He said, "I'm sorry."
As soon as Ju Nian turned her head, Fei Ming quickly added, "Uncle Han Shu also said that if Aunt still doesn't want it, then throw it away on his behalf."
Seeing that his aunt remained silent, Fei Ming pleaded, "Aunt, please stop making me run around like this. It's really tiring. I asked Uncle Han Shu to come by himself, but he wouldn't."
Ju Nian was silent for a moment, then smiled at Fei Ming, "If you're tired, come inside and have a meal."
The next day, during her lunch break, Ju Nian brought food to Ping Feng at the Third People's Hospital for her internal fixation surgery. The surgery was relatively successful, but Ping Feng now has great difficulty moving around. Ju Nian is busy with work and taking care of both of them, so there are bound to be things she can't attend to.
Pingfeng's ward was on the third floor of the inpatient department. There were many people waiting at the elevator, so Ju Nian simply walked up the stairs. At the corner on the second floor, she unexpectedly saw a familiar figure.
Xie Wangnian was going downstairs, and the siblings bumped into each other head-on. There weren't many people going up or down the stairs, and being face-to-face like that meant there was no chance to avoid it.
Ju Nian thought to herself that with her cowardice, she was afraid she would never be well prepared to face the Xie family.
Wang Nian's ears turned red, and he opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything.
Ju Nian never expected him to call her "sister." Whether he called her that or not, whether he acknowledged her or not, it didn't matter to her. What made Ju Nian feel embarrassed was that this younger brother represented the disapproval of her by her family who shared the same blood.
Not wanting to see Wang Nian's awkward expression, she turned her face away, smiled, and walked quickly past with her head down.
Pushing open the door to the ward, Pingfeng was holding a romance novel, humming a song, and seemed to be in a good mood.
"You're here, I'm starving." Pingfeng didn't stand on ceremony with Ju Nian.
Ju Nian smiled as she opened the lid of the food for Ping Feng, and casually asked, "You seem to be in a good mood. Was something wrong just now?"
Ping Fenggang eagerly took a sip of soup, almost choking on it. "Hmm... what could possibly be wrong? Just amuse yourself. It's already like this, there's no point in looking miserable."
Ju Nian didn't ask any more questions and lowered her head to wipe up the soup that Ping Feng had splashed out with a tissue.
"By the way, Ju Nian, did that sucker cause you any trouble?"
“Who… oh.” Ju Nian shook her head in denial.
Pingfeng had a good appetite and ate heartily. Ju Nian sat to the side, her mind preoccupied with her conversation with her boss before leaving get off work. She had considered it for a long time before asking for an advance of three months' salary.
The female boss asked with concern why, and Ju Nian only said that something had happened at home and she urgently needed money.
"Ju Nian, it's possible to get a month's salary in advance, but for anything beyond that, the store has its own financial rules. Other colleagues brought it up last month, but I didn't agree. You're the store manager, so it's not appropriate to break that rule," the female boss replied. Ju Nian thanked her and ultimately let it go.
After Pingfeng finished eating, Ju Nian asked unexpectedly, "By the way, do you know anyone who likes designer handbags or anything like that?"
Pingfeng wiped her mouth. "That depends on the type of person. I know a few people in the same line of work. If they have a little bit of money, they'd rather tighten their belts than not get some expensive clothes. They specialize in getting rich by hanging around the wealthy. If it were me, I'd rather die than buy a piece of clothing or a bag for several thousand."
Ju Nian packed her things. "I do have one. After you get better and go out, see if anyone is interested. If so, please transfer it to someone else for me."
"Where did you get this? Is it new? If you don't want it, why don't you return it to the original store?"
"Don't ask anymore, just keep an eye out for me."
Ju Nian didn't explain the bag's origin to Ping Feng, partly because she feared Ping Feng would pry, and partly because she genuinely didn't want to bring up Han Shu's past. She had questioned whether her actions were appropriate; she didn't want to owe Han Shu a favor, didn't want any connection with him, whether financial or emotional. But she was also human, and when she was worried about money, the bag lying in the corner of the room seemed to grow a mouth, constantly saying, "It's not that you owe him, it's that he owes you, he owes you, he owes you, he owes you, he owes you..."
Whether intentionally or unintentionally, she had looked at the bag's packaging; everything was there, except for the purchase invoice.
Regardless of who owes whom, let's settle this matter.
Chapter Two: At Wanghe Pavilion, on the Great Heat, Feng Mian
In the fabric shop, Ju Nian's handiwork was top-notch. She felt that every piece of fabric she handled possessed a spirit—the understated elegance of plain satin, the warmth of plaid, the charming innocence of floral prints—each had its own unique style. Perhaps this is how things are in the world: things made with heart are always better than others. Some of the shop's regular customers knew this and would specifically request that she make them by hand. When she was too busy, she could only apologize to the customers. But on this day, Ju Nian encountered a return.
