The Vanishing Beauty - Chapter 2 - 9

Chapter 2 - 9

Kang Long arrived right on time, bringing a box of wife cakes.

The moment Yu Meng heard the name of the pastry, she whispered teasingly to Yu Rui, "Heh... wife cakes... going looking for a wife..."

She thought he was being stingy.

Yu Meng purposely asked, "Didn't you bring any chestnuts?"

Kang Long answered earnestly, "The new crop isn't out yet."

Yu Shuang instructed him to sit on the sofa and not wander around.

True to her word, Kang Long sat right there on the sofa, not moving an inch.

In the middle of it all, he took two phone calls. He went over to the doorway to take them, talking for twenty minutes straight. The three women were busy bustling about in the kitchen.

While working with her hands, Yu Meng turned her head toward Yu Shuang and said, "Hey, his presentation isn't bad."

Yu Shuang mocked, "That's all he has left is presentation—a total wooden goose."

Yu Meng remarked, "That's good, easy to control."

Yu Shuang retorted, "I'm no fascist; I don't control anyone."

Knowing that Yu Shuang was accustomed to being waited on by others, Yu Meng said, "Oh, come on. Who doesn't know you're a career woman, a powerhouse? Finding a man means he naturally has to put up with you more, otherwise how would it even work?" She let out a scoff.

Yu Rui remained silent, peeling scallions and listening. She looked exceptionally pretty today.

Kang Long brought the wife cakes in and offered them to the ladies. Since her hands were dirty, Yu Rui said she didn't want any. Finding the festive connotation strange, Yu Shuang brushed it off, saying she would eat some later.

Smiling at Kang Long, Yu Meng said, "You eat them, you eat them. We're afraid of gaining weight and don't eat sweets." Finding no takers for his sales pitch, Kang Long had no choice but to carry the plate back out. Fearing he was far too idle and would get bored, Yu Meng told Yu Shuang to send him out to take out the trash. More than happy to oblige, Kang Long scooped up the bag and headed down the stairs. The moment he stepped out the door, Yu Meng noticed another bag of trash sitting right beneath the cutting board table. The instruction he received was to grab that one, so even with this one right in front of his eyes, he hadn't seen it. He had zero initiative.

Yu Shuang cursed under her breath. Yu Meng consoled her, saying that intellectuals were all like that, it wasn't a major issue, and as long as you had money to hire a nanny, it would be fine. Yu Shuang complained petulantly, "Who said anything about going that far with him? Sister Meng, you're in more of a rush than my mom."

The casual mention of their late mother caused Yu Shuang to sink into a sudden wave of desolation. To this day, she still couldn't bring herself to believe that Mom was gone. Although she had a younger brother, having him around was barely better than nothing; first, he lived far away, second, he had already started his own family and established his career, and third, given the state of her sister-in-law's family, Yu Shuang felt compelled to distance herself from them.

As a result, she felt even more isolated and alone in spirit.

Fortunately, she had Meng and Rui to keep her company. In truth, the aspect of Kang Long that made Yu Shuang uncomfortable was precisely what Meng and Rui had analyzed—he didn't pander to her. Naturally, he didn't squeeze her out either; he was like a tree, taking root wherever the seed happened to land. Deeply rooted, he was extremely difficult to move. Yu Shuang attributed this to a rather subtle form of male chauvinism, yet paradoxically, she was a female chauvinist herself. It was just that her brand of female dominance wasn't thorough—all "stern on the outside, weak on the inside." For half her life, she had never learned how to manage a household; she possessed an excess of unyielding strength, but lacked softness.

With the pork ribs steaming on the stove, the three girlfriends crawled out of the kitchen, finally able to catch a break. Raising their eyes, they saw Kang Long holding his phone horizontally in one hand and pinching a wife cake in the other, eating and smiling at the same time. Yu Rui pursed her lips and drew in a breath. Yu Meng muttered, "He went ahead and ate them himself." Instantly flaring up, Yu Shuang moved to step forward and give him a piece of her mind. It was humiliating! Loss of face! What kind of behavior was this? Weren't the wife cakes supposed to be a small gift? They hadn't eaten any, yet he had no shame in helping himself! There weren't that many bought to begin with! What was he doing, feeding a cat?

