The autumn in Spring City was very beautiful, but Wen Ye was in no mood to appreciate it. She sighed. Hearing Wen Ye sigh, Gu Sheng asked her, “What is wrong with you? Haven’t the harvests been pretty decent today?”
Gu Sheng patted her own pockets. Two of the wallets were ones she had picked herself, and a few others were given to her by Wen Ye. She was terrified that she would get beaten if she failed to meet her quota. Ever since she learned how to pick pockets, Wen Ye had told Aunt Rong that she wanted to work alongside her, saying that her fair and clean appearance would lower people’s guards and make the pickings much smoother. Aunt Rong hadn’t believed it at first, but after trying it twice and discovering that they really did bring back more items, she let them be, though she increased the number of people keeping watch over them.
Treading on the thick, crispy layer of fallen leaves on the ground that rustled with every step, Wen Ye told Gu Sheng, “Winter comes right after autumn passes. Winter nights are freezing, and the quilt is still this thin one; it is so cold I cannot fall asleep. Besides, in the winter people wear thick clothes, and their wallets are all kept in the inner pockets of those heavy garments, making pickpocketing much harder. I remember winter is when we get beaten the most.”
After Wen Ye finished speaking, she saw Gu Sheng take two steps into the sunlight, smile at her, and say, “Then let us soak up more sun right now, and when winter comes, we will deal with it then.”
The gloom in Wen Ye’s eyes was chased away by the sunlight radiating from Gu Sheng. She ran into the sunlight as well and smiled. “You are so smart, Gu Sheng.”
The two of them wandered around outside for half the day, and a little past one o’clock in the afternoon, they rendezvoused with Tie Ge to hand over their goods. Tie Ge counted the quantities and gave each of them a jam-filled bun.
Aunt Rong had set up a reward-and-punishment chart nowadays. Once they reached a certain performance quota, they could eat those tier-of-food items.
The jam-filled bun was a newly added food item recently. Wen Ye had never eaten one before, and today was her very first time.
Wen Ye leaned against a small alleyway, carefully tearing open the packaging bag. She leaned in to sniff it first; it smelled sweet. She took a tiny bite, smacked her lips, and thought, What is this? It is just an ordinary bun. Where is the jam? Wen Ye inspected the bitten bun inside and out, unable to find where the jam was hiding. She glanced back at the packaging bag, where a strawberry was drawn in the corner. That should be right, shouldn’t it?
Gu Sheng said, “The jam is right in the middle.”
She knew this kind of bun. They were displayed in the weighing section of supermarkets and were very cheap, so you could buy many, many bags for just a few yuan. Her mother had told her that these bad-tasting ones only had a tiny dot of jam right in the middle, and then her mother would buy a jar of imported jam and sandwich it in toast at home for her to eat.
Hearing this, Wen Ye hastily took a few large, eager bites until she finally saw a small purplish-red dollop of jam in the middle of the bun. She first swallowed the mushy bread in her mouth, took two sips of water, and then stuck out the tip of her tongue to gently lick a tiny bit of the jam into her mouth, rolling it around on the tip of her tongue to savor it.
Wen Ye carefully searched for a hint of a different fragrance amidst the sweetness. So this is what strawberries taste like. She had never eaten a strawberry before, but she had tasted strawberry jam. Hehe.
Seeing that Gu Sheng had also reached the part with the jam, Wen Ye leaned over and asked her, “Have you ever eaten a strawberry? Does this taste like a strawberry?”
Gu Sheng tasted it, shook her head, and replied, “Not quite the same.”
Wen Ye let out a disappointed ah, took another bite, and chewed on the dry bread.
Gu Sheng looked at Wen Ye, took another bite, finished it meticulously, and then said, “It seems kind of similar, though strawberries are not this sweet.”
Wen Ye was happy again. “That is great! Then I will just eat strawberry jam and skip strawberries. I like eating sweet things.”
The corners of Gu Sheng’s eyes grew warm. She turned her head, murmured a low assent, and continued eating.
A bun was not very large, and it was finished within a few minutes. This time, Gu Sheng did not share any with Wen Ye. With Tie Ge watching nearby, and knowing that Wen Ye would never accept it anyway, she kept it to herself.
