The person who had fallen in front of Xiang Xi and Mantou like a flying acrobat was Li Hui, Erpan’s wife’s daughter.

Li Hui’s mother had brought her along to live with Erpan, saying she was Erpan’s child, but Erpan didn’t acknowledge her.

The fourteen-year-old girl was as skinny as a little monkey; Xiang Xi always thought that if a strong wind blew, she’d bounce up and get carried two miles away.

These old houses had low ceilings, so Li Hui’s fall probably wasn’t too serious. She lay on the ground for a while, then struggled to stand up.

Mantou looked up at the building, hesitated for a couple of seconds, then reached out a hand to help her. Li Hui nervously looked upstairs, pushed Mantou away, and lowered her head as she stood by the wall.

“Hey now,” Erpan’s voice sounded from the second-floor balcony. “Mantou’s being the gentleman, huh?”

“Brother,” Mantou looked like he was startled, raised his head with a smile, and limped into the house . “Brother, I’ve got…”

Xiang Xi glanced at Li Hui as he walked past her, making his way back to No. 17.

“Xiao Zhan,” Li Hui called out from behind, her voice hoarse and so low it was almost inaudible, “help me.”

Xiang Xi didn’t pause and continued into No. 17, closing the door behind him.

There were quite a few people inside. Uncle Ping’s hobby was drinking tea and playing cards, and right now, he was sitting in the living room with a few others, all of whom Xiang Xi knew. Uncle Ping didn’t have a formal “criminal gang” exactly, but if he did, these men would be his core members.

“You’re back,” Uncle Ping said, clutching his teacup, his movements slow as he sipped, a look of enjoyment on his face.

“Hmm.” Xiang Xi lowered his head and stood by the coffee table.

“Truly grown up now, huh?” Uncle Ping sighed, setting down his cup. “Now you even dare come back empty-handed.”

Xiang Xi didn’t say anything.

“This year’s going to be hard to get through.” Uncle Ping took another sip and leaned back against the sofa.

No one in the room spoke, looking at it coldly. Xiang Xi kept quiet, too. Uncle Ping always talked this way, unlike Erpan, who acted like a little boss without any real presence.

Uncle Ping always spoke slowly and methodically, as if "harmony brings wealth." But Xiang Xi knew that if he didn’t bring back the money soon, he’d be in serious trouble.

“Have you eaten?” Uncle Ping asked.

“I had a little something,” Xiang Xi glanced toward the corridor on the first floor that led to the backyard. “My stomach’s hurting today.”

“Your stomach again? What’s with it?” Uncle Ping frowned. “There’s still some hot soup in the kitchen—go have some.”

“Oh.” Xiang Xi went into the kitchen and drank a bowl of soup.

He didn’t really have an appetite, but he had to drink the soup. If Uncle Ping told him to drink it, he drank it.

After finishing the soup, he went down the hallway to the back alley and gave a whistle.

The so-called “backyard” wasn’t an actual yard—just a row of back doors on the self-built apartments, forming a narrow one-meter-wide passageway between the buildings and the wall. It was long, dark, and dirty.

After he whistled, he heard Erpan cursing out Mantou.

He gave another whistle—this one was to call his dog.

Xiang Xi had a dog, though it wasn’t exactly his dog. It was a stray, appearing in the area in early autumn, rummaging through the garbage for food.

Seeing how pitiful it looked, Xiang Xi gave it a bit to eat. From that day on, the dog stayed around the area. He hadn’t given it a name, but whenever he whistled, it would come running.

Today, after three whistles, there was no sign of the dog bounding happily toward him.

He went back inside and walked up to Uncle Ping. “Uncle, where’s the dog?”

Uncle Ping glanced at him over the teapot, and from outside came a cry of pain as Mantou was kicked out of the door by Erpan.

“Where’s the dog?” Xiang Xi thought he could guess something from the look in Uncle Ping’s eyes, but he didn’t dare to be certain. He just asked again, insistently, “That yellow dog—where is it?”

Someone in the room let out a cold chuckle, filled with a hint of schadenfreude.

Uncle Ping still didn’t respond; he tilted his head slightly, seeming to listen to the sounds of Erpan beating Mantou.

Xiang Xi didn’t ask again. He turned and walked outside, stepping in front of Erpan just as he was about to kick Mantou in the stomach.

“Get out of the way!” Erpan glared at him.

“Where’s my dog?” Xiang Xi looked him in the eyes and asked.

