Cassandra Liu calmed down. Although the windows of the hotel were closed, the city noise could still be heard. She stood up and straightened her hair. She had to think for herself.
This matter has nothing to do with her. She will fly away early tomorrow morning and will never come back.
There is no need to worry about Li Rusheng. He is a politically astute animal and can understand who supports him and who opposes him at a glance. The corrupt officials he brought down would bite, and he had been prepared for this.
What she is worried about is the family living on Shad Street - Aunt Mabel. She doesn't need to worry. The old lady has gone through a lot of hardships in her life and has fallen to the bottom of society. People who want to punish her can't do anything to her. But Yue Ming was involved for no reason, which made her very uneasy. Yueming has nothing to do with this whole thing, but now it has become the basis for these people to complain! She still doesn't understand Yue Ming very well. He looks very mediocre and does very strange things.
But he is obviously a person who can be easily framed. Once she leaves, the matter of sending the petition letter will fall into the hands of these people, and sooner or later he will be punished. She has read some reports. If a corrupt official is involved, he can do anything. If he has a handle, there is no way to escape.
She didn't know what to do, and then she remembered the money in the purse. But Yueming doesn't seem like someone who needs money to live.
Last night she took out her purse and put it in the safe in her room. She squatted down and pressed the password to take out the money. After thinking about it, she decided to put it in her purse. She had to deliver the money immediately, so as not to delay Aunt Mabel's urgent business.
The hospital Aunt Mabel mentioned is not far away. It takes about twenty minutes by taxi. As soon as I inquired about it, I found out that there is only one comprehensive municipal hospital in Liang County, and other obstetrics and gynecology hospitals, orthopedic hospitals, and pediatric hospitals have not yet been completed. This hospital is located on the outskirts of the new city. It looks pretty good. There are rows of newly planted saplings, backed by green hills. The newly built houses have bright and clear windows. They look a bit like the new private hospitals in Beijing. The sun at noon shines brightly on the glass. It cannot be said that it is completely unreasonable for this city to relocate public facilities first to let the people endure it for a while.
There are some two or three-story houses opposite the hospital, which are obviously newly built, including restaurants, hair salons, and massage and beauty shops. However, the wreath and funeral shop with a big red sign made Cassandra Liu take a second look. It had wreaths, urns, firecrackers and other It would be too ostentatious to display things in front of the hospital in a big way. The nearby shop sells high-end supplements such as ginseng, seahorse antler, and royal jelly, with prices ranging from tens to thousands of yuan.
Cassandra Liu walked into the hospital, a U-shaped building, and asked about the gastroenterology inpatient ward. The window of the registration room was still as small as it had been in hospitals across the country for decades, and only the probe could speak. The staff member inside, a very young girl, asked Cassandra Liu who she was looking for. Only then did Cassandra Liu remember that Aunt Mabel had not mentioned her husband's name, and she also forgot to ask.
At this time, five or six people came over from the outpatient department and they said that there were too many people there.
Those people were carrying a person who was hit by a car and wanted a doctor to see him immediately. A man in a white coat took a look at the bleeding man on the stretcher and said calmly, "It's not a big problem. The doctor will be here after you pay the money."
This sentence immediately made the group angry, and they started shouting noisily. Some protested, some cursed.
This outpatient area was too messy to figure out. Cassandra Liu quickly turned around and gently knocked on the small registration window, asking where the patients with stomach problems were.
The little girl said she couldn't tell anyone casually, her tone was very arrogant, and she lowered her head to count the money in the drawer and stopped talking to her. The people waiting behind to register got impatient and started urging.
Cassandra Liu had to tell her that she was from the Academy of Sciences and handed over her work permit.
So you're in office?
Cassandra Liu nodded.
The little girl said, we only need to look at the letter of introduction, not the work permit.
Cassandra Liu was unhappy and asked why?
The little girl screamed and said, "You are so annoying, I have to focus on numbers again." In front of Cassandra Liu, she slammed the sliding door of the small glass window shut.
Cassandra Liu was stunned, and then she thought about it. She should be used to this. Like every Chinese, she grew up in this kind of "micro-power arrogance". It's just that she has lived abroad for a long time and is not used to it now. In addition, her expectation was wrong. She thought that in such a small place, people should be more humble. In fact, the situation may be just the opposite.
After a disappointment, she stopped a nurse in the corridor and said that she was a family member of a patient who came to visit the patient, but she had just returned from another city and didn't know which block she lived in. The nurse was very kind and told her that the gastroenterology ward was in block 5, roughly between 20 and 34. She also said that each floor was U-shaped, so don't make the mistake with the numbers, or you'll have to walk a long way to get back.
She walked up the stairs and looked at each door. There were many people visiting the room. After checking a few rooms, she saw Diegu sitting next to a hospital bed with her back to the door. The patient was very skinny and had almost no hair. After dropping it off, there was still a bottle hanging for infusion. Looking at Die Gu from the back, she has two pigtails tied together with a handkerchief. She looks thin and wears a thin woolen sweater. She was wiping her adoptive father's face.
The ward has eight beds, half of which are empty, but not clean enough. There is a stained urine pot under the bed, and the bucket is full of garbage. A five-year-old child also lives in the same room. The nurse is very fierce. She gave the child an injection and scolded the child for crying. This place is well-made and looks beautiful on the outside, but why is it so bad inside that there is no place to put your eyes or feet? The wall says the time for hot water bathing: 6pm to 8pm, the fee is 20 yuan, and only patients are eligible to enjoy it.
No wonder the house with a swimming pool on the mountain would specifically post photos of the bathroom in its advertisement, indicating that there is hot water available 24 hours a day. It seems to make sense.
Die Gu bent down to wash the towel, then wrung out the water and said something to her adoptive father, who smiled. She continued, listening attentively. Die Gu carefully lifted the quilt and washed her adoptive father's upper body.
Cassandra Liu memorized the room number and bed number and walked towards the office at the top of the corridor.
The four people in the office are busy. Cassandra Liu cleared her throat and said she wanted to find a doctor who was responsible for operating stomach cancer. The doctor next to her looked up and told her that he was checking medical records and preparing for ward rounds and did not have time. She said she was a family member of the patient and paid for the surgery.
The word "expenses" made everyone in the office look up at her and the purse in her hand.
She reported the ward and bed number, and asked which doctor was responsible for the operation.
Hearing her Beijing dialect, a doctor came over hesitantly and asked her if she was a family member. She said yes.
The doctor pushed open the door of an adjoining room and let her in.
After she sat down, she said that she was from the Institute of Genetics of the Academy of Sciences, had many friends in the medical field, and had heard that this hospital performed good surgeries.
The doctor nodded happily and said that we were blessed by the reservoir. The country built this hospital with the best equipment and the staff were first-rate, most of whom were transferred from medical schools in nearby cities.
Cassandra Liu said that she knew that surgery was very hard work, so she came all the way from Beijing to handle the matter. As long as it is within reasonable limits, everything can be resolved through negotiation.
The doctor saw that Cassandra Liu was really knowledgeable and courteous, so he politely said to her, "We will not charge excessively. The disintegration of public medical care is a practical problem." Stomach cancer is a major surgery. There is a large circle of doctors, nurses, anesthetists, standing there for an hour or two, and there is no need to be careless. Open the stitches, and a little mistake can lead to big problems.
Cassandra Liu said, "Of course, I know."
The doctor said, "Most of the money is the cost of treatment, and a small part is earned by the medical staff. We have seen you coming in the office, so I won't have it all to myself. What I told your aunt is that the price is clearly stated, and there will be no random things." Five thousand yuan. In hospitals in Chongqing and Wuhan, the cost of surgery for the same disease is at least 10,000 yuan, and the cost of other injections and medicines is calculated separately. Therefore, this is not a red envelope, and there is no secret deal."
Cassandra Liu nodded. She opened her purse, took out the paper bag, pulled out the loose change, and handed over a stack of money. "Okay, please specify."
The doctor made a rough count and said sincerely, "Do you believe that our profession has specific rules and regulations?"
Cassandra Liu stood up, "I believe you are here. The only thing is, this is the money I brought, and my aunt is not willing to accept it. Please don't tell her, is that okay?"
"It's easy. It's normal." said the doctor.
"Then when will the surgery be performed?" Cassandra Liu wanted to confirm further. Since there was no receipt, she had to be more careful.
The doctor thought for a moment and said, "Tomorrow morning."
This shocked Cassandra Liu. If she didn't deliver the money today, what would she do tomorrow? Thinking about it again, she laughed at herself for being confused: whoever pays first gets the surgery first.
