In the years following Ha Jianguo's layoff, a slot machine craze quietly swept through Suicheng. Unlike Ha Jianguo, who spent his days idly taking his daughter to lottery shops to try their luck, Jiang Yimei's husband, Li Jun, relying on his past success in the furniture business, began to frequent underground casinos in the suburbs of Suicheng through a friend's introduction.
At first, Li Jun would only sneak off to play for two or three hours while his wife was asleep late at night, as a way to relieve stress and briefly suspend himself from social networks.
But as the thrill of gambling numbed his senses and emotions, he began to fall into the maze that gambling brought him. The gambling game, which lasted ten seconds per round, seemed so simple and safe. Under the carefully designed sound effects and lights, pressing the electronic button three hundred times in an hour was enough to become addictive. Apart from winning or losing, time lost its meaning in Li Jun's mind. He began to frequent casinos and stay out all night.
It seems that the person inside the casino, illuminated by the machine lights, is the real one, while everything outside the casino becomes so complicated and empty, like a meaningless labor.
Jiang Yimei and her child repeatedly blocked the entrance of the casino looking for Li Jun, but Li Jun remained oblivious to his fate, and even the child's cries of "Dad" could not awaken his conscience.
Gambling is just as addictive as drugs.
In less than six months, he stopped working during the day and stopped caring about the furniture factory business. The only reason he returned home was to ask his wife for money to gamble.
If his wife did not prepare the money on time, he would use violence against her. If beatings did not make her hand over the savings, he would threaten to kill their son, who was not yet three years old.
It was on that morning that Ha Jianguo walked into Li Jun's furniture factory in high spirits.
The previous afternoon, Jiang Yimei had just been brutally beaten by her husband because there was no money left in the safe. In order to humiliate his wife to the greatest extent and to successfully get the money from the house without disturbing relatives and friends, Li Jun had been abusing her in private parts that were difficult for outsiders to notice. Therefore, when Ha Jianguo described the single bed he wanted to the young proprietress, he did not notice anything wrong with the woman in front of him.
Just as he finished paying the deposit, Jiang Zifan, who used to take his father's surname, ran downstairs and suddenly threw himself into his mother's arms, begging her to hold him.
Jiang Yimei felt pain in her lower body and refused several times, saying "Mom is busy." But her son still insisted on climbing into her arms, hugging her neck, and shaking her back and forth like a monkey, saying that he wanted to eat the dorayaki that appeared in Doraemon.
At that time, Suicheng was not well-stocked. Because it was far inland, imported food from other countries was even rarer. Jiang Yimei didn't know what dorayaki was, so Jiang Zifan started to throw a tantrum. He jumped up and down on his mother's lap, pulling at her hair and shaking her shoulders repeatedly, crying, "Mom, buy it for me. Please, buy it for me! I want it!"
A groan escaped Jiang Yimei's lips, and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. Ha Jianguo put the receipt back in his wallet and noticed that the woman on the stool was leaning to one side, indicating something was wrong. He hesitated for a moment before asking, "Are you alright?" Jiang Yimei fainted and fell to the ground.
The child bumped his head, got up, and cried out loudly in Jiang Yimei's direction. Ha Jianguo quickly picked up the child to check his forehead. Fortunately, it was just a superficial injury. He comforted Jiang Zifan in the same voice he used to comfort Ha Yue. Upon closer inspection, Jiang Yimei, lying on the ground, was pale and her beige dress was already oozing a lot of pus and blood.
Ignoring Ha Jianguo's advice, Jiang Yimei, who regained consciousness a few minutes later, refused to go to the hospital to see a doctor for her injuries.
With tears welling in her eyes, she pleaded with the stranger in front of her to take her son out to buy some food so that she could treat her wounds.
Because he was also a parent, Ha Jianguo felt pity for Jiang Yimei and her child. He immediately picked up the child and went to the convenience store opposite the furniture factory, where he bought all kinds of bread from the shelves.
Squeeze the red bean filling from the red bean bread into the cream bread, and then use your large palm to flatten the round bread into a disc shape.
