Chapter 37

"She was smoking opium."

Ning Shu asked, "Did you have your dinner tonight?"

"I did."

"Too much of it, by the sound of things."

"…"

Gouwa caught hold of her. "I'm not joking. Ning Xiaohu's grandmother is smoking opium."

Ning Shu found that hard to swallow. "You said yourself it was a dream."

"But it was too real for a dream. It didn't feel like one."

He had his evidence ready. "The time I dreamed Grandma was following the paper men, that was a dream too, and it actually happened."

Ning Shu said, "All right, say it's true. So she smokes. What of it?"

"Doesn't it strike you as odd? The middle of the night, and she's sitting in a room smoking. Picture it." Gouwa shivered. "And there were several jars set out in front of her, and she was taking powder out of the jars and putting it into the pipe."

Ning Shu said, "She can't sleep and she gets up for a smoke. There's nothing in that."

Gouwa shook his head. "I don't think it was tobacco. It has to be something to do with those girls I dreamed about."

"You've a fine imagination."

Gouwa brightened. "Sis, let's break into the basement tonight and have a look."

The boy could not bear a quiet life. He wanted something to happen.

"That's enough. Go to bed."

Gouwa was not giving up. "You don't believe me?"

"Half and half." Ning Shu was calm about it. "Let me ask about first. On the strength of one dream of yours we force our way into an old woman's basement, and if we frighten her into a heart attack, are you answering for it?"

Gouwa gave it up at last, thought a moment, and said, "Then. Shall we go and get something to eat? I'm hungry again."

---

It was one in the morning when they went out. Ning Shu took Gouwa to the biggest night-market street in Jiangcheng, where the stalls run right through till morning and you can get anything. Spicy crayfish, fried rice and fried noodles, braised meats, hotpot skewers. Gouwa's mouth watered and his eyes lit up.

This street was Ning Shu's favourite place in the last life. Lu Zheng was fastidious and never touched food like this. But Ning Shu liked it, so he went with her, and they ate skewers at a roadside stall with a Lamborghini parked beside them, which turned a good many heads.

"Sis, aren't you eating?"

Coming back here had stirred something in Ning Shu and she had no appetite.

"Go on, eat up. Then home to bed."

"Have something. Have some corn." Gouwa held a skewer of grilled corn out to her.

And just then her heart gave two hard knocks, and she looked up, and a shape she knew was standing still among the lights a little way off.

Lu Zheng stood at the edge of the busy street, leaning against a heavy motorbike.

The years had sharpened him. There was more of a fine, clean look about his brows than there had been, and those deep black eyes were colder.

He was turning a lighter over in his fingers.

Click.

Lit, and out again.

The Lu Zheng of the last life went in and out of office towers in a well-cut suit, the leader of his industry, and then turned round and put on blue and white racing gear and tore along mountain roads as though his life were nothing to him.

Chasing speed and chasing death let out everything that was wild in him and everything that pressed on him.

Ning Shu looked at the other heavy bikes around him and the young men beside them, and guessed he was going racing with friends.

"Come on."

She chivvied Gouwa, wanting to be out of there.

"I haven't finished." Gouwa had a hot dog covered in chilli powder in his mouth and was chewing it down whole.

"Take it with you." Ning Shu waved the waiter over to box it up.

"Oh, all right."

Gouwa had the rest packed and came along after her.

Ning Shu looked back at Lu Zheng. He was still against the bike, waiting for his friends with nothing to do.

There was a black mist faintly over the space between his brows, and the fires at his shoulders were guttering.

Bad.

Something was going to happen.

Gouwa saw her stop and followed her eyes, and saw Lu Zheng too.

"One look at a handsome face and your eyes go square." Gouwa dug her with his elbow and laughed. "Fancy him?"

Ning Shu's face went flat. "Come on."

They had not gone two steps when Ning Shu heard the heavy bike start.

Lu Zheng had his helmet on and was getting on it.

Something was definitely going to happen.

The feeling got worse and worse. Tonight something would happen to him. A crash, or something worse than that.

What was she supposed to do?

Ning Shu could not settle it. Should she stop him?

She did not want to show her face in front of him. Every time she saw Lu Zheng something crawled in her. He almost certainly did not know her, or did not remember her, and the feeling was there all the same.

She wanted to stay well away from him and not stir anything up.

"Gouwa." Ning Shu's hand landed on his shoulder. "Do your sister a favour."

"Mm?" Gouwa was eating a grilled chicken wing with his mouth full of it. "What?"

---

Lu Zheng got on the bike and was about to go when a tall boy shot out in front of him, dressed like the back of beyond.

The man on the bike beside Lu Zheng had nearly started his engine, and he jumped and swore. "Tired of living?"

