Ye Meng sat up straight, no longer teasing him, and smiled: “That photo is nice. Send it to me; I want to use it as my social media background.”
“No.”
“What are you so shy about? You were speaking sweet nothings by the lake more smoothly than anyone. I’m the one admitting defeat.”
Li Jin Yu turned to look at her, silently staring for a while, then said coldly, “Fine, never again.”
“Don’t be like that, baby,” Ye Meng saw he was truly upset, unfastened her seatbelt, and leaned over to hook his neck, wanting to kiss him for a while. Li Jin Yu didn’t budge an inch, completely uncooperative, and even coldly turned his head away, appearing as if he didn’t want to be teased: “Fang Ya’en is here.”
Fang Ya’en did appear, carrying bags of all sizes, clanging and clattering like a scrap collector, with a half-grown boy in tow.
Li Jin Yu got out of the car to help her with the luggage. The child stood to the side, politely greeting him, “Hello, Brother Jin Yu.”
Li Jin Yu patted his head, while Ye Meng pretended to be jealous at the side, saying: “Why don’t you greet me?”
The child made a face at her, “Auntie Ye Meng.”
Ye Meng was furious, chasing after him to hit him, “You little brat, looking for trouble? Give me back the Transformer.”
Once they were in the car, the atmosphere finally settled down. Ye Meng looked at Fang Ya’en’s ashen face and lost the heart to joke. She glanced at Li Jin Yu before saying seriously: “Did you fight with Chen Jian because of me and Li Jin Yu?”
“Don’t flatter yourself.” Fang Ya’en’s face was not looking good.
“Then tell me why. Let me see if there’s any need for intervention,” Ye Meng said.
Fang Ya’en didn’t respond; she didn’t want to talk about these things in front of the child. Ye Meng was quite straightforward in her character and hadn’t considered that Jia Yu, in the back, had already reached an age where he understood everything.
Li Jin Yu, who hadn’t spoken until now, suddenly and discreetly picked up the conversation, saying calmly: “We’re out of gas. There’s a gas station ahead. Go fill up, and I’ll take Jia Yu to buy some snacks.”
Ye Meng looked down and saw he was right, immediately following his suggestion and making a turn. Jia Yu obediently followed Li Jin Yu out of the car. Ye Meng and Fang Ya’en sat in the car, watching the large and small figures gradually walk towards the convenience store at the entrance. Chen Jia Yu excitedly hopped ahead, while Li Jin Yu, tall and imposing, calmly followed behind, occasionally reaching out to stop him from falling. The yellow-green streetlights continuously stretched their shadows, and Ye Meng suddenly felt this scene was very heartwarming. If this were her and Li Jin Yu’s child, life would seem… complete?
“Li Jin Yu is very attentive,” Fang Ya’en suddenly said from behind. Looking at the two, for the first time she didn’t advise her friend to break it off once she got bored. Instead, she earnestly said, “In all my years of observing people, including when I was doing business in Guangdong, I’ve seen many wealthy and powerful fake gentlemen. He’s the most ungentlemanly gentleman I’ve ever met; his good upbringing is ingrained in his bones. Cherish him well; he might be a treasure.”
The pair had already gone inside, and through the glass, Ye Meng could see Li Jin Yu’s imposing head behind the tall shelves. Half-jokingly, she said: “If you really divorce Chen Jian, I’ll let you have him.”
“Don’t joke. You two might end up in each other’s hands,” Fang Ya’en looked at her with schadenfreude, saying, “Li Jin Yu isn’t as innocent as he appears.”
“He doesn’t look innocent on the surface either; he’s quite bad,” Ye Meng smiled and said, “To be honest, why did you fight with Chen Jian? Really because of me?”
Fang Ya’en concisely explained the cause and result, finally saying: “Actually, it has little to do with you. My marriage with Chen Jian had problems long ago. It’s also my fault for misjudging people. When I heard that man had gotten married, I hastily and confusedly got a marriage certificate with Chen Jian out of anger.”
Ye Meng listened quietly, then sighed, “It’s still because of me. During dinner, I sensed something was wrong. Chen Jian transferred his malice toward me onto Li Jin Yu. Every question he asked was meant to embarrass Li Jin Yu, who, considering my relationship with you, endured it repeatedly, answering everything asked. Li Jin Yu didn’t drop out of college; he withdrew because of depression. He’s very smart with an excellent memory. My boss, Gou Kai—you know him, right?—is a World Memory Championship winner, but I feel Li Jin Yu’s memory might be even better than my boss’s. The kind who remembers everything at a glance.”
The large and small figures were now coming out of the convenience store, and the gas had just been filled. Ye Meng drove over to them. “What are you planning to do next? If you want a divorce, Jia Yu will likely be given to Chen Jian, since he’s a civil servant. If you still want to continue living with him, as long as Chen Jian is a man worthy of your lifelong commitment, I can discuss the issue with him. I’m willing to kneel and apologize if necessary. But all evidence shows he’s a mama’s boy without responsibility, not worthy of anyone’s commitment.”
