They always say that once the Laba Festival passes, the New Year is truly here.
For Wen Ye, the New Year didn’t feel like anything special; she only felt that the winter in Chuncheng was exceptionally cold.
Wen Ye lay wrapped inside her quilt, curled up into a ball, yet she still couldn’t warm her limbs. Only the area around her chest was warm. She took turns pressing both of her hands against her chest, and once they gained a tiny bit of warmth, she would pull them back down to press them against her toes. Only then could she feel the presence of her feet.
Suddenly, Wen Ye felt a heavy weight press down on her. She poked her head out and saw that Gu Sheng had laid her own quilt right on top of hers.
Before Wen Ye could even feel anxious, Gu Sheng lifted the edge of Wen Ye’s quilt and burrowed inside.
Wen Ye touched Gu Sheng’s hands, which were just as freezing. “Gu Sheng, you must be freezing too. You’re so smart, now our quilts have become twice as thick.”
Gu Sheng shrunk into Wen Ye’s embrace, holding Wen Ye’s ice-cube-like hands between them. Here, the warmth radiated from both of their chests and abdomens gathered together.
Gu Sheng asked, “Are you a little warmer?”
Wen Ye tried her best to press close to Gu Sheng, tucking the edges of the quilt under her body without leaving a single gap. “Warm. It’s not cold anymore.”
Gu Sheng said weakly, “Go to sleep now.”
Wen Ye rubbed her chin against the top of Gu Sheng’s head. “Thank you, Gu Sheng.”
Gu Sheng thought of the big dog her family used to keep; pressing her face against its fluffy chest felt just as comfortable as this.
That night, both Wen Ye and Gu Sheng slept soundly without being woken up by the cold in the middle of the night. When they woke up, their hands and feet were warm. The warmth inside the quilt made Gu Sheng want to linger in bed. In a daze, she thought of winters past when she, too, would be so reluctant to leave the warm bedding that her mother would pat the quilt and gently call out to her: “Sweetie, time to get up! You’re going to be late for school.”
“Still sleeping! All of you, get the fuck up and get to work! I’m counting to three!” Huangmao kicked the door open, letting a rush of cold air pour straight in as he stood at the doorway shouting.
Wen Ye bolted upright, simultaneously helping Gu Sheng up to her feet. Then, relying entirely on muscle memory, she began rolling up the quilts. She rolled both quilts straight into one, leaned them against the wall, and only after finishing all of this did Wen Ye finally open her eyes and wake up completely.
Wen Ye looked out the window; the sky was still pitch black.
The two of them stood in line to collect their breakfast. Gu Sheng hung her head, leaning lazily against Wen Ye.
Wen Ye exerted a bit of strength, tensing her body so that Gu Sheng could lean against her more comfortably.
After collecting their breakfast, Gu Sheng still had that lazy, half-asleep look. Finally feeling that something was wrong, Wen Ye used the back of her hand to touch Gu Sheng’s forehead, which was burning hot to a terrifying degree.
How could this happen? Did she catch a chill last night? But wasn’t the second half of the night quite warm? It’s all my fault. I should have thought sooner about sharing the quilt with Gu Sheng. Gu Sheng must have been freezing to death to come sleep with me. Why am I so stupid?
Wen Ye patted Gu Sheng’s shoulder. “Gu Sheng, Gu Sheng, can you still hear me?”
Gu Sheng squinted weakly; she felt as though Wen Ye’s voice was coming from very far away. She swallowed, feeling as if she were swallowing razor blades, and forced her painful throat to produce a tiny sound. “So uncomfortable. So dizzy.”
Wen Ye panicked. Gu Sheng couldn’t go on like this. She helped Gu Sheng over to lean against the corner of the wall, then ran over to Aunt Rong, dropping straight to her knees with a loud thud. “Aunt Rong, Xiao Shi’s head is burning up! She’s sick. Aunt Rong, I’m begging you to give her some medicine.”
Aunt Rong was startled by the dramatic entrance. After listening to her, she glanced over in Xiao Shi’s direction. “Trying to fake sickness to slack off, are you?”
Wen Ye shook her head like a rattle-drum. “No, she really is burning up.”
Aunt Rong stood up, walked over to Xiao Shi, and reached out to feel her forehead. It really was burning hot.
