Offense - Chapter 1
Chapter 1
It was a midsummer afternoon, hot as a steam basket, and the streets were empty. Most of Pingchuan Town's permanent residents were the elderly and children, all of whom were home for their afternoon naps at this hour.
After finishing her morning's work, Lian Wan drove the truck back to the yard.
Seeing the empty road ahead, Lian Wan stepped on the gas, her eyes fixed vigilantly on what was in front of her. The box truck accelerated over a speed bump, jolting up and down. Fortunately, she was heading back to the yard empty after a delivery, so she didn't have to worry about cargo getting thrown around in the back. But the Safety Knot hanging in the cab swayed with the truck's vibrations, tapping against her head from time to time.
Lian Wan reached out and gave it a light flick, but it didn't move away.
She tried again, but this time she missed, her hand only swiping through the air.
The next second, the Safety Knot swung back and smacked her on the head.
It wasn't exactly annoying, and it didn't hurt when it hit her, but Lian Wan hated this feeling more than anything. It was like walking into a fog you couldn't escape or navigate, punching at empty air. It was a feeling of things not being to her liking, and of being at a complete loss-whether it concerned people or events.
Lian Wan tapped the brakes, slowing the truck slightly. She snatched the Safety Knot from beside her head and tossed it onto the passenger seat, which was piled high with clutter.
The truck continued on its way. Lian Wan's face was tense as she looked down from her high seat at the empty street below. She frowned slightly, and the midday sun highlighted her impeccable bone structure.
Lian Wan was beautiful. Everyone in Pingchuan Town, young and old, knew it. This might sound incredible, but Pingchuan Town was small-the kind of small where you could stand on a rooftop and see clear to the other side. It wasn't some picturesque town nestled by mountains and rivers. Everything about it was just as its name suggested: flat and plain. Like countless other towns forgotten by the tides of time, it had no modern architecture, only towering trees that blotted out the sky, long, narrow streets, and the slow, silent passage of time, stretched out and measured.
In a town like this, the distance between people was unbelievably close. You could just poke your head out, without even needing to strain your ears, and you'd know what the family to the east had for breakfast, and what the couple to the west had said to each other last night.
Moreover, Lian Wan had grown up in Pingchuan Town and had never left. People first became aware of her existence because of the big fire in the West District. She was the only daughter of the two victims, and she had stood at the head of the long funeral procession, her hand held by her grandmother.
She was a pale, tall, and slender girl, with a pair of remarkably placid eyes. Though she rarely spoke, everyone was quite tolerant of her, treating her with a certain degree of pitying affection.
As for whether this attitude was condescending, that varied from person to person.
When faced with the suffering of others, people inevitably compare it to their own lives. It seems to be one of life's tenets to find some small comfort for oneself by measuring it against another's pain.
Thus, surrounded by the town's tolerance, the orphaned child's path to adulthood was anything but smooth. Her taciturn nature, the subtle, appraising glances from classmates and teachers, the difficult life she and her grandmother shared-all of it culminated in her grandmother's death just before the college entrance exams, which seemed to bring Lian Wan's youth to an abrupt end.
Lian Wan didn't get into college.
There were plenty of high school graduates in town who didn't get into college, but she alone seemed different, as if by nature. Not only did she grow more strikingly beautiful with age, but she also had high aspirations. There weren't many jobs in town, and even fewer that young people were willing to do. Of all her classmates who hadn't gone to college, only Lian Wan had neither married nor started working in a factory. First, she learned to drive a three-wheeler from a mentor, delivering feed for the local mill. Then, somehow, she got her truck driver's license and joined the town's Vehicle Team. From that point on, she was considered to be on a proper path. Once Lian Wan started driving her truck, hauling goods through the streets and alleys, the neighbors stopped treating her like a child altogether.
After all, the way she hopped down from the driver's seat had a flair that anyone would have to admire as effortlessly cool.
You've grown into an adult. If your family knew, they could rest easy.
That's what they said.
When Lian Wan heard these words, she found them meaningless. That feeling of punching at the air returned.
So she responded with her usual silence, her face cold, giving a nod that showed little regard for social niceties.
Still doesn't like to talk, people would think. And then, as always, they would graciously make allowances for her.
The truck continued down the road. A faint, hot breeze blew in through the half-open window, making her drowsy. Now that the Safety Knot was gone and there was no one around, Lian Wan pressed a little harder on the accelerator, eager to get home for her nap.
The light blue box truck soon turned into a small lane.
At noon in the height of summer, the vehicle yard was open to the sky; linger too long and you'd be drenched in sweat. It was called a yard, but it was really just a patch of wasteland cleared of weeds where most of the town's motorized vehicles, other than cars, were parked. She drove to her usual spot, where the Vehicle Team's trucks were already scattered about. Lian Wan expertly reversed into the space, pulled the handbrake, turned the key, wiped down the dashboard, then pulled open the door and hopped out. She snapped her towel against the door handle, her movements possessing a certain crisp, graceful efficiency.
Not far away, a familiar driver also parked and got out. Seeing her, he let out a long whistle, followed by a shout:
"Xiao Lian, no work tonight, let's go for a drink!"
Lian Wan glanced over and saw it was a driver she often worked with. The corner of her mouth twitched into something like a frozen smile. She didn't say yes or no, just gave a wave before turning and walking away.
She walked out of the small lane from the yard and turned onto a long street, disappearing into a canopy of green that blotted out the sky. This entire area was an old residential district. Courtyards were cluttered with junk, red brick walls were faded, and Virginia creeper grew with wild abandon. Clothes hung thick on laundry lines, and flowering vines were tied to the iron railings of balconies, climbing upward as if trying to capture a piece of spring.
Lian Wan didn't have an umbrella. Dappled light fell across her face, the interplay of light and shadow making her features seem even more defined.
