Chapter 6

The drive takes less than four hours.

When they arrived at Coal Valley, they happened to catch the station restaurant changing its menu. Pei Huai ordered a Mexican chicken burrito, which included: slightly spicy Mexican sauce, fried chicken breast, mayonnaise, bread, and soda.

Xiang Mingqi not only chose the same seat as his senior, but also followed his senior in choosing a booth by the window.

As soon as he sat down, he folded his legs and couldn't wait to grab the soda to taste it.

The cup was emblazoned with the new governor's campaign poster—a heavy-jawed, environmentalist, nearing eighty. An old man with a strange expression.

Xiang Mingqi pursed his lips in frustration and silently moved his face to an angle where he couldn't see. "Is this where you used to live, brother?"

Pei Huai took a bite of the dry buckwheat bread and didn't respond.

"Meigu, that name doesn't sound very wealthy. I can't find it on Wikipedia either." He finished flipping through his phone, then stood up and leaned against the floor-to-ceiling window to gaze out. "Wow, from the restaurant, you can see the town in the distance, and there are mountains behind it. The air is nice too—fresh." He nudged Pei Huai with his elbow. "You finally get to go back to your hometown, so stop looking so sullen. Oh, I see. Are you really devastated by your brother's story?"

"No." He took a bite of the meat roll and a sip of soda. His lips touched slightly as they left the straw. "He and I don't have a good relationship."

"But you made a lot of preparations for the funeral this morning, even writing a schedule." Xiang Mingqi had just begun his speech when Pei Huai's jacket pocket twitched twice, and his bony knuckles tapped on the table, and then he paused.

He picked up the phone, got up from the booth and walked towards the door.

"What's wrong? Who called? Where are you going? Sit down for a while. I haven't finished my chicken breast yet, even though it's really disgusting."

"Wait, don't leave me—wait!" Xiang Mingqi jumped up so hard that he almost tripped over the power strip. He grabbed the soda and left his seat, speeding up to catch up with his senior—and almost tripped again in front of the door frame.

A Toyota was parked outside the restaurant. Pei Huai had already walked around to the rear of the passenger seat, holding the door with one hand.

"...When did they call an Uber?" Xiang Mingqi had just run out a few steps when he looked up and down and was immediately dumbfounded.

The Toyota, the driver wearing sunshades, and Pei Huai who might abandon him at any moment—he couldn't wrap his mind around it for a moment.

"Last night." Pei Huai shook his head at the driver, his lips moving a few times. "I made the appointment as soon as I finished writing the schedule."

"So, brother, you really don't have any procrastination at all? No, that's not what I want to ask. So, do you really want to leave me here alone?!"

Pei Huai glanced at him, opened the door, and ducked into the passenger seat.

He said.

"right."

——Toyota drove away.

A rare moment of leisure. No noisy younger generations, a time of uninterrupted synth music awaiting. Everything seemed perfect.

But when the car drove about a kilometer, Pei Huai pulled out the tangled headphone wires. The driver beside him turned on the turn signal and asked him, "Are you bringing friends to Coal Valley? I mean the boy from before."

"Not a friend." He put an earphone in his left ear, pressed it tightly with his fingers, and turned the volume knob.

"It seems you're being entangled. Can I understand that?"

"what ever."

"You don't give me the feeling this is your first time in Coal Valley." He steadied the steering wheel with both hands, released the clutch, and the Toyota squeaked to a stop in front of the traffic camera at the intersection. "The place you marked is the most backward area in Coal Valley. It's not a place tourists would go. I guess you're a Coal Valley local."

silence.

“You’re a quiet person.” The driver chuckled, his shoulders tilting to the right as he turned the steering wheel. “I don’t say this with any hostility towards you or Coal Valley. I just think that you stand out too much to resonate with this small town.”

"Are you done?" Pei Huai simply put on the second earphone.

"I'm sorry, this is from the bottom of my heart." The car stopped in front of a large lawn. The driver moved over and unbuckled his seat belt. "Meeting you is the happiest thing that has happened to me this week. Goodbye."

The first thing to do before the funeral is pass a cemetery. It is a vast lawn with rows of tombstones. Pei Huai has been there since he was a child.

Every year, he came alone to mourn his mother, but since the accident, he had not returned to Coal Valley once—through the shade of the trees, past the tombstones, the door of this unattended funeral was open to him.

The coffin, the bouquets of flowers, the few relatives and friends present, and his second uncle hurriedly shaking hands with them—this was Pei Huai's first impression of the funeral.

He just glanced at his second uncle whom he hadn't seen for ten years, stood in the corner, and stared at the coffin in a daze.

As far as I can remember, my father and stepmother died in a car accident ten years ago.

By then, due to family reasons, he no longer lived in Coal Valley and had chosen to live alone. It was only later that I learned from others that at the funeral, my second uncle had taken the initiative to take over my brother's custody—every promise in the oath was undeniable.

It was this man who had repeatedly asked me for money over and over again for ten years, and who had sold me to Kensos as collateral at the age of fourteen.

Fortunately, at an organ auction, a Bangkok hotel bought him and made him an employee to pay off his debts.

——So he needs money, needs a job, and needs to do everything he can to survive. But now, none of this matters.

His gaze remained fixed on the coffin for a quarter of an hour, and Second Uncle still hadn't dealt with those unreasonable relatives.

Another quarter of an hour passed, and a little girl came bounding up to him, handing him flowers and waving goodbye. Uncle Er loosened his tie, tilted his head back, and his neck creaked with movement. It wasn't until he exhaled that he noticed Pei Huai's presence.

The lines between his eyebrows changed rapidly and were truly remarkable. He walked towards him, smiling ingratiatingly and rubbing his hands.

