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By the end of the day, Chen Yuncheng had not stolen anything else. Perhaps it was because the day was too hot, and he couldn’t keep his energy up. After lunch, he took Ning Junyan around for a while and found a shaded place under the overpass to lie down and sleep.
At first, Ning Junyan squatted down beside him, Chen Yuncheng looked up at him and asked, “Aren’t you going to sleep?”
Ning Junyan shook his head.
Chen Yuncheng said, “Sleep for a while, it’s too hot.”
Ning Junyan did not have the intention to lie down.
Chen Yuncheng narrowed his eyes for a while and opened them again, he said to him, “Then can you sit down and let me rest on your lap?”
Ning Junyan looked down at him.
Chen Yuncheng said, “If you don’t want to, forget it.”
In the end, Ning Junyan still sat down.
Chen Yuncheng rested his head on Ning Junyan’s lap and comfortably closed his eyes, “I’m going to sleep.”
He slept for the whole afternoon, woke up halfway and didn’t bother to get up, only opening his eyes to peek at Ning Junyan.
Ning Junyan sat by the flower terrace and looked into the distance with a calm expression. If he didn’t say anything, no one would probably be able to tell that he was a dumb boy who couldn’t even remember his own name.
Chen Yuncheng changed his posture, a little afraid that Ning Junyan might get tired of sitting and push him away. He waited nervously for a while to find that Ning Junyan did not respond, and then went back to sleep with confidence.
When the sun went down, it was finally not so hot anymore.
Chen Yuncheng found ten dollars left in his pocket. He looked at Ning Junyan and said, “Let’s go back.”
Ning Junyan nodded.
Chen Yuncheng said, “With only ten yuan, we won’t have any dinner to eat when we go back.”
Ning Junyan did not speak.
Chen Yuncheng was shorter than him, so he stood on tiptoe close to his ear, and whispered, “But we can use the ten dollars to buy dinner secretly, and make sure to not let our foster parents know about it.” After he said this, he saw that Ning Junyan did not respond and asked again, “Do you understand?”
Ning Junyan nodded this time and said, “I understand.”
Chen Yuncheng went to buy two guokui1stewed meat and shared them with Ning Junyan. Although the guokui was not big, it was stuffed with semi-fat marinated meat, and the oily marinade seeped down into the pastry, making them very satisfying for the two teenagers to eat.
On the way back, Chen Yuncheng found a public toilet and washed his face with clean water next to the sink. After washing, he called Ning Junyan over, wiped his mouth and chin with his wet hands a few times and leaned closer. After smelling it, he felt that there was no smell, so he asked Ning Junyan, “Do you still smell braised pork on me?”
Ning Junyan raised his hand to wipe the water on his face, and when he heard the words, he sniffed Chen Yuncheng’s lips like a puppy and then shook his head.
Chen Yuncheng wiped the water off his clothes and said, “Let’s go then.”
When he got back to the yard, their foster father and foster mother had already started to eat dinner. The two of them came back empty-handed and naturally had nothing to eat.
Chen Yuncheng and Ning Junyan stood at the door of the kitchen. Their foster father sat at the table while peeling peanuts and drinking. When he heard Chen Yuncheng’s words, he raised his head and looked at them.
Their foster mother didn’t say anything.
Their foster father said to Ning Junyan, “Get out first.”
Ning Junyan didn’t respond.
Their foster father reached out and pointed at him, “I’m talking to you, idiot!”
Chen Yuncheng reached out and pushed Ning Junyan. He pushed him out of the kitchen.
The foster father then said to Chen Yuncheng, “Come over here and kneel down.”
Chen Yuncheng walked over and knelt down near the dining table.
After that, no one talked to him. His foster father drank and ate his food, while his foster mother finished her meal and started washing the pots, pans and dishes.
After his foster father finished eating, he stepped on the stool beside him with one foot, looked at Chen Yuncheng and said, “Chen Yuncheng, you are becoming more and more disobedient.”
Chen Yuncheng lowered his head and didn’t dare to speak.
His foster mother cleaned the table and said without looking up, “You’re becoming less honest as you get older.”
His foster father said, “Do you know how your foster mother and I adopted so many children, but how you were the only one left alone in the end?”
Chen Yuncheng looked at the floor silently.
His foster father continued, “Because you are different from them. We raised you as our own son, and in the future, you will have to provide for your foster parents, do you know that?”
