Futile Devices Scans

It was midsummer, and the sunlight was bright. It had rained the night before, leaving the ground lightly damp.

A puddle had collected by the curb, and Lin Yi shifted his feet and squatted somewhere else.

One arm rested on his knee, a dried blade of grass hanging from his mouth. At fifteen or sixteen years old, the buzz-cut youth had narrow eyes, and when his gaze swept outward, pedestrians on the road instinctively walked around him.

Across the street stood a large green dumpster. It was filthy inside and out, and the smell was beyond description.

“You guys still haven’t decided who’s going to get the backpack?” Lin Yi asked, chewing on the grass stem and turning his head.

Several boys stood behind him, all about his age. Their hair was dyed in every imaginable color, and together they could have formed a rainbow.

One of them came over and slung an arm around Lin Yi’s shoulders. “Boss, today is your last day of school. From now on, you’re saying goodbye to that hellhole forever. What do you need a backpack for?”

Another squatted down beside him. “Exactly. The day I dropped out, I sold all my textbooks as scrap and got nine yuan and eighty cents. Added another twenty cents and bought a pack of cigarettes.”

“So that’s why you threw my backpack into the dumpster?” Lin Yi shoved aside the yellow-haired boy beside him. “My wages from yesterday are in that bag. Get it back for me.”

“Huh?” Several brightly colored heads crowded together. “How much is in there, Boss?”

“Two thousand.” Lin Yi named the amount. “I’ve already reserved a restaurant. Go get the backpack back.”

The dumpster on the outskirts of town was rectangular and half a man’s height. It was emptied every three days, and in the height of summer, it was enough to wake anyone right up.

No sooner had the backpack been thrown in than the restaurant next door dumped a pile of leftovers on top of it. After layers and layers of trash had accumulated, it was impossible to tell how much was in there anymore. Standing on tiptoe in the distance, Yellow Hair could see that the black backpack that cost fifteen yuan at the market now had only a tiny corner sticking out.

The backpack had to be retrieved, but it was no easy task. The boys pushed and shoved each other for a long while until someone’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“I know someone we can call to get it.”

Lin Yi raised his eyelids. “Who?”

“That little swindler from the recycling station, Zhou Ruo An.”

……

Fifteen minutes later, a young man turned the corner.

The sunlight fell upon him, outlining his slender frame. His white T-shirt puffed slightly in the breeze, and his jeans hung loosely around his waist.

His skin was pale, and even his clothes were light-colored. As he walked over, he seemed like a rare breeze in the stifling afternoon heat—refreshing, but impossible to hold onto.

When he approached, Zhou Ruo An stopped in front of Yellow Hair. His voice, still rough from adolescence, carried a hint of indifference.

“Where’s your boss?”

Yellow Hair looked up at the sun, then down at his own skin, finally confirming that it wasn’t the sunlight making the other boy look so pale. Zhou Ruo An was simply born that white.

He sniffed and pointed across the street at the dumpster. “Didn’t you want our boss to help you? Go pull the backpack out of the trash first.”

Zhou Ruo An turned and looked at the dumpster, but didn’t move. Tilting slightly, he cast his gaze toward the tall youth standing several meters away beneath the shade of an awning.

The indifference on his face immediately changed into a pleasing smile. Ignoring Yellow Hair’s attempts to stop him, Zhou Ruo An walked toward the boy.

“Brother Lin.” He stopped before him and offered a newly opened pack of cigarettes. “I’m Zhou Ruo An, one grade below you.”

Lin Yi leaned lazily against the wall and didn’t take the cigarettes. Instead, his gaze lingered briefly on the little mole at the end of Zhou Ruo An’s eyebrow.

“What did you call me?” he asked.

“…Brother Lin.” Unsure of Lin Yi’s preferences, Zhou Ruo An added, “Senior?”

Lin Yi suddenly laughed. “What do you want my help with?”

“I offended someone recently. He’s been following me around at night for days now. I’m afraid he’ll do something behind my back.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“Your name carries weight around here, Brother Lin. If you make it clear that you’re protecting me, he won’t dare touch me.”

“Why should he?” Yellow Hair interjected from the side. “Go get the backpack out of the dumpster first and let us see your sincerity.”

Hearing him, Zhou Ruo An continued looking directly at Lin Yi and softly asked, “Do you want me to go get it?”

It was almost noon, and only a narrow strip of shade remained beneath them. Lin Yi edged half a step closer to the wall and looked up.

“Why should I protect you?” he repeated, saying the same thing as Yellow Hair.

“Because…” Zhou Ruo An pondered for a moment. “I want to follow Brother Lin from now on and let you command me as you please.”

Those words sounded rather literary, and Yellow Hair didn’t like them.

