Chapter 61
After receiving two slaps from Chen Jueyao, Qiao Zhuocheng seemed to have accidentally opened up his Ren and Du meridians. Not only did he gain a new understanding of love, but his sense of smell became unusually sharp. After just a few words on the phone, he sensed that Mo Daoyan was suffering from a marital crisis and immediately offered a brilliant plan. After half an hour of rambling, it turned out to be nothing more than the same old tricks for pursuing girls. Since the military advisor himself was a failure, Mo Daoyan did not adopt it.
But this call was not completely in vain. There was an unexpected news that piqued his nerves. Qiao Zhuocheng casually mentioned that Tong Yufei was planning to work as a part-time waiter in a Western restaurant.
People don't return to their exes for no reason. Qiao Zhuocheng had repeatedly invited her to join him for a few events, but she had always declined, acting as if she cared nothing for money. Now, however, she had suddenly bowed her head, surely bent on making a living. As both the restaurant owner and Mo Daoyan's friend, Qiao Zhuocheng was caught in a dilemma. It would be a shame to refuse, but he was also afraid of offending Mo Daoyan by allowing his friend's lover to appear in his restaurant, and occasionally dealing with demanding and obsessive diners.
After thinking it over again and again, he had to ask Mo Daoyan's opinion: "Do you agree?"
Mo Daoyan was confused: "This is a matter between you and her, don't ask me."
"Her image and temperament are there, there's no way I wouldn't want her to do it." Since he wanted to make business a matter of business, Qiao Zhuocheng told Mo Daoyan the truth, "I can't make a conclusion about who's right or wrong between you, but she works for me, and I will 100% protect her safety. Besides, it's better than going somewhere else. In fact, it's good for her to suffer a little. After experiencing the ups and downs of life, she will understand your value."
If Qiao Zhuocheng knew about Ye Yimo's existence, he wouldn't have said such things. Compared to serving fools, being a waiter is simply a blessing, how can it be considered a hardship? Mo Daoyan calmed down and changed the subject: "Doesn't your restaurant always give away food during festivals? Why not change it up occasionally, such as giving away calligraphy and paintings, and having guests write on the spot and ask for them to pay for them?"
"This is a bit difficult..."
"That calligraphy was written by Tong Yufei."
"Oh, how come this big Buddha has come to my little shop? But people of culture like her value reputation the most. The abbot in front of the meal is vulgar, while beautiful poems and essays are elegant. She may not agree."
"When it comes to money, her character is much softer than you think. The more you work, the more you get."
"Okay, I'll arrange it. Are you guys together? I want to chat with her for a bit?"
"No."
After they parted that day at the old house, Tong Yufei vanished from his life like a wisp of smoke. She hadn't mentioned the union mediation yet. Thinking about it, it made sense. Since they were already separated and she had told his family she wanted a divorce, she no longer had to fulfill her duties as wife and daughter-in-law. It was no different from a divorce. Using the title of Mrs. Mo was actually more convenient. She wouldn't actually marry Ye Yimo, and she wouldn't just find someone to marry again. So what if she was single? It could even ward off some bad romantic opportunities if necessary.
Looking around, he realized how little he knew about Tong Yufei. Where did she come from? How did she become his blind date? Why did she want to marry him? If she was just using his family's money to pay for Ye Yimo's medical treatment, why would she return it? Besides sewing and news editing, did she have other hobbies? What thoughts were running through her mind during those moments of trance? These questions were like a pair of sneakers bought in the wrong size: on the surface, everything looked right, but upon closer inspection, they were full of flaws.
If Tong Yufei were a book, Mo Daoyan would have only glanced at the cover, flipped through the first two pages, and discarded it. As for the twists and turns of the story within, or the rise and fall of the protagonist, he didn't care. A book doesn't have legs, so how can it run? He could always pick it up and reread it someday if he felt interested. But Tong Yufei had grown legs, and a mouth that wasn't clumsy at all, and he didn't want to be trapped in the narrow world he held up.
She left, going to a place without him.
The world that once felt too crowded with her presence was now so empty and depressing that he suddenly wanted to pull that figure back like crazy.
Life is unpredictable. Several years after graduating with a Ph.D., fate has pushed me back to the classroom. I have to take a new anthropology course, but I am very biased towards it and have no idea where to start.
