Chapter 122 - The safest place

Translator: Lionwwang  Editor: Lionwwang

Although the weather in winter in the south is warmer, it’s still cold to stand on the roadside in the early morning.

Dorra’s clothes are thin. I see she is shriveling, taking off my coat and putting it on her. When I hold her hand, I find she is frowning slightly. I take her palm and look at it. There are all the bloods on it.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just now, when climbing the wall, my hand was scratched.” She is frowning with pain.

Looking at the wound on the hand, it seems that it is very serious! I lead her to a shelter and look around, but I can not find any 24-hour convenience store. Now I can’t even buy her a bottle of water to wash her hands.

I’m a little annoyed, but she has quieted down and leaning beside me. Originally, she seldom spoke tonight, but now she is whispering to me: “Chen Yang, that woman, you knew her? Did you have the feuds with her in the past?”

I think about it, just nodding. I don’t want to go into details with her about those dirty things in past.

“Then, did she want you to be her business partner?” The girl is asking timidly.

I take a deep breath, standing in front of her, staring at her eyes, saying slowly: “Those people, those things, are like ghosts, your eyes have seen, your ears have heard. I just want to tell you one thing that you can’t be too deprived of your conscience! I am not a good person. There’s something I would like to do, but there are also some I will never touch. Some money can be earned, some money dirty hands!” After a pause, I say lightly, “I don’t expect you to understand this now. But when you want to do anything in the future, you must think it over. Sooner or later, you will understand it someday.”

She is hanging her little face for a moment with silent, sighing suddenly: “I feel I myself like a big hindrance.”

“What did you say?” I’m stunned.

“I feel I am a hindrance.” She is saying slowly word by word, “When we go out, I need you to take care of everything. Without you, I don’t know what to do. I know that looking after me must be very tired for you. If it wasn’t me bothering you, you would have gone very far and already safe now.”

When she’s saying these words, instead of tears, she’s looking at me and speaking slowly in a seemingly calm tone. In the early morning light, her eyes are brighter than the cold stars in the sky!

“Don’t say that.” I shake my head.

At this moment, the sounds of cars are coming from the street, and then the lights flashing. Two TV interview vans are driving quickly past. They are from the direction where we escaped, following them are some police cars.

Looking at those full police cars, it seems that the police’s operation was fruitful!

And it seems to be a very large-scale, organized and well-planned raid and siege operation. There are even medias following to make the vedio recording for broadcast.

Dorra is leaning on me, and I move a little quietly to use my back to keep her out of the wind.

Nearly one hour later, there’s another vehicle driving here. It’s a medium-sized van with the words “Clean Vegetable Supply”. The headlights are on and flashing. I hesitate for a moment and whisper to Dorra: “You just wait here. If I call you, you can come out! If you see anything wrong,” I point to an alley behind us, “You just run! As far away as possible!”

The van is driving all the way, then turning a corner at the end of the street and turning back.

I’m sure this is the man who’s coming to pick us up. Then I take a few steps along the building before I come to the roadside, reach for the van to stop.

The van stops, then the window is falling down, and a huge head is coming out of it. Listen to the voice, this is the one who was contacting with me in the phone for the past two days. Originally, the voice in the phone was deep, but hearing in a low and muffled feeling now.

This is a fat man with a round head. His face should have been square, but the fat makes it round. He is sitting on the van and looking at me: “Chen Yang?”

“It’s me.” I hide one hand in my pants pocket and holding a knife there.

He’s looking around me, eyes falling on my pants pocket, and a funny smile is appearing on his face finally: “You’re too careful! Still don’t believe me?”

I shake my head: “Now I have two lives in my hands. I have to be careful.”

The fat man has a pair of eyes which do not match his round face. His eyes are very small, but very active! When he is blinking, his eyesights are flashing sharply from time to time.

I notice that he’s interested in observing me.

I shout at Dorra’s hiding place, and the girl is coming out, running towards quickly and throwing herself into my arms. The fat man is squinting at me, then pointing to the van’s door and saying: “Get in.”

There’s a strange smell in the van, like the vegetable flavors in the vegetable market. There are some rotten vegetable leaves in the corners of the ground.

The fat man let us sit down, and then starts the van, and hands back a bottle of water from the front. He says lightly: “Wash the girl’s hands. Her hands are white and tender, how can bleed so much blood?”

Until now, my heart has finally really settled down. Although there’re still some vigilance, but I have relaxed a lot. Dorra’s face also has a little more color. I wash the wound on her hand and open the bag. Although the bag was cut and lost a lot of things, but there are anti-inflammatory drugs, I put them on her hands.

The fat man in front of me is looking in the mirror. Sees I’ve done, he hands me a cigarette with his back hand, saying lightly: “Kid, just take a puff and have a break. You don’t look very well either.”

This guy is always speaking slowly. Seems he’s harmless and generous and hard to be alert. But I know the more such people like that, the more I need to be careful!

After hesitate for a moment, I light the cigarette and smoke. I can’t help being surprised.

The smoke smells very strong and unspeakable, but I immediately recognize that it is not an ordinary cigarette, but the special supply from the army! This cigarette is not available on the market.

I can’t help but take a deep look at the fat man. He is holding the steering wheel in one hand, holding the cigarette with the other, and saying lazily: “You’re too careful. How did you get to this place? This place has already out of the town! It was just belonged to GZ city last year due to the urban expansion.”

