Chapter 60
That day, the door of the villa halfway up the mountain was open, and a woman wearing a black camel-hair coat and a scarf of oxblood red and shrimp color wrapped around her face appeared at the door. What was seen was the back of a person in a wheelchair in front of the floor-to-ceiling window at the end of the huge living room. She was wearing a Xiangyun gauze skirt, her gray hair was tied up, and she wore a very wide black headband. She was thin and tall, and looked like an old lady from the back, except that a crescent moon was revealed in her bun. It was made of diamonds and sparkled in the sun, which was inconsistent with the gloomy atmosphere of the villa. When she turned around, it was indeed a young face, which could not be described as beautiful. The deep eye sockets like a sculpture, the high nose bridge and the cold and arrogant heroic air between her eyebrows made her almost unattractive. Even her fox eyes would not make people think of a vixen who seduces men, but an old fox demon who has lived for a thousand years in seclusion to cultivate immortality.
But the quick glance I saw of her on the stage many years ago was completely different from what she is now.
"Hello, Miss Zhou. My name is Li Songzhu." Li Songzhu bowed and nodded, her eyebrows drooping. After a moment, she stood up and saw that the old fox demon had quietly come to her. The wheelchair moved silently on the tiles, as if it had floated over.
The fox demon looked up and stared at Li Songzhu for a while, then smiled, her eyes curved like the moon. This was a reminder of that time, Li Songzhu thought, remembering that her name was "Yue", and she also had the impression that the moon smiled like this, smiling at a very tall and strong young man. Jiang Huai's face changed at that time. The three of them in the audience were even more exciting than the show on the stage.
"Come in." Zhou Yue saw Li Songzhu startled at first when she saw the wheelchair, then her vigilant, deer-like gaze relaxed. She hadn't worn her heavy stage makeup; her round, deer-like eyes were clear, tranquil, and gentle, as if she could calmly endure all hardships and torture. Her fair, oval face was like a soft-focus image, radiating a gentle halo around her in the sunlight, truly fulfilling the saying, "There are beauties in the south, as beautiful as peaches and plums."
She remembered Dai Yan's fragility without the green eyeshadow and said with a smile, "You're most beautiful without makeup." Then she floated into the living room, her fragrant cloud gauze skirt dancing lightly. The living room was dark, and her voice carried through the cool air: "I knew you were coming, so I specially ventilated here. The smell of blood and Chinese medicine is really strong here, and it must make you nauseous. But it's almost time now. Please help me close the door, thank you."
"Okay." Li Songzhu closed the door and came in, then stood at the door without moving, with lowered eyebrows and eyes. He only took off his scarf, folded it neatly and held it in his hand. His eyes were gentle and indifferent, neither humble nor arrogant, and his temples were not messy at all.
Zhou Yue glanced at her and gently called her Aunt Xu. After a while, Aunt Xu came out with her brother in her arms. Li Songzhu still kept her head down.
"Aunt Xu will be back in Shanghai tomorrow," Zhou Yue said, holding her sleeping brother wrapped in swaddling clothes. "She won't be back anytime soon. Look at me, I'm in such a state. I have a woman's illness, and once it starts, it can't be stopped. It's cloudy and rainy, and my legs hurt. I really can't take care of her anymore, so please come and give me a hand."
Li Songzhu remained motionless, his eyes drooped even more, and the fingertips holding the scarf turned white.
The younger brother was still sleeping soundly, but when he heard people talking, he twisted his body and frowned unhappily. He was bound to make some trouble when he woke up from his nap, and his little nose was already making a grunting sound.
Zhou Yue raised her eyes calmly. The pine and bamboo trees standing at the door were hidden in the dim light. They were still motionless, with only twinkling lights in their eyes.
Zhou Yue silently maneuvered her wheelchair to Songzhu, held the swaddling baby high, and said, "You hold it."
Songzhu still lowered his head and remained silent with an unyielding expression, but his eyes, as gentle as a doe, became sad and desolate. Looking at the little face exposed from the quilt, the redness in his eyes gradually spread, and the tiny tears turned into large tears that sprinkled on the little face.
She gently picked up the swaddling clothes. With the crying and making such noises, and with so many people talking, the little master was completely awake. From the sound of it, it seemed that he was going to fly into a rage and would not stop until the death. Zhou Yue and Aunt Xu, who was standing far away, were almost out of breath.
