Chapter 115
Ran Qingqing said, “These days, are all young people beasts?”
Lin Yuewei had probably been oppressed by her mother for the past few days, because when she heard that, she didn’t even feel embarrassed. Instead, she turned her head, glanced at the shoulder she’d been biting, and said, “What? Jealous?”
Ran Qingqing was startled. “Jealous?”
Lin Yuewei nodded and arched a brow. “You’re jealous. Jealous that I have a little wolfdog.”
Ran Qingqing laughed in exasperation. She let out a short “heh” and said, “I won’t argue with you, you little brat.”
To Lin Yuewei, that was already a concession. After all, her mother wasn’t divorced yet, so she couldn’t go out looking for a second spring. Otherwise, if her father caught onto that weakness and turned it against them, things would only get worse. The more critical the moment, the less she could run wild. In any case, there were only a little over twenty days left before the New Year; by then, she’d be free of the prison of marriage.
Lin Yuewei happily took a bite of chives.
She never expected her mother to have another trick waiting in the wings.
In the afternoon, Lin Yuewei stayed home hugging the dog and watching a movie. Her mother invited a yoga instructor over and gave herself a two-hour lesson, then moved on to aerobics, anaerobics, and all kinds of properly professional-looking exercise.
A woman should be a little kinder to herself; the only person she could truly rely on was herself. Ran Qingqing had come to a deeper understanding of that and decided to make her body younger so she’d have more capital to enjoy life.
Lin Yuewei glanced toward the fitness room from the living room window when her phone gave a crisp ding.
[Xi Gu: I’m going home to pick up Schrodinger now; I should arrive in about an hour]
[Two Trees: Okay]
After that, the TV was hard to focus on. She checked her phone about once every five minutes. Then the door was pushed open from outside, bringing in a gust of cold air. Ran Qingqing stepped in from outside with a towel hanging around her neck; her workout was over.
She had delicate shoulder-length curls, fair skin, peach-blossom eyes, and a tall figure.
The moment Lin Yuewei saw her, she was stunned. She gave her a stern look and said, “Which middle school did you sneak out of to break into a private residence like this?!”
Ran Qingqing pressed her lips together, but still couldn’t help laughing. “You’re so annoying.”
Lin Yuewei kept acting, saying, “If you don’t confess now, I’m calling the police.”
Ran Qingqing was practically glowing with delight. She changed her shoes and walked inside. “I’m your mother. Who do you think I am?”
Lin Yuewei played along to the end, one hand on the back of the sofa as she turned to stare at her. “What do you mean, my mother? My mother is already in her forties this year. You don’t look a day over eighteen. How could you possibly be my mother? Do you think I have no eyes and can’t see for myself?”
Ran Qingqing was amused to the point of helplessness. “All right, all right. Your eyesight is just too good.”
Wheel tracks scraped over the concrete outside again. Gu Yanqiu came in carrying the cat carrier and a pile of Schrodinger’s belongings. What she saw was the harmonious scene of mother and daughter having a grand old time.
The relationship between Lin Yuewei and Ran Qingqing was something Gu Yanqiu especially envied. Part mother, part friend; sometimes a scene of utter chaos, sometimes harmonious and close. If you put that onto her and Shen Huaiyu, it was something she wouldn’t even dare imagine.
Shen Huaiyu was already gone, and only then did Gu Yanqiu belatedly realize that she had never really enjoyed ordinary maternal love.
The two of them stopped their cheerful mutual flattery the moment they saw her and came over together. Ran Qingqing, especially, fully displayed the demeanor of a mother-in-law who was growing increasingly satisfied with her son-in-law. She took the cat carrier first, looked at Schrodinger’s little head inside the transparent dome, and exclaimed in delight, “So this is my granddaughter? She looks just like me.”
“…” Lin Yuewei truly couldn’t tell whether her mother was praising herself or insulting herself.
Ran Qingqing beamed and carried the cat carrier away.
With the space cleared, Lin Yuewei took the rest of the things from Gu Yanqiu and handed them to the servants, asking them to take everything upstairs to one of the empty rooms. They had already temporarily cleaned out a room yesterday for Schrodinger to stay in.
