59 Chapter Fifty-Eight
We have love.
—Wait a minute, baby.
—I've known you for a long time.
Why are you hiding something from me?
—I thought we were through with fronting.
Why would I ever?
—Baby I'd never
—Baby, you know exactly what I need to be.
So tell me (Let's talk)
…
A foreign language song was playing inside. Li Yingqiao took a few bottles of mineral water from his refrigerator and opened the door beforehand, but he wasn't in the living room.
She stood there and looked around. Judging by today's standards, Brother Si's aesthetic sense was still very advanced. After all, the decoration from more than ten years ago was still not outdated. Almost all the furniture was made of black walnut wood, and a wall was built made of hundreds of kinds of wood. More than a hundred kinds of different types of wood were cut into the same size and arranged in the shape of a fishbone in the entrance hall of the living room.
Li Yingqiao remembered a time when she was little, she and Yu Jinyang went to the countryside to catch crayfish. They spent the whole day crawling and rolling around in the fields, getting covered in dirt. That day, Li Shuli happened to be visiting her grandmother in the countryside. Unexpectedly, her grandmother returned so early, and the shop was closed. Li Shuli, covered in mud, pitifully squatted at the shop entrance, waiting for her mother to come home and give her a bath. Ms. Tang Xiang couldn't bear to see her like that, so she grabbed her and, without a word, carried her home to bathe her together.
Ms. Tang Xiang is incredibly strong. Once, she was caught by Brother Si Yi accidentally pulling out the valve core of his tire, and was dragged all the way home and scolded. She thought it was because adult men were strong, but she didn't expect that she couldn't struggle against an adult woman either. When she was little, she always thought that every mother in Xiaohuacheng was very strong, so she always ate voraciously, wanting to grow strong and become as strong as them.
That was also the only time she entered Yu Jinyang's home. After taking a shower, she smelled the faint scent of wood shavings emanating from the exquisite and luxurious furniture throughout the house, and she generously expressed her most sincere feelings to Yu Jinyang: "Meow meow, your house smells so good, your dad has such great ideas."
Although she knew about the conflict between her uncle and Fourth Brother, she had always envied Miao Miao for having such a father. But people grow up, and when she went to high school, she learned that many trees in the world are non-renewable resources and many trees are national protected plants. She readily said, "Uncle Yu, you are wasting them. The country encourages us to protect trees."
Back then, Yu Renjie never engaged in internal strife; he only displayed the cunning of a shrewd businessman: "Cut down the trees of capitalism to increase the GDP of socialism. I call this learning from Lei Feng and doing good deeds anonymously."
Li Yingqiao nodded. So black walnut wood is abundant in North America. But so what? Zhu Xiaoliang had said that Earth's resources are finite. Overfishing leads to the depletion of the oceans, and excessive logging will certainly lead to the extinction of species in forests. Moreover, as resources become increasingly scarce, the gap between the rich and the poor will only widen. She countered by asking Yu Renjie if he knew about the pigeonhole theory. At that time, she felt she was at her most knowledgeable, able to refute anyone's arguments from her own perspective. However, Yu Renjie said she was both naive and prone to pedantry, which angered her so much that she didn't speak a word to Yu Jinyang for two whole days.
Later I realized that books are an ideal world, while life is a gray space, and it is difficult for people to live a vibrant life. This is because color theory has proven that gray cannot be mixed with any other color to produce true red or other bright colors. It can only reduce the saturation to produce different shades of gray.
When Yu Jinyang came out to get water, he looked disheveled, and the soap on his head had dried. Neither of them spoke; he was afraid she would see him naked. He grabbed the bottled water from the coffee table and went back into the bathroom without a word. Li Yingqiao found it amusing: "Then why did you come out wearing nothing on top?"
But she didn't intend to linger. She turned to pull the door, but it wouldn't budge. She tried turning it a couple more times, and suddenly a cold, mechanical female voice rang out: "Lock activated, Unlock via mobile."
Then, it was repeated in Chinese: "Locked, please unlock with your phone."
At the same time, Li Yingqiao heard a series of rapid gasps coming from the bathroom. Someone hissed several times, the words caught in his throat, restrained and short. She hadn't expected him to be in such a hurry. Li Yingqiao finally couldn't hold back her laughter any longer. She leaned against the door and laughed for a long time without making a sound.
When the other person came out, she had stopped laughing and was ready to end the silent performance. Without looking at him or expressing her expression, she said, "Open the door, I'm going back."
"You hate me that much? Why did you have to bring ice water?" Yu Jinyang stood behind the sofa with his back to her, casually grabbed a T-shirt and put it on, speaking in a low voice without turning his head.
“Put these in my fridge yourself,” she said without turning around. “We’re out of bottles. Just open the door, I’m leaving.”
"Wait a minute, I have something to tell you," he said seriously.
Li Yingqiao then turned to look at him and said, "Speak."
"Come here first." He stood there, seemingly insisting on something, but his attitude was firm.
Li Yingqiao was too lazy to argue with him. She stood in front of the single sofa in front of him, telling him to shut up. However, he suddenly leaned over, reached out and cupped her cheeks, covering them tightly. A rare look of triumph appeared on his face: "Li Yingqiao, are you cold?"
Caught off guard, Li Yingqiao was instantly chilled, her body trembling involuntarily, but she still forced herself to stare at him and say, "I'm not cold, I'm bored."
Yu Jinyang refused to let go. Seeing her try to turn her face away, he forcefully turned her back, making her look directly into his eyes and say, "Are you still being stubborn?"
Li Yingqiao stared at him intently. She recalled how, in the past, when they argued, Yu Jinyang would just sulk for a couple of days and then make up. Li Yingqiao seemed to have never once taken the initiative to coax him. She never expected that after so many years, he would still be the same, readily accepting any offer of a way out.
