Xu Fangfei’s life was monotonous. On ordinary days, aside from attending classes and doing homework, she studied at home and helped her grandfather turn over and massage his body. Occasionally, when Qiao Huilan’s paper offering shop was doing well, she would go to the shop to help out.
A week had already passed since Yang Lu’s birthday. During this time, Xu Fangfei had not left No. 9, Xiwang Street again.
That evening, just after nightfall, rain began to fall in Lingcheng, pattering softly at first before gradually growing heavier. Before long, a torrential downpour swallowed up the sky and earth.
By the time Qiao Huilan got home, it was already close to eight in the evening.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Xu Fangfei quickly put down her pen and books and came out of the bedroom.
The rain was so heavy that the plastic raincoat on Qiao Huilan looked as if it had just been hauled out of water. She took it off outside the door, holding it in one hand while shaking it a couple of times with the other, then lowered her head to change into slippers. She muttered to herself, “The rain was heavy and the wind was strong too. It almost blew me, bike and all, into a ditch.”
Xu Fangfei stepped forward to take the raincoat from her. Seeing that Qiao Huilan’s hair and clothes were also completely soaked, she asked, “Mom, with rain this heavy, you rode your bike home?”
“Mm.” Qiao Huilan placed her drenched cloth shoes outside the door. She bent down again, picked up a towel from the shoe rack, and carefully wiped the water off the floor, saying casually, “I wanted to take the bus, but there were too many people. I couldn’t squeeze onto two buses in a row.”
Xu Fangfei spread the raincoat out to dry in the bathroom. Feeling sorry for her mother for getting soaked, she could not help saying softly, “It would’ve only been a dozen yuan to take a taxi back from the shop.”
“A dozen yuan is still a lot.” After tidying up the entrance area, Qiao Huilan straightened up and pounded her lower back, smiling as she said, “If we can save, then save it. Keep it for when you go to university.”
A wave of bitterness rose to Xu Fangfei’s nose. She turned her head away and quietly went into the kitchen to heat up food for Qiao Huilan, saying nothing.
After entering the house, Qiao Huilan habitually went to check on her father. Seeing the elderly man sleeping soundly with his eyes closed, she quietly pulled the door shut and asked in a low voice, “You and your grandfather have eaten, right?”
“We have. I used the vegetables in the fridge and some sausage to cook a pot of mixed rice.”
As Xu Fangfei spoke, she turned the gas stove knob. Click. It did not ignite. Click again. Still nothing. She picked up the matchbox on the counter, shook out a match, struck it with a hiss, and skillfully brought the flame close to the burner. At last, the stove lit.
“I’ll go take a shower first.” Qiao Huilan went back to the bedroom to get clean clothes, her voice drifting into the kitchen. “Go study in your room. Leave the food there. I’ll heat it up and eat later.”
The burnt match was tossed into the trash.
The mixed rice was simmering in a very small old-fashioned aluminum pot, bubbling away. White rice, green vegetable leaves, and a few pink slices of sausage rolled together, releasing a rich aroma.
This small aluminum pot had been bought by Xu Fangfei’s father when Qiao Huilan was pregnant with her, originally to cook soup for her. It was older than Xu Fangfei herself and had already been patched twice with metal plates. The pot had accompanied this family through many years of hardship, breaking and being mended again and again. Qiao Huilan had never had the heart to throw it away and had used it all the way until now.
Xu Fangfei looked at the aluminum pot and drifted into thought for a moment.
Not long after, the sound of running water stopped. Qiao Huilan came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, steam rising off her body. When she saw Xu Fangfei still standing in the kitchen, she said in surprise, “Why haven’t you gone to study yet?”
Xu Fangfei snapped back to herself and hurriedly turned off the stove, replying, “I’ve finished today’s homework, and I’ve already reviewed what I needed to review.”
As she spoke, she wrapped a dishcloth around the two scalding handles of the aluminum pot and carried the mixed rice to the table, calling out to Qiao Huilan, “Come eat, Mom.”
