His luck had been horrible lately.
He didn't manage to sign up for the classes he wanted, and he had no choice but to attend King of Machetes's classes as a last resort. His brother had even spilled Ovaltine on his computer, damaging it beyond repair. Not only were all his research data gone, he ended up having to spend money on a new computer. And to top it all off, he found out his motorcycle had been stolen just that morning.
Jiang Pozhen was very certain he hadn't offended the God of Fortune this year. So why were things not going as smoothly as he wanted?
He had never used the subway before since he usually drove his motorcycle to get around. Even if he were treated as some country bumpkin, he had no choice but to stand in line and dawdle in front of a kiosk just to buy a ticket with much difficulty.
Known as the teacher who kicked out three-quarters of his students, King of Machetes's class this semester was scheduled to be for Thursday's first period, coincidentally on the same day his motorcycle was stolen. If it were someone else's class, he wouldn't have felt the need to crowd in for public transport with people like office workers and students during peak hour.
Jiang Pozhen tried to suppress his pent-up frustrations. He didn't even notice that there were people lining up on the right side of the escalator as he rushed down with large strides towards the platform.
Because the line was too long, he kept glancing at his watch impatiently. For him, it didn't matter how many people could fit in the train — he knew if he didn't get in on time, he would definitely be late.
A red light flashed repetitively on the platform and a gush of strong wind formed on the platform tracks, followed by a loud whistle signalling the arrival of a silver-colored train. People were already moving to take turns boarding and alighting from it. Jiang Pozhen frowned as he slowly moved forward. He noticed he had mistakenly bumped shoulders with someone, but he didn't stop to turn around to check. Finally, he managed to force himself into the train compartment. That kind of feeling would best be described as the same sensation you would get if you were the last person to get onto an elevator without it giving the overloaded warning.
The alarm rang throughout the train as the doors were about to slide shut. It was at this moment that Jiang Pozhen finally took notice of a crouching man frantically trying to pick up his fallen papers. The papers, which he couldn't tell if they were lecture notes or documents, were scattered all over the place. Passengers were rushing by him in a great hurry, and yet nobody bothered to stop to lend the man a helping hand.
….Could that guy be the person he bumped into just now?
Although he felt a little guilty about it, Jiang Pozhen had a strong urge to pretend he didn't see anything. He would be dead if King of Machetes called out his name twice during roll call. Unfortunately, his class was arranged to take place during first period when people would easily oversleep. If he didn't seize the opportunity to gain more safety points, who would have the leisure time to do good deeds like a boy scout every day…?
The sharp ring of the alarm made him severely uncomfortable. He remembered vaguely that the news once reported that such a sound could easily irritate and frustrate people. A few seconds of time suddenly felt like a few minutes long and what he saw in front of him seemed to be playing in slow motion. He didn't know whether it was because of the fact that the man's frantic movements were too clumsy or the fact that he was feeling guilty. Jiang Pozhen stared intently at the crouching man who had lowered his head, looking completely at a loss at the area situated almost two metres away from him.
He thought to himself, once the train started to move, the papers would be flying all over the place. The man wouldn't be able to take them back if any of them had dropped down to the bottom of the platform,
Why was he feeling so frustrated recently? Probably it was because hadn't done any good deeds.
"….Damn it!"
The alarm kept ringing. Jiang Pozhen's body slightly shook for a while. He gnashed his teeth and cussed. He eventually bolted out of the train compartment before the door had fully shut itself.
"Mister, let me help you." He said this in great haste, leaving no time to check the guy out. Fortunately, as he was tall and was blessed with long arms, he picked up all the papers in a frenzy.
"Huh?" The man was nevertheless surprised to suddenly see a pair of hands reaching out in front of him. "No…You, ah! The train left!" Even though the doors had already slid shut, the man still urgently reminded him.
Unless he had the ability to pass through walls or teleport, he knew it was impossible for him to get on the train. Jiang Pozhen shut his eyes.
"Rather than worrying about the train leaving, these will fly away again if you don't hurry." He hurriedly stepped on a piece of paper that was almost blown away.
"Ah, yes!" The man's reaction was a bit slow at first, but he then immediately moved to retrieve the fallen documents. Feeling extremely grateful to the youth after all the trouble of retrieving the papers, he apologized, "I'm really sorry for troubling you."
