Chapter 31
When Mo Daoyan returned to the cubicle, Tong Yufei was already comfortable as usual. Only the slightly wrinkled corners of her clothes proved that she had just gone through a big ideological struggle. Mo Daoyan took out the key to the new house from the drawer and said that she could move anytime she wanted, but he didn't have time to help her. She could spend some money to hire a moving company or ask Uncle Yan for help. There was also a Motorola pager included with the package. He might not be at home often in the future, so she could contact him in time if she had an emergency. She originally wanted to buy a mobile phone, but felt that it might not be a good thing for a lone woman who often took the bus to work, as it would cause financial loss and disaster.
Tong Yufei accepted the gift and asked when Mo Daoyan would be home. The answer was the end of the month or the middle of next month, which meant she had at least a week to sit back and study without worry. If she was lucky, this would last for another twenty days. She had an exam on the twenty-seventh, so this time was essential for her. She couldn't show her joy, because if she stayed in his house, it would seem like she didn't welcome him back. So, she pursed her lips, frowning, and said, "You can go home and rest. The journey won't take much time."
"Not yet."
He'd previously stayed away from home, not just to save time. Unlike renting an apartment while studying in Germany, buying a house wasn't the only reason. His family lived in the same city, just a few minutes' walk away, and everyone wanted to join in. Grandma had to choose lighting for him, Dad had to build furniture, and Mom, a newly appointed Vice Minister, was busy at work and didn't have time to come over, so she asked her uncle to do it for her. Four years ago, when the domestic renovation market was still a lucrative market, his uncle opened the first decoration company in Xicheng District. His clients were primarily hotels and office buildings. He had no desire to turn his home into a second Xu family mansion or a star-rated hotel, so he dismissed them all with a simple "I don't have time to go home." He contacted the same renovation team that had previously decorated Zhuo Qunjie's house, and whose aesthetics were widely praised by her friends.
He couldn't go home after that. In addition to work, he had to stay with his aunt for a few days because she broke her leg while climbing a mountain.
Tong Yufei expressed his understanding: "It's not easy for Auntie. You should take good care of her and come home after she recovers."
Mo Daoyan listened to her talking about "going home" all the time and was full of anticipation for living with him. They had just become close, so he naturally thought that she had some real longing for him. He walked over and kissed her ear, very lightly, like a feather slowly scratching her heart, from her ear to her forehead, and wrinkled her shirt that she had just smoothed out.
She lowered her head and said it was itchy, laughing at him almost falling off the horse. Now? She climbed onto his shoulders to reach his lips, as if she couldn't bear to leave him. "Wait until we get home, okay?"
"When I do come back, don't be unhappy again."
"You can't accept harsh words, and you don't want soft words either. It's really hard to be a human being. Do you want me to follow An Jinzang's example and cut open my heart to prove it?"
He pinched her face again: "Don't flatter yourself by saying something you can't do."
"I have to go now."
"I'll take you there."
"Don't bother."
"Zhao Yang said he saw the news that a female worker at the glasses factory had her wallet robbed on the way last night and also suffered a cerebral hemorrhage from a fall. Isn't this even more troublesome? You'd better not be so optimistic and don't come to deliver food in the future. Anyway, you already have the key. Control the fire properly, Miss Tong. If the fire is too strong, the warm water will turn into boiling water, and the frog will run away."
He unscrupulously exposed her motive for delivering the food, but she still smiled: "If you were a frog, you would be the Frog Prince."
Mo Daoyan let go of her, took his coat, and walked out of the company with her side by side.
----
The day after Tong Yufei got the key, she sorted out the things to be moved from the old house, including bedding, clothes, shoes, mahogany boxes, two boxes of books, and the sewing machine, one of the three major items given to her by her in-laws when she got married. Then she went to the labor market to find a cart driver to help with the move, which could be completed in two trips in the afternoon.
Seeing her sweating profusely from carrying things, Mrs. Mo sighed repeatedly, "Everyone has to leave."
She smiled at her grandmother and said, "I will come to see you often."
Aunt Lin also said, "Children and grandchildren have their own blessings. Old lady, if you think about it this way, if they move to a small house, it will be just the young couple in a large room. They will be bored every day. Your great-grandchildren will be born faster. It's possible that you will have two in three years."
A hint of joy appeared on Mrs. Mo's sad face: "Thanks to your good wishes."
