Chapter 90: Let’s Wait and See
Afternoon.
Han Chen and Bai Jin Xi are resting against the wall in the shadow cast by the trees at her middle school.
Perhaps she should be called Su Mian from now on.
Han Chen twists open the bottle cap and hands it to her, “We’ve finished visiting both your elementary and middle school, how do you feel?”
Su Mian takes it and drinks a big mouthful. She answers with her eyes still looking straight, “Not bad. It’s blurry, but it’s familiar.”
Han Chen doesn’t ask any further.
If it can make her feel a bit of comfort and warmth, he’s willing to accompany her anywhere.
After a while, she starts fetching something in her jacket pocket. She finds it and places it on her lap and then fetches a few more items from the other pocket.
Han Chen drinks some water and pauses when he looks down to see what those items are.
Su Mian spreads out the items in front of him like showcasing her treasures, “Look, this is a photo of me from when I graduated from junior high school. I’m in the second row. It’s still posted in the big glass case at the school. And this is a photo of all the outstanding students graduating from senior high school. I saw it in the school archives. I can’t believe that I was an outstanding student. There was also a brief description too. And the school emblem that is sold at the school’s convenience store……”
Han Chen puts the water bottle down and stares at her.
Leaving the school emblem that she purchased aside, the documents and the photos from the glass case and school’s archives……
“You took all of them?”
It’s not the first time that Su Mian has done something like this. She answers nodding, “It’s okay. They must have copies of these, so they can just reprint them. On the other hand, I could still be an undercover cop without a real name, so with what identity should I use to ask them for it? Therefore, I can only take them quietly.”
She says these words with a pitiful voice. Han Chen lifts up the bottle, takes another sip and says, “Take them if you want to. They were yours, to begin with.”
Su Mian presses her lips together into a smile. She knew that this fellow would be even more unreasonable than her and that he would definitely let her do what she wanted. Therefore, she fiddles her hand in her pants pocket some more and pulls out a bunch of snacks in front of him, “Look, I bought these from the elementary school’s convenience store. I felt nostalgic looking at them, so they must have been things I loved eating when I was little.”
A smile flashes across Han Chen’s eyes. He keeps quiet.
“Tada!” Su Mian fetches another item from her pocket……a small red flag? She waves it in front of him and smiles with her eyes squinting, “It’s one of the small rainbow-colored flags hanging at the school’s playground. I also took one as a souvenir!”
Han Chen remains silent. He lifts his head to look straight and drinks water while smiling.
Su Mian wraps her arms around his and leans on his shoulder, “What are you smiling about?”
Han Chen places the empty water bottle onto the ground, rests his elbows on his knees with his hands held together and gazes at her from the side, “I had such weird taste in the past to have picked you as my wife.”
Su Mian is struck dumb for a second before realizing what he means. She laughs helplessly and pushes his shoulder away, “F–k! You’re the weirdo!”
_____
Their next stop is Su Mian’s home.
It’s in an old district with many six to seven stories small buildings. Trees with big canopies are everywhere. It’s quiet, outdated, and tidy. There aren’t a lot of people in the area at noon on a workday. Han Chen and Su Mian avoid the security cameras and passers-by on their way up the building.
They arrive at the door of her home. Its handle and the door sill are covered in a thick layer of dust. There clearly hasn’t been anyone coming and going from this place for a long time. Su Mian lets Han Chen watch over her back as she fetches a wire and a card from her bag. She fiddles with the lock for a few minutes and with the sound of a “click,” the door unlocks.
Han Chen glances at her after entering the place, “Where did you learn how to do that?”
Su Mian stuffs the tools back into her bag and answers, “I learned it from Old Wang at the station. Us policemen at Guanhu station have to do the job of a civil officer as well. Sometimes we have to help some moms to open their doors when they forget their keys.”
They observe the place as they speak.
It’s a cozy and delicate two bedroom apartment. It’s also very old. There’s a moldy smell inside and dust covers the whole floor; it’s hard to tell how long it hasn’t been lived in. They both put on a mask and take a look around. The first thing that captures their attention is a photo hanging on a wall.
Dad is on the left and mom is on the right.
Su Mian stares at the photo without a word.
The dining table is made of wood, and it’s easy to make out the line of crookedly written words carved by somebody using a small knife: “Su Mian was here.” After so many years, the words have become old and darkened. Su Mian and Han Chen both smile.
A small flowery beige cloth hangs on the kitchen’s frosted door. There is a stack of toys in the small storage room as well as a small wooden rocking horse. Su Mian is smiling looking at all these, but all of a sudden, her head hurts. She puts her hand on her forehead. Han Chen embraces her immediately, “What’s wrong?”
Su Mian closes her eyes and then opens them again.
Perhaps seeing all of this arouses the deep feelings inside of her. Blurry images of the past flashes across her mind and heavy emotions are fermenting inside her heart.
She sees herself when she was young, smiling cheerfully as she runs around the house;
She sees her young and beautiful mom cooking with an apron on;
She sees her dad in his police uniform squatting in the balcony building her a rocking horse;
She sees herself and her classmates carrying their backpacks walking home; she sees herself holding her father’s portrait and attending the funeral with the banner “Mourning for martyr Su Rui Cheng” hanging high; she sees her mom smiling attending her senior high school graduation ceremony……
She then sees her twenty-year-old self lying beside the window in her room looking out at the sky full of stars. And below is Han Chen in his police uniform leaning against a big tree. He takes off his police hat, carries it in his hand and looks up at her smiling.
