Chapter 2: The Beginning
Amidst the noise, a phone rang at the neighboring table. A man held it up and suddenly read aloud to his rowdy friends, “The illegitimate son of a certain group chairman has been found after being lost among the common people for twenty years, and is finally returning to his roots. Is this actually real?”
“Lost? Yeah right. They probably just want to bring the illegitimate son back and made up the ‘lost’ part. Do rich people really not know how many kids they have?” another friend at the table scoffed.
Lan Yu caught the key words and secretly glanced at the table engaged in heated discussion.
“An illegitimate son, huh? When I was a kid, I also wondered if I was the illegitimate child of some tycoon, hoping a rich dad would suddenly drop from the sky,” Zhou Hesheng remarked, noticing Lan Yu’s interest. He checked his own phone while speaking, searched around, and said, “Impressive, it’s from the capital.”
Lan Yu blinked and looked at Zhou Hesheng.
“What’s wrong?” Zhou Hesheng felt Lan Yu’s gaze was a bit strange. Did he say something weird?
An illegitimate son from the capital…
Has that strange story begun?
“It’s probably not an illegitimate son,” Lan Yu said directly, never having been guarded around Zhou Hesheng.
“What?” Zhou Hesheng had just stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth and didn’t register what he heard.
“He’s a fraud,” Lan Yu said.
“Huh?” Zhou Hesheng was pondering how tasty the beef tongue was, but upon hearing this, he raised an eyebrow. “Who’s a fraud?”
“That illegitimate son is a fraud,” Lan Yu stated.
Zhou Hesheng was shocked. Thinking of Lan Yu’s completely unknown past, he asked, “How do you know?”
The guys at the next table heard this too and curiously leaned over. “Eh? What are you guys saying? The illegitimate son is a fraud?”
Suddenly addressed by strangers? Lan Yu, completely unprepared, tensed up.
Lan Yu’s words had clearly ignited the gossip-loving hearts of the men nearby. They all stared at him. Lan Yu, who already disliked looking up, now lowered his head even further, his hand gripping his chopsticks tightly.
Zhou Hesheng moved his gaze from Lan Yu’s hand to the men at the next table. “No, no, just talking nonsense. We were saying it might be a fraud. Scams are so sophisticated these days; it could very well be a custom-tailored scam for the rich. Think about it, can’t rich people be scammed too?”
“Hah, scams really are everywhere now, impossible to guard against. At my peak, I got three scam calls in one day, all different,” one of the men was immediately distracted.
“In our residential area, someone got scammed out of over two million. The whole community put up banners saying he was scammed. Money and face, both gone.”
The two tables, surprisingly, started chatting just like that.
One of the men even pulled up a chair and sat over. Lan Yu lowered his head, staring pitifully at the strangely reflective black casual pants leg that had appeared next to him, completely lost as to what was happening.
“Come on, come on, another beer! You two drinking? My treat,” the stranger said generously.
“Lan Yu, you drinking?” Zhou Hesheng was clearly enjoying the conversation and agreed subconsciously, then suddenly remembered Lan Yu.
Lan Yu suddenly received everyone’s attention and sweated slightly.
Drinking?
In his previous life, he was always sick and could eat very little, let alone drink alcohol. But the word “drinking” held an inexplicable attraction for him. It occupied a pivotal position in society—drinking for heartbreak, drinking for happiness, drinking when meeting, drinking when parting. What was so good about it?
“You haven’t drank before? Then he won’t…” Zhou Hesheng started to refuse on Lan Yu’s behalf.
“…It’s okay, I want to drink,” Lan Yu suddenly said to Zhou Hesheng.
“Didn’t you say you haven’t drank before?” Zhou Hesheng had only agreed to drink to go along with the atmosphere; he didn’t want to force Lan Yu.
Lan Yu looked at the beer in the hands of the men at the next table. Things he had no chance to do in his previous life—now that he was healthy, why couldn’t he do them? Lan Yu made up his mind and said, “I’ll try it.”
“Hey, little classmate, are you of age?” the man treating them eyed Lan Yu several times and asked.
“I’m of age, and I’ve graduated.” The original Lan Yu had graduated from a vocational school and was nineteen years old.
“Hahahaha, your face looks so young.” Saying this, the man waved his hand for the waiter to bring another dozen beers.
And Lan Yu was allotted half a glass.
He tasted it.
It was awful.
“Hahahahahaha.” The men at the table, who were watching Lan Yu’s expression, all burst into laughter. Lan Yu’s cheeks flushed red. He glanced at Zhou Hesheng, who was laughing along with the others, hugged his glass, narrowed his eyes, and felt a surge of defiance.
Lan Yu felt like he was stepping on cotton. realizing Zhou Hesheng was taking him to leave. Once out of the barbecue shop, the cold wind blew, clearing his mind slightly. He stammered, “B-bill, pay… pay the bill.”
Zhou Hesheng found it funny and said, “Those guys just now paid for us.”
Lan Yu blinked, his cheeks flushed and eyes misty, looking up at Zhou Hesheng. “Why?”
“They’re good people,” Zhou Hesheng said with a smile. The men saw they had gotten a kid drunk who had never drank before, and while apologizing, they laughed and paid the bill. Zhou Hesheng had added their contacts so they could drink together later.
“Good people, lots of good people, good people attract lots of people,” Lan Yu stammered.
“Your logic is pretty clear.” Zhou Hesheng couldn’t help but laugh.
Passing by an open pharmacy, Zhou Hesheng thought for a moment and placed Lan Yu next to a utility pole outside the shop. “Lean here for a bit. I’ll go buy some sober-up medicine. It’s your first time drinking; you’ll definitely feel terrible tomorrow.”