The new home is located in Hongsheng Community, opposite Mingguang Library, and is 2.5 kilometers away from Xinli Company. Each building in the community has seven floors, with three households on each floor, and there is no elevator. The house Mo Daoyan bought is in Unit 1, Unit 302, Building 2. It is a three-bedroom house with two large living rooms. The walls are mainly beige, matched with dark brown solid wood furniture, and the floor is covered with mosaic tiles. The overall feeling is warm and comfortable, and there is a good sense of space.
Mo Daoyan's master bedroom was decorated much like the one in the old house, with a few more photos on the wall. They were pictures of East German landscapes he'd taken, including the Spree Park, Dresden Palace, and the Frauenkirche. These photos had been developed and laminated. The two secondary bedrooms were simply furnished: one was a study, the other a guest room. The guest room contained only a set of natural-wood desks and chairs, no bed. He hadn't originally considered letting her live there.
Tong Yufei decided to sleep on the floor first and go to the furniture store on Sunday to choose a bed that suits him.
The kitchen and bathroom both have white tiled walls and light-colored floor tiles. They are clean and tidy, and not a single hair can hide. The kitchen utensils are all new, and the storage cabinets are empty. Mo Daoyan didn't go home, so naturally she didn't cook. There was a vegetable market downstairs, and she went there five times to buy rice, flour, grain, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, several large bags of vegetables and meat, and two black chickens, filling the refrigerator to the brim.
Mo Daoyan told her not to deliver meals anymore, but it would be too utilitarian if she didn't deliver right after moving in. She decided to continue delivering for a few more days to show her sincerity. Next week, it would be Xiaoye's turn, so she could stop delivering meals. She boiled some vegetable oil, made spring rolls and steamed vegetables with locust flowers, and stewed some black chicken soup.
Today she switched shifts with someone else and didn't go to the newspaper office during the day, so she came to Xinli right around dinner time. Only then did she hear Da Ding say that Mo Daoyanren was not there, as he had gone to Jiaotong University to discuss school-enterprise cooperation.
The food arrived, and since it was difficult to take it all away, she gave it all to Da Ding. Several other colleagues, smelling the aroma of the black-bone chicken soup, wanted to share. Da Ding gave each of them a small bowl, including one intended for Chen Ruchao, who was passing by. Chen Huaili had recently been experiencing high blood pressure and dizziness, but he refused to leave work to go to the hospital. Chen Ruchao had to find time to visit his father's company and temporarily act as his family doctor, taking his father's blood pressure and listening to his heart and lungs.
Tong Yufei delivered lunch every day without fail. While some viewed her as virtuous, others saw her as a stalker, afraid her man might be snatched away. As soon as Chen Jueyao entered the company, she overheard two female workers openly gossiping about Tong Yufei, discussing everything from her family background and work to her complexion, weight, and the number of freckles on her face. They concluded that she must have been lucky enough to marry Mo Daoyan because she was a scumbag behind the scenes. She smiled cheerfully in public, but she was incredibly shrewd in her attempts to please others. Her unanimous praise from the male workers was a skill she'd cultivated. Just look at how well she smiled.
Chen Ruchao scolded the two people who were gossiping, and seeing Tong Yufei with a smile on her face, she felt mixed emotions, especially under the known condition that the two might divorce. At the age of nineteen, she was still willing to risk everything for love and even sacrifice her life. Now she only remembered her parents' teachings that the meaning of life is to realize self-worth, but the way to realize it does not include becoming someone's wife. Even if it does, the premise is not to look for young and talented people like Mo Daoyan. Love is icing on the cake for them. Asking for too much will only be regarded as a scourge and a stumbling block on the road to value realization, and they will stay away from it.
If the last conversation with Mo Daoyan reduced Chen Ruchao's obsession with rekindling their old relationship by half, then the remaining half also disappeared when she looked at Tong Yufei at this moment. If this was the price of being Mrs. Mo, she would never become Tong Yufei. It would be better for her to be friends with Mo Daoyan, otherwise she would turn love into hate in the future and hate him for ruining her.
Chen Ruchao took a sip of the chicken soup and said, "This soup is good, and the flavor is refreshing. It's a pity that he never drank chicken soup since he was a child. Miss Tong, when you cook something for him next time, remember to cater to his tastes. There's no other meaning to this. Honest advice is hard to hear."
Tong Yufei raised his eyes and smiled: "People will change."
Da Ding gave Tong Zhaoyang the soup with chicken legs to congratulate him on his new job in the company. His promotion case was approved by all employees, so everyone did not eat in vain. Zhou Dinghe collected a bunch of snacks and fruits from various laboratories and put them all in her bag. Ji Xilin gave her a box of barreled biscuits. The biscuits tasted average, but the colorful enamel barrel was very beautiful. After eating the biscuits, she could put jewelry in it.
