Wang Haoming · Conversa

Gossip in the village always travels faster than the spring floods of the dried-up creek. Just as dawn broke, three or four people gathered around the well platform in Shanghe Village. Wooden paddles rose and fell, splashing water everywhere, and the voices of several busybodies were louder than the pounding of the paddles. Aunt Wu clutched a wet piece of clothing in one hand and gestured with the other: "Did you hear? The folks from Xiahe Village picked someone up from the mudflats in the middle of the night before last!" "Picked up?" Sister-in-law Li sneered, lowering her voice. "Stole them, more like. How could it be such a coincidence for a whole living person to float up onto the mudflats in the dead of night?" "Who cares where they came from!" Granny Sun winked, her voice like the buzzing of a mosquito. "My second cousin's boy saw it with his own eyes. That person looks... tsk tsk, like they stepped right out of a painting. So fair-skinned, they don't look like they belong in our parts. The fabric of their clothes was nice too, clearly a city slicker. It's just that their brain is broken, they can't remember a thing, and they give nonsense answers to whatever you ask." "The folks in Xiahe Village certainly don't have good intentions." Aunt Wu shook the water off her clothes and looked around. "They say they're keeping them in that broken-down shack on the east side of the village. They won't get them medical help, and they won't call the police. Who knows what wicked scheme they're cooking up." "Sell them off, of course!" Sister-in-law Li threw her paddle into the bucket and nodded with certainty. "These days, people are worth more than livestock. Good-looking ones even more so." "Bah, bah, bah!" Granny Sun spat quickly. "How dare you speak such nonsense! If Party Secretary Zhao hears this later, he'll scold you to high heaven." The women said "We wouldn't dare, we wouldn't dare" with their mouths, but the excitement on their faces was more intense than the next. This sort of thing wasn't rare in Lanwan; years ago, there were precedents of reselling people who had escaped from human traffickers. It was just that this time, the 'merchandise' was said to be exceptionally good, making the gossip taste especially juicy. Wang Haoming, crouching by his courtyard gate rolling a cigarette, heard most of the commotion from the well. He had sharp ears; despite a dirt wall and a row of poplar trees separating them, the women's loud voices still managed to pierce through. He snorted, put the rolled cigarette in his mouth, struck a match, and lit it. "Picked someone up?" He exhaled a puff of smoke, squinting at the blurry outline of the Qingqi Mountain Range in the distance. "Those bastards in Xiahe Village have never done a single decent thing. Let them mess around all they want, what the hell does it have to do with me?" He didn't take it to heart. In Lanwan, strange things happened every other day. Whether someone lost a chicken or a hole appeared in someone's field, those old biddies could chew on it for half a month. Wang Haoming had lived for thirty-seven years and had heard more gossip than he had smoked tobacco leaves; if he cared about every little thing, he would have died of exhaustion long ago. The sun climbed from the eastern hills to the top of the sky, then slid down to the tops of the western poplars. Wang Haoming didn't go out in the afternoon. He cooked a plate of spicy chicken at home and enjoyed it thoroughly with half a catty of white liquor. Just as he finished tidying up the dishes, his phone let out a 'ding'. He wiped his hands and picked up his phone to look. It was a bank deposit notification. The payment for the goods, which had been delayed for over half a month, had finally landed in his account. The number was followed by a string of zeros, more money than he had seen in his entire thirty-seven years combined. He stared at the screen for a few seconds, a slow grin spreading across his face. Pocketing his phone, he was just pondering whether to go show off at the card table tonight when the courtyard gate was pushed open from the outside with a creak. In came three faces that made him uncomfortable. The leader was named A-Biao, the thug leader of Xiahe Village—shifty-eyed, with an old scar running from the corner of his eye to his chin. Behind him followed two younger ones, cowering and looking like typical errand boys. "Brother Wang. Struck it rich, huh?" A-Biao grinned, smiling like a loach in a sewer. Wang Haoming leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, the cigarette still dangling from the corner of his mouth. "If you have something to say, spit it out." A-Biao didn't get angry; instead, he stepped aside. Understanding the gesture, the two men behind him dragged someone in from outside the courtyard gate. Wang Haoming's gaze swept over casually, then stopped. You stood in the courtyard, silhouetted against the evening light. Your clothes were a bit wrinkled, and a few strands of your hair were messy, but that face... He took a drag of his cigarette, exhaling the smoke through his nose, but his eyes never wavered. The mouths of those women from Xiahe Village hadn't lied this time; you were indeed exceptionally good-looking. So good-looking that you didn't seem like someone who could come from a place like Lanwan. "Brother Wang, how about it?" A-Biao stepped closer, rubbing his hands together. "We picked this person up and fed them for several days, which cost quite a bit. Five thousand yuan as a foster fee, and they're yours. You can take them back and keep them." Five thousand yuan. Wang Haoming snorted in his mind. Foster fee? What a nice way to put it. He knew exactly what kind of tricks the folks in Xiahe Village played. This person's origin definitely wasn't clean, but since A-Biao dared to bring them to Shanghe Village to sell, he wasn't afraid of Wang Haoming calling the police. In Lanwan, nobody should pretend to be a saint. He sized up the person in the courtyard. You stood there without moving, your gaze somewhat vacant, as if looking at him yet looking past him at something else. No resistance, no running away, and asking questions would be useless. It was as if everything in your head had been emptied out, completely clean, like a blank sheet of paper. Wang Haoming put out his cigarette, his thumb rubbing the leftover crumbs on the butt. Five thousand yuan. He had just received hundreds of thousands today. This pocket change was nothing. "Fine." He said, pulling his phone from his pants pocket and transferring the money right in front of A-Biao. Upon receiving the notification, A-Biao's smile grew even wider. He muttered a few polite words like "Brother Wang is so straightforward" and "Brother Wang has great fortune," before quickly retreating with his two lackeys. The courtyard gate closed behind them with a creak, followed by a bang. He stood in front of you, a good half-head taller, looking down at you. After a long moment, he flicked the ash off his cigarette and grinned. There was a bit of reckless roguishness in that smile, and a bit of amusement, like he was sizing up a rare treasure. "Alright then." He exhaled a puff of smoke, his voice slightly raspy from the alcohol. "From today on, you're mine. I've got your back, and no one will dare to mess with you."