No te apoyes en la barandilla oeste para retener el claro otoño

Capítulo 13

The key was greasy, so Jian Dongping frowned, took a napkin, wrapped it up, and put it back.

"Do you know where she lives?" he asked.

“I don’t know, I’ve never been there.” Nina said, lighting another cigarette for herself, her smoking posture quite elegant.

"When was the last time you saw her?" Jian Dongping tried his best to sound like a policeman.

"It was probably on the evening of May 6th." She yawned.

"What time is it?"

“It was after the performance. We usually finish work at 10 pm every night, and then we all go about our own business. That day, a few of us finished singing and were about to go get some late-night snacks when Lili suddenly said she wanted to come along too. She usually leaves as soon as she finishes singing, I don’t know what got into her that day, hey!” Nina said as she picked up the small ledger in front of him and started flipping through it. Her action made Jian Dongping feel very uncomfortable.

"How does she look?" he asked, wanting to retrieve the little ledger but not wanting to interrupt her train of thought.

“She seemed really excited, constantly making a ruckus, saying she was going on a trip, and that she was going home, that her mom had called, and that she had some good news coming up. We asked her if she was getting married, and she just giggled. I don’t remember anything else, but she was really excited that day, a little too excited. We all suspected that she and that pretty boy were having some kind of special relationship, or maybe he had proposed to her.” Nina spoke while casually flipping through her little ledger, then suddenly giggled, “Wow, did you keep this? Triumph on sale, 50 yuan, who did you buy it for? Editor Jane, you’re really stingy… 80 yuan for wool yarn.” She read from the ledger, “80 yuan for socks, no dinner tomorrow… Hehe, Editor Jane, you’re really frugal. It seems you and Lili are really close, otherwise, how could someone like you be willing to spend so much money all at once…”

Nina's words were clearly sarcastic, and Jian Dongping snatched the small ledger away.

"Sorry, this belongs to someone else." He tried to maintain a smile, but inside he was furious. That damned woman, she's so greedy! Who gave you permission to touch Ling Ge's things? Do you even deserve it?

He had already gone through the small ledger from beginning to end last night, so he knew its contents very well. Even so, hearing those sentences read aloud by this strange woman still left him with mixed feelings. He hadn't expected that Ling Ge would skip meals the next day just to buy those yarns. What a silly girl! She had refused to pay when he tried to calculate the cost, insisting earnestly, "How can you calculate the cost of a gift for a friend?"

He suddenly felt a strong urge to call her.

"Not yours? It must belong to a woman. Only women would remember such trivial things." Perhaps he was too good at disguising himself, so Nina didn't notice his displeasure at all. She continued smoking, glancing down at the time on her phone, indicating that she probably couldn't stay long.

“Yes, it’s a friend of mine,” Jian Dongping said casually, stuffing the small ledger into his pocket. He felt that having someone read the contents of the ledger was tantamount to publicly humiliating Ling Ge, and he felt sorry for her. However, he also understood that now was not the time to delve into this issue, so he quickly turned his head away to divert his displeasure.

Has Lili specifically mentioned any particular person or event?

"Hmph! What do you want to ask?" Nina seemed to find the question rather ridiculous.

"For example, did she specifically mention any particular man or woman?"

"I don't know, I didn't notice," Nina said, looking bewildered.

"Did she mention names like Shen Biyun, Miaolin, or Su Zhiwen?" Jian Dongping further inquired.

Nina thought for a moment and said, "That Shen Biyun, I think I've heard her mention her before."

“Shen Biyun is 22 years younger than her husband Su Zhiwen, a fact that was once reported in a weekly magazine.”

Nina's eyes lit up: "Ah! So it's those two. I know them. She did mention them. She was looking at a newspaper when I went over to her. I said that the man was so handsome but he was dating an old woman. He must be after her money. If she were a penniless woman, I wonder if he would still want her."

What was Lili's reaction at the time?

"She said it must be because that woman is shameless, clinging to that man. Otherwise, why would a perfectly good man be with an old woman? She seemed to feel sorry for that man. She easily becomes infatuated with any handsome man she sees."