Tracing back to the roots and seeing the big picture from the details, anthropology is not his forte, but he has easy access to methodology, and unraveling things and starting from the details is a muscle memory developed through experiments. In just half an hour, he has developed a systematic study plan and decided to get to know his wife from the beginning, at least for now.
Her growth trajectory was deeply influenced by her adoptive parents, and several major turning points in her life were closely related to them. Therefore, the focus of the investigation was naturally on her adoptive family, her adoptive father and his former unit, her adoptive mother and her work background, old reports of her adoptive mother's arson case, Tong Yufei's alma mater, and the opportunity for her to meet Meng Ruqing... With his "six degrees of connection" theory in the education circle, it only takes some time to find out all these.
In terms of auxiliary information, he found out the date when Tong Wan and Zhao Weimin went to the machinery factory to collect waste through Mo Changlin's secretariat. On a warm and sunny afternoon, he specially invited the two to have lunch at Cuixianglou.
Cuixianglou is a well-known local old brand with magnificent decoration. It is always crowded with diners. The queue of people every day can circle half the street. It is difficult to get a table during festivals and holidays. You can't get a table without making a reservation in advance. The Mo family must choose this place for their New Year's banquet. After going there a few times, Mo Daoyan became familiar with the owner, so he saved himself the trouble of queuing today.
As soon as Zhao Weimin stepped into the room, he was dazzled by the golden glitter all around him: "Are those pendants on the top real gold?"
Mo Daoyan smiled and said, "It's gilded, otherwise it would have attracted the Flying Thief."
Tong Wanze said, "If this happened a dozen years ago, it would be a typical capitalist behavior."
Zhao Weimin said to his wife, "It's not the right time to talk about this now. We should advocate that the rich help the poor and work together to achieve a moderately prosperous society."
After entering the private room, Mo Daoyan ordered all the signature dishes. Tong Wan thought it was too wasteful and four dishes were enough for three people, but Mo Daoyan insisted on ordering seven or eight dishes, saying that the other half would be packed up and taken back for the old man and the children to try. However, he had already given each of them a new cotton-padded jacket. Originally, the couple's business was able to succeed because of the kindness of this brother-in-law, but now they had to eat and take things at the same time, which seemed a bit unreasonable.
When Mo Daoyan wanted to order some wine, Tong Wan stopped him. "You've only been back for a short time, don't you know your brother-in-law is a drunkard? He gets mad at me when he's drunk. We have to go home after dinner, and it's such a long way to go. What if he gets drunk and starts to act crazy? Besides, a bottle of wine that costs eight yuan outside is fifteen here. That's too much. Let's not waste money on it."
After his wife's words, Zhao Weimin reluctantly gave up his drinking and hid his alcohol addiction: "Wait until you return to Tongjia Village to drink again. Don't come back until you're drunk. I promise not to make a fuss. In fact, I only yell at you when I'm drunk, but I never swear..."
Mo Daoyan smiled and ordered soda instead: "Have a drink."
Their conversation was bound to revolve around the woman who brought them together.
Tong Wan kept asking as soon as he sat down: "Yufei is so busy that he doesn't even have time to eat. Do you guys usually spend a lot of time together?"
Now is not the time to be honest about the divorce. When the divorce is imminent, relatives and friends are often excited, and he is not good at dealing with such situations. Zhao Weimin calls him "good brother-in-law" affectionately and with a sense of pride in his words. He can only lie "whitely": "Being a reporter has made me busier than before."
“She is very serious about everything she does.”
Tong Wan couldn't stop talking about his sister, saying that she was smart and the best at studying in the family, just like her mother; that she looked soft like a rabbit, but was actually tough, and when she fought with Tong Yi, she punched and kicked her brother, who was half a head taller than her, and made him beg for mercy; that she was kind, and that she couldn't even eat enough herself, but she still gave her meal tickets to her poorer classmates; that she was hardworking, and that she practiced dancing on the bridge in the cold winter for the whole day; that she had high demands on herself, and cried until she got second place in the exam, but everyone said that second place was also good, and they didn't understand why she was sad. She was so anxious that her eyes turned red, saying that she was studying in a third-rate university, and if she couldn't even get first place, how could she compare with students from good schools in the future?
