Special District 9 Chapter 71: A Kind Act a Day

Three o’clock at dawn, on the road.

After a nap, Old Cat looked out of the window with droopy eyes as he asked groggily, “Where are we now?”

“We’re some distance out of Jiangzhou,” Qin Yu replied amidst a yawn. “It’ll still be some time before we get back to Songjiang.”

“Stop a little more ahead. I’ll do my business and grab a bite, then I’ll take over you as the driver,” Old Cat said as he rubbed his face.

“Sure.”

Qin Yu drove for another two more kilometers before stopping the car at a clearing.

Old Cat took out rations from the car trunk. At the same time, he noticed that Qi Lin was asleep, so he covered the latter with a thick military coat before starting to munch on the food.

Meanwhile, Qin Yu got off the car and took a puff of smoke. After that, he took a roll of toilet paper from the car and said, “I’ll go take a shit.”

“Heck! Can’t you be more cultured? I’m eating!”

“I’ll shit mine, you’ll eat yours. It’s not as if I’m hindering you or something,” Qin Yu replied with a chuckle before walking toward the wilderness. He looked around for a position that had better fengshui before squatting down.

Over at the car, Old Cat was eating a bun together with smoked meat. After gulping down two big mouthfuls of water, he finally got off the car, loosened his belt, and relieved himself.

In the wilderness, Qin Yu shouted over, “Woah, you’re already done eating before I’m done here? You really eat like a pig.”

“You dumbass,” Old Cat tightened his pants as he berated. “Hurry up, or else I’m just going to leave you here!”

“Give me a moment, I’m going to be done soon!” Qin Yu rubbed his nearly frozen bottom before pulling his pants up and walking back.

Qin Yu was currently seated on the driver seat, and he was starting the engine.

Qin Yu stepped across the snowy ground, but barely after taking twenty meters, he suddenly felt himself tripping over something. Alarmed, he exclaimed, “What the heck is this?”

Even though the sun had set and the world had turned dark, the faint moonlight still highlighted the outlines of the world clearly. Qin Yu lifted his leg from the object that he had kicked before bending down to take a closer look. There, he saw a purplish face staring right at him.

“Fuck!”

As bold as Qin Yu was, he was still nearly scared out of his wits. He subconsciously retreated two steps back before finally bucking up his courage to take yet another look. It was then that he realized that the face belonged to a boy around 15 or 16 years of age. He was wearing clothes that were quite thick, but his eyes were shut. His hair was cloaked in snow, and it was frozen to the point that he probably would never have to use hair wax ever again.

Such a sight wasn’t too rare in the Development District. Every year, there were many who were unable to find a way to make a living that ended up freezing to death in the cold weather. So, Qin Yu hesitated for just a moment before turning around to leave.

“Save… Save me… Save me, please…”

Barely after walking ten steps away, a very frail voice sounded behind him. Qin Yu hesitated for a moment before turning around to look at the snow crust.

The boy’s body wasn’t moving at all. He was only calling out with a very frail voice, “Save… Save me… Save me…”

Qin Yu stared at him for a moment before asking, “How long have you been lying here for?”

“Save me… Save me…” The boy simply kept repeating these two words.

“Who knows what is it that you do? It’ll only be a great deal of trouble if you die our car,” Qin Yu threw these words behind before leaving decisively.

The boy was still calling out weakly, but Qin Yu had already walked far away and couldn’t hear his voice anymore.

On the car, Old Cat saw Qin Yu walking over, and he scolded, “You sure took your time wiping your ass!”

Qin Yu was silent for a moment before saying, “Let’s go.”

Old Cat pulled the clutch, and the car began to leave the area.

On the car, Qin Yu had a tight knit on his forehead. There was a solemn air around him.

“What’s wrong? Did you bump into a ghost? What kind of expression is that?” Old Cat noticed that there was something amiss about Qin Yu, so he asked out of curiosity.

Qin Yu was thinking about the boy who was half-buried in the snow. He felt that his heart had become soft. Had it been in the past, when he was still living in the Development District, he would have walked away without paying any heed to such a matter. In fact, he wouldn’t even feel any guilt at all. After all, a person with an unknown background could easily bring about unnecessary complications.

Besides, he didn’t have a place to stay then, and it was already tough enough to make a living for himself. It was a luxury for him to help others then.

