It had been many years since this title had appeared in Fan Jun’s life.

Fan Gang’s son.

When this curse-like title reappeared before his eyes, Fan Jun felt his breathing suddenly become difficult. The edges of his vision were like burnt-out black ash, slowly spreading and blotting out the light.

Along with it, all the surrounding sounds were taken away too.

“Jun’er! Fan Jun!” Uncle Lu and Sister Shan’s anxious voices came from far away.

“I’m fine,” Fan Jun spoke.

He didn’t hear his own voice.

“I’m fine,” he spoke again, and this time he finally heard it.

“Comrade Police,” Uncle Lu said, “You know a bit about the situation. This person really is a huge trigger for him…”

“We understand,” a man’s voice replied. “Let him take a moment to recover, there’s no rush.”

“Actually, he knows about as much as I do,” Uncle Lu said.

A cool bottle of water was handed to Fan Jun, and he gripped it tightly. The icy sensation seeped into his body through his palm. He took a deep breath and slowly calmed down.

After a while, he looked up at the two men sitting across the table: “I’m okay now.”

“Fan Jun, these are Officer Li and Officer Hu,” Officer Liang introduced them, and the two officers showed their badges and related documents.

“Mm.” Fan Jun nodded, giving them only a brief glance.

Neither officer was local; they had crossed provincial lines.

“Fan Jun, you are Fan Gang’s son, right?” Officer Li asked.

“Yes,” Fan Jun’s voice was a bit hoarse. “Did he commit a crime?”

“Fan Gang might be involved in a serious criminal case,” Officer Li said. “We need your cooperation with the investigation. We have a few simple questions we’d like to ask you.”

Fan Jun felt his hand tremble slightly.

“Ask away,” he said.

The questions themselves were indeed simple, far less impactful than the reality of the two words “Fan Gang” appearing in his life again.

Since Fan Gang left home back then, he had never shown up again. Recently, Fan Gang hadn’t contacted him, nor had he seen Fan Gang, nor heard any news of him. Besides his grandfather and aunt, he also didn’t know if Fan Gang had anyone else he was close to…

For Fan Jun, who had hidden in Nanzhouping for fourteen years just to escape everything related to Fan Gang, all the questions had only one answer.

I don’t know.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” Officer Li said. “If you hear any news about Fan Gang later, please contact Officer Liang immediately.”

“How did you find me?” Fan Jun asked.

“We checked Fan Gang’s household registration information and learned about your adoption,” Officer Li said. “Please rest assured…”

“Why do you think he would come looking for me?” Fan Jun pressed before he could finish.

Officer Li didn’t speak, exchanging a look with Officer Liang.

“Fan Jun, your family… I know a bit about the situation. The two officers are currently just checking his social connections; they aren’t sure if he’ll come looking for you,” Officer Liang said. “Don’t worry too much. The methods used to track you down aren’t something Fan Gang has access to.”

“Mm,” Fan Jun replied in a low voice, then looked up at Officer Li again. “Did he kill someone?”

“We cannot disclose the specific details of the case, please understand,” Officer Li said.

“Will he get the death penalty if caught?” Fan Jun asked again.

“Fan Jun,” Officer Liang said, “We can’t reveal the details of the case to you.”

“Mm.” Fan Jun nodded.

After getting the information, Uncle Lu walked the officers out. Fan Jun sat silently in the kitchen, feeling the strength in his body being drawn out bit by bit.

Fan Gang killed someone.

He didn’t know why he felt this way. But his intuition was certain. Fan Gang had definitely killed someone.

The two officers were investigating across provinces. Fan Gang had murdered someone over there, absconded, and might have fled back to his hometown…

“Jun’er?” Sister Shan came over and patted his shoulder.

“I’m fine, Sister Shan.” Fan Jun looked up and smiled at her.

“What do you want for lunch?” Sister Shan asked. “I’ll make it for you.”

“Braised pork,” Fan Jun said.

“As soon as Lu Ze leaves, you’re craving meat,” Sister Shan laughed. “Alright, I’ll make it for you.”

“Mm.” Fan Jun smiled.

---

“This two-tiered one,” Zou Yang pointed at the picture, “is it enough?”

“It’s enough,” Liu Wenrui said. “It’s just for the occasion, are you expecting to get full on it? It’s like a whole meal, plus we’re still going to eat and drink late-night snacks anyway.”

