Chapter 111: The Sea of Wandering 4
Zhuang Ningyu’s schedule for the day was quite full: the Medical Center in the morning, a meeting at headquarters in the afternoon, and squeezing in a trip to the barbershop in between. Following the navigation, Yi Ke drove through Yunfu Road, carefully looking for “HY STYLE” among the colorful shop signs on both sides. This was a street of hair salons, with various small, similar shops squeezed together. At first glance, it was hard to tell which was which, though the “Tony” stylists standing at the doors certainly sported diverse looks. Yi Ke glanced at the colorful parrots with hair dyed in every shade of the rainbow, then looked at his civil servant wife wearing a peaked cap in the passenger seat, and said sincerely, “I feel the hairstyle you want might not be suitable for this street. How about going to the one I frequent?”
Zhuang Ningyu waved his hand, signaling him to pull over. His attitude was resolute: This one. The storefront of HY STYLE wasn’t large, located at a street corner. A promotional banner hung at the entrance: “New Store Opening, First Two Weeks Wash, Cut, and Blow-dry for 38 Yuan.” Since it was lunchtime, there weren’t many customers inside. Hearing the “Ding-dong” notification sound, the shampoo boy immediately put down his spicy hot pot and greeted them with a beaming smile: “Welcome, two handsome guys! What hairstyle would you like today?”
“Hair is a bit messy; please perm it to make it tidier,” Yi Ke said.
“No problem.” The shampoo boy guided the two into the shop. “Do you have a preferred stylist?”
Zhuang Ningyu handed him his phone. The boy glanced at the screen and immediately revealed a look of admiration: “Wow, you really have good taste! This is Teacher Kevin, our general manager for the Greater China region of HY STYLE. Recently, the shop has a promotion: for a special discounted price of just 88, you can upgrade to have Teacher Kevin as your main stylist!”
Ten minutes later, Teacher Kevin ran out of the Lanzhou noodle shop across the street, wiping his mouth, with an uneaten tea egg still in his pocket. He took the headset from the boy and put it on just as Zhuang Ningyu finished washing his hair. Kevin held the back of the chair with one hand, leaned slightly forward to examine the customer in the mirror, and gestured in the air with his fingers to show his full professionalism and absolute dedication to “God” (the customer). Then he stood up straight, grabbed a handful of Zhuang Ningyu’s hair, and asked with extreme confusion, “Handsome guy, which shop permed this failed French wool roll for you?”
It was a long story. The stylist responsible was currently a fugitive wanted for this very hairstyle. Zhuang Ningyu took off the mask he had been wearing since entering the shop. Kevin’s hand, which was ruffling the hair, suddenly froze in mid-air. Eyes wide, he said, “Teacher Zhuang?”
The value of the Order Maintenance Department’s only designated mascot was reflected here. Without speaking, relying only on his face, he could instantly gain 100% natural trust from ordinary people. Within two short seconds, Kevin had already rapidly planned where to hang his photo with Zhuang Ningyu in the shop. Ignoring his act of professional rigor as the general manager of Greater China, he waved frantically at the boy with a sunny smile, signaling: Close the door, close the door! Put on the chain lock! Don’t let Captain Zhuang run away! We’re not taking any more customers today!
Immediately after, his gaze fell on the other customer beside him. Handsome guy, presumably you are—
Yi Ke raised a hand to signal him to stop. Who I am doesn’t matter; please focus on cutting my wife’s hair!
The air conditioning temperature was adjusted to the most comfortable level, and the sound of scissors snipping snip-snip rang out immediately. It had to be said, the technique looked quite professional. Yi Ke initially didn’t understand why Zhuang Ningyu insisted on coming to this small shop, but he soon got the answer. While skillfully trimming the hair ends, Kevin habitually chatted with the customer: “I saw the news yesterday; it was scary enough. Zombies and illegal driving… Fortunately, I moved my shop in time.”
Zhuang Ningyu smiled slightly. Yi Ke’s heart stirred: “Your shop used to be in Yuanbao Building?”
“Yeah, I ran a hair salon there for seven years. The environment in the building was decent at first, but it’s gotten messier in the last two years. Property management doesn’t care either; it’s chaotic all day long. I really couldn’t stand it, so I moved.”
“How messy?” Yi Ke asked. “Illegal gangs collecting protection fees?”
“Not that, it’s just… a bit spooky. Didn’t someone jump off the building there two years ago? Sometimes when working late, people say they hear a baby crying. We reported it to property management, but they just hired a Feng Shui master to paste talismans in the stairwell. It didn’t have any positive effect; instead, it looked even scarier. I don’t even dare to go there to smoke in broad daylight.”