"Sister Ju Nian, I delivered it to the address, but the owner refused to accept it," the deliveryman said, wiping his sweat as he put the package on the cashier's counter.
Ju Nian quickly opened the packaging to check, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with how it was made?"
In the past, such self-doubt would never have occurred to her; she was always meticulous in her work. However, lately, Han Shu's care for Fei Ming had not diminished but rather increased daily, and Fei Ming seemed increasingly dependent on him, calling him "Uncle Han Shu" repeatedly, as if he genuinely considered him a family member, even if they didn't live together. Ju Nian knew that at this point, Fei Ming wouldn't heed her instructions to distance himself from Han Shu, but abruptly stopping the child from seeing him would be tantamount to severing Fei Ming's greatest joy and emotional support—something she couldn't bring herself to do. The only solution was to handle it coldly, distancing herself from their relationship.
After that embarrassing incident outside the iron gate that night, Han Shu never directly encountered Ju Nian again. Knowing that Ju Nian was home, he would always park his car a hundred meters away. Where he went and what he did usually reached Ju Nian's ears through the children. Ju Nian ignored them. However, on those evenings when she wasn't at school, she would occasionally see that familiar Subaru parked quietly in front of Uncle Cai's convenience store, like a backdrop in the night.
Those nights, Ju Nian, whose heart had been as empty as a well after years of quiet living, began to be tormented by dreams. She wasn't thinking of Han Shu, but his presence forced her to recall so many past events smoothed out by the long passage of time. Before Han Shu appeared, those memories were peaceful, like neatly folded sheets tucked away at the bottom of a trunk. Now, with him lifting them, they were still so new, though tinged with mildew and creases, their mottled surfaces vividly clear. Ju Nian could barely suppress those memories: the dazzling sunlight filtering through her fingers at the top of the steps, the frosty moonlight on the first night behind the high walls—whenever she recalled these, she trembled uncontrollably in her dreams. The memories awakened, but the man's eyes remained closed.
So, these past few days, Ju Nian has been somewhat absent-minded, fearing that she might accidentally get the measurements wrong and have the customer return the item. But even after carefully examining the entire sofa set, she couldn't find any obvious problems.
The deliveryman gave a wry smile. "Don't rush to check it. In my opinion, there's nothing wrong with the item at all. That person didn't even open it to check it carefully before saying it wasn't theirs. But I checked the address multiple times, and it's correct. Besides, the contact number on it is correct. What can I do if they refuse to admit it? I also told that person that a deposit was paid for this. Even if the deposit is non-refundable, they still have to settle the balance with us."
"Your brother is right," Ju Nian nodded. "So how did the customer answer you?"
"Answer? They just slammed the door shut right in front of me. If I hadn't pulled back in time, my nose would have been flattened," the underling said sullenly.
Ju Nian went back to check the order. The address and phone number were all in detail and matched the delivery slip in her younger brother's hand. She vaguely remembered that it was placed by a young woman who looked like an intellectual, and she paid the 50% deposit very readily. How could such a strange thing happen on the delivery day?
She stroked the smoky gray pearlescent satin fabric, a dilemma forming in her mind. She had taken on the order, and she had chosen the fabric and style for the customer: a sofa cover, six cushion covers, and two bay window cushions. While not extravagant, they were made of high-quality materials with meticulous details. The right-side hem pleats on each item had taken considerable thought to achieve a result that satisfied her and was indeed quite elegant and pleasing to the eye. More importantly, although she had received a deposit, she couldn't collect the remaining balance. The items were sitting in the shop, not matching the customer's requested size, and difficult to resell. This would naturally make things difficult to account for on the books.
There was really no other way, so Ju Nian put down her work and asked the deliveryman for the address. "I'll try again." She thought that even if the result was the same as before, since she was the one who handled this matter, she should at least figure out where the problem was. Maybe the deliveryman's description was wrong, and she could give the customer an explanation.
Riding the electric bicycle from the store, Ju Nian arrived at the residential complex indicated on the delivery slip. It was a well-known southern-style garden complex in the city. Ju Nian carefully checked the unit and floor number and rang the doorbell for a while.
A man opened the door. This delivery guy had mentioned before that the phone number on the delivery slip belonged to a man, not the woman Ju Nian met when she accepted the order.
It's not unusual for a wife to choose items and leave her husband's contact information. But when Ju Nian lifted her face from the pile of goods in her arms, both the person inside and outside the door were startled.
