Chapter 22 Part 2

So why had she started talking today as if she were under a spell? Xie Anqing had provoked her, and she’d blurted out everything.

Hadn’t she had enough nightmares all these years?

She was the one with a problem.

Chen Li irritably glanced at the thick branches of the walnut tree. Just as she had torn a fig leaf from the tree behind Xie Anqing’s house, she reached up and plucked a walnut leaf.

The branch sprang back, and a yellow-green caterpillar crawled across the leaf.

Xie Anqing looked up. Her blank gaze shifted. On instinct, she took a big step forward and reached over Chen Li’s head.

A shadow fell over Chen Li without warning. She stopped turning the leaf and looked up. Xie Anqing’s hand trembled, quickly curling into a fist, then withdrew from a few inches above Chen Li’s head.

Chen Li stared at her. “?”

Xie Huaixia shrieked. “A walnut caterpillar!”

Chen Li turned around and saw a sudden rash of bumps rising on Xie Anqing’s arm. The walnut caterpillar Xie Huaixia had mentioned had stung her. Xie Anqing acted as if nothing had happened, switched the half-eaten takeout box to that hand, and told Xie Huaixia, who was screaming, “Shut your mouth.”

Xie Huaixia shut it at once, then opened it again. “Does it hurt, Auntie? Why is it so big? Is that bug crazy?”

“What bug’s crazy?” Xie Yun asked, walking up with sweat running down her face.

Xie Huaixia pointed at Xie Anqing’s arm. “A walnut caterpillar stung Auntie!”

Xie Yun stopped reaching for the car door and grabbed Xie Anqing’s forearm instead. “What happened? How did it sting you this badly?”

Xie Huaixia opened her mouth to explain, but Xie Anqing silenced her with a look. Her gaze passed over Chen Li before she pulled her arm free. “It’s nothing.”

Xie Yun started to say something, then stopped and frowned. “Don’t scratch it. It’ll only hurt and itch more.”

“I know.”

“And you, too!” Xie Yun turned to Xie Huaixia, about to ask why she was there. But the first person she saw was Chen Li. She immediately swallowed her irritation and spoke politely. “Miss Chen, what are you doing here? The storm has only just passed, and they haven’t finished checking for hazards. You’d better stay inside for the next few days.”

Chen Li’s gaze lingered on Xie Anqing’s arm for half a second before she looked away. “Thanks for the reminder, Secretary Xie. I’m heading back now.”

“Me too!” Xie Huaixia promised before her mother could say anything.

Xie Yun wiped the sweat from her daughter’s forehead with a cold expression. “You have five minutes. Go home, take a picture of yourself doing your summer homework, and send it to me on WeChat.”

“Yes, Mom.”

Xie Huaixia grabbed Chen Li and hurried away as if she were escaping.

Chen Li glanced sideways and heard Xie Yun and Xie Anqing speaking in lowered voices behind her.

“The steel plates are down. The road should be fine for now, but the fields are in bad shape.”

“I’ll figure something out.”

“What can you figure out? Go around to the shops in town and the county like before? Give people gifts and take them out to eat?”

“We’ll sell as much as we can.”

“Don’t be stupid. When the hail hit the spring crop, it only ruined some of it. The rest could still grow, so you had time to bring people gifts and take them out to dinner. This is different. Anything that’s been underwater won’t last more than a few days.”

“…I’ll think about it.”

Their voices faded as they spoke. Xie Huaixia pulled Chen Li to the entrance of the little shop and whispered, “Auntie, wait here. I forgot to buy the pencil lead. I’ll be right back.”

Chen Li gave a casual acknowledgment and turned her gaze toward the two people by the car.

Xie Yun was used to wearing her emotions on her face. She looked anxious. Xie Anqing, who usually showed no expression…

Had taken the water bottle out of her pocket and was drinking from it.

The tension at the corners of Chen Li’s mouth eased slightly. She leaned against the tree and slowly moved her gaze between the hanging branches.

This was another walnut tree. A walnut caterpillar crawled across one of the leaves—the one Chen Li had just met.

She rubbed her index finger against her knuckle, then reached up and tugged on the leaf.