Jiang Zifan was so excited when he received the "dorayaki" from Ha Jianguo that he danced around with joy, stuffed it into his mouth, and ran upstairs to the furniture factory to show it off to his mother.
A little while later, Ha Jianguo followed the child up the stairs, carrying some medical supplies in his hand. He walked towards the bathroom, following the sound of the mother and child laughing.
Inside the bathroom, Jiang Yimei sat on a low children's stool. Her hair had just been pulled loose by her son, and her long, wet hair clung to her beautiful face, hanging down to her chest. In the sweltering heat of summer, she had taken off her long dress and was soaking in cold water to wash herself, leaving her in only a flesh-colored slip.
Dampness and crampedness are often described by poets as a mixture of pain and sweetness.
Ha Jianguo felt the same way that day; it was as if he had mistakenly wandered into someone else's backyard, where there was a field of roses in full bloom.
Ha Jianguo glanced at her and should have stepped back, but what struck him more than Jiang Yimei's radiant skin were the festering, rotting wounds on her body.
Despite these wounds, Jiang Yimei seemed oblivious to the pain and shame, still smiling at her son. She affectionately reached out and gently stroked his cheek, saying tenderly, "Did you thank your uncle?"
"Uncle is such a good person, isn't he?"
That day, Ha Jianguo put the medicine in his hand at the bottom of the stairs and hurriedly went downstairs. His steps were messy, and he ran in a hurry and panic.
But even after picking his daughter up from school that afternoon, eating fried noodles, and lying in bed, his restless heart was still pounding. At night, with his eyes closed, he imagined Zhao Chunni complaining about how her class leader was giving her a hard time again; if her husband weren't so incompetent, she wouldn't have to endure others' disrespect.
However, Ha Jianguo, who was being criticized, did not seriously reflect on his actions. His mind wandered, and as soon as he closed his eyes, he returned to that bathroom.
He felt a pang of heartache seeing Jiang Yimei in the bathroom, covered in cigarette burn scars.
So, under the pretext of altering the size of the single bed, he went to the furniture factory again three days later.
The 1.2-meter wire bed was changed to 1.5 meters, and he also learned that Jiang Yimei's furniture factory was in dire need of workers.
From that day on, every morning after dropping his daughter off at school, he would go to help out at Jiang Yimei's furniture factory. Although Jiang Yimei didn't pay him a salary for the time being, he lied to Zhao Chunni, saying that he had found a well-paying job at the furniture factory.
After working diligently in sales at the furniture factory for two weeks, one evening a heavy rain started. Jiang Yimei invited him to stay for dinner, and Ha Jianguo readily agreed. Halfway through the meal, he remembered that Zhao Chunni had told him before he left that morning that she would be working overtime that night and wouldn't be able to pick Ha Yue up from school.
After having an emotional affair, he could never hear Zhao Chunni speaking. No matter how loud her voice was, he was always in a daze and seemed unable to receive the messages his wife was conveying.
He rushed out of the furniture factory, got on his old bicycle, and pedaled all the way to the elementary school gate in the pouring rain. When he saw his daughter squatting in front of the security booth, he immediately realized that if he continued to let his feelings develop unchecked, it might hurt his family.
He immediately decided to stop seeing Jiang Yimei and find a new job.
But trying to cut water with a knife only makes it flow more; a decision that was never firm to begin with was ultimately shaken.
On the day Ha Yue's single bed was completed, Jiang Yimei called Ha Jianguo to say that there was a shortage of delivery personnel and that she needed him to come to the factory to help out. As soon as they met, after exchanging a few pleasantries, Jiang Yimei asked him, "Jianguo, why didn't you come? Why are you avoiding me? Are you afraid that I will bother you?"
Ha Jianguo's eyes darted around, and he chuckled dryly, saying, "What are you saying, boss lady? Why are you bothering me? It's just that I found another job, and this place is a bit far from here. I don't have time to pick up my daughter after get off work."
But before Ha Jianguo could change the subject, Jiang Yimei stared straight at him and said, "I know you have a family, and I won't bother you. If you don't want to anymore in the future, just tell me, and I can accept whatever the outcome."
