Chapter 40
"Mr. Jiang." Xiao Yuan smiled and looked at Zhou Yue, "Madam."
"What Mr. Jiang?" Jiang Huai said unhappily, "I told you to call me brother." He lowered his eyes and glanced at Zhou Yue, "Sister-in-law."
Xiao Yuan lowered her head and smiled, with black eyelashes and black eyes, "Brother, sister-in-law."
"Oh, what a nice sunny day." Jiang Huai took the lead and pushed through the crowd, walking in with his hands behind his back. "You cleaned it very cleanly!" The voice came from far away, and it was unknown which room they walked into. The person who had been following them did not even show any intention of walking into the door.
He said it was good weather, which was true, but the white gauze curtains were drawn in the living room, so the sunlight couldn't get in. The house was really big. The original layout should have been three bedrooms, two living rooms and two bathrooms, but now it looked like two living rooms were merged into one, making the living room look particularly spacious and empty.
There was a glass coffee table, a black leather sofa, and an LCD TV, and that was it. Zhou Yue walked to the center of the living room and turned around, only to see the rectangular dining table at the kitchen door. It was also a black solid wood table with four chairs. There was a glass vase on the table, which was the only decoration in the room, but there were no flowers in it.
"Very clean." She smiled at Xiao Yuan who was still standing at the door. Thinking of the kiss, her throat became dry and her skirt became wet and hot from her palms.
Xiao Yuan didn't smile, but raised the right corner of his mouth sadly, his eyes fixed on her wrist. She put her hand behind her back and said, "It's just that there are too few things."
"Yeah," Jiang Huai walked around and came out, standing at the entrance of the corridor and looking back, "Two of the three bedrooms are empty. Clean them up when you have time. You can use them as study rooms when you don't sleep in them, or set up a chess and card room and let the brothers come to play cards, which will be lively." He laughed again when talking about lively, "But men are like this when they are single. It will be fine when they get married. After a few years, have a few children, and then it will naturally be lively." As he spoke, he walked to the kitchen with his hands behind his back. The sound of water splashing came through the glass sliding door. When Xiao Yuan and Zhou Yue reacted, they could already hear the sound of a spatula scraping the bottom of the pot.
"Brother Jiang... I'll do it." Xiao Yuan was at the entrance, closest to the kitchen, and he leaned against the wall to move towards the kitchen. Zhou Yue hurried into the kitchen and whispered to him, "Boss Jiang, I'll do it."
"No, no, no," Jiang Huai raised the spatula and gently pushed her away with his elbow, "Your hands are not good. Take the chopsticks and spoon and go get Xiao Yuan to eat."
"Tomato and egg scrambled eggs really never go out of style." Jiang Huai walked into the living room, put the dishes on the table, and turned to serve rice. "Your sister-in-law fed me eggs three times a day in Shahe Street: poached eggs in the morning, boiled eggs in the evening, and either tomato and egg scrambled eggs or loofah and egg scrambled eggs for lunch."
Zhou Yue helped Xiao Yuan to a chair and sat down. She could smell the bitter smell of medicine and tobacco. She looked up into his dark, bottomless pupils, which reflected her face. It was as quiet as a windless lake, but in the blink of an eye, her figure disappeared from the lake. He lowered his eyes and gently pushed her hand away. His calloused palm rested on her wrist, and when his fingertips brushed the red and purple bruises, he let go and sat down. He whispered, "Eggs are good. They're rich in protein and good for wound healing."
"Humph, just speak up for your sister-in-law!" The person in the kitchen sneered, "She just thinks I'm troublesome and doesn't want to take care of an old man like me. She just wants to cook a few dishes to keep me alive. You've heard what Ah Fei and the others said about Shahe Street, right?
That day I had people chasing me all over the street and hacking me until my skin was torn and flesh was exposed. The pain was so severe that it didn't hurt anymore. I felt like a sausage that was about to be roasted and exploded. For people like us, the end comes when it comes, and we have to accept the consequences. But later, I felt someone patting my back gently and saying that it was okay. The first thing I saw when I woke up was her sleeping next to me. At that moment, I didn't think about anything, and I didn't want to think about anything. I just wanted to sleep next to her forever.
