The train carriage was packed to its absolute limit. People without tickets, those standing, were crammed in wherever they could possibly squeeze. Even the space beneath the seats was occupied by sleeping bodies. Shoes stepped over heads without a second thought, yet the men continued to snore, completely undisturbed by the rain of sunflower seed shells.
Fang Li and Qin Weidong had boarded late and found themselves jammed into the grimy, foul-smelling area near the toilets at the back of the car. The stench hung thick in the air, repeatedly making Fang Li gag. To make matters worse, every time he closed his eyes, hoping for a moment of sleep, someone would shuffle to the toilet, leaving a trail of filthy footprints right across him. It was disgusting—so far removed from the freedom and riches he had imagined. He tried to endure it, but finally, he snapped.
“I can’t stay here another second!”
He turned to Qin Weidong and burst out, standing abruptly.
“I want to go back to Suixing! Back to Chongsi! I don’t care if I die—I’m not staying on this goddamn train!”
The shout woke several migrant workers who had fallen asleep in a heap on the floor. Irritated, they shot annoyed glances at the two boys. Qin Weidong quickly stood and turned, shielding Fang Li from their stares.
“Just hold on a little longer, alright? Please?” he coaxed gently.
“No! No, I won’t!” Fang Li yelled.
Qin Weidong tried again, this time speaking softly. “Once we get off the train, I’ll buy you some candy…”
But Fang Li wasn’t having any of it. He batted away the hand that reached out to brush the hair from his forehead.
“I don’t want to wait! Where the hell are you even taking me?! Why didn’t you just leave me in Chongsi?! I’d rather they beat me to death than stay in this hell!”
Fang Li had never known real hardship before. Everything that had happened recently had pushed him to his breaking point. Qin Weidong didn’t dare use force against him. Caught off guard, his arm was knocked against the metal wall of the train car with a loud clang.
Fang Li flinched, startled. Qin Weidong’s face went cold.
“Are you really going to keep making a scene like this?”
The commotion stirred the workers again. Some looked ready to curse, but when they saw Qin Weidong standing tall and serious, they hesitated, exchanged glances, and chose to let it go.
“I’m not making a scene!” Fang Li turned away, his face slick with sweat and smelling of smoke. “I don’t want to stay here for even one more second! I want to go home. I want to go home!”
Qin Weidong wasn’t good at comforting people, and Fang Li’s uncompromising attitude was starting to wear thin.
“Can’t you just make it through one night? What is it you even want from me?”
Fang Li could sense his irritation, and that only fueled his own temper. He was on the verge of tears, consumed by anger. “Why are you looking at me like that? You’re the one who’s been treating me like crap! Are you laughing at me now, just like everyone else? Fine! I’m not your young master anymore, am I? I’ll get off at the next stop! That way I won’t be dragging you down with me!”
The train whistle blew as they approached the station. Fang Li yanked himself free and started to walk, carefully navigating the gaps in the crowded floor.
The moment Qin Weidong realized he was leaving, his face hardened. He called out, “Lili!” then, “Fang Li!” But Fang Li didn’t look back. He kept striding forward. Qin Weidong rushed after him, and in a swift movement, wrapped an arm around Fang Li’s waist and hoisted him over his shoulder.
“Are you crazy?!”
Fang Li kicked and shouted.
“Quiet!”
Qin Weidong shoved open the door between two train cars—the conductor hadn’t locked it. Inside was the sleeper carriage. Scanning the dimly lit room, he spotted an empty bunk and tossed Fang Li onto it without hesitation.
It was pitch-black. The passengers in the sleeper car were all sound asleep. Before Fang Li could yell, Qin Weidong was already on top of him, pinning his wrists above his head, pressing him down and biting hard on his lips.
The searing heat of his mouth caught Fang Li completely off guard. In an instant, their tongues met—and a metallic tang of blood followed.
Fang Li winced and hit Qin Weidong on the head.
“What the hell—are you trying to eat me?!”
It was much quieter here in the expensive sleeper cabin, with far fewer people than the hard-seat section they’d come from. The only sound was the soft chorus of men snoring nearby. Fang Li gasped for air, then drove his knee into Qin Weidong’s side.