“The champion won’t come after us, will he?” Li Zhiyue said. “After this birthday, Fan Jun is going to be as fat as a pig ready for slaughter.”

“Probably not,” Zou Yang said. “He seems to be running around for his new gym every day, he doesn’t have time to keep an eye on Fan Jun.”

“When will the new gym be ready?” Zhang Chuanlong asked. “We haven’t even used our cards yet.”

“If you’re in such a rush to take a class, you can book one right now,” Zou Yang said. “Tan Ru hasn’t gone anywhere.”

“No rush.” Zhang Chuanlong chuckled twice.

“Buying this card was basically like giving a tip,” Liu Wenrui said.

“If you don’t take classes, she doesn’t get paid,” Li Zhiyue said.

“Shut up!” Zhang Chuanlong looked a bit embarrassed. “Why don’t you guys book a class?”

“Our coach is having a birthday,” Liu Wenrui said.

Zou Yang took the sticky note from the side, pondering what birthday greeting to write on the cake.

“It looks better if there aren’t too many words.” The shop assistant showed him photos of various greetings.

“Who wrote these words?” Zou Yang frowned. “They’re so ugly.”

The assistant smiled and didn’t say anything.

Zou Yang didn’t press the criticism. They had compared several famous shops before coming here, and this one had the prettiest cakes.

He wrote down four characters on the sticky note.

A smooth path ahead. (从此坦途)

“No need for any other words, not even a name.” Zou Yang handed the note to the assistant.

“Okay,” the assistant took the note, glanced at it, and said, “Wow.”

After leaving the cake shop, the group went to buy presents. Liu Wenrui stretched his back: “What time are we going over tomorrow?”

“He hasn’t replied to me yet.” Zou Yang looked at his phone while sitting in his wheelchair. The wheelchair he was using now was rented from a pharmacy near the school. It was much better than the one from the school infirmary; the large wheels made it much easier to push.

[Zou Yang]: Going over tomorrow morning? What time are you getting up?

He had sent the message past nine, and Fan Jun hadn’t replied for over an hour.

His last WeChat Moments post was a photo of a map surveying car taken at their school gate that day. He hadn’t posted anything in the days since.

He initially wanted to call and ask directly, but then he felt that since they were just celebrating a friend’s birthday, pestering him like this might seem too eager. After hesitating for a long time, while Liu Wenrui and the others left him at the store entrance and wandered around inside, Zou Yang called his mom.

He would try to ask about it indirectly.

“Oh, Xiao Yang, you finished your exams?” Mom answered the phone very quickly.

“Yeah, finished,” Zou Yang said. “Nothing to do today, so I came out to wander around with the guys.”

“Have you contacted Fan Jun?” Mom didn’t even wait for him to be indirect and brought up Fan Jun straight away.

Zou Yang immediately frowned. “…Not yet. What happened to him?”

“It’s just terrible,” Mom lowered her voice. “Let me tell you…”

---

Liu Wenrui and the others pooled their money and bought a pair of boxing gloves of the same brand as Fan Jun’s old ones, packing them in a large gift box.

“You guys go eat first,” Zou Yang pulled Liu Wenrui aside. “I have to go to Nanzhouping.”

“What do you mean? What happened?” Liu Wenrui was stunned.

“I’ll tell you in detail when I get back.” Zou Yang turned his wheelchair and prepared to hail a cab by the road.

“Give me a summary right now.” Liu Wenrui grabbed the wheel.

“Fan Jun’s dad was abusive. He disappeared before, and that’s why Uncle Lu adopted him…” Zou Yang said rapidly. He knew that in this situation, if he didn’t say anything, Liu Wenrui wouldn’t let him leave.

“Holy crap, did his dad show up now?” Liu Wenrui immediately asked.

“No, the police came. Asked him to assist in an investigation. A serious criminal case…” Zou Yang frowned.

“Murder?” Liu Wenrui asked.

“I think so too.” Zou Yang looked at him.

“Should I go with you?” Liu Wenrui let go, still a bit worried.

“Don’t make it such a big production,” Zou Yang said.

“Then tomorrow’s birthday…” Liu Wenrui asked hesitantly.

“We’ll celebrate it as usual,” Zou Yang said.

---

The old gym was business as usual. Uncle Lu was helping out in the training area, and Mom was in the kitchen.