Tie Ge answered a phone call and then told the two of them, “Rong Jie says there is an open-air public screening of a movie over at the wetland park tonight. In a while, I will take you guys over there to stake out a spot in advance. There are bound to be a lot of people tonight.”
Wen Ye nodded. “Got it, Tie Ge.”
Gu Sheng nodded along as well, though her eyes avoided looking at Tie Ge.
Tie Ge didn’t care about Xiao Shi’s attitude. Xiao Shi was a good piece of merchandise that Rong Jie had earmarked to be sold off; he just needed to keep a close eye on her so she wouldn’t run away.
The wetland park was a prime spot for Spring City citizens to enjoy nighttime recreational activities. Once evening arrived, it was filled everywhere with old folks strolling with baby strollers, teenagers riding bicycles, dating couples, street performers, roadside vendors, and plenty of people walking their dogs. Coupled with the fact that the Olympics were only two years away, the wave of national fitness was running high, and the number of people on the courts and running tracks here grew larger by the day.
Not to mention that there was an open-air movie showing tonight.
Past dinnertime, a large screen had already been set up in the park’s grand plaza, and the staff were busy arranging the sound system and projector.
Wen Ye had come last year and had some experience. She asked Gu Sheng, “Have you ever watched an open-air movie?”
Gu Sheng shook her head. “I have only ever watched them in movie theaters and at home.”
Wen Ye scratched her head. She knew what a movie theater was, but she had no idea how people watched movies at home or how you could fit a screen that big in a house. It seemed Gu Sheng’s family was truly wealthy.
Night fell quickly, and the benches provided by the event organizers in the grand plaza were nowhere near enough for everyone to sit. Some people brought their own small stools, while others sat directly on the ground, packing the massive plaza to the brim.
At 7:00 PM, the movie started right on time. After the dragon logo and a long string of opening titles, the title appeared over a blue ocean. It was in English with Chinese subtitles below, but Wen Ye couldn’t recognize either the English or the Chinese. She asked Gu Sheng, “What is this movie called?”
Gu Sheng answered, “Titanic.”
Wen Ye said, “What a strange name. You hear it and have no idea what it is about.”
Gu Sheng hadn’t watched this one either. Her parents would take her to watch a movie once a week, sometimes going out to see newly released ones, and sometimes watching older classic films at home, but they hadn’t shown her this one yet.
Wen Ye had no interest in watching the movie; she concentrated fully on scouting for good targets.
After making a round of pickpocketing, she came back, called Gu Sheng over, and relocated. The two of them handed their loot over to Tie Ge and changed seats to continue staking out targets.
The plot was already past the halfway mark when Wen Ye realized that the fair-haired, blue-eyed people on screen were actually speaking Mandarin. She asked Gu Sheng in astonishment, “Can foreigners speak Mandarin too?”
Gu Sheng patiently explained, “No, this is dubbed. They just hired Chinese people to voice the foreigners.”
Wen Ye uttered an oh of partial understanding.
Seeing that Gu Sheng enjoyed watching it, Wen Ye watched along too. Besides, since she had just stolen so much, she couldn’t continue right away or it would be easy to get caught.
She saw the two people in the movie stand up on the ship’s railing, and then the one called Jack hugged Rose from behind, spreading their arms wide against the wind. Wen Ye felt anxious watching it, wondering if they would fall off.
Then she saw Jack and Rose start kissing. Wen Ye knew this was called kissing; she had once seen Aunt Rong and Uncle Kai do that before.
Afterwards, Jack and Rose ran into a car, and Rose said she wanted to go to the stars. Wen Ye wondered why on earth she had to drag Jack inside just to go to the stars.
The young men and women in the plaza started hooting and hollering when they saw this scene, making the atmosphere heated. Gu Sheng awkwardly turned her face away and saw that Wen Ye was still watching with rapt interest, so she quickly covered Wen Ye’s eyes with her hand.
Wen Ye blinked. The warmth of Gu Sheng’s palm pressed against her eyes felt very comfortable. “What are you doing, Gu Sheng?”
Feeling Wen Ye’s long eyelashes fluttering against her palm, tickling her, Gu Sheng said in an annoyed, bashful tone, “What are you doing? Little kids cannot watch this.” Every time there was a scene like this, her mother would cover her eyes just like this and tell her that children couldn’t watch it and should wait until they were older.
