Chapter 50 In the still of the night, a pillow beside my ear...
In the still of the night, the constant rustling of the pillow against my eardrum.
Like a restless little animal, Li Li tossed and turned, and after thinking for a long time, she turned around and whispered, "If I go back through proper channels, can you pretend you didn't hear what I said today?"
"Is it alright, Gardenia?"
Li Zhizi didn't speak; she pretended to be asleep, refusing to answer with her silence.
When I woke up the next morning, the bed next to me was empty.
Only a single pillow was squeezed awkwardly into half the width of the bed; last night felt like a dream.
A few days later, Li Zhizi received an invitation to an art exhibition in China in her mailbox. The recipient was Ashley Lee.
Li Li explained to Li Zhoudu that this was a private solo exhibition with very few invitations. Since classes weren't too demanding during the semester, she decided to go back and take a look over the weekend.
Li Zhoudu felt that her trip back to China was both inexplicable and extremely complicated.
When Li Li called Li Zhizi, she was packing her suitcase in the next room. Suddenly, she heard a faint "Brother Zhoudu". She immediately dropped what she was doing, ran to the next room, peeked out from under the door, and listened to Li Zhizi and Li Zhoudu talking on the phone.
Li Zhoudu asked, "Is the kitten busy lately?"
Li Zhizi pretended to ignore the intense gazes from the doorway. She sat on the edge of the bed, lowered her eyes, and said, "She's alright. She's been coming home quite early lately."
What's the story behind your trip back to China this time?
She had a prepared response in mind, smoothly distancing herself: "I don't know. Li Li said she applied for the spot online herself, with a one in a dozen chance, and she didn't expect to get it. Do you need me to go back with you?"
Li Zhoudu hesitated for a moment, then said, "Forget it, it's just a matter of two or three days. You don't need to play along with her nonsense. I'll pick her up then."
Li Zhizi said "Okay".
Li Li gratefully clasped her hands together, then turned her head away, pretending not to see it.
——
Two days later, Li Li landed in K Province, which is next to S City, and Li Zhou went to the airport to pick her up.
He had official business to attend to and wasn't there just to keep her company. He booked a room for Li Li next to his own and found it a little funny to see her holding the invitation like it was a precious treasure.
He took it and examined it in his hands; it was so neat and orderly that he couldn't find any flaws.
However, he also knew Li Li's temperament well; he wouldn't come to the temple without a reason, and he always had ulterior motives.
He lifted his eyelids, looked at her expectant gaze, and said back, "Look at how stingy you are, would I let you ruin it?"
Li Li smiled ingratiatingly.
The next morning, Li Zhoudu escorted the person to the entrance of the art exhibition. The interior was very high-class, with an exhibition assistant checking credentials at the door, so he was indeed unable to enter.
Li Li said she was going shopping and having dinner after the exhibition, and wouldn't wait for him to come back.
Li Zhoudu told her not to wander off and to call him if she needed anything, then drove off to attend to his business.
Li Li nodded and obediently agreed.
A dozen minutes later, she left the exhibition hall, came down from another elevator, and got into Tan Yi's car.
His mother lives in a county-level city under the provincial capital, which takes more than an hour to drive there.
She got into the car without saying a word, flipping through the thin sheet of documents Tan Yi had tossed on the passenger seat.
[Zheng Jing is from K Province. After graduating from junior college, she worked in S City. Ten years later, she returned to her home province and became a kindergarten teacher. She met her husband through relatives and friends, and they had a daughter three years after their marriage. Her daughter is now thirteen years old.]
A woman's life of more than forty years can be condensed into just a few short sentences.
Li Li didn't ask him how he found these things. In fact, the two of them hadn't spoken a word since she got into the car.
As the car drove from the bustling city center to a more secluded section of road, the buildings became increasingly sparse and low-rise.
Zheng Jing made the appointment through an intermediary. She said she could accommodate Tan Yi's time and place, but he politely declined.
He said the person he was waiting for had not yet returned.
The car pulled into a gas station midway through the journey, and Tan Yi made a phone call. Looking at Li Li's profile through the car window, he said something to the person on the other end.
We got back on the bus, and this time it only took about ten minutes to get there.
Li Li followed behind Tan Yi to a relatively upscale restaurant near their meeting place.