"You're not angry with me anymore?" she asked.
The background music continued, the lingering blues filling the entire room, each note seemingly trying to amplify this ambiguous and tender atmosphere, constantly revealing the inner thoughts of urban men and women.
——why would I ever
——why would I ever
…
Yu Jinyang withdrew his hand and put it in his pocket, his palm still warm from her cheek, and he involuntarily curled it up. His tone, however, remained harsh: "What else? Haven't you been like this since you were little?"
Li Yingqiao continued to stare at him intently: "Actually, you can stay angry. I was going to try to comfort you, but I've been too busy lately—"
"Listen to this, is this even reasonable?" He laughed. "Your hindsight is pretty far-reaching, huh? Do you think I'll be able to wait until next Spring Festival?"
“Really!” She smiled too. “Yu Jinyang, believe me, I have a comprehensive plan.”
“Believe what?” he said. “Believe I can wait until next Spring Festival? Until you finish your bet, until you've served your purpose of justice, if I haven’t already driven you crazy by now. Right?”
"What else do you know?" Li Yingqiao asked in return.
The two were sitting back to back on the armrests of the single sofa in the middle, not touching each other's backs, yet they inexplicably felt each other's warmth.
Yu Jinyang stared blankly at a scratch on the floor from many years ago, and said emotionlessly, "What could I possibly know? This guy came to me all high and mighty, and I was still calling him 'brother.' He's risked his future for you, what can I, a nobody, say? According to that Mr. Zhang, you two are now in cahoots, and if I want to squeeze him, I'll squeeze you too."
Li Yingqiao suddenly realized he was at the door that morning. She turned around and glanced at him; the man's back was hunched, and he didn't turn around. She said, "Looks like you're still angry."
"How dare I?"
"Don't be like this." She took a deep breath and turned back to say, "I think you're still angry. I originally wanted to wait until you calmed down before talking to you. Today is obviously not the time. We'll talk again when you're calmer. Yu Jinyang, open the door with your phone."
As soon as she finished speaking, she stood up, but suddenly her wrist was gripped tightly. The icy feeling from the soaking water was gone; now, his dry, warm palm held her firmly, the heat seeping into her skin, making her pulse pound faster under his tight grip. A surge of heat welled up in her heart. She tried to break free, but couldn't. She turned to look at him and found him still sitting on the sofa with his back to her, not even turning his head, yet he had his wrist firmly in his grasp.
Yu Jinyang pulled her over, his arm muscles tensing abruptly, veins bulging beneath the skin. His gaze was coldly sharp, like a loyal soldier deciding to defy his superiors, knowing it was a dead end, yet still willing to gamble. He had never looked at her with that expression before: "Then let me tell you, I can never look at this calmly! What makes you think I can calmly talk to you? Calmly talk about what? Whether I'm willing to be your sex partner? How many times a week? Meeting up and doing it, right? I know, that's the rule in this circle. Is that how you play the game in Beijing—"
"Let go! I can't tell you, I think you've really gone crazy today." Li Yingqiao tried to shake him off, but couldn't break free at all. She tilted her head back, trying to catch her breath. "Yu Jinyang, if you don't want us to break up completely, then let go of me. Don't force me to say anything nasty."
He leaned there quietly, watching her repeatedly try to shake off his hand. He was actually quite flustered, but he was genuinely jealous today. He had initially thought that Zhang Zongxie and she were at most in a superior-subordinate relationship, and that she had suffered a lot of grievances under him. But now, he wasn't sure if it was grievance or flirting. Yu Jinyang grabbed her with one hand and turned her face towards him with the other, making them look at each other again: "Why are you hiding? Why won't you look at me? You like him, yet you came back and did this and that to me, is that it?"
She didn't speak.
"Why don't you deny it?" His heart sank, but his fingers gripped her chin tightly, staring intently into her eyes. "Li Yingqiao, say no!"
He knew that the more he acted this way, the less likely she would say a word.
Yu Jinyang: "Why didn't you bite me? I thought you'd be so angry you'd bite me directly, like you bit Liang Mei back then—"
Before she finished speaking, Li Yingqiao lunged forward. She actually bit his lower lip, her anger, burning with unvented rage, more like a condescending punishment. One of her hands was held captive by him, while the other gripped his collar tightly, her sharp teeth digging deep into his lip. She didn't close her eyes, just stared at him coldly. Even amidst the lingering, ambiguous blues music, there was no trace of tenderness or affection, only a chilling warning, devoid of any lust—she truly wanted to tear a piece of him apart.
Yu Jinyang, however, calmed down. He suddenly reached out and gripped the back of her neck, deepening the kiss without giving her a chance to resist. He slowly pried open her tightly clenched teeth with his tongue until he felt her tense neck relax in his warm palm. Only then did he pull back slightly, pressing his nose against hers, and whisper, "Don't be calm anymore, nobody should be calm. I'm most afraid that you'll calm down and think about it again and not want me anymore. Besides, I really can't find that many excuses to see you anymore. Next time you'll definitely be on guard."
For a long while, no one spoke in the room, only the music from the stereo continued to play.
—Have you seen us?
—We have that love.
Very timely.
"Pfft—"
Someone laughed, and she quipped, "What kind of lousy song is this? I don't understand it at all."
"Isn't that so?"
"What?"
“We’ve got that love.” He looked down into her eyes. “Don’t you?”
[Author's Note]
The English song is "Why Would I Ever" by Paula DeAnda. (Lyrics quoted from [insert music version here]).
Tip: Please don't mention this book in the comments section of this song, thank you.
See you tomorrow.
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