The young man was handsome, and his crisp suit looked expensive. Before he was even welcomed in, Jiang’s father already felt inferior. He stepped aside, opening the doorway, and smiled with a bit of restraint. “So, you are Ruobai’s friend. Please, come in. The boy is still asleep inside; I will go wake him up.”
The young man politely raised a hand to stop him, his sharp gaze peering into the house before quickly returning to a calm expression. “No need for trouble. I will go find him myself.”
Jiang’s father said awkwardly, “Well, that is fine too. Please, come in.”
“Thank you.” The young man did not stand on ceremony. With a long stride, he walked generously into the Jiang household.
Jiang’s father scratched his head, watching the young man’s back, wondering where he had popped up from.
“Didn’t I tell you to go buy flatbread? Why are you back so early?” Mother Wu was still puzzled. As she looked up, a person was suddenly standing right in front of her, scaring her so badly she almost had a heart attack.
“Oh my heavens!” Mother Wu clutched her chest, truly startled.
“Who are you?” Mother Wu asked suspiciously.
“He is our son’s friend.” Jiang’s father said, dragging his old cloth shoes to Mother Wu’s side to introduce the guest.
The young man smiled calmly, his standardized etiquette fluid and effortless. “Apologies, Madam. I hope I did not disturb you. I am a friend of Mr. Jiang Ruobai. I heard he returned to his hometown, so I came to see him.”
“Oh, Ruobai’s friend! Please, sit down.” The young man had bowed to her inexplicably. Mother Wu, unfamiliar with big-city etiquette, bowed back in confusion. Seeing him still standing, she hurried to fetch a stool for him.
“You are too kind, Madam. I came here specifically to see Mr. Jiang.” The young man did not sit, his every word making it clear he intended to go directly to Jiang Ruobai.
The elderly couple did not know where their son had met this friend, but seeing the young man’s speech and attire, they did not think he was a con artist. Mother Wu pointed toward the room and said, “The boy is still sleeping. I will go wake him up for you.”
The young man quickly stopped her. “No need for such trouble. Mr. Jiang and I are quite familiar. I will go find him in his room.”
“Alright then, you go ahead.” Mother Wu looked at the polite young man, feeling something was odd but unable to pinpoint what.
Since they had a guest, Mother Wu quickly told Jiang’s father to set an extra pair of chopsticks and urged him to buy more flatbread and some deli meat on the way back from the shop. It did not matter if they did not finish it, but she could not let their guest think they were destitute and become a laughingstock.
Jiang’s father agreed, shrugged his shoulders, and shuffled out in his cloth shoes.
“Take an umbrella! I see the weather is changing; it would be bad if it rained while you were out,” Mother Wu called out to him as he reached the door.
Jiang’s father looked up. Sure enough, a dark, heavy cloud covered the sky, thick and gloomy. It was clearly going to rain. Right on cue, a few drops fell.
“It is fine. I am riding the tricycle; I will be back in half an hour. It won’t rain hard,” Jiang’s father said, dismissively. A man getting a little wet was nothing; carrying an umbrella was just a bother.
“Just take it! What if it pours?” Mother Wu yelled.
“It is fine, it won’t be heavy!” Jiang’s father walked faster, fearing Mother Wu would make him turn back.
“Hey! This man!” Mother Wu complained as he disappeared into the distance.
She glanced toward her son’s door. She felt uneasy, but dismissed it as overthinking, forcing herself to sit back down by the earthen stove to feed the fire.
The porridge in the pot bubbled and hissed, sending thick white steam into the air, clouding her vision as if covered by a white cloth.
Jiang Ruobai woke up from his dream, dazed. When he looked up and saw someone sitting in his room, his hair stood on end from fear.
“Who are you? How did you get in here?”
The young man smiled slightly and said to Jiang Ruobai with proper posture, “Greetings, Mr. Jiang. I am Mr. Pei’s secretary, here under his orders to convey a message to you.”
The moment Jiang Ruobai heard Pei Sichen’s name, his brain roared with noise. His ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton; he did not catch a single word of the chattering on the other side.
Panic reigned in his heart. All he could think was that Pei Sichen had found him; he had actually found him!
“Mr. Pei wants me to tell you that this is the last chance he is giving you. You must return to Hai City voluntarily this afternoon, or else he will send people to drag you back.”
“Mr. Jiang, are you alright? Did you hear what I just said?” the young man asked.
Jiang Ruobai clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. He lowered his head and struggled to breathe, trying to suppress the physiological fear. After a long time, he said in a low voice, “I understand.”
“I have delivered my boss’s words. Then, Mr. Jiang, I will not disturb you further.” The young man stood up and left without a trace of hesitation.
The moment the young man left the room, the strength holding him up vanished. Jiang Ruobai felt his body go limp, collapsing powerlessly into his quilt.
“Escape. I must get out of here!”
The blood vessels in his eyes burst, turning them blood-red. With his pale face and inflamed eyes, Jiang Ruobai looked like a madman possessed.
Mother Wu saw the young man exit the room and welcomed him with a smile. “The food is almost ready. Sit for a while; we will eat shortly.”
The young man politely refused Mother Wu’s warmth. “I am sorry to disturb you, Madam. I need to report back to my boss, so I cannot stay.”
“But even if you are in a rush, you must eat.” Mother Wu tried to persuade him.
