When Song Yi pushed the door open to enter the restroom, Cheng Boyan was standing at the sink, concentrating on washing his hands with soap, and he didn’t notice Xiang Xi.

“Calling me to watch you wash your hands?” Song Yi looked around the restroom and saw that one of the stalls was closed.

“That supermarket,” Cheng Boyan looked at him, “are you still short on staff?”

“Yes,” Song Yi immediately said, “we are.”

“What positions? Any requirements?” Cheng Boyan asked, glancing at the closed stall.

“Anything but cashiering, just be able to talk,” Song Yi said, understanding what Cheng Boyan meant.

“I can’t do cashiering,” Xiang Xi’s voice came from inside the stall.

“You can start there first,” Song Yi said with a smile. “Cashiering isn’t hard; it’s just a few items. If you really learn, you’ll pick it up in a few days.”

“I’m not starting there,” Xiang Xi said.

“Then, aside from cashiering, we’ll assign you another position,” Cheng Boyan said while rubbing his hands, discussing it with him. “Just don’t make him write anything.”

“Okay,” Song Yi said, then leaned close to Cheng Boyan and whispered, “This kid… is he the one from Fengbo Zhuang?”

Cheng Boyan glanced at him, said nothing, and nodded.

Song Yi leaned on the sink and laughed. Cheng Boyan looked at him: “Not bothered by the dirt?”

“Nope,” Song Yi laughed, then walked to the stall door and knocked, “Boyan has my number. Call me when you come over, and we can talk about the details then.”

“Mm,” Xiang Xi replied from inside. “Thank you.”

After Song Yi left, Xiang Xi opened the door and came out of the stall, his eyes still a bit red, and the tip of his nose red too. He looked in the mirror: “What to do now…”

“Go get some air in the hallway before going back in,” Cheng Boyan said, splashing some water on his hands.

“I’ll wash my face,” Xiang Xi turned on the water and splashed it roughly on his face.

The splashing water sprayed onto Cheng Boyan’s pants, and he moved aside: “Washing your face is like going to battle.”

“I’m not going to say thanks again,” Xiang Xi turned off the water and shook his head hard. “A great favour needs no thanks.” (NT: acknowledging kindness while implying it’s beyond what words can express)

“You even know that phrase?” Cheng Boyan laughed.

“Mm, a fake blind guy taught me. Among the people I used to know, he was pretty cultured,” Xiang Xi wiped his face, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled. “Can I manage at the supermarket? I don’t know anything.”

“Song Boss said it—just be able to talk,” Cheng Boyan said.

“I’m not dumb,” Xiang Xi smiled, “what he said was meant for me to hear.”

“Yeah, you’re not dumb. Just learn what you don’t understand. That’s the benefit of knowing someone,” Cheng Boyan patted his shoulder. “Go ahead, say yes.”

“Thanks for the trouble,” Xiang Xi said as he walked toward the restroom door, rubbing his nose. “Messing around in the bathroom for so long.”

“Crying it out is fine,” Cheng Boyan said.

Cheng Boyan’s birthday gathering moved through three places: eating, having tea, and singing.

Xiang Xi originally wanted to leave after the meal, but then thought better of it. On Cheng Boyan’s birthday, he had already cried a bit, and having Cheng Boyan, such a hygiene-conscious birthday boy, climb over the toilet and knock on doors in the restroom—it wouldn’t do to spoil the mood.

Anyway, Cheng Boyan’s friends made it clear in just one meal that they were all easy to get along with. Even if he couldn’t join the conversation, listening on the side wasn’t uncomfortable.

No one gave him any strange looks for being “a worker from Shaxian.”

Cheng Boyan’s friends were all like him—good people.

Just singing was a bit scary.

Gathering a bunch of off-key, rough-voiced friends like this wasn’t easy.

“My voice at 15…” Song Yi shouted a song into the microphone, straining his voice, then sat on the sofa coughing for a long time.

