“Whoa—!!!”
Wen Nuan’s soft and sweet voice had just spoken when someone gasped wildly behind him.
As if the words Wen Nuan had just spoken were like a critical bomb.
Wen Nuan turned his head back strangely to see a little girl wearing a white floral pinafore. Her face was round like an apple with big almond eyes. She looked even younger than Wen Nuan and shorter by several centimeters, like a three or four year old kid as well.
Standing next to her was a man in a black suit. He looked about thirty or so, and could be classified as the steady and mature type. Even though he didn’t look like Baili Wuchang at all, he also gave off the same sort of unforgettable handsomeness.
Wen Nuan didn’t recognize them.
He knew Baili Wuchang had subordinates, but he never met them all. He continued to face Fan Liangda and said, “Um…Uncle. Does my dad live here, in Room 404? I want to look for him.”
“404?” Fan Liangda shook his head. “Little buddy, this is a hotel. Baili Wuchang doesn’t live here. If you want to find him, you’d have to go to…”
He paused midway, unable to tell Wen Nuan the rest.
Wen Nuan faltered. Baili Wuchang doesn’t live in Room 404? Wasn’t Room 404 specifically reserved for him?
He almost confused himself when he suddenly remembered—this was eighteen years ago. The Baili Wuchang from eighteen years later lived in Room 404 at the Hell Chain Hotel, but that didn’t mean it was the same for eighteen years in the past.
It turned out he had run all the way here for nothing…
“What can I possibwy do…” Wen Nuan hung his head dejectedly, his entire person wilting. “Where am I suppowsed to go if I wanna find him…”
Just as Wen Nuan was in low spirits, the little girl who had gasped from the sides earlier snapped out of her shock.
She stared at Wen Nuan and lifted a stubby arm to point at him. She stuttered, “What…What did he say?”
“Did he call our boss…dad?”
“My god, our boss has an illegitimate child!”
“I’ve just come across a gargantuan piece of news!”
“I need to record this right now on Hell’s gossip forums!”
The little girl quickly took her phone out of her pocket, pointing it at Wen Nuan and taking an endless “click click click” of photos.
The man in the black suit might’ve been the little girl’s parent or something. He bent down and reached out, taking her phone away. “You’ll be silenced by homicide.”
“No, no; that’s fine. Besides, I’m already dead,” said the little girl. “If I can’t spread gossip, then I won’t rest in the afterlife!”
The little girl was only about ninety centimeters tall. She wasn’t even as tall as the black suited man’s legs. When he took her phone away, she hopped and jumped, but she couldn’t get it back no matter how hard she tried.
The little girl stomped her feet. “How dare you bully me!”
“Don’t make a scene. We still have business to attend to,” said the black suited man calmly without returning the phone.
Wen Nuan heard the little girl and the black suited man talk. His eyes flickered anew with light like two lanterns.
Could those two be Baili Wuchang’s subordinates? That would be great!
Wen Nuan promptly ran over to the little girl and the black suited man. He looked up and sized them both up for a moment.
He’d never met them before. The subordinates under Baili Wuchang were too many to count. They were strangers, and he didn’t even know their names.
The black suited man looked grave and a bit unfriendly.
The little girl was the opposite. She was cheerful and cute. Who wouldn’t have a good impression of a person who looked like that?
Wen Nuan weighed his options before turning to the little girl and saying sweetly, “Big sis, do you know my dad? I wanna find my dad. Big sis, can you take me to him?”
The hopping little girl stopped hopping and shouting. Her gaze targeted Wen Nuan like a searchlight, her expression becoming a little weird and fierce.
The little girl said, “Who are you calling big sis!”
“I…” Wen Nuan was taken aback. He said hesitantly, “Little sis?”
Indeed, the little girl was shorter than Wen Nuan, so she could very well be younger than him.
Hearing this, the little girl stomped her feet with a “yah”, furious, flustered, and exasperated as she yelled, “How about you grow a pair of eyes! Just where do you think I’m a girl, huh?!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Wen Nuan: “…”
Qfc Rejc kjr fnfc wbgf vewyobecvfv. Lf reymbcrmlberis ibbxfv ja atf ulgi eq jcv vbkc. Lfg ojmf kjr gbecv, tfg fsfr kfgf ylu, tfg tjlg kjr rtlcs yijmx, jcv bnfgjii…
Vtf kjr kfjglcu atja qegf ktlaf qlcjobgf!
