As a young woman, when meeting a young man who had his chest on full display in the middle of the street, Gan Qing couldn't help going with the norm and taking an extra peek. After peeking, she felt that with that chest and that waist, there was nothing wrong at all with flaunting that body.

It was just that… in this rundown place where illegally recycled oil and ash from the stoves filled the air, was there a need to try so hard to look fashionable?

"When I was young, I met you once at Rongxian Street." Yu Lanchuan lowered his head, his eyes sweeping across Boss Meng's hands. Boss Meng's hands were very thick and had some oil stains from years of working behind the stove. However, the skin was very fine and smooth, gleaming like jade, and really didn't look like a pair of hands that belonged to a middle-aged man. In the face of Boss Meng's confused look, Yu Lanchuan introduced himself in a vague manner, "My surname is Yu."

Meng Tianyi and Gan Qing's faces simultaneously blanked out for a second.

"Oh, it's you!" Meng Tianyi straightened his back that had been slightly bent all the while, then lowered his voice. "You… Please come in and have a seat."

After saying that, he waved to the side. Purposely not looking at Gan Qing, he pretended to shoo her off very casually. "Gan'er, this has nothing more to do with you. Go home, be careful on your way back."

The moment Yu Lanchuan spoke, Gan Qing had taken half a step back, retreating from the light. Her presence that was already very weak disappeared almost completely.

Hearing Boss Meng's words, she nodded like a lost spirit, then turned to leave without a word.

Yu Lanchuan initially did not take note of her. Out of habit, he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and happened to see an unclear side silhouette. His heart suddenly skipped a beat and he called out without thinking. "Hold on."

Gan Qing seemed to be startled by him. She stood there stiffly, then turned around cautiously and asked, "Are you talking to me?"

The wide-opened eyes were full of panic and insecurity. Her shoulders were very tense and she was shaking like a frightened wild rabbit.

Yu Lanchuan could see her face clearly now and disappointment suddenly flooded him. The memory bubbling up in his heart dissipated swiftly.

"It's nothing." His expression became placid and he said with the politeness of a stranger. "The one who was cornered by them today was my younger brother. I want to thank you."

Gan Qing stammered a reply. "Y-You're welcome."

Yu Lanchuan exhaled through his nose and thought. Where did this village bumpkin come from? She can't even speak properly.

His little bit of patience still had to be reserved to entertain the bosses that pay his salary and he had no patience for this kind of slow and awkward people. He nodded reservedly and then no longer bothered himself with this passerby, striding into Tianyi Crayfish.

Gan Qing thought. He's so key-ed up and tense. Someone must have torn down the Yu clan's ancestral tomb for a madman to appear in their family.

Her head lowered, she walked away with hurried steps, like an insignificant shadow.

The alleys of Mudpool Backlane were like a maze. At this hour, other than the street with the open-air skewers shops, everywhere else had turned quiet and desolate. Even the night wind blowing past seemed to slow down and thicken. The streetlights that had not been maintained for years lit up according to their moods, and there were still some that emitted flashes of light. When a person walked there, if their footsteps were just a little bit heavy, there would be an echo.

It was quite terrifying.

Perhaps she was scared of walking alone at night; Gan Qing purposely dragged her slippers along the ground and even hummed a song.

When she reached a spot where the light was well behind her, a shadowy figure emerged from the lane she had just passed. If Liu Zhongqi was there, he would recognise him as one of the three men who extorted him, the bald one.

The bald man glared viciously at Gan Qing's back for a while, then moved his legs to go after her. He was a burly man, nearly 1.9 meters tall. Yet, when he walked, his footsteps were silent.

Gan Qing didn't notice anything and followed the turn in the alley. On the quiet lane, there was only the sound of someone walking in plastic slippers and a rather raspy female voice singing. "Even though my hair had turned white after crossing the hill^[1]..."

The bald man tightened his jaw a little and his footsteps quickened. He curled his hands into fists, his muscles and veins bulging out on his arms.

