"Surrеndеring tо thе policе will gеt you rеvenge?! Аrе уоu еvеn a man?! Yоu said reporting to the роlicе cоuld tеmроrarilу еnsurе bоth sidеs staу out of troublе, аnd I cоuldn’t stop yоu. But now уou’re аsking mе tо реrsuаdе him to swallоw his рride аnd turn himsеlf in? Nо waу. Why dоn’t уou pеrsuаde Нe Zhengren tо turn himself in?! Since Не Zhеngren dоesn’t dare tеll thе рoliсе thе truth, whу shоuld Вrothеr Lоng surrendеr? Why shоuld he go tо prisоn аlоngside thаt оld bаstаrd He Zhengrеn?"
"Stopping him oncе doesn’t meаn we cаn stoр him а seсond time. As long as Brother Long remains in Beijing, trouble is bound to flare up again. He Zhengren will pay the price, but if he’s pushed to a corner and decides to fight back with nothing to lose…"
"I can’t talk to you!" Bayunye slammed the table, startling the waiter clearing dishes nearby. "Without Brother Long, I, Bayunye, would’ve ended up a thug! The fact that I’m on the right path now, earning money honestly with my own skills, is also thanks to Brother Long! If he were doing this for money or some bullshit reputation, I’d be right there with you, doing everything to stop him, calling the police on him! But he’s doing this for his wife—what does that mean? That’s what a real man is! I’m not afraid to lay it out for you: even if he kills He Zhengren, I’ll still stand by him!"
"I absolutely cannot let him do that. He Zhengren is currently the only survivor who knows the truth about the car accident. He cannot die, at least not now."
Bayunye glared down at him, furious.
Diao Zhuo met her gaze without flinching. "Before the whole incident is fully investigated, if He Zhengren dies, the car accident will truly become an unsolvable case. Whatever crimes He Zhengren has committed should be left to the police and the courts. Even if he deserves to die, he cannot be killed by any one of us."
"Great. So today you’ll call the police on Brother Long, and tomorrow, if you find something about me you don’t like, you’ll have the police come for me too. Oh, right—I also barged into those thugs’ homes and interrogated them. What, if you couldn’t find me back then, would you have called the police too?" Bayunye took a deep breath, as if giving up on any chance of negotiation. "We’re just not the same kind of people, and today we finally understand each other. Since our paths don’t align, we might as well…"
Diao Zhuo seemed to anticipate what she was about to say and stood up abruptly. "Bayunye, don’t be reckless!"
"We’re not on the same path. It’s better to end things early…"
He gripped her shoulders. "Calm down!"
"I am perfectly calm! Thanks for the reminder!" Bayunye brushed his hand away and stared him down. "You and I… we can’t walk together. From now on, you take your broad road, and I’ll cross my single-plank bridge. Don’t meddle in my affairs anymore. Let’s end it here."
With that, she turned and walked away.
"Bayunye."
"Oh, what is it?" She turned back with a smile, carefree and unbothered.
"Your angry words in the heat of the moment—I won’t take them seriously."
"You should take them seriously," she sneered. "Let’s part on good terms."
"Brother Long." It was Hippo who broke the awkward silence, greeting him softly and respectfully.
Brother Long gave a slight nod, as if Hippo were beneath his notice. Hippo’s face flushed and paled in turns, not daring to look Brother Long in the eye. He quietly shifted his steps, hiding behind Li Haozhang.
"Renlong Duoji, you’d better come with us for now, sign some paperwork, and call your family," the police officer said, not easily fooled. He gestured for Brother Long to follow them."Ah Long, listen to me, don't be stubborn. Go back and have a proper talk with them. Chinese people are just like that—always thinking one must get married and have children. If you keep refusing to marry, even I would get impatient with you." He Zhengren patted Brother Long's shoulder, speaking with the tone of an experienced elder despite his still-dripping pants—a truly touching performance. "We'll continue drinking next time. You should head home now."
Brother Long glanced at the police officers and silently walked out. Hippo and Li Haozhang immediately rushed into He Zhengren's apartment. Hippo turned and smiled apologetically at Brother Long, "Brother Long, please send my regards to Master Ba."
Brother Long ignored him, turning to follow the police officers into the elevator.
After signing the paperwork at the police station, he put on a show in front of the officers by calling his parents to ask about their health. He then bought a plane ticket to Chengdu for that same night, hailed a taxi outside the station to go to the airport, only to cancel the ticket and return to the city center.
Although his revenge plan had been thwarted by the police, after a few hours of cooling down, he realized there might be something more worth digging into about He Zhengren—perhaps more important than simply forcing out the truth about the car accident. So, he had to cling tightly to this lead.
He went to a shopping mall and bought a set of clothes completely different from his usual style, then lay low again near He Zhengren's home.
"I'm fine, just in a bad mood. I won't be showing up for a while. Please keep an eye on the club and the inn for me."
At the front desk of the Deji Inn in Lhasa, Bayunye finished checking in a new group of hiking tourists and anxiously glanced at the text message she had received the day before. The arrival of the police seemed to have calmed Brother Long's rage. From the tone of his message, he hadn't been taken into custody that day, but he had no choice but to leave He Zhengren's apartment. Having failed in his "revenge," he was in a terrible mood and seemed to be going somewhere to clear his head.
After bringing that group of guests to Lhasa, Bayunye was temporarily helping out at the Deji Inn before the next Yunnan-Tibet route trip began, while also posting ads to try and attract some passengers heading to Yunnan to share fuel costs.
