Chapter Sixteen (Part 3): Heaven, Hell
Lu Yin had a slight touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Once she got busy, she forgot all about cooking. After sorting and cleaning everything into separate categories, she had collected two or three bags of garbage, which she lined up against the wall, waiting to throw them out together with him.
Lu Qiang pulled on a T-shirt without putting on his coat. He carried one bag in each hand and threw them into the garbage bins outside the residential compound.
When he came back, Lu Yin was mopping the floor.
Lu Qiang glanced at her and reached to take the mop from her.
Lu Yin tightened her grip. “You won’t get it clean. Just stay out of the way.”
“Your period over?”
“No.” She looked at him. “It’s only the second day.”
Lu Qiang did not understand, so he asked her, “Can’t you women overexert yourselves during these few days?”
“It’s not like we’re that delicate.”
He thought for a moment. “Still, don’t push yourself. Sit on the bed.”
“I’m almost done.”
Lu Qiang said, “Leave it.”
Lu Yin tucked her loose hair behind her ear, pressed her lips together, and let go.
The room was not very large, its floor covered with old yellow tiles. He bent over, his arms and legs long, his movements not particularly nimble. When his heel bumped into a chair leg, he kicked it aside as he went, then swiped the mop back and forth in no particular pattern, his perfunctory attitude obvious.
Lu Yin sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes following the mop.
The heating in the room was strong enough to make the air somewhat dry. As soon as he came in, he had taken off his clothes, leaving his upper body bare without the slightest concern.
Lu Yin’s gaze fell on the hand gripping the mop. It was a pair of powerful hands, with broad palms, calluses in the center, and thick, long fingers. They were nothing like the long, clean fingers of an elegant gentleman. His forearms were solid, every vein especially distinct, lying just beneath his wheat-colored skin. Her eyes followed upward. The muscles of his strong back stretched and relaxed with each movement. He was not wearing a belt, leaving a strip of skin exposed at the small of his back, much paler than the skin across his back, making one imagine, for no reason at all, what color was hidden beneath the fabric.
Lu Yin seriously racked her memory for a moment. Her face could not help growing hot, and her eyes became somewhat dazed.
Lu Qiang glanced at her. “Haven’t had enough?”
“Hm?”
“Looking at me?”
“No.” She straightened her back. “Supervising you while you work.”
Lu Qiang gave a cold laugh. “That look in your eyes is easy to misunderstand.”
She cleared her throat and quickly made her escape. “Then keep going. I’m going to do the laundry.”
Lu Qiang was clearly unable to keep up with her. After mopping this side of the floor, he went to snatch the clothes away too, looking somewhat exasperated. “I don’t even know what you’re cleaning yourself crazy over. How many times can you come here?”
Lu Yin said, “The clothes are all dirty, and you don’t wash them.”
“I’m a grown man. I’m not that particular.”
She gave him her spot and squatted down beside him. “They stink.”
Lu Qiang glanced at her. “When have you ever smelled bad after we’ve been intimate?” he said. “Don’t I always wash them pretty clean?”
“Can’t you be serious for once?”
He put on a straight face. “There’s no way to be serious about this.”
The words were plainly lewd and shameless, yet he said them with a deadpan expression, as though they were perfectly reasonable. Lu Yin stood up. “I can’t be bothered with you.”
She glanced at the time. It was already one in the afternoon. She asked him, “Are you hungry?”
Lu Qiang kept his head down. “I haven’t eaten since this morning.”
Lu Yin walked into the kitchen. “Then I’ll cook some noodles first. Is it okay if I make the vegetables we bought tonight?”
He did not raise his head. “Do whatever you want. Whatever you make, I’ll eat.”
There were faint sounds coming from the kitchen.
Lu Qiang did not have much patience. He basically grabbed the clothes, rubbed them a couple of times, and tossed them into the basin beside him. There really was quite a pile. The out-of-season pants had not been washed yet. He picked up a pair, the sweatpants he had often worn a few days earlier. The fabric was soft, and the slightly different sensation in the pocket was immediately noticeable.
Lu Qiang reached inside and pulled it out. A ball of paper had been softened by the water. He put down the pants and unfolded it. Several crookedly written characters were spread across the paper, blurred into a patch of blue ink.
He narrowed his eyes and vaguely made out what was written: Chemical Workers’ Family Housing, Jinzhou Road, Shinan District.
His hand paused. Only then did he remember that the address had been given to him by Old Deng. That day, after returning from Xiaoya Prison, he had been preoccupied with the unpleasantness caused by Liu Zecheng, and after focusing all his attention on Lu Yin, he had completely forgotten what Old Deng had told him.
