Jiang Zhi’ang was fond of women, especially hot, voluptuous ones. If he went even a single day without indulging in fleshly pleasures, he felt restless all over.
At this moment, it was deep into a summer night, the roads damp and heavy with dew. There were three bedrooms in 3206. In the innermost room, the door was not even closed, and a man and a woman were tangled together in wild abandon.
No one noticed that Zheng Xiye had returned.
Zheng Xiye, of course, could not care less about those sounds. Bare-chested, he returned to his own room, casually tossed aside his bloodstained shirt, then took out a metal case containing alcohol swabs, gauze, and other supplies and set it down on the table with a clang. He turned slightly and stood with his back to a wall covered in pieced-together mirrors.
In the cold moonlight, Zheng Xiye looked back at himself in the mirror.
The body reflected there was tall and powerfully built, its muscle lines sharply defined, but it was also unsettling to look at. Old wounds had yet to heal, and new ones had been added, every mark corresponding to some blood-soaked chapter of a blade-ridden past.
Disinfect with alcohol, apply medicine, then bandage the wound.
Zheng Xiye had done this routine countless times. It was second nature to him.
After finishing the bandaging, he felt a bit weary. He sat down on the edge of the bed, expression cold, lit a cigarette to keep himself alert, and smoked until only a third remained. By then, Jiang Zhi’ang was done next door.
At last, some peace and quiet.
Zheng Xiye stubbed out the cigarette and lay back, casually bending one long leg, closing his eyes to sleep.
In the neighboring room, Jiang Zhi’ang got up and pulled on his jeans, stuck a cigarette in his mouth, and lowered his head to fasten his belt.
Two soft, boneless arms wrapped around his neck from behind. In the next second, a woman’s voice brushed close to his ear, weak and clinging, coquettish and ingratiating.
“You’re awful. You pinched my waist so hard it’s all bruised. If you’re satisfied, remember to book me again next time, boss. Don’t forget my name is Ah Mei.”
Jiang Zhi’ang said nothing. He pulled out a thick wad of cash from his wallet and tossed it over.
When Ah Mei saw the bright red bills, her smile instantly grew even wider. She happily took the money and counted it bill by bill. Dozens of notes. A big haul.
She had thought people living in a slum like Xiwang Street would all be broke. Who would have guessed there was this kind of money to be made?
After putting the cash away, Ah Mei’s thoughts shifted. She tested the waters and said to Jiang Zhi’ang, “Boss, this is my second time here. Last time I saw you living with a friend, right?”
Jiang Zhi’ang squinted with the cigarette clenched between his teeth and turned to look at her, his tone dark. “Why are you asking about that?”
Ah Mei felt a flicker of panic under his gaze and hurriedly explained, “No, no, I didn’t mean to pry. I just wanted to say, we’ve got lots of sisters over there. If your friend needs someone, I can introduce one for him next time. I can even give you a discount…”
She was cut off before she could finish.
Jiang Zhi’ang said, “Take your money, get dressed, and leave.”
Ah Mei sulked as she slipped her dress back on and stood up, but she still was not willing to give up. She added, “The boss in the next room really doesn’t need anyone? What a shame. He’s so good-looking. Plenty of people would be lining up to do business with him.”
Jiang Zhi’ang hooked one corner of his mouth and snorted, speaking slowly. “Seeing that your skills are decent, I’ll kindly give you a few words of advice.”
Ah Mei blinked, confused.
Jiang Zhi’ang said, “Do you know what we call that boss next door behind his back?”
Ah Mei asked, “What?”
“We call him ‘Wild Mastiff.’ Crazy, savage, vicious, and evil. When he strikes, the blade falls, and he never blinks.” As Jiang Zhi’ang spoke, he suddenly grabbed the back of her neck and yanked her closer. His voice lowered, turning sinister. “And our Brother Ye doesn’t touch women. He’s not like me, who knows how to cherish delicate beauty. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Stay far away from him.”
