Chapter 5: Aston Martin

Having finally endured the morning classes, Jiang High’s Noon Break lasted two full hours. It wasn’t that the school was particularly liberal; the cafeteria was supposedly three years into construction and still unfinished. During the break, students could leave campus to buy food. Because of this, the entire street outside was packed almost entirely with snack vendors. By the last class before Noon Break, the aromas of all kinds of food would drift in from the street, and the notes on the chalkboard would almost entirely turn into a list of dishes. It was impossible to concentrate on the lesson properly.

“What’s for lunch?” Liu Xu asked Xu Yan and Qi Ran as he cleared his desk after class.

“Dumplings, steamed ones,” Xu Yan sighed a little mournfully. “I’ve been spending a bit much lately, gotta save some money. Only sixty left and I need it to last four lunch breaks.”

Liu Xu did a quick calculation, looking bewildered. “Fifteen per lunch? That’s pretty comfortable, isn’t it?—Wait, what do you mean ‘spending a bit much lately’? What was your original daily budget for living expenses?”

The snack street outside Jiang High was quite affordable. A portion of twelve steamed dumplings was only six yuan.

Xu Yan touched her cheek, a little embarrassed. “Two hundred every Sunday. I ask for more occasionally, but only with a legit reason… Is that a lot?”

“Apologize to the word ‘frugal’ right now,” Liu Xu sighed heavily. “Raise a son in poverty, raise a daughter in wealth. Should I just off myself so we can all be sisters together?”

“Why, is your allowance really small?”

“No, my dad said since I’m already ‘Mr. One Thousand Nine,’ there’s no need to give me a living allowance anymore.” Liu Xu rubbed his brow, sounding exasperated.

The snack street’s shops were packed with students in Jiang High uniforms. To make queuing easier, the bosses hadn’t even set out tables and chairs inside. After buying their food piecemeal, the three of them strolled back toward the school, eating as they walked, planning to find an empty stairwell to sit and finish their meal.

Just as they reached the school gate, Liu Xu suddenly stopped. Qi Ran looked at him quizzically. “What, forgot your student ID?”

“No. Look at the car parked over there… the black one.”

Following Liu Xu’s pointing finger, Qi Ran looked to the other side of the street. There was indeed a black sedan parked there. It looked inconspicuous, quiet and understated.

“Aston Martin DB11.” Liu Xu’s eyes were practically glued to it.

“Aston Martin? What’s that? Is it very expensive?” Xu Yan asked curiously. Her knowledge of cars was no different from Qi Ran’s, limited to just the names Mercedes, BMW, and Ferrari.

“British car. Seen 007? James Bond’s car is that brand…” Seeing Xu Yan’s blank expression, Liu Xu caught on and summed it up simply, “This car is roughly two to two-point-five million.”

Xu Yan was filled with reverence. “Ooh. Then it really is a good car… a low-key good car.”

“Are you trying to say it doesn’t look like it costs that much?” Liu Xu accurately deciphered her tact. “Not many people actually like it. Its positioning is a bit awkward. People with that kind of spending power would rather choose a Continental GT. It’s a good car with no real flaws, but no real strong points either—I’m getting off track. What I wanted to tell Qi Ran is, remember that deep blue sports car the Bai Family’s youngest son was driving?”

Qi Ran paused. “Don’t tell me that sports car is the same brand as this one?”

“Bingo. The youngest son’s ride was an Aston Martin DBS Superleggera in Cobalt Blue. It seems all three kids drive this brand’s cars,” Liu Xu mused, still staring at the unremarkable dark sedan, clicking his tongue. “Who do you think is in this one? The Bai Family’s eldest son, or the second sister?”

Xu Yan’s focus was different. “Could it be about compensation?”

“If it was compensation, wouldn’t that have been settled back at the hospital? Besides, even if they wanted to pay, they’d contact her legal guardian. Why would they come block the gate of a high school…” Having finished his steamed dumplings, Liu Xu tossed the empty box into a nearby trash can, his expression turning odd. “I feel like something’s wrong. They’re not here to silence a witness, are they?”

“They’re blood-sucking capitalists, but I doubt they’re at the ‘street crime’ level yet, Mister One Thousand Nine. Your eighth-grader syndrome is showing,” Xu Yan couldn’t help but retort.

