The Vanishing Beauty - Chapter 3 - 2

Chapter 3 - 2

After confirming their romantic relationship with Shi Tongguang, Yu Rui discovered that this man's romantic history was not nearly as rich as she had imagined.

His glibness was innate. After listening to it for a long time, you would understand that worldly sophistication is something that comes after thirty. She found that this person was essentially quite barren, even dull. Yu Rui boldly guessed that Shi Tongguang had probably never loved passionately (and how many people actually have?).

Catching the wave of urban redevelopment and demolition, his family acquired property on the spot and he obtained his first pot of gold. Then, a few friends he used to hang out with in the streets opened a housekeeping company, earning him another sum. After that, they opened a Luosifen rice noodle shop, which provided a steady, long-term trickle of income. Now he lived off dividends—those few shell companies of his were even more idle than Yu Meng's company.

Shi Tongguang was born in the right place and caught the right era, but back in his twenties, probably not many girls would have favored him. Therefore, by the time he reached thirty, he had an exceptional need to date a girl like Yu Rui to make up for his missing youth.

Yu Rui moved out from Yu Shuang's place and rented a place in a satellite city with Shi Tongguang. The rent was naturally covered by Shi, building a little love nest. Yu Rui loved cats, and Shi Tongguang managed to get three. Yu Rui went out early and returned late, while Shi Tongguang played the house-husband. When he didn't feel like cooking, he would pick up Yu Rui to go eat outside. Whenever Yu Rui had business dinners, he would definitely go to pick her up. Back then, he had mocked Yu Yi for riding an electric scooter to wait at the hotel entrance. He was laughing at the fifty steps while having run a hundred himself—it was the exact same thing, or even worse, except the electric scooter had been replaced by a car.

Yu Rui felt that Shi Tongguang kept too tight a leash on her. But she could understand him. He had a sense of insecurity. If she hadn't been exhausted from the hustle and bustle of the metropolis and wanted to find a harbor, he probably wouldn't have had a fate with her.

Of course Yu Rui had been in relationships before, with Huang Qi and with Zu Liangcai. Although their situations varied, there were elements of purity in all of them. Because they had all invested genuine emotions, even as times changed and things passed, they remained friends. However, what Yu Rui found a bit hard to take was that Shi Tongguang treated romance far too much like romance. Having never experienced it before, he couldn't help but exert excessive force now. Shi Tongguang wished he could be with her twenty-four hours a day. Clinging to her. And he was exceptionally suspicious; although he tried his best to restrain it through self-cultivation, it still showed from time to time—like a dog occasionally baring its teeth and revealing its fangs. On one hand, Yu Rui found it troublesome, but on the other hand, she felt a bit of pity for Shi Tongguang. The land had been in a drought for far too long, and having finally encountered sweet rain, she felt as though there was a mouth sucking on her. Greedily.

Of course, Old Shi was not stingy when it came to money. The second week after announcing they were together, he started sending gifts—bags, a car, stopping just short of a house. With Shi around, Yu Rui was much more relaxed financially. However, she also didn't wish to spend Shi Tongguang's money too recklessly. She was entering this relationship with marriage in mind. She was cultivating Shi as a good marriage candidate.

A bit older than herself. Not too handsome. Not poor, but doesn't need to be immensely wealthy. From a normal family. Parents who can lend a hand a little bit. Preferably a local, with some foundation. Having read a few books, but not too many. Complex in thought, but simple toward her. Magnanimous.

Above.

Yu Rui felt she could handle such a man. And thereby initiate her ideal married life.

At eleven o'clock at night, Shi Tongguang's car was parked by the roadside. Yu Rui walked out of the hotel, got into the car, and fastened her seatbelt. In the past, whenever she got into the car, she would always say a word of apology. After doing it many times, she stopped being overly polite. Shi Tongguang didn't speak, and the car started moving. He turned on the music. It was Joe Hisaishi, whom Yu Rui liked.

"Turn it off," Yu Rui said, her head aching. After a chaotic day, listening to any music right now was redundant.

"Why bother?" Shi Tongguang suddenly said.

Yu Rui didn't reply. She looked at her phone, where the group chat was sending photos taken at the gathering.

"It's basically earning money just to buy medicine."

By the time Shi Tongguang uttered his second sentence, Yu Rui already understood his core idea. He had always hoped she wouldn't go out to work. It was just that in the past, he had never tried to persuade her so overtly. This could be considered the first time he brought it up head-on. It wasn't that Yu Rui hadn't thought about it—work was indeed tiring, but having just started dating Shi, she couldn't possibly throw all her time at him right away; that was too risky. Besides, she had to put on an attitude. Even if she resigned, it had to be because he begged her to. Only then would spending his money in the future feel fully justified.

Shi Tongguang continued, "Tell me, is there any fun left in doing this job?"

Nonsense, what job has fun? No matter how fun something is, once it becomes a job, it loses its amusement.

"Seeing you like this makes me distressed, it breaks my heart, I wish I... I wish I could go drink instead!" Shi Tongguang was a bit agitated, "I wish..."

He wished he could tear those men to pieces.

He was jealous. He was a male animal.

Yu Rui said, "Isn't earning money just like this?" Her tone carried helplessness.

"I'll pay your salary, I'll give you living expenses, let's just not work, alright?" Finally, they reached the main point.

Yu Rui smiled. "Wouldn't that make me kept?"

"Why put it so harshly? I'm your man, and you're my woman. Isn't this how it should be?"

