Night in Shanghai
I wonder if we’ll be able to see Xie Yi tomorrow.

The room was lit by a fluorescent lamp. Pang Qian pulled the curtains closed. She and Gu Mingxi each lied on their own beds, watching TV.

Shanghai had a few TV channels that E City didn’t have. Pang Qian thought it was really interesting, so she kept changing from one channel to another. Gu Mingxi couldn’t stop from asking, “Can you stop changing the channel? Just pick one and watch it. Then you’ll sleep in awhile.”

“You’re really annoying, Gu Mingxi.” That’s what Pang Qian said, but then she didn’t change the channel anymore. A Shanghai channel was currently airing local news. After a few stories, the new anchor started talking about the comic convention that had started that day.

Pang Qian bounced up and crawled over to the end of the bed to see the screen. There was a ribbon cutting ceremony to start the opening of the convention. They had even arranged for a group of primary school students to perform. Then the camera pulled out to show the exhibition hall and the bustling crowd attending the convention. Then there was a group of comic authors from all across the country holding an autograph session.

Pang Qian was completely engrossed in the story. A few shots of the convention pa.s.sed by on the screen. It looked like the place was split up with different areas for different comics groups. There was even a cosplay performance on the stage.

“Ah!” Pang Qian called out excitedly. “Xie Yi will definitely be there!”

Gu Mingxi, “…”

After the news report was over, Pang Qian left her bed. She emptied her backpack onto the table. Gu Mingxi asked curiously, “What are you doing?”

Pang Qian pulled out a bag of potato chips, “I’m hungry.”

Gu Mingxi really didn’t know what to say. Pang Qian sat down cross legged on the bed, holding her bag of chips. As she crunched away on her potato chips, she flipped open her copy of Cartoon King to the page about the convention. She said to Gu Mingxi, “The convention center’s address is printed here. I wonder if we’ll be able to find it tomorrow.”

Gu Mingxi answered lazily, “We’ll find it.”

“Really? You know how to take public transport there?” Pang Qian thought seriously, and asked again, “My dad said that if we can’t find it, we should just take a taxi.”

Gu Mingxi turned over on his bed, his back facing Pang Qian now. He said, “I know how to get there. Sleep early, I’m sleepy.”

Pang Qian still asked, “How do you know?”

Gu Mingxi replied snappishly, “I looked at a map of Shanghai before coming here.”

Pang Qian was silent. She curled her lips, then after awhile, she said quietly, “I wonder if we’ll be able to see Xie Yi tomorrow.”

The youth on the other bed was quiet, his back facing her. His body moved up and down slightly, as if he had already fallen asleep.

Pang Qian had a few more chips. The crunching sound of potato chips was made even louder in the quiet room. Pang Qian looked at Gu Mingxi’s sleeping figure, then put down her half-eaten bag of chips. She picked up her toothbrush and went to the bathroom across the hall.

When she returned, she lightly put down her cup. She walked over to Gu Mingxi’s bed and looked at him. He was wearing a white t-s.h.i.+rt and beach shorts, lying on his side, closed eyes facing the wall. His sleeves were flat on his body, his breathing was long and even. Pang Qian unfolded the thin quilt and placed it over him. She said quietly, “Gu Mingxi, I’m going to sleep.”

After she said that, she turned off the TV and the lights. Then she climbed into bed, wrapped herself around her blanket, and close her eyes.

The room was dark and quiet. There were only distant sounds of traffic that came through the window and the occasional car horn.

Gu Mingxi opened his eyes in the darkness. He laid in bed for a long time without making a move, his body was a bit numb. And because Pang Qian had covered him with a blanket, his body had become covered in sweat. With small motions, he turned over to look at Pang Qian on the other bed. In the dark room, he could only make out the outline of her body. She was probably also very hot. She’d already kicked her blanket off to the side and her limbs were spread across the bed.

