The Art of Teasing - Chapter 63

Chapter 63

When she was little, she followed her grandparents everywhere. Wherever the elderly couple went, they took her along. They were already old, and caring for her was taxing enough. If she wanted to go somewhere to play, she worried about tiring them out, so she bottled it all up inside. When Mr. Wen Shiyi came home, she'd quietly tell him about it. Wen Shiyi would give her money and tell her to take her bodyguard and go by herself. After two such outings, she stopped going to Wen Shiyi, and never mentioned wanting to go out and play again. Occasionally, when Cousin Lili went out to have fun, she'd call her along as a companion. In the past, she was always the one accompanying others, or being taken along as an afterthought. Never once had anyone, like Ye Ling did, thought about what she might enjoy and specifically taken time to accompany her out to play—or more precisely, taken her out to play.

Her quiet nature wasn't formed in a day or two. In a family residence that large, the only ones who could keep her company were her grandfather and grandmother, with Cousin Lili occasionally coming over for weekends or summer and winter breaks. Cousin Lili would play with her, but she studied extremely hard and, after calling her over to play for a little while, would often return to reciting her lessons.

Most of the time, she sat quietly by herself, passing the time only through painting, playing the zither, and the flute.

Loving quiet was, in truth, simply a habit. A habit of staying peacefully alone, of keeping herself company. And gradually, she came to feel that she didn't need anyone else's companionship—that another's company might become an intrusion upon her tranquil life.

Yet the way her cousins and their wives interacted showed her that having someone's companionship also had its own goodness. If Ye Ling hadn't cooked that meal for her, hadn't kept piling food into her bowl throughout the meal, she thought that when she saw her cousin's meticulous care for his wife, she wouldn't have thought of Ye Ling. She wouldn't have carefully pondered what difference there was between her cousin and his wife's gestures and Ye Ling's gestures toward her. She wouldn't have had those feelings of empathetic recognition. More likely, she would have remained as she used to be, like someone offstage watching the performers act out their drama—the only difference being that what her cousins and their wives performed was happiness.

Wen Zhengyu had to admit, Ye Ling had moved her somewhat.

She didn't know whether, even with Ye Ling's company, she could still live her own life—not being demanded to do this or that, not being forbidden from this or that.

Ye Ling sat in the car, watching Wen Zhengyu, who had turned her head to gaze out the window, lost in thought.

Every time she saw Wen Zhengyu drift off like that, she wanted to pull Wen Zhengyu's wandering thoughts back, then gather the person herself into her arms and hold her gently.

She couldn't quite say why. Perhaps it was the gentle, serene aura about Wen Zhengyu, along with that delicate, fragile appearance, that made her unable to resist wanting to hold her.

Same surname, Wen, but Wen Li moved every day with blazing speed, as if she had Wind Fire Wheels under her feet—decisive and efficient in action, binding time, efficiency, and money tightly together, practically counting time down to the second. Wen Zhengyu, on the other hand, was the type who, even if the sky were falling, would have to stare at it and mull it over for a while first, figure out exactly what this collapsing sky looked like, and then contemplate whether she needed to run. Wen Zhengyu's temperament was so slow-paced she didn't even have to worry about someone chasing after her and winning her away.

Even in running the art studio business, it was her and Wen Li squeezing out progress bit by bit. This young lady would contemplate something for a good long while, then slowly, sluggishly take one step forward. With such a vast source of paintings at its disposal and close, ongoing connections with numerous renowned painters nationwide, building the studio into a famous brand was practically a matter of course. If someone else were running it, they'd have long been considering whether to further expand the scale or develop more channels and platforms, perhaps even contemplating going public. This young lady just ran it with steady, unhurried, unruffled, leisurely composure.

And yet Wen Zhengyu's way of running the art studio had, unexpectedly, caught the eye of many nationally renowned older painters. She often saw some famous master painter personally come to deliver paintings, after which Wen Zhengyu would accompany the elderly artist on a stroll around the studio. A young woman and an old man, they could stand before a painting and talk from the start of the workday until quitting time. Her office was set up in the art studio, and Wen Zhengyu was never stingy about introducing her to all these painters and collectors she knew, allowing her to meet quite a few prominent figures in the cultural circle. Following Wen Zhengyu around, she'd absorbed a touch of that cultured air as well—at least she'd squeezed half a foot into the circles of calligraphy and painting, and antiques and curios. Every year, when it came to gift-giving, she inevitably had to give out antiques, calligraphy pieces, and paintings. Before, she had to expend a great deal of effort finding people to help her source these items, never stinting on large sums of money. Since last year, when Wen Zhengyu helped her acquire a painting by Wu Daozi, she'd realized that this young lady's channels in antiques, calligraphy, and paintings were no narrower than her own channels in selling paintings. Now, with Wen Zhengyu helping her, she bought antiques, calligraphy works, and paintings at insider trade prices, no longer at market rates. Not only did it save her considerable time, energy, and a huge sum of expenses each year, but what she acquired were also fine pieces rarely seen on the market, or simply unavailable there.