Maintaining the bigger picture and fearing that a scene from Shuang would look ugly and ruin any chance of eating dinner later, Yu Meng grabbed Yu Shuang by the arm. "Forget it, forget it. Weren't they bought to be eaten anyway? Whoever eats them is the same, as long as they aren't wasted." Yu Rui chimed in with words of persuasion. Bitterly, Yu Shuang spat, "He stuffed all those doctoral studies right into his stomach, yet his parents never taught him any manners!" Yu Meng had originally wanted to throw in a sarcastic remark—something about how his mother had just passed away—but fearing it would trigger Shuang, she swallowed the words right back down before they left her lips.

"Lift the table!" Yu Shuang walked over, her voice raised significantly.

Kang Long didn't feel like he was being attacked at all. Patting his hands clean, he methodically went to find the table, methodically lifted it, looking utterly blank. Yu Rui quickly stepped over to lend a hand. Yu Shuang held him back, intentionally leaving him to handle it alone. Kang Long tried a few different postures, none of which made the table easy to lift; when he tried dragging it forcefully, he worried he would scratch the wooden floor.

With no other choice, he turned around to ask for help. "Can I get a hand?"

"Now you realize things aren't done by just one person," Yu Shuang quipped.

Yu Meng slapped her on the back. "Stop saying those useless things."

"Meals aren't eaten by just one person either," Yu Shuang added, stepping closer.

Kang Long uttered an "oh." Working together, the three of them carried the table to the exact center of the living room. Yu Meng went to check on the ribs, and Yu Rui followed her. Only Yu Shuang and Kang Long remained in the living room.

"What else needs to be done?" Kang Long asked with his usual good temper.

Yu Shuang had originally intended to stay angry, but looking at Kang Long's handsome and innocent face, her fierce momentum gradually fizzled out. The ignorant are not guilty. He didn't look like he was doing it on purpose either. He was simply that kind of person—well past thirty years old, yet still completely devoid of domestic initiative, especially when it came to household chores.

He only knew how to study chestnuts.

In the kitchen, Yu Meng and Yu Rui whispered and snickered amongst themselves, reaching a unanimous consensus: the most interesting thing about Kang Long was his sheer "blockish" density.

Out of all the myriad things in the world, what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over.

Past noon, Yu Jia and Bai Yuankai still hadn't arrived. Yu Meng called both of them separately to check on their status. The four people at home decided to start eating first. Seating arrangements required strategy: Yu Meng placed Yu Shuang and Kang Long on the north side, while she and Yu Rui took the south.

They started with soup. It was figwort and chicken soup, with red goji berries floating on top, looking like it had traveled across oceans.

The four of them remained silent, heads bowed as each drank their own. To prepare for Yuankai's arrival, Yu Rui had applied lipstick with extra care; though the color was quite pale, once she started drinking soup, it inevitably left a tiny smudge along the edge of the white porcelain spoon.

With his sharp eyes, Kang Long pointed it out immediately. "You smeared it!" Flustered, Yu Rui quickly muttered an apology, used a tissue to give her mouth a simple wipe, and then stood up to head to the restroom to fix it.

Yu Shuang shot him a fierce glare.

Completely oblivious, Kang Long seemed to notice nothing at all. Seeing this, Yu Meng laughed and said, "You have to use technique." She had ample practical experience in this arena. As she spoke, she scooped up a spoonful of soup, blew on it gently, and once it cooled slightly, opened her mouth, guided the entire spoon inside, tipped it, and let the chicken soup slide down her throat in one smooth gulp.

"Safe," Yu Meng said, waving her spoon with a triumphant air.