Mgbw tfjv ab abf, rtf kjr mifjgis j ilaaif ulgi!
The black suited man’s solemn face couldn’t remain stiff. The corner of his mouth ticked up. He coughed and said, “Xiao Bai, don’t make a fuss.”
“Am I making a fuss?!” the “little girl” said unhappily. “It’s all your fault; you made me look like this, forcing me to wear a dress! Now look! I’ve been made into a laughingstock by this little imp!”
Ktf yijmx relafv wjc gfqilfv mjiwis, “Ktfgf kjr cb mtblmf. Pa kjr obg atf wlrrlbc. Fcali atja fnli utbra rqfmlolmjiis ajgufalcu ilaaif ulgir lr mjeuta, sbe tjnf ab rajs ibbxlcu ilxf atlr.”
It turned out that little girl was male. It was just for a specific reason that he was wearing a dress.
Wen Nuan felt embarrassed. He knew he was innocent, but why had it still ended up like this…
Xiao Bai put his hands on his waist, and like a dissatisfied elder, he said, “I’m already old enough to retire, and yet I still have to deal with cases like these. If word got out, I wouldn’t have any face left to show!”
He turned to glare at Wen Nuan. “And you, you little imp, calling me ‘sis’! You should call me gramps! I’m already this old, and you dare call me ‘little’! You’re sure to let off easy!”
Wen Nuan: “…”
Wen Nuan didn’t know what to say anymore. He felt like he had caused a big misunderstanding. Perhaps he would have fared better asking the black suited man in the first place.
Xiao Bai crossed his arms and suddenly grinned crookedly. “Little imp, you want to find Baili Wuchang, right? Our boss? If you beg, maybe I’ll consider taking you to him.”
“Reawwy?!” Wen Nuan exclaimed in surprise. As long as he could see Baili Wuchang, he might be able to leave this strange place. There was nothing lost and nothing gained from begging someone, so it was nothing big.
The black suited man frowned. “Xiao Bai, if you randomly give out our boss’s location, boss will get mad.”
“Aiya Xiao Hei, how stupid you are!” Xiao Bai laughed. “I just said, if he begs, maybe I’ll consider telling him where the boss is. After he finishes begging, I’ll tell him I considered it, and then I won’t tell him at all.”
Wen Nuan: “…”
Wen Nuan’s eyelid twitched twice. Even the sun seemed to blink for a moment. He merely called that kid “big sis” once, and the kid held a grudge!
The black suited man shook his head helplessly. “We still have the mission assigned by boss. We have to attend to serious matters first.”
“Oh.” Xiao Bai hadn’t had enough fun yet. He turned to Wen Nuan and pulled a face, hopping over in front of Fan Liangda.
Fan Liangda gave him a package from the front desk without saying another word.
Xiao Bai weighed the package in his hands and said, “Then we’ll get going first.”
Wen Nuan didn’t get to ask anything. He just watched that child called Xiao Bai and the black suited man leave through the hotel doors.
Wen Nuan was a bit hesitant. Should I catch up to them and ask? But it seems like those two aren’t going to tell me anything. By comparison, Fan Liangda seems more reliable.
Left with no other option, Wen Nuan turned towards Fan Liangda. “Um, Uncle, if my dad isn’t here, he has two coworkers called Hei Wuchang and Bai Wuchang. Does Uncle know where they are?”
If he couldn’t directly find Baili Wuchang, then Wen Nuan would do the next best thing. Where there was a will, there was a way.
Fan Liangda once again looked surprised. He raised a hand, pointing at the front entrance and said, “The two who just left…”
“What?” Wen Nuan’s mind went blank. He turned towards the doors to see the back profiles of the little kid in the white dress and the man in the black suit. They hadn’t gone far yet.
Wen Nuan’s tongue was tied. Did Fan Liangda mean those two were Hei Wuchang and Bai Wuchang?
Sure, the little boy wore white, and the adult man wore black; the two truly were one black and one white pair.