She walked downstairs, feeling that this was the medical field after all, and she could ask for bribes in a fair and orderly manner, not like a relocation agency. When she saw the money, she was like a mouse that had been fed bait, getting into a mess and making a fool of herself. But she couldn't imagine what the patient would do if he couldn't pay the 5,000 yuan. I'm afraid I can only wait to die in this hospital. Aunt Mabel gave her husband an infusion in the hospital, which probably emptied her entire family fortune. I don’t know how many landscape paintings of long and short gourds she had to rush through. There is also the butterfly girl who mysteriously goes out to do hard work every day. She doesn’t even dare to take the hard work tool basket home. She hides it with an acquaintance. She is afraid that the work unit will find out and she will have to sweep the floor before dawn in the morning. work?
What if you can't even afford the hospital fees? Then don't even think about going to the hospital, the outcome will be worse. Fortunately, Aunt Mabel has a pair of filial children who are doing their best to support her. Cassandra Liu walked out of the hospital more than a meter away, looked back at the U-shaped building, and breathed a sigh of relief. If her Mother Evelyn knew, she might be like herself, at least thinking of Liang County, the burden on her heart would be lighter.
Cassandra Liu found that he had arrived at the entrance of the Nanhua Mountain attraction.
After the quarrel with the hotel manager, there was one thing that she couldn't let go of: she should inform Yueming, who was painting in Shuiyue Zen Temple, that someone was trying to frame him. If Yueming was in danger, maybe she could still help him in time, or maybe she should talk to Victor Li about it. After all, this was a matter of fighting among the cadres, so why implicate innocent people.
She bought a ticket for the scenic area: 50 yuan round trip, including the cable car fee, which was a very steep price. There were several gift shops as soon as she entered Dahongmen. The items inside were the same as those in all similar shops, with no special features. The Chinese landscape paintings on the wall were indeed Yueming's products, just as she had the impression that day, copied in the style of an artisan, and the few words were written in a unique and unconventional style. There were no customers in the gift shop, only a young man sitting at the counter reading a newspaper.
Although it was a sunny afternoon, there were almost no people in the scenic area. Maybe she's waiting for the tourist boat to arrive, she thought. Locals obviously don't come here: a trip to the park costs ten days' worth of potato chipping!
A banner hung at the entrance of the scenic spot: "Do a good job of breaking the sun three times." She didn't understand what this meant.
Looking up, she saw a long and large slogan hanging between two cliffs: "Build an AAA Scenic Area and Contribute to the Three Gorges Reservoir." She understood the meaning, but she didn't understand what it meant hanging here.
This should be the place where her father brought all the weapons and personnel to arrest people in the middle of the night! She suddenly understood why she had to go to this place to take a closer look.
She was the only one on the ropeway up the mountain, and the neatly covered two-person car was all empty. It passed quickly through the dense valley, almost brushing against the bamboo leaves, pine trees, and large banana trees. The place at the top of the cable car is called a temple. The last time she came here, Aunt Mabel took her on a motorcycle through the nearby road and did not go through this section of the temple. It seemed that the temple was quite neatly repaired. There is a temple with the inscription "Hengha Temple" and two couplets painted with paint next to it:
Hum, people should be like people
Haha, you must have a heart
She almost laughed out loud. Is this a famous couplet made by a scholar from the Cultural Bureau?
Then, as usual, there is the Jade Emperor Hall, behind which is the newly built Naihe Bridge, Ghost Gate, and the King of Hell Hall. On both sides is a new couplet that makes people laugh and cry:
Don't do bad things and don't be startled when you wake up in the middle of the night
Pretending to be a leisurely stroll, the daytime fascination is its own
It was difficult for them, Cassandra Liu thought, to be politically correct, and to take care of the tone of propaganda and education, to make money and not forget propaganda, it was a lot of effort. I remembered that when the hotel manager took her to see a director, she asked casually: "The scenery of the Three Gorges is submerged under water, what should we do?" The manager said nonchalantly, "Scenery? As long as it is developed, it will be there." It is said that maintaining the tourism industry is also a part of the Three Gorges Project. She finally saw how the scenic spots are "developed".
But the displays on a long narrow stone staircase left her confused: the Yama Hall should have eighteen levels of hell and various statues with bull heads and horse faces, but here there was a row of new-style ghosts and cement sculptures. There were "naughty ghosts", two children laughing, and a Mother Evelyn watching happily. The Mother Evelyn was almost naked, with a little cloth around her waist.
She wanted to run away quickly, not because she couldn't bear to see the nude women who were not very well carved. She knew that this was a local cultural cadre, and he said that he was an open-minded reformer: he dared to sculpt a female body to show Westernization and modernization, and he wanted to transform the ghost palace into a human realm to show socialism.
She didn't want to look around anymore, so she crossed the hall and saw Shuiyue Temple in front of her. This temple was quite ordinary, with a few small Buddha statues inlaid on the pillars and beams with fine carvings. Inside were gold-cast Buddha statues, offerings, incense burners, and cushions on the kneeling mats. Only an old man was burning incense and bowing with his granddaughter in front of the hall. There was a stone blue lion lying on each side of the temple gate. She walked through the side door to the backyard. She remembered that Yueming's studio was there.
The studio door was closed, and no one answered when she knocked. She looked in through the window, but there was no one. The door was not locked, and she wanted to ask the monks in the temple, where is Yueming? Maybe he didn't go far.
She then remembered that she had never seen the monks in this temple before. She didn't know where these people were chanting and meditating. She had never even heard the sound of chanting or the sound of wooden fish. This temple is so unhealthy, it's time to clean it up. There is the smell of burning incense, maybe the monks are just collecting incense money and selling gifts! The whole scenic spot is a construction site, many places are under construction. She wanted to try to see if it was locked from the inside, and when she approached the door, she pushed it lightly and it opened.
Just like that day, there were some painting tools, mounting tools and unfinished paintings on the table. It might be that Yueming was sending the finished paintings down the mountain. But when she took the cable car up, she didn't see anyone sitting in the descending cable car.
In the corner of the room, there were indeed a few more crumpled pieces of rice paper. She eagerly opened them and looked at them. This time there were only ink marks of varying shades. This time they were obviously ink marks knocked over by water. They were definitely not intentional or unintentional. A masterpiece of art - no matter in any sense, even from the most abstract Western art perspective, there is no possibility of finding any artwork. The two paintings she saw last time could no longer be found.
Cassandra Liu sat disappointedly in the only wooden chair in the room. Perhaps, she thought, she was just wishful thinking and imagined Yue Ming as an undiscovered genius to balance some mysterious wish of hers?
He was an ordinary primary school teacher in the countryside. He was considered good enough if he could paint a few landscapes. He had no part in the sculptures, couplets and local art works along the way.
At this time, she saw a long cylinder on the table. She took it out. Perhaps the paper cylinder was broken, and a piece of paper fell out of it. The brush drew a strange thing, a bit like a bonsai tree, with some things like lamp branches on it. Looking closely, the things on the branches were very strange and not easy to recognize.
Below is Yueming's words, which seem to be an explanation:
The gilded peacock tree is a characteristic cultural relic of the Wushan Chu Culture Area. It seems to be a genuine Western Han tomb. The tree head is inlaid with a symbol of rebirth, and each branch is hung with a sea-blue oil box. When lit, it may symbolize ten suns in ancient times, like a peacock spreading its tail screen to the surroundings. I saw it this afternoon, as if I had a glimpse of a fairyland. There is no record of this object, and it has only appeared once in two thousand years. The visitor asked for 300,000 yuan, but I couldn't get it, and I couldn't bear to report it to the officials, which would put the person who took it to death. This special national treasure, it is unknown where it will flow overseas, and it will change hands for tens of millions of US dollars. The reservoir area has been under construction, and the cultural relics have suffered, a disaster without reason.
The peacock was reluctant to fly, fearing that its feathers would be damaged; it did not move even when it knew a hunter was approaching. The painting was made to commemorate its sorrow.
Cassandra Liu was stunned. She never expected such a thing. This "stingy" Yueming didn't seem to need her warning.
Impromptu Speech
The cable car goes down the mountain at the same speed as it goes up. Opposite the exit is a large wall of Liang County tourist maps, colorful patterns, which indicate how many scenic spots are famous. Cassandra Liu thought that even if she had some time, she would not be interested in seeing them. She could not travel in Liang County. She took a piece of paper from Yueming's desk and left a short note, saying that she had been here, but unfortunately she did not meet him. But in the end she still blacked out the words, only crossing out a "?". Even this "?" was erased with ink.
At 5:30 in the afternoon, Cassandra Liu returned to the hotel room and saw Victor Li, wearing a black suit, sitting on the sofa against the light, waiting for her. With his arms propped against his chest, he watched the Yangtze River flow from the orange sky and disappear into the yellow sky.