Gu Yanqiu smiled and asked, “What were you and Auntie talking about? You were so happy.”
Lin Yuewei glanced back at Ran Qingqing, who was teasing the cat, and said in a low voice, “I praised her for being eighteen.”
Gu Yanqiu’s smile deepened.
Lin Yuewei casually helped her off with her coat and hung it by the door. “Ever since I started middle school, that line has worked every time. Sometimes I even praise her for being sixteen.”
Gu Yanqiu’s eyes flickered as she remembered something.
From childhood to now, she had never been the sort of person whose mouth was particularly sweet. Her family environment didn’t require her to sweet-talk anyone either, so she had always lived rather frankly and honestly. Outside, she observed the necessary etiquette; at home, she had no such scruples. If her father bought new clothes and asked whether he looked handsome in them today, she’d size them up objectively, give him better suggestions, and he would change according to her advice. Her father had told her: if your mother asks you that sort of question next time, don’t offer a single suggestion. Just say it looks good; praise her like she’s descended from heaven.
She waited a very long time. Every time Gu Huai took Shen Huaiyu out shopping and bought a pile of clothes back, Shen Huaiyu never changed them in front of her. One day, Shen Huaiyu put on a new graphite-colored long dress, and the family of three went to the amusement park. Gu Huai took one look at her, and little Gu Yanqiu thought for a very long time. Only when the car was about to arrive at the stop did she say in a tiny mosquito-like voice, “Mom, you look very pretty today.”
Shen Huaiyu didn’t hear it. Gu Huai laughed and repeated it for her, saying, “Our daughter is complimenting you.”
Little Gu Yanqiu gathered her courage and said it again. Shen Huaiyu curved her eyes, rubbed her soft hair, and kissed her gently on the forehead; her lips were warm. “Thank you, darling.”
That was one of the very few moments of closeness with Shen Huaiyu in her memory.
Lin Yuewei waved a hand in front of Gu Yanqiu’s face. “What are you spacing out for?”
Gu Yanqiu came back to herself and shook her head with a smile. “Nothing.”
Lin Yuewei thought her smile looked rather nice; it was clearly the expression of being in a good mood. She nudged Gu Yanqiu’s shoulder lightly. “What were you thinking about? You’re not telling me?”
“Thinking about you.” Gu Yanqiu could spin sweet words off the cuff.
With her back to her mother, Lin Yuewei made a face at Gu Yanqiu. “Thinking about last night?”
Gu Yanqiu choked. Lin Yuewei’s bold and straightforward words seemed to have startled her; even her eyes widened a little, and for a moment she didn’t know how to respond. Lin Yuewei leaned close to her ear. “You just wait tonight.”
Gu Yanqiu: “…”
A chill ran down her neck. Based on how excessive Lin Yuewei had been last night, tonight was probably going to be even worse.
Lin Yuewei cracked her knuckles twice; they popped loudly. Then she flashed Gu Yanqiu an evil, lewd grin.
Gu Yanqiu cooperated by making a terrified face.
But actually, she wasn’t afraid.
“What are you two standing there for?” Ran Qingqing had almost become familiar with Schrodinger by now, but those two were still making lovey-dovey eyes at the door. She couldn’t help urging them on. “Is my little wolfdog drinking some wine tonight?”
Lin Yuewei let out a cough that shook the rafters; her throat nearly split. “Mom—”
What kind of thing was that to say?
Gu Yanqiu blinked. Little wolfdog? Was she talking about her?
Ran Qingqing and Gu Yanqiu met eyes. She fanned the flames cheerfully. “Yes, I’m talking about you. Lin Yuewei personally gave you that name today.”
Lin Yuewei said, “When did I ever say that? It was clearly you.”
In an instant, mother and daughter switched seamlessly from harmonious to chaotic again.
The corgi, locked in a cage because of Schrodinger’s arrival, lazily lifted its eyelids, then closed them again. In its still-short dog life, it was clearly already used to this.
