Dazzling

As soon as Xing Wu stepped into the backyard, he saw Qing Ye trembling with her arms wrapped around herself and Wu Lao Er standing shirtless at the bathroom door.

He walked over and asked in a displeased tone, "What's going on?"

Qing Ye's eyes were red with fear as she instinctively moved closer to Xing Wu. "This man sneaked into your bathroom."

Wu Lao Er looked utterly confused and turned to Xing Wu. "Wu Zi, what do you mean 'your' bathroom? This shower room is shared. Who's this girl?"

Qing Ye's worldview was shattered once again. A shared bathroom? What era was this place stuck in?

Xing Wu glanced at the stunned Qing Ye and said coldly to Wu Lao Er, "She's my relative. She'll shower first. Wait your turn."

Wu Lao Er didn't seem upset, but his eyes remained fixed on Qing Ye. Xing Wu shot him a fierce glare, pushed Qing Ye inside, and only then noticed that the zipper on her back was halfway down, revealing her smooth, delicate, and pale butterfly bones. The scene he'd witnessed at Huang Mao's house that afternoon suddenly flashed through his mind.

Frowning, he snapped, "Can't you fucking lock the door?"

Qing Ye retorted in confusion, "Where's the lock?"

Xing Wu stepped into the bathroom, closed the door, and showed her a frayed rope tied to a metal plate on the doorframe. Wrapping it around a few times was considered "locking" it. Qing Ye felt her vision darken—what kind of bizarre operation was this?

Xing Wu untied the rope and asked, "Got it?"

Qing Ye stared at the "lock." Just as Xing Wu was about to pull the door open to leave, she suddenly called out, "Wait! Why is there a hole in this door?"

Xing Wu glanced at it and replied, "The old lock fell off."

Fell off, leaving just a hole—and he said it so matter-of-factly. Qing Ye grew anxious and raised her voice, "How can I shower like this? What if someone stands outside, presses against the door, and sees me showering?"

Xing Wu said incredulously, "Who the hell would stand in the yard watching you shower in this heat?"

But then he noticed Qing Ye's wary gaze fixed behind him. Xing Wu followed her line of sight and turned around—Wu Lao Er was still shirtless, smoking by his own door and staring in the direction of the bathroom.

Xing Wu fell silent, then said impatiently, "I'll smoke by the kitchen door. Hurry up."

Qing Ye watched as Xing Wu walked over to the shed a few steps away, lit a cigarette, and only then returned to the bathroom. She imitated Xing Wu's method and "locked" the door.

Just after securing it, Qing Ye glanced back and suddenly called out, "Xing Wu, are you there?"

"Um..."

Footsteps approached quickly, and Xing Wu's voice came from outside the door. "What?"

Qing Ye quickly undid the "lock," pulled the door open, and frowned at him under the moonlight. "Why isn't there any shampoo in the bathroom?"

"Such a hassle," Xing Wu muttered before turning and heading inside. Soon, he returned with a bottle of Head & Shoulders and a soap dish.

Qing Ye looked at the items in her hand, her frown deepening. "That's it?"

"What? You wanted Pantene?" Xing Wu retorted with a smirk of impatience.

"Do you have conditioner?"

Xing Wu looked at her as if she'd said something absurd, running a hand over his buzz cut. "Do you think I need conditioner?"

"..." Qing Ye slammed the door shut with a bang.Her hair was long and the climate here was dry. Without conditioner, her hair became brittle and hard to comb. But now, forget conditioner—she didn’t even have facial cleanser. In this aunt’s home, which was so distant they were barely related, even the soap was worn down to a thin sliver. Qing Ye, accustomed to a life of comfort, had never imagined she would one day take a shower in a place without a door lock. Everything felt so damn surreal.

Normally, she would spend over half an hour showering, but because Qing Ye was so tense, she finished rinsing in less than ten minutes.

As Qing Ye put on clean clothes and was about to open the door, a dark, shadowy mass in the corner suddenly moved.

