The Love That Remains

The woman in a red and golden Qipao is engrossed in her thoughts. She is standing right in the middle of the gate. Argh! Again, the smell of rotting eggs. It"s the third time. I don"t think that it"s the people who are saving bath water. I wonder if my sense of smell is screwed by w.a.n.g Mei"s kick. I am going to see a doctor after meeting that old man.

I cough loudly, hoping that she will move. She doesn"t pay me any attention. She is gazing at the iron gate with a vacant expression.

"Excuse me?" If she wants to admire the design, she should do it away from the gate. She is obstructing my way.

She doesn"t pay attention to me at all. She keeps staring like the plain iron gate is of great value. Does she want to steal that door? She seems like she is from a good family. Her clothes don"t look cheap.

"h.e.l.lo lady, Can you move? You are in the way."

Her eyes widen in surprise. She moves out of the way clumsily. I don"t spare her another glance. But she follows me in. The heavens must be testing me for my patience these days.

The Fang main house looks simple and elegant. There is a garden wi a pond full of koi fishes. It must be nice to take strolls here at morning.

The maid leads us to the sitting room. She leaves after telling me that the old man will be here soon. The lady in red sits opposite of me, eyeing me like I have grown three heads. I ignore her and observe the painted zodiac constellations on the ceiling. I imagine the lines connecting the painted stars to make the character "Fang".

"What have you done to your hair and nose?" A tall man with white powder hair and wrinkled skin, dressed in black robe, enters the room. He bangs his cane on the floor impatiently and huffs when his eyes meet mine. He takes a seat next to the lady in red.

I ignore his question. I hope to have a private chat with this old man. The lady doesn"t leave. The old man doesn"t ask her to go either. Instead, the old man is leaning toward the lady. Their shoulders are touching. I make a face at him. This is better not be what I think.

"Is it that w.a.n.g girl"s influence?" The old man snarls. The lady taps his cheek with her long pale finger. The action is quite intimate. It"s only been three years since my grandma died. He already picks up another woman who is even younger than Chang Meng, his daughter in law. This old man is losing teeth, but his lower part still dares to want exercise. Is he not afraid of dying from strenuous activities?

I ignore his question again and wait. The old man flares his nostrils. The lady chuckles and playfully places a kiss on that old man"s timeworn skin. He doesn"t react to her advances at all. I slam my hands on the table.

"How dare you! You can"t even respect your elders. You are the shame of the Fang family."

"I am the shame, old man? You are one step away from your grave and you take another woman? It"s only been three years since she died. You dare to let her shamelessly flirt with you in front of me."

The old man turns comical, first red and then, green. He stands up in rage and slams the table.

"Don"t slander me with your lies."

"Lies?" I laugh at his face and point at the woman. "At this age, you take a concubine. How will you answer my grandma when you meet her? Her soul might be suffering from watching you...do this."

The woman giggles annoyingly.

"I was thinking about choosing you as the Fang heir because your grandmother loved you so much. But her eyes must have been blinded to raise a snake like you."

"Heir? Don"t make me laugh. You want me to take my father"s place. When the times come, it will be my brother who will become the real head. You can"t even raise your son right. He wants to push his responsibilities on me. That man doesn"t leave the house. He doesn"t want to take the company or wipe the parasites. You want me to fight those who are eyeing Fang Corporation and make it a safe position for Fang Rui, isn"t?"

In my past life, that"s exactly what happened. Back then, he knew about my relations.h.i.+p with Sung Jun. He called me to meet him and laid out the offer. He would help me break off the engagement with Mu family"s eldest son. In return, I had to take the position of the fake heir. I took the offer. It was all for nothing. I worked for nearly a decade and got nothing. I never got married or dated. I kept myself busy with Fang Corporation to forget Sung Jun and I died wis.h.i.+ng to see him again.

The old man is whitened. He says weakly, "My son was fine. He was bright...if it wasn"t for your mother, he wouldn"t have turned out like this."

"Excuses. What"s past is in past. If one doesn"t want to move on, n.o.body can help." I glance at the slightly ajar door. "That man only knows how to feel high and mighty. He never treated me as a human being. Now, he wants to use me to take his responsibilities. I don"t know if there is any man worse than him."

The door opens and a younger version of that old man walks in. His lifeless eyes move between me and her until they stop on me.

"Qi-er, don"t listen to her. This girl is vile and hateful," He tells his son with bitterness.

"You can see her?" He questions me.

"My eyes are still working unlike this old man," I reply indignantly.

"Qi-er, what happened?"

"She can see them, father."