“Voice change period,” Cheng Boyan said seriously, “take care of it.”

“Mm, not singing anymore,” Song Yi laughed. “Xiang Xi, what do you want to sing? I’ll pick it for you.”

“I… won’t sing,” Xiang Xi shrank into the sofa. Even with only these people in the room, being the centre of attention made him uneasy. “I’ll just listen.”

“Sing,” Cheng Boyan said with a smile, “even if they sing like that, they still sing.”

“Why aren’t you singing?” Xiang Xi clicked his tongue.

“You sing one, I’ll sing one,” Cheng Boyan said.

Xiang Xi looked at him, thought for a moment, and had Song Yi pick a song.

“I don’t really know songs, just a few I can sing,” Xiang Xi whispered. “If it’s bad, you… just laugh, anyway, I’ve seen everyone laugh at whoever sings.”

“Yes,” Cheng Boyan laughed. “We even said we should make an album for people feeling down.”

After a few songs, it was Xiang Xi’s turn. He took the microphone from Cheng Boyan, stood up, and lightly cleared his throat.

“Let’s see if Xiang Xi belongs in our camp,” Chen Pang said, clapping.

Xiang Xi smiled. When the music started, he suddenly felt less nervous.

He and Mantou both liked this song. When playing games at the internet café, they’d both wear headphones and loop this song all night.

After the intro, Xiang Xi closed his eyes, suddenly feeling transported back to those days with Mantou.

“I thought I wouldn’t get drunk, falling into this powerless defence…” Xiang Xi stood, head down, lightly tapping his heel to the rhythm on the ground. “Chew up the self-righteous dreams and swallow the humility of this city…”The room fell silent.

Xiang Xi’s voice was clear with a slight metallic edge. When he sang these two lines, it suddenly gave a hollow feeling.

Desolate.

Cheng Boyan leaned back against the sofa, watching the faint patches of light passing over Xiang Xi’s face, and didn’t know why the word suddenly popped into his mind.

“I thought I was flying upward, I forgot I was falling down. You wanted me to close my dangerous mouth and hold tightly onto your safe legs…” After a few lines, Xiang Xi suddenly lifted his head, snapped his fingers, and his voice rose with the music: “Let the heavy rain strike my face, the wind both yin and yang, dangerous yet independent, never following. I have my own direction, why care about a little bit of hurt…”

Walking through the night, I am never afraid. Loneliness lets me hear the words in my heart. On the bumpy road, I bury my youth. I am willing to endure all the justifiable sins…”

Cheng Boyan felt that it had been a long time since he had listened so seriously to someone sing. Of course, this was partly because there weren’t many people around him who could sing well enough to make others want to listen.

But Xiang Xi sang in such a way that the whole room fell silent, quietly listening.

He couldn’t describe the feeling: desolate, lonely, and with a stubborn refusal to bow.

Once Xiang Xi got into the song, he seemed lost in his own world, not looking at anyone, not at the screen, just letting his eyes fall on the light on the floor in front of him.

“The empty wine bottle leaks my bottom. The later the night, the stronger… I can do anything. Lend me your courage, don’t just talk about it. I now knowingly head toward the tiger mountain even though there’s a tiger!”

This rap section Xiang Xi enunciated very clearly. Cheng Boyan watched his profile, and only after the song ended did he look away.

“Good!” After the music stopped, Chen Pang was the first to cheer. After he shouted, everyone else in the room followed, and applause filled the space.

“Unexpected,” Lin He clapped. “Xiang Xi’s singing is really surprising.”

“Thank you,” Xiang Xi rubbed his nose, put the microphone down, and sat back on the sofa.

“Xiang Xi,” Song Yi leaned over past Cheng Boyan, “your voice… anywhere you go to sing, it would…”

“A bar singer?” Cheng Boyan said.

“Mm,” Song Yi nodded, then thought for a moment and added, “Never mind, too chaotic.”

Xiang Xi smiled but didn’t respond.