"What I earn from this job is quite a lot."

"I'll double it for you!" It seemed Shi Tongguang had planned this out long ago.

Accompanying a group of men was worse than accompanying one man.

"That still won't work," Yu Rui intentionally pushed back. "Work isn't just for money; it's also for a sense of accomplishment."

"Don't you want to act?"

"I used to think about it."

"An artist, why must you find a job to trap yourself?" Shi Tongguang advised. "If there's a good show, you take it, and I'll act as your manager and assistant. When there's no show, you rest at home. Isn't that nice?"

"Nice?"

"Nice. Rest up, take care of your three cats, and if you keep getting this tired, you'll age." Shi Tongguang said casually.

Yu Rui gave a start. Age? She couldn't afford to age right now. Before her life was stable, she had to stay young. These words hit right where it hurt.

Returning to their residence, Yu Rui took a shower. Shi Tongguang also stripped off his clothes and came in. Clearly, he wanted to shower together. Yet Yu Rui felt this was simply an interruption. She needed to wash her hair, and squeezing together in the shower was far too inconvenient. Shi Tongguang embraced her from behind, and Yu Rui pushed him away. Something was pressing against her. Oh no. She felt a bit sick to her stomach.

"No," she turned off the shower and said seriously.

Shi Tongguang looked somewhat aggrieved. "Doesn't it always go like that in the films..." Yu Rui hated hearing that line the most. She had repeatedly told him before that films were films, and real life was real life. They were two completely different things! You found a girlfriend, not an adult film actress. Yet Shi Tongguang always liked to equate films with real life. For instance, the one question Shi Tongguang invariably asked every single time they had "fried rice" happened to be the one Yu Rui deeply loathed—"Why aren't you calling out?"

Yu Rui would symbolically cry out twice just to finish the task. What on earth was this, what kind of act was she playing?! In ordinary life, where did all that drama come from? Did he really take himself for the male lead? She'd had enough, absolutely enough!

The water spray cascaded down. Shi Tongguang stepped forward to try one more time.

Yu Rui's face darkened. "I'm very tired."

"Alright, alright..." Shi Tongguang looked a bit displeased and walked out naked.

Before Yu Meng moved out, she had a heart-to-heart talk with Yu Shuang. The core message: she advised Yu Shuang to live together with Kang Long earlier and give it a try. "Since you're both heading toward marriage anyway, going straight to the point is best. If you can get along under one roof, you can consider getting a marriage certificate and buying insurance."

Yu Shuang didn't understand. "Buying what insurance?"

Yu Meng reminded her, "Didn't he say he'd write your name as the insurance beneficiary?"

Ahem, her older sister still remembered that detail.

Yu Shuang said, "That's no good, we don't know each other inside and out enough yet."

Yu Meng retorted, "How much better do you want to know each other? Xiao Bai recommended him. His person, his work, his elderly mother down in the fields—you've met all of them. What more do you need to know? Right now, what you need is to accelerate your understanding. Just treat it as cohabiting, you rent out a place to him." Yu Shuang thought this actually sounded like a way forward. However, she still felt it somewhat violated their "fairness principle."

"Always having him come to my place isn't good."

Yu Meng had never seen such a dense girl and grew anxious. "Then you alternate! He comes to stay at your place for a few days, and you go stay at his place for a few days. How much freshness will that add." Yu Shuang pondered and finally admitted this was a good way to advance the relationship, but she also felt that this shouldn't be brought up by her. Yu Meng said, "I'll bring it up for you! Fine! Honestly, if I gave birth to a daughter who turned out like you, I'd die of anger."

Everything went smoothly. Yu Meng brought it up, and Kang Long didn't think it was a big problem. He explicitly stated that he and Yu Shuang were heading straight toward marriage. Moving in together to grind and smooth out differences first was, from a scientific research perspective, equivalent to breeding a new variety, which was very necessary. Once the breeding succeeded, it could be promoted on a large scale. However, in private, Yu Shuang and Kang Long reached a consensus: they could live together, but for the time being, they would not share the same room and bed.

Both sides entered cohabitation starting from a point of treating each other as equals. Neither owed the other anything. Yu Meng's small apartment had one unit reclaimed, so she had to move out. However, she had many clothes temporarily stored at Shuang's place. Shuang's apartment was large, so she would slowly come back to sort them out later. Kang Long "inherited" Yu Meng's room. Yu Shuang instructed him, "Don't open the big cabinet." Inside were all sorts of Yu Meng's "magic treasures." Kang Long responded with an "Oh."

"You don't have any bad habits, do you?" Yu Shuang asked.

"Which aspect?"

"Eating, drinking, whoring, gambling, smoking; cheating, swindling, scamming, and stealing."

"I drink a little bit occasionally."

"Approved," Yu Shuang said, "but moderation in all things."

"Understood!" Kang Long made a Qing Dynasty court greeting bow.

Yu Shuang laughed. "Are you imitating Kangxi or Qianlong? Mr. Kang Long."

Kang Long replied, "I'm imitating Er Kang."

Yu Shuang turned her head away and tossed back a remark, "Too bad I'm not Ziwei."

"Being Little Swallow is fine too."

Yu Shuang suddenly turned back, making a pinching gesture. "Once you enter this room, if you behave, I'm Little Swallow; if you don't behave, I'm Nanny Rong!"

Whoa! Kang Long loved this kind of versatile, fiery mare.