Chapter 17
Fu Jingyuan stood in front of the gate of the garden mansion and looked up at the sky.
It was a beautiful day, sunny and bright, with a few wisps of clouds dotting the sky. The surrounding grass was lush and green, and the flowers were vibrant red—it was a scene straight out of a painting.
Such beautiful weather, yet I'm being sent to accompany that person—in Fu Yangshan's words, it's "eating, drinking, having fun, and then finding a few young ladies. In short, you have to fulfill my duty as host. You're not much older than him, so you have to do your best to make him happy. If he's happy, I'm happy! That'll count as you doing a great job!"
Eat, drink, have fun, and find a few more young women?
Fu Jingyuan felt a chill run down his spine.
Composing himself, he stepped inside. But after only a few steps, he saw Rongxiang sitting under a large tree.
Rong Xiang wore a short green gauze jacket with plum blossoms embroidered on the cuffs; underneath were moon-white trousers, and he wore barefoot in a pair of light blue wooden clogs. Because of his pale complexion, the color of his clothes appeared even more cool and clean. Xiao Meng sat beside him, and the two remained silent. If Fu Jingyuan hadn't arrived, they probably would have continued to sit in silence.
"Hmm!" Fu Jingyuan cleared his throat.
Rongxiang looked up at him, then lowered his eyes and coughed.
“Um… my older brother asked me to come and show you around.” Fu Jingyuan suddenly realized that this was the first time Rong Xiang had been alone with him since he arrived in Xi’an—if you ignored Xiao Meng.
"Oh," Rongxiang replied to the ground.
"Where do you want to go?" Fu Jingyuan asked patiently.
"I don't want to go anywhere."
Fu Jingyuan remained silent for a moment. After standing there blankly for a while, he tried to start a conversation: "Then, how about I chat with you for a while?"
"casual."
Fu Jingyuan cursed inwardly, but if he stormed off in a huff, his older brother would definitely scold him. So he gritted his teeth, pulled up a chair, and sat down: "How have you been lately?"
Rongxiang covered his mouth with his hand and gave a shallow yawn: "Oh no."
"It's been so hot these past few days!"
"yes."
"You're probably not used to the climate here, right? But you're wearing very little, so it's a bit better."
"Um."
"Actually, I was really surprised when I saw you that day."
“Me too.” Rong Xiang looked up at Fu Jingyuan’s face as he said this: “I didn’t expect you to be Chairman Fu’s brother. First of all, there’s no connection between our names.”
“That’s how it is,” Fu Jingyuan explained, “Yangshan is my elder brother’s courtesy name. But everyone calls him that, so they don’t know his real name. His original name was Fu Jingzhang.”
“Oh,” Rongxiang said listlessly, lowering his head again, “They don’t even look alike.”
"Yes, my brother and I don't look very alike."
Ten minutes of silence followed. Fu Jingyuan remembered something and hesitated whether to ask it or not when he saw Rong Xiang put his hand on his knee, as if he was about to stand up.
Is he leaving?
Fu Jingyuan panicked and blurted out, "Why didn't you reply to my letter?"
Rong Xiang ignored him completely and stood up to leave. Fu Jingyuan grabbed his arm and tried to pull him back, but Rong Xiang didn't resist at all and fell into his arms. Fu Jingyuan quickly embraced him. In that instant, he felt a sense of disorientation. Rong Xiang's body was cold and soft, and the past and present scenes overlapped, creating a hazy and confused feeling.
"Xiao Meng, Xiao Meng!" Rong Xiang called softly.
Xiao Meng responded and ran into the building. A short while later, he ran out again with a suitcase in his hand.
“Mr. Fu?” Xiao Meng pointed to the chair: “Could you please help Third Master sit down in the chair?”
Fu Jingyuan put Rongxiang down as instructed: "What's wrong with him?"
Rongxiang, eyes closed, leaned back in the chair, half-lying down. Xiao Meng rolled up one of his sleeves, opened the suitcase, and swiftly took out a syringe, drew up the medicine, and injected it. Her movements were extremely practiced.
Throughout the process, Rongxiang kept his eyes closed. If his expression was blank before the injection, it was now calm and serene.
Fu Jingyuan stood there dumbfounded. The calmer Rong Xiang became, the more his heart sank—as if he were sinking into hell.
He had heard about Rong Xiang's situation from Yan Guanglin before, but having not witnessed it himself, he always felt it was unlikely. Now that everything was laid bare before him, he felt not only shock but also intense heartache.
Xiao Meng packed up the injection equipment, carried the suitcase back upstairs. Fu Jingyuan slowly squatted down next to Rong Xiang, raised his hand and touched his short hair: "Why?"
