Are You Addicted?

"Mr. Gu and I came to know each other four years ago. It was one of the hardest time in my life. During those days, I ran to every part of the country. I didn"t know where I was going or what I wanted to do. Later on, I finally ended up in Xiamen[1], working as a front desk receptionist at a five-star hotel. At that time, Mr. Gu was on a business trip in Xiamen and it was by luck that he checked into the hotel that I worked at. The first time I saw Mr. Gu, I was overwhelmed by that grand and impressive manner of his. I felt that the man in my life should be like that, powerful, intimidating, aloof and not in touch with reality……"

As Jiang Yuan continuously spoke, her eyes were overflowed with rays of brilliant lights and vibrant colors. It was as if she had returned to that period of time in her life where craziness roamed.

"Afterwards, I racked my brain to think of ways to become friends with Mr. Gu, however, he always kept at a distant far away from me. Then, I heard that he already had a wife but even then I couldn"t just give up. I"d even put my life in danger by trespa.s.sing into the military base. But, I was nearly a.s.saulted by a group of dull-witted soldiers. The rumors began to spread at that time. It was then that Mr. Gu"s wife came to look for me. She spoke to me for a while. She was an extremely educated and cultured woman who didn"t curse or mock me. In a very calm and gentle manner, she told me the difficulties of marrying a military man. Truthfully, I really admired her, but even more I envied her; envied that kind of graceful and n.o.ble air that she possessed.

I stopped for a period of time, ready to give up. But before long, Mr. Gu unexpectedly took the initiative to contact me first and told me that his wife had pa.s.sed away. I thought that it was a kind of opportunity for myself. When Mr. Gu was in his lowest spirit, depressed, I continuously thought of every possible way to comfort him. And that was how we came to stay in contact for two years. It was only last year that I finally received Mr. Gu"s acknowledgment."

Bai Luo Yin"s sharp eyes swept over Jiang Yuan"s face that was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with happiness.

"In other words, before Mrs. Gu pa.s.sed away, Gu Wei Ting didn"t express any good feelings toward you?"

Jiang Yuan let out a heavy sigh, "At that time, I think he did have some good feelings toward me. Yet, now that these memories are swimming back into my head again, I think I was quite ridiculous."

"Why?"

"The things that you can"t obtain or have lost will always be the best. Even until now, I"ve always felt that the person Mr. Gu loves all along is his wife. I was just a pastime amus.e.m.e.nt for him when he was lonely. Do you know? Every time Mr. Gu returns home, the first thing that he looks at are always the items in that room, not me. Whenever he mentions his wife to other people, the feelings that emits from his eyes are deep, profound and strong. But when he mentions me in front of other people, the expression in his eyes are shallow, frivolous. Perhaps, this is the difference between like and love. "Like" is pa.s.sion, love is painful."

In reality, Bai Luo Yin was not concerned even a bit whether or not Gu Wei Ting loves Jiang Yuan. What he was concerned about was exactly how deep Gu Wei Ting"s feelings for his wife were. Why have Gu Hai never noticed those kinds of deep and heartfelt feelings?[2]

Was it because of Gu Hai"s negligent or was Jiang Yuan"s perception misplaced?

"Are you doubting that what I"ve said are lies?"

With just one look, Jiang Yuan could see through Bai Luo Yin"s thoughts.

Bai Luo Yin remained silent.

"Do you really think there is a need for me to lie? That I"m deliberately making myself look pitiful so that I can win over your sympathy? Or that I"m deliberately making myself out to be innocence as to distant myself from Mr. Gu late wife"s death?"

Even with Jiang Yuan being frankness blatant, still Bai Luo Yin did not lessen the sternness in his tone of voice. "In regards to Gu Hai"s mother"s death, how much do you know?"

Jiang Yuan bluntly said to Bai Luo Yin, "I don"t know anything nor do I ever wanted to look into it. If I say, that I slowly got close to Mr. Gu after his wife"s death, would you believe it?"

Bai Luo Yin wanted to look for a loophole in Jiang Yuan"s words, but he ended up empty-handed.

Paleness crawled onto Jiang Yuan"s youthful face, "Luo Yin, I may be greedy, but I"m not despicable. Not to mention at that time, I don"t have the means to act that way. Even more, I don"t even have access into the military compound. Do you really think I have the ability to go in there and injury a heavily guarded military man"s wife? If we were to disregard her status as a General"s wife and, instead base it solely on her family"s background, even if there were ten of me, I still wouldn"t be able to compete against her."

Bai Luo Yin nonchalantly stood up, faced the stairs and walked up.