The place where Lian Wan lived was a house her grandmother had left her, a property that could be traced back several decades to when it was assigned by a state work unit. Back then, Pingchuan Town had been thriving. It had large factories, state-owned enterprises that young people were proud to work for. The smokestacks soaring into the clouds were the town's most prominent landmarks. Thick black smoke billowed from one corner of town toward the blue sky, and after their shifts, workers in gray-blue uniforms would pour into the residential areas like a tide.
Decades had passed. Now it was the young Lian Wan's turn to walk these streets. The lush flowers and green canopy were the same as ever, yet they seemed to be veiled in a layer of mist. The years that had settled here seemed to climb silently onto her shoulders, as if hoping to borrow her youthful vitality to shake off the accumulated dust and rust.
As she reached the ground floor of her apartment building, Lian Wan paused, her gaze drifting uncontrollably to the side.
The roll-up security door of the new convenience store downstairs was raised. Behind the glass doors, shelves packed with a dazzling array of goods stood in neat rows. Even in broad daylight, the lights inside were on. The two glass doors were closed, each bearing a bright red plastic sticker that symmetrically read: Welcome.
It was tacky, but amidst all the surrounding greenery, it was exceptionally eye-catching.
Lian Wan was tall, and from her vantage point, she could vaguely make out the figure of a person sitting behind the door. The person's head was bowed, and the bright red sticker horizontally obscured most of her features. All Lian Wan could see was half of a pale, luminous forehead and a cascade of black hair that flowed like water.
Lian Wan heard her own mind automatically say: She's here...
Aided by the sunlight, the soft lines of the already half-obscured figure made her appear even more indistinct.
Lian Wan's feet moved restlessly.
The two stickers on the glass doors were opaque. Under the midday sun, they were dazzlingly bright, as if freshly washed with water.
So vividly red, they seemed capable of searing one's eyes.
Lian Wan felt her eyes were dazzled. Why else would she find herself inexplicably drawing closer?
The closer she got, the faster her heart beat.
Soon, the transparent barrier was within reach. Lian Wan reached out and steadily pushed open one of the glass doors. Her composure was calm, but when her fingers accidentally brushed against the "Welcome" sticker, she snatched her hand back as if seared by an invisible flame.
The heavy glass door swung slowly shut, and a small bell hanging on it chimed.
The store was air-conditioned, and a wave of cool air washed over her. The incandescent lights left nothing in hiding.
The convenience store was new, the shelves were new, the products were new, the checkout counter was new, and the woman sitting behind it was new, too-as if she were born with a talent for capturing one's attention.
She didn't look up.
Lian Wan was slightly disappointed, and for the first time in a long while, a bit timid. She circled the aisles, pretending to be choosing something.
She dawdled for a good while, and in the end, just as she had often done these past few days, she took a bottle of mineral water from the cooler and placed it on the counter to pay.
It made a soft thud. The woman, who had been looking down and scrolling through her phone, finally raised her head.
A moment later, a smile bloomed in her eyes.
"Oh, it's you," she said. Her voice was soft, but the final note didn't drift away; instead, it lingered with a meaningful tone.
Lian Wan grunted an "mhm."
Her voice was steady. She wasn't flustered.
The woman's eyes held more of a smile. She glanced at Lian Wan, then looked down at the bottle of water.
The store fell quiet. Only the clock on the wall ticked away.
"Is this brand any good?" the woman asked after studying it for a moment, drawing out her words.
Lian Wan was taken aback by her almost petulant, flirtatious tone, and her expression froze. "Mhm..."
Seemingly dissatisfied with another one-syllable answer, the woman fell silent. She simply raised her head again to look at Lian Wan, the smile in her eyes fading, replaced by a direct, appraising gaze that wasn't at all unpleasant.
Lian Wan felt pinned by her gaze and didn't dare move. She was annoyed with herself for her inability to make conversation, but then thought with a touch of resignation, At least I'm not ugly. She can look all she wants.
"Is it that hot outside?" the woman asked slowly after watching for a moment. "You're home so early today. No work to do?"
She threw out two questions in a row, as if determined to make Lian Wan speak.
Having been standing for a while, Lian Wan leaned a hand lightly on the counter and explained honestly, "Work was light today. I have the afternoon off."
The person who stood half a head taller and looked so aloof had a surprisingly soft, almost childlike voice when she spoke. It was slightly nasal and very quiet, as if she were afraid of startling the woman.
She was still a woman of few words, but Zhou Yanqian was already quite satisfied.
Pleased, she picked up the water bottle to scan it. Having been taken from the cooler, it had sat on the counter long enough for beads of condensation to trickle down its sides. They pooled on the dark brown surface, creating a small puddle that clearly reflected the two of them under the store's lights.
Lian Wan's gaze followed the condensation to a nearby ashtray, where several cigarette butts lay askew, each stained with noticeable lipstick.
The lip prints were as vivid as the color of the lipstick itself.
So she smokes?
Lian Wan's breath caught. But she was a simple person at heart; her first impression was one of beauty and admiration, and she didn't have time for any other thoughts before the owner of those lip prints spoke. "My scanner doesn't seem to be working. Why don't you scan me?"
The woman's slender fingers tapped the phone screen a few times, then held it out towards Lian Wan.
Lian Wan did as she was told. With her head lowered, she scanned the code with a steady hand, then took the water bottle back from the woman.
Their hands briefly touched, and each felt the other's warmth.
But what popped up on her screen wasn't a payment page, but a friend request.
Lian Wan's mind went blank. Her finger froze, and for a moment, she couldn't react.
No one in the store spoke, but Lian Wan knew she was being watched.
Condensation continued to bead on the water bottle, dripping down and quickly soaking Lian Wan's hand.
Comments
Post a Comment