We drove the car till we reached downstairs of my house. The car headlights shone, there was a person standing below the electric pole by the roadside, he was Âreclining against the electric pole with the pose of a male lead from an idol drama, there even was a cigarette stick sandwiched between his fingers. The red beam of light glittered and gleamed.
A minor smoking, this was certainly bad, I had previously seen the warnings on some cigarette boxes in Hongkong - smoking can cause impotence! Young person don't be impulsive, being impulsive will have its penalty.
Jiang Chen asked me, "Why would he be here?"
I shook my head and said, "Don't know."
He spoke again, "You really don't know?"
I said, "I really don't know, but if you carry out cruel punishment and question me under torture, I will then confess that I actually invited him over to have an affair."
Jiang Chen glanced over horizontally at me, and said, "Get off the car for me and handle it well, I'll watch you in the car."
I said, "Why not you drive the car directly over, and crush him flat against the electric pole, I once watched a movie called 'The electric pole has a ghost'* when I was young, it was very interesting." (T/N: A 1995 Hongkong comedy - it's English name is 'Love in the Time of Twilight')
He said, "You get off the car, I'll hit you too, it'll be called 'The electric pole has a pair of ghosts'."
Embarrassed, I got off the car. I'd only taken two steps when Su Rui dashed in front of me. He pointed at the car and interrogated, "Why are you together with him?"
I dragged out my words, saying, "Let me think - oh - if I remember correctly, he is my boyfriend."
Su Rui stared blankly for a moment, I saw a flash of sorrow in his eyes. My heart softened a little, I shouldn't have made a judgement that his feelings were just a joke because he was young. When I liked Jiang Chen back in the day, I was even younger than he was.
I aimed a quick look at the cigarette in his hand, my tone of voice softened considerably, "Smoking is bad for your body."
He threw the cigarette down and used his foot to step on it and put it out. "I'll quit smoking, can you……"
"I can't," I rushed to speak, "Don't be like this, I don't like you."
He rubbed his nose, "But I really do like you very much."
I nodded my head, "Mm, I know."
He said, "I will never like someone else like how I like you again."
No, you will.
I attempted to relieve the atmosphere, "Hey, don't be like this, wait till you take a fancy to a 15-year-old beautiful lady, you will then doubt your current taste."
Silent, he slowly squatted down, lowered his head and hugged his knees. I stared blankly for a moment, turned my head back to look at Jiang Chen's car, then turned back again and lowered my head to look at him, at a loss of what to do. "What happened to you?"
I didn't get a reply for a long time, I could only squat down too, and pat his shoulder, "What happened? Where are you not feeling well?"
His muffled voice travelled over, "I'm fine, don't care about me."
I said, "Are you not feeling well somewhere, why not let Jiang Chen help you take a look?"
He suddenly raised his head and bellowed, "Go away, don't bother me!"
I jumped in fright, not because of his bellowing, but rather because of his tears.
My nose tingled a little. He was only 17 years old, perhaps I was the first setback he had experienced in his life apart from examinations, just like me back then, (I) liked Jiang Chen, Jiang Chen didn't like me. The person you like not liking you, how deserving of sorrow this matter was.
"You can go, your boyfriend is waiting for you in the car." He seemed to have calmed down considerably.
I made a gesture of "you go back first" towards Jiang Chen's car. He sent a text to my mobile phone, he said, "Then I'll go back to the hospital first, after you are done handling (the matter) give me a phone call."
Just like that, I accompanied Su Rui in squatting by the roadside. I didn't speak, mainly because I didn't know what to say, plus he also was busy crying. The street light stretched us into two long shadows.
Just as I was thinking that we would have to continue squatting down for a boundless infinite time period, a primary school student carrying a backpack, wearing her school uniform with goat-horn braids walked past. She fished out a handful of money from the pocket of the skirt of her school uniform, the money was brightly-coloured and was of quite a large amount. She picked out a one-dollar note from inside and passed it to me, she said, "Auntie, buy an ice-cream for Gege* with this one dollar, coax Gege to not cry." (T/N: Gege = older brother)
I watched the primary school student trample on my shadow with an innocent and guiltless face. I bared my fangs, "This! Little! Friend! For what reason is he an older brother and I am an auntie!"
The primary school student gripped on to the one dollar note and walked away crying.
Only then did Su Rui open his mouth to speak, he said, "Leave the money behind before you leave……"
I laughed and shoved at him, "Hey—"
He wiped his face, sighed and said, "F***, truly humiliating."
I comforted him, "I'm the one who's humiliated, that child called me auntie."
He also comforted me, "She's jealous of your maturity and allure."
After he finished speaking, he stood up, and easily pulled me up as well.
He said, "I'm all right now, you can go back home."
I said, "Are you really all right?"
He said, "Probably, it depends on whether I'll still use you as inspiration for designing clothes in the future."
"Ah! Speaking of clothes……" I suddenly recalled, and clapped my head, "I left behind that bag of clothes in Jiang Chen's car."
He pretended to be dissatisfied, "What clothes? You bought clothes without coming to my shop? Not letting your friends earn money when you have money, this is too much."
I glared at him, "That's Jiang Chen's clothes, I'm bringing them back to wash."
Su Rui curled his lip, "He let you help him wash his clothes? So inconsiderate?"
I said, "Su Rui, child, sowing discord is useless."
"I'm not sowing discord, if it were me, I definitely wouldn't let you do these things." He was unhesitating, "My older sister said, women are to be loved dearly."
