Chapter 7

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

On the evening of October 1st, a storm blew across Beijing.

The weather slowed the takeoff speed on the runways. It was already 1A.M. by the time they landed in Chengdu.

The plane pulled in at a distant gate. The passengers squeezed into the shuttle like a can of sardines.

He fought hard, but by the time he alighted, his eyelids were too heavy to keep open.

Going from the stuffy warmth of the outdoors to the freezing air-conditioned airport terminal, Zheng Yi stopped next to the baggage carousel, sneezing three times in a row. He swore quietly: “Fuck!”

Chengdu was a southern city. The summer heat lasted into October.

The season wasn’t much kinder in Beijing, but at least Beijing was dry. The born-and-bred northerner Zheng Yi couldn’t acclimate in the humid south, not least because he knew it was “Chen Gong’s home ground”.

Zheng Yi panicked.

Yesterday, when Qiu Mang arranged for him to go to Chengdu and survey prospects with Chen Gong, Zheng Yi thought it would be simple: they would just examine the sites and negotiate a contract together. Only while packing this morning was Zheng Yi struck with a sudden fear. The twin weights of “slandering” and “reporting” Chen Gong still lay on him unresolved. And now, he’d stumbled across Chen Gong’s deepest pain…

Zheng Yi was scared that Chen Gong would seize the chance for revenge while they were on this work trip.

Though he didn’t want to admit it in front of Qiu Mang, he could be honest to himself. Zheng Yi knew that his courage came from borrowed power: every conflict he had with Chen Gong in the office had Mr Wang backing him up, so there was no way Chen Gong could ever harm him.

But now, going one-on-one in Chengdu, Zheng Yi didn’t know how to face Chen Gong.

The more he thought about it, the more nervous he became. Zheng Yi stopped packing and called Qiu Mang to beg for mercy. “Maybe I shouldn’t go after all…”

Qiu Mang, on the other hand, was endlessly amused. “Weren’t you looking for a chance to apologise to him?”

Zheng Yi replied sadly, “I’m afraid he’ll kill me before I have the chance.”

Qiu Mang didn’t let him go so easily. “Didn’t you say yesterday that you weren’t afraid of him?”

Qiu Mang’s words rendered Zheng Yi speechless.

After listening to Qiu Mang mock him without a shred of courtesy, he finally hung up, packed up, and went to the airport prepared to meet his death.

The carousel had finally coughed up his luggage, so Zheng Yi ordered a taxi as he dragged an uncooperative suitcase out the airport — some unknown act of violence appeared to have been perpetrated in the cargo hold, leaving his suitcase with a broken wheel. Zheng Yi was far too sleepy to investigate.

As he exited the building, the hot and humid air rushed into his nostrils once again.

Zheng Yi felt slightly asphyxiated. He couldn’t help but shudder, his body breaking out in a cold sweat. Soaked in this sweat, the iron-free shirt he wore softly clung to his chest and back. He had to pull his collar up slightly to stop the damp, translucent cloth from revealing every detailed inch of his chest to the world.

Zheng Yi felt irritable and helpless.

–

The company had booked a hotel on Chunxi Road, the most happening business district in Chengdu.

Even with the smooth late-night traffic, it would take at least half an hour from Shuangliu Airport. Zheng Yi didn’t bother fighting the fatigue. He was leaning back on the passenger side preparing to doze off when his phone rang.

Seeing “Lao Wang” appear on the screen, Zheng Yi gritted his teeth and picked up. “Hello!”

A sly voice mockingly responded: “Lord Zheng Yi, have you landed?”

“No need for titles, Mr Wang!” Zheng Yi nimbly replied. “By your grace, I just got in the car en route to the hotel!”

“Lord Zheng Yi, don’t be mad at me — Chengdu’s a big city with a big market. If we want to have firm hold on it, only my most trusted men will do — and that’s you and Chen Gong, isn’t it?”

“My pleasure!” Hearing this, Zheng Yi frowned. “Don’t fool me with that “triple holiday pay” stuff, I don’t need the money. Just assign more money-making business trips to Chen Gong — he’s poor. Besides, Chen Gong has been with you for so many years, don’t you trust his work?”

Lao Wang laughed and began to butter him up. “Well, what can we do when our Lord Zheng Yi is so very talented! You know Chen Gong’s a technician, he doesn’t have the high-class aesthetic sense that we have to depend on our Director Zheng for!

Zheng Yi felt a little floaty under Mr Wang’s praise. He retracted his fangs and sighed, “I want extra leave days after this…”

“My boy, how can you ask for more leave… I’m sending you on holiday right now, won’t it be fun to eat hotpot and look at pandas?”

“…” Zheng Yi frowned and rolled his eyes. After a beat, he suddenly realised that Lao Wang couldn’t see his rebellious expression over the phone.

“You don’t like Chen Gong?”

“Even you know it!”

“You’re my left and right arms, you can’t keep fighting like this!”

“He started it!”