As for Schrodinger, she licked her paw, crouched on Ran Qingqing’s lap, and in the end decided that Ran Qingqing and Lin Yuewei were arguing too skillfully. She jumped off her lap and curled up on another single sofa.
Gu Yanqiu silently searched her phone for the meaning of little wolfdog.
The mother-daughter battle ended once again with Ran Qingqing’s physical suppression. Lin Yuewei called softly to Schrodinger a couple of times. Schrodinger lazily raked a paw through her long fur and, with light steps, climbed into Lin Yuewei’s arms.
With the ragdoll in her hands, Lin Yuewei had the whole world; she instantly shook off her earlier defeat and challenged Ran Qingqing again.
Gu Yanqiu shook her head with a smile, thinking: the big childish one and the little childish one.
“Gu Yanqiu, come judge this for us.” Lin Yuewei suddenly turned her gaze to Gu Yanqiu, who was sitting quietly scrolling through Weibo. Ran Qingqing immediately said, “Yes, you decide who’s right.”
“…” Gu Yanqiu no longer knew what topic they had jumped to. She looked up blankly and was forcibly dragged into the battle.
People always said that the hardest relationship to handle was the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship. Gu Yanqiu felt that she wasn’t so much the Lin family’s daughter-in-law as the Lin family’s son, constantly wedged between the mother and daughter and made to play referee.
But this kind of life was comfortable and warm to Gu Yanqiu. She hoped it could go on like this forever.
“You’re being reasonable; you’re not wrong.” After hearing Lin Yuewei out, Gu Yanqiu said this.
“And Auntie, of course you’re not wrong either.” Gu Yanqiu said to Ran Qingqing.
Mm… it just took some effort.
“Dinner’s ready.” The servant’s arrival was like a savior descending from heaven. Gu Yanqiu, who had been tugged in both directions until she was frantic, immediately darted into the kitchen. “I’ll bring the dishes out.”
Ran Qingqing and Lin Yuewei exchanged a look and, in unison, dumped the blame on someone else. “Look at how you’ve tormented my wife/son-in-law!”
Ran Qingqing and Lin Yuewei: “Hmph.”
Gu Yanqiu fled to the kitchen for refuge. The mother and daughter immediately dropped their hostility and began whispering to each other.
“Have you noticed my son-in-law is fitting into our family’s atmosphere more and more?”
“Yes, but let me correct you; she’s the daughter-in-law.”
“Take the bite marks on your shoulder off before you say that.”
“That was an accident.”
“Just pretend I believe you.”
“What do you mean, pretend? It really was. I usually let her have her way.”
“I can see that; the bite marks are the best proof.”
“If you’re not going to talk without mentioning bite marks, are you?”
“Then it’s hickeys. There are even more hickeys than bite marks.”
Gu Yanqiu came out carrying a soup tureen and set it on the dining table mat. Perhaps it was a little hot; she touched both earlobes with her hands and smiled. “Auntie, Yuewei, stop talking and eat.”
Ran Qingqing was gratified beyond measure. “What a good son-in-law.”
Lin Yuewei struggled one last time. “Daughter-in-law!”
Ran Qingqing couldn’t be bothered to look at her and went to help her favored son-in-law.
Lin Yuewei: “…”
During dinner, Ran Qingqing opened her mouth again. Lin Yuewei’s nerves tightened at once, terrified she’d say something else to tease Gu Yanqiu. Once or twice was enough; any more, and even if it was her own mother, she’d be jealous. If the genders were reversed, it would be a mother-in-law and son-in-law relationship; what was the point of making jokes like that all the time?
Ran Qingqing said, “Yanqiu.”
“Yes?” Gu Yanqiu put down her chopsticks, wiped her mouth politely, then leaned forward slightly to show she was listening carefully.
Ran Qingqing said, “You don’t have to be so polite. We’re all family. Um, I want to discuss something with you, okay?”
Gu Yanqiu kept her posture as it was and said courteously, “Please just tell me what to do.”
Ran Qingqing smiled kindly. “Could you let me have Lin Yuewei for one night?”
Lin Yuewei: “!!!”
Her mother was discarding Gu Yanqiu and setting her sights on her instead? For a moment, her brain didn’t even make the turn; she actually thought: but she and Ran Qingqing are mother and daughter!
