Fang Li’s desperate blows left bloody scratches across Qin Weidong’s cheek. He held Fang Li down as the boy cried and screamed, leaned close to whisper a few urgent words in his ear. Time was running out. He quickly pulled the pickup truck keys from his pocket and tossed them to Peng Chao.
“I parked the truck west of the gate. Take Fang Li and wait for me at the fork near the place we unloaded the rollers last time.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll hold them off here. They need to find someone first—otherwise none of us can get away.”
“You alone? That’s suicide! There are way too many of them! Everyone knows you were raised by the Fang family!”
“Stop wasting time—go!”
The angry shouting of the approaching workers grew louder. Qin Weidong grabbed the shotgun and said to Fang Li, “Be good. Go with Peng Chao.”
Fang Li refused, struggling with all his might. But the cries outside grew more frenzied, and Peng Chao panicked. With no other choice, he did as Qin Weidong said, gathering all his strength to drag and carry Fang Li out through the backyard.
They had just gotten into the truck when the front gate was violently broken open. Fang Li cried out for Qin Weidong, but Peng Chao didn’t dare look back. He slammed his foot down on the gas.
Qin Weidong stayed behind to buy them time. The workers were too distracted to give chase. Snow had started falling in the night, and Peng Chao couldn’t risk turning on the headlights. Feeling his way through the dark, he sped along the dirt road toward the fork they’d agreed on. But once they got close, Peng Chao couldn’t keep driving.
“Fang Li, quit it! What are you doing?!”
“Let me out! Let me out of the car!!”
Fang Li’s frozen fingers struggled to yank the door handle, but the doors were locked. He couldn’t get out.
“Do you have any idea how much your dad owes?! It’s hundreds of thousands! If you go back, they’ll tear you to pieces! You need to think of a way to contact him—make him get the money together!”
“He’s gone…” Fang Li sobbed. “He ran… Peng Chao, let me out. I’ve lost everything. I only have Qin Weidong. He’s all I have.”
His father wasn’t really his. His grandmother wasn’t his. The house wasn’t his. The only person in this world who truly belonged to him… was Qin Weidong.
They reached the fork in the road. It was once a desolate path, known to few. Peng Chao killed the engine and looked back, barely managing a glance to see if Qin Weidong was following—when he realized Fang Li had already jumped out of the truck and bolted.
Peng Chao couldn’t understand why Fang Li would run back. At that moment, what he should have done was hit the gas and get as far away as possible.
But Fang Li was always like that. He’d never had to take responsibility for anything. He didn’t understand that two hundred thousand yuan of hard-earned money could be enough to drive several families to ruin.
Meanwhile, Qin Weidong had wrestled and fought off several strong men back in the courtyard. After knocking a few down, he hid behind a haystack. Only once the workers gave up and turned their attention elsewhere did he sling the shotgun over his shoulder and cut through the woods, taking the shortcut toward the fork.
He was nearly there when he suddenly heard Fang Li’s voice. It was faint, unclear. His right ear had long been damaged from years around mining blasts, and just now he’d been hit with a wooden club. Blood was still seeping from the wound.
Qin Weidong froze for just a second before slinging the shotgun off his back and rushing toward the sound.
Fang Li was being dragged away, shouting, “You bastard! Let go of me, you piece of shit!”
The lecherous man behind him had returned to the village with some relatives for the New Year. Back when Fang Hongqing had handed out red envelopes, the man had spotted Fang Li’s delicate features and gotten wicked ideas. “Didn’t think I’d be the one to catch you first. Don’t scream, or I’ll hand you over to the workers. With the money your dad ran off with, they’ll skin you alive.”
A sharp kick to the back of Fang Li’s knees sent him crashing down. Gravel and pebbles dug into his legs, sending a jolt of pain through him so sharp it made his vision blacken. “Peng Chao…!”
The man’s filthy hands groped Fang Li’s face, his breath reeking, his mouth full of yellowed teeth. “You’ll be screaming soon enough. I’ll show you just how good it feels to take it like a man.”
Fang Li struggled, kicked hard at the man’s groin. The man yelped and flew into a rage, yanking Fang Li’s hair and slapping him viciously across the face. “You little bitch, how dare you kick me!”
Just as he raised his hand for another blow, Qin Weidong was already there—grabbing him by the collar and smashing a heavy punch straight into his face.
Qin Weidong looked like a wolf ready to tear through flesh and bone. His jaw was tight, his muscles bulging with rage, as he struck again. “You blind motherfucker—how dare you touch him?!”
Blood gushed from the man’s busted nose and lips. Fang Li was dizzy, his clothes disheveled, his face red and swollen, his eyes puffy with tears. Gritting his teeth, Qin Weidong raised his shotgun, cocked it, and aimed it dead at the man.
Fang Li, unable to bear the pain, cried out, “It hurts… Qin Weidong, it hurts so much…”
At the sound of his voice, Qin Weidong’s bloodied finger tightened around the bolt, knuckles going white. He started to lower the gun, but in that moment of hesitation, the man on the ground seized the chance. Grabbing a jagged rock, he hurled it at Qin Weidong.
He ducked just in time, but the stone grazed his brow bone, slicing deep. Blood poured into his eye, dyeing his vision crimson.
The man spewed curses from his mouth, but Qin Weidong, seething with fury, rained punch after punch on him. The man’s face quickly turned into a bloody mess—his cries and curses faded, and eventually, he couldn’t even make a sound.
“Qin Weidong…! It hurts… it hurts so much!”
