Year 2025, Fengtan.
The summers in Fengtan always carried a stuffy heaviness.
The heat outside felt like a layer of damp silk long johns—twisting them wouldn’t wring them dry, nor could the humidity be shaken off.
Stepping onto the steaming ground felt like walking into a moldy, humid steamer.
Because of this, every July and August, the cupping and scraping therapy shops were packed to the brim.
Li Shuli’s scraping therapy shop usually had slow business, but this year’s heat was strangely intense.
Other shops were fully staffed and busy, so naturally, her shop saw a steady stream of customers as well.
She was so overwhelmed that when her own daughter carried in her luggage and stepped through the door, she didn’t notice.
She simply thought it was a customer coming for scraping and said without looking back, “There aren’t any available rooms right now. Can you wait?”
There was no reply from behind her, and no one left either.
The business was indeed good.
As the shop’s madam, Li Shuli personally took on the work.
A big, plump man lay face down on the massage bed as she struggled to locate the right acupuncture points, unaware of the response behind her until she finally turned around casually and asked, “Can you wait? If not, you can go across the street—”
Li Yingqiao stood there, the suitcase resting at her feet, one hand on the handle, a sly grin spreading across her lips.
She laughed, “Shuli, you’re so busy these days.”
Li Shuli stared at her intently, her gaze magnetically fixed, ignoring her greeting.
Instead, she slapped the man’s back sharply with a “pop” and loudly called out to the idle person behind the counter, “Yidong, Meng Yidong! Come out! Come out!”
The man yelped from the smack, complaining, “Madam boss! Don’t leave! Little Meng doesn’t have your strength!”
Li Shuli had changed quite a bit over the years.
The woman who once sat awkwardly at the dinner table with Zhu Xiaoliang now could patiently deal with a hefty, bare-backed man lying on the massage bed, saying, “Let Little Meng press your back first. My daughter just got back from Beijing after a seven or eight-hour train ride. She definitely hasn’t eaten; I’ll make her a bowl of noodles first. You wait a bit, I’ll come back later to do the cupping for you.”
The man lifted his head, flesh spilling from the narrow massage bed.
He glanced at Li Yingqiao and said, “Oh, our top-ranked university student is back. Alright, alright, you go ahead. Let Little Meng take care of me.”
Meng Yidong was Li Shuli’s apprentice, recruited a couple of years ago.
She was about the same age as Li Yingqiao.
Over the years away from home, Li Yingqiao had often heard her mother mention Yidong on the phone but had never met her.
They’d never spoken directly. Yingqiao once asked her mother for photos of Yidong, but Li Shuli said Yidong was shy and refused to give any.
She didn’t press the matter.
This was their first face-to-face meeting. Li Yingqiao’s gaze patiently awaited as a girl lazily stood up behind the counter.
She wore a loose T-shirt and shorts, about Yingqiao’s height, with a neat buzz cut.
A thin snake tattoo slithered from her collarbone to behind her ear.
The moment their eyes met, Yidong looked straight at Yingqiao’s openly friendly gaze.
Meng Yidong’s demeanor fell far short of her first sharp, fierce impression.
There was a kind of dazed awkwardness in her voice: “Yingqiao…姐.”
Li Yingqiao was the first to extend her hand, smiling, “Yidong, finally meeting you in person.”
Meng Yidong had seen many photos of Li Yingqiao.
She often sent updates to Li Shuli — sometimes a solitary, 45-degree angled photo looking sorrowfully at the sky, other times chaotic snapshots from gatherings with friends, photos of her getting spat on by an alpaca during a trip, attacked by bird droppings, or even snapping pictures while still covered in soap bubbles during a flood caused by a burst pipe at home.
Every single one showed her in a somewhat disheveled state, enduring the hardships of life.
Seeing Li Yingqiao so neat and proper in person for the first time, Yidong hesitated, withdrawing her hand awkwardly before rubbing it on her T-shirt a few times and finally shaking it.
Yingqiao laughed at her reaction and generously said, “You get back to work first. We’ll catch up later.”
Li Yingqiao had been tied down by work these past years, rarely staying long when she came home.
Sometimes she’d just return for the day before an urgent call forced her to buy another ticket back to Beijing.
One year she didn’t even make it home for Spring Festival. Li Shuli wasn’t sure how long this visit would last either.
She might get called away at any moment—everything was rushed every time.
Li Shuli handed the shop over to Meng Yidong and went into the restroom.
She quickly rubbed her hands with soap while speaking to her daughter, “Qiaoqiao, wait a moment. Mom’s washing up and will make you a bowl of noodles soon. Are you very hungry? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming this time? Otherwise, I would’ve closed the shop today.”
“No need, I ate a boxed meal on the train,” Li Yingqiao leaned against the sink, eyes drifting around as she said, “I’m staying for a while this time. I’m planning to take a vacation.”
“Ah? Did that ruthless boss finally give you time off?”
“No, I resigned.”
She smiled and winked.
“That works too.”
Li Shuli slowed down her scrubbing, “You really ate? Can the train’s boxed meals be eaten?”
“Why not? They’re sixty yuan a box.”