“You can just say, ‘We don’t ask to be born on the same year, month, and day, only to die on the same year, month, and day.’ Right, Boss?”

Lin Yi laughed and gave an affirmative hum. He lifted his chin at the boy before him.

“Say it again.”

Then he added, “Properly this time. Make it official.”

Zhou Ruo An was extraordinarily obedient. Clearing his throat, he said, “Though Brother Lin and I may not be born on the same year, month, and day, I hope we may die on the same year, month, and day. Heaven and earth bear witness to my heart. Should I betray my loyalty or forget kindness, may heaven and mankind together condemn me.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Yellow Hair wrinkled his nose.

“We know you’re good at studying, but did you really have to add all that at the end? Now go get the backpack.”

The next moment, however, Lin Yi took the cigarettes from Zhou Ruo An’s hand and tossed them to Yellow Hair.

“Consider this me accepting your gift.”

He stepped out from that narrow strip of shade, and as he passed Zhou Ruo An, he softly said:

“Remember what you said today.”

The tall youth walked across the street and, under the stunned gazes of all his underlings, bent over and pulled the backpack out of the dumpster. He unzipped it and took out the clean books and the cash inside.

“Let’s go.” He beckoned to the others on this side of the street. “Time to eat.”

……

The days of midsummer were long, and after evening self-study, the sunset could still be seen staining the horizon.

When Zhou Ruo An walked out of the school gates, he saw Lin Yi leaning against an old locust tree.

He wore a faded dark-blue T-shirt, and the hems of his black cargo pants were tucked into a pair of high-top canvas shoes. Though he was only a year older than Zhou Ruo An, distinct lines of muscle had already formed on his arms. When he looked up, his gaze was calm, yet it locked unerringly onto its target within the crowd.

He beckoned.

“Brother Lin.” Zhou Ruo An called respectfully. “Sorry to trouble you over my matter.”

Lin Yi pushed himself off the tree and walked forward with the flow of people.

“Do you talk to everyone like this?”

“What?” The surroundings were too noisy, and Zhou Ruo An didn’t catch what he had said.

The person walking ahead directly changed the subject and pointed at a roadside stall.

“Buy me a popsicle.”

Zhou Ruo An hurriedly paid for it, tore open the wrapper, and attentively handed the popsicle to Lin Yi.

Even though the sun had set, the summer heat remained fierce. The popsicle melted quickly and made Lin Yi’s fingers sticky. Zhou Ruo An immediately took out a tissue and handed it over.

But Lin Yi bit down on the popsicle stick and gave Zhou Ruo An a long look. Then, without saying a word, he held out his hand.

Zhou Ruo An was stunned for a moment before understanding what he meant. He quickly took the outstretched hand and carefully wiped away the stickiness from Lin Yi’s fingertips with the tissue.

When he looked up again, Lin Yi was still gazing down at him. Zhou Ruo An wiped all five fingers over once more before asking:

“Still sticky?”

Lin Yi withdrew his hand and slowly rubbed his fingers together at his side.

“You’re being so attentive. Just how much trouble did you get yourself into?”

The crowd gradually dispersed, and the noise slowly faded. Zhou Ruo An clenched the tissue in his hand and sighed.

“You know Hou San’er who lives upstairs from me? I swindled him out of five thousand yuan.”

Elio’s Notes: Literally means “Monkey Third.”

“Did he see your face?” Lin Yi asked.

Zhou Ruo An tossed away the crumpled tissue.

“Yeah. I accidentally exposed my identity, and now he’s saying he’s going to kill me.”

Lin Yi let out a derisive laugh.

“Hou San’er? He doesn’t have the ability, and he doesn’t have the guts.”

“I know the only thing he’s capable of is beating his wife. But now his wife has run away, and he has no one left to take it out on. He’s drunk every day. Who knows what he might do? I’m also afraid he’ll go after my family.”

“How did you swindle him?” Lin Yi walked to a stall and took two bottles of cola from the ice bucket. Just as he was about to pay, Zhou Ruo An beat him to it.

After opening the bottle, Zhou Ruo An tipped his head back and took a drink, finally easing some of the heat.

“He’s lustful, so I… pretended to be a woman and chatted with him on WeChat. Little by little, I swindled several thousand yuan from him.”

Lin Yi frowned slightly.

“You really will make money any way you can.”

After a moment of silence, he asked again,

“Then how did Hou San’er find out?”

Zhou Ruo An turned his face away. Lin Yi saw a faint blush creeping up the other boy’s ears. He looked at the sunset on the horizon and somehow felt that the sight before him was even prettier.

“He kept asking to meet me. I turned him down many times, until…” Zhou Ruo An sat on the curb with his soda. “Until I couldn’t avoid it anymore.”

