Si Teng (Rattan) – CH 002

Chapter 2

I’m staying at the Jinma Hotel in the city center, room 188. Please come by; let’s chat.

He wasn’t saying this to Qin Fang.

An Man stood outside room 188, her palms sweating profusely. She’d had this problem since childhood—her palms always sweat when she’s nervous. This evening, ever since she put the sleeping pills in Qin Fang’s glass, her palms hadn’t stopped sweating. Finally, after making up her mind to knock on the door, she realized it wasn’t fully closed; she just pushed it open. The space heater was set very high, and the warm air hit her immediately. The room was dimly lit, and the living room TV was on, playing a cheerful program—it was “Where Are We Going, Dad?” a repeat broadcast at midnight. The same Mr. Ma she had seen earlier in the day was lounging on the sofa in a bathrobe, his hairy legs resting on the coffee table in front of the TV, laughing heartily.

“Oh my god, that’s hilarious! What a clueless guy! He abandoned his daughter just to grab that house…”

An Man walked over, her legs trembling. She stopped beside the sofa and called out, “Brother Zhao.”

Of course, his surname wasn’t Ma, nor did he run any ridiculous porcelain business from Jingdezhen—that was just a made-up story for Qin Fang. Actually, should she be grateful that he hadn’t exposed her lie to her face?

Zhao Jianglong turned off the TV and picked up a cigarette from the coffee table. The lighter clicked loudly in the suddenly quiet room. As the flame flickered, he glanced at her.

“An… Xiao… Ting? Changed your name?”

An Man didn’t answer. Zhao Jianglong smiled, puffed smoke towards her face, tapped his phone a few times, cleared his throat, and began to read something in a sarcastic tone.

“There’s always one person destined for you in this world. Only then will you understand why things didn’t work out with the wrong people.”

An Man’s face turned pale.

Before, she thought it was just bad luck—the world was so big, with so many roads, yet they happened to cross paths here. Wasn’t that fate trying to teach her a lesson? Now she realized there were no coincidences; for every action, there was a reaction. “An Xiaoting, An Xiaoting, I took care of you for three years. I, Zhao, wasn’t stingy; I spent at least 500,000 to 600,000 yuan on you, right? You little witch, you’re so ungrateful! When the police were investigating me, you thought I was going to get into trouble, and you packed up your things and left without even saying goodbye! When I went back, everything was gone—not even a single pot or pan left! You hurt my feelings, An Xiaoting!”

An Man stood rigidly, letting him speak. Her scalp prickled with tension. Zhao was a smiling hypocrite; the smoother his words, the harsher his actions. This situation wouldn’t end well; she would have to beg him, even if her knees turned to jelly.

“You don’t know how to behave! If it were me, I’d keep a low profile for the rest of my life. Do you understand what I mean by low profile? It means being humble and discreet. Do you know where this information came from? Someone sent me a screenshot anonymously. You must have really offended someone for them to do this to you!”

So, someone had wronged her. An Man was dazed; names from her WeChat circle flashed through her mind. Who could it be? Everyone seemed like a suspect, yet no one was.

“Look, actresses are known for being fickle and unfaithful. You’ve already left, and your Brother Zhao is being magnanimous; he doesn’t want to pursue the matter. But first, we happened to run into each other, and you happened to be nearby. Second, you’re being so hurtful! Saying ‘I had no success with those wrong men’… Zhao spent real money on you; that’s hard-earned money, not something that falls from the sky. Even throwing money into the water would make a splash—at least putting it in the bank earns interest! But in your eyes he’s the ‘wrong man’? Explain yourself; where did Brother Zhao go wrong?”

He said this with a smile, but his expression gradually turned fierce. He rolled up a free hotel magazine and started hitting her head and cheeks with it, just like he used to do when he was angry. He spoke slowly, deliberately emphasizing each word: “Explain yourself! Tell me what’s wrong!”

An Man’s lips trembled, and she suddenly knelt down. Zhao Jianglong hadn’t expected this and instinctively took two steps back.

As soon as An Man opened her mouth, tears streamed down her face. She kept bowing to Zhao Jianglong, rambling incoherently. She said, “Brother Zhao, please let me go! I’ll be eternally grateful for your kindness. I know I spent your money, but I’ll work hard to repay you. I finally found Qin Fang; we even took pre-wedding photos! Brother Zhao, if you just let this go, I’ll have a happy life. Please, don’t tell Qin Fang about this…”

She cried bitterly. Zhao Jianglong gave her a tissue to wipe her face and tried to speak to her calmly again. An Man stared blankly at Zhao, her mind completely occupied with Qin Fang. She couldn’t hear anything he was saying. Qin Fang was handsome and capable, and his company, started with his friends, was thriving. More importantly, he was truly devoted; six years after his first love, Chen Wan, tragically drowned, he hadn’t been with any other woman. When Qin Fang called her, An Man felt like a golden treasure had fallen from the sky, landing squarely on her head.

This was the best man she could ever hope to meet; she wanted to hold onto him dearly. She worked harder than any actress, studying acting day and night, burying her old, undesirable self, An Xiaoting, and creating a new An Man that Qin Fang would love. It was hard work, but she enjoyed it—what was so bad about being a little tired? Ancient women in the imperial harem had to compete for the emperor’s favor, and they only got a tiny fraction of his attention; she had the whole of Qin Fang.

Of course, people were jealous of her; many women coveted Qin Fang. Qin Fang would watch her reactions, and she would just smile and say, “I want to annoy those bitches who can’t stand to see me happy.”

