After experiencing a series of what feels like I"ve been struck by lightning, naturally I don"t remember how I went back home to wash up and lie on my bed.
After lying on my bed for about half an hour, only then did I slowly start to regain back my composure. I started thinking if this is me dreaming at night about what I was thinking in the day*, or there"s something wrong with Jiang Chen"s brain; or did I fantasize too much, or was Jiang Chen possessed by a ghost. No matter what I thought off, I still couldn"t think of a reasonable answer. Hence, I could only tell myself to treat it as though I got bitten by a dog. (T/N: a Chinese idiom that describes if someone is continuous thinking about something in the daytime, you will end up dreaming about it at night. It"s quite true. Happens to me quite a lot!)
I slowly fell asleep while recollecting the flavour of been bitten by a dog.
When I woke up the next day my cheek muscles were hurting badly. Probably because last night I was dreaming endlessly. In the dream it was all about the kiss with Jiang Chen. Because of that kiss, we constantly overused our lips and tongues. I think this is not good, I am a little shy.
While on the way to work on the train, my phone rang. I stared at the 3 words that were flashing on my phone screen - Zhuang Dong Na. I was so scared I shuddered. At this moment I really admire the mistresses in our community. How strong are they psychologically to be able to withstand that guilt when facing the legal wife?
I swallowed my saliva and answered the call, "h.e.l.lo."
"Hey it"s me. How was last night?" Zhuang Dong Na said with a happy tone to it.
I almost bit my tongue the moment I opened my mouth, "Dong Na… I…. That…"
"Which?" She asked.
I wanted to apologize to her, but I also felt that I was quite innocent. Therefore, I couldn"t finish what I wanted to say. Instead I quickly said, "I am on my way to work, the train is too crowded. I will call you back later."
I hung up straight away. There is actually not much people this morning. The mere six or seven people in the cabin all looked at me when I dropped the call. The looks on their faces seem to be saying: "Look at you blatantly telling a lie, your face just looks like a mistress face, you won"t die a good death…"
The me who won"t die a good death gloomily hid to a corner of the cabin and call Situ Mo. I briefly explained to her about what happened and sought her advice as a person"s wife - whether I deserve a death penalty or not.
Situ Mo comforted me and said, "You don"t have to be scared. Woman like Zhuang Dong Na will the most grab your hair and bang you into the wall for revenge. She won"t find people to gang rape you."
She also told me to call Fu Pei since she thinks that he, as a role model of someone who toyed with countless of girls but has yet to be thrown to jail, he should be able to tell me how to handle such situation.
Fu Pei was dismissive after hearing my description of what happened, which I avoided the important points but harped on the insignificant. He said, "You called early in the morning to disturb my sleep just for this small thing? Obviously, the guy should be the one to solve this problem. What are you worried for?"
As expected of a player, his words woke me up.
I hung up my call with Fu Pei and called Jiang Chen. In order to give me enough confidence, the moment the line engaged I started to ramble on, "Jiang Chen you listen, I don"t care about why you kissed me last night, but a kiss is a kiss, I have to point out that your action is extremely wrong, you have a girlfriend now, you kissing me means you are forcing me to walk a road of being a mistress. My mom said, a mistress who destroys other couple"s relationship will have bad karma. That"s right, I still love you, but you should stop looking down on people, I will definitely not be a mistress……"
I stopped to take a breath, realized that the other side of the line was quiet and thought that Jiang Chen was reflecting, I decided to take advantage and fired again, "I mean, if you think that you were acting on impulse last night, I can act as if nothing happened. If you say you still have feelings for me, then lets take it step by step. You settle with Zhuang Dong Na first, then you have to woo me…… Why are you not talking?"
"Er…. I"m Doctor Su." A female voice came through the line, "Doctor Jiang is not around, I saw that his phone was ringing for quite long, and the screen shows your name, so I helped to answer."
For that moment it was like a bolt from the blue. The thought that those shameless words I said just now had gone to her ear, I felt like killing myself by swallowing my phone.
I gritted my teeth and grumbled, "Why didn"t you say anything when you picked up the phone?"
"You spoke too fast, I wasn"t in time to make a sound." She replied.
I thought that wasn"t right and continued, "But I clearly stopped in between to take a breath."
