Chapter 72: .

On the plane.

Meng Yu had already grabbed a blanket and an eye mask and gone to sleep early, leaving Zou Qi and Xu Wei to talk.

'You went a little overboard today.' Zou Qi handed Xu Wei a glass of champagne. 'Aren't you afraid he'll come after you?'

'Saw you keeping your mouth shut the whole time — knew that's what you'd say.' Xu Wei took the flute from his hand. 'So what if I pissed him off? I love pissing him off.'

He picked up the blanket, unfolding it as he talked. 'No matter how much I push him, how big a wave can he really make? Fei old man's been in Europe getting treatment these past few years, my dad runs the Fei Corporation now — even if the whole group changed its surname to Xu, nobody would dare tell the old man. Fei Bolin? I'd squash him like an ant. It's just his mother's damn ashes, I've already been plenty polite to him.'

Provoking Fei Bolin didn't really do Xu Wei any good — but it didn't do him any harm either. Normal people always figured less trouble was better, but Xu Wei wasn't normal.

When it came to insulting Fei Bolin, Xu Wei had always loved it. From age five to twenty, not once had it changed. In his eyes, tormenting and humiliating Fei Bolin was as easy as eating and drinking — he did it because he wanted to, no need to think about consequences.

Of course, the premise was that he had the upper hand. If Fei Bolin had any power to retaliate, he wouldn't dare be this arrogant.

Now Fei old man was in a coma, the lifeblood of the Fei Corporation was in the Xu family's hands, and Xu Wei considered himself the only person who could reach Fei Bolin. Flying all this way just to let Fei Bolin know how miserably Lin Yuanyi had lived before she died — and more importantly, to make Fei Bolin remember that the one who made Lin Yuanyi's life so miserable wasn't the Xu Family, it was his own father.

Driving a wedge between father and son was Xu Wei's original goal. As for offending Fei Bolin — that was just a bonus. In his eyes, Fei Bolin was a fish in a ditch — no matter how much he thrashed, he couldn't leap into the Fei Corporation's ocean. Properly humiliating the Fei family's precious young master who'd always thought so highly of himself was the most entertaining way Xu Wei knew to pass the time.

Zou Qi watched Xu Wei take a slow sip of his drink and asked with a smile, 'You're that sure the Fei Family Estate can't do anything to you guys?'

'What else? Fei Bolin doesn't have time to hate the Xu Family right now — what he hates most is his own dad. With that temper of his, if he could sit down calmly and say two words to Fei old man I'll lose the bet.' Xu Wei patted Zou Qi's chest. 'The old man's lawyer doesn't dare move under our noses, even your Zou family inside the group is under our Xu family's management. The Fei family — it's done for.'

Speaking of the Zou family, you had to go back decades. Back when Fei Bolin's parents started from nothing, in the early days of the company the Zou family put up a lot of money and manpower — you could say they were the oldest shareholders of the Fei Corporation. But later the Zou family got sick of Lin Yuanyi managing too much, having too much power. Nobody knows who came up with the rotten idea, but to drive Lin Yuanyi out they introduced a new woman to Fei's father — the current chairman's wife, Xu Wei's aunt.

Those years, from business partners to everyone in the household, they all kept it from Lin Yuanyi.

Little did they know the Zou family had driven out a wolf only to invite in a tiger. After Lin Yuanyi left the Fei Corporation, Fei father's health took a sharp downturn. Once Xu Wei's father took control of the Fei Corporation, not only was he no more generous than Lin Yuanyi, in many things he was even more vicious — single-mindedly trying to promote Xu family people. The Zou family had never been any good at business to begin with; when Lin Yuanyi was around they just collected dividends and always felt their family wasn't respected. Now with the Xu family mixed in, the Zou family got their interests carved up and their shares diluted again and again. A dozen years ago they could sit as equals with the Fei family in the group, now they were gradually reduced to sucking up to the Xu family.

Rongzhou was Meng Yu's hometown — Meng Yu spent half the year here. But Zou Qi wasn't. Zou Qi was born and raised in Jin City, spent most of his childhood abroad. The family had been doing worse and worse these past few years, so he came back. When Xu Wei said he was going to Rongzhou and told Zou Qi to come along, Zou Qi didn't dare say a single extra word, he just came.

Xu Wei talked big, never cared about anyone's face, patting Zou Qi's chest, almost spelling out 'Zou Qi, you're just a dog of the Xu family' right on his face.

Zou Qi just smiled, set down his glass and looked out the window, his eyes dark and unreadable.

'Hopefully.' He patted Xu Wei's shoulder. 'Best to crush Fei Bolin completely, don't let him get back up. Otherwise…'

Xu Wei put on his eye mask lazily: 'Otherwise what?'