“Chen Gong has a bad temper, and he’s younger than you-”

Zheng Yi interrupted: “Older!”

“– fine, fine, older than you… so you should listen to him!”

A row of question marks appeared over Zheng Yi’s head. “What kind of logic is that?”

“Er…” Stumped by Zheng Yi’s questioning, Lao Wang had no comeback. He tried to laugh it off and muddy the waters instead. “Ah well, since you’re brothers in arms, you should have the sort of relationship where you trust each other with your lives, it’s not a logical thing! How about this, I’ll send you a nice big bonus in a bit, think of it as lunch money. You two brothers can go have fun together and get closer after you’re done with the case. Then you can come back and continue fighting side by side after the holiday. Okay?

“…”

“Okay! As long as you agree! I know you’re a mature kid, I don’t have to worry about you!” After his bullshitting, Lao Wang let out an obviously fake yawn, adding “Oh no I’m too old I can’t do this I have to sleep, I’m so proud of you kids, behave yourselves!” … With that, he ended the call.

After he hung up, Zheng Yi felt choked.

He looked at the phone. The battery was at 8%. He rummaged through his bag and retrieved the portable charger, then tried to take a nap when the phone rang again.

Seeing “Chen Gonggong” [1] appear on the screen, Zheng Yi gritted his teeth and picked up. “Hello!”

[1] Zheng Yi uses 公公 to mean eunuch, but in the south of China it often means Grandpa.

A deep, emotionless voice spoke. “Lord Zheng, have you landed?”

–

“Chen Gonggong” was Zheng Yi’s personal nickname for Chen Gong — it was a tribute to Chen Gong’s unquestioning loyalty to Mr Wang.

Chen Gong was a cold person. Over his six years at HALOstudio, he had no more friends than Zheng Yi had made just on his very first day of work.

However, Chen Gong and Mr Wang were very close, and he obeyed Mr Wang’s every word. If Mr Wang pointed east, Chen Gong would not go west; if Mr Wang said one, Chen Gong would not say two.

From Zheng Yi’s point of view, Chen Gong was just like a loyal eunuch.

— except he was more masculine than a eunuch…

— but since it was meant to make fun of him… “loyal minister” didn’t pack the same punch, did it?

When Zheng Yi picked up the phone and heard Chen Gong’s familiar, half-dead voice calling him “Lord Zheng”, asking him “have you landed?”, the guilt he had recently accumulated vanished into thin air. He replied in his habitual way: “Would I pick up if I hadn’t?”

Chen Gong clearly didn’t want to engage with Zheng Yi more than he had to, either. He added coldly: “Mr Wang asked me to order some food for you — room 1205, come grab it when you arrive.”

“Just leave it at the front desk.”

“Okay, I won’t care about the rest. Someone from the site is going to pick us up at 6A.M. tomorrow, don’t be late.”

“6A.M.?!” Zheng Yi’s eyes widened. “It’s 3A.M. now!”

Chen Gong calmly responded, “It’s out of my hands, handle it as you will,” and hung up.

Once again, Zheng Yi found it hard to breathe.

As he cursed at the dial tone, the car stopped outside the hotel.

Zheng Yi dragged his heavy suitcase into the hotel. He went to the front desk and gave his phone number as he rummaged through his pockets.

After five minutes of rummaging, he realised that his ID was missing.

The receptionist’s smile stiffened. “Sir, may I have some identification please…”

Zheng Yi massaged his temples. “I think I’ve lost my ID card.”

“You lost it?”

“I lost it.”

“What now?”

Having been asked this by the receptionist, Zheng Yi stared stupidly. “What now?”

“Get a temporary ID, then. The closest branch office is about 4km away.”

Zheng Yi tsked. “I see… Just check me in first.”

“We need to record your ID.”

“But it’s so late…”

“We can’t let it pass, the checks have been getting strict lately!”

“…” Zheng Yi had been feeling suffocated all day.

Walking out the hotel lobby, Zheng Yi looked at the dimly lit, unfamiliar city.

The air still carried the steam of summer’s humidity, but he felt a trickle of coolness from his neck down into his shirt.

The phone in his pocket vibrated. Zheng Yi retrieved it with slight impatience. Seeing “Chen Gonggong” written across the screen, his thumb shifted to reject the call – resisting Chen Gong had become a knee-jerk reflex.

But when his eyes unintentionally flashed across the 1% battery notification, his thumb stilled.

Though annoying, Chen Gong was the only straw left for him to grasp at this point.

Zheng Yi reassured himself: a strong man must know when to bend!

He ground his teeth and accepted the call.

The phone died.

The light of the portable charger had long extinguished.

Zheng Yi returned it to his backpack in silence, then sat on his suitcase and sneezed twice.

His forehead was cold as he marvelled at his luck.

Ever since he crossed Chen Gong, nothing was going right!

–

Credits:

Author – Liang Azha (Weibo|Twitter)

Raws – Nandemonaiya

Translation – Nandemonaiya

Proofreading – Nandemonaiya, Terukutie, Zhiming

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