Chapter 13

The private room remained lively. Several girls clustered around Shen Man, discussing how much better the iPhone 4 looked than an ordinary phone and how they might persuade their parents to buy one when the mainland version came out.

Wang Guowei sat to Li Lei’s left and Wu Kai to his right, with Li Lei browsing part-time jobs between them. Wang stared at a message box, typing and deleting repeatedly. Finally he took a deep breath and hit send.

“Brother, can you do me a favor?”

Wu Kai’s phone vibrated almost immediately. His cheeks bulged with meat; he looked down and replied at once. “Brother, I’ve never had a girlfriend. I’ve never begged anyone in my life. This time I’m begging you!”

Wang: “I’ve never dated either! I feel like Weiwei and I are destined for each other. If you let me have her, I’ll pay for your meals for a week!”

Wu: “No, no! If you let me have her, I’ll pay for yours for a month!”

Wang: “Brother Kai! I even called you brother! Let me have Weiwei and I’ll be your servant from now on!”

Wu: “Brother Wei, I’m calling you brother too! Don’t compete with me for Weiwei, and I’ll be your servant in my next life!”

Grinding his teeth, Wang decided to give his good friend a dose of reality. “Brother, don’t get mad, but I’m telling you the truth: Weiwei glanced at me several times tonight. She likes me. There’s no point butting in! Really!”

Wu Kai swallowed and sneered. How could Xia Wei possibly like a guy like Wang Guowei? All four boys had been sitting together; who knew which one she’d been looking at?

Frowning, he replied: “Weiwei and I made eye contact several times too. Every time, she looked away shyly. That’s what someone does when she likes you. You must be imagining things!”

Wang nearly cursed him out. How shameless could Wu Kai be? He’d been stuffing his face with barbecue all night. Of course Xia Wei had looked at him; she probably thought he was shameless too.

Still, they would share a room for years. It would be awkward to say so outright. He typed: “How about we both take a step back? Fair competition, no dirty tricks. In the end, let Weiwei choose.”

Wu: “Fine. When Xia Wei chooses one of us, the other had better not make a scene!”

“Deal!”

They hit send almost simultaneously, then looked up and met each other’s eyes across the back of Li Lei’s head. Wang Guowei lifted his chin; Wu Kai puffed out his chest. Neither would concede. Then both glanced toward the door.

How long had Xia Wei been gone?

……

The alley was quiet, with only the distant noise of the barbecue restaurant. Liu Xun looked helplessly at Xia Wei kneeling on the ground. He hadn’t expected her to be so sensitive that she’d drop to her knees before he’d even spoken. She made him look like a monstrous bully.

He stepped forward, bent down, and helped her up. She was limp with weakness, and as she leaned against him, he caught a faint, clean scent.

“Come on, get up.” He steadied her by the arms. “What are you thinking? I never said you had to tell anyone about it. What are you so afraid of?”

Xia Wei didn’t answer. Tears fell, slowly at first, then freely. Her shoulders shook, her nose reddened, and her face grew wet. Liu Xun felt a pulse in his temples.

He knew she couldn’t listen to reason in this state. He’d encountered it often in external relations work: when emotions ran high, explanations were useless. First he had to calm the person down and ease the tension. He couldn’t ask why she’d worked there; that would only rub salt in the wound. After some thought, he chose a harmless subject.

“From your accent, are you from eastern Sichuan?”

She sniffed, looked at him through tears, and took two seconds to answer hoarsely. “Mm.”

“I thought so!” He smiled. “People along the Yangtze there sound like that. It’s close to my hometown, so we’re practically neighbors.”

They chatted a little, enough to loosen the tension she’d carried all evening. At last Xia Wei stopped crying and wiped her face with the back of her hand. She looked up pitifully. “You really… really won’t tell anyone?”

“Of course not,” Liu Xun said lightly. “A beauty like you, and a class monitor too. Even if I told them, who’d believe me?”

He spread his hands in mock helplessness. “Besides, look at Wang Guowei and Wu Kai. If I did say anything, they’d probably be the first to tear me apart. I’d like to get some sleep tonight.”

He spoke teasingly, with an easy manner and a few gestures. At last, Xia Wei’s lips curved slightly. A smile made things easier.

Liu Xun breathed a sigh of relief. “Come on. We’ve been out a while. We should go back.”

“Okay.”

They headed for the side door, one behind the other. After two steps, Xia Wei stopped and turned. “Swear you won’t tell,” she said softly.

Liu Xun stopped. Mixed moonlight and lamplight fell on her tear-streaked face. Her eyes were red, but her stubbornness had returned. He knew his words had made her smile without truly resolving her fear. What they lacked was a “contract.”

As anyone who’d killed someone would know, if a witness saw the crime and couldn’t be eliminated, no amount of reassurance would make the witness trustworthy. You needed a bargain: offer money in exchange for silence, and only once the witness accepted could you feel secure.

Xia Wei probably didn’t have money, and Liu Xun didn’t need it. What should he ask for? Unable to think of a suitable pretext, he joked, “How about this? Give me a kiss—a hundred million kisses—and I promise not to tell.” He really was joking. He expected her to call him shameless and put the matter behind them.

Instead, Xia Wei stepped forward, rose onto her toes, and brushed his cheek with her soft lips. The kiss was over in an instant. By the time he recovered, she’d lowered her head and fled into the restaurant.