Chapter 11: The Auto Repair Shop

This time, the lighting effect was distinctly different—the blackness faded away in concentric circles.

Wang Jiexiang stood still, hands in her pockets. When she noticed the rabbit was gone, she glanced down at her pocket.

Something unknown had been placed inside, bulging and sparkling. She reached in and pulled out a ball of light.

The light fell nearby and melted away. The whole space lit up gradually, centered on her.

“Cough, cough.” Wang Jiexiang covered her nose, choked by the sudden smell of smoke.

Fanning the air with her hand, she waited for the surroundings to fully brighten, but it seemed a layer of gray mist always lingered before her eyes.

Noisy.

The front was a cacophony of voices.

Laughter, cursing, TV noise, raised voices, the clatter of shuffling cards—it was a mess.

Smelly.

The stale scent of overnight tea, smoke, greasy sweat—all stirred together by the breeze from a ceiling fan.

Wang Jiexiang stood at the door of Yin Xian’s dorm, gradually making out the full picture inside the room.

“An engineer’s dormitory?” she murmured. “What kind of dorm is more like a Gambling Hall than a Gambling Hall?”

The room itself was large, but it looked extremely crowded with so many people and items.

Four tables, a floor, metal beds—every space was taken. People were playing cards, playing mahjong, watching, resting… all dressed in auto repair shop uniforms. Wang Jiexiang couldn’t even spot Yin Xian.

As she searched, eyes spinning, someone bumped into her from behind.

Turning around, she saw a tall, burly, middle-aged man in a blue shirt.

He probably hadn’t been looking and ran into her by accident.

He steadied her by the shoulder and asked, “Hey little girl, what are you doing blocking the doorway?”

—Little girl?

Wang Jiexiang found the term odd.

Now that she’d entered Yin Xian’s adult world, shouldn’t she have transformed accordingly…? She looked down. Shorter arms and legs again. Her clothes hadn’t shrunk as badly as in the last world—last time was extra-small, this time medium.

Alright.

Four years old the first time, eight years old the second, now the third time—

She looked up and asked the uncle, “How old do you think I am?”

“You?” He scanned her up and down. “Looks like you haven’t finished elementary school, maybe eleven or twelve?”

“I’m guessing twelve.”

Wang Jiexiang sighed. So every time she switched worlds, she aged about four years?

Fine. Twelve it is.

She changed her tone to a gentle one and asked, “Uncle, I’m here to find Yin Xian. Do you know him?”

“You’re looking for Ah Xian? Sure, I know him.”

He bellowed into the room, “Ah Xian, someone’s looking for you.”

A young man with a buzz cut walked out from the innermost card table. Wang Jiexiang looked closely—it was Yin Xian.

He wore a tank top and work pants, a cigarette dangling lazily from his lips.

Compared to when they first met, he was a bit chubbier and looked more energetic.

With her current height, she had to tilt her head slightly to meet his gaze. Yin Xian walked over, greeted the man, and cast her a casual glance.

“Brother Xu, who’s this kid?”

The uncle shrugged. “No idea. She was just standing at the door saying she was looking for you.”

Wang Jiexiang’s eyes darted around as she quickly thought up a story to stick around Yin Xian.

He stubbed out the cigarette and bent down, meeting her gaze directly.

Wang Jiexiang’s little brain stalled for a moment—being stared at like this, she actually felt a little nervous.

Mostly because—it had been too long.

Thick brows, thin lips, sharp eyes. Being stared at by him felt like being hooked. She stood still and cautiously looked back at him.

“Don’t know her.”

He turned away. Wang Jiexiang swiftly grabbed his arm.

“I know you, Yin Xian. Your mom sent me to find you.”

She remembered him once telling her: his parents divorced in high school, and he stayed with his dad. From what she’d observed, Yin Xian rarely contacted his mother afterward. She just didn’t know if that distance started in high school or after he quit the auto shop and cut ties with his family.

Her words made him frown.

Then Yin Xian straightened up, dropped her hand, and returned to the mahjong table.

A pang hit Wang Jiexiang’s heart—had she said the wrong thing? Did he completely not want to deal with her?

Even if he didn’t, she had to find a way to drag him out of the Gambling Hall.

Thick-skinned, she followed him through the noisy clatter to the back.

Yin Xian was talking to the same uncle she’d bumped into earlier.

