When I had just graduated from high school, I had no money. I used my last savings to buy a train ticket and a bag of daily necessities and set off recklessly and boldly.
I traveled in all directions: north, south, east, and west. I crossed plains, climbed mountains, and wandered through the misty alleys. Most of the time, I stayed amidst the neon lights that enveloped the cities.
In the beginning, I lived in internet cafes, making money mainly by playing games for others. Sometimes, when I stayed in one place for a bit longer, I would find a temporary job.
Later, I started drawing again and took on some online commissions, which made my financial situation a bit more comfortable.
In seven years, I wandered around, never staying long in one place.
In 2014 and 2015, live streaming started booming in China. By 2017, short videos had burst onto the scene.
At the suggestion of a kind internet cafe manager, I saved up and bought a smartphone, joining the trend. Life became a bit more lively.
As Wang Yifei spoke about this, he lifted his chin slightly, turned back to He Chuan Zhou, and proudly said, "I have hundreds of thousands of followers now!"
He Chuan Zhou wanted to laugh but couldn't quite manage to. The muscles at the corners of her mouth involuntarily drooped.
Rationally, she thought this outcome should be good, somewhat aligning with Wang Yifei's earlier wishes. Yet, inexplicably, she felt a bit sad. Perhaps it was because his hasty summary sounded too lonely.
Wang Yifei was not someone who could enjoy loneliness. He longed for hustle and bustle, for family.
He Chuan Zhou asked, "Why didn't you use the money I sent you?"
When she was in college, she had to live off He Xu's savings, but she still sent Wang Yifei a few hundred yuan each month. He shouldn't have been living so poorly.
She stopped when Wang Yifei showed her his savings.
Leaning against the railing, Wang Yifei waved his hand grandly and said, "I saved it all for you as a dowry for when you get married."
He Chuan Zhou was amused and scoffed. A few seconds later, she couldn't help but ask, "How have you been?"
"Pretty good!" Wang Yifei leaned on the railing, his tone was one of casual relief. His hands hung down and waved as if trying to catch the wind passing by at night, "I don't have any dreams or goals, but many people envy me for being so free."
He Chuan Zhou tried to understand the meaning behind his words.
"I just came back to take a look," Wang Yifei turned around, his voice clearer without the wind outside interfering, "I didn't expect to have the chance to come back."
He Chuan Zhou said, "If you want to come back, just come back. Aren't you being a bit capricious?"
Wang Yifei made his usual clueless expression.
He walked back to the living room, looked around, and started to say something rebellious, "Sis, your house is so dirty."
He Chuan Zhou ignored him.
Wang Yifei asked again, "Don't you ever clean?"
He Chuan Zhou shot him a cold look.
Wang Yifei, thinking about something silly, started to laugh.
He sat cross-legged next to the coffee table, took out his phone, and sent a voice message to Zhou Tuoxing: "Big brother, big brother, I'm back in City A."
Zhou Tuoxing, who hadn't gone to sleep yet, immediately called back and asked, "When did you get here?"
Wang Yifei said, "Today!"
"Where are you?"
Wang Yifei, always obedient in front of Zhou Tuoxing, answered diligently, just like the little follower he used to be, "At my sister's place."
Zhou Tuoxing: "This late?"
Wang Yifei said indignantly, "She just got back! I waited at the door for six hours!"
Zhou Tuoxing chuckled softly, "Why didn't you come find me? Didn't you call her?"
Wang Yifei said innocently, "I thought you all might be busy."
Zhou Tuoxing said, "Wait a bit, I'll come pick you up."
After reporting back, Wang Yifei, unable to sit still, turned to He Chuan Zhou again, "Sis, do you have anything you want to throw away? I'll help you sort it out."
He Xu was often not home, and He Chuan Zhou’s housekeeping was always wild and unruly. Sometimes, Wang Yifei couldn't stand it and would take the initiative to help them clean.
While boiling water for him in the kitchen, He Chuan Zhou said, "No need."
Wang Yifei dug out a notepad from his bag, "Do you want to keep that brown cabinet?"
After asking, he added, "This thing is almost an antique, isn't it?"
He Chuan Zhou: "..."
She stood near the entrance, her face veiled in the intersection of two lights, and coldly sneered, "I'm much more short-tempered than before. Do you want to test it?"
Wang Yifei, squatting on the floor counting the clutter, stiffened slightly and nodded vigorously, "I believe you!"