But Qin Weidong didn’t budge. His abs felt like iron. Instead, Fang Li’s skinny ankle throbbed with pain—it was like kicking a steel wall.
“Shit, that hurt!”
Clutching his foot, Fang Li glared. “Qin Weidong, what the hell? Is your body made of iron just so I’ll break my leg kicking you? Let me see!”
Qin Weidong’s eyes were cold and sharp. He licked the blood from his lip. Fang Li was still groaning from the pain, urgently pushing him. “Hurry up! It hurts!”
Still fuming from Fang Li’s earlier outburst, Qin Weidong clenched his jaw and snapped, “Damn it, you little bastard! If I could eat you, I’d have swallowed you whole by now!”
Qin Weidong sat up, pulled Fang Li’s leg onto his thigh, and roughly yanked off his shoe with one hand, tossing it aside to check his ankle.
“Who are you calling a bastard?”
“A heartless bastard.”
Fang Li looked at him in disbelief. “Qin Weidong, you’ve got some nerve! Say that again, I dare you!”
Qin Weidong closed his eyes and swallowed his irritation, refusing to argue.
“Does it hurt here?”
Fang Li pointed. “Here, here, and here! It hurts like hell!”
He’d been the one to kick Qin Weidong hard, and Qin Weidong hadn’t even made a sound—but now he was the one who couldn’t take the pain.
Remembering that Fang Li had been running a fever not long ago and hadn’t been eating well, Qin Weidong figured his bones might be a bit fragile too. His anger gradually subsided. He held Fang Li’s ankle in his palm and gently massaged the joint.
Fang Li’s temper flared and faded quickly. Qin Weidong’s touch was surprisingly comforting. He braced himself with his hands on the bunk, turned his head to the side in silent protest, but said nothing.
“Ow—! Be gentle!”
Qin Weidong frowned at the sound of pain. “Did you really hurt it?”
“Oh, now you ask? What the hell’s wrong with your body, why are you built like a damn rock?!”
Kneeling on the floor, Qin Weidong examined Fang Li’s foot by the dim light flashing past from the railway lights outside the window. He pulled off Fang Li’s sock, inspecting his ankle and even each individual toe. Only after confirming nothing was seriously wrong did he relax.
“Well?”
“It’s a little red.”
After staring for too long, Qin Weidong looked slightly uncomfortable, though Fang Li couldn’t see it in the darkness. He was holding that pale, bare ankle—cold and smooth like white jade. “Want me to keep massaging it?”
“…Fine.”
Fang Li assumed it really might be injured, so he shoved his foot into Qin Weidong’s lap without hesitation.
Qin Weidong resumed rubbing it. There was no heating in the train car, and even with the body heat of others, it wasn’t exactly warm. Fang Li’s foot was freezing in Qin Weidong’s palm—and he couldn’t figure out why Qin Weidong’s hands were so incredibly warm. Almost burning.
Fang Li’s foot gradually warmed in Qin Weidong’s hands, and he drifted off to sleep. Sometime in the night, the passenger who had purchased their bunk arrived, and Fang Li felt himself being lifted up by Qin Weidong.
Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around Qin Weidong’s neck. Qin Weidong kissed him lightly on the neck, and Fang Li fell right back asleep.
……
When Fang Li opened his eyes again, Qin Weidong was already carrying him out of the station. The crowd at Changding station was five or six times larger than at Suixing—swarms of people burdened with bags and luggage surged toward the exit. Fang Li felt the sky here looked especially high and bright, unlike Chongsi, where snow came down again and again without warning.
“So this is the ‘Ding’ in Changding…”
He spotted the large characters “Changding” above the station entrance.
He’d said he wanted to get off the train alone, but he hadn’t even known which “Ding” Qin Weidong was headed to. In the end, he’d followed him here.
Outside the station, a throng of shady labor contractors were shouting to recruit workers. They descended upon anyone who looked physically fit, trying to drag them onto waiting trucks. It was unavoidable—every year after the holidays, it was a battle to secure laborers. Whoever secured labor first secured their livelihood for the year.
After all, in Shanxi, the most profitable industries—be it gold, silver, coal, or nickel—were all tied to the mines. You could eat alone, but you couldn’t mine alone.