Chen Yuncheng replied in a low voice, “I know.”
His foster mother suddenly threw the rag in her hand onto the table, “You’re an orphan, if we hadn’t taken you in, you would have starved to death outside! Don’t you know how much food you’ve eaten at home over the past few years? Two years ago, you were a good boy, you were able to earn money when you went out, but now you’ve learned to cheat and play tricks?”
His foster father raised his hand and waved it, motioning her to stop talking, and said to her, “Yuncheng is still a good boy, we just need to say a few words.” Then he said to Chen Yuncheng, “Think about it. And that silly boy outside, just forget it if you can’t teach him, I’ll send him away. Don’t let him hold you back.”
Chen Yuncheng nodded.
Their foster father spread out his hand towards their foster mother, “Where are the biscuits you bought?”
His foster mother looked at him for a moment, grumbled and opened the cupboard, fished out a letter of biscuits from inside and put it in the palm of his foster father’s hand.
His foster father handed it to Chen Yuncheng, “Take it, it’s for you alone.”
Chen Yuncheng took it and said, “Thank you foster father, thank you foster mother.”
His foster father waved his hand, “Get out.”
Chen Yuncheng stood up and walked out of the kitchen very quietly. When he reached the door, his foster mother suddenly stopped him and said to him, “It’s so hot, if you want to take a bath, use cold water, don’t waste the gas.”
“Okay,” Chen Yuncheng replied and left the kitchen.
When he came out of the yard, he found that Ning Junyan was still squatting by the wall. He was not in the mood to speak and went back to the room by himself.
Ning Junyan followed him after a while.
Chen Yuncheng sat beside the bed, glanced at the biscuits on the bedside table, and said, “Are you hungry, Yanyan?”
Ning Junyan shook his head.
Chen Yuncheng stood up, took the biscuits to the wardrobe and hid them, saying, “Then eat them later.”
After he hid the biscuits, he went back to the bed and sat down. He lay down again after a while and reached out to grab the quilt to cover his face.
***
Ning Junyan appeared suddenly that day and left after a meal. He did not contact Chen Yuncheng for several days.
But those memories of the past poured in like a tide. Even though Chen Yuncheng was reluctant to think about it, he couldn’t help but recall many things at that time.
Asking for Ning Junyan and Zhou Yan to have dinner together was just a casual remark, but now he had the urge and seriously wanted to contact the two of them for a reunion.
It had been raining since the morning and the temperature seemed to have dropped a few degrees again. Chen Yuncheng got up after a long sleep, opened the shutters of the store and saw that the street was deserted with very few pedestrians.
A tattered looking white Jetta was parked on the side of the street. Long Zhanyu opened the car door, got out of the car and walked into the store.
Chen Yuncheng stood up and showed a warm smile, “Officer Long, here to buy cigarettes?”
Long Zhanyu didn’t answer him, he took out his mobile phone from his pocket, lowered his head to fiddle with it for a while, put it on the counter, and asked Chen Yuncheng, “Have you seen these two people?”
When Chen Yuncheng heard the words, he lowered his head to look and saw what looked like repeated footage of a surveillance video. On the screen, the faces of the two tall young men were clearly photographed. The two people had the same characteristics, a high nose bridge, curly hair, and dark skin, not like Han2 people.
“X-ethnic people?” Chen Yuncheng asked subconsciously.
Long Zhanyu ran his finger across the screen before the phone went black and said, “Seen them before?”
Chen Yuncheng shook his head.
Long Zhanyu took back the phone and said, “Then help me to keep an eye to see who is in contact with these two people.”
Chen Yuncheng was stunned when he heard his words and asked Long Zhanyu, “How am I going to keep an eye out? I don’t know these two people at all, and I’m here every day watching the shop. How can I get in touch with these people?”
Long Zhanyu took out a cigarette and bit it between his lips. He then just looked at Chen Yuncheng without speaking.
Chen Yuncheng had no choice but to reach out and grab a lighter to help him light a cigarette.
Long Zhanyu seemed a little careless, “You can look for your former friends, maybe there are some who know them.”
Chen Yuncheng said softly, “Officer, don’t play with me. Do you already have a clue? Who are these two people? Who exactly are they related to? Zhang Wenyong?”
Long Zhanyu didn’t answer, but said, “Do you know that your brother is getting out of prison?”