58 Chapter Fifty-Seven
◎A, B, C, D, what is his/her ranking?
Yu Jinyang had already heard Li Yingqiao's voice, and she laughed heartily. At that moment, her friend Qingyi was asking her, "This refrigerator is obviously Yu Jinyang's, and the tank, needless to say, is definitely Sister Qiao. But, you two have been such 'childhood sweethearts' since you were little, isn't there anything more to it?"
Li Yingqiao said frankly, "What could there be? Just some random passerby."
"Pshaw, nobody believes you," my friend said. "He's probably done everything he should and shouldn't have done. Look at how worthless Yu Jinyang is."
"Hey! Zhao Pingnan, don't talk about him like that."
"Okay, okay."
Tan Jiu closed the door and came out. "Let's go."
Yu Jinyang hummed in agreement and headed towards another suite. They had arranged to meet with the lawyer for two hours that day in the suite where Zhang Zongxie was staying.
Inside the room, Zheng Miaojia made a "shut up" gesture and loudly announced, "I'm going to use my feet to dig out the biggest villa and write the most clumsy lines."
The other two clapped enthusiastically, like seals. Indeed, in this era, normal people can no longer make money, and those who can are mostly not quite normal. But Li Yingqiao still sensed a faint air of madness about Zheng Miaojia. She closed the comic and asked, "Miaojia, are you hiding something from us?"
This time, Zheng Miaojia answered quite decisively: "Yes."
Li Yingqiao and Zhao Pingnan exchanged a glance.
However, the next second, Li Yingqiao's stomach, which hadn't eaten breakfast, growled:
"Gurgle—"
"..."
"Gurgle gurgle gurgle—"
The smoke billowed, and the sound of boiling water on the stove grew increasingly dense, almost drowning out the hushed conversation throughout the room. Yu Jinyang looked away from the stove; actually, her description of happiness that night sounded more like the sound of tea boiling. Goldfish blowing bubbles didn't make that sound at all; it wasn't like Liang Mei's family hadn't kept goldfish before.
Behind the screen in the living room, Tan Jiu and Zhang Zongxie's legal team were reviewing the details of the case. The two men stood by the tea table on the other side of the screen. Zhang Zongxie asked him what kind of tea he usually drank. Yu Jinyang looked down at the tea cake on the table, leaned against the edge of the rosewood table behind him, and said, "Thanks, this will do."
Zhang Zongxie pressed three fingers against the bowl lid, spun it twice, and asked him as he poured, "Don't you like Pu'er tea?"
Yu Jinyang picked up one of the cups, took a sip, and said, "I won't drink it."
“Really?” Zhang Zongxie chuckled, gently rubbing his fingertips against the cup. “Li Yingqiao does like to drink it. When she was working on a project in Y Province, she would always send a few cakes back in advance. However, she only drinks ripe Pu’er tea and doesn’t touch any other teas.”
Yu Jinyang glanced at him, leaning back, but his gaze had already drifted to the window, and said in a low voice, "What do you want to say to me?"
Do you know why she likes to drink ripe Pu'er tea?
Yu Jinyang didn't speak, but simply put down his cup with a cold expression.
Zhang Zongxie also put down his cup, the porcelain clinking softly on the table. He said helplessly, "It seems you don't know either. I'm sorry, seeing your attitude at the swimming pool last time, I thought you knew her very well."
"What's it to you?" Yu Jinyang finally turned his gaze away from the window and looked directly at Zhang Zongxie. His tone was calm but unquestionable. "Zhang Zongxie, whether I understand her or not doesn't seem to conflict with whether she wants you to understand her. If she wanted you to understand her, you wouldn't need to put in the effort with me, would you?"
Zhang Zongxie, of course, knew the answer better than anyone else. After meeting her at the swimming pool that day, he understood that Li Yingqiao had an almost blind trust in Yu Jinyang. Moreover, he also discovered a strange coincidence: at the dinner party that day, Yu Renjie had mentioned that he felt his temperament was more like Yu Jinyang's, and Tang Xiang also expressed surprise, saying that upon closer inspection, it was indeed true, Zongxie and Jinyang's eyebrows and eyes were somewhat similar.
