“Unless what?”
“Unless Old Kang gave us false information.”
At once, the light in Xue Bao Tian’s eyes dimmed. Distracted, he took his cigarette back from Yan Ye’s hand. He raised it to his lips, then lowered it again, thinking as he spoke. “Kang De has no conflict of interest with you. He has no reason to lie.”
Yan Ye picked up the leftover bamboo-tube rice Xue Bao Tian had abandoned and finished it in a few bites. After throwing away both bamboo tubes, he returned and squeezed into the space beside Xue Bao Tian.
“Kang De’s boss is very close to Sheng Yu.”
That single sentence carried far too much information. Xue Bao Tian might be a literary illiterate, but his mind was sharp. Turning his head, he met Yan Ye’s deep gaze. “You mean we’ve been dancing to someone else’s tune this whole trip? Sheng Yu may have set us up?”
Yan Ye took hold of Xue Bao Tian’s hand and, as naturally as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world, pinched out the cigarette between his fingers. “Because of Sheng Yu’s connection here, I already had my doubts when I got the information. But it was the only lead we had on Wei Hua, so we had to come and test it.”
Xue Bao Tian raised his hand to take another drag, only to realize the cigarette was already dead. “You motherf—” Grabbing Yan Ye’s hand, he pressed the still-warm cigarette butt into his palm. “How do we determine whether Kang De’s information is real or fake?”
Yan Ye closed his hand around the cigarette butt and smiled at him. There was a depth in his eyes completely at odds with his age. “We test him.”
Taking out his phone, he began typing a message. “Even though I don’t hold any real power, I’m still carrying the title of Yanyue’s General Manager. For the past few days, the owner of the security company here has been trying to invite me to dinner. Today, I’ll give him his chance.” After sending the message, Yan Ye looked up at Xue Bao Tian. “Since this involves Sheng Yu, he’ll be wary of me. This time, I’m afraid Master Xue will have to do a solo performance.”
Xue Bao Tian’s eyes turned cold as he gazed at the mountain shadows looming overhead like some massive beast. “Then let’s see what we can uncover.”
⸻
After listening to mountain songs and watching a waist-drum performance, Xue Bao Tian sat in a bamboo chair and watched Yan Ye get his foot caught between the bamboo poles yet again.
“Fuck.” He cursed under his breath. “And you call yourself first place in annual assessments? At this level, you wouldn’t even make the rankings at a disabled sports meet.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a broad, muscular figure advancing from the side like a moving wall. Xue Bao Tian turned his head and curved his lips into a smile.
“General Manager Zhao.”
The newcomer was the owner of Dianquan Security. Dark-skinned, ugly, and built like a bull, he had a scar that split his left eyebrow in two. His face always looked as though someone had either stolen his wife or dug up his ancestors.
Oddly enough, he had a rather refreshing name.
Zhao Xiao Quan.
“Brother Xue, not going up there to try the bamboo dance?”
When Zhao Xiao Quan smiled, he somehow became even uglier. His yellow teeth were packed together like rows of corn kernels.
“I’ll leave that kind of excitement to young people.” Xue Bao Tian glanced at Yan Ye, who cast him a dark look before promptly getting his foot caught again. Pointing toward him, Xue Bao Tian joked, “General Manager Zhao, did you tell the girls to target Yan Ye on purpose? Planning to keep him here as a son-in-law?”
“That wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Zhao Xiao Quan laughed. “Though Brother Xue looks even younger and more handsome than General Manager Yan. If both of you stayed, the girls in this village would fight each other bloody.”
Raising his bamboo cup of rice wine, he grinned. “Brother Xue, shall we drink?”
Xue Bao Tian lifted his own bamboo cup. “To you, General Manager Zhao.”
“Ah, that’s not how we drink here.” Zhao Xiao Quan pressed a finger against Xue Bao Tian’s cup before it reached his lips. Then he poured some of his own rice wine into it and lowered his cup. “Give me some of yours too. Village rules. Good brothers drink this way.”
Looking at that mouthful of corn-kernel teeth, Xue Bao Tian felt like cursing the heavens. His expression darkened visibly, and the profanity was already gathering at the tip of his tongue.
“So hot. Got any water?”
At some point Yan Ye had come down from the dance. Still glistening faintly with sweat, he grabbed Xue Bao Tian’s cup. “Wine works too. Just need something to quench my thirst.”
The bamboo cup, cut at an angle, looked small in his large hand. Bamboo fragrance and wine mingled as he drank. The sharp line of his throat bobbed as he swallowed, and Xue Bao Tian frowned while watching him drain every last drop of rice wine from the cup.
Setting it down, Yan Ye smiled gently. “What are you talking about?”
