FWP Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Scab

Zhou Zhao and Yu Zipei’s war eventually alarmed Li Tinglin, who had to take time away from the male teacher’s bed to mediate the family conflict.

Yu Zipei bared her teeth and applied lip balm, holding up her orchid fingers. “You must stand up for me! This little bastard is fickle and treacherous. In my presence, he’s planning to bring in a newcomer to kick me out of the palace—Little Li, you must protect the dragon throne under my ass.”

Li Tinglin’s education level was average; he got into college as an art student cramming at the last minute. He frowned as he listened, not grasping the meaning, much less Yu Zipei’s wild exaggerations. What empress dowager sits on a dragon throne all day? He turned to Zhou Zhao for help. Zhou Zhao snatched Yu Zipei’s lip balm and applied it to his own lips with great care. Seeing that it was almost the end of March, he went to Wanderer’s school, only to find that the person hadn’t even registered. His roommate, Ouyang, had cheerfully helped him process the leave of absence.

“Zhou, what does your mom mean?”

Zhou Zhao’s face was full of frustration, with dark circles under his eyes. “Your mom. She’s your mom.” He scratched his hair, looking distressed. “I can’t find Wanderer. He’s taken a leave of absence.”

Li Tinglin understood. “Is it because his family’s broke, and he went to work to earn money?”

Zhou Zhao: “If he doesn’t have money for school, he can borrow it from me. Is his mouth just for decoration?”

Yu Zipei gloomily interjected, “No, your mouth is eloquent and can even join the army to fight.” She tossed her hair, showing Li Tinglin the small cut on her lip. “Little Li, look, look at what he did to my mouth.”

Li Tinglin was just asking for it, holding Yu Zipei’s chin on the spot and looking at Zhou Zhao reproachfully. “Oh, look at this cherry mouth, now with a slight flaw. You’ll have to compensate her if she can’t be a great beauty in the future.”

Even though Li Tinglin was gay, Zhou Zhao couldn’t accept him touching Yu Zipei’s face. He angrily pushed the two of them apart, putting his arm around Yu Zipei’s shoulders. “Cherry mouth, slight flaw, you should read fewer trashy novels.”

Leaning on the mountain, the mountain collapses; relying on people, people run away. These two were like rabid dogs, so unpredictable that eight horses couldn’t hold them back. Zhou Zhao apologized to Yu Zipei, bought her the two bags she wanted, and finally honestly decided to find Wanderer himself.

Zhou Zhao bought a ticket to Wanderer’s hometown. Hearing the news, Li Tinglin called Zhou Zhao, who was standing on the platform, about to leave.

Li Tinglin was a bit schizophrenic, acting one way in front of Yu Zipei and Zhou Zhao, and another way when alone with Zhou Zhao. It was only two in the afternoon, but Li Tinglin was already drinking, calling out “Zhou ah” every other word, chilling Zhou Zhao to the bone.

“Zhou ah, don’t you think you care more about that Wanderer than you do about Zipei?”

“Zhou ah, tell your brother the truth, if Wanderer and Zipei both fell into the water, and you could only save one, would you say without hesitation, ‘I’ll save Zipei first’?”

“Zhou ah, let me be frank with you, the first time I saw that Wanderer, I knew he was like me. After you came back to college, you’ve been going on and on about Wanderer all day long, hehe, nobody’s stupid, hehe.”

Zhou Zhao felt prickles all over. Just then, the train whistle blared several long blasts. In the huge background noise, he cursed at Li Tinglin: “You’re sick too! You, and Yu Zipei, is there anything else in your brains besides romance?! Can’t I just be purely out of friendship?! Can’t I just care about him cleanly!”

“You say I don’t give you the truth, then I’ll tell you the truth! I’m afraid something will happen to him! I’m afraid he’ll die! Every time I close my eyes, I see him just like I was when I was a kid! Are you satisfied now! Can I go find him now?”

Li Tinglin was silenced, but Li Tinglin was, after all, Li Tinglin. He had been in love since he hadn’t even finished puberty, and after being yelled at by Zhou Zhao, he still held onto his own logic. “Zhou ah, don’t blame me for being blunt, but in this world, only romance can drive people crazy.”

“And you are.”

Li Tinglin hung up the phone. His last four words were a curse, trapping Zhou Zhao headfirst.

On the train, Zhou Zhao had nightmares all night.

He returned to his childhood, back to a basement.

His mother was a woman with a soft voice. She had long curly hair, and her hands were warm and soft. When she held Zhou Zhao in her arms, Zhou Zhao was in the safest place in the world.