Xiang Xi sang very well, but it didn’t stop the off-key singers from continuing their self-entertainment. Everyone began singing badly again.

“Really good,” Cheng Boyan whispered to Xiang Xi.

“This is the only song I can sing the words right,” Xiang Xi smiled. “Your turn, I sing one, you sing one.”

“I won’t sing,” Cheng Boyan said.

“Why? Playing dirty?” Xiang Xi glared at him.

“I suddenly don’t feel like singing,” Cheng Boyan said, taking a sip of water. He had wanted to sing, but his emotions, stirred by Xiang Xi’s song, made him lose the desire to open his mouth.

“Too scared to sing, huh?” Xiang Xi suddenly laughed.

Cheng Boyan smiled quietly, saying nothing.

Xiang Xi clicked his tongue: “I didn’t expect my song to have this much power, to knock you down like this. They still dare to sing even when they sound terrible. Your singing must be really frightening.”

Xiang Xi really wanted to hear Cheng Boyan sing. He thought Cheng Boyan had a nice voice, and his singing should be good. But Cheng Boyan didn’t sing until everyone had sung enough and left.

“I’ll sing another time,” Cheng Boyan said, walking toward the parking lot.

“Is it bad?” Xiang Xi asked.

“…Not too bad,” Cheng Boyan thought, “just average, compared to them.”

Xiang Xi followed him and laughed for a long time.

Cheng Boyan drove him home, stopping at the intersection. “Which building?”

“Don’t drive in, the roads are too narrow. I’m afraid you won’t get out,” Xiang Xi unfastened his seatbelt. “I’ll get there in two minutes.”

“Call Song Yi tomorrow,” Cheng Boyan took out his phone and found Song Yi’s number. “His supermarket is far from here. Ask him if they can arrange a place to stay.”

“No need. Arranging work and then arranging a place to stay before even starting? Not suitable. I can take the bus. I’ve paid three months’ rent here; if I leave early, the landlord might not refund me,” Xiang Xi noted down Song Yi’s number.

“Is this area safe? I knew the rent was cheap, but I never came here before,” Cheng Boyan looked out. “Only today did I realize it’s this way.”

“Safe. What’s unsafe? All students,” Xiang Xi smiled, opened the car door. “In other people’s eyes, someone like me is the unsafe factor.”

“You look like a safe factor now,” Cheng Boyan said.

“Happy birthday,” Xiang Xi got out, leaned on the car window, and said, “Good night.”

“Good night,” Cheng Boyan smiled.

Xiang Xi returned home, took a shower, and lay in bed for over an hour without falling asleep.

It was quite late. He was tired but inexplicably a little excited, unable to sleep.

The exhaustion after crying and shouting, mixed with the faint hope he now saw and the worry about what he could do at the supermarket, kept his mind in a constant chaotic buzz.

He only drifted into sleep around midnight.

*

Although he didn’t sleep well all night, Xiang Xi woke up early and checked the time. At eight o’clock, he called Song Yi.

“Hello?” The voice on the other end didn’t sound like Song Yi.

“Um…” Xiang Xi hesitated, not knowing whether to call him Song Yi, Boss Song, Brother Song, or something else. He finally called him by name: “Song Yi?”

“He hasn’t gotten up yet,” the voice said. “Who’s this?”

“I’m Xiang Xi.” Xiang Xi suddenly recognized Lin He’s voice and was a little surprised. They really… live together?

“Xiang Xi, I’m your Brother Lin,” Lin He said. “I’ll call him for you.”

“No, no. I’ll call later,” Xiang Xi quickly said.

“No problem, otherwise he’ll sleep all day,” Lin He said, then shouted, “Song Yi! Xiang Xi’s call.”

After contacting Song Yi, Xiang Xi was given the supermarket address and Song Yi told him to go directly there.

Xiang Xi quickly finished washing up, looked at the outfit he wore yesterday, picked it up, and smelled it—still some lingering smell of smoke and alcohol…

But besides this outfit, he had nothing else. It was a formal outfit.

