“*Dad, my mom is getting married.”

“Congratulations to her for the wedding!”

In the early morning, Bai Luo Yin woke up with an unsettling jolt and felt the back of his ears and neck warm and drenched with sweat. Since the scorching summer days were still alive and had yet to pass, every day he would open his eyes to the smoldering weather that routinely enveloped his small room.

As he willed the lingering drowsiness away from his mind, he casually wiped the sweat off his skin with his hand. Within seconds, the persisting beads of sweat soused the center of his palm, leaving behind a clammy sensation that irked him.

Morning had just started, and he was already burning with anger.

When he finally forced himself to sit up, he lazily put on a pair of slippers. Then, he slowly dragged his feet to the sink and let his head hang below the water faucet. The ice-cold running water immediately flowed straight down along his neck, eventually enlivening his mood just a little bit.

Bai Han Qi, who was sweeping the courtyard at that moment, was Bai Luo Yin’s father. He was a man with a stature of 185cm, and he managed all the family’s internal affairs. If he could put everything in the house in a clear and orderly manner, that would be perfect, but unfortunately, nothing ever went correctly.

Consequently, even if he did not want to, Bai Luo Yin had always seen him as an eyesore.

Once he brushed his teeth, Bai Luo Yin gurgled the water from the cup that was at the side of the drain and then spat it out. When he turned the faucet on to let the white foam drain away, he noticed that the water in the sink had increased even more. Apparently, the drain had clogged once again.

A minute later, Bai Luo Yin used a wooden stick to stir up a piece of rag that was inside the pool of water collected at the drainage. Surprising enough, the water soon flowed into the eye of the drainage without much hinder.

“Dad, you threw my underwear into the drain again.”

Having only swept halfway, Bai Han Qi abruptly halted when he heard those words. He dropped the broom and walked toward the two poles that were connected by a rope used to dry the clothes. One, two, three… after counting a couple more times, there was still one piece of underwear missing. Needless to say, the underwear must have fallen when he was washing the clothes and traveled into the sewer along with the dirty laundry detergent.

“Hey, don’t throw it away. It can still be worn after it’s washed.”

Bai Luo Yin was so angry that the tip of his nose was perspiring. “All right, keep it and wear it yourself.”

After Bai Luo Yin left, he winded around an alley and bumped into Yang Meng, who had just walked out of his house.

Yang Meng’s name was as different as can be to the actual person. When his father was younger, he was the most well-known pretty boy in the entire village, even more delicate than most of the young ladies. Unfortunately, the folkways of that time were not open-minded at all, which resulted in his father —as well as many others like him— falling victim to mishap. Thus, for the sake of improving the gene of his offspring, Yang Meng’s father wronged himself and married a robust woman. The moment Yang Meng was born, his father placed all his hope on his only successor and bestowed to him the character ‘Meng’, which meant ‘fierce’.

Regrettably, that child took after his father since he was small. While other kids of the same age all played in the mud outside and climbed trees, he hid in the house to sew and make paper cutouts. For those reasons alone, he had suffered many beatings. However, each time his father was done hitting him, he would always wipe his own tears for a while, before he then continued lecturing him about the rightful road, with no inkling of surrendering.

“What happened to your hair?”

Yang Meng touched the top of his own head, as a trace of sadness surfaced on his pretty face. “That’s enough, don’t mention it. When I woke up earlier this morning, it was all gone.”

“Did your father secretly shave your head last night?”

“No kidding! Who else would do it besides him?!”

Bai Luo Yin snorted and laughed, “The two of us are truly linked by fate.”

All of a sudden, Yang Meng recalled something and slapped the back of Bai Luo Yin’s neck. “When you called me yesterday, you hung up halfway. What exactly did you want to tell me?”

Bai Luo Yin remained silent for quite a while before he faintly replied, “My mom is getting married.”

Hearing that, Yang Meng immediately stood upright, “You actually have a mother?”

Bai Luo Yin took a deep breath, “Do you think my dad is an earthworm, huh? The kind that stores its energy at fifth phase, mate at the sixth and then inseminates himself to complete the process?”

Yang Meng laughed until his shoulders trembled. “Don’t tease me. I’m telling you the truth. Ever since I’ve known you, I’ve never seen your mom before.”

“Nonsense! Last year, my mom returned home and even stayed for a whole week, did you forget? She also frequently reversed her car from nearby your house.”