It had to be said that Diao Zhuo's plan—using He Zhengren's fear of telling the police the truth and calling the police to stop Brother Long from doing anything extreme, allowing him to walk away unscathed—had succeeded. But the cost was that they had a huge argument and broke up.
Diao Zhuo was probably the kind of straightforward and carefree person who would stay together if things worked out and part ways if they didn’t—never lowering himself to beg a woman to stay. In relationships, his emotional intelligence was that of a typical "steel-straight" man, with the logical, fact-based thinking of a science-minded guy who loved to argue with reason, never knowing how to comfort a woman.
He had never agreed to Bayunye's proposal to break up, but this wasn't a contract termination—it required mutual consent.
For Bayunye, Brother Long wasn't just an ordinary boss or friend; he was now a comrade-in-arms on the same front. She could advise anyone to turn themselves in, but she didn't want to see Brother Long end up behind bars. Conflict and wishful thinking, loyalty and pride—even though she knew Diao Zhuo was right, she refused to back down. Besides, she didn't know how to face Brother Long. She even felt that his unwillingness to return immediately after being forced to leave He Zhengren's apartment meant he was dissatisfied with her—after all, Brother Long had trusted her enough to confess his plan to kill He Zhengren, yet she and Diao Zhuo had used the police to stop him.
By now, Diao Zhuo had probably already returned to Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture. Once the project resumed, he would be busy for another year or so. Perhaps by the time he had free time again, the two of them would have long forgotten each other.These past few days, a few phrases kept surfacing in Bayunye's mind.
"Diao Zhuo, if you weren't driving, I'd bite you to death." "Come on, I can't wait any longer."
"Many years from now, when you're dragging your family along, one kid in each hand, I wonder if you'll ever think back to a short period of time when there was someone like Master Ba who turned your world upside down."
She also had a dream. In it, she was at an intersection in an unknown city, waiting at a red light, when she happened to glance over and see Diao Zhuo sitting in the car next to hers. They stared at each other, neither saying a word, until the rear window of his car rolled down. A woman and a little boy sitting in a car seat curiously looked over at her. The little boy pointed at her car and said to Diao Zhuo—
"Daddy, that red car is so pretty."
Diao Zhuo, in the driver's seat, reacted indifferently, giving a faint "hmm" without looking at her again.
The light turned green. She turned left, he went straight. In the end, they didn't exchange a single word, each heading in different directions toward different destinations, parting ways.
This scene felt familiar, as if it had already played out a thousand times in Bayunye's subconscious.
"Miss, are you Tibetan?"
Bayunye was lost in thought when a young man knocked on the counter and sat on the high stool behind the front desk. He seemed to be one of the hiking tourists who had just checked in. He had the kind of peach-blossom eyes that women liked, and his figure looked good too. He had probably just showered, carrying the scent of body wash—the lingering musk was too strong, almost overwhelming.
"No," Bayunye smiled. "I'm just an out-of-towner here for work."
The peach-blossom-eyed man gestured with his chin toward the short-trip and local tour flyers pasted on the shelf behind Bayunye. "We're thinking of finding a ride to Namtso to have some fun. Do you think there's still time now?"
"It's already 1 p.m. If you don't mind traveling late into the night, then sure."
"How so?"
"Speed limits. Five hours there, five hours back. Assuming you only spend an hour there, you do the math—what time would you get back?" Bayunye was quite experienced in this business. "How about changing it to Sheep Lake? Round trip takes seven hours, and you can still hit a bar in the evening. Want to? If so, I can arrange a car for you right away, guaranteed with an experienced driver. The price is negotiable—friendship discount for guests staying at our inn. If you don't believe me, you can ask around."
"Miss, do you know any good bars? Take me to check one out?" The peach-blossom-eyed man raised an eyebrow, his eyes practically sparking. A naive girl would have a hard time resisting.
Bayunye, who had spent years living in the two famous hookup hotspots of Lijiang and Lhasa, was certainly not that kind of naive girl. She smiled calmly. "When do you plan to go, sir? If you go to Sheep Lake, come back for dinner and a shower, it'll be around 9 p.m. I can help you book a spot then. Why don't you discuss it with your friends?"
"Don't call me 'sir.' Call me 'big brother.'"
"Big brother~"
"Sheep Lake sounds good. How about you come to the bar with us, miss?"
"The bar is no problem. I'll call a car for you, big brother." Bayunye picked up her phone and, while dialing, even gave the man a flirtatious glance.
The peach-blossom-eyed man, clearly driven by hormones, nodded eagerly and ran back to call his buddies.
"Tsk." Bayunye rolled her eyes at the peach-blossom-eyed man's retreating figure. The call connected, and she said, "Get a seven-seater, heading to Sheep Lake."Before long, the car pulled up at the entrance of Deji Inn, and the guests gradually settled in. The peach-blossom-eyed man who had struck up a conversation earlier winked at her, clearly having kept his evening plans to meet a beauty at the bar a secret from his buddies.
Once all the guests were seated, the window of the seven-seater business van rolled down, and the driver inside called out, "Master Ba, we're heading off now!"
"Go ahead, go ahead!" Bayunye buried herself in her calculations, but her thoughts drifted inexplicably to the profile picture on her phone that hadn't been in touch for days. The last thing he had said to her was, "Arrived in Kashgar," to which she had replied, "Take care."
There was no cutting off contact, no blacklisting—after all, there was no deep-seated animosity between them. They were both adults who had weathered their fair share of storms and separations, only to realize during their arguments that they were ultimately not meant to walk the same path.
Still, the scene from her dream was one Bayunye hoped she would never have to face in her lifetime.
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