Chapter Twenty (Part 2): The Bond Between Mother and Son
Lu Qiang knew this was just a fuse. Qian Yuanqing’s real intention lay elsewhere. She had wanted to deal with him for a long time, and now that she had run into this, there was no way she would let it pass easily. He pulled on his wool sweater, cigarette between his lips, squinting as he tugged at his waistband, then bent down to step into his shoes.
He took a moment to glance sideways. “Put your clothes on properly and stay here.”
Lu Yin was still staring at the door, her gaze dull. Only after a long while did she think to look at Lu Qiang.
Half of his cigarette remained. He crushed it out with his hand, exhaling the last mouthful of thick smoke.
Lu Yin stretched an arm out from beneath the blanket. Her clothes were beside her. “Don’t go. Maybe I should go out and see first.”
He cupped her head in both hands. Her eyes were moist, her face deathly pale. Lu Qiang looked at her seriously, his thumb brushing the corner of her lips. “Stay here and be good.”
Lu Yin asked, “What will Auntie do to you?”
“Finally caught her chance,” Lu Qiang said. “She used to like using her hands.”
Lu Yin sucked in a breath. “Then what are you going to do?”
“Let her vent a little,” Lu Qiang said. “I owe her.”
Lu Yin straightened her body. “Then I’ll go with you too. With someone else there, she might not make things too difficult for you.”
Lu Qiang chuckled, half serious and half joking. “Don’t. Leave me some face.”
Lu Yin had not thought of it from that angle. Wrapped in the quilt, she sat on the kang and watched him get fully dressed. In the end, she gritted her teeth. “I still have to go.”
Lu Qiang looked at Lu Yin, pressing down on the top of her head. After a moment of silence, he said, “What were we doing in the room just now? Aren’t you shy?”
Lu Yin frowned. Images of all those restricted scenes came flooding into her mind. Her body stiffened, and her cheeks instantly turned the color of pig liver.
Lu Qiang’s eyes darkened. He added a little more weight, pressing down hard. “I dragged you into this.”
“No.” Her face was still red.
Lu Qiang kissed her on the lips, lingering for a moment. “Be a good girl, go to sleep.”
He did not put on his coat. He simply opened the door and went out.
The main room was brightly lit. The door was not fully closed. Qian Yuanqing had placed a chair beside her, and the crutch in her hand was still the one Lu Qiang had bought for her.
Lu Qiang bent down and lifted the curtain. “Mom.”
Qian Yuanqing remained unmoved, both hands resting one over the other on the crutch. She tapped it against the floor.
Lu Qiang did not move. He hooked his finger a few times against his forehead.
She said, “Don’t understand?”
Lu Qiang smiled ingratiatingly. “Come on, I’m already well into my thirties.”
“Kneel.” Her tone was heavy, leaving no room for defiance.
Lu Qiang’s eyes sank, and he became serious as well. He turned his head toward the cabinet opposite him. The offerings on top had recently been replaced. On the day he first arrived, there had been several oranges. Now they had been replaced with apples. He looked at Qian Yuanqing again and paused for a moment. Then he drew his right leg back one step, his knee striking the floor, followed by his left. The movement was slow and deliberate, yet it landed with a heavy finality.
Before he had even settled into his kneeling position, Qian Yuanqing had already raised her crutch from the corner of his eye and struck him across the back without the slightest hesitation.
Wood struck bone with a muffled thud.
Lu Qiang shuddered and clenched his teeth. His back remained ramrod straight. He did not even raise a hand to shield himself.
Another blow from the crutch followed immediately. She had put force into it, her breathing slightly uneven.
Lu Qiang kept his eyes fixed ahead, looking at the face of the man in the frame. The corners of his lips were raised, his teeth sparse, and between his relaxed brows was an irregular character-shaped crease like the Chinese character ‘川.’
His face was covered in wrinkles, his skin dark from the sun, the standard face of a working man.
As he looked at it, the corner of his lips actually curved up, and he smiled softly.
Qian Yuanqing stared at him in astonishment, her chest rising and falling. “You can actually still smile.” With that, she rewarded him with another blow.
Lu Qiang turned his head. “Mom, you’re willing to talk to me now.”
She was slightly stunned, but she did not look at him. She sat back down on the stool she had been sitting on earlier, her voice considerably calmer. “Outside, you can be as much of a bastard as you want. I don’t acknowledge you. That girl may have been brought here by you, and whatever you do, I have no business interfering. But this is my home now. She has parents. She’s a proper girl. If you mess around with her, I can’t allow it.”
Lu Qiang said, “I’m not messing around. I’m serious.”
“You know how to be serious too?” Qian Yuanqing gave a derisive laugh. Her eyes turned toward the photograph on the cabinet. Only after a long while did she say, “‘If a son is not taught, it is the father’s fault.’ When he closed his eyes, he still regretted not having taught you properly. He said he should never have let you leave. He doesn’t hate you, but I hate you. If it weren’t for you, he could have lived a few more years.” At this, Qian Yuanqing blinked. “You went in for a month. Xiao Zhi had someone pass along word that you had done something shameful. He couldn’t catch his breath and suffered a stroke on the spot. The village doctor treated him, and they hurried him to the hospital in town. Who would have thought…”
Lu Qiang clenched his fist. He could never forget that month either.
