TBTTSP - Chapter 40
Chapter 40: [Finale] Zhang Xu Has No Story (13)
I felt a little nervous before the surgery. The thought of them operating on my head made my whole body go numb.
The most invasive medical procedure I'd ever had in my life was probably getting an IV drip at a small clinic. I'd hold the medicine box in my palm, a sugar pill in my mouth, and watch as a fierce-looking, fleshy-faced auntie jabbed a needle into my vein with the force of a torrential pear blossom storm, only for it to miss, leaving my arm covered in blood.
The nurses here were all very gentle, their voices so soft it was as if they were afraid of blowing away my dandruff.
After they shaved my head, I felt so pure of heart and free of desire that I thought I might as well become a monk. Xu Wanqing was sizing me up from the bedside. Shang Yi had sent her to keep watch, though I didn't think she was much use. She stared at me with piercing eyes, then after a moment, nervously comforted herself, "It's fine, it's fine."
I was the one who had to comfort her. "It's really fine! Stop fiddling with the blanket, you're pinching my thigh!"
I was lying here out of my infinite trust in Shang Yi, not because I wanted to be. In this situation, I really wanted to crack a few crude jokes, but I couldn't bring myself to say them to someone from ancient times. Instead, I resorted to prying for gossip. "What time did Shang Yi get back yesterday?"
"Why do you ask?" she replied, overcome with shyness. I shut my mouth, but after a moment, I couldn't resist being nosy. "How did you two get together?"
Xu Wanqing's face turned beet red. An outsider would have thought I was giving her a vivid description of a Japanese adult film.
But she still just replied, "Why do you ask?"
Are you a broken record?
I figured I wasn't going to get anything out of her. I wasn't the main character of this story, after all. They were two people, deeply in love, a king neglecting his court for his consort. The slipper Shang Yi had thrown at me that morning had been a rude awakening. I was just a poor, pitiful fifteen-year-old. Who asked me to be a minor, anyway?
After a while, Ugly Boy came to see me too. After chatting with the doctor for a bit, he told me that he'd have Zhaodi come visit after the surgery.
"Please don't," I said. "If she comes, it'll just confirm the stigma that there's something wrong with my brain. It's better to let Zhaodi focus on making her fortune in Pingdu. I can go pay my respects to her later."
Xu Wanqing was particularly interested in Li Zhaodi. Thinking back, it was Xu Wanqing who had brought her to me in the first place.
Xu Wanqing asked about Li Zhaodi's daily life. After answering her questions one by one, I decided to take advantage of her good temper and tease her. "If you like her so much, why don't you just adopt her? You two are of one heart and mind, after all…"
"Can we?" Xu Wanqing asked with a completely serious face, as if she were about to ask Shang Yi to put the matter on their agenda.
"Of course not! She has her own mother!"
At that, Xu Wanqing seemed to grasp my meaning. She gently stroked my forehead and said, "I was just teasing you. Since we've already taken you in, how could we possibly look for someone else? You got all worked up, your eyes turning red. You're not composed enough."
…
Did she think I was jealous? And for the record, it was Shang Yi who adopted me, not you!
But on second thought, since she and Shang Yi were secretly together, I didn't really have a leg to stand on. Fine, whatever. I once had two extra people inside my body, and now both of them were my mothers.
To be honest, I still hadn't figured out their dynamic. I couldn't very well ask Ugly Boy about it; although he was outwardly respectful to Xu Wanqing, he secretly resented her for stealing his sister. As for Fan Yaoyao, she was like a simple-minded big sister who became possessed by Guan Yu whenever a fight broke out. The rest of the time, she was either cracking sunflower seeds or doing something strange, true to her nature as a single-celled organism.
Before the surgery, I saw a hickey on Xu Wanqing's neck so wild it made me forget what Shang Yi's face looked like. After the surgery, while I was recuperating, Shang Yi came over with a serious expression to tell me she hadn't transmigrated into me again. That's when I saw the bite mark on her arm, and I couldn't help but blush.
At that moment, I wasn't sure what the main point was—that she hadn't soul-transmigrated into me anymore, or the bite mark. I couldn't distinguish the priority, so, meeting Shang Yi's silent gaze, I fearlessly reached out and touched it.
Shang Yi snatched her hand back as if she'd been electrocuted, and Xu Wanqing's face instantly flushed red.
Shang Yi said she was being frank with me, but she had never directly admitted what her relationship with Xu Wanqing was.
Until the old man appeared.
The old man, Xu Ancheng, was a hugely famous figure. Just being seen in the same place as him was worthy of a three-day celebration on your social media feed.
