Chapter 4 Teacher Jiang really has a lot of debts.
Let's rewind to a few hours earlier.
After dinner with Song Jinshu, they seemed to want to make up for the missed holiday in one night, so they went to a karaoke bar and sang and drank to their hearts' content.
Song Jinshu rambled on about the story of opening the shop, complaining about the strange customers, but her smile never actually faded.
Before she got completely drunk, she called her boyfriend, who was also her personal driver, over. Without any restraint, she drank straight from the bottle until she was completely drunk. Her throat was burning from howling and the alcohol, but she still kept talking and clung to him, refusing to go home.
Xu Yuewei's reluctance dissipated considerably after Chen Yanlang's arrival. She made an excuse that she needed to go back to the bar to retrieve the tea cake gift box she had left behind.
Song Jinshu held her tightly, refusing to let go: "No way, there are thugs in places like that! Let Yanlang go with you, he knows Sanda (Chinese kickboxing), he can be your bodyguard!"
When drunk, Song Jinshu possessed a willpower that wasn't her own and became unreasonable, preventing Xu Yuewei from separating from them.
The car couldn't drive into the back street, so it was parked on the side of the road.
Song Jinshu's legs were too weak to walk, so she stayed in the car and reminded her, "It's too late, we'll take you home, don't bother hiring a driver."
Xu Yuewei agreed, and Song Jinshu finally let go of her.
She and Jinshu's boyfriend stepped into the bar, but this was the first thing they saw.
Jiang Shiyan was still wearing the shirt he wore during the day, with a damp patch on his chest. The woman sitting next to him was wearing an off-the-shoulder sweater and was turning her head in the direction of his gaze, looking at him with a puzzled expression.
Xu Yuewei wasn't a big drinker, unlike Song Jinshu who was so unrestrained; she only drank until she was on the verge of being both sober and dazed.
So, in a slightly tipsy state, her first thought was that she was dreaming.
The dim yellow light danced across his body, so real, yet not like a dream.
The alcohol numbed her muscles, and even though she was surprised, she didn't react much other than her lips parting slightly.
It wasn't until Jiang Shiyan said, "They seem to not know how to find their seats," that she realized she had been lost in thought for quite a while.
So she quickly looked away, ignoring his "kindness," and walked to the bar counter a few stools away from him, asking the bartender behind him:
"Excuse me, I left a green bag here. Have you seen it?"
The bartender nodded immediately upon seeing her: "I remember, I remember. Our boss put it away. Please wait a moment, I'll ask him for you."
After saying that, he turned to talk to another bartender and made a phone call gesture.
Xu Yuewei had no choice but to wait.
If she hadn't lost a box of stock because she was late, she wouldn't have been so concerned about the last box. She should have checked the almanac before leaving home today.
"The thing you dropped, was it that tea cake?"
Behind me, a familiar voice descended, unusually calm amidst the commotion, like a long, thick stroke of ink splashed onto a colorful painting.
She turned around and asked curtly, "...Are you the bar owner?"
"Since you're so confident in my energy, should I thank you?" Jiang Shiyan quickly retorted.
Xu Yuewei's thoughts were almost completely tangled by him. She reacted a beat late, and realized that it made sense; how could he possibly run a small shop himself?
The woman's long eyebrows curved gently, and her clear, bright eyes shone with a delicate beauty.
Jiang Shiyan lowered his eyes, his gaze sliding from her smooth hair to her flushed cheeks, and finally landing on her lips, which had lost most of their lipstick.
Then, she turned her gaze to the man beside her.
The other person calmly met his gaze.
"...You were following me?"
Unexpectedly, he was met with her wary yet nonsensical questioning.
Jiang Shiyan chuckled, seemingly too lazy to engage the drunkard in conversation.
His smile made Xu Yuewei feel hot all over: "Then how did you know I forgot something?"
Jiang Shiyan didn't look at her: "I guessed."
The truth is, seeing is believing. This bar was opened by his college roommate, Zhong Sheng, and he often came to visit when he was in a bad mood.
The same thing happened tonight, but when he went upstairs to the rest room to smoke, he actually found a box of Guangyang tea cakes.
I remember she clearly said during the day that this could only be bought in Guangyang.
He stayed there drinking, clinging to this slim chance. However, when his suspicions were confirmed, there was nothing to be thankful for.
