Chapter 5: Leaving with Nothing

The bathhouse wasn’t crowded in broad daylight. Lei Wu felt like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden—curious about everything.

He soaked in the warm pool, looking left and right: “A place like this can still operate 24 hours now? They’re doing business legitimately?”

During the few months after he was transferred to the release unit, Officer Zhang had told him more than once to keep a calm mindset once he got out—to humbly accept good and progressive things, and not to lose himself when encountering things too different from the life he’d known.

Don’t feel like you’ve been abandoned by the times. You should try to run a few more steps to catch up.

“No need to rush. Learn what you don’t understand slowly. It’s not just you—even an old fossil like me can’t keep up sometimes. Every year there’s some new gimmick. A while back my daughter sent me a link, asking me to chop one or two cuts for her on some app. I couldn’t figure it out and got a few eye rolls from her.”

Zhang Jianhui had been smiling at the time, but Lei Wu could still remember the helplessness in his eyes.

“This place is obviously legitimate. A hundred fifty-eight per person gets you over ten hours, all-you-can-eat buffet, unlimited movies, and a kids’ play area. Xiao Qing and Feiyan love it—they bring the two kids here to play in the water all the time.”

Xu Chaolong sat sprawled out, scratching his head. Seeing no one around, he lowered his voice and asked: “Or do you want… uh… something not so legitimate?”

His winking and nudging made Lei Wu laugh out loud: “What are you thinking!”

Xu Chaolong laughed along. Watching Lei Wu laugh so hard he leaned back, he was suddenly overcome with emotion, his eyes stinging uncontrollably.

Ten years had passed. Times had changed, and the people and things of the past were no more. What Xu Chaolong had worried about before was that Lei Wu—who had nearly lost everything—might have finally given up on himself in prison. After all, for several years in the middle, Lei Wu’s state had been terrible. How much must he have gone through to be able to let go of everything he once had and smile so calmly?

There was something Feiyan had said that was right. She said Lei Wu wasn’t so bad as to be beyond saving—as long as someone was willing to pull him hard enough, he would definitely get back on track.

When the two had soaked enough, they got out of the pool, each wrapping a towel around his waist and heading for the steam room.

Xu Chaolong walked behind, eyeing Lei Wu’s broad shoulders and narrow waist in light wheat color with some envy. He asked curiously: “Is there a gym in there? Look at how you’ve built your body…”

Lei Wu looked back at him, amused: “In your dreams. No gym—only the kitchen. Work starts at five in the morning: hauling ingredients, organizing trays, holding the big shovel to stir-fry. Same work every day. In the peak of summer it’s just like this steam room—sweat pouring down. Hard to get fat.”

The two changed into steam-room clothes. There was no one else in the steam room. Lei Wu let the sweat beads pop off his forehead one by one and steered the topic toward Xu Feiyan: “You didn’t finish earlier—what’s the deal with your sister’s in-laws?”

Just thinking about Xu Feiyan’s rambling on the car earlier brought an involuntary curve to his lips.

That bright red underwear really was narrow. He hadn’t noticed while wearing it, but when he took off his pants he saw faint red marks where the flesh of his thighs had been squeezed.

When Xu Chaolong spoke up to remind her the phone was connected to the car’s Bluetooth, that chirping little swallow had immediately gone silent.

At the time, Lei Wu had suppressed his laughter and spoken directly to the center console: “Feiyan, it’s me. Please buy me a few more pairs in a bigger size—black, white, gray are all fine. If there really aren’t any, red works too.”

Lei Wu had calculated everything, but never in his wildest dreams could he have guessed that the first topic he’d discuss with Xu Feiyan after getting out of prison would be buying underwear.

This married little woman was different now—she really dared to speak her mind.

With a click, the call was abruptly cut off, and Lei Wu laughed out loud.

Xu Chaolong wiped his sweaty face and lowered his voice: “Ah, I don’t even want to bring up that awful family. The son dying was tragic, but what right did they have to blame my sister?”

Lei Wu lowered his eyes slightly and listened quietly.

Shuishan City was coastal, with several islands nearby. One small island was called Shicang Island, right beneath the Shuishan City sea-crossing bridge, twenty minutes’ drive from the city proper.

That year Xu Feiyan had a blind date and got married. Her in-laws were Shicang Island natives. Her husband Cai Jingyao ran a seafood stall by the beach. After marrying, Feiyan helped out at his stall. Business was booming, and the two lived a sweet, happy life. And a year later, Feiyan got pregnant.

But in her second trimester, Cai Jingyao died tragically trying to save a drowning tourist.

“Actually, my brother-in-law was a really good person. An honest man. He treated Feiyan very well.” Xu Chaolong sighed and shook his head, his voice full of regret: “What a shame. What a shame.”

Xu Chaolong continued. At the time, Feiyan was heavily pregnant and knelt in the funeral hall for several hours. Her in-laws paid her no attention. He and his mother couldn’t stand it and went to help her up—by then Feiyan’s calves had swollen terribly.

“Her husband’s death was a pure accident. Why did the in-laws blame her?” Lei Wu interrupted to ask.

“That day it was Feiyan who spotted the drowning person, then ran back to the stall to report it, and then my brother-in-law went…”

Fate toyed with people. Good people didn’t always get good returns.

