Chapter 14
"You've got some nerve stealing money from my casino."
Qi Yaoguang was beaten until blood trickled from his nose and mouth. He curled up in a ball, trembling on the ground. He clenched his teeth tightly, as if that would alleviate some of the abdominal pain and allow him to endure it. But his eyes remained fierce, fixed intently on the man standing high above him.
“I didn’t want to either, but you’re being unreasonable. I’ve already told you, I stole this money, and I’m returning it.”
"Give it back?" The man let out a loud laugh. "Do you think I'm stupid? Have you ever seen a casino that's so accommodating? Giving away lost money to gamblers? Stealing money? Even if you killed someone to steal it, I wouldn't give it back to you. Furthermore, stealing money on my turf will result in having your hands and feet chopped off as a warning to others. Bring the knife!"
Qi Yaoguang swallowed the blood in his throat and used his remaining strength to prop himself up to meet his gaze:
“Give me back my money, and you can cut off whichever hand you want, as long as you return the money. Otherwise, I will never let you go until I die. You know I’ve worked in the entertainment industry, and I know more people than you do. If I don’t get my money back, your casinos can forget about ever opening again.”
"Wow, a big star! I'm so scared! I'm really scared. What movies have you been in? Tell me a couple of times. But seriously, does anyone still recognize you these days? Hey, do you recognize him? Don't know him? Really? Someone famous and you don't know him?! Don't you even read the newspapers?! Hey, what about you? Do you know him? You don't know him?!"
"I know him, he's a loser who keeps losing money gambling!"
The mocking laughter of several men echoed through the crowded casino. Qi Yaoguang clenched his fists as he listened to their taunts.
"Give me the money, or I'll either die here today, or I'll see you at the police station tomorrow."
The leading man met his bloodshot eyes and gave him a crooked smile.
"Good, that shows some backbone. Go sharpen the knife, don't let our big stars suffer too much." (Ours)
The casino patrons were all engrossed in watching the spectacle, almost oblivious to the woman carrying a handbag who had quietly slipped in. There were plenty of women in the casino, and even if she were seen, it wouldn't cause a fuss. But this was a stranger, and suspicious glances were constantly directed at her, a growing sense of unease spreading. Gu Mengzhu tried to avoid those uncomfortable stares, tilting her head back and searching for her target. After a while, she finally spotted Qi Yaoguang's back through a gap in the crowd. His hands and feet were being held down, his body pressed to the ground, and even his head was being held down.
What is she doing? Why is she holding a knife? Is she going to chop off her hands and feet, as she's thinking?
Gu Mengzhu stared intently at the cold knife in the man's hand, her mouth slightly agape. A despicable thought flashed through her mind: just let them cut off her hands, preferably both, so she could never gamble again. How wonderful that would be.
Just as he was about to strike, she, like a hero in a melodramatic TV drama, calmly shouted, "Stop!" The onlookers quickly made way for her, and when Qi Yaoguang turned around and saw her face, he was stunned for a moment.
He hadn't expected her to come.
"Miss, which seat are you?"
"Let him go. I don't want the money."
The man brandished the knife in his hand a couple of times, then walked towards her menacingly. Gu Mengzhu looked up at him, her heart pounding in her chest. Qi Yaoguang tried to move, but his hands and feet were firmly held down. He opened his mouth to say something, but was immediately kicked, the pain rendering him speechless.
"You think this is all over? Sister, don't think my casino is just for show! You can't just come and go as you please. You think you can get your lost money back just by playing the victim? And the money you stole, you think you can just cry a couple of times and it's all over? You don't think I'm stupid!" (No, no, don't!)
“He stole my money. If I call the police, you won’t get a single penny. I don’t want it anymore. I’ll give you the 50,000 yuan, and that’ll be the end of it, okay?”
The man gave her a signal, and three or five burly men gradually moved towards her. Gu Mengzhu felt the space becoming increasingly cramped, and her shoulders involuntarily hunched slightly. After swallowing several times, she gradually backed away, raising her already lit-up phone:
“I sent my location to my friend, and if I don’t meet her in ten minutes, she’ll call the police. I see there are quite a few security cameras around here, so even if you run away, the police can find you. Running a casino isn’t easy, is it? Are you just trying to cause this kind of trouble?”