This was the first time Bai Luo Yin saw a panoramic view of Mrs. Gu"s room. Last time, when Gu Hai had opened the door to go in, he only caught a quick glimpse of one corner of the room. It was not exactly the same as what he had imaged a dead person"s room would look like. There was no large photo, flowers arrangements, or any prayer altar. None of that kind of atmosphere was presence in the least. It seemed just like any ordinary person"s room. Even the skincare and cosmetic products were still neatly placed on the dressing table. The only thing was, the caps on those products were all open. Bai Luo Yin picked up one of them for a look, it was dated three years ago.

Who knew how many times Gu Hai entered this room during the last three years and how many times did he, like Bai Luo Yin now, pick up these things to carefully look at it.

All the arrangements and ornaments in this room was simple yet elegant; holding an unspoken grandeur to it. A faint fragrance floated around. Without even needing to look at Mrs. Gu"s photograph, Bai Luo Yin could already imagine what kind of woman she was as she sat down in front of the dressing table. She undoubtedly exuded ladylike temperament, that is, in terms of being cultured and br.i.m.m.i.n.g with courtesy.  

Above the bookcase, there was a photo frame. The picture in the frame was the same one that Bai Luo Yin had seen in Gu Hai"s photo alb.u.m; Mrs. Gu carrying a young Gu Hai with happiness painted gently on their faces.

When Bai Luo Yin placed the frame back to where it belonged, something suddenly fell down and landed to the side of his foot.

He picked it up for a look. It was a necklace. It was very thin and delicate with a dazzling diamond inlaid securely in the middle of it.

Discovering a jewelry in Mr. Gu"s room was not something new to marvel at. A woman like her, even if there were a case of jewelry, it would not be strange. But, because this necklace was placed in an obscure spot, almost unnoticeable, that it actually attracted Bai Luo Yin"s attention.

Also, it did not seem to adhere to Mrs. Gu"s taste, Bai Luo Yin carefully took the time to examine her other jewelries for a moment. Fundamentally, the workmanships of the other jewelries were exquisite yet it was simple and elegant in style. But, this necklace was too opulent, especially the red diamond in the middle. The diamond itself looked rare amongst the other precious jewels. One carat was probably worth more than a million dollars.

How could Mrs. Gu have this kind of necklace?

Furthermore, it was not placed in a brocade case, or stored up carefully. It just laid in an obscure corner of the bookcase where n.o.body had taken notice.

Bai Luo Yin took this necklace and walked out of the room. By chance, Jiang Yuan was standing outside of the room with a rag in her hand.

"Do you still need to go in? If not, I"m going in to clean up."

Bai Luo Yin shook his head and look into the room from the doorway. He saw that Jiang Yuan was carefully wiping every nook and corner of the dressing table.

"Is this your necklace?" Bai Luo Yin suddenly asked.

Jiang Yuan took a glance at it and said, "It"s not mine, it"s hers."

Bai Lu Yin wanted to leave with the necklace, but Jiang Yuan quickly caught up him.

"You"re taking her belonging away with you? Did you talk about it with Gu Hai already? Every time he comes back, he always looks through and checks his mother"s remnant. Don"t even mention something going missing, if it was placed in a different position, he will lose his temper."

"Don"t worry, I"ll return it soon."

As Bai Luo Yin walked out from the villa, he suddenly realized:

Since Jiang Yuan placed everything back, undamaged, to its original position after cleaning Mrs. Gu"s room. Then, this was proof that the necklace had always been placed there from the beginning?

It was somewhat hard to understand why Mrs. Gu would just casually place such a precious item on the bookcase like that. Base on her nature, even if she was not fond of this particular jewelry, wouldn"t she at least store it properly?

—–

That night they had dinner at Bai Luo Yin"s house.

On the way back to their apartment, Bai Luo Yin took the necklace out of his pocket and swung it right in front of Gu Hai"s face.

At that moment, they happened to walk by a huge shopping mall. The doorway to go inside was so bright, it was as if the sun had risen again; and the brilliant lighting that shone above made the diamond even more dazzling.

Gu Hai suddenly stood in place, his pupils became stagnate for a short period of time before he took the necklace, placed it in his own hand and carefully looked over it.

Bai Luo Yin carefully observed Gu Hai"s reaction.

Even he himself was somewhat nervous…tensed.

A moment later, Gu Hai was suddenly quite cheerful, "Is this for me?"

There was a sudden paused in Bai Luo Yin"s expression. He could feel the numbness crawling under his scalp.

All of a sudden, Gu Hai pinched Bai Luo Yin"s cheeks, ridiculing him: "Is this my reward for making you feel good everyday?"