“As for her ear, I didn’t find out until she was about to give birth. After my brother-in-law died, his father—white-haired man burying his black-haired son—fell ill. After he recovered, his legs were bad. The mother-in-law’s mood was terrible too, and she didn’t give my sister much kindness. The two often argued about the stall and the brother-in-law’s death. One time Feiyan took several slaps to the face… after that her ear started going bad—sometimes better, sometimes worse.”

Lei Wu’s temple twitched two or three times in succession. He clenched his fists tightly.

Every word Xu Chaolong said next was like a knife to the throat: “Because she was pregnant and couldn’t use medication, and Feiyan didn’t want to take hormone drugs, she comforted us saying it might just be… oh, pregnancy-induced sudden deafness. She said it might get better after the baby was born. But after Duoduo was born, her left ear couldn’t hear at all…”

“After Duoduo was born, her situation got even worse. Her mother-in-law was superstitious and went to consult a medium! That charlatan said Duoduo was a jinx—that she’d cursed her father to death before even being born, and would curse her grandfather next. Complete bullshit!”

The more Xu Chaolong spoke, the angrier he got, his voice rising: “You know my sister’s stubborn temper—she reports good news but not bad. If my mom and I hadn’t forced it out of her, she could have her teeth smashed and still gulp them down!”

“My mom felt so bad for Feiyan and wanted to help, but my sister wouldn’t let her. Right after her confinement month ended, she carried the baby on her back and went back to help at the stall. Her cooking was always good, and the stall’s business got better and better. At first the in-laws had nothing to say. But early this year, not long after the New Year, the in-laws brought up again that the stall was passed down from their ancestors—since the elder son was gone, it should go to the younger son. They tried every trick to drive my sister out. Bullshit—it’s just a rundown seafood stall, and they act like it’s a throne to inherit?”

“The Cai family’s younger son was spoiled rotten since childhood—a good-for-nothing lowlife. He brought a bunch of thugs to cause trouble at the stall. Duoduo and the other workers were all there at the time. My sister was pushed to the edge—she grabbed a cleaver and blocked the stall entrance, saying she’d chop anyone who came at her.”

Sweat poured off Xu Chaolong like rain. Bringing up this matter still gave him lingering fear. His shoulders and voice gradually sagged, like a balloon hissing out air.

“When I arrived with people, my sister was shielding Duoduo. Her forehead and the corner of her mouth were scraped and bleeding, but she was still holding that cleaver. Duoduo was crying in her arms, crying so pitifully… and that bastard was curled up on the ground, blood everywhere, everyone else standing around not daring to approach… My sister had chopped his back once. After he was sent to the hospital there was nothing life-threatening—about ten stitches—but the in-laws insisted on suing my sister for intentional assault…”

Lei Wu clenched his fists so tight his nails dug deep into his palms.

He’d heard too many stories like this in prison—people who were bullied to the point of hopelessness, who fought back once, accidentally killed the other person, and ended up with a suspended death sentence, doomed to spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

Especially in the women’s prison—this kind of thing was nothing new.

“And then?” His voice was hoarse, as if scraped back and forth with sandpaper.

“It was settled. The condition was that my sister leaves with Duoduo and nothing else, and their family wouldn’t pursue it.”

Xu Chaolong sneered coldly: “Later we found out what they were really after with all that effort to drive my sister out. It turns out that island was going to be turned into a key scenic area. The whole stretch of old buildings by the beach would be demolished, and they’d be compensated with double the area in high-rise apartments in the city. If Feiyan was still on the Cai family household register, she’d get a share of those city apartments too.”

Just as he finished speaking, the steam room door was pushed open and two middle-aged men walked in. Lei Wu and Xu Chaolong exchanged a glance and got up to leave.

They weren’t eating there. Xu Chaolong had booked a private room at a restaurant to welcome Lei Wu. The two returned to the locker room to change back into their clothes.

Lei Wu pulled up his jeans and looked down to button them. He deliberated for a moment, then still asked: “Feiyan… did she like that man a lot?”

Xu Chaolong didn’t react for a moment: “Who?”

“Your brother-in-law.”

“Oh, why do you suddenly ask?”

Lei Wu pulled on his sweater: “Didn’t you just say it yourself—Feiyan cared so much about that stall…”

Somewhere in the deepest part of his heart, it was as if a worm had taken up residence, biting him from time to time—numb and unbearable, both painful and itchy.

He could picture Xu Feiyan holding a cleaver at the stall entrance, like an eagle protecting its beloved chick.

Because many years ago, Xu Feiyan had also once held a wrench and a high-pressure water gun to protect “Leihuo Garage.” That small frame blocking the doorway, not letting anyone touch anything in the garage.

When Xu Chaolong didn’t answer, Lei Wu turned to look at him.

Unexpectedly, he saw a great deal of caution and seriousness in Xu Chaolong’s eyes.

He was taken aback—as if his carefully hidden little feelings had been seen through by Xu Chaolong.

Right. Xu Chaolong was no longer the kid who blushed at the slightest dirty joke. How could he not understand the purpose behind Lei Wu’s question?

After a moment, Xu Chaolong slowly spoke: “When Feiyan got married, I asked her about it. She said she wanted to start over, and she would try hard to love her husband. But, Brother—whoever she loves, it’s all in the past now. I hope she can look forward. You’d agree with that, right?”