Xing Wu had already finished a cigarette and was growing restless from the heat while waiting. Suddenly, he heard another scream from the shower room, mixed with a panicked voice. Instinctively, he stood up from the wooden stool and hurried over, raising his voice to ask, “What the hell is it now?”

Before he could even steady himself at the shower room door, someone rushed out and collided squarely with his chest. Xing Wu felt a wave of soft warmth and fragrance envelop him. When he looked down, the girl in front of him was looking up, her face pale with fear as she pointed behind her. “Inside.”

Xing Wu took a step back and raised an eyebrow. “A ghost?”

To his surprise, Qing Ye’s eyes widened as she exclaimed, “There’s a spider.”

“...”

Xing Wu pulled the door open without a second thought and said casually, “It’s just a spider.”

He was about to turn away when Qing Ye suddenly grew frantic. It was genuinely the first time she had seen such a large, living spider, and it gave her goosebumps all over. She demanded, “Aren’t you going to kill it?”

Xing Wu wiped the expression off his face and said seriously, “I don’t kill living things.”

Then, watching Qing Ye’s expression shift from shock to anger, he added teasingly, “Spiders eat mosquitoes. Why kill it?”

The ever-changing expressions on Qing Ye’s face stirred a mischievous impulse in Xing Wu. He drawled, “Besides, how do you know I didn’t raise it?”

At that moment, Qing Ye really, really wanted to throw a bottle of Head & Shoulders at him.

Xing Wu went inside, and Qing Ye followed him, only to freeze in astonishment. This was a barbershop! No matter how shabby a barbershop was, how could it not have a single bottle of conditioner? Xing Wu turned on the light, and Qing Ye, her hair still dripping wet, rushed straight to the shampoo station. After bending down and searching for a moment, she picked up a bottle of cheap conditioner and confronted Xing Wu. “What is this if not conditioner?”

Xing Wu didn’t even bother to respond. With his hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans, he let out an “Oh” and headed straight upstairs.

Qing Ye had never met anyone so infuriating. Would it kill him to speak properly?

Once she entered the room, she immediately pulled the floral-patterned curtain tightly shut between them and said, “Your mom said you don’t come back to sleep at night.”

“If my mom said I turn into Spiderman every night to save the world, why don’t you believe that?”

Qing Ye tossed the Balm from her bed to the neighboring one and pulled over a blanket but didn’t cover herself with it. She had just showered and already felt sweaty again, unbearably hot.

She sat up again, unable to resist asking, “Why don’t you install a lock on the bathroom door?”

From the other side came the sound of a video game. Xing Wu asked indifferently, “Which household would install one?”

Qing Ye understood. It was a shared shower room, and no one wanted to bear the cost. Just a cheap lock, after all. She let out a cold laugh.

She got up and stood directly in front of the electric fan to cool off. The standing fan was placed right in front of the curtain. Earlier, Xing Wu had adjusted it to face her side, leaving his side completely without a breeze.Qing Ye stole a curious glance at him from the corner of her eye. He leaned against the headboard in a black T-shirt, not a single drop of sweat on him.

She couldn't help asking, "Aren't you hot?"

"A calm heart keeps you cool," Xing Wu replied, focused on his game.

"Why doesn't your room have an AC? Do you always spend summers like this?"

Xing Wu suddenly raised his eyebrows and stared coldly at her for a few seconds. Without warning, he threw his phone onto the bed. "If you've got money, I don't mind you installing a lock or an AC for this house. If you can't stand it here, get out."

The air suddenly turned still. Qing Ye stood motionless at the foot of the bed, staring back at him. Neither spoke. The next second, her eyes reddened abruptly, and Xing Wu's sharp gaze flickered slightly.

Qing Ye turned around, grabbed her phone, and strode away. Soon, footsteps echoed down the stairs. Xing Wu lay on the bed, stunned for a few seconds, then cursed under his breath, "Damn it!"

...

