Shao Wu stared at the man for five or six full seconds before suddenly realizing who he was.
Wang Yujun.
Wang Yujun was Shao Wu’s older maternal half-brother, six years older than him.
That would make him twenty-three this year.
After Shao Wu’s mother divorced Wang Yujun’s father, she married Shao Wu’s father.
When Shao Wu was little, he still saw this older brother during Lunar New Year.
But they had not met for four or five years.
A heavy black chain hung around Wang Yujun’s neck.
His hair had been separated into stiff spikes with hair gel, every strand pointing straight toward the ceiling.
Three silver earrings glittered in his right earlobe.
A magnificent specimen of Zang Ai Shamate.
In 2007, Shamate culture was everywhere in county towns and rural areas.
Elio’s Notes: Shamate (杀马特) was a Chinese youth subculture associated with dramatically teased or spiked hair, heavy styling, unconventional clothing, and internet-era counterculture aesthetics. Zang Ai (葬爱, roughly “buried love”) was a melodramatic online subculture closely associated with it. By the late 2000s, the look was especially visible among young people in smaller cities and towns.
“Uh… Brother Yujun?”
Shao Wu was secretly astonished.
Why was Wang Yujun here?
Hadn’t his mother said last year that he had gone to Chengdu for work?
“Top students go to internet cafés too?”
Wang Yujun’s smile looked almost ghostly.
His face was unnaturally pale as well, though Shao Wu could not tell whether he was wearing makeup.
“Aren’t you scared Wu Yan will find out? The bureau chief’s precious son hanging around a place like this. What happened, not aiming for Peking University anymore?”
Wu Yan was Shao Wu’s mother’s full name.
Shao Wu stepped backward.
“I’m leaving in a little while.”
“Leaving?”
Wang Yujun unexpectedly came forward and hooked one arm around Shao Wu’s neck.
With the other hand, he swept up all the change the internet-café attendant had placed on the counter, both coins and bills, and stuffed it into his own pocket.
“We brothers haven’t seen each other in ages. You’ve still got money, right? Come on, let’s have a few drinks.”
“I can’t. My classmate’s waiting for me. Brother, next time.”
A sharp perfume smell rolled off Wang Yujun.
Shao Wu had never seen a man wear so much perfume.
Mixed with the stale stink of the internet café, it nearly made him nauseous.
“Brother, seriously, I’m not going.”
Shao Wu struggled to pull free from his arm.
“Are you out of money? I have some. I’ll give it to you and you can go yourself, okay?”
Wang Yujun tilted his head and stared at Shao Wu.
His expression was gloomy.
He said nothing.
After a long moment, he answered casually,
“Sure. Give me five hundred.”
Shao Wu froze.
“I don’t have that much.”
“Who are you trying to fool? Your dad can casually buy a house in Chongqing for hundreds of thousands, and you can’t come up with five hundred?”
“I really don’t have that much.”
Shao Wu was beginning to panic.
“I only brought a hundred and fifty. You saw the hundred just now. I still have fifty.”
He had not seen Wang Yujun in years and had no idea how he had become like this.
No matter what, Shao Wu did not want a confrontation with him.
Especially not in an internet café he knew nothing about.
Especially not in front of Yang Shuyi.
But Wang Yujun crowded closer, practically choking Shao Wu beneath his arm.
“Cut the crap. Give me the money!”
Their faces were extremely close.
Wang Yujun’s mouth nearly brushed Shao Wu’s cheek.
And now Shao Wu finally smelled what the heavy perfume had been hiding.
Alcohol.
He had no idea how much Wang Yujun had drunk.
“Brother, I’ll give you the fifty, okay?”
Shao Wu struggled to pull the money from his pocket.
“This really is all I have.”
Wang Yujun snatched the fifty-yuan bill.
Then he burped and rasped,
“Then tell Wu Yan to bring me money!”
He tightened his arm hard around Shao Wu’s shoulders until Shao Wu could barely breathe.
“…Let go!”
Shao Wu suddenly shoved him away with all his strength.
Wang Yujun was older and taller.
He staggered only two steps before regaining his balance.
Then, in the next instant, he lunged at Shao Wu and slammed him against the wall.
Thud.
Shao Wu’s back struck hard.
Worse, something small protruded from the wall, perhaps a nail that had not been hammered all the way in.
It dug into him and sent a violent shudder through his body.
It hurt.
“Tell Wu Yan to come! Tell her to bring me money!”
Wang Yujun cursed.
“Fuck, hasn’t she been hiding from me? Not hiding so well now, is she? Look who I ran into. Her precious son!”
“Hey, if you want to fight, take it outside,” the attendant said lazily, apparently completely accustomed to scenes like this. “Don’t mess with my business.”
Wang Yujun seized Shao Wu by the collar and dragged him toward the door.
“Yang Shuyi!”
At this point, Shao Wu abandoned all dignity and yelled at the top of his lungs.
“Help me, Yang Shuyi!”
He knew he could not beat Wang Yujun.
Even worse, Wang Yujun was drunk and not thinking straight.
In only a few steps, Wang Yujun dragged Shao Wu out of the internet café.
Yang Shuyi did not come.
The alley was pitch-black.