Zhou Yue was worried. She glanced at Song Zhu and held her brother's little body with both hands. After she was sure he was firmly in her arms, she comforted him softly, "He'll make a fuss when he wakes up from his nap. It's like this every day. I need to coax him for a while."
But after he finished speaking, one or two minutes passed and no one heard the crying. The gurgling prelude sounded for a long time and then turned into giggles.
The sun was shining brightly at that moment. Zhou Yue stood there with her mouth open for a long time, then lowered her head and smiled. She drove her "diplomatic" wheelchair to the floor-to-ceiling window and sat down to bask in the sun. Aunt Xu also disappeared silently at the door.
Song Zhu held the child and still didn't talk to Zhou Yue and the others. Aunt Xu poured tea for her, but she just bowed respectfully to say thank you, took a sip politely and put it down. The only sounds in the living room were the child's crazy screams and laughter of joy. Song Zhu remained silent the whole time, holding him on the carpet in the corner as if afraid of taking up any more space, and teased him with small toys. He pulled her hair and bit her face with saliva. She smiled gently and lay on the carpet, crouching low, and climbed up the stairs with him.
Later, Songzhu was so engrossed in the play that she laughed, but the smile froze at the corner of her mouth before it ended. She subconsciously looked towards Zhou Yue.
Zhou Yue sat by the window, looking at the huge Western clock in the living room, staring at the swinging pendulum without blinking.
Song Zhu didn't know that Zhou Yue had a mental illness. Just looking at her gloomy face, he thought that she was still annoyed that Jiang Huai had a son with another woman. There is no wall that is impenetrable in the world. Jiang Huai's eldest son is fine and is loved by everyone, but he wants a child so badly. He can more or less guess that there is something wrong with the eldest son's "origin". She has also heard about Zhou Yue's "woman disease", so it will be difficult for her to have another child.
Songzhu lowered her head, staring blankly at the toy in her hand. After a long moment, she picked up her brother, who was still crawling towards her, and placed him down facing Zhou Yue. She tried to smile and whispered, "Go to Mommy."
Hearing "Mom", Zhou Yue blinked and woke up. Looking back, Songzhu was still sitting on the carpet with his head down. In such a big living room, Zhou Yue was sometimes afraid to be alone, but now Songzhu was hiding in the corner next to the sofa, with his scarf and clothes neatly folded at his feet, silently accompanying his son through the reunion time that should have been full of laughter and joy.
The younger brother lay on the ground, tilting his soft little neck up to look at the pine and bamboo trees. He didn't know why his mother suddenly stopped playing with him and drove him away.
"Hmph." Zhou Yue laughed softly, and Song Zhu immediately raised his head and looked over.
"He said that his father defiled his mother, which is why he came into this world." Zhou Yue smiled lightly and looked back at the Western clock. "From the moment he can remember, his mother has been raising him alone in Kowloon, Hong Kong, making a living. He's been a humble servant, looking down on others, and enduring all kinds of bullying... He said that as much as he loves his mother, he hates his father as much. Even after he died, they built a soul-calming well to prevent his father from ever being reborn."
"But what's the difference between him and his father?" She turned around and smiled at Songzhu.
Song Zhu was stunned when he heard this, as he didn't expect Zhou Yue to dare to say this, but he soon calmed down as calm as water. Without saying a word, he tucked the scattered hair behind his ears and lowered his head to tidy up the toys under his hands. However, his movements became sluggish. He picked it up and put it down, picked it up again, and finally held it in his hands and stared at it in a daze.
Zhou Yue finished speaking, turned around and faced the window to bask in the sun. Looking up at the blue sky and white clouds, she whispered to herself, "Don't worry, I will make things the way they should be."
Song Zhu said nothing, just held his son in his arms and played with him. From time to time, he would look up and secretly glance at Zhou Yue, and whispered to the child in his arms: "Have you had your grandma?"
The child knew nothing and could not speak, so he just babbled. Zhou Yue, who was sitting far away, replied, "I ate before taking a nap." The voice was so soft that it was inaudible. Song Zhu smiled and said, "My dear little brother, eat well and grow tall."
A long time passed, and the villa was filled with the laughter of women and children, until the sunlight became thin and dim, and the younger brother was tired from playing and fell asleep, then the villa returned to silence again. Songzhu held his younger brother, patted his back, and hummed a sweet and soft Wu nursery rhyme while gently rocking his body.
