TBTTSP - Chapter 24
Chapter 24: Shang Yi Has a Story (10)
Shang Yi had been with this man for thirteen years, without name or status, never knowing for whom she toiled or for whom she tasted sweetness.
She didn't love him either. To put it bluntly, it was for the money.
Love was a childish notion; Shang Yi had always thought so. But after that phone call with Xu Wanqing, which had started strong and ended weakly, she returned home feeling as if something had seared her heart. She passed a difficult night and woke up looking haggard, patting two extra layers of powder under her eyes to barely conceal the dark circles.
That man—she never addressed him directly by name. Even when talking about him with Ugly Boy and the others, she was always polite, as if calling him intimately would reveal an unseemly eagerness. She kept him at a careful distance, always his aide, yet never greedy or grasping. He trusted her deeply.
After he was paralyzed, Shang Yi had a period of freedom, though it was busy. When he woke up, she went to see him every day as if paying her respects. And sure enough, it was as if he'd borrowed another five hundred years from the heavens; he was visibly growing stronger and healthier. It seemed he was still a long way from kicking the bucket.
She didn't hide much from him, only saying that she seemed to have contracted some illness recently that made her drowsy every afternoon, forcing her to sleep. The fact that she had to sleep every other day wasn't a secret and couldn't be concealed, so she might as well come up with an excuse.
He said, "Don't wear yourself out. Minmin is coming in a few days. You can hand some things over to her. Among all my children, she's the only one with any sense."
Xu Min was his daughter, six years younger than Shang Yi. She was tall and slender with long legs, making Shang Yi feel like a dwarf in her presence. But they had little interaction, so Shang Yi felt nothing upon hearing this. No one could interfere with Shang Yi's own business. As for the old man's affairs, she had naturally arranged everything properly for him. She had a good grasp of which partners had taken what and which were causing trouble behind his back. Shang Yi arranged for this rich heiress, Xu Min, to work under a partner who looked ready to strike out on his own, as a way to test her capabilities.
The old man liked to sleep holding her. Though he was old, and one couldn't exactly call him vigorous, he had considerable stamina. Shang Yi couldn't handle it.
The old man had one good quality: he didn't like to sleep around, thinking it unsafe. Even when cheating on the wife who had shared his hardships, he stuck to a few fixed women. They all knew each other. Shang Yi was the most formidable one; the rest were just a few nobodies who scattered like birds and beasts after the old man was paralyzed.
When the old man woke up and found that all the women who had professed their admiration and love for him had flown the coop, leaving only the usually ill-tempered Shang Yi, he began to treat her exceptionally well. He would throw a tantrum if he didn't see her every day.
After a while, certain rumors began to circulate wildly.
Some said Shang Yi was going to kick out the original wife to become the young new mistress of the house. Others claimed she planned to swallow all of the old man's assets.
When the old man heard this, he just snorted. "Let them talk. Even if I really were to marry you, what could they say? All they have are mouths!"
A cold sweat broke out on Shang Yi's back. She smiled and remarked, "If you truly weren't afraid, you wouldn't have said anything."
"What's that supposed to mean?" The old man's face stiffened. He was exhibiting a common flaw of the elderly: stubbornness.
It was hard to say if the man's luck was simply boundless. Not only had he miraculously recovered, practically rising from the dead, but his wishes also seemed to come true. He'd just mentioned marrying Shang Yi, and a few days later, his wife was crushed flat by a large truck on her way to the airport.
Widowed and wealthy, he immediately attracted a flock of young women, who seemed to spring up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.
Shang Yi was accompanying him back to the hotel. In the time it took her to use the restroom, she came out to see a scantily clad woman clinging to him like a blob of soft mud.
How nice. Shang Yi pretended she hadn't seen a thing, turned a corner, and walked away.
That evening, he complained, "You just left me to fend for myself. How was I supposed to handle her? I had to say some very rude things to get her to leave."
"Oh? She wasn't coming for me. You're the one playing the field, and you're blaming me for not being jealous? Well, I'm not."
Shang Yi delivered her lines with a mix of coquettish charm and playful reproach. A few words were all it took to make the old man's heart race, leaving him so dazed he couldn't remember his own name.
The next day, he said, "I want to marry you."
By some coincidence, that day also happened to be the seventh day since his wife's death. Even though Shang Yi didn't believe in ghosts or spirits, a chill ran down her spine. She gave an awkward laugh. "Why say such things? Do you think I'm after your name and status?"