Seeing him arrive, Mom ran out. She froze as soon as she saw his wheelchair. “Are you… paralyzed? Didn’t you say the cast would come off in a few days? Why did you get a proper wheelchair?”

“Paralyzed my foot… Isn’t this better than my old wheelchair?” Zou Yang said.

“Go find him in his room. It’s been two days, and on the phone he just says he’s fine,” Mom handed him a bunch of keys. “If he really doesn’t answer the door, just unlock it yourself. This is the spare key he left with Uncle Lu.”

“…Oh.” Zou Yang was taken aback. “Is that appropriate?”

“Does it matter if it’s appropriate right now?” Mom sighed. “Uncle Lu and I didn’t open the door because we were afraid we wouldn’t be able to console him if we did. He doesn’t open up to us, but he does to you. You go.”

“Mm.” Zou Yang replied.

“Go on, go.” Mom spun his wheelchair around and pushed him out of the courtyard.

Normally, Zou Yang would have been a bit uncomfortable with this. Mom often showed her concern for ‘outsiders’ more obviously, urging her own disabled son to go console her boyfriend’s adopted son or something…

Thank goodness it was Fan Jun.

Although he hadn’t been to Fan Jun’s place many times, and the route was a bit complicated, he still remembered the way. He even managed to turn into a small supermarket on the way to buy a box of canned yellow peaches.

He ran into Lao Si when he came out. For people in Nanzhouping, meeting twice makes you acquaintances. They had met three times already.

Lao Si pushed him straight to the bottom of Fan Jun’s building and even helped him press the elevator button. If Zou Yang hadn’t strongly refused, he would have come up with him too.

But Fan Jun wouldn’t open the door.

Xiao Bai was lying in the doghouse at the old gym, so if Fan Jun couldn’t hear right now, there wasn’t even a dog to alert him that someone was knocking.

Zou Yang took out his phone and dialed Fan Jun’s number. No one answered. He sighed, took out the key, and tried to open the door.

Fortunately, it wasn’t deadbolted from the inside. The door opened.

“Fan Jun!” Zou Yang stopped sitting in the wheelchair, standing straight up and hopping two steps into the room.

There were no lights in the hallway, and the room had the curtains drawn and the lights off. It was pitch black. For several seconds, Zou Yang couldn’t see anything. After a while, he vaguely made out a person standing in front of the window.

“Fan Jun?” Zou Yang called out to him again, reaching his hand toward the wall switch.

“Zou Yang?” Fan Jun’s voice finally sounded, tight and dry.

“Yeah,” Zou Yang replied. “It’s just me.”

“Mm.” Fan Jun didn’t move.

“Why didn’t you answer my calls or reply to my messages?” Zou Yang stared at him, unable to see his face clearly.

“I… didn’t hear it,” Fan Jun said.

A flawless excuse.

“I’m turning on the light,” Zou Yang said.

Fan Jun remained silent for a moment before speaking: “Mm.”

Zou Yang pressed the switch. The lights in the living room came on. It was then that he finally saw Fan Jun standing by the window. He wasn’t wearing a hat, and he was holding a telescoping baton in his hand.

“Close the door,” Fan Jun said.

Zou Yang didn’t speak. He quickly hopped out the door, ignored the wheelchair, grabbed the box of canned yellow peaches, brought it inside, and closed the door.

Fan Jun had already put down the baton and was looking at the thing in his hands.

“This is…” Zou Yang placed the box on the table, “This is… something I just bought.”

“Canned yellow peaches,” Fan Jun said.

“Yeah.” Zou Yang patted the box. “A whole box. You can escape (tao) however you want, no bullshit will be able to catch up to you.” (Note: the Chinese word for peach ‘桃/táo’ sounds identical to the word for escape ‘逃/táo’).

Fan Jun walked over slowly and opened the box. Then, he silently took out a can, twisted it open, grabbed a small fork from a glass storage jar on the table, pierced a piece of yellow peach, and put it in his mouth.

“Escaped,” Zou Yang said.

Fan Jun didn’t say anything, just chewed earnestly. Zou Yang didn’t speak anymore either, just looked at his face. His hair was a bit messy, and his face showed signs of fatigue—probably from not sleeping well. He looked in better shape than the day he came out of the detention center, but you could tell he was suppressing things he didn’t want others to see.

“How did you get here?” Fan Jun asked, putting down the fork and looking at him after finishing a piece of peach.

