Extra 1 – Hongmen Banquet
On New Year’s Eve, Xiang You still couldn’t make it back to her hometown as usual.
At the end of every year, she was always so busy she couldn’t even tell which way was up, running around doing inventory checks everywhere, reports flying off her keyboard.
After a full day of work, completely worn down, by the time she stepped out of the office, the hallway was pitch black.
Because she had to go to warehouses in the freezing cold, Xiang You specifically wore a long black down jacket that reached her ankles. It had absolutely no sense of design, but at least it was warm enough.
Before leaving the company, she detoured to the restroom to take a look at herself.
Bare-faced, hair tied into a casual ponytail, and the collar of her down jacket had somehow folded inward at one corner.
Xiang You frowned, straightened the collar, and smoothed the jacket down a bit.
She rummaged through her bag, thinking she might put on a light base layer of makeup, when her phone rang.
“Miss Xiang, when are you getting here? Our stomachs are already playing symphonies over here.” Liu Peng’s voice came through.
“I told you to start eating first, don’t wait for me,” Xiang You said hurriedly, stuffing the primer back into her bag while running toward the elevator. “I just got off work, it’ll still take a while. Just save me a bite.”
“That won’t do. Forget it, we’ll just treat it like a late-night snack. Be careful on the way.”
“Mm, I’ll hurry.” Xiang You hung up, the corners of her mouth curling slightly in a touched smile.
This year, Liu Peng had once again gathered a large group of poor overworked office workers who couldn’t go home for New Year’s, arranging a meal outside together.
Rumor had it he’d even invited old classmates from a neighboring city.
After years of scrambling in society, his organizational skills had become quite impressive.
The subway at year’s end wasn’t as crowded as usual; those still working this late probably weren’t many.
Someone was selling flowers inside the station. A little girl would spot a couple, then run up to the boyfriend, calling him “gege” sweetly, urging him that if he loved his girlfriend, he should buy her a bouquet.
Xiang You watched thoughtfully. The girl’s red-cheeked face from the cold was even brighter than the roses in her arms.
She thought she’d avoid it since she was alone, but the girl scanned the crowd and locked eyes with her.
There were still at least three minutes until the next train, according to the schedule. Helpless, Xiang You watched as the girl ran over holding flowers.
“Jiejie, even if you’re alone, you should still love yourself properly.”
Where do they even learn these marketing lines? So up-to-date.
“Give me one bouquet,” Xiang You said with a wry smile.
She was never very good at refusing people, especially the elderly or children.
The flowers weren’t cheap, and the wrapping wasn’t particularly pretty, but the flowers themselves were beautiful.
Fingering the satin-like petals, Xiang You suddenly felt her mood lift.
“Even if you’re alone, you should still love yourself.”
She thought back to what the little girl had said.
Even though it was just a sugar-coated line of consumer persuasion, for an ordinary person working themselves to exhaustion every day, it was still nice to occasionally spend a little money for happiness.
So Xiang You boarded the subway holding the roses, then rushed to the restaurant.
Along the way, many people looked at her. A plain outfit like hers paired with such a vibrant bouquet didn’t quite match.
In truth, she also wanted to dress up a bit.
But she was pressed for time, and besides, these were all familiar people she met every year, no need to make an effort.
Just a few days earlier, on Christmas Eve, they had also gone out for a meal.
Another day of field inventory checks. After work, Xiang You went straight to the restaurant wrapped in a dull gray padded coat.
Liu Peng teased her, saying she dressed so “ascetic” all the time that any potential romance was probably cut off by her own hands.
“How much does a peach blossom cost?” Xiang You said, shoveling a big piece of meat into her mouth. “With that time, I’d rather sleep a bit more.”
“Work really is harmful,” Liu Peng sighed. “You’re getting more and more rough-edged as you live.”
Xiang You’s hand holding the chopsticks paused for a moment.
She did seem to be living a bit roughly, not just in appearance, but in spirit too.