I nodded my head and said perfunctorily, "Your older sister has taught you well."
He spoke again, "Yes, my older sister also taught me, if you refused to yield, to force myself on you."
On my guard, I took two steps back. "This is a joke, right?"
He patted my shoulder and praised, "It seems that you have done quite some research into Su-type humour."
Modestly, I kept my face blank, "I've looked into it cursorily, I've looked into it cursorily."
Su Rui made me leave first, he said he would leave once he saw me go upstairs. I refused unyieldingly, I said, "It's better that I watch you leave, so as to avoid you taking advantage of me turning around and going upstairs to fish out a gun to shoot me dead."
Unexpectedly, he also wasn't angry, he said, "Don't worry, even if one were to die it would be me dying, not you."
I thought about it for a moment, and still insisted on him leaving first, I said, "I have to watch you walk far away, if you want to die you have to die far away, if you die here you will affect the property prices in our vicinity."
He was disdainful, "Isn't it better if the property prices here fall, only then can you afford to buy."
"Wrong wrong wrong." I shook my index finger, clicked my tongue and said, "Even if they fall I also can't afford it, my one year salary is roughly enough to buy one toilet brick, so I hope that the property prices in the vicinity don't fall by all means, if I can't afford it everyone also shouldn't be able to afford it together, just like 2012, if one were to die everyone should die together, it's fair."
He rolled his eyes and rushed off in anger.
I watched his shadow lengthen and shorten and shorten and lengthen under the street lamps. I merely hoped that when he remembered this again, what he remembered would be he himself leaving with his head high and chest sticking out, and not him sorrowfully following with his eyes the view of my back that didn't turn around at all.
Of course, it was also possible that I was oversensitive, perhaps what he would recall when he thought back would only be my short carrot legs climbing the stairs with difficulty……
I returned home and switched on the lights. The moment the lights went on my mobile phone rang, I was startled, and subconsciously looked to the left and the right before fishing my mobile phone out, it was Jiang Chen.
I answered the call, "Hello, are you downstairs?"
"No, why?"
I said, "The moment the lights in my house lit up your phone call came through, the timing is too accurate, it's like the plot of a horror movie."
He laughed in a low voice on the other end, "You watch too many trashy movies."
I retorted, "In the past, who was it who kept on tricking me to go to his dorm to accompany him to watch horror movies?"
He said, "Then who was it again who kept on making noise, saying that she wanted to watch but didn't dare to watch alone?"
I brought up old scores, "But there was one time you made me watch your educational video! That was even more frightening than a horror movie!"
Jiang Chen said, "I don't think that was frightening in any way."
I started shouting, "How was it not frightening, that knife was cutting a U-shape on the scalp like it was slicing tofu, then it tore open, then a hole was drilled into the skull, then that round piece of skull bone was taken away, and a tweezer was used to stir here and there inside that bank of bloody things."
He said, "Not bad, you remember the surgical procedure really clearly."
"How can it not be clear?" I wailed mournfully, "When they were tearing the scalp open I turned my head and saw you smiling strangely by the side while your hands were imitating that movement and slowly tearing at my sketchbook! I was so scared that my eyes didn't dare leave the screen after that, I was afraid of again seeing you do some perverted actions once more."
I felt that the most frightening horror story was someone by your side turning into a ghost…… or a monster…… or a pervert…… or an enemy.
Because harm suffered when you didn't set up defences hurt the most.
Jiang Chen went silent for quite some time before he said, "If I remember correctly, at that time I was looking at the drawings in your sketchbook, if I remember correctly, there were many character portraits that I felt all seemed very familiar, furthermore their actions were rather terrible, for example me kneeling on the ground crying etcetera."
It was now my turn to go silent. I had a stack of sketchbooks, their outer covers were all about the same, but a few of them in that stack were specifically for me to draw to vent and gratify myself when I argued with Jiang Chen. I had drawn many cartoons pledging female sovereignty inside: for example, Jiang Chen kneeling on the ground, streams of tears as thick as noodles flowing down as he begged me for forgiveness, saying that everything was his fault, saying that he was worse than a beast; also for example, Jiang Chen crawling on the floor as I high-and-mightily threw a whip towards him to thrash him; also for example, him kneeling as he scrubbed the floor while I lay on the sofa pressing the remote control, I said, "Pour a glass of water for me", his actions were a little slow, I kicked him in the butt, he fell to the ground and rolled around, then stood up and bowed, saying thank you……
Hence I changed the topic of conversation and said, "You must have called to ask me about how the matter of Su Rui was handled right?"
Thankfully he was willing to cooperate, he said, "Then how are things?"
I said, "Currently both parties' emotions are stable, the female has no intention of cheating, the male has no intention of coming out of the closet, or lying across the railway tracks*." (T/N: meaning to commit suicide)
He said, "If you can't handle it, hand it over to me, don't forget that in your mind I am a perverted doctor."
I chuckled and gave two forced laughs, and said, "How can that be, how can that be."
He then said, "Oh right, that bag of clothes for you to wash was left behind in my car, I will leave it for you to wash. Oh right, tonight you can draw me kneeling on the washboard in the balcony."
When it came to the matter of him mercilessly mocking me, deriding me, and attacking me, he really enjoyed it and never tired of it, taking advantage of every single opportunity to do so.
Translator's Corner:
Been seeing lots of comments saying that Jiang Chen is colder ahahaha ouch my heart breaks