She knew that her husband had never been interested in appreciating the scenery. He was a rational person and believed that everything was provable, and anything that was not provable must be a misunderstanding made by people intentionally or unintentionally. Time will wash away all ignorance and unreason, so the new generation is wiser than the ancients.
She apologized to him for being late.
Victor Li didn't ask her where she had been, saying that the dinner was extended to 6:30, and the afternoon meeting went well, which took up some time. So, he asked her to quickly tidy up, saying that there were clothes prepared for her in the closet. He went into the bathroom to tidy up himself, and when he came out of the bathroom, he saw Cassandra Liu still sitting by the bed in a trance, and was a little surprised. He walked up to her and patiently said:
"Xiao Cui, put on your makeup, I've been waiting for you, try on the clothes first."
She opened the cabinet and found a bright orange silk satin cheongsam. She turned her head and looked at Victor Li in surprise. Victor Li smiled, "Don't you like it?"
He specially asked someone to buy this. In the afternoon, he passed by the clothing store on the first floor of the hotel and suddenly remembered that Cassandra Liu didn't have dinner clothes. Of course, an intellectual suit would be fine, but the color of her suit was mostly too dark. He walked in and took a fancy to the cheongsam. I asked Director Elliott to buy it for me, have it ironed by the hotel, and send it to the room to hang here for her to wear.
She looked at the cheongsam, neither saying yes nor no. The style of the cheongsam was a bit trendy, with the slits on both sides too high, and the shoulders cut very close to the inside, the kind of off-shoulder dress. She rarely wore such feminine clothes that showed off her figure. She took out the brown high-heeled leather shoes from the suitcase, took off her loafers and put them on, then put the cheongsam on her body and walked to the mirror.
"I originally wanted to surprise you." He said, "I remember you wore a cheongsam when you were in the United States. It was very charming."
She didn't expect that he would still remember such a thing, so she should express her gratitude. She said, "That was before cheongsam became popular."
"If you can't be ahead of the trend, then decide to be after it." He said with a smile. He told her that the store on the first floor said that if the clothes don't fit, they can be exchanged, but she had to act quickly, otherwise the store would also close.
She's not that particular, she never puts any thought into her clothes. But she took off her coat and stretched out her arms into the cheongsam like a diver. The first thing she felt was that it was tight and a little breathless. But he helped her fasten the zipper, and it was just right. It fit snugly and just covered the bruised bruise on her knee.
Victor Li was very proud, saying that he had great discernment and could still remember his wife's dimensions and dimensions.
Cassandra Liu said, "Please spare me!" She raised her arm, the armpit hair needed to be removed. She asked him to lend her the razor. He was a little panicked, "I'll help you, don't tear it." The two squeezed into the bathroom, undressed their upper bodies and dealt with this matter that women should handle themselves.
Then she combed her hair and sprayed it with mousse to keep it from flying. She quickly put on makeup and thought it was really troublesome to be a woman. This thought was a bit strange, but she thought, maybe I was not supposed to be a woman, and I was not a woman in my previous life.
But she saw herself in the mirror, with a slender figure and a new look, especially the orange color, which was bright but not gaudy. She hadn't dressed like this for many years, and she felt that she was still pretty, as if her face and figure had not changed much in more than ten years. In this respect, she was a bit like her Mother Evelyn, and age had no effect. She was very happy about this, and heard her husband's footsteps outside the door and the constant beeping of his cell phone. Her husband often only had one sentence or even one word in response. She felt that he still loved her, and at least he was patient enough, so she said to the outside, "I'm ready, ready to go."
All eyes were directed at her, and Cassandra Liu realized that she was being carried into the banquet hall by Victor Li. She wanted to take her hands out of his arms, but held back. It was unreasonable for these people to look at her like this, but when she looked around, she saw that their eyes were all facing her. She remembered his words, many people just wanted to see my wife. I shouted in my heart, Oh no, now I have walked into a trap.
After sitting down, she looked around. Unexpectedly, the Jinyue Hotel also had a lobby with floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides. There were bouquets of flowers on each table, and pink napkins folded in the shape of a bird were inserted into tall bottles of champagne. In the cup, all the waiters were dressed in white, with black ties, and they looked as if they had been chosen. They looked young and upright, as if they had been trained in a junior college. The background music was actually Chopin's serenade. I'm afraid the Academy of Sciences doesn't have the format for such a decent banquet, she thought. Although she had never been to the department's banquet, she couldn't judge.
Some figure from Liang County was on the stage, probably waiting for Victor Li to come in. She thought, this was her fault, she dawdled for too long, others might think that Lusheng was putting on airs and making so many people wait.
She put Lu Sheng in a difficult situation. Looking at the guests in the hall, they must be from the Hong Kong business group and the Taiwanese business group, as well as the leading figures in Liang County and the headquarters, all with their wives! There are more than ten tables in an orderly manner, and each table is occupied, perhaps more of them are local people. Hong Kong men all wear English-style tuxedos, Taiwanese men wear suits and ties that are quite elegant, and the colors are brighter than those of mainland men. Women wear satin cheongsams, and there is no discernible difference regardless of mainland China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan. Why is it that women are more trapped in a trap than men, and even she can’t escape from this trap?
After she sat down next to Victor Li, everyone at the table looked at her with a smile, and she smiled back. Someone started giving her business cards, and she took out her business card from her bag and handed it back. No one gave Victor Li a business card, maybe they were already acquaintances - the people at this table must be some big shots.
She didn't hear clearly what these people were saying, but she seemed to hear a Hong Kong businessman asking: The Feng Shui of Beishan here is very good. I wonder if the president's wife has a villa here?
However, the banquet hall soon became quiet as the chairman said, "Please allow Mr. Victor Li, Deputy Director of the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Bureau and General Manager of Pinghu Development Company, to speak."
Victor Li walked to the microphone amid applause. Cassandra Liu had never heard him speak in public and was somewhat curious, thinking that Chinese cadres did not need to be eloquent. However, Victor Li gave an impromptu speech. He started with a slow and relaxed tone, and seemed to thank the leaders of the Liang County Municipal Government and several business groups casually, thanking everyone for their busy work in recent days for a common goal. Then, he opened with a series of rhetorical questions:
"Isn't the Three Gorges just a dam? Isn't it higher than the Hoover Dam or the Aswan Dam? Some people say it is the largest project in human history. I don't know how to calculate that."
"Actually," he said, his hand left the microphone and naturally placed it on the table, as if talking about a daily routine. "Actually, none of this is important. These are things that are being done and will be done soon. What is important is the economic and geographical importance of the Three Gorges Dam, which no other project can compare to!" He continued calmly, "The Three Gorges Dam will become the vanguard of China's modernization, a strategic breakthrough point for economic takeoff and extension from the ocean to the inland, and a springboard for the prosperity of the entire inland China."
He not only spoke in fluent Beijing dialect without any humming and hawing of cadres, but also kept his sentences short and long, and his rhythm slow and fast, but also arranged them in intervals. After waiting for the applause to pass, he raised his voice and spoke for the audience: "You may ask why I say this? Is it propaganda? Is it self-praise? Is it advertising?"
His answer was surprising, but his tone was only slightly higher, "Of course not. The energy and shipping provided by the Three Gorges have extended the Pacific Rim area to the mainland of China by 2,000 kilometers. An inland sea connecting to the Pacific Ocean will appear in the hinterland of China!"
The whole audience burst into applause, and even Cassandra Liu felt that they should applaud. This statement itself was a bit empty, but Victor Li's speech was so beautiful that it surprised her. It seemed that Victor Li had learned the art of public speaking from nowhere, and it seemed that it was his innate ability. He was originally a person with extremely clear ideas.
A Hong Kong man moved his seat and sat next to Cassandra Liu. While applauding, he said to Cassandra Liu, "What a first-class talent! A pillar of the country! Mr. Li will definitely be at the level of minister or deputy prime minister in the near future. If he goes up higher, his future will be limitless." "
Cassandra Liu was stunned. She had never seriously thought about whether her husband was going to be promoted to a high official as many people suggested. What she was concerned about now was, what would the promotion mean to her? Does her laboratory have more funding? Then again, if she takes advantage of her husband, her achievements will become questionable. So she didn't answer the Hong Kong businessman and pretended not to hear.
"Some people say that the current slogan of 'Farewell to the Three Gorges Tour' is not good. I think it doesn't matter if the tourism industry wants to do business." Cassandra Liu had already understood Victor Li's speech routine, and he was going to play hard to get again.
