Poker-Face and I found a table by the window at the restaurant next door. The sky was overcast, cloudy and gloomy, and the dark clouds were depressing. It seemed like it would rain soon.
Poker-Face was as silent as ever, but luckily I was used to his indifference. When I finished ordering alone, I saw him silently looking out the window.
I knew that if I didn"t speak, this state of his would continue until he left. He would never speak first to break the awkward silence.
After blowing in the cold wind of West Lake for five or six minutes, I lit a cigarette as the first dish was served and asked him, “Have you finished your business?”
“Mmm.” He nodded his head and I realized it was true. In his eyes, the persistent aura had disappeared and was replaced with a deeper indifference. Different from the time when he lost his memory, this deeper indifference was from an extreme peace of mind.
“Is everything finished?” I asked him.
He turned to look at me: “It"s over.”
“What are you going to do after this? Is there any place you want to go? Or are you planning to stay in Hangzhou?" I asked, privately calculating my a.s.sets. Recently, housing prices in Hangzhou had been rising very fast. If this poor man wanted to buy a house in Hangzhou, he would certainly ask me to lend him some money! I didn"t know where all his money had gone, as I had never seen him with any large bills in his pocket. d.a.m.n it, I didn"t have enough money. If he really wanted to borrow money from me to buy a house, I"d better persuade him to rent it for a while.
“I have to go back to where I"m supposed to be.” He said.
“Where"s that? Is it far?" I asked him. He picked up the chopsticks, silently took a mouthful of food, and nodded his head.
“Then you"re here…” I seldom chatted with him so seriously and felt particularly embarra.s.sed, so I had to follow his words and ask one by one.
“I came to say goodbye to you.” He said, “It"s all over. I thought about it, about my relationship with the world. It seems that you"re the only one I can find now.”
“It"s ok, you can call me later, or write to me. You can"t type, can you?" I asked. “In modern society, there"s no such thing as long distance.”
He didn"t respond and continued to eat.
Poker-Face"s movements were very light, as if he didn"t need to use any strength, and this was actually the reason why his wrist strength was extremely strong and his movements were so accurately controlled. When I had dinner with him before, there were always various people around and I didn"t pay much attention to him, but now, I felt very amazed looking at him.
The atmosphere was silent again, and I began to miss Fatty so much. The original reason I never felt awkward was because Fatty silently paid so much attention to the atmosphere. Now there was only the two of us, and I really couldn"t help it.
“Speak, where are you going? After all we"ve experienced, we must be life-long friends at this point. Just keep in touch." I continued, “If you need anything, don"t hesitate to ask me. Although I"m not rich, I can still support you with a basic life."
“I"m going to Changbai Mountain.” He said.
“Oh, that"s a very cold place.” I said, “Jiangnan"s a good place to support people, with four clear seasons and a humid climate.”
“I can only go there.” He said and put down his chopsticks.
After he said this sentence, we didn"t have a decent conversation again. In the quiet, we finished eating silently, and I didn"t feel embarra.s.sed anymore. He put down his chopsticks, looked at me, and said, “Goodbye.”
With that said, he stood up, picked up his bag, and went downstairs. I was a little surprised and cried, “We haven"t finished our food yet.”
He had already gone downstairs so I sullenly smoked a few cigarettes, stood up, and leaned against the window. I saw that he was far along Gushan road.
I sat down and said to myself, “What is this? Is he afraid of the embarra.s.sment because he had no money to pay the bill?” When I had no money in the past, I often did that. But I had never seen him so welcome, and after stewing over what he said just now, I felt a little strange. I kept feeling like there was a special sense of inexplicableness in his words.
“I came to say goodbye to you. It"s all over. I thought about it, about my relationship with the world. It seems that you"re the only one I can find now.”
I suddenly stood up from my seat, thinking of one of his t.i.tles—professional missing person.
