Chapter 47
Afterwards, Chen Huan asked if there was an empty bedroom where she could take a shower. Meng Zixuan replied that it was downstairs. Chen Huan reached behind her back to fasten the bra buttons and said, "Forget it." After a while, she said, "My skirt is torn. What if someone sees it?"
As he led her downstairs, they passed several familiar people. Shen Huan lowered her eyes, not daring to meet their gazes. Fortunately, those people also looked straight ahead and pretended not to see her.
As they were about to reach the lobby on the first floor, the carpet beneath their feet turned into a cool marble floor. Chen Huan came to his senses and said, "My shoes are still upstairs." Meng Zixuan raised his left hand and shook the high heels he was holding. Chen Huan took them from him and put them on in two quick strokes. He said that you shouldn't wear high heels anymore because it's easy to fall when your progesterone level is high. Chen Huan pulled at the hem of her skirt and asked where you got this little-known fact. Meng Zixuan said seriously, "I just looked it up on Mayo." Chen Huan smiled and looked up, seeing his lowered profile. There was a rare look of helplessness in his pale pupils, which disappeared in a flash. When she looked again, she saw the same pair of deep and strong eyes.
On their way back to Jericho, Chen Huan claimed that she would come up and tell him as soon as she found the listeria report from the hospital that night. Meng Zixian stopped at a red light, put the car in neutral, and looked sideways at her. After a while, he turned back to look at the road ahead, not believing her.
While Chen Huan was showering, Meng Zixian took out the Glock from the drawer in the living room entrance, unloaded the magazine and bullets, and put them in the safe on the second floor. The security environment in Long Island was much better than that in Fayette. It was just his habit to keep the loaded gun where he could get it quickly. If Chen Huan didn't like it, he would make changes.
In the bedroom, he slept with his arms around her from behind. Her fleece pajamas made her feel like a stuffed animal. He lowered his head and buried his nose in her hair, which smelled of citrus and warm steam. After a moment's silence, Chen Huan asked, "Can I ask you a question?" He nodded.
She thought over her words in her mind, and finding no more tactful way, she asked him why he no longer wore the cross.
Meng Zixian thought for a while, "I lost it the last time I went to Dawashi, and I didn't find it back."
"Can't I buy a new one?" she asked with her back to him.
He remained silent for a moment, his slow breathing the only sound behind him. Shen Huan wondered if she shouldn't ask this question. She was afraid of touching upon some deep wound in his heart.
But Meng Zixian still replied: "It wasn't the cross that was thrown away."
The stagnation in his voice made Shen Huan's eyes sore. She asked what that was.
He said it was faith.
After a long silence, Shen Huan spoke: "Speaking of your last trip to Afghanistan, I have always wanted to apologize to you. I shouldn't have moved out without saying goodbye at that time. You are working hard outside, I should at least wait for you to return to Fort Benny and give you a reason in person. But I am afraid that when you come back, I will be unable to leave you."
These words made Meng Zixuan's breathing freeze. After standing still for a moment in the darkness of the bedroom, he asked, "Can you give me a reason now?"
Shen Huan seemed to be stumped by the question. She curled up a little tighter and shook her head. "I'm sorry. Talking about this makes me sad."
Meng Zixuan reached out and covered her shoulders with the quilt. He didn't say anything else.
In the second half of the night, Chen Huan woke him up again. She kicked the quilt away, moved to his left side, lay on her side, facing him, her chin resting on his shoulder, looking up at him with her eyes wide open.
She said: "Speaking of faith, after I moved away, Emma said I was a person without faith."
Meng Zixian bent his left arm and held her in his arms, closed his eyes, and asked in a hoarse voice what time it was.
Shen Huan asked persistently, "Emma wrote in the text message: 'You are the single most faithless person that I know of.' Is this what she meant?"
Meng Zixuan opened his eyes, frowned and was silent for a while, and finally said: "She is very rude."
Shen Huan was stunned for a while, "Really?"
Meng Zixuan nodded, "If she were still alive, I would ask her to apologize to you."
Shen Huan's tears fell, "But she is dead."
Meng Zixuan turned around and hugged her.
Shen Huan buried her face in his chest, "She hasn't apologized to me yet."
At six in the morning, Meng Zixian went for a run on the beach. When he came back, he saw Zhao Qi's car parked in the driveway. Meng Zixian unscrewed the mineral water bottle, drank a sip of water, and walked to the backyard.
Zhao Qi followed him and asked him if he had seen the fact check email from Toker Ackerman of The Times.
Meng Zixian said he had seen it. Ackerman asked Meng Zixian if he had had a violent conflict with a prison guard during his year at the Binnan Correctional Center, causing the guard to suffer a serious injury such as a dislocated cervical vertebra.
Zhao Qi said that this old guy has not been able to obtain any serious internal materials of cross-border enterprises in the past two years, and he always makes gossips like a tabloid reporter.
Meng Zixian took out a shovel and a metal ash bucket from the shed in the backyard, squatted beside the brazier, and carefully cleaned up the charcoal ash. He said, "Keep your voice down."
Zhao Qi froze for a moment, closed his mouth, bent over with his back half hunched, and asked in a low voice in Meng Zixuan's ear what was going on, was anyone eavesdropping?
Meng Zixuan squatted a little further away and said that Chen Huan was sleeping.
"Oh. You scared me." Zhao Qi breathed a sigh of relief, stood up straight and loosened his tie.
