Chapter Nine: Falling from the Pedestal

Both Xia Qi and Li Wanqiu knew about what had happened in my family; it was something from years ago. Back then, Yihua Yang, who was in college, used her spare time to work part-time as a piano teacher at a training center. Because of her skill, she caught the eye of a wealthy businessman, who invited her to his home every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to teach his daughter piano.

During those years, Yihua Yang often bought new clothes and cosmetics. Whenever the holidays came, she would travel with friends. When she was in a good mood, she would toss me a few hundred yuan and tell me to buy some nice clothes, so I wouldn’t look so shabby, like a maid from the old days.

The businessman’s daughter was quite talented; when she passed the Level 10 piano exam, he treated our whole family to dinner. He drank and laughed with my grandfather and father, and the atmosphere was warm and joyful.

I was the one who noticed something was wrong. One day, I went into Yihua Yang’s room to look for a book and accidentally found a medical record in her drawer.

It clearly recorded that Yihua Yang had undergone two abortions. On the section of the surgery notice where a family member had to sign, the signature belonged to that businessman.

I was terrified and didn’t dare tell my parents. When Yihua Yang returned, I confronted her, but she absolutely refused to admit anything. She said a friend of hers had gotten pregnant by accident and was afraid her family would find out, so she borrowed her name.

She stuffed a few dresses and a box of cosmetics into my hands, threatening that if I dared tell anyone, she would tell my parents about me secretly dating Du Fanchuan.

I didn’t dwell on it much. I was busy preparing for the college entrance exams, overwhelmed every day, with no energy to worry about anyone else.

Later, my father found out. He beat Yihua Yang severely, but she insisted she and the man were truly in love and said he had promised to divorce his wife and marry her.

My father was so infuriated he ended up in the hospital. Afterward, my grandfather pulled every string he could; anyway, it’s said that in the end, the businessman took his daughter to Beijing and never returned.

When Yihua Yang found out, she was hysterical, threatening suicide, acting like a lunatic. My grandfather ran out of patience and threatened to send her to a mental institution, and only then did she gradually quiet down.

God knows why the businessman’s wife showed up at the airport today. God knows why Du Fanchuan got into a fight with that businessman. God knows why my father believes this was all my doing.

Outside the police station, seven or eight identical Range Rovers were parked in a line, and a cluster of bodyguards stood by the cars, dark and imposing. A woman, resplendent in pearls and jewels, with an air of regal elegance, slowly emerged from the police station.

The bodyguards opened the car door for her, and the convoy departed like a flock of wild geese flying south.

Next to come out was the businessman I hadn’t seen in years. He must be in his mid-thirties now, but perhaps because he took good care of himself, time hadn’t left many marks on his face, except that he was a bit stouter.

I remembered when we all had dinner together years ago, he’d even given me a generous red envelope with two thousand yuan, saying that if I ever went abroad to study, he could help me.

At the time, I thought this uncle was so generous—and he was quite good-looking, too.

Oh, and he had a beautiful name: Rong Luozheng.

Rong Luozheng soon drove away in his Cayenne. Xia Qi asked if I wanted to go inside.

I said let’s wait a bit. Soon after, a disheveled, dejected man walked out, his head hanging. His shirt was torn and stained with blood, his hair a mess, as if he’d just been mugged.

The shock in my heart was like a thousand horses stampeding through me; my hand, which had been resting on the door, fell limply to my side.

That man—the one I swore I’d marry and no other, the one who held me and promised that after my twentieth birthday we’d quietly go get our marriage certificate, the one who sang me to sleep in the middle of the night, the one who patiently explained advanced mathematics to me, the one who said he’d open a guesthouse with me in Lijiang—now, for another woman, looked as wretched as a stray dog.

I couldn’t bear to watch any longer. In my life, his presence had always been bright and flawless, a being almost divine.

Now he had fallen from his pedestal, and it was not for me.