“No way…”
Wen Nuan felt like his IQ wasn’t high enough. Why were Heibai Wuchang different from his memory, and not only that, but completely different?
“This is too odd…” Wen Nuan murmured to himself.
He was stumped for a couple of seconds before his face hardened resolutely. He had to leave this place soon. No matter how odd Heibai Wuchang were, he’d do anything as long as it would lead him to Baili Wuchang.
Heibai Wuchang were Baili Wuchang’s subordinates, so as long as Wen Nuan followed them, he’d be able to see Baili Wuchang, right?
Even if it was a stupid idea, it was an idea born out of no ideas.
Wen Nuan nimbly tiptoed over, tailing behind them. After tagging along for seven or eight streets, he was exhausted.
His current body was too small. Not only did he have a lisp, his stamina was weak. He couldn’t maintain such a long and difficult trek.
Wen Nuan used his little hands to wipe away the sweat on his forehead. If he walked any longer, he felt like he might pass out on the side of the road.
“Ya!”
Just as Wen Nuan wiped his sweat away, he hissed, “The people!”
He had just been following that little “girl” and the black suited man, but in a second, they had disappeared. Wen Nuan tailed them for so long, but unbelievably, he had lost track of them!
“The people…”
Wen Nuan stubbornly looked all around, but the streets were full of heavy traffic. The sun was about to set soon, and there were many people out. He couldn’t find them at all.
But across the street, there was a strange figure.
A fashionable boy sneakily hid near an alleyway entrance, doing who knows what. He looked a bit like a thief, but a thief’s clothes wouldn’t be as nice as his.
The boy stuck his head out and looked around. From across the street, Wen Nuan couldn’t quite see his expression, but he could sense the other’s nervous hesitation.
The boy was a bit strange, but Wen Nuan didn’t have the heart to care right now. What he needed to do right now was to find the pair of Hei Wuchang and Bai Wuchang that he had lost track of.
Wen Nuan continued to walk around, nonstop searching.
“Meow! Meow meow!”
Suddenly, a shape appeared in front of him, burrowing out of the shadows and giving Wen Nuan a fright.
It was a tortoiseshell cat. It was probably a stray, and its entire body was filthy. Only its pair of clear blue eyes were shining and spotless.
Wen Nuan was just a kid, so upon encountering this tortoiseshell cat, he felt like it was a lot bigger than usual.
“Meow meow!”
The tortoiseshell cat bared its teeth and made a lot of noise at Wen Nuan, causing him to involuntarily take a step back. He was afraid it would suddenly pounce.
The tortoiseshell cat didn’t have attacking Wen Nuan as one of its interests. It decided to chomp down on Wen Nuan’s pants, pulling him into the nearby alleyway.
“Spit it out! Was it you who told on us to the homeroom teacher last time?”
“You think you’re so clever, huh? Shameless tattletale.”
“Wasn’t all we did just tear up your workbook? What’s the big deal? Just write in another one.”
“Yeah, who told you to put up such a front? If boss wants to copy your homework, you won’t even let him. You’re just asking for a thrashing!”
Wen Nuan hadn’t even gotten to the middle of the alley when he heard a bunch of hubbub from inside.
A few boys wearing avant garde clothes circled a boy wearing a uniform. They all looked to be around sixteen or seventeen, so they were probably high schoolers.
“We’ve got you cornered now. Accept your fate!”
“We’re off campus right now. The teachers can’t interfere, right?”
“We’re going to teach you a lesson!”
“Right, didn’t the school flower confess to you? Didn’t you know that the school flower is our boss’s future girlfriend?”
“You’re a poor ghost who’s really gone out of bounds.”
In the present world, Wen Nuan was twenty-two, and he was about to graduate after his senior year of college. Even though he was soon to leave the school life, he was no stranger to campus violence.
The tortoiseshell cat pulled Wen Nuan near the center of the alley. It seemed a little spiritually intelligent, like it wanted Wen Nuan to help the boy who was being ganged up on.
The boy wasn’t that tall, and he was rather scrawny. He didn’t stand a chance being surrounded by that many delinquents.
Wen Nuan wanted to judge the situation clearly, inching closely to the alleyway. Coincidentally, the boy in the middle turned around, and Wen Nuan was able to see his face.
