Chapter Three: The End. The Beginning?
A week later.
The incident had died down. Lu Yin had taken a long leave and had been holed up in the rented apartment where she had lived for five years.
She was haggard, her eyes almost always swollen. She did not go out, did not wash or groom herself, and would occasionally lapse into a daze, still unable to accept reality.
She was devoted in love. Throughout all the years she had been with Liu Zecheng, there had been no earth-shattering passion or vows of eternal devotion, yet their ordinary life had been filled with warmth. She had thought they would accompany each other slowly into old age, but she had never imagined that one day he would betray her.
She did not dare recall how that day had ended.
For the first time in more than twenty years, she had vented her anger without restraint, only to be frightened into submission by a man she had met just twice. She had been reduced to her former self and fled in disarray, with no choice but to drive the car back to the hotel parking lot.
To some extent, Lu Yin admitted that she was timid and afraid of trouble. She only dared to seethe inwardly over the injustices of the world. When arguing with others, she was also somewhat inclined to bully those weaker than herself while fearing those stronger. She rarely got into open confrontations with anyone, and even hitting someone was a first for her. She was an ordinary little woman, not a saint, tainted with too much of the worldly air of mortal life. She cared about her dignity and was afraid of embarrassing herself. She cared about how outsiders viewed her, and was even more concerned about people pointing fingers and gossiping behind her back.
She gripped the steering wheel tightly and finally calmed down. She no longer had the energy to grieve, only worrying about how this farce was supposed to end.
The ceremony had not yet begun then, and the guests had not all arrived. Most of them were relatives from both sides and colleagues from the factory.
In the parking lot, she ran into her close friend Ye Fan, who had been waiting for her. Ye Fan had brought her clothes to change into. Lu Yin did not show herself, instead having Ye Fan handle it for her and notify everyone that the wedding was canceled.
For some time after Ye Fan left, the silence inside the car was terrifying. In the rearview mirror, a deathly pale face was reflected. Her hair was disheveled, her eyeliner had smudged, and the originally beautiful color of her lips had streaked across the side of her face in an eye-catching line.
Lu Yin took out a tissue and wiped at it. Those red marks stubbornly refused to fade, just like the six years between her and Liu Zecheng. Wanting to wipe them away immediately was too difficult. Lu Yin fought with herself, the force in her hand growing heavier and heavier. The lipstick marks gradually faded, but because she was pressing too hard, her delicate skin was scraped with streak after streak of red.
She looked at herself in the mirror, feeling a profound sense of powerlessness and exhaustion. Lu Yin covered her face and slumped back against the seat.
After everyone had dispersed, she returned to the bridal room, which was crammed with Liu family's relatives. The woman had already been persuaded to leave by Liu Zecheng. He sat slumped in the sofa, head hanging, his gaze vacant.
The incident had happened suddenly. He was at fault first, but Liu's mother still blamed Lu Yin for failing to understand the bigger picture, saying she should not have abandoned the mess and left on a whim. Lu Yin's aunt cared about nothing else, only shouting for compensation for emotional distress. Her uncle was inarticulate, crouching in a corner and smoking in silence. No one cared about Lu Yin's feelings. Ye Fan could not stand it any longer and pointed at the Liu family, cursing them out viciously.
For a time, the room descended into complete chaos.
Liu Zecheng shot to his feet, grabbed Lu Yin, and pulled her outside.
Lu Yin struggled, but she was no match for his strength and was dragged into the hallway.
He was still wearing the black suit from the ceremony. It was neatly tailored, the fabric of fine quality, accentuating his already good figure and making him look even taller and more slender. Only the shirt underneath was wrinkled, his tie was loose and hanging crookedly to one side, making his whole person appear somewhat irritable.
He lowered his head without looking at her and said nothing.
Lu Yin stood silently as well, keeping half a meter between them. Suddenly, the man before her felt exceptionally unfamiliar.
After a long while, Liu Zecheng finally spoke. “Yinyin, does the wedding really have to be canceled?”
“What do you want me to do?”
Liu Zecheng did not dare meet her eyes, staring instead at the hem of Lu Yin's clothes. “Her and I, we were just putting on an act for the occasion. It was just an accident…” He paused, finding it difficult to say. “We found out too late. By the time we wanted to terminate the pregnancy, it might have been dangerous for her… so it turned into the situation today.”
Lu Yin's nails dug into her palms. Every word he said was like a sharp blade slicing open her chest.
He continued, “We've been together for six years. Whether I love you or not, you should be able to feel it clearly. This really was just a moment of foolishness…” He was at a loss, raising a hand to his forehead. “I hope you can forgive me.”
“What about them?”