Jiang Pozhen glanced at his watch and let out a loud sigh. He grumbled unhappily, "It's alright."
What the hell was he thinking?! Time was already tight and he chose to do such a useless thing. He scolded himself for his idiotic decision. Perhaps he had been possessed for him to be this kind to others. Actually, he regretted the moment he stepped out of that train compartment. A sudden act born out of mindless impulsion had brought out this idiotic behavior.
"Sorry, did I…make you late?" asked the man hesitatingly.
Frowning, Jiang Pozhen knew it was his own fault for bumping into the man, yet he still angrily chided, "Next time watch where you're going, don't trouble others like this again." Forget it, he blamed it on his horrible luck as everything was going against him. He didn't feel like rushing to class anymore.
His words didn't sound like he was blaming him, yet it sounded apprehensive. The man could only apologize, "I'm sorry…."
Jiang Pozhen shook his head and turned to leave.
On the way home, he thought if the guy had been a cute girl, he would feel delighted since his sacrifice would have been worth it. Yet on the contrary, it was a man whom he wouldn't even bother to set his eyes on…
So unlucky!
Jiang Pozhen regarded himself as a uni student who lived up to his duties.
He would hand in his reports, assignments, or whatever needed to be submitted on time, and would also pay attention in class in all seriousness. At the very least, he wouldn't purposely try to pick a fight with the lecturer. Though he would skip class once in a while, that was one of the inevitable things that college students would experience. He also spent time cramming his books during exam periods. Regardless of whether it was in class or in the department, his results were always in the lead.
However, in university, if one couldn't maintain their loftiness and pureness of mind, one would end up following the bad example of others.
"Hey! Ah Po! Cover for me in the next lesson yeah! I heard that if we can't get at least 40 marks on the midterms, this teacher will flunk us for the entire semester." The classmate seeking help was the class' PR. He glib-tongued, so no matter what it was, he would make it sound sensible. On the first day of midterms, he had arrived earlier to occupy a spot in the exam room. He began carving a cheat sheet on the desk without forgetting to drag Jiang Pozhen over to act as a savior.
"…Didn't you say you wanted to repent for your past mistakes, turn over a new leaf, and study hard?" Sitting up front, Jiang Pozhen was still revising his notes speedily prior to the start of the exam, trying to etch them deeper into his memories.
"I did study, but I didn't do a good job at it," he replied casually. The PR student then continued on, "Aye! Please! There aren’t many that have good grades and are willing to cheat. You're everyone's lord savior and an amazing person! We'll remember and be grateful to you for life!"
"Thank you for your undying gratitude." Ignoring him, Jiang Pozhen silently memorized a couple of formulas.
"Ah Po…" The PR student poked his shoulder with his fingers.
"Don't call me that." The hell was Ah Po?! It sounded like he had gone through countless hassles and setbacks. Jiang Pozhen impatiently flipped the pages of his textbook.
"Well, your name is special. Oh yeah, back then when Wan Ling saw your name for the first time, she said she really wanted to meet you," recalled the PR student.
Wan Ling was Jiang Pozhen's girlfriend. He knew her through the fraternity meet-up held by the PR classmate. Since the girl expressed her interest after that and had come to school numerous times to meet him, in the event that Jiang Pozhen didn't reject her, they began dating.
"That's just something my mom randomly whipped up after going through some poetry verses from the olden times." He would always remember the elegance and disposition of Po Zhenzi written by Li Houzhu from the Tang dynasty.
"In short, you, Jiang Pozhen, are a gallant and formidable hero. For all I've done to play matchmaker for you, please save a poor commoner like me who is drifting in the depths of misery! Next time, I'll definitely pull my socks up and study hard!" pleaded the PR student as he clasped his hands together.
Jiang Pozhen cast a sidelong glance at him. Although he knew that he would behave like this again in the final exam of the semester, he still felt like he was at his wit's end.
"Okay. Stop crying. How can I save you if I can't memorize the formulas?"
"YAHOO! Thank you, Ah Po!" The PR student happily patted him before occupying himself with making a plum blossom seating arrangement with no communication obstructions.
Students who came in for the exam hurried into the room one after another. Since it was just a midterm, the atmosphere in the class wasn't as apocalyptic as the hellish final exam. Once the bell rang, the invigilator in charge also came sauntering in.
