Chapter 63
On New Year's Eve, Jiang Huai came with a gloomy face and said that he wanted to take Zhou Yue to have New Year's Eve dinner. The people around him that day were all people Zhou Yue knew, not one more.
Except for the two who died in the swamp, the speed at which Jiang Huai's brothers "disappeared" in recent years is no longer comparable to that of the initial years. He seems to have become more compassionate, and the days of fasting are getting longer and longer. He does not eat meat for at least ten days in a month. As for why, Zhou Yue does not know.
She still remembered the restaurant he took her to. After she survived Hong Kong, he brought her here and told them that she was Mrs. Jiang and let her enjoy the treatment of being the center of attention.
After so many years, the golden and jade-carved coiled dragon pillars are still as magnificent as ever. Even the scales of the soaring jade dragon are lifelike, reflected on the gray cloud-like marble tile floor. When you look down, you really feel as if you are surrounded by flying dragons.
But Jiang Huai seemed to be more interested in the dragon and phoenix patterns carved on the jade wall. He stood there leaning on his golden snake staff and looked at them, with the back of his white head facing Zhou Yue.
Zhou Yue stood behind him and suddenly became curious about how outsiders would talk about her after the dust settled. They might not even know her last name, at most just Zhou. Zhou was the wife of a drug dealer, the evil phoenix raised by a black dragon. Both the couple should be cut into pieces and sent to hell. She felt bored when she thought about it, because none of this mattered anymore.
"What are you looking at?" Jiang Huai said softly with his back to her.
"I can't see what you're doing." Zhou Yue tilted her head and looked at the dragon and phoenix picture without blinking.
"You deserve to be punished." He said, turned around with a gloomy face, didn't even look at her, and walked out with his crutches. After that serious illness, he was left with a chronic illness and often coughed. His leg disease also relapsed when the weather got cold.
Zhou Yue walked up to him and took his arm. He didn't resist and said, "Go do your work first."
The open space outside the restaurant was filled with people. Rows of men in black suits stood with their hands behind their backs under the clear sky and white clouds. When they saw Zhou Yue helping Jiang Huai out, they roared in unison, shaking the earth:
"Hello, Mr. Jiang! Hello, Madam!..." The echo was deafening.
An incense burner was set up on the open space. Zhou Yue and Jiang Huai stood there holding incense sticks. A group of people in black behind them bowed their heads respectfully. After the incense sticks were tilted downwards and bowed three times, the incense was put into the incense burner. The roar of engines rose and fell.
Jiang Huai led Zhou Yue to the car. Liao Jie took the lead and opened the back door on Zhou Yue's side. Jiang Huai stood in front of the open door on the other side, letting the wind mess up his white hair. His dark, willow-shaped eyes stared at Zhou Yue vaguely, like a snake swimming out of the water with its tongue spitting out. He smiled and said, "I haven't shown you your half of the country yet. It's New Year's Day, let's go see it together?"
Zhou Yue stared at the dark car door for a long time, then closed her eyes, lowered her head, smiled, and took a step back. "What's a woman got involved in a man's business? Go ahead. The children and I will be waiting for you to come back for the New Year's Eve dinner."
Jiang Huai covered his handkerchief and coughed for a while, then his eyes relaxed. He nodded and said "hmm", then bent down and entered the car.
Zhou Yue had no choice but to wait, and that day she found out that the restaurant belonged to Jiang Huai. He was the only one eating there, and it was almost the same as his kitchen. The reason why he bought this restaurant was because it was at the foot of the mountain.
Zhou Yue took her two children running up and down the stairs, playing hide-and-seek from noon to dusk. The sweet aroma of Huaiyang cuisine wafted over. She stood on the second floor and looked down. Under the cover of night, the Jianghuai convoy returned.
This was the scene Jiang Huai saw when he got out of the car: Zhou Yue was standing at the door of the restaurant, wearing a light blue buttoned jacket and a white cashmere sweater, holding her younger brother, Tiantian was standing beside her, holding her other hand, with a smile on her face, backlit, as if surrounded by a gentle halo.
