The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 86: Hometown

Riverside scenic area, five o’clock in the morning.

Gao Yang, Qing Ling, and Officer Huang were in the patrol car. Through the stencils of tree leaves, a stream of lamplight shone into the car, cutting through the darkness and illuminating the small framed photo set up atop the dashboard. It was a wedding photo of Officer Huang and his wife. With a full suit on, Officer Huang looked handsome and spirited, while his wife was stunning in a corset wedding dress and a white veil.

A puff of smoke obscured the photo. It was the cigarette smoke Officer Huang had exhaled. He took another deep breath, his expression dark with visible anger.

“I’m sorry,” Gao Yang apologized again. “I didn’t expect things to turn out this way.”

Officer Huang didn’t turn around. His voice was strained when he said, “I understand your suspicion when I kept things from you, but please understand that I’m angry for losing an important source of information.”

“I understand.”

“Seeing my wife’s belly grow every day,” Officer Huang sighed with frustration, “I look forward to the birth of the child more and more, but at the same time, my fear grows as well. I don’t know what will happen going forward. I don’t know what the child will be. I’ve been seeking Sir Jiang out quite frequently. He probably had enough of me.”

“Did Sir Jiang tell you anything?” Gao Yang asked.

“He’s basically told me nothing about my wife.” Officer Huang knocked on the driving wheel with both hands. “And with your intervention, I’ll never see him again. That’s a dead end.”

Pride monsters.

Gao Yang repeated the words to himself. Their existence was truly mysterious. He was reminded of Baili Yi, the man who had appeared and disappeared suddenly. Gao Yang had thought he was going to disperse the mist covering up the truth of the world, but underneath it, he found only an even thicker layer of mist, leaving him lost and helpless.

“It’s better for us to find out about the pride monster than someone else from the organization,” Qing Ling said, finally breaking her silence.

Officer Huang paused and nodded. “True.”

After a few more cigarettes, Officer Huang regained his calm. He turned to Gao Yang. “So, about the spy. Now that I’ve proven myself to you, who else do you suspect?”

Gao Yang shook his head. “I don’t know the other members well, so I’m not sure where to start.”

“Be careful,” Officer Huang said in a low voice. “Perhaps information on the three of us has been leaked as well. We aren’t safe either.”

Gao Yang shuddered when he recalled the vicious look the red-haired man had shot him before escaping.

With them out in the open while their enemies lay waiting in the dark, it would be difficult for them to defend themselves.

...

Dawn broke in the eastern sky. Gao Yang snuck back home and slept, but he was woken up by his phone after less than two hours.

He picked up the call, bleary-eyed. Then he heard Uncle Qing’s voice say, “Yang Yang, this is Uncle Qing. When are you coming with Mr. Wang?”

Make a lie believable or don’t lie at all. Under Gao Yang’s arrangement, Wang Zikai was going to invest two million into the food processing factory run by Gao Yang’s father and Uncle Qing. They had agreed to visit the factory in the countryside today and sign the contract. Gao Yang had forgotten about it with everything that had happened.

“Ah, we’ll be there at noon...”

“Okay, okay. I’ll be waiting!”

Gao Yang hung up the phone and called Wang Zikai immediately. Wang Zikai sounded half asleep as well when he picked up. “Bro, it’s too early for this...”

“Rise and shine, Mr. Wang. Come visit the factory with me in the countryside today.”

“What factory?”

“You’re gonna invest in my dad’s food processing factory. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”

“Right...” Wang Zikai still sounded tired. “Let’s not go. Tell him to take some pictures and send them to me.”

“No, we’ve agreed to do it. We can’t go back on our words.”

Wang Zikai groaned from the other end of the line. “Fine, I’m going, I’m going! It’s only because you’re my brother!”

...

Ten o’clock in the morning, Wang Zikai picked Gao Yang up in his borrowed McLaren. The car drove fast. In about one hour, the two of them arrived at the food processing factory in the countryside surrounding the urban area.

Uncle Qing, along with more than thirty workers at the factory, stood outside to give them a proper welcome; all of them had put effort into making themselves presentable.

