Chapter 45
Tong Yufei put the unfinished cake into an enamel jar, covered it with a layer of plastic wrap, pressed it along the edge of the jar two or three times to make sure that no air could get in, and then put it in the refrigerator. After washing up, he went back to his room to rest. When he passed by the living room, he saw Mo Daoyan unpacking a box. He had bought an assembled computer and was inspecting the goods.
"Mo Daoyan, thank you, thank you."
She thanked him twice and went into the room. The brass bolt clicked into its mortise with a crisp sound.
Mo Daoyan felt vaguely unhappy. It had nothing to do with the recent rising return rate of washing machines in the company, nor with the sudden stop of the electric fan in the office, which made him modify the gain circuit in the steamer. It also had nothing to do with the fact that the owner of the computer mall had delivered the wrong graphics card model despite him repeating it four or five times. Only when he saw the closed door did he understand where this feeling of suffocation came from.
When he wasn't home, she locked the door to keep out thieves, but when he was home, she locked the door to keep out him, thinking he was a thief, or was he even scarier than a thief? Without even basic trust, what was the point of a trial love agreement? She could certainly accuse him of being indifferent in his relationship, but when had she ever been wholeheartedly devoted? That delicate heart of hers was split into several pieces, and even the usually impartial Mo Changlin was fooled. Her sister and her husband wanted to sell used electrical appliances, and Mo Changlin, without hesitation, gave them a batch of scrapped equipment from the machinery factory. The metal components that could be disassembled and recycled were enough to make the couple a fortune. You have to know that Mo Changlin hated nepotism the most, and he turned a blind eye to two outsiders with no business experience. When it came to matters related to her, he didn't know what to say about "principles."
Her guard against him was absurd. He'd always been at her beck and call, just to make her smile. That rainy night, that was even their ultimate goal. Now, thinking back on her unusual tenderness that night, it was all just to get more money. What did she really think of him? Even if he was just a long-term meal ticket, he still had to fulfill some basic obligations. Wasn't he pure and unselfish enough? By normal standards, he was comparable to a monk practicing asceticism.
He sat in silence for a few minutes, suppressed his anxiety with a cold shower, walked to her door and knocked hard.
There were footsteps inside the door, and Tong Yufei came out in white flip-flops to open the door for him. Her apple green two-piece floral linen pajamas made her skin look even whiter. The door was only a crack open, and half of her face was hidden behind it. "What's going on?"
"Still studying?"
There was no need to ask this question, because a crisp female voice was flowing in the house, reciting Shu Ting's "To the Oak Tree" with great emotion: "No, all this is not enough! I must be a kapok tree next to you, standing with you as a tree. The roots are tightly grasped in the ground; the leaves are touching in the clouds..."
The artistic conception of the poem is profound, but it is particularly abrupt at this moment. The poet uses the oak tree as a metaphor to express his sincerity and loyalty to love. At this moment, it seems like a subtle declaration of his aspirations through poetry. She is his wife, and logically she can only stand with him. Just now, he congratulated her on starting a new chapter in her life, and she was humble enough to sink into the dust. She hid in the room alone, and actually wanted to stand shoulder to shoulder with him, but she refused to even open the door for him... The contrast between her in front of and behind people is too split.
"I'm just listening." She noticed it too and hurried to turn off the Walkman. Poetry recitation was naturally not on her study plan. She tiptoed over his shoulder and looked at the pile of computer components on the living room table. "Not installing a computer anymore?"
"It's all installed."
"Oh, it's already ten fifty..."
"Well, in ten minutes it will be eleven."
He stood outside the door, waiting for an answer stubbornly. The wind slipped in through the crack in the door, mixed with the fresh scent of his body after bathing.
She was stunned for more than ten seconds, and finally swallowed her refusal. She opened the door completely and mustered up her courage to ask, "Tonight...can you do it a few times less?"
This question made her ears burn. She remembered the nonsense she had told Chen Ruchao in the hospital, and how she felt ashamed and angry when she later read the physiology textbook. But he later turned her absurd lies into reality and even made it worse. She had to balance work and study, and "study hard" with him late into the night. It was really unsustainable. Otherwise, her lumbar spine would feel like it was being disassembled and reassembled, and she would feel like she was walking on cotton, with her steps weak and unstable.
He hadn't come to her for sex, but since she only had this kind of "expectation" for him, how could he let her down? He immediately stepped into the room, unbuttoned his shirt, and asked, "How many times do you want to do it?"
“Follow the science.”
"Didn't you enjoy it last time when it wasn't so scientific?"
“Some issues…take time to become apparent.”
"So, not only do I have to satisfy you now, but I also have to guarantee the effect in the future before I can sleep with you?"
Do you have to talk about the secrets between husband and wife so explicitly? She suppressed the discomfort in her heart and said, "Don't say it."
He picked up his Walkman and pressed the play button. “To the Oak Tree” began to flow again: “You have your copper branches and iron trunk, like a knife, a sword, and a halberd; I have my red and plump flowers, like a heavy sigh, and like a heroic torch…”
Amidst the melodious verses, he grasped her wrist and pressed her against the door. His breath passed over her eyelashes, gently brushing the small cinnabar-like mole at the end of her eyebrow. "Lock the door to prevent me? That's strange. I can't enter your bedroom, so who do you want to let in? Your brother Zhaoyang?"
"Are you strong?"
This time he didn't rub her hair, but rubbed the "red mole" instead, biting her lip beads: "You will know soon whether it is there or not."
