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After lighting his cigarette, Xie Shang looked up, and amidst the swirling smoke, his gaze collided with that of Wen Changling, who was outside the alley.
Wen Changling withdrew her gaze first, pretending not to have seen, and supported Jhiang Youyou as they headed to the side of the road to wait for a car.
Jhiang Youyou had mostly sobered up: "Do you know that group of people?"
"I know one of them."
Gu Yihuan doesn't count, as Wen Changling had never directly encountered him at the Gu Family's.
Jhiang Youyou guessed casually: "Xie Shang?"
Wen Changling immediately looked towards Jhiang Youyou.
"Do you also know him?"
Jhiang Youyou said, "A friend of my friend reached the age for marriage, and her family was pressuring her to wed. She slit her wrists in protest, declaring she would marry no one but Xie Shang. Left with no choice, her parents shamelessly approached the Xie Family to propose. Xie Shang didn't show up and just had someone send a floral basket to the hospital."
"Did he let her down then?"
"No, he doesn't even remember her name."
Wen Changling's initial reaction was incomprehension, but then, after thinking it over, it didn't seem so strange after all; that person was Xie Shang, after all, the very Xie Shang whom even the vicious dog Little Black would wag its tail at upon seeing.
Jhiang Youyou, affecting a tone like that of a playboy, called Wen Changling "sister" to bring her thoughts back to the present, and earnestly told her, "Such people are dangerous."
Yes.
Xie Shang was very dangerous; Wen Changling had already realized this at Lileitu.
Jhiang Youyou must be part of Xie Shang's circle, or if not, at least someone who could have contact with the same circle. Wen Changling saw Jhiang Youyou into her car and even took note of the license plate number, then returned to look for Yan Cong.
The green taxi carrying Jhiang Youyou had already driven past the traffic light intersection and turned left at the junction.
At the entrance of the alley stood a man, staring in the direction of the intersection.
"Sixing, over here."
Gu Yihuan was calling him.
His gaze remained fixed and unmovable.
Gu Yihuan approached and peered in the same direction: "What are you looking at?"
"Nothing."
Guan Sixing turned his attention away and walked towards Xie Shang's group. In his hand, he carried a canvas bag, emblazoned with: The 7th Physics Research Institute.
Unlike Gu Yihuan's exaggerated punk outfit, Guan Sixing was dressed in a neat white shirt and black pants, and the glasses he wore were frameless squares. In this restless age, few people possessed such a studious aura as he.
*****
It was almost eleven o'clock, and Granny Zhu hadn't gone to bed yet, claiming that Huahua was missing.
Wen Changling helped to look for her, and after searching around, discovered that Huahua was perched atop the courtyard wall, tilting her head back as if admiring the moon. Huahua was very sensible; on normal days, whenever she approached the Hooked Cymbidium at the back of the yard, Wen Changling would promptly pick her up and shake her head. After a few such occasions, Huahua understood not to go near that plant.
Tonight, for some reason, Huahua was nestled on the vine-covered wall. Wen Changling brought a ladder, positioned it carefully, and cautiously climbed up. When she was at a height where she could reach, she lay halfway over the wall, reaching out to grab Huahua, and before she could touch her, she was spotted—
"Wen Changling."
The neighbor next door had noticed her.
He had apparently just finished showering, his hair still damp. Wen Changling wondered if she should explain herself. Would he misunderstand and think she was a voyeur intruding while he bathed?
"What are you doing?"
She explained, "Catching a cat." She really wasn't being a voyeur.
Huahua suddenly leaped forward and jumped into Xie Shang's yard.
Wen Changling: "..."
```
So annoying.
Xie Shang, looking up, watched her embarrassment leisurely from beneath the wall, "Go through the front door."
"Oh."
Wen Changling climbed down the ladder and dragged her feet as she entered through the front door of Xie Shang's house.
Xie Shang, like an old man, lay on the bamboo chair in the yard, with a plate of incense lit on the chair next to him. He looked extremely relaxed with nothing to do but didn't go to help; instead, he just watched Wen Changling with her head down, clumsily chasing around the yard after the cat that seemed like it had taken a dose of stimulants.
Wen Changling couldn't fully extend her arms and legs, for Xie Shang's yard was filled with many flowers and plants she did not recognize, all looking quite extraordinary. While chasing, the cat vanished without a trace.
She was sweating profusely, close to shutting down.
Finally, Xie Shang deigned to speak, "Stop looking, it won't get lost."
Wen Changling indeed no longer wanted to search and dusted the leaves off her pants, turned to look at Xie Shang, and took back the foot she had stepped forward with.
"Xie Shang."
He grunted in acknowledgment.
She moved closer, and scrutinizing his face and neck in the light, she asked, "Did you get an allergic reaction?"
Xie Shang turned his face away, "…Bitten by mosquitoes."
It was clear he was very, very irritated at the moment.
Wen Changling purposely walked around him to stare at his face. Not just his neck, there was also a big, red... mosquito bite on his forehead.
Lotus Pond Street had plenty of flora, and there would be mosquitoes even before May, which were quite poisonous.
The mosquitoes, more reliable than Little Black, finally gave Xie Shang a taste of the world's dangers. Suddenly, Wen Changling wasn't feeling so depressed.
"Wait here."
She ran back to her yard and borrowed a pestle and mortar from Granny Zhu.
The vines of the Hooked Cymbidium had already crept into Xie Shang's yard. She balanced herself against the wall, reached for a few leaves, added them to the pestle, and crushed them into green juice.
Xie Shang kept scratching his neck, creating many red marks. His hair was still wet, he wore a white top free of any design, and the combination of the light, incense, and his eyes made him look somewhat radiant, like… after the fact. Alright, that description was a bit offensive, Wen Changling stopped her random thoughts.
"If you had helped to catch the cat earlier instead of just sitting there, you might not have been bitten by the mosquito," Wen Changling accidentally blurted out what she had been criticizing in her mind.
"So it's my fault."
Xie Shang, in a bad mood and with a mosquito bite on his head, was very vivid; he appeared to be holding back anger, which he restrainedly directed at Wen Changling.
Wen Changling chose silence and continued to grind the medicine.
"What plant is this?" Xie Shang asked.
"Hooked Cymbidium."
"Broken Heart Grass?"
Wen Changling was surprised, "You know?"
The name Hooked Cymbidium was so misleading that very few people knew its other name was Broken Heart Grass.
"Heard of it," said Xie Shang, "Isn't Broken Heart Grass poisonous?"
Wen Changling nodded, brought the pestle and mortar over, moved the incense from the chair to the ground, sat on the chair, and gestured for Xie Shang to come closer.
He didn't move, his gaze firmly fixed on her.
"Wen Changling, I just didn't help you find the cat."
His expression said: Miss Wen, are you trying to poison me to death?