"What's going on? Did A Jin wake up?" Xiang Yang asked.
Fang Zheng looked away from the flower bed and said, "Not yet. I came down to have a smoke. What were you doing just now? Talking nonsense to her?"
Xiang Yang replied irritably, "You heard that? Now you know. She's a poisonous flower. Better watch out before it kills you."
Fang Zheng chuckled nonchalantly, "Why are you dragging me into this? I'm just worried you'll scare her off and Ah Jin will come looking for you."
"If he comes looking for me, fine. Women like her, who are more beautiful but have a better heart. I can find a dozen."
Fang Zheng took a cigarette from his pack, lit it, and took a slow drag. "When did you start playing the pimp? I didn't know you had this job."
Xiang Yang glared at him, "Don't talk to her. Don't think I can't see through your intentions."
"What intentions?"
"You're always bringing that woman around. Don't tell me it's not because she looks like her. You think A Jin is blind? Is that what brothers do?"
"Fuck, I don't treat him like he's blind. I think you treat him like a fascist. My woman and his woman having the same hairstyle isn't illegal, is it?" Fang Zheng took another drag, then, with his smile gone, said, "Xiang Yang, brothers are brothers, but some things are private matters between two people. This doesn't concern you and me."
Xiang Yang immediately rebutted, "You think I'm just bored and sticking my nose in? If they hadn't stirred up this mess and dragged me into it, would I be playing the bad guy?"
Fang Zheng was puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"You don't know? You really are blissfully ignorant. Do you know about the incident at Zhicheng recently, when someone died?"
"Yeah, wasn't that fake?"
"That came from her and your family's second brother. Luckily, it was fake. If it were real, I'd be under investigation right now instead of sitting here fishing. We always say we'd die for a brother, but getting stabbed in the back by a brother's woman and a cousin is just pathetic, isn't it?"
Fang Zheng chuckled, "Look at you, feeling wronged. Guess you're mad at me, huh?" He fell silent for a moment and then added, "Ah Jin knows what's going on. You don't have to worry. He'll figure it out."
"If he had known what was going on, would he have gotten himself into this mess? I see it now—this is what happens when the wisest make mistakes. He's like a young man who slipped and now can't pull himself out of trouble. I have to go save him," Xiang Yang said, rolling up his sleeves as though preparing for a big fight.
"Are you serious? You're really addicted to getting involved?"
"I'd rather be that than the two-faced one you are. I'm going up to see him. If he doesn't wake up soon, we might have to use a defibrillator," Xiang Yang said as he started to walk in, then turned back to ask, "Are you coming?"
Fang Zheng waved his half-smoked cigarette, "I'll go up after I finish this."
Lin Wan stood for a while, feeling her legs weaken. After Xiang Yang left, she sat down on the flower bed to catch her breath. She thought to herself, A Jin's friends are just like him—self-righteous, harsh in their words. If it had been a year ago, she probably would have cried at such comments. But now, after everything she had gone through, she had changed. Not to mention, her skin had thickened.
The sun's warmth grew stronger, and the "autumn tiger" truly lived up to its name. Her wet clothes quickly dried, though sometimes, a cool breeze would blow, giving her a slight chill. After a while, someone sat beside her. She turned her head to see it was Fang Zheng.
He said, "Xiang Yang is all talk, but he's harmless. Don't take his words to heart."
Lin Wan thought, compared to the large and small wounds Chen Jin had inflicted on her, a few harsh words were nothing. As she thought of him, she couldn't help but ask, "Has he woken up?"
"Not yet. The doctor's giving him acupuncture. He'll wake up once it starts to hurt."
"I heard about his near-drowning incident when he was a kid. But when I saw him swim at the villa, I thought he had already gotten over it."
Fang Zheng smiled lightly and said, "You probably didn't see how long he swam for. He can't stay in the water for more than ten minutes." Seeing Lin Wan's surprise, he added, "And he's never swum anywhere except a swimming pool."
Slightly uncomfortable sitting on the concrete, Fang Zheng uncrossed his legs and asked, "Lin Wan, can I ask you something? As A Jin's buddy and as your friend, I'd like to know what happened this morning."
Lin Wan's heart skipped a beat. She wasn't sure how to explain it—the line between illusion and reality had blurred for her, and even she found it hard to believe, let alone explain it to someone else. Besides, this wasn't just one incident; to explain it fully, she would have to lay everything out.
Fang Zheng waited for a while without receiving a response, then continued, "If you don't want to say, that's fine. It's really your business. I believe you mean no harm, otherwise, you wouldn't have come back to tell us. In the end, you were the one who saved him."
They fell silent for a moment, and Fang Zheng spoke again, "We've been coming here every year. It started as a way to help Ah Jin overcome his fear. Over time, it just became a habit. The first time we came, he was still in middle school. We tricked him into coming, and when he got here, he wanted to leave but was too proud. He ended up sitting there, and then he passed out. The doctor said it was a reflex fainting caused by excessive tension, a psychological issue."
"It's strange, really. He was never afraid of anything, but this fear of water... he couldn't get over it. Most people forget their childhood traumas, but he turned it into a mental block, a hurdle he couldn't cross. Maybe it's a flaw in his personality," Fang Zheng said, pausing, before continuing, "Or maybe the incident was just too traumatic."
He glanced at Lin Wan and asked, "I'm guessing you heard about the drowning of my cousin?"
Lin Wan nodded.
Fang Zheng chuckled. "That makes sense. He never fully explained it. Not many people know the truth about what happened. Do you know how A Jin ended up in the water?"
Lin Wan shook her head, thinking it was just a childish mistake, either a dare or an act of bravado—both seemed very much like Chen Jin.
"He was thrown into the reservoir," Fang Zheng said. "And it was during the dead of winter."