chapter 7

The next day, Ning Qiuyan was awakened by the sound of knocking at his door. A local courier had arrived, delivering a large number of cardboard boxes into Ning Qiuyan’s home.

He hadn’t bought anything and suspected that the delivery was a mistake. But when the courier asked him to sign for the packages, the recipient’s name was printed clearly: Ning Qiuyan.

He had no choice but to confirm the delivery. Standing in the middle of a room full of boxes, he felt a bit lost.

Most of the boxes contained food-vacuum-packed fruits and vegetables, fresh meat, and some rare varieties not available locally in Wutong. There were also plenty of nutritious supplements, most of which required no cooking, conveniently packaged in cans.

Finally, Ning Qiuyan found a printed recipe booklet inside one of the boxes. It detailed every meal he was to eat for the next half month, signed by Dr. Ling.

Ning Qiuyan recalled that after his last blood donation, Dr. Ling had mentioned preparing a meal plan for him, but he hadn’t expected it to include all the supplies as well.

He didn’t have Dr. Ling’s contact information, nor did he have a phone number for Du Island.

He had only exchanged email addresses with someone from Du Island when he was first contacted to sign the agreement.

He turned on his computer and drafted a message, essentially thanking Du Island for the food arrangements but saying he could handle things himself.

Almost a minute after the email was sent, he received a reply, as if the person was waiting on the other end.

Lu23121873: [You’re welcome. This was arranged by Mr. Guan. In half a month, a new meal plan will arrive. Please remember to sign for it.]

The brief reply was devoid of emotion and showed no intention of discussing anything with Ning Qiuyan.

Ning Qiuyan moved his hands away from the keyboard, giving up on sending another email.

For some reason, he felt as if he was being raised.

Guan Heng needed his blood, so he was being kept healthy for the next donation.

That was the cold reality.

Taking care of his health was the only thing he could do.

Sorting all the food took some time. By evening, Ning Qiuyan put on a heavy coat and walked to his part-time job.

The job his friend had helped him find at a music store as a salesperson hadn’t worked out-he hadn’t passed the interview. He’d received the disappointing news while he was on Du Island.

So now, Ning Qiuyan only had his part-time job as a waiter at the bar, working from 6:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.

The evening was even colder than the daytime.

The ground was frozen hard, and the orange streetlights shone on puddles formed by melting snow, reflecting a hazy glow.

There were many commuters heading home.

Ning Qiuyan walked across several streets, passed through alleys, and entered the underground plaza.

Nightlife was about to begin.

Teenagers were smoking by the roadside with their skateboards, street singers were tuning their equipment, and a group of troublemakers sat chatting in front of a neon sign, occasionally bursting into exaggerated laughter laced with profanity.

Someone whistled at Ning Qiuyan as he walked by.

He glanced at them, then turned and entered N° Bar.

All night, Ning Qiuyan found himself easily distracted.

The resident band’s lead singer and guitarist, Ray, said his throat was feeling a bit off that night.

During the intermission, Ray spoke to the other band members, then jumped off the stage, slung an arm around Ning Qiuyan’s shoulders, and said, “Next song, you sing it for me. I’ll split tonight’s pay with you.”

Ning Qiuyan was standing in front of the bar with a tray, lost in thought.

The place was noisy.

He looked up a beat late, the flickering colorful lights casting shadows on his face. “Hm?”

Then he shook his head. “I can’t.”

Ray squinted. “Didn’t you say you could? I’ve heard you sing before. What, you don’t want to?”

Ning Qiuyan didn’t deny it. “Yeah, I don’t want to.”

Ray said, “You’ve got quite the attitude tonight.”

Ning Qiuyan replied, “Are you saying I didn’t have an attitude before?”

Ning Qiuyan had only been working here for a few months. When he first arrived, he was still underage, got in through someone’s connections, said he needed money, and was very well-behaved, never causing trouble.

In fact, he really hadn’t caused any trouble, except for one time when a drunken customer harassed him and he had to call the police. Most of the time, he worked hard when it was busy, and when it wasn’t, he quietly watched the band perform from below the stage.

There was a period when Ning Qiuyan didn’t come in, and everyone thought he’d gone back to school. But a month ago, he returned.

Ray chuckled, not pressing the issue.

He ruffled Ning Qiuyan’s hair, treating him like a kid with a bad temper, and asked with concern, “Where’d you go over the weekend?”

The weekend-he’d gone to Du Island.

He’d done something unbelievable.

That dark gray sky, the black-blue sea, and that island-here, it was his own secret.

Ning Qiuyan said, “Hung out at a friend’s place.”

Ray chatted with him for a bit, then strummed his guitar before going back on stage, gesturing, “Let me know if you ever want to perform.”

Ning Qiuyan had no desire to go on stage.

After work, while changing in the locker room, his phone rang. He thought it was Su Jianzhou, who was probably waiting for him outside, so he answered, “I’m coming out now.”

A familiar female voice came through the phone, “Ningning, are you off work yet?”

Ning Qiuyan hadn’t expected her to call at this hour.

He slowly pulled on his sweater before replying, “I’m off.”

After some small talk, the woman got straight to the point: “You know, that apartment of yours is really old. The community facilities aren’t great, and there’s no school or hospital nearby. Aside from being downtown, it doesn’t have any other advantages. Not many people are willing to take a place like that. I’ve tried to get the price up as much as I could, and they haven’t completely refused. They said they’ll come by tomorrow to take a look.”
Ning Qiuyan said calmly, “I’m not selling the house.”

