Three happy events
After seeing Wen Sheng and Li Qingmiao back to their dormitory, Xu Jianing and Li Changshui bypassed the school gate and walked along the familiar path towards the station.
"Does your leg still hurt?" Li Changshui asked, looking at Xu Jianing's slightly stiff walking posture.
"It's nothing, it's just that my knees are a little stiff after applying the medicine." Xu Jianing moved her knees a bit. "It'll be good to walk slowly and be able to observe carefully."
A dozen minutes later, they arrived at the two empty shops across from the station.
The bustling streets of the day are now quiet, with only the occasional passing night bus rumbling and casting its headlights onto the dilapidated signs.
The two shops were right next to each other, their iron roller shutters were mottled and rusty, and the steps at the entrance were worn uneven by time. In the corner, there were a few pieces of discarded wooden planks, which gave off a damp and musty smell.
Li Changshui looked up and saw that there were still traces of peeling paint on the door, and he could vaguely make out the words "department store".
He frowned: "Why isn't there even a lamp? It's creepy."
Xu Jianing walked closer, squatted down, and reached out to touch the gap at the bottom of the iron gate. His fingertips touched a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.
"It hasn't been touched for at least six months."
Li Changshui crossed his arms and shrank his neck, "If this were really a good place, it would have been snapped up long ago, how could it have been empty until now?"
Xu Jianing stood up and looked around.
Across the street is the bus station shelter, where several people are huddled on benches dozing off, and in the distance, vendors are packing up their carts.
"I heard this morning that these shops have changed hands several times, and none of them could survive in the end," Xu Jianing said thoughtfully. "With such a large flow of people, logically speaking..."
Just then, a large truck loaded with goods rumbled past on the street, the noise of its diesel engine particularly jarring in the night.
Then came the second one, the third one...
Li Changshui covered his ears, "It's so noisy."
The two looked at each other and saw the same thought in each other's eyes.
Xu Jianing: "It's only a little past nine o'clock now. If it were the peak season for freight, it would probably continue until the early hours of the morning."
Li Changshui nodded: "Who can stand this? It's already noisy enough during the day with lots of people and cars, and it's like this at night too."
Another roar came, this time from three large trucks passing by in a line, shaking the ground slightly. The people dozing in the bus shelter were startled awake again, smacking their lips in dissatisfaction, muttering a curse under their breath, and then closing their eyes to sleep again.
"Business is busiest at night, but the noise is really loud," Xu Jianing said.
“How can guests sit still?” Li Changshui chimed in. “Even if the price is cheap, no one wants to eat in this kind of environment.”
Xu Jianing walked to another empty shop and looked inside through the crack in the glass window: "This one seems to have been renovated; there are still some tables and chairs inside."
“It must have been a restaurant. Look, there are still traces of menus on the wall over there,” Li Changshui said.
Just then, the sound of an engine came from afar again, but this time it wasn't a large truck, but a minivan that slowly pulled up to the side of the road. The door opened, and a middle-aged man got out, holding keys in his hand, and walked towards them.
The two quickly stepped aside, pretending to be passing by.
The middle-aged man glanced at them, walked to the shop on the left, and skillfully opened the roller shutter door.
"Brother, are you still opening the shop so late?" Xu Jianing took the initiative to strike up a conversation.
The man looked up at them, and perhaps finding the two young men to be no threat, stopped what he was doing: "I'm not here to open a shop, I'm here to move things. I rented this shop for six months, but I couldn't keep it going any longer."
"Six months?" Li Changshui asked curiously, "Is it because business is bad?"
The middle-aged man sighed, put down the iron lock in his hand, and said helplessly, "Business is there, it's okay during the day, but it's all gone at night. You heard it just now, didn't you? These big trucks, from seven o'clock in the evening until two or three in the morning, keep rumbling and rumbling."
Xu Jianing and Li Changshui exchanged a glance and nodded knowingly. Li Changshui covered his ears with his hand and said with a wry smile, "Indeed, we've only been standing here for a few minutes, and we're already getting unbearably noisy."
"It's more than just noisy!"
The man got more and more excited as he talked, took out cigarettes from his pocket, and offered them to the two men. When they waved them away, he lit one for himself, took a deep drag, and said, "I run a small noodle shop, and the evening should be the busiest time. But think about it, the moment a customer picks up their bowl, a car passes by, the soup spills out, and the bowl shakes. Who can sit still then? They just turn around and leave."
Xu Jianing shifted his gaze to the rusty texture of the roller shutter door, and nodded in agreement as if he had been convinced: "No wonder... that really does have a big impact."
He deliberately slowed down his speech and pressed on, "Did anyone come to take care of it afterward? For example, the traffic police or the street officials, did they think of any solutions?"
Li Changshui remained silent to the side, glancing at him several times out of the corner of his eye. He knew in his heart that he was not simply curious, but was deliberately trying to get information out of him.
The man took a deep drag on his cigarette, exhaled a cloud of murky smoke, and sneered, "Never cared! Of course we cared! But this road is a must-pass for big trucks. We put up a restricted traffic sign, but who cared? Nobody cared!"
Xu Jianing responded with "uh-huh," her eyes seemingly serious, but actually she was observing the man's expression, hoping he would say more.
“And you might not know this,” the man lowered his voice and gestured toward the road beside him, “the reason these trucks don’t take the national highway is because they’re carrying something wrong. They can hide it during the day, but at night they all choose this back road.”