Su Mian raises her arm to cover her face. Tears almost flow out of her eyes. She looks up and sees the Han Chen now. He’s tall and handsome as always, but his features are no longer of a young lad and his eyes are sharper than in the past.
Su Mian reaches out her arms and hugs him, “Han Chen, I only have you now.”
Han Chen locks her into his embrace, lowers his head and kisses her.
They kiss quietly for a while before finally letting go.
After a while, Su Mian finds a few photo albums in the bedroom. They’re all photos of her when she was growing up, as well as photos of her and her parents. She puts these albums into her bag to take them back with her.
She also sees a lot of dresses in the closet. They’re all in gorgeous colors, but they’re also very old.
Han Chen asks, “Take them back?”
Su Mian looks at them for a moment and closes the closet, “Let’s leave them here. They belong to the eighteen-year-old Su Mian.”
_____
It’s just past 4 pm when they return to the hotel.
The first thing Su Mian does is to open up her suitcase and searches through it until she pulls out a new dress she bought just the day before. She then closes the curtains and changes into it.
She switches all the lights in the room on and stands in front of the mirror. She lets her long hair down, turns her body in different angles and nods in satisfaction.
Han Chen is sitting on the bed with his arms pressing on the bed top on each side as he watches her. He smiles, “Why are you changing into a dress suddenly?”
Su Mian lifts the edge of her dress a little bit, walks to him, and puts one foot on the bed with her arm on her thigh. Despite she’s wearing a graceful dress, her stance is absolutely unrefined.
“I will take revenge,” she says each word clearly, “and I will live well!”
Han Chen smiles slightly. He reaches out his hand and pulls her into his embrace. The beauty’s hair is smooth like silk, her dress sways side by side, and she’s flamboyant and sweet, making the man feel tenderness and admiration for her. In the dimly lit room, they tangle with each other in gentleness, causing her to pant and making her forget all her trouble. She can only remember his strength and possessiveness.
_____
It’s 6 o’clock at night. Su Mian enters the bathroom to take a shower. Han Chen is sitting on the bed. After a while, his eyes become indifferent as he takes out his cell phone.
“Monkey, it’s Han Chen. I’m back in Beijing.”
The person on the other end is one of Han Chen’s best buddies in the past. The man with the nickname, “Monkey,” is quite in shock receiving a phone call from Han Chen. He’s surprised and a little embarrassed while feeling excited.
“Chen Er (Little Chen), how did you think of calling me?”
Han Chen laughs, “What, am I not allowed to?”
“Of course you are! Of course!” Perhaps he’s a little too excited, Monkey’s voice carries a cheerful laugh to it, “Where are you? I’ll come pick you up.”
“No need. You make the reservation and tell the other guys to come out for dinner,” Han Chen says.
“Sure! That goes without saying. Is 7 pm okay? I’ll tell you when I’ve made the reservation. I have your number,” Monkey says lively.
Han Chen smiles answering, “Okay.”
They’re both quiet for a moment before Monkey says, “We haven’t seen each other for quite a few years now, right?”
Han Chen is a bit stunned.
It has indeed been a few years.
The last time they met was four years ago, a few months after he woke up from the accident.
Han Chen’s gaze darkens and remains quiet.
He still remembers that day he saw Monkey and Da Wei clearly.
Da Wei is another buddy of his. Both of their parents have high statuses, especially Da Wei’s dad, who’s a high official in charge of criminal investigations at the ministry of public security.
At the time, his body had already fully recovered and had returned to work at the station. He was working like a zombie, but he was becoming more and more certain that that woman existed. And then every time he asked them, Monkey would stutter while Da Wei would always say that he didn’t know anything. They later simply avoided his questions completely.
Therefore, he invited them to dinner that day at a restaurant they frequent.
Three bottles of white wine and two hours.
Monkey downed himself with wine and refused to speak about anything regarding the woman. Da Wei, on the other hand, was gloomy. He turned his head away to avoid Han Chen’s gaze and answered, “Chen Er, how many times do we have to say it for you to believe us? That woman does not exist. Why do you have to be so hard on yourself?”
The whole night, Han Chen felt as if his heart was covered in frost. In the end, he smashed the wine bottle on the floor in front of his two buddies. He left the restaurant without turning back.
They never contacted each other from then on.
……
Han Chen holds onto the phone and says slowly, “Oh right, I’ll be bringing my girlfriend.”
Monkey is stunned for a second before revealing a bigger smile. It’s the kind of smile that comes from the heart, “Okay! Good, good! That’s great! You fellow have finally released yourself! I’ll be waiting for sister-in-law then. Make sure you bring her!”
They hang up, Han Chen lifts his head and sees Su Mian walking out of the bathroom drying her hair with a towel.
“Who were you on the phone with?” she climbs onto the bed and lies on top of him.
Han Chen bends his head and kisses her, “A buddy from the past.”
Su Mian is a little stunned. Her head clicks and she asks with her eyes gleaming, “Do they know me then?”
Han Chen holds onto her shoulder and says calmly, “We’ll have to wait and see.”