That day, Auntie Ren was determined to hand my salary to my father and went to visit the hotel my dad was staying at, near university city.
It was already 9 at night, a dark and moonless night, a perfect time for immoral activities between men and women.
But as for my dad who was infatuated with academics, he was in a dreamland. He was wearing a pair of tacky Hawaiian shorts (I suspect he bought it with Director Cao) and an old vest with three holes on the back. He was sitting in air conditioning while trying to solve some problems.
Auntie Ren had to knock six times before he heard. He wore his slippers and opened the door in a daze.
When he saw Auntie Ren who had a striking body with black and yellow clothes, my dad did not notice the anger on her face, instead he said in a daze.
“Miss, I never called for this service, maybe you came to the wrong room?”
An unavoidable event when living in a hotel is always receiving strange phone calls from girls who would ask if you ‘require special service’ in a sickly sweet voice.
My dad received one of those that day. Since he was in an unclear state of mind, he mistakenly thought Auntie Ren was a call girl.
Auntie Ren was furious and barged into the room without a word. My dad stuck out his arms to block, but his force was used against him and he fell on the bed.
“Huh? Why… are you using force?” My dad turned pale with fright, and cautiously held his shorts, “This… is wrong! Your good years are still ahead of you! Think about your parents and family, don’t stay in this business anymore! Also, I won’t pay you even if you rape me!”
Auntie Ren couldn’t bear it anymore and struck my dad across the face with a slap. Only then was he able to clear his mind.
My dad held his fiery hot face, “Huh? Why do I get a feeling of déjà vu? Ah —— aren’t you the mother of one of Xiao Lin’s cla.s.smates, the one who used to live next to us!”
“If I remember correctly, I think you were called Ren HongLi?”
Auntie Ren didn’t show any signs of being honored even if my dad remembered her name.
She stuck the envelope towards my dad, “Take it, I came here to deliver this to you.”
“Huh? What is it?” My dad suspiciously pushed his gla.s.ses.
“It’s your son’s wages. He got a small role in our cast.” Auntie Ren declared unemotionally, “I’m against giving money to minors, so I usually hand money to their guardians —— which is you, understand?”
My dad had his mouth wide open for a while.
“So Xiao Lin finally went to act? Haha, he clearly told me he wasn’t interested anymore… Also, he’s on a foreign production crew? That’s great!”
“Don’t get too excited.” Auntie Ren threw cold water on his parade, “His role ends next week. There are tons of minors who get short-lived opportunities in front of the camera, it’s not anything special.”
My dad was proud of me and he got into an argument with Auntie Ren.
“Xiao Lin prepared many years in order to be in a martial arts film, how could you say he’s short-lived?”
“What’s wrong with being short-lived?” Auntie Ren waved the envelope impatiently, but my dad didn’t take it, “Do you think your son was selected because of his muscles? —— It was because of his murderous gaze!! Fortunately, he didn’t actually act a role of a minor, otherwise, when Americans who have poor mental strengths see a minor with such a gaze, they won’t be able to fall asleep at night!”
My dad became unhappy after hearing her criticize me. He adjusted his posture and sat upright (Although his shabby vest and Hawaiian shorts ruined the atmosphere).
“I know Xiao Lin has been under your care, but why do you have to bad mouth him? Did he do anything to bother you? He used to like you a lot when he was a kid, didn’t you also always give him candy…”
Auntie Ren was momentarily speechless and her face was red from anger.
“You… why didn’t he just choke on those candies! I don’t have any problems with Ye Lin as long as he doesn’t bother my daughter!”
MY dad sighed, “Let’s let the youngsters sort out their relationships on their own, we shouldn’t excessively interfere as parents…”
“Youngster my a.s.s!” Auntie Ren said ruthlessly, “He’s clearly a child who still stinks of his mother’s breast milk! How could they even understand love and relationships at that age, even adults don’t necessarily understand! Let’s take you as an example, why did you give up your position as a professor and hide at home?”