Every day was work, exam prep for civil service exams… these things filled her entire mind.
She had to stuff it so full that nothing else could squeeze in.
•
Under the guidance of a waiter, Xiang You went upstairs to a private room.
As soon as the door opened, everyone inside turned to look at her.
They froze for a moment, then erupted into cheers.
“Miss Xiang, you’re finally here!”
“If you don’t treat us to karaoke later, it doesn’t make sense!”
“We haven’t touched a single chopstick. We were waiting for you!”
…
The room buzzed with teasing voices.
Xiang You smiled awkwardly. “I’m really sorry. Where are we going after this? I’ll treat everyone.”
The air-conditioning inside the room was strong. While speaking, she took off her long down jacket.
With her bag and flowers, it was a bit difficult to get it all off.
Liu Peng quickly came over to help, taking her things. “Got progress?”
“What?” she blinked, then realized he meant the flowers. “I bought them for myself.”
“Who buys flowers for themselves!” Liu Peng hung up her coat. “If you want flowers, there’s definitely someone here who’d buy them for you.”
“Right!”
“Exactly!”
…
Everyone chimed in.
“I don’t even want them anyway,” Xiang You joked lightly, since they were all familiar friends.
Liu Peng turned back to the group, raising his voice slightly. “Meng Ou, she doesn’t want your flowers.”
Inside, Xiang You’s sweater had bunched up slightly. She lowered her head, focused on tugging it straight, and felt as though something just brushed past her ear.
Those two syllables drifted over, like something foreign, something she had to translate in her mind before she understood.
Meng Ou.
Meng Ou?
Almost reflexively, Xiang You looked up again at the group.
More than ten people crowded around a round table, hot mutton soup steaming in the center, mist curling upward.
And in a corner beyond the mist, there was a figure both unfamiliar and familiar.
The person named Meng Ou gave an awkward smile, but didn’t speak.
Xiang You quickly withdrew her gaze and looked back at Liu Peng.
“Is this the one from the neighboring city you were talking about?”
“Yeah.” Liu Peng showed not the slightest shame.
If City A counted as a neighboring city, then Argentina could count as a neighboring country too.
Xiang You had no intention of arguing with him. Frowning, she began searching for her place.
Not by the entrance. Not on either side.
That left only the mist-shrouded corner.
Xiang You gave Liu Peng another displeased look.
The other party deliberately played dumb. “Come sit down, Miss Xiang. We’ve been waiting forever.”
Everyone at the table was staring at her.
To throw a fit at a time like this would make her seem rather petty.
Xiang You gritted her teeth and headed toward the corner.
Before she could get there, the person in the corner suddenly spoke. “Liu Peng, does it look right for you to sit around with a bunch of girls?”
Liu Peng looked at him in surprise. “What the hell? How can you just turn your back on me like that?”
“Come over. I saved this seat for you.” Meng Ou beckoned. “Men and women should keep their distance.”
“Fuck.” Liu Peng cursed under his breath helplessly and stood up. “Xiang You, you sit here. I’m going to deal with that bastard.”
“Thank you.” Xiang You’s voice was quiet enough that Liu Peng probably did not hear her.
She did not even know who she was saying it for.
Strictly speaking, this seat was actually right on the dividing line between the men and women.
As soon as Xiang You sat down, she exchanged several pleasantries with the girl on her left.
The girl was rather pitiful too. A slice of beef she had picked up was suspended in midair as she busily responded to Xiang You, leaving her unable to take even a single bite.
In the end, Xiang You felt so embarrassed that she brought the conversation to an end herself and awkwardly took a sip of water.
She picked up the glass, then tilted her head back slightly to drink.
Inevitably, her gaze fell on the person diagonally across from her.
He had taken off his outer coat too. Underneath was a dark gray cashmere sweater that looked quite warm.
Amid the billowing mist, his features were not particularly clear.
Everyone around him was eating, making him, without even a pair of chopsticks in his hands, seem somewhat out of place.