This day had been utterly miserable for Qing Ye. She had plummeted from a glamorous world straight into a slum, surrounded by odd people, unfamiliar surroundings, dilapidated streets, unpalatable food, and relatives with no blood ties. All of it, compounded by Xing Wu's "get out," crushed her last nerve.

Her head buzzed, her chest felt tight, and her entire body burned as if on fire. She didn't know where she would go once she stepped out that door, but she couldn't stay here a minute longer.

Just as she pulled the door open, a dark figure suddenly blocked her path. Xing Wu's tall frame loomed over her, exuding a fierce wildness in the darkness. His wolf-like eyes fixed on her, his voice low and heavy. "Want to go out? Fine. Let me tell you how things work around here. After 9 p.m., the streets are filled with nothing but gamblers, drunks, and perverts. With your looks, you'd stand out like a sore thumb—guaranteed to get noticed the moment you step out. Oh, and by the way, people in this shithole are barely scraping by. No one's inclined to meddle in others' business. Scream all you want—no one will risk the trouble. Call the police? You'd be lucky if they showed up within an hour. As for what could happen in that hour... if you're brave enough, go ahead and try."

With that, Xing Wu swung the door wide open and watched her. A stiflingly warm gust of wind hit Qing Ye, and as she stared at the empty street outside, a shiver ran down her spine.

Her mind cleared a little then. Whether Xing Wu was telling the truth or not, there was no point risking her safety just to spite him.

So she turned decisively and headed back upstairs to her room. Fortunately, Xing Wu didn't follow. Qing Ye wondered if he had gone out instead.

Qing Ye drifted in and out of sleep for two or three hours, unsure if she had actually slept at all. Her stomach kept growling, and eventually, hunger woke her completely. She rummaged through her luggage—she had packed some snacks before leaving but decided against bringing them, thinking she could easily buy snacks or order delivery anywhere. Who would have thought there were still places where you couldn't get delivery or buy anything at night?

Tossing and turning in bed, Qing Ye eventually felt an urgent need to use the bathroom. She sat up abruptly, slipped on her slippers, and peered into the pitch-black hallway. She didn't know if Li Lanfang had returned from her mahjong game, and it didn't feel right to call out for her at this hour.She could only make her way to the stairwell using the light from her phone. Qing Ye felt her eyes sting even more after waking up and blinked hard a few times. As she passed by the sofa, she suddenly kicked something—a leg—and it startled her. She immediately shone her phone light toward the sofa and discovered someone lying there. The person raised a hand to block the harsh light, their voice hoarse as they asked, "What?"

It was only then that Qing Ye realized it was Xing Wu lying there. He hadn’t gone out that night and had fallen asleep on the sofa.

Qing Ye quickly moved the light away and said, "I’m going to the bathroom."

After saying that, she groped her way to the stairwell. Halfway down, she saw the pitch-black barbershop below, the mirrors reflecting an eerie, unsettling glow. She suddenly stopped and called out quietly, "Hey... are you asleep?"

"Hmm."

Qing Ye stood on the stairs, hesitating for a long while. Xing Wu finally spoke impatiently, "Say something."

"Can... you come with me to the bathroom?"

"..."

There was no sound from upstairs. Just as Qing Ye thought Xing Wu had decided to ignore her, she heard the soft shuffle of slippers. Xing Wu’s tall figure appeared at the top of the stairs.

The backyard at night was eerily quiet. There were no trees here, not even the chirping of cicadas. The silence seemed amplified, making Qing Ye a little nervous.

Xing Wu stopped at the back door, wearing a loose-fitting No. 14 basketball T-shirt and gray sweatpants. He leaned against the doorframe, his figure slender. Qing Ye took a few steps before realizing he wasn’t following. She turned back to look at him. "Why aren’t you coming?"

Xing Wu lowered his head to light a cigarette, took a drag, and tilted the corner of his mouth. "Go where? Stand by the toilet and wait for you?"

"Psycho." Qing Ye scurried off in quick, small steps, rushing into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her.