There was a smell of chicken manure inside the coach bus.
Beneath the seats in the back row sat two chicken cages, with listless hens crouched inside. It had just rained, and the bus had been driving along the muddy mountain road for more than three hours. It had been rear-ended and had blown a tire; the fact that it still had not fallen apart was already a miracle.
Pulling into a gas station by the roadside, the vehicle slowly stopped. This was the last chance to use the restroom while still within China’s borders. The driver shouted loudly, “Ten-minute stop,” and the inside of the bus instantly became noisy and chaotic.
The passengers were all very tired. More than half of them stood up, and even those who did not need to use the restroom got off to stretch and get some air. Yan Ye sat in the seat beside the aisle. As people moved past, someone bumped into the suitcase on his knees. The case tilted, and a thin cord connected to his wrist slipped out from his sleeve.
His gaze, hiding sharpness beneath it, followed that person’s back for a long time before withdrawing. Yan Ye steadied the suitcase and heard the man sitting beside him say, “I’m going to the restroom.”
The man was in his fifties. His cheeks were sunken, his eyes dull, and he wore a bitter expression. Inside the filthy, rundown coach bus, only he wore a full white suit and a Western-style cream-white hat, completely out of place among those struggling to make a living along the border.
Yan Ye did not open the path for him. His gaze passed through the window toward the crowd swarming toward the restroom, and he said warmly, “There are many people now. Go later.”
At this moment, someone stood up from the very back row of the bus. He wore a baseball cap and sunglasses, a vest with many pockets, and sturdy, durable hiking shoes. One glance at this outfit was enough to tell that he was a trader who moved between the two countries.
For almost the entire journey, he had been sleeping, arms crossed as he leaned against the bus window like a duck that had stopped breathing, his head swaying back and forth. Only when the bus stopped for the restroom would he wake up and slowly go take a piss.
When seven or eight of the ten minutes had passed, Yan Ye finally stepped aside under the urging of “White Suit.” He got off the bus with him, carrying that suitcase in his hand as they walked into the filthy restroom.
The restroom was basically empty already, leaving only overlapping muddy footprints. White Suit pushed open a stall and said rather urgently, “My stomach hurts. I’ll squat for a while. The case… give it here?”
“I’ll go in with you.” Though Yan Ye’s words were spoken gently, there was no warmth in them at all.
“Aiya, with you watching, how can I…”
“According to the contract, during the transport process, the target item cannot leave the sight of the two of us.” Yan Ye appeared humble, but was in fact forceful. “Mr. Zhang, if the item is lost while in the hands of the two of us, will you compensate for it, or will I?”
White Suit undid his belt and tried to negotiate. “How about this? Give me the case. Just two minutes. You guard outside, all right?”
Yan Ye’s smile existed on his face for only an instant. “Why doesn’t Mr. Zhang endure it? We’ll cross the border in another hour.”
“When nature calls, how can a person endure it? I’ll leave the stall door open a crack, all right?”
Outside the window, the passengers had already begun boarding in twos and threes. Only one-third of the cigarette in the bus driver’s hand remained. Yan Ye was silent for a moment, then undid the cord tied around his wrist and handed the suitcase to White Suit, saying in a low voice, “Be quick.”
The bus began swaying again. The sky grew even darker, as if heavy rain might arrive at any moment. The coach traveled for nearly another hour before the sound of a loudspeaker broadcasting in two languages suddenly came from the distance. Amid that mechanical, repetitive sound, the people who had been drowsy suddenly “came alive,” like rice seedlings meeting rain after a long drought.
Large and small bags were dragged down from the racks. The hens in the chicken cages flapped their wings and stretched their necks. Lao, Burmese, and Chinese mixed together inside the carriage, making it as lively as a boiling pot.
“We’re finally crossing the border.” White Suit also stretched lazily. “I’m old and can’t compare to you young people. After sitting in the car for so long, my bones have gone stiff.”
He took out an unfiltered cigarette and put it in his mouth. As he dug for his lighter, he said, “In a while, we’ll undergo border inspection. Once the inspection is over, we can cross the border. The people meeting us on the other side have already arrived. After crossing, we’ll take a car to Professor Fang’s residence. Once the goods are inspected, you can take the check and leave.”
He held the lit cigarette between his fingers outside the car window and smiled. “No need to rush off either. It isn’t easy to come here. I can take you around the red-light district. I guarantee it’s something you’ve never seen back home.”
After saying all kinds of things, White Suit looked toward Yan Ye and saw that he merely lifted the corners of his lips and simply thanked him. Tsk. The man exhaled smoke out the window, and his expression fell.
The coach bus finally stopped. White Suit pointed ahead. “That’s the border defense gate. In a while, we’ll go there and line up to undergo border inspection.”