Wen Ye followed right behind her, watching Aunt Rong anxiously.
Aunt Rong said, “Huangmao, go get a fever reducer.”
Wen Ye was overjoyed.
Huangmao fetched the fever-reducing medicine and handed it to Aunt Rong. However, Aunt Rong took the medicine but didn’t give it to Gu Sheng.
Aunt Rong told her, “Xiao Wu, whether you want to save her depends on your performance today. The moment you pickpocket 5,000 bucks today, that’s when I’ll give her the medicine.”
Wen Ye dropped to her knees again, slamming her head against the ground with loud thuds. “Aunt Rong, please give it to her first! I will definitely pickpocket 5,000 today. If Xiao Shi doesn’t take medicine, keeping up this fever will fry her brain.”
Aunt Rong replied, “The more you drag this out, the later she gets her medicine.”
Tears of anxiety spilled from Wen Ye’s eyes. She looked at the medicine in Aunt Rong’s hand, then looked back at Gu Sheng.
Wen Ye pleaded, “Aunt Rong, then let me carry her upstairs. It’s too cold for her lying down here.”
Aunt Rong didn’t object.
Disregarding the breakfast on the floor, Wen Ye scooped Gu Sheng up horizontally in her arms. Only now did she realize how light Gu Sheng was; how could someone so frail possibly withstand such a heavy sickness? Crying the entire time, Wen Ye carried Gu Sheng upstairs, laid her down steadily, and covered her with both quilts. Then, she leaned down close to Gu Sheng’s ear. “Gu Sheng, can you hear me? Hang in there. As soon as I finish pickpocketing and come back, Aunt Rong will give you your medicine. You have to hang on.”
Wen Ye stood up, wiped away her tears, gave Gu Sheng one deep look, and ran back downstairs.
“Sister Rong, are you really not going to give Xiao Shi medicine? Didn’t you say she could sell for a high price?” Huangmao asked, watching Xiao Wu sprint away.
“Go give it to her, and feed her some more water. Just make sure she doesn’t die. It doesn’t matter if the fever makes her stupid; being stupid makes her easier to control,” Aunt Rong said, handing the medicine to Huangmao.
Huangmao didn’t understand. “Then what you just told Xiao Wu?”
Aunt Rong let out a cold snort. “If I didn’t say that, would she have had this much drive?”
Huangmao flattered her, “Sister Rong is brilliant!”
Wen Ye followed Brother Tie to Chuncheng’s most famous flower market.
Weaving through the flower market today, Wen Ye didn’t care about the amount of money or whether the target was rich, as long as she could reach them, she pickpocketed every single one.
By the afternoon, she had already stolen 3,000. Wen Ye hadn’t eaten breakfast and had been running around all morning, so her lips were a bit pale by now.
Brother Tie said, “Xiao Wu, that’s about enough. Grab something to eat first, then we’ll change locations. Too many things have gone missing here in a short time; the targets will catch on soon.”
Wen Ye shook her head. “Brother Tie, I’m not hungry. Let’s change locations directly. Hurry and take me to the next spot.”
Brother Tie sighed. This Xiao Wu really is something.
He didn’t say anything more and led Xiao Wu to another market.
This market wasn’t as large as the flower market, but it was crowded, packed, and easy to strike.
Wen Ye roamed through the crowd for over an hour, then felt inside her coat. I wonder how much is in these wallets, is it enough yet?
Wen Ye saw that right to her left was a pharmacy. Will Aunt Rong really give Gu Sheng the medicine? What if she gives it today and not tomorrow? What if the medicine she gives is the wrong one?
Disregarding whether Brother Tie was watching her, Wen Ye slipped into the pharmacy.
“Little kid, who are you looking for?”
Wen Ye forced herself to remain calm. “I want to buy some medicine. Medicine for a head that’s burning hot and very dizzy.”
The pharmacist smiled and said, “Then you have to tell me, how high is burning hot? Where are your mom and dad? Why are you here buying medicine by yourself?”
Wen Ye bit the inside of her cheeks. “It’s my mom is sick, and there’s no one else at home. Doctor, please just give me the medicine.”
The pharmacist stopped smiling. “Are there any other symptoms?”
Wen Ye thought carefully, not daring to miss a single detail. “She can’t open her eyes, she keeps being drowsy, her head is very hot, and her voice is so hoarse she can’t speak.”