Lin Yi squatted in front of him.

“You were that stupid? You actually went to meet him?”

Zhou Ruo An irritably kicked at the pebbles on the ground.

“I really was that stupid. I went, and he discovered I was a guy and saw my face.”

He suddenly became annoyed.

“So are you helping me or not?”

The words had already left his mouth before he realized his mistake. Zhou Ruo An instantly changed expression and, full of apprehension, laid a hand on the one Lin Yi had resting on his knee.

“Brother Lin, only you can help me.”

……

That very night, Hou San’er was cornered in a dark alley.

The man was bleary-eyed with drink, yet the moment he saw Lin Yi, he was so frightened that he started trembling.

Lin Yi’s father had been the sort of man who would pull a knife at the slightest disagreement when he was younger. The son of a rat could never learn to be courteous and refined. From childhood, Lin Yi had been the local troublemaker—quiet, ruthless, and said to have started taking jobs for revenge at fifteen or sixteen. The urban village was a mixed place full of all kinds of people, but very few dared provoke him.

Now he leaned against the wall of the alley, half his face hidden in shadow, the cigarette between his fingers glowing and dimming.

“Hou San’er, do you know why I came looking for you?”

Hou San’er glanced toward the mouth of the alley. The night wasn’t very late yet, and there were still people coming and going there.

Yet not a single person dared walk into this alley. Those who happened to pass by sensed trouble and turned back halfway.

Hou San’er edged closer to the wall.

“Your dad was my friend. By rights I ought to call you my big nephew. If your uncle here did something wrong, then for your father’s sake, don’t hold it against me.”

“Fine.” Lin Yi nodded. “Then your grudge with Zhou Ruo An ends here.”

“Zhou Ruo An?!” Hou San’er shouted. “You came because of him?”

“Mm.” Lin Yi’s voice was neither loud nor soft, yet it made the cowardly Hou San’er jump as though a temple had exploded.

“I definitely won’t let that Zhou brat off! If he doesn’t find my wife and bring her back, I’m not done with him!”

“Your wife?” Lin Yi took the cigarette from his mouth. “What does Zhou Ruo An have to do with her?”

“What does he have to do with her? Everything!” The man’s face flushed red with anger. “That Zhou brat set up a trap and tricked me, pretended to be a woman and chatted with me. Not only did he cheat me out of money, he even tricked me into going to the neighboring city and locked me up for three whole days. My wife used those three days to run away, and I still fucking haven’t caught her back!”

Hou San’er stomped hard. “Tell me, can I let him off? In this lifetime, I’ll never let that Zhou brat off!”

Lin Yi thought it over for a moment, then asked, “How did you know the person who tricked you was Zhou Ruo An?”

“He tricked me into going to the neighboring city but kept refusing to show up. Later, I said, ‘If you still don’t show up, I’m going home,’ and only then did he agree to meet. Fuck, he wore a little skirt and a wig and tricked me into the room, but then he turned around, went out, and locked the door. If I hadn’t yanked off his wig at the last moment, I still wouldn’t have known it was him!”

“He… wore a skirt?” Lin Yi’s hand was burned by cigarette ash.

“He did! Fuck, he even sent me photos showing his thighs. So white and tender. How the fuck was I supposed to know he was a man!”

Lin Yi took a hard drag from his cigarette and fell silent for a moment before asking, “He locked you in a room for three days, and your wife used those three days to run away?”

“Exactly.” Hou San’er poured out his grievances to Lin Yi. “Big Nephew, tell me, shouldn’t I kill that Zhou brat?”

Lin Yi did not even lift his head. He only slowly exhaled a mouthful of smoke. Then he crushed the cigarette butt against the wall. The motion was very light, yet somehow made people nervous.

“Hou San’er, my dad isn’t your friend, and I’m not your nephew either.” Lin Yi straightened and took one oppressive step forward. “Zhou Ruo An is mine. Whoever touches him is making trouble with me.”

“But he let my wife run away!”

“If you can’t even keep watch over your own wife, Hou San’er, I don’t think you need that face of yours either.”

Lin Yi suddenly threw a punch, striking the man squarely in the face. Amid a shriek-like cry of pain, he wiped the blood from his knuckles and slowly walked toward the shadow collapsed on the ground…

Only when Hou San’er was curled up on the ground, able to do nothing but groan, did Lin Yi finally stop. He stepped on Hou San’er’s fingers with the sole of his shoe.

Slowly, he crouched down and asked, “Are you still going to make trouble for Zhou Ruo An?”

The sole of his shoe twisted, and a wail pierced the eardrums. “I won’t, I won’t. I won’t make trouble for him anymore.”