After my brain was adjusted, it seemed that, for whatever reason, my brainwaves were no longer compatible with Shang Yi's. She really never transmigrated into me again. I was still getting used to having full control of my life. While I was under observation at the hospital, the corridor suddenly emptied of patients, and even the doctors disappeared. I was playing with a Rubik's Cube when I registered the sudden silence—the doctor wouldn't let me look at electronic devices and had tossed it to me. I had just painstakingly solved one side when an old man sat down steadily beside me.
By the time I realized it was Xu Ancheng, the freshly stitched-up top of my skull nearly flew off.
"You're Zhang Xu?" he asked amiably. He had the healthy, ruddy complexion of a man who could live another five hundred years, and his eyes and brows made him look like the cultured old man from next door.
At the end of the corridor was a crowd of bodyguards. I was startled by the spectacle. The old man then took the Rubik's Cube from my hand, looked at it, and said softly, "There are tricks to solving a Rubik's Cube. There are many guides."
"Oh," I answered sullenly. I didn't know what to say, afraid that if I let one of my crude remarks slip, the bodyguards at the end of the hall would pull out a light machine gun and mow me down like in a Hollywood blockbuster.
After a moment, the old man solved the cube and handed it back to me. I whispered a thank you.
"Does Shang Yi come to see you?"
I then remembered that Shang Yi was the old man's mistress. For her to have an affair behind his back was practically courting death.
At that moment, I felt like a watchdog Shang Yi had left at the hospital to guard the house. What breed I was would depend on my performance right now.
I hoped to be a clever German Shepherd, so I said, "I just had surgery, so I've been sleeping the whole time. Are you here to see me?"
"Yes. Do you know who I am?" he asked amiably.
Hoping to continue my streak of cleverness, I said, "You're very famous."
"Do you know this person?" He took out his phone and pulled up a candid photo of Xu Wanqing.
At that point, I felt I truly didn't have the talent to be a smart, good dog. I was just the big, dumb kind that helps a burglar tear the house apart.
Fortunately, Xu Wanqing arrived. She and Xu Ancheng were about to have a direct confrontation, and I was one hundred and twenty percent worried for her. She walked over slowly, tilted her head to look at the old man, then at me, and gently placed a hand on my shoulder. "How's your recovery coming along?"
Xu Ancheng extended his hand for a handshake. "Xu Ancheng."
Xu Wanqing glanced at me, then offered her hand. "Xu Wanqing."
This historic meeting reminded me of the spectacular scene of Nixon's visit to China. My brain felt like it had exploded into a pile of mush. I shrank back, looked around, and made an excuse. "My head hurts a little, I'm going to find the doctor…"
Hurriedly fleeing the scene, I rushed to report to Shang Yi. "That, that Big Boss, Xu Ancheng, he's at the hospital, shaking hands with Xu Wanqing…"
"I know."
"What are we going to do!"
"I've already had a showdown with Xu Ancheng. He can't accept it, so he's come to cause trouble. I'm on my way now. Don't be afraid."
"You told him that Xu Wanqing is your girlfriend?"
"Yes." I couldn't tell if Shang Yi's tone was light or heavy. I could hear the sound of rapid footsteps and Ugly Boy's faint voice on the other end. I hung up, having heard direct confirmation of their relationship from Shang Yi's own lips for the first time.
Shang Yi was such a badass. She just laid all her cards on the table like that?
When Ugly Boy and Shang Yi arrived, they hurried upstairs. Fan Yaoyao was not her usual self. She held her baseball bat as if it were a longsword, ascending the stairs like a Japanese samurai prepared to die a noble death. Her eyes were filled with cold, murderous intent, a complete departure from her usual demeanor.
Ugly Boy had put away his tablet. He was still in his well-tailored suit, his leather shoes making an imposing sound on the floor.
Shang Yi was dressed all in black, as if attending a funeral. She carried a long-handled black umbrella, slender and elegant, that left spots of water on the floor. It looked as if she were carrying a sword.
I sensed the aura of an impending gang fight and couldn't help but tremble.
After asking for the location, Shang Yi walked through the phalanx of bodyguards, who parted for her automatically. Ugly Boy and Fan Yaoyao remained outside, leaving only the three of them in a standoff in the corridor.
I really shouldn't have been there, but I couldn't restrain my gossipy heart. I squeezed into the crowd of bodyguards. Seeing that I was an injured patient, they didn't dare push back too hard and actually made a little space for me.
By the time I got over there, the conversation was already halfway through.
Xu Ancheng: I can give you anything, and I can also take it all back.
Shang Yi: Then take it back.