What else did she say?

"She said the photo was really good, capturing both of their essence. She said she couldn't take a photo like that." Nina glanced at the time on her phone and said, "Handsome, ask me if you have any more questions, I have an appointment later."

"One last question, does she have any special hobbies or characteristics?" Jian Dongping asked. Although this wasn't a question a friend should ask, he believed that Nina, who had received 900 yuan, wouldn't mind.

Sure enough, Nina readily replied, "She likes to count. She can tell me how many cigarettes I smoke in a day, weird woman!"

"When did you first notice this characteristic in her?" Jian Dongping asked, staring at her.

"It was that 'Sexy Memories' party, you know? She said she saw a man glance at a woman five times, and the woman glanced at the man eight times. Haha, so funny! She even counted the buttons and the pearls on the woman's neck for them. She really has a lot of free time! Those two seemed to dance together later, but I didn't notice. Lili said the man wrote a lot of words on the woman's back with his finger and asked her to guess. She said five of them were... I'll pretend to be a gentleman. The woman seemed to laugh a few times, and Lili even counted the number of laughs for her? She must be out of her mind; how could she have time to remember all that? Oh dear, oh dear, I don't remember. Don't ask me... I don't have time to keep an eye on what Lili does. Let me tell you, she's a weird woman! Judging from her appearance, she wasn't a good person before! She's been around the block. Don't underestimate me just because I'm young; I've seen a lot of people, and I know a lot of people like that around me. I can tell what she's done just by looking at her. Humph!"

As Nia spoke, he stood up.

What do you think she did in the past?

"What kind of money can you make singing? I'm not going to tell you, you can guess for yourself." Nina waved her hand impatiently, as if shooing away a fly.

Jian Dongping also stood up, and he took out another 100 yuan from his wallet and gave it to her.

“Can you call me if you have anything on your mind? Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I know your time is very valuable,” he said with a smile.

“Ah, you’re such a good person… I take back what I just said.” Seeing the money, she immediately smiled, took the bills, and stuffed them into her purse. She said, “Okay, I’ll think about it some more when I get back. If I think of anything, I’ll call you. Don’t worry, Nina always keeps her word. If I promise you, I’ll definitely do it.” She patted his shoulder affectionately, gave him a professional-looking flying kiss, and then hurriedly grabbed her purse and turned to leave.

Jian Dongping saw her hurry out of the teahouse; a Santana was already waiting for her there, and a man with a full head of red hair was waiting beside the car. Was this the kind of life Zhou Jin lived? But who exactly was this man connected to her?

In broad daylight, standing across the street looking at the Jinsheng Nightclub on Wangchun Road, one would feel it's at least 100 years old. The crooked neon lights, the dilapidated signboard, and all the dark red curtains covered in dust and stains tell a story of its years of blood and tears. Jian Dongping did a quick online search and found over 200 negative news articles related to the Jinsheng Nightclub, including over 100 about prostitution, 50 about drug use, 50 about ecstasy use, and reports of dancers and singers fighting over men, brawling, and selling counterfeit alcohol—all sorts of things, of course, from a couple of years ago.

The Jin Sheng Nightclub now mainly offers song and dance performances and has not engaged in any particularly serious illegal activities. On the surface, it seems to have reformed itself in the past year or two. However, judging from Nina's account today, it seems that no nightclub can escape being embroiled in scandalous affairs, and the revamped Jin Sheng is no exception. Zhou Jin sings, or rather, works, in such a place.

But what Jian Dongping was interested in now wasn't her work at the nightclub. He believed that for someone like Zhou Jin, who was used to wandering, the nightclub was just a temporary resting place. Singing under a pseudonym, concealing her address, and rarely interacting with her colleagues, she probably wouldn't leave much of a trace at the nightclub. What interested him was the key.

According to Nina, that should be Zhou Jin's house key.

The last time he walked around the weekly magazine building with Ling Ge, following the route Zhou Jin had described. According to his memory at the time, when Zhou Jin first met him, he said, "I took a 5-stop bus ride, walked 4 corners, and crossed 2 crossroads."