Qin Weidong called the labor boss from last time. The man was surprised to hear they had actually come all the way from Suixing—he’d thought they were bluffing.
Fortunately, his office was just near the station, so he told them to come over. “Well, damn, you really showed up. But the road construction job’s been suspended. Have you worked in the mines before? Ever driven a big mining truck?”
Qin Weidong hesitated.
The boss assumed he wasn’t familiar with mining work. “Forget it, forget it—our boss is on a tight schedule. We’re not taking on greenhorns.”
“I’ve worked in the mines. I can drive,” Qin Weidong said.
“How many years?”
“Five.”
The contractor snorted. “Five years? You pulling my leg? You even twenty yet? Been mining for five years?”
“Eighteen.”
“Alright, whatever. What’s a couple years more or less.”
The man’s name was Wang Xiaohu. “There’s a boss working a site in Xiahe Valley. They’re short on people. Once the mine’s open, the pay’s just as good as hauling construction materials. We’ll wait this afternoon, see if we can pick up two more guys, then we’ll head out. Pay’s fair, settled weekly.”
Wang Xiaohu glanced again at Fang Li, who looked thin and frail. “Is he working too?”
“He’s my younger brother,” Qin Weidong replied. “He’s not working—just coming with me.”
Fang Li tugged at him, signaling that he could work—and also that he was the older brother.
But Qin Weidong completely ignored him.
Wang Xiaohu hesitated, and Qin Weidong added, “I can do the work of two. Just pay us for one.”
He had already taken note of Wang Xiaohu’s shop—it was a small store selling daily necessities. A steady stream of nearby residents came and went, calling out familiar greetings to Wang Xiaohu’s wife inside. It seemed like the store had been there for many years—trustworthy.
They were new to Changding, unfamiliar with the place, and their biggest fear was getting caught up with a shady labor contractor. Although Qin Weidong couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t run into old acquaintances at the mine, they had no better option at the moment. Wages weren’t the top priority—they needed a safe place to settle down first.
“Alright, but let’s be clear—the mine hasn’t started operating yet. You’ll have to do other jobs first. Once the mine starts transporting, your brother can join your shift rotation.”
Wang Xiaohu didn’t have much room to hesitate. He had taken the lead on this mining job but still hadn’t rounded up enough men. He was anxious—and his boss was even more anxious.
After all, once a mine owner secures the mining rights, the clock starts ticking. With permits valid for only two years at most, every day without production is a financial loss. No one could afford to waste time.
That afternoon, Wang Xiaohu rented a van. Including Fang Li, he brought five workers to Xiahe Valley. The mountain roads were rough and winding. Among the passengers were a ventilation worker, a waste removal worker, and a blasting worker—each one so familiar to Qin Weidong that he could tell what job they did underground just by the smell on their clothes.
When they arrived, they found an old, long-abandoned mine. The entrance was overgrown with waist-high weeds, and a blue plastic hose was pumping water noisily from deep within the shaft.
There were already people at the site. One of the deputy foremen, surnamed Fu, was called Lao Fu by Wang Xiaohu.
Small labor contractors like them had no foothold in large mining operations. Their only chance was teaming up with minor bosses to explore remote mountain mines like this one. If they hit a good ore vein, they could go from rags to riches overnight.
“That guy who does blasting—what’s his name? Right, Liuzi, come over here!”
Wang Xiaohu waved him over and introduced him to Lao Fu: “Lao Fu, this is him. Said he apprenticed with a blaster over in Xiaohe for a year, now he’s striking out on his own…”
“He’s only trained for a year? What kind of workers are you bringing in? This mine’s tough—how can we rely on someone so green?”
Wang Xiaohu sighed, “I know, but we’ve got no choice. Skilled blasting workers are hard to find these days—the big mines have taken them all. I had to call in favors just to find this apprentice. Let’s just let him set off the first charge, call it the start of work. Better than sitting here bleeding money.”
While they talked, Qin Weidong glanced into the mine shaft. It had been abandoned for years. The tunnel sloped sharply—he estimated the incline to be around forty-five degrees.
Axolotl Translations 
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