This discovery inexplicably planted a thorn in his heart, and for the first time, he regretted his decision. If he hadn't let her go to the Rainbow Youli project, he wanted to know where they would have ended up, and how she would have explained it. At first, when Li Lianfeng told him how much effort she had put into getting that certificate for Yu Jinyang, he didn't take it seriously. If she really cared, how could she have never heard her mention that name in all those years in Beijing?
Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, Zhang Zongxie lit a cigar and said, "Before she came back, she made a bet with me, saying that she would turn Xiaohua City into a top-tier tourist attraction. If she couldn't do it, she would disappear from this industry."
Yu Jinyang had already looked away, his fingers hovering over his glass, not picking it up to drink, and simply said, "What if she succeeds?"
Zhang Zongxie chuckled briefly, "You seem quite certain that she will succeed."
Yu Jinyang said, "She can do it; there's nothing she can't do."
Zhang Zongxie poured him some water and said, “If she succeeds, we’ll both disappear from this industry. Because she wants me to violate professional ethics and release Convey’s internal documents for the sake of a dead driver and his deaf-mute daughter. So Little Painting City is her last chance to prove herself. If she can’t, she’ll be kicked out. Originally, without this incident, she could have easily made it to the decision-making table on the 38th floor of Convey, but she insisted on getting stuck on this dead end.”
Yu Jinyang didn't even look at him, and only asked, "Do you know what her mother does?"
Zhang Zongxie rarely showed a hesitant look, and looked at him: "What do you mean?"
"Her mother used to be a truck driver, and she grew up on trucks. Later, when she wanted to go to school, she moved to Xiaohua City and opened a small grocery store. Her mother went out to drive trucks to earn money, but she wasn't afraid. Sometimes her aunt would come and sleep with her, and sometimes she would take her pillow and go next door to sleep with Grandma Chunzhen. She started doing business when she was six or seven years old, and she could calculate cigarette money better than adults. Why do you think she's so fixated on this?" Yu Jinyang also unusually curled his lips in a cold smile, not even looking at him as he said, "Thanks, I didn't know why she came back before. But are you telling me this so that I won't disturb her work?"
Zhang Zongxie flicked his cigar and, seemingly changing the subject, said, "I've arranged to have lunch with her at the restaurant downstairs. Shall we join?"
...
The air conditioning in the private room was blasting. Li Yingqiao had just finished gossiping about Zheng Miaojia and hadn't quite caught up in the drama when Zhang Zongxie called her three times in a deep voice. She suddenly snapped back to reality: "What did you say? I didn't hear you." After saying that, she subconsciously looked around. "Where's your lawyer? Didn't you say you wanted to talk about Uncle Yu's case?"
Zhang Zongxie stood by the table, his suit jacket draped over the back of his chair. His cigar was extinguished and sat coldly on the table. He pulled out a chair and sat down: "Talking about President Yu? You want to see Yu Jinyang, don't you?"
Li Yingqiao was looking at the dishes on the table. She and Yu Jinyang had eaten here once before, but this lunch didn't seem to be the work of the previous Chinese chef. Had the kitchen staff changed? Just as she was about to speak, she heard him say this, looked up at him impatiently, and said, "Is this funny?"
Zhang Zongxie, expressionless, picked up the cold cigar and tapped the table lightly with the end, saying, "I called him, but he wouldn't come."
"Come or don't come," Li Yingqiao said nonchalantly, her eyes crinkling. "Do I need you to pass on a message if I want to see him? Did you give up being the emperor to become a eunuch?"
"..."
"Okay, fine, I was just being nosy." Zhang Zongxie cleared his throat, deciding to swallow his harsh words. After a moment of silence, he looked at her and said, "I shouldn't have made that stupid bet with you. You knew it was impossible; ten small painting cities couldn't become a second Rainbow Youli. I agreed to it because I wanted you to have a year to calm down and think carefully about whether it was worth it. Now give me your answer: it won't change, right?"
"right--"
"Because your mother is a truck driver, you're afraid you won't be able to face your mother if you just let this matter slide, right?"
