If You Don't Go To Hell, Who Will? Chapter 24

Childhood sweetheart

This two- week excursion was finally coming to an end . On the last day, we all got together for one final dinner .

The cook excelled himself and made a full fish feast for us . Steamed fish, stewed fish, grilled fish, fish head soup… all of these were on the table . When I looked at the delicious food on the table, I immediately forgot all my feelings of disappointment .

Miss Fourth was also a foodie . In her eagerness, she accidentally got a fishbone stuck in her throat . These fishbones were hard, and it was very difficult for her to swallow . When we were all panicking, Lu Zijian, with the aid of a flashlight, calmly reached down her throat with two fingers . In a low voice, he a.s.sured her , “ Don’t be nervous…!”

Li’l second came to me and whispered, “ Lu Zijian is so cool . . ”

I was speechless .

In the next moment, Lu Zijian pulled out a fish bone with his fingers . It was approximately two centimetres in length . Everyone was shocked at his skill . I was the only one who was looking at the whole event with silent sadness… this was the nth time that Lu Zijian as a hero saved the beauty . But the beauty was once again not me .

While every one was eating, Lu Zijian carefully deboned a piece of fish and placed it in the dish of Miss Fourth

I was saddened so much that I no longer felt anything

The next day, all of us packed our stuff . The two brothers went straight to the train station while the others went to the bus terminus . Miss Fourth was taking the flight to B city . Lu Zijian chose a silly reason to accompany her to B city .

As I looked at Lu Zijian and Miss Fourth in the car and waved good bye to them, my heart hurt tremendously . Suddenly, Miss Fourth got down from the car and came running to me . I thought she was going to really miss me and wanted to hug me . But as I bent forward to hug her, she grabbed my collar and pulled me close to her . In my ear, she whispered, “You better let go the idea of Lu Zijian . Otherwise I will kill you!”

I was so shocked that cold sweat flowed down in two rivulets to her shoulder .

After Miss fourth and Lu Zijian left, Zhong Yuan and I were the only ones left for the ride to the interstate bus terminus . I scratched my head and looked at Zhong Yuan in surprise . This guy was supposed to fly to Shanghai in the evening, I thought he was going to be in the same car with Lu Zijian . But he refused to go with them and I had no idea why . Zhong Yuan was neither shy nor sensitive, so everyone knew that he would never forgo the taxi just because he would was worried about being a third wheel between the two of them .

Zhong Yuan looked at me and smiled, “ Suddenly, I feel like travelling . ”　　

I scratched my head, “ Travel? Where are you going?”

Zhong yuan said, “ I am tired of going to touristy places . I want to go to the countryside and enjoy nature in all its untainted glory . ’

“Oh ok, good bye” . I held up my ticket and started to look around for the bus I was supposed to take . Where Zhong Yuan was going had nothing to do with me after all .

But I heard him muttering to himself , “ I have no idea how much a hotel in the countryside costs . How much do you think it would be per day ?“

My ears perked up, “ Where are you planning to go?”

Zhong Yuan shook his head with a blank look .

This time I said, “ This year, farmhouses are the in thing . Hotels in the country are too expensive . What’s your budget?”

Zhong Yuan put up two fingers .

“ Twenty? “ I asked, my arms over my waist, “ Are you dreaming?”　

　Zhong Yuan smiled,” Two hundred” .

I was speechless .

Zhong Yuan continued, “ So can you recommend somewhere nice?”

I grabbed his wrist and confidently said, “ Just follow me!”

Miumiu – ha ha I love how she falls in his trap . I know someone commented on NU that she hated the female lead as she seems so dumb and is always swayed by ZY when he flashes his money . But to me, she isn’t dumb . After all, she did get admitted to one of the prestigious universities . She is just wary of relations.h.i.+ps and playing dumb . What do you guys think? 　　

　　……

But soon I regretted bringing Zhong Yuan to my house . Truthfully, although in my opinion, our village was the prettiest, but I was surely biased . Zhong Yuan was a well-travelled tourist . How much of the simple beauty of the village would he really appreciate? Of course, I was’nt really concerned about his likes and dislikes . I was just worried about his money . He was not going to pay me if he was not satisfied .

So I decide to be a bad person . Before we even got off the bus, I stretched out my palm to him, “ Give me one week’s money as advance . ”

Zhong Yuan looked at his wallet, “ I only have a thousand yuan . Will you accept a card?”

“ That’s ok . Just give me a thousand since we are friends . ”

Zhong Yuan handed over the money and smiled at me, “ Is that so?”

My guilty conscience meant I could not meet his eyes . My career prospects as a bad person were already withering away!

　　　……

My dad knew that I was coming back today . He did not go to Zhang Sanye’s house to the east of the village . Instead, he was sitting alone under the big poplar tree near our house . When Zhong Yuan and I reached , he waved the fan in his hand rapidly and stared at us . His eyes moved back and forth between me and Zhong Yuan for a long time . Finally, he said, “ Kiddo, is this my son-in-law?

I was speechless .

Sometimes my dad had these terrible brain freezes, although he was normal most of the time . At this moment, I wiped my sweat and said to him, “ Dad, this person will just stay with us temporarily . You don’t need to worry about it . ”

Zhong Yuan had already stepped forward . He bowed his head to my dad with respect and said, “ Uncle . ” In every way, he was behaving like a good primary school student .

