The cicadas this year were just a bit too loud.
Jiang Chu propped his legs up on the desk, covered his face with a magazine, and leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, half-dozing.
This was his daily midday routine. Usually, once he had his legs up, he could snooze for a good half hour. Today, things weren’t going so smoothly.
He couldn’t really tell if he’d fallen asleep or not, but the sound of cicadas just wouldn’t leave his ears.
And it was getting louder, like a broken tractor, shifting from “Cicada—Cicada—” straight into “Chu’er—Chu’er—” buzzing away.
“…Chu’er, shit, Jiang Chu?” Da Ben called him a few times from the side. When he got no response, he couldn’t take it anymore. He kicked his rolling chair over and yanked on the thermos he’d just filled, banging it on the desk. “Did you die in your sleep or what?”
Jiang Chu’s consciousness was still floating. Da Ben’s sudden shout scared him so bad he almost didn’t come back up.
His eyes snapped open. He took a couple of seconds to adjust, then raised a hand to wipe the magazine off his face. Frowning, he squinted at Da Ben’s fat face and finally managed to focus. “What’s up?”
“Your phone’s been buzzing for ages, can’t you hear it?” Da Ben snapped his fingers twice in front of Jiang Chu’s face. “Still spacing out? Wake up, man! What were you up to last night? You look dead.”
“Piss off.” Jiang Chu rubbed the back of his neck and sat up straighter. He felt like he’d pinched a nerve.
He grabbed his phone, which had vibrated all the way to the edge of the desk. Jiang Liantian’s number. The three missed calls before this one were all from him too.
Just as he was about to answer, this one hung up too.
Jiang Chu didn’t bother. He tossed the phone back on the desk, grabbed Da Ben’s thermos, unscrewed the lid, and blew on it. “Hot water with lemon? Aren’t you clever.”
“There’s two jujubes at the bottom too. Who’s the persistent caller?” Da Ben rolled his chair over to the bookshelf. “Hey, where’d that book with the color charts go from last time? What are we having for lunch?”
“They’re all there. Look yourself.” Jiang Chu screwed the lid back on, grabbed his own cup, and got up to leave. “Same takeout as yesterday. It’s my dad.”
His conversations with Da Ben always went like this. One asked non-stop questions, the other answered them out of order. They talked like they were playing Chinese checkers; sometimes, even Da Ben’s girlfriend couldn’t follow along.
“Your dad’s calling you for something? Is Fish-fragrant Shredded Pork okay?” Da Ben was still shouting from the other room.
“Whatever.” Jiang Chu said.
As for what Jiang Liantian could possibly want from him, Jiang Chu didn’t bother to guess and couldn’t be bothered to care. He had zero interest. As far as their father-son relationship went, if there was enthusiasm, there was usually trouble.
The last time Jiang Liantian called him this persistently was when he wanted Jiang Chu to help organize his wedding with Qin Shuman.
Jiang Chu had almost laughed at that. “My mom’s still alive, you know.”
Jiang Liantian had shot back immediately, “And your old man’s still breathing too, isn’t he? I didn’t stop you when you helped your mom with her wedding. Since when do you have to treat your dad and your mom differently?”
The time before that, he’d asked Jiang Chu to design a logo for Qin Shuman’s salon. He’d even emphasized, “Originally we were going with someone else, but your Aunt Qin specifically said, ‘Let Little Chu do it. Why pay a stranger when we can keep it in the family?’ Make sure it looks decent.”
Jiang Chu let these words go in one ear and out the other. But he never argued with money. He took the design job and immediately passed it on to Tang Cai, an intern, letting the young girl use it for practice.
Standing by the water cooler and downing a cup, Jiang Chu felt his pockets. He decided to go out into the yard for a smoke to wake himself up.
Tang Cai was at her desk, looking downcast and dazed. When she saw him pass by, she called out in a tearful voice, “Brother Chu.”
“What’s wrong?” Jiang Chu stopped and glanced at her computer.
“I can’t deal with this tea can company anymore. I’ve changed the design twelve times now. I just sent the latest one, and they want another change. I’m going crazy.” Tang Cai’s tears started falling. She raised her arm and wiped her face hard. “Just dock my pay. I’m done.”