Zhou Tuoxing arrived quickly. With fewer cars at night, he reached the door in less than half an hour, still in his pajamas.
Recently, He Chuan Zhou had been so busy with work that she couldn't find even a short stretch of uninterrupted time. Zhou Tuoxing also had many trivial matters, making it hard to synchronize their schedules.
Despite this, if He Chuan Zhou finished work a bit earlier, he would still stubbornly drive to pick her up. On the way back, they would chat for a bit, and after dropping her off, he would rush to the office or the lab.
He used this almost burdensome method to forcibly increase the amount of time they spent together but rarely said directly, "I want to see you."
Just like now, when he opened the door, he reached out to He Chuan Zhou. Noticing Wang Yifei sitting in the living room through his peripheral vision, he quickly gave her a hug and then walked inside.
He Chuan Zhou also poured him a glass of water and put it on the table, listening to the two of them quietly discuss their whereabouts over the past few years. She casually asked, "Yifei, your dad has been released, right?"
The smile on Wang Yifei's face suddenly turned stiff. Struggling to maintain it, he eventually lost the smile altogether. Glancing at He Chuan Zhou, he nodded lightly.
He Chuan Zhou asked, "Where is he?"
Wang Yifei avoided the question, staring at his hands, and with a thoughtful, solemn expression, said, "I asked around. My dad killed someone for my mom. He's reflected on it and served his time. I've decided to forgive him. I want to live with him in City D and start over. It's perfect since no one knows us there."
He Chuan Zhou said blandly, "That's good."
Wang Yifei was silent for a while, his voice full of hesitation, "But I said some really harsh things to him."
Zhou Tuoxing, leaning against his shoulder, said, "Did you apologize?"
"Not yet," Wang Yifei said despondently, "I don't know how to."
He Chuan Zhou reached out and touched his head, "If you regret it, you should apologize."
"Mm." Wang Yifei shook his head, "Sis, I'm all grown up now."
The three chatted for a while. Since it was late, He Chuan Zhou couldn't help but feel sleepy.
Wang Yifei initially planned to sleep at his own place, but it had not been cleaned for years and was uninhabitable. So, Zhou Tuoxing offered to take him to Linjiang Community.
As they left, He Chuan Zhou used the house lights to illuminate their way.
Zhou Tuoxing stopped near the door, seemingly having something more to say. After hesitating for a while, he only said, "Good night."
He Chuan Zhou replied, "Good night."
Wang Yifei, waiting for the elevator and watching the red numbers climb rapidly, turned to look at the two silently staring at each other, as if in a silent movie, and also said, "Good night," closing the door as he stepped out.
Zhou Tuoxing gave him a cold look.
Wang Yifei, rubbing his face instinctively, asked in confusion, "What is it?"
Zhou Tuoxing: "…Nothing."
He Chuan Zhou turned off the lights and lay down. Wang Yifei's sudden appearance left her slightly excited, and she began to dream irregularly. Towards the latter part, the dreams became clear and coherent.
The entire city is rapidly changing, yet this residential building still retains its familiar appearance. The most notable difference is the garbage can that used to be in front of the security door has now been moved to the entrance of the underground garage, ten meters away.
The first time He Chuan Zhou saw Wang Yifei was beside that dark blue trash can.
It was early May 2006. He Chuan Zhou’s third year of junior high had only a month and a half left.
In the south, temperatures were fluctuating unpredictably, and it was a bit chilly that day.
It happened to be He Xu's birthday. He Chuan Zhou enthusiastically decided to cook for him. She bought a bag of chicken legs and followed an unreliable online recipe. After spending half a day, the result was a mess.
Fortunately, He Xu came back late that day, busy with some sort of meeting.
She quickly cleaned up the kitchen and went downstairs to throw out the garbage. The first trip was to dispose of the chicken legs, the second to throw out the burnt pan. As she opened the security door, she saw Wang Yifei rummaging through her familiar blue bag, looking for something to eat.
His appearance left a strong impression on He Chuan Zhou. He wore a small yellow sweater with rough stitches over a loose, frayed pink thermal shirt. The sleeves were tucked in, but the collar was visible. His hair was uneven and stuck out in all directions, looking very disheveled.
When he saw the pan in, He Chuan Zhou’s hand, he was startled and tried to back away but tripped over the curb by the flowerbed and fell onto the grass. He looked quite foolish.
They both stood there, stunned, staring at each other without saying a word.