His mother said that the sun was dirty, the air was also dirty, the forests and green spaces were the world’s largest petri dishes, and all artificially grown food and food processed by human hands were deadly poisonous to children.

For eight years, Zhou Zhao lived in the basement.

The walls and floor here were made of white metal products, and the furniture was spotless. The picture books his mother wrote for him were made of cloth. He didn’t wear clothes; clothing would cut a small child’s skin.

Every morning at eight o’clock, his mother would come to Zhou Zhao’s bedside and give him a glass of green water. The water contained all kinds of natural ingredients, which his mother painstakingly searched for and collected. She set off at night and returned before sunrise.

Zhou Zhao wanted his mother to spend more time with him. His mother refused. The sun was dirty, and the moon was infinitely pure. Only by sacrificing the nights spent with Zhou Zhao could the two of them live together for a long time.

His mother created a language, only for the two of them to use. She shaved the hair off Zhou Zhao’s body and plucked out his eyelashes with tweezers, telling him that hair was sinful, symbolizing the toxins in your body that had not been discharged.

Before he had the name “Zhou Zhao,” his mother called her child by the language she invented.

“What’s outside, Mom?”

“There’s nothing outside. There are a hundred suns in the sky, the earth is barren, and people’s corpses dry up in the cracks in the ground, turning into scabs.”

“I understand, Mom,” he held his mother’s hand, two similar eyes staring at each other fanatically, and they said in unison, “The sun is dirty, only the moon is infinitely pure.”

Two travelers walked past the window, one saying to the other, “Where’s the ticket?”

The other said, “I gave it to you long ago, didn’t you put it in your pocket?”

The rustling sound lasted for a few seconds, “No, I only have two Coins in my pocket.”

“Damn it, isn’t it in the left pocket either? I remember I really gave it to you!”

“I know, I know, you couldn’t have faked giving it to me. But the problem is, I only have one pocket on my butt.”

Zhou Zhao opened his eyes, pillowing his head on his luggage bag. He was separated from these two people by a train car, and thought, “The retroflex suffix is really hard to learn, especially after the age of eight.”

If you calculate his age from the first second he came into this world, he’s only eleven years old.

After getting off the train, Zhou Zhao first went to No. 16 High School to take a look around. The signal tower was fine, there was no snow, no rain.

Zhou Zhao only spent one winter here, and that winter he was mentally exhausted, forgetting the fact that there is no snow all year round in the extreme south. He remembered that Wanderer’s home was very far from No. 16 High School. He had been there twice, once to see the puppy, and the other time to pick up the Prince of Joy after graduation. Zhou Zhao bought a few boxes of food and drinks at the supermarket and took a taxi to his house.

In the spring morning, the air was very humid, and a faint floral fragrance blew in from the gap where the window glass was lowered. The tall ones were magnolias, and the low ones were tulips. Zhou Zhao pillowed his hand, closed his eyes, and thought about what to say when he saw Wanderer.

First of all, one must not mistreat children no matter how hard the situation is, and one must not skimp on education no matter how poor they are. You can’t be without a diploma if you don’t have money.

Secondly, what if Wanderer’s family wasn’t short of money, but his grandmother had found him a marriage prospect, and Wanderer got married in his hometown?

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhao shuddered.

Wanderer in a suit, looking unsophisticated, wearing a red tie, with black shoe polish smeared on his face by the wedding party, smiling to reveal a row of white teeth, his big eyes flickering as he reached out to ask him for a gift money – “Welcome to my wedding.”

What a wonderful imagination, Zhou Zhao thought it would be nice to switch his major and write horror movies.

/

“Ah–you’re Wanderer, aren’t you.”

A woman at the bar in a bar suddenly said.

Wanderer raised his head, his hair covering half of his face, his eyes blurred. The woman held her wine glass with restraint, she wore a sleeveless shirt, with beautiful shoulder and neck lines.

“Don’t you really remember?” She tilted her head slightly, actually quite playful.

Wanderer’s brain, soaked in alcohol, slowly went to work, and he suddenly said: “Yu Zipei.”

It really was Yu Zipei, and she even sat down next to Wanderer as if she was familiar with him. On Friday night, the child was sent to the parents’ house, and after the meeting with the lawyer, she was free as a bird, soaring as high as the sky.

“When did you grow your hair long? It looks good.”

After finishing a round of drinks, Yu Zipei was crossing her arms, supporting her face with her hands, carefully looking at Wanderer. In the past few years, she was too busy to notice. Knowing that this person didn’t like to talk to her, she used to wonder, why wouldn’t even a beautiful woman like me get his attention. Later she knew, but she also hated for some days, hated to the bone.