By a rough calculation, more than two months had already passed.
He looked at it for a while longer, then crumpled the piece of paper back up and threw it into the nearby trash can.
By afternoon, the room had finally been restored to order. Though the furniture was old, everything had been arranged properly, making the room look neat and orderly.
The two of them curled up together on the narrow single bed for an afternoon nap. Lu Qiang lay flat in the middle of the bed, the space in the crook of his arm just large enough to tuck her into. The tops of her feet were curled inward, resting softly against his calves, her whole body curled into a small little bundle.
Within a few minutes, the breathing beside him gradually grew long and deep.
Lu Qiang kept his eyes open. He had woken late that morning and was not sleepy at all. He lay there doing nothing for a while, then carefully withdrew his arm, lifted her head, and slipped a pillow underneath it.
Lu Yin was not fully asleep yet. Her voice was muffled with drowsiness. “Where are you going?”
One of Lu Qiang’s legs had just come down from the bed when he stopped. He stroked her hair. “I’m going out to take care of something. You sleep.”
She narrowed her eyes. “When will you be back?”
Lu Qiang pulled the blanket over her. “Wait for me to come back and eat dinner tonight.” He kissed the tip of her nose and quietly got out of bed.
***
The area around Jinzhou Road was easy enough to find. It was also in the old part of the city, but it was considerably cleaner and more orderly than where he lived. The residential compound for the workers’ families was quite large, consisting entirely of short, dark-yellow apartment buildings arranged in neat rows. Its orderly, conservative layout was characteristic of the rigid world of scientific research.
Lu Qiang followed the building number to the right place and knocked for quite a while before someone finally answered. A woman in her forties poked her head out. From the way she was dressed, she looked like someone from the countryside.
The door opened only halfway. She asked, “Who are you looking for?”
Lu Qiang sized her up for a moment. “Does the family here have the surname Deng?”
“No.” The woman started to close the door.
Lu Qiang stopped it with one hand. He knew Old Deng’s daughter was named Deng Qiong, while his ex-wife, Liang Yarong, had remarried twenty years ago. At the time, she had not yet been born, so it was only natural that her name and surname might have been changed.
He asked one more question. “Has this household changed hands?”
“I’m not really sure, but...” The woman looked at him. “I’ve worked for this family for eight years, and they’ve never changed.”
Lu Qiang said, “The lady of the house is named Liang Yarong?”
The woman paused. “You know her?”
“A friend asked me to come and see her.” Lu Qiang knew he had found the right place. He lifted the several bags in his hand and waved them before her eyes.
The woman’s guard was low. After asking him a few more questions, she warmly invited Lu Qiang inside.
The house was spacious and bright. Directly opposite the entrance was the bathroom, with bedrooms on either side. The living room was very large, with good ventilation and natural light. It was a very traditional two-bedroom, one-living-room layout. Twenty years ago, being allocated a home like this was already exceedingly rare.
Lu Qiang looked around. The woman pointed to the sofa beside them. “Have a seat. I’ll get you some water.” She quickly walked toward the kitchen and raised her voice. “You look so young. You must be Liang-jie’s student, right? Do you work at the chemical institute too?”
Lu Qiang did not want to explain further. “A friend of mine knows her well.”
The woman brought over some water and sat down on a stool opposite him. “Liang-jie and Professor Wu aren’t home during the day, but they get off work pretty early. Let me see what time it is... Oh, there’s still an hour.”
Lu Qiang asked, “Professor Wu?”
“Yes, Liang-jie’s husband. They both work at the chemical institute. Usually they come home together.” She paused. “Eh? Didn’t you say you knew her?”
Lu Qiang said, “I’ve never met them. A friend asked me to bring some things over.”
The woman nodded knowingly. Liang Yarong and Wu Guoshou were both professors at the research institute and had many students under them. They were highly respected, and people often tried to give them gifts by going through various indirect channels. She simply took Lu Qiang for one of those people. She had received plenty of visitors like him and had some experience dealing with such guests.
She pushed the cup toward him. “Have some water.”
Lu Qiang did not move. He looked up at the furnishings in the living room, then lowered his head and fiddled with his phone a few times. He had nothing to say to her and intended to sit for a while before leaving.
The woman said, “I’ll call Liang-jie and let her know.”
“No need. I’ll be leaving soon.” Lu Qiang put his phone on the table. “It’s usually just the two of them?”