Under the streetlamp, the illuminated road looked like it was covered in a layer of snow, with tiny dust particles dancing in the yellow light.
He Chuan Zhou thought that some people were like these dust particles, unfortunate by nature, as if blown off by the creator while sculpting masterpieces.
She couldn't recall her exact thoughts at the time, probably influenced by He Xu. Without much thought, she half-dragged him upstairs.
Wang Yifei was terrified but didn't scream or cry. His face was pale, his legs wobbled as he climbed the stairs, and he knelt at the doorway, clutching the bag tightly.
He Xu called from downstairs, saying he forgot his key and asked her to come down and open the door and bring something.
He Chuan Zhou, still a bit dazed, told Wang Yifei to stay put and dashed down the stairs.
When they hurriedly came back up, Wang Yifei was standing barefoot in the kitchen, breaking a biscuit from the coffee table and soaking it in tap water to eat. His sleeve was stained, and seeing them, he quickly swallowed, looking pitiful and saying, "I only ate a little bit."
"How could this happen..."
He Xu looked heartbroken, it was something that made him very sad.
After a moment of gloom, he had Wang Yifei sit at the dining table, pulled a crumpled five-yuan note from his pocket, and asked He Chuan Zhou to buy a pancake.
She ran quickly, returning with the smell of sauce lingering all the way.
That's how they met Wang Yifei.
Wang Yifei's mother was ruled an accidental death, and his father was imprisoned for murder. His custody was transferred to his uncle.
Most of the family’s assets were used to compensate the victim’s family, leaving only a two-bedroom house.
Due to his father's situation, relatives were unwilling to take care of him and were afraid of getting involved. They decided to take turns bringing him food during holidays.
Wang Yifei understood everything. He had an unusually strong stubbornness. He couldn't bear open humiliation more than starvation.
He usually stayed at school, where elementary school provided lunch. But during holidays, he was alone at home.
This time, his relatives didn't bring him food, so he could only drink water. The seven-day holiday was too long, and by halfway through, he couldn't hold on and went out late at night to find something to eat.
In Wang Yifei’s fragmented storytelling, images emerged chaotically, spreading from his earliest memories to the collapse seven years ago.
Mundane daily life appeared like a low-quality surveillance video to He Chuan Zhou—blurry, disjointed, and dim.
At times, it was He Xu taking Wang Yifei to buy clothes, other times, Wang Yifei hiding on the balcony, scared by Zhou Tuoxing, and then a group playing poker around the table while the TV in the living room played the Spring Festival Gala, its sound drowned by fireworks outside.
Wang Yifei was thoughtful and considerate. Before age seven, he had lived in a relatively harmonious and normal family, giving him deeper insights into human emotions.
After meeting He Chuan Zhou, he seldom received care and cautiously tried to please them.
He helped with house chores, greeted them politely, ate less on purpose, and did everything lightly.
Deep-seated insecurity took slow healing.
During that time, they lived like a family.
In the end, He Chuan Zhou kept replaying Wang Yifei's words in front of the memorial photo—if only Uncle He were still here.
She had thought about this countless times.
Every time, she stopped before delving deep.
Now she could face it more calmly, thinking the future wasn’t so bad. If He Xu could see them living as he had hoped, it would be good.
He Chuan Zhou woke up.
Thick curtains were closed, and the room echoed with the sound of rain.
She checked the time, got dressed, and went to work at the district office.
Yesterday, they had identified the suspect’s whereabouts, and this morning, they successfully captured him. Brother Huang came out of the interrogation room, his steps light, humming a tune.
He added a handful of goji berries, ginseng, and longan to his thermos. Taking a sip, he felt re-energized and walked over to discuss the report details with He Chuan Zhou.
As they talked, Brother Huang’s phone rang.
He answered with a smile, “Director Feng. The suspect has confessed. Mission accomplished!”
His expression quickly turned serious, “Where?”
He Chuan Zhou checked her phone but found no alerts or notifications.
Brother Huang glanced at her a few times, walked a bit further to finish the call, and then returned.
“What’s up?” He Chuan Zhou asked.
Brother Huang vaguely replied, “Someone reported finding a body in the suburbs.”
“Where exactly?” He Chuan Zhou stood up. “Let’s get ready to respond.”
Brother Huang grabbed her arm, stopping her: “Director Feng wants you to stay out of this one.”
He Chuan Zhou’s face darkened as Brother Huang continued, “The deceased is likely Han Songshan.”