"Chattering on and on, time waits not for my sorrow…"

The bald man charged aggressively past the intersection. Then, his feet came to an abrupt halt. In front of him was a blind alley covered in darkness. Other than an abandoned public bike, there was nothing else.

Where was she?

Right then, the slapping sound of plastic slippers could be heard again. The sound was coming from behind him!

"Before I could see the greatness that I desire…"

The bald man turned around abruptly and saw the meddlesome "cashier" stroll past from an intersection behind him. Her hands were in her pockets and she was too lazy to even lift her legs. She swayed unsteadily as she walked, and was not sparing him even a single glance.

Since there was no one nearby, the bald man decided that he might as well not bother hiding and shouted, "Stand there!"

After shouting, he stretched out his long legs and chased Gan Qing. The bald man charged towards the intersection, taking at most five or six steps, and reached in a flash. But in just a blink of the eye, the woman had disappeared into thin air again.

"I first lost myself —"

The song skirted on the verge of being offkey, echoing in the small alley until it was coming from all directions. A thin film of cold sweat appeared on the bald man's back. "Where are you from? Stop fooling around!"

With this shout, the sound of the singing and the footsteps disappeared at the same time. For a moment, only the low murmur of the night wind remained all around him, rustling and furtive.

The bald man's heartbeat began to quicken. Unconsciously, he bent his knees and raised his arms, both hands guarding his head. He held his breath and looked around warily.

Suddenly, an indescribable shiver ran through his body. Right on its heels came an unnatural gust of wind, directly closing in on his temples. The bald man realised with a fright that he could neither dodge nor block in time. There was a stab of pain on his temple and a buzzing sound went off in his head. He thought, I'm dead.

But the expected scene of his skull being cracked open and his blood spurting out did not happen. The bald man was stunned for a while before finally realising that even the skin on his scalp was not broken. Confused, he reached up to touch all over—his head was still sitting steadily on his neck.

It was as though a little pebble had been caught in the wind just now, and had coincidentally hit his face.

The bald man searched blindly for a while in the little alley like a headless fly but didn't spot even a single footprint. He was steadying his breathing when the phone in his pocket rang. He fumbled it out for a look and his voice fell a full octave, sounding almost gentle. "Hello, Shiniang... Me? I'm at the alley where we were this afternoon. I happen to see the police… What did you say?"

After taking the call, he couldn't be bothered with Gan Qing anymore and ran off in a hurry.

The bald man left Mudpool Backlane and passed two crossroads. He ran until his head was covered in sweat and charged into a McDonald's.

The employee who was cleaning the tables was frightened by this fiendish-looking burly man and retreated hurriedly, eyes wide. The bald man didn't bother with picking a fight; his eyes quickly swept around the place and he headed towards a table in the corner. The old lady and the other two men who had run a porcelain scam on a minor that evening were sitting in a corner. The three of them had ordered a small packet of fries. No one was eating, it seemed to be just for show. At their feet was a luggage bag that was bulging at the seams.

The bald man panted as he reached his companions. "Didn't we already pay the money? How can they just say they're not letting us stay anymore? How can there be such a thing? I'm going to look for them!"

"They have refunded us the money." The scarred-face man beside him greeted him with a 'Shixiong' and continued speaking, "They have no choice. There was a sudden inspection today. The landlord also didn't know what happened but they don't dare rent out the place anymore."

The bald man was just about to speak when the old lady suddenly lifted her head and looked at him. "Who did you meet?"

The bald man stared blankly. "Huh? Oh, it was some dumb waitress from a tiny shop. She was the one who poked her nose into other people's business today and called the police. I wanted to catch her and teach her a lesson."

The old lady asked, "Did you catch her?"

"Uhh… I didn't… It was already dark and I'm not as familiar with the place as she is. I lost her halfway through. She got lucky-"

Before he could finish speaking, the old lady suddenly leaned her body and reached out to wipe her fingers against the bald man's temple. There was a faint stain. Looking closely, it seemed to be the ash from a skewers stall.

The bald man saw her fingers clearly and quivered, his body covered in cold sweat.

"Someone who can scratch a line on your head is someone who can crack it open. They just didn't want to pick a fight with you today." The old lady sat back down slowly and sighed. "Do you know which street and which shop that person is from?"