“With property management acting like this, won’t it hinder them from attracting businesses? How come I heard that rents in Yuanbao Building have been rising in the last two years, and it’s hard to find a vacancy?”
“Those fighting to squeeze into Yuanbao Building are all bars, singing halls, and KTVs. Isn’t there an urban legend? Ghosts boost the business of night clubs; they like those kinds of places,” Kevin said. “I do daytime business; there’s no need to stay in the building. Plus, the elevators broke down often. My lease happened to expire last month, so I didn’t renew.”
“Have you seen these two people?”
Kevin stopped his work, looked at the two photos Yi Ke handed over, and indicated he had no impression of Zhao Kai. But for the other foreigner… He stared for a long time, hesitating before speaking: “Hiss, I think I might have indeed bumped into him in the elevator? About two months ago. My mom left her card holder in the shop during the day, and she had a flight to catch the next day, so I had to go back to get it in the middle of the night. There were only the two of us in the elevator at the time. He was tall, strong, and a foreigner, so I paid a bit more attention… but I’m not certain it was definitely him.”
“Which floor did he go to?”
“That I’m not clear on. The elevator was going down. I entered on the 25th floor, and he was already inside. Oh, and that elevator only stops on odd-numbered floors. I went to the garage on basement level three, and so did he.”
Yuanbao Building had a total of 31 floors, so the possible floors were 31, 29, and 27.
Seeing Zhuang Ningyu constantly checking his watch, Kevin sped up and finished trimming his hair. He also skipped the essential barbershop step of selecting 1388/998/688 chemical treatments, completing the entire wash, cut, blow-dry, and perm process within an hour. Zhuang Ningyu had originally only intended to gather information and fix his hair along the way, but unexpectedly, Kevin’s skills were actually quite good. The length was moderate, with a few wispy bangs falling above the brow bone, looking very fresh and natural. Zhuang Ningyu willingly paid the 88 yuan upgrade fee. Yi Ke was also very satisfied with his wife’s new look. Back in the car, while fastening his seatbelt, he asked, “Where did you get your hair cut before?”
Zhuang Ningyu fiddled with his phone and showed him a shop link: Beautiful Sisters Hair Salon located inside the Fuxing Street wet market.
Yi Ke: “?”
Zhuang Ningyu didn’t have many requirements for hairstyles. When he was little, his grandmother often took him there for haircuts. After growing up, he stuck with it, cutting from “Beautiful Sisters” all the way to “Beautiful Aunties.” If not for this Yuanbao Building incident, he might have continued loyally until “Beautiful Grannies.”
Yi Ke recalled for a moment and realized that Zhuang Ningyu’s hairstyle had indeed always been very simple—just thinning it out and casually styling with some hair wax. Over the years, the only difference was between short and slightly longer.
A blue-background work photo of Zhuang Ningyu had once circulated widely among major hair salons in Jincheng, briefly becoming the hot men’s hairstyle of the year, with prices ranging from four digits to three digits. But who would have thought? The original version actually only cost fifteen yuan, and Zhuang Ningyu even enjoyed a 20% discount for old members.
The two didn’t go to eat but drove directly back to the headquarters building. As soon as the elevator opened, the familiar scent of overtime work hit them. Most people had slept on air mattresses at the unit last night. Right now, they were holding boxed lunches, leaning against the corridor chatting while eating, too lazy to even go to the cafeteria two floors away. And Zhuang Ningyu, sporting the most expensive and exquisite hairstyle of his life, appeared like a prince amidst the grimy colleagues. A new batch of lunch boxes arrived quickly. When opened, the others ate double-cooked pork with red oil over rice, while Zhuang Ningyu’s box contained translucent, beautiful shrimp dumplings.
The administrative department’s bias was well-founded: Captain Zhuang gets the invalid meal!
The invalid meal’s main feature was being nutritious and bland but untasty. While no one was around, Zhuang Ningyu took Yi Ke’s remaining half bowl of double-cooked pork rice and shoveled it down in a few bites, just in time for the meeting.
Information about Zhao Kai had been investigated in detail. A native of Dongshi, parents both ordinary workers. According to Zhao Kai’s dorm mates, he started changing significantly last semester, becoming restless and dozing off in class. It wasn’t until later, when he asked a few close friends to help grab appointment numbers on their phones, that they learned something had happened at home.
