The Vanishing Beauty - Chapter 3 - 9

Chapter 3 - 9

Entrusted by others, she was loyal to the task. With the concert hall almost entirely emptied out, Yu Meng remained at her post, determined to run this event flawlessly and brilliantly so as to showcase her capabilities to the utmost. On one hand, she needed to wrap things up with the hall staff; on the other, she had to move all the floral arrangements out to her car; and alongside all that, she did not forget to meticulously check every single seat in case any guests had left their personal belongings behind.

Returning any lost items on their behalf meant going back and forth—yet another opportunity for networking.

A staff member went to retrieve the final invoice, preparing to hand it over to Yu Meng.

The lights dimmed. The cleaning crew had not yet arrived.

With light, graceful steps, Yu Meng flipped up the seats one by one, humming softly to herself. It was Teresa Teng's "You Are in My Heart," sung in the melody of Faye Wong's cover version.

Suddenly, a dark silhouette appeared before her! Yu Meng let out a startled gasp.

Looking closely, she saw a large, huddled mass sitting in the front-row seats. It wasn't a ghost—it was a person.

"The show's over," Yu Meng called out toward him, gesturing for him to leave.

He looked precisely like the Phantom of the Opera.

The man turned his face and stood up, the faint ambient light from the entrance casting across his features.

Yu Meng was both startled and delighted.

It was Liangcai!

"Still not leaving?" Her tone was playful, her heart instantly settling.

"Waiting for someone."

"The Xin family has already left." She assumed he had been lingering for Mr. Xin.

"Waiting for someone else."

"Who?"

"You." Liangcai's voice was magnetic, deep, and full of strength.

He had sat waiting like a stump for a hare, lingering there for a long time.

Yu Meng giggled softly. After their previous dinner gathering, she had deliberately reduced her contact with him, playing hard-to-get. "Nothing better to do, are you? If you're so free, help me—" Before Yu Meng could finish her sentence, Zu Liangcai pressed forward out of the darkness, one arm wrapping around her waist from behind while the other grabbed her arm, his lips sealing tightly against hers.

Like Mount Tai pressing down from above, there was nowhere to escape.

Yu Meng was caught completely off guard, collapsing onto the seat as though Sun Wukong had been subdued by the Buddha's Five Finger Mountain. "Someone's here!" She finally managed to pull her mouth away. Liangcai kept pressing against her just the same. A member of the cleaning crew walked past them. The two of them stayed completely motionless, standing like soldiers in an ambush. Once the cleaner had walked away, the door to the emergency exit banged shut with a loud clatter.

Only then was the raging fire rekindled against the dry firewood.

They kissed for nearly a full minute.

A staff member called out for Teacher Yu, coming over to deliver the bill.

Yu Meng stood up in disarray. She quickly smoothed down her hair and clothing, then deliberately turned to Liangcai and instructed, "Go bring the car around."

"Understood, President Yu." Liangcai was exceptionally cooperative.

Ever since that kiss, Liangcai and Yu Meng could truly be said to have hit it off and connected on the same wavelength. That night was bound to be filled with unrestrained passion, an intoxicating whirlwind where the bounds of heaven and earth were forgotten. At their age, there was no need to act all coy and bashful.

They cut straight to the chase.

Liangcai originally intended to go to his own apartment, which was a bit remote, but Yu Meng refused, opting instead for a five-star hotel. She assured him he didn't need to check in; she would use her own ID card to open the room—which served as a form of protection for him. Having bottled up their desires for far too long, their intense battle of passion involved them body and soul. Yu Meng was thoroughly satisfied with Liangcai. In his early fifties, wielding the lingering momentum of his tiger-and-wolf years, he was still fully capable of waging war. Meanwhile, Liangcai felt that Yu Meng was exceptional, even surpassing his expectations. She was a fine woman. He regretted not meeting her fifteen years earlier—had they crossed paths back then, one of them would have been Lü Bu and the other Diaochan, a beauty matched with a hero. Still, it wasn't too late now.

To find a true confidant in life was satisfaction enough.

Waking up the next morning, Liangcai's eyes were heavy with sleep. Given his age, a night of romantic indulgence required physical stamina. The sound of a hair dryer drifted from the bathroom.

Yu Meng walked out barefoot, looking as light as a swallow. "Let's order some breakfast," he said tenderly.

"I have things to do, a meeting to attend," she lied intentionally.

She was clearly the number one idler in all the land.

"I'll be ready in a moment, let's go together."

"Aren't you afraid of being seen?" Yu Meng smiled.

"You're single, and I'm single. We have the freedom to date," he said, mustering his courage.

"Glad you understand. But I'm not your mistress."

Liangcai corrected her, "I've never had a mistress." He added, "A normal romance, an emotionally legitimate and reasonable need."

"That's not right either." Still wearing a smile, Yu Meng quickly threw on her clothes.

"What's not right about it?"

"Just because we spent a single night together doesn't mean we're dating." Not even giving Liangcai a chance to say anything more, Yu Meng finished putting on her shoes and declared, "See you around." With that, she genuinely walked out the door without once looking back.