Xu Jianing feigned sudden realization: "Wouldn't that be illegal transportation?"
"Who doesn't know? But that factory has powerful backers." The man sneered. "The factory is owned by someone surnamed Xie, and I heard he recently had his son come back to take over. You young people don't understand, who dares to cause trouble these days? To put it bluntly, it's pointless to go."
Li Changshui was kicking pebbles at his feet when he heard the word "thank you" and suddenly looked up, glancing at Xu Jianing instinctively.
Xu Jianing's expression remained unchanged; he simply nodded in response, still appearing genuinely interested, and asked a few more questions about the details.
"Now that you mention it, I have a feeling... is the car carrying something shady?"
The cigarette butt in the man's mouth glowed briefly before quickly going dark. He looked around and covered his mouth with his hand: "But everyone knows that they don't dare take the main road because the national highway checks scales and tickets. It's either scrap or raw materials; anyway, if something goes wrong, who will dare to investigate?"
After speaking, he lowered his head and took a deep drag on his cigarette, half an ash clinging to it, threatening to fall. The man flicked the ash away, then, as if suddenly remembering something, asked, "I heard that kid used to study in a warehouse. You young people, do you know what a warehouse is?"
Just as Li Changshui was about to say that they were students from Cangzhong High School, Xu Jianing beat him to it, smiling slightly and saying, "I've heard of it. It's considered one of the top high schools in the county, right? We just happened to pass by and never studied there."
“The students who came out of Cangzhong are not simple. That one used to be there. It is said that his grades were not good, he caused quite a stir, and he even dropped out.” The man said with some schadenfreude. “Now he’s been dragged back by his father to take over the factory. Young people are ambitious, but they do all sorts of shady things. No matter how tough he is, he doesn’t dare to do anything reckless.”
Li Changshui interjected, "Drop out of school? That's rare. There aren't many people who dare to cause trouble in the barracks."
"Huh? Didn't you just say you didn't study in the barn? How do you know there was less noise in the barn?"
Li Changshui was speechless for a moment, secretly cursing himself for almost giving himself away.
Xu Jianing remained calm and smiled as he smoothed things over: "Brother, that's not surprising. Cangzhong is a famous school in the county, and people in our city often mention it. If someone's child gets into Cangzhong, it's a big deal, and the news spreads faster than anything else."
After listening, the man nodded in agreement: "Hey, that's true. Who wouldn't want to study at Cangzhong these days?"
Xu Jianing felt he had heard enough and had already grasped the key points in his mind. He slung the canvas bag over his shoulder and said to the man, "Alright, we won't bother you while you smoke. It's getting late."
The man was interrupted and paused for a moment: "Which county are you from? You don't sound like you have an accent."
Xu Jianing laughed and said, "Haha, big brother, you figured it out. We came from the city to visit relatives and stopped by on the way."
The man had almost finished his cigarette. He stubbed it out hard on the stone steps at his feet, and the spark went out with a "whoosh," leaving behind a pungent, burnt smell.
"Alright, you guys go ahead. I'm heading to the next county to do business after I get my things. Come over for noodles another day!"
Xu Jianing nodded politely: "Yes, yes."
After saying that, he pulled Li Changshui forward.
After walking for a while, Li Changshui couldn't hold back any longer: "A-Ning, was the person he just mentioned Xie Liming?"
"pretty close."
The two walked one after the other through the dimly lit street corner. The lights at the school gate gradually illuminated their vision, and the heavy feeling that had been weighing on their hearts dissipated.
After entering the school, Li Changshui suddenly turned his head and asked, "A-Ning, is your birthday coming up soon?"
Xu Jianing said, "I can't remember, since it was the lunar calendar, I'll have to calculate it later."
Li Changshui slapped his forehead and laughed, "I remember you were born on the twelfth day of the second lunar month, so isn't that the day before the spring equinox this year?"
“It seems that’s true. Was our spring outing on that very day?” Xu Jianing said.
"That's right!" Li Changshui's eyes lit up. "The school's spring outing this year is the day before the spring equinox. Wouldn't that be double happiness?"
Xu Jianing chuckled: "What do you mean by double happiness? I just hope I don't see any more instances of school bullying this year."
"Well, I observed the celestial phenomena last night, and I'm certain there won't be one this year. In fact, I'll definitely have a very happy time, after all..."
Li Changshui left the conversation in suspense, only saying half of it.
"After all what?" Xu Jianing raised an eyebrow.
Li Changshui smiled meaningfully, then spread his hands in a pretentious manner: "What do you think?"
Xu Jianing raised her hand and gently patted the back of his head: "You've learned quite well from observing celestial phenomena at night."
Li Changshui covered his head and chuckled, "Of course, after all, a good teacher produces outstanding students."
The two walked towards the dormitory building while chatting and laughing. When they reached the girls' dormitory, the light bulb at the entrance of the building flickered on and off.
Xu Jianing suddenly stopped, then quickened her pace and walked straight toward the entrance of the building.
Li Changshui looked puzzled. Why was no one responding to him? He turned his head and saw that the person beside him had disappeared. He had no choice but to jog to catch up: "Hey, Aning, you've gone the wrong way..."
Upon seeing the two people at the entrance of the building, he couldn't help but smile and chuckle to himself: So it turns out I've run into an "acquaintance".
Double happiness is coming, but there's actually one more happy event missing.
The spring outing was one joy, Xu Jianing's birthday was another, and as for the third joy...
It was the person he identified by observing the celestial phenomena at night.
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