Lady's Home

Chapter 10

She looked out the window, remained silent for a moment, and then said:

"some."

Now, he wanted to hear her reasons for being single. So he found a place and parked the car.

"Ling Ge, what's the reason?" he asked, facing her.

She spoke immediately without hesitation.

"Actually, when I was little, I was with my cousin, you know, we were together, you know what I mean. I was very young then, 14 years old, and he was 20. He said he loved me very much. Later, my dad found out and cut off all contact with my uncle's family..."

This opening remark surprised Jian Dongping, but he didn't interrupt her; he waited for her to continue.

“I told my friend about it, and then she told my boyfriend. He was very angry and said I lied to her. I did lie to him. I told him I never had one... I told him he was my first boyfriend.”

Jian Dongping hadn't expected Ling Ge to tell him such a secret. He looked at her profile; she seemed calmer and more sober than usual, but he suddenly realized she was drunk, very drunk. Everyone behaves differently when drunk—some sing, some vomit, some act out—but once Ling Ge got drunk, she would probably become unrestrained and reckless. Jian Dongping secretly resolved that he would never let her drink again.

As for the painful past she mentioned, Jian Dongping was slightly surprised, but what Ling Ge considered extremely serious, he didn't think was a big deal. Ling Ge was a young and beautiful girl, 25 years old, so it was natural for her to have some romantic history. Moreover, she was naturally enthusiastic and cheerful; sometimes, when he was around her, he could clearly feel the surging hormones within her. It seemed quite normal for someone like Ling Ge to have had a first love that crossed boundaries in her youth. Not to mention Ling Ge, even he himself, in his youth, had been madly in love with a girl in his class. Later, he bribed her deskmate to sit next to her whenever he had the chance, an incident still talked about by his junior high classmates. So, Ling Ge's matter really wasn't a big deal. What surprised him was the graduate student. If he really liked her, why would he leave her because of this? He was certain it was just an excuse to get rid of her.

“Ling Ge, you can find someone else after breaking up with him,” he said calmly.

“I’ve read a lot of articles in magazines and watched a lot of TV shows. I know men care a lot about these things. They might say they don’t mind now, but as time goes on and they don’t like me as much anymore, they’ll bring it up during arguments. I don’t want to live my whole life with my head down.” Her tone suddenly lightened as she said this. “So, I’ve already made up my mind. I’m going to save a lot of money so that when I’m old, I can buy a big TV and watch it from morning till night. I’ll also hire a maid to take care of me, and maybe I’ll even adopt a child so he can be filial to me. I’ve already set my sights on my colleague Xiao Wang’s child. It’s not born yet, so I don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl. I’ll have to give her New Year’s money, otherwise I’ll be a poor mother, and she won’t pay attention to me.”

Strangely enough, Ling Ge, who usually cries at the sight of an injured puppy, was unusually calm when talking about her own experiences. Perhaps this calmness and composure came from countless tears. Seeing this young, beautiful, and energetic woman enthusiastically discussing her plans for old age, Jian Dongping felt a pang of sadness.

"Ling Ge..." he called her name, but she immediately continued speaking.

“Jian Dongping, we’ve known each other for two years now.” She turned around to face him.

"Yes. It's been two years."

"There's something I've always wanted to say to you, but I never had the courage to say it before. I don't know why, but I really want to say it today. I have so much to say today."

"That's because of the alcohol; she's definitely drunk," Jian Dongping thought. But hearing her say that, could it be that she's going to confess her feelings to me? Oh… Jian Dongping sighed inwardly, a surge of joy welling up inside him. He thought conflictedly, if she suddenly said "I love you," he really wouldn't know how to answer her. He didn't want to hurt her, but he also didn't want to give up his free and easy life. But of course, if she really said that, temporarily granting her wish wouldn't be a bad idea. And if he heard her actually say it, he knew he would be incredibly happy. Thinking of this, he felt his heart racing.

"Say what you want to say," he encouraged expectantly.

“Okay.” She looked at him and asked, “Will you listen carefully?”

"I'm listening, Ling Ge, go ahead and say it," he urged impatiently, a smile already spreading across his face. He was eagerly anticipating hearing those words that would make his heart flutter.

“Okay.” She finally mustered up her courage and said, “I’ve always wanted to break up with you.”

Wow! It was like a bucket of cold water being poured over his head; he wondered if he had misheard.

"Ling Ge, what are you saying?!" He was somewhat annoyed.

“Jian Dongping, I’m an emotional person. I need to leave you now while I don’t have any feelings for you yet. It’ll be easier that way. If I wait until later, I’m afraid it will be very painful.” After saying this, Ling Ge let out a long sigh of relief. “I finally said it.”

Jian Dongping felt as if something was stuck in his throat. He had to admit that in this respect, she saw further ahead than he did. Yes, if they didn't plan to be together, breaking up now was much easier than breaking up later. Like her, he didn't want to endure the pain. His heart suddenly turned cold.

He started the car. After driving for a few minutes, he asked her:

"Have you made up your mind?"

"Mm." She nodded.

