Chapter 19
Mo Daoyan looked ahead and then raised his gaze towards the rearview mirror. The noise maker Tong Yufei curled up his fingers, calm and composed. He even checked the car window and found no scratches, so he retracted his fingers with relief. Chen Ruchao, as a perceptive medical practitioner, took out a finger-long miniature vertical-striped brown plastic bag containing three medical Band-Aids and handed it to Tong Yufei, saying it was a precautionary measure.
Chen Ruchao was the one who changed her destiny. Without his interference, even if she could not become a star, she could always live as she wished. They turned hostility into friendship, making concessions for the sake of their brother and sister, not erasing the old feud. Those little favors should not be shown as mercy that is thrown around everywhere. She was not willing to accept them, but it would be rude to refuse them.
Chen Jueyao, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened them and for some reason fixed his eyes on Tong Yufei's sunflower bag: "Where did you buy your bag?"
Chen Jueyao had a lot of faults against Mo Daoyan, and she also disliked her, but after all, there was "no grudge between them", and she had no obsession with likes and dislikes. Her likes and dislikes changed with external objective conditions, and the bag was the objective condition at the moment. Chen Jueyao was nicknamed "drama maniac" and was very particular about the details of the play. She said with great interest that she had never seen a handmade bag that could make the yellow and white combination so eye-catching. She had a fashion musical in July, and the prop bag was white with yellow flowers, which was much rougher than the sunflower bag, so she wanted to buy one for reference.
Tong Yufei played with the sunflower's tongue-shaped flowers and said, "I didn't buy the bag. I made it for fun."
Chen Jueyao praised sincerely: "You still have this unique skill, you are quite capable, can you sell it to me? I will pay double the price."
The conversation between the two shifted everyone's attention from Tong Yufei's hands to the bag. She felt relieved: "Second Miss, thank you for the compliment. How can I have a price if it's not for sale?"
"Why can't it have a price? It's just the cost plus the labor. If you can't bear to part with it, just ask for more. Or you can come to my house one day and take your pick of my luxury bags. You can pick as many as you want. Miss Tong, let me be honest. Once you use the bag, it's just a bag. I want to turn it into a work of art."
Tong Yufei felt a sense of absurdity. Chen Ruchao had gone to great lengths to get his hands on the bag she had given to her sister, but now Chen Jueyao treasured it and begged for it. But she suddenly didn't want to give it to him anymore. She wanted to keep the words of encouragement and wait for spring to come: "It's really just a bag. I won't sell it, and I won't give it to you."
"You can be the first one, but not the second? How about this? I'll add your name in the acknowledgments."
"I don't act or run a shop, so I don't need these false names."
"You tell me a condition, and I'll agree to it..."
Seeing his sister pursuing him relentlessly, Chen Ruchao consoled her, "Ms. Tong has already said she won't sell it anymore. Don't steal her beauty."
"Good props are the finishing touch, adding color to a play. If I hadn't seen good ones, it would have been fine. But how can I say it's over if I did? A play is the fruit of the concerted efforts of dozens of people. I want it to be even better. Miss Tong is so stubborn and difficult to talk to..."
That's your play, what does it have to do with me? This is hard to say. If Miss Chen Er could understand her inner voice and hear her vicious curses that she would go to hell, I wonder what she would think?
Tong Yufei stared outside. It was getting dark and it was rush hour. The streets and alleys were crowded with people, all walking hurriedly.
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Before the police officer handed over his shift, she handed over the letter of apology. The other party asked her to go back and wait for news. There would be a clear conclusion in two or three weeks at the longest, or four or five days at the shortest. After sending Chen Ruchao and Chen Jueyao to the song and dance troupe, Mo Daoyan drove to Huaxin Street. It was time for dinner, so they decided to have dinner together. They chose Xingtai Restaurant, which they had not eaten at the day they went to the hospital.
Xingtai Restaurant boasts a rich history, dating back to the Xingtailou Grand Hotel during the Republican era. It's a source of much-loved anecdotes, with the founder being the Qing imperial chef, and the last Qing emperor's first dish being prepared by the owner. While rumors of counterfeit goods abound, the quality of the food remains legendary, with no compromises. Its unique casserole-style white pig's trotters and braised pork liver and kidney in soy sauce are renowned throughout Xicheng District. In the early 1960s, it was consolidated into a state-owned, time-honored brand, and has since become a household name in the city.
The restaurant was still bustling with customers, the first floor packed. Mo Daoyan led Tong Yufei through the smoky dining hall and up a winding, decaying yellow wooden staircase to a private room on the second floor. The room could accommodate four to six people, with a square, mortise-and-tenon-jointed, pale yellow maple table and chairs. They sat across from each other, and Mo Daoyan reached her hand, where her broken nail lay. A pale pink scab, the size of a grain of blood, dotted the cracks between her nails like a misplaced flower ornament from ancient times.
Mo Daoyan pinched her fingers, and Tong Yufei gasped: "It hurts."
He said with a hint of sarcasm: "You know it hurts, but you still pretend to be strong?"
Tong Yufei wondered who Mo Daoyan took after. His parents-in-law were not as hypocritical as him, saying one thing and thinking another, but being sarcastic and mean. She pulled her hand away and said, "It's a minor injury. I'm hungry. Let's order."
