WHF Ch 6 – Flesh Mouth

Just past seven o’clock, Xiu Ma opened his eyes in bed. He was startled awake, realizing he wasn’t in his own bed at home.

At home, his father would get up just after six, exercise in the courtyard, then return to the hall to drink tea. The dog tied up in the backyard would bark, and the housekeeper responsible for cooking would go out to buy groceries, then come back through the iron gate of the side door. Within an hour, she would come upstairs to knock on his door and wake him up.

So today he also opened his eyes right on time, but lying on the hard, disinfectant-bleached sheets, aside from the distant and indistinct rumble of trucks, he couldn’t hear anything. Then he suddenly remembered what had happened yesterday.

The van, resumes, robbery, butterfly knife, Yu Tianbai.

He immediately sat up in bed. Outside the door came the voices of early-rising hotel staff. He was in a hotel in a service area, with Yu Tianbai staying next door.

So now the question was, should he actively get out of bed and knock on the door to wake him up, or wait for him to come wake himself up?

Xiu Ma lay back down on the pillow, resting one hand over his eyes.

The rest of the journey yesterday had been relatively smooth. Maybe they were tired of arguing, but neither he nor Yu Tianbai had said much, though the man had opened his phone to search for directions and started taking the main road—more or less accepting Xiu Ma’s theory. It gets dark early in the Northeast, and by five or six o’clock, the road signs became unclear. The car stopped before eight at the second service area along the way. After dinner, they went to the service area hotel, one standard room per person, and when he opened his eyes again, it was morning.

No organizational structure, no employee handbook, no meetings, no colleagues, not even any work to do.

Great. Xiu Ma already felt like he was adapting to this job. Now the only difficulty was deciding who would choose to actively wake the other—him or Yu Tianbai. Perhaps he should just get ready and wait by the car, being a good employee who arrives earlier than the boss.

Of course, the boss might have already run off while the employee wasn’t around.

The moment this thought emerged, Xiu Ma sprang up from the sheets again. The service area’s heating wasn’t hot enough, and the cold in the room stung Xiu Ma’s hands and feet. He hopped around putting on his pants and yanked open the room’s blackout curtains in one swift motion.

Sure enough, there was no one in the parking lot.

That’s not quite accurate—there were cars: three big semi-trucks and two private cars, but no sign of Yu Tianbai’s van. When Xiu Ma rushed downstairs, taking three steps at a time, the situation remained the same: the boss had already fled.

He caught his breath as he turned in a circle, slowly zipping up his down jacket that was still open, then took a deep breath and shouted at the empty parking lot:

“You mother—”

His curse was interrupted by the sound of sudden braking. A gust of wind rushed up behind him, pushing Xiu Ma half a step forward, and he immediately turned his head.

Yu Tianbai sat in the van, slowly lowering the window.

“Were you just cursing at me?”

His face was completely composed, with the self-satisfaction of someone who had slept well.

“Good morning, young master. Ready to work.”

Xiu Ma faced him, took another half step back, straightened his collar, ignored the greeting, and went straight to open the door and sit in the passenger seat.

“How did you sleep last night?” Yu Tianbai adjusted his hat brim and turned to ask him.

“Tell me what we’re doing today.” Xiu Ma avoided the question.

The response earned a raised eyebrow from Yu Tianbai, who licked the corner of his mouth: “Are you that eager to start working?”

Xiu Ma loosened his collar a bit: “That’s what I came here for.”

Yu Tianbai didn’t respond, lowering his head to flip open the receipt in his hand: “What if I said that chatting with me also counts toward your wages?”

The right to hesitate was given to Xiu Ma, who opened his mouth but said nothing.

“Don’t believe it,” Yu Tianbai looked up. “Chatting idly with me doesn’t pay.”

Xiu Ma crossed his arms again, which seemed to be his default posture since getting into the car yesterday. But as he withdrew his arm, he noticed that there were some items between his seat and Yu Tianbai’s, with one even falling behind his elbow.

White, plastic material, looking like thermoses, and several of them.

“I got up early to pick up new products. These few are samples,” Yu Tianbai was still looking at the receipt in his hand, answering his unspoken question without raising his head.

Samples? Probably some medicine with unspeakable uses, sticky for external application or watery for internal use. Xiu Ma frowned as he picked up the one behind his elbow, keeping his face slightly away from it, and unscrewed the spiral cap.