On the table sat a single pot of rice. Mother and daughter sat facing each other, one eating and one watching, a rare and precious moment of leisure.
As Qiao Huilan ate the mixed rice, she praised Xu Fangfei’s cooking, then began talking about something happy.
“A customer came to the shop today,” Qiao Huilan said, unconcealed joy showing in her brows and eyes. She raised only her thumb and index finger on her left hand. “He’s going back to the countryside to pay respects to his ancestors and wants to buy a lot of incense, candles, and paper offerings. Just the paper houses alone, he ordered eight sets from us.”
Seeing her mother happy, Xu Fangfei smiled along with her. “Sounds like a big order.”
“That man looked radiant and full of energy,” Qiao Huilan said. “He’s probably made a fortune doing business elsewhere and still remembers his ancestors back home. But the shop doesn’t have that many paper houses, so I’ll have to rush and make three more over the next couple of days.”
“Three?” Xu Fangfei was slightly surprised. “Mom, will two days be enough?”
Qiao Huilan continued eating. “At worst, I’ll just stay at the shop and pull two all-nighters. No matter what, I’ll get them done.”
“I’ll go help at the shop tomorrow,” Xu Fangfei said.
“No.” Qiao Huilan shook her head, unwilling to delay her daughter’s studies. “You stay home and do your homework.”
“Mom.” Xu Fangfei sighed and tried to reason with her gently. “Your health isn’t good to begin with, and you’re getting older. How could you possibly pull two all-nighters rushing work? This family is being supported by you alone. If you work yourself sick, what will Grandpa and I do?”
Hearing this, Qiao Huilan thought for a moment and felt that it did make sense. She needed to take good care of her health, at the very least to support her daughter through university.
Qiao Huilan agreed to take Xu Fangfei to the shop to help the next day.
As the mother and daughter chatted about other things, there were suddenly several loud bangs from the direction of the front door.
The knocking was somewhat urgent, the force heavy. In the stormy night of wind and rain, it sounded especially clear.
Xu Fangfei and Qiao Huilan exchanged glances, both puzzled.
So late at night, who could it be?
After a brief hesitation, Xu Fangfei got up and walked to the front door. She leaned forward and pressed close to the peephole at the top of the security door, looking outside.
The pounding on the door triggered the motion-sensor light in the stairwell. Under the incandescent glow, the outside became brightly lit.
Standing outside was a man.
More precisely, it was a young man in his early twenties. He wore a T-shirt printed with a skull, and his jeans were torn in several places, making it hard to tell whether it was a style choice or simply shabby. He was about one meter seventy-five tall, dark-skinned and skinny, with ordinary features.
When Xu Fangfei saw the face of the person knocking clearly, her expression changed slightly. She turned back and mouthed three words to Qiao Huilan: “Xu Zhijie.”
Qiao Huilan’s expression immediately darkened.
Xu Zhijie was the son of Xu Fangfei’s eldest uncle. After finishing middle school, he dropped out and stayed at home, lazy and idle, never finding a proper job. He also liked petty theft and had been taken to the police station several times. Enraged, Xu Fangfei’s uncle had driven him out of the house and nearly severed their father-son relationship. Only Xu Fangfei’s aunt could not give up on her disappointing son and continued to scrimp and save while letting him drain her dry.
Xu Fangfei had no goodwill whatsoever toward this cousin.
When her uncle and aunt were young and working away from home, they had asked Qiao Huilan to help look after Xu Zhijie, so there was some emotional bond. Because of that, Xu Zhijie would occasionally come to Qiao Huilan asking for money, always in the name of borrowing, and never repaying it.
Qiao Huilan fell silent for a long moment, then prepared to get up and open the door.
Xu Fangfei grabbed Qiao Huilan’s hand and looked into her eyes, silently protesting.
Qiao Huilan patted her arm reassuringly, but in the end still opened the door.