For a three or four year old child, there were many things that were hard to remember, as this wasn’t the age where concrete memories were good at forming. However, when Wen Nuan was around that age, he remembered things very clearly.
He used to know a certain boy, and though he didn’t know his name, he absolutely recognized him.
It was during that day, right after Wen Nuan’s aunt abandoned him.
After his aunt left Wen Nuan on the side of the road and told him not to go anywhere, Wen Nuan walked off without a second thought, never turning back.
Wen Nuan didn’t reminisce about her fondly, never wanted to chase after her, and didn’t have any words left to say to her. He tossed the ice cream his aunt had bought for him right into the trash.
Wen Nuan sat by the road, propping up his round cheeks as he pondered about how he would live from now on.
For a child, this question was too difficult to answer…
Time slowly passed, and someone suddenly appeared in front of Wen Nuan, shielding him from the blazing sun.
Lifting his head, Wen Nuan saw the face of a certain boy.
That boy wasn’t tall, and his body was scrawny. He rode a shabby bicycle, looking like he was just stopping by.
The boy asked in surprise, “Aren’t you our homeroom teacher’s kid? I think I’ve seen you at school before.”
The boy was Wen Nuan’s aunt’s student. The school was a boarding school, so when Wen Nuan was bored, he used to run about, so he had indeed come across this boy before.
The boy looked at Wen Nuan in concern. “Why are you here all alone? Are you lost? I’ll take you back to school. The homeroom teacher must be worried about you.”
Worried? My aunt would never.
Wen Nuan didn’t speak aloud his internal thoughts.
The boy had been riding his bike to work. He didn’t think he would come across Wen Nuan along the way, stopping in his tracks to keep Wen Nuan company.
Wen Nuan was also surprised by this strange gege who wanted to help him.
Unfortunately, the boy had no real way to help Wen Nuan. Wen Nuan didn’t want to go back to that place…
Wen Nuan looked up at him and smiled. “Auntie said she’d come back soon. I’m waiting for her right here.”
The boy didn’t realize that Wen Nuan had been abandoned by his aunt. Hearing Wen Nuan’s words, he scratched his head. “So that’s what it is. Then you better not go anywhere. How about I stay with you for a bit?”
Wen Nuan said there was no need, but the boy had already parked his bike. He sat next to Wen Nuan and kept him company for a long time.
Wen Nuan didn’t know what happened to that gege afterwards. He didn’t know if he was late to work or not, or if the manager had docked his wages.
Wen Nuan only knew that after that, for a long time, he never saw that gege again. One day, by chance, he found out that gege who had appeared in front of him had long since passed away, the same year Wen Nuan was abandoned by his aunt…
He heard that it was because of school violence…
Upon seeing that boy’s face again, Wen Nuan’s mind buzzed, and memories flooded back to him.
In an instant, Wen Nuan made up his mind to help that boy out.
But…
Wen Nuan was only a toddler. Directly jumping in to help absolutely wouldn’t work.
He quickly turned and ran at the speed of light, running out to the streets where he saw a small police box across the road. It was fortunate there even was a police box nearby.
Wen Nuan wasted no time in pulling a police officer over and running back into the alley.
Tensions were high among those high school delinquents. They had already knocked that boy to the ground. One of them cackled maniacally, raising his leg to stomp on the boy’s head.
“What are you all doing! Halt!”
The police officer shouted, and the delinquents panicked. They didn’t expect to be caught by a police officer in this remote alleyway.
Frankly speaking, these were just kids; they were copying adults by strutting around, but they didn’t inherently have any skills in the first place. They only knew how to rely on numbers to pick on those who weren’t their own size.
As soon as they saw the police officer, they were spooked, running off every which way without saying another word.
“Meow!”
That tortoiseshell cat was also in the alleyway. As soon as it saw the delinquents trying to run, it dashed out, using its claws to hook itself onto the head of one of them.
“Ah, my face!” yelled the delinquent. He reached a hand out, and it came away covered in blood.
He had no time to fight the cat. He was still running from the police. Scared out of his wits, he continued to flee.
“Student, are you okay?”
I wonder who this kid is and how he’s connected with Wen Nuan!
Same! Wasn’t expecting this way of backstory but I’m super excited for what the next chapter will reveal!