He went on to say that Ackerman had gone to Binnan to obtain an official response, which stated that the inmates had engaged in excessive and inappropriate violence in the face of normal disciplinary action. Meanwhile, the prison guard implicated, Wang Xiaotao, refused to pursue legal action, reportedly receiving compensation. His superiors had also transferred him due to other negligence on the job. Ackerman contacted Wang Xiaotao, but he ignored him.
Meng Zixuan said that was all that was needed. He gathered the ashes into a metal bucket, moving slowly, without making any noise or raising any dust.
"That's what I meant originally. We can just not respond." Zhao Qi said, "But Ackerman called me last night and said in an official tone that he heard a statement..."
Zhao Qi looked at Meng Zixian. After pouring out the ashes, Meng Zixian unscrewed the mineral water bottle and sprinkled some water into the bucket.
Zhao Qi cleared his throat and continued, "Your girlfriend at the time was searched during a routine visit, and prison guard Wang Xiaotao took the opportunity to touch her breasts. Some say Wang Xiaotao was deliberately retaliated against by you."
Meng Zixian's fingers, twisting the cap on the mineral water bottle, paused for half a second on the plastic lines. The gray water in the bucket emitted a faint damp smell. Zhao Qi wanted to smile to ease the atmosphere, but he couldn't. He was a little scared. He had known Meng Zixian for many years. Judging from Meng Zixian's reaction, Ackerman had the truth.
"That won't work." Meng Zixuan said.
"Of course not." Zhao Qi immediately responded, "This is actually of no value to Toker Ackerman. He probably wants to exchange it for some other explosive information."
Meng Zixuan said nothing, closed the lid of the metal bucket, stood up, and went to the garden sink to wash his hands.
Zhao Qi said, "Let me get something else to feed him." Meng Zixian nodded. Zhao Qi said, "I'm leaving first." Meng Zixian said, "Take care."
Zhao Qi had almost stepped outside the wooden gate when Meng Zixian called him back. "I need to take a look at the manuscript before it goes up." Zhao Qi rubbed his goatee with his fingertips, feeling awkward. He said it was difficult. At a big newspaper like theirs, the editor-in-chief kept a close eye on things. Meng Zixian turned off the tap and said that after so many years of cooperation, Toke should be more sensible.
Zhao Qi said, "I know." He thought for a moment, then told the truth, "If it gets out, it won't do you any harm. Really. A man's wrath for his beloved is something everyone can relate to."
"no."
"Why? Because she was with the old fox?"
“I promised Shen Huan that I wouldn’t fight with someone surnamed Wang,” Meng Zixuan said.
"Then you should just beat him up and spend two years in jail for nothing," Zhao Qi said.
Meng Zixuan wiped his hands dry, "I can't help it. And it's not dead or disabled, so I'll keep it."
Chen Huan got up and went downstairs. Through the living room window, she saw Zhao Qi get into his car in the driveway. Meng Zixian was showering in the bathroom while she went to the kitchen to cook noodles. When the noodles were ready, she felt unappetizing and left them on the dining table.
Meng Zixian went to the kitchen and cleaned the stove and sink. Chen Huan still didn't touch the bowl of noodles, and yawned with her hand covering her mouth. Meng Zixian pulled out a chair and sat down opposite her. He asked her what she did with the three hundred cash she took a few days ago.
Chen Huan said with a bitter face, "I promise I won't steal your money from now on..."
Meng Zixuan interrupted her and said that if you need money, you can use your credit card. Shen Huan asked where his card was. He placed a metal American Express card on the table in front of her. Shen Huan took a look and saw that it was a secondary card with her name embossed on the lower left corner.
She looked at him and was quiet for a moment, "You want to know where I spend my money."
"right."
She took a breath and blinked slowly. "You don't trust me. Not for three hundred dollars."
"right."
"I don't have to spend your money."
Meng Zixuan smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "You try it."
Shen Huan's hands were a little cold. She was still wondering what this meant when Meng Zixuan asked again, "What are you going to do with the cash?"
Chen Huan frowned and looked at him for a long time. Meng Zixuan never bluffed, and now the muscles in his shoulders were like a cold and hard shield. He was not attacking, he was subconsciously defending his position.
Shen Huan understood. She put the card on the table into her pocket. "You think I'm going to have an abortion. I have no such plans."
The words immediately softened the tenseness of his jaw, and he leaned back in his chair, squinting at her, still skeptical.
"If I need an abortion, I'll go to a regular clinic. Three hundred dollars isn't enough with my insurance." Chen Huan picked up her chopsticks and broke up the noodles that were clumped together with the egg. She remembered Meng Zixian's noodles: the egg, the vegetables, and the noodles were all cooked separately.
After a long moment, Meng Zixuan took a deep breath. "I'm sorry." He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm. "You have a criminal record."
Chen Huan paused for a second, stirring with his chopsticks, without looking up. He was talking about Fayette, where she stole two hundred dollars from him and took Emma to get an abortion.
Emma could have had the surgery at a gynecological clinic affiliated with the military. But North Carolina is a conservative red state, and the church in Fort Bennie was Fayette's spiritual center. Christian faith and military family culture weren't concrete walls, but they were stronger than them. It was rare for wives of active-duty military personnel to request an abortion, especially since Henry had just died on the front lines.
Emma suggested they could drive north to Virginia, or even Washington, D.C. She didn't want to leave a record with her military insurance, but she only had $800, so she asked Chen Huan if he could lend her some to make it up to $1,000. Chen Huan had no money, so she stole all the cash from Meng Zixian's wallet.
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