But I came to my senses the second time I looked. I saw a knife. Your sister-in-law is also a frank person. She told me while holding the knife that she saved me for money, but what about me..."
He came out of the kitchen silently, holding a bowl of rice in his left hand and two bowls in his right hand. He placed the bowl in his left hand in front of Xiao Yuan, walked around to Zhou Yue, placed one bowl in front of her, and took the other bowl for himself. He sat down, picked up his chopsticks and smiled, "I'm happy with it."
He looked at Zhou Yue lovingly, picked up a piece of shredded green pepper and potato and put it in her bowl. "Do you think your sister-in-law has gained weight?" He smiled at Xiao Yuan, then lowered his head to carefully examine Zhou Yue's face. "I think she has gained a little weight."
Xiao Yuan looked up at the sound, glanced at Zhou Yue, then lowered his head and smiled, "I... can't tell."
"Yeah," Jiang Huai nodded and took a bite of his food, "I'll go to the hospital with her tomorrow."
Xiao Yuan lowered his eyes, holding the bowl and smiling, the left corner of his lip almost reaching his ear, "Congratulations, brother and sister-in-law." He took a big bite of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and then scooped up a big mouthful of rice, stuffing his mouth full, as if he was really attending a full moon banquet. In the sultry weather in Shenzhen in March, beads of sweat covered his forehead.
"But your sister-in-law still wants to go to school," Jiang Huai said, holding the bowl in one hand and chopsticks in the other, chewing and sighing, "If I don't let her go, she'll get angry with me later..." He adjusted his glasses, raised an eyebrow, and looked down at Zhou Yue helplessly, "Let's talk about it later. Be careful when you pick her up and drop her off. Stay with her and don't let her come into contact with others." He frowned in disgust when he said "people", but soon relaxed after taking a bite of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, "Mm! Delicious! Better than your sister-in-law's cooking."
"There are not many boys like you nowadays. Smart, family-oriented, and not a playboy." He picked up the spoon and took a sip of soup. "As a man, a face is nothing but a face. What matters is ability and ability to handle things at home and outside."
"Yes." Xiao Yuan put down the bowl and nodded respectfully.
"Is there anything you like?" Jiang Huai said with a mischievous smile.
"No."
"Men still have to get married. They say making money supports the family. Only when you have a family can making money have meaning and provide motivation." Jiang Huai picked up another piece of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and placed it in Zhou Yue's bowl, whispering, "Try Xiao Yuan's cooking. You should follow this standard in the future..." He covered her hand on her knee with his other hand, gently caressing it for a while before interlocking his fingers with hers. He looked up at Xiao Yuan and smiled, "I want to wait until my 40th birthday to get the marriage certificate with your sister-in-law. I'm Chinese at heart, there's nothing I can do. I still want that red book."
"Congratulations, brother and sister-in-law."
"Don't just congratulate me..." Jiang Huai smiled dotingly as he peeled crabs for the two of them, one for Xiao Yuan and one for Zhou Yue. His movements were skillful, and he tore a crab into pieces in a few strokes, even picking out the meat from the crab legs, and gently placed it in their bowls. "If you like someone, just tell me. Marry and have children, including sending the children to school and buying a house. Even if I have Alzheimer's, you don't need to worry about such trivial matters."
"Brother, there's really no need. I have someone in my heart, even though we haven't seen each other for years. I don't have the same feelings for anyone else." Xiao Yuan smiled foolishly, rubbing his knees wrapped in layers of gauze. "Besides, I don't understand girls. I don't know how much money is not bad for her. So I want to work hard with you and earn more. That way, I can afford any diamond ring she wants and give her whatever kind of life she wants."
Jiang Huai lowered his head and listened. The sunlight flickered in his eyes, but disappeared in the blink of an eye. The black ice shards surged up again. His narrow eyes smiled playfully, "You are so infatuated. I've never heard you say that before."
"No," Xiao Yuan smiled and shook his head. "There's nothing worth talking about. I grew up with a little girl in my hometown of Guangzhou. We ran hand in hand from one end of the village to the other. We ate together, went to school together, and did everything together. So if you want to say infatuation... infatuation is for a woman. She is she, and a woman is a woman."