When they got out of the car, they already saw the woman waiting in front of the door.
Zheng Jing is in her forties, but she takes good care of her face. You can still vaguely see the beauty she had when she was young. She is not thin and has a good complexion, so she looks very healthy.
When she saw Tan Yi, her gaze held excitement, joy, restraint, and also awkwardness.
She repeatedly said, "You've come all this way, it's really kind of you to make this trip."
Li Li felt a soreness in her nose.
Tan Yi, however, calmly said, "Let's go in and sit down."
Tan Yi stared at the face before him, silently recalling the traces of that person's existence in his life, but he was too young at the time and had no recollection of it.
Zheng Jing said, "I've seen you on the news. You're all doing well now."
Li Li spoke up for him, saying, "Yes. He graduated with a master's degree from the University of Hong Kong last year and now runs a listed company. He's very capable."
"Really?" Zheng Jing seemed quite pleased.
“Yes, he has always missed you very much over the years.” Li Li didn’t mind speaking up for Tan Yi about the feelings that boys often find difficult to express towards their mothers.
She talked about Tan Yi from his childhood to his recent years. Tan Yi did not interrupt. He got up, reached for the teapot, and poured tea into the cups of the three of them.
Li Li then asked, "Do you have a picture of your sister? We'd like to see it."
Zheng Jing nodded repeatedly and took out her phone. Li Li then gently nudged Tan Yi's arm and reminded him, "Don't you want to add each other on WeChat?"
Tan Yi then took out his phone, and Zheng Jing scanned the code and, as Li Li had instructed, sent over her sister's photo.
The thirteen-year-old girl was in her first year of junior high school. She was wearing her school uniform, which was clean and neat, and her smile was bright and sunny.
Li Li secretly felt that she resembled Tan Yi back then, and casually asked, "Doesn't she look a lot like us in that photo, the group photo when we first joined Siper..."
Tan Yi nodded in agreement.
Zheng Jing then cautiously asked, "Who are you...?"
Li Li said, "Tan Yi and I have been good friends for many years."
Tan Yi paused for a moment as he swiped through the photos.
Zheng Jing did not press the matter further.
The meal was quite enjoyable, in every sense of the word. Zheng Jing is a very gentle woman; she was forced to leave back then, which was not her own choice, and Tan Yi never held a grudge against her.
Li Li noticed her repeated attempts to express her concern for Tan Yi, which she seemed to want to say but couldn't.
I believe that with time and more chatting on WeChat, the awkwardness will eventually fade away.
Lunch ended quickly, and they stood by the roadside to say goodbye to Zheng Jing.
Tan Yi kept his hands in his pockets the whole time. Years of tacit understanding made Li Li instinctively take out his bank card from his pocket and help him transfer the money.
"This is a small token of our appreciation for you and my sister."
Zheng Jing quickly declined, but Tan Yi held her hand and pushed it back to his chest, indicating that she should keep it safe.
Tan Yi lowered his eyes and said, "I'm currently based in Hong Kong. If you want to visit, feel free to contact me anytime. I'll treat you well."
After seeing Zheng Jing off, on the way back, Li Li suddenly felt a sense of relief.
She sipped the coffee she had just bought at the convenience store and said, "If she had taken you with her, you would probably be doing just fine."
Tan Yi looked at her in the rearview mirror.
Li Li continued to imagine this possibility: "Then you'll probably be like your sister, going through all the way up to K Province in your education. With your intelligence, you should be able to get into a very good university in the college entrance examination, and study computer science or finance."
"Now that I've graduated with my master's degree, I spend my days squeezing onto buses and subways, becoming just another ordinary overtime dog in the 996 army," she said, tilting her head and jokingly.
Tan Yi corrected her: "My mom seems to be in pretty good financial shape. Maybe she'll buy me a car after I graduate so I won't have to take the bus."
"yes."
Li Li blinked: "That way you won't recognize me. Not bad, right?"
Tan Yi did not give her an answer.
This assumption is impossible.
He is Tan Congxu's only son, the starting point and hope for his life to turn around, and he will not let Tan Yi be taken away by such an ordinary woman.
So, sooner or later, he and Li Li will meet again.