“Took a cab,” Zou Yang said. “The driver even asked me how I got injured. I told him I was catching a thief, and he was so moved that when I got off, he even…”

Fan Jun suddenly pulled him into an embrace.

Very tightly.

The second half of Zou Yang’s sentence was choked right off.

“Thank you,” Fan Jun whispered in his ear.

“Don’t mention it…” Zou Yang wrapped his arms around his back and rubbed it a few times. “Have you eaten?”

“No,” Fan Jun’s voice was muffled.

“What do you want to eat? Pork belly with pickled cabbage?” Zou Yang asked. “Steamed dumplings?”

“Those are the only two dishes you know, right?” Fan Jun asked.

Zou Yang started laughing.

“Have you eaten?” Fan Jun let go of him and turned to walk towards the kitchen.

“No.” Zou Yang looked at his back, kind of wanting to pull him back and hug him again, but he restrained himself.

Sometimes, one really needed to use their brain appropriately.

“I’ll just whip something up?” Fan Jun turned his head and looked at him.

“You’re cooking?” Zou Yang raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Fan Jun nodded.

“Okay,” Zou Yang immediately got interested. “I’ll try it. People who have suffered hardships sure are differ…”

Use your brain, use your brain.

“I…” Fan Jun hesitated, appearing not to mind the comment, his attention still focused on evaluating his own cooking skills. “It’s just okay, edible enough to get by.”

Zou Yang followed him: “Can I watch?”

“Bring your wheelchair inside first,” Fan Jun turned around and walked back toward the door. “Otherwise the old man across the hall will take it away later.”

“He’d take that too?” Zou Yang was stunned.

“As long as it’s not inside someone else’s room, it’s his.” After saying that, Fan Jun opened the door.

But he only opened it a crack.

Zou Yang could see his hesitation and quickly hopped twice: “I’ll do it.”

“I will.” As if having made up his mind, Fan Jun threw the door open.

Outside the door stood the wheelchair and the old man from across the hall.

Fan Jun took a step out, grabbed the wheelchair, and pulled it back.

“Yours?” The old man grabbed the wheelchair as well.

“His.” Fan Jun stepped aside a bit.

“Mine.” Zou Yang held onto the door and lifted his plastered leg, waving it a bit.

The old man reluctantly let go. Fan Jun pulled the wheelchair back into the room and closed the door.

Fan Jun went into the kitchen and got to work. Zou Yang placed the wheelchair right at the kitchen door and sat there watching, holding Da Hei.

“Why don’t you…” Fan Jun took ingredients out of the fridge and prepared to cut the meat, gesturing with the knife for a while before finally putting it down, “…go play on your phone for a bit?”

“No,” Zou Yang replied.

“…Alright then.” Fan Jun bit his lip, lowered his head, and began to chop the meat.

His movements were quite skilled. Zou Yang tilted his head against the doorframe and watched Fan Jun’s hands. He really liked watching people cook.

“Sister Shan told you, right?” Fan Jun asked while chopping.

“Yeah,” Zou Yang replied. “But she didn’t go into detail.”

“That’s pretty much all there is to it,” Fan Jun said. “Fan Gang… Who knows when they’ll catch him…”

“What do you think… he did?” Zou Yang asked.

“Murder,” Fan Jun said without any hesitation. “Probably had accomplices too.”

“Did you…” Zou Yang pulled out his phone, “…search the news or anything?”

“I didn’t dare,” Fan Jun said.

“I dare to.” Zou Yang looked down and opened his phone.

“Zou Yang,” Fan Jun turned his head back. “Don’t search.”

“Why not?” Zou Yang looked at him.

“Don’t… get too deeply involved in other people’s troubles,” Fan Jun said.

Zou Yang’s fingers, which were about to type, paused.

Fan Jun continued chopping the meat.

“Who are you calling ‘other people’ here?” Zou Yang said.

“Huh?” Fan Jun was momentarily stunned.

“If you treat me as an ‘outsider’, then I’m an ‘outsider’ to you too,” Zou Yang said.

“It’s not like that,” Fan Jun said.

“Relationships are mutual,” Zou Yang said.

Fan Jun remained silent for a moment: “You are a very important person to me.”

“How important?” Zou Yang pressed.

“Just…” Fan Jun looked away, and after a while, looked back at him, “Very important.”

“Alright,” Zou Yang lowered his head and continued tapping on his phone. “Then let me be.”