Gu Hai doesn"t recognize this necklace! He actually doesn"t recognize it?! Didn"t he memorize all of Mrs. Gu"s remnant by heart?

With eyes full of disbelief, Bai Luo Yin continued to meticulously look at Gu Hai"s appearance. While his facial features displayed a relaxed and cheerful air, Bai Luo Yin"s chilled chest, on the other hand, was just about to burst open.

"It"s not for you. I just picked it up along the road a moment ago," said Bai Luo Yin, taking the necklace back.

"Where would you find something this good huh? Go and pick up another one for me." Gu Hai started to make fun of him, "Just admit it. You want to give me a gift yet you"re still embarra.s.sed."

Bai Luo Yin tightly clutched the necklace, refusing to give it up. He then quickened his pace. As they departed the glaring light within the shopping mall vicinity and gloomily stepped into the darkness, he was afraid that Gu Hai might have seen the quality of the necklace.

—–

The next day, Bai Luo took a trip to the military base.

"Who are you looking for?" asked the soldier on guard with his cold and stern looking face.

"I"m looking for Gu Wei Ting."

The soldier"s expression was suddenly painted with astonishment "You"re looking for General Gu? You……who are you?"

For the purpose of making sure he would be allowed in, Bai Luo Yin had no other choice but to force himself and said: "I"m his son."

"His son?" sneered the soldier, "You think I don"t know what his son looks like? You have guts, pretending to be General Gu"s son huh?"

Bai Luo Yin"s expression was extremely calm, "If I say I am, then I am."

"Hey man! I said, you really have guts, trying to pa.s.s yourself off as a member of the General"s family. Even more, you"re being rude and unreasonable, you don"t want to live anymore huh?" While he said this, he lowered the gun"s muzzle toward the pit of Bai Luo Yin"s stomach; his face full of determination.

Inside the guarding room was another soldier who was sitting down. At that moment, he was boringly having a meal, but when he heard the commotion outside, he lifted his head and took a glance. He stopped chewing and quickly stuck his head of the window.

"Hey, Xiao Dongzi, release him and let him in."

The soldier called Xiao Dongzi put his gun down, looked toward the soldier who had just called for him from the window and asked: "Who is he huh?"

"The General"s son!"

"Isn"t the General"s son Gu Hai?"

He coughed, "Ahem……he"s the General"s second son."

That soldier intentionally emphasized the word "second" and looked at Xiao Dongzi, giving him an indiscreet wink.

Xiao Dongzi smiled, quickly understanding the gesture without being explicitly told. He withdrew to the side then made a very inviting posture as to allow Bai Luo Yin in.

Bai Luo Yin deliberately avoided the smirk and ridiculing smile on that soldier"s face. Since he had planned to come alone, he had already prepared himself for the disdainful looks.

After going through numerous difficulties and obstructions, Bai Luo Yin finally saw Gu Wei Ting.

By that time, the sky was already dressed in darkness. Gu Wei Ting wanted to go together with Bai Luo Yin for dinner, but Bai Luo Yin rejected his offer. He took the necklace out of his pocket and placed it in front of Gu Wei Ting.

Gu Wei Ting looked at the necklace, somewhat unclear, "What is the meaning of this?"

Bai Luo Yin replied with a question instead, "It doesn"t look familiar to you?"

Since it is Mrs. Gu"s jewelry, she must have worn it before or at least taken it out. Even if these two reasoning does not exist. After she pa.s.sed away, her family could have tidied her remnants on her behalf, so they should have seen this necklace. It is impossible that they don"t have any impression of it at all.

However, Gu Wei Ting"s reaction once again shocked Bai Luo Yin.

"I"ve never seen this before."

Gu Wei Ting answered Bai Lu Yin in a very definite and clear-cut manner.

Translator"s Note:

[1]Xiamen – 厦门; Xiàmén) is a coastal city in Fujian Province in China. It has been an important port for centuries and became one of China’s earliest Special Economic Zones in 1980. The name Xiamen means “door to the house”, referring to the city’s centuries-old role as a gateway to China. Xiamen is a very vibrant, affluent and modern place, though by Chinese standards it is a small city — only 1.9 million in the city itself and 3.6 million counting suburbs. It has many non-Chinese residents and a range of restaurants, bars and stores that cater to them. It also has several universities and some areas popular for tourism. The most important tourist area is Gulangyu, a small island close to downtown which contains some beautiful colonial buildings and is car free.

[2] He meant, why hasn"t Gu Hai notice/realized the deep feelings that Gu Wei Ting has for his mother.

Are you Addicted?