Liu Zecheng said, “I promise they won't interfere with our lives in the future.”
“We coexist?” Lu Yin laughed despite herself. “I never realized before that you were this greedy.”
Liu Zecheng was utterly ashamed. He changed the subject and said, “Yinyin, I won't force you to have children anymore. Our family has had only one male heir for nine generations. Now that we have that child, my mother has nothing more to say. From now on, it'll just be the two of us… We'll live our lives well.”
Lu Yin said coldly, “I'll have a child myself.”
He blurted out, “But you can't have one…” They had been together for six years and lived together for five. During the last year, they had never deliberately used contraception, yet she had never conceived his child.
The hallway fell silent.
Lu Yin's heart trembled violently.
The rain poured down outside. She turned her gaze toward the window. Only at this moment did she finally understand how vulnerable their seemingly solid relationship was in the face of reality. His final words had finally sentenced her to death, with no reprieve, no reversal, no miscarriage of justice. Lu Yin truly realized that the love she had given her whole heart to for six years had finally come to an end…
The ringing of the room's telephone blared incessantly. Lu Yin lay on the bed, struggling to pull herself out of her memories. She reached for the phone and glanced at it. It was Liu Zecheng.
Lu Yin stared at the screen. The call automatically disconnected, and it was only when it rang again that she reacted.
She raised the phone to her ear, his voice mingling with the faint hum of the connection.
Lu Yin's voice was hoarse. “What is it?”
On the other end, he said, “Yinyin, what are you doing?”
“Just say what you have to say.”
After a pause, Liu Zecheng said, “Since the wedding is off, I want to discuss with you how we should divide up the new house.”
***
Dusk was approaching. Orange-red afterglow filled the entire bedroom, the gauze curtains billowing as a breeze drifted in.
The bed was in disarray. Old books and clothes lay scattered all over the floor, while an empty instant-noodle container sat open on the table. Liu Zecheng had moved out two days ago, and almost none of his things remained here.
After that phone call, it was a long while before Lu Yin finally sat up from the bed. She gathered her hair, wiped her face, and a few traces of spirit returned to her eyes. There had not been the slightest hint of sadness in his tone over the phone. He had not said anything about trying to win her back. There had even been a faint, barely perceptible hint of excitement in his voice. They had only just separated, yet he was already impatiently planning his future.
Lu Yin looked at herself in the mirror. Drops of water slowly slid down her cheeks and into the corners of her mouth. After a long while, she suddenly smiled faintly and said softly, “Who are you being miserable for?”
Lu Yin tidied the entire room, turning up quite a few of his odds and ends in the process, including some thesis papers, experiment reports, old books, and academic journals.
A little later, Lu Yin went out. She made an effort to dress herself up, wearing a casual short skirt and light makeup, with a pair of cloth shoes on her long, straight legs. Her hair was half-dry, hanging down behind her. Aside from her somewhat haggard appearance, she looked like a female student who had not yet graduated.
First, she went to a restaurant and ordered several dishes. These past few days, she had holed herself up in her room and barely gone outside. She had eaten nothing but biscuits and instant noodles, yet had not even felt hungry. Afterward, she went to the supermarket and replaced everything with new ones: bedsheets, pillowcases, teacups, bowls and chopsticks, toothbrush cups, and toothbrushes.
By the time she came out of the supermarket, the streetlights had just begun to illuminate the night.
Lu Yin was carrying three completely full bags. She really could not manage them all and called a taxi.
When they reached the residential complex, the main gate was only half open, leaving a narrow gap that the taxi could not get through.
The driver honked twice, but there was no response from inside.
Lu Yin leaned her head out of the car window. Above her was a somewhat old streetlamp, its soft halo spilling down from above. Her hair fell loose, gently stirred by the breeze. Along the entire dimly lit road, she became the only bright spot.
Lu Yin called inside, “Master Li, are you there?”
There was no answer at all. Through the openwork iron gate, the guard booth was pitch-black, with no light turned on, but she could faintly hear the old radio inside playing.
After a moment, she said again, “Could you open the main gate? I have too many things to carry.”
The guard booth remained just as silent. After waiting for a while, Lu Yin thought about getting out to take a look. Just as she was about to move, she saw a figure slowly emerge from the entrance.
Lu Yin froze slightly, forgetting to speak. The person was not Old Li. Just from his build, he was much taller and larger than him. He was not wearing a security guard's jacket. The hem of his tight black shirt was tucked into his waistband, and he wore a hat.
He was broad-shouldered and muscular, with long legs. One pant leg hung naturally, while the other was rolled up several times, stopping just below the knee.