"Huh? Who's that?" Frowning, the PR student noticed that the guy wasn't the regular teaching assistant they had.
Upon hearing that, Jiang Pozhen also shifted his eyes to look up.
A man with a gentle personality stood behind the teacher's desk, wearing a white buttoned shirt with a knitted vest as well as a cheap pair of jeans that had been washed until the color had faded. He appeared to be extremely upright and honest. The man's bangs slightly touched the area between his brows, his body appearing a bit too slender. An unstylish plastic pair of dark-colored spectacles rested on his average-looking features. The only thing that left an impression on people were the pair of single-lidded eyes that didn't seem like they had gotten enough sleep at all. It was a countenance that was so ordinary to the extent where it almost could be said to be ugly.
"Hello students, it's nice to meet you all."
The man's smile was slightly shy as he greeted them very politely, completely unaware that it was very rare for invigilators to act this way. If it wasn't for the fact that he was holding a brown envelope with the question and answer booklets inside, they would have seriously mistaken him for someone who had entered the exam room by mistake.
"Who are you? Did you come to the wrong place?" Somebody raised his hand and joking said what was on everyone's mind.
"Huh?" The man appeared flustered, hurrying to examine his envelope. He lowered his head to look at it carefully and said, "You are all chemistry students…There's organic chemistry in today's exam."
"Are you a new teacher?" asked a girl.
"Me? I'm not really a teacher. I'm just a research student from atmospheric sciences. The teaching assistant had something urgent to attend to so he asked me to help out." The man waved his hands to correct her and awkwardly continued on, "If I have the capability in the future, I would like to take up this career…"
He's insane! Why the hell is he talking about his ambitions? Jiang Pozhen did not pay any special attention to the commotion in front, but when he heard him, he still felt that this guy was not right in the head.
"Assistant lecturer, do you want to give us the exam or not? You're wasting time!" The serious students voiced out their righteous concerns.
"Ah, right. Terribly sorry." The man bowed without realizing the situation he was in before he frantically pulled out the test papers. He then reminded, "Please put away your textbooks and lecture notes."
"Wow, newbie alert!" The PR student immediately covered his mouth, voicing his thoughts. The two rows of students sitting behind him also snickered gleefully as though they could read each other's minds. "Ah Po, we're safe for the midterm!" No matter how they saw it, that idiotic greenhorn didn't seem to be the kind of person that knew how to catch cheaters.
"Yeah." Jiang Pozhen shrugged his shoulders. For the entire time, he had only looked at the man once. After he skimmed over the important points on his notes one last time, he placed the book into his bag.
"Please do not cheat. Thank you." The man didn't forget to remind them gently as he passed out the exam papers.
His awkward behavior made the restless students all the more self-assured towards the exam.
Everyone began to lowering their heads to answer, and the air conditioner droned on. Apart from the soft sounds of scribbling as well as papers rustling, the exam room was utterly silent.
"Cough!" The PR student purposely coughed and muttered in a low voice. "Ah Po, Ah Po! The third question! I forgot to carve the third question."
Before Jiang Pozhen was halfway through his paper, he caught wind of the cries of help coming from behind. Thus, he wrote the workings for the third question in the blank space on the back of the test paper and exchanged it with him when the invigilator wasn't looking.
Not a few minutes passed by and the cries for help emerged from behind again.
"The seventh question too!"
Jiang Pozhen felt a little annoyed but there was nothing he could do since he had already promised beforehand. Forced to do so, he could only write down the answers to the seventh question and then observe the man's current position. Just as he was about to exchange papers, the man who had already walked past the two rows next to him suddenly turned to face them without warning.
Their eyes accidentally met. Stunned at first, the man soon revealed a considerably shocked expression. In an instant, Jiang Pozhen cussed in his heart. Although he had quickly retracted his hand, shifted his eyes, and pretended as if nothing happened, he still couldn't stop himself from wondering whether he had been caught cheating.
The man paused for a while before moving closer to him.
"Excuse me…"
The man opened his mouth to speak while standing beside him, but Jiang Pozhen kept refusing to raise his head to acknowledge him. His nerves were in such a wreck that his grip almost snapped the pen in half. Furthermore, the students behind him also were in a state where they did not dare to gasp for air.
"Ah, now it's exam period…" The man spoke lowly before walking away in a hesitant manner.