Fang Li feared he might kill the man. Qin Weidong gave the man two brutal kicks, the sound of bones breaking audible. Then he scooped Fang Li into his arms and ran toward the road where there was light.
By the car, Peng Chao was anxiously peering around, terrified the workers would find them. Luckily, he spotted Qin Weidong first.
“Qin Weidong! Why is there so much blood on your face?!”
Qin Weidong wiped his face, pulled a towel from the car, and pressed it against the wound on his brow to stop the bleeding. “Just drive.”
Cradling Fang Li, he got into the back seat, tossed aside the towel, and checked his leg and chin. Once assured there were no serious injuries, he gently blew on Fang Li’s reddened face. “There, blowing makes it better. Anywhere else you’re hurt?”
Fang Li bit his lip and shook his head, looking at Qin Weidong with worry. “You’re bleeding so much, Qin Weidong… let’s go to a hospital! I’m scared something might happen to you…!”
He reached up to touch the blood on Qin Weidong’s face, crying in panic—Qin Weidong was hurt, and that hurt him too.
“I’m fine.” Qin Weidong tucked Fang Li’s clothes around him, shifted him into a position where he could stretch out his legs, and let him lie face-down against his chest, held close.
Peng Chao drove through the night. Around four in the morning, exhausted, he pulled over at a toll booth on a county road. Fang Li had fallen asleep in Qin Weidong’s arms sometime after midnight. In the freezing predawn cold, Qin Weidong’s blood had dried, impossible to wipe off. He took off his jacket and draped it over Fang Li, wrapping him up tight.
“We’re about to enter Suixing County. They probably won’t find you guys for a while.”
Earlier, there hadn’t been time, but now Peng Chao checked Qin Weidong’s eyebrow wound under the toll station lights. “That’s a nasty cut. You need to get to a hospital. And your ear too—get it looked at, or it could leave lasting damage.”
Qin Weidong nodded. Peng Chao got him a towel from the restroom. Qin Weidong used the icy cloth to quickly wipe the blood from his ear and neck.
“I’ll ask my aunt when I get back, see if she can help you two find work in Suixing. She doesn’t live there, though, so I don’t know if she’ll be able to do anything.”
That’s just how it was between brothers—when Fang Li had been doing well, Peng Chao had envied him. Now that Fang Li had lost everything overnight, Peng Chao felt bad for him.
Qin Weidong took the car keys Peng Chao handed over. “Thanks.”
“What are you two planning to do now?”
“Find a place to stay first, then figure out a way to make money.”
“Alright then.”
That was really all they could do. Still, Peng Chao felt Qin Weidong was a dependable guy. He looked again at Fang Li, still sleeping in Qin Weidong’s arms. He couldn’t tell if Fang Li was simply stunned by everything that had happened, or if he’d just gotten used to hardship after all these years.
Even after going through something this traumatic, he’d managed to fall asleep.
Qin Weidong tucked Fang Li’s coat more securely around him and pulled out a small stack of bills from his pocket, selecting the largest denomination. “Please help take care of Fang Li’s grandmother’s funeral.”
“No, no—you don’t have to,” Peng Chao quickly waved him off. “I know what to do, it’s only right. You two keep your money. When I start working at the factory my aunt mentioned—you know, the distillery—figure out how to reach me then.”
Peng Chao refused to take the money. He probably knew things were going to be tough for them from here on out. In the end, Qin Weidong still shoved the cash into his hands—he’d need at least enough for the bus fare back to town.
Qin Weidong dozed off in the car for a while. Just as dawn was breaking, he opened his eyes. The gas tank was nearly empty, and frost had formed on the windows. First things first—they needed to find shelter. If they stayed out in the cold, Fang Li would catch something for sure.
In winter, the sun rose late. Fang Li had spent the entire night in a daze, and more than once it had felt like he couldn’t breathe, like his heart was being crushed beneath the weight of a deep, black well. It took all his strength to break free of that feeling and open his eyes in the car.
Qin Weidong opened the door, letting in a sharp gust of icy wind. He shut it quickly.
Then he stuffed a bowl of millet porridge, covered with a plastic bag, into Fang Li’s hands. “You’re up? Hold it and drink. Careful—it’s hot.”
The world outside was unfamiliar.
“Where are we?”
“Suixing.”
The nightmare from the previous night slowly came back to Fang Li. In the span of a single night, he had been driven out of the countryside where he had lived all his life, and lost the grandmother who had loved him most. He bit his lip, his eyes reddening, and tears silently fell down his face.
Qin Weidong couldn’t bear to see him cry. He reached out, pulled Fang Li into his arms, and took the bowl of porridge himself, the two of them squeezed together in the narrow driver’s seat.
“What happened yesterday?”
“Grandma was dying. She told me to get Dad. I went… but he said… he said he’s not my dad… and then…”
Qin Weidong frowned as he listened to Fang Li, who was crying and stammering, his account of what happened disjointed and confused. Qin Weidong eventually stopped him, gently wiped away his tears with his sleeve, and spoon-fed the porridge to him, one mouthful at a time.
Fang Li had no appetite. He barely drank half a bowl. Qin Weidong drank the rest himself, then returned the bowl to the stall’s owner.
“Lili, it’s freezing out here. Wait in the car. I’m going to find someone I know.”
As soon as he said it, Fang Li, who had just stopped crying, teared up again. He grabbed onto Qin Weidong’s sweater tightly. “No! Take me with you. Don’t leave me alone… please!”
He was truly terrified. Qin Weidong looked at his swollen, tear-streaked eyes from a whole night of crying and felt his heart ache. He parked the car by the roadside and brought Fang Li along.
Axolotl Translations 
Leave a comment