*
That night, Xu Fangfei had many dreams and slept very restlessly.
But time does not stop for insomnia. Even though she was so sleepy the next morning that she could barely open her eyes, as a high school student, Xu Fangfei still had no choice but to go to school with heavy dark circles under her eyes. The first period was the homeroom teacher’s chemistry class.
Yang Xi stood on the podium, tapped the lectern with the pointer, and called out for the students to take out their chemistry practice books and turn to a certain year’s out-of-province college entrance exam special topic to complete independently.
Xu Fangfei picked up her pen and silently read the questions.
Question one, multiple choice. First sub-question. Chemistry is closely related to daily life. Among the following options, which statement is correct? A. Bleach can be mixed with hydrochloric acid to improve disinfection efficiency…
I wonder how 3206 is doing.
Yesterday, she had only caught a hurried glimpse and saw that the wound was still bleeding. She had not seen how deep it was. Could it be that he had already died from blood loss?
Thinking carefully, it seemed that this morning she really had not heard the sound of 3206’s door opening or footsteps going downstairs.
That thought suddenly popped into her head, and Xu Fangfei’s heart sank. A cold sweat broke out over her body. Then she reconsidered and felt that it probably would not be that bad. After all, there was more than one person living in 3206. If something really happened, his friends would not just stand by and watch him die.
Question three. According to the experimental objective, which of the following experiments and observed phenomena lead to correct conclusions…
Xu Fangfei did problems while letting her thoughts wander like this. When the forty-minute class ended, she had only completed one-third of the test paper.
Yang Xi, who was walking around the classroom, noticed her strange speed and asked suspiciously, “Xu Fangfei, this paper isn’t very difficult. At your level, you shouldn’t be writing this slowly.”
Xu Fangfei felt embarrassed when she heard that. Her face flushed, and she quickly shook her head to clear her thoughts, forcing herself to focus all her attention on the paper in her hands.
The facts proved that trying to do two things at once was indeed a bad idea.
In the second class, when the homeroom teacher announced all the standard answers, Xu Fangfei tragically discovered that her paper was a sea of red. The entire sheet was filled with bright red “X” marks.
During lunch break, Yang Lu came over as usual to ask her to go eat together.
Seeing the disastrous paper on Xu Fangfei’s desk, Yang Lu widened her eyes in shock. “Wow, no way, Xu Fangfei. You’re in the top three, aren’t you? How did you get more wrong than I did? What were you thinking about when you did this paper?”
Xu Fangfei’s cheeks grew hot. She forced herself to say dully, “Nothing. I didn’t sleep well last night. I was just too tired.”
“So that’s it.” Yang Lu nodded in sudden realization.
Xu Fangfei was a famously good student throughout the school, outstanding in both character and academics. No one would doubt the words of a well-behaved student.
Naturally, no one noticed that 3206 had occupied Xu Fangfei’s mind for an entire night plus a full chemistry class.
An origin-unknown neighbor, a man who was absolutely not a good person, like the pungent scent of oleander hidden in a teenager’s quilt. Obscure and unspeakable. Xu Fangfei quietly buried this shameful secret deep in her heart and solemnly warned herself that this was not right.
The second year of high school was already nearing its end. There was less than one year left until the college entrance examination, the only chance for her, her mother, and her grandfather to change their fate. All her thoughts and energy should not be easily taken away by anyone or anything.
Xu Fangfei repeated this kind of psychological suggestion to herself several times in one day. It worked fairly well.
Until the final exams arrived on schedule two weeks later, she did not inexplicably think about 3206 again.
*
In the final exams, Xu Fangfei performed steadily. Her total score was 637, ranking fifth in her grade. Both her homeroom teacher and Qiao Huilan were very satisfied with her results.
To reward Xu Fangfei, after the parent-teacher meeting, Qiao Huilan specially gave her one hundred yuan and told her to keep it for going out to have fun during the summer vacation.
