The Vanishing Beauty - Chapter 9 - 6
Chapter 9 - 6
"You really said that?" Yu Shuang's eyes widened.
"At the time... circumstances were urgent..." he explained.
"You're playing for keeps?" Yu Shuang still found it hard to believe.
Bai Yuankai smiled, tacitly confirming it.
Yu Shuang drew in a sharp breath. She had always been bold in her actions, but Yuankai's stunt still shocked her. The rival wasn't some minor princess from a small foreign nation; it was Sister Jia, Sister Jia! A widowed, middle-aged woman busy toiling away in a restaurant!
"This isn't child's play," Yu Shuang chided him. "You can take the hit, but Sister Jia might not be able to. Tread carefully." Yuankai quickly assured her that he was being entirely careful, which was why they were handling things with deliberate ambiguity for now. After a moment, once she had calmed down a bit, Yu Shuang continued, "Old Bai, if you've thought it through and made up your mind, I'll support you no matter what you do. But I'm just worried about Sister Jia getting hurt. At our age, you stake everything you have on this one throw; there's no room to lose."
This was her genuine sentiment. Her refusal of Kang Long was also born from the feeling that she couldn't afford to lose.
"What you're saying amounts to opposition." Yuankai's reading comprehension was top-tier.
"I'm just afraid you'll regret it."
With a wistful sigh, Bai Yuankai murmured, "Emotions... sometimes you just can't analyze them too closely."
"When you're talking about romance, you don't need to think; the moment you step into marriage, you have to think it through," Yu Shuang said earnestly.
"She's dodging me right now," Yuankai said.
"If I were her, I'd dodge you too."
"Why?"
"The pressure," Yu Shuang said, leaning back in her chair and stretching lazily. "To date someone like you, a person needs an immense amount of courage."
"Am I some kind of monster?" Yuankai teased.
"A giant monster," Yu Shuang chuckled.
"Are you speaking for yourself, or representing everyone else's feelings?" he pressed on.
"I represent Sister Jia, and I represent our female compatriots. You're just too outstanding; there's no sense of security."
Yuankai disagreed. "Shouldn't people strive to be outstanding?"
Yu Shuang sighed. "Not many people buy luxury goods, and not many people buy defective items either; most folks choose mid-range products. That's the mainstream."
"Are you mid-range?" Yuankai asked.
"Nonsense," Yu Shuang retorted indignantly. "Naturally high-end, luxurious, and one of a kind in this world."
The two of them traded a few more bantering remarks. Yuankai asked Yu Shuang how things had been going with Kang Long lately. Casually, Yu Shuang said they were just the same as always.
Yuankai mentioned that it seemed his father's health hadn't been very good lately.
"Is that true?" Yu Shuang tensed up.
"I heard he was hospitalized. I wanted to go, but Old Kang wouldn't let me." Yuankai left it at that. After they parted ways, Yu Shuang's heart fluttered restlessly; something felt off. She tried calling Kang Long, but his phone was powered off. Exhaling a breath, Yu Shuang hailed a cab and headed straight to Kang Long's place.
Night had already fallen.
Looking up, Yu Shuang saw that the lights were on in Kang Long's apartment.
She went upstairs and knocked on the door: thump, thump, thump.
A middle-aged or elderly woman opened the door. Yu Shuang braked hard, offered her greetings, and said she was looking for Kang Long. The woman was very calm. "Xiao Kang is not here."
"Do you know when he'll be back?"
"And you are?"
"His friend," Yu Shuang said hastily, adding, "A good friend."
The woman invited her in to sit for a bit. Without standing on ceremony, Yu Shuang followed her into the living room. How familiar she was with this place! Not long ago, she had been right here busy trying to make babies with Kang Long... And yet, the seas had turned into mulberry fields... The woman bustled off to pour tea. Left alone in the living room, Yu Shuang looked around aimlessly.
Suddenly, she spotted a portrait resting on a small table in the corner—it was in black and white, flanked by offerings of fruit piled up like a small mountain. She stepped closer to take a look.
Chairman Kang was gazing down at her from the photograph.
Yu Shuang felt as though a thunderclap had exploded right above her head; her face contorted from overwhelming shock. As the woman returned to the living room with the tea, Yu Shuang pointed at the photo, entirely speechless. Sighing, the woman said, "His passing was relatively peaceful."
Yu Shuang could barely keep her balance and had to steady herself by grabbing the edge of the table.
Chairman Kang had passed away? When did this happen? Why hadn't anyone notified her? How could this be? Why?! Why do good people not live long lives?! Why?! Right in front of the woman, Yu Shuang lost her composure and broke down in bitter, wailing tears.
