Chapter 6.17 Arrival (Extra)

I kept looking at the photo as we headed back to Fatty’s shop. I already knew the result, but there was nothing I could do about it. I could change a lot of things with my persistence and intelligence, but people’s hearts were just too hard to change.

I had struggled many times myself when it came to keeping my heart steady. It was a concept that was difficult to express in words, but I knew the process well. I had taught Li Cu, a child, all the shortcuts to this world, but I couldn’t teach him a way to forgive the world.

In terms of being a teacher, I was far inferior to Black Glasses.

We spent the night in Fatty’s shop. I didn’t sleep much, but it was enough. When I got up and did a hundred push-ups, my arms made strange noises. I was never athletic, so I had to keep exercising if I wanted my reaction speed to still be good. But no matter what I did, my physical strength stayed the same. By the time I got dressed, the sun was just rising. I didn’t bother waking Fatty up and took a taxi to the clinic.

Since it was so early, the clinic naturally wasn’t open yet. There was a breakfast cart set up by the door that was selling jianbing guozi (1). The tenants living in the alley would buy some when they left to catch the subway. As the early morning fog faded a little, I silently watched and imagined what the clinic would look like.

At this time, I noticed the breakfast seller looking at me.

It turned out to be Qianjun Wanma.

When I walked over, he bowed his head and asked, “Do you want to add ham and sausage?”

“What are you doing here?” I watched him unskillfully make a jianbing guozi.

“What are you doing here?” He countered. “I thought you weren’t joining? He knows you, so leave quickly. We don’t want to startle him.”

I held up the photo Black Glasses had given me. “So you’re the one who took this photo. Look at the angle at which he looked back. He already knew something was wrong with you. Don’t embarrass yourself here.”

Qianjun Wanma glanced at me, “Quit your bullshit. I’m making pancakes. How could he see through that? Hurry up and leave.”

I was bored talking to him, so I started walking towards the main entrance of the clinic. He was shocked, but immediately grabbed me, “If you’re not going to join us, don’t cause trouble. Don’t think that I won’t dare do anything to you just because you’re familiar with the patriarch. Here, take your pancake and go home.”

I wanted to break free, but his hands were as strong as an iron vice. I felt like I was going to be squeezed to death. When he put a pancake in my hand, I noticed that his eyes were red and serious.

I sighed in my heart and patted him, “Why do you want to rob this tomb? There are so many ways to revitalize the Zhang family, like having more children and planting fewer trees.”

“We have our own measures. You have no say in this.” Qianjun Wanma whispered before giving me a push.

I didn’t want to cause a scene, so I kept walking down the alley. It wasn’t like dealing with this elementary-school-level Zhang required a lot of brain cells anyways.

Some of these small Beijing alleys were very elegant, and there were places where people put the jujubes out in the sun to dry. “Hutong” was a Mongolian word for “alley”. These kinds of alleys were accessible from any direction and they actually represented a kind of irresistible tolerance in the face of so many people coming and going in this world.

I noticed a kiosk that had been set up in front of an old lottery ticket shop. After walking more than a hundred meters, I also saw a small bookstore.

These two places must have been the watchmen’s posts. It kept in line with my style of setting up two points to get a general understanding of what was going on in the alley. I found a wall between these two points and drew a symbol on the bricks on the ground.

After that, I left and grabbed a taxi back to Fatty’s shop.

When I pushed the door open and went in, I saw a man standing in the dark shop. Fatty was cooking in the back room, and I could hear the sizzling sound of heated oil.

The man turned out to be Poker-Face.

I paused for a moment, wondering why he had come. He looked back at me expressionlessly.

<Extra 6.16><Table of Contents><Extra 6.18>

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TN Notes:

(1) One of China’s most beloved street breakfast foods, they’re deep-fried dough sticks rolled in a thin pancake. It’s like a Chinese crêpe. More info here

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You know why Poker-face showed up? Because Qianjun Wanma grabbed Wu Xie. Poker-face was probably on some random mountain like “My Wu Xie senses are tingling! He’s in danger!” and then he did the Five Ghosts Transportation ritual to magically appear lol.

Sidenote: You might want to read these extras before moving on to Extra 6.18

• Notes from Rain Village
• 817 Special: Barbell Laughter
• Extra: The Daily Life of the Iron Triangle in Rain Village
• Extra: Wrong Genealogy
• Extra: Get an ID Card
• Extra: Get an ID Card 2
• Xiao Hua’s Annual Party