Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Shanghai Reunited (V)

Where was she staying? Yu Man Yi didn’t speak for a moment.

This was another topic that could lead to an unpleasant conversation. The hostel where Yu Man Yi stayed was the cheapest on the block, packed with outsiders new to Shanghai. The female dormitory was somewhat better in terms of hygiene and the number of people compared to the male dormitory, with only six people in the room. Yu Man Yi referred to them as sisters and aunts.

She didn’t want Song Qi to know that she was staying in such a place, so she only gave him the name of the street. Song Qi was somewhat surprised at first, saying, “It’s not far from me, but I’ve never seen that hostel.”

Of course, he wouldn't have seen it. It was a very small entrance, obscured by a stall from a nearby wonton shop that made it hard to read the sign. Yu Man Yi didn’t want him to ask more questions. Fortunately, at that moment, the doorbell rang.

It was the sound of knuckles tapping on the door, urgent and rhythmic. Song Qi turned around, signaling for Yu Man Yi to wait, then stood up and opened the front door.

His body blocked the view from outside, but Yu Man Yi leaned over to peek and saw an old man in black uniform standing outside. He slightly bowed and whispered something to Song Qi. Song Qi’s tone shifted after that.

“Where is he?” he asked.

“He just passed by the front door, went out to buy cigarettes. They asked me if you were home and told me to watch you and make sure you don’t leave. They’ll be here soon.”

Song Qi interrupted the conversation with a quick “thank you,” then returned to Yu Man Yi’s side, his movements now much more urgent.

“What happened?”

“It’s nothing,” Song Qi said, not explaining things further. “I have some matters to attend to. You should head back now.”

Huo Shiwen had warned Yu Man Yi that Song Qi might not keep her for long, but this was much too short. She quickly recalled her conversation with Huo Shiwen and asked, “Is it the police coming?”

Song Qi furrowed his brows. “Did Huo Ji say that to you?”Yu Man Yi realized that Song Qi's resistance when he realized she knew too much was just like her own resistance when she heard that Song Qi knew about the fire at the You family. It turned out that “revealing everything” made one lose a sense of control. So, she quickly changed her words, saying, “No, she only said that you had some trouble with the newspaper last year. I... I guessed.”

She raised her hand and pointed outside the door: “The old man described it, and it sounded like something the police would do.”

Song Qi remained silent, looking at her for a few seconds, then went to the window to look down. The room was already poorly lit, and the sky was getting darker. Yu Man Yi could only see his silent, slender figure, his back straight. She remembered his silhouette more clearly than his face; he had once shielded her behind him in the hall of the Yu family’s house. Now, his temperament had changed quite a bit, but his figure was still as tall and straight as it was back then.

Yu Man Yi watched him look out the window and then, absentmindedly, reach into his wallet, pulling out a stack of bills without counting them, and placing them on the table in front of her.

“You should go back,” he spoke quickly, “I remember that street is very shabby. Go back, pack your things, and change to a better hostel. Don’t come find me for a while. I…”

The money was pushed in front of Yu Man Yi, completely unexpected, and combined with his tone, which was both hurried and dismissive, it caught her off guard.

“I didn’t come to ask you for money.” Yu Man Yi said, her usual gentle tone now tinged with irritation.

But what did she come for? She had purposely worn old clothes to make herself appear “more pitiful,” but she didn’t really want Song Qi to pity her. The moment she saw him, she felt a mix of grievance and dependence, as if the person who dared to burn the Yu family was a separate personality she had split off. What exactly was she here for?

Things had been fine just now. He had scolded her cousin for her, and it felt like she had returned to those days in the cellar. That night, when she stayed in the small alley with him, it was what she wanted. He had taught her how to use the flashlight and desk lamp, and when she cried, he sat at her bedside and wrote her an IOU, one she still couldn’t bring herself to cash in.

But why, now, was he just hastily and bluntly handing her a stack of money?

At this moment, Song Qi seemed to realize that his actions were somewhat inappropriate. He pressed his finger on the stack of bills, his tone still urgent, but with a hint of explanation: “I didn’t... I was trying to…”

He was living well now, dressing well, and no longer looked like the poor student he once was. But in Yu Man Yi’s heart, he seemed less than the Song Qi who had helped her step over the threshold of the landlady’s door and lived with her in that small stone house.

“You and my cousin are the same,” the grievance she had just processed turned into a new one, “You’re all in such a hurry to push me away. I never asked for anything from you!”Her voice was full of grievance, but this time her eyes weren’t red. Instead, her gaze at Song Qi became stubborn and defiant. Her tears were precious, and not everyone could earn them. In the end, Yu Man Yi gave him one last glance, deliberately bending over to push the money on the table to one side, then gulped down the glass of water.

She took the IOU from her pocket and threw it onto the table, saying, “I’ve given you a cup of water in the cellar. Now we’re even.”

After saying that, she left without looking back. As Song Qi stood up to chase after her, he suddenly heard a conversation coming from the first floor.

After a brief pause, she had already skipped down the stairs two at a time. The echo in the stairwell was loud, and he heard the old doorman who had let the police in ask in surprise when he saw Yu Man Yi:

“When did you come in? Which tenant are you looking for?”

“I’m not looking for anyone.” Yu Man Yi replied coldly. Then, all the sounds she made disappeared into the hallway.