Qin Fang liked that attitude. He didn’t like weak, submissive women. If someone slapped you, hit back twice as hard.

She had built this relationship brick by brick, like a great dike, and just when she was finally proud of it, fate sent a man named Zhao to destroy it. It was so unfair; how could she ever accept it? She couldn’t die in peace.

Zhao Jianglong stared at An Man, his mind aflame with lust, just like the fire burning in his loins. An Xiaoting, this woman, had once been just one of his many mistresses; besides being young and pretty, he hadn’t thought she was special. But now, he didn’t know what she’d been doing these past three years, but she had a different aura, just like the difference between An Man and An Xiaoting. Besides, she was now Qin Fang’s woman; the thrill of taking her away from him was incredibly tempting. He reached out to support An Man, his other hand moving up her waistline in a lewd manner, and gave a forced laugh, saying, “What are you thinking? Even a one-day marriage is worth a hundred days of affection. Do you think I, Zhao Jianglong, would force someone into a desperate situation?”

An Man froze, her mind blank.

Actually, she had prepared herself mentally long ago. What else could she and Zhao Jianglong possibly “talk about”? Even before she knocked on the door, even when he smiled and said, “You absolutely must come,” she knew what would happen. She thought she could handle it; she had done it with him before, so she figured it would be like being possessed by a ghost, and then it would all be over.

But when the moment came, she realized she couldn’t do it. She had worked so hard to transform herself into An Man, and she simply couldn’t bear to submit to someone like Zhao Jianglong—An Man felt as if she had been electrocuted, her hands gripping Zhao Jianglong’s tightly, her lips trembling as she mumbled, “Brother Zhao, except for this, except for this, we can talk about anything, really, anything…”

Zhao Jianglong flew into a rage, slapping An Man so hard that she saw stars: “Damn it, An Xiaoting, don’t you know what kind of person you are? How dare you be so disrespectful?”

He cursed and slapped her repeatedly, his heavy hands landing on her vulnerable face and head. An Man’s head was throbbing with blood, but she had a rebellious streak. Zhao Jianglong’s actions, instead of making her submit, made her resist even more, struggling, kicking, and biting, determined not to let him succeed.

During the struggle, Zhao Jianglong suddenly cried out in pain, clutching his stomach and staggering backward.

An Man’s nose and face were covered in blood, the smell of it strong in her breath. She trembled, looking up to meet Zhao Jianglong’s incredulous gaze. A knife was stuck in his lower abdomen, and blood was rapidly soaking into his white bathrobe.

An Man was completely stunned. Had she used the knife herself? Where had she even gotten it? The past few minutes seemed like a blank void, with no memory at all.

Trembling, she lowered her eyes to look at her hands. Ten slender, white fingers, with a wedding ring on her left ring finger—her and Qin Fang’s engagement ring. The smooth, rounded band fit perfectly, as if custom-made for her. The salesperson had said it was their best-selling style.

Her vision blurred. Tears, tinged with blood, mixed with the shimmering silver sheen of the ring, strangely creating a colorful halo. And within this halo, which was often seen as a symbol of good fortune, Zhao Jianglong fell to the ground.

***

An Man couldn’t remember how she got back to her apartment. She walked upstairs in a daze, nervously fumbling for her keycard to open the door. The room was dark; she could hear Qin Fang’s steady breathing. In the darkness, An Man stood against the wall for a long time. Only when a loud, piercing car horn sounded from the street did she flinch and stumble to her knees beside Qin Fang’s bed, shaking him.

At first, she moved gently, but then she lost control, crying out, “Qin Fang, Qin Fang, wake up!”

***

Qin Fang was sleeping very deeply. The medication had induced a profound sleep. In his dream, he was trapped in a recurring scene. It was an old-fashioned Peking opera stage, with red curtains on either side. Behind the stage, the musicians were playing energetically—drums, fiddles, and the traditional erhu. On stage, actors in various costumes—robes, sashes, and other accessories—were singing, reciting, acting, and performing acrobatics. He was short, and even straining to see over the edge of the stage, he could only see the bottom of the actors’ heavy-soled boots, their colorful shoes, and the swirling patterns of their costumes, all moving to the fast rhythm of the drums—a dazzling spectacle.

Then, suddenly, he noticed something. Deepest on the stage, amidst the swirling colors and fluttering hems, a pair of satin high-heeled shoes appeared. A small pearl glittered on the toe, the foot was smooth, the calf round and shapely, and the hem of a cheongsam gently swayed…

The sounds of the Peking opera gradually faded away. Finally, on the vast stage, amidst all the images, only the sound of the high-heeled shoes remained.

Click, click, click…

***

Around 2 a.m., Luo Rongerjia, the sleepy night receptionist at the hotel, was woken by An Man. It was cold outside, and she was bundled up in layers, with a hat and mask covering her face. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she told him, choked with emotion, that she had received a phone call from home; her mother was seriously ill in the hospital, and she had to rush home immediately.

One should always help those in need, and Luo Rongerjia quickly forgot his annoyance at being woken up. He rang up An Man’s bill, helped her load her luggage, and finally helped Qin Fang, who was quite drunk, into the car.

As An Man drove away, Luo Rongerjia stood by the road waving. He thought to himself that Han women were so capable, even able to drive, but then he worried about the hour-long drive along the winding, cliff-side road. May Buddha bless us. Om Mani Padme Hum.

He stood there for a while, then hurried back inside, panting. Just as he closed the door and turned off the hallway light, a black sedan roared past the front of the hotel. The orange headlights shone towards the direction An Man had left in.