“And here I thought it was something serious. You’re acting like a martyr, all dramatic.” Jiang Chu chuckled. “Alright, got it. Da Ben’s ordering food. Go tell him to get you a milk tea.”
“Thanks, Brother Chu!” Tang Cai’s face lit up immediately. As she grinned, a snot bubble popped out.
Jiang Chu went back into the room. Da Ben tossed him his phone. “It’s ringing again.”
Jiang Liantian again.
Jiang Chu had just stepped one foot in. He caught the phone, turned around, and stepped right back out. “What’s up?”
“Your own father calls you, and it’s gotta be something?” Jiang Liantian chuckled.
“Nothing? Then I’m hanging up. I’m busy.” Jiang Chu bit another cigarette.
“Hold on,” Jiang Liantian muttered something to someone else on his end, then continued, “A crappy little design company and you act like you’re running the world. Remember, your old man’s the one who fronted the money to get it started.”
“Is there a point or not?” The cicadas were starting to annoy Jiang Chu.
“Yeah, here it is.” Jiang Liantian finally finished his preamble. “In about… half an hour, go to the train station and pick someone up for your dad.”
“Who?” Jiang Chu glanced at the time in the office.
“Your Aunt Qin’s son,” Jiang Liantian paused, “from her ex-husband.”
Sometimes, Jiang Chu couldn’t understand how his dad could truly believe that “once you marry in, we’re family.”
“Her son from her ex-husband,” Jiang Chu repeated. “I won’t even ask what that has to do with you, but what does it have to do with me?”
There were sounds of movement on Jiang Liantian’s end. He must have stepped away from Qin Shuman. When he spoke again, his tone was much more casual.
“I know it’s got nothing to do with you. If I could get away, would I be calling you?” Jiang Liantian quickly gave a location. “Your Aunt Qin and I are heading back now. It’ll be at least an hour. His dad passed away two months ago. Just pick him up first. We can’t let the kid show up and have no one there for him.”
Passed away?
Jiang Chu kicked a pebble out from under his foot. He had no choice. “Fine. After I pick him up, just send him straight to your place?”
“About that… Your Aunt Qin isn’t ready yet.” Jiang Liantian didn’t answer directly. He was silent for a moment before continuing. “I’ll book a restaurant. We’ll head there directly from our end. You take him there and wait.”
“A mother can’t even prepare to meet her own son?” Da Ben had been waiting for Jiang Chu to come back in before peppering him with questions. As he listened, he sighed in amazement. “Her ex-husband’s only been dead for two months… Looks like this stepson isn’t exactly welcome?”
“Don’t know.” Jiang Chu hadn’t asked Jiang Liantian for more details, and he couldn’t be bothered to find out.
He checked the time. He sorted out the work in front of him, telling Da Ben to handle what he could today and leave the rest. With that, he grabbed his car keys and left to pick up the kid.
“Food’s here! You gonna eat before you go?” Da Ben shouted after him.
Eat, my ass.
“You eat it all.” The moment Jiang Chu stepped outside, it felt like the skin on his face was melting in the heat. He waved his hand without looking back.
From Jiang Chu’s crappy little design company to the train station took twenty minutes.
Assuming no traffic.
Jiang Chu even made sure to confirm with Jiang Liantian whether it was the regular train station or the bullet train station.
He vaguely remembered that Qin Shuman’s hometown was in some small county. It would take five hours to get here by bullet train. The regular train would take at least double that.
Jiang Liantian sent him a string of train numbers. Jiang Chu checked. It was indeed a regular train, one that had left at eleven the night before.
“Send me his phone number.” Jiang Chu sent Jiang Liantian a voice message.
He figured the kid probably hadn’t told his mom he was coming. Otherwise, why would he make him squeeze onto an overnight train?
Jiang Chu was almost there when Jiang Liantian finally replied.
It wasn’t a phone number. It was a photo.
Jiang Chu opened the photo and just felt speechless. The kid couldn’t have been more than eight years old. Not a day older.
Skinny. Two black eyes staring straight into the lens. He probably didn’t like having his picture taken. His lips were pressed tight, his gaze full of stubborn defiance. A feral little thing.
A kid like that, when he grew up, he’d either be a bookworm or a troublemaker.