He seemed to be sitting there merely as an outsider, occasionally taking a small sip of wine.
A pair of eyes appeared and disappeared through the mist.
Their gazes, too, came and went intermittently.
Xiang You set down her glass and lowered her head along with it.
She was beginning to have trouble eating.
She remembered that chance encounter at the café. That night, she had tossed and turned and, unusually for her, suffered from insomnia.
The next day, she took the day off.
No work, no studying.
She mechanically went through three meals a day, washing up and doing housework.
Once she had finished everything she was supposed to do, she would stare blankly into space, sitting on the bed, sitting on the sofa, sitting on the balcony. Wherever she went, she would sit there in a daze.
Her whole person felt wooden, with a feeling that was strangely familiar.
Just like back then, right after she and Meng Ou had broken up.
Their reunion after a thousand days had made her relive the taste of their breakup all over again.
Meng Ou was really quite cruel.
“Why aren’t you eating?” the girl on her left asked. “There’s nothing you like?”
“No, no. I ate too much during afternoon tea.” Xiang You lied, casually picking up a pair of chopsticks and taking some cold cucumber salad.
Even the finest dishes tasted like nothing in her mouth. Xiang You felt that Liu Peng was being a little unscrupulous.
If she had known Meng Ou would be here, she would not have come.
She might as well have gone home and properly enjoyed a New Year’s Eve feast by herself.
The conversation at the dining table was lively, with wave after wave of voices rising higher than the last.
As everyone chatted, a young man suddenly stood up and said, “This New Year, I’m planning to get married. I’ll invite everyone over for wedding wine when the time comes!”
A chorus of congratulations broke out, and Xiang You also raised her glass along with everyone else.
Of course, someone had to add, “I thought Meng Ou would be the first one to invite us to his wedding.”
“Yeah, he even said it in front of the teacher back then.” Someone chimed in.
Gazes shifted around the table, and quite a few people repeatedly looked toward Xiang You.
She irritably tightened her grip on her glass, her regret over coming to the gathering growing even stronger.
“You people like drinking so much? Fine, I’ll set up a table just for you later.” As Meng Ou spoke, he raised his glass toward the young man. “Hao Ge, happy newlywed life. May you have a hundred years of harmony.”
“You’d better hurry up too,” Wang Hao said, tipping his head back and drinking down half a glass.
Xiang You pressed her lips together. To hide her awkwardness, she habitually picked up her water glass.
But seeing that Meng Ou was still holding up his glass, she stiffly put it back down.
A spring roll was suddenly placed in her bowl. The girl on her left smiled at her. “This one’s good. Try it.”
Xiang You hurriedly picked up the spring roll, biting into it hard as though she had seized some kind of lifeline.
Meals with lots of men were always boring. They talked about work, talked about life, and the end of every sentence was inevitably an exhortation to drink.
Fortunately, Xiang You had made her position clear the first time around. No one could persuade her to drink.
But Meng Ou was different.
This was his first time at this gathering, so he could more or less be considered a newcomer.
Naturally, he would have to endure a little “bullying.”
One person after another raised a glass to him, and Meng Ou, isolated and without allies, engaged in a “debate with the Confucian scholars” all by himself.
He had the upper hand with his words, but in his actions he was still a little softer.
Xiang You watched helplessly as Liu Peng filled his glass for the fourth time.
This Liu Peng.
Xiang You muttered to herself.
This terrible New Year’s Eve was all his fault.
As for who exactly that “he” referred to, Liu Peng or that other person,
Xiang You did not know either.
The fruit platter had already been brought out, and the dinner gathering had finally reached its end.
A group of people chatted about where to go for the second round. Xiang You still remembered her earlier promise and spoke up. “Wherever everyone wants to go later, it’s on me.”
At first, the men shouted that they wanted to go to a bar. Seeing this bunch of drunks, the women all refused.