“Grab what numbers?”
“Expert appointment numbers for the Oncology Department at Dongshi First People’s Hospital, for his mom.”
Records showed that Zhao Kai’s mother was diagnosed with a problem during her unit’s physical examination a year ago. She first received treatment at a hospital in Nanhua District, Dongshi, and was later transferred to the best local First Hospital. This time, after Zhao Kai’s incident, the family didn’t dare let her know. Only Zhao Kai’s father rushed over alone to handle it.
The investigator said, “Mother Zhao didn’t inform her son of her illness immediately. Later, a cousin accidentally let it slip, and Zhao Kai learned of his mother’s condition. Expert appointments at Dongshi First Hospital are hard to get. His classmates couldn’t grab one, but scalpers had ways, though it was very expensive—asking price five thousand for one number.”
Father Zhao sat travel-worn in the investigation team’s reception room. Accidents befalling his wife and son one after another had almost crushed this honest man. However, he forced himself to hold on, answering every question from the investigation team as detailedly as possible in a hoarse voice. He knew the more detailed he was, the more likely this family could be saved.
The investigator continued, “Combining the timelines provided by all parties, Zhao Kai became abnormally anxious only after learning of his mother’s illness. He tried grabbing expert numbers for about a month but failed, forcing him to turn to scalpers. We found that scalper too. He claimed a middle-aged man contacted him, didn’t transfer money but paid cash, and also had him arrange for Mother Zhao’s expedited admission, spending over twenty thousand yuan in total. The contact number given was Zhao Kai’s phone number. That is to say, the reason Mother Zhao could be admitted smoothly was entirely due to that man’s financial power. But Zhao Kai didn’t confess this to his family; he told his father he used connections from a classmate’s family. In the second week after Mother Zhao was admitted, Zhao Kai moved out of the dorm, and skipping classes became frequent.”
Zhuang Ningyu frowned slightly, that pale young face from the certification center surfacing in his mind again. He had thought it was another radical like the vast majority of “evolution fanatics,” but looking at it now, perhaps he was forced—forced by his mother’s illness to sell his own body.
The atmosphere in the conference room was somewhat heavy. After a moment, a colleague spoke up: “Then why did he go to the certification center?”
It was an established rule that drug-induced “forced maturation” subjects would avoid supervision from the Management Center as much as possible, yet Zhao Kai actively accepted the grading assessment. Yi Ke said, “It probably wasn’t to test if his modified body could pass official certification. After all, this certification process is used globally and isn’t a secret. Since the other party can manufacture the drug, they can also test it. I lean more towards this being a ‘cry for help’ from him. For example, someone wanted to force him to undergo more experiments, and Zhao Kai wasn’t willing, so he chose to expose himself under official scrutiny to give a small warning to the other party and seek asylum for himself.”
“How is Zhao Kai now?” someone asked.
“Not good, but hasn’t deteriorated further. His constitution is indeed acceptable, much stronger than Shi Cheng’s. Vigorous vitality—perhaps that’s the reason he was ‘chosen’.”
The meeting didn’t end until 7 PM. Zhuang Ningyu handed his phone to Yi Ke: Go directly to Yuanbao Building.
The city lights were just coming on. Yi Ke sighed while driving, nagging incessantly: “Don’t think just because your head doesn’t hurt, you’re fully recovered. Rest. Director Wang said you need to rest more; only by resting more can you recover sooner, understand? If you keep tiring yourself out like this…” He originally wanted to say if you keep tiring yourself out like this, be careful your headache will start again, but felt peipeipei (touch wood) as soon as the words reached his mouth, so he changed his phrasing, “If you keep tiring yourself out, no dinner for you tonight.”
Zhuang Ningyu asked sincerely: Which kind of dinner?
Yi Ke burst out laughing pfft, turned to look at him, then continued looking ahead, answering solemnly: “Neither kind of dinner for you.”
That won’t do. Zhuang Ningyu could accept having no spiritual food, but materially he must be full. He rummaged in the glove box for a long time, fished out a pack of sandwich biscuits, twisted them open, fed the half with filling to Yi Ke, and kept the other half for himself.
Yi Ke ate obediently while lecturing earnestly: “Wifey, I’ve told you many times, if you don’t like the filling, you can just throw it away. Don’t give it to me every time.”
Zhuang Ningyu ignored him, continuing to chew chew chew. Throwing it away is a waste. Anyway, you can’t get fat from eating, nor do you need to control sugar. Besides, mine is very expensive organic fruit jam filling!