Wen Ye obediently closed her eyes and gave an oh in response. “Then I will not watch.”
When the movie ended, Wen Ye and Gu Sheng wrapped up their workday. Having picked quite a bit today, they didn’t get yelled at by Aunt Rong. Lying on the floor that night, Wen Ye was in a very good mood.
Today she had eaten a strawberry jam bun and watched a movie with Gu Sheng. The movie was great, and it would have been even better if Jack hadn’t died. Wen Ye kept a mental diary. She didn’t have a notebook or a pen, but even if she did, she didn’t know how to write.
She had never kept a diary like this before, but last year she heard Gu Sheng say that she had a diary at home and wrote down everything that happened every day. So ever since then, Wen Ye had tried doing it too, figuring that whatever Gu Sheng did had to be right.
Days passed very quickly, and before they knew it, deep winter had arrived.
Gu Sheng had changed into the padded winter jacket given by Aunt Rong. The sleeves were very long, leaving her hands completely hidden inside; it looked like something picked up from somewhere. As for Wen Ye, she had shot up in height even more compared to last year, and the clothes from the previous year no longer covered her wrists when she put them on.
Wen Ye mentioned this to Aunt Rong, but Aunt Rong scolded her for making a fuss. “As long as you can wear it, you want a new one? Do you want me to take you shopping at the department store?”
Wen Ye slunk back crestfallen.
Gu Sheng pulled Wen Ye over, took off her own jacket, and handed it to her. “Try this.”
Wen Ye waved her hands to refuse. “Then what will you wear?”
Gu Sheng pointed at the one Wen Ye was wearing. “Isn’t yours getting too small? Let me try yours on; maybe it fits just right.”
Wen Ye shook her head vigorously. “No way, the cotton inside my jacket is practically falling out, it is not warm at all. Yours looks pretty good, I do not want it. Wear it yourself.”
Gu Sheng said, “Mine is too long, I cannot move around freely in it. How am I supposed to pick pockets? If I cannot pick anything later, I will get beaten too.”
Wen Ye hesitated.
Gu Sheng urged, “Hurry up.”
Wen Ye had no choice but to take it and then hand her own jacket over to Gu Sheng.
Once both of them put them on, the clothes fit just right.
Wen Ye took hers off and said, “Alright, I tried it. Give it back to me.”
Gu Sheng refused to take it off. “Just wear it like this. Yours is very warm too.”
It really was quite warm; Gu Sheng could even feel the lingering body heat Wen Ye had left inside the padded jacket.
Anxious now, Wen Ye stomped her foot. “No, give it back to me right now!”
Anyone watching would have thought she was the one whose clothes had been snatched away.
Seeing her throwing a childish tantrum, Gu Sheng ignored her and said, “Let us go. Time to work.”
Wen Ye pulled at Gu Sheng, wanting to argue further, when Huang Mao walked in, slapped the heavy wooden door of the room forcefully, and bellowed in a raspy, smoke-roughened voice, “Time to work, time to work! What are you dawdling for? Is your skin itching for a beating?”
Wen Ye had no choice but to drop the matter for now.
Today she and Gu Sheng were assigned to pick pockets at the railway station. With the Spring Festival approaching, the foot traffic at the station was massive.
Wen Ye breathed a slight sigh of relief. The indoor area was warm; otherwise, she would really be terrified that Gu Sheng would catch a cold. Catching a cold was a disaster, as Aunt Rong wouldn’t care whether you were sick or not and would still force you out to pick pockets.
Wen Ye diligently searched for easy targets, but people’s vigilance was growing higher and higher these days. Valuables like wallets were tucked securely in the inner pockets of their clothes, making them impossible to reach.
They hadn’t managed to catch a single thing all morning.
Today Uncle Kai was the one meeting up with them. Uncle Kai frowned and said, “If you still have nothing by this afternoon, you know what your fate will be.”
Uncle Kai swept his gaze around. He was a professional pickpocket himself, though he didn’t go out to work personally much anymore, his eye was still sharp. “That person over there holding a baby, with the large bag placed beside her, go feel around her later. I am watching her, and she looks like she is about to fall asleep. Once she falls deeply asleep, it will be easy to make a move.”
Wen Ye glanced over and nodded.
Gu Sheng nodded as well.