It was another evening. I had just put all the clothes that had been drying on the balcony into storage boxes. By now it was already the plum rain season, and whenever there was sunshine, I would take out her clothes to air them out, to prevent them from getting moldy… Since she left, my life outside of work and socializing has been very simple. For example, on weekends, I would lock myself in the old house all day, studying techniques for growing plants and flowers. Now, a third of the house has already been taken over by green plants. Even in Mi Cai’s room, I placed a few trays of potted landscapes that looked gentle in shape… And when dusk came, I would put on sports gear and set off from the old house, running all the way to the moat to keep my body active. Of course, sometimes I just walked there.
The government had renovated the area by the moat again, planting more willows than before and opening up a small square equipped with fitness equipment. As a result, more and more people came here, so by dusk, it was no longer as peaceful as it used to be. As for me, I went with the flow, no longer longing for that lost tranquility. I often chatted with the elderly men exercising on the fitness equipment about the changes in Suzhou and the history of this moat. Sometimes, when the mood struck, I even brought my guitar to accompany the aunties dancing to the latest popular songs. However, whenever they encouraged me to learn square dancing, I always declined, because I believe that one must hold on to one’s own principles in life and not just follow the crowd. Yet, this small insistence always left me puzzled as to why they always seemed so happy while dancing.
Today, I gave a camellia plant to Old Li, the elderly man I got along with best, and he gave me a jar of homemade chopped chili sauce in return. I actually don’t have much use for it, but Father really likes Old Li’s homemade sauce, so the few jars Old Li had given me before were all sent back to Xuzhou.
Yes, time is a powerful thing. Father and Mother have gradually come to terms with my regret over losing Mi Cai, and they now care about my life again just like they used to. Last week, they even specially came to Suzhou to visit me, accompanied by Li Xiaoyun and her husband, Wang Zheng. They told me to focus on building my career in Suzhou, especially Li Xiaoyun and Wang Zheng, who repeatedly assured me that I could rest easy knowing Father and Mother were living well in Xuzhou, as they would take good care of them. Thus, the pressure on me finally eased a bit, and I began to look forward even more to Mi Cai’s return, hoping that our family could reunite again, either in Xuzhou or Suzhou.
The sunset in the dusk had not yet fully faded when I started chatting with Old Li about his flock of pigeons. He always talked endlessly about pigeons, and I had to pretend to be distracted for him to scold me for lacking patience. This time, however, my rescue came in the form of a call from Luo Ben, calling from the United States.
I left Old Li and answered Luo Ben’s call. He said to me, “Zhaoyang, I’ve listened to the few songs you’ve written recently… I’ve rearranged the music for them and sent them to your email!”
“Okay, I’ll listen when I get back.”
Luo Ben asked again, “Are you really planning to release your own album?”
“Releasing an album has always been my dream… By the way, recently there have been many concert organizers inviting me to do solo performances, but I’ve declined. One reason is that I don’t have the time, and the other is that I want to wait for you to come back so we can do a tour together. On my artistic path, I’ve recently had an idea. When the time is right, I want to name it after the Artistic Road and organize an annual music festival. This festival would not only provide a stage for talented but underappreciated singers to showcase themselves but also use the power of the festival to further spread the cultural sentiments of the Artistic Road. So before the festival is fully planned, I hope we can tour this route first to test the feasibility of organizing the festival.”
Luo Ben laughed and replied, “That’s a good idea, but I don’t plan to go back for now.”
“Is there still something you can’t let go of?”
Luo Ben didn’t answer directly. He just said, “Actually, staying here is quite good… I want to open a Chinese restaurant and treat music as a hobby from now on. However, I will definitely help you, my brother. When you’re ready to plan the tour, contact me again, and I can come back to China for a few months.”
Luo Ben’s idea of giving up music made me feel inexplicably down. After a long silence, I said, “Actually, your current state isn’t much different from mine a few months ago… Sometimes you might think it’s seeing through things, but in reality, it could be an escape… I suggest you think carefully whether it’s worth abandoning a career you planned to pursue for your whole life by escaping… In fact, your friends, including me, all feel that music is like your life, Luo Ben, not just a hobby!”
