Returning home, I washed up first and then lay on the bed to rest. Mi Cai, however, still treated the living room as her study, continuing her work late into the night, which made it hard for me to fall asleep. I kept thinking whether I should renovate a small room into a study in this old house, so she could work in a more comfortable environment.
Actually, it was just a small renovation project, because the living room was relatively large and had ample space for transformation. Yet what puzzled me was that she still refused to change the layout of this house. I didn’t think she had any particularly deep connection with this house either. Moreover, her family had been financially stable when she was young. After all, her uncle Mi Zhongde had once been a government official and her aunt was a university professor, so her father’s financial situation should have been decent too. Thinking further, she probably had not lived in a house like this during her childhood. In the 1990s, this location had been really remote, surrounded by undeveloped wilderness. It was likely a staff dormitory built by some organization.
However, I didn’t care too much about it, so I had never sought the real answer. What I wanted to remember was simply the days we had spent here. We both loved this place. It always seemed to offer us a refuge from the city’s hustle and bustle. Looking at everything here always made me feel as if the entire world belonged to us. Therefore, we often regarded this old house as our future home and had no intention of buying another property in Suzhou.
While thinking about these things, I gradually felt drowsy. But just as I was half-asleep, my mobile phone on the nightstand suddenly emitted a message notification sound. When it first rang, I didn’t pay much attention, assuming it was an advertisement. After all, nowadays, there weren’t many important matters communicated via text messages. But before I could close my eyes again, another message arrived. Worried that I might miss something important, I finally decided to take it seriously, picked up the phone from the nightstand, and swiped the screen.
Both messages were from Jian Wei, instantly shattering the peaceful feeling I had while lying in bed…
The first message read: “Zhaoyang, if I don’t act soon, I’m afraid it will be too late… Please do me a favor, wait for me by the moat!”
The second message read: “Don’t worry, the favor I’m going to ask has nothing to do with love… Please come, I’ll be waiting for you. See you there!”
After reading these two messages, I felt as if my whole body was about to explode. I really didn’t want to go, but listening to the howling cold wind outside my window, I couldn’t bear to let Jian Wei wait by the moat for too long. Nor could I bear to cruelly refuse her request without knowing the reason… Even though I sometimes still hated her!
I pressed my hand against my head and suddenly made up my mind. I got up from the bed, dressed myself quickly, and then left the bedroom…
Mi Cai was still busy working in the living room. When she heard me, she looked up and saw me fully dressed, asking, “So late at night, where are you going?”
Since I had already made my decision, I responded with less hesitation, saying, “I have something urgent to take care of.”
Mi Cai seemed to trust me completely, so she didn’t ask any further questions. She only said, “You haven’t completely sobered up yet. Don’t drive yourself!”
“Okay, I’ll take a taxi!”
Still concerned, Mi Cai said, “Let me drive you then… I’m almost done with my work.”
“No need, you’ve been working so hard lately. After finishing your work, you should rest as soon as possible. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. Waiting for me will only make you bored!” Without giving Mi Cai a chance to insist further, I grabbed a knitted hat from the coat rack by the door and hurried downstairs.
While waiting for a taxi on the roadside, I kept glancing toward the entrance of the residential compound. My car was parked quietly downstairs. Perhaps Mi Cai was indeed very tired, she didn’t follow me. I exhaled in relief. But just to be safe, even after getting into the taxi, I didn’t ask the driver to start immediately. I glanced back at the compound for a while before finally telling the driver to accelerate and leave, breaking free from the night’s constraints and heading toward the moat.
…
When I arrived at the moat and got out of the taxi, I truly felt how bitterly cold the night was. The damp chill was piercing. Consequently, even the usually reckless Jian Wei didn’t get out of her car to admire the moat’s night view. She had kept the air conditioning on and waited inside her car. Upon noticing my arrival, she immediately honked to signal me to get into her car.
I pulled the thick knitted hat over my head, rubbing my hands together as I walked toward Jian Wei’s car. When I was still a few steps away, she had already opened the passenger door for me, perhaps out of fear that I would freeze in the cold night, or maybe because her matter was indeed urgent.
I sat inside the car, closed the door, and was immediately wrapped in a warm atmosphere, as if all the harshness of the world had been isolated outside this small car window. Yet the piercing cold wind still howled fiercely against the car body, producing a shrill, wailing sound that made me wish I could lose my hearing entirely and focus solely on feeling the warmth inside the car.
After a brief silence, Jian Wei took out a handbag from her own handbag and handed it to me, saying, “Zhaoyang, inside here are the property certificates for my two properties in Shanghai, along with my identification documents, marital status certificate, property verification documents, sales contract, and transfer application… I’ve prepared everything. Tomorrow, as long as you bring your identification documents, I can transfer these two properties to your name…”
Instinctively, I interrupted, “Didn’t we already talk about this last time? I really can’t help you with this… Why are you bringing it up again now?”
She replied in a low voice, “I’ve really thought about it for a long time, hesitated for a long time… But I really don’t know who else I can entrust this lifeline to…” Her emotions were on the verge of breaking down as she tightly gripped my arm and continued, “Zhaoyang… This is my lifeline, do you understand?… Only by handing these two properties over to you can I possibly have some security for the rest of my life… I won’t go back on my word and ask you again unless I absolutely have to!…”
Seeing her pain and panic so genuine, my heart felt extremely heavy. After a long pause, I asked, “What exactly is going on? Can you tell me directly?”
Jian Wei lowered her head, her hair covering her face. It seemed as if she were engaged in an intense internal struggle. Nearly the time it would take to smoke a cigarette passed before she finally looked up and said to me, “Zhaoyang, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has started an undercover investigation into my mother, questioning her party loyalty and work style… You should know that in recent years, my father has been too high-profile in his industry and has indeed monopolized many media resources. There have always been suspicions about our family, especially since the new central government took office and intensified the anti-corruption efforts… Under such a political climate, I’m scared… But you must believe me, my advertising company is law-abiding. Since its operation began, every business transaction and financial status has been able to withstand any investigation. Moreover, these two properties are completely clean. But now, no one can be sure whether we will be implicated… So…”
I was so shocked that I couldn’t utter a word… Although I had somewhat sensed something before, I never expected the situation to have developed to this extent. What kind of feelings must this woman have endured during this period?
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