35: Chapter 35 The Broken Leg of the Community Bench

The afternoon in the Old neighborhood always carried a lazy heat. The locust tree leaves were curled by the sun, and the sound of cicadas poured down from the treetops, shattering into a cacophony on the cement ground.

As Chen Jie walked toward the Neighborhood Committee with his canvas backpack on his back, he saw Grandma Zhang standing on tiptoe, peering at the bench. The cattail leaf fan in her hand flapped with a "swish-swish" sound, and she muttered, "This perfectly good chair, how did it just break like that..."

One of the bench's iron legs lay crooked on the ground, its rusty broken end still caked with bits of cement, as if someone had forcibly snapped it off.

At the stone table nearby, several old men playing chess were gathered, discussing the matter. They slapped their pieces onto the table with a "clack-clack" sound: "It must've been that bunch of half-grown kids. They were jumping around here late last night; it's no wonder it broke!" "This chair has been used for ten years, the iron pipe was already rusted through. It should've been replaced!"

Chen Jie squatted down and touched the broken end with his fingertips. The rust rubbed off onto his palm like a layer of coarse sandpaper. "I can fix it." He pulled a wrench from his backpack. "Just finding a scrap steel pipe to connect it will do; it's less trouble than replacing it with a new one."

"Jie-zi's craftsmanship is reliable!" Grandma Zhang smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners. "The radio you fixed a while back is still singing every day." She glanced at Chen Jie's backpack. "That bag looks really heavy. Aren't you tired carrying it every day?"

"I'm used to it." Chen Jie smiled, his gaze falling on the side of his backpack—the vaguely protruding outline there was that dark green jade stone. Ever since he had dug it out from the bottom of the chest, he had always subconsciously carried it with him, like tucking away a silent helper.

He suddenly remembered that at Suiyu Slope, this stone had helped him pull Zhao Kai away before the falling rocks, moving as fast as if it had pressed a fast-forward button. In the rainstorm, when it dried the map, blue light flowed along its veins, more agile than the water in a mountain stream. Now, facing this bench with the broken leg, would it quietly do something too?

Zhao Kai sauntered over, carrying a bottle of iced soda. Seeing the scene, he suddenly sneered, "Why fix this broken chair? The Neighborhood Committee should have replaced it with a new set long ago." He kicked a small pebble at the broken leg. "Look at this iron pipe; it's so rusted it crumbles at a touch. Even if you connect it, it won't last a few days."

"A few days is better than nothing." Chen Jie didn't look up, busy using a hacksaw to cut the scrap steel pipe he'd found. The "screech" of the saw teeth rubbing against the metal mixed with the cicadas' chirping, creating a strange tune. "It's better than leaving the elderly and children with nowhere to sit." He suddenly felt his palm getting a bit hot. When he looked down, he noticed the outline of the jade stone glowing with a very faint green light beneath the canvas, so fast it seemed like an illusion.

"That's weird..." Zhao Kai suddenly leaned in, his eyes wide. "Look at that broken end!"

When Chen Jie looked up, he saw the rust at the broken end fading at a speed visible to the naked eye, revealing the relatively intact iron pipe underneath, as if it had been quietly polished by something. His heart stirred. He remembered at Old Zhou's house, when the jade stone recognized the white stone, it had used blue light to wrap around the mud and sand and climb up; on the train, it could "eat" the scorched particles in the smell of smoke. Could this stone not only manipulate time and absorb Impurities, but also clean off rust?

"Don't just stand there, give me a hand." Chen Jie brought the steel pipe to the broken end. Zhao Kai subconsciously held the chair down, but when he touched the iron pipe, he recoiled abruptly: "What's going on? This pipe... is it cold?"

Indeed, under the blazing sun, the steel pipe should have been scorching hot, but at this moment, it carried a refreshing chill, as if it had just been fished out of a mountain stream. Chen Jie didn't speak, using the wrench to secure the joint. When he tightened the screw with a "click," the jade stone in the backpack vibrated gently, like a satisfied soft sound.

"Done." He patted the seat of the bench. It was steady, even sturdier than before it broke. The old men playing chess cheered and gathered around, praising his skillful hands, and Grandma Zhang kept repeating, "This chair can be used for another ten years."

Zhao Kai drank his iced soda, circled the bench twice, and kicked the newly attached iron leg with his toe, muttering, "Fine, I guess you have some skill. This job is better than fixing my phone—at least it doesn't look awkward, and it's steady to sit on, unlike the last time you fixed the freezer, where the weld spots were all crooked." He suddenly glanced at Chen Jie's backpack. "But let me tell you, don't expect me to praise that broken stone of yours. If it weren't for your decent craftsmanship, even if it could turn rust into gold bars, this chair wouldn't last three days."

Chen Jie didn't respond, just stuffed the tools back into his backpack. Sunlight shone through the locust tree leaves onto the canvas, casting a faint green shadow. He suddenly felt that this jade stone was just like life in the Old neighborhood; it looked ordinary, yet it always revealed a bit of gentle ability when one wasn't paying attention—it didn't need to be earth-shattering, but it could quietly smooth out the bumps in life, making things comfortable.

"Let's go. After finishing this, we still have to help Wang Lei check his freezer." Chen Jie pulled Zhao Kai up, the backpack strap leaving a red mark on his shoulder. The wind blew through the locust tree leaves, carrying a cool breeze, blending the cicadas' chirping and the scent of the braised food stall in the distance into a grounded, reassuring smell.