His back was broad and muscular. He used his shoulders to support her without uttering a single word of complaint.
“Lu Xingzhi, when I am old and no longer able to walk, you must piggyback me and walk like this.” Jiang Yao could not help but say coquettishly.
Unexpectedly, Lu Xingzhi briefly said, “I won’t.”
Jiang Yao pounded him with her little fists in retaliation and he chuckled. “Darling, I am a few years older than you. When you are unable to walk, I am most likely unable to piggyback you too. By that time, you will sit in the wheelchair and I will push you. We will go wherever you like, I will never push you to the west if you want to go to the east.”
Jiang Yao, who was on his back, smiled silently, impressed by that idea.
There were almost no brick houses in the area of the old town as most of them were old houses made of wood with a strong sense of culture. They were all of the same height, but they looked quite run-down.
Lu Xingzhi, with Jiang Yao on his back, stopped in front of an antique house. It was similar to Jiang Yao’s house back in her hometown, and a loess wall surrounded the two rows of houses. If Lu Xingzhi had not brought her here, it would have been hard for Jiang Yao to believe that there was such a place in Nanjiang City.
Lu Xingzhi held Jiang Yao’s hand with one hand and knocked on the door with the other. The door was not locked, and it opened automatically when he knocked on it. Both of them stood at the entrance and saw an old woman in her fifties holding an old basin while feeding the chickens in her courtyard.
When the old woman heard the noise from the door, she pouted unhappily and looked toward the door. As she saw their unfamiliar faces, she asked in an impatient tone, “Are you looking for someone? Who are you looking for?”
The rooms in the house were rented to many outsiders working in Nanjiang City. Almost every room was occupied by one person, and the monthly rental fees only cost a few dollars. However, the old woman was the landlady, and she most certainly recognized all her tenants.
“Is Wu Zhong still living here?” Looking at the chicken manure scattered all over the ground, Lu Xingzhi did not plan to bring Jiang Yao inside and asked from the entrance straightaway.
“Oh… Wu Zhong… He is still here, he has been living here for a few years.” The old woman seemed to have a good impression of Wu Zhong, therefore, when she heard that they were looking for Wu Zhong, she looked friendlier. “Wu Zhong is not home right now, he is working at the market in front.”
The tenants here were very confusing as some rented rooms for only a few months. The old woman was getting on in years, and after seeing tenants at sixes and sevens for more than ten years, she had developed a habit of disliking strangers.
“By the way, Wu Zhong has been living here for quite a few years but I seldom see people looking for him. Why are both of you looking for him?” The old woman asked.
“I am his friend and I’m here to visit him.” Lu Xingzhi continued to ask, “May I know which part and what is he doing at the market? I am going to look for him now, can I find him there?”
“There is a shoeshine stall at the market in front. There is only one of those there. Ask around and you will find it.” After she finished, she mumbled, “That Wu Zhong doesn’t seem to have such decent friends…” Then, she ignored Lu Xingzhi and Jiang Yao and continued to feed her chickens and ducks.
Lu Xingzhi thanked her, piggybacked Jiang Yao once again, and walked toward where they had come from.
Jiang Yao remembered that when they first arrived, there was a place that looked like a market opposite their parking lot. So, the person called Wu Zhong whom Lu Xingzhi was looking for was there?
