Chapter 1
"Run! I told you to run! No money? If you have no money, go gamble with your mother!"
"I'll fucking make sure you have no money to gamble!"
"I'll make sure you have no money to gamble!"
A man's high-pitched, fierce shouts echoed through the buildings in the dead of night, interspersed with the dull thuds of punches and kicks and muffled groans. He and his companion cursed at the groaning man below, kicking and yelling, each shout more ferocious than the last. But the next second, the screen window on the top floor was violently pulled open, and the person who opened it immediately began shouting and cursing at the chaos on the first floor:
"What's all the noise about! It's the middle of the night, can't a person sleep in peace?! If you keep making noise, I'll call the police! Let me tell you, I have a kettle of water boiling in my room. If you make even the slightest sound, I'll pour it down there and see if you die!"
Gu Mengzhu still had the anger of being woken up on her face. Her eyes were like copper bells as she stared at the dark ground outside the window. Only when there was no more sound from below did she forcefully close the screen window, turn off the light, and go to sleep.
The man looked up at the rooftop where the lights were off, then looked down and kicked the man twice more before spitting at him.
"Consider yourself lucky! Let's go! Don't let me see you at the poker table again!"
The night grew completely still. Gu Mengzhu pressed her face against the pillow, rubbing it vigorously. She couldn't sleep. She was a light sleeper to begin with, and the chattering downstairs had been going on for over ten minutes without stopping. Even the most timid person would explode. Nobody cared, huh? Everyone was pretending not to hear? Fine, she'd open the window and deal with it herself. Now that she'd finished meddling, Gu Mengzhu lay in bed, tossing and turning like a maggot. Insomnia was inevitable, no matter what. She battled with the bed until dawn, and then, half-asleep, smelling a faint stench, she dragged herself out of bed with a headache. Like a sausage swaying in the wind, she staggered towards the kitchen, following the scent.
Damn, I forgot to take out the trash!
"The watermelon rind was only left overnight, how can it smell so bad?!"
Gu Mengzhu grabbed her hair in frustration, then gagged twice from the stench emanating from the kitchen. She rushed to the sink, wiped her mouth with water, held her breath, and while she was still breathing, pulled open the cabinet underneath, took out a plastic bag, and put it over the garbage. The stench instantly subsided, and Gu Mengzhu was finally able to catch her breath.
With trembling hands, she opened the kitchen window.
Phew, I'm finally alive.
If there's a next time, I'm afraid I won't even be able to defend against the rats before I get killed by the poison gas.
It was a little past five in the morning, before the sun had even risen, when Gu Mengzhu left home in the dim light of dawn. She had gotten up far too early this time; apart from the old woman who rarely slept and was sweeping and watering the ground in front of her house, she didn't see a single person on the road. The garbage bins in the urban village were far away, so she wandered around until she reached the area below her window, where she stared blankly at the scattered bloodstains on her shoes.
A person lay on the ground not far away, blood slowly spreading from him. The man's chest was still rising and falling, so he should still be breathing, but he was unconscious and motionless. Gu Mengzhu put down the trash she was carrying, crossed her arms over her chest, and crouched down, carefully and cautiously moving over.
The man was lying on his back, his hair quite long. Dried blood on his face matted several strands of hair together, obscuring his eyes and making it impossible for onlookers to see his features. His mouth was broken, seemingly from a severe beating; his teeth were covered in oxidized brown bloodstains, and his mouth was half-open in pain. Gu Mengzhu squatted down beside him, stealthily taking two steps forward, and ran her fingers through his hair, testing the man's breath as if in a TV drama.
The man stirred and slightly opened his eyes. Gu Mengzhu was startled, hurriedly stood up, glanced at his face, then stopped herself from calling the police and dialed 120 instead.
Taking a taxi would be faster, but she didn't dare to touch him because he was so badly injured.
He didn't speak, but struggled to lift his eyelids and shift his gaze to Gu Mengzhu's face before falling unconscious again.
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