The municipal government’s public security bureau was the focus of attention. The bureau’s criminal investigation section chief was looking for a small clerk. The section chief had been just a low-level scientific officer in the district prosecutor’s office a few years ago. Although his abilities were not poor, he lacked opportunities and had not been promoted for nearly a decade, which made him frustrated. During meals with his superior, he would complain and feel dissatisfied, and was at odds with the school principal.
The section chief was most anxious and determined. He spent a week studying all student files and discovered a certain student director. First, he arranged for his son to be a small clerk in the bureau, and then arranged for his son to participate in a competition in the city, creating opportunities to interact with parents. Soon, the small clerk’s matter was quickly resolved.
If the bureau helped someone who knew insider information, they would quickly receive a hard currency note that would roll out endlessly. The small clerk felt overwhelmed, and his expectations were difficult to express. Every holiday, he would send cigarettes and alcohol to his superior’s home, but the section chief would always want something in return.
The section chief didn’t expect the small clerk to report anything, but the small clerk’s promotion always seemed to have good outcomes. For example, now he felt it necessary to send the small clerk out.
“This summer matter, we’ll just know about it for now,” the section chief said, “I think his father’s work, and due to the nature of the work, he might not even contact his child. His mother, I think, will eventually show up. What do you think?”
The director nodded: “This isn’t difficult. For example, check if there are any letters from Akubei Alley, with an address, and the content of the letter. However, Akubei Alley’s resident is a local, with very simple social connections. I haven’t heard of any close friends.”
“Keep investigating the details,” the section chief said, “Only what’s not visible on the surface might be problematic.”
The director took this seriously and said, “I’ve been in contact with two flowing groups near Akubei Alley, looking for any direct leads. Additionally, I can protect the child’s safety.” He picked up the cigarette on the table: “This is the first step. The second is to check Akubei’s incoming mail within half a year. The third is to deeply investigate Akubei’s social relationships.
A Quiet Afternoon at the City Bureau
Akua Nie was greatly shocked at the city bureau, involving a political event that exceeded her extreme endurance. Moreover, the matter seemed unlikely to end quickly, with Zhang Chu making a speech to “strictly investigate,” and the school principal publicly announcing the dismissal of the summer class.
Ali had not yet gone beyond the mountain, but she clearly understood that the emperor was dead. After the incident, she reported to the North and ultimately confirmed the test site had been tampered with, and the summer’s tampering was inevitable. The summer was not yet ten years old, and this child always gave her an uneasy feeling. The most intelligent approach was to prevent this unknown creature from entering the school.
Jia Xia sat near the abandoned fire truck station. He felt he had not suffered a significant loss. Although he had been eating and staying here for a month and even attended school for a few days, what he needed to consider now was where to find food tomorrow. Tomorrow? He didn’t want to think about tomorrow.
Life is just today, another today.
The train station was bustling with people. There were white-ethnic women selling dry goods and fresh pastries, Han Chinese carrying tea boxes, crying children at their mother’s chest, and hidden elderly people. The summer was carrying a small bundle of miscellaneous items. A month ago, his mother was here preparing to separate from him, and he had not returned since.
He didn’t understand why he was sitting here, watching the 12-inch color TV on the stall, connected to a video recorder playing a broadcast that looked like a scene from a Taiwan TV station. The young man wearing gold-rimmed glasses looked quite handsome, and the short-haired woman sitting opposite looked even better. The man with glasses said, “I’ve found a way to go, love is like a fish, wanting to keep moving forward, otherwise it will die.”
Jia Xia remembered watching his performance of “Shanghai Beach” when studying abroad. The man said, “Who has talked about Akua Jia? Ali has only said, ‘This dangerous place, this dangerous place, I happened to encounter it'” – how exciting!
Jia Xia turned his head to look at the street scene. In his eyes, what was coming was not a human flow or scenery, but another world that was high and insurmountable, a world that was always in motion, where everyone was far from satisfied.
Beside him was a small vendor, similar in age to him but half a head shorter, holding half a water chestnut in one hand and a spoon in the other. Whenever someone passed, he would raise it slightly and ask for a sprinkle. Since he wasn’t eating the water chestnut now, it meant he wasn’t hungry. If he wasn’t hungry, it was best to give it to someone who was very hungry now.
The summer walked past the small vendor, hesitating to take a water chestnut from the small hand, and took two or three bites. The small vendor just looked, without any reaction.
Jia Xia thought he could make more demands of him.
“You still have a few? Give them to me!”
The little boy continued to stare, his mouth inexplicably showing a part of the ulcer, with a sticky, nauseating body fluid, spinning around his brain quickly. The summer reached down to grab his mouth, his hand just extending, only feeling a collar, his body leaving the ground, then flying out directly, falling back to the miscellaneous goods store entrance.
If this was the price of snatching the little boy’s lunch, the summer thought it was still fair. But the matter was not over. The one who pulled him out was a man with a yellow-pale face, with a cracked, torn expression. He grabbed the summer and skillfully controlled him with a dog-like hand method, dragging him towards the deep alley.
Any city has similar urban landscapes: independent vehicles or transportation tools can always drive smoothly. The mixed stone dark spring was deep, and the front wall appeared, seemingly reaching the end but not without holes. The yellow-faced man was familiar with riding a horse, lying on the back seat, either being hit in the brain bag during a bumpy ride, or being crushed by something in the mixed stone, to avoid pain, he could only try to shrink his body.
In the mixed stone, some people closed their doors tightly, some were cooking at the doorway, the electric wires between the poles could hear women using local dialect scolding children, the sound of pots and pans flipping at the bottom of iron pots, and the quickly disappearing food aroma, which this summer should be mushroom-fried meat slices, and definitely with dried chili peppers. Facing the sky, he could see the intertwined clothes hanging in the air, with egg nets tangled under the blue sky and white clouds.
The sky was very blue, the clouds were light, and it was truly very clean.
The yellow-faced man suddenly rushed forward, overturning a wooden basin where a woman was washing clothes, water flowing everywhere, the woman picked up the chamber pot and swept it over, the chamber pot didn’t hit the yellow-faced man but hit the wooden basin, the woman chased after him, and this summer saw the obvious red mark on her face, she picked up the chamber pot and yelled, then went back to collect her wet clothes.