Before I speak, the fat man is saying to himself: “Well, yes, you want to hide in the pyramid sales rats. You’re brave enough! But it was smart.”

I try to talk with him: “Could we have your name please, brother?”

“Oxen Fong. But brothers like to call me Ocean. If you like, just call me big brother. I’m almost twenty years older than you. Not take advantage of you.” Fat man is smiling.

The van is driving slowly into the city. Along the way, the buildings on both sides of the road have gradually grown taller, giving people a sense of moving from the countryside to the city. After a while, we come to a noisy place. After parking, he is laughing: “Do you want to get out and look around?”

I hesitate. He is saying lighly: “It’s safe here. Take it easy. So early in the morning, no one comes out to catch you all over the world. Do you think the gangsters are like the policemen, who would come out patrolling day and night?” After a pause, he is saying with laugh, “Come out, get down to move a little bit and get something to fill your stomachs by the way.”

I get out of the van with Dorra, looking around. I find that this is a very big vegetable and food market.

In the early morning, the sky is only a little light. Several trucks of different sizes are parking around the market. Countless workers are moving bundles of fresh vegetables and meat products under the truck. Some shippers are busy bargaining with vendors.

There is a row of breakfast stalls at the gate on the left of the market. But it seems that business is not good. The fat man takes us over and buies a snack for Dorra to eat. Then he leads us all the way to the market.

“Southerners are very fastidious about eating, morning foods are also fastidious, as long as conditions permit, are accustomed to go to the restaurant. Such roadside breakfast stall only more of the northern people eat.” Fat man is walking and looking around with his hands on his back. Every now and then there are people greeting him in a friendly voice.

Obviously, the fat man is quite popular here. Everyone calls him politely, and some of them want to come up for a cigarette, but he shakes his hand and refuses.

In the market, although it’s early in the morning, when you are walking around it, you’ll feel that you’ve fallen into a big beehive. The noisy businesses around you are crowding into your ears in all directions. Vegetable vendors put vegetables on the table quickly. They also take out water bottles with small holes and sprinkling some water on the vegetables to make them look fresh and tender. There are many people bargaining for business too.

The ground is wet and muddy, as if someone has sprinkled water early in the morning. Dorra is frowning. Fat man, however, has a pleasant face, suddenly smiling at me and says: “You know, I like to come here every morning for a walk.”

“Well?”

“Work needs, I’m here to buy, so many mouths are waiting for feed!” He is patting his hands on the shoulders of the people around him and greeting them. Then he continues to say to me with smile: “Do you know why I like to come here?”

“Why?”

He is laughing, and his smile is coming out from his eyes: “Because it makes people feeling alive here! Don’t you feel a lot more comfortable to come to such a place, even if you’re depressed, even inconsolable. When you come here, the market is always crowded and mismobileaneous. Here is full of vitality.”

He is sighing, eyes are showing a daze, and saying to himself in a low voice: “Especially for those who climbed out from the dead, this kind of alive is the most comfortable thing.”

These words are really shocking my heart! I can’t help thinking: This fat man smokes the cigarettes from the army, and he’s Jim’s contacts. He seems experienced the death before. Is he Jim’s old brother in arms? I know Jim used to be a war veteran.

But the fat man has not any of Jim’s killing and fierce all over his body? He just looks like a kind, fat, good man!

After a tour of the market, don’t know how many people have greeted him. Some just laugh far away, others used to chat for a while, shake hands or clap shoulders with him. We didn’t see him buying anything, just walking back.

“Aren’t you coming for purchase?”

“Already done!” He is heading to the van, taking out the key to open the door, then leaning aside to smoke.

A moment later, I see some people are coming from the market, just the guys who were shaking hands and clapping shoulders to greet and chat with him, carrying fruits and vegetables, as well as the meat, coming and stacking into the van.

Finally, he bows his hand to them, says a goodbye, and leads us back to the van.

“Already have bought? Don’t you have to pay?”

He’s laughing and saying: “No, they’re not afraid if I don’t pay! Besides, I don’t bring any money either. Today is not actually my purchasing day. But I ran out early in the morning and borrowed this van to pick you up. I have to find a reason. Otherwise, it would be bad to be noticed by people with intentions. When I’m asked later, I’ll say I have had come out early to buy food. These vegetable vendors would like me to take their foods and not afraid of the debt. I don’t buy them for myself anyway. I don’t usually bargain for their prices. Someone else pays.”

I see. It seems that this guy is in charge of the company’s purchasing.

There’s a strange smell in the van. There are meat, vegetables and fruits engaged half of the van now. The smell is even more strange. Dorra can’t help pinching her nose.

Fat man is laughing and saying: “Little girl, don’t pinch your nose. I’ll cook these things and bring to you later. They’re so delicious that you can drop your tongue!”

“Where are we going?” I can’t help asking.

“To the safest place of the city.” He’s laughing and says, “I promise there’s no place safer than there.”

The van turns into a street, which looks very quiet, and then stops at a huge organ gate with two policemen on guard.

I see a line of majestic characters on the sign in front of us: “The Police Station of GZ City”.

The fat man rolls down the window and smiling to the policemen on guard, and soon the electric gate is opening to let us in.

“I’m the head of the canteen of the police station, in charge of kitchens and purchasing.” Fat man is smiling and rubbing his nose.