"Tan Yi, you have found your mother today, and you also have a blood-related sister in the world. From now on, you will never be alone again."
Li Li put the coffee card in the slot and said solemnly, "I've already paid back everything I owed you."
"You've never owed me anything," Tan Yi said calmly.
“I know,” she said, feeling quite relieved. “It’s my own fault, and I don’t plan to dwell on these things anymore.”
Tan Yi understood the implication in her words and asked in a joking tone, "Are you planning to forget me?"
Li Li answered in her heart: Yes.
She no longer expects an apology that will never come, nor does she need to agonize over the possibility of what might have happened.
Tan Yi has found someone who loves her, and she can finally let go of this matter.
Tan Yi didn't say anything more and drove her to the hotel parking lot.
Li Li jumped out of the car, waved casually, and suddenly heard him ask from the car behind her, "If there's a chance, can I come see you?"
Li Li was stunned for a moment.
She turned around, thought for a moment, and said honestly, "I'm still very happy to meet you this time, Tan Yi."
"But the thought of seeing them again in the future makes me sad. So, I don't want to force myself."
She looked at Tan Yi's face and thought that he was much better than when she last saw him by the lake: "Look at today, there are still many people who care about you."
“Like Fang Xuan too…” She stopped herself before she could finish, “No matter how things are going between you and her, if you’ve chosen this path, then keep going.”
Li Li said, "I used to think that the most important thing in a relationship was to be fully committed and passionate. But now, I think it's loyalty."
She repeated very seriously: "Loyalty. Those two words are the most important."
This statement didn't seem to disappoint Tan Yi or touch a nerve; he calmly asked, "Is that so?"
Li Li nodded.
Tan Yi smiled and said, "If I hadn't disobeyed back then, would you still be willing to return the millet to me?"
Li Li pursed her lips and turned her head away to politely refuse him: "But that's my cat."
Tan Yi turned to look ahead and said calmly, "Life is long, and today's gains and losses are not necessarily the final verdict. My war with Tan Su is not over, and we will meet again someday."
"See you next time, kitty."
As Li Li stepped into the elevator, she heard the sound of a car leaving behind her.
She felt as if all her strength had been drained and she needed to rest immediately.
She got on the elevator, reached into her bag for her room key, and suddenly looked up, startled by the figure standing in front of the door in the corridor.
She stared at Tan Su in disbelief: "Ah! How did you end up here?"
Tan Su grabbed her slender neck with one hand, pushed her forcefully against the wall, and forced a kiss against the wall.
His palm pressed slightly against Li Li's airway, forcing him to open his mouth to breathe, allowing him to wreak havoc in the process.
Li Li felt he was probably insane; he was hitting and punching her, pushing her out. She said, "Li Zhoudu's room is right next door! Do you want to die?"
"What are you afraid of?" Tan Su's eyes were deep, his fingers still rubbing her lips. "Didn't you say that nobody knows me, so you don't take me seriously at all?"
"So what if Li Zhoudu knows?"
He said, "You dare to do it but not admit it?"
Li Li felt that he was really out of his mind, so she opened her mouth and bit his finger hard.
Tan Su frowned, endured the pain as he pulled his finger out, and kissed it again.
——
Throughout the day, Li Li kept reporting her location to Li Zhoudu. First, she went to see an exhibition, then she ate Western food, and then she went shopping.
He returned to the hotel around 6 p.m., intending to have dinner with Li Li, but she said she wasn't hungry and didn't want to eat.
Li Zhoudu, unbuttoning his shirt, asked, "Should I order food and have it delivered to you?"
Li Li's voice was groggy as she said, "I'm so tired, I really don't want to eat."
"Okay, then you go to sleep first."
Li Zhoudu hung up the phone and went to the bathroom to wash up. Looking at his face in the mirror, his gaze slowly fell on the watch he had taken off from the sink.
He picked up his watch strap, weighed it in his hand, bent down, and tossed it into the gap under the bed. Then he sat back on the sofa and calmly dialed the front desk.
Li Zhoudu took a sip of water and said, "I have lost an expensive watch from my room. I would like to trouble you to check the surveillance footage in the hallway."
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Author's Note: [Thumbs up] This chapter has so many words!
I really enjoy reading the comments section, let's have a friendly discussion! [shy emoji]
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