Chapter 27: I Haven't Said We're Even for What Just Happened

The supermarket was not particularly large, and there were no customers. Only a girl with a braided ponytail sat behind the checkout counter, scrolling through her phone.

Seeing us enter, she didn't offer a greeting, merely nodding from her seat to signal that we should help ourselves. It was, after all, quite late; it was decent enough that she hadn't fallen asleep yet.

Chen Yinan grabbed a bottle of mineral water and went to the counter to pay. He struck up a conversation with the girl, soon having her giggling. Taking advantage of the distraction, I turned away quietly and walked toward the back of the store, stopping before the partition door at the far end.

I twisted the door handle. With a soft click, it opened. There was a security camera overhead, but the girl's playful laughter drifting from the front made it clear she wasn't paying any attention to the monitor. I pulled the door open and slipped inside.

Beyond lay a corridor with several doors on the right. I took off my glasses and covered my right eye. The world dimmed, but patches of light, shimmering like fluorescent powder, gradually came into focus. This was the *qi* visible to my left eye. Some appeared as clouds, others as thin threads, and some as irregular blobs. As a place where people came and went, every touch left behind a residue of *qi*. Old, fresh—it was all there, on the walls and on the doors.

Found you.

When I first arrived at SK, I had used my spirit-sight to observe Lin Zixuan, so I knew the unique signature of his *qi*. I hadn't studied it closely then; it was merely meant to mark him. Now, that mark was useful.

The handle of a door nearby bore Lin Zixuan’s signature. I stopped, put on my night-vision goggles, and pressed my ear against the panel. The door was made of simple composite board and offered no soundproofing. From within came the sound of ragged breathing and the rustle of fabric.

I looked around, pulled a black tube the thickness of a pen refill from my pocket, and slid it through the gap beneath the door. The tip of this tube was a night-vision camera, which I could maneuver using a wireless controller in my hand.

It was the employee changing room. It wasn't large; a few lockers formed a cramped space. A woman in a supermarket uniform was straddling a man in an SK waiter's uniform, their arms tightly locked as they kissed with unrestrained passion.

After a while, they finally pulled apart. The woman panted and complained to the man, "Brother Xuan, you've been drinking so much again! You were coughing up blood last time; why are you still doing this?"

"If I don't drink, how am I going to get tips? And if I don't get tips, how will I have the money to go back and marry you? Aju, just hold on a little longer. I'll get that woman's card soon. Then I'll take you back home, and we can settle down and live a real life!"

"But Brother Xuan, what we're doing to that sister is just too... I really can't bear it! We've already saved quite a bit of money, can't we just call it quits?"

"Are you stupid? That’s nowhere near enough! I promised to build your brother a house, and then we need our own home—that money will be gone in a flash. I need to get more! You don't need to pity her; she’s a woman who sells herself anyway. Do you think her money is clean? It’s dirtier than mine! Enough, I can’t be out too long. I have to get back!"

"Are you going to her place again tonight? The thought of you two living together every day makes my heart ache!"

"Aju, be patient. It will all be over soon! You have to know that I’m doing all of this for our future. Don't worry, that woman is completely wrapped around my finger now. As soon as I get her card, I’ll quit and take you home!"

"Don't go, Brother Xuan, let me hold you a little longer! It’s so hard to get on the night shift now; I haven't seen you for almost a week..."

"Silly, once I finish off that woman, we can be together forever!"

Seeing the two of them stand up from the bench, reluctant to part, I retracted my equipment and quickly retreated the way I came.

When I pushed the door back out into the supermarket, the lobby was quiet. I was startled, fearing Chen Yinan might have left, but as I passed the checkout, I saw the fool taking a selfie, shoulder-to-shoulder with the girl. Her face was flushed with shy delight; she didn't even ask what I had been doing back there for so long.

I gave Chen Yinan a sharp look, signaling him to pull out. He said a few words to the girl, and she watched him leave with a lingering, lovelorn gaze. In truth, the whole excursion had taken less than fifteen minutes; we hadn't been gone long at all.

Less than five minutes after we returned to SK, Lin Zixuan came back. I had already saved the video on my phone, but I hesitated over whether to show it to Xiangxiang. After all, for a girl like her, the truth was truly cruel.

The club was still lively. I told Chen Yinan to find Lu Xiaona while I went to find Xiangxiang. I wanted to make sure that when I showed her the video, there would be someone there to comfort her so she wouldn't lose control.

Before I could even reach Xiangxiang, Yang Zhi came charging over, looking furious.

"Where the hell did you go? Don't you know you're supposed to be working? Do you even understand the rules? If you don't want to work, then just say it! You can get the hell out right now!"

"Fine, I don't want to work here anymore," I said to him calmly. "But watch your mouth—don't curse at me."

I had finished the three days of work I’d set out to do, so there was no need to wear this uniform or cater to the whims of a man like him.

Seemingly shocked that I would talk back—and that I had already changed out of the uniform—Yang Zhi stood there, stunned.

The three women were still there, flirting and drinking with two handsome waiters. They hadn't recognized me at first, but now they did, and they all wore looks of disdain.

The fat woman curled her lip and said to Yang Zhi, "Little Yang, that’s where you’re being ignorant. This handsome guy here is your boss’s lover; how can you be pointing fingers at him? In the future, you might even have to call him 'Boss' yourself!"

"Hahaha, 'Boss'!" The whole table erupted in laughter, looking at me with nothing but contempt, as if I were truly just a gigolo living off a woman.

The plain-looking woman glanced at me and sneered, "My company is full of these social climbers. They try every trick in the book to butter me up, but once I’m bored of them, I kick them to the curb! This kid won't be smug for long. Once Nana gets bored of playing with him, she’ll kick him out just the same!"

She was the most ordinary-looking of the three, yet she had the coldest attitude, never looking anyone directly in the eye.

The wild-looking woman glared at me with pure fury; I hadn't given her any face earlier, and she was clearly humiliated. She pointed a finger at me and spat, "Kid, we aren't done with what happened earlier! Come over here and drink this glass of wine, and I’ll pretend tonight never happened. Otherwise, I’ll make sure you can't stay at SK for even one more day! Do you really think Lu Xiaona would turn against a long-time, loyal customer like me for a pretty boy like you? People like you are a dime a dozen around here, so you’d best not think too highly of yourself!"

She signaled to a waiter, who eagerly brought over an empty glass and poured a drink into it.

"Is that all it takes to call it even? Sister Huang, you're being way too easy on him," a voice came from behind me. I didn't need to turn around to know that Lin Zixuan had returned.

He walked up to the wild woman, whispered something into her ear, and she burst into laughter, pointing at him and scolding, "You really are a vicious little thing!"

She then bent over, spat a glob of phlegm into the wine glass, leaned back, crossed her legs, and said to me, "Come on, drink it!"