“What apology? You and Chen Jian have no conflict at all; you’ve been polite enough to him. To put it bluntly, the only reason he’s close to Ma Bu is to brown-nose Ma Bu’s father, so he joins Ma Bu in badmouthing you. I used to think he was honest and reliable, but I was blind. A marriage certificate is like a mirror that reveals monsters—men all act properly before marriage, but afterward, all sorts of demons show their true forms. I can’t live with him anymore, not just because of this time, but because of all these years—his laziness, his disregard for our marriage, his perfunctory attitude toward our child, and his lingering affection for other flowers and grasses out there. I’ve seen it all. I am going to divorce him, and I will fight desperately for custody of our child.”
Ye Meng didn’t try to persuade her further. The two sisters had always had an unspoken understanding, never interfering with each other’s decisions, only standing behind to cheer, even if wrong, bearing it together. Because neither of them had foresight, they truly didn’t know which path was right and which was wrong. Good friends simply mean that no matter which path you choose, even if it’s full of thorns, they quietly accompany each other to the end.
After dropping Fang Ya’en at the hotel, Ye Meng and Li Jin Yu sat in the car for a while. Ye Meng had the window open, one hand holding a cigarette resting outside. She took it back for a drag, exhaling pale white smoke with a pained expression: “In the future, if anyone interrogates you as Chen Jian did, just ignore them. Don’t compromise yourself. They all know that I value romance over friendship. If anyone upsets my boyfriend, none of us will have a good time.”
“When do you start work in the city?” Li Jin Yu completely ignored her.
“After the 10th, still waiting for official notice.”
Just as she spoke, her phone dinged once. Ye Meng fished it out of the armrest compartment and looked—her eyes nearly went black. Coincidentally, the message had just arrived. Ye Meng speechlessly held the phone up for him to see.
“Brother, are you some kind of prophet? The job notice I’ve been waiting for half a month comes as soon as you ask. Are you the devil or what?”
He looked at her speechlessly: “Weren’t you prepared for this all along? Why are you acting all mournful now?”
“What preparation? I was planning to sleep with you before going to work. Now they’re notifying me to report the day after tomorrow. So, should we find time to do it tonight or tomorrow night?” Ye Meng half-jokingly stubbed out her cigarette and teased him.
“Goddamn, I’ve had enough.” Li Jin Yu leaned his head back on the seat, glancing at her sideways, extremely helplessly turning to look out the window, cursing with a laugh.
Ye Meng drove home, stopping outside the apartment building. “Are you sure you don’t need me to drive you?”
Li Jin Yu sat in the passenger seat, somewhat sleepily mining with a nasal tone, “Go in. With your driving skills, the old man downstairs from my place is more stable on his tricycle. I’ll walk back later.”
Ye Meng nodded, unfastened her seatbelt, and as if remembering something, leaned over, “Kiss me.”
Li Jin Yu had been exhausted all day and was very tired. Seeing her smiling pleadingly at him, he leaned back in the passenger seat, head against the top, looking down at her for a while with drowsy eyes, as if shrouded in an impenetrable mist. He smiled perfunctorily and lowered his head to lightly touch her lips. “Satisfied?”
Ye Meng smiled triumphantly. After returning home, showering, and lying in bed, she sent Li Jin Yu a WeChat message.
By then, Li Jin Yu had just arrived home. His phone vibrated in his pocket, and WeChat sounded.
[Meng: Baby.] [LJY: Here.] [Meng: Baby baby baby.] [LJY: Tired, going to sleep.] [Meng: Let’s go see a movie tomorrow. I know there’s a private cinema in town with private rooms. Don’t worry, no surveillance cameras.] [LJY: Mmm.] [Meng: angry emoji Are you so economical with words when chatting with other girls too?]
After a while, Li Jin Yu didn’t bother to reply and directly sent a screenshot of his chat with another girl—
[Liu Yi Yi: Are you there?] [LJY: .?] [Liu Yi Yi: Is this Li Jin Yu?] [LJY: ?] [Liu Yi Yi: Do you remember me? I work at the bank. A new theater opened in the west part of town. Would you like to see a movie with me tomorrow?] [LJY: baoqianyuelenvpengyou] [Liu Yi Yi: You have a girlfriend now?] [LJY: en]
Ye Meng hadn’t expected Liu Yi Yi to still be pursuing him. She had thought there was no movement from Liu Yi Yi’s side, assuming she had given up, but unexpectedly, this girl was still secretly trying to date him.
Right after, her phone vibrated again as he sent another message.
[LJY: Screen is broken, can’t display text. I’m using Pinyin. Just this one sentence took your brother five minutes.] [LJY: Girlfriend treatment, happy now?]