SES Chapter 8 V1

Chapter 8

Mu Dai was losing patience, but it only made her more certain there was something off about Luo Ren. The whole half of the alley was staring at him, yet there he was, completely unfazed, carefully choosing strawberries as if nothing were happening.

She turned back and glanced at Cao Yanhua. He was gesturing excitedly, almost bouncing on his toes: “It’s him! It’s him!”

It seemed that watching from a distance wasn’t enough; he abandoned his table of food and walked over, excited to get a closer look.

Luo Ren paid, grabbed his bags, and walked toward the exit. The alley was a dead-end on one side, which meant there was only one way forward — and Mu Dai was standing directly in his path.

“Hey!”

“Hey!”

Luo Ren, staring straight ahead, finally stopped. He glanced around in confusion. A little farther up, the Third People’s Hospital’s neon sign glimmered in the background.

Then his eyes fell on Mu Dai. Puzzled, he asked, “Are you talking to me?”

Mu Dai stood up, looked him directly in the eye, and cut straight to the point: “Why were you following me?”

Luo Ren seemed to find this the funniest thing in the world. “Me?”

He sighed, shook his head, and glanced around at the people nearby, then nodded toward the hospital sign. “Miss, a friend of mine is in the hospital. I came to visit him and hadn’t gotten a chance to prepare much, so I stopped here to buy some fruit. It must be a coincidence we crossed paths…”

All the onlookers — except for the portly Cao Yanhua — nodded in understanding.

The world finds it much easier to forgive someone good-looking, and it’s even more forgiving toward a charming, well-mannered man.

Mu Dai noticed the unfriendly glances all around her.

Luo Ren nodded courteously to Mu Dai and walked past her. Mu Dai was trying to decide whether to pursue him further when he turned back.

He addressed the fruit stall owner first. “Excuse me, may I borrow a pen and some paper?”

Then he walked back toward Mu Dai, placed his bag of strawberries at his feet, and started writing something. “Miss… if you’re trying to find a way to get to know me, my name is Luo Ren. Here’s my phone number; you can call me anytime…”

Before he finished, Mu Dai bumped into him hard. Luo Ren staggered back, pressed a hand against his shoulder in pain, then turned to watch her walk away, a mischievous smile creeping across his lips.

In the alley, Mu Dai walked briskly with a dark expression. Cao Yanhua had to break into a trot just to keep up. His face fell, and he said, breathless, “Sister, it’s him. I’d bet my career on it…”

“Sister, you’re still a bit naïve. Have you ever been in love? That guy was playing you. Let me tell you, I know these things. If you let him be, he’d pretend to be a gentleman; if you get serious, he drops all that and starts acting like a scoundrel. He’s banking on you being a nice, naïve girl who’d back down…”

Mu Dai suddenly stopped. Cao Yanhua was so busy talking that he kept walking forward a few paces, then turned back.

Mu Dai looked at him quietly for a moment and then suddenly broke into a charming smile.

Cao Yanhua was alarmed. Uh-oh, what was this now? Was she falling for him already? That’s not the person you should be smiling at — it’s him!

“Ears and eyes everywhere?”

It was then that Cao Yanhua realized she was referring to something he’d previously boasted about.

“That’s a given.” Cao Yanhua nodded proudly. “Sister, from ancient times to now, at home or abroad, do you know why people fail when they trail someone?”

“Why?”

“Because they break away from the people. If you follow someone all by yourself, up one alley and down another, it’s not hard for them to realize something’s up. But we’re different.”

He opened his arms, confidence pouring from him. “In the Jiefangbei area, we have people on duty 24/7. We have a WeChat group. So once I send a message, a whole network will track him — men and women, young and old, from all walks of life — until he finds himself stranded in a vast ocean of people…”

“Then keep an eye on him.”

Cao Yanhua fell silent. After a moment, a thought struck him. “Hey… wait a second. Why should I?”

He raised his voice a bit, nearly spitting all over Mu Dai in his agitation — at the very least, some drops landed.

Mu Dai closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again.

Cao Yanhua felt a little guilty.

Mu Dai took a tissue from her pocket and slowly wiped her shoulder. With a charming yet threatening smile, she said through gritted teeth, “Aren’t we friends? Whenever you come to Yunnan, I’ll be your host. And anyway, you shouldn’t think of it as helping me. You should consider it… team-building.”

Cao Yanhua hesitated.

“Sister, I know you’ve got some skills. Give me something to be impressed by. Making friends comes down to this: you want someone useful—someone rich, someone powerful, someone tough. Everyone plays it this way. Who doesn’t want a big tree to back them up…”

Before he finished, something darted upward in the corner of his eye. He turned just in time to realize there was a gap beside him — Mu Dai was gone — and then two soft taps came from above. He looked up and felt a rush of alarm.

My goodness!

One side of the alley was a row of low houses; the other side was a taller residential block. Mu Dai was now about 15 feet up the wall, clinging to an air conditioner bracket. She flipped herself upside-down, her piercing eyes glimmering in the dim light.

It was a move called “gecko wall-crawling”—sometimes called “Immortal hangs a painting”—said to have its roots in Shaolin but later popularized by martial artists. The training chant described it: “As light as an ant upon a wall.” Mu Dai made it look effortless — just a dart upward, and there she was.

Cao Yanhua stood there stunned for a moment. His voice trembled with excitement. “We’re friends now, Mu Dai! Whenever I find something, I’ll come straight to you.”

The following morning, a hotel receptionist knocked on Mu Dai’s door to change the towels. She handed Mu Dai a document envelope labeled in black marker:

The first line read: Miss Huo Zihong.
The second: If you have questions, dial 108.

It was meant for Aunt Hong, but Mu Dai was her representative now, so it seemed reasonable for her to check it.