“Who the hell knows anything about a dog? Get lost!” Erpan swung his arm and shoved Xiang Xi aside.

“Xiao Zhan…” Mantou, half-crouching on the ground, called after him.

“Let me ask you again,” Xiang Xi, stumbling a bit, ignored Mantou and quickly blocked Erpan’s path once more, almost face-to-face with him. “Where’s my dog?”

“You crazy bastard!” Erpan shouted, swinging a fist at Xiang Xi’s face.

Xiang Xi swayed to avoid it, and as Erpan was still recovering his stance, Xiang Xi lunged forward, giving him a hard shove and shouting back, “Where’s my dog!”

“Your damn dog?” Erpan, perhaps moved by his baffling persistence, grabbed Xiang Xi by the arm and threw him against the wall. “Your dog, you idiot? Lao Tzu (NT: ‘I’ in an arrogant way) ate it!”

Xiang Xi was stunned, too focused on processing the words to feel the pain in his shoulder from hitting the wall.

“What did you just say?” He jerked his head around to glare at Erpan.

“I said I ate that damn dog of yours! Cooked it into a stew!” Erpan spat on the ground, cursing as he walked toward Mantou. “What’s the point of keeping it? It was just eating free food!”

As Erpan raised his leg to kick the retreating Mantou, Xiang Xi shouted, throwing himself forward and bringing his elbow down hard on the back of Erpan’s neck. “Who the hell gave you the right to eat my dog!”

Xiang Xi knew his attack was as pointless as an egg against a rock. Erpan was like a tower, and every time he stood near, it felt as if the earth itself darkened around him.

But he still leapt forward. In the next second, Erpan grabbed his arm, swung him over his shoulder, and slammed him onto the ground.

The impact left him dizzy; he hadn’t eaten much today, and with this fall, his vision blurred. Mantou’s legs even looked uneven…

Erpan wasn’t satisfied with just that, so he stomped down hard on Xiang Xi’s leg.

Xiang Xi opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

The pain was so intense it left him gasping on the ground, unable to make a sound.

Just as Erpan was about to stomp again, Mantou grabbed his leg and held on tightly, silent but gritting his teeth without letting go.

“Bastard!” Erpan slapped Mantou across the face and was about to curse again when Uncle Ping walked out of No. 17. Erpan paused, glancing at Uncle Ping.

“Enough, don’t you think?” Uncle Ping, teapot in hand, spoke in a low tone. “You own this street or something? Beating your own people this badly—what an accomplishment.”

With that, Uncle Ping nodded toward Mantou. “Help him inside.”

Mantou quickly moved to help Xiang Xi up, but as soon as Xiang Xi put weight on his leg, he winced and dropped back to the ground. When Mantou reached out to touch his leg, Xiang Xi swatted his hand away. “Don’t touch it. It hurts.”

“Is it broken?” Mantou’s voice trembled, perhaps remembering his own leg injury from long ago.

“No idea.” Gritting his teeth, Xiang Xi clung to Mantou’s shoulder and struggled to stand up. In just these few seconds, he could already feel the swelling in his leg—he’d be shocked if it wasn’t broken.

As Mantou helped him back inside, he quietly said to Uncle Ping, “Uncle Ping, he should…probably go to the hospital.”

“Broken?” Uncle Ping glanced at Xiang Xi.

“Probably.” Xiang Xi replied.

“Is that so,” Uncle Ping chuckled, “Perfect. It’s New Year’s, after all—just in time to do what little you can.”

Xiang Xi didn’t respond; he knew what Uncle Ping meant. It looked like Uncle Ping was offering to help, but in reality, he seemed quite pleased with Erpan beating him up. Now that his leg was broken, it was all the better.

Consider it a punishment—he probably had upset Uncle Ping lately.

*

With winter setting in, there had been a lot more patients with orthopedic injuries—mostly fractures from slipping on ice. Some had broken legs from falls, others had fractured wrists trying to catch themselves… The inpatient and outpatient departments were busy, and Cheng Boyan had barely stopped working in the outpatient clinic all day as the emergency department continued bringing in more patients with fall injuries.

Once again, he didn’t get off work on time. After finishing up with the last follow-up patient, he leaned back in his chair and stretched, wondering what he should eat for dinner. But just as he thought about it, the old lady’s voice echoed in his mind.