When he had gone and left before, he never said a word. He never even said anything like this at Banai when he told us he was leaving. Saying such things like goodbye didn"t seem likely to come from a professional missing person, and this time he came all the way to find me from who knows where to say it.
This farewell must be different from his previous departures.
A strong sense of foreboding had me on pins and needles. Did this mean my one friend was going to leave the city? No! Is this the world he wants to leave?
“Changbai Mountain?” I dumped all my cash, told the waiter to send the change to the Xiling Printing House next door, then grabbed the clothes on the chair and ran after him.
I chased him all the way to Beishan Road. I was sweating all over but didn"t manage to catch up with him. There were only countless empty taxis shuttling back and forth.
I ran back to my shop, simply threw some things in my luggage, carried it back out, and said to w.a.n.g Meng, “I"m going out.”
w.a.n.g Meng immediately turned pale and grabbed me. When I asked him why, he said: “Boss, when this kind of situation occurred before, there was only one person in the shop and you had to leave in a hurry. Now you"re going to leave for a long time. You have to explain."
I didn"t have time to explain, so I said to him, “If anyone comes to find me, just say I"ve gone on vacation and you"ll take care of everything. If there"s any big deal that isn"t specially insured, don"t leave. We"ll talk about it when I come back."
“Will you really come back?” w.a.n.g Meng asked.
I asked him, “Why do you ask?”
He said: “Didn"t you say you"d never leave again? In general, on TV dramas, all masters are bound to die if they are called out again after retiring from the business. Boss, you must be careful."
I patted him, thinking, "b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I"ll come back to clean up your crow mouth." I ignored him, turned around, and ran out.
Poker-Face had no ID and couldn"t fly so he had to take either a bus or a train. There were definitely trains running here, so I checked the timetable on my phone while I was in a taxi. I immediately found that he couldn"t take the train since the one running to Jilin only ran very late at night. It seemed that his only option was to take a long-distance bus.
I asked the taxi to take me to the long-distance bus station. In this way, even if I couldn"t find him there, I still had time to go to the train station. It"s not like he could walk there, could he? When I thought of this, I felt like my plan was quite safe.
When I got to the bus station, I didn"t know if it was the peak transportation period, but there were so many people. I squeezed into the crowd and kept looking for him. I felt as if I saw him several times, but found that wasn"t the case.
Then I ran to the bus entrance and continued to search nearby, but I still didn"t see him. I was sweating all over and wondered, "Was it the taxi driver"s fast speed? I actually pa.s.sed him and arrived here first? Or was it true that Little Brother had no money and didn"t take a taxi at all, but walked?" Then it was good if he had just reached the intersection of Yan"an now.
After a few laps, I found it impossible to find him under such circ.u.mstances, so I looked at the bus departure schedule. I only found that there was no bus going to Jilin because the route seemed too far. My heart suddenly settled down, and I was just about to say that it seemed he could only go by train, when I saw a bus parked outside. He was sitting inside, and I watched in a trance as the bus started up and drove past the window of the waiting room.
I cried out in surprise, wondering what kind of situation this was. There was no bus going in the direction of Jilin so I immediately went to ask the attendant, who said that this was a bus to Beijing.
s.h.i.t, it was this kind of situation. No matter what bus, as long as it was in one direction, he would get on it first. This was Poker-Face"s logic. Only he knew all his actions, and they had nothing to do with reason.
I ran out of the station. The bus exit was far away from the waiting room and when I arrived, I couldn"t even see the tail lights. I gasped and told myself to calm down. In a city like this, I wouldn"t lose to a person with a grade nine disability when it comes to living capabilities.
I took a taxi back to the shop where w.a.n.g Meng was happily playing “Minesweeper”. I almost scared him out of his seat when I entered.
“Boss, you"re back so soon this time.”
“Cut the c.r.a.p.” I kicked him off his seat, booked a plane ticket online, and then quickly checked the bus schedule on the internet. Depending on where and when the bus arrived, he might continue to take that route. After recording it all, I ran all the way to the airport.
