DBTHDCAR Chapter 11

This time, the place where Ning Xiaobei woke up was a bit unusual.

He was in an ambulance.

After being pulled out of the water by the police, he had been unconscious for a while. Then he was sent onto a 120 emergency vehicle.

But before they even reached the hospital, he woke up halfway there.

“Ning Xiaobei?”

The police officer sitting across from him held the ID card taken from his pocket and looked up in surprise.

Just in time to meet eyes with the newly awakened Ning Xiaobei.

Well hello there, little dark rascal.

Seeing that same dark face, Ning Xiaobei finally understood why he had met Fan Xia earlier in that world.

The two worlds really did affect each other.

After learning that Ning Xiaobei had never intended to commit suicide, Officer Fan Xia felt even more guilty about his recklessness that had caused him to fall into the water.

“Good thing that artificial lake wasn’t deep. Otherwise, I really would’ve gone to see my dad this time.”

After enjoying the rare treatment of riding home in a police car, Ning Xiaobei pointed upstairs.

“Old classmate, want to come up for a cup of tea?”

Seeing that his face was still a bit pale, Fan Xia turned to say something to his colleague, then followed him into the building.

“Old classmate, I didn’t expect that after so many years, you’d recognize me at a glance. I had to stare at your ID for quite a while before I remembered who you were.”

The two stepped into the elevator one after the other. Fan Xia looked at Ning Xiaobei, who was a head shorter than him, and clicked his tongue in amazement.

“We only spent about a year together, right? After starting middle school, we went our separate ways. Your memory is really good.”

Of course. For you, it’s been over twenty years since we last met. But for me? Just a second ago, I was still playing soccer with you on the field.

And who knew your footwork was so terrible on par with the national team¹“on par with the national team” (跟国家队有的一拼) — a sarcastic expression implying someone is just as bad (often ironically comparing poor performance to a famously criticized standard, you actually kicked the ball straight into my face, knocking me out and sending me back to the real world?

Ning Xiaobei grumbled inwardly.

Ning Xiaobei opened the door, tossed his keys onto the entryway cabinet, and gestured for Fan Xia to come in.

Fan Xia slipped on a pair of house slippers and stepped into the living room. His eyes immediately fell on the small spirit altar newly set up in front of the entryway, and the memorial photo behind the incense burner. Beside the photo was a plastic flower wreath, with the vertical ribbons reading:  ⟦ Ning Jianguo, forever remembered ⟧ and ⟦ Filial son Ning Xiaobei mourns you. ⟧

The automatic Buddhist chanting machine weakly looped the words “Amitabha,” and the altar was set with spirit money, tin foil, candles, and other items. Following Shanghai tradition, these would all be burned during the seventh day memorial rites.

“I… I’m sorry. I didn’t know… please accept my condolences,” Fan Xia said.

Looking at Ning Xiaobei, dressed all in black even in the scorching heat, Fan Xia finally understood.

“Didn’t Uncle Zhao tell you? I remember just a few days ago my dad’s coffin was sealed. All the old colleagues from the shoe factory came, and Uncle Zhao was there too. Isn’t he your maternal uncle?”

Ning Xiaobei lit three incense sticks and handed them to Fan Xia.

Fan Xia took them with both hands, raised them above his head, and bowed respectfully to Ning Jianguo’s photo.

From the side, Fan Xia in his crisp police uniform exuded a sense of righteousness and authority. His eyes were sharp and commanding. Though still dark-skinned, he looked heroic, full of manly charisma, completely unlike today’s trendy pretty boys, and rich in masculine beauty.

Then Ning Xiaobei remembered little Fan Xia in the dream world, possibly caught a chill last night, sneezed loudly during class, and had a silly runny-nose mess dribbling onto the desk…

It was clearly the same person, yet the contrast was huge. Ning Xiaobei couldn’t help thinking: just like girls can change after turning eighteen, boys can too.

“Honestly, I always thought that after you started middle school, you’d turn into a little hooligan, end up in a reform school, and finally get caught by the ‘Black Cat Squadron’,” Ning Xiaobei said, brushing his hand over Fan Xia’s shoulder epaulets with a smile.

“I never expected you’d become a police officer, and now you’re even a Second-Level Inspector.”

After saying this, he noticed Fan Xia’s slightly embarrassed expression and immediately felt uneasy.