So he put it on and went out.

Following the address Song Yi gave him, Xiang Xi easily found the supermarket, but the moment he saw it, he suddenly didn’t dare to go in.

No one had told him that this supermarket would look relatively upscale. He had always assumed it would be about the same level as the small neighbourhood market downstairs.

The supermarket wasn’t too big, but the interior was nicely decorated, and it didn’t sell vegetables. From the glass window, he could see neatly packaged retail items and drinks, and supermarket staff in uniforms.

Someone honked from behind. Xiang Xi turned his head and saw Song Yi riding an electric scooter behind him.

“Song… Boss, good morning.” Xiang Xi hadn’t expected Song Yi to come on a scooter, and didn’t even know how to greet him properly.

“Let’s go,” Song Yi drove the scooter onto the sidewalk and parked it. “Come in.”

Song Yi had arranged a very simple job for Xiang Xi: mainly shelving items and walking around the store, helping customers find things when needed.

“Not hard, just tiring,” Song Yi said. “You’ll be walking back and forth.”

“Much easier than working in Sha… Sha County,” Xiang Xi smiled. “Thank you.”

“You can start whenever you like. Today, just follow me around to get familiar with the store,” Song Yi said, consulting him.

“Okay, I can start right away,” Xiang Xi nodded immediately.

“Zhang Xin!” Song Yi smiled and called to a woman in her twenties at the cashier counter. She ran over, and Song Yi introduced her to Xiang Xi. “Supervisor, let him follow you and learn first.”

“Okay,” Xiang Xi nodded. Zhang Xin held out her hand, and after a moment of hesitation, Xiang Xi shook it. “I’m Xiang Xi.”

“We’ll take care of the employment registration later,” Song Yi said, taking out a cigarette and lighting it. “First, get him a uniform…”

“No smoking in the store,” Zhang Xin said, looking at him.

“Oh,” Song Yi said with the cigarette in his mouth. “Did I mention that?”

“It’s in the store rules,” Zhang Xin underlined.

“Alright, alright, Xiang Xi, if you have questions, ask Zhang Xin.” Song Yi turned and walked into the back office.

Zhang Xin was a fairly serious young woman. She gave Xiang Xi a uniform. After he changed, she led him around the store twice, showing him which products were in which areas.

“If you have nothing to do, walk around more, check if items are arranged neatly, if any are damaged. When shipments arrive, check and shelve them. Pay attention to these things. Our store isn’t big, only four or five people per shift, so you need to be observant.”

“Mm,” Xiang Xi nodded seriously.

“I’ll tell you about the schedule once it’s ready,” Zhang Xin said, explaining the general scheduling situation. “When the specific schedule is up, you’ll see it on the office board.”

Xiang Xi was relieved he was at least semi-literate; at least he could read the schedule.

After the explanation, Zhang Xin introduced the rest of the shift colleagues and then went to the cashier desk. Xiang Xi wandered around the store on his own.

Every time he passed a glass surface, he would sneak a glance at himself, seeing his reflection in the uniform.

The uniform was a yellow short-sleeved T-shirt and blue athletic pants. It looked neat and proper. Xiang Xi felt he could look at it endlessly, a kind of indescribable satisfaction.

A uniform!

Now he was a person wearing a uniform too!

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help laughing, constantly feeling it was unreal and needing to look down or check the glass to see himself.

Ha! Hahaha!

Song Yi’s supermarket was near some new residential complexes, and business was quite good. There were customers all the time. Xiang Xi paid attention to what other colleagues were doing, memorized the items on the shelves, and observed how others handled things. Standing all morning didn’t feel tiring; he felt bright and happy.

Especially when a female customer urgently needed a toothbrush and asked Xiang Xi for help, he led her to the daily goods aisle. When she said thank you, Xiang Xi almost wanted to jump for joy.

Around noon, Zhang Xin asked what he wanted for lunch and gave him a menu to order from.