“Little Aunt.” Seeing Qiao Huilan, Xu Zhijie scratched his head and immediately forced a flattering smile. When he noticed Xu Fangfei beside her, he paused briefly. “Oh, Fangfei is home too? Summer vacation already, right?”
Xu Fangfei had no desire to respond to this cousin at all. She turned around and went back into her bedroom, lying face-down on the desk and listening gloomily to Xu Zhijie and her mother chatting nonsense outside.
As expected, he was here to ask for money again.
“Little Aunt, lend me another thousand. Or five hundred will do. I’m really at a dead end. If you don’t help me, I’ll have no choice but to jump off a building.”
Qiao Huilan refused at first.
Xu Zhijie refused to give up. He grabbed Qiao Huilan’s arm, calling her Little Aunt over and over, wheedling and pestering, crying and making a scene, just short of finding a rope to put on a performance of dying on the spot. In the end, Qiao Huilan had no choice. She took three hundred yuan from her bag and handed it to him, sighing. “Ah Jie, every day you’re either dodging debts or squatting in the police station. How long do you want to live like this? Your uncle passed away early, and your younger cousin is still in school. This whole family is being supported by my paper offerings shop on Funeral Street. Little Aunt is speaking from the heart. Live like a proper human being and stop bringing trouble to our family.”
“Got it, got it. I promise this is the last time.” Xu Zhijie clenched the three hundred yuan in his hand, then glanced into the house and lowered his voice. “Little Aunt, Fangfei is young and so pretty. Just find her a rich man and your good days will come, won’t they? Why does a girl need to study so much? In the end, won’t it all just benefit some man?”
Qiao Huilan was so angry she nearly vomited blood. She shoved him out directly. “Get out, get out. Don’t ever come again!” With that, she slammed the door shut.
Xu Zhijie clicked his tongue, brushed the three bills in his hand, stuffed them into his pocket, and hummed a tune as he went downstairs.
When he was nearing the third floor, he suddenly caught a faint smell of tobacco in the air.
Xu Zhijie slowed his steps and instinctively craned his neck to look.
Probably because the weather was hot, the door of one unit on the third floor was open for ventilation. All around was pitch dark. A tall figure leaned lazily against the doorframe, a spark of fire at his fingertips flickering on and off.
The smoke made Xu Zhijie squint his eyes.
The light was too dim to make out the man’s features clearly. Only a particularly clean, sharp silhouette remained. He stood there quietly smoking a cigarette; no one knew how long he had been standing there, watching, listening.
Usually, when Xu Zhijie went to Xu Fangfei’s mother to ask for money, he did so at the paper offerings shop. Because he disliked how dirty and rundown Xiwang Street was, he rarely came here.
Xu Zhijie did not recognize a single one of the neighbors living here, yet for no clear reason at all, he felt that this person was not someone to provoke.
He did not dare look again. Holding tight to the three hundred yuan in his pocket, Xu Zhijie hunched his shoulders and hurried downstairs.
*
The next day, Xu Fangfei got up early and went to the shop with Qiao Huilan to help out.
The paper offerings shop was located on Funeral Street. This rundown old street was actually quite well known in Lingcheng, though unfortunately not for anything good. It was, after all, a business dealing with the dead. The funeral industry, from ancient times to the present, has never been popular. When Lingcheng locals mentioned this trade or this street, most would simply spit and mutter that it was inauspicious.
The paper offerings shop was not large, barely twenty square meters, crammed full with all kinds of ritual items.
Because the shop was too cramped and the paper houses were large, Qiao Huilan usually pasted the houses outside the storefront. She laid out all the tools and blueprints, brought out two small stools from the back room, placed them at the entrance, and then began working together with her daughter.
This craft of Qiao Huilan’s had been learned from an old neighbor at Xiwang Street No. 9.