Jiang Shiyan glanced at the knight-like man beside her, a hint of mockery creeping into his eyes.
Although Chen Yanlang didn't understand the situation, he kept receiving unfriendly stares from her, so he took half a step forward and used the back of his arm to push Xu Yuewei's shoulder, signaling her to step back behind him.
However, Xu Yuewei had been drinking and was a beat slower in her reactions. She was forced to endure the force, and her center of gravity involuntarily tilted backward.
She staggered, her hand instinctively reaching forward as if to grab something for support, but instead, she was grabbed instead.
The palm of my hand holding her left wrist was burning hot, and I gently pulled it in the opposite direction.
Darkness fell before her eyes, and the man's shadow loomed over her head. In a panic, she tried to push him away.
Seeing that she had regained her footing, Jiang Shiyan let go and stepped back to the distance he had been at.
He was wearing a thin shirt, his eyes glazed over with the drowsiness of drunkenness. He glanced at the man and woman with their varied expressions, and a playful look gradually appeared on his face.
Xu Yuewei covered her wrist, the lingering warmth making her resist: "Please return my things quickly, we'll leave immediately."
"I'm sorry, someone didn't know it was lost and ate it. How about we give you your next meal for free, or... could you suggest a price to cancel it out?"
The seemingly easy-to-negotiate suggestion ended up putting a tricky problem in her hands.
Xu Yuewei pursed her lips and looked at Chen Yanlang.
Chen Yanlang noticed her pleading look and adjusted his glasses: "How about three times the original price as compensation?"
Jiang Shiyan's eyelashes didn't even flutter. Ignoring the man, he looked only at her and asked, "Have you thought it through?"
Even though Chen Yanlang could tell that the two people knew each other, he couldn't help but frown slightly.
Xu Yuewei said, "I'll listen to him."
Jiang Shiyan blinked, then opened her eyes and turned to the man who was slightly shorter than her, smiling with a friendly yet contemptuous expression: "Okay."
Before he could take out his phone, Xu Yuewei suddenly stopped him: "Wait!"
Both men looked at her at the same time.
"Never mind, consider it compensation from me."
Jiang Shiyan neither said it was good nor bad.
At this moment, the woman who had been sitting next to him cautiously leaned closer, glanced at them, then looked at the man, and mustered her courage for a final struggle:
"Handsome... um, it's my fault your clothes got wet, how about I buy you a new one?"
The atmosphere froze for a moment.
Xu Yuewei couldn't help but say, "Teacher Jiang really has a lot on her plate."
Jiang Shiyan sneered, "Yes, we don't need your money."
Xu Yuewei patted Chen Yanlang, signaling him to leave. After taking only a few steps, Jiang Shiyan suddenly spoke up: "That tea cake is quite delicious."
She wanted to argue that you only took one bite and then stopped eating in the afternoon.
But then he added, "It seems Guangyang is a good place."
A casual remark pierced her like a nail, making it impossible for her to take a single step.
It wasn't until Chen Yanlang asked her if she was leaving that she numbly followed behind him.
The door opened and then closed again, and cold air rushed in the instant the door closed.
Jiang Shiyan withdrew his gaze expressionlessly, rejected the woman again, and turned to go upstairs.
He stopped in the deserted stairwell.
The man opened and closed his right hand, which had grabbed her wrist, and then opened and closed it again. He spread his palm to cover the lower half of his face and had a hallucination of smelling jasmine.
*
More than half an hour later, Xu Yuewei returned home in Song Jinshu's car and entered the community by scanning her face.
The security and greenery at Lanyue Yaju are worth the high property management fees. The neighborhood relations are distant yet harmonious. If you ignore the story behind the house, Xu Yuewei actually likes it quite a bit.
Unfortunately, while her mother, Ye Wanzhi, was still enjoying the life of a wealthy lady in the old house, it had already become the nest of her father and another woman.
The divorce battle lasted for five years. When she was fifteen, her father, Xu Shiheng, gave the Lanyue Yaju property to her and her mother as compensation.
It was incredibly humiliating, but they were powerless to do anything about it. Xu Shiheng's legal team was too formidable; Ye Wanzhi didn't receive much money and was practically left with nothing.
The last unspoken agreement between this former couple was that neither of them wanted her.
Ultimately, the court awarded custody of Xu Yuewei to her mother, based on Xu Yuewei's own wishes, and Ye Wanzhi did not object, considering the regular child support payments.