Qian Yuanqing continued, “Who would have thought he would stop breathing halfway there.”
There was almost no sound in the room. The firewood in the stove crackled, so faintly, yet so clearly that every sound could be heard.
Qian Yuanqing’s eyes grew clearer. She rose onto her toes and stood up, the crutch in her hand coming down without hesitation. “Tell me whether you were wrong.”
He gritted his teeth and endured it. “Which thing?”
“All of it together.”
Lu Qiang said, “Yinyin is your future daughter-in-law. That won’t change. I wasn’t wrong.” The muscles in his cheeks twitched as he stared straight ahead. “Before… I regretted taking the wrong path. I’m sorry to my dad, and I’m sorry to you. Now I want to make amends, but it’s already too late. If there is a next life, I don’t deserve to be your son. I’ll be your ox and your horse to atone for my sins.”
He looked at the floor, his voice steady. “You didn’t read the letter I wrote last time. I want to get married because I met Lu Yin and genuinely want to change. I don’t deserve your forgiveness. I only hope you’ll take a look at her. She’s a good girl.”
Those words came straight from his heart. In the past, the line between right and wrong had always been blurred in the things he did. He did not easily bow his head. In this lifetime, he had apologized to only two women: Qian Yuanqing and Lu Yin.
There was a brief silence.
Qian Yuanqing tightened her grip on the crutch. She remembered what Lu Yin had said. The suspicions and doubts she had harbored for years had finally been made clear that night. Her son might have done something heinous, but it should at least have been something done openly and aboveboard. He could never have committed something as despicable as rape.
But regardless of right or wrong, it was a fact that he had angered Old Lu to death. Because the hatred buried so deeply in her heart had been too great, she had ignored him, refused to listen to his explanations, and refused to let him come home, treating him as though he were already dead.
But she had forgotten one thing: mother and son were bound by blood, and the bond of their closest kin could not be changed in this lifetime. She was a mother. No matter how hard her heart was, he was still her weakness.
Lu Qiang owed her an explanation. Qian Yuanqing’s vision blurred. “Is there anything you want to say?”
Lu Qiang remained kneeling, saying nothing.
“Why did you take the blame for someone else?”
He paused, then told her everything, exactly as it had happened. Qian Yuanqing fell silent. The crutch in her hand never rose again.
***
In the middle of the night, a strong wind swept through, the snow it whipped up like layer upon layer of gauzy curtains unfurling.
Qian Yuanqing drove Lu Qiang back to Genzi’s house. The west room was pitch-black. He stood at the door for a moment, but did not disturb them. He went straight out through the courtyard gate.
At this moment, Lu Yin was not asleep. She lay awake in the darkness. The main house and the west room were far apart, and with the strong wind howling outside, she could not hear a single sound. She tossed and turned for half the night, her mind constantly turning over how things were going over there.
Near midnight, with her nerves stretched to their limit and her body exhausted, she finally drifted into a hazy sleep.
It was not a restful sleep. She would occasionally wake with a start, pick up her phone, and see that it was only four in the morning. She would lie back down and order herself to sleep a little longer. In her half-conscious state, intermittent voices reached her ears, both familiar and distant. Then a rich aroma of food rushed into her nose. She sniffed, then suddenly opened her eyes.
Daylight was already bright. A beam of sunlight shone down from above. The hands outside the cotton quilt were pale and almost translucent. Her gaze was sluggish. She turned her palm over and looked at it, then raised her head toward the window. The frost flowers on the glass were brilliantly colored, so bright they made her eyes ache.
She finally came fully awake and suddenly sat up. When she looked at the time, it was already nearly nine.
The voices outside came and went. She held her breath and listened carefully. To her surprise, they were Lu Qiang and Qian Yuanqing. She opened her mouth in astonishment and sat there dazed, forgetting what she was supposed to do next.
The conversation was not very clear. For the most part, Lu Qiang would say three sentences before she could barely manage a reply.
Lu Qiang asked, “How much longer until it’s ready to come off the stove?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
After a brief silence, she said, “Go wake that girl up. What time is it already?”
Lu Yin’s nerves tightened, and she instinctively burrowed back under the quilt.
Then she heard Lu Qiang say, “Let her sleep a little longer.”
A cold snort. “She was clamoring for steamed buns, and now that they’re made, she won’t get up. They won’t taste good once they’re cold. Go wake her.” Her voice was hard and blunt. It was not meant as deliberate sarcasm. She simply thought the two of them were too much trouble.
Lu Yin did not hear Lu Qiang reply. Half a moment later, there was a soft sound at the door, and she quickly covered her head.
The footsteps drew closer and closer. Somehow, sunlight seeped through the gap. Between the brightness and the darkness, a trace of unreality seemed to emerge. Excitement was suppressed in her heart, along with a faint unease.
The footsteps stopped above her head. Before he could do anything, she suddenly threw back the quilt.