Xu Ancheng: You weren't like this before. I never saw any homosexual tendencies in you.
Shang Yi: There's no point in saying this now. I haven't taken a single cent of your assets. They can be handed over to your Xu Min at any time.
Xu Ancheng: I can give you one more chance. We can get married. I have so much wealth… Don't be led astray. I can permit some occasional curiosity. We can start over…
At that moment, I suddenly couldn't resist the urge to sing a song for him.
Love isn't for sale, to be bought whenever you please…
Let me break free, let me understand, let go of your love…
Tacky as it was, it was still pretty catchy.
I didn't hear the rest very clearly. The bodyguards grew tense, their swords drawn and bows bent. Fan Yaoyao lifted her baseball bat, glared, and pulled me behind her for protection.
I had no idea what happened, but the crowd looked like they were about to start fighting. Through a gap between people, I saw Xu Ancheng press his hand against Shang Yi's neck. My heart leaped in alarm, but Shang Yi didn't move. Xu Wanqing lunged forward but then seemed to freeze in place, not intervening.
Fan Yaoyao dropped her bat. Just then, I heard Shang Yi's voice from inside the circle. "The umbrella you held for me when I was twenty-two. Here. Thank you."
The black umbrella was returned to the old man's hand. He collapsed into a chair, his body suddenly slumping over, hunched as if he could no longer borrow another five hundred years from heaven.
Shang Yi took Xu Wanqing's hand and walked out, even brushing the hair from her temple. She strode out with light steps, like a victorious Valkyrie. Fan Yaoyao gently tugged on my sleeve, and we followed behind them.
We dared not ask.
That afternoon, Shang Yi said she wanted to celebrate her newfound freedom and invited Zhaodi over for a "freedom party." I took the opportunity to recommend the classic hit song Love for Sale to Xu Wanqing, and to casually ask about what had happened earlier.
After listening to the song, Xu Wanqing offered a serious-sounding critique. "The rhythm is light and lively, the lyrics are catchy and straightforward. It reveals a great truth in small details. It is truly a fine song."
She completely ignored my follow-up question!
When Zhaodi came over that evening, she saw the two women sitting together. She shrank back at first, then mustered the courage to approach Shang Yi.
She came with her schoolbag on her back. I thought she was so dedicated that she wouldn't forget to study even here, but instead, she pulled out her report card to prove to Shang Yi that she was a valuable student worthy of sponsorship, promising to repay the kindness tenfold in the future.
"Look at her," Shang Yi said, holding the report card. She fell into the cliché of praising "other people's children," just like my own mother, except this other person's child happened to live with me.
With a look of admiration, she read Li Zhaodi's report card over and over, then pointed at me—sitting next to her, cutting a watermelon under Xu Wanqing's direction—and told me to learn from Li Zhaodi's spirit.
"Zhang Xu is very good too," Li Zhaodi said.
Shang Yi smiled and ruffled her hair. "You're very good too."
In that moment, she was like an experienced mother who had mastered all the parenting techniques. But to be honest, she was probably just feeling lucky that she got to skip my naughtiest and most annoying phase and just reap the rewards. She didn't have to go through the pain of childbirth but still got someone to provide for her in her old age.
Of course, I doubted she'd ever need me to provide for her in her old age. I probably wouldn't even live as long as she would.
Even back then, Li Zhaodi already showed her ambitious, grateful, and self-reliant character. Everyone liked her. But Ugly Boy was still on my side, because he considered Li Zhaodi to be part of Xu Wanqing's faction, his sworn enemy, I guess. Besides me, he had no one else to listen to his crude jokes.
I never really understood why my surgery meant Shang Yi no longer had to soul-transmigrate into me. One day, when I was on the verge of dying from old age, my granddaughter told me that research had shown the soul to be a kind of brainwave. At that moment, lying at home eating watermelon, I suddenly recalled that day when I was fifteen, when two souls suddenly crossed time and space to enter my life, making me incredibly lucky.
Just then, the original bodies of those two souls were right outside my door. They looked almost the same as when I'd met them at fifteen, with a few wrinkles but still excessively young. Shang Yi pushed the door open, sat by my bed, and took my hand. "Do you still remember when you were fifteen?"
"Are you even human? You want me to reminisce about you two flirting and carrying on inside my body?!" Even in my old age, I still loved to make crude jokes.
"What are you talking about? I came to see you out of the goodness of my heart!"
"Let me declare this upfront: even if you want me to reminisce, this isn't my story at all!"
I stroked my right hand, which was covered in age spots. Shang Yi let it go, crossed her legs, and with the same sharp eyes and charming expression she had in her youth, said, "It's your story too, you know."
