Chapter 14: Downy Feathers of the Bird

Contrary to Qi Ran’s expectations, the “cafeteria” Li Siwen had told Jiang Zhique to take her to was, in fact, just an ordinary cafeteria. It wasn’t some coded phrase she had imagined. The construction site’s cafeteria was a corrugated iron shack. The dining area sat under a large awning, furnished with the kind of connected tables and benches common at tourist spots—simple and crowded. The light inside the iron shack was dim. The cook frying the food had a towel draped over his shoulder, its original color long since unrecognizable. The aroma of the dishes, however, was quite good. Perhaps due to the immense physical exertion of the work, the menu consisted almost entirely of heavy, oily, and salty fare: stir-fried shredded potatoes, potato brisket, chili-fried greens, pork stewed with glass noodles, potato rice-flour steamed pork, bamboo shoot stir-fried pork… and fried chicken legs that looked excessively overdone, turning a dark brown.

The prices were extremely low; you could pick two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes for just twelve yuan.

Perhaps because they had arrived a bit early, the line hadn’t formed yet.

“Beep. Received: twelve yuan.”

The mechanical voice of the electronic cash register sounded. Qi Ran put away her cell phone, picked up the plastic takeout box in front of her, and asked Jiang Zhique, who was behind her, “You kidnap me and bring me here, shouldn’t you be providing me with a free dinner?”

“The kidnapper is Li Siwen, not me,” Jiang Zhique shrugged. “I’m a coerced accomplice at best. You should go find him to reimburse your dinner expenses.”

She also paid with her phone, which surprised Qi Ran. It seemed this cafeteria truly treated everyone equally.

“Coerced? I couldn’t tell. You seemed pretty happy when you were threatening me just now,” Qi Ran remarked, then turned to the server. “Shredded potatoes, stir-fried greens, hmm… and let’s have the bamboo shoot stir-fried pork and the rice-flour steamed pork, thank you.”

“Same as before, all shredded potatoes.”

Jiang Zhique placed her order after her. The server seemed long accustomed to this request, showing no confusion as he efficiently filled her plate with nothing but shredded potatoes.

Qi Ran glanced with slight surprise at the heaping pile of shredded potatoes on her plate, wondering if this was one of those so-called “potato aliens.”

After they sat down with their trays, Jiang Zhique watched Qi Ran, who had already started eating. “After dinner, I’ll look through that piece of your memory. You seem to have quite the appetite. Are you clinging to a false hope?”

Qi Ran chewed and swallowed the shredded potatoes in her mouth. The dish was indeed cooked exceptionally well—soft yet with a crisp bite, the potato’s own rich aroma coming through strongly. “There’s another possibility: I’m upright and have nothing to hide.”

“A word of warning: you’d better actually have some special quality. Because even if your memory is truly clean, no one will believe it now,” Jiang Zhique said, lowering her head to eat. “The fact that you’re with our company now has already spread through The Circle.”

Qi Ran abruptly froze. “What do you mean?”

“What else could it mean? You’re already on the pirate ship,” Jiang Zhique said. “For example… have you read Journey to the West? Everyone knows that eating the Tang Monk’s flesh grants immortality, and the man accompanied by Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, and the White Dragon Horse is the Tang Monk. You’re not the Tang Monk. You’re just an unlucky ordinary person who happened to be leading a monkey, a pig, a horse, and walking beside a monk. But a local Earth God took you away, gave you good food and drink for a day, and then sent you back. Now, if you tell people you aren’t the Tang Monk, do you think any of the monsters will believe you?”

“But I’m truly not the Tang Monk. Eating my flesh won’t grant immortality.”

“Who cares if you’re the Tang Monk or not? Eat first, ask questions later… To a monster, it’s just a matter of eating one more meal.” Jiang Zhique stated flatly.

“Isn’t this supposed to be a society governed by law?” Qi Ran sighed.

Jiang Zhique nodded. “You can go to the police and report that a monster wants to eat you. I’ll reimburse your travel fare.”

Qi Ran lowered her head and continued eating. She was gradually understanding the full purpose behind Li Siwen’s actions.

