It was evening, and the Wei family grocery store had yet to see a single customer.
Wei Lai sat in a rattan chair inside the shop, engaged in a video call with his girlfriend. Hearing his father’s familiar footsteps echoing in the alley, he hastily hung up and sat bolt upright.
Wei Shan stepped over the half-rotted threshold, his face a mask of irritation. "How’s business today?" he barked.
"No business," Wei Lai replied, cautiously gauging his father’s expression.
"How can there be no business? Did you slack off and keep the door shut again?" Wei Shan flew into a rage, kicking the rattan chair. With a sharp creak, Wei Lai tumbled to the floor.
"I didn't slack off! I’ve really been here the whole time, no one just came by!" Wei Lai scrambled to defend himself.
"There used to be so many people, why is it empty now?!"
"Who knows!" Wei Lai paused, then added hurriedly, "They probably think it’s bad luck because someone died here—it’s a jinx! The mini-mart at the end of the alley has been doing much better lately. I saw it when I came back this afternoon..."
Wei Lai bit his tongue, but it was too late.
"You still say you weren't slacking?! You weren't watching the shop, you ran off to the internet cafe again! Even if we had a mountain of gold, you’d squander it all!"
Wei Shan grabbed Wei Lai by the hair, yanked off a slipper, and began striking his face. The blows, carrying dust and damp mud, landed heavily. The crisp sound, like a porcelain bowl shattering, was sharp and sudden, fracturing the stagnant air of the small shop.
Wei Lai felt his cheek swelling rapidly. He didn't dare dodge; he could only wail and plead incoherently, "Dad, I was wrong! I was wrong!"
In that moment, intense fear caused his current self to merge with the child he once was. He still lacked a strong physique, the financial means for independence, and a resilient spirit. All he could do was clasp his head in his hands to protect his most vulnerable parts.
Wei Shan stopped to catch his breath, panting, just as the phone in his pocket began to ring. He shot a threatening glare at the cowering Wei Lai before answering the unknown caller.
"Who is it? What, scrap collection? You’ve got the wrong number—" He turned away irritably, his gaze falling on the old wooden door leading to the cluttered living quarters behind the shop. "Wait. What’s your buying price?"
Hanging up, he turned to Wei Lai. "Go inside and clear out your mother’s things! Find everything we don't use that can be sold for a few cents. Oh, and check your sister’s spot to see if she left anything valuable behind—"
Feeling as though he had been granted a divine reprieve, Wei Lai scrambled into the back room.
He switched on the dim overhead light in the living room, surveying the space that had grown messy and filthy since his mother’s death. "Dad, what should I put them in?" he shouted.
A moment later, the wooden door creaked open. Wei Shan tossed a burlap rice sack inside and slammed the door shut again.
Since Wei Zhi had left and their mother had passed, Wei Lai was the only one left to bear the brunt of Wei Shan’s temper. He cursed those who had escaped in his heart while reluctantly picking up the sack.
"Do we really not want any of Mom’s things?" he called out toward the door, seeking confirmation.
"Keep them for what? As family heirlooms?" Wei Shan’s impatient voice drifted from outside.
Having received his orders, Wei Lai entered the master bedroom and cleared out everything belonging to Wang Lin from the wardrobe.
Wang Lin’s clothes were all cheap finds from street stalls; they wouldn't even sell on second-hand apps. They could only be sold by the pound to the scrap collector.
Though she was gone, the scent of his mother seemed to linger on the fabric. Wei Lai held the clothes and wept silently for a moment, feeling a pang of reluctance. However, he didn't dare disobey Wei Shan. All he could do was find a few clean plastic bags to pack his mother’s clothing separately.
Cardboard, scrap copper, and iron were gradually stuffed into the burlap sack.
Wei Lai looked around, searching for anything else that could be converted into cash.
His gaze landed on the folding bed leaning against the wall in the corner of the balcony, and a surge of spiteful anger rose within him.
