Jiang Chu didn’t say a word. He casually grabbed the shirt Qin Zui had draped over the chair the day before, threw it on, and got out of bed to wash up.
“Get the boss to drive us down the mountain,” he said to Qin Zui. “I’m going back with you.”
“No need.” Qin Zui frowned slightly. This was his own business; he didn’t want to cut Jiang Chu’s vacation short.
“Don’t argue.” Jiang Chu ignored him completely and walked out the door.
He went to say goodbye to Da Ben. The bastards had been up until God knows when last night and were all still asleep.
He had to knock several times before Da Ben groggily opened the door. He probably hadn’t even understood why Jiang Chu suddenly needed to go back. Rubbing his sleep-filled eyes, he muttered, “You’re leaving without even having any fun? It’s a long drive. Want me to drive you?”
“Get back to sleep.” Jiang Chu pushed him back inside.
“Your little brother’s friend is here, can’t he just go pick him up himself? Bring him here to hang out for a couple of days, one more person won’t make a difference.” Hua Zi, still lying in bed with his eyes closed, chimed in.
“Yeah,” Da Ben agreed.
“I’ll figure it out later. Don’t worry about it. Just tell the others for me, okay?” Jiang Chu waved them off and turned to find Qin Zui.
They had only brought one bag when they came, so packing up was quick.
Qin Zui had already gone to get the owner. The owner happened to need to drive down the mountain to pick someone up. He chatted with Jiang Chu the whole way, while Qin Zui was glued to his phone.
Once they were in Jiang Chu’s car, he called Liang Xiaojia. His first question was, “Is it far from the train station?”
Liang Xiaojia said a few things on the other end. Qin Zui’s brows furrowed into a tight knot. He pursed his lips slightly and said, “Mm. Send me the name of the place. Stay put.”
“Can’t find his way?” Jiang Chu asked after Qin Zui hung up.
“He’s never been here before,” Qin Zui said.
Which was stating the obvious.
“How come he suddenly showed up?” Jiang Chu asked Qin Zui.
“No idea.” The look on Qin Zui’s face soured at the topic. Liang Xiaojia had sent his location, along with a photo. It was a noodle shop near the train station.
Jiang Chu glanced at him and didn’t push further.
Regardless of why he had come, the kid was already here. Whether it was because Jiang Chu didn’t trust Qin Zui to find him alone or because he was genuinely curious about this Liang Xiaojia, he was already on the road back with Qin Zui anyway.
He wouldn’t get any answers until they actually had the kid in front of them.
They left the farm stay a little after two. It took an hour to drive back into town. By the time they found the shop near the train station, it was exactly 3:30.
Jiang Chu pulled the car over to the curb. Qin Zui answered his phone and got out.
Jiang Chu didn’t follow him. He got out of the car, leaned against the door, and lit a cigarette.
A few minutes later, Qin Zui emerged from the bustling shop, followed by a boy.
Jiang Chu suddenly remembered the day he went to pick up Qin Zui. He recalled the image of Qin Zui’s outfit back then, and now looking at this version of him walking toward him—it was a world of difference. His whole vibe had definitely been elevated at least one tier.
It felt like picking up a chaotic, neglected character in a game, investing time and effort into fixing it up, upgrading all the gear, and shaping the character into something you actually liked. It gave him a strange sense of accomplishment.
Viewing the kid following behind Qin Zui with this satisfied feeling, Jiang Chu almost couldn’t imagine them being on the same wavelength.
White T-shirt, jeans, no luggage except for a sports bag slung diagonally across his body. He was also wearing a baseball cap with a line of small red text printed on it.
Jiang Chu squinted to read it: “Safe Travels, Smooth Journey.”
Alright.
He instantly confirmed this kid had to be Liang Xiaojia.
Wearing a promotional cap from a travel agency out in public. That indescribable half-country-bumpkin vibe was definitely in the same vein as Qin Zui’s “Adidas” outfit when he first arrived.
As they got close, Jiang Chu still didn’t move. He just raised an eyebrow and spoke first. “Got him?”
Qin Zui made a sound of confirmation. He glanced back at Liang Xiaojia and made the introduction. “This is my friend, Liang Xiaojia.”
Then he said to Liang Xiaojia, “This is Jiang Chu.”
Hearing “Jiang Chu” made Jiang Chu’s eyebrow twitch.