The healthy way to eat dinner… And there went another round of her nutrition lectures…

There were shouts coming from the emergency room, quite loud, prompting Cheng Boyan to pause and glance in that direction.

It wasn’t unusual to hear such commotion in the emergency department, but he still turned and walked over. Just last week, there had been a guy who’d fallen face-first down the steps after getting drunk, ending up with a face covered in blood, and he had insisted on getting a stamp from the doctor, waving his hand and claiming he’d take that stamp to go on a one-way trip to the moon.

The noise now sounded similar.

As Cheng Boyan approached, he saw that it wasn’t another drunk. A person was sitting on a chair at the entrance to the emergency room, head down, while three others crowded around him, shouting.

“It’s you who wanted to come to the hospital, right? We came with you!” One young man, sporting a tough look, pointed at the seated man and shouted, “Now the doctor says it’s a fracture. What do you have to say for yourself? Hurry up! Pay up!”

“I told you I wouldn’t pay!” The seated man yelled back. “It’s a fracture, fine, but do I know how serious it is? How much do you want from me?”

“Did you know the speed limit there is 20? With how fast you were driving, if you pressed down that pedal, you’d scare the moon down!” Another boy, looking quite young, chimed in.

“Doctor!” After finishing his sentence, the boy took a few steps toward the emergency room door. “Doctor, can you come take a look? How much is this leg worth after breaking it?”

A broken leg? Cheng Boyan took a few glances at the seated man's leg.

There were quite a few patients in the emergency room at the moment, and all three doctors were busy. One of them turned to glance in their direction and spotted Cheng Boyan, saying, “Xiao Cheng, do you have a moment…”

“I’ll take a look.” Cheng Boyan replied, walking over to the man sitting in the chair.

“Are you a doctor?” The man stared at him.

“Yes, orthopedic,” Cheng Boyan nodded. “The emergency doctors are busy, so let me check it out. Don’t worry.”

“Orthopedic? Perfect!” The man pointed to the person sitting in the chair, glancing at his watch anxiously. “Can you take a look? Is it serious? Is it a fracture?”

“Where did you get hit?” Cheng Boyan squatted down to ask.

The seated man kept his head down. It wasn’t until Cheng Boyan asked that he finally looked up.

To be honest, it wasn’t uncommon for people to come to the emergency room trying to scam. There were real fractures, and there were old fractures that had been around for over three weeks, and some that would slip away as soon as they heard they needed an X-ray, all scenarios that were similar to what was unfolding now.

Cheng Boyan mentally categorized this group of people, especially the one who had been hit. From the first moment he saw the man’s Mohican hairstyle, he had a bad impression. Then there were the leather boots with brass buckles and those pants that were either seven- or nine-tenths long… in this freezing weather.

Once the man lifted his head, Cheng Boyan got a clear view of his face. There was a small cartoon band-aid under the corner of his right eye, and he looked younger than the man with the broken leg. He had a delicate appearance and an expression of confusion that seemed out of place with his tough style, exuding innocence and vulnerability.

“Left calf.” The man pointed at his leg, his voice calm, a stark contrast to his friends who had been shouting so loudly it almost made one’s brain boil.

“Let me take a look,” Cheng Boyan gestured for him to roll up his pant leg. “Does it hurt?”

“You’re an orthopedic doctor, right?” The man replied nonchalantly as he pulled up his pant leg. “Have you ever encountered anyone who got hit like this and wasn’t in pain?”

His tone was quite brash, and Cheng Boyan shot him a glance but remained silent.

The calf was already swollen, clearly a fresh injury, and it looked serious enough that he might need to be hospitalized. Cheng Boyan reached out to press and confirm, but as soon as he touched the skin on the man’s leg, the guy slapped his hand away.

“Brother,” he frowned, “it hurts a lot.”

Cheng Boyan stared into his eyes for a few seconds, then stood up. “What’s your name? We need to get an X-ray.”

“Zhan Hongtu,” the man replied, smiling slightly as he said his name. “Zhan as in ‘great ambition.’ ” (NT: 展 (Zhan) unfold, 宏图 (Hongtu): grand plan)

Upon hearing it was a fracture, and a serious one at that, the others around began to shout, gathering around the man and starting to yell again. The man checked his watch and asked Cheng Boyan, “Doctor, how long is this going to take?”

“About an hour, more or less, depending on the severity of the fracture.” Cheng Boyan took out his phone, preparing to call the radiology department to see if they could get it done right away.