"Who told you that?" Li Yingqiao was taken aback. "Yu Jinyang? Why would he tell you this? Did you tell him about our bet?"
Zhang Zongxie sneered and asked, "What's wrong? Can't you tell me? Are you afraid he'll worry, or are you afraid you'll lose the bet and ruin your image in his eyes?"
She didn't speak, just stared at him. It was the first time Zhang Zongxie had seen her with this expression, and he suddenly realized, "So you're afraid of losing too."
He then spoke without room for argument: "Li Yingqiao, after working with you for so many years, I thought you were like me, never leaving yourself a way out at work. But now? For a man, you've lost even your basic judgment? You know the outcome won't change in a year. Do you really think these few internet celebrities can boost Fengtan's economy? Don't you know the fundamental problems Fengtan faces? Does this run-down hotel really deserve to be called five-star? The facilities are outdated, and the service is inadequate. Last night, I wanted to call for an ironing service in the middle of the night, and they were so slow. The people here have no concept of service. That's the limitation of Fengtan. Which five-star hotel in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou would dare treat its VIP suite guests like this? The longer I stay here, the more I realize that making that bet with you was a mistake."
He softened his tone: "Once the legal due diligence in Little City is finished, Convey will have new personnel changes. I haven't told anyone about your affairs. As long as you're willing, there will always be a place for you on the Convey journey. Let's start over, okay?"
...
After Yu Jinyang returned from the hotel, he spent the whole afternoon moving his luggage. When Tang Xiang saw that the room was almost empty, she quickly came out to help him push the suitcases: "Why are you moving so much? You can move it slowly next time. It's not convenient to live in Xiaohua City. Why don't we just move back to the city after the lawsuit is over? We can take the ice cream cone back to visit Grandma and Grandpa."
“Mom, that’s not what I meant,” Yu Jinyang said, taking the suitcase from her hands. “I’m planning to open a new studio in Xiaohua City. The previous location was a bit out of the way, so I want to redesign the studio. I’ll tell you the details later. I’ll be a bit busy right now.”
Tang Xiang readily agreed: "You go about your business. Is Qiaoqiao living in Xiaohua City now too?"
"Um."
Tang Xiang suddenly lowered her voice and said, "He asked me a couple of days ago if that kid had been back for a long time."
What did you say?
“I told him it’s been a while, and he said, ‘Why doesn’t she come to see me? Gao Dian and Miao Jia have both come. The main thing is that a couple of days ago, Gao Dian brought little Miao Jia and gave him a lot of comic books, all drawn by her. Your dad was flipping through them when he asked, ‘Why doesn’t that kid come to see me? Does she look down on me? Or is she too shy to come because she’s dating Jin Yang?’”
He said helplessly, "Mom, we didn't..."
Tang Xiang stood at the door, stammered, glanced back, signaling him to keep quiet, and continued, "I know, I know, I understand. You know, when Xiao Miaojia came to our house the other day, she kept calling him 'Uncle this, Uncle that, Uncle that, Uncle handsome,' which made your dad so happy. Miaojia is quite the talker now, she talked to your dad a lot, and some of the same old things we've said countless times, but why does it work for others but not for us? I'm puzzled too. But he's really been holding back for the past six months, and he got up in the middle of the night to tell me that, thinking back on all these years, it seems like the happiest days were back in Xiaohua City."
"Mom just wants to tell you that we don't object to you moving back in. The past six months have been too depressing at home. He knows that no matter how relaxed he pretends to be, it's just a temporary fix. So, son, Mom will cheer you on and help this family get back on track as soon as possible."
Yu Jinyang had rarely felt a real connection to Tang Xiang as his mother before. The past six months had been the year he felt this connection most acutely. Previously, his father had handled almost all the household chores, and in the past six months, Tang Xiang had become the pillar of the family. He thought she would break down, but to his surprise, she didn't. At most, she complained a little about how her father was really afraid of pain. He couldn't even bear to think about how Tang Xiang got through that night when he wasn't in the country. He had asked her several times, "Mom, how did you get through that night?" But Tang Xiang always answered casually, "Just watching the IV drip, drop by drop, it was over."
This brief period of "visibility" usually occurs either at a sports event or in a hospital.
