Chapter 30
"This medicine is harmful to your health, but there's nothing I can do about it," Jiang Huai asked with a smile as he buttoned up his shirt cuffs, "Will you blame me if we don't have children in the future?"
"No." Zhou Yue looked at the legs of his white trousers again, confirming that there were no wrinkles before standing up. "You saved me from falling into prostitution and saved my mother's life. You are my lifelong benefactor." He waited for her to finish, like chanting a mantra, and nodded with a smile. "I'm going to Shanghai next month. You can come with me."
"OK."
"Have you been to Shanghai?"
"No."
"Yeah." After a brief conversation, Jiang Huai turned and walked to the door. Zhou Yue had already opened the door for him. He glanced at the corridor and saw that the man was still standing at the corner of the first and second floors, one hand in his pocket and the other holding a cigarette. When he saw Jiang Huai, he immediately stamped out the cigarette butt and said respectfully, "Mr. Jiang."
Jiang Huai walked downstairs. Zhou Yue seemed to hear him say "hmm", but it seemed not to be.
There was never "no one" around Jiang Huai. She had met four or five of them in the corridor alone. Some of them she could meet a second time, while others she would never meet again. They looked different and had different styles. Some would check the time by looking at their watches. Generally speaking, Jiang Huai would not stay with her for more than two hours. Some of them were too lazy to care about their boss's romantic affairs and would smoke cigarettes while watching the birds chirping outside the window. Some of them wore suits very formally, while others wore school uniforms like bad students, draped sloppily. When it was hot in the corridor, they would take them off and carry them on their shoulders. They wore a short-sleeved floral shirt underneath, revealing the scars on their arms.
But it was November now, and Shenzhen would still be cold at night. No one carried a suit on their shoulders anymore, so Zhou Yue couldn't tell which was which. In the moment when the cigarette butt flickered, she saw the person in the corridor. Only one side of his mouth was raised, grinning from ear to ear like a clown. At first glance, he was making a sneering expression, but in fact, it was a scar, so to see if he was smiling or not you had to look at the other corner of his mouth. Now the other corner of his mouth was flat, so he was not smiling. Before the fire went out, he lowered his head to glance at his watch, and then he heard footsteps. He must have gone downstairs before Jiang Huai.
After closing the door, she glanced at the clock on the wall. It was half an hour later than usual because Jiang Huai asked about her birthday today and made an exception to eat a bowl of plain noodles at her place. She imagined that if he went out late not because of a bowl of noodles, but because he died suddenly at her place, because she felt that Jiang Huai was not in good health, pale and thin, but extremely violent in that kind of thing, as if he was venting or addicted... Or maybe the uneven balance in her heart had completely drained away, and she went crazy and killed him. Would the scarred face break in and cut her into pieces with a knife?
After thinking about it, she wasn't particularly scared. Anyway, she had time to kill herself before he touched her, so she collected the sheets and put them in the washing machine, then took a shower.
Later she found out that it was Jiang Huai's birthday. She also knew that compared to Hong Kong, Jiang Huai preferred to go to Shanghai. He would go to Shanghai every year around his birthday. As for whether he went there on other days, she didn't know.
During that time, she was still in Blue Ocean. She loved singing and enjoying the applause. Aunt Liu gave her a special dressing room. She knew she wouldn't use it because Jiang Huai didn't allow her to wear makeup, but she didn't say she was not allowed to go on stage, so she continued to sing.
’ Once she heard a young lady from the south singing two lines of a very nice song, it was Kunqu Opera. When she had nothing to do during the day, she would also sing a few lines of “The Peony Pavilion” along with the Kunqu Opera actors on TV. The next time Jiang Huai came, she would sing it for him. He was sitting on the sofa, unbuttoning his shirt, but after hearing two lines, he laughed so hard that he almost choked. It was indeed a very strange scene, “I’m laughing to death, hahaha!” He laughed and clapped his hands, his face flushed, and his chest exposed under his open shirt also flushed. He stopped laughing and opened his arms for her to come over. As soon as she walked over, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into his arms, wrapping her up like a carnivorous plant, rocking her gently, “You sing very well. Don’t sing next time. I have other choices for Kunqu Opera.” After that, he kissed the tip of her nose, her lips… One hand reached under her skirt, and the thumb of the other hand rubbed her chin, rubbing it until it reddened and then parted it, whispering, “I like your teeth, they’re small and pointy, and I also like the way you hold back and don’t hurt me.”
His eyes caressed every corner of her face. "Will you hurt me?" Zhou Yue shook her head, and he smiled. His eyes also stopped, fixed on her eyes, and he put his tongue into her mouth...
But no matter what he said, she just listened and sang. After all, he left her house and wouldn't come back within a week. Besides, the building she lived in was like a haunted house, with no one in sight.
It was really beautiful and pleasant to listen to. She loved curling up on the sofa and watching it in the golden sunset. The female role's sleeves swayed like ripples on the water. She was clearly standing on the stage, but the clear voice seemed to reach her ears across a river of spring water...
Soon after, she experienced what truly beautiful Kunqu opera was, which was better than any Kunqu opera actor on TV.