The shouting from the side was really annoying, so he stepped into the nearby hallway to make the call.

After finishing his call with the radiology department, when he returned to the entrance of the emergency room, Cheng Boyan noticed it had quieted down quite a bit. The man seemed to have left, and only the three young men remained by the chairs.

One of them was holding a stack of cash.

Did they pay up?

“Go pay for the fee on the second floor, the X-ray department is over there,” Cheng Boyan instructed without asking further. “Once the examination is done, a doctor on duty will take care of you.”

“Thank you, Dr. Cheng,” the boy named Zhan Hongtu said, looking at him.

“Hmm?” Cheng Boyan was taken aback for a moment.

“Didn’t the emergency doctor just call you Xiao Cheng?”

“Oh, right,” Cheng Boyan replied. “You’re welcome.”

When Cheng Boyan got home, he was quite hungry, but he didn’t feel like eating. The thought of having to eat food he’d cooked himself made him feel a mix of anger and sadness, completely killing his appetite.

He changed his clothes, leaned back on the sofa, and closed his eyes, contemplating whether to order takeout.

Just as he closed his eyes, he heard two pairs of parrots on the balcony across the way call out in a nearly frantic manner.

“Ugh…” He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

The buildings were too close together, and the sound of those birds quarrelling hoarsely made it feel like he was in a noisy market. Cheng Boyan reluctantly opened his eyes, furrowing his brow as he tried to compose himself. He closed his eyes again, took a few deep breaths to control his emotions, and managed to suppress the impulse to grab a slingshot and shoot the birds down.

These two pairs of parrots had been brought back last month. Since they were all blue, they looked more attractive than the usual yellow and green ones he often saw. Cheng Boyan had actually taken an interest in them and watched for a while from the window, quietly naming them Big Blue, Little Blue, Second Blue, and Third Blue. (NT: it is common in Chinese culture to refer to animals by their colours, particularly when giving them names or nicknames)

Now that he thought about it, he realized how naïve he had been. All he wanted to call them now was Big Splash, Second Splash, Third Splash, and Fourth Splash.

Finally, he went inside, turned on the treadmill, put on his headphones, turned up the music, and started running.

Forget it, no food.

*

“Ready to head back?” Mantou asked as he supported Xiang Xi, looking around for a tricycle.

“Yeah,” Xiang Xi replied with a frown.

“We’ve already come across several of them today, and that last one was a big one. You might as well get treated,” Mantou glanced down at his leg. “Don’t drag it out like I did…”

“Shut up, you’re just a nuisance,” Xiang Xi shot him a look.

“Huh?” Mantou blinked in surprise.

“You have such a dark mouth,” Xiang Xi bounced in place. “Tonight’s luck seems okay; let’s see how it goes tomorrow. Otherwise, Uncle Ping won’t let me off the hook.”

Mantou didn’t say anything. After a long silence, he sighed.

Xiang Xi had never done this kind of thing before, but Mantou had actually been quite good at it in the past. As a disabled person, he would fall to the ground and shout while kicking with his bad leg, and most of the unfortunate victims would just pay him off to avoid trouble.

Xiang Xi had always looked down on such behaviour. This time, he was just being pushed into a corner by Uncle Ping. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered those two “partners” who he usually found annoying for two whole days just to appease Uncle Ping; otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to celebrate the New Year.

“Hey, I was worried about what that doctor would say. With our injuries, if they find out, we won't even be able to run away properly,” Mantou remarked.

“Who cares,” Xiang Xi replied, tugging at his collar, “Cheng Boyan, huh.”

Mantou turned his head and spotted a tricycle emerging from the alley across the street. He immediately jumped up and shouted, “Hey! Buddy! Come over here!”

The tricycle slowed down for a moment before speeding off again.

“What the hell! What kind of service is that?” Mantou was quite displeased.

“Are you really in that much of a hurry?” Xiang Xi asked, leaning against a nearby tree.

“Aren’t you going back? It’s freezing cold! I just said we should share a ride, and you didn’t want to,” Mantou sighed.

“What are you in such a rush to go back for?” Xiang Xi looked up at the sky, noticing a few tiny snowflakes falling. “With how miserable things are right now, why are you in such a hurry? What’s ahead?”

“Huh?” Mantou didn’t understand what he was saying.

“Erpan is waiting for you up ahead,” Xiang Xi laughed.

“Damn it!” Mantou shouted, clearly annoyed.

 

Translator : DarNan