Xue Bao Tian crossed one leg over the other and lazily lifted his eyelids. “We were arranging your future marriage into the village.”
Zhao Xiao Quan chuckled along, though at the same time he subtly signaled to a few girls. Understanding immediately, they began singing and dancing as they dragged Yan Ye back toward the bonfire.
⸻
From a silver box on the table, Zhao Xiao Quan pulled out a sheet of rolling paper. Spreading it across his enormous palm, he pinched some tobacco leaves from a basket and distributed them evenly along the paper. After moistening one edge with his tongue, he rolled it neatly into a cigarette.
“Want one? Fresh leaves from this year’s harvest. Top quality.”
He held it out.
Xue Bao Tian forced a smile through gritted teeth. “Too strong for me.”
Nodding, Zhao Xiao Quan lit the cigarette with a match, took two deep drags, then squinted through the pungent smoke. “You’re looking for someone, Brother Xue?”
Yan Ye had confiscated his cigarettes several times over the past few days. Now, when Xue Bao Tian checked his pack, it was empty. Cursing inwardly, he took a sip of Pu’er tea.
“Mm. Looking for someone. Since this is your territory, General Manager Zhao, I’m counting on you to help a brother out.”
“Naturally. Who are you looking for? An enemy or a relative?”
A flicker passed through Xue Bao Tian’s eyes. “Sheng Yu didn’t tell you who I’m looking for?”
“No.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Zhao Xiao Quan realized his mistake and awkwardly tried to correct himself. “What does that have to do with Sheng Yu?”
Xue Bao Tian lowered his gaze. “Nothing.” There was a trace of carefully concealed resentment in his voice. “The person I’m looking for is a fraudster. He emptied out everything I had.”
Pulling out his phone, he searched up a news report and held it in front of Zhao Xiao Quan. “This bastard.”
Zhao Xiao Quan read the article from beginning to end. When he looked up again, his expression had changed.
“Vice President Xue, that’s a big fish you’re hunting.”
The shift from “Brother Xue” to “Vice President Xue” was immediate. Xue Bao Tian’s presence seemed to rise with it.
Resting an elbow on the table, he curved his lips into a faint smile. There was scrutiny hidden in his deep gaze. “A very big fish. If General Manager Zhao catches him for me, I’ll give you thirty percent.”
Zhao Xiao Quan looked again at the amount involved in the case and stared in disbelief.
“Thirty percent?”
Xue Bao Tian’s gaze hardened. “Mm. Thirty percent. Whoever helps me catch Wei Hua gets thirty percent.”
Zhao Xiao Quan glanced toward Yan Ye, who was still awkwardly stumbling through the dance steps around the bonfire.
“So General Manager Yan came for that thirty percent too?”
Xue Bao Tian let out a disdainful laugh. “What else? Did you think he’d abandon his company and travel all this way with me for fun? His cousin Sheng Yu thinks he outmaneuvered Yan Ye, but he doesn’t realize Yan Ye is playing a much bigger game.”
“You know about Sheng Yu… doing that?”
Zhao Xiao Quan sounded genuinely surprised.
One finger hooked lazily against Xue Bao Tian’s thigh.
“Yan Ye told me about it as a joke.”
Zhao Xiao Quan glanced at Yan Ye again. “So Yan Ye knows Sheng Yu stole that huge contract from him.”
A stolen contract?
Xue Bao Tian’s mind raced, but he kept his expression dismissive.
“Can it really be bigger than mine? Sheng Yu’s vision only goes so far.”
“The Sheng Xing contract. Personal bodyguard for the new president of Sheng Xing Trading. The money isn’t even the important part. It’s the reputation within the industry.”
A shock went through Xue Bao Tian, but none of it showed on his face.
“Mm, I know. Sheng Xing. The largest trading company in North China. But no matter how big the company is, Yan Ye would still just be a bodyguard there. Helping me find someone is far more worthwhile. If we find him, the reward is real cash.”
Light flickered in Zhao Xiao Quan’s eyes. After a long pause, his large head leaned closer.
“If I help you catch him, I really get thirty percent?”
“Mm.”
“Words alone aren’t enough.”
He grinned.
“We’ll need to sign a contract.”
Xue Bao Tian glanced at the self-extinguished hand-rolled cigarette between Zhao Xiao Quan’s fingers and said, “That’s fine, but I’m worried Old Kang might have mistaken the person. We could go through all this trouble only to find out it was a waste of effort.”
As he spoke, Xue Bao Tian watched Zhao Xiao Quan closely, not letting a single subtle change in expression escape him, hoping to judge whether the information about Wei Hua was genuine.