Rong Xiang suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze sharp and piercing, like an eagle's, yet his face wore a gentle smile: "What?"
Don't look at me like that!
Rong Xiang closed his eyes again: "Okay."
Why are you ruining yourself like this?
"I don't."
"You should take morphine!"
"I can't help it. I didn't expect it to turn out like this, and by the time I realized it, it was too late."
"You should quit it!"
Rongxiang shook his head: "Quitting morphine? You're kidding. You can't imagine the pain, it's inhuman." As he said this, a look of sorrow appeared on his face, and his eyelashes trembled slightly.
"But you're committing slow suicide. You're still young, and you have a long road ahead of you!"
"Just as expected of Fu Jingyuan's tone. Reasonable, well-founded, and righteous!"
"I'm doing this for your own good!"
"Thanks."
Fu Jingyuan stared at Rong Xiang in disbelief for a long time before finally sitting back down in his chair in a huff.
After a long pause, Rongxiang spoke up: "You haven't finished talking about the reply yet."
"I have nothing to say, I just want to ask you why you didn't reply to my letter."
"letter?"
"It's that letter I sent you from Beiping—you...you haven't forgotten, have you?"
"A letter?" Rongxiang repeated unconsciously, "Oh, I haven't received any letters from you."
"What?"
"After you left without saying goodbye, I never received any news from you again. What, weren't you trying to distance yourself from me, this traitor, back then?" Rong Xiang chuckled twice as he said this.
"ah?……"
What did the letter say?
Fu Jingyuan lowered his head with a complicated expression: "I was suddenly transferred back to the Beiping headquarters. At the time, I was angry with you, so I planned to tell you after I got to Beiping. But you didn't reply after I sent the letter, so I thought... so I..."
Upon hearing this, Rong Xiang sat up straight, shook his head, and laughed, "Ah, that's all in the past." Then he watched with satisfaction as Fu Jingyuan's ever-changing expressions shifted.
Fu Jingyuan muttered to himself, "I didn't know it was like this. This damned airmail!"
Seeing his frustrated expression, Rongxiang felt a surge of vengeful pleasure. To amplify this sense of victory, he deliberately sighed in a regretful tone, "So be it. It seems we were destined to be apart. Don't dwell on it anymore. Yesterday is gone, isn't it?"
Sure enough, upon hearing this, Fu Jingyuan appeared even more annoyed.
Fu Yangshan straightened his black gauze jacket in front of the dressing mirror. Fifth Concubine handed him a walking stick and smiled, "Alright, alright, that's neat enough!"
Fu Yangshan glanced at him again: "What do you know? Master Zhenchan's lecture today is quite a grand affair. Zhao Zhensheng will be there too, and I certainly can't let him outshine me. Everyone knows how to make a name for themselves."
Fifth Concubine laughed again: "How can that Zhao fellow compare to us? You are just 'busy with nothing to do'."
Fu Yangshan ignored her, but saw Fu Jingyuan walking in from outside in the mirror. He quickly turned around and called out to him, "Hurry up and get ready, come with me to listen to Yan Zhenchan's sermon!"
Fu Jingyuan shrugged, frowned, and complained, "Didn't you tell me to go shopping with Rongxiang later? Why do I have to go listen to a sermon again? Yan Zhenchan's poems are not bad, but I can't understand the sermon!"
Fu Yangshan then remembered that he had told him that morning to keep an eye on Rongxiang. He was busy and had forgotten about it after saying it. He was quite pleased to find that Rongxiang was actually willing to go and appease him for him, thinking that his younger brother had finally come to his senses and learned how to deal with people.
"It's fine if you don't want to go. I'm busy with things these days and can't get away. Tell Rongxiang not to think I'm being rude. He's a piece of fat meat now, and if I don't keep a close eye on him, Zhao Zhensheng will come and take a slice."
Hearing this analogy, Fu Jingyuan was quite unhappy, but he didn't say much. He hurriedly turned around and went upstairs: "I'm going to change my clothes. It's even hotter today."
"I said..." Fu Yangshan shouted from behind, adding, "Bring plenty of money!" As soon as he finished speaking, he realized he had said something pointless, because while his younger brother might not have many other redeeming qualities, he was never stingy when it came to money. It was as if the Fu family's money just fell from the sky.
Fu Jingyuan ignored him, hurriedly went back to his room to change his shirt, and then drove alone to the Garden Mansion.
He walked hurriedly, and the weather was scorching hot, so his shirt was soaked with sweat halfway there. When he finally arrived at his destination, the servants at the door saw him and quickly opened a parasol to greet him: "Second Master, why are you going out at this time? It's the hottest time of day."