“They have a daughter. She isn’t married yet.”
Lu Qiang calculated for a moment. “She’s already working?”
“Yes,” she answered. “She works over on Financial Street in the city center.”
Lu Qiang did not ask anything else. He glanced at the time and was about to get up and say goodbye when suddenly a phone call came in. The woman pulled the phone from her pocket and looked at Lu Qiang with a beaming smile. “Look at that. We were just talking about her, and she’s calling.”
She answered. “Qiongqiong, what is it?”
Lu Qiang lowered his head. A moment later, his eyes suddenly sharpened, and he quickly glanced at her.
The woman remained completely oblivious. “...I’m at home... What thing? I’ll go take a look for you...” She quickly pushed open a bedroom door, her voice drifting faintly from inside. “Yes, it’s on your bedside table. You need it urgently? How about I bring it over to you... All right, all right. I’ll wait for you.”
Less than half a minute later, the woman came out. She smiled. “Qiongqiong is on her way. She left some meeting materials at home and is coming back to get them in a bit. That girl is so busy with work. She always gets home so late.”
Lu Qiang rested his elbow on his leg, his head lowered. He turned the phone around once in his hand. “Her name is Wu Qiong?”
The woman was slightly taken aback. After thinking for a moment, she said, “You mean Qiongqiong? Yes, her full name is Wu Qiong. You know her too?”
Lu Qiang said nothing. He rotated the phone around and around in his hand. The woman found it strange and called out, “Young man?”
Lu Qiang came back to himself and put a cigarette between his lips. He patted his pockets, unable to find a lighter, but did not take the cigarette out. He simply held it between his teeth.
The woman chattered on about various other things, but he did not take any of it in. After sitting for a while, he stood up. “I’m leaving.”
She did not react in time. “Eh! Young man, you’re not going to wait for Liang-jie and the others?”
Lu Qiang lowered his head and changed his shoes.
She followed after him. “At least tell me your name. If they ask about the things you brought, I won’t know what to tell them.”
He acted as though he had not heard and simply slammed the door behind him as he left.
The woman persisted, craning her head out from the doorway. “Hey, young man, what’s your name?”
Lu Qiang stepped out of the building entrance. On the first floor beside it, someone had opened a door onto the balcony and was selling cigarettes, alcohol, and daily necessities. He went in and bought a lighter, the most basic kind, costing only one yuan. He stood at the doorway for a moment, crossed his arms, and lit the cigarette between his lips. He drew in a deep breath, and a wisp of blue smoke streamed from his nostrils.
Beside him was a row of flowerbeds. The trees inside had withered into bare branches. Half the rotting leaves had been blown into disarray by the wind, while the other half lay buried deep in the soil. He moved two steps in that direction and quickly finished the cigarette, crushed it out, then reached into his pocket for the lighter.
The building was at the very back of the residential compound, with the entrance to the building right beside the road. It was around three or four in the afternoon. The sun hung high overhead, yet the cold wind was bitterly sharp.
Feeling the cold, he pulled his coat tighter across his chest and took a few more drags before walking toward the main gate of the compound.
A taxi approached head-on and came to a barely timely stop in front of the building. A woman sat in the passenger seat, bundled tightly in a red padded coat, with short hair cut to her ears and a delicate, beautiful face. She was lowering her head to take something from her bag.
Lu Qiang stared for a moment, then walked past the front of the car with the cigarette between his lips.
The woman inside finished paying and raised her head. In that instant, her eyes met a pair of deep-set eyes. Her heart suddenly contracted. She bit her lip, and in that moment, her eyes filled with emotions even she could not decipher. The man glanced into the car, then passed her without expression across that short distance.
Wu Qiong tried to keep her hands from trembling. She opened the car door, turned around, and stood silently in the wind. His back was straight and broad. He soon walked away without looking back even once.
Lu Qiang turned onto the main road. With no buildings to block it, the cold wind suddenly intensified. He stubbed out his cigarette, which still had a long section left, and put the remainder into his pocket.
Amid the whooshing wind, he could vaguely make out the monotonous ring of a phone. He pulled it out. “Awake?”
Her voice on the other end was soft. “I’m getting dinner ready.”
He felt somewhat warmer and unconsciously lowered his voice. “Wait for me. We’ll make it together when I get back.”
Lu Qiang hung up and quickened his pace.
After leaving the compound, he immediately flagged down a taxi.
The moment he opened the door, he happened to glance to the side and stopped. A familiar car was parked nearby.
No comments:
Post a Comment