Flesh-colored. Xiu Ma stared at the sight before him—completely flesh-colored.

Inside the cap was a piece of uneven silicone with a slit in the middle resembling a mouth, but not exactly like a mouth—it had more lips and no teeth. Just as he was tilting his head to observe it more carefully, he suddenly realized what it was.

Looking up, closing the screw cap, and throwing the so-called thermos into the back seat took less than a second. When Yu Tianbai turned his head, all he saw was Xiu Ma’s slightly reddening earlobes.

“Where’s the sample you were holding?” Yu Tianbai asked him. “That thing is what we’ll be using today. Try it out or go organize the trunk—which do you choose?”

Seeing Yu Tianbai’s usual expression, Xiu Ma took a deep breath.

“Open the trunk.”

Without waiting for Yu Tianbai’s response, he opened the car door, leaving the driver alone in his seat, facing the forcefully closed passenger door. Yu Tianbai blinked once.

Actually, he had seen everything.

In his peripheral vision, the young master had opened and closed this ultra-realistic male one-to-one new product, then thrown it into the back seat—a reaction that could only be described as pure innocence.

Could “innocent” really describe him?

The person outside the car was shouting: “Unlock the trunk!”

Yu Tianbai silently pressed the window button. After the driver’s window was fully lowered, he called back: “Pull the switch in the back!”

Typical person who’s never done manual labor, thinking all cars can open like sports cars.

The trunk opened, and the cold wind passing through the car made Yu Tianbai shiver. He took out a cigarette, propped his foot on the window frame, and listened to the silence from behind. He knew the reason: the new products that had caused such a big reaction from the young man earlier filled three large boxes in the trunk, with various types all mixed together.

And he had required this deliberately.

Yu Tianbai lit his cigarette, leaned back in his seat, and took a deep breath: “Sort all the products by category, then fill out the forms. Count everything three times. No mistakes.”

Predictably, there was silence from behind, followed by the sound of cardboard boxes being moved, and then the young master’s question: “Then what are you doing?”

Imagining his expression at that moment, Yu Tianbai could barely hold back his smile as he answered: “Supervising.”

He had wanted to answer like this for a long time, which reminded him of watching new recruits on their first day in the military camp. Shamefully, he loved watching that. In fact, this season was also similar to back then—recruitment began in February, which was when he first came to Changchun—though they had now left Changchun and were somewhere on the edge of some fourth-tier city whose name he couldn’t remember.

The sounds from behind had been going on for a while, and his cigarette had burned to the butt. Yu Tianbai tapped off the remaining ash, adjusted the rearview mirror, and prepared to fulfill his supervisory duties.

Surprisingly, almost an entire box had already been organized.

Yu Tianbai was slightly stunned, then leaned forward a bit. But with his legs still crossed and propped on the car window, he couldn’t move much further. In the rearview mirror, the young man’s movements were unexpectedly fluid, not at all like someone who had grown up in a wealthy mansion.

He silently leaned back, feeling like a second-rate general who had tried to intimidate someone but fell off his horse and landed flat on his face.

But this wasn’t without benefits for him either—after all, he now had a very efficient worker, at least until the kid got bored. He switched the position of his legs and decided to light another cigarette before the non-smoker got back into the car.

Xiu Ma pushed back his hair and took a few steps back to take a deep breath. The current temperature outside wasn’t enough to make him sweat, nor was the amount of physical activity, but he just wanted to lift his head and take a break. As soon as he looked up, that clinging smell of cigarettes came again. Looking toward the driver’s seat, he could only see Yu Tianbai’s ice bear hunting boots propped on the car window.

The boss was more afraid of the cold than he had imagined—some useless information floated through his mind.

But once random thoughts start, they can’t be stopped. He also thought about Yu Tianbai’s fleece jacket and how his joints would turn red from the cold when he got out to smoke.

In the driver’s seat ahead, Yu Tianbai suddenly said without looking up: “Don’t space out. Hurry up and finish so we can get going.”

Xiu Ma hadn’t expected this man to know he wasn’t working without even looking in the rearview mirror. After a moment of silence, he threw the “pure realistic model” in his hand into the box on the ground.

By the time the blond kid returned to the car, the sun was almost at its midday peak. It gets especially cold on clear days, and late January was no exception. Yu Tianbai had already brought his legs back inside and was blowing the heater.