Jiang Pozhen breathed out a sigh of relief, yet he couldn't completely be at ease. He wasn't sure whether the man would let him go that easily or if he would wait until the end of the exam to deal with him… While his mind was in a state of turmoil, he nervously completed his paper.
By the time the bell rang again, the man requested everyone to pass on the papers from the back to the front.
"Were we caught?" asked the PR student hastily.
"How should I know?!" Jiang Pozhen angrily retorted and tossed the papers to the guy in front.
He made a grabbed his bag and was about to take the opportunity to run off when the man called out to him unexpectedly from behind the teacher's desk.
"Student!" All of a sudden, the noisy room became silent. A majority of the students paused in their tracks. Embarrassed by looking at the situation, the man continued, "Um…That student wearing the blue outfit with the black bag, please wait for a while."
He was referring to him. Jiang Pozhen cursed and glared daggers at the students two rows behind him who graciously accepted his favor but unrighteously ran away.
Damn it! Never again will he ever help them!
Turning around, he saw that the man was still putting away the exam papers, his movements a little slow. By the time the classroom was almost deserted, he finally managed to put the papers back into the brown envelope.
"You… student, can you please come with me?" asked the man softly.
Jiang Pozhen was very upset and could only follow. He wasn't sure whether his name would be on the record this time. Could it be that they would go as far as to make his name public? That would be extremely embarrassing! Usually, an invigilating assistant lecturer would turn a blind eye to matters like this. What the hell was wrong with this brat? Was he trying to kill him?
He cursed the man for not knowing the rules of the game as he looked down and stared at the pale, slender neck visible from the man's neatly combed hair. He was so angry to the extent that he was onat the brink of wanting to punch someone.
The man walking in front of him slightly turned his head to the side at times to check whether Jiang Pozhen was still following him or not. After walking for quite a distance, they soon reached a different building. Since Jiang Pozhen had never gone to this department before, he thought to himself — ridiculing the fact that the man was trying to teach him a lesson in private.
After they reached the isolated research lab at the very corner of the third floor, the man took out his keys with Jiang Pozhen standing behind him. He saw him clumsily trying to push the key into the lock and wondered what he was nervous about. After he finally unlocked the door with much difficulty, what greeted Jiang Pozhen's vision were loads of books in disarray which almost filled up the entire narrow space.
"This actually isn't my place. I'm just helping to tidy it up. There are too many research data around and we don't have enough bookshelves to keep them. I will need more time to do it…" said the man lowly, as though he was trying to explain the mess to him. He later realized he had spoken too much so he quickly asked, "Do you want to sit down? I'll find a chair for you."
Staring at the wooden chair dominated by a pile of books, he proceeded to get straight to the point.
"I don't want to sit. What do you need me for?" Kill or destroy me, do as you want!
"Ah…" The man stopped his search, his eyes fixated onat the floor. The tone of his voice sounded hurried as he asked, "Um, may I know what's your name?"
Even if he decided to tell him a fake name, he would be caught for sure. Jiang Pozhen had already planned to throw caution to the wind.
"Jiang Pozhen."
"It's the Jiang with the three drops of water radical? Pozhen, Pozhen…" Slightly tilting his head to the left, he gently repeated his name two times as if he knew how it was written. He smiled and said, "It's really unique."
Regardless of how unique it was, having his name stuck to the notice board because of cheating would suck so bad!
"It's my real name." Jiang Pozhen thought he was suspecting him.
Caught off guard, the man seemed to have realized something and hurriedly explained, "I don't mean anything else. You're Jiang Pozhen from the Department of Chemistry?"
"Yes."
"Uh…second year?"
"That's right!"
"I see… M-my name is Guo Jinshan." The man suddenly announced his name.
"So?" So what? He was already at the verge of gnashing his teeth.
"Huh?" The man appeared perplexed, his neck still inclining to the left.
It was so exhausting to talk to this brat! Frustrated, Jiang Pozhen remarked, "If you have something to say, make it quick! If not, then forget about it!" He wanted to die in a clear-cut manner.
The man's face reddened in color, somehow looking a little ruffled. He seemed to have forgotten about something as he tried to remember.
"It's…it's nothing."
"Hah?" Jiang Pozhen straightened his eyes and couldn't help but blurt out his astonishment.
The startled look on his face caused the man to be surprised as well.