Qin Zui usually didn’t call him “brother” anyway, and Jiang Chu had never really cared. But when Qin Zui introduced him without the title, hearing his own name come out of the kid’s mouth felt a bit strange.
Liang Xiaojia was sharp, though. He sized up Jiang Chu and proactively said, “Brother.”
Polite.
Jiang Chu didn’t say anything, just gave him a slight smile.
This Liang Xiaojia, despite his somewhat tacky clothes and hat, looked a bit better up close than Jiang Chu had imagined.
Because of that “Little Brother Qin Zui” and the daily, clingy phone calls, even knowing he was a guy, Jiang Chu had subconsciously been picturing Liang Xiaojia as a girl. A flat-chested, stick-figured kid with short hair.
Seeing him in person, he found he wasn’t that short, around the height of Qin Zui’s eyebrows. But he was thin.
Du Miaomiao was also thin, but it was a healthy kind of thin.
This Liang Xiaojia was too thin. His ankles, visible above his jeans, were like sticks. The sleeves of his T-shirt hung loose around his arms. He looked a bit malnourished.
“Have you eaten?” Jiang Chu stubbed out his cigarette and flicked it into a nearby trash can. He calculated the timing; Liang Xiaojia probably took a similar train to the one Qin Zui had taken, leaving in the middle of the night and arriving around noon. “Get in the car first. Brother will take you guys out for a meal.”
“No need,” Liang Xiaojia stood still. “I already ate some noodles.”
“Then let Qin Zui treat you tonight,” Jiang Chu didn’t insist. “You two little brothers are going to hang out tonight anyway, right? Want me to get you guys a room at a hotel?”
It was a perfectly normal thought process, but as soon as Jiang Chu said the words “get you a room,” he felt an awkward pang. His mind immediately conjured an inappropriate image of Qin Zui and this Liang Xiaojia tangled up together in a hotel room without him. He quickly slammed the brakes on that train of thought.
“Don’t trouble yourself, Brother.” Liang Xiaojia spoke slowly and politely. Jiang Chu really couldn’t imagine what a kid with this kind of personality and Qin Zui could find to talk about endlessly all day.
“I already asked the waitress inside. There are plenty of hostels around here. I can just go get my own room,” Liang Xiaojia continued.
“That doesn’t seem right.” Jiang Chu immediately disapproved.
This was the old train station. The hostels in this area had been the same sketchy quality since he was a kid, and they hadn’t changed in all these years. The environment inside and the clientele were both a mess.
“They’re cheap,” Liang Xiaojia said, offering a faint, thin smile.
Jiang Chu had been planning to book a hotel himself, or send Qin Zui some money to do it. Liang Xiaojia’s blunt “they’re cheap” caught him off guard, making it hard for him to insist.
He could stubbornly book one anyway, but that would be a bit strange—officially, he was the older brother figure on this side, but Qin Zui hadn’t even called him “brother” during the introduction, which made it awkward to go out of his way to take care of this “friend of my brother’s” who had no real connection to him.
And Liang Xiaojia stating “they’re cheap” directly was his own way of protecting what little dignity he had.
Qin Zui clearly didn’t want to waste time on this issue either. He glanced around, spotted a hotel nearby with a decent-looking facade, and started walking straight towards it. “This one will do.”
Jiang Chu followed to take a look. The price was genuinely cheap, but the environment was genuinely terrible.
As soon as they walked in, they were hit with a stuffy, smoky smell, the kind left behind when a room has just been occupied without being aired out. One standard room was smaller than the king-sized bed room at the farm stay. Two small beds were crammed tightly together, the duvet covers were wrinkled, the toilet seat in the bathroom was damp and smelled, and there was a used condom in the trash can.
“No fucking way.” Jiang Chu took one look and walked straight back out. He didn’t care what Liang Xiaojia thought; there was no way he was letting Qin Zui sleep here.
“Either I book you guys a room, or you come stay at the house,” he said, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. “You two figure it out.”
Liang Xiaojia took his bag off his shoulder and set it on the edge of the bed, looking at Qin Zui.
Qin Zui, however, was staring at Jiang Chu, an unreadable expression on his face.
Liang Xiaojia waited for a moment. He opened his mouth to say something when Qin Zui walked past Jiang Chu, casually gripping his bent elbow.
“We’re going home,” Qin Zui said.