Following the flow of people off the bus, White Suit threw away his cigarette and straightened his hat. He had just been about to stride off and line up when someone grabbed his wrist.
He lowered his head to look, then coldly looked at Yan Ye. “Something wrong?”
Yan Ye remained polite. “Mr. Zhang, let’s inspect the goods here.”
“Inspect the goods?” White Suit was impatient. “After crossing the border, we’ll inspect them at Professor Fang’s house.”
“According to our line of work’s rules, for cross-border escort, the goods must be inspected before leaving the country.”
A trace of contempt appeared on White Suit’s face. He lazily checked his watch. “Unnecessary. This case has never left our sight, so the goods are definitely still inside. Besides, border inspection will check it in a while too. Let’s not waste time.”
“Border inspection only passes it through the X-ray security machine. They won’t open the case. As long as there are no prohibited items inside, it can pass smoothly.” A faint chill suddenly covered Yan Ye’s gentle expression. “Please understand, Mr. Zhang. Every trade has its rules. Before leaving the country, the case must be opened and the goods inspected.”
The dark clouds in the sky grew even heavier, much like the unclear look in White Suit’s eyes at this moment. He tilted his head and looked into the distance, toward a young man standing straight on the other side of the border several meters away.
Dark-skinned, thin, yet also solid and strong. The young man’s gaze paused on White Suit for a moment, then slowly slid toward Yan Ye. As it happened, Yan Ye also looked over. Their eyes met, one like a blade quenched in poison, while the other was faint and indifferent, not caring at all, even sending over a careless smile.
“Mr. Zhang, open the case.”
The suitcase was placed on a table inside the border checkpoint. Yan Ye removed the wrist cord and made a gesture of invitation.
White Suit walked up to the case, crooked his finger, and knocked on it, asking Yan Ye sinisterly, “General Manager Yan, are you sure you want to inspect it?”
Yan Ye lowered his head and glanced at the chat window with Xue Bao Tian on his phone. The last message still remained on the other party’s “He harassed me.” The corners of his lips lifted, revealing his first genuine smile of the day. He raised his head and said faintly, “Open it.”
The combination lock turned. With a click, the case opened. Inside the black velvet-lined case, there was unexpectedly nothing at all!
The corner of White Suit’s eye jumped. Yan Ye abruptly drew his brows together. The two of them quickly looked at each other, both of their eyes filled with shock!
Dark clouds hung low at the corner of the window. A tremendous clap of thunder split the dim sky. It really was about to rain…
At this moment, a thousand li away, Xue Bao Tian closed the conference room door, placed his hand on the child’s shoulder, and asked coldly, “Explain this clearly. Why is Yan Ye in danger? And how do you know he’ll be in danger?”
The child shook his shoulder, and the candies in his pockets rustled loudly. He sat back down on the sofa and lifted his head as he said, “Someone set a cage to catch my boss.”
“Set a cage?”
“It means setting up a trap to frame someone. Underworld slang. Can’t blame you for not understanding.”
Xue Bao Tian’s eyes narrowed, and an icy chill covered his gaze. He slowly sat down on the sofa beside the child, his cold eyes fixed tightly on the person in front of him, not letting even the slightest change on his face pass. “How are they setting up the trap? And how are they going to frame him?”
The child shook his head without hesitation. “Don’t know. I only know someone wants to harm him.”
Xue Bao Tian once again looked over the thin, filthy child. Lowering his eyes, he bit a cigarette into his mouth.
“Tell me how you know someone wants to harm Yan Ye.”
“A few days ago, I listened to you and planned to go to school. I found the Education Bureau and the community office, and they agreed to help me process school enrollment. But because I’m an orphan, they planned to send me to a welfare home.
“A welfare home has restrictions and no freedom. I didn’t want to go, so I ran away. The money you gave me could last for a while, but it couldn’t last forever. I went to a billiards hall to rack tables for people and earn a meal. I didn’t expect to run into Qian San’er.”
Xue Bao Tian lifted his long, narrow eyes, but did not interrupt.
“Qian San’er is a local snake who isn’t easy to provoke. Before I knew who he was, I faked an accident against him. He caught me and locked me in a dog cage for three days without food, so… I’m afraid of him.”
The child felt it was somewhat humiliating. He secretly glanced at Xue Bao Tian, sniffed once, and continued, “Yesterday, he suddenly came to the billiards hall. Before we even came face to face, I hid. But he and another person happened to enter the room I was hiding in, scaring me so badly I could only lie behind the sofa.”
Xue Bao Tian’s expression was tense as he pressed, “You heard them say they were going to frame Yan Ye?”