“Oh, I remember now. That’s your mom? How come she looks younger than my niece?”

“Are you looking for trouble?”

“I’m not, my niece was born just a few days ago, yet her head is covered with wrinkles.”

“All newborn babies are like that.”

This time, Yang Meng did not utter another word. Seeing Bai Luo Yin’s expressionless face as he walked beside him, a layer of haze swept into his heart. Since his best friend was small, he and his father had gone through an extremely destitute lifestyle. Now that his mother wanted to remarry, one can only imagine his current state of mind.

“How about I find a group of people to go to their wedding and crash the venue, what do you think?”

“You?” Bai Luo Yin assumed a doubtful appearance, “What kind of people can you find? A group of pretty boys who perform in an opera? To fight with a group of armed forces men?”

“Armed officers?” Yang Meng was flabbergasted, “Your mom, who exactly is she marrying?”

“A Major General.”

Yang Meng became tongue tied, “That… that’s a high military rank…”

“Keep talking.”

“Talk about what?”

“The people you wanted to find.”

Yang Meng’s clear face was illuminated by the sun above his head—it was so clear that it was almost transparent.

“If I look for them, it’s the same as courting death.”

Bai Luo Yin suddenly stood still and stared at Yang Meng with determination. Hiding in his eyes was a ball of flame that was being suppressed, but soon, it was going to burst out.

“It’s okay, just tell me what your initial thoughts were.”

Yang Meng held his breath, his confidence was visibly insufficient, “My eldest uncle is the leader of a group of people that wail at funerals. At first, I wanted to ask him to find a group of people to go weep at the wedding ceremony, but now…”

“That’s good!” Bai Luo Yin suddenly interrupted Yang Meng’s words, “How do we contact your uncle?”

“Don’t cause us any trouble, we’re just ordinary people.”

“Don’t worry,” Bai Luo Yin reassured him, as a devious smile overflowed the corner of his mouth, “We’ll definitely be able to get your uncle out of it*.”

“Xiao Hai, I’ve already booked the banquet. What time are we leaving tomorrow?”

“Did I say I wanted to go?”

A faint smile cracked on Sun Jingwei’s[1] secured lips, as a gust of cool air blew along the wing of his nose and toward the tip of his brows. That kid had always been hard to deal with. Since he was young, that stubborn temperament and unwillingness to compromise had never changed.

“The General[2] said that this is an order you cannot disobey.”

Gu Hai stood up, his tall and robust stature evincing a noble and military demeanor. Although he strolled around the room in an unruly manner, it still exudes a bold and overbearing aura.

“Then let him tie me up and take me there.”

That casually said sentence caused the outer corner of Sung Jingwei’s eyes to narrow tightly, revealing three wrinkles.

“Is there a need for you to be like this? Madam passed away a long time ago, and the General is barely in his forties. You can’t just let him live alone for the rest of his life, right?”

Sung Jingwei’s words stabbed Gu Hai’s sore spot.

“I’ll never forgive him for what happened to my mother.”

Hearing that, Sun Jingwei hastened to Gu Hai’s side and whispered, “Xiao Hai, you cannot say those words irresponsibly. If the General hears you, he will skin you alive. What happened to your mother was purely accidental. Even the forensic investigator confirmed that. How come you are still doubting your father?…”

“That’s enough, stop talking. I am well aware of the situation.”

Sun Jingwei took a large step back and offered Gu Hai a standard military salute.

“Then I will come pick you up tomorrow.”

For the entire afternoon, Gu Hai spent his time practicing at the fencing club. When he stopped for a rest and removed his face mask, a pair of rather tough hands covered his eyes.

“Stop messing around.”

Jin Lu Lu dropped her hands and let her narrowed eyes scrutinize him. Gu Hai placed the palm of his hand on her cheek and patted lightly a few times, provoking her to let out a jovial laughter.

Jin Lu Lu, Gu Hai’s active girlfriend, was a girl that weighed around 40kg and had a stature of 172cm. Describing her as flat-chested was a bit far-fetched— a more suitable description would be, her ‘chest and back were plastered together’. What was normally demanded, was truly not there. If you think that her face was outstanding, then you’ve never been more wrong. This person had slightly tanned skin and single eyelids, paired off with a flat nose and thin flat lips. In truth, from fifty meters away it would have been hard to make out that she was a girl.