Thus, the man repeated him again. "It's nothing. You can leave now."
In a split second, anger rushed up into his head as Jiang Pozhen felt like he had been fooled. He angrily yelled, "It's up to you if you want to demerit or punish me! You called me here and now you’re tell me to go. Are you messing with me?!"
The man asked in surprise, "Why would I take down your name?"
"Didn't you catch me cheating?!" He blurted out without thinking.
Shocked once more, the visible eyes behind the glasses fixated his gaze at him.
"You…you cheated?"
In an instant, Jiang Pozhen paused in his tracks as he faced the look of confusion on the man's face. He could only return the look back, speechless. He finally realized for the first time that he was a dumbass all this time even when he was in uni.
"No, forget it if there's nothing." He stiffly turned around, seriously hoping that he could suddenly vanish into thin air.
Just as he was about to break into a run to escape, the man's deep and gentle voice slowly came out from behind him.
"It's… not good to cheat."
Jiang Pozhen almost vomited blood!
As he zoomed out of the small room at breakneck speed, he could only think of the word 'unfortunate' haunting his mind!
"I heard you were caught cheating?"
A voice emerged at the top of his head, causing Jiang Pozhen to all the more be unable to swallow the greasy food in his mouth. Frowning, he looked up and saw a youth standing before him.
The youth had an extraordinarily delicate and beautiful face. Even if he was admiring from a man's point of view, he could only use that to describe him. Due to the fact that he was of mixed blood, the young man had a fair complexion, his hair revealing a conspicuous shade of red. Although his body was roughly the same size as an easterner, it was exceptionally well-proportioned. Furthermore, his countenance, which was the envy of all women, showed off his tall, thin figure and well-proportioned limbs.
The stunning youth was Xu Zhexi, Jiang Pozhen's high school friend. They managed to get into the same university in the same year. Although they weren't that close in high school, they came into frequent contact with each other after they got into uni even when they were from different majors.
"Who told you?" In passing, Jiang Pozhen smashed the pot-roasted egg that felt like rubber in his food tray.
"The PR in your department." Coincidentally, Xu Zhexi had a classmate who was a good friend in the PR student's clique, so even if they were from different departments, he would still hear some news from him. The pretty youth sat down at the empty seat across from him and faintly whispered, "He's been going around saying that you were called by a teacher and was afraid that you'd cooperate as an eye-witness and implicate all of them so that you can pass on your own."
Jiang Pozhen's face sunk when he heard that! Although he didn't have much hope for the camaraderie with his classmates who he had only known for a year, it never crossed his mind that he would be criticized like that behind his back. Regardless of how it went, he would never rat others out just to save himself.
"This is how humans are." He coldly expressed his thoughts.
"So, you seriously made them your scapegoat?" Xu Zhexi asked disinterestedly.
Jiang Pozhen was well aware that this classmate whom he had known since high school would never think of him that way. He knew that the youth wasn't interested in the answer anyway so he didn't reply him. He only asked, "Do you know a research student called Guo Jinshan?"
"I'm sorry to say that I'm bad with interpersonal relationships." He effortlessly dismissed the question.
Frowning, Jiang Pozhen clicked his tongue. Two weeks had passed since the midterm and the results were going to be announced soon. He wasn't sure whether the teaching assistant would let the cheating incident slide just like that or if he was still thinking of a way to punish him… If only he hadn't shot his mouth off last time. There was no doubt that he was simply digging his own grave.
There was also the possibility that the teaching assistant was the one who had set up the trap and caused him to jump right into it. Otherwise, why did he call him over if he didn't know he was cheating? After being frustrated for two weeks, he felt even more frustrated! Apart from the fact that the food from the uni's cafeteria was cheap and large portioned, there weren't any strong points at all. Fiddling around with the rice in his tray, he restlessly exclaimed, "Nothing has been smooth-sailing for me. Last week, I finally noticed that the health insurance card which I thought I left at home was lost. I don't even remember when I lost it. Although I'm not in a hurry to use it, I feel so annoyed when I think about heading there to replace it. It's like I'm cursed. Now even this food tastes horrible too!"
"You should go pray at Xingtian Temple." Xu Zhexi chuckled.
"That's not funny!" Jiang Pozhen narrowed his eyes warningly at his friend. "I only have 300 dollars with me right now to survive until the end of the month."
