I wish you success in your studies.
I wish you success in your studies.
76.
Once Lan Jian realizes that she is not living comfortably, she will try every means to escape the Meng family's manor.
Meng Yang couldn't understand why Meng Lanjian would be so foolish as to insist on coming to the courtyard house her father bought and spending all her time fishing. The Meng family manor was so big that Meng Lanjian wouldn't run into anyone she didn't want to see, whether she was riding a horse or running a marathon inside.
Meng Qi left early and returned late. In order to ensure that Meng Lanjian's husband could successfully enter the pass and take her away, he urged the progress of the document review every day.
That evening, Lan Jian video-chatted with her arranged husband, scolding Meng Yang for twenty minutes and Meng Qi for ten minutes. When she was tired of scolding, she held her water glass and sighed, "Chongming, you are so good. Only you can tolerate all my bad temper."
Chongming was playing a game and said without turning his head, "You don't have a bad temper."
Just as Lan Jian was about to gloat, she heard him slowly deliver a devastating blow: "All you have is a bad temper."
Lan Jian initially wanted to be angry, but after pondering the difference between a bad temper and a foul temper, she started laughing foolishly to herself. Chongming, also unaware of what she was laughing at, turned his gaze to the screen, his lips already curving upwards.
"I'm talking to you, still laughing? Aren't you stupid?"
Lan Jian didn't retort; she just continued smiling. Finally, Chongming said, "Meng Qi really deserves to be scolded. She didn't even manage the connections in the Household Registration Department properly, leaving the daughter of the dignified Director of Finance separated from her husband..." He glanced at the time, "For ten days."
Lan Jian added like a lackey, "They deserve to die!"
Meng Qi, who was living in the west wing, suddenly sneezed twice.
Lan Jian didn't stay at her uncle's house for long. She returned to the ancient temple in Lan Valley, where she and her grandmother had lived together. The elegant temple was filled with the lingering fragrance of orchids and the faint aroma of tea. As expected, a midday thunderstorm arrived in the summer mountains. In the downpour, Lan Jian turned on the holographic projection. By the small stove under the eaves, an old woman dressed in plain clothes was cooking red bean soup with a palm-leaf fan.
The banana leaves were relentlessly battered by raindrops the size of beans, and the strong winds weighed them down, causing them to slap against the stone-carved blue lantern in the courtyard. The courtyard door creaked open, and Lan Jian looked up to see a person holding an umbrella, momentarily disoriented.
"How did you find me?" Lan Jian stood up, casually tore off a banana leaf and held it over her head to go and help him.
"I'm here now, all the formalities are done." Chongming stepped on the pebbles on the ground and strode towards Lanjian, who was barefoot. "Don't run, these stones are sharp!"
The cobblestone path made a dull grating sound, and the sound of rain was suddenly amplified. Lan Jian's mind was filled with a roaring sound, urging her to rush forward recklessly as if she had lost her tail.
Lan Jian threw herself into his arms, her nose stinging with tears. "Did you come here for red bean soup?"
Chongming chuckled softly, carrying the person in one arm as they walked towards the veranda. "I didn't know you had this skill!"
He carried her to a cushion on the wooden floor, tossed away the wet banana leaf she was clutching in her hand, and remarked, "You're quite skilled at tearing leaves."
"Who told this banana leaf to keep slapping that green lamp!" Lan Jian chuckled as she followed Chongming's movement to sit down, placing her pebbly feet on his lap. She pouted, "Help me wipe them off."
Chongming had no tissues in his pocket, so he took off his wet shirt and carefully cleaned the small pebbles from the yard that were used to deter thieves, which were stuck to the soles of her feet. He cleaned for a long time before stopping and turning to look at her.
He seemed to have a lot to say, but in the end he simply asked her calmly, "Who sent you into the mountains?"
“Uncle!” Lan Jian stretched his hands out from under the eaves and washed them with rainwater. “This is his garrison area now.”
Chongming looked around and found the nearest pond in the courtyard, filled with spring water collected in bamboo tubes. He then followed Lanjian's example and washed his hands in the rain. He seemed preoccupied and after a long while said, "Is it your special forces uncle who barely visited you a few times while your wife was seriously ill?"