“She’s going out to work tomorrow, isn’t she? The next time we see her will be a long while. And she doesn’t chat with me that often on normal days, so…” Ran Qingqing paused, and there was even a trace of caution in her voice. “You see…”
Gu Yanqiu didn’t answer, and Lin Yuewei immediately said, “You only need to ask me about that kind of thing. I’ll sleep with you tonight.”
Lin Yuewei suddenly felt especially bad then.
Affection flowing downward is something affection flowing upward can never catch up to or fully understand. Lin Yuewei had grown up; she had her own social circle, her own lover, while Ran Qingqing had been left behind by her, someone she only remembered to look back at now and then.
When she was away filming for three or four months, she would say good morning and good night to Gu Yanqiu every day, and occasionally make phone and video calls. As for Ran Qingqing, she called once a week. Sometimes she was too tired, or she and Gu Yanqiu talked too late, and by the time she came to her senses, Ran Qingqing had already gone to sleep, so she simply let it go. Tomorrow she was going out to handle new promotions; all she could remember was that she would make Gu Yanqiu pay back last night’s debt at night, completely ignoring Ran Qingqing, who was very much in need of her company on the eve of divorce.
When Ran Qingqing heard Lin Yuewei’s answer, she was pleased inside, but her expression on the surface was disdainful. “Don’t overthink it. I just want to scold you.”
Lin Yuewei spread her hands brazenly. “Then scold away. I’m thick-skinned.”
Ran Qingqing’s face nearly couldn’t hold up anymore. “Eat.”
Lin Yuewei thought it was a pity, but this kind of thing could be done any time. There was no need to rush over a day or two; keeping her mother company was more important.
After taking a shower in her own bedroom, she braced one hand on the bed beside Gu Yanqiu, who was sitting at the edge of the bed scrolling on her tablet, pinned her down on the bed, and bent to kiss her. From gentle lingering to sparks flying; thunder and fire, one touch and it would ignite.
Gu Yanqiu’s hands seemed to have a memory of their own as they slipped into her clothes. Lin Yuewei bit lightly at her lips, then withdrew swiftly, backing away as she walked, laughing aloud. “I’m going downstairs. Good night.”
“Good night.” Gu Yanqiu smiled helplessly.
Lin Yuewei closed the door.
Gu Yanqiu tilted her ear toward the sound of her footsteps going downstairs. Only when she could no longer hear them did she drop her gaze back to the tablet. Her fingertips swiped back and forth; one photo after another came into view.
They were photos of middle-aged women, all in their fifties. Most had been weathered by time; only two still seemed to be very well maintained. After Mr. Liu had eliminated them one by one, only these dozen or so people remained. Among them, there were two photos with black-and-white frames around them; both were already deceased, one from a serious illness, the other from a car accident.
The deceased were harder to investigate, and they were also the more likely suspects.
The one who died of illness had passed away in the past two years, while the one in the car accident had been thirty years ago. Coincidentally, that lined up with the time Gu Huai met Shen Huaiyu. Combined with Shen Huaiyu’s lost and broken state at the time, she had already been listed by Mr. Liu as a key target for investigation.
Gu Yanqiu’s fingertip came to rest on the electronic photograph. The clothing was very much in the style of the late 1980s; on her, it looked refined and elegant, and the gaze she gave the camera was gentle and affectionate.
The photo also had the person’s name written on it; her surname was Fang.
Gu Yanqiu felt that it should be this person, but something still felt oddly off to her. Her phone, which she had placed on the bedside table, suddenly rang and pulled her out of her reverie. Gu Yanqiu answered, “He Feiquan?”
He Feiquan asked urgently, “Where are you?”
Gu Yanqiu could tell his emotions were very different, and immediately sat up straight. “I’m at my mother-in-law’s house. Is something important happened?”
He Feiquan said, “Yes.”
Just as Gu Yanqiu opened her mouth, He Feiquan said excitedly, “My mom finally slipped up. You were right; your mother really does have contact with my mom.”
Gu Yanqiu: “Should I head out now?”
