The man said, “I don’t know where he went. I didn’t see him either.”
Jiang Ran stopped listening at that point.
He turned and left the activity room, exited the apartment building, and walked into Building No. 2.
As he entered Building No. 2, he saw Manager Wu Meiling inside the management office, kissing, hugging, and lifting a man in his twenties.
Then the two of them embraced each other as they left the office and walked into Manager Wu Meiling’s private single-room unit on the first floor.
What would happen next in that private room went without saying—clearly, something shameful.
In this world, the sexual behavior of most animals is driven solely by the need to reproduce.
But humans are different. They engage in sexual behavior not just for reproduction but also for their own entertainment, stress relief, and so on.
After witnessing Manager Wu Meiling and that young man enter the private room, Jiang Ran walked into the elevator of Building No. 2 and rode it all the way up to the rooftop. Once on the rooftop, he walked to the edge, let the cold wind blow against him, and gazed down at the buildings below and the distant scenery.
“In just two or three days, it’ll be the New Year,” he murmured.
“But somehow, the New Year feels less and less like the New Year these days.”
…
Evening, 8 PM.
“Hey, is this Xiao He? I’m a little drunk. Can you come pick me up?”
Xiao He had just clocked out of the factory and was about to leave when she received a call from her good friend.
Xiao He was that rural girl from Yun Province who had come to Nancheng City to work.
She was the one whose life Jiang Ran had once saved from the illegal taxi driver.
If it hadn’t been for Jiang Ran back then—if it hadn’t been for the main personality, Jiang Ran, who only remembered kindness—Xiao He would probably be in deep trouble by now.
Of course, “deep trouble” meant her life would still be intact, but her freedom would be gone.
That illegal taxi driver gang specialized in human trafficking—selling young girls to remote mountain villages, forcing them to become wives for older men who couldn’t find spouses, trapping them there for life.
Back then, Jiang Ran had sensed danger and knew the illegal taxi driver was up to no good, so he tried to persuade Xiao He not to take the ride. But in the end, she was still tricked into getting on that car.
If Jiang Ran had held onto the mindset that good advice is wasted on the damned—that since he had already warned her out of kindness and she still refused to listen, it wasn’t his fault—then Xiao He would really be screwed by now.
There would be no time for regrets.
As the saying goes, oranges grown in the south are sweet oranges, but when grown in the north, they become bitter trifoliate oranges.
The environment shapes a person. Different environments produce people with completely different appearances.
When Jiang Ran first met Xiao He, she was a girl dressed in shabby, outdated clothes, with a very old-fashioned style.
Her skin was especially dark and yellow.
But if Jiang Ran could meet this Xiao He now, he would be astonished to discover that since she came to Nancheng City and started working here, her clothing style had become completely different from before.
She wasn’t exactly fashionable or trendsetting. But at least now, her clothes were pleasant to look at—no longer standing out as awkwardly as they did at the airport back then.
As for her skin condition, who knows if she had started using some cosmetics or skincare products after arriving here, but her complexion had become a little fairer.
In short, the Xiao He of now and the Xiao He of that time were worlds apart.
Especially back then, every time she said “I,” it came out as “us folks.” She didn’t do that anymore. Now she said “I” properly, not “us folks.”
“Okay, I’ll come pick you up. Same place as usual? But seriously, can you drink a little less? And stop hanging out with those guys—it’s dangerous.”
If it weren’t for this good friend of Xiao He’s, she wouldn’t have come to Nancheng City to work.
“Heh, Xiao He, are you telling me to become an old nun like you? I’ve introduced so many guys to you, but you didn’t like any of them.”
“It’s not that I didn’t like them. I just want to work more now and save some money. I don’t want to waste time dating.”
“Come on, we’re not kids anymore. You and I are both over twenty. If you don’t date now, when will you? Save money? Save it for whom? For your parents?”
Xiao He’s good friend was named Xiao Chun.
Xiao Chun’s family also valued boys over girls. That was why Xiao Chun couldn’t stand her family and ran off from Yun Province to work in Nancheng City.
Xiao He replied to Xiao Chun, “I don’t know who I’m saving for either, but having some money in my hands always makes me feel secure.”
Xiao Chun laughed on the phone. “Oh, come on. Money is external stuff. Our mission right now is to find a boyfriend who loves us and really experience romance, not to be nuns.”
“You stay in that factory all day long—work, work, work—you’re practically turning into a wooden dummy. We have to enjoy life, you know? Enjoy life.”
Xiao He wanted to say something else, but she heard other male voices on the other end of the line—sounded like more than one.
And Xiao Chun was urging her to come pick her up quickly, saying she was a little drunk and wanted to go home to rest.
So Xiao He hung up the phone and let out a sigh.
By then, she had arrived at the factory’s bike shed and got on an electric bike.
She left the Fada Electronics Factory where she worked and rode toward Xiao Chun’s location.
Xiao He knew where Xiao Chun was. Xiao Chun was probably at a village-within-the-city that wasn’t too far from the electronics factory.
Xiao Chun’s boyfriend had rented a place there.
Usually, Xiao Chun, her boyfriend, and their other male and female friends would gather there to party and hang out.
Xiao He had gone once, at Xiao Chun’s invitation.
But she only went that one time and never went again. Because she always ended up getting harassed by the other guys there—either they wanted to add her on WeChat, or they invited her out to play or watch movies.
The village-within-the-city where Xiao Chun lived was fairly large and crowded with a chaotic mix of people. Almost everyone there was a migrant worker from other provinces who had come to Nancheng City. So the place was a melting pot of all kinds of people, with poor security and incomplete surveillance coverage.
After riding for quite a while, Xiao He finally reached the village-within-the-city. Then she zigzagged her way through the village on her electric bike.
Just then, she happened to pass through a narrow alley. This alley was only wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
And the lighting in this alley was poor, making it very dark.
So Xiao He slowed down her bike and rode through carefully.
Of course, she slowed down because she also saw someone walking toward her from the other end of the alley.
She was afraid of accidentally scratching that person.
But just as they passed each other—
Xiao He never expected that this person, whose face she hadn’t even seen clearly, would suddenly attack her.
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