Luo Ben was silent for a long time, then simply replied, “We’ll see,” and hung up the phone… I felt a bit down because of this. I always felt that he, along with CC and Wei Manwen, had chosen a path that was supposedly about seeing through things, but in reality, it was just an escape. They seemed to never have faced this complicated love triangle with real courage.
However, as an observer, I couldn’t subjectively say their choices were wrong. At least CC had already married and seemed quite happy, while Wei Manwen lived in that small mountain village, isolated from the outside world, which really looked like a spiritual practice after abandoning material pursuits. But whether their hearts were truly calm or occasionally aching for the past, only they themselves could truly know.
…
When night fell, I called the head of the market development department of the “Artistic Road” project again, and together we took a high-speed train to Nanjing. Since I had taken over the Artistic Road project again, I had already had this idea: I wanted to open a cafe named “Mo Chou” on Mochou Road. Now that the timing was right, I brought the head of the market development department here to turn this idea into reality.
We walked from one end of Mochou Road to the other. He said to me, “Director Zhao, there are actually three shops for rent on this street, unfortunately none of them fit the layout for a cafe. In my ideal scenario, it should be at least 100 square meters and have a mezzanine level, but the layout of these three shops isn’t very good, and they’re also a bit too small.”
I shook my head and replied, “I don’t think so… Standing on this Mochou Road, the thing I think about the most is the word ‘Mochou’ itself… For me, there’s nothing on this road that would make me feel sad, and there’s no fixed model of a shop that would constrain the upcoming Mochou Café. This café will represent Mochou and Wuyou, and it will be the most casual café on the Artistic Road… Its birth, I hope, will be in a moment of spontaneity, without giving it too many templates or constraints… Do you understand what I mean?”
Finally, the head of the market development department nodded and said to me, “Director Zhao, I understand what you mean now!” He added with a helpless smile, “It looks like, following the unprofitable café west of the old city, the second money-losing café on the Artistic Road will be born out of your spontaneity… But since it can enhance the cultural essence of the entire Artistic Road, our big company can afford this small Mochou Café!”
“Will it definitely be a loss? I don’t think so!”
“Director Zhao, the rent here is very high, the space is limited, which leads to a limited number of seats, and considering the low turnover rate of a café, it’s really hard to make a profit!”
“I will personally oversee the business direction of this café. Your market development department just needs to follow my strategies and execute them. Now, I’m giving you a task: settle the transfer of that fruit shop within three days, then complete the renovation work according to the interior design renderings within two weeks, and at the same time finish hiring the staff.”
After receiving my instructions, the head of the market development department nodded seriously, which meant that the “Mochou Café” on Mochou Road would appear on the Artistic Road with its special meaning in the shortest possible time, which would be half a month.
After finishing the discussion, I asked the head of the market development department to book a hotel first, while I stayed by the bench where Mi Cai and I had sat for a long time on that day of our parting. I lit a cigarette and squinted at everything in front of me. When all the buildings became blurred, I seemed to return to the day we parted again… I really hoped that Mi Cai would come back soon, so she could see the changes on Mochou Road and the newly added “Mochou Café.”
…
The next day, I did not return to Suzhou but went directly to Shanghai from Nanjing. Through our connections, we learned that today would be the day when Jian Boyu and Ruan Qiuning (Jian Wei’s mother) would receive their non-public trial, with the final verdict expected around 11 a.m.
During this time, Yan Yan and I stayed in the hospital waiting. The contact we had arranged would inform us of the trial outcome immediately after the proceedings concluded…
We had consulted legal experts, and their comprehensive assessment was that Jian Boyu would face at least five years of criminal punishment, while Ruan Qiuning would bear the main legal responsibility, making her situation quite unfavorable, as she would likely face at least ten years of imprisonment.
Waiting for the sentencing results was truly unbearable. I had already paced up and down the hospital corridor several times. Although I knew in my heart that Jian Boyu and his wife deserved their punishment by the state, I still hoped they would receive leniency. This would at least reduce some of Jian Wei’s regrets and allow this broken family to reunite sooner.
It was already noon at 11 a.m., but the trial results had still not come through. I called the insider we had contacted again, and his response was: the trial had not concluded yet and was running behind schedule, so we needed to wait a bit longer with patience.
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