He Feiquan: “No need, no need. I’ll treat you to dinner tomorrow night. Let’s meet at the same Western restaurant as last time. I’ll tell you everything in detail.”
After ending the call with He Feiquan, Gu Yanqiu only then realized that her other hand had clenched into a fist at some point. She looked back down at the photos on the tablet, slowly relaxed her fist, and closed the tablet.
She was getting closer and closer to the truth.
Gu Yanqiu rubbed the Buddhist prayer beads in her hand and closed her eyes.
Are you really the way I think you are?
***
Lin Yuewei was watching TV on her mother’s bed. The volume was turned very low; mother and daughter were separated by a generation, and with no idea how to keep the conversation going, having the TV as background noise helped a lot.
Following the TV drama and making snide comments along the way made it much easier to keep the conversation flowing.
The TV was playing a soap-opera melodrama, a classic prime-time family ethics drama, and it actually bore a little resemblance to the Lin family’s situation. The father had cheated on someone else; the mother packed her things and was about to leave; the daughter, still in elementary school, clung to her mother’s leg and refused to let her go, and mother and daughter held each other and wept, crying until their faces were streaked with tears.
Lin Yuewei clicked her tongue first.
Ran Qingqing clicked her tongue right after; the two sounds rang out in succession, the latter even heavier than the former.
Ran Qingqing said, “If you ever turn out like the daughter in this TV show…”
Lin Yuewei asked curiously, “What would you do?”
Ran Qingqing said, “I’d just knock you out and haul you away with one arm. No, I wouldn’t even give her the chance to cling to my leg. I’d have people take her away long before that.”
Lin Yuewei gave her a thumbs-up. “A real wolf.”
“What do you mean, wolf?”
“It means even more ruthless than ruthless. Super ruthless.”
“Oh, I see.” Ran Qingqing accepted the praise with perfect composure. “What are you planning to do?”
“What do you mean, do?” Lin Yuewei didn’t understand.
Ran Qingqing said, “After I divorce your dad, what are you going to do?”
Lin Yuewei said naturally, “I’ll live with my wife.”
Ran Qingqing said, “Who asked you that? I’m asking how you’re going to handle your relationship with your dad.”
Lin Yuewei said, “Just the same as before, I guess. He’s done wrong by you, not by me. Once I get over this gross feeling, I’ll go ask him for money.”
Ran Qingqing asked, “What money?”
Lin Yuewei said, “The house, the cars, things like that. I don’t want to sponge off him, but what if he gives them to the future child of some mistress? I’d feel so disgusted. I should take whatever I can get first.”
Ran Qingqing gave her a thumbs-up back. “A real wolf.”
Lin Yuewei made a doffing-hat gesture. “Thank you for the compliment.”
Ran Qingqing suddenly laughed and said, “Oh, I remember something from when you were little. You definitely don’t remember it.”
“What is it?” Lin Yuewei asked curiously.
A lot of children had once been asked this malicious question: if your parents got divorced, who would you go with?
Some children would be frightened to tears by such a hypothetical; some would say they wouldn’t choose either; some could think it through and carefully pick either dad or mom; and some would angrily retort to the adult asking them: my parents won’t get divorced.
Little Lin Yuewei was the most unconventional one of them all. She said calmly, “I choose Dad.”
The adult followed up: why choose Dad?
Little Lin Yuewei answered: because Dad has money and Mom doesn’t. If I go with Dad, then I can use the money I get from Dad to support Mom.
Lin Yuewei really didn’t remember it. Hearing her mother tell her about it, she laughed and touched the bridge of her nose, saying, “I really said that before? That’s amazing. That’s exactly how I think now too.”
Ran Qingqing said, “You were only three at the time.”
Lin Yuewei said, “It’s true that you can see how someone will turn out at three.”
The mother and daughter looked at each other and smiled.
Ran Qingqing said, “Actually, I’m pretty rich too. You just don’t know it.”
Lin Yuewei mercilessly exposed her. “How many houses can you buy in Yanning City?”