The moment the walnut caterpillar landed on her arm, a bump rose there and quickly spread. The pain was real, sharp and sudden, but for Chen Li, it was nothing.

She looked up at Xie Anqing, still leaning against the car and eating. Then she calmly flicked the caterpillar into the grass beside her.

Chen Li and Xie Huaixia parted at the door. One hurried inside to take a picture of herself doing summer homework. The other trudged upstairs and sat on the sofa beneath the north-facing window, staring into space.

The jasmine growing beneath the window had weathered the storm without harm. It still bloomed lightly and quietly.

Chen Li watched it for a while, then lifted her crossed legs and let the swaying branches brush across her ankle.

Ding.

Her phone rang.

Chen Li put her leg down, waited a few seconds, then took out her phone.

A new message from W: [The rain’s stopped.]

It was time to give a clear answer.

Chen Li didn’t hesitate. [I need you to do me a favor.]

W: [What is it?]

Chen Li held down the screen and sent a voice message.

W: [Are you sure?]

Chen Li said, “When an adult Rottweiler charged at me, ready to tear my throat out, the people hiding behind it either laughed or got angry that I wasn’t the one who’d been killed and their dog was. Today it was just a walnut caterpillar. I put it on my arm and tested it. The sting didn’t hurt much, but someone wouldn’t let it land on me.”

W: [Are you in love with her?]

Chen Li’s thumb trembled above the keyboard. Her gaze drifted to the low table.

Her camera and notebook sat on it. Beside the notebook was a cup of water Xie Anqing had brought back from the well the day before. Beside the cup sat an untouched plastic bag, holding medicine and a handful of candy Xie Anqing had brought over one morning.

Chen Li’s gaze rested on the candy for a moment, then passed over the bumps on her arm that still hurt a little and shifted toward the back of the house.

The sunset was slowly approaching. The empty riverbank was so quiet she could hear leaves brushing against one another.

Chen Li locked her phone, unlocked it again, and pressed record. “Didn’t you remind me that someone living alone has no way out? What would I love about her? Love her for two months, then leave her to fend for herself?”

There was a pause before W replied: [I’ll get someone on it right away.]

Chen Li said, “Give it to Shen Qiang. She’s reliable.”

W: [OK]

Thump.

Chen Li tossed her phone onto the table.

She stood, pulled the blackout curtains shut, and changed into her pajamas in the dim light of the room. Then she got into bed and fell asleep.

Her dreams plunged into darkness. Dogs barked without stopping, and snakes crawled all over her.

Chen Li could wake up. She stubbornly refused to. She wanted to kill every single one of those disgusting things with her own hands.

Even if it was only a dream.

Even if she had to feel that almost-real pain all over again.

Time stretched on without end.

At six in the evening, Xie Anqing returned after finishing her work. As she passed Chen Li’s room, she unexpectedly heard a quiet, muffled human voice. She paused, opened the door to her own room and the window, sat at her desk for a few minutes, then picked up the flute lying on it and pressed it to her lips.

…

By the time Chen Li woke, it was almost seven. She was drenched in sweat, but not as exhausted as she’d expected. Her body didn’t have the soreness that came after being wound tight for too long. She opened her hands and looked at them, then took a clean nightdress from the wardrobe and went downstairs to shower.

The old house remained empty and silent, dim and cool.

Chen Li stood under the eaves for a while, waiting until the sunset warmed her skin and the lingering confusion in her nerves had faded. Then she stepped onto the covered walkway and headed for the bathroom.

She hadn’t expected anyone to be there.

Xie Anqing hadn’t expected Chen Li to come downstairs without a sound, either.

Their eyes met in the mirror.

Xie Anqing was quiet for two seconds, then hurriedly wrapped the half-removed gauze around her waist again and reached for the T-shirt she’d taken off.

She missed it.

Chen Li acted as if she hadn’t noticed the mud on the shirt. She folded it together with her own clean nightdress and set both on the rack against the wall. Then she turned back. “Changing your dressing?”

Xie Anqing’s hand, still suspended in the air, curled slightly and fell to her side.

She was changing her dressing.