Xu Fangfei had originally planned to save the money. But on the third day of summer vacation, she received a call from Yang Lu.
On the phone, Yang Lu said that tomorrow was her eighteenth birthday. She was going to invite some close friends to a KTV to sing, and she wanted Xu Fangfei to come as well.
With Xu Fangfei’s personality, it was truly hard for her to refuse people. Unable to withstand her friend’s enthusiasm, she agreed. That afternoon, she used the money her mother had given her to buy a strawberry bear pencil case priced at twenty-five yuan as a birthday gift for Yang Lu.
The next evening.
After dinner, Xu Fangfei took out a clean blue-and-white checkered dress from her wardrobe and changed into it, tied her hair into a ponytail, picked up the gift box, and rode her bicycle to the address Yang Lu had sent her.
The sky gradually darkened. In July, Lingcheng was so hot it felt as though it could swallow people alive.
A few minutes later, Xu Fangfei arrived in front of a KTV entrance. After locking her bicycle, she lifted her eyes and saw that the building before her was extremely distinctive, full of Thai-style elements. Its spire rose high, decorated with wood carvings, porcelain, and colored glass. It stood alone, neon lights flowing, splendid and dazzling. At the top, several large characters shone brightly:
Golden Mamba Entertainment KTV.
Lingcheng’s geographical location was special. It was a typical multi-ethnic city, and many of its buildings bore traces of Southeast Asian countries like Thailand. But a building as lavish as Golden Mamba was not commonly seen.
Xu Fangfei had only ever been inside a KTV once in her entire life, from childhood to now. That was when she was fourteen, on her mother’s birthday, when her mother’s friend invited them to a small KTV to blow out candles and cut a cake.
She had never been to, nor really even seen, a KTV as lavish and magnificent as this one.
Xu Fangfei stood at the entrance, curious yet restrained. She noticed several luxury sedans parked in the open area before the doors, some black, some white, brands she did not recognize.
As she was looking around, a voice suddenly sounded by her ear. “Xu Fangfei!”
Xu Fangfei turned her head and saw Yang Lu. She was wearing a light pink long dress with a small rhinestone crown on her head. Her face was made up, and she looked just like a noble young queen.
Xu Fangfei smiled and praised her sincerely. “Happy birthday, Yang Lu. You’re really beautiful.”
“Thank you!” Yang Lu smoothed the disposable curls she had just had done at the salon, then sized Xu Fangfei up from head to toe. Staring at that clean, delicate face that was still charming and alluring even without makeup, she clicked her tongue and said, “As expected, good looks give you confidence. I bet out of all the girls here, you’re the only one not wearing makeup.”
Xu Fangfei froze for a moment, subconsciously touching her cheek as she stammered, “I don’t know how to put on makeup, and I don’t have any cosmetics.”
“Pfft.” Yang Lu laughed. “Alright. With a face like yours, even without makeup, you beat everyone else by miles.”
Xu Fangfei was embarrassed by the praise. Her face flushed slightly, and she did not know what to say in response.
Yang Lu reached out and affectionately linked arms with Xu Fangfei, leaning closer and lowering her voice a little. “So? The place I booked is pretty grand, right?”
Xu Fangfei nodded.
“Golden Mamba is the most high-end KTV club in all of Lingcheng. It’s super expensive. Luckily, my cousin is a manager here, so we get an internal price.” As Yang Lu spoke, she led Xu Fangfei through the entrance.
Yang Lu’s parents both ran businesses, and her family’s conditions were fairly good. Today was Yang Lu’s birthday, and she had specially invited some close friends to come hang out.
Xu Fangfei followed Yang Lu into the private room.
Yang Lu clapped her hands and called out to everyone, “Come on, come on, let me introduce you all. This is my good friend, Xu Fangfei.”
Xu Fangfei forced a smile and waved at everyone.
There were more than ten people of similar age scattered around the room, both boys and girls. The girls were wearing makeup, the boys had styled their hair. Everyone had dressed up carefully.
