The Vanishing Beauty - Chapter 1 - 4

Chapter 1 - 4

Arriving home and finding Luan Chengyun gone, Yu Meng figured he simply couldn't handle the "fatal blow" she had dealt him.

She had had enough of his control.

After marrying Luan Chengyun, Yu Meng hadn't worked a single day. Her major was nursing, but Luan Chengyun felt that job involved too much close personal contact with people—especially physical contact—and he couldn't stand it. He would rather she only nursed him alone. Whenever Luan Chengyun said this with a wicked grin, Yu Meng couldn't help but fantasize: Fine, I'll nurse just you alone—first I'll beat you into a total cripple, and then I'll nurse you back slowly.

Of course, Yu Meng had a lazy streak built right into her nature; Luan Chengyun had simply happened to guide her into becoming a lazy "wealthy lady." Yet, in a sense, a life of pampered idleness managed to preserve Yu Meng's beauty to some extent, postponing her youth over and over again so that even after her sons left for overseas studies, a lingering tail end of it still remained.

Yu Meng was dead set on leaving Luan Chengyun.

He was an absolute pervert. In bed, he was always so intense, tossing her about until she was half-dead, as if he possessed an inexhaustible well of energy. Could you expect a man like that to be faithful? Furthermore, after all those years out in the world—his physical needs, his emotional needs, all those filthy, hidden things—Yu Meng refused to think about them in detail; she could only lump them together as a single whole to process and deal with.

Very well then—Luan Chengyun was terrible. Therefore, she was going to leave.

She had made up her mind to find a good man who was even wealthier and more powerful than Luan Chengyun, someone considerate and gentle, and fall in love all over again. She had confidence in herself. She felt she fully possessed the capability to make a successful man in his fifties fall in love with her. She wanted to prove her own worth. She was going to be the Chu Lingling of Yuyingzi.

Of course she knew what kind of character Luan Chengyun was. He wouldn't take things lying down—the empty room tonight was proof of that—but Yu Meng had already figured out her countermeasure. At worst, she would give up a portion of the property. Leave. She had to leave. She had lived enough of this life.

To celebrate regaining her freedom in advance, Yu Meng opened another bottle of red wine. She put on some music—Tchaikovsky. After listening for a little while, she simply took matters into her own hands and played the piano herself. Yu Meng had learned piano from childhood. She was an illegitimate daughter, and her mother had given her exceptional training from a young age, teaching her a bit of everything: the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. She was also filial to her old mother, regrettably only staying filial until her younger son, Luan Haoyu, was born—her mother passed away from kidney disease. Her mother's favorite piece of music was A Maiden's Prayer.

Yu Meng was playing it right at this moment. The dancing notes were like a young maiden wearing ballet shoes, dancing gracefully, filled with joy yet tinged with sorrow.

The next day was a weekend. Luan Chengyun came back early in the morning. Yu Meng was sitting at the open-plan kitchen counter eating breakfast. There was an egg placed on top of a piece of toast, and she held her knife and fork with great solemnity. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought she grew up abroad since childhood. In reality, she was just an earthy girl raised in the fields of Yuyingzi.

Footsteps grew closer and closer.

She looked up and cast a sidelong glance at him.

He looked thoroughly haggard.

"You've thought it over, right?" she took the initiative to strike.

"I haven't looked at it yet," Luan Chengyun said.

Stop pretending! she cursed in her heart.

Who knew what misery he had been suffering through all night! Haven't looked at it yet? Who was he trying to fool?

Yu Meng stood up and carried her plate to the kitchen counter. "Did you eat? There's more." Then she turned back to face him. "There's nothing particularly complicated in there, just a standard divorce. The property division can be discussed further."

The children were grown, so there was no custody dispute to speak of. The older son was already over eighteen, and the younger son was turning sixteen soon.

"I don't agree."

"This isn't up for negotiation."

"Is there someone else?"