As they chatted and entered the school gate, the low-key dark sedan remained motionless, parked as if no one was inside at all.

“Strange. Could it just be parked here by coincidence?” Liu Xu looked back, utterly baffled.

After they sat down on the stairs of the side building, Qi Ran ate her remaining steamed dumplings somewhat distractedly. The image of that dark sedan was still in her mind. It had privacy glass, so of course, she couldn’t see what was inside. But she had a strange feeling, as if she could physically feel a gaze locked tightly onto her. That dark car was there for her.

She suddenly remembered what that strange nurse had told her—’You will understand what happened to you.’

What did she mean, ‘understand what happened to her’? She had carefully examined herself in the shower this morning. Except for that shallow scar, there hadn’t been a single change. She’d wanted to press that nurse, who looked exactly like her, for more details, but the woman had vanished like a bubble, fleeting and illusionary, truly like a figment of her own imagination.

After enduring the afternoon classes in a daze, Qi Ran packed her bag and said goodbye to Xu Yan and Liu Xu. Stepping out the gate, sure enough, she saw that dark sedan in the exact same spot, quietly parked by the curb.

Waiting from noon until dusk. She had to admit, the car’s owner had incredible patience.

Qi Ran stood at the school gate, staring at that dark car. She didn’t understand the other party’s intention.

She stood there, motionless. The car remained there, motionless too. But Qi Ran could feel that gaze was still fixed on her.

It was waiting for her to come over.

An inexplicable sense of irritation rose in Qi Ran. She was never one to submit meekly. Deciding to be stubborn, she stood at the gate, rooted to the spot, staring at that fine, dark car.

The twilight light stretched across the shadows. Time crept forward. The shadow of the security guard’s booth crept forward bit by bit. As the sun gradually set, the fluorescent light in the booth behind Qi Ran flickered on. Her shadow fell solitary on the ground, like a stubborn child waiting for a parent to pick her up.

She suddenly found the situation a bit comical, like a Western standoff, a test of who had more patience. In the end, the fine, dark car finally conceded. It circled around, turned, and parked right in front of the school’s main gate. Its double blinkers flashed, as if signaling for her to come over.

Qi Ran thought for a moment. She opened her phone and sent a message to Xu Yan and Liu Xu. If she couldn’t call them by eleven o’clock, they should contact the police. She included the car’s license plate number as an insurance measure.

Just as she was about to lock the screen, another thought struck her. She opened a contact she rarely ever used… Tao Xiao. She was unnervingly good at lying on the spot, her fingertips tapping out a message in a flash.

‘I’m going to Xu Yan’s place to stay the night. No need to wait up.’

After sending it, she held her phone and mentally counted the seconds… only a few passed before Tao Xiao’s reply arrived.

‘Ok (smiley face), I happen to be working late tonight. Stay safe.’

She read it over once, staring at that system-default smiley face emoji, then turned off her phone screen and walked toward the dark sedan.

Before she even got close, the car door swung upward ahead of her. It wasn’t what she’d imagined from movies—no crisp bodyguard in a suit and sunglasses driving. The driver was a middle-aged man with a kind smile, wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt, as if he weren’t driving a luxury car worth two or three million, but the most ordinary taxi cab.

It was the young woman sitting in the back who restored a bit of her sense of reality. But she wasn’t the spoiled rich kid Qi Ran had imagined either. Shouldn’t a wealthy young miss be wearing some outrageously trendy avant-garde outfit designed by a top-tier designer? Or perhaps a haute couture gown fit for a noble ball in a movie, the kind worth millions…

Yet the young woman in the back seat was dressed surprisingly normally, even ordinarily. She looked more like a secretary than a rich young lady: a white, long-sleeved blouse, a dark A-line skirt, and low-heeled black leather shoes. One look made it clear this outfit’s owner had a very strict and serious personality.

How was she supposed to talk to a person like this? Qi Ran’s mind raced. Shake hands and say ‘Nice to meet you’? Or hold her nerve further, not move until the enemy moved, and wait for the other party to speak first?

Before she could figure it out, the young woman spoke first. Her tone was very gentle.

“Are you Miss Qi Ran? It’s a pleasure to meet you. May I have a moment of your time? Please, get in.”