The boss glanced at him from behind the counter, his face bearing an expression of displeasure.
"No credit," the boss said.
"I'll pay off everything today and buy some Yin Rice," Wei Tianyang replied with a smile.
The boss was startled, then laughed, "What, you're flush with cash now?"
Wei Tianyang threw a 10 Civilian Coin note onto the counter, smiling without a word.
The boss picked up the note, held it up to the window to check if it was real, and then stood up to lead him towards the back.
The narrow corridor led to a small, dimly lit storehouse where dozens of 10-pound bags of large, vacuum-packed, transparent rice bags lay quietly in wooden crates.
"All of this is freshly delivered good rice, large and full grains with not a single grain of rice husk. The official military took several trucks away yesterday, leaving only this much," the boss said, his facial muscles twitching when mentioning the official military.
"How much for 10 pounds?" asked Wei Tianyang.
"This is a bit pricey, 32 for 10 pounds. Your debt of 4 is cleared, but the remaining 6 isn't enough. I advise you to just buy brown rice," the boss said, shaking his head and smiling.
Wei Tianyang took off his backpack, reached into the deepest compartment, and pulled out a green Langke note.
"Wow, you've got Langke?" The boss seemed surprised.
"I have five Langke, I'll buy 10 pounds," Wei Tianyang said.
The boss was a bit troubled and said, "I only have Civilian Coins in my store right now."
"That's fine, just give me Civilian Coins then, I'm not buying ammunition," Wei Tianyang said with a laugh.
Before long, Wei Tianyang was carrying a bag of Yin Rice out of the storehouse.
As the boss was giving him change, he asked, "You lad...suddenly so well-off, you didn't get into that business, did you?"
Wei Tianyang took a large stack of Civilian Coins, tucked them back into the compartment of his backpack, smiled, and rolled up the sleeve of his deep blue hoodie to show his forearm.
"You're overthinking it, look, not a single mark of a needle on my arm," he said.
The boss nodded and said, "Next time you buy rice, I'll give you a discount. It's tough for you, has your mother's health improved?"
"With me here," Wei Tianyang said with a smile.
Then, he ran out of the store.
As the rain gradually stopped, Wei Tianyang made another trip to Red Ding Pharmacy and spent 120 Civilian Coins on six boxes of Prednisone. Then, he hurried home.
Beside the luxury apartment buildings, a muddy path branched off, and descending about 20 meters down the slope, one could see a large expanse of low-rise buildings.
Backpack on, carrying two bags of rice, Wei Tianyang walked down the muddy slope. The setting sun was blocked by tall buildings, and the slums bathed in dark shadows.
The slums, like a scar upon the earth, were home to thousands of Yin immigrants who had lost their digital identity tags.
Chicken Snake Country was no pleasant place, but it was only a street away from Yin Country.
Some children saw him returning and chased after him, and he greeted them with smiles.
Before even entering his house, Wei Tianyang heard his mother's coughing.
Wei Tianyang pushed the door open, leaned the rice and his backpack against the wall, and went to wash his face at the basin.
The 40-square-meter house wasn't large, but his mother kept it very clean and tidy.
To the left of the entrance was the kitchen, with two gas cylinders next to it, and the open space on the right held a wooden table and two chairs, with two bottles of leftover pickles on the table and a calendar hanging on the wall.
There was no door to the inner room, just a curtain for privacy, with a desk under the window piled with middle school textbooks Wei Tianyang had brought from a second-hand stall.
His mother was sweeping the floor; she paused upon seeing the Yin Rice Wei Tianyang had leaned against the wall.
"This rice? Where did you get the money to buy it?" his mother asked.
"I've been working four jobs, haven't I? The rice shop owner gave me a discount, so I bought two bags," Wei Tianyang said, wiping his face and smiling.
Then he picked up his backpack and pulled out several boxes of medication, placing them on the table.
"You can't stop taking your medication; these boxes should last two to three months. I'll find a way to buy more when they run out," he said.
His mother smoothed her white hair at her forehead, her eyes reddening, her expression turning serious.
"Yang, did you... sell blood? Or did you... go to those pharmaceutical companies to become a Medicine Person?"
For the desperate underclass, there weren't many options.
Time, energy, physical strength... or body organs.
He smiled and said nothing.
His mother suddenly grabbed his arm.
