Chapter 48: Twists and Turns

Gan Ling shot me a sidelong glance, her eyes sharp as a knife scraping a layer of smile off my face. I kept my head down, not daring to look.

“Seems like it’s time to let go,” Gan Ling muttered to herself.

Mm.

I didn’t say anything, not daring to spell everything out, whatever it was she needed to let go of or couldn’t let go of—I didn’t dare ask.

The bus rumbled like an asthmatic old ox, heavily jostling with half a busload of people. The driver cleared his throat with a heavy hack every now and then, spitting out a thick glob of phlegm out the window. Someone at the back was smoking. I felt a bit dizzy and squinted with the window open, but the sun had shifted to our side. Gan Ling reached out and pulled the curtain closed.

I was still getting sun-dazzled. During a midway stop, a woman with a rubber strap around her neck held a foam box in her arms, covered with a yellowed white towel neatly folded over it. Lifting it revealed a row of popsicles. Everyone on the bus was grumbling from the heat, scrambling to scan codes, arms stretching long. Gan Ling fished two bucks from her pocket, and her arm magically threaded through the crowd straight to the woman’s box.

She still hadn’t answered me.

After finishing the popsicle, I chewed the little bamboo stick until it was unrecognizable. When getting off, I headed for a trash bin to throw it away, but Gan Ling grabbed my backpack like it was a turtle shell and pulled out a parasol, popping it open.

The resort was huge, with several zones, but only the pool was built. Everywhere else was fenced off with blue color steel panels. The road to the hotel was still sandwiched between construction sites. If not for the clear gate outside marking this as Liujia Village, I’d have thought I’d gone the wrong way.

“Otherwise, how could it be so cheap?”

This resort was contracted by the boss’s friend, with internal pricing. It wasn’t exactly standard, but relatives and friends all came to play. The swimming hall was a massive glass building, like a big blue greenhouse. From afar, I guessed there were plenty of veggie varieties inside; up close, it was all reflective.

Gan Ling grabbed my hand. “Tickets, register over there, drop the stuff.”

I hugged my backpack to my chest. With one hand held by Gan Ling, I used the other to unzip it, rummaging through the inner pocket for the two tickets as we walked.

Tuesday and Wednesday, two days and one night total.

The girl at the front desk saw us coming and straightened up slightly from her computer, waiting.

Suddenly, I pulled Gan Ling to the sofa by the door and sat down, focused on digging through my things for the two tickets.

To be precise, one.

I only had the Tuesday ticket in hand, along with that “spend 100 get 5 off” coupon.

I’d stacked the three pieces of paper together, but the Wednesday one had vanished. It wasn’t in the inner pocket.

Gan Ling seemed to realize it too, lifting her chin as if to say something. I frantically shoved everything back into the bag, took a few deep breaths. “So, how much does it cost to play here for a day?”

I remembered now—in my rush to leave, I’d stuffed the papers into the pocket willy-nilly, but one fell outside. I’d put a T-shirt in there, then thought it unnecessary and yanked it out—that must’ve been when it fell. No surprise if it was still lying on my bed now.

Gan Ling pursed her lips and gave me a dignified look.

I held my breath and pulled out my phone. Gan Ling smacked my hand away unceremoniously and rummaged through my bag herself. She searched too, finally confirming the Wednesday ticket really wasn’t there.

I remembered once during an open house at kindergarten, they gave meal vouchers to kids to hand to parents for lunch. The food was lavish—meat, shrimp, seafood. One kid lost theirs, and the adults blew up, cursing her for being useless, why not lose her own head instead?

In the end, the Principal quietly took the kid aside and gave them another voucher.

While Gan Ling was searching, I saw on the scrolling info screen that swimming plus two nights’ stay was 599 yuan. I touched my neck, not daring to make a sound, my mind in turmoil.

After searching, Gan Ling glanced at the coupon in my hand, stood up, and said, “It’s fine, I wanted to bring you to play… They sure dare charge that much. Once it’s officially built, it’ll probably be this price anyway. Tsk.”

I shook my head. Gan Ling pulled out her phone.

Her phone was so beat-up she only replaced it when she had no choice, scrimping to save battery, even living in a rickety house. I grabbed her arm and gritted my teeth. “You sit. I’ll buy it. It was my fault for losing it…”

Gan Ling glared at me. “How much do you even make?”

I still pushed her behind me, marching forward with some do-or-die resolve. Gan Ling caught me, pinching the back of my neck and dragging me back. I resisted stubbornly, nearly coming to blows.

But Gan Ling seemed to know her own strength—if she really used it, I’d crumple like waste paper. When she didn’t want to hurt me, she held back, giving me openings. I wriggled free, grabbed both our bags from the sofa, and shoved them into her arms so she couldn’t wrestle with me.

If only paying was this straightforward. Before, it’d taken forever to pay Lu Jinshi.