It just so happened that Xu Yuewei was about to enter high school, so Ye Wanzhi lived with her in the school district house for three years. Three years later, perhaps she had figured it out, she moved into this house that had been empty for many years.
Xu Yuewei lived in a dormitory during college. After graduation, she moved far away from home. The only time she lived alone with Ye Wanzhi was during high school, and then until now.
But now, things are not as peaceful as they were back then.
Because Xu Shiheng died.
Ye Wanzhi didn't seem to feel the satisfaction of karmic retribution. On the contrary, her ex-husband's sudden death awakened the pain she had suppressed for years. She started sorting through old things and became increasingly neurotic. When Xu Yuewei was cleaning up the trash, she would occasionally find old photos that had been cut into pieces.
As the elevator numbers went from one to ten, Xu Yuewei slowly stepped out. Instead of pressing the fingerprint lock, she reached into her bag and fumbled for the perfume bottle she carried with her.
With a click, the door was suddenly pushed open from the inside.
The entryway light illuminated the slightly surprised eyes beneath the man's bangs. Xu Yuewei paused for a moment, then stepped on the door, and the motion-activated light in the hallway turned on.
"Sis, you're back?"
Qi Shuyan quietly walked out, deliberately keeping her voice down, "Auntie is asleep, so please be quiet."
Xu Yuewei glanced at her cousin, her brows furrowing slightly: "I remember I hired a housekeeper to take care of Mom today, isn't she here?"
"Don't even mention it." Qi Shuyan's eyes were full of innocence. "That housekeeper was dishonest and was caught and kicked out by my aunt. There was no one to cook at home, so she called me to come."
"Oh, I see. Thank you for your help."
She knew perfectly well that her words were a reversal of cause and effect; Ye Wanzhi wanted her to come, so she made an excuse to send the housekeeper away.
"It's no trouble at all. If you have something to do next time at night, you might as well call me. I'm family, it's better than a stranger coming in, right?"
Qi Shuyan's voice sounded both sincere and fake, while Xu Yuewei remained calm: "Okay, I understand. Thank you for tonight."
The latch clicked shut.
Xu Yuewei changed her shoes and saw that the master bedroom door was closed. She relaxed a little and went to the kitchen to warm a glass of water.
Now that Ye Wanzhi is asleep, there's no need to spray perfume to cover up the smell of alcohol on his body.
Drinking alcohol is forbidden in their home.
When she was a child, during holidays, relatives would try to tempt her to drink wine with their chopsticks at the dinner table, but her mother would always refuse with a stern face, as if it were some kind of poison and she was absolutely not allowed to touch it.
She only learned when she grew up that her birth was inextricably linked to alcohol.
The mother seemed to hate the father, but her persistence over the years resembled love.
This complex emotion has grown into a towering tree over the long years, its roots firmly tied to their culmination, to her tender seed. It is unclear whether it nourished her or she gave back to it.
After finishing her water, Xu Yuewei tore off the tattoo sticker and threw it into the trash can, when she saw fragments of a black and white photo.
As she stroked the vines there, she couldn't help but recall that Jiang Shiyan had once grabbed her wrist in the same way.
She thought of him in the bar wearing a shirt, and of him in his white school uniform in high school. The two images gradually overlapped, pushing aside the rest of the chaotic and distorted memories, forcefully pushing everything away, leaving her only able to think of him.
A tingling, itchy sensation mixed with a sigh spread through my arms, pumping to my limbs with each heartbeat, as rapidly as a toxin spreading.
Xu Yuewei rolled up her sleeves, went to the study, turned on the light, and stepped onto the guqin stool to lift a dusty cardboard box from the top of the cabinet.
As she took it down, dust flew everywhere. She held her breath, quickly opened the box, and rummaged through the contents while organizing the odds and ends.
She only slowed down when she found a jewelry box tied with a pink bow.
Her business card was kept inside.
She once thought that she could cling to him without reservation, be taken anywhere by him, as if his name came first and hers came second, as if sitting in the back seat of his car, firmly believing that he could take her away.
A few minutes later, the study lights went out, and everything returned to normal. The boxes were still piled on top of the tall cabinet, and the stool was still placed in front of the guqin table.
In the trash can lay several scattered pieces of white paper, resembling a snow-capped mountain peak.
A note from the author:
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