After going back and forth, everyone finally decided to go sing karaoke.
The main group began making its way outside. Xiang You stood up, put on her down jacket, and picked up the bouquet of roses.
“Liu Peng.” When most of the people had left, Xiang You turned back. “Could you come over for a moment?”
“What is it now, Miss Xiang?” Liu Peng left Meng Ou, who was drunk to the point of unconsciousness, by his side. Though his tone was unwilling, he still quickly walked over.
“‘I’ll transfer the money to you now. You organize things, okay? I... I have to work tomorrow, so I won’t be going. Help me tell them I’m sorry.’ Xiang You said.
“Tomorrow?” Liu Peng blinked in disbelief. “What kind of company is that? You have to work even on New Year’s Day?”
Although Xiang You’s company often made people work overtime to excess, it did at least give its employees the holidays they were supposed to have.
Unfortunately, its employee was being quite unscrupulous at this moment and slandered it instead. “Yeah, can’t be helped.”
Xiang You had never liked gatherings like this in the first place. A bunch of people crowded into a room, howling at the top of their lungs, passing cigarettes and alcohol around. Just thinking about it gave her a headache.
What was more... Xiang You glanced at the drunk in the corner.
If she wanted to sleep well tonight, she had better get away from him as soon as possible.
Liu Peng cursed her company a couple of times, but still agreed to her request.
When he put on his coat and was about to leave, Xiang You could not help grabbing him.
“You... aren’t going to take care of him?” She pointed toward the corner.
Liu Peng turned his head and glanced over. “Do you think he can sing?”
“Even so, you can’t just leave him here.” There was a hint of displeasure in Xiang You’s voice.
“You’re not going, so you take care of him.” Liu Peng jerked his chin toward the door. “I still have to arrange the singing for everyone. Where would I find the time?”
“If you don’t have time to take care of him, why did you keep pouring him so much alcohol tonight?”
There were only the three of them left in the private room, so even the slightest movement was distinctly audible.
Xiang You had no choice but to lower her voice, though the displeasure in her eyes was becoming increasingly obvious.
“Wait, are you getting mad at me right now?” Even Liu Peng, who normally had a good temper, felt a little aggrieved at this point. “I wasn’t the one urging him to drink. I was just lending a hand.”
“You could have stopped pouring it.” Xiang You’s anger subsided somewhat, but she was still stubbornly holding her ground out of pride.
“Seriously, you.” Liu Peng furrowed his brows and looked her over. “Look how good I’ve been to you. And now you’re getting mad at me over someone else. That hurts, you know.”
Xiang You’s mind was a mess, and she could not find the words to respond.
She did not even know where her anger had come from.
Seriously, what did it have to do with her how much Meng Ou drank or whether anyone took care of him?
“Forget it. You go.” Xiang You pushed him a little toward the outside. “And... sorry.”
“I’m a magnanimous man. I forgive you.” Liu Peng patted her shoulder. “Work hard. Try to get one step ahead of Wang Hao.”
The private-room door was left ajar with a series of creaks.
Xiang You was still thinking about Liu Peng’s last sentence. What did he mean by “get one step ahead of Wang Hao”?
She racked her brains, eventually remembering the marriage announcement Wang Hao had made at dinner just now.
“...”
This Liu Peng!
Xiang You realized now that this entire dinner gathering had very likely been a Hongmen Banquet.
Though it had not been arranged entirely because of her, she had been caught up in the trap all the same.
But even after realizing that she had fallen into the trap, Xiang You had no idea how to extricate herself.
She turned her head toward the corner.
With the billowing steam gone, she could finally see Meng Ou’s face clearly.
His entire body was leaning against the chair, his head lolling to one side as he slept.
Those eyes, deep as a pool, had finally closed, and even the fierceness in them had been smoothed away, leaving him unusually docile.
With the table littered with scraps of food and cold leftovers, he sitting alone at the edge of it looked all the more pitiful.
Xiang You seemed unable to simply ignore him.