Gao Yang got out of the car first. It had been two years since he last saw Uncle Qing. The man seemed to have lost a lot of weight. Back then, Uncle Qing was an overweight man over a hundred kilograms. After getting a thyroid surgery, he started exercising and taking care of his health better.

“Yang Yang.” Uncle Qing beamed when he saw Gao Yang. “You’ve gotten taller!”

“You’ve lost weight, Uncle Qing, and you look much healthier.”

They exchanged pleasantries.

Then Wang Zikai emerged from the car with dramatic aplomb, dressed in name-brand clothes with a pair of sunglasses and a gold necklace. Uncle Qing paused before quickly walking up to him with a smile. “Are you...Mr. Wang?”

“That’s me.” Wang Zikai took off his sunglasses and shot him a glance. “And you’re the owner of the factory?”

“Yes. Well met, Mr. Wang. It’s an honor to meet you. The reputation truly never lives up to the real deal. You’re such an extraordinary young man with impressive achievement under your belt!” Uncle Qing rattled off all the flatteries he could come up with. “It must have been a difficult trip here. Why don’t I show you to the break room, and you can have some tea and snacks before visiting the factory...”

“Let’s go straight to the factory,” Wang Zikai said impatiently. This was an empty act that didn’t mean anything. He just wanted to get it over with.

When Gao Yang jabbed at his back, Wang Zikai reluctantly recited the lines Gao Yang had taught him, “Investment requires caution. I’d like to inspect your factory properly...”

“Of course, of course!” Uncle Qing nodded and bowed with excessive politeness. “Here, please follow me!”

Uncle Qing led Gao Yang and Wang Zikai into the food processing factory. They first went up to the shelf demonstrating the products, and Uncle Qing gave them a brief introduction of their top sellers as well as the new products they were going to introduce this year. Most were snacks made from beans. Wang Zikai tried two and sang their praises.

Then they inspected the production line where the food was processed, followed by the storage of ingredients, the sanitation of the environment, the business license, and the certificates.

After all that, the three of them went to Uncle Qing’s office. Gao Yang took out the contract he had drafted and went through it with Uncle Qing. The two parties then signed the contract. Wang Zikai didn’t even look at it before writing his name in careless strokes.

“The money will be wired the next two days,” Gao Yang said, essentially playing the part of Wang Zikai’s secretary.

“Understood! Thank you, truly!” The tense lines of Uncle Qing’s smile finally relaxed. He could now pay the workers and source the next batch of ingredients. They would overcome the crisis before them.

Uncle Qing asked Wang Zikai and Gao Yang to stay for a meal, but they turned him down. Everyone at the factory came out to see them off when they departed.

Gao Yang got into Wang Zikai’s sportscar. He was going to return to Li City, but then it occurred to him that he should visit his grandmother. She had been staying with his uncle in the countryside after his father’s accident.

Originally, they were going to take his grandmother home last week, but she refused, insisting that she was doing well at his uncle’s place, and that she wanted to stay a little longer. However, Gao Yang knew that his grandmother simply wanted to lessen the burden on his mother’s shoulders.

The town wasn’t that big. Wang Zikai drove Gao Yang to his uncle’s place in a few minutes.

Wang Zikai was hesitant to leave. “Why don’t I stay with you, bro? I heard you got ambushed the other day.”

Touched, Gao Yang smiled at him and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”

“Alright, I’ll see you later!” Wang Zikai didn’t insist. He put on his sunglasses and started the car, lifting puffs of dust in the wake.

Gao Yang walked around and entered a fruit shop by the road. Before visiting his uncle, he wanted to buy some fruit for his grandmother.

He was thinking about buying half a catty of cherries when he spotted a slim girl standing before the shelf. She was dressed in a white, short-sleeved shirt and a dark blue checkered skirt. It was a Japanese style high school uniform that had been all the rage nowadays.

The girl had both her hands behind her back and leaned forward to check the fruit on the shelf. Her soft, medium-length hair fell on her fair, shy face. Her voice was gentle with a youthful awkwardness when she asked, “Mister, are the cherries sweet?”

“I guarantee you that they are sweet!” said the shop owner.

Just when Gao Yang’s ears tingled with familiarity, the girl turned around, and her eyes widened in surprise before lighting up with joy. “Gao Yang!”

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