The man's face was incredibly grim; shock, panic, and anger surged up all at once, reflected in his eyes. If there had been a mirror at that moment, Ju Nian would likely have seen her own guilty conscience reflected in her reflection. They say enemies are destined to meet, and she, of all people, had blindly walked into the deepest dead end.
"You really are more cunning than I imagined, managing to come all this way. Have you finally decided? What do you want? What can satisfy your greed?" The man was none other than Tang Ye, the one who had been kind to Ping Feng but was betrayed the night of her accident. He gripped the threshold with one hand, his voice slightly distorted with anger.
Ju Nian wished the goods in her hands could completely bury her beneath them. She recalled a scene from a novel where she would inevitably say, "No, no, no, let me explain..." She had long understood that most things that could be explained were already understood by everyone, requiring no further explanation; and when one was truly unable to defend themselves, nothing could be said, there was simply no way to explain. If she were to say at this moment, "I'm here to deliver sofa cushion covers," it would be tantamount to a lover being caught cheating in the wife's bed by her husband, constantly trying to justify himself by saying, "I was just testing the softness of your bed."
However, she did come to deliver sofa covers. Although she found it absurd, she paused for a moment and mechanically raised the sofa covers slightly.
Tang Ye clearly recognized the outer packaging of the item she was holding. He sneered, the subtext of which was obvious: if you're going to go to such lengths to extort money, why resort to such clumsy tricks to disgust people?
"Sir, I'm sorry. But this really is something you ordered from our store, or perhaps it belonged to your friend..."
Ju Nian forced herself to finish speaking, but Tang Ye's only reaction was to point in the direction of the elevator and squeeze out a single word, "Get out!"
Ju Nian was extremely thin-skinned, and the immense humiliation overturned her raft as she tried to save herself. But who could she blame? Wasn't this humiliation self-inflicted? Her current predicament wasn't even due to a misunderstanding. She vividly remembered her despicable and dark behavior in front of him that day, and now she had delivered herself to his doorstep. If it weren't for his good manners, anyone else would have slapped her across the face, and she felt no injustice whatsoever.
She didn't know whether to hand over the things in her hands or keep them. If she left, what would she do with them? Ju Nian bit her lower lip slightly and took a step back hesitantly.
Tang Ye's anger finally erupted at this moment. His refined face turned purple, and his outstretched fingers trembled. "Get out! Get out! Go ahead and say it, go ahead and say it to the whole world, that's who I am, what can you do to me?!"
He was hysterically indignant, as if the woman standing before him was not an ungrateful woman who was trying to extort money, but rather all the injustices and obstacles in his real life.
The door slammed shut again right in front of Ju Nian, the loud bang making everyone's eardrums ring. The neighbor, startled, opened a crack in the door to peek in. Ju Nian lowered her head, her heart heavy, took a deep breath, and reached for the elevator button.
The elevator, which had already descended, slowly rose again, the red numbers flashing. The stainless steel elevator doors reflected a blurry yet repulsive figure—a pathetic person who had lost all sense of right and wrong. Countless times, with her back to those who bullied her, Ju Nian told herself, "What can I do? All I can do is be different from them." Yet, on countless brinks when she was on the verge of collapse, she asked herself again and again, "Why should I be different from them? Why?"
Now, she's finally the same.
The elevator doors opened after a sound, and Ju Nian stepped in, but the door behind her opened at the same time.
Tang Ye's hand gripped Ju Nian's wrist, his previous assertiveness and sharpness replaced by a defeated compromise.
"Just name your price. Tell me what you want. Give me a straight answer, please."
It turns out he wasn't as fearless as he had seemed during his outburst. He still cared about what others thought. No one who cares isn't cowardly.
Ju Nian, clutching the heavy sofa cover, heard the elevator doors slowly close.
She said, "Can I put the sofa cover on?"
After a long while, Tang Ye stepped aside, and Ju Nian nervously walked past him into the unfamiliar room. Custom-made sofa covers, even a centimeter off, wouldn't fit. All delivery personnel had to install them for the customer before leaving; this was her purpose for coming today, and her duty.
Tang Ye sat expressionlessly in a shaded wicker chair, watching Ju Nian skillfully remove the old covers from the fabric sofa and cushions, then replace them with new ones. This was no easy task, especially for one person to do alone. She was sweating profusely, and several times, Tang Ye thought she couldn't handle it, but after a few strenuous moments, the chaotic mess would miraculously become perfectly organized again. This woman might be cunning, but she gave off a harmless, even delicate and refined aura. Women all wear their own masks.
Ju Nian put all her energy into the work at hand, and to her some relief, she made all the parts perfectly.
"Which one is your part-time job?" Tang Ye asked coldly as the work in the living room was almost finished. His extreme anger had passed, and he appeared quite calm.