But Zhao Xiao Quan was searching the crowd instead.
“Where’s Kang De?”
Xue Bao Tian followed his gaze. His eyebrows twitched.
Yan Ye was gone too.
⸻
Deep within the bamboo forest, layers of green leaves rose like waves, merging with the night to conceal the stilted two-story building among them.
Xue Bao Tian leaned against the window, smoking. Half his body hung out of the bamboo frame as he gritted his teeth against the unbearable jolting.
“Fuck,” he cursed, his breathing slightly uneven. “You really aren’t afraid someone might see us…”
The tall man slowed his movements and pressed closer from behind. He kissed Xue Bao Tian’s temple, his low, husky voice dissolving into the night.
“Relax. I checked the surroundings. No one’s here.”
The breeze stirred the bamboo grove. Wind brushed upward along the bamboo stalks, occasionally applying pressure at the joints. The tall bamboo swayed, its leaves rustling softly.
The cigarette in Xue Bao Tian’s hand was nearly crushed out of shape. Taking a deep breath, he asked, “What did you do to Old Kang? Beat him up?”
Yan Ye chuckled.
“Nothing that serious. I just offered him something and he talked.”
His hand slipped beneath the loose fabric, peeling back the outer layers of a tender bamboo shoot and kneading the soft core within.
The shoot was fresh—small, but delicious. Just the right size to fit comfortably in hand.
Yan Ye’s grip was heavy. Xue Bao Tian hissed softly and reached down to stop him, only to be seized and pressed firmly against the bamboo shoot instead.
“Master Xue, want to hear the rest?”
Already annoyed, Xue Bao Tian bit down on his cigarette and muttered around it, “Then spit it out.”
“Tell me if it’s soft.”
“You motherf—!”
Yan Ye laughed.
“I’m talking.”
His hands continued working over the overlapping bamboo leaves while the bamboo branches swayed in the wind. Multitasking with ease, he explained:
“Old Kang said that six days ago, he really did see a man who looked very much like Wei Hua at one of the intermediaries. But he only caught a glimpse of part of the man’s profile through a crack in the door, so he couldn’t be certain it was Wei Hua. After he got back to the company, he accidentally mentioned it in front of Zhao Xiao Quan. Zhao Xiao Quan has a good relationship with Sheng Yu, so he passed the information along. Everything after that is what you already uncovered. Sheng Yu used that uncertain lead to lure me away.”
“Your cousin really knows how to scheme.” Xue Bao Tian shifted slightly in Yan Ye’s arms. “He lured you away, stole your contract, and I’m willing to bet he’s also painting you as some selfish bastard who puts personal interests ahead of the company. It’ll be a lot harder for you to win support after this.”
“But isn’t he worried we might actually catch Wei Hua?”
“Old Kang only saw him once and wasn’t sure. Sheng Yu is betting that he was mistaken.”
Yan Ye lowered his head, his voice muffled.
“None of that is important. What matters is that Old Kang’s information wasn’t fake. Even if it might not be Wei Hua, at least we finally have a lead.”
Xue Bao Tian shoved his head away.
“Not important? Sheng Yu is practically shitting on your head.”
Yan Ye frowned and tried to kiss him.
“Master Xue, be civilized. That sounds awful.”
Xue Bao Tian turned his head and avoided the kiss, looking as though he wished he could knock some sense into him.
“At this rate, you should stop calling yourself Yan Ye or Zhang Chi or whatever. Call yourself Tranquility Tonic instead. One bottle and your period stops permanently.”
Yan Ye laughed helplessly and held him closer.
“Then I’ll have to ask Master Xue to get revenge for me someday.”
His voice lowered.
“Now that we’ve finished talking business, let’s move on to the main event.”
“Don’t fucking use your—”
The wind grew stronger, sweeping through the bamboo grove in rolling green waves. At first the bamboo merely swayed, then danced, but in the end even it could not withstand the gale. No matter how unwilling, it could only rise and fall with the force.
The bamboo bent deeply. The motion grew wider and wider. Yet because bamboo was resilient and flexible, it only inspired a greater desire to bend it further—to push it until it broke.
Lifting his head against the raging wind, Xue Bao Tian suddenly felt as though his heart—that seemingly full but actually empty, cold, lonely heart—had been burned by something warm.
Someone was carefully cradling him in their hands.
Someone was gently calling him,
“Baby.”
For the first time, he didn’t curse at the nickname.
Instead, he hooked an arm around Yan Ye’s neck and pulled him closer.
“Zhang Chi.”
He only called him that in bed.
“Kiss me.”
“If you do it well enough…” Master Xue drawled lazily, “I’ll teach you something else.”
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