"Because there will soon be a 'tour of the Gorges and Lakes', which will be even more exciting: the English Lake District is not so steep, the Lake Geneva District is not so spacious, and many new attractions will be developed. National Highway 318, as well as Chongqing-Yichang and Chongqing-Changsha Expressways, will Surrounding the lake area, there are a series of medium-sized urban pearls, and Liangxian is a particularly bright one. "
He said in a loud voice, please allow him to make a comparison with the vision of the Three Gorges: the water in the dam may be less than that of Nicaragua Falls, and the length of the channel may be shorter than that of the Great Lakes, but the string of urban areas from Yichang to Liangxian to Chongqing, the rebirth of old cities, and the prosperity will be comparable to Toronto, Detroit, and Chicago!
Hearing this, the whole audience stood up and applauded vigorously. Some foreign businessmen shouted: "Great, great! It makes the Chinese proud!"
In the midst of the applause, Li Rusheng said loudly, "They are uniquely blessed by nature, and we are humans who can conquer nature!" He also applauded, which meant that the applause was not for him, but to state the facts to him.
Cassandra Liu was not as calm as before. She was a little restless. Victor Li was obviously talking nonsense, but his words were so smooth that people couldn't catch him. "Compare" means that it can be used as an analogy. It doesn't matter if you use an example to encourage people, but it would be too grandiose as a conclusion.
Is this good county better than Detroit? As long as you believe in the future, of course everything is possible.
Victor Li made some signal, and someone handed him a glass of wine from the side. There was slightly more than half a glass of red wine in it. He half-raised it:
"I propose a toast to the happy cooperation between our company and the United Business Group, and to the take-off of China and the entire East Asia." When everyone was raising their glasses to drink, he did not raise their glasses and continued calmly: "Liangxian County Government Entrust me to make the announcement. "At this time, everyone in the audience was already standing, holding their wine glasses, not knowing what was going to happen, and they all fell silent. "The two horizontal streets leading from the main street of Xinliang County to the pier will be named Hong Kong Street and Taipei Street respectively."
The whole audience cheered immediately, and after drinking the red wine like Victor Li, it turned into a roar of applause.
Cassandra Liu held a wine glass in her hand, her eyes blank. Was the husband's speech wrong? Everything was perfect, and the business group and the local people in Liang County were very happy. From a political point of view, this move was more clever. It must have been discussed for a long time, and it was definitely not a whim. Not only will the bonds be snapped up, but even the two streets will be contracted out to Hong Kong and Taiwanese businessmen to build shops.
Victor Li's ability in handling all this is truly wonderful. He is obviously best at politics and will never be content with technology, or even economics or management. He can do everything in a way that makes those involved confident and enthusiastic. In the end, it is not just a matter of investment, but to make the entire Three Gorges Project an "achievement" - he not only wants to succeed, but also a dazzling success.
Victor Li and Liang County government officials went to toast tables one by one. They had to walk around before returning to the table, but everyone at the table was talking around Cassandra Liu. It seemed that speaking to her was equivalent to speaking to Victor Li. She just responded politely, nodded in agreement, and didn't even hear what people were saying to her.
Fried bird's nest, shark's fin soup, abalone, black mountain mushrooms, all kinds of delicacies obtained from unknown sources were served one by one, and a waiter at each table was pouring them into bowls and plates for the guests. This table is filled with delicacies from all over the world. Cassandra Liu glanced at Victor Li who was already at the other end of the banquet hall, far away from the noise. The Hong Kong businessman who moved next to her specifically leaned over to the seat vacated by Victor Li. Unlike the others, he always wanted to say something different to her, and now he finally had the chance.
He said that our company has always paid attention to the progress of bioengineering as we have long admired the name of Dr. Liu.
She had been thinking about her own thoughts, and then her attention was attracted by this person. This businessman is quite old, has gray hair, wears a pair of rimless glasses, and speaks very elegantly. From what he said, he might be a so-called "Confucian businessman." She remembered the business card he had given him, which showed that he was the chairman of a Hong Kong group company, with the surname Wu. He said, "I wonder if Dr. Liu has read the news in the newspapers these past two days?"
"What news?" Cassandra Liu asked. It is true that she has not read the newspaper or turned on the TV in the past two days, and she has never had time.
"The Roslin Laboratory in Scotland has successfully bred a ewe using genetic cloning technology. They did not use sperm, but injected ordinary cytoplasm into the egg. Surprisingly, this ewe has survived for more than a year. It is said that everything is normal and it can live for many years. The news was just announced."
Cassandra Liu was shocked and said, "Oh, they did it so fast." Of course she knew about cloning technology, and she also understood the competition between Roslin Laboratory and other Western laboratories. Her laboratory is also working hard in this area. The leaders of the institute have been debating whether it is necessary to compete with the West in this area. There is not much investment in basic research and they have to spend it on certain key points. They are happy to let the West make breakthroughs and learn from it. Come and develop.
There was a woman nearby who also came over and said:
"The ewe's name is Duoli, Duo means flower, beautiful Li."
Chairman Wu was a little impatient and said directly in English, "Dolly". He quickly turned to his topic and said it bluntly. "Does the Institute of Bioengineering of the Academy of Sciences have cloning technology capabilities?"
Cassandra Liu told him that the gap between us and the West is not very big in this regard.
That would be great. He said that the company had long wanted to invest in cloning research. Today there was an emergency call asking him to fly to Beijing immediately to find the Institute of Bioengineering of the Academy of Sciences. But when he inquired, it turned out that Dr. Liu was here. It was great. .
Cassandra Liu explained that she was just a scientific researcher.
Chairman Wu said that the key lies in scientific research. Only if you have scientific research capabilities can you talk about other things. No matter how much money you need, it will be easy to handle.
"Then what do you want to clone?" She was a little confused. She wanted to send money to them so urgently. She thought there must be a specific purpose.
"Dr. Liu is a smart man," he said, sitting closer and speaking in a low voice, intentionally blocking the woman behind him. "Rhino," he said mysteriously.
Cassandra Liu was shocked and asked, "Your company is --?"
"Medicinal materials company, our products are distributed all over the world, and our sales volume ranks first among similar companies in the world."
Cassandra Liu nodded. She almost got it. Rhinoceros are now only found in East Africa, but with the expansion of human settlement and ecological changes, the herd has decreased. Moreover, it is more difficult for rhinos to mate and reproduce in zoos and cannot be cultivated artificially. Hunting has been banned in Africa for a long time, and rhino horns used in traditional Chinese medicine are completely poached and smuggled.
Chairman Wu said that they have double-blind experiments proving that rhino horn has a stronger aphrodisiac ability than Viagra when used in sufficient dosage. In fact, this market has not been taken away by Viagra. "Our company never engages in parallel import business and will never use counterfeit products."
Cassandra Liu shrugged. Medical and biotechnology was her specialty, and it was not interesting for this person to say such things to an expert.
At this time, she heard Chairman Wu say, "Our company will invest $200 million, as long as Dr. Liu is willing to undertake this project."
"Two hundred million dollars?" Cassandra Liu repeated in surprise.
"The business volume of our company is such a huge demand."
Cassandra Liu stared at this gentleman who looked like a professor. She was afraid that he was the boss behind the poaching and smuggling of endangered animals in Africa. Rhinoceros and tiger bones were the two things that made Chinatowns around the world have the worst reputation. Rare and endangered species should be cloned, but cloning rhinos and taking their horns for "virility"? She didn't have the imagination to do that.
Before she could say anything, the man continued, "Once we have the capacity to mass-produce rhinos, our company will of course make additional investments."
She repeated his words, "Mass production!" What if the world thought rhino horn really was better than Viagra? She recalled the exposure report she had seen. A company in the north cut a hole in the chest of the bears they raised and hung a bottle to collect bile every day. So how do rhinos get their horns?
A large group of rhinos were executed, their horns were sawed off, and they were dumped in the farm yard under the sun. Black flies buzzed around the bloody corpses. This scene of mass murder was too horrific.
The man raised his glass and said to Cassandra Liu, "Come and drink to our day!"
Cassandra Liu did not raise her glass, but said clearly, "I'm sorry, I feel dizzy and a little uncomfortable. Excuse me!" She pushed away the glass and stood up from the table. When she walked out of the hall, she saw Victor Li and his group had already turned around and were approaching her table. Victor Li saw her walking away, and there was a hint of doubt in his eyes.
But, sorry, she said in her heart, she didn't want to go back. The Hong Kong woman took over the conversation, "I know rhino horn is more effective than Viagra. Chinese people believe in the unity of body and mind, and the practical effect is certainly stronger than the Western chemistry."
She quickened her pace and walked out of this noisy, alcohol-filled place. She really wanted to drink a cup of tea to calm herself, otherwise she would vomit.
The fact
When she entered the room, the phone rang. It was her Mother Evelyn who called and said that she had heard Cassandra Liu's message. She had called her room several times from yesterday to today, but there was no one there. Her Mother Evelyn asked what her impression of Cassandra Liu was.