Even if she came across a stranger drunk to the point of unconsciousness by the side of the road, she would still think about helping somehow.
She hated her own softheartedness.
Hating it, she still walked over.
When she was two or three meters away, she could already smell the alcohol on him.
The strong scent of red wine was like crushed rotten grapes strewn all over the ground.
Meng Ou was sleeping so deeply that even when Xiang You sat down beside him, he did not notice.
Xiang You tried patting his face. No reaction.
He was over 1.8 meters tall. There was no way she could carry him away.
Xiang You began blaming Liu Peng again. Even if he wanted to set her up, the least he could do was consider the practical circumstances.
What was she supposed to do now?
Xiang You took out her phone and angrily called Liu Peng.
The line rang for a while before eventually disconnecting automatically. He was probably surrounded by too much noise and had not heard it.
Xiang You sighed. Just as she helplessly turned her head back again, she suddenly met a pair of eyes.
“Ah!” Startled, she leaned her whole body backward.
Meng Ou reacted quickly and caught her by the arm. Once she had steadied herself, he withdrew his hand.
He looked utterly exhausted, his eyes half narrowed as though he were struggling to focus.
After withdrawing his hand, he shifted uncomfortably and sat up a little straighter.
“You’re awake?” Xiang You asked, stating the obvious.
“Mm...” His voice was hoarse enough to be startling.
“You weren’t... pretending to be asleep just now, were you?” Xiang You threw out a guess that, although bold, was not entirely impossible.
Meng Ou slowly turned his head toward her. The corners of his mouth moved as though he wanted to smile, but unfortunately, he failed.
He helplessly let out a breath. “No.”
Judging from how he still did not seem completely conscious, he indeed did not look like he was lying.
Xiang You was about to say something when the person beside her spoke again. “What time is it?”
She lit up her phone. “Almost ten.”
Meng Ou let out an “oh” and rubbed his temples with some discomfort. “Why haven’t you gone home yet?”
What kind of question was that? Xiang You glanced at him. “Then what are you going to do?”
“I...” His voice trailed off into a sigh. “I don’t know.”
“Where do you live? I’ll put you in a taxi and send you home,” Xiang You said.
Meng Ou gave the name of a residential complex, but his speech was so slurred that Xiang You had to make him repeat it three times.
After the third time, he took out his phone. “I’ll do it myself.”
Unfortunately, his drunken eyes were so blurry that he could not even see the phone screen clearly.
Irritated, he tossed the phone onto the table. “Go home. You don’t have to worry about me.”
Xiang You did not want to worry about him in the first place. She had stayed only out of a little unnecessary kindness.
She looked Meng Ou over again.
He was still drunk out of his mind, but at least he was calm, and his consciousness had not completely become muddled.
Reason told her that she should leave.
She had already done more than enough for Meng Ou.
Xiang You said “oh,” then picked up the flowers and bag resting on the chair beside her again.
Meng Ou stared at the flowers in her hands, the expression in his eyes dark and unreadable.
As though worried that he might snatch them away, Xiang You hugged the flowers a little tighter.
Then she stood up.
She had barely taken a step when someone suddenly caught her by the sleeve.
Like a little child, Meng Ou pinched the edge of her sleeve between three fingers.
The pitiful gesture coming from such a large hand made the action look somewhat awkward and helpless.
Xiang You stopped in her tracks, confusion on her face.
Meng Ou turned sideways and looked up at her.
Perhaps because he was drunk, his eyes were veiled by a layer of watery mist.
“Xiang You,” he said, giving her sleeve another little tug. “Take care of me for a bit, will you?”
✦
Note:
Hongmen Banquet is a banquet arranged under the guise of hospitality but actually intended as a trap or ambush. The phrase alludes to the famous Hongmen Banquet in Chinese History, where Xiang Yu hosted Liu Bang under ostensibly peaceful circumstances while intending to kill him.
✦
No comments:
Post a Comment