"The phone he gave me could only dial three numbers."
Zhou Yue suddenly spoke, looking at the gloomy sunlight outside the window, her eyes white as if covered in dust, "Him, Liao Jie, and the hospital."
Songzhu was stunned for a moment and looked up.
“他说我想要什么他都会买给我，我没必要出门，我就被他关在这里好多年，他说外面东西不干净，不健康，我就连必胜客都别想吃，他不让我唱《焚情》，我到现在都不敢哼一句，梦里哼一句都能惊醒，我一有不顺他心的地方他就揍我，揍得我脑袋像火烧，都能煎鸡蛋。”
She laughed when she said this, "But when I ran off with another man, he caught me and attacked me with a knife. He actually let me live until now, recognized the child I had with another man as his own, held a hundred-day banquet for him, a birthday banquet for him, and gave him a house and land as a gift. Outsiders probably would never imagine that one of Chairman Jiang's two sons is not his... Tell me, is he good to me or not?"
Song Zhu hugged the child tighter after hearing this. She thought for a long time before speaking, "In Mr. Jiang's heart, Miss Zhou is the most important. He, he..." She lowered her head, her ears red as cooked shrimp, "When he wanted a little brother, he came to my place drunk and called your name..." She glanced at Zhou Yue, then lowered her head to look at the sleeping baby in her arms, patted his rising and falling body, and whispered, "Mr. Jiang is under a lot of pressure and may not have a good temper sometimes, but he loves Miss Zhou very much. After the little brother was born, he only came to my place to see him. He came very early in the morning, looked pale, and didn't say a word. After seeing him, he would sleep in the second-floor bedroom for half an hour or an hour, and then go back to the company."
Zhou Yue turned her head slightly.
"You're very close to his company."
"Not close..." Song Zhu was a little confused by the question. He hugged his brother up and looked at Zhou Yue confusedly, "I live in Luohu District, and his company is in Nanshan District..."
Jiang Huai is a very shrewd person. He is shrewd with money, people and time. He calculates every detail. His trip to see Songzhu and his children seems like a "stop by". If he is not going to the company, then he is just passing by from somewhere else.
Jiang Huai had never been to Zhou Yue's place when his younger brother was just born, so there was no such thing as him "stopping by" Song Zhu's place from Zhou Yue's place in the morning. Song Zhu said that he looked unwell and needed to catch up on sleep, but in fact he paid great attention to recuperation. During the years when Zhou Yue lived in the "Snake Cave", he usually went to bed after ten o'clock when he came back.
What could keep him awake all night and worry so much?
"You don't look well? It's from smoking, right?" Zhou Yue turned around and smiled at Song Zhu. "My son had pneumonia, so I don't let him smoke here. Did he go to your place to smoke?"
"No." Song Zhu shook her head, but her brows furrowed, as if she had recalled something unpleasant. She was afraid of Jiang Huai, but she was also confused. After thinking for a long time, she said, "There is a very strange fragrance, like flowers and grass. It's too strong. It gives me a headache."
"Oh..." Zhou Yue nodded and smiled out the window, "Luohu District, a great place."
But her smiling face had another meaning in Songzhu's eyes. Songzhu smiled and said, "It's not good either. It's too busy. It's better here. It's quiet and spacious. Besides, I haven't been here long. Just last year..."
She stopped talking, her smile was still there, but her eyes dimmed. Everything she missed was too far away from here.
"Yes, it's quiet, too quiet." Zhou Yue looked at the bleak ginkgo tree in the twilight, half of it was green and the other half was withered and yellow.
She pushed her wheelchair slowly to Songzhu. The lights in the living room were not on yet and the light next to the sofa was dim. She took off the black hairband on her head.
Songzhu couldn't even make a sound. He took several steps back with the child in his arms. His hair became visibly fluffy, like a sea urchin.
"This is his love for me," Zhou Yue said.
It was almost dark, but her temples were gleaming with a faint silver light, and the shadows of the trees outside the window were swaying on the empty wall.
"He can't lie to me. I know what love is like." Zhou Yue murmured to the shadow on the wall, "But I don't remember it."
"You bad boy, you're mad at me." Zhou Yue smiled, "You never come into my dream once."