Across a sleek black glossy long desk, I faced the front desk. She’d seen Gan Ling and me tussling, and now tapped the computer twice. “Checking in?”

“I wanted to ask—here’s the thing. I had two vouchers originally, for today and tomorrow, which together make two days one night. But I left the Wednesday one at home. Can I just buy tomorrow’s and use it with today’s voucher?” I pulled out the crumpled voucher, checked my phone balance. Gan Ling set the bags at her feet and leaned on the desk without speaking.

“That’s an invite voucher. If you buy tomorrow separately, it won’t stack with the invite one. Basically, tonight no stay, just use it for the facilities,” she replied quickly.

Gan Ling was about to speak, but I said, “Oh, then I’ll buy two days’ worth…”

Gan Ling said, “I’ll pay.”

The front desk girl actually laughed. “No, it’s expensive. Later they’ll open tons of facilities, but right now just the pool. Spend nearly a grand for two days swimming? Better get a city membership card, lasts way longer… Not worth it. Let me see your voucher.”

She took it, typed something from it rapidly, then said, “Did you take a photo of your Wednesday ticket? No need for the paper, just give me the code from it, I’ll enter it.”

Ah! Yes! Like snapping pics of movie tickets. I’d planned to take a few shots these two days for Moments. But the two tickets were stacked, fanned out nicely for the photo…

I opened my gallery and nearly blacked out.

Coincidentally, the Wednesday one was half-covered, the code partially obscured.

“That won’t work then…” The front desk girl was really nice to me, her apple cheeks showing worry, like she really wanted me to stay. She pored over my gallery, zooming in endlessly, as if she could see through the Tuesday ticket to Wednesday.

Finally, she reluctantly handed back the phone. “Really, I advise against buying. Way too low value… Liujia Village has nothing but the resort for sights, though there’s a mountain south—ugh, too hot for hiking. Foot has orchards, pick strawberries, grapes, whatever. 120 per person, pick, hear stories, take a basket home. Way better deal than here.”

Gan Ling said, “Don’t waste money. No swimming, let’s check the orchard.”

After thinking, that was all we could do. I gave the honest apple-faced girl an apologetic smile. “Sorry for the trouble. Thanks.”

“No worries. Hardly anyone comes here… Can’t scroll phone on shift, I’m dying of boredom.”

Gan Ling fished out her two vouchers and examined them. I felt a bit awkward. “Or we swim today, then… tonight… I head back tonight?”

“No evening bus, where you gonna go? Come on.” Gan Ling pinched my shoulder and pushed me forward.

The front desk girl suddenly went, “Ah, you have an invite voucher too?”

Gan Ling: “Yeah.”

She’d figured it out—maybe infected by my pathetic wimpy look, she’d overlooked it. She put both vouchers on the long desk. The girl said, “Then you can buy tomorrow’s. You’re together anyway… Wait, let me check.”

She took the two vouchers, typed rapidly. “These are duo vouchers to begin with, duo, king bed. I thought you only had one. Why didn’t you say earlier?”

“Doesn’t say on the voucher. Thought it was one per person.” Gan Ling pulled my ID from the bag, glanced at it, and handed it over with hers.

“Family of three came before, wanted a double, kid half off, insisted they were boss’s relatives… Kid free, just no breakfast, still let ’em. Not strict now anyway. Plus yours is totally legit…”

So that’s how it was. All my earlier fretting was for nothing. Thinking back, at Jiaxing Supermarket, hearing employees talk about bringing someone should’ve clued me in… But Gan Ling had gotten two from the manager, so I assumed singles…

What a day of twists and turns, from joy to sorrow and back to joy. Hadn’t even changed to swim, and I was already on edge.

Gan Ling and I each shouldered our bags and took the elevator to the third floor.

The elevator was descending from the fourth, numbers changing. Gan Ling said, “Your household registration’s still in Peng County.”

“Hmm… Although I bought a house here, it doesn’t really feel like I’ve put down roots anywhere. Peng County and Neng County are pretty much the same, so I didn’t bother thinking about going through any procedures.”

After entering the room, Gan Ling picked up the conversation: “Have you always stayed in the province? Never been anywhere else?”

“Yeah.”

I felt a bit embarrassed. I’m just a homebound woman with no worldly experience.

“Do you have any savings?”

“A little… I don’t spend much. There aren’t many places to spend money anyway.”

“Before January next year… wanna go traveling with me? I’ve saved up a good amount.” Gan Ling casually extended the invitation.

January next year was when I planned to tell her about the killer.

If I went traveling with her… did that mean she’d stay calm during this time? Or had she already made up her mind? Or was there no doubt left that the killer was Zheng Chenggang? Was she planning to blow through her savings? Had she gone all in?

I didn’t dare respond and glossed over the topic: “But don’t I still have to go to work…”

“True.”

I couldn’t read her thoughts, so I lowered my head and mechanically unpacked my things, pretending to tidy up.