TSMLI CHAPTER 5

Lin Chu’s calves still ached terribly whenever she walked. She even wondered if the tendons in her legs had snapped. Every step made the muscles seize up, and the constant tension left her on edge.

Her supervisor had called and told her to rest a few more days, but Lin Chu insisted she was fine and showed up for work on Wednesday.

There were plenty of junior staff like her in the unit. Starting the previous January she had endured round after round of interviews and assessments, and she had shoveled snow and cleared garbage through the coldest, snowiest days, choking on the stench. It had taken a full six months before she finally became a permanent employee. The hardships she had gone through were nothing outsiders could understand. Late at night she often cried in bed. Sometimes she confided in Ye Jing, but Ye Jing always steered the conversation toward her own love life. Lin Chu had suffered, yet at last she had her own little corner in the department. On her desk sat a few trinkets and some small potted plants meant to shield against radiation, things she treated with care.

With no connections of her own, the only path was hard work and a good impression on her superiors. Lin Chu refused to spend the next ten years doing trivial tasks, drafting reports and writing speeches on a meager salary, never able to afford a place of her own in Nanjiang City with its forest of skyscrapers.

She drew a deep breath, gathered her spirits, and walked into the office. Her colleagues cheered at once, crowding around her and firing off questions. Someone mentioned that a reporter from the internal publication wanted to interview her.

Lin Chu chatted with them for a while, then turned to the work she had missed. She opened her computer and checked the work group only to discover that the administrator had changed her username to “Heroine.” Amused and annoyed in equal measure, she typed out a quick message. Replies flooded in almost immediately. Yang Chunbei was especially excited and declared she wanted to become sworn sisters with her.

At lunch Lin Chu found herself the center of attention again as colleagues from other departments gathered around. Yang Chunbei thanked her in person and offered to treat her to dinner, but Lin Chu declined, saying she already had plans for the evening.

Yang Chunbei winked. “Boyfriend?”

Lin Chu only smiled and said nothing. Yang Chunbei leaned in and whispered, “Actually, reporters have been asking for interviews these past few days, but the boss turned them all down. Do you remember that reporter from the Nanjiang Evening News, the one who drove the motorcycle last time? He wants to interview you too.”

Lin Chu frowned and smiled at the same time. “What’s so interesting about me that anyone would want an interview?”

Yang Chunbei nudged her arm. “Have you forgotten the city picks heroes every year? You saved so many people this time. You’ve got a real chance. Jiang Jin wants to do an exclusive with you.”

Lin Chu had just swallowed a mouthful of food. The words nearly made her spit it out. She coughed hard, waving her hands in refusal, her face turning red from the effort. In the end she fled in a panic. Yang Chunbei chased after her and kept at it all afternoon, yet she could not persuade Lin Chu in the slightest.

These past few days Lin Chu had been thoroughly troubled. High school and university classmates kept calling to ask about her, and several online forums had already posted her personal details. She was already overwhelmed by the attention. Another interview would only make her famous on the street, and that was the last thing she wanted.

When Lin Chu was leaving work, Yang Chunbei called again. Lin Chu asked in surprise how she had gotten the number.

Yang Chunbei answered smugly, “Nobody knows where you live, but finding a phone number isn’t hard!”

Lin Chu felt a flicker of displeasure, yet she handled the call patiently while packing her things. By the time she reached the ground floor, Yang Chunbei’s voice seemed to be right beside her. She looked up and saw the other woman waving excitedly. Standing next to her was a tall man in a black vest. His handsome face seemed almost out of place against his rugged build. Lin Chu glanced at him and suddenly remembered the word Ye Jing always used: “muscular.”

She put on a smile and stepped forward to greet them. Yang Chunbei introduced him at once. “This is Jiang Jin. I told you before, an interview will be quick and won’t take much of your time.”

Lin Chu was already annoyed with her, but she kept her expression pleasant. “I really don’t want to be in the newspapers. My family doesn’t know about any of this, and I don’t want them to worry.”

Yang Chunbei refused to give up. She kept talking, blocking Lin Chu’s path and refusing to step aside. Jiang Jin simply stood to the side, watching with an easy smile as Lin Chu endured the barrage.

Lin Chu caught sight of him and felt a surge of anger. Her face darkened and she was about to speak sharply when two sanitation workers suddenly rushed past, followed by a security guard who was shouting into his phone, “Yes, the body is in the landfill!”

Before Lin Chu could make sense of the words, Jiang Jin’s expression changed. He stopped the guard at once. The man stumbled and cursed. Several people came down from the office building; Lin Chu recognized some of the leaders among them. Without a word the group hurried toward the landfill area. Jiang Jin followed without hesitation.

Yang Chunbei called after him a few times. When he disappeared she grabbed Lin Chu’s arm and tried to pull her along. “Come on, let’s see what’s going on. Did you hear them say ‘corpse’? Something big must have happened. Hurry!”

Lin Chu was dragged a few steps before a sudden cramp seized her calf. The color drained from her face. She pushed Yang Chunbei away and bent over, supporting her leg. Yang Chunbei hesitated. “What’s wrong?”