"It's just a story," I said, letting my hand fall. Behind her, Xu Wanqing's eyes were bright as she smiled faintly. "Everyone thinks we're dead."
"I really want to know… seventy years ago… at the hospital, what did you say to Xu Ancheng?" I had been fixated on that piece of gossip for seventy years.
Shang Yi's eyes widened as she looked at me, and she tapped me on the head. "Hey, you're way too nosy, aren't you?"
"I just want to know… I'm about to die! At the very least, it was because of me that you two met, right? Give your matchmaker a little face!"
"What kind of matchmaker is this nosy? Spouting so much nonsense at your age!" Shang Yi was particularly rough with me, patting and shaking me. It was a good thing insurance scams weren't common for people on their deathbeds, or else an old lady like me could have just tilted my head and kicked the bucket on the spot, and she'd never be able to explain it. Two people who should have disappeared had reappeared in the mortal world, and if you calculated their ages, it was a terrifying defiance of modern science.
"Grandma—"
My granddaughter's voice from outside seemed to be getting closer. Shang Yi leaned in close to my ear and whispered, "Back then, I…"
On that drizzly morning, Shang Yi entered carrying the black umbrella. Xu Ancheng was standing opposite Xu Wanqing.
"I'm already old. Why are you in such a hurry? When I'm dead, it won't matter if you fall in love with a man or a woman, or who you mess around with. Why are you in such a rush to sever ties with me? I never taught you to be so reckless…"
"You know I was only with you for the money. Why not just let go?" Shang Yi pulled Xu Wanqing behind her.
"Let out a long line to catch a big fish. You now… you've surprised me."
"Because I once loved you," Shang Yi delivered a heavy blow. "A long, long time ago. So, to be clear, this is me respecting you, and also respecting my past self. Of course I could have waited a long time—two hours, or three days, or a week, or fourteen years. But you would only choose me after your wife passed away. That's not a choice, it's being a substitute… My choice only has meaning while you're alive. Here."
Gifting an umbrella is a homophone for "breaking up." No one gives a gift like that. Shang Yi held the handle and offered it to him. "It's raining outside. This might be useful."
"I love you…" The old man seemed crushed by the words "once loved." His pride wouldn't allow him to be the loser in this choice. He didn't take the umbrella.
"You don't love me," Shang Yi replied steadily.
As if enraged, he shot up and raised his hands, gripping her slender neck tightly.
Xu Wanqing jumped in fright, but as she lunged forward, a single look from Shang Yi froze her in place.
She could feel the burning heat of the old man's hands. An old person's hands are too hot, radiating excess energy, as if all his strength was concentrated in his palms, almost scalding her neck. She knew he wasn't using force; she could still breathe. The old man's eyes were like a hunting lion's, but in the final moment, they aged. The light in them scattered. In that instant, Shang Yi thought of her twenty-two-year-old self, the one who had made a mistake, who had rambled on and on to the old man about all the things her family couldn't handle.
Back then, the old man had held this very umbrella over her as he saw her into a car.
"The umbrella you held for me when I was twenty-two. Here. Thank you." Shang Yi offered the umbrella, playing her final emotional card.
The old man collapsed into his seat, suddenly and truly old.
After Shang Yi finished her story, I blinked a few times. But I wasn't young anymore, after all, and even blinking was tiring.
Shang Yi concluded, "If I had tried to argue with him logically back then, I probably would have died a miserable death. But he was old, and emotion was his weak spot. I poked it and brought all his bitterness to the surface. That's why he didn't do anything too drastic afterward, which gave me some breathing room."
I had disrespectfully pried into their private life in my old age, but Shang Yi, aside from her usual love of retorting, had never really put on parental airs with me, so she answered my question.
You probably want to know what I did when I was young, but this isn't my story, after all. Now that I've recounted the events related to the two of them soul-transmigrating into me, I probably don't have much of a story left to tell. You might also want to know Li Zhaodi's story, but she never soul-transmigrated into me either. I can only tell you that she is doing very well.
Let's end it here. I don't have Xu Wanqing's literary talent. Her column interpreting classic literature is very popular, and no matter how hard I try, I can't even grasp a fraction of her skill.
I would never ask to borrow another five hundred years from heaven. I was already incredibly lucky to have been given the chance to be possessed by their souls. It was like a pie falling from the sky, a twist of fate that changed the entire course of my life.
I blinked my eyes one last time at Xu Wanqing and Shang Yi. My throat was tight, and I wanted to say something to thank them, but I had no Immortality Pill. I was already too old, so old that I could no longer open my eyes.
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