"I saw it, everything was good." She deliberately didn't mention what she saw. Cassandra Liu's reply was too brief, and she obviously didn't want to chat. Her Mother Evelyn said that because Cassandra Liu was in Liang County, she had been thinking about Liang County these days, especially the courtyard of the public office where she lived. Mother Evelyn asked:
"I wonder if that yard is still there?"
"The demolition is almost complete, and it will be flooded soon." She found that there were so many things in her heart, and she was unwilling and unable to tell her Mother Evelyn. She added, "It's become a rat-killing headquarters. It's filled with the pungent stench of dead rats."
"What?" asked the Mother Evelyn in surprise.
"That's right. There are too many rats here."
My Mother Evelyn said, "I see you are in a state of confusion, so I won't say much to you. Call me when you have time." Her voice sounded as cheerful as usual.
Her Mother Evelyn's calm and optimistic attitude arranged her life to be as interesting as possible, even too enjoyable. This night, Cassandra Liu felt that something was wrong. I'm afraid it was just a facade. If her Mother Evelyn cried, she would definitely not be surprised. . I seem to see my Mother Evelyn, curled up on the sofa in that luxurious home in Beijing, crying. I just don’t know if her Mother Evelyn is willing to show her tears when she sees her. Her Mother Evelyn was actually a stranger to her. She never knew what her Mother Evelyn was thinking. She remembered that when she was young, her Mother Evelyn often looked at her as a stranger.
The night view of the Yangtze River outside the window is more mysterious than the daytime. The neon lights of Liangxian New Town are directly at the foot of the hotel, while the old Liangxian with its scattered lights stretches far along the river. In the dark shadows of the mountains opposite, there are only one or two bright spots. Too few lights cannot stay in the river and are constantly broken into tiny bits of light.
There was a knock on the door, and she didn't want to answer it.
The voice asked cautiously outside the door, "Mr. Li asked how is Madam's situation?"
She recognized that it was Director Elliott who worked for her husband. She said angrily: "You're not dead, don't worry!"
Maybe the guy heard it as "It's okay," and said, "That's good," and turned around and left to report.
There was still no light on in the room, only a wall lamp on the front porch, which cast soft light on her body as she made a cup of green tea. Sit in front of the window. She felt it was very similar to when she was an educated youth in Inner Mongolia. At that time, she had just learned to ride a horse and one of the educated youths had a high fever. She was a barefoot doctor. She grabbed a military hat and scarf in the cold wind and snow, got on her horse and went to notify the field department to find injections.
Darkness spread across the entire grassland, with no destination or road clearly visible. There was only a dry darkness, and the cold wind stung my eyes like needles. She grabbed the reins of the horse tightly and galloped forward. Finally, a light appeared on the roadside. She thought how nice it would be if that was home, a small oil lamp surrounded by the warmth and isolation of four mud walls. This cold and inhuman world.
In this mountain among mountains, looking at the mountain scenery at night, one or two lights in the vast darkness, what kind of family is sitting together there? Thinking of the lights in the night, her mood suddenly became low and she became fragile. She needed a home in her life, a warm and loving home, even if it was a small and poor home with a bit of sweat odor like Aunt Mabel's. It seemed that she was not extraordinary, she was just an ordinary woman who needed someone to understand her, but in her so-called "home", no one understood her, her Mother Evelyn, her husband, her late father. She felt that they were all too distant and indifferent, like the light in the cold night that was out of reach.
When Victor Li opened the door with the electronic card, Cassandra Liu had already called to order fried rice. She was watching the 24-hour international news program on TV and saw the world-famous ewe, but she didn't feel any professional excitement at all. The cheongsam had been folded and put back in the box, and the high heels had been rolled under the bed. The light in the room was soft, and there was an extra bedside lamp.
"How's the headache?" He came over, touched her forehead, pulled away his tie, and took a breath.
Cassandra Liu turned off the TV. The room became quiet for a moment. "I don't have a headache at all." She said to him calmly, "I'm sorry that I failed to fulfill my role as a lady and betrayed your trust."
"It's okay. I can guess what's going on."
"What's going on?" She was a little curious: Is there a limit to this person's self-righteous intelligence?
"That Chairman Wu told me that he accidentally pissed you off, and asked me to smooth things over. I hope it doesn't ruin their plans."
"I don't have the energy to ruin his business." She stood up and helped her husband take off his suit and hung it in the closet. She said, "I just don't want to clone rhinos for tonic."
Victor Li smiled, "Rhinoceros horn aphrodisiacs? Haha!" He made a face. "Historical mistakes have made Hong Kong the vanguard of China's modernization. It is so vulgar that I have to deal with these 'Gong Xi Fa Cai' people." He added the four words "fashionable Cantonese" contemptuously.
Cassandra Liu smiled inwardly. "You performed so hard for them that they regarded you as a hero."
"Forget it, just look at it as a source of money." Victor Li poured himself a cup of tea. "They didn't expect that I would turn the Three Gorges into a profitable cash cow." He kicked off his polished leather shoes casually. "As early as when the argument was made, many people said that the budget for the Three Gorges was a fishing game and would become a bottomless pit that would drag down the economy. These people don't understand economics at all!" He unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt, looked at Cassandra Liu and said, "You see, it's not me looking for money, it's money looking for me, and the capital is thanking me for using them!"
If it weren't in this room, Victor Li would never say "I", he would definitely say "we", "the company", or even give the credit to "the leader". Cassandra Liu sat back on the sofa, watching him walk to the bed, put down the teacup, and lie down comfortably on the bed. "Is rhino horn better than Viagra? Anyway, I don't want it!" He reached for the cup and took a sip of tea. "We can leave early tomorrow morning. This journey has been very annoying for me."
Cassandra Liu remembered what her Mother Evelyn had said, "Power is the most effective aphrodisiac." She wanted to say, "Power is also the most intoxicating incense." Yes, this Victor Li didn't need a rhino horn, but he started talking nonsense.
He came over, put his arms around her, kissed her, and pulled her to bed. She broke away.
"What's wrong?" Victor Li asked angrily.
Cassandra Liu thought that her body was really out of her control: when Victor Li beat up corrupt officials, she was willing to merge with his body, and when he returned to his smug state, her body would naturally resist. That thing that had been on her mind, she could ask about it.
"That woman on the phone, is that real?"
"What's the call?" He lay back on the bed. "Go take a shower and go to bed early."
Cassandra Liu said she had already taken a shower. She tilted her head and reminded him that she was the woman who had just arrived in the dam area the day before yesterday and called her room, saying that she had something important to discuss with her.
Victor Li stood up and said he was going to take a shower. "Forget about this. We have to face the present where we are now. We will make history! You see, Western public opinion was opposed to it before, but now Western banks want to lend me money, but I don't want it. Our economy runs better than theirs, and our cities are more luxurious than theirs!" He made an excited gesture: "Every time I can make Westerners speechless and can only express admiration, I feel a special kind of happiness. Don't you feel the same way?"
Cassandra Liu followed him with her eyes. "You want to say, there is no such woman?" She could have ended it, but tonight she just didn't want to let it go: the more he led to a glorious future, the less she wanted to let him go.
"You must know?" Victor Li looked unhappy.
Cassandra Liu calmly accepted his provocation and said pointedly: "Not necessarily. I just don't like being dishonest."
Perhaps Cassandra Liu's unexpected answer was too irritating, and he looked a little gloomy. "Then don't ask again." His tone was firm, like he was giving an order to a subordinate. He looked very impatient.
Both men fell silent. A night boat passed by, making a muffled cry. Victor Li walked over and closed the curtains. He went to the bathroom, the sound of water was pouring, and after a while he came out wearing a nightgown, holding his clothes and pants in his hands. One by one, they were neatly placed on the chair. He set the time on his alarm clock and went to bed. Cassandra Liu sat on the sofa angrily, waiting for him to continue, but he just didn't want to talk.
He turned off the lamp to his right. "Go to bed early and leave early tomorrow morning."
Cassandra Liu sat on the sofa in the semi-darkness, staring at the ceiling, unwilling to look at the man on the bed. She said, "You don't think it's necessary for a wife to know. I'm ashamed of you for treating me like this."
Victor Li sat up and turned on the desk lamp. It was the first time Cassandra Liu questioned him to this extent, and he was not used to it. He changed the subject, "We have had a happy marriage for many years, and I believe it will continue to be happy in the future."
"People change," she said. "For example, you are becoming more and more capable."
He heard the sarcasm in the words and stood up, his face flushed. Cassandra Liu suspected that he was not so easily angry outside, but at home, he could vent his emotions freely in front of his wife.