“All done?” he asked as if he hadn’t been involved. “Thanks for your hard work.”

Plus a word of gratitude that didn’t come from the heart.

The young master looked at him: “Rather than thanking me—”

“You’d rather have your knife back?”

Yu Tianbai was surprised to find he had learned to interrupt with answers.

Both fell silent, and the person on the left fastened his seatbelt.

“If there’s danger, I’ll naturally give it to you,” he said with his usual standard smile. “Shall we head out if there’s nothing else?”

Xiu Ma didn’t reach for the seatbelt. After looking at him for a while, he said: “I want a hamburger.”

Fifteen minutes later, Yu Tianbai didn’t know how he had ended up unfastening his seatbelt and eating the fast-food hamburger the young master had demanded. The KFC in the service area was rather quiet, offering only hamburgers and flavored drinks. He was drinking soy milk from his cup, while the person on his right was swirling the ice in his latte.

Xiu Ma was truly quiet when eating—from his movements to the sounds he made, and even his mouth that couldn’t stay shut during the past two days. Yu Tianbai almost missed his expressionless face that could offer opinions on anything.

“I say,” Yu Tianbai crumpled the hamburger wrapper into a ball, “did you study martial arts or something like that before? I remember you mentioned it?”

Xiu Ma turned to look at him with the straw between his lips. Ah, this look was the most annoying. People with light-colored irises always gave an impression of innocence and purity, especially when they weren’t speaking.

“Why are you asking about this?”

Of course, once he actually spoke, the previous peaceful atmosphere disappeared.

“Two years ago when you hijacked my car, I think you called the person in the back seat ‘senior brother,’ right?”

So Yu Tianbai naturally assumed this—surely they wouldn’t call each other “senior brother” in a math tutoring class.

“I used to study martial arts,” Xiu Ma surprisingly answered his question so directly and briefly, and then the floodgates opened: “Five-step boxing, Tai Chi, knife techniques, sword techniques, spear techniques, and even free fighting—I’ve learned them all. If you have something at hand, I can demonstrate for you. In the past, this could only be seen during performances.”

But on this topic, Yu Tianbai actually enjoyed listening. He put down his soy milk cup and pondered:

“But you don’t look like someone who studies martial arts.”

Xiu Ma’s expression invited him to continue.

“That’s it,” Yu Tianbai was equally direct. “I’m an outsider and can’t tell. I just feel like you don’t quite fit the image.”

This comment was met with silence from Xiu Ma. He scratched the golden hair at the back of his head and turned his gaze away.

“Two years ago was my last performance. I haven’t practiced much since then because I grew too tall too quickly and couldn’t do somersaults anymore.”

As his words faded, Yu Tianbai also leaned back in his chair.

“It’s okay,” he said. “You’ll gradually discover that there will be more and more things you can’t do.”

The first half sounded like concern, but then it took a sharp turn. Xiu Ma looked back at him, and Yu Tianbai smiled genuinely.

Then Xiu Ma changed the subject: “None of my friends would dare speak to me like this.”

The warm air was blowing in the car as Yu Tianbai responded with exaggerated surprise: “Then your friends are too timid. You should find a new group.”

Yu Tianbai didn’t know what kind of circle had given this kid such confidence, nor did he want to understand the cowards around him. He just wanted to be straightforward in this moment.

However, these words didn’t provoke an extreme reaction from the young master, who appeared calmer than usual.

“Should I replace them with friends like you?”

Yu Tianbai’s upturned corners of his mouth receded a bit as he narrowed his eyes, staring at him.

“Don’t believe it. I won’t consider you a friend.”

After Xiu Ma finished speaking, he promptly fastened his seatbelt and asked: “Shall we go?”

After a moment, Yu Tianbai silently turned the car key. He had lost one point in the mental score he was keeping, which made him extremely displeased.

In his peripheral vision, the bastard on the right seemed to want to say something else. Yu Tianbai immediately raised his hand to cut him off.

“Don’t say anything. You might as well get some sleep. There will be plenty of work for you to do later.”

Xiu Ma returned to his usual demeanor, responding energetically: “I’m not going to sleep!”

Fifteen minutes later, Xiu Ma was successfully asleep. In a car heading toward Heilongjiang, next to the person he currently disliked the most.