He watched her walk down the steps, walk to the front of the car, look up at him, and say, "Dinner is ready, wash your hands and come eat." But he avoided her smile and gaze, said "hmm" with a dignified look, and walked up the steps with his snake-head cane and into the restaurant.
The New Year's Eve dinner was not very peaceful. It was similar to the noisy New Year's Eve dinners of other families. There was no sign that it would be the last time. At the dinner table, Jiang Huai was as irritable as all fathers who didn't like their children very much. He couldn't bear it anymore and asked Wu Ma to take his own son away. But once his younger brother left, he wanted to follow him every day. Now he has to hold his younger brother wherever he goes.
After his brother's screaming stopped, Jiang Huai's expression looked a little better. "Why don't you go to the mountain with me in the afternoon?" While speaking, he still held the bowl and slowly picked up the vegetables and meat.
"Look at your face, who would dare?" Zhou Yue saw dumplings on the New Year's Eve dinner table for the first time in a long time. They were dumplings with three fresh fillings. She ate several in one go, her cheeks puffed up. After chewing the food in her mouth, she sighed, "If I really go up, you will drag me up the mountain and kill me."
After hearing this, Jiang Huai just buried his head in eating and said nothing.
Zhou Yue then put the dumplings into her own bowl, a mocking look on her face. "As for men, don't even think of dividing half of the kingdom with your brothers, let alone your wives. I'm an educated person and know the lessons of others. Besides, I'm a woman who stays at home all day and night, just thinking about raising my son. The things on the mountain are the disputes between you men. If you want me to see it, I'll go up and take a look. If you don't want to see it, I won't. But please don't set me up like this in the future, Mr. Jiang. It's nothing but annoying."
Jiang Huai completely lost his appetite after hearing this. He put down his chopsticks, leaned on the edge of the table with one hand, and absentmindedly looked at the dwindling dumplings on his plate. The more he looked, the gloomier his face became, and his voice became heavier: "Did you grow up eating firecrackers? I only said one thing, and look how many words you said?" Still not satisfied, he leaned back in his chair and said with a sullen face: "Look at you before, and then look at you now! What a mess! Women are women, they will take advantage of you if you are treated well."
Zhou Yue didn't care. She pursed her lips, rolled the dumplings in the vinegar, and agreed, "Yeah, I also think it's better to keep talking like before. Too much talk hurts."
She lowered her head, bit open the dumpling, stared at her own jealous face and said, "But what I'm thinking is that you have been good to me and Tiantian in the past few years, and it would be nice for us to live together like this, so we talked more frequently without realizing it. Don't mind, I won't say anything." Then she shut her mouth and said nothing more.
Both of them were silent. The only sound was the clatter of dishes and chopsticks in the hall, decorated with carvings of dragons and phoenixes. Jiang Huai lowered his head, one hand resting on the back of her chair. The anger on his face slowly turned into introspective helplessness. While raising his hand to smooth his hair, he glanced at her quickly and kicked her under the table, "Ah."
"Um."
He stared at her for a while, feeling that he couldn't see her face clearly, so he reached out and brushed away the hair that fell on her forehead. "Are you angry?" He tugged at her cashmere sweater. "This one is quite soft." Then he thought of her smiling face holding the child under the light in the night. "You look good in this. You should always wear it like this from now on."
She was silent.
"Okay, at worst, I can take you up the mountain tomorrow. We haven't seen each other for such a long time, and instead of saying you miss me, you're just being sarcastic." He touched her knee and reached under her skirt, feeling the warm soft flesh. His eyes also became soft and slippery. The hand on the back of her chair also became dishonest. He hugged her, his breath hot: "Don't be angry, I have no choice. I work so hard and haven't had a good night's sleep for most of my life. I'm used to being on guard against everyone, but not you."
He hugged her, rubbing his chin against the top of her head. "I can only sleep soundly next to you. Move back home and live with me."
"Okay." Zhou Yue put down her chopsticks and aligned them with a smile. "Marry me, and then you can take me home with good reason. After all, I'm a first-time bride, and I'm worthy of your grand sedan chair."
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