Chapter Ninety-Three: Plans and Changes (First Update)

"Look closely. This is what it means for different roads to lead to the same destination. In truth, most roads in this world end up the same, as long as you travel far enough, because this damn Earth is a sphere."

With the last stroke finished, Hou San let out a long breath and stared at the map on the wall with satisfaction. He pointed to the longest black line and said to Zhu Dachang with a sideways glance, "We take this one. See? You still need a plan. If we keep doing things the old way, we'd be like the Monkey King in Heaven, never able to turn the police's palm inside out."

"Third Brother, being the Monkey King isn't bad either. He's a hero, with that magic staff that can grow thick or thin, and whenever he sees those demons he can shout, 'Taste a blow from your Grandpa Sun!' Pretty imposing, isn't it?"

"Imposing my foot. He was just another poor soul forced into submission. The one who rampaged through Heaven was the heroic Monkey King; the one who followed the bald monk to the West was a bodyguard named Sun Wukong. And what does Wukong even mean? It just means empty hands and empty eyes. If a man is no longer himself, what is there left in living? His end may not have been any better than those people from Marshland Ridge."

Zhu Dachang still thought the Monkey King was a hero. At the very least, he had the ability to protect others, just like Hou San had protected him from those thugs in the village all these years. In his heart, they were both great heroes. He grinned foolishly and, instead of arguing, changed the subject. Scratching the back of his head, he asked, "Third Brother, the two routes you drew are both shorter than this one. Why don't we take the short ones? Why must we take the long road?"

"You don't understand. This is wisdom: when faced with two short paths and one long one, choose the longest..." Hou San explained with his arms folded. "Sometimes, the nearest road is actually the farthest. We're already being watched by the police, so we definitely can't keep taking buses. We can only find a way to sneak back to City A slowly. The obvious choice is always the shortcut, so the police will surely set up layers of checkpoints on those two shorter routes. Even if we get through, it'll cost us time and energy."

Zhu Dachang frowned. "They won't set up checkpoints on the long road?"

"They will, but not as tightly. And with such a long stretch, it's harder for the police to keep tabs on it. That makes our chances of sneaking back to City A much greater..." Hou San pinched the empty hem of his shirt and sighed. "Actually, the safest thing would be to make a huge detour and return from the direction opposite the one we left City A from. But we're strapped for cash. Along the way, we still need to find a chance to pull off a job, otherwise it'll be pretty embarrassing when we get back to City A. Life in a big city means every step has to be paved with money."

Zhu Dachang scratched his fingers and said with his head lowered, "Third Brother, why do we have to go back to City A anyway... Why don't we just go back to the village? I already worked out a plan in my head... I figured it out beside that braised meat stall. Do you know how much the braised meat costs there? Thirty-eight a pound! I think we could go home for the New Year, raise a few pigs, and when they're grown, slaughter them and make braised meat out of them, then bring it back here to sell..."

"What do you mean, what do you think? I don't care what you think, I care what I think! How much can you earn slinging braised meat all year long from dawn till dusk? If it really made money, the boss wouldn't be selling it from a roadside stall," Hou San said, puckering his lips. "Rich people care about class. They eat atmosphere and buy packaging. Who the hell buys braised meat by the roadside? Most of the customers at roadside stalls are miserable folks like us, with hardly any money in their pockets. Can you bear to take even their last few coins away from them?"

Zhu Dachang scratched his head. "Then wouldn't I become one of those capitalist leeches... Maybe I should earn a little less and add just a dime or two to the cost?"

"Then you'd be doing charity! All merchants are shrewd, Dachang. Neither of us has the fate of a crook..." Hou San sniffed. "Let's just keep doing this no-capital business. If we're in a good mood, we'll rob the rich to help the poor; if we're in a bad mood, we'll rob the rich to help ourselves. Business is business. It shouldn't only be about survival; it should also be about doing the right thing."

Zhu Dachang shook his head a few times. He felt Hou San made a lot of sense, yet also felt something was off, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. In the end, he simply rolled his eyes, cleared his mind of everything, and thought of nothing at all. Nodding along, he said, "Third Brother's right. Anyway, whatever you say goes. I won't object!"

Hou San patted Zhu Dachang on the shoulder in satisfaction. "That's more like it. Looks like you're really not suited for thinking. From now on, you'd better let your brain rest while I do the heavy lifting..." He stroked his chin, looked at the map, and drew a circle somewhere along the long route. "This is the place. When the time comes, we'll pull off a job here. Not too far, not too close. Easy to get away."

"Third Brother," Zhu Dachang tilted his head and studied the names near the circle on the map, puzzled. "There's nothing here that's really worth taking..."

"Sometimes we have to change our way of thinking," Hou San said with a sly grin. "Robbing the rich to help the poor doesn't have to mean breaking into houses. Most people nowadays carry their valuables on them anyway. Makes it easier to show off, right? Today we'll be open and aboveboard for once and play highwaymen, collect some toll money... Come on, think before you act. Now that we've thought it through, it's time to act! First, take a piss, then wash your face, and shake yourselves awake!"

