Chapter 9: Followed Him into the Car
“Lost my love!”
Zhong Yang felt like his tongue was burning. “I just sent Junior Sister Lian and the others down and casually grabbed two candies. Who knew they were spicy! Junior Sister Lian is very filial and sensible, she peeled them all for me. How could a brother refuse his sister’s good intentions? So I had to eat them all in one go…” As he spoke, he downed another glass of wine.
Filial and sensible?
Jin Shi Yue’s eyebrows lifted slightly, his eyelids casually flicking up.
Junior Sister…
Pei Qingji was lost in thought.
He knew more or less the truth of the matter.
Nine years ago, after Lian Li’s father died in the line of duty, Jin Yan Ting took Lian Li under his wing.
Due to his status and limitations, it was impossible to bring her back to the Jin Family, so she was kept elsewhere.
Women kept outside were usually associated with mistresses.
Rumors could be suppressed, but people’s prejudices could not be eliminated.
As expected, as they were leaving STAR Bar, vulgar voices reached their ears: “The Jin Family’s Eldest Young Master’s kept woman is really not bad, she’s got a great figure and looks good, she must be fun to play with!” The man became more explicit, “You guys haven’t seen her, her skin is so tender, it turns red with just a pinch, her butt is round and perky, her chest…”
“Bang!”
A loud noise. The man, caught completely off guard, flipped over with his chair and landed heavily in the crowd, cursing angrily, “Are you f***ing looking for death…”
Zhong Yang kicked again, this time at the sofa the man was sitting on. The sofa was originally very heavy, but with his forceful kick, it flipped over.
The man who had been scowling moments before, upon seeing Zhong Yang, immediately became as subservient as a eunuch meeting a prince, his tone meek, “Young Master Zhong?”
Most people, seeing Jin Shi Yue and Pei Qingji beside him, wisely turned away. A few who were not so discerning, drunk and foolish, pointed at Zhong Yang and yelled, “Do you know who he is? How dare you provoke him, don’t you want to work anymore!?”
Zhong Yang narrowed his eyes, unwrapped a piece of chewing gum, and popped it into his mouth. He then delivered another powerful kick, this time threatening to flip the table. The wine bottles and glasses on the table bounced up, making loud clinking sounds.
“A toad with feathers, are you a bird or a beast? I’ve given you too much leeway!”
Those people, including the one getting up from the ground, instantly turned pale. A layer of cold sweat broke out on their foreheads, and they swallowed hard.
“You do nothing that resembles being human. Are you worthy of coveting the Second Young Master’s sister? You can eat anything, but you can’t say anything carelessly.” Zhong Yang chewed his gum, picked up a bottle of wine from the table, weighed it, and suddenly smashed it against the edge of the table. The sound of shattering glass and flowing wine mingled, causing great alarm.
What they feared most was Jin Shi Yue, who was leaning casually against the bar counter. Daring to provoke him was like a birthday star hanging himself, wanting to die!
The man’s body trembled like a sieve. He didn’t dare to meet their eyes, keeping his head down and constantly begging for mercy, “Young Master Zhong, we were drunk, foolish, and ignorant. We won’t dare to do it again, never again.”
Li Ye walked in and saw this scene. He greeted his boss as usual, “Mr. Jin.”
A pure black car was parked in the night. Jin Shi Yue bent down to get in. Li Ye closed the back door and walked around to the driver’s seat.
Li Ye glanced at his boss in the rearview mirror. The spacious and luxurious car interior was unlit, dark and dim, making it impossible to discern his expression. He only heard a calm, cool voice ask, “What’s that smell.”
Li Ye immediately became alert and sniffed the air, but found nothing unusual.
Although the car had just been washed, there was no smell of detergent. The air was filled only with the noble and fresh scent of sandalwood mixed with fir and pine.
“It’s probably the residual smell from the car wash. I’ll change the air,” Li Ye said.
Jin Shi Yue leaned back against the leather seat back, closed his eyes, and pinched his brow. A hint of weariness flickered across his features.
That faint fragrance seemed to have followed him into the car.
“There shouldn’t be any herbal smell left, right?” Lian Li stood in the washroom, raising her water-beaded hands to sniff them carefully.
She returned home, took off her shirt, and then her bra. She casually grabbed a nightgown and put it on before entering the bathroom.
The ointment was effective, but its scent was rather strong and difficult to mask.
Lian Li wiped her hands dry and returned to the bedroom. She lay down on the bed and happened to glance at the photo frame standing on the bedside table.
In front of Tiananmen stood a father and daughter. The man wore a simple shirt and trousers, smiling. He held a delicate, porcelain-like little girl in one arm. The little girl wore a pink dress and had two small braids, looking forward with a bright smile.
Lian Li’s background was known to very few, and no one would specifically inquire about her past.
Tonight, Pei Qingji’s question about whether she had ever stayed in Taipei stirred up her buried memories.
Lian Li’s father, Lian Jingcheng, was a native of Taipei, born and raised there, living in the tranquil Coastal Village.
Coastal Village had a unique cultural landscape, simple folk customs, and healing scenery with its azure sea, pure white fishing boats, colorful fishing villages, and beautiful crescent-shaped beaches.
Her mother was a tenant from out of town, a beautiful young woman in her twenties, learned and talented, and a very charming woman. It wasn’t difficult to fall in love with her.
Lian Jingcheng was renting out a house for the first time and was not familiar with many things, still in the understanding phase.
The handsome but somewhat clumsy young landlord awakened the little devil in Lian Li’s mother’s heart. She would find ways to tease Lian Jingcheng every few days.
The two gradually developed feelings for each other through their daily interactions. When Lian Li’s mother had been living there for half a year, Lian Jingcheng asked if she wanted to go back and meet his parents. She smiled and said that if she had family, she wouldn’t have stayed there for half a year.
At that time, Lian Jingcheng was deeply in love and believed his lover’s words one hundred percent.
He thought they would be together forever.
However, two months after Lian Li’s mother gave birth, she left a suicide note and abandoned her crying infant daughter.
Lian Jingcheng, using the address on the identification the mother had registered when renting the house, took the two-month-old Lian Li on a long journey to the Capital City to find his wife, only to discover that such a person did not exist.
The identification was fake, and the name was fake.
This person had simply vanished into thin air.
Her mother had described her life from childhood to adulthood to Lian Jingcheng, insisting that her mother was from the Capital City. So he stayed there, searching day after day.
But with the vastness of the world, how easy was it to find someone whose identity was unknown and whose whereabouts were uncertain?
Lian Jingcheng never found any trace of her mother before he died.
Lian Li sometimes felt that her father’s dying wish was for her to find her mother.
She had also been searching for her mother these past few years.
She wanted to ask her mother who she was and why she didn’t want them, father and daughter.
Whenever she thought of this, an unspeakable suffocating feeling would surge from her lungs, making her breath bitter.
…
The next day, Lian Li woke up and shuffled out of her room in slippers, only to see Zhang Sao, wearing heat-resistant gloves, placing the freshly brewed Rock Sugar and Pear Congee on the dining table.
“Zhang Sao, good morning.”
Seeing her, Zhang Sao smiled warmly and said, “Miss Li Mei, good morning.”
Lian Li walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat at the dining table. Just as she was about to have breakfast, the doorbell suddenly rang.
So early in the morning, who would be ringing her doorbell?