Jiang Chu was thinking, At that age, they let him ride the train alone? when Jiang Liantian followed up with another voice message. “He contacted your Aunt Qin yesterday by payphone. We don’t actually have his cell number. This is the only photo we could find on short notice. It’s from when he was a kid. Use it as a reference. As for how old he is now… almost seventeen.”
Jiang Chu almost laughed out loud.
He tossed his phone into the cup holder. WeChat auto-played the next voice message from Jiang Liantian. “His name is Qin Zui. Two characters. Qin, like your Aunt Qin. Qin Zui, like the word for ‘best’.”
When Jiang Chu parked the car and went to wait in front of the exit gate, the station broadcast was just announcing the arrival of Qin Zui’s train.
He’d originally thought it would be simple. He’d just look for a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy traveling alone, someone with a suitcase, looking lost and searching for someone. That had to be Qin Zui.
But the moment the first wave of people poured out of the exit gate, Jiang Chu immediately realized he’d thought too simple.
There were way too many damn people.
There were plenty of sixteen or seventeen-year-old boys, but they all moved quickly, in a hurry.
He finally locked eyes with one of them. Before Jiang Chu could say a word, the kid impatiently waved him off, saying, “Don’t need a hotel, already called a cab,” and slipped away along the wall like he was avoiding a pest.
After waiting stupidly for twenty minutes like that, Jiang Chu started to get pissed.
Jiang Liantian was a real genius. No phone, never met the kid, and he sends Jiang Chu to the train station to pick him up with just a crappy photo from when he was eight and a stupid name.
What pissed him off even more was that he’d actually come.
Qin Zui probably didn’t even know someone was coming to pick him up.
The August noon sun was blindingly hot. Jiang Chu leaned against the railing at the exit gate, impatiently spinning his phone in his hand. He decided to give it five more minutes, max.
If the kid showed up, great. If not, screw it. He was done.
After five minutes, he turned around. A pair of dusty flip-flops came to a stop right in front of him.
Looking up from the flip-flops, there was a pair of red sweatpants with two white stripes on each side, a knockoff T-shirt where “Adidas” had become “Ada,” a migrant worker bag strapped so tight it cut into one shoulder, and a pair of cold, sharp black eyes. Half a blade of grass was tangled in his messy hair.
The kid probably thought he was blocking Jiang Chu’s way. He stared back for a moment, then tugged at his bag strap, looked down, and started to move around him.
“Qin Zui?” A sudden, inexplicable intuition hit Jiang Chu. This was him. The kid he was supposed to pick up.
The boy didn’t slip away like the last one. He turned his head at the sound of his name.
Bingo.
Jiang Chu breathed a sigh of relief. The age was about right.
Then he couldn’t help raising an eyebrow. Damn, this kid looks like a stray dog.
The stray dog, Qin Zui, pressed his lips together in a wary, almost imperceptible gesture. He stared at Jiang Chu, then let out a flat “Mm.”
“I’m your… brother.” Jiang Chu held his gaze for a moment, then just nodded, at a loss for words. “Let’s go. My dad and your mom are waiting at a restaurant.”
He had already walked two meters away when he looked back. Qin Zui hadn’t followed him at all. He was still standing there, frowning slightly as he sized Jiang Chu up, looking like he was one second away from pulling out his phone and calling the cops.
Jiang Chu cursed under his breath. Perfect.
“Pretty good anti-kidnapping instincts.” He was really getting tired of being roasted alive. He let out an irritated laugh and walked back to stand in front of Qin Zui. “Your mom is Qin Shuman. My dad is Jiang Liantian. They’re remarried. Your biological dad passed away two months ago. You called your mom yesterday before you got on the train. My dad called me an hour ago to come pick you up. This is your baby picture.”
He rattled it all off in one breath, then shoved his phone in Qin Zui’s face.
“Can you come with me now?” Jiang Chu stared at him.
Qin Zui looked at the picture on the phone. His black eyes narrowed slightly. He glanced at Jiang Chu again. The look was still that of a stray dog, but he didn’t ask anything else. He just tugged at his backpack strap and followed.
When Jiang Chu turned his head again, he saw a ring of dried sweat stains on the back of Qin Zui’s black T-shirt.