Gu Mingxi left his bed and walked to the door. As expected, when Pang Qian returned from brus.h.i.+ng her teeth, she hadn’t locked the door. He locked it and then walked back to his bed with light steps, and gently laid down on the bed.

His heart was bursting with some strange feeling. In a foreign city, in a strange and unfamiliar building and room, lying on an unfamiliar bed covered with old, yellowed sheets… So he was spending the night together with Pang Qian like that. The window was located at the foot of his bed. It was still open, letting in a light breeze through the curtains. From where he lied, he could see outside.

This area didn’t have many big, tall buildings. Outside the window, there was an alley of single-story buildings. The curtain over the window fluttered up and down. Gu Mingxi could even see the black-grey Shanghai sky. It was hazy, no stars and no moon.

Gu Mingxi was drenched in sweat. He was also thirsty and hungry. He only had a single hamburger and a cup of cola for dinner. For a boy at the peak of his growth and development, how could that be enough to make him full? But he also didn’t want to get up to get a drink or look for food, because he would need to turn the light on for that and he’d make a lot of noise. That would easily wake up Pang Qian.

Pang Qian always got angry when she was woken up. When they were younger and someone woke her up, she would cry and make a fuss. When they were older, they would often be late for school because she didn’t want to get out of bed in the mornings. In the end, they always had to sprint to school.

Gu Mingxi knew that Pang Qian had been both nervous and excited all day. It must have been mentally draining, so she needed a good rest. As for him, he really didn’t feel like sleeping at all.

After some time, Gu Mingxi finally started to drift off to sleep, when the fluorescent lamp in the room was suddenly turned on. He immediately opened his eyes and sat up. He saw Pang Qian sitting up on her bed, hair disheveled, eyes squinting. She scratched at her left arm and legs, crying out, “There are bugs! I’m covered in bug bites!”

Gu Mingxi looked around. He didn’t have much care towards bugs one way or the other. Pang Qian crawled off her own bed to sit down on the edge of his. She showed his her arm and legs, “Look! They’ve already bitten me a bunch of times! One, two, three, four, five… Five bites! It’s so itchy! Gu Mingxi, what now?!”

Her arm and legs were in fact covered in several bug bites. There were red b.u.mps all over, and it was a bit nauseating to look at. Gu Mingxi knew she must be itching a lot. He got up to close the window and thought for a moment. “I’ll go downstairs to see if they have any mosquito incense.”

Pang Qian pouted and looked at him, “Hurry back.”

“Mm.” He stuffed some money in his pockets and left. Twenty minutes later, he returned, biting onto a plastic bag.

When he entered the room, Gu Mingxi saw that Pang Qian had shrunken into a corner, as if she’d seen a ghost. It surprised him. He put down the plastic bag and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Pang Qian was carrying a pillow in her arms. Eyes wide, she looked at Gu Mingxi. “Gu Mingxi, there are c.o.c.kroaches…”

“c.o.c.kroaches?”

“I don’t know, it was really big!”

“…” He thought for a moment, then said seriously, “Just light the mosquito incense. c.o.c.kroaches are afraid of it too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Pang Qian got off the bed and walked over to Gu Mingxi. With a slight complaining tone, she said, “Why were you gone for so long?!”

Gu Mingxi sat on the bed and pulled out the mosquito incense and lighter from the plastic bag. “They didn’t have it at the front desk. I went out to a 24 hour convenient store to buy some.”

The mosquito incense was still unopened. He bent over and used his feet to carefully, but clumsily, pull it out. Pang Qian couldn’t watch any longer, so she helped him pull out the mosquito incense and place it into the metal container. As for the lighter, she said, “I don’t know how to use it.”

Gu Mingxi stared at her. He picked up the lighter in her hands with his left foot. He gripped onto it firmly with his left foot and then pressed down with his right. Flames shot out. He carefully moved the lighter towards the mosquito incense and lit it.

“You still can’t use a lighter? How do you light the alcohol burner when we do experiments?” He said.

Pang Qian responded, not thinking anything of it, “Hu Tianli lights it.”