Gouwa grinned at him. "Sorry, sorry. Didn't mean to startle you."

"Clear off."

"Ah, now, this gentleman. I see black between your brows and a thin tail at the corner of your eye. A very bad sign." Gouwa came and stood in front of Lu Zheng and put on a deep voice. "There will be disaster tonight."

The man in dark green racing leathers beside Lu Zheng said, "What century is this? People still playing at gods and ghosts."

"I am Ye Yingjun, direct disciple of the Quanzhen Longmen school of Mount Qingcheng."

Gouwa seemed to have lost himself in the part, and the longer he went on the better he liked it. "Today I have counted it on my fingers and. Hey. Don't go, don't go."

Lu Zheng had put his helmet on and started the engine, and Gouwa hurried over and got in front of the bike. "Mate. I mean it, I'm not lying to you. Tonight you're definitely for it. Believe me."

"Move."

It was the only word Lu Zheng said, and the cold that came off it was enough that Gouwa let go of the handlebar without deciding to.

Lu Zheng opened the throttle and the bike went off with a roar.

Gouwa watched him go and shouted after him, helplessly, "Every word of it's true!"

Lu Zheng did not look back.

The man was stubborn. That left Gouwa no choice but his last card.

"Oi. Your name's Lu Zheng, isn't it?" Gouwa shouted after him. "And you've got a red birthmark on your left backside. Tell me I'm wrong."

There was a scream of brakes, and Lu Zheng's bike stopped dead.

Then the front wheel came round and the bike started again and came back fast, straight at Gouwa.

"God!" Gouwa went backwards in terror with both hands over his face. "Mercy, boss!"

And in the last fraction of a second before the bike hit him there was a screech, and Lu Zheng stopped half a metre short.

Gouwa's heart very nearly gave out, and he swore. "Jesus. Funny, is it? Is that funny?"

He was shaking with it and furious. "I try to do you a good turn and you play games with me. You're sick."

A little way off, Ning Shu's palms had gone damp for him.

Lu Zheng was a lunatic. Spend time with him and you could be driven mad any hour of the day.

"What did you just say?"

"I said you're si…"

"Where is she?"

"Who?"

Lu Zheng raised an eyebrow. "The woman who told you about the birthmark."

Gouwa's eyes went to Ning Shu before he could stop them.

"What woman? I don't know about any woman."

Lu Zheng followed where he had looked, over towards the stalls, and Ning Shu turned quickly out of the way.

Lu Zheng said, low, "What are you to her?"

"I'm her…"

He had not got the word out before he caught himself and realised how close he had come.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I am Ye Yingjun, direct disciple of the Quanzhen Longmen school of Mount Qingcheng. I worked the birthmark out by counting. And I've also worked out that tonight you'll meet with disaster. Take my advice, young man. If you value your life, go home."

"This one's tired of living, is he?"

Several of Lu Zheng's friends got off their bikes and took Gouwa by the collar. "Zheng, let's teach him a lesson."

Lu Zheng said, with no expression, "Let go."

None of them dared cross him, and they let Gouwa go.

Lu Zheng reached out and patted Gouwa's cheek. "Her brother, then. How old are you?"

"Fifteen. No. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not anybody's brother. My name is Ye Yingjun and I am of the Mount Qingcheng…"

"Tell your sister she needn't worry. I'm going home."

Lu Zheng got off the bike and signalled to one of the boys. "Three. Take it back for me."

"Come on, Zheng. You're not actually believing this idiot?"

"Watch your mouth."

Lu Zheng looked once more towards where Ning Shu was, then flagged a taxi and left on his own.

Ning Shu let her breath out. As he got into the car the fires at his shoulders came up again, which meant the bad sign had lifted.

Gouwa came back with his legs still soft under him. Ning Shu took his arm and settled him. "Little brother. That's done it. You're my own brother now."

Gouwa looked wretched. "That frightened the life out of me. That man is terrifying. He smiled at me and my scalp crawled."

"I know. I do know." Ning Shu patted his back, sorry for him. "Saving a life is better than building a seven-storey pagoda. You've laid up a great deal of credit tonight."

"Only, Sis, I think that handsome one worked out you sent me."

Ning Shu stopped. "How?"

Gouwa shook his head, blank. "I said what you told me to, and he seemed to know about you straight off. He asked, as well."

"You didn't tell him?"

"No. How could I? I stuck to it that I'm Ye Yingjun of the Quanzhen Longmen school of Mount Qingcheng."

"Good. Don't give me away, whatever happens."

"Sis, do you know him well? You even knew about the birthmark."

Ning Shu thought, of course I knew. There was very little about Lu Zheng that she had not known.