Are You Addicted?

After eating breakfast, the two men stared at each other, deciding whose turn it was to pay for today’s meal.

“It’s on me.” Bai Luoyin dug the pocket of his trousers, “Eh? I definitely put some money in yesterday, how come it’s not here?”

“If you don’t want to pay, then just say it directly.” Gu Hai replied sarcastically, then he got up and left to pay.

Actually, it was Gu Hai who secretly took the money out from Bai Luoyin’s trousers’ pocket last night.

Aunt Zou was in the middle of frying the deep-fried breadstick, seeing Gu Hai heading to the paper box to pay, she hastily held him back, “Aiyo, you two don’t need to pay.”

“Aunt, you don’t need to be so courteous with us.”

Those two were just about to get up and leave, when suddenly a law enforcement government car stopped beside the curb, after that four to five men went down, all of them were carrying weapon in their hands, with menacing faces, heading straight towards the breakfast stall.

“Don’t go yet!” Bai Luoyin pulled Gu Hai’s bike.

After the five government officers came, without saying anything, they smashed the stove, the kneading board, and the big pot with ladle. When the several customers who were still eating their breakfast saw the situation, all of them packed their belongings then hurriedly left. The matter happened almost in a flash, all of the people there had yet to react, but the ground was already in a complete mess.

An officer with crewcut hair and slanted eyebrows[1], took on a bandit-like att.i.tude, when he saw the deep fryer was still standing upright, he didn’t care whether there were any people or not, he ferociously kicked the deep fryer, all the boiling oil directly spilled towards Aunt Zou.

“Auntie!” Bai Luoyin shouted, he suddenly rushed over, wanting to pull the handle of deep fryer, but was held back by Gu Hai, he saw the scalding oil splashed onto Aunt Zou’s leg.

Aunt Zou’s eyes suddenly opened wide, the corner of her mouth twitched, her body immediately fell to the ground and she wailed while holding her leg tightly.

“What do you guys want?” Bai Luoyin yelled.

The shorthaired officer answered disdainfully, “What do we want? This is called law enforcement!”

“If you want to enforce law then just do it, why do you need to f.u.c.king break the things here?” Bai Luoyin’s face turned dark.

The helping officer then showed a ruthless face, which looked rather violent, and pointed his finger at the youngster.

“You’re asking why we broke the things here?” The shorthaired officer stomped on the ground, causing the thermos flask beside him to break into pieces, “I’m not breaking things, it’s this stinky woman who doesn’t want to move.”

Aunt Zou was still sitting on the ground crying heavily, Bai Luoyin’s hand continued to tremble uncontrollably, his stern and fierce gaze focused upon every single inch of the officer’s body. He took a large step and rushed out, but Gu Hai pulled him back once more, Bai Luoyin’s eye reddened while glaring at Gu Hai, “Let me go!”

Gu Hai was exceptionally calm, he grasped Bai Luoyin’s hand firmly, uttered each word separately[2], “You go and support Aunt Zou first, believe me, you only need to remember their faces clearly.”

Aunt Zou cried hoa.r.s.ely, her right foot hurt as it kept on convulsing. There were a lot of noisy bystanders, however none of them dared to step forward and help her. Those officers continued to destroy things, those old-fashioned tables were snapped into pieces, the chairs’ legs and its seat were all severed apart, and even the money in the paper box fell to the ground. In her fear and anxiety, Aunt Zou hurriedly collected the coins, yet she left the remaining bigger bills and let the officer took them.

So much torment, several months of hard-earned money were all taken away, these things might had little value, yet this kind of small business couldn’t earn that much money in the first place. Moreover, Aunt Zou was an honest person. Forget about saving some of the money, even purchasing the necessary things would cost all of her fortune.

Aunt Zou witnessed the tattered mess on the ground, the empty paper box, meanwhile piercing pain on her leg had yet to lessen, the only thing that remained was her tears, flowing down quietly.

Gu Hai carried Aunt Zou on his back, Bai Luoyin went home to tell Bai Han Qi, who intended to bring Aunt Zou to the hospital immediately.

“You guys go to school, I can handle this alone.” Bai Han Qi urged Bai Luoyin and Guhai, “No problem, no need to worry. Quick, just go, don’t waste your study time.”

“Dad, I want to go too.” Bai Luoyin’s eyes showed deep worry.

“Listen to me!” Bai Han Qi’s face was dead serious.

Aunt Zou, with a pale face and hoa.r.s.e voice, persuaded Bai Luoyin, “Auntie is okay now, you should hurry and go to school.”

Bai Luoyin hadn’t moved yet, staring as Bai Han Qi rode his electric tricycle, carrying pallid and grief-stricken Aunt Zou away.

After staying silent for a long time, Bai Luoyin suddenly landed a severe punch on Gu Hai’s stomach, “I can’t tolerate this kind of injustice!”

Gu Hai stood firmly, his waist didn’t bend at all.

Seeing Gu Hai resisting the pain without any grumbling nor resentment, while staring at himself with a face full of compa.s.sion, his heart slowly began to calm down, the residual anger in his eyes also dimmed gradually.

When Gu Hai caught sight of Bai Luoyin’s expression right now, a heartache[3] that Gu Hai had never felt before invaded his heart, he preferred to be kicked by Bai Luoyin, would rather be abused by his insults, he really didn’t want to see Bai Luoyin like this.

“I know you have a strong sense of justice, but you need to use different strategy to deal with different people.”

Bai Luoyin clenched his fist then said, “I just can’t tolerate this kind of injustice.”

“Okay, okay.” Gu Hai spoke softly, “You still remember their face, right? Relax, they won’t get away.”

Bai Luoyin snorted coldy, “It’s clear that what they did was bullying people, the stall was there, near the entrance of an alley, whose eyes could possibly be offended by it? Usually, no shadows of the officers would appear, yet today, they wrought havoc without any warning ……”

Gu Hai’s arm encircled Bai Luoyin’s shoulder, coaxing him while patting his back, “Don’t lower yourself to the same level as them.”

Bai Luoyin pushed Gu Hai away, there was a subtle change in his eyes, “I know who did this.”

“Don’t find her.” Gu Hai held Bai Luoyin’s hand tightly, “Listen to me, don’t find her!”

Translator Note:

[1] A crew cut hair and slanted eyebrows’: CJD wrote that the officer had 八字眉 (bĿzìméi), it means八-shaped eyebrows or slanted eyebrow. Crewcut hair is a hairstyle with short hair.

[2] Uttered each word separately :CJD wrote 一字一顿地说 in her original novel, which literally means speaking with pauses. I believe this was to convey all of his emotion to BLY completely, emphasizing his sincerity.

More explanation here : Heartache – CJD wrote心疼, which means heartache, but its meaning can also be interpreted as ‘to feel sorry for the people whom we love dearly’, that way 心疼 can also means ‘to love dearly’.

Are you addicted?