Chapter 44

After that, the Jiang family was at peace for a while. Jiang Huai was very busy, busy with meetings, business talks, and TV appearances. Zhou Yue would occasionally see him while watching TV at home. He was a graceful gentleman, and he would never sit on the sofa with his legs crossed and acted arrogantly like other entrepreneurs of his age. He always sat upright, leaning forward slightly to approach the person talking to him, smiling gently, not interrupting, and not being offended when asked personal questions. He would only say that his relationship with his girlfriend was stable and that good things were about to happen.

Zhou Yue often thought that such a beautiful face, calm eyes and tone could actually contain such a completely different soul. Humans are really incredible and terrifying animals.

He talked more than before when he got home. Wu Ma took sick leave and went back to her hometown in Meizhou. When he came back, Zhou Yue was usually cooking dinner. He would sometimes help. He didn't say anything when he entered the kitchen. He just took a quick look at the things on the table, rolled up his shirt sleeves and washed his hands while looking.

He worked efficiently and peeled a swimming crab in just a few strokes, scraping off all the scales and cleaning out the intestines and belly. While cutting vegetables, he would say, "The Chinese broccoli is quite fresh today," or "Use less water in the egg custard." Sometimes he would turn around and ask her, "Shall I put more chili in you?" His expression was normal. Sometimes Zhou Yue would answer, and sometimes she would not answer because she was busy with the work in her hands. He did not get angry. He slowly moved behind her and put his arms around her waist. The knife in her hand tightened, but he did not care about her love of using a knife. He pinched her wrist like pinching a kitten's paw pad to pull out the thin little fingernail. Her hand went numb and the knife slipped out of her hand without her noticing.

"You stink." He buried his nose in the crook of her neck and sniffed, "You stink like a dead rat." She quickly lowered her head to smell her collar, but there was only the rose scent of shower gel. She looked blankly at the wall in front of her, a ray of sunset slanted across his face, his fluttering eyelashes visible on the white tiles, half of his face resting on her shoulder, looking at her.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Jiang. I'm going to take a shower now." She stiffened her neck and tried to break free from him, but he rested his head on her shoulder and shook his head, showing no sign of letting go. After a while, he asked her, "What do you want to do by opening a shop?"

"Oh... just sell some little gadgets I made myself." It was as if he hadn't said anything, but he just nodded, "Yeah." He buried his head in her neck and sniffed for a while, holding her and rocking her gently, "Call me anytime if you need anything."

"good."

If you don't look at the past or the future, that was the closest Jiang Huai came to being an ordinary man. Everything was peaceful, and he gave her a considerable degree of freedom, like some kind of flattery.

Zhou Yue spent too little time in school and could not complete her original major. She had no choice but to choose Chinese Language and Literature and Fashion Design.

The store is located in a secluded corner of Nantou Ancient City. The address was of course chosen by Jiang Huai, which means that the business cannot be too good, just for fun.

But this cramped little shop has a backyard, overgrown with weeds. Several bamboos are thicker than each other, and the yellow and green bamboo leaves are growing wildly and unkempt. If you stand outside the bamboo forest and look inside, you can only see a deep and dark area. The bamboo trunks rise crookedly from the ground, and the joints are rough and have branches growing horizontally, making it impossible to get into.

But Zhou Yue likes this desolate yard very much. Xiao Yuan spends most of her time with Jiang Huai. Jiang Huai relies on him because he is "the most useful". Only with Jiang Huai's permission can Xiao Yuan come to her shop to help.

She and Xiao Yuan simply cleaned up the yard. While she was sweeping the bamboo leaves on the ground, he lit a cigarette and turned on the lawnmower. The lawnmower was left by the landlord. When the switch was pressed, it started to jump wildly, like a meat grinder, but in his hands it was as steady as an old ox. In an hour, he had cleared all the weeds in the yard.

Zhou Yue sat on the steps with her hands on her chin, looking at him. He seemed not to notice her gaze. He just lowered his head, cigarette in mouth, and worked silently, squinting his eyes in the swirling smoke. He took off his shirt and wore only a black vest. The setting sun shone on his wheat-colored arms, like a layer of gold. When he sweated, the bulging muscles were clearly visible.

"Have some water." She brought him some cold tea. He tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp. Sweat flowed down his jaw into his neck and formed a small puddle on his collarbone. When he finished drinking and handed the cup to her, his eyes met hers. In these rare times when they looked into each other's eyes, she was the first to dodge. She was afraid of his burning dark eyes. They were filled with lust, but also with something else that hurt her.

She turned to look at the flower pots. She had planted two pots of crabapple flowers in the yard. The buds had not yet grown. She could only imagine the translucent petals like pearls with pink ends every day. Under the crabapple tree in the Su family garden in Shanghai, he turned into a little rabbit to make the girls happy. When she thought about it, she felt happy too, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but rise.