Ju Nian slowed her movements, trying to decipher the unspoken meaning in his words.
A prostitute who makes fabric sofa covers.
Perhaps this can be considered a step forward in understanding; at least he acknowledged that the sofa cover was indeed custom-made for his sofa, which was of a special size.
She continued to avoid eye contact with Tang Ye, and said slowly, "The only service you need today is the sofa cover."
"I didn't order the sofa covers." His tacit agreement was just to find out what she was up to.
“But it was indeed made for your sofa.” Ju Nian gently smoothed out the crease on the last sofa cushion. “It matches the color of your floor and that rattan chair… Um, may I ask where the bay window is?”
Tang Ye's face was in the shadows, his expression unreadable; perhaps he was scrutinizing her, perhaps he was still filled with doubt. Nevertheless, he raised a hand and pointed to one of the rooms.
This man was gloomy and melancholy in front of Ju Nian, but his residence was quite leisurely, with a light gray background, a lot of rattan products and green plants, and a chair that was always placed in the most suitable place to sit quietly.
Ju Nian started laying out cushions on the bay window. The bay window, originally paved with jade-colored marble, looked exceptionally clean. Apart from a chessboard and a six-inch wooden photo frame, the man lying on a folding chair by a suburban pond in the photo appeared to be the owner of the house. However, he looked slightly different in the photo than in reality. Perhaps it was the emotion captured in the photograph. Although he wasn't smiling, holding a fishing rod, with a slightly worn novel on his chest, his black hair slightly disheveled, and a fisherman's hat partially obscuring his face, which was dappled with sunlight filtering through the trees, the photo still conveyed a light and joyful feeling. This was probably what the photographer was trying to capture.
Ju Nian carefully moved the chessboard and photos to another place, but inadvertently noticed a line of small characters on the back of the photo frame. She didn't want to pry into other people's privacy, so she glanced at it quickly and looked away, but she still managed to see the sentence: "Wanghe Pavilion, sleeping in the wind on the hottest day of summer."
Chapter Three: It's fortunate that I was able to repay the debt.
The phone in Tang Ye's living room seemed to ring a few times, then the sound of a conversation drifted into the room, faint and indistinct. Ju Nian wanted to extricate herself from this awkward situation as soon as possible, focusing all her attention on her work. Perhaps by concentrating, she could think less about the consequences of her past actions. Just as she was finishing, Tang Ye strode in anxiously.
"You need to leave immediately."
Upon hearing this, Ju Nian blinked, remained silent, and instinctively began packing her things. She guessed that perhaps the other owner of the house had returned, and she had to leave immediately. As for whether the other owner was male or female, and why she had to avoid them, she didn't want to know.
In a moment of panic, Ju Nian quickly stuffed the scattered cardboard box fragments, excess cloth strips, and tools into her large bag. At that moment, Tang Ye, who had returned to the living room to check, seemed to hear the commotion outside the door and stopped her from rushing out.
He said, "Wait, the person is already outside. You can't walk out the door now..."
Upon hearing this, Ju Nian was momentarily bewildered. After hesitating for a moment, she gently lifted a corner of the curtain and peeked out the window. She wasn't mistaken; the apartment was indeed on the eleventh floor. She wisely chose to remain where she was after lowering the curtain.
"Sigh!" Tang Ye seemed to sigh. The doorbell rang as expected. He rushed to answer it, leaving Ju Nian standing there. He didn't even explain what to do in this situation since she shouldn't have stayed there.
After the door opened and closed, Ju Nian held her breath and heard Tang Ye's voice.
"You too, you didn't even give me a heads-up before coming over so I could have picked you up." Tang Ye complained, but his tone was low and gentle at this moment.
“There’s no need for that now. You can carry me in a wheelchair when I really can’t walk anymore. I came to bring you some things today. Your father is gone, and you don’t go back to your other home anymore.” The voice was that of an elderly woman, with a slight local accent. “You don’t like me coming? Is it really like your aunt said, that this is a secluded village where only you are allowed to live, and no one else can come? I told her I don’t believe her. I raised you.”
Ju Nian did not hear Tang Ye's reply. After a moment, he said, "Please sit down. You've come all this way. I'll go pour you some tea."
The people outside the living room seemed to have taken their seats. Ju Nian didn't dare to breathe loudly and shrank back to the blind spot of the half-open door.
"Ah Ye, did you just change the sofa covers?" The old woman's voice came again after he put down his cup.
"I didn't make that decision."
"If it wasn't you who decided, then who else could it be..." The old man hesitated for a moment, then let out a long "Oh," "I must be getting senile. Who else could it be? The girl your aunt introduced to you last time? Young people are always more meticulous, it's just that the fabric is a bit plain."