When pasting paper houses and paper effigies, she never used glue, only the most traditional starch paste. It was both environmentally friendly and held firmly. Because the prices were low, the quality was good, and the paper products had no unpleasant smell, Qiao Huilan’s paper offerings shop had a good reputation on Funeral Street. When people asked about ritual items, other shopkeepers would usually recommend Qiao Huilan’s shop.
There was no business in the morning. Mother and daughter worked seriously for several hours, one cutting and one assembling. By midday, they had already finished most of a custom “four-story grand villa.”
Near noon, Qiao Huilan received a phone call from a full-service funeral company she had worked with before. An elderly person had just passed away at the hospital, and the family was arranging the funeral. They asked Qiao Huilan to hurry over to help set up the mourning hall.
Without time to eat, Qiao Huilan bustled out with her things, leaving Xu Fangfei to watch the shop.
Xu Fangfei pasted paper houses for a while. When it was time to eat and she felt hungry, she went to the noodle shop next door and bought a small bowl of plain noodles. Because takeaway containers cost extra, she brought one of the shop’s bowls with her, planning to return it after eating.
She was eating when a customer suddenly arrived.
“Welcome,” the automatic sensor at the entrance emitted a mechanical female voice.
Xu Fangfei’s cheeks were puffed as she chewed noodles. She pulled out a tissue and wiped her mouth hastily, saying indistinctly, “Please feel free to look around. What would you like to buy…”
Before she could finish speaking, she lifted her head and froze.
It was 3206.
He was wearing a pure black suit, neat and proper, with both hands casually tucked into his trouser pockets. He walked into the shop, looking clean and fresh, with a trace of wild, lazy nonchalance about him.
“…Hello.”
In just a few seconds, Xu Fangfei quickly collected the startled look on her face and, as much as possible, spoke in an ordinary tone. “Are you here to buy something?”
3206 stopped, lifted his eyelids slightly, and casually scanned the paper offerings shop.
It was like her home. There were many things, crowded but not messy, very tidy.
He glanced at the large paper wreaths by the entrance and tilted his chin slightly. “How much are the wreaths?”
Xu Fangfei had already shifted her gaze elsewhere. She cleared her throat and replied, “Twenty yuan each. If you buy more, we can give a small discount.”
“I’ll order four,” 3206 said.
“All right.” Xu Fangfei quickly found Qiao Huilan’s notebook, lifted her pen, and asked, “Where should they be delivered? And when?”
3206 gave an address and specified the delivery time.
Xu Fangfei carefully wrote everything down and then checked it with him once. After confirming it was correct, she hesitated briefly and then asked tentatively, “May I ask something? Is the deceased your family member or a friend? We also need to write the elegiac couplets to attach to the wreaths…”
3206 said calmly, “A friend’s father. He had a cerebral hemorrhage a few days ago and didn’t make it.”
Xu Fangfei nodded and did not ask further.
Finally, there was the section for the person placing the order.
Xu Fangfei said, “Could you please leave your phone number?”
3206 reported a string of numbers.
Xu Fangfei wrote them down. The tip of her pen moved, then stopped at the name column. For no clear reason, her chest suddenly felt a slight tightness. After a moment, she lowered her head and asked softly, “If it’s convenient, could you also leave your name?”
Two meters away.
The man lowered his eyelids and looked down at the small figure bent over the counter. Suddenly, he spoke. “Are you very afraid of me?”
Xu Fangfei’s heart tightened. Her face heated up, and she moved her lips, stammering, “No. Why… would you ask that?”
His tone was casual. “Then why don’t you dare look at me?”
Xu Fangfei: “…”
All right.
She took a deep breath to steady herself, lifted her eyes, and gathered the courage to look straight at him.
Zheng Xiye stared directly at the girl’s delicate, flushed face. After a moment, he said his name.
After hearing it, Xu Fangfei’s lips moved slightly. She subconsciously repeated it softly, then asked, “Which xi, which ye?”
He replied evenly, “Xi as in west wind, ye as in wild mastiff.”