Qin Weidong couldn’t understand why Fang Li suddenly wanted to enroll in night school.
“Night school?”
Fang Li nodded.
“What’s that for?”
“It’s like regular school. They offer all kinds of classes. The only difference is that they’re held in the evenings,” Fang Li explained. “I just heard Feng Hui talking about it. A lot of factories and schools have programs like that.”
“Why do you want to go?”
“To make money.” Fang Li thought for a moment and added, “I didn’t graduate high school. I didn’t really learn anything useful at the mine either. I don’t have a trade or any skills. How am I supposed to support myself in the future?”
“I’ll support you,” Qin Weidong said.
“You think you can support me for the rest of my life?”
Fang Li ran his tongue along the roof of his mouth and tasted the lingering bitterness of the cigarette smoke.
“Why not?”
Qin Weidong answered seriously. He didn’t phrase it as a question—he didn’t want it to be one.
“Because I’m a man.”
Qin Weidong fell silent. Fang Li had grown. The way he thought, the things he cared about—it was different now. Back then, he barely gave anything a second thought. All he cared about was whether Qin Weidong brought him his favorite meat that day. He had no worries, no responsibilities.
But now, he was thinking more, worrying more. Maybe it happens to everyone—after being driven out of your hometown like a stray dog, stripped of your pride, you’re forced to confront reality. Fang Li was no exception. No one can stay a child forever.
Still, that change sparked a wave of unrest in Qin Weidong’s chest that he couldn’t seem to control.
“If I study at night school, maybe one day I can take an exam and get a diploma… Or even if I don’t, Feng Hui said I could study accounting and get a decent job someday.”
Qin Weidong looked at him. His voice lowered, tight and displeased. “You believe everything he says.”
Fang Li let out a soft laugh, his fingers still carrying the faint scent of smoke as he lazily slipped his arm around Qin Weidong’s shoulders, brushing lightly past the back of his neck. “What do you mean I believe everything he says? I just think what he said makes sense.”
Qin Weidong gave a cold snort.
He was the kind of person who needed to be handled gently. Go against him, and nothing worked. Fang Li ran his fingers through the short, coarse hair at the nape of Qin Weidong’s neck. His fingers were slender and cool, and as they passed over the skin, Qin Weidong’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“What does that ‘hmph’ mean?” Fang Li asked.
“I don’t want you to go.”
Qin Weidong opened his eyes and said it outright.
“Why not?” Fang Li was surprised.
“I can’t leave here right now.”
“I know you can’t…” Fang Li pouted, then lowered his head, thinking. “But what am I supposed to do, just sit around here all day? Eat, breathe, and be useless? I want to go to the county town and find a night school that teaches accounting…”
He hadn’t even finished when Qin Weidong lifted his head and interrupted with a sharp look. “You’re leaving me to go to school?”
Fang Li swallowed hard. Saying the word “leave” to Qin Weidong wasn’t easy. Not because he was scared, but because just saying it felt like a needle stabbing into his chest.
He shook his head. “It’s just temporary… just temporary…”
“Even if it’s temporary, it’s not okay.”
Fang Li opened his mouth to argue, but Qin Weidong didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He yanked a towel off the wall and went outside to take a cold shower. Fang Li watched his back retreat and let out a soft sigh.
He felt like… Qin Weidong was angry.
Fang Li tilted his head back and exhaled. To be honest, sometimes he didn’t even know what exactly their relationship was.
But figuring that out now just felt impossible. He’d always had a hard time facing difficult things. The only thing he knew for sure was—they both hated being apart.
But still… he was a man too. He couldn’t throw all the weight onto Qin Weidong’s shoulders. Even if Qin Weidong was willing, Fang Li couldn’t respect himself if he let that happen.
Fang Hongqing owed those workers a great deal of money. And while Fang Hongqing wasn’t his biological father, Fang Li had, without a doubt, enjoyed nineteen years living as the pampered young master of the Fang family. It was thanks to those workers who toiled day and night in the mines that he never had to worry about food or clothing. So, if one day he had the means, he hoped he could pay back at least some of what was owed.
But that was a long way off.
