Chapter 113
Lao Yi came up from downstairs and sat down on the edge of the bed without turning on the light. The dark room was filled with the faint scent of jasmine.
After calming down for a while, he turned on the light and the room became bright.
The room wasn't large. There was a small bathroom on the right, a bed across from the window, a desk by the window, and a bookshelf next to it. Next to the desk was a low, three-foot stool, on which sat a pot of jasmine, still scattered with petals.
He put the flowers here to make himself feel that there was still a bit of life here.
After tidying up and getting into bed, he just pulled back the quilt when, with a "meow", a little tabby with black stripes on a white background popped its head out from under the quilt at the end of the bed, jumped over to him, bit his sleeve and started pulling it.
He looked at the little thing and realized that he was actually keeping a cat here.
This silly little cat has no idea of its predicament. It's in a living hell, and even the dogs outside don't dare bark. It's always jumping around, even though its recent injury hasn't fully healed, and it's still limping and pouncing on people.
On the day it first arrived, he came in at night and suddenly something pounced on him from behind. When he turned around, he saw two bright spots in the darkness staring straight at him and meowing. He was so scared that he almost died.
Now, it is still the same. It will jump on people at any time, then dive into people's arms and rub and cry to act like a spoiled child. In the morning, if it wakes up but he is not awake yet, he will put his nose close to it and smell if he is still breathing.
Now it started again. It got tired of playing with his sleeves and jumped onto his body and started meowing.
It's true that children look like who they were raised by.
I don't know what the one at home is doing.
He turned off the lights, but couldn't fall asleep, tossing and turning. The light from the searchlight outside made him even more upset.
The kitten was already fast asleep in his arms.
He turned on the bedside lamp and dragged out a wicker box from under the bed. Inside were some manuscripts.
Seeing two fairy tale books inside, I thought to myself, "He's still reading fairy tales at this age. No wonder he looks like this."
But when I think about it, when I was her age, I also felt so sad that I wanted to cry after reading "The Little Mermaid".
He pulled out a handwritten script and read it. It was nice to read when he was feeling down. He'd enjoyed reading novels when he was younger, but he'd never liked those romantic, whimsical stories. These were pretty good, though, without the pretentiousness.
But this one is really too childish and is completely different from the others.
Reading to Act 4: ...
The hero, wearing a black coat, looks up at the fireworks. The heroine, wearing a light blue dress and a white jasmine flower in her hair, arrives from behind. She quietly reaches out to cover the hero's eyes. The hero turns around, delighted. He opens his coat and pulls the heroine into his arms for warmth.
When he saw this, he thought that this was exactly what this little girl was thinking. She always looked confused and whimsical.
After watching the last scene, there was a message on the paper after the curtain call: Beauty is fleeting and dreams are foolish; if Heaven has pity on people, it will also grow old.
1940.9.9 Jiazhiji.
This play is named "Dream Raccoon". The original name was "Jian Qiu Shui", but it was crossed out and changed to this.
Lao Yi wondered what the name meant. There was also a hand-drawn postcard inside.
Under the brilliant fireworks, among the flowers, a girl in white clothes is holding a white fox, and a boy gives her a flower.
This should be the ending scene.
He picked it up and looked at it again, thinking that it looked a bit like himself when he was young.
Originally I just wanted to ignore her for a few days, but I did some searching and found some things related to her.
Many of the photos in the album are stills from stage plays. She has always been performing in plays with the same boy.
On the back of a photo, it's written: "For Jiazhi, may all your wishes come true, and may you be safe and happy." Gifted by Minlin.
After leaving Hong Kong, I continued to correspond with him. However, it seemed that they were close friends, not lovers, and the boy was already married.
Someone investigated her background and obtained posters of her performances in plays. They said that the people she met with each time looked very similar to the people in the posters.
Although there was no clear evidence, his intuition over the years told him that this person must have something going on with her.
The less of a personal affair there is, the less there is to hide. It would be strange if there was nothing in her things related to that man.
The man is young and full of vigor and ambition, determined to eradicate traitors for the country. Although his girlfriend is naive, she is emotionally infatuated and is willing to go through life and death with her beloved, even at the cost of her chastity.
That's why she was so confused and didn't understand anything. Apart from sleeping with me, she had no professional skills at all.
It was probably something I practiced with that boy. Thinking of this, my heart started to ache again.
Such a beautiful girl, how could she be without people around her? Her writings are truly brilliant, and her thinking is so mature and clear. How could someone so beautiful, intelligent, and discerning choose such a pit of fire? But once people fall in love, they lose their rationality.
Think about it, wasn't it the same for * and *? * was the daughter of a wealthy Malaysian businessman, her family had already arranged a marriage for her, seemingly a childhood sweetheart's cousin, and they were both willing. But after meeting *, she became utterly infatuated. She broke off the engagement, tore up her passports, and insisted on being together through thick and thin. When he was about to commit the assassination, no one could persuade her otherwise; everyone believed she was doomed, yet she insisted on following him.
Old Yi thought back to his youth. Many girls had admired him, but he didn't have the energy to think about them back then. There were also a few who were too serious, crying bitterly and even threatening suicide after being rejected. He looked down on them even more, finding them ridiculous.
Think about it: at seventeen, he participated in the student movement. Many people were arrested and killed. Someone next to him was shot and collapsed. The bullet passed through his scalp and grazed it, leaving the mark in his hair. He entered military school at twenty-three, and the following year he went to the front lines. He fought for two years. His superiors, seeing his courage and carefulness, sent him to the rear to conduct espionage, a job he continued for nearly twenty years. That's a lifetime.
Back then, I didn't know when I would die, but I was like a crow living in the sun, full of passion and enthusiasm every day. Now that's no longer the case.
His family arranged a marriage for him early, and they only met for the first time at the wedding. He didn't have much in common with his wife, but he was quite satisfied. Some people are born to be wives.
He started looking for women after he turned 35. Women like to make new clothes in different styles, while men have limited choices in clothes, but they like to look for women just like women make clothes.
At that time, many people divorced their wives back home, but he never had any intention of doing so. Later, as his official career grew, he had many connections, and some even tried to arrange for him to be his principal wife. He had no intention of getting a divorce either. He needed a wife anyway, and the one at home was decent enough. There was no need to bother. A new one would be just as good, or perhaps even worse. Having no children didn't matter; it would only make her more afraid of him and less likely to control him. Marrying someone from a higher family would put too many constraints on him.
Every time I look in the mirror now, I'm struck by how much worse I look than I used to be. It's not that I feel old, I'm not that old now. Even if I only went back three or four years, he wouldn't be like this.
*That is, ever since I started this path, I am no longer as charming as I was in my youth, and my temperament has also changed a lot.
He always felt that she seemed to have some feelings for him. A silly little girl, it was inevitable that her feelings would become real. However, after reading her writings, except for that unrealistic script, the others were very clear-headed and serious, not at all like her confused and foolish appearance.
Calming down, I realized that this disconnected state of mind meant she was probably just faking it. Maybe she was just feigning confusion. It made sense, considering there were people available. With so many people attending the training program every year, why would they hire someone like this, a complete novice?
Besides the recent relapse of his heartache, which was now severe, Lao Yi was also trying to convince himself that he had no reason to be truly affectionate with her. She already had someone she truly loved, and he shouldn't get too deeply involved. If he did, not only would he be reluctant to take action, but she would also steal his heart, which would be a huge shame.
As he thought of this, the kitten suddenly woke up, jumped up and tried to catch the light from the searchlight shining on the wall, leaving its tiny shadow in the light and shadow.
He sighed helplessly.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