"I’ll make sure you have to sleep on the floor if you ever come back!"
Muttering to himself, he lifted the folding bed to shove it into the sack.
A red, old-fashioned bankbook slipped from the folds and hit the floor with a soft thud.
The air on the balcony seemed to go still. Wei Lai stared fixedly at the bankbook, his held breath audible in the silence.
He glanced back at the still-closed wooden door, then picked up the red-covered book.
Wei Lai flipped to the back, looking directly for the last transaction. The balance left him utterly disappointed—forty-six cents.
The final transaction was dated eight years ago.
"Crazy woman, hiding a useless bankbook so deep..."
Wei Lai irritably tossed the bankbook into the sack full of scrap.
He stood there, looking at the red book lying atop the junk, and his mind suddenly began to race.
This bankbook seemed to possess an importance he didn't yet understand. Otherwise, Wei Zhi would never have gone out of her way to hide it in the place where she slept every night.
Wasn't it hidden there so she could see it at any time?
Wei Lai retrieved the red bankbook and began reading carefully from the first page.
The account had been opened twelve years ago. At that time, Wei Zhi was fourteen, in her second year of middle school. The first transaction was a twenty-yuan deposit made upon opening the account. From then on, she had deposited a few dozen yuan roughly every six months.
Withdrawals were sporadic—sometimes five yuan, sometimes twenty.
Wei Lai suddenly remembered a school autumn trip. The participating students were required to pay a twenty-yuan bus fee. Wei Shan had been unwilling to pay, so Wei Lai couldn't go, but Wei Zhi had gone.
She claimed a classmate had treated her.
That night, she brought back a small bun distributed during the trip. While she was showering, Wei Lai had rummaged through her backpack and found it.
The packaging was decorated with yellow edges, containing a round, plump little bun. He brought it to his nose and could faintly smell a mouth-watering milky aroma.
He dropped it on the floor, stomped on it until it burst and flattened, then shoved it back into her bag.
He had expected her to cry when she saw the ruined bun, but she didn't.
She looked at it silently for a while, then threw it in the trash.
He hated how she remained so unruffled, as if she had already escaped their father’s violence and their impoverished home life. The more she acted as if nothing mattered, the more he hated her.
They could have relied on each other, but she was the one who had abandoned him first.
This bankbook was the proof.
Suppressing his anger, Wei Lai continued flipping through. Starting from the second year, transfer records appeared.
On the first of every month, Wei Zhi received a transfer of two hundred yuan.
For the final payment, the sender had transferred exactly 24,800.46 yuan.
After that, Wei Zhi had withdrawn all the money at once. That was the last entry in the book.
Wei Lai had a rough idea of where to start investigating. He took out his phone and dialed one of his "fair-weather friends" who worked as a bank teller.
"Hello? It’s me. I need you to check something for me. I found my sister’s bankbook from your bank. I want you to help me find the name of the account holder who sent her fixed monthly transfers. No, I know the rules, of course. Just tell me privately. I’ll buy you barbecue when it’s done! Thanks! I’ll send you the account number right away—"
Just as he hung up, Wei Shan’s roar came from outside: "Wei Lai, are you slacking off again?!"
"No! I’m working!" Wei Lai stuffed the bankbook into his denim pocket and quickly grabbed the burlap sack, pretending to be busy.
The wooden door was pushed open, and a suspicious, displeased Wei Shan walked in. He watched Wei Lai struggling to shove the folding bed into the sack and asked dubiously, "Who were you just talking to?"
"I was talking to myself! This folding bed is rusty; it keeps scratching my hands!"
"Did your sister leave anything behind?" Wei Shan’s eyes scanned the small balcony.
"She took everything valuable with her—"
"Like water tossed out! No damn conscience at all!" Wei Shan cursed. The more he looked at the remnants of Wei Zhi’s presence on the balcony, the more irritated he became. He waved a hand dismissively. "Sell all her clothes too! She didn't come back for them anyway. She must be living the high life over there; she won't need these!"