She thought, Wanderer should also hate her.

“I grew it a long time ago.” Wanderer straightened his hair with his fingers. He bit the hair tie, holding the back of his head with both hands, fully revealing his thin and exquisite profile.

Yu Zipei stared blankly between Wanderer’s lips and teeth, suddenly reaching out to help him brush away the hair that fell in front of his face. “Can you chat with me tonight? Chat all night long.”

Wanderer tied up his hair, and he asked: “Why?”

“I want to know what exactly happened at that time? He went to find you, and came back a different person.” Yu Zipei seemed to be floating in the clouds, she waved her hand, adding some non-existent sorrow to the air, “Zhou Zhao won’t tell me, Li Lin won’t tell me, and you disappeared too. Aren’t we friends?”

“I…are we friends?”

Yu Zipei blinked, she was already a mother, with more dignity and knowledge between her gestures, she coaxed like she was coaxing a child: “Of course we’re friends, I even read your palm.”

Wanderer had a wooden face, he stretched out his hand, pressing it a few times himself, “Yes, you’re right, my lifeline is short.”

Yu Zipei was a little embarrassed, she now felt that this wasn’t a good thing to say, and scratched a mosquito bite on her arm.

“Ah, it’s also possible that your fingers are longer than your palm, I’ve seen a lot of those, my ex-husband is one, but this kind of old geezer will definitely live a long time.”

“Ex-husband,” Wanderer wondered, “You’re divorced?”

Yu Zipei nodded, she sucked the ice cubes in her glass, chewing them with a crunching sound, saying nonchalantly: “We couldn’t get along, so if we didn’t divorce, were we supposed to endure it?”

Wanderer echoed: “Enduring is not a solution.”

A ghost called “words” was floating above the heads of the two people, and now the ghost was dead.

Yu Zipei glanced at Wanderer.

Wanderer glanced at Yu Zipei.

Yu Zipei held her head, her eyes looking elsewhere, “Do you smoke?”

Wanderer shook his head, “I recently quit smoking successfully.”

Yu Zipei presented a pack of cigarettes, begging, “Can you start smoking again?”

“What exactly happened at that time?”

Five minutes later, in the smoking area outside the bar, Wanderer exhaled a puff of white smoke, and helplessly covered his face when he heard Yu Zipei’s voice. “If you’re really curious, he’ll tell you, right?”

“He won’t tell me.”

Yu Zipei’s manicures shone brightly under the light, like ten glittering stars, Wanderer was a little dizzy.

“We argued at that time, and then he went to find you alone. At first, when I called, he still answered. It wasn’t long before he came back and broke up with me. I went crazy and beat him up. He didn’t fight back, and then summer vacation started, and he applied to go to the United States for an exchange,” Yu Zipei smoked like a middle-aged man passing by on the street, she bit her teeth on the cigarette, her tongue pointing upwards, smoking a cigarette arrogantly, as if she had a belly full of speeches on how to teach people to succeed, “Exchange is exchange, I didn’t have to be with him. But when he graduated from college, he came back, guess what he said to me?”

Wanderer took a breath, Yu Zipei clapped the backs of her hands together, touching and separating, the pair of hands flying left and right, reminding people of the saying: couples are birds of the same forest, and they fly away when disaster strikes, “He said he is asexual now.”

Yu Zipei buried her head on Wanderer’s shoulder, Wanderer tensed up all over, was Yu Zipei going to end me early?

“Little Wanderer, do you know what asexual is?”

Looks like not. Wanderer was like a punctured balloon, slowly relaxing, he honestly said: “I know. I learned a little when I searched for ‘queer’.”

“Asexual! What the hell does that mean? He even turned into an asexual person while dating us! Little Wanderer! He’s insulting both of us!” Yu Zipei grabbed Wanderer’s shoulders and shook him back and forth, Wanderer still had a cigarette in his mouth, like a shaker, his head full of question marks.

“Stop, stop, okay?” Wanderer put his hands together, “You are my, you are my, Zhou Zhao and I have never been together, it’s not me who made him lose hope in men.”

Yu Zipei lost her mind, her nails embedded in Wanderer’s skin, “You’re going too far, I’m being the third wheel, but I don’t care, and I’m telling you my heart, and you still dare to lie to me!”

“It really wasn’t me.”

“It’s you!”

Yu Zipei picked up her bag and shouted: “It’s you! You little mistress! The little mistress seduced my husband! Everyone come and see! What are you looking at me for, is it great to have long hair!”