"I know what you mean," he said. "You think I can fundraise so smoothly just because the country is big and the population is large. Even if I admit that your idea is reasonable, in the final analysis, someone has to do things."
"Someone has to build the Three Gorges Dam."
"You're absolutely right." He took over the conversation, "Let me tell you clearly: in the original debate about whether to raise the Three Gorges, the opposition had one of the biggest misunderstandings, that is, they did not understand that there were already more than 100,000 people working on the reservoir. , As early as the 1980s, tens of thousands of technical personnel were working in the general offices and ministries alone. If the Three Gorges was not restored, so many people were ready to retire? It was just inertia, and they would have to step up. "
Cassandra Liu said, "I also know that China as a whole is only looking for things to do, so it is building so vigorously. Only when everyone is looking for things to do, leaders are needed."
"Isn't the whole world like this? Otherwise, what should I do?" Li Rusheng ignored her sarcasm. "Otherwise, how can mankind progress? How can Asia catch up with the West and become the new leader of civilization?"
She thought about it carefully and felt that her husband had indeed hit the nail on the head. To surpass the West by being more Western than the West and to turn Liang County into Detroit, this was the great future we were running for. She seemed to see the entire Three Gorges being submerged by the river when the reservoir was built. Yes, even if the Three Gorges Reservoir became a flooded reservoir, everything could be renewed. Wushan had new clouds and rain, and there were twelve peaks outside the twelve peaks. And those ancient tombs and the stone fish carved on the White Crane Ridge would sink in the water and be developed into underwater archaeology.
She has learned about human arrogance. This reminded her of the bacterial colonies she saw under the microscope. They divided endlessly and multiplied exponentially, swallowing up all the colloids on the petri dish. Then they gave up and died collectively, leaving individual ones wrapped in dormancy. Spores, waiting for the next chance of infection. How could the highest-level creatures and the lowest-level creatures walk the same path?
She suddenly became very depressed, looked at him and said, "I'm sorry, since I came here, my personality has become weird and unkind. Maybe I'm really not suitable to be the president's wife. You should find someone else."
Victor Li walked to the sofa, as if he wanted to hug her and comfort her.
"You're a great professor and a scientist, I understand that. I just want our marriage to remain intact, no matter what happens."
Seeing that Cassandra Liu had no reaction to his words of compromise, he stood up straight and said angrily: "Don't take your Mother Evelyn's words seriously."
She also sat up straight, her face pale with anger. Victor Li never mentioned his Mother Evelyn-in-law, and she didn't quite understand why he kept his distance from her. Her Mother Evelyn also didn't say much to her son-in-law, although her Mother Evelyn always regarded Victor Li's family as her lifesavers, and always spoke well of him, telling her what she heard about Victor Li's future.
She never thought about the reason, because she was not close to her Mother Evelyn. But she had never expected Victor Li to be so openly hostile. It seemed that Victor Li knew that if her Mother Evelyn hadn't pointed it out, Cassandra Liu wouldn't be so sensitive to their emotional crisis. Maybe it was that d@mn perfume again, and the female spy who delivered the perfume went back to report something.
There is a cactus in her office. It grows taller and taller. Many small cacti grow out. They can survive without water, but they grow better when watered. What about their relationship? Do they water it with water?
"I think," Cassandra Liu said clearly and clearly, "you have the responsibility to explain this sentence."
Victor Li was not panicked at all. He seemed to have been prepared for this showdown long ago. He might have rehearsed it many times in his mind. This man might also regard marriage as politics. How come she only realized this now? However, this arrogant man did not need to regard his Mother Evelyn as an opponent.
"I cherish our marriage, and I don't want our relationship to end up like your parents'."
Seeing Cassandra Liu almost jump up, he put his hands on her shoulders and asked her to sit down. But Cassandra Liu suddenly brushed his hand away. The man who was her husband had a serious face and seemed to be ready to use his trump card. Great, she wanted to understand who she was and who he was over the decades. "Then you have to say it more clearly!"
Victor Li sat in the chair opposite and said calmly, "I didn't know about your parents until very late. My father was critically ill at the time, so he told me the whole situation. He refused to tell me before, for fear of affecting our relationship. Emotions. In fact, I have always made a clear distinction between the two generations." Victor Li seemed reluctant to talk about it and told her because he had no choice. "Your father complained to my father, saying that your Mother Evelyn was very prejudiced against him. The two of them had never been married, and their marriage had long been in name only."
Cassandra Liu was angry, and was also surprised at this moment. This was completely impossible and could not be true. Her parents loved each other very much. After her father died, Aunt Li introduced a man to her widowed Mother Evelyn, but her Mother Evelyn did not agree. She said to Cassandra Liu, "Your father is the only man in my life."
But maybe, maybe Cassandra Liu didn’t understand her parents’ affairs at all.
Victor Li said that at that time, his father asked him to go to Sichuan Province to find an old comrade in the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department to clean up the files left by Cassandra Liu's father. His father said that he should not make a big scandal and be used by others. Victor Li was not a personnel cadre and was not qualified to read organizational files, but he did not dare to disobey his father's orders. It was summer, the hottest day in the south, and he took the train to Chengdu. Find the old comrade in the organization department. After hearing his purpose, the old comrade said that this kind of thing should have been cleaned up long ago. However, organizational departments often deliberately leave things unchecked, especially the deceased. They think it is better to have them in the files than not to have them at all.
They agreed to come to the office the next day, because the next day was Sunday. He knew that the HR department had to have two people sign to indicate that they were present when looking at the files, but in times of chaos, there were too many things that went against the rules.
He arrived at the office early the next morning. The old comrade was already waiting for him there, and the two of them rummaged through several large cabinets covered with dust, and finally found all of Cassandra Liu's father's case files, a total of five large packages. The old comrade said, "It's all here. Do you want to take a look or don't you want to take a look?"
He thought for a while and said, "Let's take a look at the catalog. If my father asks about it when I return to Beijing, I can give an explanation. There is no need to read the contents."
Most of the files in that file were materials from the Cultural Revolution. There were examinations written by Cassandra Liu's father himself. Each copy was several thousand words long, and some were tens of thousands of words thick. Most of the others were reports of various "crimes" he had committed by others. I don't know why he There are so many enemies. Victor Li had heard about the Sichuan cadre faction and tortured people to death during the Cultural Revolution, but he realized it this time. Those who worked under Cassandra Liu's father before the Cultural Revolution thought that he was favored by pretending to be honest. At this time, he became the target of a group, so he used any method and finally came up with a trick. Victor Li said that there was a piece of information that he read carefully because the whistleblower turned out to be Cassandra Liu's Mother Evelyn.
"You don't need to say anything," Cassandra Liu interrupted Victor Li. She stood up excitedly and said, "You are saying that my father committed suicide because of my Mother Evelyn's 'exposure'!"
He was unhappy and said, "I didn't say that. You think you're too smart. How can I come to such a criminal conclusion? Besides, under the pressure of the Cultural Revolution, many people did things against their will. A great writer in Beijing committed suicide." , it’s not because of the family members’ exposure. Of course I can’t tell which of your Mother Evelyn’s words were forced out and which were her own grievances. I just said that people who are cadres will be the most intolerable once a fire breaks out in the backyard. "
Cassandra Liu thought of the big centipede scar on her Mother Evelyn's belly and the strange look on her face when she told her the past, and couldn't help but tremble in her heart. Could it be that the Mother Evelyn really hated the father in her heart because the father only wanted the child and not her life? After giving birth to Cassandra Liu, did her Mother Evelyn's love for her father end?
She seemed to see a boat in the river. Her Mother Evelyn was lying in the cabin, looking desperately into her father's eyes. "No," she cried in pain, "don't say that, I can't bear it." But she just looked at Victor Li and said slowly, "You want me to promise you my loyalty and that there will be no fire in the backyard." '? What about your loyalty?" she said sadly. "What about your loyalty?
"Don't distrust me so much." Victor Li said. "I've said it before, with a wife as clean and self-sufficient as you, I can be an honest official."
This husband is stupid again with this suit. Cassandra Liu has learned enough and she doesn't want to pursue him anymore. She only cares about the home she once had. "If you have anything else you haven't said, please tell me." Cassandra Liu said, "I don't want you to reveal my parents' secrets again in the future."
"No, absolutely not."
"Then you must know how he committed suicide at that time?" Cassandra Liu asked.
"Don't be sad," Victor Li recalled. "Your father was beaten half to death. People thought he couldn't move, so they watched him more leniently. But he got up from the ground and jumped from the 12th floor. I saw the hospital's death certificate in the files, and there was a photo! It's attached as evidence."