She’d put it off too long after reopening the wound when she lifted the steel plates. And as luck would have it, she’d arranged for Xie Xiumei to begin going door to door that very day to examine everyone over sixty-five, in case the storm had caused some hidden health problems.

Xie Xiumei thought the back-and-forth was too much trouble. She wouldn’t be home for the next few days, so Xie Anqing had no choice but to change the dressing herself. The gauze had soaked through with blood and stuck to the wound. After nearly ten minutes, she’d managed to peel off only half of it when Chen Li walked in.

Without waiting for Xie Anqing to say anything, Chen Li went behind her and pulled off the small piece of gauze Xie Anqing had just wrapped back around herself.

Chen Li moved so directly that Xie Anqing could only catch her hand as she held the gauze.

Her hand was cool.

Just like the frown that had suddenly appeared on her face.

“Let go,” Chen Li said. “Turn around.”

Xie Anqing understood what she meant. Instead of letting go, she reflexively tightened her grip.

Chen Li looked up. “Can you see your back?”

Xie Anqing had no answer.

“If you can’t see it, how are you going to change the dressing? Rip it off blindly?”

Xie Anqing pressed her lips together. She could already feel the sharp, piercing pain that was coming.

Chen Li was done wasting time arguing. She pulled her hand free and pushed Xie Anqing’s shoulder. “Turn around.”

Xie Anqing glanced at the practiced way Chen Li sorted through the medicine. She held her gaze for a second, then turned to face the mirror.

Chen Li washed and dried her hands. Soon, the coolness of hydrogen peroxide touched Xie Anqing’s side, accompanied by the woman’s icy but soft fingers.

Xie Anqing moved her chin. Unused to the sensation, she bent slightly forward.

Chen Li poured the solution around Xie Anqing’s waist. Once the gauze was soaked through, she started to peel it away. Her movements were practiced and gentle. At first, Xie Anqing didn’t feel a thing. When Chen Li reached the lower right side of her back, she paused and said in a low voice, “It’s stuck badly here. Bear with me.”

Xie Anqing murmured her assent, gripping both sides of the sink.

A moment later, terrible pain surged through her. Xie Anqing went blank. Her mind exploded. Her entire body shook, and her fingernails scraped against the sink as she clenched her teeth.

Chen Li didn’t even look. She immediately grabbed Xie Anqing’s face to make her open her mouth, afraid she’d bite her tongue.

Chen Li quickly looked around. The clothes on the rack were out of reach. The cotton tissues had run out and hadn’t been replaced. There was the towel…

No. That wouldn’t work.

Something used to wipe her face and hands couldn’t go in her mouth.

Chen Li looked at the gauze, with only an inch or so left to peel away. After a brief calculation, she pressed her index finger against Xie Anqing’s cheek, lifted it, and slipped it into her mouth at the same moment she removed the gauze.

Xie Anqing bit down on instinct, enclosing Chen Li’s finger tightly in her mouth.

The sharp pain hit faster than any other sensation. Chen Li only tightened her eyes for an instant, then methodically threw the gauze into the trash. She cleaned the wound, applied medicine, and bandaged it again. Then she raised the hand stained with blood and disinfectant, passed it in front of Xie Anqing, and rubbed her sweat-damp hair.

“All done. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

The words and tone were unlike anything Xie Anqing had heard from her before.

A tendon in Xie Anqing’s neck shifted. She looked at herself in the mirror.

Chen Li’s arm crossed in front of her face, splitting her reflection into two uneven pieces that overlapped. She could only make out a vague image of her face in Chen Li’s grip, with a finger in her mouth.

“…”

Xie Anqing’s heart skipped. Her breathing stopped. Without thinking, she pressed her lips around Chen Li’s fingertip. Her tongue was hot and soft. Chen Li felt the wetness against her skin the moment Xie Anqing’s lips closed. Her hand, which had been gently smoothing Xie Anqing’s hair, stopped moving. She lifted her eyes and met Xie Anqing’s gaze in the mirror.

Silence burst apart. The warmth of the evening pressed in from the covered walkway, flooding the cramped room.

Xie Anqing opened her mouth in a panic. The saliva that had gathered there for some time rushed free without warning, slid down Chen Li’s finger, crossed her palm, and soaked her wrist.