The woman laughed, “Don’t say childish things. If you don’t sell the house, where will you get the money for college? Our money isn’t a problem, you can pay us back slowly-Aunt isn’t an outsider. But you know your younger siblings also need to go to school, and Aunt and Uncle don’t have the means to support you…”

Ning Qiuyan lowered his lashes. “I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.”

On the other end of the phone, a few more polite words were exchanged.

Ning Qiuyan understood their true meaning.

He repeated, “I’ll pay the money back soon.”

The call ended.

*

Su Jianzhou arrived a little later than expected.

Ning Qiuyan was sitting at the closed entrance of N°, wearing his usual black knit hat. He seemed thinner, bundled up in a thick down jacket, one hand in his pocket, sipping hot milk from a bottle the owner had given him through a straw.

The fact that a bar served hot milk was about as ridiculous as Ning Qiuyan working at a nightclub.

Su Jianzhou spotted him from afar and called out.

Ning Qiuyan’s face was only palm-sized, his eyes round, his expression a little dazed.

As Su Jianzhou got closer, he realized, as expected, that Ning Qiuyan was listening to music.

“New headphones?” Su Jianzhou took one out of his ear. “Finally replaced the broken ones?”

Ning Qiuyan took the earbud back, his face flushing. “Someone gave them to me.”

Accepting gifts always made him feel embarrassed. Su Jianzhou had offered to buy him new headphones before, but he’d refused.

He hopped off the steps and set the milk bottle on the ground for someone to collect the next day.

Seeing Su Jianzhou’s amused expression, he added, “Mr. Guan gave them to me when I went to Du Island to donate blood.”

Su Jianzhou joked, “Your beneficiary is really loaded.”

They walked shoulder to shoulder across the square late at night, both bundled up thickly.

Like two walking loaves of bread.

They went to their usual barbecue stall and sat facing each other inside the tent.

The owner said he hadn’t seen them in a long time and gave them a few bottles of beer on the house.

“How do you feel? Any discomfort?” Su Jianzhou asked about the blood donation, then added, “You look so grumpy.”

Su Jianzhou was a few years older. They’d met while learning piano from the same teacher, and had known each other for almost ten years. Except for the time Su Jianzhou quit piano to go to medical school, they’d practically grown up together.

More than a friend, Su Jianzhou was like an older brother.

Ning Qiuyan thought some things didn’t matter, or that saying them wouldn’t help.

He didn’t mention the Boy in handcuffs, nor that he’d nearly fallen into the lake from the sound of gunfire, or that he’d blacked out during the blood donation. After all, saying it would only cause unnecessary worry.

“Everyone there was very nice and polite,” he said, mentioning Uncle Kang and Dr. Ling. “They didn’t treat me like someone selling blood.”

Su Jianzhou frowned, “You’re not.”

Ning Qiuyan remembered the pile of food and supplements they’d sent him. “I am.”

Su Jianzhou said, “What about Guan Heng? Did you meet him?”

Ning Qiuyan’s heart fluttered lightly.

He didn’t know why he reacted that way.

He said, “Yeah.”

Su Jianzhou asked again, “So, does he look like his photos?”

That photo had gone viral online for a while. When Ning Qiuyan got the contact email from Du Island, he and Su Jianzhou had discussed whether Guan Heng would look completely different from his pictures.

Ning Qiuyan said Guan Heng was much better looking than in the photos.

Su Jianzhou sighed, saying Guan Heng was truly unfortunate-blessed with wealth and beauty, but not health.

Some patients with blood diseases spend their whole lives fighting illness.

Some relapse after recovery, losing hope.

Only a very few win the battle and regain their health.

Guan Heng’s pale complexion made it impossible for Ning Qiuyan to refute Su Jianzhou’s words.

Su Jianzhou ordered food, then asked what Guan Heng was like: “Is he as nice as the butler and the others you mentioned? Or is he an aloof, untouchable rich kid?”

Anyone imagining Guan Heng might think so.

Ning Qiuyan shook his head. “He’s different.”

Whether Guan Heng was a rich kid, Ning Qiuyan didn’t know. They’d met, but in truth, he knew nothing about Guan Heng. Guan Heng wasn’t like people imagined, but he wasn’t exactly approachable either. Ning Qiuyan couldn’t find the right words.

Thinking back on their private conversation in Guan Heng’s room, those sentences heavy with implication, he hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but now it seemed a bit too wild.

Maybe it was because he was sick that Guan Heng acted that way?

Su Jianzhou: “How is he different? Bad temper?”

Ning Qiuyan couldn’t find the right words. “No…”

Thinking about Guan Heng only made his heart react as if paralyzed, making him a little flustered. “I can’t explain it.”

The tent was warm.

It smelled of barbecue.

Ning Qiuyan started to feel hot.

He took off his scarf, then his jacket.

After a few words, Su Jianzhou suddenly looked at his neck and asked, “What happened to your neck?”

Ning Qiuyan was puzzled. “What?”

Su Jianzhou told him to lower his head, inspecting his neck as he spoke. “There are two scabbed wounds, small, like two little holes.”

Ning Qiuyan sat there like a dumb goose. “Really?”

“Yeah, just below your Heart-shaped Tattoo behind your ear.” Su Jianzhou asked, “Where did you get those?”