She was the ‘loser’ kind of girl that made our ‘crown prince’, who was extremely outstanding in all aspects, fall for her. Moreover, once they were together, they had remained good for three years already.

“How come you got tanned again?”

Gu Hai smiled faintly—it was as if all the sunlight from the window was being absorbed by his face, illuminating it tremendously.

“I’ve been swimming nonstop recently.”

After following Gu Hai into the rest area, Jin Lu Lu grabbed two pieces of tissue and wiped his sweat for him. Every time she was near Gu Hai, she could always make out a distinct scent of taboo and sweat mixed together. If she closed her eyes, she would have imagined him to be a handsome and mature, thirty-year-old man. But when she opened her eyes, she would only see the face of a youthful man that lacked vigor.

“Silly girl, what are you looking at?”

Gu Hai stretched his arms out and pulled Jin Lu Lu into an embrace before sighing lightly. “My dad is getting married, and the wedding ceremony will be held tomorrow in a low-profile fashion.”

“That quickly?”

Lifting her head, Jin Lu Lu’s bright and expressive eyes stared at Gu Hai. “What about you? Are you going to attend your dad’s wedding?”

“Tell me, should I go or not?”

“Of course, you should! Why wouldn’t you go? You have to let her understand that not only one person calls the shots in your household. She doesn’t have the rights to do whatever she wants or cause trouble!”

Gu Hai hid in a deep abyss the helplessness in his heart. “I really don’t want to see them. Do you know? Before my mother’s accident, they were already acquainted with each other. With my dad’s status, there’s absolutely no way he could get married a second time. You should also understand that without me saying it.”

“Perhaps you’re overthinking everything.”

Gu Hai guzzled two mouthfuls of water. When his Adam’s apple bobbed, Jin Lu Lu chuckled and pinched it, causing Gu Hai to narrowly choke.

“Let me ask you, if I find a group of reporters to attend tomorrow’s ceremony and let them launch an unbridled coverage, will it certainly create a negative impact for them?”

Jin Lu Lu was shocked with that plan, “You want to crash the wedding venue?”

“I’ve wanted to get revenge on my father for a long time now.”

“I think it won’t be easy to ask the reporters. Even if they manage to collect the news, the TV station might not let them report on it and all your efforts will be in vain.”

“You are wrong, my purpose is not to let them report it. I just want them to bring the cameras and equipment to the venue for the sake of disrupting things. In any case, no one can even think about being happy.”

“Oh—” Jin Lu Lu dragged out the last syllable, “I understand now. Whether the reporters are there or not isn’t important, what’s important is that the circumstance will definitely cause a sense of panic and disorder in the host and the people involved, right?”

“You’re very smart.”

A peculiar spark of light flitted into Gu Hai’s dark obsidian eyes.

—

Translator’s Note:

[1] Sun Jingwei (孙警卫) – ‘Sun’ being the surname and ‘ jingwei’ meaning (security) guard, not his first name, therefore, it can be translated to Guard Sun. We will continue to address him as Sun Jingwei.

[2]‘General…’ – the word used in this sentence is actually shǒuzhǎng (首长) which means senior official, but since we know that Gu Hai’s father is an Army Major General, we will directly use his formal military rank to address him. He is a Major General, but we will call him General or General Gu.

Major General is a two-star General Officer rank, and the highest permanent peacetime rank in the Army. A Major General commands a division-sized unit of 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers. A Major General can only be appointed through a stringent process of nomination and review by multiple offices and promotion boards. Officers receiving a commission as Major General are required to retire after five years of commission, or after 35 years of total service, unless promoted or appointed. Major General is the 26th rank in the United States Army, ranking above Brigadier General and directly below Lieutenant General.

Yang Meng’s uncle sent four men to Bai Luo Yin; they were Ma Tu, La La Man, San Zhazi, and Si Lingdang.[1] Just by their nicknames, one could tell that they weren’t a particularly bright bunch, and even if they did have any brains, what quick-witted people would do something like this?!

As Ma Tu stared blankly at the luxurious five-star hotel before him, he couldn’t help but to spit into his hands. Then, he clasped both his hands together and rubbed until the saliva thickened, all the while, wearing an extremely excited expression.

“Today, I will cry until I lose my voice.”

San Zhazi was confused, “Crying cost 300 yuan,[2] but that kid only gave each of us 200 yuan. If you cry until you lose your voice, aren’t we losing out?”