She didn't know what she was saying; her words, though threatening, were utterly ineffective and even illogical. She wondered if she was rambling incoherently. Despite being terrified, she was forced to meet the man's gaze, hoping he would be persuaded and that they could both be safe.
He hesitated slightly, seemingly weighing the credibility of his words. Gu Mengzhu's heel bumped into someone's shoe, startling her and causing her to shrink back. Qi Yaoguang's emotions were tightly gripped by hers; he, like her, longed for a chance at survival. More accurately, for her survival.
They were released.
Before leaving, Gu Mengzhu was threatened with a knife to her neck:
"Sister, remember to watch your mouth after you go out. You know we're in business, we can get away with anything, legal or illegal. I'm in a good mood today, so I've taken your money and won't hold it against you. But don't try anything funny and cause me trouble. You know, it's very easy for me to find you."
Gu Mengzhu remained silent, only nodding.
She was no longer able to respond.
Chen Luo called to ask what happened, but she brushed it off with a few words. Qi Yaoguang followed behind her, unsure how to explain or beg for forgiveness. From the moment they left, she hadn't looked back at him even once. Though they were only a few feet apart, the unspoken, heavy atmosphere between them made them feel incredibly far apart. Qi Yaoguang lowered his eyes, staring only at her heels, and slowly followed her the whole way.
After returning to her rented room, Gu Mengzhu immediately closed the door and ate and drank as if he didn't exist. Even as night fell completely, she didn't go out. A few muffled claps of thunder sounded in the sky. She closed the half-open window, watching the raindrops stain the glass and blur the night view outside, and then chuckled softly.
Thunder rumbled. Where had her good fortune gone? She remembered why she had chosen to save money on Mid-Autumn Festival—because she believed it would bring good luck and family reunion. But now she had nothing left, like the few potted chrysanthemums on the balcony, battered and broken by the rain, shattered and broken.
"Knock, knock, knock..." The knocking continued, sounding like a brat who wouldn't stop until the owner opened the door. Gu Mengzhu called out a few times but received no answer. She then stood on tiptoe and peered through the peephole, finally unable to bear it any longer, and opened the door.
A pear core lay quietly on the ground.
She slammed the door shut with a sour look on her face.
Someone knocked on the door again. She opened it impatiently.
This time it's orange peel. The pear core is nowhere to be found.
Gu Mengzhu slammed the door shut, no longer caring about the neighbors' complaints. Anger welled up in her face, making her skin flush red.
Then the knocking started again. She opened the door with her knife in hand. This time, there was nothing on the floor; only an empty doorway and a hand holding a mooncake emerged.
"The moon is supposed to be fullest on the 16th of the lunar month, but it's so round tonight. May I go inside to admire it?"
He was lying. On that rainy day, there was clearly no moon, but his eyes were full of earnestness, so heavy it was almost pleading, making one's heart pound with unease. Gu Mengzhu looked at his hopeful expression, nodded, and opened the door to let him in. She took the knife into the kitchen, and Qi Yaoguang stared at the snakeskin bag on the coffee table, quite puzzled. Didn't he think she was going on a long trip, moving? After what happened at the casino, deciding to move wouldn't be unreasonable. He was racking his brains when Gu Mengzhu came out, carrying a pot of tea. She sat down on the sofa, breaking the silence first:
Where have you been sleeping these past two days?
"garden."
"What about your phone and ID? How come they weren't stolen while you were sleeping in the park?"
"It's placed in a display case in the mall."
"Ah, you're quite clever."
She poured him tea. For some reason, Qi Yaoguang drank it voraciously, cup after cup, as if he would die of thirst if he stopped. Gu Mengzhu smiled:
"Drink, drink, you water buffalo."
Seeing her so amiable, he assumed everything had returned to normal and she was slowly forgiving him. He figured his gambling at Pai Gow wasn't such a big mistake after all. The two quietly ate their shared mooncakes, sipping tea when they got tired of them. Although there was no moon by the window, a faint glimmer of light could be seen through the rain. Seeing her look up at the sky, only to find nothing there, Qi Yaoguang gave an awkward laugh.
"I didn't expect it to rain today. I'll check again tomorrow."
"We've had tea, we've eaten mooncakes, and now we've even admired the moon. That's a perfect ending, isn't it?"
"Yes, right?"