There was not a single other voice.
Shao Wu thought despairingly, I’m finished.
Yang Shuyi was wearing headphones.
He probably could not hear him calling for help.
There was no one else nearby either.
At this rate, Wang Yujun might beat him half to death tonight.
“You fucking said you have no money?!”
Wang Yujun swung a fist.
In the darkness, Shao Wu somehow managed to jerk out of the way.
The punch swept past his ear.
“Yang Shuyi!”
Shao Wu howled again.
At the same time, he gathered every bit of strength he had and kicked Wang Yujun hard, forcing him backward several steps.
Shao Wu seized the opportunity and bolted.
Of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, retreat was the best one.
Unfortunately, he had barely taken a few steps when he ran straight into a solid body.
“Ugh!”
By the weak light leaking through the internet café’s glass door, Shao Wu saw Yang Shuyi’s face.
“…”
Yang Shuyi caught him by the shoulders.
“You go first,” he said quietly.
“No! He…”
“He can’t beat me.”
Yang Shuyi glanced toward Wang Yujun.
“He doesn’t dare cause real trouble here anyway. He only picked on you because you’re a good student who doesn’t fight.”
Wang Yujun snorted.
“Good student.”
Shao Wu forced himself to say,
“He’s my brother.”
Yang Shuyi: “…What?”
Wang Yujun burst into loud laughter.
He brushed dust from his clothes.
Apparently, he really did not dare approach Yang Shuyi, though he continued talking.
“Didn’t expect that, did you? Shao Wu, son of a deputy bureau chief, has a brother like me! Didn’t see that coming, huh?”
After saying that, he turned and sauntered deeper into the alley.
Shao Wu and Yang Shuyi remained at the entrance to the café.
Only then did Shao Wu realize something.
He really had called Yang Shuyi out.
And Yang Shuyi had just told him to leave first.
Had Yang Shuyi been prepared to fight for him?
“He’s my brother, just… my mom’s son with her ex-husband,” Shao Wu explained quietly. “I haven’t seen him in years. I didn’t expect to run into him here.”
Yang Shuyi nodded.
He asked nothing.
“Let’s go.”
“Huh?”
Yang Shuyi sighed.
“Stand here and behave.”
Then he pushed open the door and went back inside.
He returned shortly afterward carrying both of their backpacks, along with the two bottles of mineral water and four bread rolls Shao Wu had bought.
“You’re not playing anymore?”
“What’s there left to play?”
Yang Shuyi adjusted the bags.
“I’ll take you home.”
Only then did Shao Wu suddenly realize that he had definitely caused Yang Shuyi trouble.
Yang Shuyi had said Wang Yujun didn’t dare cause trouble here.
That probably meant Wang Yujun came to this internet café often.
Tonight it had been two against one, so Wang Yujun had backed off.
But what about later?
What if Yang Shuyi came here alone and Wang Yujun caused trouble for him?
Yang Shuyi was only a high school student.
Wang Yujun was already working.
What if he paid people to beat Yang Shuyi up?
The more Shao Wu thought about it, the more frightened he became.
He grabbed Yang Shuyi’s sleeve.
“Maybe we should call the police.”
Yang Shuyi sounded helpless.
“You think the police are going to deal with this?”
Shao Wu: “…”
Right.
Wang Yujun had only taken a few dozen yuan from him.
“I don’t know what’s going on with your family,” Yang Shuyi said as he stuffed the mineral water and bread into Shao Wu’s backpack and handed it over. “But he doesn’t dare cause trouble inside that café. He’s on his own and can’t beat anybody. If he starts waiting for you outside school, then call the police.”
“…Okay.”
The nervous excitement Shao Wu had felt earlier disappeared completely.
All that remained was regret.
He had finally gotten an opportunity to spend some time alone with Yang Shuyi, and this had ruined everything.
And Yang Shuyi was clearly unhappy.
Maybe he was already furious and simply holding it in because they were classmates.
Shao Wu lowered his head without a word and put on his backpack.
But the moment one strap pressed against a certain place on his back, a sharp pain stabbed through him.
His face twisted.
He endured it without making a sound.
“What happened?”
The night was so dark that Shao Wu had no idea how Yang Shuyi had noticed.
“When he pushed me against the wall,” Shao Wu murmured, “I think there was a nail sticking out. Uh… it’s nothing. Doesn’t hurt much.”
Yang Shuyi reached over and lifted Shao Wu’s backpack off him.
“I’ll carry it.”
They walked slowly along the sidewalk.
This road was rather remote, with few pedestrians.
The streetlights cast an orange-yellow glow, one after another.
The roadside trees were thick with leaves, layer upon layer obscuring the lamps.
Whenever Shao Wu looked up, he could see whole clusters of leaves glowing golden in the light.
Unable to stand the silence, he asked,
“Are you thirsty?”
“I’m okay.”
“…Are you hungry?”
Yang Shuyi lifted the bag between them.
“You bought the water and bread for me?”
“…Mm.”
Shao Wu was a little embarrassed.
“You were coughing.”
“Thanks.”
Yang Shuyi unzipped the bag and took out a bottle of mineral water.
Shao Wu knew it.
He smiled.