"Can you even taste the flavor that way?" Kang Long pointed out for a second time. "Your taste buds are on your tongue."

Yu Meng froze. Yu Shuang stared daggers at him. Wearing a blindfold of utter density, Kang Long continued expounding on his grand theories. "Besides, that's not elegant enough. Your mouth looked a bit... large."

That very last sentence was what truly left Yu Meng dumbstruck. From childhood on, who hadn't praised Yu Meng for having a cherry-like mouth? How on earth did she transform into a blood-surged basin of a maw in this man's mouth? Inexplicable! Outrageous! Ph.D. holders really are built differently; hmph, a deity breaking wind—truly out of the ordinary.

Noticing Sister Meng's complexion turning foul, Yu Shuang scolded Kang Long, "What do you know about beauty!" Yu Rui returned to her seat. Taking it all in stride with his expression completely unchanged, Kang Long continued eating and drinking.

"Nature is beauty; this way of yours is best," he said.

Yu Shuang opened her mouth to argue back, but Yu Meng cut her off. "Alright, let's eat."

The opening act hadn't gone smoothly. For a moment, the four of them had no idea what topics to chat about. Even social butterflies like Yu Meng and Yu Rui found that dealing with a man like Kang Long was like picking flowers inside a thorn bush—there was simply no way to get a grip on him.

With no other choice, Yu Meng tried to draw him out. "What do you think of our Shuang?"

"Pretty good," he replied. "I like her a lot."

Yu Shuang felt a tinge of embarrassment. She was rarely praised like this right to her face. The last time she had been complimented like that was when she secured a massive order in Hainan, and the general manager praised her for fighting even harder than the male employees.

"What do you like about her?" Yu Meng was determined to get a definitive answer out of him.

Blushing prettily, Yu Shuang chided, "Sister!" Yu Rui maintained her smile. With her lipstick wiped off, she looked rather pale.

"She's relatively..." He paused for two seconds to consider. "Rigid."

Whoa! What a meticulously selected vocabulary word.

"Rigid?" Yu Meng questioned.

Yu Shuang wasn't very pleased, even though her entire being was forged from unyielding iron.

"Refreshing," he corrected himself, swapping for a new word.

That sounded somewhat more comfortable.

"Crisp, breezy, and bold," he continued describing her. "She just doesn't have all that superficial affectation typical of ordinary women." He separated her from ordinary women. Yu Shuang felt satisfied. Meng and Rui remained unimpressed. They finished the soup and moved on to the main meal. Neither Yu Meng nor Yu Rui started any new conversations, leaving only the sound of news broadcasting from the television to fill the living room.

Yu Meng felt that a man like Kang Long was fundamentally an unrefined piece of stubborn iron; without undergoing the tempering of the three-samadhi spiritual fire that women provided, he was destined never to amount to much. He was also like a dish that could only be blanched in plain water, retaining forever just one single flavor—it wasn't that he lacked masculine charm, but rather that it was far too singular. He lacked romantic flair. As it happened, Yu Shuang lacked romantic flair as well. Two blind turtles meeting on a log, perhaps they really were a match made in heaven.

Once the meal concluded, Yu Rui asked if they should clear the dishes. Yu Meng figured Sister Jia and Yuankai wouldn't eat much even if they arrived now, so she told her to clear them away and brew a pot of tea. Truly finding themselves bored out of their minds, the group decided to play mahjong. Kang Long issued a prior disclaimer stating that he didn't know how to play.

"You've studied up to a Ph.D., and you don't even know how to play mahjong?" Yu Shuang rebuked.

"You can play as soon as you know the rules," Yu Meng said.

Kang Long reluctantly agreed to keep them company.

They had barely played a single round when Yu Jia and Bai Yuankai arrived simultaneously. At the doorway, the two of them engaged in polite modesty, each yielding to the other. Yuankai recognized Yu Jia, but Yu Jia didn't remember Yuankai.