Seeing her stand up, his heart pounded with anxiety, and he could only stammer a reply. She threw the snakeskin bag from the coffee table in front of him, her face as cold as death, pronouncing his death sentence like a judge:
"Go away. You don't need to pay back the money you owe. I prepared a bag for you; you saw it, it's not anything good. Pack your things and find a new place to live. I don't want to see you again." She pulled out the bundle of red banknotes from her pocket and threw them on the ground. "This is the money you earned at Sister Fang's place. I don't want it. Take it and try to find some decent work. Ha, whatever, it's none of my business anyway. Do whatever you want."
Having lived with Gu Mengzhu for so long, Qi Yaoguang could more or less predict that she was still angry. When she's angry, her voice lowers, and her eyes narrow slightly as she frowns; anyone who walks past her can sense her emotions. Impatience and anger intertwine, and her entire being tells him that she wants him to leave, that she wants him gone forever.
"Why? It's only 50,000 dollars. I can easily find a job to earn that much. I promise I'll work hard, I'm ambitious, and I'll pay it back. Can you let me stay?"
"Do you know why I took you in in the first place?" she replied calmly, but the next second she turned furious. "Do you really think I'm that stupid, that kind-hearted, like a saint who just picks someone up and raises them? No!"
"I was scammed out of money by a former colleague I met during my internship. He said he was getting married, his wife was strict, and he didn't have any spending money, so he asked me to lend him some. I had only recently graduated from university and was living far away in another city. I naively and foolishly believed him. You have no idea how stupid I was. I not only lent him money but also gave him a wedding gift, and then eagerly awaited the gift to arrive. But I waited and waited, and nothing came. All I got from the money I lent him was an exclamation mark indicating that I had been blocked."
“I gave him five hundred yuan. Five hundred yuan might mean nothing to you, but for me, if I tried to save, it would be my food expenses for a month. At that time, it was the first time I was cheated by a stranger, and it was also the first time I went to the cinema to watch a free movie. The movie was pretty bad, but you played a good person. You made me believe that no matter how dark the world is, there will always be people like you who stand up, tear through the clouds, and let the sunlight in. Human nature in this world is not so terrible, nor so disgusting. One day, the person who cheated me will get their comeuppance, and those who do bad things will be punished.”
After hearing her excited outburst, he scoffed, a sound of self-mockery:
"You're so naive."
"Yes, I'm just naive to the point of being stupid, utterly stupid. This idiot of mine actually gives you forty yuan every day to buy food. You know, forty yuan was originally three days' worth of grocery money for me, and if I had been careful, I could have eaten for four or five days. Before, I would specifically wait until evening to buy discounted vegetables and meat that weren't fresh, scrimping and saving every penny. But now, since you came, I've been giving you forty yuan a day. Yes, there's no one more stupid than me, and there never will be."
"I won't, I'll never do it again. You stole my money, you gambled it away, you destroyed all my faith in you. Now, you're nothing. If I ever see someone like you again, I'll just tell you to get lost."
"A person who is nothing is no different from a dead person. Trash should not be left with me."
Seeing that he remained unmoved, Gu Mengzhu stood up and cruelly issued the order to leave:
“If you don’t leave, I’ll call the police to take you away. The money I lost, plus the money I gambled, is enough to put you in jail for ten or eight years.”
Qi Yaoguang left in the end. Perhaps he was truly afraid, or perhaps he understood that the matter was beyond repair. Gu Mengzhu stared blankly at the ceiling. The room was now quiet, empty, and cold. The liveliness between the two of them had vanished without a trace. The excitement she once felt, those familiar scents, were like a fortress built of silver sand on the beach, mercilessly wiped away by the tide.
She brewed some tea and sat quietly by the window, watching the tea's color change from light to dark, watching the steam gradually dissipate from the cup, watching the blooming chrysanthemums cool completely... She just stared at it like that, her eyes only blinking once in a long while, but she didn't touch the water in the cup.
"I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go home."
"Then let's go back."
"I can't go back, I have no home anymore."
Qi Yaoguang, carrying the bundle on his back, looked up at the lamp at the highest point. A person sat in the brightly lit square window; he couldn't make out her features, but even the bright lines in her hazy outline seemed overflowing with sorrow. Disappointment, like a flood bursting its banks, silently overflowed from that lonely house, gradually seeping onto his shoes. He didn't know how long he stood there before finally leaving. The rain had long since stopped, and the full moon emerged from the clouds, its silvery hem shimmering, illuminating his solitary shadow.
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