He sighed, rolled up his sleeve suo moto, exposing his smooth forearm.
"Mom, I didn't do that! I saved up the money from my jobs," Wei Tianyang said with a smile.
His mother, visibly emotional, tenderly touched his slender forearm, unable to speak.
Wei Tianyang was born in Yin Country, and his father was a gambler.
When he was still in swaddling clothes, his father had already accumulated huge gambling debts and high-interest loans.
The family fled their homeland to evade the debts, arriving in Chicken Snake Country.
However, even in such dire straits, his father couldn't kick the gambling addiction.
When Wei Tianyang was five years old, his father racked up another substantial gambling debt. Ashamed to face his family, he threw himself into the river, leaving behind only his miserable mother and son.
A dead man's debts are not forgiven, and since the creditors couldn't find the father, they harassed the mother daily.
For fifteen years, the mother raised Wei Tianyang alone, living a life of hardship.
Being unregistered, the mother couldn't find decent work. She resorted to odd jobs and eventually was forced to sell her blood to pay off the debts.
Her arms were full of needle marks, and due to side effects from clinical trials, she developed severe chronic illness and lost her ability to work.
At the age of ten, Wei Tianyang started working to support the family.
His mother never said it, but he knew she missed their homeland immensely.
He secretly decided that he must save enough for their travel expenses to take his mother home.
However, because it indulged in the grey market industries, Chicken Snake Country had been blacklisted by Yin Country decades ago, and crossing the border was no longer an option.
Furthermore, when Wei Tianyang's parents had left their country, they were also forced to give up their digital identity tags in Yin Country.
The only way back was to seek out those specialized in smuggling services, paying a hefty "line fee."
There was a noise at the door, Wei Tianyang and his mother turned around to see a little girl standing timidly outside.
This girl was just over four years old, wearing a dirty pink dress, barefoot, with her hands behind her back clasping a small bowl.
It was Grandpa Liu's granddaughter coming to borrow some rice.
Grandpa Liu, their neighbor, was over seventy with a son who had joined the military.
Four years ago, his son died in a skirmish with radical militants, and his daughter-in-law abandoned the family, leaving only the four-year-old granddaughter.
When Wei Tianyang was six, Grandpa Liu had often helped and protected his mother. Now, he was too old to even get out of bed and had no source of income.
Wei Tianyang walked outside, squatted in front of the little girl, and smiled, "Go back, bring a larger pot."
The little girl's face broke into a smile, and she skipped back happily.
"Yang, I'll go cook rice, and later, you can take a bowl over to Grandpa Liu," his mother said.
"Okay," Wei Tianyang nodded.
After dinner...
At night, his mother had already gone to sleep.
In the cramped bathroom, Wei Tianyang turned his back to the mirror, lifting his shirt.
His skinny figure reflected in the mirror, his shoulder blades like unformed wings, his spine resembling a skeletal snake hidden beneath the skin.
On his entire spine, at intervals, there were injection scars the size of a small finger cap.
The injections were too large, or perhaps he was too frail; it looked as if six holes had been poked through his back.
The wounds hadn't healed quickly, but at least they had stopped bleeding.
Wei Tianyang touched the injection sites, recalling the words of the woman in white from Tiantai Pharmaceutical.
"This new medicine is for treating neurological disorders, so we need to inject it into your spine with special equipment. The injection process will be somewhat painful, but I assure you, the compensation will not disappoint..."
"If everything goes well, you will feel somewhat stronger. After the two-week observation period, you will receive the final payment of 1000 Civilian Coins, in cash."
"If you experience any discomfort during the two weeks, call me at this number. If the condition is serious, we will send a medical team to pick you up."
"There's no need to feel guilty. You need this money to return home, and this also counts as contributing to the welfare of humanity."
Wei Tianyang pressed his palms against the wall and slowly bowed his head.
Earning money through odd jobs was too slow.
His mother's health was deteriorating, and the country was on the brink of civil war.
He needed to gather the money quickly to leave this place with his mother, to return to the place of his birth, that homeland he'd only seen on TV.
Away from the wars, away from the struggle of warlords, to find a job and live a stable life with his mother in Yin Country.
"I can endure this..."
Wei Tianyang murmured quietly.
"I'm sorry... Mom... I'm sorry..."
His mother lay in bed, silently shedding tears.