“Okay, I’ll listen to you,” he said, feeling a dryness in his throat.

Neither of them spoke another word after that. He thought she would cry, but she remained calm throughout.

Thirty minutes later, he dropped her off at her doorstep.

“You’ve arrived,” he said.

“Let’s not contact each other anymore, and don’t come looking for me. But I promised to give you a copy of Su Zhiwen’s case, and I will. Consider this my last act of helping you. I’ll mail it to you,” she said.

"Fine," he replied indifferently.

She looked at him as if she had something to say.

"Goodbye." He didn't want to look at her anymore.

"Goodbye," she said, turning back suddenly as she opened the car door.

“Jian Dongping, you actually save money, right? Shen Biyun just said that you had a private account when you were 10 years old. My dad said that money concepts and habits formed in childhood are hard to change. You don’t want to tell others your actual financial situation, right?”

Jian Dongping was speechless.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not interested in your money. Knowing that, I don't need to worry about you anymore. I used to always think about what would happen to you when you got old, poor, sick, and childless. I was so silly." She smiled and got out of the car.

She walked towards the stairwell; she lived on the ground floor of an old-style public housing building. Just as she was about to go inside, Jian Dongping suddenly flung open the door and chased after her.

"Ling Ge!"

When she turned around, he was already in front of her. He reached out and touched the warm nape of her neck, then pulled her into his arms. Although Ling Ge was slender, she wasn't bony, which was why he often teased her, calling her a "clothed round meatball." Now, as he held her tightly, even pressing his face against hers and brushing his lips against her hair, he could feel even more the warmth emanating from her plump body and the endless youthful vitality within her.

"Don't do this," she whispered in protest, but did not push him away.

He had intended to give her a friendly hug, but even he felt it was a bit too much, so he let go of her. He held her shoulders, looked at her, and said, "Ling Ge, you know what? Someone who truly loves you won't care about that. I believe you will find your own happiness in the future. I believe."

"Stop talking," she laughed. "I have my own savings, I can support myself."

"If you ever encounter any difficulties in the future, feel free to come to me," he said sincerely.

"No need, Jian Dongping. No matter what happens to me, I won't come looking for you again. I'll handle any difficulties myself. I believe I can do it." She twisted her body and shook off his hands from her shoulders, her tone unusually resolute.

"Very good, you are very strong. It seems I should applaud you for that," he thought to himself.

"Alright, leave me a souvenir." He spoke in a nonchalant tone.

"A souvenir?" She looked up at him. "What do you want?"

"Will you give it to me just because I want it?"

"I...I have nothing to give you." She seemed a little scared.

“I want your little ledger,” he said.

"A small ledger?" she exclaimed in surprise.

He snatched the watch from his wrist and the ring from his hand and stuffed them into her hand: "These are souvenirs for you. If you don't like them, you can pawn them for some money."

“You…” She looked up at him, seemingly still not having reacted.

"Stop dawdling! I need to get back by 10:30 to watch the Federer vs. Nadal final," he urged coldly, feeling a throbbing pain in his temples.

She took her little green ledger out of her small cloth bag, and he snatched it away, stuffed it into his pocket, and turned to leave.

"Why did you..." she asked from behind him, but he interrupted her halfway through.

"Goodbye," he said coldly, turning his back, before getting into the car and closing the door. He hadn't wanted to look at her, but he couldn't help glancing back at her; she stood a short distance away, watching him expectantly. Jian Dongping tried to imagine himself as a helpless vegetable, controlling his legs to prevent himself from kicking the car door. "Bye-bye, Ling Ge," he repeated to himself ten times before finally starting the car and driving away.

On the way back, he felt himself slowly moving closer to a vegetative state. First, his scalp tingled, and he gradually lost consciousness. Then, his hands and feet became stiff, and he could not flexibly grip the steering wheel. Finally, even his vision became blurred. He had to stop the car on the side of the road for 20 minutes before he could start driving again.

Although he was like a vegetable, his mind blank and his heart still, he vaguely felt a different feeling slowly rising from deep within his body. This feeling reminded him of the heavy rain on May 7th, and of Zhou Jin waving goodbye to him in the rain. He had never been able to describe that feeling, but now he knew: it was despair, or rather, death. On this clear night, he felt as if he were surrounded by rain.

Goodbye, Ling Ge.

He silently repeated the words to himself, then finally restarted his car and drove it straight home.

The next morning, when Jian Dongping went into the living room to eat breakfast, he ran into his father, Jian Qiming, who was also eating breakfast.

"Why are you here so early today?" Jian Qiming looked surprised, then immediately teased, "Did you get back this morning?"

Jian Dongping decided to make things clear. Now that they had broken up, he didn't want to hear that name again.

"Dad, I've broken up with Ling Ge. Don't ever mention me to her again," he said expressionlessly.

Jian Qiming's eyebrows squeezed together to form an "eight" shape, an expression that indicated two things: first, he felt regret; second, he did not believe Jian Dongping's statement.

"What's wrong with Xiaoling?" Jian Qiming asked.