Mo Daoyan listened quietly, unable to get a word in, and actually didn't know what to say to her.
Tong Wan only talked about what happened after Tong Yufei was twelve years old. They didn't know about his earlier childhood, and Tong Yufei himself never mentioned it, but these memories were just foreshadowing. What Tong Wan really wanted to say was that she hoped he could be more tolerant about having children and give Tong Yufei some time. This simple rural woman stubbornly believed that the inability to conceive must be the woman's problem, and she was afraid that he would dislike his sister.
"When I see her again, I will advise her to focus more on her family. Pregnancy sometimes depends on timing. You are young, so you can try more and it will definitely work."
Mo Daoyan secretly thanked his luck that he didn't mention divorce, otherwise it would be even more difficult to explain. Many times he tended to act first and report later, as a fait accompli could often save a lot of unnecessary explanations and arguments.
"Oh, I was so busy talking that I almost forgot about the important matter." Tong Wan took out a red flowered cloth bag from her bag and handed it to Mo Daoyan, "Everything you want is here."
Mo Daoyan had mentioned before that he wanted to move some of Tong Yufei's personal belongings into the new house to make it feel more like home. However, Tong Yufei's adoptive parents' home had been destroyed by a fire, and many of the mementos had been burned. He had no choice but to ask Tong Wan if he still had any of them back home. Tong Wan, impressed by his brother-in-law's thoughtfulness, searched the old house thoroughly and brought everything he found. Inside were some awards, class notes, exercise books filled with answers, and three childhood photos of Tong Yufei, sent by her adoptive parents to let them know they were safe. Now, they were the only remaining traces of her childhood: one showing her innocently riding a rocking horse at age three; another showing her in the dance studio at age six or seven, gritting her teeth and practicing splits, her face smeared with sweat and tears; and the last, a photo of her receiving the gold medal in children's dance at age twelve. Four playful pigtails, a chubby face, and slightly lowered eyes concealing the youthful spirit of a young girl, a pride that no one else could match.
I was a little fat girl when I was young.
Tong Wan pointed at the photo and said, "My sister was also a proud little princess back then. She wouldn't admit defeat to anyone. Tong Yi said she was as proud as a rooster. She didn't like being called that, but we all thought it was spot on."
Speaking of Tong Yi, Zhao Weimin couldn't help but sigh: "Once he got drunk and told me the truth. He said that he deliberately went against my second sister just to force her to leave. He knew that my second sister didn't want to stay in Tongjia Village and wanted to go back to her adoptive parents' home. Only when he pushed her hard would she make up her mind. He didn't care about those gossips. Can gossip cover him up? But if my second sister really stayed in the countryside, her life would be delayed... This sounds like a sophistry, but it is indeed something Tong Yi can do."
Mo Daoyan guessed there would be gossip, but he didn't expect it to come so early: "How old are you, and there's already gossip?
"That's why it's so infuriating. The Yang family has a son with a broken brain. Some people say Yufei's adoptive mother said she adopted her to match her with her mentally retarded son. Isn't that nonsense? They want to be landlords and trade people, but we don't even sell our daughters. The father-in-law was so angry that he saved up enough money and took his daughter back. Although the Yang family denied it, there is no smoke without fire... Later, the woman in the Yang family died. Yufei had done her best for her adoptive mother, but she still wanted to take that brother back to the village. She was young and ignorant after all. If she really brought a stupid man back, how would she get married in the future?"
Tong Wan was afraid that Mo Daoyan would think too much, so she hurriedly said, "In the end, she listened to my advice and sent the man back to his adoptive father's hometown. It's all in the past, and they haven't been in touch for a long time." She had a good impression of Mo Daoyan. Although this brother-in-law had been cold to others in the past, he still cared about the affairs of the Tong family. Since he came to ask for his sister's old things, it must be that he wanted to live a good life with her. "Daoyan, please love her. My sister is loyal and righteous. If you treat her well, she will be twice as good to you."
They obviously didn't know that Tong Yufei had been secretly taking care of Ye Yimo all these years. Probably like themselves, they had never really cared about this matter, let alone donated money to help.
Mo Daoyan put the packed vegetables into a plastic bag and handed it to Tong Wan: "She is my wife, of course I will treat her well."
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