Zou Qi laughed out loud, joking: 'Otherwise with that brain of yours, I really don't know how you're gonna die!'

-

When the exam-end bell rang, Wen Fu burst out of the classroom first thing.

He didn't wait for the school bus outside, but used the hundred yuan Fei Bolin had stuffed him the day before to hail a taxi, and rushed home without stopping.

The closer he got to home, the more uneasy he felt.

On the post-gaokao road, streams of people and cars wove endlessly. A ten-minute taxi ride could gamble eight minutes of it on traffic jams.

Wen Fu sat in the car for half an hour, saw the trip was only half done, told the driver he didn't want to ride anymore, paid for half the distance, got out with his schoolbag and started running.

The five o'clock sun was still brutal. Every car window Wen Fu passed reflected golden light, and each one flashed his silhouette.

He ran until he was out of breath, climbed nonstop up to his family's sixth floor, opened the door and found the house eerily quiet.

Fei Bolin usually kept the front door open to the hallway when he was home — one, so Wen Fu could get in without a key, two, for ventilation and to stay cool.

Today Wen Fu had to actually use his key to open the door, and nobody greeted him when he came in.

But he knew Fei Bolin was home.

The moment he came back he could feel Fei Bolin's presence.

Wen Fu took off his schoolbag, instinctively softened his breathing and footsteps, walking toward the room while trying to call out: 'Bo-ge?'

He could hear Fei Bolin's breathing, but Fei Bolin didn't answer him.

Wen Fu pushed open the bedroom door and saw Fei Bolin curled up on the bed, facing the wall, hair a mess, clothes a mess, the cuffs of his blue School Uniform pants grey with dust, still carrying some sand.

'Bo-ge?' Wen Fu called again.

Fei Bolin didn't move.

Wen Fu walked closer and saw Fei Bolin holding a square box in his arms.

Fei Bolin wasn't asleep. His eyes were half-closed, his long lashes slightly damp, the redness at the corners of his eyes hadn't faded. An inexplicable loneliness shrouded him, making his whole being give off an untouchable air, like he'd fallen into some long, silent yet turbulent thoughts.

Wen Fu bent down, lay beside the bed, rested his chin on Fei Bolin's raised shoulder, and called out nodding the way he usually did to cheer him up: 'Bo-ge?'

Fei Bolin didn't react at all.

Wen Fu started to get anxious. He sensed the unspeakable pain brewing inside Fei Bolin's body, but Fei Bolin had no intention of letting it out.

That pain would seal itself away and ferment inside Fei Bolin's body, and eventually make him sick.

Wen Fu turned his head, nuzzled Fei Bolin's ear with his own, then stayed pressed against Fei Bolin's temple, trying to hear the noise inside Fei Bolin's mind.

He knew Fei Bolin must have run into something — some incalculable, major accident. This kind of vast silence and pain couldn't come from a failed English exam. Outside the exam, in places he hadn't reached in time, Fei Bolin had run into something else.

Wen Fu couldn't hear the sound in Fei Bolin's mind. Because he'd been running for so long, when he suddenly stopped, his own heartbeat filled his entire eardrum. For the first time he found the sound of a heartbeat so annoying and unstoppable, blocking his body's communication with Fei Bolin.

He stood up, paced anxiously around the bed twice, but couldn't think of any way to bring even a moment of life back to the walking-dead Fei Bolin.

So he suddenly sat cross-legged on the floor, lay against the bed, gently grabbed the hem of Fei Bolin's clothes, and called out with a hint of a sob: 'Bo-ge…'

Strange — the tears Fei Bolin hadn't shed seemed to have flowed into Wen Fu's body through their temple-to-temple contact. Fei Bolin's face was expressionless, but Wen Fu felt like crying the moment he saw him like that.

Later Wen Fu stopped talking too. He quietly lay against the bed edge, just looking up at Fei Bolin. He wanted to say it was okay, no matter what happened it was okay, as long as Fei Bolin was still alive, as long as he stayed by Fei Bolin's side, even if the sky fell he could dig out a corner for Fei Bolin. Apart from life and death, nothing was a big deal. Bombing an exam was fine, an accident was fine, even if Fei Bolin killed someone and set fire to things, he had Wen Fu to back him up with his life. Really, it was okay.

But he wouldn't say it. He knew Fei Bolin couldn't hear it right now either.

One curled up, one sitting, they sat until the setting sun tilted west, then until the moon rose to the middle of the sky.

Wen Fu was hungry.

He braced himself on the bed edge and stood up, shook out his numb legs, leaned over behind Fei Bolin, and quietly reached to feel Fei Bolin's stomach.