In the women’s dormitory, the snoring was as loud as thunder. Yu Man Yi was half-dreaming, half-awake.

She had come back and collapsed onto her bed. A few of the older girls she shared the room with thought she was ill. She indeed looked like she was sick, with a flushed face and hot eyelids, but she lay there on the bed, silent, refusing to speak to anyone.

She stubbornly maintained that position and fell asleep.

The nightmare persisted, coming as expected. Once again, thick smoke and unquenchable flames rolled above the Yu family house. Today was even worse—those who should have died in the fire, the members of the Yu family, were all alive again, their faces scorched, dark and grim, staring at Yu Man Yi, who was trying to escape the yard.

They blocked the path she was trying to take from the back garden, standing in front of the artificial rockery. Their clothes were tattered, their skin charred, and their hands burned, resembling melting candle stumps, with red wax dripping from their fingers.

Yu Man Yi wanted to run, but she tripped. She crawled on the ground and turned her head, seeing a bridal sedan and a suona being carried out from the fire, with a matchmaker whose features had melted away. Above the Yu family house, shrouded in thick smoke, a faceless man began to take shape, his red wedding attire seemingly emerging from the fire itself.

Her scream was muffled by the pillow she had buried her face in. Yu Man Yi woke up in a cold sweat, feeling her heart pounding violently against the bed.She pressed her heart to sleep.

She realized that her heartbeat was louder than the drum sounds in her dream. However, the snoring in the women's dormitory was just as loud as the sounds coming from her own body. Yu Man Yi wiped the sweat from her forehead with her pillowcase and cautiously crawled out of bed. When putting on her shoes, she deliberately glanced under the bed, afraid something might crawl out.

The older women in the dormitory were all fast asleep; they were all physical workers. Yu Man Yi walked over to a bed where she knew someone and crouched down, saying, "Sister, sister, can you come with me to get something to eat?"

What answered her was even louder snoring, and not just from one person.

After asking three people with no result, Yu Man Yi, who hadn’t had dinner, resigned herself to gathering her long hair into a bun with a pen and went out the door to find food.

The nightmare had been so vivid that it made her feel like the hostel at night was full of danger, and she never knew where a burnt shadow might appear. Hugging her arms, Yu Man Yi walked to the door, her steps suddenly stopping—there was indeed a shadow outside the door.

However, this shadow was different from the hunched, short figure in her dream. It was tall, straight, and lonely. The person stood at the hostel entrance with his head lowered, and his raised arm trembled slightly. It was then that Yu Man Yi noticed he was flicking ash from a cigarette.

She wasn’t familiar with that posture, but she was more familiar with that figure than anyone. Especially—Yu Man Yi scolded herself—especially the spot around his waist, which she had once held when riding a bicycle with him. She also drew, and had a clear memory of the lines of that area.

She pushed open the half-closed door and let the figure in front of her be fully exposed. At that moment, the cigarette ash in his hand fell, and when the wind blew, it scattered just like the black smoke above the Yu family house.

She had never told Song Qi the exact location of the hostel; she had only mentioned the street. And yet, he was standing at the door in the middle of the night. Yu Man Yi hated how quickly she had softened. This quick softening came from her strong ability to imagine things.

However, Song Qi was more skilled at finding death than at finding a way to live. He glanced at Yu Man Yi, then at the hostel, and said, "This is a place where people live?"

"Always talking about peasants and the proletariat," Yu Man Yi said, shutting the door firmly, "We proletarians live here."

"Alright," Song Qi agreed.

"What are you doing wandering around the streets at this hour?""Good evening, it's easier to find the door at night," Song Qi said. "During the day, with so many people, it would be harder to find. This hostel of yours, really..."

He had a lot of complaints about the hostel. If Yu Man Yi weren't staying here, he wouldn't have rushed into making mistakes. He just wanted to give her money so she could move to a better place. Yu Man Yi only understood the literal meaning of his words. She turned to glance at the hostel's entrance and realized it really was too small. During the day, the food stalls on both sides of the street blocked it, making it impossible to spot.

"I didn't expect you to come out this late."

"I'm hungry."

Of course, she was hungry. She was so upset by him that she skipped dinner and went straight to bed, only to end up exhausted in her dreams. Upon hearing this, Song Qi extinguished his cigarette and offered her an option. "There's a wonton stall over there, it's still open."

Yu Man Yi remembered how she had taken Song Qi to a restaurant to eat Shao San Xian. He had boasted, "If you come to Shanghai, I will also treat you with great hospitality." Yet, his current form of hospitality was just yellow fish wontons. When they sat down, she kept a cold face. Song Qi glanced at her and ordered two bowls from the stall owner, saying, "When I say I’ll treat you, I really will. But you just got here today, so you have to give me time to make arrangements..."

"You told me not to come find you recently," Yu Man Yi said. "You were the one who chased me away."

"At that time, it was really urgent," Song Qi replied. "What I meant was, it's not convenient for me there, so don't come find me. Once you've settled into a new place, it will be easier... for me to come find you."

After finishing his sentence, he pulled out his cigarette box and lighter from his clothes, and then took out a crumpled piece of paper from the bottom. Yu Man Yi lowered her eyes and saw him push the IOU back in front of her.

"Don't leave your things here," he said.