“Brother Xu, take my spot. I’m heading to the cafeteria to eat. I’ll stop by the factory this afternoon.”

“Sure, sure,” Brother Xu agreed readily. “Come back and continue after eating. There’s someone watching the place—no need for you to worry.”

“Mm.” Yin Xian picked up the work uniform draped on the back of his chair.

A card player at the table noticed and quickly spoke up. “You’re really putting on that dirty uniform?”

Yin Xian chuckled dismissively. “It’s fine, I’m used to the dirt.”

Brother Xu chimed in, “Hey, Ah Xian, I gotta say—you’re too sloppy.”

“Change into a clean one,” someone muttered. “You’re only going to the cafeteria, not the factory.”

“There are clothes here.” A man across the table tossed him a fresh uniform.

Yin Xian accepted it with a word of thanks.

Once he changed, he turned and noticed Wang Jiexiang had followed him, and motioned for her to come along.

She had prepared a story—something like being the daughter of a distant relative from his mom’s side—but Yin Xian didn’t ask further.

They walked out of the stuffy, smoky dorm. The air instantly felt less suffocating.

Yin Xian walked with long strides ahead.

Wang Jiexiang followed step by step, like a little tail.

This place was different from the previous worlds.

Young Yin Xian had needed obvious help—she, as the adult, had helped the child. Now, she was the child, and the grown-up him was complicated and hard to read. Here, she had no idea what she was supposed to do.

“When’s my mom coming to pick you up?”

Yin Xian stopped suddenly, and she bumped right into his back.

“Let me think.”

Watching his expression, Wang Jiexiang probed, “Tonight?”

He pursed his lips.

“Is she doing well?”

“She’s doing fine,” Wang Jiexiang couldn’t help but ask, “So… who do you think I am?”

He asked back, oddly, “Aren’t you the kid from my mom’s new family?”

“Yep, that’s me.”

Wang Jiexiang thought to herself: You’re better at making things up than me—much more reasonable than my distant-relative angle.

“Are you taking me to eat now?”

He had told Brother Xu they were heading to the cafeteria, right?

“I’m going to eat. There’s no place for kids here. I’ll find you a ball—you can play by yourself outside.”

“…”

So heartless, this Yin Xian.

She was now a cute little girl. To avoid getting ditched, Wang Jiexiang decided to try acting cutesy to awaken Yin Xian’s humanity.

Clearing her throat, she tugged his sleeve. “Big brother, don’t leave me behind. I wanna eat too~ And after eating, play with me, okay?”

Yin Xian didn’t even lift his eyelids. “Play by yourself. I’m not playing.”

She twisted his sleeve with her fingers, twisting and twisting, until it stretched wide. “Play with me~ I’m bored alone~”

He pried off her hand—cold-faced, immovable.

“When I was little, I played by myself and had a great time.”

“Liar. When there were two people, your smile was brighter.” She’d seen it with her own eyes—felt it firsthand.

As they talked, they arrived at a row of offices beside another dorm building.

Yin Xian knocked on the window. A slender woman came out.

She wore a trendy floral dress, long black hair down to her waist, and pale, tender skin like tofu—blindingly dazzling.

When she saw him, her face lit up and she came over to open the door for him.

“At this hour, not playing mahjong with them—you’ve got time to come find me?”

The woman naturally adjusted his rumpled uniform for him.

Wang Jiexiang was full of question marks. She glanced at Yin Xian, and he didn’t even try to dodge—he stood there obediently, fully cooperating.

“Do you have a ball? Or something else for kids to play with?”

“Not sure—I’ll have to look. Why do you need a ball?” The woman asked, then finally noticed the little one beside Yin Xian.

Hands on her hips, Wang Jiexiang glared at them, eyes blazing.

“Who’s she?” the two women asked in unison.

“Answer me first!” Wang Jiexiang squeezed between them, separating the intimate pair.

He answered first, “My girlfriend.”

Then added, “Kid from my mom’s side.”

The woman bent down and pinched Wang Jiexiang’s cheek.

“Child, my name’s He Shan. You can call me Sister Shan.”

Wang Jiexiang’s face, already twisted in anger, warped even more from the pinch.

Holding back her rage, she savored the woman’s name.

Sinister. Kindness.

Could there be a more couple-like name match?

Might as well be Tomato and Scrambled Egg.

Fury shot up to the top of her head. At that moment, all her emotions condensed into one sentence.

“Yin Xian, go to hell!”