The child shook his head again. “The person who entered with Qian San’er should have been more powerful than him. Qian San’er owed him money and served him like a grandson. When they talked about paying the money back, Qian San’er said there was a business deal being operated recently. They had just set a cage for someone, and in half a month, they would be able to collect the goods. When the time came, he’d have money to repay the debt. Then the other person casually asked what business it was and who they had set the cage for. Qian San’er hemmed and hawed without saying. He only said it was a ruthless character, a bodyguard boss who had been in the limelight recently. I didn’t expect that after hearing it, the person opposite him said my boss’s name!”
Xue Bao Tian did not take the cigarette from his mouth. He bit it slightly to the side while exhaling smoke through the gap between his lips. From the nearly empty candy tray, he took a piece of candy, unhurriedly peeled open the wrapper, and stuffed it into the child’s mouth. Lifting his eyelids, he smiled and asked, “What should I call Little Trash?”
The child rolled the candy over in his mouth, wrinkled his pale brows, and stiffened his neck as he replied, “Just call me Master Bai.”
“Master Bai?” Xue Bao Tian’s smile widened, though his eyes were full of hostility. “What are you, seven? For a seven-year-old little master, you sure have a sharp tongue. May I ask, on the day we met, you and Yan Ye never spoke at all. How did you know his name? And how did you know our relationship? Lover? You fucking know quite a lot for such a young age!”
“You suspect I’m lying to you?”
With a pfft, the child spat the candy in his mouth onto the carpet. His eyes fixed tightly on Xue Bao Tian as he said loudly, “I’m ten this year, not seven. The boss I want to follow—how could I not even know his name?
That day after you two rode away on the bicycle, I kept following from far behind. My boss knew it. Only you, this pretty boy, had no vigilance and didn’t know!
When you got off to buy roasted sweet potatoes, my boss spoke to me. He said he wasn’t someone from the underworld. He said being a bodyguard is about protecting other people’s safety. If I wanted to follow him, I had to be a proper person.”
As the child’s voice fell, Xue Bao Tian felt like a balloon that had been punctured, his momentum gradually weakening. “So he told you his name himself?”
The child thought of the broad hand that had reached out in front of him. The man had lowered himself to look at him, smiling gently and kindly. “My name is Yan Ye. What’s yours?”
This was the first time the boy had formally introduced himself to someone while being treated with respect. He wiped his dirty hand on his pants, then held that large palm that gave him such a sense of safety. “Bai He. My name is Bai He.”
Withdrawing from his thoughts, the boy looked at Xue Bao Tian again. “As for why I know the relationship between you two? I’ve seen plenty in the streets. What’s worth making a fuss over? Besides, you two were kissing in the office that day, and you didn’t turn off the lights.”
Fuck! Xue Bao Tian abruptly stood up from the sofa. He had overestimated his own thick skin and sense of shame. Facing this dark little flower of the motherland, he flushed bright red with embarrassment.
Thinking back carefully, that day after he had been pushed down on the desk, Yan Ye had turned off the lights. The whole room had been dark, with only moonlight. Presumably, what happened afterward could not have harmed this flower of the motherland that had already grown crooked.
Feeling slightly reassured, Xue Bao Tian’s gaze cooled again. “Little Trash, tell me the detailed information about this Qian San’er.”
The child looked disdainful. “You don’t suspect me anymore?”
Having wronged someone, Xue Bao Tian felt somewhat bad about it too. He stared at the boy’s bulging pockets and said carelessly, “Master Bai, take this candy as my apology. Once I rescue your boss, I’ll hold a banquet to thank you.”
“Deal.” The adult and the child reached an agreement.
That night, the lights in the secretary’s office at Ruixiang Pharmaceuticals stayed on until very late.
The charming woman held the phone and acted coquettish, one tone bending eight turns, teasing the other person until his heart itched unbearably. They talked about romance, poetry, and faraway places. Finally, before hanging up, she arranged a time to have dinner with him.
Putting down the landline, the woman quickly withdrew the smile from her lips, picked up the phone placed beside her, and dialed a number.
The first thing to come through the receiver was the noisy sound of airport announcements. Only then came a cold, sharp, and brief, “Speak.”
The female secretary picked up the note she had written while acting coquettish just now and reported calmly, “Vice President Xue, I’ve already managed to get information out of the ticketing company that cooperates with Yanyue Security. General Manager Yan’s destination for this business trip is not Guangxi, but Yunnan.”
Xue Bao Tian’s voice on the phone clearly hesitated for a moment. “Yunnan?”
“Yes. Judging from the flight booking records, at least the first destination is Yunnan.”
“Besides him, who else from their company went on this business trip with him?”
After the female secretary reported several names one by one, she heard her boss mutter to himself. “Zhou Yi Ming… Help me book a flight to Yunnan immediately. The sooner the better.”
“Also, starting this month, your salary goes up by thirty percent.”
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