Yu Jinyang understood very well how difficult it was to endure such times. He had actually broken his leg several times and had to get IV drips in the hospital while he was in an underground dance troupe in Chicago. Most of the time he was alone, with Zhong Su occasionally accompanying him. When he was alone, he would stare at the moon outside the window. He didn't know why, but when he stared at the moon, he found that time passed particularly quickly.
The moon was exceptionally round in Xiaohua City tonight. As Yu Jinyang took a shower, he could see the warm, yellowish glow through the hazy windowpane of the bathroom. But as he was showering, the water ran out. Standing under the showerhead, with his head covered in foam, Yu Jinyang pulled the shower switch again, only to find it was no use. The water continued to drip, then stopped immediately.
He then remembered that Xiaohua City didn't have property management; only the scenic area office would notify people about water outages. However, he had muted all the scenic area office's group chats for the past two days. Looking at his phone now, he saw that Wu Juan had mentioned in a large group chat that there would be a half-hour water outage tonight.
Half an hour —
What can I do?
He rested one hand on the wet tiles, large clumps of foam sliding down the lines of his latissimus dorsi muscles, gathering at his waist and beginning to itch slightly, much like the sensation of someone's fingertips tracing his body, and suddenly his heart warmed. Then his mind began to jump between frames uncontrollably.
—Don't you know the fundamental problem with Fengtan? Does this run-down hotel really deserve to be called a five-star hotel? The facilities are outdated, and the service is inadequate. Last night, I wanted to call for an ironing service in the middle of the night, and they were incredibly slow and inefficient. The people here have absolutely no concept of service; this is the limitation of Fengtan. Which five-star hotel in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou would dare treat its VIP suite guests like this? The longer I stay here, the more I realize that signing this performance-based agreement with you was a mistake.
—Convey will always have a place for you, as long as you're willing.
— Shall we start over?
—But you two have been such a dramatic childhood sweethearts since you were little, is there really nothing more to it?
—What could they possibly be? Just some random passerby.
—I'm afraid he's done everything he should and shouldn't have done, look at how worthless Yu Jinyang is.
Is it worthless? Well, it's alright. He hasn't listened to her voice message for almost twenty hours.
Her lips were swollen from kissing, and she still went for A, B, C, and D.
She touched him all over, and he still started sleeping with someone else again.
Yu Jinyang felt a fire burning in his chest, and even though he was angry, he couldn't help thinking about her. It was like when he picked her up in a princess carry and ran away when they were little. He had thought that when he grew up, he would repay her double, leaving her powerless to fight back, only able to curse him in his arms, or like he did when he was angry with Liang Mei, opening his mouth and biting him hard.
But where do A, B, C, and D rank?
Damn it, he rarely leaned against the tiled wall, lowered his head, and laughed as he cursed himself: Yu Jinyang, you're really sick.
***
Not long after Li Yingqiao got home, she turned on the tap and found there was no water. She then sent a message in the scenic area's small group chat: "Is the water out?"
Wu Juan and Pan Xiaoliang were notifying the other homeowners when they immediately replied to Li Yingqiao, "Yes, Mr. Qiao, the water is out. It was supposed to be out for half an hour, but it's still not fixed. It'll probably be out until tomorrow morning."
Li Yingqiao agreed, telling them to keep an eye on a few sensitive shops and residents within the scenic area, as there was a chance of complaints tomorrow. However, before tomorrow even arrived, Wu Juan had just sent the message to the large group chat for the residents of the scenic area, and everyone seemed used to it. The usually unusually active troublemakers were all quiet, but one familiar ID got really angry.
321: "?"
Wu Juan and Li Yingqiao, almost simultaneously, exclaimed "Eh!" in their respective homes.
Wu Juan: "?"
The innocent dung beetle doing the cha-cha: "??"
The next message popped up in Li Yingqiao's private chat.
321: "..."
The innocent dung beetle hops the cha-cha: "Hi."
321: "Hello"
321: "The water ran out halfway through my shower. Could you please buy a case of bottled water and deliver it to me?"
[Author's Note]
I'm still a few hundred words short, so I'll add another chapter tomorrow.
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