Smiling, Yuankai said, "You're Yu Jia."

"And you are?"

"Bai Yuankai."

The connection was made. The famous name clicked into place.

"You were the one collecting money at the door on the day of the funeral."

"I've heard Xiaohuang mention you before—young and accomplished."

Without a hint of false modesty, Yuankai accepted the compliment with a slight nod of his head.

Locked in an intense battle, the other four were too busy to spare them any attention. However, the moment Bai Yuankai arrived, Yu Rui suddenly realized her makeup had faded. Using every excuse in the book, she begged Yu Jia to substitute for her at the table for a little while, lying that she needed to visit the restroom so she could secretly reapply her makeup.

"I really don't know how to play," Yu Jia protested truthfully.

"Just have Brother Bai help guide you," Yu Rui suggested.

"I don't understand it very well either," Bai Yuankai said, standing off to the side.

"Someone who works with big data doesn't know how to play mahjong?" Yu Meng expressed utter disbelief.

Yu Jia tried to stand up to yield her seat to Yuankai, but Yuankai was only willing to stand behind her. With three players missing one, they had no choice but to keep going. Yu Shuang treated wins and losses with the utmost gravity, playing cards as if facing an impending enemy. When she won, she was jubilant; when she lost, she wailed aloud. Kang Long, on the other hand, maintained absolute serenity; wins and losses were all the same to him, leaving no trace on his face. As money changed hands back and forth across the table, it seemed to have virtually nothing to do with him.

Yu Jia drew a seven of tubes. Her hand already had a formed set with the five, six, and seven of tubes, making an extra one useless. Holding it with her slender, delicate fingers, she hesitated, wondering whether to discard it. Yu Meng hurried her, "Throw it!" Scanning the layout of the table, Yuankai reached out his hand to block her move. His fingers brushed lightly across the back of her hand, feeling slightly cool. Taking charge, he dismantled a north wind tile pair instead. Without questioning him, Yu Jia glanced back at him once. Yuankai smiled.

I'll trust him once, Yu Jia thought. Two turns later, a four of tubes was drawn, and Yu Jia actually found herself waiting on a ready hand. She needed either a four or a seven of tubes to win. When Yu Meng failed to draw the seven of tubes, she had no choice but to discard the four. The moment she threw it out, Yu Jia declared victory.

Yu Meng grumbled, "Aigoo, Xiaobai is using big data against us, that's unfair, completely unfair."

Laughing softly, Bai Yuankai kept his mouth shut.

Yu Rui returned with her lipstick reapplied and powder touched up, radiating brilliance. Immersed entirely in their game, Yu Shuang and Kang Long didn't even notice. Only Yu Meng, multitasking with a split focus, spotted the subtle magic at work. Seeing Yuankai stationed behind the chair as tactical advisor, Yu Rui prepared to reclaim her seat. Since Yu Jia disliked competitive games anyway, she gladly stepped aside and seated herself quietly behind her.

With Yuankai sitting right beside her, Yu Rui suddenly felt as though she had been injected with a shot of confidence, playing with enormous enthusiasm and flair. From time to time, she swept a sidelong glance at Yuankai, feeling a warm contentment bloom in her chest. Yu Meng won the first game. Afterwards, Yu Shuang and Kang Long each won a hand. Intending to show off her skills right in front of Yuankai, Yu Rui grew anxious; the more anxious she got, the worse her plays became, landing her miles away from a ready hand. Strangely enough, the moment Yu Rui took over the seat, Bai Yuankai stopped offering tactical guidance, keeping his lips firmly sealed. Winning several consecutive rounds through self-drawn tiles, Kang Long racked up his victories in complete silence. What a cold-faced assassin!

Yu Rui's treasury was hitting rock bottom, and a fine layer of sweat coated her forehead. When she looked back again, Yu Jia and Bai Yuankai were no longer standing behind her. The two of them were facing the television, chatting softly in their own world as if no one else was around.