WHF Ch 9 – He apologized to himself. 

With his back to Xiu Ma, Yu Tianbai lit a cigarette, but he didn’t really want to smoke. His hand was shaking, and quite severely.

His feelings were complicated right now. If he had to find a word to describe it, it wasn’t contempt, it wasn’t frustration, and certainly not anger, but shame. That kid had completely lowered his cognitive level. He felt like he was now solving problems with an attitude from ten years ago.

“Fuck!” he cursed at the empty space, causing people nearby to turn their heads.

Yu Tianbai ignored the onlookers and threw his cigarette on the ground. This was probably the second one today that he’d tossed without smoking. He prayed the service area still had some for sale.

The sun had completely set, with only a bright red line remaining on the distant horizon. Police cars flashed their lights in a nearby depression.

“So the car plunged into the lake on its own, you folks pulled it out as you were passing by, and there was a dead person inside?” Facing the crowd’s chatter, the police officer struggled to summarize.

The crowd fell silent, then voiced their agreement.

“Who towed the car?” The police officer looked down at his notepad, then up as the crowd made way for a man in a baseball cap.

“Ah,” Yu Tianbai was momentarily at a loss for words. “It was me.”

“Leave your phone number. You’ll need to come to the station later to make a statement.”

The crowd fell silent again, this time without agreement.

“What?” Yu Tianbai gestured around. “With all these witnesses here, you’re only asking me?”

The police officer looked up at him:

“That’s what you get for being so eager to tow the car.”

Fine, undeniable. Yu Tianbai accepted the fact that he had been meddling.

“Let me ask you something,” Yu Tianbai adjusted his cap and stepped forward. “Is this a criminal case?”

The police officer finally stopped taking notes and gave the driver a meaningful look: “If you have nothing to do with this, then it’s not a criminal case.”

Using double negatives to express affirmation—a battle between experts. Yu Tianbai hit a wall. He put his hands back in his pockets, thinking about what to say next when someone behind him shouted:

“Whose car is that by the lakeshore?!”

Who else’s car could it be? Yu Tianbai closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Had they already forgotten the heroic deed of rescuing the trapped car? He didn’t turn around, waiting for the old man to finish his question.

“It’s rolling away! The car is rolling into the lake!”

Yu Tianbai spun around. Through gaps in the crowd, about fifty meters away on the frozen ground, his Wuling Hongguang van was freely rolling down the slope toward the lake.

The repair shop, the handbrake, the emergency brake—he suddenly remembered everything.

How could the timing be so damn perfect?

The important thing wasn’t his car or the cargo inside, but the person tied to it.

Pushing through the crowd, leaving the commotion behind, Yu Tianbai ran toward the back of the car. He didn’t head for the front—stopping the car was no longer the priority. He needed to save a person. He never thought he’d ever find himself wanting to save someone.

But heaven didn’t give him the chance.

When he was less than five meters from the rear of the van, it shakily came to a stop. Perhaps the muddy lakeshore created too much resistance, or maybe the brake pads finally worked. The front of the car stopped about a meter from the ice. After a creaking sound, everything went silent.

Yu Tianbai slowed down, catching his breath. He didn’t hear Xiu Ma’s voice, not even the slightest movement. If only he had a knife in his hand. Inappropriate thoughts always appeared at the wrong time.

As the boss, Yu Tianbai knew most people couldn’t open that collar, but with a knife, it would definitely be possible. He trusted his skills.

But what if he didn’t have one?

Yu Tianbai stood behind the car looking toward the side, but didn’t see any expected scenario. There was no one beside the car.

No one?

“Are you looking for me?” The annoying voice sounded from behind him.

After a moment’s contemplation, Yu Tianbai turned around. The only sound in the air was his own breathing. Xiu Ma stood quietly nearby, the collar still hanging around his neck. He held the chain with one hand while the other was in his pocket, as if he were walking himself.

“You didn’t secure it well. I pulled it off myself,” Xiu Ma explained, but Yu Tianbai still didn’t speak.

A few seconds later, Xiu Ma lowered the hand holding the chain and asked:

“You weren’t worried about me, were you?”

“Come here,” Yu Tianbai answered with just two words.

Xiu Ma tilted his head slightly. Why should he listen? But Yu Tianbai was looking at him with reddened eyes, and his tone sounded less like a command and more like a plea.

He walked into the shadow of the van, approaching Yu Tianbai. The commotion and police lights were blocked on the other side. Yu Tianbai’s hand reached for his neck, and after a few clicks, the constriction around his neck was gone.

Yu Tianbai threw the leather collar back into the car, leaned against the door, and exhaled deeply. Xiu Ma just watched him without saying a word.

“Choke me or punch me, take your pick,” the man by the door suddenly said. Xiu Ma’s brows furrowed.