With that, Hou San took the map down from the wall, folded it neatly, and put it in his pocket. He pushed open the stall door, and he and Zhu Dachang each chose a urinal. They loosened their belts and, humming under their breath, sent two crooked yellow streams arcing through the air.

Just as Hou San and Zhu Dachang were relieving themselves to their hearts' content, a young man dressed in tattered clothes patched with holes walked in. He stood beside Hou San, pulled down the zipper of his ripped jeans, put one hand on his hip, and let loose with a rush. After a satisfied sigh, he glanced at Hou San's stream, then looked down at his own, and let out a long, heavy breath. "Life is too short."

Hou San gave the beggar-like youth a sidelong look, then turned back to stare at the wall and said carelessly, "The road ahead is long."

The ragged youth blinked, instantly straightened his back, and said, "Makes sense. Well taught, well taught."

Hou San and Zhu Dachang almost simultaneously shook themselves off, fastened their belts again, and strode out of the restroom. At the sink, they cupped up two handfuls of clear water, splashed it on their faces, patted their cheeks, drew a deep breath, and swaggered off in the direction of City A.

A few seconds later, Zhang Yunxi came out of the ladies' room. She glanced at the two receding figures and felt as if she'd seen them somewhere before. Frowning, she quickly washed her hands, shook off the water, and sat back down inside the Wuling. Looking at the empty driver's seat, she turned to Sun Tiantian, who was yawning, and asked, "Where did he go?"

"Lazy ox, lazy horse, always needing to pee or shit," Sun Tiantian said irritably, nodding toward the men's room. "He said his stomach was acting up again, and he had to go in and empty himself out before we could hit the road."

"Nie Yi was right. That fellow really does have a rotten heart. He's been to the toilet six times this morning..." Zhang Yunxi fixed the men's room with an icy stare and said coldly, "They always say people who run away from home don't find it easy to turn back. This journey really has been full of bumps. I fear the road back is longer than we thought. And the length of the road is secondary; what's truly troublesome is losing Han Yuan. From here on, we'll have to rely on ourselves to get home."

"Speaking of Nie Yi, do you think he'll be shocked when we go back and he sees how inseparable we've become?" Sun Tiantian licked her lollipop, gave a strange little smile, and asked, "What exactly is going on in that mind of yours and He Wei's? Why won't you let Nie Yi and Li Jun know that we already knew each other long ago?"

"For this to begin, the two of them have to be drawn into the game," Zhang Yunxi said, biting her lip. "Only after they've stepped into the trap will my father be stirred to action. He has always been fiercely protective of his own. If one of his disciples is set up by someone, he will make sure justice is done. So the two of us can only appear as if we had never known each other before. If I can't find a suitable person to test that drop of blood, I'll have to ask them for help. That's the only way the logic holds together. It's not only detectives who need internal consistency; suspense writers do too."

Sun Tiantian glanced sideways at Zhang Yunxi and said in a mocking tone, "You're using your schemes on your own people. You really are something... Uncle Man probably saw through it long ago. That little trick of yours could never fool him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have sent me to find that old woman this time. Only now do I understand that finding a person or an object was never the real reason Uncle Man sent me on this trip. What he wanted was to turn your scheme against itself and help you fill in the gaps."

"When he sent me to Green Vine City to help you, I knew he had already seen everything," Zhang Yunxi said bitterly. "I thought our plan was perfect enough, but in the end he still spotted the flaw."

"The only people you can ever fool are the ones who trust you, like those two idiots, Nie Yi and Li Jun," Sun Tiantian sneered. "Because you're Zhang Yunxi, if you told them tomorrow the sun would rise in the west, they'd believe it without a second thought."

Zhang Yunxi sighed and said to Sun Tiantian with a complicated look, "When we go back this time, let's keep pretending we're not all that familiar with each other for now. I'll find a chance to sit down and explain everything to them properly..."

Sun Tiantian found it all rather dull. She glanced down at the time on her cartoon electronic watch, then looked toward the restroom and cupped her pink cheeks in both hands. "How long do you think it'll take him this time?"

Zhang Yunxi took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and put on an air of complete indifference. "That depends on how rotten his heart really is. Once we get back to City A, we ought to teach him a lesson. After all, he's one of the Yiming Society. It won't sound good if word gets out..."

Just then, Zhang Yunxi's phone suddenly vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out, opened the instant messaging app, and quickly scanned the message. Her brows lifted, and she turned sideways toward Sun Tiantian. "It looks like we may not be able to return to City A for the moment."

Sun Tiantian clapped her hands and flashed a cheerful V sign. "Fantastic, my vacation's been topped up! Tell me, what are we acting in this time?"

"We're not acting in anything. We're just watching the show," Zhang Yunxi said, rolling her shoulders and neck. "We're going to the Green Vine City Film Studio. Han Yuan is over there now, and we need to bring him back before we head out together. My father said that however many people leave, that same number must come back. Not a single one can be missing... And from what he implied, Han Yuan seems to be getting the short end of it right now. That's a show worth seeing. It's a pity all the trouble I went to with my plan has come to nothing. Truly, plans can never keep up with change..."