She was so irritated that her whole body trembled: "If you are like this, I won't dare to tell you anything that is on my mind in the future."
"Your brother Zhaoyang is not as good at acting as you. After waiting for ten days or half a month, I'm afraid I can't hide it anymore. Are you willing to say it, or do you have to say it after weighing the pros and cons? You know it in your heart, but I don't know. At such a young age, you dare to steal relatives in the dark. Who did you learn this skill from?"
Ever since she confessed her past with Tong Zhaoyang, these sarcastic conversations have become their daily routine. He may not necessarily disbelieve that the relationship was innocent, but he still wants to provoke her with words.
She didn't lock the door to protect him. She knew his upbringing best. He wouldn't barge in without permission, let alone force her. It was just a self-defense habit she'd developed after living in a tube-shaped building with a mix of people for so long. When she first moved in, she could see figures passing by the window every time she showered. She had covered the window with five layers of thick newspaper, but the next day, someone drilled a hole the size of a date in it. Someone even pretended to help, gained her trust, and took advantage of the fact that no one was around to force their way into the room and commit a crime. Everyone knew she had a mentally retarded brother, so it was hard for them to even stand by and watch. If Aunt Zhang hadn't shown up in time, she'd never be able to wash off the filth she was covered in.
In addition, Mo Daoyan often walked around the room in a vest and shorts, and he liked to exercise. His lean arms showed smooth muscle lines as he warmed up, and after exercise, beads of sweat on his face rolled down his chin into his collar... These images always drilled into her eyes, making it difficult for her to concentrate on her studies. She could only lock the door. Once it was locked, the source of his delusions would be gone.
The tube-shaped building couldn't be mentioned, so how could he bring himself to say that he was afraid of being seduced by it? Who couldn't wear shorts at home in the summer? Was he supposed to admit that he resembled the kind of person described by Lu Xun, who, upon seeing short sleeves, immediately imagined bare arms, and immediately imagined being naked?
She explained, "When we lived in Tongjia Village, there were always animals moving around at night, making clanging noises in the shed. It sounded like thieves had broken in, which was quite scary. We locked the door for self-protection, and I kissed you secretly on the day of our blind date to protect myself. My adoptive parents are gone, I can't dance anymore, and I have no one to rely on in the Tong family. As a girl, I always have to find someone to rely on. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet someone as outstanding as you, so I have to take the initiative to fight for it."
"What about Tong Zhaoyang? Can't he be your support?"
"His mother doesn't agree with us being together."
If she wanted to please Mo Daoyan, she should have said that she had no such intention towards Tong Zhaoyang, instead of pretending that it was Tong's mother's opposition that caused today's regret. But since Mo Daoyan was so "concerned" about her past, hiding it would make her seem guilty, so she picked and chose and said everything she could, at least she could still appear "honest".
Given her situation back then, it would be a lie to say she looked down on Tong Zhaoyang. Her house was burned down, and in order to get him the death penalty, she refused to take any compensation. Later, she and her brother had nowhere to go and had to live in a repatriation center, sharing a room with beggars and vagrants. She could certainly find a job to make ends meet, but the hard part was earning enough for her brother's medical expenses, and getting married was the easiest way out. In fact, it wasn't just Tong Zhaoyang and Mo Daoyan. As long as the young man introduced by the matchmaker had a good family background, she would put on her most respectable clothes and go meet him. He Yanjun's younger brother was an exception. She had already met Mo Daoyan before, and she considered him a target she was determined to conquer, even though he knew nothing about them at the time.
These words still excluded Ye Yimo, but they were enough to make Mo Daoyan believe it. She did live a wealthy life in her adoptive parents' home for a while, but later fell from the clouds to the mud. People often say, "Men are afraid of choosing the wrong career, and women are afraid of marrying the wrong man." For many people, marriage is a springboard to change their destiny. It is understandable that she wants to climb higher.
After talking about some old memories with Tong Zhaoyang, the final words naturally fell on Mo Daoyan, the current partner: "Fortunately, it didn't work out with others, otherwise I wouldn't have met you."
Mo Daoyan placed his hand on her waist, his knuckles tightening slightly: "Have you watched the movie with them? Have you taken the initiative to ask for it?"
"Do 'Wheels on Wheels' and 'Red Lantern' that I watched as a child count?" she chuckled.
Many people who came for her stopped talking after seeing Ye Yi Mo. A few brave ones passed this level but did not make it to the stage of watching a movie together. Besides, she did not like to go to dimly lit places with the opposite sex. When she and Tong Zhaoyang were still innocent children, they watched many open-air movies. It was a summer night pastime for many children. He would not care about this, right?
She raised her eyes to meet his, and said affectionately, "I said, only you..."
"That's enough." She kept repeating the same old tune. It was always when she was pushed to the point of no return that she could finally pry out a few words of truth. She never got tired of acting, but he got tired of hearing it. She thought it was just a playful love remark, but to him, it sounded like a childhood sweetheart's boast. If it wasn't so deeply engraved, how could he remember the title of a movie from decades ago so clearly? He reached out and lifted her up, his voice sinking into the shadows as he turned around. "Do you think I care?"
The feeling of weightlessness that followed made Tong Yufei hurriedly hug his neck tightly: "I understand, it's just that I care."
The Walkman was playing the last few lines of "To the Oak Tree":
"Here lies steadfastness:
like--
Not only do I love your tall and strong body,
I also love the place where you stand, the land beneath your feet."
The land beneath his feet is still there, but hers has been abandoned.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