Ran Qingqing choked. “…”
Every inch of land in Yanning City was precious. Strictly speaking, Ran Qingqing wasn’t from Yanning; she went to university there, then stayed after graduation, got married, and had a daughter. Her family background was decent, but it didn’t amount to much here. The liquid assets from Lin Yuewei’s father had all been transferred to Lin Yuewei by her, while the divided property should have been things like real estate and shares.
Lin Yuewei might not necessarily be richer than her mother, but she still wanted to present the image that she could be relied on, so she said again, “I’m about to get famous. Soon I’ll have heaps and heaps of money stuffed into my pockets. Hurry up and cling to my thigh.”
Ran Qingqing obediently hugged her leg in a symbolic gesture and, touching it, frowned. “Why have you gotten so much thinner?”
Lin Yuewei pointed at herself. “I’m a celebrity, okay? Can you be a celebrity if you’re not thin?”
Ran Qingqing sighed, worried. “You’re too thin. Won’t it be unhealthy?”
“It won’t. I know what I’m doing.”
While the two of them were talking, the scene on TV where mother and daughter cried in each other’s arms had already ended. It switched to a new setting, and Ran Qingqing and Lin Yuewei were both left staring blankly. It took a while before the connection to the previous scene came back: the cheating husband knelt in the street, tearfully begging his wife for forgiveness, snot and tears streaming down his face, while the wife was blocked in by the man, clutching his leg tightly and unable to move.
The people nearby were discussing it all around them.
“What’s going on here?”
“Did the man cheat?”
“Not necessarily. Look how pretty this woman is dressed. What if she’s the one who wants to dump him?”
“Why are they making a scene right out in the street?”
…
Ran Qingqing: “…”
Lin Yuewei: “…”
What kind of trash was this even?
Lin Yuewei picked up the remote to turn off the TV. Ran Qingqing looked expressionlessly at the plot playing out on-screen. “Are all scumbags in this world only capable of this one move? He might as well admit it openly. I’d even respect him for being a man.”
Lin Yuewei continued: “…”
From the last time her father had behaved, it wasn’t hard to infer that this sort of scene had probably been played out in front of Ran Qingqing before.
It had to be said that these melodramatic family dramas did have hooks that could draw people in. For example, right now Lin Yuewei was especially curious whether the wife would kick the husband to the ground and leave without looking back.
Ran Qingqing seemed to have predicted it in advance and said expressionlessly, “No. First, that man will cling to her and refuse to let go, making it so she can’t move. Then he’ll stir up the surrounding crowd against her, and if necessary he’ll even tell a lie or two. After that, the woman won’t be able to defend herself no matter what she says, and the people around her will persuade her to calm down for the time being. Once the man gets home, he’ll continue pestering her to death, and then the woman will give him one more chance.”
Lin Yuewei was dumbstruck and kept watching.
The drama was moving far too slowly. Unable to help herself, Lin Yuewei looked up the episode synopsis online. It said that the husband begged his wife pitifully, but the wife refused. With no other choice, he spread rumors to the people around him that he was poor, that his wife had gotten a promotion and a raise and now looked down on him, and that she was going to abandon her husband and daughter, and so on. That indeed provoked the outrage of the surrounding onlookers; everything that came next was basically what Ran Qingqing had predicted, with only minor differences.
Lin Yuewei’s curiosity was overflowing. She asked in a rush, “Mom, mom, mom, how did you know it would be like this?”
Ran Qingqing said indifferently, “Some time ago, in order to make up my mind, I watched a lot of dramas like this to disgust myself. I’ve already figured out all the routines.”
Lin Yuewei: “…”
The show reached the part where the husband spread rumors, and Ran Qingqing finally picked up the remote and turned off the eye-searing TV with a slap.
She had been disgusted once again. Narrowing her eyes, a flash of sharp light passed through them, as if she had finally confirmed a certain thought in her heart.
Author’s note:
I’m going to push the Lin and Gu families’ matters forward together and try to resolve them all this New Year.
This chapter’s comments probably won’t exceed the last one, so let’s aim for two-thirds of the comment count instead. Tomorrow is pomegranate day, so we’ll see.
Lin Gong is still crashing over and over. Charge!