The family background and environment Wen Zhengyu grew up in had imbued her with a unique temperament others lacked, and had shaped her current distinctive style of conducting herself.

She also couldn't quite say why, but every time she drew near Wen Zhengyu, her heart would pound.

Wen Jing drove with focused concentration.

Wen Zhengyu and Ye Ling were each lost in their own thoughts.

A text message alert rang.

Wen Zhengyu came back to herself, took her phone from her handbag, and saw it was a bank notification of funds received. The money she'd placed with Wen Li for short-term investment had matured. Wen Li had transferred the principal along with the profit earned back to her, and it had arrived today.

Now that this money was back, she ought to redeem her bracelet as well. She said to Ye Ling, "CEO Ye, the seven hundred thousand I borrowed from you is due this month. If there's a day that's convenient, I'd like to repay it." Her bracelet wasn't cheap; even though the art studio had decent security, it didn't mean Ye Ling would necessarily want to keep it there long-term. If she wanted to redeem it, she still needed to schedule it.

Ye Ling nodded and said, "Alright." She thought for a moment, then said, "I see you'll be off delivering crabs today. I have a flight back to Beijing tonight at ten, and won't be back until next Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon, or Thursday, or Friday—any of those would work." As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Wen Zhengyu's eyes suddenly widen into circles, as if very surprised and taken aback. She said, "If you need it urgently, I can contact the bank right now to open the safe deposit box and retrieve the bracelet."

Wen Zhengyu said, "No, that's not it—you have a flight tonight at ten?"

Ye Ling hummed an affirmative and said, "I've already packed my luggage. There's plenty of time, no need to worry about not making it."

Wen Zhengyu suddenly didn't know what to say. Ye Ling really had squeezed time out from between her teeth to accompany her to net crabs.

Once back in the city proper, Ye Ling bid her farewell and got into her own car.

Wen Zhengyu watched Ye Ling's car leave, feeling slightly unsettled inside. She couldn't quite name the feeling—it was like a touch of sadness, and also a tiny bit of reluctance to part, and a bit like not knowing what to do. She steadied herself, reeled her thoughts back in, and focused on delivering the crabs.

Wen Jing drove, leading the way. The small truck loaded with crabs followed behind, and following the route they'd planned out earlier, they delivered to each household one by one. Her master, Mr. Qi Qianshu, and the older artists who frequently visited the studio, as well as the old master's old friends, all had to receive a delivery. The senior fellow disciples who lived locally received crabs too. Normally, they gave her no small amount of help and support; when it came time to send gifts, she naturally couldn't leave them out. After that, she also made a trip to Old Master Lian's home, hauling over an entire massive crate of crabs. The largest size plastic crate, packed completely full of crabs—she worried the ones on the very bottom would get crushed.

Her family had a lot of relatives, and her uncles and cousins all lived far away. If she had to deliver to each household one by one, she'd exhaust herself to death. So she discussed it with Old Master and Madam Lian: come the weekend, she'd host a crab feast at their place, inviting all the uncles and cousins back to eat a meal of crabs, and then each could take some home. That would save her the trouble of running to every single house.

Old Master and Madam Lian came out to greet her. When they saw the crate of crabs being lifted off the small truck, both of them were briefly stunned, then together stared at her wide-eyed.

Seeing their expressions and manner, she suddenly felt they had such strong husband-and-wife resemblance.

Wen Zhengyu knew this huge crateful of crabs looked like a lot, but there were also a lot of people in the Lian family. Youngest Uncle lived with Old Master and Madam Lian, so no separate delivery was needed. Three uncles plus seven cousins—that made ten households. Thirty people eating one meal, plus a portion for each to pack and take home—with a crate this size, there wouldn't be leftovers. Supporting Old Master Lian and Madam Lian, both somewhat unsteady on their feet, into the house, she couldn't resist showing off in front of them. "It was Ye Ling who took me to net the crabs—went to Yangcheng Lake to net them. When we went, I watched the workers lift the cages out of the lake. The long crab pots were full of crabs. When we got there, there were still crabs clinging to the containment nets. Once the boat passed by, they got such a fright they jumped into the water. That was when I found out crabs don't just crawl—they can swim too, and swim very fast."

Old Master Lian and Madam Lian exchanged a look.

Old Master Lian asked, "You've never seen a crab swim?"