“Just take it as I gave him that 100 yuan.”

“…”

La La Man crouched at the foot of a wall and looked over at Ma Tu. “Why?”

“Who told him to have a feast at such an expensive place!”

Si Lingdang stood to the side without saying anything. As he stared at the luxurious cars pass before him one by one, he became more and more uncertain.

“Lingdang, what are you doing?”

“I just noticed that the vehicles parked here all belong to the military. This person is definitely not just anybody!”

“No shit! You think that the person throwing a feast here has the same moral standing as us?”

“No, that’s not it…what I meant was, let’s not foolishly crash this place. If we break in, we might end up squatting in prison for three to five years…”

“Get rid of your shitty nagging. Aren’t you a disgrace to us? Besides, once this job is over with, there’s an additional 1000 yuan.[2] Don’t you want that?”

Si Lingdang became listless/nervous as he looked at the rows of security guards and opted to remain silent.

“I see someone going in. Let’s also head in. Get the invitation card out and do everything according to the plan. Once we’re in, don’t make a fool of yourself.”

“Wait!” Si Lingdang suddenly stopped.

San Zhazi’s patience was wearing thin, “Can you be a bit smarter? If you don’t want the money, give it here.”

“I…I think I saw reporters.”

The other three followed Si Lingdang’s line of sight.

“If by chance they’re also trying to get in to do a live broadcast of the wedding ceremony, then the ones making the headlines in Beijing Evening News’ today will definitely be us. I don’t want this money anymore. If you guys want to do it, go for it.”

Si Lingdang angrily turned away with every intention to leave.

“Come back!” Ma Tu bellowed.

Seeing that Ma Tu was about to become enraged, San Zhazi quickly grabbed him and Si Lingdang and urged them. “Stop fighting, aren’t they just reporters? Wouldn’t it work out if we all go over there and capture those two? There’s four of us and only two of them.”

“Exactly!” La La Man’s courage increased a hundredfold. “We can steal their equipment as well! That guy also looks like he’s worth a lot of money!”

“All right! We might as well just do that!” Ma Tu also joined in, “We’re not going to cry anymore. In any case, we would only get 1000 yuan after crying. We can just steal the thing that they’re carrying on their shoulders and sell it. It will definitely sell for more than 5000 yuan. Afterwards, we can give the money back to the boss’s nephew and tell him that we didn’t want to do it since it was too risky.”

“At the end of the day, Da Ge[3] is the smart one. Ha, ha, ha…”

As a result, the four sneakily approached the two reporters.

Those two ‘reporters’ were temporarily hired by Gu Hai, who had to even teach them on how to use the equipment to film on the spot. That was because anyone with a bit of brain knew better than to come here and risk it. Consequently, the two lingered at the front gate of the hotel without the nerve to enter, despite having the invitation card.

Ma Tu waited for the perfect opportunity and waved his hand at the three behind him. “Come closer. Let’s pretend to be friendly with them first and then lure them to an isolated place. Then, we can attack.”

The three nodded and followed after Ma Tu nonchalantly.

The ‘reporter’ carrying the camera had just gathered up his courage to walk towards the entrance, when he suddenly saw four thievish-looking people heading in his direction.

“Hey, buddy! Let’s talk over there.”

“Ahhh!!”

The two fake reporters howled and fled towards a small road behind the hotel without consulting each other while the four men pursued them relentlessly. Looking at their attitudes, the fake reporters thought that they were being pursued by four were plain-clothed policemen. They quickly abandoned the equipement, flagged down a taxi and made their escape.

“What the hell is going on?” Si Lingdang stared at the camera with an eyebrow raised in shock.

San Zhazi gasped heavily, “How would I know?”

La La Man scratched his head, “Were these equipment stolen goods?”

“Who cares!” Ma Tu simply placed the equipment on his shoulder without hesitation, “Let’s go. We need to find a place to sell these. With these, we don’t need to work this month.”

“Holy Shit! Our plan actually worked!”

“Ha, Ha, ha…”

–

Translator’s Note

[1] Ma Tu – baldie, La La Man – vile creep, San(3) Zhazi – slag, Si(4) Lingdang – little bell

[2] 200元- $29.30, 300元- $44, 1000元- $146 (7元\= $1) September 2018 rate

[3] Da Ge – eldest brother/big brother/gang leader/ boss – in this case, they’re referring to the eldest person