Lan Yu obediently leaned against the utility pole, blinking as he looked around. Everything before his eyes was swaying, nothing looking quite real.
Lan Yu stood still, wanting to be a bit more comfortable, and unbuttoned his collar to let the cold wind blow a bit more.
Lan Yu looked into the distance, took a deep breath— urgh, felt sick…
Hmm? What was that?
Lan Yu narrowed his eyes to scrutinize it.
A cat?
Under the not-so-bright streetlights, a black cat suddenly jumped over and rubbed against his leg. Lan Yu lowered his head to pet the black cat, but suddenly felt something shove him hard from behind. Lan Yu stumbled, suddenly hugging the cat and somersaulting.
Suddenly, a violent crash echoed behind him. Lan Yu knelt on the ground in confusion.
Such a loud noise.
What was that noise?
Lan Yu looked back. The utility pole he had just been leaning against, now close at hand, actually had a vehicle wrapped around it. The front of the car was deeply caved in, and the driver was motionless. Clearly, the impact had happened at high speed.
“Lan Yu, Lan Yu, are you okay? Lan Yu?” Zhou Hesheng’s anxious voice came. Lan Yu looked back and saw Zhou Hesheng panic-stricken, running around the car towards him.
“I’m okay…” Lan Yu stared blankly for a while before answering Zhou Hesheng.
“Fck, that was so fcking lucky. You almost got hit.” Zhou Hesheng broke out in a cold sweat, looking Lan Yu up and down. Seeing Lan Yu wasn’t injured, he anxiously pulled Lan Yu away from the car.
“Ah, there’s a cat.” Lan Yu looked down at the cat he had just hugged. But where was the cat? In his hand was a black plastic bag.
“Wait here, I’ll go check on the person in the car,” Zhou Hesheng said.
Lan Yu felt dizzy and stumbled, sitting on the ground.
The cat, the cat was gone, turned into a plastic bag.
Lan Yu lifted the plastic bag and stared at it closely. He clearly felt something soft when he grabbed the cat.
His gaze passed the edge of the plastic bag in his hand, noticing Zhou Hesheng not far away, peering into the crashed car at the driver. Lan Yu remembered to take his phone out of his pocket and call the police.
The chaos caused by the sudden car accident and the cold wind of the late winter night sobered Lan Yu up quite a bit. By the time everything settled down, his head was much clearer.
“Sigh, what a day…” Zhou Hesheng wiped the blood from his hand and picked up the medicine he had just bought. The ambulance had taken the person away, and there was nothing left for them to do here. “Let’s go, I’ll take you back.”
“It’s okay, I’ll go back myself. I’m sober now,” Lan Yu said.
“Sober?” Zhou Hesheng narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
“Mhm. Didn’t you say during dinner that you have to work overtime tomorrow? I’m fine, I can go back myself.”
Hearing Lan Yu’s clear tone and seeing him stand steadily, Zhou Hesheng nodded and handed the plastic bag in his hand to Lan Yu. “Then hurry back, it’s cold.”
Lan Yu watched Zhou Hesheng leave, then turned to walk himself. But as he walked, he suddenly stumbled and knelt on the ground.
The black plastic bag in his hand served perfectly as a vomit bag. Lan Yu retched miserably until he was empty.
“Drinking, feels so bad, sob, feels bad, sob…” Lan Yu pouted and suddenly started crying, his eyes red, crying very quietly.
In his daze, Lan Yu felt as if something patted his back.
The temperature on this late winter, early spring night was still low. At this hour, there were basically no pedestrians. Lan Yu knew clearly there were no passersby near him. So who was patting his back?
A cold sweat broke out on Lan Yu’s back. He vaguely felt the vision to his right turning black in patches, as if the faint light of the streetlamps was being swallowed.
There seemed to be something…
Beside him.
Lan Yu stiffened, trying hard to look sideways to his right.
“I know, I know, I’m almost home.” Suddenly, the intermittent sound of someone on a phone call came from not far behind, accompanied by clear footsteps.
The presence of a living person instantly gave a shot of courage to the terrified Lan Yu. He turned his head sharply.
To his right, it was empty. Nothing was there.
Looking around, only he was squatting on the ground.
The man passing by on the phone glanced at him in confusion, then continued walking forward without interest.
Must be an illusion.
Lan Yu pushed himself up from the ground. He felt better after vomiting. His face felt cool because of the tears. Lan Yu wiped his face, feeling a bit more awake.
Passing a trash can, he threw the plastic bag away and stumbled towards his rental.
The layout of the urban village was complex, with narrow roads and many small paths. The place he rented was deep inside. Passing through the streets within the urban village, there was a lot of trash left by vendors from the day. The snow that melted during the late winter day froze again at night, making the uneven ground slippery. Lan Yu walked carefully.
The passerby on the phone walked the same way for a short distance before separating at a corner. Lan Yu was alone again.
The streetlights in the urban village were far apart, creating patches of brightness and darkness. Perhaps due to the alcohol, the journey home felt much longer.
“…Cough… Gurgle…”
Strange sounds faintly reached his ears, like struggles to make a sound while being firmly choked in the throat.
At the next streetlight ahead of Lan Yu, the damp, cold air was dyed with a pale halo by the dim light. A small figure, short like a four or five-year-old child, stood in the center of the light. His shadow was shrunk by the light into a small dot under his feet, as if he had no shadow at all.
Lan Yu’s steps slowed down.
That child was standing right on his path. And the closer he got to the child, the clearer that strange sound became.
“…Gurgle… go… go… cough… home…”
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