Chapter 33: Why Didn’t You Call Out?

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Wu Dahai also told me an embarrassing story about my cousin. Once, after payday, my cousin and several friends went to Dacheng Village to have some fun. After agreeing on a price, they even treated the girls to barbecue. The girl my cousin had chosen packed up a portion to take with her when she left.

When they returned to the rented room, my cousin was drenched in sweat from exhaustion. The girl did not say a word. He looked up and saw that she was eating the barbecue.

My cousin immediately grew annoyed. “Goddammit, I went out of my way to buy you a meal. Wasn’t that so you’d give better service? I’m exhausted, and you still have the energy to eat barbecue?”

The girl said, “Then what do you want me to do?”

“Moan,” my cousin replied.

So whenever my cousin moved, the girl took a bite of barbecue and cried out, “Ah!”

Later, when my cousin complained about the incident, everyone laughed until their stomachs hurt.

Whether the story was true or not, it was clear enough that the “bed workers” of Dacheng Village were astonishingly unprofessional.

When he suggested taking me there, I shook my head. “Places like that are, theoretically speaking, cesspools where filth gathers. Getting involved with that sort of thing might only damage your luck at best, and at worst leave you covered in trouble.”

“You’ve read yourself half-mad. All you talk about is feudal superstition. Then again, you’ve loved that kind of nonsense since you were little. So what are we supposed to do? Let some little ghost suck us dry by ourselves? Go out and get contaminated by dirty things? Are you saying a living man can actually suffocate himself to death?” my cousin said.

“Can’t you find a girlfriend?” I asked.

“I earn barely enough to cover my own expenses. How am I supposed to find a girlfriend?” he said.

I almost pointed out that Wang Chuyi had found himself a girlfriend who worked as a waitress. We all worked in the same place—what made one of us so much better than the other? But then I remembered that I was single myself. I had no right to criticize anyone.

My cousin changed the subject. “You won money from A Bao today, so be careful. That guy isn’t very broad-minded. But don’t be afraid—if he dares touch you, he’ll have to think twice. And if things get bad, just go to Uncle Yong. Wouldn’t that scare the piss out of him?”

“I’m not afraid of him,” I said.

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He continued, “Just thinking about it makes me feel good. That Leopard Brother has incredible luck. I’ve played cards with him so many times and never won once. Brother Cai has had it even worse. By my rough calculation, he’s lost twenty thousand over the past year or so, and more than half of it went to Leopard Brother. I sometimes wonder whether those bastards know some kind of trick.”

I opened my pack of cigarettes and tossed him one.

I took one for myself as well and said, “They were cheating. I already discovered it. Do you think I won money today because I was lucky? I saw through his tricks and used his own methods against him!”

My cousin froze. “Seriously?!”

I told him the whole story—how I had uncovered his cheating, how I had countered it—and even demonstrated the method.

When I finished, my cousin’s expression suddenly became strange.

He did not ask where I had learned those things. Instead, he looked at me and said, “Cousin, why didn’t you get me to help you? Why did you choose Wang Chuyi instead? Fine, you didn’t involve me—but you kept me completely in the dark. Do you know how nervous I was while you two were gambling this afternoon?”

Seeing the reaction of my cousin, Chen Jianjun, I finally understood how accurately Xiaowen had read the situation.

If she had not warned me, and I had failed to tell my cousin about it, I would certainly have hurt the feelings of this seemingly carefree man.

“Cheating is dangerous. I didn’t know how capable Leopard Brother really was, and I was afraid he might see through you. Besides, everyone knows we’re cousins. If you weren’t gambling and just stood behind me giving signals, it would have been too obvious. Even if he didn’t understand it at the time, he might have figured it out afterward. As for why I didn’t tell you beforehand, I was afraid you’d get nervous and give us away,” I said, forcing an explanation.

Only then did my cousin’s expression relax. He was a careless, straightforward man, and I had managed to make amends in time.

“You’re underestimating me. When it comes to acting, if I’d had the chance, I definitely wouldn’t have been inferior to the Four Heavenly Kings!” my cousin said.

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“Then we’ll work together next time. But remember, Cousin, you can’t let anyone else know about this. Secrets are the key to success,” I said.

We chatted sporadically until it was time to sleep. Then Chen Jianjun suddenly sighed.