The next morning, Fang Li woke up and saw that Qin Weidong was already gone—most likely back down in the mines. There were specks of coal dust scattered on the floor beside the bed, probably fallen from Qin Weidong’s boots.
Even though he knocked the dirt off his shoes every day before stepping inside, the work environment was so dusty that it was impossible not to carry home bits of grit and grime that built up over time and wouldn’t come off no matter how hard he scrubbed.
Since they escaped, Qin Weidong had only this one pair of work boots. Even after receiving his bonus from Xu Jianchuan, he only bought two new things: a pair of shoes for Fang Li and a new sweater for him.
Fang Li gave his face a quick wash and planned to bike to the station and then catch a bus into the county to look into night school. Coincidentally, Feng Hui’s mom and sister were coming to visit him that day. When Feng Hui heard Fang Li was heading out, he said it was on his way and offered to give him a ride.
Fang Li left a note for Qin Weidong, slung the rabbit over his shoulder, and hopped into Feng Hui’s car.
It was a used Jetta that had cost seventy or eighty thousand yuan. Not exactly cheap, but modest enough to fly under the radar.
After all, Xu Jianchuan’s brother-in-law had recently been transferred from Beijing to Jinyang. Though their family ties were distant, both the Xu and Feng families had done pretty well by staying close to powerful connections. Still, it was better to stay low-key, in case someone with an agenda started poking around.
Fang Li noticed a little sachet hanging from the rearview mirror, embroidered with a tiger cub—chubby-cheeked and wide-eyed.
He was born in a tiger year, too, so he reached up and gave it a flick. The little tiger swayed gently back and forth.
Feng Hui caught a glimpse of it and grinned. “Cute, right? My friend made it—stitched it by hand.”
“He stitched it himself? That’s impressive. Your girlfriend?”
Feng Hui’s face turned red instantly. “No, no, nothing like that. I don’t have a girlfriend. Just a classmate. He, uh… ended up dropping out. Anyway, what kind of night school are you looking for, Fang Li?”
Fang Li shook his head. “Haven’t really decided yet. Just wanted to look around. I’m not a registered worker, and I dropped out of my old school, so I don’t even have an academic record. Not sure if they’ll let me enroll.”
“What do you mean dropped out? You quit school too?”
Fang Li waved his hand. “More or less. Out in the countryside, people don’t really care about those formalities.”
If you didn’t pay tuition, the school just assumed you weren’t coming back. That’s how it always worked back home.
“I see,” Feng Hui said. “My second uncle—you know, your boss Xu—his factory’s partnered with some trendy agency or whatever. They’re recruiting students too. Classes are at night, and you don’t need to be a registered worker.”
“You don’t need to be on the payroll?”
“Right. It’s basically a night tech program, but it’s taught in the employee school. You live, eat, and study with the other students. Once you finish, you can start working right away.”
Fang Li was intrigued.
“How much is the tuition?”
If it was expensive, he wouldn’t be able to afford it.
“Not much—just a little over two hundred yuan per term.”
Fang Li hesitated. Even though Boss Xu had given them five thousand as a bonus, after that round of hospital visits and tests, whatever was left Qin Weidong was probably saving up for Fang Li’s surgery. Besides, Qin Weidong had never really supported this idea…
If it really cost two hundred, he’d have to pass.
Feng Hui noticed his hesitation. “If money’s tight, I could lend you some.”
“Lend me?”
Now Fang Li was genuinely surprised. He and Feng Hui had only known each other for a couple of days—not nearly enough to be so familiar.
Feng Hui realized how strange it sounded too. He scratched his neck awkwardly. “Don’t take it the wrong way. I just… I have this friend I want to enroll too, but he’s really timid. Back in school, he used to get bullied all the time.
I’m worried about him, so I wanted to find someone to go with him. I think you’re a good guy. If you go, I’ll… I’ll introduce you two, and I’ll pay the tuition for both of you!”
He pulled the car over by the roadside. Across the street was the entrance to the admissions office.
Leaning out of the car window, he called to Fang Li, “I’ll be heading back to the mines in a couple of days. Let me know if you decide to go, yeah?”
“I got it,” Fang Li replied.
Axolotl Translations 
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