Cassandra Liu's tears flowed down, and she reached out to wipe them away. Her father jumped off the building. Now she didn't need to imagine it, she could see the tragic scene, his head split open, his eyeballs burst, a pool of blood mixed with white brain matter, her fingers and limbs were numb, and she couldn't help shaking. Although she had a premonition, she never dared to imagine this tragic scene.
Mother Evelyn didn't tell the truth about her father's death. For so many years, no one wanted to tell her, not even she herself. Victor Li's reversal was not for her, but for himself. He hoped to keep the marriage and avoid any trouble at the turning point of his political career. Cassandra Liu should consider his overall situation.
She should forgive him, forgive and forget. But she couldn't do it. There was a night ship sailing on the river, but the sound was very low and was completely blocked by the thick curtains.
The train whistled loudly, and the carriage was full of people of her age, who were eager to go to Beijing for pilgrimage. As the train slid forward, she finally squeezed in, curled up in the aisle, and took two days and three nights to Beijing. This was her first time in Beijing, and after many twists and turns, she found Uncle Li's house, a private courtyard, and the fully armed guards would not let her in, saying that Uncle Li was not at home and no strangers could be allowed in. She took out her father's letter to show the guard, but the guard refused to read it and did not go in to report. During the Cultural Revolution, there were too many people "petitioning".
She was hungry and tired, so she sat on the stone stairs in front of the courtyard. Gradually her whole body became hot and her head hurt very much. Her body was so soft that she lay down, and she thought that she might become a poor ghost and die in a foreign land, ignored and cared about. Fortunately, Uncle Li liked her. Fortunately, the internal fighting in the army was not fierce, and she survived in this family. She often cried alone behind others' backs, thinking about her father. Aunt Li told Cassandra Liu in front of the whole family, why couldn't she see the smile on this girl's face?
At this moment, she clearly saw her sixteenth year! She had never described those years like living under someone else's roof. It wasn't until this night that she realized that Victor Li also regarded her as a protected person and had always shown kindness to her. In fact, no one really cared about her, and no one who passed through her life took the time to enter her heart. Since then, the pain in her heart has been carefully buried by herself - that kind of loneliness, the kind of loneliness that can never be relieved.
Cassandra Liu went to the bathroom, she just wanted some space alone. But when she thought about how often she was in the bathroom when she was sixteen, she couldn't bear it anymore. Her hands and feet were cold, as if they were soaked in water, and it felt like a big stone was pressing on her chest, making her breathless. Being locked up in this room is really unbearable. She doesn't hate that man, and she doesn't know if she still loves him. Her feelings for him are complicated, and I'm afraid she won't be able to figure them out this night. But she felt that her heart was wandering and betrayed like a lonely soul, and her life always continued with constant betrayal. Her original instinctive purpose of coming to Liang County was to respond to her husband's betrayal, not to get close to her husband. She could imagine that her Mother Evelyn didn't hate her father so much at first, but she just had nowhere to speak and was unable to heal the trauma. Only in the end did she say it to the person she shouldn't have spoken to in the most inappropriate way when she shouldn't have said it. Out of everything.
How could she escape what happened to her parents right here on the river? Her Mother Evelyn felt helpless and hopeless back then, and she feels the same way now.
She still couldn't believe those things Aunt Mabel said when they broke up last night, such as reincarnation. However, if there is such a thing, then she may be the reincarnation of Zen Master Yutong - let her come to see her father's retribution, let her come to the world to see all the troubles that broke the foundation.
She suddenly became afraid. The coldness of the whole world made her shudder all over and she couldn't help shivering.
So who can she talk to?
she does not know. She opened the bathroom door and light poured out. She walked to the bed and looked for her shoes.
Victor Li's cell phone rang. He took it from the bedside, turned it off without even looking at it, and threw it aside. But he subconsciously glanced at Cassandra Liu. Cassandra Liu also glanced at him. She put on her shoes, and Victor Li asked, "Where are you going?"
"You don't need to know." Cassandra Liu suppressed the anger in her heart and said lightly.
"I am your husband! I must know!" he shouted.
At this time, the phone rang again, and the sound came from the closet. Victor Li hurriedly walked over and took out a mobile phone from the inner pocket of his suit. It seemed that only a few of his cronies knew this mobile phone number. As he answered, he opened the curtains a crack. The heavy rain was pouring down outside, making the window glass crackle.
"Landslide?" Victor Li asked.
The other party was yelling something nervously. Victor Li had to listen carefully. Finally, he said, "Let the municipal party committee handle everything."
What the other party was saying again, Victor Li interrupted him: "The mountain can't stop it, and even the gods can't do anything about it - it doesn't matter if it slips, so as not to slip again after storing water, and others will say it's the fault of the reservoir." He clicked the button. Drop the phone.
"Where are you going?" Victor Li turned around, stared at Cassandra Liu and asked loudly, as if he wanted to vent all his unhappiness.
But his confidential cell phone was ringing again. Cassandra Liu rushed out of the room without looking back.
Peacock after a thousand years
She rushed into a world of pouring rain.
She didn't take any luggage, she hadn't decided where to go, nor whether she would return. She pushed aside the heavy rain with quick steps, and she wanted to shout out the resentment and depression that had accumulated in her heart for many years.
Now she knew that everything that happened that night would happen sooner or later. She had already had a premonition from the moment she heard her husband say he was coming to Liang County.
The streets were deserted in the heavy rain. Walking from the new city into the old city, the street lights were like slanting threads of light, barely illuminating the dilapidated walls. Even the citizens who were playing mahjong had long given up the enthusiasm of fighting all night.
Cassandra Liu just walked along the street. It was really hard to tell the road in the heavy rain. When she saw the place clearly, she found that she was on the right road. This was the road up the mountain. She had been there twice before, but this time it was especially quiet. There was no one on the street to ask. The searchlights of the ships on the river slowly crossed the dark mountains on both sides, sweeping up and down. Suddenly, a beam of light flashed past Cassandra Liu, and the raindrops sparkled like silver needles in the places where the light shone, piercing her body densely.
She came to the entrance of the scenic spot at the foot of Nanhua Mountain and saw the gate pillars carved with dragons and phoenixes and the colorful archway made of white jade, but on this stormy night, those impressive slogans and scenic map disappeared by themselves.
The cable car had stopped long ago, but the iron gate next to it was not locked. There was only a simple railing at the entrance to the mountain road. She took a step and climbed in.
She didn't quicken her pace - she knew she had to walk slowly and steadily up the mountain, especially when it was raining heavily.
The mountain temple in the late night did not seem like a place where humans would come and go. Everything around was pitch black, but it seemed natural. The rain roared down like a flood in the canyon. The several halls and statues she had seen during the day, which she had seen in the afternoon, had been painted and gilded, looking grand and ridiculous. At night, they looked completely different, eerie and majestic, as if they were originally residents of the night. The red-faced King of Hell and the two generals beside him stared at her. The white eyes of the statues really had a bit of a fierce light, as if they were laughing hideously. She felt the soles of her feet go cold, and she turned her head away in disgust.
So she stopped looking at the statues one after another and walked all the way up the mountain. Fortunately, the newly built stone steps were not as dangerous as the slippery and narrow mountain roads in the past. The cliffs on the side and the nearby peaks were full of hanging Ancient vines and ancient plank roads with only traces of birds disappeared into the thicker darkness.
She felt the eyes of the statues were fixed on her back. She, the only night traveler on the mountain path, seemed like the only suspect in the world.
No, she said to herself, I don’t have to intentionally not look at it, and I don’t have to intentionally look at it. Her steps became slower, but this intentional or unintentional struggle only made her feel nervous. She thought of the new couplet: There are no ghosts in my heart and I am not afraid of them. But in the middle of the night, whether you were afraid or not was not the issue. It was whether you admitted your fear or not that made you confused.
The dark clouds disappeared behind the trees, and the rain gradually subsided. There was a sudden rustling sound on the mountain peak. Listening carefully, it was the noise of the night wind blowing through the leaves. Only on this mountain were there still some ancient trees.
She turned her head and saw a little light on the last step. Yes, it was behind the dark hall. She was happy and quickly climbed up to the hall. It was the main hall of Sakyamuni. The corners of the Zen temple shone through the darkness. The stone lions jumped in the shadows as if they had seen a friend of many years. The three words "Shuiyue Temple" gradually came into view. She was not so panicked, as if she had been here before and everything seemed familiar. The rain stopped and moonlight appeared in the sky.
At this time, she found that the light came from behind the temple. She walked around the lotus seat and saw a light coming from a house behind the temple. She couldn't believe her eyes. There was a place with bright lights deep in the mountains in the middle of the night.
When she thought about it again, she felt that she was too stupid. Isn't that Yueming's studio? Yueming should have gotten off work a long time ago. If he was still there, he knew she would come, so he turned on the headlights to light her way.