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

He truly didn’t understand what Yu Tianbai meant. It sounded like some sudden perverted fetish.

“I owe you one this time. If you don’t choose—”

I won’t be able to live with myself.

But before he could finish, a fist struck his right cheek. In that moment, Yu Tianbai finally understood that the punch from their first meeting wasn’t the kid’s true capability.

His vision went dark and light for a while, and the ringing in his ears hadn’t subsided. Yu Tianbai ran his tongue around his mouth. His tongue was still nimble, his mouth was numb, his teeth were intact, but something was definitely bleeding.

He took a deep breath, stood up straight, squared his face, and tried to look Xiu Ma in the eye.

“You chose rather quickly.”

Xiu Ma was flexing his knuckles and replied expressionlessly:

“What a rare opportunity.”

A rare opportunity to watch the crooked boss’s regret show plus a beating?

Yu Tianbai’s steps were unsteady. He took a few steps toward the door, then a few more toward the front of the car, finally stopping by the headlights:

“I need to go to the police station next. You’re coming too.”

“Sure,” Xiu Ma’s expression relaxed considerably. “Afterward, I want iron pot stew.”

Iron your mother’s pot stew.

Yu Tianbai got back into the driver’s seat and swallowed a mouthful of bloody saliva.

By the time he left the interrogation room, the sky was completely dark. The police station was bustling with people. Yu Tianbai sat in the waiting area of the hall, his tongue pressing against his painful face.

It hurt when he didn’t move, and it hurt when he tried. With luck, it would just be red tomorrow; with bad luck, it would swell up. Then whenever people saw him, they’d definitely ask: “Did you get into a fight?”

No, no, I just paid for my sins.

Rehearsing this conversation in his mind, Yu Tianbai couldn’t help but laugh out loud. It wasn’t because he was in a good mood, but because he wanted to ridicule himself.

The police officer who had questioned him earlier came out, discussing the case with a colleague. The body had been fully soaked and was unrecognizable. They couldn’t make comparisons, so they needed to check local transient populations, then missing persons reports. Finally, they had found the deceased’s personal information. Yu Tianbai caught bits and pieces as he watched the officer place the files within his line of sight before turning to attend to other matters.

What did that mean? Was he being invited to take a look? Yu Tianbai didn’t stand on ceremony. He leaned over to look at the file.

No big deal at first, but after two or three glances, his gaze fixed on the ID photo at the top.

Truth be told, this poor middle-aged man who had been soaking in the van for who knows how many days seemed to be someone he knew. But where he knew him from, or for how long, Yu Tianbai couldn’t remember at all. He only vaguely recognized the swollen eyes in the ID photo, but nothing more.

How to describe this feeling?

You’re walking cheerfully down a country road when suddenly you encounter a funeral procession. Just as you’re cursing your bad luck, you realize the deceased is someone you know. At that point, you’re stuck between cursing and not cursing.

Especially when the deceased had died violently.

Should he blame himself for knowing too many people in his thirties? No, Yu Tianbai looked away. Thinking carefully, he probably wasn’t very close to this person anyway, otherwise he wouldn’t be unable to recall any details. If anything, he could only blame his own popularity.

Good! Goodbye, grand funeral procession.

Yu Tianbai left the police station and stood on the steps, exhaling. The pain on his face had turned to numbness. The van was parked at the corner a few meters away, with the young master waiting for him inside.

Ah, what a beautiful night.

The door closed, and the car was warm. Although he didn’t want to admit it, at this moment, being in the car felt pretty good, even with the young master there.

Unlike contemporary young people in Yu Tianbai’s memory, the young master rarely played with his phone. He would either space out or dream—but sleeping was limited to that one time. They didn’t speak for the few minutes after he returned to the car. Only after the radio announced the six o’clock news did Yu Tianbai take his frozen hands out of his pockets.

“I’ve been wanting to ask you something,” he said to the young master.

The young master silently raised his head, and Yu Tianbai slowly asked: “How did you end up looking like this?”

For about half a cigarette’s time, Xiu Ma seemed to be preparing to explode, but looking at Yu Tianbai’s expression, he suddenly realized the man was complimenting him.

Was he actually complimenting him?

In the dim light outside the police station, with the warm air blowing and the radio playing in the car, Xiu Ma’s profile smoothly reflected the light, every angle just right, every turn pleasing to the eye. After a day of being blown by the wind, baked by the sun, soaked by the rain, kicked down and locked up, the young master was still the young master—looking good, sickeningly good.

Rosy complexion, bright eyes, even those upturned lips were damn perfect.

Yu Tianbai wanted to curse again, but he didn’t. He just leaned back in his seat, eyes fixed on Xiu Ma’s face.

A few seconds later, a stammered response came from across: “You’re handsome too.”

