Yulan arrived at the shop before sunrise.
He unlocked the front door, swept the narrow entrance, and began preparing the dough.
He did everything exactly as he always did.
Except every few minutes, his mind returned to the previous evening.
The rain.
The streetlamp.
Li Wei's hand against his cheek.
The warmth of his mouth.
And the quiet way he had said—
I missed you too.
Yulan pressed his palm against his face.
"Stop."
The empty shop offered no objection.
He went back to the dough.
A few minutes later, the door opened.
Chen Hao walked in carrying a paper bag.
"You look suspicious."
Yulan didn't look up.
"Good morning to you too."
"You look like someone who either won the lottery or committed a crime."
"I slept badly."
"That's not an answer."
"It is."
Chen Hao narrowed his eyes.
"Did you meet someone?"
Yulan's hands stopped.
Only for a second.
Chen Hao noticed.
Of course he noticed.
But instead of pushing, he simply placed the paper bag on the counter.
"I brought breakfast."
Yulan glanced inside.
Two steamed buns.
"You bought these?"
"I stole them."
"Chen Hao."
"I'm joking."
A pause.
"Mostly."
Yulan laughed.
Chen Hao smiled.
He had always been good at knowing when to leave things alone.
By eight o'clock, the shop was busy.
Yulan had almost convinced himself that the previous evening could remain separate from the rest of his life.
Then a familiar voice came from outside.
"Three boxes."
Yulan looked up.
Li Wei stood at the counter.
He wasn't alone.
Two men in business clothes waited behind him.
For half a second, Yulan forgot what he was doing.
Li Wei's expression remained perfectly composed.
"Three boxes of dumplings," he repeated.
Yulan recovered.
"Which kind?"
"The pork and chive."
"Sixteen in each?"
"Twenty."
Yulan raised an eyebrow.
"That's a lot."
"I have guests."
There was nothing unusual about the conversation.
Nothing anyone could question.
But beneath the counter, Li Wei's fingers tapped twice against the wood.
Their private signal.
Yulan understood.
Something had happened.
When Li Wei left, he didn't look back.
Yulan watched the door close.
Chen Hao glanced at him.
"You know him?"
Yulan kept arranging the dumplings.
"He's a customer."
"Rich customer."
"That doesn't make him less hungry."
Chen Hao laughed.
"Fair."
The first real message arrived just before noon.
A young delivery boy entered carrying an old wooden tea box.
"For Zhang Yulan."
Yulan frowned.
"I didn't order anything."
The boy shook his head.
"Someone paid me to bring it."
He placed the box on the counter and left before Yulan could ask who.
Yulan waited until the shop emptied.
Then he opened it.
Inside was a small brass key.
Not the key Li Wei had previously used.
A different one.
Attached to it was a scrap of paper.
Three words.
Riverside House. Nine.
Yulan stared at it.
He knew the place.
Everyone near the river did.
The old Riverside House had been abandoned for years.
It belonged to the former manager of Warehouse Nine.
A man named Luo Ming.
That evening, Yulan met Li Wei beneath the stone bridge.
Li Wei arrived first.
"You received it."
Yulan held up the key.
"Yes."
Li Wei looked at it carefully.
"Where?"
"At the shop."
"Who delivered it?"
"A boy."
"Did you recognize him?"
"No."
Li Wei was quiet.
Then he said,
"We don't go tonight."
Yulan looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because someone wants us to."
"And?"
"And that means we decide when."
Yulan smiled faintly.
"You're becoming cautious."
"I've always been cautious."
"You once climbed through a locked window because you were curious."
"That was different."
"How?"
"I was younger."
Yulan laughed.
Li Wei looked at him for a moment.
Then his expression softened.
"Tomorrow morning."
"Together?"
"Together."
They walked beside the river afterward.
Neither spoke much.
The city was beginning to settle into night.
Fishing boats moved slowly across the dark water.
Lights appeared one by one along the opposite bank.
After a while, Yulan asked,
"Do you ever regret it?"
Li Wei looked at him.
"Regret what?"
"Being born into your family."
Li Wei took several steps before answering.
"Sometimes."
Then he looked toward the river.
"But I've never regretted meeting you."
Yulan's chest tightened.
He looked away before Li Wei could see his smile.
At the far end of the embankment, a figure stood beneath a tree.
Watching them.
The same figure that had been outside the dumpling shop days earlier.
This time, he didn't leave.
He simply waited.
Until another man approached him.
"What did you see?"
The first man answered quietly.
"They have the key."
"And the boy?"
"He's going to Riverside House tomorrow."
The second man nodded.
"Then we go first."
The river carried the sound of their footsteps into the darkness.
Neither Li Wei nor Yulan knew that somewhere ahead of them, someone was already waiting.
And inside the abandoned Riverside House...
a locked room had remained untouched for seventeen years.
Until tonight.