“There’s nothing wrong with her, but since I’ve already decided to live alone, I shouldn’t hold her back, don’t you think?” Jian Dongping sat down calmly opposite his father, took a deep breath. Although he hadn’t slept a wink all night, he felt that everything was normal this morning, and his heart was very calm. This made him feel gratified, because it meant that he hadn’t stepped into the whirlpool of emotions. The only thing that made him slightly dissatisfied was that today’s breakfast was really tasteless; it looked unappetizing. Why has Sister Ping’s cooking gotten so bad lately?

"Oh ha, you've thought of everything." Jian Qiming smiled sarcastically.

Jian Dongping didn't want to bring it up again, so he said:

"Let's talk about Shen Biyun. I really didn't expect you to be her legal advisor. And you've known her for so many years, how did you come to know her?" Jian Dongping barely managed to swallow a mouthful of porridge, feeling like he was eating foot bath water, and quickly spat it out.

“We used to be neighbors. Back then, her mother, Huang Xiuzhi, and she lived in the attic room on the second floor. Nobody knew they were the family of the great painter Shen Qianyi. Later, I got to know Biyun and learned about their family background.” Jian Qiming smiled meaningfully. “Shen Biyun was a great beauty and very talented back then. She even painted portraits of me and your mother. It’s a pity she was born at the wrong time.”

"If I may ask, do you and her have any ambiguous relationship?" Jian Dongping tapped his fingers on the table. Today, he felt as relaxed as a plate of deboned fish fillets, but his words involuntarily became very sharp. Normally, he would only ask "is there anything?" and then stop asking.

Jian Qiming glanced at him sideways.

“What are you thinking? We are the real best friends. Do you think it’s just you and Xiaoling?” Jian Qiming chuckled. “She often comes to me for advice. I gave her a lot of suggestions when she divorced her first husband.”

When did that happen? Was it her first divorce?

"Around 1970, why do you want to know about her?" Jian Qiming glanced at his son warily, and suddenly noticed that his son was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, which was a rare occurrence.

“Zhou Jin has disappeared. Her last phone call was with Su Zhiwen. Her disappearance must be related to Shen Biyun’s family.” Jian Dongping noticed his father’s gaze was sweeping over his fingers. His wrists and fingers were empty today, but he didn’t want to explain or interrupt their conversation. So he pretended not to notice his father’s gaze and said, “I bought a copy of her autobiography, ‘The House of Ladies,’ published at the end of last year, yesterday.”

"You bought this book too?" Jian Qiming frowned, seemingly unimpressed. "If you're interested in her, you can take a good look. Everything you want to know is in the book."

“But I still want to hear you talk about it. You must know a lot of things that aren’t written in the books,” Jian Dongping said calmly, looking at his father.

What do you want to know?

"First of all, their family relationships are too complicated. I want to know exactly how many times Shen Biyun has been married."

Jian Qiming finished the last mouthful of porridge and slowly lit a thin cigar. Jian Dongping had a premonition that he would be bathed in smoke for the next hour. He really hated the smell of smoke, but oh well, he would endure it to hear the story. He decided to listen to his father's narration and then take a shower. Suddenly, he realized that he hadn't even changed his clothes.

"How many times has she been married?" he asked.

“Shen Biyun has been married four times. The first time was to an ordinary worker. At the time, she was working in a glass factory. The man was her mentor, a few years older than her, and an honest and kind person. He didn’t care about her poor background and married her. Their marriage lasted for seven years. Because Shen Biyun insisted on not having children with that man, and deliberately and secretly aborted the child after becoming pregnant, the man was very angry, and the two divorced as a result.”

"You probably came up with the idea of deliberately causing a miscarriage for her," Jian Dongping thought to himself.

"When did the divorce happen?" Jian Dongping asked.

"It was probably in 1977. Not long after her divorce, she married Fang Guohua, the director of the glass factory. Fang Guohua was 15 years older than her, a widower, and had a 10-year-old daughter with him, Fang Rouzhi, whom you see here. She was Shen Biyun's stepdaughter. After marrying Fang Guohua, Shen Biyun gave birth to her eldest daughter, Fang Qi, in 1980. Fang Guohua was already in poor health, and in 1982, while he was giving a report at a meeting, he suddenly suffered a heart attack and died," Jian Qiming said calmly.

"After that, Shen Biyun married a man surnamed Zeng?"

"That's right. Around 1983, she married Zeng Hong, a Chinese American. They got married after knowing each other for only two months. Zeng Hong was four years older than Shen Biyun, and they had a very good relationship. I even went to their wedding. That year, they went to Malaysia to do business, and the following year, in 1984, Shen Biyun gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, in Malaysia."

"Dragon and phoenix twins? Zeng Yushan has a younger brother?" Jian Dongping thought of the uncle Fang Xiaoxi had mentioned.

"Yes, that child's name is Zeng Xiaochen."

"Where is he?" Jian Dongping asked.

"It was probably in 1997. He was about 13 years old when he fell down the stairs and died."

Jian Dongping was startled.