He figured Fei Bolin must be hungry too. Nobody had an indestructible body — living people got hungry.

Wen Fu pulled his hand out from under Fei Bolin's clothes, jumped off the bed with still-numb legs, stumbled, then limped his way to the kitchen.

He couldn't cook. Honestly unbelievable — he'd been at this house almost two years and Fei Bolin had never once let him cook. After all this time, Wen Fu still only knew how to boil his tasteless salted paste of noodles when he walked into the kitchen.

Wen Fu came back to the room with a bowl of noodle paste. Fei Bolin was still in the same position, hadn't moved a single hair.

He walked to the bed, crouched down and said: 'Bo-ge, eat some noodles.'

Fei Bolin didn't respond.

Wen Fu held the bowl for a while, saw Fei Bolin wouldn't eat, could only set it on the desk.

He didn't want to eat either.

Thinking about Fei Bolin, he couldn't eat.

Wen Fu realized for the first time that being hungry didn't mean you could eat.

After a long time more, the noodles on the desk had completely congealed into a lump, cold and dry. Wen Fu was about to bring them back to the kitchen, but the moment he stood up, Fei Bolin grabbed his hand.

He stared blankly: 'Bo-ge?'

Fei Bolin set down the Ashes Container in his arms, turned over, pulled Wen Fu in front of him, wrapped his arms around Wen Fu's legs like someone in water clinging to a piece of driftwood, held tight, then slowly pressed his forehead against Wen Fu's leg.

Wen Fu looked down, raised his hand to Fei Bolin's head, felt some wood chips and dirt.

'Don't go.' Fei Bolin finally spoke, his voice low and heavy, terribly hoarse. 'Don't go anywhere.'

The room was pitch black. Fei Bolin's phone on the bed rang at the worst possible moment. Wen Fu picked it up, saw the caller was an overseas number. He remembered Fei Bolin teaching him that calls like that were usually scams — see one, just hang up. So he pressed decline.

The other party called again, Wen Fu hung up again.

The room fell quiet again.

He climbed onto the bed, lay facing Fei Bolin, opened his arms toward him.

Fei Bolin buried his head in his chest, silent.

Wen Fu stroked Fei Bolin's hair again and again, picking out the scattered wood chips. He didn't know where Fei Bolin had gone, didn't know how he'd gotten back, only sensed a deep exhaustion and helplessness on Fei Bolin. This helplessness spread through every corner of the room — it would take days to clear.

Wen Fu knew the heaviest, longest summer was coming.

Outside it started to drizzle, the pattering raindrops hitting the windowsill, wisps of rain drifting in through the window seams, stirring the curtains on the wall, wetting the back of Wen Fu's hand.

His hand shielded the back of Fei Bolin's head, raindrops hit his arm, Wen Fu noticed the box behind Fei Bolin was about to get wet too.

He lifted himself slightly, pushed the Ashes Container toward the head of the bed. Just as he pushed it, the rain outside suddenly got heavy.

The rain poured down in a roar, and Wen Fu suddenly realized his waist was wet.

How could that be?

He stared at the heavy rain outside in a daze — how did the rain get on his waist?

A moment later he heard a tiny whimper from his arms.

Fei Bolin's spine began to tremble slightly, and soon his shoulders too, almost imperceptibly.

Wen Fu was at a loss for a moment, but steadied himself again after.

What else could he do? Fei Bolin's worst was already right here.

The two of them, dirty, held each other on the only bed in the house. Fei Bolin covered in dirt and sand, Wen Fu also covered in dust from running. The wind blew the window back and forth, slamming the old frame, countless fine raindrops drifted onto him. The worst nightmare Wen Fu had ever had wasn't even like this.

He thought, the worst days were just like this.

He held Fei Bolin's head and back, suddenly realizing his two hands could wrap around Fei Bolin's shoulders. Fei Bolin's body wasn't as big and broad as he'd imagined — his back was thin too, he could feel each delicate vertebra, could feel the prickly hair at the back of his head that had grown back not long after being shaved. Fei Bolin could cry too. When sleeping alone he could curl up like a shrimp.

Wen Fu belatedly realized Fei Bolin was less than a year older than him — and that one year wasn't as unreachable as he'd imagined.

He didn't know when the rain stopped. Wen Fu fell asleep holding Fei Bolin before it ended.

When he woke again it was the middle of the night. He was sweating, parched, about to get off the bed to turn on the fan when Fei Bolin's phone rang again.

Wen Fu noticed Fei Bolin wake up because of it. He quickly grabbed the phone to hang up, then suddenly noticed this number was exactly the same as the two calls during the day.