“No, Auntie. Thank you, but I must go.” The young man rejected her kindness with a detached attitude and left the house.
Mother Wu watched him go, thinking the child was strange. Coming to knock on the door so early in the morning and leaving without a single bite of food. But since he was her son’s friend, she felt bad that they hadn’t treated him properly after he came such a long way.
She rose and walked to Jiang Ruobai’s door to knock, but before her fingers touched the wood, her son burst through the door, looking disheveled.
“Son, what happened?” Mother Wu asked, startled, as she took in his appearance. She could not understand how in just one night, her son looked as if he had been through a war. His face was pale, his eyes were bloodshot, and he had thrown his clothes on in such a rush that the buttons on his shirt were misaligned.
“Mom, there is an urgent matter at the company. I need to go back. You and Dad take care of yourselves. I am leaving now.” Jiang Ruobai spoke as he put on his clothes, hurriedly shoving two items into his bag. He was about to leave when Mother Wu pulled him back.
“What could be so important at the company? Listen to your mother; the company won’t collapse without you for one day.” Mother Wu was heartbroken, not wanting him to suffer, unaware that what her son feared was not losing his job.
Jiang Ruobai was frantic. He pulled his hand away from Mother Wu’s grip and apologized. “Mom, there is a real emergency. I am running out of time. Don’t worry about me; I will call you when I reach the company.”
“But.” Mother Wu opened her mouth, but seeing the anxiety on her son’s face, she swallowed her words. “Then take care on the road. Call me the moment you get off the train.”
“Okay, I know, Mom. You take care of yourselves at home. I will come back once things at the company are handled.” Before leaving, Jiang Ruobai hugged his mother tightly, shouldered his bag, and left home resolutely.
When Jiang’s father returned, the courtyard was empty, save for the lonely old locust tree standing there. The days that had been so lively just two days before felt suddenly quiet.
Jiang’s father found Mother Wu in the kitchen, looking lost. Only then did he learn their son had already left.
Hearing that his son was gone, the father’s straight back seemed to collapse in an instant. Looking at the green onion pancakes and soy sauce pork knuckle he had bought, his son’s favorites, he murmured to himself, “The boy has grown up. Matters at work are important; if he needs to go back, let him go. It is just these pancakes. I bought a bit too many. Really a bit too many.”
A thunderclap suddenly split the sky, and purple-black lightning seemed to tear the heavens open. The dim sky suddenly turned dark. It was the sign of a coming storm; the sky had been holding back its anger for too many days.
As a bolt of lightning split the clouds, the rain poured down like a basin of water.
Pei Sichen stood before the floor-to-ceiling window of the company, watching the torrential rain outside. His gaze was even gloomier than the clouds above.
After the phone on his desk rang for ten seconds, Pei Sichen answered the secretary’s call.
“Boss, the people following Mr. Jiang say that he bought a ticket to H Province this morning.”
Pei Sichen’s expression grew even darker upon hearing this.
“Have someone bring him back.”
“Understood, boss.”
“Tell them to be quick. It does not matter if he gets injured. I want to see him tonight.”
“Understood, boss.”
After hanging up, Pei Sichen lit a cigarette. The rain continued to fall relentlessly. The pouring water washed the glass clean, making his sinister, strange smile reflected in the pane even clearer.
“Found you.”
…
This sudden rainstorm left the crowds at the station in a long wait. Most vehicles were forced to stop at their stations due to the extreme weather, unable to operate normally. People in the station waited anxiously, surrounding the staff and asking when the trains would depart, but they received only official, canned responses.
Jiang Ruobai sat restlessly on a bench in the station. His pale complexion soon drew the concern of the staff.
A female staff member walked over to Jiang Ruobai and asked politely, “Sir, are you alright?”
Jiang Ruobai looked up and saw a young girl with a sweet smile, wearing a uniform. His heart, which had been in his throat, relaxed slightly.
“I am fine. Could you tell me roughly how long it will be before we can depart?” Jiang Ruobai asked. He knew that for every second he stayed here, the danger increased.
“Due to the weather, all vehicles are currently grounded. Please wait a moment. Once the rain lightens, we should be able to depart.”
Jiang Ruobai pursed his lips and nodded. “Alright, thank you for your trouble.”
“You are welcome, sir. But you look familiar. Is your surname Jiang?” the girl asked.
“It is. May I ask who you are?” Jiang Ruobai raised his head, trying to search his memory for her name.
“I am Zichen! We were in the same class in elementary and junior high. Do you remember me?” The girl looked at Jiang Ruobai, her face showing pleasant surprise.
“Ah, it has been a long time.” With that reminder, Jiang Ruobai finally remembered her.
But before he could catch up with her, seven or eight well-trained men in black suits surrounded Jiang Ruobai.
In an instant, his face turned ash-white; his heart was filled with despair.
He was knocked unconscious and carried away. Before he completely blacked out, he seemed to hear the girl’s scream, but he could no longer afford to concern himself with her.
Jiang Ruobai was brought back to Hai City. Pei Sichen ordered someone to wake him up with cold water.
Soaked to the bone, he knelt on the ground, trembling as he raised his head to look at the man sitting arrogantly in the center of the room.
“Now, crawl over here.”
He looked down at the disheveled Jiang Ruobai as if ordering a disobedient dog.
Memories and pain overlapped. The similar scene made them feel as if they had returned to that night of ‘Darkness.’