Xiang Xi, holding the menu, got a little nervous. He didn’t recognize many words, and with the added nervousness, he couldn’t understand any character except the numbers. Finally, he pointed and said, “This one, 10 yuan.”

“Mm,” Zhang Xin nodded. “Add a fried egg? Or a sausage?”

“Add the sausage, thanks,” Xiang Xi said.

Lunch was eaten in shifts. When Xiang Xi finished in the staff room, he realized he had ordered a pork rib meal. The ribs weren’t great, barely any meat to eat, but luckily he had added the sausage.

After a few bites, he noticed some menus left on the table. He folded one and put it in his pocket, planning to study it at home to see what dishes were available.

After tidying his lunchbox, Xiang Xi left the staff room and happened to run into Song Yi coming out of the office.

“Song…” Xiang Xi looked at him, hesitating because he hadn’t heard how other colleagues called Song Yi.

“Just call me Brother Song, everyone calls me that,” Song Yi smiled. “How’s it going? Tired?”

“No,” Xiang Xi rubbed his nose. “Not tired at all.”

“When the store is quiet, Zhang Xin can teach you how to use the cashier machine,” Song Yi pointed to the counter. “It’s not hard.”

“Okay, thank you, Brother Song,” Xiang Xi said.

After Song Yi left, Xiang Xi continued wandering the store. In the afternoon, it was busier, and he didn’t get a chance to learn the machine from Zhang Xin. When deliveries arrived, he helped colleagues carry goods into the back storage.

A boy about his age was writing in a notebook. His name was Yu Baoquan (NT: litt. protect), which Xiang Xi found interesting and easy to remember.

He leaned over and glanced at the notebook. “Do I need to write down what goods came in?”

“Mm,” Yu Baoquan nodded. “Everything must be recorded. When we put it out on shelves, it also needs to be noted.”

“…Oh.” Xiang Xi looked at the writing.

He suddenly felt panicked.

If he was asked to record it one day, how would he do it?

He probably hadn’t written 200 characters in his entire life.

In the afternoon, when the shift ended, Zhang Xin took advantage of the quiet moment and called the few people from that shift together for a brief summary.

“All right,” Zhang Xin said with a smile. “Thanks for your hard work. Shift’s over, go home and have some food.”

The evening shift colleagues had already arrived. Xiang Xi changed clothes and hung his uniform on the rack in the changing room. If it weren’t for seeing everyone else doing the same, he really would have wanted to take it home to admire it properly.

“Write your name here, on this part,” Yu Baoquan handed him a pen and pointed to the collar of his uniform. “That way it won’t get mixed up.”

“Oh, do I really have to write my name?” Xiang Xi took the pen. He could write his name, but his handwriting was really messy.

“You can just make a mark. I just made a mark too,” Yu Baoquan laughed. “Isn’t your handwriting messy? Mine is too.”

Xiang Xi chuckled and drew two wavy lines on the collar with the pen.

He walked out of the supermarket together with Yu Baoquan, who was riding an electric scooter. Xiang Xi had just waved goodbye when he turned his head and saw Cheng Boyan’s car parked across the street.

His eyes immediately widened, and he ran over quickly, yanking open the car door.

“What are you doing here!” he exclaimed with a smile.

Cheng Boyan looked at the time and smiled. “I’ve been here for almost two hours.”

“Ah?” Xiang Xi was momentarily stunned.

“I had the day off today. Song Yi only told me at noon that you were coming to work. I went out for a bit to buy some groceries and then came here,” Cheng Boyan started the car. “Get in, I’ll treat you to a meal.”

“Where are we going to eat?” Xiang Xi hopped into the car.

“At my place,” Cheng Boyan glanced at him. “Where do you want to eat?”

“Right, eating out isn’t hygienic, not healthy, not good for wellness…” Xiang Xi said with a smile. “Then let’s go to your place and have mixed bean porridge.”

 

Translator : DarNan