The train sped relentlessly down the tracks. Yu Shuang couldn't stop her tears from flowing. Chairman Kang had died of pancreatic cancer—it was all too fast, the progression from onset to death was far too rapid. Yet, no matter how fast it was, there had been enough time for her to come visit and see him off; why hadn't anyone told her? Fine, was Kang Long angry with her? Was Chairman Kang going along with the foolishness too? On second thought, Chairman Kang seemed to have had his reasons for refusing to see her. She had broken his son's heart, and by extension broken his heart as well. Yu Shuang suddenly understood why Chairman Kang had repeatedly come to "propose marriage," pushing her to marry Kang Long—chances were that he had already known about his own diagnosis back then. The poor old man had simply hoped to see his son enter into marriage before he departed for the other world! Yet his pride hadn't allowed him to confess the truth. Standing before Yu Shuang, could he possibly have said, "I'm dying, so marry my son"? And yet, because of this, what was left for Yu Shuang was a bottomless pit of regret. She could have gotten married! She could have! Getting married was easier than dying! She could have done it! But now it was all too late.
A small bridge over flowing water. Before the entrance of the old Luan family residence, Yu Shuang gazed around anxiously. That auntie had told her that Kang Long was escorting his father's ashes back to his ancestral hometown, and that he would likely be staying there for a while. Yu Shuang crossed the threshold and stepped inside. Kang Long happened to be walking out. Spotting him, she called out his name. He acted as though he hadn't heard her and briskly kept walking away.
She gave chase. He picked up his pace.
"Kang Long!" she shouted, her voice laced with anguish.
He had no intention of acknowledging her and kept right on walking.
"Stop right there!" she yelled louder.
A small boat glided across the canal. Kang Long nimbly stepped aboard, and Yu Shuang hurried after him, leaping down onto the wooden slats of the boat. The craft rocked violently, prompting the boatwoman to quickly steady the hull with her oar. Kang Long headed toward the bow, and Yu Shuang followed closely behind.
"Will you stop clinging like a piece of chewed-up bubble gum!" he snapped in anger.
He rarely ever got like this.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Yu Shuang was still panting heavily.
"It's none of your business," he said with finality.
"Even so, some matters are different!"
"My dad didn't want to see you, and he forbade anyone from telling you."
Yu Shuang froze in her tracks. It was Chairman Kang who had forbidden it. Just because she had refused to get married?
In one breath, Kang Long blurted out, "We're impossible! We're never getting married, we'll never have kids, we'll never have a family, we'll never have anything at all! What right do you have to come mourn him?! What right do you have to share this pain?!"
"I'm willing!" she cried out, her back arched and her neck strained.
"Well, I'm not!" Kang Long retorted. "I'm sick and tired of this muddy, ambiguous mess! My dad wasn't willing either!"
Clenching her teeth, Yu Shuang declared, "We'll get married—tomorrow, no, today! Today is a lucky day." Seeking validation, she looked around, her eyes catching the boatwoman's. With an awkward, fawning smile, the boatwoman immediately chimed in, "A lucky day... it is a lucky day..."
With his mood still heavily subdued, Kang Long said, "Save your charity; I don't need it." In the past, he had hated Chairman Kang—hated him for abandoning him and his mother at a young age, hated him for failing to fulfill his responsibilities as a father all these years, hated his coarseness, his ruthlessness, his domineering nature, and his megalomania. But when the time actually came for his father to leave this world—when his physical existence was extinguished—he discovered just how deeply he had loved him. He also finally understood the torment Yu Shuang had experienced back then. In the past, he used to jokingly refer to himself as an orphan. Well, now he was truly, completely an orphan. So let him be left alone to live out the rest of his wretched life.
"Do you not love me anymore?" Yu Shuang asked, mustering up her courage.
With a faint, detached tone, Kang Long replied, "Between the two of us, love has been gone for a long time."
"What even is love?! Is love really that important?"
"Are you done here?"
"Can we start over, please?" Yu Shuang pleaded. Suddenly remembering the roasted chestnuts in sugar she had brought from the big city—Kang Long's absolute favorite—she hurriedly pulled them out of her bag, chattering away as she fished them out. "Look at these, from Baoding prefecture—small in size, but sweet. They just came into season, you couldn't find wild-harvested ones like this anywhere..." She rambled on incessantly.
The boat arrived at a small dock, and Kang Long stepped ashore first. Yu Shuang rushed to follow. The boatwoman grabbed her sleeve. "Young lady, you haven't paid yet." Yu Shuang had no choice but to pay up. When she looked up again, Kang Long had already vanished without a trace. Handing the bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts to the boatwoman, Yu Shuang leapt onto the bank.