The man stood in the shadows. She could not make out his features, yet she could clearly feel his gaze upon her, carrying a hint of pressure that made her feel as though she had nowhere to hide and could neither sit nor stand at ease.
Lu Yin nervously tucked her hair back, bit her lip, and said politely, “Could you help me with something? The car can't get in…”
The man did not answer her. He looked in her direction for several more seconds before walking forward and pulling the gate open.
The car drove inside. Lu Yin opened her mouth, but before she could finish saying thank you, she had already passed him.
Back home, there was another bout of bustling activity. Half an hour later, the room had been completely transformed.
The bedsheets had been changed to a lotus-root pink, with only one pillow and one quilt left on the bed. The living room was clean and fresh, with no newspapers or magazines carelessly strewn about. The bathroom mirror gleamed, a new set of dental supplies arranged in front of it, with a blue-and-pink towel hanging beside them.
Everything was new. There was no trace at all that anyone else had ever lived there.
Lu Yin was drenched in sweat and collapsed onto the sofa. She glanced at the empty room and suddenly felt desolate and lonely. A fresh wave of pain surged from the depths of her heart.
She let out a breath and ordered herself not to think about it. Her gaze fell on the pile of wastepaper by the door.
Lu Yin bit her lip, picked up a lighter and that pile of old things, and went up to the rooftop.
The night breeze blew gently, washing away the heat and restlessness of the day.
The moon was hidden behind the clouds, leaving only a faint, hazy moonlight.
She stood on the rooftop and looked down. The few scattered streetlights could not illuminate the road ahead at all. The night was exceedingly quiet, as though everything had already fallen asleep.
Lu Yin sat down on the ground and picked up a stack of papers beside her. They were Liu Zecheng's thesis. The moonlight was so faint that she could not make out what was written on them, yet his handwriting seemed carved into her mind, impossible to dispel.
The lighter made a ka sound, and a tiny flame sprang to life in the darkness. It gradually grew larger, and soon the air was filled with the smell of smoke and ash.
Lu Yin tossed the papers in her hand into the fire basin. The flames illuminated her face, while black smoke rose with the dust, dancing in midair. Everything would eventually become like these things, drifting farther and farther away from her.
The pile of wastepaper burned for quite some time. The flames went out, and the night wind carried away the floating ashes.
Once again swallowed by darkness, Lu Yin sat for a moment before standing. The instant she turned around, she suddenly let out a scream.
A man was leaning against the door leading downstairs. His arms were folded, and he wore a tank top and shorts, his head bald. A cigarette hung from his mouth. He looked relaxed and at ease, and she had no idea how long he had been watching her.
Lu Yin, still shaken out of her wits, stumbled backward several steps.
The man straightened and said in a low voice, “Don't move. Take another step back and you'll fall.”
A numbness spread across the back of Lu Yin's head, and every hair on her body stood on end. The moment he spoke, she recognized him. She had seen him twice before, once at Xiaoya Prison, and once at the intersection in the pouring rain. She did not know his name. She only remembered a few numbers: 0852.
Lu Yin's voice trembled. “Why are you here?”
Lu Qiang raised an eyebrow slightly and took a drag of his cigarette. “You know me?”
She hurriedly denied it. “I don't.”
Lu Qiang said nothing and walked two steps toward her.
Lu Yin panicked and retreated along the wall. The night was very dark, but she could vaguely make out the gleam of his bald head. The cigarette flickered between his lips, illuminating his sharply defined features and a pair of black eyes so deep they seemed bottomless.
“If you keep backing up, no one will save you.” His voice was hoarse and unpleasant to the ear.
Lu Yin spoke anxiously. “What do you want?”
He stopped and smiled. “I haven't even done anything to you.”
Lu Yin said, “Go away, or I'll call the security guards.”
“I am one.” Lu Qiang remained unhurried as he walked over and crushed the still-glowing ember beneath his foot. “The new one.”
Lu Yin stared blankly.
He said, “A resident complained that someone was setting a fire on the rooftop.”
It took Lu Yin a long time to process this information before she found her voice again. “I wasn't setting a fire. I was just burning some things.”
“Oh.” He said, “I saw.”
She had no idea how long he had been standing behind her.
Lu Yin did not want to say anything more and tried to go around him to head downstairs first.
It was far too dark. She could not see the path at all. She stumbled forward recklessly and suddenly tripped over something beneath her feet. She let out a muffled groan as a sharp pain shot through her ankle.
After everything she had been through, she was now so fragile that she could barely withstand a blow. Even a little pain was enough to make her suffer until tears fell.
After a long while, a sudden strength appeared at her waist.
He had approached at some point without her noticing and bent down to lift her.
A voice came from above her head.
“What floor do you live on? I'll take you back.”
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