Without hesitation, Wei Lai pulled out the neatly stacked storage bins and dumped the clothes inside into the burlap sack.
"Find some time in the next couple of days to go to the gallery. Tell your sister that business at the shop hasn't been good this month and tell her to bring five thousand yuan back. Don't let her forget her family just because she’s doing well."
Wei Lai agreed. Wei Shan scanned the balcony once more, and seeing nothing of value, he left, smacking his lips.
"By the way, hurry up and make dinner. I’m hungry." Before closing the door, he shot a cold look at Wei Lai.
***
The camera pen in the security hut ran out of power and shut down on the fifth day.
As for Tan Mengyan, he had completely vacated the hut by the third day.
Through indirect questioning of Ji Qikun, Wei Zhi learned that he had resigned the day after she left.
She had a premonition that he and the person behind him would appear before her again.
In the days following her resignation, she had almost no activities other than going out for groceries. Every day was spent watching TV or sleeping. At first, she hadn't understood Ji Qikun’s motive for asking her to quit.
Until the notification sound of the door lock became sweet music to her ears—no matter if she was in the bedroom or on the balcony, the moment she heard that sound, she would involuntarily walk toward the door with a joyful heart to greet him.
She finally understood.
5:48 PM.
Twelve minutes until Ji Qikun finished work.
Wei Zhi was already sitting on the living room sofa waiting. The air inside was so heavy it felt as though it could be wrung like a wet cloth. The sound of rain drumming against the glass, mingled with the low rumble of distant thunder, was swallowed by the boundless dark clouds.
Rainwater gathered into rivulets on the glass behind Wei Zhi, sliding down slowly and leaving blurred streaks.
The indoor lighting was soft and amber, casting shimmering reflections on the polished floor. The silhouettes of the furniture looked slightly distorted in this light, adding a sense of unreality. A faint dampness permeated the air, reminiscent of rotting wood in a rainforest.
An unknown call interrupted her daze. She could guess who it was—only the blacklisted members of the Wei family would need to use someone else’s number to call her.
She pressed the answer key and brought it to her ear. After a long silence filled only with breathing, Wei Lai’s voice finally came through.
"I’ve changed my mind."
His voice carried a strange urgency—not the natural panting after exercise, but the instinctive tremor of a starving jackal that had suddenly spotted its prey.
"Give me forty thousand every month. If you could produce that much for Mom every month, you can naturally find a way to get it for me."
"I knew you’d go back on your word," Wei Zhi said. "Forty thousand? I won't give you a single cent. In a moment, I’m going to tell Ji Qikun everything."
She lowered the phone, about to hang up.
"Are you going to confess the matter of the bankbook to him too?"
Wei Zhi’s hand seemed to hit a pause button, stopping abruptly just above the end-call icon.
Wei Lai’s excited and gloating voice continued from the phone.
"You hid it so well, Wei Zhi—you fooled all of us. To think you’re actually—"
Wei Zhi hung up, but her heartbeat failed to return to normal.
She stared blankly at the phone screen as if the call hadn't ended.
Soon, the number called again. Wei Zhi hung up; he called again. Hung up, called again.
A text message arrived on her phone.
She slowly opened the message.
*“Before midnight tomorrow, I want to see forty thousand yuan transferred to my card.”*
*“Otherwise, I will reveal your true face to everyone.”*
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 魏家小卖部 | Wei family grocery store | The small neighborhood shop run by the Wei family. |
| 存折 | Bankbook / Passbook | A physical book used to record bank transactions. |
| 王琳 | Wang Lin | Wei Zhi and Wei Lai's deceased mother. |
| 豺狗 | Jackal | Used metaphorically to describe Wei Lai's predatory tone. |
| 揭露你的真面目 | Reveal your true face | A common idiom meaning to expose someone's true identity or secrets. |