No matter what, she was now inextricably bound to the Wen Hongyuan Construction Engineering Technology Consulting Co., Ltd. If she was truly an ordinary person, her only chance of survival now was to cling to this company. If she chose to leave, her life ahead would likely resemble that of the Tang Monk from Journey to the West—except she, Qi Ran, was a Tang Monk without a reincarnation history and without a Sun Wukong. And if she chose to survive by relying on Li Siwen’s company, it would only further convince others that Li Siwen had obtained some crucial secret from her. Because of her appearance, the hand Li Siwen was holding suddenly became ambiguous and unfathomable.

The reason was simple: if he hadn’t gained some incredibly important trump card, why would Li Siwen protect her? He was no philanthropist. He was always a profit-driven businessman.

A very simple bluff, but an effective one nonetheless.

“Actually, in my view, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing for you,” Jiang Zhique said. “Even if we hadn’t come for you, someone else would have eventually tried their luck with you… Not everyone follows the law and respects order like we do.”

Qi Ran glanced at her with some surprise. She didn’t consider Li Siwen a law-abiding citizen in the slightest.

“Silly girl, she’s wearing a listening device. Don’t say anything you shouldn’t.”

Miss Ah Qiao suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the table, sitting down next to Jiang Zhique.

“That old fox surnamed Li is quite wary of you. He was worried you’d notice a listening device planted on you, so he placed it on this girl instead and instructed her to get information out of you,” Miss Ah Qiao said calmly. “If I’m not mistaken, she should be inviting you to stay the night in her room tonight. Often, the things said during idle chit-chat are more trustworthy than words extracted through interrogation. This is your opportunity to perform. You need to smoothly and naturally convey the information you want them to know.”

She suddenly smiled, speaking in a light, airy tone. “Of course, there’s a simpler method. That man surnamed Li doesn’t fully trust her… Do you want her dead? If you dislike her, you can kill her with a single sentence right now. You just need to tell her you understood the hint she was giving you in the car earlier. Say that, unlike Li Siwen, you understand what that tattoo means, and that you and she should work together to kill that man surnamed Li. Want to try it? Utter that sentence, and she likely won’t survive the night. As for your own safety, don’t worry too much. Temporarily hand over control of your body to me, and I will lead you out of here.”

“It’s just a pity about that face… I must say, her looks really do fit my ideal type. Dying like this, I find it a bit of a waste.” Miss Ah Qiao propped her chin on one hand, a tone of regret in her voice.

Jiang Zhique was completely oblivious to Miss Ah Qiao’s gaze, focused intently on eating. Her eyelids were slightly lowered, her long, thick lashes curved upward. When they trembled slightly, they looked exactly like the softest part of a fledgling sparrow’s downy feathers.

Qi Ran suddenly realized something: the girl in front of her might be even younger than she had imagined. She should be in high school at her age. With her looks, she could be enjoying the most vibrant youthful life, but she had no other choice but to become one of these strange people. She wore an oversized long-sleeved shirt and cargo pants to make herself look more boyish, so she wouldn’t stand out so starkly on this construction site. The earrings and lip piercing were among the few acts of rebellion she could afford… She even seemed quite accustomed to carrying a listening device on her person.

One wrong word, and she would die. And right now, the person holding her life was Qi Ran herself.

But why did she hold the power over this girl’s life?

Qi Ran knew exactly why. Because in the car, this girl had trusted her and had implicitly, covertly asked her for help.

So she said nothing.

“Empathizing with your kidnapper. How truly noble and righteous of you, Eldest Miss Qi.” Miss Ah Qiao waited a moment, then clicked her tongue.

“Tonight you have two choices. Stay in the double-occupancy staff dormitory here, or squeeze into my room for the night?” Jiang Zhique noticed Qi Ran’s gaze and reached up to touch her cheek, puzzled. “What? Is there something on my face?”

“Nothing. I’ll squeeze into your room for the night,” Qi Ran lowered her head and said.

Jiang Zhique seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and nodded. “We’re about the same height. You can borrow my spare clothes for now.”