Li Shuli remembered eating one on a trip once, and it still hurt to think about it.
“I’d rather bite myself. The meat would be fresher.”
Li Yingqiao smiled, tilting her head slightly and asked frankly, “So, any gossip about me in Fengtan lately?”
Since Li Yingqiao left Fengtan for university in Beijing after the college entrance exam, all the rumors had been about her.
The year she graduated, she interned at a medical device company, which was registered under the name Shengzhimei Biotechnology Co., Ltd.
Some clever person saw the word “technology” and spread rumors that she’d joined an internet giant.
At some point, rumors claimed she had switched careers to sell cashmere sweaters.
One particularly wild year, a key medical project at the company suddenly changed leadership during Spring Festival.
As the only core person who understood the project from start to finish, Li Yingqiao was stuck at the company eating boxed meals and didn’t even return home for the holiday.
Soon after, Shengzhimei made headlines online for facing bankruptcy.
Yingqiao was busy job hunting in Beijing at the time and hadn’t returned to Fengtan.
But the scandal stirred a frenzy of gossip: some said she embezzled company funds and fled; others claimed she went to jail with the boss.
The rumors ran rampant, and Li Yingqiao found it all rather amusing.
Clearly, Fengtan hadn’t produced a new gossip figure in all these years.
Li Shuli turned off the tap, drying her hands as she glanced at her daughter.
“If you just stopped associating with your uncle, all the rumors would disappear. Don’t you know what’s going on? It’s all him bragging outside. He’s been bitter rivals with that Festival Head guy for years. Since you outperformed their kid in the college entrance exam, of course, he has to brag. He goes crazy telling everyone that his niece is a big-shot marketing director, soaring in her career these past two years. Even the passing dogs would love to pee on him, hoping to turn him into a real person so he can keep boasting.”
Li Yingqiao said nothing.
Li Shuli turned and went to make noodles for her daughter to soothe her stomach.
“Oh, by the way, Xiaogao Dian came by a couple of days ago.”
Across the room, Meng Yidong was applying essential oil to the big man’s back.
He scolded, “Haven’t eaten yet? Little Meng! Put some strength into it!”
Li Yingqiao kindly handed her a stool as she passed by, mouthing, “Hit him.”
Before Meng Yidong could react, Li Yingqiao was dragged away by Li Shuli, who said, “Stop messing around.”
“He owes it anyway. I’m stronger, so I’ll take over,” Li Yingqiao said eagerly.
Li Shuli ignored her and pulled out a bundle of noodles from the cabinet, turning back to ask, “Do you know where the Danzhong acupuncture point is?”
“I know where the Xiaoxue point is.”
Li Yingqiao grinned and pretended to jab at her own back with both hands.
“Got it! Hahaha…”
Li Shuli rolled her eyes and stopped entertaining her nonsense.
Opening the pot, she scooped in water and said, “Gao Dian came by a few days ago. He’s back running a shop now. A couple of years ago, he tried starting a business in Shenzhen and reportedly lost a lot of his parents’ money. Hey, you kids—haven’t kept in touch these past years?”
Li Yingqiao, picking up a peanut from the table and popping it in her mouth, honestly replied, “Actually, we kept in touch during the first two years of university. We even planned a trip once, but I forget who bailed. Probably Miao; he was too busy. After graduation, everyone got busy with work. We couldn’t even arrange to meet the two of us, let alone the four of us. What kind of shop did Gao Dian open?”
Li Yingqiao recalled that she and Yu Jinyang hadn’t even added each other on WeChat.
Back in high school, QQ was still the trend.
Gao Dian and the others were in a special QQ group of hers.
After university, they all stuck to QQ contact.
By the time WeChat took over as the most popular social app, their communication had already dwindled.
Yu Jinyang had studied in Shanghai for two years before his father sent him abroad for further studies.
Unfortunately, the pandemic meant he couldn’t come back even if he wanted to.
Li Shuli held the noodles while waiting for the water to boil.
She raised her chin and pointed to a flyer on the table.
“I can’t understand this, but it’s some kind of massage center. That kid’s really something, coming back and trying to compete with my business.”
Li Yingqiao took the flyer and leaned against the wall, smiling out loud after reading it.
“That’s not competition for you. That’s just kid’s play.”
It was some sort of psychological release center, featuring boxing gloves, punching bags, foam sticks, huge hammers, resin-filled explosive liquids, and the like.
They even customized various venting tools — of course, with no risk of personal injury.
Otherwise, a single misstep could mean bankruptcy.
This kind of place might work in a big city, but opening it in a small county town?
Li Yingqiao wondered if Gao Dian had more money than sense.
He might as well have opened a mahjong parlor.
But when her eyes scanned the last line, Li Yingqiao burst out laughing.
What had Xiaogao Dian gone crazy over?
“Our shop offers role-playing: scumbag exes, scumbag bosses, scumbag dads, scumbag coworkers, scumbag husbands… Guaranteed VIP experience, 500 yuan per hour, no arguing back.”
P.S.: If you get physical, the owner and all the shareholders are 1.88 meters tall and each masters a kind of Qimen Dunjia technique—able to dial 110 accurately within one second.