“Then how are you going to cook in the future?” Gu Mingxi wanted to laugh a little.

“I’m not going to learn to cook!” Pang Qian boasted without shame. “My mom doesn’t cook a lot. My dad’s the one that always cooks things. In the future, I’ll just marry a husband like my dad, then I won’t need to cook.”

Gu Mingxi just blinked at her, without a word.

After the mosquito incense were lit, the two of them returned to their respective beds to sleep. After they turned the lights off, Gu Mingxi was still unable to sleep. Pang Qian’s voice floated over in the darkness, “Gu Mingxi, are you asleep yet?”

Gu Mingxi pretended for awhile, but then let out an “Oh” sound. He answered, “Not yet, you?”

“Gu Mingxi, will the c.o.c.kroaches crawl onto me?”

“…” He stopped himself from laughing. “No. I told you, c.o.c.kroaches are afraid of the mosquito incense.”

“If the c.o.c.kroach comes back, will you hit it?” Pang Qian said, “My dad can hit them. He smacks them with a shoe.”

Gu Mingxi answered, “I will. I’ll step on it and kill it.”

After a moment of silence, Pang Qian let out a sigh.

Gu Mingxi asked, “What is it now?”

“If I had known earlier, I would have bought return tickets for tomorrow afternoon,” Pang Qian said sullenly. “Tomorrow, we’d play for the day, then go home in the afternoon. We wouldn’t have to stay another night.”

“Why? Then we’d be really rushed and it wouldn’t be as fun,” Gu Mingxi said. “We came so far away to Shanghai. Don’t you want to enjoy your time at the convention?”

Pang Qian was quiet for awhile. “I miss home a little.”

Gu Mingxi turned his head and looked at her in the dark. He saw a vague shape huddled on the bed. He thought for a moment and then said, “Pang Pang, during the day tomorrow, we’ll go to the comic convention. At night, I’ll take you to Nanjing Road and then the Bund (waterfront area), okay? The Bund is really beautiful at night. And you can even see the Oriental Pearl Tower.”

Pang Qian was a bit amazed and asked foolishly, “Do you know the way there?”

“Yeah. I looked at the map. And I’ve been there before. I know how to take the train there.”

“Okay.” Pang Qian smiled and then said, “I wonder if Xie Yi will have time tomorrow. If he does, he can come play with us.”

Gu Mingxi felt a bit stuffy inside. His tone was also a bit harsh when he said, “Xie Yi came with his friends. They probably already have plans.”

Pang Qian thought a moment and then said, “That’s true. I wonder what they’re going to do. Actually, we can join them too.”

Gu Mingxi nearly spit out blood.

After awhile, the room had become quiet and still again. The scent of the mosquito incense spread gradually. It was a strong smell, but it was also rather calming.

Since the window was closed, the room had become swelteringly hot. Gu Mingxi had gone from soaking with sweat to drying off, and back. He couldn’t stand it anymore, so he got up and pulled off his t-s.h.i.+rt, sleeping with his upper body bare.

Very soon, his back was bitten twice by bugs. Gu Mingxi had no way to scratch, so he just had to endure the itchiness. He was dripping with sweat as he closed his eyes. He thought to himself, if the bugs stopped biting Pang Qian and bit him a few times instead, there was no harm in that.
—

The next morning, probably because the room was hot and stuffy, and there was an unpleasant smell in the air, even the lazy Pang Qian woke up very early. Her whole body was sticky from sweat, and she felt it was very uncomfortable. She looked over at Gu Mingxi… He was s.h.i.+rtless! He was just laying there on his bed. He didn’t even cover up with a blanket!

The morning sunlight streamed into the room. Pang Qian could see very clearly. She threw a pillow over at Gu Mingxi. “Gu Mingxi! You should be ashamed!”

Gu Mingxi hadn’t slept for most of the night. He’d finally drifted off to sleep at dawn, when suddenly a pillow landed on him. He rolled over, surprised. He sat up in confusion, with two wide open eyes, his hair a mess, his body covered in sweat, and a haggard expression on his face. They stared at each other for awhile, and then he finally burst out in laughter.