"Don't go throwing dirty accusations around."

"If there is, you can tell me."

Absurd! Ludicrous! Ridiculous! If there was someone now, wouldn't that mean an extramarital affair during the marriage? That would make her the at-fault party. Who would be so idiotic? And who would ask such a stupid question?

"There is no one."

"Then why?"

"Incompatible personalities." The eternal excuse for divorce.

"How are we incompatible?"

Yu Meng walked around the chair. "I don't want to live with you anymore, understand? Can't you see your own flaws? Eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling—you're just one step shy of smoking. Hmph, maybe you even do that, and I just don't know it. Abuse of women and domestic violence. Both hot violence and cold violence exist. I shouldn't need to spell out the rest for you. I kept the photos; injuries don't lie. No matter where you make a fuss, this marriage is ending. I am the vulnerable party, I am the victim."

"We can separate, but we aren't getting a divorce."

"We are divorcing."

"Who is that person?"

"There is no one!" Yu Meng shouted. "As for whether there will be someone after the divorce, it has zero to do with you!"

"You've already picked someone." Luan Chengyun closed in, his face ashen, looking half man and half ghost. Yu Meng instinctively felt a gust of chilling wind wash over her. She stepped back on pure instinct. But Luan Chengyun lunged forward with a single bound, his arms like iron tongs clamping onto her upper arms. With a scissor of his legs, her lower body was immobilized as well.

He had studied Wing Chun.

What is he doing?! Rape?! Marital rape is a crime too! Yu Meng screamed for help. But in this villa district, who could possibly hear her cries?

Luan Chengyun stretched out a hand to cover her mouth. Yu Meng continued to struggle.

Suddenly, she regained her personal freedom.

He let go.

"I don't agree," his voice rumbled low.

Yu Meng groped blindly on the kitchen counter for a knife, hoisted it up, and retreated while saying, "The courts will agree!" Reaching the doorway, she dropped the steel knife, slipped into flat shoes, locked the door, and bolted for the garage.

Engine start! She stepped on the gas and fled in a panic.

Yu Jia had set an alarm on her phone, but despite her best intentions, she still woke up later than her mother-in-law. Drinking the day before had thrown off her biological clock. Luan Chengyun slept even more heavily. It was the weekend.

Treading lightly on tiptoe, Yu Jia pushed open the bedroom door. At the small dining table in the living room, Sisi was already sitting upright, reviewing English materials while eating her grandmother's fried mantou slices stuffed with soft-boiled eggs. A glass of milk sat right beside her hand.

Yu Jia was instantly overcome with a sense of embarrassment. This was her job as a housewife. Her industrious mother-in-law had once again "usurped the master's role."

"Mom," Yu Jia called out, her expression revealing nothing out of the ordinary. "Get ready to eat." Her mother-in-law didn't look at her, still busy with what she was doing. It was a bustling, vibrant morning.

Yu Jia had no choice but to hurriedly wash up. Once she was all done, she moved to wake Luan Chengyun up. Her mother-in-law quickly stopped her, so Yu Jia had to sit down and eat first. Sisi had finished eating and gone back to her room to study; she had been hitting the English books hard lately because she was afraid of falling behind after coming to the big city.

The mother and daughter-in-law sat facing each other in silence. Her mother-in-law wasn't the type to make small talk out of nothing; Yu Jia figured the times her mother-in-law spoke the most were probably at the mahjong table, calling out tiles, complaining about her luck, and running her mouth nonstop.

"Mom," Di Liren said with sleep-heavy eyes, "when did you arrive?" Yu Jia hurriedly said in a low voice, "She's been here a whole day. You drank way too much." Luan's mother remained unhurried. "Go wash up and eat." Dragging his feet, Di Liren shuffled off to the bathroom, splashed some water on his face, and sat down.

Before her son could even speak, the old lady stated, "I spent a few days at your sister's. Some friends called up saying their son was getting married and insisted I come over here; I couldn't brush off the request, so I made a trip." Crisp and efficient, she explained the reason for her arrival.