Mo Daoyan ordered four dishes and a soup, and an extra cup of peanut and almond milk for her to moisten her lungs and nourish her stomach. These were the restaurant's signature dishes. Tong Yufei counted the ingredients in the white crab and tofu casserole, thinking about trying to make it when she got home, when she suddenly heard Mo Daoyan say, "Dislike Chen Ruchao?"
Nothing escaped his notice. Although she was arguing with Chen Jueyao, she wasn't targeting him. She had decorated the sunflower bag with a pink paper bag, and Chen Jueyao had signed a letter of understanding, originally intending to give it away, but now she's decided not to give it to him. The only reason could be Chen Ruchao, with whom she'd "drank and chatted." She wiped the milky white almond dew residue from her lips and evaded the main point: "She pointed at the heavens and the earth and asked me if I had snatched you away from her."
Mo Daoyan lowered his head and jokingly said, "Because I got angry with someone, am I so important to you?"
That night, her tears pushed Mo Daoyan away. This was not what she wanted. She tried hard to repair the worsening relationship and get closer to him. "You are my husband, one of my closest relatives. Of course you are important. I am your legitimate wife, not a vixen who meddles in other people's relationships. She asked that because she is clearly obsessed with you. It is doubly disrespectful to me. Even a clay person can still be angry. I can't swallow this."
"Everyone has a blind spot, and when they are in the mountains, they can't see the mountain. From what I understand her, this is the literal meaning."
"Isn't it infuriating to read the literal meaning? You're her partner, her private property, so how can you be stealing her things? I even said that she's thinking about someone else's husband, which is unbecoming of a great professor's family."
When she talked about her confrontation with Chen Ruchao, her throat felt like it was being cut by a knife, her chest was filled with grief and indignation, her clear and pure voice became lowered and replaced by a broken sound, like a jealous woman who had been humiliated and was madly jealous.
"She's so annoying."
Mo Daoyan lowered his head and chuckled, then he carried the chair and moved it half a meter back, putting some distance between him and the table: "Come and sit."
Tong Yufei was hesitant, but couldn't avoid Mo Daoyan's intense gaze. She took a step over and wanted to sit down at the next seat. The next second, Mo Daoyan removed the chair she was going to sit on and pushed it aside. He held her hand which was holding the corner of her clothes and suddenly pulled it down. She fell into his arms in an instant and sat on his straight legs.
Mo Daoyan adjusted his sitting position to make a comfortable human chair for her. Tong Yufei leaned forward, half of her body hanging in the air. She struggled to get up, but Mo Daoyan held her shoulders and waist firmly in his arms. He gently lifted her chin and looked her over. "How did you respond?"
She repeated it word for word, and seeing the mood swings in Mo Daoyan's eyes, she said slowly, "I was angry and spoke without thinking, which may have offended you..."
She was chosen by her mother, but he followed the rules and went through all the procedures, tacitly acknowledging that he was not wronged. "You were chosen by her, and by me, but I also want to know the answer. Why you? How did you meet? It's not like Ms. Meng is a talent scout, and she can spot the pearl in the crowd with a single glance, right? Don't make up stories, you're being too clever. You know I'm not stupid enough to believe everything you say, unless you want to destroy your credibility with me, or keep it secret forever."
Mo Daoyan's barrage of questions dragged Tong Yufei into a deep sea of memories. She wandered aimlessly in the water, sifting through the fragments she could find to speak. "Due to family reasons, I ran into some trouble. It was my mother-in-law, whom I met by chance, who lent a hand and helped me out of this misery. She gave me a new life, and I'm very grateful to her."
"So you're willing to let her do whatever she wants, even being a pawn to control her son? What benefits did she promise you that I can't give you?"
"I've already sent someone to my house, and my mother-in-law still wants to promise me some hidden benefits. Isn't the Mo family and you enough? A wealthy place to live and a husband with unlimited prospects, anyone knows which choice to make."
After all, she still couldn't let go of the Mo family and her identity as the Mo family's granddaughter-in-law. Mo Daoyan was certain of her true feelings at this moment. Shakespeare wrote in "The Merchant of Venice" that love is blind and lovers cannot see it. Tong Yufei's blindness or illusion was mostly irrelevant to love and was mixed with many worldly factors.
There is nothing wrong with the secular world, but there are some things it can give and some it cannot.
Qiao Zhuocheng's class theory hit the mark. He was familiar with Hayek's economic works, but he was a political resistor. If Tong Yufei wanted to change his fate through him, it would only backfire. Everyone in the world is greedy for fame, wealth and power, but if it is not obtained by one's own hands, it is nothing but a mirage. Those who go with the flow but are unable to enjoy it are everywhere.
He spoke earnestly, "I won't pursue a political career, and my career won't follow the ups and downs of my parents'. A situation where one person's success brings prosperity to the entire family won't happen to me, and certainly not to you. If you continue to live with me, your life will end in a flash. You won't have a loving husband, lovely children, or a happy family. You'll gain nothing except wasted years. If you want to maximize your benefits, you should keep a clear mind and don't be seduced by the world's vanity. In the end, it will all be in vain. That's all I have to say. Do as you wish."
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