Shanghai is colder than Shenzhen. The air is so damp and cold that it seems to be dripping with water, or ice water at that. The cold seems to penetrate into the bones. Jiang Huai said that he would not stay overnight, but he specifically told her to "be a little careful", so she dressed well. She wore jeans and a black Prada jacket, black boots, and a CHANEL gray sweater underneath. It was a perfect outfit.
That year Zhou Yue was 21 years old and it was her first time to go to Shanghai. Jiang Huai was relatively relaxed during that trip to Shanghai, and she could still see the scenery along the way, the mottled golden sycamore trees, the blooming roses. They were still riding in the Rolls-Royce Phantom that he usually rode in, and they were accompanied by two black Bentleys, which followed silently behind them like fish.
"I have something to do later, so I'll let Xiao Yuan accompany you for a walk." Jiang Huai had been silent all the way off the plane, but now he suddenly spoke in the car. Zhou Yue withdrew her eyes from Yue Ji and Wu Tong and looked at his expression, but he looked so calm that you couldn't tell whether he was happy or not, so she nodded and said, "Okay."
If Zhou Yue were asked to choose where to go after Guangzhou again, she would definitely choose Shanghai, with its endless alleys and lanes. Entering a quiet alley, she would come out to the foreign-style houses in the concession, with snow-white walls and sloping black roofs. Warm light shone through the wooden window frames, and melodious piano and accordion music flowed out.
She walked back and forth along Sinan Road, her eyes almost spinning. "No, I think I looked left and forgot right!" she muttered to herself before going back inside for another walk. The refrigerator magnets were beautiful, with a dazzling array of patterns and colors. The most beautiful one was a Persian cat with two different colored eyes, one blue and one green. She had originally wanted to get a cat, but Jiang Huai hated animals, so she bought this refrigerator magnet instead. Every small shop sold something different. Some specialized in selling Old Shanghai Vanishing Cream with a print of a beautiful woman in a cheongsam...
She walked very fast on purpose, weaving through the crowd like a butterfly. She turned a corner and walked through an iron gate, which led to another quiet and deserted alley.
"Hmph." She glanced behind her and didn't follow him. She put on her sunglasses and walked out of the alley. There was a bar. Several blond-haired and blue-eyed foreigners were sitting under the parasols at the door drinking. They were startled when they saw a woman rushing out from under the sycamore tree, but they just glanced at her and continued drinking and chatting.
Zhou Yue was curious about what was on their plates. Weren't they hamburgers, sandwiches, or egg pancakes? It seemed unlikely. She stared at them as she walked forward. Suddenly, she screamed in fright. She wasn't the only one. Several foreigners sitting there were startled, too. They held onto their chairs and made to stand up, but when they got a closer look, they felt it was unnecessary. The man smoking under the tree had a facial scar, but he was wearing a suit and had a buzz cut. He was tall, but not a gangster or a hooligan. He was clearly a bodyguard hired by a powerful and wealthy person. As for this woman... Raising canaries isn't a uniquely Chinese traditional culture. Anyone could tell at a glance. Whose mistress is this, the undisclosed tycoon who's been sent after them?
Zhou Yue frowned and endured for a long time, even the delicate gift bag was wrinkled by her. She didn't dare to look at his face. She pinched her other elbow with one hand, but still couldn't help it. She looked down at her toes and said, "Excuse me, can you please stop following me? Just wait for me there." She pointed to Wutong Road at the end of Sinan Road. "I'm just buying some things, all women's things. It's tiring for you to follow me. It's boring."
"Mr. Jiang means this is my job. Please don't make things difficult for us, Miss Zhou."
"You..." Zhou Yue wanted to say something, but then she thought about it and realized what others said was right. His vocal cords must have been damaged, and his voice was hoarse than that of an old smoker. She didn't want to argue with him. Finally, she sighed and lowered her head to go back to buy vanishing cream. She walked slowly and chose slowly. She didn't want to buy too many things. She lingered in front of the rows of counters, wanting to pick the one she liked the most. Finally, she hesitated between two satin-wrapped vanishing creams, one purple and the other blue, as intricate and exquisite as the fabric of a cheongsam.
"You're blocking my light." She took off her sunglasses and hung them on the collar of her sweater, then leaned forward slightly and raised her arms in the air to gesture.
The man stepped aside, and the sunlight shone on the satin box. The actress's delicate face, even covered with a layer of gold powder, looked lifelike in the sunlight. She was fascinated by it and asked, "Which one looks better?"
"Purple."
"Hmph." Zhou Yue rolled her eyes at him, put the purple one back and took the blue one.
After visiting the vanishing cream shop, Zhou Yue asked him to follow and he didn't have the heart to go shopping on Sinan Road anymore. Besides, it was noon, and there were more and more people. The sun made him feel sleepy, so he came out to breathe some cool air to feel more awake.
"I want to go to Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street." Zhou Yue was lying in the back row. Even though her eyelids were drooping, she still said that she wanted to go to Nanjing Road, which she had seen countless times on TV, to see the bright lights and the brilliant neon signs. If Kang Xingxing was there, she would hold his hand and run to every store to eat dumplings, butterfly cakes, and golden fried pork chops, and make him a handsome suit... She fell asleep while thinking about it, and slept soundly without a single dream.
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