Liren let out an "oh" and asked if she needed money. Luan's mother said she had some. Yu Jia also wanted to offer money. The mother-in-law spoke up first: "Is Yu Jia free today?"

Knowing her place, Yu Jia replied, "I'll accompany Mom." She would act as the chauffeur and drive.

Only once they were in the car and her mother-in-law gave her the directions did Yu Jia realize her mother-in-law was not going to any friend's son's wedding banquet at all—she had already felt something was amiss; what sort of wedding banquet starts bright and early in the morning?

Her mother-in-law was heading to the hospital for a physical checkup. To be precise, a follow-up examination. Luan's mother didn't hide anything from Yu Jia. She had already gotten checked at the provincial level, where they found a shadow in her lungs. The doctor hadn't given a definitive diagnosis and suggested she get checked again in a major metropolis. She had booked a specialist appointment online and rushed over overnight. On top of that, she also needed to check in with gynecology.

Yu Jia sighed internally; this finally explained her mother-in-law's "lack of consideration" from last night. Yet with a massive plate of truth served up before her, Yu Jia also felt troubled. Not telling Luan was to avoid making her son worry. Telling her daughter-in-law didn't matter. Since she wasn't a biological relative, even if she worried, it wouldn't weigh on her heart. Furthermore, letting the daughter-in-law shoulder the psychological pressure was better than letting the son carry it. Thirdly, she also needed a gynecology checkup, making it completely natural for her daughter-in-law to accompany her.

For a moment, Yu Jia didn't know whether she should offer words of comfort or remain silent. If she offered comfort, it might feel like she was hoping the old lady was seriously ill; if she remained silent, the elderly woman might think she lacked a single warm word, making her appear entirely cold and thoroughly unfilial.

Yu Jia kept her tone level and steady. "Mom, don't worry. Let's see what the doctor says first." She added, "But Mom, you really need to quit smoking. It's not a good thing." The second half counted as care—universal care, just phrasing the warning written on cigarette cartons ("smoking is harmful to your health") in a different way. The beauty of it lay in not making any mistakes.

This remark struck straight at Luan's mother's inner thoughts. Having smoked for a lifetime, she had never taken it to heart. Whenever anyone tried to persuade her otherwise, she would always pull out Song Meiling as an example—Song smoked, yet lived to be one hundred and six. Who would have expected her son to rise to such soaring heights—soaring far beyond anything she could have ever imagined. In the past, she thought it would be enough if her son could just manage to establish a foothold in the city level; who could have guessed that once his fortune turned, he would surge all the way to a major metropolis, holding a high and important office—truly more legendary than Zhu Yuanzhang. Luan's mother had begun considering quitting smoking. Her son was doing well, and she wanted to live a few more years to bask in more of his glory and prestige.

Entering the hospital, it was a flurry of activity. Yu Jia was the one running up and down the stairs for everything. The money naturally had to be put down by her as well; with the daughter-in-law tagging along, she couldn't possibly let the mother-in-law pay. It was test after test, followed by waiting. The mother and daughter-in-law sat side by side on a corridor bench, packed tight with people shoulder to shoulder. Yu Jia couldn't help but start pondering Luan's mother's intentions once again. By making her accompany her and letting her know, was she trying to give her an opportunity to reveal it to Luan? Or to keep it a secret forever? She couldn't be sure. Mulling it over from every angle, Yu Jia figured that if everything turned out fine, she would keep it a secret; but if something was genuinely diagnosed, she wouldn't dare keep it from Luan.

Her phone vibrated. It was a call from Yu Meng. Yu Jia answered it, and her complexion instantly changed drastically. She hurried into the imaging department, where Luan's mother was currently preparing and donning a radiation-proof vest.

Yu Jia said, "Mom, a friend has an urgent matter. It's not far, I'll go and come right back."