Lan Jian's uncle Zhou
Zhou Puzhao is a naval officer, and his uncle Qi Li is a special forces soldier in the Marine Corps. Both are professional soldiers, but Zhou Puzhao is already the commander-in-chief of the navy and can go home every weekend, while Qi Li, the commander, guards Langu day and night, controlling the north and south borders.
“Actually, my uncle loves my aunt very much,” Lan Jian got up again, ran barefoot to the side room next to the living room, pulled out a bamboo trunk and hugged it to her chest. Opening the trunk, she found several fine mother-of-pearl inlaid lacquer boxes inside. “Look, this whole box is full of letters my uncle wrote to my aunt from the time he started pursuing her! This box contains the letters he wrote after my aunt became seriously ill!”
Chongming was somewhat surprised, "How did these letters end up here?"
“After my aunt passed away, I found this box in her safe. I secretly hid it and brought it out of the house. My uncle also knew about it... I was afraid that if I left it at home, that woman would see it.”
"Your uncle is so comfortable letting you keep this?"
"My uncle said he might die in battle at any time, so he'd rather let me keep it. He even asked me to keep my aunt's replies together! They're all in here, and I've organized them chronologically! Pretty impressive, right?"
"That's amazing!" Chongming touched Lanjian's short hair that reached her ears, casually changing the subject, "You've already donated your long hair?"
"I cut it before I went into the mountains. I mailed it myself, and it took me a lot of time to find a bag and seal it!"
Why does sealing take time?
"Because I forgot to tie my hair up with a hair tie before cutting it!"
"You cut your own long hair, didn't you?"
"Yes, I made the first cut myself!"
The rain was getting heavier and heavier today, with no sign of stopping. Lan Jian filled a bowl with red bean soup and placed it on a small table. She and Chong Ming sat with their heads close together, drinking the soup. "How is it? Isn't red bean soup cooked on a honeycomb briquette stove completely different from red bean soup cooked on an induction cooker in the city?"
Chongming picked up the small bowl, no bigger than his palm, and drank it all in one gulp. "Delicious! But it's strange, I feel like I get goosebumps when I drink this red bean soup."
Lan Jian, holding her red bean soup, stared wide-eyed in surprise, "I can make that too!"
The two looked at each other and laughed silently for a while. Then Chongming suddenly spoke up, "Lanjian, when you're abroad and miss me, write to me, okay?"
"Okay, I miss you, so I'll write a letter and send it to your home in Shenhua Village."
...
"bite!"
Meng Lanjian was awakened by the timer of the microwave oven.
She woke up on the sofa in her rented room, clutching a pillow. Looking around, she saw neither red bean soup nor banana leaves, only the torrential rain outside the window after the typhoon and the blurry, lingering image of Chongming Island from her dream.
It's been two years; Meng Lanjian has lost contact with Chongming for a full two years.
Two years ago, Meng Qi presented Meng Lanjian with a rejection letter from Chongming, stating that she was barred from entering the country due to her military status. Since then, Meng Lanjian and Chongming have been separated. The Household Registration Department restricted Meng Lanjian's departure from the country because she was the spouse of a member of the Southern Army. In the end, Director Meng personally led a team to the embassy of Country X to finalize Meng Lanjian's visa and sent her to Country X overnight on a private plane.
The last time Meng Lanjian saw Chongming was at the airport during her layover in the United States. She had five hours for her connecting flight, and Chongming, fearing further unforeseen circumstances, had already been waiting for her in the US for two days. By then, Chongming had resumed his military service, and only under the guise of military exchange was he able to meet Lanjian at the airport. However, he couldn't accompany her to Country X.
At the airport, the two finished a small box of chocolates, the same kind Chongming had bought before his last trip back to Nanlu from the US, which later became their wedding candy. Then they chatted as if at home, and eventually said goodbye. There were no heartfelt farewells, no lingering reluctance; Lanjian waved to Chongming carefree and said, "Don't miss me too much, I'll be back during my vacation!"
Chongming patted her forearm and said, "I wish you success in your studies."
Okay! Bye-bye!
"Bye-Bye!"
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