Chapter 129: Poverty Comes First

The spot where we swept into the river was close to the riverbed. It was night, and everything in sight was pitch black. This stretch had sharp bends and a steep drop, and the rushing current quickly swept He Yu and me apart. In water like this, a person is powerless; the only thing you can do is protect your internal organs from being punctured by the rocks.

I drew the knife from my waist and rode the current downstream. As I passed a bend where the flow eased slightly, I jammed the knife into a crack in the rock with both hands. The blade wedged in with practiced precision, bringing my whole body to a halt.

I unhooked the spare flashlight around my neck and switched it on. Clamping it between my teeth, I braced my feet against the slippery crevices in the rock and inched upward bit by bit. Finally, I hooked my arms over the edge of the rocky bank, heaved myself up, and collapsed onto the exposed stone, surrounded by thick patches of weeds.

Soaked to the skin, I had no energy and no desire to move. Listening to the rushing water, the whole world seemed to grow quiet. I lay flat on the ground, gazing up at the brilliant blanket of stars. The night sky here was so much more beautiful. As my breathing gradually steadied, I suddenly felt like just falling asleep right then and there.

“What are you doing? I’ve been looking for you all over, and here you are lying around enjoying yourself. Aren’t you planning on going back?” He Yu’s voice drifted over from the adjacent rock. Stepping through the weeds, he came over to my side and extended a hand.

Seeing him made me inexplicably glad. I took his hand, slapped the grass off my clothes, and pulled myself up. Lu Ayao followed not far behind him. Only then did I notice that the three of us looked just like savages who had just crawled out of a slum.

“Han Jian and his crew went up through another exit, and Chen Canghai went with them,” He Yu said. “We need to get out of here fast. That whole section of the cliff collapsed, so someone’s definitely going to come check it out soon. If we get hauled in, we’re finished.”

Looking the way we did, we’d draw way too much attention whether we went to a village or the county seat. So after a quick huddle, we washed our faces and bodies as best we could in the river to make ourselves somewhat presentable, then hiked to the outskirts of the nearest town and made do for the night with the tent and sleeping bags in our packs.

The mosquitoes in the wild were vicious. He Yu and I barely got any sleep, spending the whole night swatting mosquitoes. Early the next morning, we went into town to buy some clothes and pants to change into. The town didn’t have many clothing shops, and the styles were pretty tacky, but He Yu and I both thought we’d picked out the trendiest clothes available.

The end result was that we looked like two local thugs. Only Lu Ayao fared a bit better. He had bought the simplest combination—a white short-sleeved shirt and long pants—and He Yu had thoughtfully picked up a surgical mask for him to wear.

After scrapping our way through the underground palace, none of us had carried much cash to begin with. It was only after paying for the clothes that we realized we were teetering on the edge of complete bankruptcy.

My phone was lost, so I spent a yuan at a public phone booth in town to call my mom. The second the line went through, a barrage of scolding came flying out of the receiver. I had to hold the handset far away from my ear, and by the time I pulled it back after she finished yelling, she had already hung up.

Just as I was about to dial again, the booth owner snatched the phone away and signaled that I had to cough up another yuan to make another call.

I couldn’t bear to part with another single cent, so I had to give up for now.

My attempt to get funds was a total failure, but He Yu was still trying. He planned to sell the tent and sleeping bags. Even though they were second-hand, he hoped to claw back some cash. Lu Ayao had the most money on him, but it was only enough for one full meal and the clothes we’d bought. It wasn’t nearly enough for a hotel room.

So, the two of us squatted in a line on the curb, each dangling a cigarette from our lips, our faces masks of dejection.

“What rotten luck,” I said, no longer caring about the dirt as I sat flat on the curb. “If I’d known, I would have just left with that guy Han.”

Lu Ayao looked a bit embarrassed. The guy had probably never been reduced to squatting on a curb worrying about money in his life. I looked up and saw He Yu grinning as he rounded the corner at the intersection.

The moment I saw him, I sprang up from the ground. Lu Ayao stood up as well, showing a rare interest in practical matters. If He Yu hadn’t managed to sell that tent, my next plan was to buy a piece of cloth and write “Fortune Telling” on it in big letters for Lu Ayao. We might have been able to make ten or twenty yuan that way.

I tossed my cigarette and ran toward He Yu. He gave me a playful wink, and I asked, “Well? How much did you get?”

He Yu mysteriously pulled five red hundred-yuan bills from his pocket. I nearly fainted with frustration. “Wait, you only got five hundred for all that expensive gear?”

“There’s no market for tents in a place like this! Besides, you know what kind of shape that tent was in. For these five hundred yuan, I had to beg and plead and talk my head off to trick them into it. We’re lucky anyone wanted it at all!”

He Yu counted the money once more and stuffed it back into his pocket. “Forget about it. Let’s go get a room first. None of us slept well yesterday, and I can’t take it anymore. Look at these mosquito bites. We need to find a place to rest properly.”

The sun was blazing, and I was exhausted too. I figured five hundred was better than nothing, and we’d worry about it when it ran out. We scouted the street and realized that five hundred yuan really wasn’t much. We eventually found the cheapest hotel available. He Yu went to check us in while Lu Ayao and I collapsed onto the lobby sofa, feeling like we were being baked into dried sweet potatoes.

Once He Yu finished checking us in, he called us over. I followed him upstairs, feeling like my soul was drifting out of my body. I stumbled up to the third floor, but after taking only two steps into the room, I froze.

“What exactly is the meaning of this ‘single-bed room’ you booked?”

I looked up at the spiderwebs hanging in the corner, then reached down to pat the bed. A layer of dust and lint rose from the tattered sheets, making me cough several times.

“A single-bed room is cheaper! Out of this five hundred, we need at least three hundred for the bus tickets home, plus another hundred for food. That only leaves a hundred. You can’t get two rooms for a hundred yuan,” He Yu replied.

I understood the logic.

But I still took a deep breath, nearly laughing out of sheer frustration. “Look, there are three grown men here, and you booked a room with one bed? This bed is shorter than I am! How are we supposed to sleep tonight? Stacked on top of each other? Are we performing acrobatics in our dreams?”

He Yu sputtered for a good while before saying, “Dammit, just make do! There were no twin rooms left. Besides, it’s not like we can’t sleep here. It’s simple: you two take one half, and I’ll take the other!”

Lu Ayao closed the door and walked over as well. Right then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught someone sliding one of those risqué cards^[1] through the gap under the door.

Seeing how self-righteous he sounded, I couldn’t help but curse at him.

“Why should the two of us share one half while you get a whole half to yourself? Why do you get so much room? Why…” I flopped halfway across the bed and gave He Yu a smirk. “Hey, finders keepers. I claimed it first, so it’s mine.”

“Hey! Old Lu, look at this. The battle hasn’t even started and someone’s already playing dirty! You can’t do that!” He Yu dropped his pack and lunged at me like a bear. In an instant, we were wrestling and having a pillow fight, leaving the bedsheets in a total mess.

Lu Ayao glanced at us and ignored the chaos. He walked straight over to sit on a beat-up sofa, turned on the air conditioner, and just let the cool air blow over him.