She answered, "Oh, at that time I got addicted to what you were saying, felt that it was too exciting so I didn"t have the heart to make a sound."
…….
I really don"t want to use vulgarities to greet our benefactor, so I can only restrain my anger and said, "Alright, please get Jiang Chen to return a call to me."
"Wait, wait, If you really like Doctor Jiang, then what about my brother?" Doctor Su asked worriedly.
I"m confused. "What"s it got to do with Su Rui?"
She said, "My brother likes you ah*. How about I give you an idea. You shouldn"t be a mistress that eats back from the same pasture**. It"s lack of moral. You should just be with my brother. In a few more years he will be legal to marry and you two can just register for marriage." (*T/N: ah is like an exclamation.)(**T/N: There is a Chinese idiom that goes, "a good horse doesn"t come back to eat the same pasture", meaning that one should not go back to one"s past experiences in any circ.u.mstances.)
I didn"t quite understand. "What do you mean? How old is Su Rui this year?"
She said, "17. He didn"t want to attend the national college entrance examinations last year, said that he wants to start his own business, so he opened a shop. The clothes in his shop are all designed by him. I feel that my brother is a genius, he has a lot of potential. You should just be with him, our family won"t mind that you are old."
17 ah…. Why does this kid look so old?
I said without strength, "You should stop joking, I will be sent to jail for seducing a minor."
She continued to advise, "Furthermore, I think an older woman and younger man relationship is pretty good, you can use my brother"s yang to replenish your yin*, you won"t seem old easily that way too." (T/N: The idiom used in the novel is 采阳补阴 "take yang replenish yin", though the correct idiom should be 采阴补阳 "take yin replenish yang". It is believed that yin is female and yang is male. In ancient times, a male will borrow a female"s yin to strengthen himself through sleeping with her. Dr. Su exchanges Xiaoxi and Su Rui"s roles here, that"s why the yin and yang words are switched in the novel version.)
….I sincerely feel that, the Su siblings were sent from the heavens to catch me for spreading happiness in the human world.
Therefore I moved my phone a little further from me, my voice drifting away from the phone, "What… ah… the sig..nal… in train… not good… I need to work….. Bye…."
I kept my phone and heaved a sigh of relief. I looked up and saw at all the people in the cabin are staring at me, with despise in their eyes. I opened my mouth in an attempt to explain something, but ultimately decided to turn around and face the cabin"s wall.
Behind me came voices of people in conversation, "Ay, young people these days, can"t even lie properly, working on a weekend?"
"It"s you who can"t keep up with times, some careers will only have good business on weekends and night time."
"Seducing minor ah.. Should be shot to death."
"Ay this you do not understand. There is no gender, age, height differences in love."
"Then why not we don"t categorize at all, we can date chicken, duck, cow, sheep, or dog."
I escaped the train at the next stop and took the opposite train back home. Why did I forget that today is a weekend….?
It took me about 1 hour plus for me to finally reach home. At this time, I am also too tired and lazy to care about the tangled and complicated feelings anymore. I decided to make use of this beautiful holiday to take a long nap. I even specially turned off my phone. Even a soul-stirring romance cannot go against the carefree-ness of being able to sleep without any trouble.
I switched off my phone, changed into my pajamas, tossed around in my bed but was unable to find peace. In my head is all the stares and looks from the people in the train. I have this feeling that if I don"t do anything, I will definitely go to h.e.l.l when I die.
Therefore, I got up and took my phone and prepared to call Zhuang Dong Na. My finger hovered above the call b.u.t.ton for a few seconds, but was unable to find the courage to. In the end I only sent out a short message: Jiang Chen kissed me last night, I swear I didn"t seduce him, sorry.
As I expected, the phone rang almost immediately. Zhuang Dong Na told me a shocking news, she said that she and Jiang Chen had never dated, she was only asked by Jiang Chen to play along with him. The remuneration is that she can receive family-like-care when if needs to go to the hospital to see the doctor. I am not sure what to reply, I can only express my shock about this deal. After all, the remuneration is also not very auspicious….
Lastly, Zhuang Dong Na asked if I can introduce her to Su Rui whom we had dinner with together last night, I told her that he is only 17 years old. She used a single word starting with "F" to end our call. (T/N: Yes, its probably that 4 letter word.)