This made my dad so happy he could not stop smiling . This was too much for Zhong Yuan . I suspected he must have read Pa.s.serby’s ‘Complete X manual’ and must have been very familiar with it . I ignored the small interactions between them and dragged the suitcase to the front yard .

The house that my dad and I lived in now was very luxurious, but this was not our home . My father had a close friend who had set up his own business . In the last few years, he had made a fortune in business and built this house . The house was well decorated . After staying here for a few days, the family bought a villa in the nearby town and moved there . This house was empty . Since they were close friends, uncle and my father shared everything except their wives . So he strongly urged my father to move in . This is what led us to finally abandon the two huts that were so old they could be categorised as cultural relics .

Actually, my dad had led a very unlucky life . It’s just that he was surrounded by n.o.ble and generous friends .

My dad used to be a mason when he was younger . Once, while building a house, he fell off the construction frame and broke his arm . This meant he could not work for a long time . There was no insurance at that time, nor did he have a permanent contract, so he was left with no earnings as he recovered . Later, my dad’s wife, not my mother, felt that he had no future . She eloped with the son of the barber . While leaving, they robbed my dad of all the money and valuables in the house, But this was still not the lowest point in his life . He was a simple man, able to support himself; a bachelor who would not go hungry . The unluckiest thing that happened to him was when G.o.d threw an unwanted child to him, one that added unnecessary complexity and responsibility to his life .

That little unwanted child happened to be me .

It looked like my father and I were really destined to meet . One day, nineteen years ago, my father was working in the field . Suddenly, there was a violent wind, followed by lightning and thunder, then heavy rain . The sky had turned pitch black and a person could not even see his own fingers . My dad had seen ‘ Journey to the West’ a dozen times . Thinking that monsters were going to descend to earth, he dragged the hoe and started running home . And this is when a miracle happened . In such heavy rain and thunder, it was impossible to hear the mewling cry of an infant . But my dad did . And he discovered me by the road side .

He took this unlucky child home . That child was me .

My dad never even picked up money from the street, but he decided to keep this child with him . He did not report me to the police, instead, deciding to rear me as his own biological daughter . People say that my father was very happy the day he found me . Once home, he cooked a few dishes and called a few of his close friends home to celebrate . Someone asked him what he would name the little baby . He was eating mushrooms at that time . So he waved his big hand and decided to name me Mu .

So that was my story . I dare not call it as legendary, but it was miraculous . Even the monkey king Sun Wu Kong knew that he had emerged out of a stone . But I had no clue where I came from .

Ok, my mind had wandered off quite a bit . Coming back to the present, I saw that my dad had led Zhong Yuan to the house . Very uncharacteristically, Zhong Yuan was being extra sweet with every sentence starting with ‘ Uncle this’ and ‘uncle that’ .

His room was next to mine . After we settled down, my dad started chatting with Zhong Yuan in the living room . I sat on the small bench and ate watermelon and watched TV .

Zhong Yuan pulled a large satin box from his suitcase and handed it to my dad . “Uncle, I am meeting you for the first time, I don’t know what to give you . This is just a small gift, I hope you will like it . ”

My dad took the box with a smile . He praised Zhong Yuan for being so polite and well behaved .

I was completely taken aback and pulled Zhong Yuan aside, “Hey, why are you giving my dad a gift?”

Zhong Yuan replied blankly, “ I am trying to establish a relations.h.i.+p with uncle . ”

I warned him, “ Don’t think you don’t need to pay for the food and accommodation if you give my dad a gift . ”　　

Zhong Yuan frowned, “ Mu er, do you like money so much?”

I blushed, “ It’s just a matter of principle . ”

Zhong Yuan continued, “ If someone gives you two million, will you marry him?”

I yelled at him, “ Do I look like I am that kind of a person? And anyway my dad has forbidden me to marry a rich guy . ”

Zhong Yuan looked at me in astonishment, “ Why?”

Just as I started answering, I spotted my dad looking curiously at us . It was impolite to leave the old man all alone . So I pulled Zhong Yuan back . I knelt beside my dad and opened the box . There were two walnuts lying inside looking like two gems . I took the walnuts out and stroked them, making sure they were indeed walnuts . I sighed in relief . I was sure these two walnuts were not very expensive, so they could not be redeemed against food and accommodation expenses .

Of course, my dad was someone who was well aware of antiques and knew how valuable they were . At that time, he was glad I did not throw them away .

Thanks to Zhong Yuan, my dad did not go to Zhang Sanye’s house for a whole afternoon . My dad isn’t normally a boastful person, but he liked to talk about me ever since I had made it to a good university . Of course, I knew about this through my aunt . ( Zhang Sanye’s wife) Today , as he held the two walnuts that Zhong Yuan gave him, he was very excited . He immediately went to Zhang Sanye’s house . I was very worried that he would tell them his son in law had gifted him these .

After my dad left, Zhang Xu, who was just a few months older to me, came to our house to chat . Actually there was a story between Zhang Xu and me . From elementary school, we had always been cla.s.smates . Usually, he would be the squad leader while I would be a member of the study committee . When I was in high school, I did not study hard as I was not interested . So he always ended up as the squad leader .

Then something happened and we were no longer as close as we were earlier . Today, he had apparently come home to chat but hardly spoke to me . After some time, he left . After he left, Zhong Yuan looked at his back and asked me , “ Is he your childhood sweetheart?”