Lu Qiang had been braced over her. He swiftly pulled his head away. “Are you an idiot or something?” he muttered angrily.
Lu Yin took several breaths, her head pointed toward the center of the room. Looking at him upside down, she asked, “You two… Auntie forgave you?”
Lu Qiang lowered his head and thought for a moment. “More or less.”
Lu Yin’s eyes seemed to shine. She showed her teeth. “That’s really wonderful.”
Her teeth were like pieces of lustrous white jade, each one full and smooth, warm and alluring. Lu Qiang’s heart stirred. Unable to resist, he leaned down and kissed her in that position. The stubble on his face brushed against the tip of her nose. It was not exactly comfortable, but it was more wonderful than any other kiss.
At a quarter past nine, Lu Yin finally made her slow way outside. Qian Yuanqing had already gone to the main room. Steamed buns, stewed meat, and two vegetable dishes were laid out on the dining table. The whole family was waiting for her before they could start eating.
Qian Yuanqing initially gave her a faint glance, just as indifferent as usual, then lowered her head and ate her own food.
The tension in Lu Yin finally loosened, and the last trace of hesitation in her heart disappeared. She did not reproach anyone over what had happened the previous night, nor did she deliberately draw attention to it. The casual and harmonious atmosphere was very comfortable.
At the moment she became distracted, Qian Yuanqing glanced at her. “What are you grinning like an idiot for? Hurry up and eat. Once the buns are completely cold, they’ll turn hard.”
Lu Yin quickly answered, “Oh,” and picked up a steamed bun with her chopsticks. She held it in her hand. It was soft and yielding, its surface smooth, the middle split open like a flower. She looked up at Lu Qiang. His expression was still very calm, and he had already eaten more than half of his.
Qian Yuanqing added, “You think the stewed meat is too greasy. Eat some vegetables.”
Lu Yin smiled. “Thank you, Auntie.”
Over the next few days, Lu Qiang moved back into the west room, while Lu Yin continued sleeping with Qian Yuanqing. Her foot had recovered seventy to eighty percent, and it was rare to see even a trace of a smile on Qian Yuanqing’s face.
On the morning of the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, Lu Yin and Lu Qiang prepared to return to the city. Qian Yuanqing did not see them off, nor did she ask when they would come back again. Before they left, she stuffed a square, neatly shaped document envelope into Lu Qiang’s hands, carefully wrapped in plastic on the outside. She only reminded Lu Yin to wear more clothes and not go hungry. She did not even look at Lu Qiang before turning around and going back inside.
They stood in the snow, watching her back disappear. She walked carefully with a slight limp, her figure somewhat lonely, somewhat desolate, stirring an ache in their hearts.
Genzi would be staying home for a while, so he drove the two of them to Huaizhou Airport.
The plane landed at exactly 2:40 p.m. The temperature in Zhangzhou had already warmed again. The thin snow was melting, leaving the roads wet and slippery, and the wind was no longer cold. Lu Yin drew a deep breath. It had only been half a month, yet it felt as though she had been away for a very long time.
She went to the restroom at the airport, which was to the left of the staircase. Halfway through, she heard a commotion outside. A cleaner was stopping a passenger from smoking inside, and the other person’s voice was soft as she repeatedly apologized. When Lu Yin came out, she happened to collide with someone. The person was half a head shorter than her, frail and seemingly unable to withstand much, with a pale complexion.
Lu Yin hurriedly steadied her. “I’m sorry. Are you all right?”
The other person tidied her short hair, steadied herself, and forced a smile. “It’s okay.”
Lu Yin got a clear look at her face. Her features were delicate and exceptionally pretty, but her eyes were unfocused, avoiding eye contact with others. She did not seem quite right.
Lu Yin smiled and nodded. The other person went into a stall, while she passed by and left.
Lu Yin rounded the corner by the elevator, lowered her head, and patted the wrinkles out of her clothes. When she raised her eyes to search for Lu Qiang, her steps suddenly stopped.
Not far away, Lu Qiang was talking to someone. The two stood quietly at a distance that was neither near nor far. She could not hear what they were saying, and there was no excessive physical interaction between them. Lu Yin had no intention of going over and interrupting them, so she patiently stood there and waited.
She casually glanced at the other man. He was broad-shouldered and sturdy, with regular, handsome features. His appearance was strikingly similar to Lu Qiang’s. The fingers hanging at Lu Yin’s side twitched, and her heart clenched. She recognized him instantly. She vaguely remembered his name was Qiu Zhen, the rapist from back then.
Lu Qiang had served six years in his place.
Uneasiness churned inside her. Instinctively, she did not want Lu Qiang to have anything to do with him. Just as she was about to step forward, Lu Qiang happened to look in her direction.
Lu Yin stopped again.
Lu Qiang calmly withdrew his gaze, said something to the other man, and wheeled his suitcase toward her.
Lu Yin could not help looking at Qiu Zhen again. He stood there in profile, still waiting in the same place. Only after they had walked out of the airport terminal, with Lu Qiang’s arm around her, did she look back through the gap between their arms. Qiu Zhen had already walked to the restroom entrance, stopped the cleaner, and was speaking to her in a low voice.
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