn't know what Xing Wu was thinking. Perhaps after all these years, he had already become numb to it all. But having just heard about this, she was still quite shaken. She couldn't help but recall Huang Mao's words—he said Xing Wu's grades were decent in middle school but later he just couldn't focus on studying anymore. If Xing Wu hadn't grown up in such an environment, if his parents had given him even the slightest bit of support, he might not have ended up like this. With Xing Wu's intelligence, he might not even be inferior to her. Just think—he skipped school every day but still managed to score 72 on exams.

While Qing Ye was lost in these wandering thoughts, suddenly the entire building began to shake. It was genuinely shaking, accompanied by strange creaking sounds.

Qing Ye immediately poked her head out from under the covers. At first, she wondered if it was an earthquake. Does this place even have earthquakes?

But when she suddenly heard some indescribable noises, she instantly froze.