Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Yu Shu went around the area near the north gate bus station, then took a tricycle to Xinpeng Hotel in the county seat.

The tricycle was the most common means of transportation in the small county town, convenient and cheap. Just a few days ago, there were electric tricycles all over the streets, but they often caused traffic accidents because of their excessive speed. Later, an order was issued banning electric tricycles from carrying passengers, and tricycles for passengers could only be human-powered.

On the sixth day of the lunar new year, many shops on the street were still closed. The uncles pedaling the human-powered tricycles and earning hard-earned money. Yu Shu noticed that the arc of the uncles' calves bulging under their pant legs was extremely high. The well-developed calf muscles contrasted sharply with the uncles' thin bodies.

"We're here, twelve yuan," the uncle wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to Yu Shu.

Twelve yuan to pedal across half of the county seat. This price was still under the premise of raising prices for the Spring Festival.

Yu Shu got off the tricycle and scanned to pay one hundred and twenty yuan.

"Young lady, come back! You paid too much!" The uncle called out to her.

Yu Shu waved back at him, "No, I didn't overpay. Happy New Year, uncle!"

Yu Shu entered the hotel and found a table in a corner of the bustling lobby, not noticeable, with a pillar blocking the table, but able to take in the entire lobby.

Today was Zhou Yan’s father’s birthday banquet. The hotel had private rooms available but they insisted on having the birthday banquet in the lobby. Two servers walked past Yu Shu.

"Haha, I heard that family tell the guests that there were no private rooms left at the hotel and they regretted booking so late."

"Bullshit. When they came to book the banquet, they turned black at the private room fee."

"The dishes they ordered were all cheap decoy dishes, wanting face but unwilling to spend money..."

...

Yu Shu ordered two home cooked dishes. Right after she finished ordering, she got a call from Ye Ping. Without thinking, she raised her hand to decline the call, and sent Ye Ping a WeChat message saying she wasn't coming home for lunch, then blocked Ye Ping's messages.

The birthday banquet began. On stage, Zhou Yan and his father put on an act of fatherly love and filial piety. Even as he cried to the point of fainting, his hand holding the microphone didn't shake at all.

This family, they were all performative personalities.

As the emotional drama approached the end, Zhou Yan spoke in a lonely tone: "Today, I had invited a girl, but she..."

Zhou Yan's eyes reddened, and his hand holding the microphone shook slightly. Zhou Yan's father wiped away imaginary tears and pulled him off stage.

Everyone present who "knew the inside story" sighed with regret.

A shrill scream rang out - "The child! The child! My child ah!!!"

"So much blood!"

"Call an ambulance!"

"Who got violent?"

"It looks like... Zhou Yan..."

"Yes... I saw it too, it was him..."

Zhou Yan could no longer maintain his facade. Eyes bloodshot, he kicked the woman on the ground over and over, spewing filthy curses, every sentence involving genitalia.

Yu Shu noticed many people had taken out their phones and started recording, eventually not even trying to hide it, holding their phones up high to film. When Zhou Yan's parents saw people recording, they caused another ruckus.

Yu Shu didn't want to keep watching. She quietly slipped out after paying her bill, passing the paramedics in white coats coming in.

Yu Shu watched from afar as Xiang Mei was carried into the ambulance on a stretcher, covered in blood. She frowned, then turned to leave.

Arriving at the agreed meeting location, Yu Shu waited over an hour before the second woman finally strolled over late.

She was all smiles: "So sorry for the delay. Xiang Mei had to get surgery."

Yu Shu handed her the paper bag: "Is she pregnant?"

"This much? This, this..." The woman's face was shocked, then she smiled gleefully as she started counting the money. "This is too much, three times what we agreed!"

They had agreed on 100,000 yuan for the two women. There was easily 300,000 here.

"Is she pregnant?" Yu Shu asked again.

"Who knows which customer's child," the woman kept counting, smiling happily. "She was planning to abort it anyway. Taking your job was killing two birds with one stone."

"What's with your expression, feeling bad for us two?" The woman waved the money in her hand. "Don't feel guilty, you gave plenty. We were destined to have shitty fates, escaping from the countryside. Either sold off by family or selling ourselves."

Yu Shu spoke plainly: "Take the money and go. Don't come back."

"I know, I know. From now on we'll go far away, absolutely won't let you get involved in any of this mess."