However, his circumstances were different now. He was doing much better than before, and that boy still had a breath in him… If he were to feign ignorance, that life would surely be tributed to this land of snow.

His thoughts flew around the place. When he thought about the boy, he felt like he was looking at the helpless, younger him.

They were simply too similar to one another. A thick jacket and a pair of tattered boots, in a field of boundless snow, a child whom no one cared about…

Qin Yu closed his eyes for a few seconds before suddenly saying, “Let’s go back.”

“What’s wrong?” Old Cat was taken aback.

“Hurry up!” Qin Yu urged.

The intrigued Old Cat did a u-turn and headed back to where they were before. Utterly confused, he asked, “Are you sick or something? Why are we going back? Did you find it a pity to shit outside, so you want to pack it up and bring it back with you?”

“Scram. Hurry up and go back.”

…

Around ten minutes later, the car finally stopped at the clearing once more.

Qin Yu took out a military coat from their supply box before rushing into the midst of the snowfield. There, he found the boy once more. He wrapped the boy in the military coat before carrying him back to the car.

Old Cat stared at Qin Yu in astonishment, “Where did you find him from?”

“I saw him while I was shitting earlier,” Qin Yu replied. “He’s still alive.”

“What the hell! How old is he? Is he an adult?” Old Cat looked at the boy and exclaimed. “His face has turned purple!”

While hugging the boy, Qin Yu immediately began issuing instructions, “Get the car heater and place it in the clearing.”

“Got it.” Old Cat was a kind-hearted person, and he also felt anxious upon seeing a child in such a bad state. He anxiously rushed to the car and took out the car heater.

Qin Yu placed the child on the clearing before asking, “Is there alcohol in the car?”

“I don’t have much left. We need it for the lamp,” Old Cat said as he brought the car heater over.

Qin Yu took a look at the surroundings first before instructing, “Take off his clothes, but make sure to do it slowly. His body is frozen. You might hurt him if you make too vigorous movements.”

“What the hell? Do we really have to take off his clothes?”

“Don’t talk shit if you don’t know a thing at all.” As Qin Yu spoke, he rushed over to the snowfield and wrapped a huge bundle of snow in his clothes before returning.

Old Cat turned on the car heater as he carefully took off the boy’s clothes.

On the other hand, Qin Yu rubbed the snow against the boy’s chest and a few other parts.

Initially, the snow stuck to the boy’s body refused to melt at all. It took around a few minutes of rubbing before water started dripping from Qin Yu’s hands.

After doing this for around half an hour, Qin Yu was completely soaked in sweat. He lightly pushed the boy’s chest as he shouted, “Can you hear me? If you can hear me, open your eyes. Otherwise, I’ll be throwing you away!”

Qin Yu shouted for around six times before the boy finally muttered, “Save… Save me…”

“He’s responding!” Qi Lin, who had awoken during this period of time, exclaimed.

Qin Yu heaved a sigh of relief before saying, “Whether he’ll survive this or not, the rest is up to him.”

“Are we bringing him back?” Old Cat asked.

“He’s probably an abandoned child. Since we have already saved him, we should bring him back,” Qin Yu replied with a nod. “Carry him up to the car.”

With the boy they had saved along the way, the three of them continued rushing back to Songjiang.

One day later, Qi Lin dropped off the car halfway through to return home. On the other hand, Qin Yu and Old Cat drove for a few more hours before they finally returned back to Songjiang.

At the back seat of the car, the boy who had lain down for two days finally had some red tinge on his face. Having regained his consciousness, he began muttering, “Is there any food… Get this Young Master some…”

Hearing those words, Old Cat was a little taken aback. “Young Master? This boy sure knows how to put on airs. Looks like we have saved an old ancestor back with us.”

Fengshui is a Chinese geomancy kind of thing. Depending on the elements in the surroundings, there could be some positions that are more auspicious than the others in terms of fengshui.

I was interested in the rubbing snow thing so I did some googling. It was kind of like a ‘folk remedy’ in the past, the idea being that it would be dangerous to abruptly raise the temperature up of someone who has been frostbitten. However, while it’s right that we shouldn’t raise the temperature quickly, rubbing snow might be bad because the rough action might further injure the already damaged tissues.