After flying to Beijing, I arrived at least five hours earlier than the bus. I bought some tea eggs to eat at the exit of the bus station, waiting for Poker-Face"s arrival. The entire time I was thinking, how should I persuade him?
I couldn"t beat him at all, and I couldn"t even run. If he had really decided, there was nothing I could do but waste my breath here. Or, I could take advantage of his unpreparedness and sneak attack him from behind. I found a brick on the side, weighed it, and looked at the tea egg seller nearby. His height was about the same as Poker-Face, and I imagined a few scenarios.
The image of Poker-Face kicking me directly against the wall came to my mind. He was too alert, so I figured the probability of a successful sneak attack on him was too low. Moreover, on the off chance I did succeed, if I hit him too hard and killed him, I"d have to go to jail and be shot. If I went down there and saw him again, I didn"t know how to explain it to him.
Medication?
I wondered if modern sleeping pills had any effect on his const.i.tution. If it was useful, I"d get him to go to a place to rest first, and then say that I had a particularly important matter to discuss with him, hoping he could help me. After that, I could put sleeping pills in his drink, and when he pa.s.sed out, I could tie him up firmly, ask Xiao Hua for a car, and send him directly back to Hangzhou.
In my mind came the picture of Poker-Face turning away without any response when he heard that I wanted to discuss things with him. If I went up to grab him at that time, he would turn around and kick me against the wall.
I had a splitting headache, and it didn"t matter how I thought about it. Even if I tied him up and brought him back to Hangzhou, I had no way to keep him. Unless I made an iron cage to lock him up, he would definitely leave.
It may be possible if he was put in a psychiatric hospital, but his skill was too good. I didn"t think he could be trapped anywhere, and then the doctors and nurses in the hospital would be involved.
The thought chilled my heart and I found it impossible. I couldn"t change his mind, but I would try my best.
I also wondered, did Poker-Face just want to go settle down in the village under Changbai mountain, look at the snowy mountains every day, smoke old cigarettes, and prepare to spend his old age in that place?
It didn"t matter. Even if that was the case, the most I would do was make a fool of myself. It didn"t matter.
When I came back to myself, I saw the tea egg seller looking at the brick in my hand and hurriedly closing the stall to leave. Maybe it was when I thought about it just now that my expression was very strange. I threw away the brick at once. I had already made a decision in my heart: this was the last time. If I couldn"t persuade him, I wouldn"t insist.
But Poker-Face would never act according to my wishes. I waited at the station until the bus arrived in the early morning and found that he wasn"t on it.
I watched all the people get off one by one and leave. I looked behind them for a long time and finally made sure there was no Poker-Face. I immediately got on the bus, grabbed the driver, and asked where Poker-Face had gone.
It took a long time for him to realize what I was saying. He told me that Poker-Face got off at a toll station midway. I shook the driver and asked him, “Are you sure he got off the bus instead of going to the toilet for too long?” The driver said that what Poker-Face told him absolutely couldn"t be wrong.
I asked the location of the toll station, then found an internet cafe nearby, opened all the maps, and checked for myself. I found that there was a small town not far down from that toll station, where there was a bus that could lead to Erdao Baihe. (TN note: Jilin is the province. Erdao Baihe is a town at the foot of Changbai Mountain).
I called Xiao Hua and asked him to arrange a car for me directly. I paid all the expenses and rushed to Erdao Baihe directly, my heart filled with emotion. I had really underestimated this grade nine disabled Little Brother. Obviously, he was quite clear about the shortcuts to certain places, whether they be ancient tombs or modern society.
There wasn"t any small talk on the way, and the next morning, I arrived at Erdao Baihe. After getting out of the car, I immediately asked the local people about the drop-off point for any vehicles. When I arrived there, I saw Poker-Face walking in one direction with his luggage on his back.
I stopped him immediately and he looked back at me in slight surprise. He didn"t ask me why I followed him, however, just turned around and continued to walk away. I immediately stumbled to follow.
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