“A Cheng, do you look down on your cousin?”

“Of course not,” I said hurriedly.

He lit another cigarette. “You don’t have to say it. I know. I’ve been working away from home for so many years, and the only time I manage to grit my teeth and save up two months’ wages is before the New Year, so I can buy myself a new outfit. Once I get home, I take the bus whenever I can. Then I calculate the shortest possible distance before taking a taxi. I practically wish the driver would circle the village three times. Everyone there smokes cigarettes that cost eighty cents or a yuan a pack, so I buy the three- or five-yuan ones they’d never normally be willing to smoke and hand them out to everyone I meet. I’m terrified people will realize how poor I am. I grit my teeth and hold on to my last scraps of pride, determined to keep up appearances.”

“Everyone says I make big money down south. Who knows that I’m really just a waiter serving tea and water? With all the odds and ends added together, I earn three to five hundred yuan a month at most. It isn’t simply that low wages make it impossible to save. I’ve seen someone who’s truly ruthless about saving. There’s a guy at our restaurant named Little Sun who can split a single yuan in half before spending it. His room costs thirty-five yuan a month. It doesn’t leak, at least, but it’s a mud house full of cockroaches and bedbugs whenever the weather gets hot. If he can eat at the restaurant, he absolutely won’t eat outside. He earns fifty-eight hundred yuan a year and manages to save fifty-three hundred.”

“Every time I go home, I give your aunt and uncle eight hundred yuan. They’ve never said a word or complained that it was too little. After all, the two of them only earn one or two thousand yuan a year at home. We see each other just once a year. Whenever I see how carefully they live, wearing the same clothes year after year, I swear that next year I’ll save money like Little Sun. But within a few days of leaving home, all my grand ambitions vanish. Live like Little Sun—never socialize, never make friends, never replace your clothes, and wear your underwear until the threads come loose? I’m not looking down on him. I just can’t do it. What the hell would be the point of living like that?”

“After enough time, a person just goes numb. Maybe I’m afraid that if I go home, I’ll feel guilty and swear another oath, only to forget it all over again after I return. By the end of the year, I’m anxious and ashamed, and sometimes I’d rather not go home at all. But if I don’t go, I miss them, and that makes me miserable. When I’m miserable, I want to spend money, drink, play cards, and brag with my friends. I’m not saying I’m deliberately trying to numb myself, but at least those things keep me from thinking too much. At least in those moments, I feel alive. I know it’s wrong, but I just can’t change.”

“Eventually I figured it out. It wasn’t that I didn’t know how to save money—it was that I didn’t earn enough. But what good did realizing that do? I don’t know how to earn more. You’ve been clever since you were little. You can study, and you know how to think things through. You arrived only yesterday, yet you managed to get Uncle Yong to show us respect and join us for a meal. More importantly, you actually walked into the room of the girl I’d secretly admired for a whole year without even daring to look her in the eye. Brother Cai lost money for an entire year without understanding how, while you saw through it at a glance and even turned the tables on him. Even I’m not so stupid that I can’t tell you’re better than me.”

“When Third Grandfather was alive, I heard him say that one of his old comrades knew how to read faces. When you were three, that comrade came to our house. The moment he saw you, he was astonished. He said you had the Three Stars Gathering at the Crown in your features—that in literature you would achieve the highest honors, and in warfare you would roam victorious across the battlefield. You probably don’t know about this because Third Grandfather died young. Before he died, he bragged about it every day. But when you were little, you were missing a few screws. How badly? I remember taking you out to play when you were already four. I pointed at a piece of candy-colored chicken droppings and called it candy. You picked it up and ate it. When I asked how it tasted, you said it was sweet. After that, even Third Grandfather was too embarrassed to mention the Three Stars Gathering at the Crown again. If I hadn’t watched you handle things these past few days, I probably wouldn’t have remembered any of it.”

“Looking back now, that fortune-teller was right. You’re destined to accomplish great things. Your cousin doesn’t have much ability and can’t help you much, but don’t worry. Whenever you need me, I’ll give you everything I’ve got. We’re family. No matter what, that makes us better than outsiders.”

My cousin, Chen Jianjun, said all of this in one breath.

He had even said more than Xiaowen had while lecturing me.

Most importantly, I had once again heard the phrase “Three Stars Gathering at the Crown.”

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