But her refusal was the very thing that touched the old man's sensitive, fragile, and suspicious nerves. He assumed his offer wasn't generous enough and began promising all sorts of favorable conditions, only stopping when Shang Yi finally lost her temper. But the words were already out. For a time, many people privately congratulated Shang Yi for finally making it, for securing her place in high society.
Many people offered their congratulations. Shang Yi didn't refute them one by one; ambiguous information was actually better.
But among the well-wishers, the name "Xu Min" was particularly jarring.
Your mother just died! And you're congratulating the other woman!
Shang Yi held her phone, unable to figure it out. She scrolled through her contacts. Of the old man's six children, besides the one still in kindergarten who would affectionately kiss her whenever they met, only the most favored child, Xu Min, had sent her congratulations.
That evening, the other children came to ask if the news was true, if she was going to be their stepmother. She, of course, tactfully denied it.
What a joke. Being Zhang Xu's godmother was enough; she didn't want her words to become a self-fulfilling prophecy and end up with six more children.
Xu Min was still in Singapore, and Shang Yi had no intention of dealing with her directly. Who would have thought that the very next day, Xu Min would appear before her, propping up a bicycle and chewing bubble gum.
At that moment, she was on her way back to the old man's house, where she was temporarily staying. She was opening the main gate, two boxes of egg tarts in hand, when Xu Min rushed toward her, took the bag, and patted the back seat of her bike. "Sister Shang, did you miss me?"
"...?" Shang Yi didn't think they had any sort of relationship. She looked back helplessly at Ugly Boy, who simply nodded. "Good evening, Miss Xu."
"Good evening. Hey, where's Fan Yaoyao?"
Fan Yaoyao was Old Girl, but Old Girl hated this name, which sounded like it belonged to a loli with a baby voice. She preferred wild, heavy eyeliner, hip-hop dreadlocks, and never wore her clothes properly, insisting on looking like a delinquent.
Old Girl was originally Shang Yi's personal bodyguard, but now she was protecting Xu Wanqing. Shang Yi refused to let anyone else know of Xu Wanqing's existence.
"When did you get back?" Shang Yi feigned nonchalance, said goodbye to Ugly Boy, and hopped onto the back seat, her hands resting on Xu Min's waist.
"Heard you're going to be my stepmom?"
"Who'd you hear that from?"
Xu Min laughed, riding around with her for a bit. "I'll take you for some tea."
The two sat facing each other. Neither had answered the other's question. They had sparred verbally without landing any blows, and Shang Yi still couldn't figure out Xu Min's intentions. She mulled it over.
Although the old man had given her a heads-up, Shang Yi hadn't really paid Xu Min any mind.
"So, am I going to have to change how I address you from now on? Should I call you..."
"Don't." Shang Yi took a sip of tea, using the cup to hide her expression. "I'm very sorry."
"Life and death are determined by fate. It was just too sudden, I couldn't accept it right away."
Xu Min had an exceptionally powerful presence. Dressed in a long coat, she could just stand in front of a glass window, and even if she were just spacing out, a random photo would look like a street-style shot of a supermodel with a formidable aura.
She gently pushed a small box across the table. "Open it."
If the box weren't about the size of a fist, Shang Yi would have thought the whole scene felt like a marriage proposal.
Her heart hesitated, screeching like a dried-out marker on a whiteboard. She first performed a complex series of expressions showing hesitation and nervousness before gently opening the box. Inside was a pair of simple, antique-style jade bracelets.
Huh? Shang Yi closed the box and pushed it back. But Xu Min pressed down on her hand, gently pushing it back again.
Her fingers were long, slender, and cold. Shang Yi shivered.
"These were my mother's bracelets. My grandmother gave them to her. All the wives in the Xu family get a pair. I brought them from my hometown. Sister Shang, what you've done is plain for all to see. I won't take my anger out on you just because of the deceased. You deserve this."
"Don't be ridiculous." Shang Yi pulled her hand away, her voice low, and stood up to leave.
"You're only six years older than me. I can't bring myself to call you that. By the way, do you remember when you first came here? I was in high school and got into a fight. I was all scraped up."
Shang Yi was at the door, but this sudden confession pulled her back. She lifted the private room's bamboo curtain slightly, then turned and went back inside. Only then did Xu Min smile softly, her eyes shimmering. "I didn't dare tell my dad, so you went and handled it for me, remember? You told me, 'How can you not take revenge?' Then you slapped the troublemaker's parents and harassed them until they gave in. I've always remembered that."