“I’ve been thinking about you every day these past few days, and it’s made my heart ache. Do you swear to God that you haven’t thought about me?”
"Or are you scared? Are you afraid my husband will cause trouble for you?"
“We haven’t had marital relations in a long time, don’t you know that? He never comes home.”
Then things just happened as they were. Jiang Yimei and Ha Jianguo never discussed in detail how the improper relationship developed.
Perhaps out of revenge against her husband, or perhaps because no one had shown her any kindness or warmth for so long, she regarded Ha Jianguo as her benefactor. She didn't care about Ha Jianguo's shabby clothes or whether he had a family. She liked his composure in treating his children, and she also liked the cheap bracelet he gave her. She listened to his naive ideas and even encouraged him to start his own business and make money.
Later, she began to imagine how wonderful it would be if she could elope with Ha Jianguo.
At least Ha Jianguo is taller and more handsome than Li Jun, and at least Ha Jianguo has a gentle personality, so she will never have to live in fear of being under someone's fist.
Extramarital affairs are condemned by society, but at that time she firmly believed that what she had with Ha Jianguo was also a kind of love. This abnormal love also gave her some courage. When Li Jun came home again to beat her and demand money, she said "divorce".
She said she had found a buyer willing to take over the furniture factory, and she would leave the house after receiving the money. She did not want to live as a widow and be a slave to her gambling husband.
Unfortunately, this resistance did not bring her any benefit. The crazed Li Jun grinned and pressed his son's face against the red-hot boiler, taking away all her jewelry, including the three gold pieces from their wedding, and the jade and diamonds that Li Jun had given her in the years after their marriage to celebrate anniversaries and the birth of their child.
Li Jun simply didn't believe she had the guts to sell the furniture factory. In Li Jun's eyes, Jiang Yimei was just a weak and helpless woman who never seemed to lose her temper. Even when he beat her, she wouldn't utter a sound for fear of waking the sleeping child in the room. Afterwards, when her son rubbed his eyes and pushed open the door, she would immediately drag her injured body and force a smile to coax her son to sleep.
Even though her marriage has deteriorated to this terrible state, she still doesn't say a bad word about her father to her children. Li Jun gambles heavily outside, but she tells her children that their father is busy traveling for work to earn a living for them.
She told her son that Mommy loves you, Daddy loves you too, and you are the most beloved baby in the world.
But it was this same Jiang Yimei who, that very night, disregarded their promise to have an affair and dialed Ha Jianguo's number.
This time, she didn't say anything that wouldn't break up his family. She just pleaded with him pitifully, hoping he would be her hero and savior. Playing the emotional card wasn't enough; she also planned to elope with Ha Jianguo, taking all of Li Jun's belongings from the furniture factory.
Ha Jianguo did not disappoint her; he really took her away from Suicheng.
They drove so fast when they left, the two of them huddled in the back seat, holding the injured Jiang Zifan tightly, like a desperate run at the end of the road in a movie. Jiang Yimei remembered that Ha Jianguo seemed to be crying at that time, she didn't know if he was still reluctant to leave Suicheng, he just mechanically told Jiang Yimei: "It will be alright. It will be alright. As long as the business is successful, everything will be alright."
But now that I think about it, he probably said that to himself.
At the time, Ha Jianguo was two years older than her, only twenty-nine years old.
They both needed to find a hypocritical excuse for their selfishness. She wanted to save her son, so she couldn't care less about the well-being of other people's families, while he was unwilling to spend his whole life working mediocrely, so he killed his wife and daughter with a sword.
Jiang Yimei opened the window, letting the damp sea breeze into the room. She got up, took the towel from her son, and continued to wash Ha Jianguo's feet, her voice gentle, "So, give his share to his daughter. It's already been many years late, it can't be any later."
"Just think of all the years he's been your father. He's been really good to us, hasn't he?"
"Mom knows you're a good boy, you're not a bad person." Over the years, not only has she repeatedly refused the hospital's do-or-die consent form for Ha Jianguo, but every time she withdraws medical expenses from the company account, her son has never said a word of objection.
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