Ji Xilin ate a piece of chicken wing and asked Tong Zhaoyang, "Do you think Miss Tong looks familiar?"
Tong Yufei was sitting at the door of the cubicle when she saw Tong Zhaoyang behind the crowd. She had read some books on physiognomy before, which said that coordinated and balanced facial features were important characteristics of the honest type. Tong Zhaoyang was a very suitable example of the saying that appearance reflects the heart. His eyebrows were stretched, and the distance between his eyebrows and eyes was neither narrow nor wide. His eyes were large and bright, peacefully hidden behind gold-rimmed glasses. His lips were of appropriate thickness, and he looked friendly and easy-going.
Da Ding was puzzled by Ji Xilin's question: "Are you two old acquaintances?"
Ji Xilin recalled the time when he went to visit his younger brother in the west of the city: "The neighbor across from you has a little girl who smiles whenever she sees anyone. She also has two dimples. Her last name is..."
Tong Zhaoyang interrupted his sister: "She married and went to England a long time ago."
Ji Xilin said "Oh" and said, "But there are indeed people in the world who look alike but are not related by blood."
Da Ding agreed: "Just like Miss Tong and Mr. Tong, more like brother and sister."
Ji Xilin glanced at Da Ding and said, "People with the same surname are siblings. You have quite a few uncles in Xicheng, right?"
The colleagues laughed, and Da Ding grinned and laughed along: "We were all one family five hundred years ago."
Tong Yufei said goodbye amid everyone's laughter. Since Mo Daoyan was not in the company, there was no point in her staying.
Zhou Dinghe watched her go away: "Daoyan has no regrets in his life, but that's also quite regrettable."
Around seven o'clock in the evening, the sky was covered with thick dark clouds, like a gray curtain. Gusts of cool wind blew, blowing up the sand on the ground and making a whooshing sound.
Tong Yufei opened the folding umbrella she carried with her, blocking the wind as she hurried towards the bus. When she turned the corner of the alley, a pair of shiny black leather shoes caught her eye. She subconsciously moved aside, and the feet followed her left and right. When she stood still, the man also seemed to be under a spell, motionless.
She frowned and said, "Go one thousand meters ahead and turn left. You'll find the best Anding Hospital in Xicheng City. You're welcome."
“I’ve been there, but they won’t accept you.”
A familiar voice, so familiar that when she was sitting in the compartment last night and heard the first words spoken by the person outside, she recognized that the loud voice came from her brother Zhaoyang. She pinched her wrist in disbelief, knowing that it was not a dream, but the pain made her calm down quickly. She didn't want Mo Daoyan to see that while she was cuddling with him, her heart was affected by someone else, even though it had nothing to do with love between men and women.
After their separation years ago, she thought they would never meet again. West City wasn't big; you could cycle around it a few times a day, and it wasn't small either. Many people who once shared a deep connection quietly stepped off the train of time on graduation day, never to cross paths again. Furthermore, the university Tong Zhaoyang planned to attend was halfway around the world, in New York City, a university she had only seen in newspapers. She had also heard the rumors circulating about him. As the heroine of the story, she was in a difficult position, unable to defend herself or him. And what good would it do? Exaggerating would only make things worse; people only believe what they want to believe.
When she heard Mo Daoyan mention him that day, she thought about the moment they would meet and rehearsed the opening remarks of the reunion in her mind. However, fate was cruel. When it really came, she was in Mo Daoyan's arms and couldn't even utter a complete sentence.
She put away her umbrella and smiled at Tong Zhaoyang: "Hello, Mr. Tong."
Tong Zhaoyang's heart tightened. Such an awkward address instantly dissipated the smile he had forced. If he hadn't seen her true smile, he wouldn't have seen through her forced smile at once, let alone asked her if she was doing well. How could it not be good to marry a man like Mo Daoyan? It seemed like an unnecessary question. When she had nowhere to live, he volunteered to take her to live in the old house in his family, wanting to shelter her from the wind and rain, but in the end, he allowed his mother to bring her a great humiliation.
The mother once looked down upon the sixteen-year-old Tong Yufei and said, "You want my son to be your accomplice? Do you want a betrothal gift? How much is it?"
She is living a good life now because she earned it, and if she is not living a good life, it won’t get any worse.
Tong Zhaoyang didn't ask in the end, and paused before saying, "How is Yi Mo? Can I go see him?"
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