Deep down, Yu Meng couldn't help but cheer for herself. Exactly, that was how it had to be—detached and unburdened. She couldn't behave like ordinary women, clinging and latching onto a man just because they had spent a night together. Her mindset had to be right: she wasn't the prey, she was the hunter. At this current stage, she needed to maintain her posture—the fish hadn't taken the bait firmly enough yet, so she mustn't haul the line in prematurely.

The most ideal state was Jiang Ziya fishing: those who wished to take the bait would hook themselves. Even a straight hook could catch a giant fish.

Yu Meng considered herself an expert on men—men loved the thrill of the chase, and unless you made them put in real effort, they would never learn to cherish what they had.

The game had only just begun.

In stark contrast, Yu Jia's night had been thoroughly miserable. From the moment they left the concert hall until they arrived home, Di Liren hadn't uttered a single word the entire way. The second they got home, he retreated straight into the study. They were sleeping in separate beds again. The following evening, when he returned home, he went right back to reading his copy of Das Kapital. Yu Jia had no idea what she had done wrong. Nothing she did was right—she couldn't do right for doing wrong; even the way she breathed or looked was deemed offensive.

Finally, she couldn't hold it in any longer. "Old Di, if you have any issues with me, you can just spell them out."

Di Liren lowered Das Kapital, finally revealing his full face. It drooped, dark and gloomy. Every time their daughter Sisi flipped through old photographs, she would remark that her dad's face had completely changed. 立人 remained silent. Yu Jia could only make excuses for her husband, "He's gained weight; everyone looks like this as they get older." Their daughter took it for truth. In reality, it was far more complex than mere weight gain. The face reflects the heart. As a person aged, their inner state could be read right across their visage. In the past, Liren's face had been handsome; now, it was heavy with a harsh, brooding aura. It was all driven by pressure—he thought too much, worried too much, and harbored too many ambitions. Yu Jia felt a pang of heartache for her husband.

"There's no need to hide anything from me," Liren said.

Yu Jia was taken aback.

Liren complained, "You didn't even mention knowing the Xin family."

Ah, so that was it. After going through the whole concert, Yu Jia had finally figured out one thing: everyone wanted to cozy up to the Xin family, and Liren was no exception. Yet she had merely been an auxiliary staff member helping out, totally disconnected from them.

Yu Jia could only explain, "I don't know them. Yu Meng knows them and asked me to help out. You weren't home, so I didn't tell you. It all happened just these past few days."

Liren remarked, "Yu Meng knew them and you didn't think to tell me earlier."

Yu Jia grew a bit displeased as well. "Why would she tell me who she knows?"

Liren remained silent. The pressure of living in a big city was immense. You wouldn't understand until you came here; only upon arrival did you realize how tangled and intricate the web of connections was. Everyone had someone they could rely on or cling to, leaving him isolated and unsupported. Back home, those veteran officials had instigated him to come, telling him he was young, promising, and should advance further. And Liren had indeed wanted to progress. Now he understood: those old men hadn't lacked the desire to come; they had lacked the courage. It was fine to hide away in their hometown and idle their days away, but here, if you didn't advance, you fell behind—you had no choice but to hack your way through the thorns.

Yu Jia sensed what was going on in Liren's mind. "I know you're working hard, but you need to be clear on why you came here in the first place. You came here to serve the people. Don't let your mind wander to other things; whatever is meant to be yours will be yours sooner or later, and whatever isn't yours is useless to wish for."

Liren felt that Yu Jia's words sounded like something his boss would say, or perhaps a high school civics teacher. "I don't need you telling me that!" Liren snapped in irritation.

"If things really don't work out, we can look for a chance to go back in the future. We can just live an ordinary life, what's wrong with that?" Yu Jia said from the bottom of her heart.

Yet those words stabbed deeply into Liren's pride. Go back? How could he go back? Go back demoted? Wouldn't that mean he, Di Liren, had tucked his tail between his legs and retreated? He'd go from a hero to a laughingstock if he wasn't mocked to his face! He couldn't become a deserter! Forward, forward, and keep moving forward!

"I feel like this is a pretty meaningless place, too..." Yu Jia mused aloud.

That was her genuine feeling. In a big city, everyone was constantly rushing about, and that invisible pressure was something the city imposed on you—it was the collective aura generated by everyone, the shared intent of tens of millions of people telling you that you had to succeed, that you could only succeed.

If you didn't succeed, you perished.

Yu Jia had never positioned her life's pursuit on becoming someone superior to others. When she first married Liren, he was still in a rural township, and her only thought had been that one day they could move to the city, buy an apartment, secure steady jobs, and let their child go to college. She had never imagined that wave after wave would push them forward until they ended up right here.

"Better if we hadn't..." Yu Jia lowered her head, holding a cleaning rag in her hand, preparing to wipe the table after dinner.

Thud! With a sharp bang, the teacup on the table practically bounced like it was on a trampoline.

"You're completely unreasonable!" Roaring these words, Di Liren whirled around and stormed back into the study.

Leaving Yu Jia standing there in a daze.

Their daughter Sisi shouted from her room, "Mom! Keep it down! I'm doing listening comprehension practice in here!"

It was all her fault. For no apparent reason, Yu Jia had once again become the target of everyone's ire.