Yu Tianbai’s heart immediately erupted in a desperate scream. He sat up straight, turned away, and took several deep breaths, then turned back and tried to calmly say: “I wasn’t asking you to compliment me back.”

The young master could sometimes be frighteningly innocent.

Looking at the bewildered Xiu Ma, Yu Tianbai fastened his seatbelt and said: “Let’s go back to town and get your iron pot stew.”

The person in the passenger seat seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

Indeed, just a child. Yu Tianbai started the engine, but he wasn’t feeling completely at ease because he had just made a decision. A decision that could be good or bad, but given the current situation, it was the best choice.

It was about half an hour from the police station to the nearest service area. They had passed Jilin City and were now on the edge of Shulan. Having traveled so far in two days and one night, it was quite leisurely.

Although Shulan was small, it had everything—hotels, bus stations, bars, and the iron pot stew that the young master had been eagerly anticipating. Yu Tianbai had checked this beforehand for his sudden decision.

The car stopped on a street near the city center. It was pitch dark, and while the small city couldn’t be described as brilliantly lit, it still had the festive atmosphere of the Lunar New Year. Xiu Ma looked out the window at the urban area, his face showing rare anticipation. At this moment, the driver suddenly said:

“Actually, I feel that if we had met in a different way, we could have gotten along well.”

Xiu Ma turned to look at him as Yu Tianbai unlocked the car from the driver’s seat.

“Are you sure about that?” Xiu Ma questioned. “I think we’re getting along pretty well.”

Yu Tianbai leaned against his seat and looked at him, slightly surprised: “You have quite the adaptability. Are you really a young master?”

Xiu Ma didn’t answer, seemingly already well-adjusted to being called “young master.”

“Then I have a question for you,” the driver leaned forward, his eyes under the cap brim fixed on Xiu Ma. “What kind of people can’t you accept?”

Xiu Ma’s brain stalled for a moment, either because the question was too tricky or because Yu Tianbai’s face was a bit too close. He turned away to think for a moment.

“If you had asked me this question two years ago, the answer would probably be homosexuals. I couldn’t accept homosexuals back then.”

Yu Tianbai inhaled and tilted his head: “Why homosexuals?”

Just as he opened his mouth to answer, Yu Tianbai interrupted: “Never mind, don’t say it. What if I am one?”

Xiu Ma didn’t answer, and Yu Tianbai didn’t continue. The two stared at each other motionlessly. The atmosphere was difficult to describe, but neither moved their gaze. As Xiu Ma was pondering what to say, something black suddenly covered his face. After smelling the scent of cigarette pop beads, he realized it was Yu Tianbai’s cap—Yu Tianbai had put his cap on Xiu Ma’s face.

He quickly raised the brim of the cap, only to see Yu Tianbai looking at him expectantly, then exclaiming with exaggeration:

“Oh! Your face is really small enough. Even though you’re taller than me, the hat fits perfectly.”

Xiu Ma silently straightened the cap. It was his first time seeing Yu Tianbai without his baseball cap.

“So you’re not bald?” he asked.

“Who told you I was bald?” Yu Tianbai replied.

“Then why do you always wear a hat?” he asked again.

Yu Tianbai opened his mouth: “When my hair grows out, I look like my brother. I don’t want to be reminded of someone else when I look in the mirror.”

What a strange reason.

“Come to think of it, why am I telling you all this?” Yu Tianbai probably found it strange himself.

He patted the passenger seat and nodded toward the outside: “Get out. Take your luggage and find a place to sit. I’ll go park the car.”

This time Xiu Ma was very obedient. He picked up his suitcase and got out, standing dutifully on the empty space a meter away. The evening was a bit cool, with the small town’s wind blowing. Yu Tianbai lowered the passenger window.

“Xiu Ma,” he said earnestly, “I’ve thought about it carefully. It’s not about you giving up; this time, I’m giving up.”

Xiu Ma stood with his back to the scattered lights, blinking in confusion.

Yu Tianbai looked at Xiu Ma wearing his cap and smiled genuinely: “So now I’ve decided to let you go.”

The young master still didn’t seem to understand what he meant. Yu Tianbai didn’t want to explain further. He leaned back, pointing to the distance:

“Shulan has a bus station. Buy a ticket back to Changchun tomorrow. Your wages for these two days are in your left pocket. Go get yourself dinner and a good night’s sleep.”

As he finished speaking, the window went up, and the van rolled away. Xiu Ma stood there, finally processing what had happened.

Just like two years ago, Yu Tianbai had abandoned him on the road again. And just five minutes earlier, they had been chatting pleasantly. Yu Tianbai hadn’t even let him finish speaking.

Xiu Ma reached into his left pocket and pulled out two discount coupons for iron pot stew—the kind distributed on the street.