The bald man said in a low voice, "I know. It's the street where all the shops sell skewers."

The old lady nodded. "Since she didn't harm you today, it means that other than what happens on her doorstep, she won't bother with things that don't concern her. You just need to avoid her place next time."

The bald man grumbled discontentedly, "A village bumpkin-"

"Enough!" The old lady raised her voice a little and cut him off. "What did I tell you at home? Yanning is a place with hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Hide when you bump into people like us, don't think that you're so mighty. Frog in the well!"

The bald man didn't dare say anymore. The other two men also followed suit and lowered their heads as they listened to her scolding.

The small table quieted down for the moment. The eight eyes on these four people fell on the fries on the table. The fries had gone completely cold, the oil that seeped out had turned the paper packet translucent. No one touched them and they lied there all alone. By their side were a few packets of ketchup that had been sucked dry, lying messily on the table like dead bodies.

After a while, the scarred-face man broke the silence. "Shiniang, we can't just stay here and wait. If there's really nothing we can do, how about staying at a guesthouse today?"

The disabled man at the side who had stayed silent the whole time said in a stifled tone, "Shiniang can stay in a guesthouse. We three can make do with staying outdoors for a night. It's not cold in summer anyway."

The old lady seemed to be thinking of something. She reached out to grab the small bundle by her side. Who knew what she was thinking; after a while, she sighed and shook her head.

Meanwhile, Gan Qing had also returned to her "home."

She was walking even slower, her steps dragging even more. This was because when she was avoiding that bald man, she had run a bit too hastily and the plastic strap on her left slipper had nearly broken off with barely half a centimeter still attached. She was afraid that once she lifted her leg, she would have to hop back on one leg.

From far she saw the familiar street lights at the entrance of her home and only then did she let out a relieved sigh. She decided to go back and borrow a pair of slippers from her roommate and make do for a couple of days.

She was currently staying at an illegal group rental house. Partitions divided the house into eight small rooms. Each room had a bunk bed and two inhabitants. Most of her housemates were female. Everyone had agreed not to smoke in the communal spaces and no one didn't flush the toilet, so it could still be considered clean. As for the girl staying in the bunk above hers who stayed in during the day and went out at night, that was a small issue. Gan Qing was someone who could sleep in the space under a bridge and didn't mind this little bit of disturbance.

In summary, she felt that her little nest was cheap, clean and near her workplace. Everything was good, great quality at a bargain price.

Unfortunately, in this day and age, things that were great quality at a bargain price often came with other problems—for example, being illegal.

Hence, on this day, Gan Qing hummed the song Hill all the way home and found that her "home" was gone.

A group of people were gathered outside the building, carrying their pots and pans. Gan Qing found her roommate among them. The roommate produced a pair of slippers and gave it to her, and also told her that the City of Yanning had started a new round of crackdowns on group rentals recently. The place they were renting had been sealed off and they were to move out immediately. They were not allowed to stay the night.

Hence, this group of people—whether it was the 'owl' who stayed in during the day and went out at night or the "lark" who was early to rise and early to bed—they were all turned out on the streets.

Fifteen minutes later, Gan Qing had rescued her own meagre possessions and was squatting on the road curb, holding a corn on the cob. The corn was also given to her by her night owl roommate. It tasted quite sweet.

The milky white streetlights stood in a line behind her. The slender poles fanning out looked like a swan taking flight, spreading along both sides of the wide road, rising and falling gently, linking together the shimmering lights from the thousands of homes in the city.

On this night, it was truly a curious coincidence.

The ones who ran the porcelain scam and the one who meddled in the affair, the one who overestimated his abilities and the one who hid herself deep without revealing anything, they all reached the same destination via different routes. In a cloud of gloom and anxiety, they were all pondering where they could go to stay the night.

T/N:

[1] 越过山丘，虽然已白了头 - Even though my hair had turned white after crossing the hill

This is from the song 山丘 "Hill" by Jonathan Lee. The lyrics are about looking back on a life of fights and regrets.