"Oh right. You're in debt." Xu Zhexi glanced at the oily food, revealing a pitiable and tragic look based on the fact that the other man could only afford to stomach this kind of food.
"I bought a second-hand bike and even when I paid for it with everything I earned from working at the convenience store, I only managed to pay off fifteen thousand dollars." He massaged his temples, unable to conceal his anger.
In actuality, he wasn't from a poor family. It was just that his mother's disciplinary methods emphasized teaching her kids on how to be independent, which included managing their own financial situations. He still hadn't learned how to be independent now that he was in uni, having been lectured for a long time when he was trying to borrow cash. Apparently, compared to being able to get into the first university of his choice, his mother's reaction was more intense when she found out her son's account only had a measly 32 bucks in it. It had only been two months since the semester started — it was impossible for him to work every day. The more he thought about it, the sooner he realized he wouldn't be able to pay off his debt even when this semester is over.
"It's really tough to earn money." Xu Zhexi started working part-time to pay for his tuition fees since junior high, so as someone with experience, he said, "But since you have been so busy recently, you must have neglected your girlfriend? She went to a get-together with someone else."
How did he even know about something like this? Jiang Pozhen shot a strange glance at him.
Xu Zhexi happily chided, "The PR from your major is a blabbermouth."
He will engraved this into his memory. Jiang Pozhen revealed a displeased look on his face.
"Wan Ling has always been like that. I don't want to control her." In fact, he wasn't lacking in getting attention from girls. In addition to a body height of more than 180 cm, he was blessed with exceptionally handsome features, was a brilliant conversationalist, and knew how to dress appropriately. Furthermore, he was a student at a top university. It was not that he was being too narcissistic. Rather, it was because he had heard too many similar remarks from others and the number of girls revolving around him never shrunk.
Wan Ling was a gorgeous woman who studied at a different uni and loved to fool around. After she started dating him, she never stopped going to any get-together occasions. In the beginning, she hid it from him because she felt apprehensive, but after she was discovered one or two times, she threw all her scruples out the window. It was probably due to the fact that he knew all too well about his attitude in settling for someone like her first while looking for someone better to come along. So on one hand, Jiang Pozhen believed that he wouldn't easily lose to another guy, but on the other hand, he felt that even if she really did like someone else, he wouldn't expend any efforts to make her stay. So he never attempted to restrict her.
He would sometimes fool around with others too, but he had his own limits. By right, Wan Ling should also set her fine line as well.
Lately, they would break into a fight whenever they contacted each other. A few days ago, Wan Ling asked him to go with her to an invitation by her friend at the very last minute, saying that her friend wanted to 'appreciate and check out' her boyfriend. He wasn't an exotic animal trapped in a zoo. On top of that, he also needed to work, so he refused as he didn't have the time. He got hung up on as a result. Although he didn't want to be angry, he really hated these kinds of meaningless fights.
"Oh…"All of a sudden, Xu Zhexi stared at his watch while saying inattentively, "You're that sort, aren't you? The type that returns the love to the person as much as how much they like you back. On the other hand, if that person makes you feel unloved, you will not return the feelings to that person. I believe you are a very possessive person. But perhaps it was because of this that you don't really care at all?"
Stunned by the comments, Jiang Pozhen paused for a while before asking, "What?"
Xu Zhexi did not answer him. He only said, "I need to go."
Jiang Pozhen promptly asked, "What do you mean by that just now?"
The stunning youth smiled and ignored him completely.
"Bye!" He left freely with a wave of his hand.
"Hey!" Jiang Pozhen shouted as he shot upright. The moment he caught sight of another person entering through the entrance of the cafeteria, he quickly sat back down.
Turning his head to the side as though trying to avoid someone, he carefully tried not to get noticed as he shot a glance at the man approaching the buffet counter.
As usual, the man wore a shirt and a vest as well as a discolored cheap pair of jeans. He didn't have any particular hairstyle and had ordinary-looking facial features with meager taste. Even his personality and appearance seemed plain and simple…
The results of the midterm were going to be announced next week. Jiang Pozhen wholeheartedly prayed that the annoying and arrogant assistant lecturer would never appear before him again. He really didn't want to see him anymore.
Lifting his tray, he threw away the remainder of his meal and quickly made his leave before Guo Jinshan could spot him.