"How did you change? The little rabbit that day?" She squatted beside the flowerpot, tapping the tender green branches with her fingers. He was silent behind her, and only the sound of his trouser legs rubbing against each other could be heard. After a while, a fluffy thing appeared in front of her, squatting in his rough palm, not daring to move.

It is a calico kitten, with the black fur at the corners of its eyes raised up prettily, like eyelashes.

"I saw it while weeding." He squatted beside her and pointed at the bamboo forest. "She was hiding there, thinking I couldn't find her." He smiled and lowered his head to look at her eyes and lips. After a moment, he slowly looked back into her eyes. In the setting sun, dust particles were like scattered gold powder, floating in front of his dark eyes and landing on his eyelashes. "She is so beautiful."

"Yeah, it's really beautiful and well-behaved." She lowered her head to pick off the bamboo leaves on the kitten's head, and the tips of her ears turned red. After a while, she raised her head to glance at him and burst out laughing, "Look at your head!"

Like the kitten, his short buzz cut was covered with bamboo leaves and a few unknown twigs hanging on it. "Oh." He smiled foolishly and waved his hand to stroke his hair, and dust flew everywhere.

"Pooh, pooh, pooh! You're so dirty!" She shouted while waving her hands, laughing so hard that her eyes disappeared. The kitten was already scared silly, and nestled in her arms as if resigned to its fate, completely unaware of her happiness and joy. It looked up blankly at her holding the man's sweaty shoulders to pick the weeds from his hair, and murmured to itself: "It's all dirt." His hot breath made his ears red, but he didn't dare to look into his eyes, nor did he dare to look at the scars under her hands, even though those winding bulges cushioned her palms.

"I'll make you a suit when I've mastered the craft." She picked up the last leaf and spoke softly, as if begging.

"Okay." He smiled as he looked at the two overlapping figures on the ground. The left corner of his mouth was raised as high as the right. His eyelashes, covered with dust, were as thick as a crow feather fan, but he still smiled with a curved smile, as curved as a crescent moon.

Xiao Yuan said that such a beautiful calico cat should be named Xiaohua, but Zhou Yue decided to call her Xiaocao.

This shop is so remote that few people come. There was no business when it first opened, so she started tie-dying the cloth in the backyard. The two of them tied the cloth like little figurines. The shapes were different, and the dyed patterns were also different. They soaked it in the dye vat for an afternoon and took it out in the evening. Large patches of blue flowers were dyed on the white cloth, and the edges looked like petals.

"Blue Rose!" She smiled in the sunset, her face flushed red from the fiery clouds. She shook the cloth in her hand and ordered Xiao Yuan to stand opposite her and pull the other end of the cloth, "Why are you smiling at me? Pull it well!" She pulled the cloth and scolded him from a distance, but her face was almost broken by laughing. The wet cloth was hung on the bamboo pole, and the smell of dye filled the sultry air. The sunset dyed the sky, grass, and bamboo forest red. She looked at him through the cloth. There was only a shadow, facing her direction, and a black hand was reflected on the white cloth.

He asked her if she would still love him if one day he became ugly and no longer himself. What a stupid question. As long as he stood there, even with only a shadow, the whole world would disappear.

She gently placed her palm over the black hand, occupying only the space of his palm. It was scorching hot even through the cloth, making her sweat.

“If you still exist in this world, then everything in this world will be meaningful to me. If you are gone, no matter how beautiful this world is, it will only be a desert in my eyes.”

When she finished reciting, the only sound left was the rustling of the bamboo forest in the wind and the meowing of kittens. She smiled and said, "I read Wuthering Heights in class and recited a short passage. My memory is pretty good."

…

She clutched the hem of her skirt, a smile frozen on the corner of her mouth. The Xiangyunsha silk was wrapped around her fingers several times, leaving a bloody mark.

"Will you...will you forgive me?" She smiled at the shadow again, "Whatever you want me to do, I'm willing to do it, as long as you can forgive me."

"Madam, you have done nothing wrong. What do you need my forgiveness for?"

She lowered her head, her neck felt like it weighed a thousand pounds and she couldn't lift it up.

"Forgive me for giving up the one I love most."

"My favorite." The shadow laughed, so softly that it was almost inaudible, but it still pierced her eardrum through the cloth. "Your love is so casual, you can give it to a man you have only known for a few days, or you have the wrong person."

The black hand slowly closed, engulfing her cold hand. Even through the cloth, she could feel the rough raised calluses. "I haven't been well-educated and don't understand literature, but I think if you really love him as much as you say, you won't give up on him."

"Madam, it's getting late." The shadow let go of her hand, slowly retreated behind the cloth, and disappeared. "The cloth is dry, but it still needs to be dried for a few days."

"Um."

"Is there anything else I can help you with today?"

Zhou Yue lowered her head and swallowed a mouthful of salty tears, choking and saying, "No more."

"Okay, Madam, if you still need help, please tell President Jiang. President Jiang has given me instructions."

There was a long silence. She didn't agree, so he didn't leave. But in the end, she still had to let him go.

"I understand." She nodded. "Goodbye."

"goodbye."