Fu Jingyuan also felt that he had come in a bit too hastily—it was completely unnecessary. But since he was already here, he could only make the best of it.
Did Mr. Rong go out today?
"No, but we called a girl who sings drum songs."
Fu Jingyuan was surprised; he had never heard of Rong Xiang having this hobby.
He walked across the scorching cement floor and fled into the building.
Rong Xiang was sitting in the small living room on the first floor, in front of a girl and a musician, singing in a very measured and rhythmic manner. Hearing someone enter, he only turned around to look, saw that it was Fu Jingyuan, gave a slight nod, and continued to listen to the girl singing and talking.
Fu Jingyuan was surprised to receive such a cold reception upon entering, and felt somewhat annoyed. He walked up to Rong Xiang without ceremony: "Hey, I've come to see you!"
Rongxiang pointed to the small sofa on the right: "Welcome, have a seat." He then waved to the maid: "Bring him some chilled plum juice-------" He turned to Fu Jingyuan: "Do you want plum juice or soda? Oh, right, I just made ice cream this morning, it's in the fridge." He turned to the maid: "And bring a plate of ice cream."
After saying all that, he turned his gaze back to the girl, smiling slightly as he looked her up and down.
Fu Jingyuan looked at him coldly. Rong Xiang had a pair of phoenix eyes, so when he smiled, the corners of his eyes were particularly long and upturned, and his gaze was deep and mysterious, with a kind of understated charm.
"You seem to be in good spirits!" he couldn't help but say.
Rongxiang nodded: "Just for fun."
"I had no idea you liked this."
Rongxiang's gaze was still fixed on the girl singing the drum ballad: "I don't like the drum ballad. But the person is very nice."
"Oh, really?"
Iced plum juice and ice cream were served. Fu Jingyuan gulped down a glass without ceremony, put down the glass, wiped his mouth, and said, "I have something important to tell you. Can you wait a bit before listening?"
Rongxiang nodded readily: "Okay."
The girl singing the drum and the musician were called to a nearby room to rest and have tea. Fu Jingyuan swallowed the ice cream in his mouth and saw that Rong Xiang had indeed turned his face towards him, adopting a posture of listening attentively.
"I contacted a German doctor this morning. Would you like to come with me to see him?"
Rongxiang feigned ignorance: "What are you looking at?"
For some reason, Fu Jingyuan was suddenly enraged by his feigned ignorance: "What do you think?"
"I have no idea."
Fu Jingyuan glared at him fiercely, but because he was wearing glasses, the fierce look was largely concealed: "His name is Seryozha. You probably haven't heard of him, but he's very famous in Xi'an. Commander Zhang of the 27th Army was the one who asked him to help him quit opium."
Rong Xiang raised an eyebrow: "Oh. Judging from the name, it sounds like a White Russian."
"I'm not interested in arguing with you here. Are you coming or not?"
"I'm not going."
Fu Jingyuan was taken aback by Rong Xiang's quick answer: "Why?"
“Because I know what he’ll do to me—” Rong Xiang’s face was still smiling, but his brows furrowed slightly. He squinted and stroked his chin. “He’ll just tie me up and, when I can’t take it anymore, give me a shot of heroin. Then he’ll soon find out that heroin is more addictive than morphine, and there’s absolutely no way to quit.” He pointed at Fu Jingyuan and laughed. “I’ve tried everything, and nothing works.”
Fu Jingyuan slapped Rong Xiang's hand away: "You really have a weak will. What can't you overcome?"
"Why don't you give it a try?"
Fu Jingyuan snorted: "Keep it for yourself!"
Rongxiang leaned back on the sofa: "If you don't dare, why pretend to be a tough guy here? I hate it when you're here, spouting endless moralistic platitudes, but you're really nothing special. For example, you called me a traitor back then, but you didn't actually go and fight the Japanese yourself. I'm really tired of hearing it."
Fu Jingyuan immediately straightened his back: "Oh, I was just trying to be helpful, and you're annoyed by me?"
Rongxiang turned his face away and sighed.
"You're hopeless!" Fu Jingyuan stood up angrily. "I never imagined that you would become like this after not seeing you for a while. It's truly heartbreaking."
Rongxiang remained silent.
Fu Jingyuan glared at him for a minute before finally letting out a "humph" and turning to stride away.
Rongxiang tilted his head and leaned over, took a cigarette from the cigarette box on the coffee table and put it in his mouth. Xiao Meng immediately bent down and lit it for him.
Taking a deep breath, his mouth full of smoke, he ordered, "Call Xiao Xiu out and keep singing."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