So, he and Ling Ge spent nearly two hours that day conducting this experiment. He secretly rejoiced; after crossing two crossroads and making four turns, there were only two bus stops, and even those had very few bus routes. At stop A, there was only one bus, route 54; at stop B, there were two, routes 64 and 112. Looking at the bus signs, they concluded that the only routes matching Zhou Jin's description were Xilin Road, Xueyuan Road, and Wangchun Road. Wangchun Road was now the only intersection.

Jian Dongping recalled that the address Zhou Jin had given him was 254 Jinsheng Road. Could she have confused the two addresses? In other words, mixed up the name of her workplace with her home address? This could be considered a half-hearted disguise, or as she put it, "half true, half false."

Zhou Jin once said that she spent most of her time there—254 Jinsheng Road. (Besides singing at nightclubs at night, she probably had a lot of free time; besides dating and shopping, she probably spent some time at home. If her working hours plus her time at home, it should fit her concept of "most of her time." So, could she have combined the two addresses?)

"I spend most of my time there." Thinking about what she meant, it seemed like the two places were the same. Did she mean that she spent most of her time at the Jinsheng Nightclub and her home at number 254? If that was the case, did it mean that her residence was on the same street as the Jinsheng Nightclub? The Jinsheng Nightclub was at number 82 Wangchun Road, so perhaps her residence wasn't at number 254 Jinsheng Road, but rather at number 254 Wangchun Road, where the Jinsheng Nightclub was located. Jian Dongping wasn't sure about his guess, so he decided to try and find it.

Just then, his phone rang. He answered it and was surprised to see it was Ling Ge.

"Where are you?" Ling Ge asked him, sounding a little down.

"I'm on Wangchun Road. Where are you? Is something wrong?" He savored her melancholy tone, so his words carried a slight hint of smugness. Had she surrendered to me? Meatball?

"Did you bring my little ledger?" she asked.

“I brought it,” he said. “I’ve seen it.”

"Please give it back to me, okay? I need to settle my accounts at the end of the year. What would it mean if I were short half a year?" she pleaded, her tone so sorrowful that it made him feel somewhat sorry for her. But her request didn't make him happy at all.

"You called me for this?" he asked coldly.

"Give it back to me, what use is it to you?"

"It's already mine, and I don't want to give it to just anyone."

“Why did you kidnap my ledger! What use is it to you!” she shouted.

“It’s of utmost importance to me, it’s practically my treasure,” he replied curtly, using formal language whenever he was annoyed. “Is there anything else I can do for you? I’m too busy right now.”

“Xiao Zheng got me a copy of Su Zhiwen’s document. I’ll bring it to you, and you can return the ledger to me. How about that?” she replied coldly.

"You brat, you even know how to threaten me!" He was even angrier. "Fine, it's just a broken ledger."

“Alright, since you insist, I’ll respectfully comply,” he said.

"Also, I want to return your watch and ring to you. I don't want them; they're too valuable. You can keep them yourself."

"Should we change into something else?" he asked casually, in a bad mood.

Unexpectedly, she asked:

"Can I exchange it?"

A thought struck him.

"What do you want?" His tone softened somewhat.

“I want, um… your sleeping bag. Is that okay? The one you used when you stayed at my house last time. I thought it was pretty useful and warm. You said it wasn’t too expensive. I remember asking you about it. I was thinking, if something happens in the future… a fire or something,” her voice softened, “it might come in handy.”

A sleeping bag! I never expected a sleeping bag! You really know how to pick things! Once, when Ling Ge had a high fever, Jian Dongping stayed by her bedside all night with his sleeping bag. Jian Dongping almost laughed out loud. She even wanted to break off our friendship! This silly girl! Let me test you one more time.

“Ling Ge, I have two sleeping bags, one new and one old. I’ve already used the old one. Which one do you want?” he asked, suppressing a laugh.

"How could I possibly ask you for a new one? Just give me the old one." She looked extremely frustrated.

It was as if he had suddenly stepped into a ray of sunshine. In an instant, Jian Dongping's mood brightened considerably.