The pharmacist thought it over, concluding it must be a fever combined with a throat infection.
The pharmacist pulled two boxes of medicine from the cabinet and walked over to Wen Ye. “Little one, I can’t sell this medicine to you because you’re still a child and aren’t allowed to buy medication. But I can go with you to check on your home. I don’t want your money either; I’ll pay for it myself. Is that alright?”
As soon as she finished speaking, the pharmacist turned to another clerk and said, “Keep an eye on the shop for a moment; I’ll go check on things with this kid. She’s so pitiful.”
The moment those words left her mouth, the pharmacist felt her hands go empty. She turned around and saw the child snatch the medicine and run toward the door.
“Hey! Don’t run!” The pharmacist hurried out to chase her, but there was no shadow in sight.
As soon as Wen Ye came out, she was grabbed by Brother Tie, who had been keeping watch at the door. He dragged her into a small alley, wound around this way and that, and led her back to the van hidden on a desolate roadside.
Brother Tie slammed the van door shut with a loud bang and kicked out blindly at Wen Ye. “Damn it, you trying to run away or what? What were you doing in there just now? What did you say to the people inside? Confess honestly!”
Wen Ye was kicked toward the opposite door, the impact jolting her so hard she felt like her intestines were shifting. Fortunately, the cotton-padded jacket Gu Sheng gave her was thick; otherwise, that kick probably would have broken two of her ribs.
Wen Ye took a moment to catch her breath and steady her breathing. “Brother Tie, I didn’t talk nonsense. I didn’t want to run away. I just wanted to buy some medicine for Xiao Shi. I really didn’t say anything else.”
Wen Ye pulled everything she had lifted that afternoon out from inside her coat and took the initiative to open Brother Tie’s bag to put them back in.
Finally, she fished a gold ring out of her pocket. Instead of putting it in the bag, she shoved it directly into Brother Tie’s palm.
Brother Tie froze. He gripped the ring tightly inside his fist, glanced out the window, and saw that the others who were out working hadn’t returned yet. There was nobody else nearby.
Brother Tie turned his head back, narrowed his eyes at Wen Ye, and asked, “What’s the meaning of this? Bribing me?”
Wen Ye knelt on the floor beneath the seat, her eyes full of pleading, her dry, peeling lips parting and closing. “Brother Tie, I really want to save Xiao Shi. I’m not running away. I’m begging you not to tell Aunt Rong about just now. I just ran in and snatched two boxes of medicine; I didn’t say anything else.”
Seeing that Brother Tie’s expression had softened somewhat, Wen Ye continued, “I don’t have anywhere else to go besides here. I will definitely work hard. Brother Tie, whatever you’re lacking from now on, just tell me. I’ll do my best to lift it for you.”
Brother Tie thought for a few seconds, helped Wen Ye up, and had her sit on the seat. With a friendly expression, he patted her knees. “What happened just now? Didn’t you just finish work and come back for our normal meetup?”
Wen Ye watched as Brother Tie took off his shoe, hid the ring beneath the insole, put his shoe back on, and opened the bag to say to her, “Come, come, let’s see how much our Xiao Wu harvested today.”
Wen Ye immediately fawned, “Brother Tie is the God of Wealth. With you running the turf, there’s definitely no shortage.”
Brother Tie took all the cash out of the wallets, moistened his finger with saliva, and laughed wildly with his honest-looking eyebrows scrunched up. “Brother Tie loves hearing that! Hahaha!”
“5,540. Not bad, Xiao Wu. You’re truly a natural-born thief.”
Hearing the praise didn’t make Wen Ye as happy as it used to. She suddenly thought of when Gu Sheng had asked her that day if she still wanted to steal if she ever got the chance to escape.
Once Gu Sheng got better, she was going to tell her: if there’s a chance, she didn’t want to steal anymore. She didn’t want to be a thief, and she wasn’t born for this.
Wen Ye watched as Brother Tie pulled out four bills and tucked them into his own clothes.
Brother Tie said, “Brother treats you well, right? 5,140. Take this to turn in. Brother won’t leave you unable to meet your quota.”
A dog that can’t be filled. On the surface, Wen Ye still plastered on a smile. “Thank you, Brother Tie. I will definitely remember your great kindness and filial piety toward you from now on.”