For a whole day, An Hua"s miserable look repeatedly flashed in Jiang Youyou"s mind. She couldn"t imagine what would her parents would feel when they knew their daughter"s tragic story. After all, it would be better for a woman to make a living in her hometown. It was better for her to hunt a regular job and marry a rich and respectable husband. After waiting on her father-in-law and mother-in-law docilely and obediently, she would still have time to play mahjong with her sisters, or to have beauty treatment, or to go shopping. When the husband came back after work, she should try to figure out his mood by his facial expression. Occasionally, she could show her pride when the husband begged for making love with her with beast"s eyes.
In the evening, Bai Zhehan came to accompany Jiang Youyou. He watched TV in company with her and rocked with laughter. No one came in to disturb them. Zeng Yuan came in to distribute medicine but kept silent. She just cast a meaningful glance at them and left the medicine at the door.
Jiang Youyou looked at her in triumph. She ate little for the dinner. She could not have any food when her best friend died. Perhaps it was the gangsters of the pyramid marketing group who killed her. This bunch of gangsters deserved to be hacked to pieces.
Bai Zhehan stood up to put Jiang Youyou on a drip. He knew she was looking at him, so he raised his head to smile at her.
Because of this smile, Jiang Youyou thought the pain in her muscles was nothing serious.
"Tomorrow I"ll take you to an interesting place." Bai Zhehan put everything in order and looked out to see the weather. It didn"t seem to rain.
Nothing would be worse than a sleepless night that made one intolerable. Despite the fatigue she was obviously suffering, Jiang Youyou couldn"t go asleep. There seemed to be ten thousand insects drilling in her body, from the heart to the lung, from the intestines to the stomach.
In the small hours of the morning, she vaguely felt someone standing beside her bed. It was only a dark shadow, silently, just looking at her.
This was the hospital, and many people died here every day. It was perhaps a ghost of a newly dead wandering about. Outside the courtyard someone was setting off firecrackers with loud crackles, and no one knew it was for celebration or mourning.
She slept till noon. Zeng Yuan came in. She took her temperature routinely and threw a big bag over her bed. "Doctor Bai told you to wear this and he would come to pick you up in thirty minutes."
Jiang Youyou sat up and opened the bag. Zeng Yuan took a curious look at it. It was a gorgeous slip dress: Soft and sleek texture of silk in creamy colour. The straps were covered with small solid roses, in the midst of which sparkling crystals were inlaid.
"Try on the dress." A trace of jealousy flashed across Zeng Yuan"s face. "It"s quite expensive."
Standing in front of the mirror Jiang Youyou could hardly believe that it was herself in the mirror. A female is like a candy, and it"s the colourful sweet wrapper that attracts people. As for its flavor, one can only taste it when he peels off the wrapper.
When they went out of the hospital, Zeng Yuan in nurse uniform gave a plaintive look at Bai Zhehan, and he saw it.
At last she didn"t have to stay in the hospital that made her tedious to death. Bai Zhehan told her that there was a party among friends and he would like to have her partic.i.p.ate—as his girlfriend.
Jiang Youyou lay in the bed in the beauty salon, with her face covered by a thick layer of Dead Sea mud mask, exposing two eyes and her mouth only. The fragrance of peppermint aroma oil made her fall asleep.
The beautician girl said, "You boy-friend is really handsome."
So Jiang Youyou said laboriously, with a little vanity, "Many girls like him."
Until the four o"clock in the afternoon she began to have hairdo. Her hair was worn in a slanting bun and an emerald-green b.u.t.terfly hair stick was inserted.
Bai Zhehan was somewhat astonished when he came to pick her up. Jiang Youyou was very beautiful. It was a pity she didn"t have a pair of exquisite shoes to match the dress.
They went to the store to buy shoes. It was a kind of luxury shop in which there were always more saleswomen than shoppers. Crystal shoes of Giuseppe Zanotti Design were s.h.i.+ning brightly. Jiang Youyou liked the oblique leaf-like crystals very much.
And a bag should also be bought to match her slip dress. A Swarovski handbag in the same colour as the dress gleamed, tempting her. She was hesitating whether to buy it or not when Bai Zhehan said, "A handbag is like the second dress on a woman. Its texture and style display this woman"s taste and her status. What did that actress Lan Pauline say, "No matter how dirty your hair is, and how greasy your face is, and how terrible your clothes will smell, as long as you have a handbag of famous brand, the salesgirls would be extremely deferential to you when you are roaming in brand shops!""
Looking back to herself, Jiang Youyou suddenly had an illusion that the man standing aside was Prince Charming, and she herself was that Cinderella in crystal dance shoes.
There would be many Snow Whites, but fewer Cinderellas. A Snow White was still a Snow White even if she was in dire straits, and a Cinderella in crystal dance shoes was still a Cinderella. Only one thing made the difference: whether the Snow White was whiter or the Cinderella was poorer.
They drove a long way to get nearly to the suburbs. Going through the sea sh.o.r.e, there were fewer and fewer people and vehicles. Jiang Youyou began to feel a little uneasy.
He released a hand to hold hers for comfort. "We"re arriving soon."
It was a splendid private villa. The luxurious parking lot in front of the gate was decorated with the dazzling lights. The guard gave them a salute and reached for their invitation. Some strange smell in the wet air made Jiang Youyou trembling all over. The point was that she felt very unaccustomed to the outfit she had today.
A courteous man led them going through a long corridor that was decorated with oil paintings and they stepped into the hall. Almost every guest had arrived.
Some acquaintances came to greet them. There was all delicious food on the tables around the hall. Jiang Youyou swallowed hard but dared not to look around. She only thought the men here were all young and handsome, and all women were tall and attractive. Everyone smelt perfumed, including herself, for she also had a bottle of perfume in her handbag.
Jiang Youyou was only one of them. She didn"t become a hit in the public eye as a Cinderella in crystal dance shoes in an idol drama.
A white-haired old man came downstairs, looking at the crowd happily.
The music stopped. Everyone looked at the old man.
"This is a night for you young people. Have a good time tonight." The old man smiled and opened a bottle of champagne with his trembling hand.
Jiang Youyou felt he was very familiar to her.