Shang Yi couldn't actually recall the incident clearly. In the early days of getting close to the Big Boss, what hadn't she done to curry favor with his family? She probably had only a vague impression of such an event and certainly didn't remember uttering a golden phrase like, "How can you not take revenge?"
Xu Min reminisced, and as she did, she started to cry. Shang Yi pulled out a tissue and handed it to her. Xu Min rubbed her red eyes and slowly stood up.
Shang Yi felt she was still just a child. She tried to reminisce as well, forcing out some memories of her past with Xu Min to move herself, and said comfortingly, "You're doing great now. Your father is very proud of you."
"He likes you more." Xu Min's eyes were red as she advanced like a predator closing in on its prey, yet her voice was low.
Shang Yi never in a million years expected that a tacky, clichéd plot from a novel would happen to her.
Xu Min was tall with long limbs. She easily pinned Shang Yi's wrists against the wall, her breath hot on Shang Yi's face. "You were chosen by my dad. He likes you. You're his property. Is it worth it? Is it really? This huge company... he says he'll marry you, but then everything you manage will be his. Look at me, hmm? I'm yours. You can choose—after my dad dies, we—"
Shang Yi wrenched her right hand free, swung her arm in a wide arc, and slapped her. "I can pretend I didn't hear that. Don't let your father down."
A righteous excuse, a high-sounding reason. Shang Yi grabbed her bag and left without a backward glance.
Xu Min liked her? How had she not noticed the slightest clue?
When it came to affection, Shang Yi prided herself on having long antennae, capable of sensing the subtle feelings of goodwill and malice that swarmed toward her. She was confident she could tell who was outwardly hostile but secretly admired her, and who hid a dagger behind their smile.
But this from Xu Min came without any warning. It was so sudden, like being ambushed by a hundred people jumping out of the bushes in a video game, leaving her no time to react.
She could clearly feel that Xu Wanqing liked her. Although she hadn't yet figured out what kind of affection it was, she could discern it. She could sense it in Xu Wanqing's pouts, her playful laughter, even when she came just to annoy her. Zhang Xu might seem like a coward whose legs trembled at the sight of her, but she was actually quite bold, confidently demanding help with her pop quizzes. The Big Boss liked her, she could feel that too, even if his affection felt like a dying man clutching at straws. Liking was liking.
But this move from Xu Min had caught her completely off guard.
She didn't dare tell the Big Boss. Afterward, whenever she saw Xu Min, she would stretch her invisible antennae as far as they could go, trying to sense the goodwill and malice coming from her. Just dealing with her was enough to make her back break out in a cold sweat.
Xu Min began to cling to her. She would drive for an hour just to see her for a moment. She insisted on calling her every night to talk about trivial matters, and they had to say good night to each other. If Shang Yi didn't say it, someone would come knocking on her door a short while later.
If she could, Xu Min would even crawl into her bed to sleep with her.
"No one has slept with me since my mother passed away. My younger siblings are too little and annoying. You can't possibly kick me out too, can you?" Xu Min said.
"Get out."
"No. I won't do anything. You don't have a guilty conscience, do you? If you do, well, I'm not sleepy anymore..."
Shang Yi rolled over, turning her back to Xu Min, her heart filled with anxiety. Ugly Boy was already having a hard time covering for her afternoon stupors every other day. This couldn't go on.
She had to go back to Beijing.
She woke with a start in the middle of the night to find that Xu Min had somehow performed a great teleportation and was now right in front of her, arms wrapped around her in a particularly ambiguous posture.
She crept out of bed, grabbed her phone, and hid in the bathroom to call Ugly Boy. "As fast as possible! Immediately! Right now! And be quiet about it! I'll handle the old man."
As the eastern sky turned the color of a fish's belly, a plane tore through the heavens. Shang Yi yawned and wrapped her blanket tighter. A corner of it slipped, revealing the pajamas she wore underneath.
After they got off the plane, Ugly Boy put down his phone and gently tapped Shang Yi's shoulder. "Sister, she followed us."
Shang Yi's soul nearly left her body. The blanket slipped off one shoulder. "I'm going to fall asleep this afternoon. No matter what, do not let her find out about Xu Wanqing."
Comments
Post a Comment