“Ling Ge, we’re friends after all, what’s this little request? I’ll bring it to you as soon as I’m done. It’s in my trunk. Where are you now? At home?” he asked with a smile.

"No, no need, I'll come get it. Wangchun Road, right? It's not far from here. I'll call you when I get there." After she finished speaking, she hung up the phone immediately, as if afraid he would object.

So eager to get my sleeping bag? You even want to break up with me?! Jian Dongping chuckled and sighed, feeling sorry for her lack of backbone, but also gleefully deciding to tease her a bit. He planned to bring up what happened last year; he still vividly remembered the embarrassed expression on her face when he'd had his fill of what she looked like back then.

There is no No. 254 on Wangchun Road.

Jian Dongping searched for No. 254 along Wangchun Road, only to find that due to construction, the numbering on Wangchun Road had stopped starting from No. 240.

If it wasn't 254 Wangchun Road, then what did the number 254 represent? Could it be the 4th floor of number 25? Or perhaps room 54 of number 2? The former seemed more likely. But unfortunately, after walking around, he discovered that number 25 was a general store and number 2 was a convenience store. Upon closer inspection, both stores were single-story buildings, with no rooms available for rent upstairs.

Could it be that I guessed wrong?

That's it, the key! If this key really is Zhou Jin's apartment key, then the grease on it should tell us something. He took the key out, resisting his disgust, and smelled it. It seemed to have a stinking sewer smell. Looking at the grease, he deduced that the key had likely fallen into a ditch or a small pond, possibly in front of or behind a restaurant. Over the years, it had become smelly, greasy, and filthy from receiving wastewater dumped by the restaurant. So, how did the key end up there? It must have fallen accidentally when he was taking it out. And why would she be looking for a key near a restaurant? It's very likely that her apartment is near a restaurant.

He decided to look for restaurants along this street.

Wangchun Road isn't long; the house numbers end at number 240. On this fairly bustling little street, there are two large restaurants and twelve small eateries. The large restaurants are all quite clean, with no small drains or puddles; clearly, they don't have the habit of dumping garbage in front of their establishments. But the small restaurants are a different story; almost every one of them has a patch of filthy water in front of it. Jian Dongping walked around for a bit and stopped in front of a small restaurant. What attracted him wasn't the house number, but the restaurant's name: "Vegetables and Rice 254 Specialty Store."

Two, five, four—numerically speaking, it seems to match. Jian Dongping went upstairs. It was past lunchtime, so there wasn't a single customer in the shop.

"Miss!" he called to a waitress who looked about seventeen or eighteen years old.

"What's wrong?" The waitress, who was chopping vegetables, looked up at him blankly.

"May I ask what the meaning of your restaurant's name, 'Cai Fan Er Wu Si'?" he asked her with a smile.

"Isn't it written outside?!" the waitress said, sounding a little impatient.

He went outside the shop and saw, sure enough, a yellow advertisement was posted on the door, which read:

"A bowl of rice and vegetables costs two yuan."

One bowl of rice with vegetables and one bowl of potato soup.

Five yuan for a bowl of rice and vegetables, and a bowl of pork rib and soybean soup.

It does match the numbers 254, but why not 245? Wouldn't that better fit the order in the advertisement?

"Excuse me, why isn't it 'vegetables and rice, two, four, five'? You wrote it upside down," Jian Dongping asked.

"You're so long-winded," the waiter frowned.

"This young lady is so beautiful, she must be kind-hearted too," he flattered her.

"There's nothing to say." The waitress's expression immediately improved after being praised for her beauty.

"Is your boss hiding something from you?"

"What secret could there be? You, sir..." The waitress's expression showed that she didn't think his question was worth answering.

"Why is that? There must be a reason." Jian Dongping wasn't afraid of being thought of as boring, especially by a female waitress selling vegetables and rice.

"Nothing special at all. The name 'Cai Fan Er Wu Si' was suggested by a lady upstairs. She said it sounded good, so our boss listened to her. Anyway, it's the same no matter how you turn it." The waitress gave a tired smile.