“My leg hurts. You go ahead,” Lin Chu said, waving her off. She straightened, touched her toes to the ground, and gently twisted her leg, yet the throbbing pain kept coming. Yang Chunbei was eager to catch up with Jiang Jin. Seeing that Lin Chu claimed she was fine, she ran off at once.

Lin Chu suddenly grew worried about the calf. In the past a simple twist while she was awake would settle it, but this time it felt like a cramp that struck in sleep, sharp enough to make her heart ache and leave her short of breath. Just as she was about to rub the muscle, a shadow fell over her. A suit sleeve flashed before her eyes, and a voice said, “Go sit down.”

Lin Chu looked up and froze.

Shen Zhongxun walked toward the car parked a short distance away. After a couple of steps he noticed no one following, so he turned back. Lin Chu still stood there, bracing herself on her knees and glaring at his back. The instant he faced her, her expression shifted and she pretended nothing was wrong.

He hesitated, then returned to help her. A moment later they reached the car. He opened the rear door and guided her into the seat.

“I don’t need you to take me…” Lin Chu began, but before she could finish a firm pressure settled on her shoulder. Her head nearly bumped the roof, and she found herself already seated.

“Rub your legs yourself,” Shen Zhongxun said.

She started massaging her calves at once. They felt cramped and half-numb. She patted them several times with no real improvement. Shen Zhongxun frowned, fingers twitching slightly. He glanced at her bare, slender legs, only partially covered, and after a brief pause took two tissues from the dashboard. Returning to her, he crouched silently, held her knees and ankles through the tissues, and gave them a gentle shake.

Lin Chu started and tried to pull her legs away by instinct, but he kept a steady hold. “This might help a little. Should we get you to a hospital to check it out?”

She stared oddly at the tissues covering her legs. Her calves were dotted with mosquito bites, and her ankles showed red marks from some insect, a few of them slightly oozing. Color rose in her face. After a while the tightness seemed to ease. “No need. It feels better now.”

At those words he withdrew his hands at once. Caught off guard by the sudden release, Lin Chu felt the throb return before her calf could settle.

Shen Zhongxun folded the tissues and tossed them onto the dashboard. Then he lifted two gift bags from the passenger seat and held them out to her. “I’ve been busy these past few days. I should have come to see you earlier, but I didn’t know you finished work so early. Lucky I ran into you. Thank you for that day. These are for you.”

Lin Chu blinked in mild surprise, then accepted the bags with a soft laugh. “You’re too kind. I only did what anyone should. Looking back, I’m glad I listened to you that day. At first I was only thinking of myself.”

His eyebrow lifted almost imperceptibly, and the corner of his mouth curved for a second before it vanished again, so brief it might have been imagined. He nodded. “We won’t keep you any longer. If you need anything, just tell your supervisor. The group will cover all your medical expenses.”

With that he walked around to the driver’s side, climbed in, and fixed his gaze on her through the rearview mirror without moving. Lin Chu finally understood, shifted aside at once, and the car pulled away.

She flushed and muttered, “Weirdo.” Looking down at her calves, she recalled the careful way he had handled her through the tissues and felt a spark of indignation, as if she had somehow been found distasteful.

Back in her rented room at last, she ate a packet of instant noodles and then took a change of clothes to wash up.

The bathroom was bare and rundown: a battered toilet, a sink streaked with rust, a water heater mounted above the toilet, and walls tiled only halfway up. Water sprayed everywhere when she showered, filling the small space with steam.

She accidentally burst the abscess on her ankle and let out a soft cry of pain. Quickly rinsing off the soap, she returned to her room. Before sleeping she massaged the calf again, hoping it would be better by morning.

The next day at work she found several familiar leaders already present. She thought it odd, assuming another new project must have come up. Only near noon did she learn what had happened.

Colleagues returned from outside and said, “You won’t believe it. A woman’s body was found in the landfill yesterday. The police have sealed off the area. I heard they took all the surveillance footage and brought several people in for questioning.”

Lin Chu stared. One of the others could hardly believe it either. “Really? A murder case?”

The first colleague took a sip of water and launched into the details.

The evening before, while clearing trash, sanitation workers had discovered a woman’s body in a small pile of refuse. They panicked at once, called their coworkers and the security guards, then notified the police and their supervisors. As darkness fell, reporters arrived and nearby residents crowded around to watch.

“No one can just walk into the landfill,” the colleague went on. “Security checks everyone coming and going. The police suspect someone from our side dumped the body. We still don’t know the full story. There are still a lot of people out there. I bet reporters will be back this afternoon.”

The reporters who had heard the news did not wait until afternoon. Several interview vans were already parked near the landfill and the office building. Lin Chu caught fragments of rumor during lunch, though she could not tell what was true.

At the next table Yang Chunbei was on the phone, her voice edged with anxiety. “Don’t hang up. Just tell me one more time. It’s not a secret. Who was the one who died? It wasn’t someone from our unit, was it?”

After listening to the reply she nodded. “Oh, good. Otherwise I would have been scared to death.” She hung up and turned to her colleagues. “She wasn’t from our unit. I think her name was Liu Hongmei. She lived in those farmers’ houses two streets over. Her husband has already gone to identify the body.”

Lin Chu froze, food still in her mouth, and turned to stare at Yang Chunbei in disbelief.