Great. In that world, he had hung around with little Fan Xia every day, and now seeing the grown-up Fan Xia, he couldn’t help getting friendly…completely forgetting that in this world, they were basically strangers.

“I’ll go make some tea; you just sit for a bit.”

Ning Xiaobei rubbed his nose.

Fan Xia nodded, sat down on the sofa, and watched Ning Xiaobei walk into the open kitchen to get some water. A small smile tugged at his lips.

How had he never realized this old classmate was so interesting?

He remembered that as a child, this kid had been a dull little bookworm, while he himself had been a bit of a brat, and had even bullied him at times.

Yet, to his surprise, Ning Xiaobei’s closeness didn’t bother him in the slightest. Instead, it gave him a warm sense of familiarity after so many years apart.

“How did you know Zhao Jingwen is my uncle? Did I tell you when we were kids?”

Fan Xia held the handle of his mug, speaking hesitantly.

When he was in fifth grade, his parents divorced, and both of them only cared about making money, they didn’t care about him at all.

Little Fan Xia went back to his father’s place, where his dad was busy with a new woman in the video store’s private room. Back at his mother’s, she had turned the home into a mahjong room, smoking and playing every day, the sounds of “pung²Pung (碰) – a set of three identical tiles. You declare it by “punging” when someone discards a tile that completes your triplet” and “chow³Chow (吃) – a set of three consecutive tiles in the same suit. You can only “chow” from the discard of the player immediately to your left.” never stopping, while he couldn’t even get a hot meal.

Finally, Uncle Zhao Jingwen couldn’t stand it any longer. He took him in and used his connections to get him transferred to Fourth Primary School.

At that time, divorce was still uncommon. Children from divorced families were often pointed at and whispered about.

Fan Xia had a proud heart and couldn’t stand such humiliation, so he never spoke about his family situation to anyone. How could Ning Xiaobei possibly know?

“It… it was my dad who told me. You know, he and Uncle Zhao have been good friends.”

Speaking of Uncle Zhao in this world, Ning Xiaobei clearly remembered him almost fainting from crying at his father’s funeral.

The two had been lifelong brothers and close friends. In Ning Jianguo’s phone records, besides calls to his [Son] , the most frequent contact had been [ Old Zhao.]

“To be honest, I feel a bit ashamed. Once we get busy as police officers, our schedules are all upside down. I haven’t visited him at the nursing home in a long time,” Fan Xia admitted.

“Uncle Zhao is in a nursing home? What about his children? Doesn’t anyone take care of him?”

Ning Xiaobei asked in surprise.

After all, Uncle Zhao was even a few months younger than his father and still seemed healthy. How had he ended up in a nursing home?

“Didn’t Uncle Ning tell you?”

Fan Xia set down his teacup and turned to look at him. “My uncle doesn’t have any children. He’s always lived alone, and he’s never been married.”

……………… 

After seeing Fan Xia off, Ning Xiaobei walked back into the living room. Looking at Ning Jianguo’s kind, smiling face in the photo, he clasped his hands together under his chin and fell into deep thought.

This time, his stay in the dream world had been quite long, already more than two months. But in this real world, only about two hours had passed.

Did that mean the time difference between the two worlds was roughly one month there equaling one hour here?

This guess still needed further proof, so Ning Xiaobei decided to set it aside for now.

During this period, he carefully summarized the situations of his past few trips into the dream world.

On the surface, each time he had either collapsed from exhaustion, fainted, or even fallen into water…each time worse than the last. He had even briefly suspected that he might need to hurt himself just to cross over again.

But thinking it through, before each time he crossed over, he had been doing the same thing, deeply missing his father and his childhood.

That longing, and the desire to change things, might just be the key that allowed him to travel between the two parallel worlds.

If his guess was correct, then it meant he would have control from now on.

Ning Xiaobei smiled, full of ambition.

But for now, the most important thing was to verify something else.

He walked into his room.

On the desk by the window lay the diary he had taken out from the metal box last time.

Ning Xiaobei took a deep breath, opened it, and flipped straight to the page with the pigeon feather tucked inside.

………………

『 September 1, 1996 — Cloudy turning overcast 』

Fan Xia, that idiot, actually pretended not to know me. At such a young age, already going astray, what’s with acting like some big boss? If I don’t set him on the right path in this life, then my thirty-plus years would’ve been for nothing.

So annoying. How can primary school kids be this noisy? Compared to this, even meetings with clients feel like a treat.