Don't scam groups rest either? Day and night harassing one person.

Wen Fu figured he'd just answer and tell them to stop calling, warn them he'd call the police if they called again — though he had no idea how.

So he pressed answer. Before he could speak, the other side asked: 'Excuse me, is this Fei Bolin's…'

The other party considered their wording: '…classmate?'

Wen Fu went silent.

He looked down at Fei Bolin. Fei Bolin was looking at him too, clearly wanting him to hang up quickly and come back to hold him.

Wen Fu decided to ask one more question: 'Is there something you need?'

'Finally got through to you.' The other side let out a long sigh, started introducing themselves. 'Sorry, no choice, forgive me for using an overseas number to call you. I'm Chairman Fei's — that is, your father's — lawyer. My surname is Zhang…'

Wen Fu said: 'Hold on a sec.'

He handed the phone to Fei Bolin.

Fei Bolin took it, put it to his ear.

'Hello?' The other side tried calling out. 'Fei Bolin, are you there? My time is very limited, please respond quickly.'

Fei Bolin moved his lips, asked in a hoarse voice: 'What is it?'

'It's like this…'

Wen Fu bent his knees, leaned against the wall on the bed, and quietly waited for Fei Bolin to finish the call.

The call might not have been long, but it felt endless. Wen Fu watched Fei Bolin slowly sit up from the head of the bed. From the receiver came fragments of unfamiliar words — 'surveillance,' 'Britain,' 'condition,' 'Mr. Zou,' 'hollowed out' — the sounds buzzed in Wen Fu's ears like mosquitoes. He hadn't been listening long before his eyelids started to droop, and he couldn't hold on anymore, so he just tilted sideways and fell asleep with his head on Fei Bolin's leg.

Half-asleep, Wen Fu felt himself being carried out.

Fei Bolin carried him steadily. Wen Fu's consciousness flickered, then sank back into sleep.

Somewhere in the middle Wen Fu had a chaotic dream — he was a wild man running naked through the mountains, saw fruit hanging from a tree on a distant ridge, was about to pick it, and got a ladle of hot water dumped on his head out of nowhere.

Wen Fu shuddered, almost jumped up on the spot.

He opened his eyes and found himself sitting on a small stool in the bathroom, leaning against Fei Bolin's chest, completely naked, hair dripping wet — Fei Bolin was holding the shower and washing his hair.

Wen Fu was dumbfounded.

He looked up at Fei Bolin, drops of water dripping down his hair one after another: 'What time is it, Bo-ge?'

Fei Bolin said: 'Four.'

Wen Fu: 'Afternoon?'

Fei Bolin: 'Morning.'

Wen Fu: ?

Fei Bolin squeezed some shampoo onto his head, washing while saying: 'You're too dirty, wash up before sleeping.'

Wen Fu lowered his head, rubbed his eyes, stared at the bathroom tiles for a while to wake up, then suddenly asked: 'Did someone call you just now?'

'Mm.'

Wen Fu asked again: 'Are you feeling better?'

Fei Bolin's hand rubbing his hair paused. He didn't speak.

Wen Fu waited a moment, didn't hear an answer, so he said: 'Are you going to Britain?'

He'd heard the content of the call — even if it was fuzzy and fragmented, Wen Fu could guess some of it.

Fei Bolin said: 'Not going.'

His hands rested on top of Wen Fu's head, swiped away the foam about to run from his forehead into his eyes: 'At least not now.'

'Will you go later?' Wen Fu asked.

Fei Bolin's fingers scratched his scalp, not too light, not too heavy: 'Don't know.'

Then he went silent again.

Wen Fu turned his head and saw Fei Bolin staring into empty space, thinking.

Fei Bolin's face still had no smile, no expression. He stared at the empty space in front of the tiles like he was working through a math problem — calm, steady, undisturbed.

Wen Fu saw a flickering shadow in his calm eyes — a shadow like a hazy cloud, covering up heaps of hatred that wanted to drip blood and burning rage.

Sensing Wen Fu's gaze, Fei Bolin pulled his eyes back, turned Wen Fu's head to make him sit properly: 'Whether I go or not, wherever I go, I'll take you with me.'

'Really?'

'Really.' Fei Bolin said. 'Just that if we go somewhere else, we might have to suffer too.'

'I'm not afraid of suffering.' Wen Fu picked up the soap, randomly rubbing it all over himself.

Fei Bolin said again: 'Might suffer and come back still broke, worse off than now.'

'Then I'll take you to sleep in the bridge hole I used to sleep in.' Wen Fu scrubbed bubbles in his hands. 'I'll take care of you. Won't let you suffer.'