When she mentioned something he didn’t want to recollect, the shine in my dad’s eyes dimmed. The atmosphere in the room became incomparably stifling.
After my dad received that heartless phone call from Ai ShuQiao, he used writing academic materials to escape from reality. When Auntie Ren hit his sore spot, he went silent and seemed to be hurt.
My dad’s appearance seemed as if he was the most unfortunate person in the world. Auntie Ren got softhearted and also criticized herself:
“Fine , whatever, it’s not like I’m any better. I got a strained relationship with my old man due to my marriage and we still haven’t mended it!”
The room was really dry because of the AC. My dad became melancholic and took out two cans of beer from the fridge. One was for him and the other he pa.s.sed to Auntie Ren.
“Yeah, let’s not mention the past. You want something to drink?”
Auntie Ren was parched from talking too much and she also forgot her own waist canteen she usually fills with beer. Thus she took the chilled beer, pulled open the tab and drank half the can in one go.
Right when the two of them were silently drinking their beer, the anti-p.o.r.n brigade busted into the room.
They got the keys from the front desk. Tens of people poured into the room without warning. There also seemed to be a cameraman and a reporter following behind them.
The captain of the anti-p.o.r.n brigade was beefy with a vicious face and he was also wearing the same police uniform as his subordinates. When he saw a man and a woman in the room he laughed loudly as if he won the lottery:
“n.o.body move! This is operation Hurricane sanctioned by the mayor to catch you shameless men and women! Check the bathrooms for people! The punishment would be more strict for threesomes!”
Auntie Ren choked on a mouthful of beer and began to cough uncontrollably.
The captain waved his hands, “It’s useless pretending to be sick! I’ve seen tons of prost.i.tutes like you! They dress like they come from a good family, but they’re s.l.u.ttier than anyone on bed! Search the trash, let’s see if we can take back any evidence!”
The group of people began to get busy and the cameraman and reporter moved to the front.
The cameraman remained silent and the reported did all the speaking.
The reporter saw Auntie Ren couldn’t speak properly cause of her coughing, so she pa.s.sed the mic in front of my dad.
“Sir, I’m Zhao Yao, a special correspondent reporter from Dong Shan News Station. How do you feel about getting caught for prost.i.tution?”
My dad was innocent, so at first, he appeared quite calm.
“You guys made a mistake, we were only having a chat…”
“So you were bargaining over the price? How much did you pay her for s.e.x?”
“You… I already said we’re innocent!”
“Yeah, I believe you! But if you were detained because of prost.i.tution, they will notify your spouse to pick you up. Are you mentally prepared to face your wife?”
“I don’t have a spouse, I’m divorced!” My dad wasn’t able to remain calm against the reporter’s instigation.
“Ah —— so that means you became lonely due to a lack of a s.e.x life? But that doesn’t mean you can visit prost.i.tutes! Do you have a child? Face the camera, do you have anything to say to your child at home?”
At this time, the anti-p.o.r.n brigade completed the search and couldn’t find anything other than my dad’s calculation papers.
“Report! Captain, we didn’t find any condoms or s.e.m.e.n!”
The captain was not the least bit fl.u.s.tered. Instead, he began to laugh.
“Ha, so that means you guys went condom-less! They might have done it in the bath and washed away the evidence!”
“You guys should be honest and we’ll be lenient, otherwise, we’ll be strict if you oppose us! You won’t get a good ending if you oppose the People’s government!”
Auntie Ren finally stopped coughing. Her eyes seemed like it was about to erupt with flames and it caused multiple members of the brigade to back up, even the captain furrowed his brows.
“Screw you guys!” Auntie Ren smashed the empty can on one of the brigade members who was about to slap a pair of handcuffs on her. The can was flattened immediately and the brigade member’s nose began to bleed. He fell to the ground while holding his nose.
“d.a.m.n!” The seemingly young brigade member cried out, “Who knew even being an anti-p.o.r.n brigade member would be this dangerous!”