"This time he doesn't want me anymore."
The dim shadows of car lights from the foot of the mountain slid across the dark living room without a sound.
"Your place... I mean Shanghai." Zhou Yue looked bewildered for the first time. The hem of her skirt wrapped around her fingers several times, until her fingertips turned white. "I remember it was the Su family garden. I wanted to ask if the crabapple tree is still there." She smiled and looked up. "Are the crabapple trees in bloom?"
"Yes." Songzhu whispered in the darkness, "That's a papaya crabapple tree. It's in full bloom this month."
Zhou Yue stared at the shadow on the wall for a long time, then lowered her head and nodded with a smile, "Yeah."
"The little rabbit he gave to the girls in our area is still being raised." Songzhu smiled in the dark, "It's big and fat, like a kitten." After saying that, he lowered his head at the right time and gently rocked his body to coax the child to sleep. He didn't notice the tears of the woman opposite him falling on her skirt.
After a while, a small light came on in the living room. Zhou Yue saw a mobile phone with a lit screen on her lap through her tearful eyes. It was the Pizza Hut ordering page.
"Oh, thank you." She smiled.
Zhou Yue was 26 years old, but it was her first time to experience takeout. It was delivered in less than an hour. Pizza, chicken wings, cola... were spread out on the coffee table, but she was the only one eating. Songzhu refused to eat anything, saying that he couldn't eat sweet or spicy food because he needed to protect his throat.
"You are the leading actress, aren't you?" Zhou Yue ate the chicken wings, wiped her mouth and started eating pizza.
This description might not be very professional, but that's the meaning. Song Zhu raised her chin slightly, her face lit up, and a hint of pride appeared in her eyes. "Fewer people listen to Kunqu opera now, and I have to support an entire troupe by myself." She quickly glanced at Zhou Yue, "The troupe isn't very big."
"If you had to choose, what would you most like to do?" Zhou Yue ate voraciously.
"Go back to Shanghai." Songzhu looked towards a place, the lights twinkling like stars in her eyes, "Go on stage."
"Bring your brother along?"
"right."
Zhou Yue swallowed a big mouthful of pizza and said, "Okay."
When they finished eating, Songzhu had already sat on the sofa, with his brother sleeping soundly beside him. Zhou Yue was sitting in a wheelchair drinking milk tea and asked her, "Is he good to you?"
The smile on Songzhu's face disappeared. She lowered her head and thought for a long time, then used a handkerchief to wipe her brother's saliva. Even this posture was very proper and graceful like flowing water.
"Okay," she said, looking up at Zhou Yue. "He comes to Shanghai three or four times a year, and most of the time he just goes to listen to opera. With him, our troupe has a much better life."
"I'm not talking about President Jiang." Zhou Yue put the milk tea on the table and smiled brightly at Song Zhu, "It's your lover."
Songzhu's face turned pale almost instantly and his lips faded.
"Don't worry." Zhou Yue raised her hand and made a "hush" gesture to her. "I won't tell Mr. Jiang a word of what we said today. Please keep it a secret, Ms. Li."
Zhou Yue calmly studied Song Zhu's frightened face and said, "I once saw a quote that said a lover's eyes are the eighth ocean. Haha, I was wondering if that was some unconventional description until one day I read the whole quote."
"A lover's eyes are the eighth ocean, filled with desolation, retaining beauty, and boiling with all the passion in the world."
"Sure enough, women's eyes are the least deceptive." She reached out and gently stroked Songzhu's soft, light eyebrows and moist eyes.
"I'll tell you another secret. I can see the future. I see you returning to Shanghai with your brother, back to the stage, and staying with your lover."
Songzhu's fear gradually subsided, and sadness welled up in her gentle and beautiful deer eyes. She didn't know what Jiang Huai did, nor did she understand what Zhou Yue was going to do, but her delicate heart allowed her to see the shadow of death looming over Zhou Yue.
"What about you?" she asked, her face expressionless. "You see what you're doing."
Zhou Yue smiled and looked at her for a long time. Finally, he raised his eyebrows with a lack of interest, stretched himself, and burped. "Oh... it feels good."
"Thank you for dinner, Miss Li." She patted her belly. "Next time, I'll let you try my cooking."
She winked at Shochiku and smiled a moony smile, "If there's a chance."
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