He ate quickly, not leaving a single grain of rice. He put down his bowl and peered over the shoulders of the two people across from him at the white gauze curtains in the living room, blown by the breeze. He smiled foolishly, as if indulging in real, tangible happiness. "I haven't even seen her grow up."
"Why not?" Jiang Huai was actually interested. He frowned and looked at him in confusion with his eyes narrowed.
"She likes to joke around. She joked with me that she wanted to live a good life and didn't want to be with me anymore..." He lowered his eyes, and the corners of his mouth slowly fell, like a cold firework. "But I never joke."
Zhou Yue lowered her head to eat. The fried tomatoes had stained the rice red. She heard Jiang Huai say that she had a good appetite today and ate a whole bowl of rice. She also heard herself say, "It's really delicious."
She forgot how she got home that day. The next day, Jiang Huai accompanied her to the hospital. She was not pregnant. The elderly doctor hesitated again and again, looked at Jiang Huai who was sitting in the back, then looked at Zhou Yue who was sitting at the table with a wooden face, and said, "Madam, you can't take the medicine anymore."
Jiang Huai said nothing along the way. When they got home, took a shower, and lay on the bed with his arms around her, he suddenly smiled and said, "It's still my fault. I gave you too many medicines before." As he spoke, he caressed her face lovingly, rubbed a red spot on her chin, pried open her mouth, and looked inside with a smile, not knowing what he was looking at.
"But I haven't asked you to take medicine for a long time, right? Since..." He raised his head and recalled, "Since the Chinese New Year?"
"It's been two months now. How many times have we done it?" His gold-rimmed glasses shone softly under the lamp, and the ends of his eyes were as soft as willow leaves in spring caressing her face. "More than three times, right? And you even ate secretly behind my back? Yueyue, I've always given in. You disobeyed me, lost your temper with me, hurt me, and even wanted to kill me... I can do anything, but there's one thing you absolutely can't do: cheat."
"Don't let me know you're lying to me about something."
He smiled and took off his glasses and placed them on the bedside. He turned around, hugged her, and untied her bathrobe. As he took it off, he pointed out the scars on his body and said, "Look at what you did. They're everywhere..."
"Okay," he kissed the tip of her nose, grabbed her ankles and wrapped them around his waist, "I didn't do anything to you. What happened in the past is in the past. Let's count today as the first time, okay? Let's start counting again."
…
The next month, Zhou Yue returned to school. Jiang Huai was very busy that day and answered many phone calls. He left in a hurry and told her to follow Xiao Yuan closely.
She walked out of the villa and approached a man in a black suit. She tentatively met his eyes and said, "Today is my first day of registration. I want to go early. Can you take me to Xiao Yuan now?" He said "Yes" without blinking.
She arrived at the foot of the long cement steps almost an hour earlier than Jiang Huai said.
It was a sunny morning, and people were passing her on bicycles. White plastic bags filled with steaming hot dough sticks hung from the front of their bicycles. As they passed by, the jingling of the bicycles brought with them a gust of hot, fragrant air...
It was a new phone, and she had forgotten how many phones it was. The number on the screen was unfamiliar.
She looked up, took a deep breath, and stared absentmindedly at the dense bougainvillea tree. Spots of light shone through the gaps between the leaves onto her face, swaying in the breeze...
A little boy passed by her, holding a marshmallow in his little hand. His white vest was worn askew. He licked the marshmallow whiskers on his lips and looked up at her. "Auntie, are you waiting for your husband? Will he come to pick you up in the truck?"
Zhou Yue looked at him in silence. He raised his head and looked at her for a while, then walked slowly away while eating marshmallows. When he reached the intersection and turned a corner, his small figure disappeared.
"Yeah." Zhou Yue said softly, looking at the end of the path under the shade of the trees. She lowered her head to look at the number on her phone again and thought she should wait for him to come out. The shadows of the trees were hazy, and she couldn't see the shadow on the ground or hear any sound. When the screen was off, a broken face was reflected on the dark screen of the phone. Behind her face, one corner of her mouth was smiling happily, stretching to her ears, while the other corner of her mouth was as silent as the cigarette ash that fell from his fingertips.
"lady."
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