“Come on, repeat after me. Zhou Ruo An belongs to Lin Yi. From now on, whenever I see him, I’ll take a detour.”

Hou San’er’s breaths came intermittently. His eyes rolled back as his lips trembled, and he slowly said, “Zhou Ruo An belongs to you. From now on, whenever I see him, I’ll take a detour.”

Lin Yi was fairly satisfied, but he did not ease the force beneath his foot. “Do you still have the photos he sent you?”

“Yes, yes.” Hou San’er tremblingly offered up his phone with his other hand. “That Shuangshuang on WeChat is him.”

His finger slowly scrolled through the chat history, and Lin Yi read the words on it in a low voice. “Good morning, Brother. Brother, you’re amazing. Brother, I miss you. Good night, Brother.”

Hou San’er hated him so much his teeth ached. “That’s how he tricked me into spending money on him.”

Lin Yi then saw that photo. It was indeed just as Hou San’er had said, white and tender.

His gaze lingered for a moment. Then he cleared the chat box, threw the phone back to Hou San’er, and stood up, looking down at him from above as he said coldly, “Remember what you said. Don’t provoke Zhou Ruo An again.”

……

Hou San’er’s problem was resolved, and Lin Yi also did not seem as hard to get along with as the rumors said. Zhou Ruo An let out a breath of relief.

A few days later, on a certain unbearably muggy evening, the WeChat account Zhou Ruo An had not used in a long time received a friend request. The note read: Sister, want to chat?

Zhou Ruo An looked at his phone and thought for a while, guessing that perhaps he had missed clearing one of the little advertisements pasted to the utility poles near Hou San’er’s home.

He accepted the request and sent a message: Brother, I don’t really like chatting much.

The person on the other end immediately sent a red packet. With one tap of his finger, five hundred.

Zhou Ruo An lowered his eyelids, concealing the coldness in his gaze. He put the popsicle in his hand into his mouth, then tapped the screen a few times with his fingers: Brother, I’ve made a little time now. What do you want to chat about?

But the person on the other end was silent for a long time. Only after Zhou Ruo An threw the popsicle stick in his hand into the trash did his phone sound with another notification.

Let’s talk about your dreams.

His fingers paused. Zhou Ruo An looked at the short line of words on the screen, and the expression on his face slowly disappeared.

I don’t have dreams.

I’m not worthy of having dreams.

……

On a garish floral bedsheet, Lin Yi was currently putting a dress on Zhou Ruo An.

Zhou Ruo An refused to cooperate. “Lin Yi, are you fucking perverted?”

“You once wore one for Hou San’er to see.”

“That was fucking to help…”

Lin Yi stopped moving and looked at Zhou Ruo An gently. “To help Hou San’er’s wife escape?”

Zhou Ruo An choked and actually blushed faintly. He looked away, taking off the dress on himself as he said, “She lived upstairs from me and got beaten every day, screaming and wailing like a ghost. I was fucking annoyed to death.”

“So the two of you set Hou San’er up together?”

Zhou Ruo An threw the dress into the corner of the bed, reached out, and picked up a cigarette. “That woman didn’t dare. When I lured Hou San’er to the neighboring city, I told her this was the last chance she would ever have in her life. If she didn’t run, then she could just wait to be beaten to death.”

Lin Yi took the cigarette from Zhou Ruo An’s mouth and unhurriedly continued putting the dress on him. “The five thousand yuan you swindled from Hou San’er…”

“I gave it to that woman.” Zhou Ruo An looked at the dress on his body and cursed in a low voice. “If I hadn’t helped her back then, I wouldn’t have gotten acquainted with you, wouldn’t have been targeted by a pervert like you, and wouldn’t now be tormented by you in all these different ways.”

“This isn’t torment.” Lin Yi slowly pulled up the zipper at the back of the dress. “An An, no matter what the process was, you would have been mine. Before you walked toward me that day, I had already been watching you for many years.”

Zhou Ruo An tugged at the skirt hem that could not even cover his ass. “Oh. So?”

Lin Yi kissed him, pressing against Zhou Ruo An’s lips as he said softly, “I was waiting for you to turn eighteen. Waiting every minute and every second. I didn’t expect… you to walk toward me first.”

The soft silk covered Lin Yi’s hand. He shoved the man down in one motion and tempted him in a low voice. “An An, call me Brother.”

The movements beneath the silk were unbearable. A thin sheen of sweat seeped from Zhou Ruo An’s temples. Panting lightly, he sounded half cursing and half coquettish. “Back then, I called you Brother for three months before I found out it was you. Lin Yi, you’ve been fucking perverted since you were little.”

“Call me that, An An.”

“Brother…”

“Be good.”

“…Lin.”

“What else?”

“…Put it in.”

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