"Ah Huai, it's been about ten years, right?" The middle-aged man's eyes were wrinkled, his tear troughs were obvious, and his chin looked like melted wax. Even his nails were stained with smoke from years of smoking. "Second uncle hasn't seen you in a while. This time, I finally hope you'll come home."

Pei Huai's gaze did not linger on him for a moment.

"How did Yu Mingrui die?" he asked.

"Well, I heard from the police that it was suicide. He jumped from the bathroom on the fourteenth floor of the school, just three days ago. I don't know what's wrong with his brain - this bastard looks quite normal normally, how could he die so suddenly..." Second uncle wiped his nose and paused belatedly, "I'm sorry, Ah Huai, Second uncle shouldn't say this in front of you."

"It doesn't matter."

"Actually, Second Uncle knows that you've had a hard time these years out there, and you had to send tuition back to support your brother's education. But Mingrui's suicide is not your fault, Second Uncle. I've always been good to him. You see, except for not having enough money to send him to cram school, I've never treated him badly in terms of food, clothing, or daily necessities."

"Does it matter?"

"No, I'm just afraid you'll misunderstand, Ah Huai." Second Uncle stammered anxiously, hastily explaining, "Second Uncle can swear to heaven on this matter—I have an absolutely clear conscience."

Pei Huai raised his hand to interrupt, only giving him a sidelong glance: "I don't care about either you or him."

"Alas, Ah Huai, I know you're still mad at me because of what happened in the past. Second Uncle doesn't blame you, I just had no choice back then. I was so worried about your brother's studies that I was terribly anxious every day. You know..." He rubbed his hands guiltily, his breath thick with phlegm, "Second Uncle is a little tight on money lately. There's the funeral, and the resettlement fee that can't be saved, which is quite expensive. I might not be able to afford it, so I'd like to ask for your help. After all, he's your brother."

"Aren't you going to get burned out at the gambling table?"

"Hey, Ah Huai, look at what you're saying. It's just a little hobby." He came up to me with a forced smile, patiently trying to please me while thinking about his own plan. "If you win, you'll earn a lot and have face. If you lose... at most it's just bad luck. Who knows, you might make a fortune someday."

"...I have nothing to give you."

"That's not nice, Ah Huai. You're now a stable income earner in Kensos, and you even have a small apartment to live in. Unlike my second uncle, the factory found an excuse to fire me during the last economic crisis. The few jobs the community has introduced me to in recent years, to put it bluntly, are not respectable and suitable for me. Just consider this as helping me and your brother, okay?"

Seeing that Pei Huai didn't want to respond, he pulled over another bundle of sacks from the corner, reached in, and pulled out a plastic bag and handed it to him: "—By the way, after your brother passed away, I found something in his drawer. You can keep it, along with these two sweet potatoes, as a thank you from your uncle. As for the transfer account, it's still the same account... Please."

Pei Huai wordlessly accepted the relic—a hardcover diary. The words were densely packed, a testament to Yu Mingrui's writing style.

The cover of the book was made of cheap synthetic leather, which was particularly prickly to the touch. The pages were slightly warped, looking freshly flipped. He remembered that his second uncle had a habit of spitting on the pages of a book.

Thinking of this, Pei Huai felt goose bumps on his back. He didn't want to look at it anymore. He curled his fingers together, holding the bookmark as small as possible. He then picked up the small bag of roasted sweet potatoes with disgust and walked away from the venue without looking back.

Just as he was looking for a trash can, trying to get rid of the bag of sweet potatoes as quickly as possible—

"Hi, handsome guy over there, you look so anxious, do you need any help?" Following the voice, Xiang Mingqi was sitting steadily on the wooden railing with his hands behind his back. While his senior was stunned, he still forced a sincere smile.

Pei Huai thought about it, raised his hand and threw the plastic bag over.

"Wow, is this reserved for me? Thanks!" The young man stretched out his arms, precisely intercepting the parabola. He peeled off a thin piece of skin and bit into the soft, sweet potato flesh, his legs swaying even more. Pei Huai didn't say anything more, just turned and walked away.

Xiang Mingqi, who had gotten the upper hand, was smug and wanted to follow him: "You don't look too well, are you still sad?"

"No."

"That's good." He swallowed a mouthful of potato flesh mixed with burnt skin and jumped a few steps. "Wow, this sweet potato is so sweet and delicious. But then again, brother, why are you willing to give me food but not talk to me?"

"Because I don't want to." After saying this, Pei Huai ignored him again.

As he pushed open the small gate to the cemetery, he removed the cover of the diary. Just by browsing the contents of the diary, it was difficult to get the information that Yu Mingrui really wanted to leave behind.

He needed to confirm that the notebook did not contain the secret that belonged only to the two brothers.

The front and back of the hardcover book are flipped up at the same time to form a plane close to 180°.

Through the arched gap, he spotted a folded piece of paper. He reached behind his waist with his right hand, grasped the knife, and with a flick of his thumb, the blade popped out. He cut in at a 15-degree angle, slowly sawing through the glue and paper, and removed the paper.

This was a secret code he and his brother used as children, a game they learned on TV. When Pei Huai unfolded the note, he quickly sheathed his knife and looked at it—he was stunned.

Seven words.

【Watch your surroundings, brother.】

Creepy, seven words.

"Hmm, what's wrong?" A hand suddenly rested on his shoulder, as if in a hug. Her breath fanned against his neck, and her chest leaned forward vaguely, as if with a deep smile. "Did you find anything interesting?"

The author has something to say:

To those students who asked why they left their names on the notes, I would ask...

How could a normal person tell others their name before doing something bad?! (Even if it's not normal, it's too weird.