Xu Fangfei looked around carefully and realized that apart from Yang Lu and two classmates from her own class, she did not know a single person there. She could only find a corner seat, quietly drinking juice and listening to everyone sing.
After sitting for a while, she drank too much juice. She stood up and went out of the private room alone to look for the restroom.
Outside, she ran into a cleaning lady. Hearing Xu Fangfei ask for directions, the woman said, “The women’s restroom on the first floor is blocked. Go to the second floor instead. Take this elevator up, walk straight, then turn a corner and you’ll get there.”
The entire KTV was like a hallucinatory palace. The lighting felt alive, flickering between bright and dim, sometimes as clean and white as silver, sometimes pitch-dark. Turning here, crossing there, the lights wove into a dense, hazy net, like the beginning of an extravagant dream.
After coming out of the restroom, Xu Fangfei prepared to take the elevator back down the way she came.
Unexpectedly, just as she rounded a corner, a strong smell of alcohol hit her face. A burly drunk man suddenly bumped into her.
Xu Fangfei’s slender body was knocked off balance. She staggered several steps before barely steadying herself. This place made her uncomfortable everywhere. She did not even think about making the drunk apologize and turned to leave.
But her wrist tightened, brutally grabbed by a strong force.
The drunk man was fat all over, his cheeks flushed, reeking of alcohol. He tugged Xu Fangfei closer, looked her over, and struck up a conversation. “Yo, little sister, you look really familiar. Have we met somewhere before?”
“I don’t know you…” Xu Fangfei panicked, struggling with all her strength to shake off that filthy hand. “Let go of me.”
“Meeting is fate! Come on, come on, have a few drinks with your big brother…” The drunk man went crazy on alcohol, dragging Xu Fangfei toward some private room without much effort.
Xu Fangfei was terrified and shouted, “Help!”
She was no match for his bulk. Just as she was about to be dragged inside, she struggled with all her might and, seizing an opening, bit him hard.
“Fuck!” The drunk man cursed in pain and violently flung Xu Fangfei away.
Under the force of inertia, Xu Fangfei’s body flew forward. She crashed heavily into another unlocked VIP room door, knocking it open, and fell inside without warning.
The door swung open and then rebounded shut.
Her elbows hit the floor, scraping the skin instantly. Xu Fangfei groaned in pain. Before she could even lift her head, a voice sounded above her, teasing and amused. “Yo, this place is pretty considerate. Didn’t even order a ‘princess,’ and they delivered one for free.”
“……” Xu Fangfei lifted her gaze in panic.
She saw that this private room was enormous. A mahjong table, a pool table, a projector, a bar counter, a champagne tower. Every kind of entertainment facility was present. It was easily more than five times the size of Yang Lu’s birthday room.
The lighting inside was extremely dim. There were dozens of burly men, some standing, some sitting, all with restrained expressions, proper and respectful.
Two people sat in the main seats.
The one on the left wore a black sleeveless undershirt, one leg crossed over the other. His features were handsome yet sinister, and a tattooed arm was boldly eye-catching.
The one on the right was actually dressed formally. A black suit jacket lay casually beside him. He wore a dark shirt with no tie, the collar slightly open, revealing a small patch of cold, pale skin at his chest. He had his head lowered, chewing gum while idly playing a mobile game. The glow of the screen lit up his sharp brows and eyes in the darkness, unruly and relaxed.
When Xu Fangfei clearly saw the man on the right, she froze, her entire mind blank.
Over there.
Hearing Jiang Zhi’ang’s words, Zheng Xiye lazily lifted his eyelids. His cold gaze paused for a brief instant when it met the clear, shocked eyes of the girl on the floor.
After a few seconds, Zheng Xiye recalled something and narrowed his eyes slightly.
He remembered her.
Four buns, one name, and the faint gardenia scent lingering in the rainy night.
The little temptress upstairs.