“Good morning, Pang Pang.” Gu Mingxi’s lips lifted up in a smile, revealing his canine teeth.

Pang Qian smiled and said, “Gu Mingxi, you have eye boogers!”

“Hey!”

Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi took turns was.h.i.+ng up. After they changed their clothes and packed up their things, they checked out of the hostel.

In the future, they might live in a luxurious 5 star hotel. Or they might stay at a small villa on an island in the sea. Or they might go to a small vineyard, the aroma of grapes floating throughout the air. Maybe they would live in a university dorm, or they’d stay in a small hotel in some remote land. Maybe they could go camping and pitch a tent, or they could travel the world and live in hostels with strangers. But no matter where they stayed or what kind of bed they slept on, they would never forget this night in Shanghai.

This small hostel, hidden away in an alley… They didn’t even know its address or name, but they would never forget it. Never ever.

Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi had breakfast at a small shop at the entryway to the alley.

Gu Mingxi was starving. After eating a bowl of wonton, he had a tray of xiaolongbao (soup dumpling), and then he also bought two youtiao (Chinese cruller).

The tables at that shop were very low. There couldn’t have been anything more suitable for him. Gu Mingxi crouched and sat on the small stool, his right foot resting on the table. He picked up one dumpling after another and delivered it to his mouth.

Pang Qian also ate quite a bit. After they finished eating, she plucked up a napkin and wiped Gu Mingxi’s mouth. They paid and then they headed to the convention center.

Gu Mingxi had already asked for directions and knew there was a train station nearby. That was great, because the train stopped right at the convention center. Gu Mingxi felt like a load had been lifted from his shoulders. He and Pang Qian found the train station and stood inside, examining the rail map.

The moment that Pang Qian discovered she’d be riding the train, she grew very excited. She’d already forgotten the homesickness she felt the evening before, and kept chattering on endlessly.

The ticket stations were automated. Standing in front of the ticket machine, Gu Mingxi directed Pang Qian. She was very nervous, and especially serious when she was inserting the coins into the machine. When the ticket came out, she finally let out a sigh of relief, and became joyous, “How interesting!”

She kept saying over and over, “So interesting! Gu Mingxi, when we go back, let me buy the tickets!”

“Okay.” Seeing her upturned face and s.h.i.+ning eyes, Gu Mingxi also smiled a bit.

He led Pang Qian to the platform. After a short while, the train came roaring in. Pang Qian couldn’t contain her excitement as she stared at the train gradually come to a stop.

They got onto the train. It was Sat.u.r.day, so the train car wasn’t filled with commuters heading to work, but there were still no seats. Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi found a corner to stand in. Gu Mingxi leaned against a column and stood sideways, with Pang Qian in front of him.

Pang Qian was a curious kid, her head turning this way and that way, looking around. Then she saw how everyone was looking at Gu Mingxi.

Pang Qian really hated those looks, so she angrily returned their gazes. She stood quietly in front of Gu Mingxi, her right arm wrapping around his waist.

“Hey, it’s itchy.” Gu Mingxi twisted his body as he spoke quietly.

“I’m scared of the brakes.”

“The train doesn’t have brakes.”

“Ah…”

Twenty minutes later, Gu Mingxi and Pang Qian got off the train and exited the station. After asking a police officer, they finally found their way to the convention center.

After seeing the convention’s banner that she’d seen on the news, Pang Qian cheered, “We found it!”

The two of them bought an all day pa.s.s. The convention center was packed with people. Most of them looked to be junior and high school students like them. There were also some 20 something year olds and kids that were led by their parents.

Pang Qian’s eyes glowed. Then she pulled at Gu Mingxi’s sleeve and said, “Gu Mingxi, let’s go find Xie Yi first!”

Gu Mingxi’s eyes darkened slightly, but still nodded his head.