Grandma gave me ten yuan again today. Hehe.

………………

『 September 20, 1996 — Torrential Rain 』

It was already autumn, and yet a typhoon had come again. Looks like the barrier that Magic City⁴Shanghai City’s nickname prides itself on was still in its infancy stage, its power wasn’t strong enough, barely able to hold back the storm.

In this kind of weather, that little brat Fan Xia actually tried to jump the wall to go meet those old troublemaker friends from his previous school. Why didn’t heaven just strike him with lightning?

I reported it to Teacher Qiu. Fan Xia was caught red-handed, drenched in the heavy rain, and went home with a fever that afternoon.

Serves him right.

………………

『  September 22, 1996 — Sunny 』

Fan Xia came back to school after recovering and accused me of betraying him.

I told him this was called “acting on heaven’s behalf”. He’s clearly my little brother, yet he dares to go outside and be someone else’s boss, totally ignoring me.

Fan Xia had nothing to say.

The aftereffect of his cold was leg shaking. To mess with me, he shook his leg all day, sending his eraser rolling onto the floor several times.

Seeing me frown made him very happy.

Before school ended, I told him that leg shaking could be a symptom of Parkinson’s disease, which is also one sign of dementia. I said I’d mention it to my dad, suggesting that Uncle Zhao take him to the hospital for a check-up.

………………

『 September 23, 1996 — Sunny turning Cloudy 』

Fan Xia walked into class with a black-and-blue egg (bruise) over his eye.

Turns out Teacher Qiu had visited his home and reported his attempt to skip school. Uncle Zhao had given him a good beating for it.

After class, Uncle Zhao brought Fan Xia over to my house to apologize properly. Dad insisted they stay for a meal. The two of them ate an entire pot of rice, which meant I didn’t get enough to eat today.

Grandma said next time they come mooching a meal, she’d charge them for food.

Grandma’s right.

………………

『 October 4, 1996 — Sunny 』

Not getting a holiday for Mid-Autumn Festival was one thing, but only three days off for National Day? Today we have class! When did they even start this Golden Week?

Sigh. The pre-holiday assessment results came out, and I got full marks across the board. The teacher praised me, and honestly, it feels embarrassing. I’m a grown-up, yet I have to compete in knowledge with primary schoolers. Truly humbling.

Class was really boring. It was better to find something to read myself. Today, I found a bookstore near the school that lent out novels and comics. The owner, seeing I was just a primary school kid, refused to lend me anything.

For some reason, Fan Xia suddenly appeared, slapped down fifty yuan as a deposit — very flashy.

Having a little brother comes in handy. I decided from now on I’d take him along whenever I read books.

………………

Reading this part, Ning Xiaobei closed the diary excitedly and cheered in his heart.

Sure enough, things had changed. The history of this parallel world had indeed been altered by him.

But these changes were too small to affect the real world in any meaningful way, though enough to confirm that his initial guess about the general direction was correct.

Ning Xiaobei went back to the living room, looking at Ning Jianguo’s photo, and spoke with feeling:

“Dad, I believe we’ll reunite soon in the real world.”

At that moment, the phone on the coffee table lit up with a WeChat notification.

This phone really was lucky. Ning Xiaobei had dropped it in the water with him. After leaving the hospital, he thought it must be ruined, but Fan Xia had swung it around in his hand a few times, restarted it, and it was completely fine.

— ⟦ In a couple of days, do you want to go to the nursing home to visit Uncle? ⟧

The message came from a newly added friend, whose avatar was 《Black Cat Detective.》

Nickname: [ Dark Little Fan.]

Ning Xiaobei smiled slightly.

— ⟦ Alright then. ⟧

………………

Author’s Note:

Influenced by the animated show 《Black Cat Detective》, in 1990s Shanghai people often nicknamed the police “Black Cat Detective,” or simply “Black Cat.” Sometimes it was also an old-school shorthand for “police station.”

Black Cat Detective × Orange Cat Azi — a perfect match.

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• 1
  “on par with the national team” (跟国家队有的一拼) — a sarcastic expression implying someone is just as bad (often ironically comparing poor performance to a famously criticized standard
• 2
  Pung (碰) – a set of three identical tiles. You declare it by “punging” when someone discards a tile that completes your triplet
• 3
  Chow (吃) – a set of three consecutive tiles in the same suit. You can only “chow” from the discard of the player immediately to your left.
• 4
  Shanghai City’s nickname