Night Wanderer

Chapter 8 The Sunset Lies in the Huangpu River

It was slightly after ten o'clock at night, the lights in the apartment were dim, cars were speeding by below, the wind was a bit strong outside.

Perhaps the typhoon season is coming - Zong Ying sat at the table and looked at the balcony door clattered by the wind.

It was cool. Instead of closing the door, she changed back to her black silk gown and planned to go upstairs and sleep.

But then she realized her hunger and stood in the dim light for a long time and finally took the thin woolen blanket on the sofa as a shawl, dug out two dollars and decided to go out.

Without the key, she left a thick roll of newspaper in the crack of the door and stuck it from closing.

At this point, the lights in the aisle were off, and there was no one in the stairwell.

Zong Ying walked to the service office quietly, and Mr. Ye was still sitting behind the high platform, listening to a lady talking on the sofa diagonally across him.

The lady was in her forties, wearing a dark cheongsam, with a cigarette holder on her index finger. While smoking, she complained that the poor relatives in Zhabei had to send their nephew to take refuge here.

Zong Ying glanced at her, and she returned a glance at Zong Ying, and then continued to flip: "The Japanese just set up a few outposts in Zhabei, the soldiers are panicking and frightened, they say there is going to be a war, just wait and see, after a few days, nothing will happen, in the end it will only be a false alarm!"

"Yes, yes." Mr. Ye echoed with a smiling face, and at the same time stood up to deal with Zong Ying.

"Miss Zong, what's the matter?"

"Can I buy super nearby?"

"At this time... there might still be wontons sold."

"Then I'll just eat wontons, can Mr. Ye make a trip?"

Zong Ying said and handed over the two dollar bills.

She gave it very generously, and Mr. Ye said immediately, "Okay, how many sets do you want?"

"One. No, two."

As Zong Ying said, she closed the thin woolen blanket on her body, and the lady on the sofa stared at her. After being noticed by Zong Ying, she pressed out her cigarette butts and pretended to look down at the evening newspaper.

Mr. Ye took the money and said, "I just saw Mr. Sheng go up the stairs. Is he back? He usually doesn't seem to eat small wonton." He mistakenly thought that Zong Ying wanted two supper, one portion was for Sheng Qingrang, therefore, he reminded her out of courtesy.

"Well, I know." Zong Ying replied perfunctorily, "then I'll go up first. Thank you, Mr. Ye."

Zong Ying had only walked five or six meters when she heard the voices of discussion coming from behind.

The lady said, "Which household, why haven't I seen her before? Mr. Sheng—the one on the top floor?"

"Yes, yes." Mr. ye came out from behind the counter, and the lady in the sofa said, "Mr. Sheng is dating, it's really strange." She then lowered her voice and asked Mr. Ye, "His girlfriend, what is her background?"

Zong Ying walked to the stairs, then could no longer hear anything.

She looked up at the long stairs and remembered the words Mr. Ye said, "I just saw Mr. Sheng going up the stairs." She thought it was only a matter of a few seconds, and that caused her to not be able to go back tonight.

She regretted it, but Sheng Qingrang felt even more regretful.

He rushed to the apartment in a hurry and ran upstairs in one breath. He just took out the key, he wasn't even allowed the chance to open the lock, then everything changed.