Wen Zhengyu said, "No, before, I'd only seen them in restaurant aquariums. Today was the first time I saw them in a lake. I've never seen them so frisky either. When they were dumped into the crate, their eight legs were paddling like lightning." She went on to describe to the elderly couple what the crab farm looked like, what it was like when the crabs were scooped up and poured into crates.

It was already dark, and the old master was waiting for her to return home for dinner. She didn't stay long—sat for a short while when delivering the crabs, then took her leave.

Old Master and Madam Lian saw her off to the car together, looking very reluctant to let her go.

She rolled down the car window and said to them, "I'll be back the morning of the day after tomorrow."

Old Master Lian said to Wen Jing, "Drive carefully on the road. Take it slow."

Wen Jing acknowledged.

Old Master Lian then admonished her, "You've been tired all day. Go back and get some rest early."

Wen Zhengyu responded, "Alright," and listened to them fuss a bit more before finally saying goodbye. After the car drove off, she turned her head and saw the two of them still standing at the gate, watching. Those two aged figures, gazing after her with such longing in their eyes, made her eyes sting with unshed tears.

Her own family's residence was too small, not really suited for hosting banquets.

Wen Zhengyu first delivered crabs to her Fourth Uncle's place. Tomorrow, she'd host a crab feast, then everyone would divide up the rest, and that would be that.

Saturday and Sunday, Wen Zhengyu hosted crab feasts for two days straight and ate crabs for two days straight.

Wen Li teased her quite a bit about it.

Lian Xi said to Wen Zhengyu, "What you did doesn't count as netting crabs—that's called buying crabs. Let me tell you, you ought to pick up the net yourself and scoop them. That's what netting crabs is. Besides, what's so fun about netting crabs at a farm? Weekend—next weekend—ah, no, next weekend is Grandma's birthday. The weekend after next, I'll take you to the lake to fish, catch wild fish. We can catch crabs too. Find a spot with lots of big rocks; lift a rock and there'll be crabs underneath. The water quality and environment there are pretty good—there are still some wild crabs around. In some rock crevices there are fish too. Strip down to just your swim trunks, dive down, and if your hands are quick and your aim is true, you just might scoop one up. Oh, right, you've got to bring a companion. Don't tell me that when we're fishing, I'll have to keep going back and forth baiting your hook for you. If we catch a lot of fish or crabs, we can even grill fish by the lakeside." He then turned his head to his wife and said, "Honey, remember to remind me to bring charcoal and the grill."

Wen Zhengyu: "..." She'd said just one sentence, and this big mouth had already rattled on and dragged the topic this far.

Once the weekend was over, she began preparing a birthday gift for Grandmother's celebration.

The old madam was eighty-six this year. Wen Zhengyu had no other wish than for her to live to be a hundred. She felt that no purchased gift could compare to something she prepared herself, so she decided to personally paint a longevity-scroll as a birthday tribute.

She first used the double-outline calligraphy technique to write an enormous "Longevity" character, then filled in the hollow parts of the character with paintings of pines and cranes, symbolizing long life.

The painting was very large in format, but that was because the character was large. The hollow areas within the character strokes that needed filling weren't actually that extensive. The pines and cranes she needed to paint were far simpler compared to the vegetation spirits and demons of her Kunlun Mountains.

Ye Ling came looking for her twice. Seeing her painting, she didn't disturb her. She sat silently for a while, then left. When it came time to eat, she remembered she'd arranged to repay Ye Ling and called her, only to learn that Ye Ling had already come by but, seeing her busy, hadn't had the heart to interrupt. And so, back and forth like this, it wasn't until Thursday afternoon that she finally managed to return the money.

When she finished the painting and turned around, she saw Ye Ling was sitting behind her again, waiting like a ghost.

She felt rather apologetic.

Ye Ling smiled and said, "I saw you were almost done, so I sat and waited for you for a bit."

She and Ye Ling went to Ye Ling's office.

Ye Ling opened the safe and took out a brocade box, placing it in front of her.

Inside the brocade box was the brocade box that held her bracelet. The seal wax and seal tape on the box were completely untouched, the box itself still perfectly intact.

Ye Ling said, "Open it and inspect it."

Wen Zhengyu naturally trusted Ye Ling. Still, rules were rules: goods must be inspected face-to-face. She broke the seal, opened the box, and saw her grandmother's bracelet lying pristine and undamaged within. She couldn't say why, but in that moment her heart was suddenly full of emotion. She stared at the bracelet for a long while before taking it out and putting it on her wrist.

Ye Ling said with sincere admiration, "That bracelet truly suits you."

Wen Zhengyu said a word of thanks, then transferred the money she owed Ye Ling. She also added, with heartfelt sincerity, "Ye Ling, thank you." Thank you for helping her so much, and thank you for being so good to her.

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