Originally, she came up the mountain because she didn't have any other address for him. Yue Ming must know this, so if she didn't wait for her here, where else could she wait?
She tiptoed to the side of the house, not wanting to disturb the people working in the house. From the window, she saw Yueming painting. There were many paintings spread out on the table and on the ground. She didn't know why he was rushing to paint so many tonight. She walked to the door. The door was not closed tightly and a crack was exposed.
She looked at her shoes, which were wet and stained with a few grasses, but still clean. Then she pushed open the door, which creaked. Yueming looked up and saw that it was her. She smiled without any surprise and simply said, "You are here," as neighbors who get up early would do when they meet her. She nodded.
"Why are you all wet?" Yue Ming said with concern. "Wait a minute." He walked out and soon took a monk's cassock and a dry towel in his hand. He asked Cassandra Liu to take off his wet clothes, saying that he only got these clothes from the temple because he was afraid that Cassandra Liu would catch a cold. "It's just clean. Sorry, I'll make do with it for now." Cassandra Liu took it and Yue Ming went out. Cassandra Liu changed her clothes before asking him to come in.
When Yue Ming saw her wearing this outfit, she smiled openly like she did in the old city detention center. After that, she didn't see him again. Although it was only yesterday afternoon, it seemed like a long time had passed: too many things had happened in the past two days.
Cassandra Liu also smiled. "Funny?" She wiped the rainwater from her hair with a dry towel.
"Very good," he said, returning to the drawing table.
The paintings on the floor and the table attracted Cassandra Liu. It was still the huge rocks and waterfalls, the mountains and rivers that had not changed for thousands of years, but they had lost their shape on the rice paper, becoming strange, with endless changes in shape, and thick ink splashing all over, which was different from the "wasted paintings" she saw the last two times. This time it can be seen that it was intentional, with large brushstrokes and no rules of ink. The rock textures seemed to have just surged from the universe and fell directly on the paper. Originally used as colorful embellishments of green leaves and red fruits, now it is like magma breaking through the cracks in the rocks, radiating on the dark background, and gradually revealing a dizzying depth. Only on the most beautiful rock walls in the Three Gorges can you see such a great rise and fall of wind and clouds.
Cassandra Liu stared at the paintings on the table and floor, and finally suppressed her surprise and didn't blurt out her feelings about the paintings. When the Three Gorges sank into the big flat lake, only such paintings would exist as a record, which might be a comfort.
However, Yueming's head was covered with sweat, and she was waving her pen and ink as if she was extremely anxious. She was very thirsty, so she went to the water bottle on the table and poured a glass of water. The water was not too hot anymore. She took a sip and found that the temperature was just right, so she drank it. Cassandra Liu thought, should he tell Yue Ming what happened when he was born? Aunt Mabel said that they never told the child these things, for fear that he would not be able to keep it in his heart and cause trouble. But Yueming doesn't seem like a person who can't hold any resentment in his heart.
However, Cassandra Liu had a feeling that this person was not someone who needed to be reminded at all, and it was best for her not to point out things that were not a secret to him in the first place. Cassandra Liu poured another glass of water, handed it over, and said to Yue Ming:
"How about taking a break, okay?"
Yueming turned around and said sheepishly, "I'm really confused. I'm too indifferent. Sit down." He grabbed the only chair and made sure Cassandra Liu sat down.
She asked curiously, "What's so urgent?"
Yueming said that his Mother Evelyn came to see him again in the afternoon, very anxious, saying that he had been wasting time on relocating his primary school. She said that the hospital informed her that her stepfather would be operated on tomorrow. She said that she didn't expect this at all. The red envelope money has not yet been received, so she asked him to send 3,000 yuan tomorrow no matter what. The rest was up to her to run around and see if she could borrow some.
So that's what happened. Cassandra Liu felt relieved. The doctor only told her that the operation would be performed tomorrow. He didn't mention the money as she requested because the money was already in hand and there was no need to talk about it. But she didn't expect that Aunt Mabel's family would be so anxious all night. While she was having a big banquet at the Jinyue Hotel, the family was running around to borrow some money! Just the Tianjiu chicken wings and bird's nest, and the Louis XIII wine worth tens of thousands of yuan, just one table alone would have exceeded the 5,000 yuan surgery fee that Aunt Mabel had gotten everywhere in a hurry, and it was enough to save Aunt Mabel's family.
But she couldn't explain it, especially not to Yueming. So she asked, "Is there any way?"
"I found the gift director, and he said that the paintings were sold out and he could give me another 1,000 yuan. If I handed over the 50 paintings I promised before tomorrow, he could give me another 1,000 yuan on credit. He also said that if the delivery was satisfactory, he might be able to lend me some more, so that we can make up the difference. Actually, it's my fault. I promised to hand over 50 paintings in the next few days, but I was too distracted these days and now it's really too late." He pointed to the scraps of paper on the floor with embarrassment. "I have never painted like this before. It's like saving a life."
Cassandra Liu stood up and moved carefully in the middle of the paintings, taking care not to step on the paintings. She really liked these paintings, these paintings were so grand that they swallowed everything and entered the world alone, but Yueming didn't seem to do it intentionally. His drastic measures may have been driven by his Mother Evelyn's pursuit. Such a wild and unbridled spirit is not like the state this person realizes. She said deliberately nonchalantly, "That's not the case - since I have decided to have surgery, I don't want the money right away."
Yueming picked up a new piece of rice paper. He also said the same thing to his Mother Evelyn. Doctors always have a certain professional ethics. Once they have opened a person's belly, they will not sew it up carelessly. But his Mother Evelyn called him a fool and was completely unqualified to live in this society. Neither the new society nor the old system could keep up with it. His Mother Evelyn said that if Yueming was still her son, she would deliver the promised three thousand yuan before nine o'clock tomorrow morning.
Cassandra Liu was thinking about how to hint to Yueming that there was no need to rush this matter. It was too late to rush. After thinking for a long time, she said, "I'm afraid it's useless to rush. It will take several days to mount and dry these paintings."
Yueming said it was not a big deal, the gift shop manager was just worried that he would not have time to finish it, and would agree to pay on credit after seeing the paintings, which might not be framed. He frowned as he looked at the paintings, and told Cassandra Liu not to laugh when he saw them. He said he was very worried, because the paintings were getting worse and worse, and if he continued like this, he didn't know if the manager would accept them tomorrow morning, let alone be satisfied enough to lend him money. He said it was not easy for them to run a shop, and the customers were very knowledgeable and were very picky about landscape paintings.
"Then you won't stay up all night painting, right?" She looked at her watch, "It seems you've already stayed up all night, and you've done your duty. I'll look for it tomorrow - look for a gift shop. In addition, I also want to buy something. Can I have a few of your paintings?"
"I remember you said you wanted to buy it." Yueming didn't say anything about not being for sale this time. He didn't treat these paintings as waste paper. "Go to the gift shop tomorrow and pick out the ones you like, okay? I'll thank you on behalf of my Mother Evelyn."
Cassandra Liu was tongue-tied. Why did she have to go to the gift shop to buy paintings? Why couldn't she buy them directly from him? Yueming's mind seemed to be a little wrong, too rigid. Is there any reason for the gift shop to make a profit in the middle?
But when Cassandra Liu said she wanted to buy a painting, Yueming heaved a sigh of relief, like a primary school student who heard that his art homework had passed. He wiped his hands with a towel, started to drink water, looked around at the mess, lowered his head in embarrassment, and became like the first time they met, a humble rural primary school teacher.
Cassandra Liu was determined not to stay on the surface, and this time she had to find out the true nature of this person. She asked directly, "Do you think we should protest against the relocation of the reservoir?"
Yueming simply said, "Now that I have gone, I will not regret it, no matter what the consequences. If we don't talk about primary school education, even the parents will not care about it. But as a teacher, I have to speak up."
"I'm not talking about the studies of those primary school students, I'm talking about the entire reservoir. Should it be built?"
Yueming thought for a while and said: "To tell you the truth, for many things, the pros and cons that can be guessed in advance and the pros and cons that can only be seen after the fact are probably not the same as those seen hundreds of years later or one or two thousand years later." It will be the same."
Cassandra Liu's eyes lit up - this was a question she had always struggled with in her mind, including the fact that her own career was involved in ethical disputes. It was the first time she got such a concise and practical answer: Yue Ming was not avoiding taking a stand or avoiding difficult problems, he was Be willing to take the problem apart and look at it.
"You mean," she said, choosing her words carefully, hoping she could keep up with such clear thinking. "You mean, when things are urgent, we can consider the immediate interests, but once things are not so urgent, we should consider the longer-term interests?"
"How can I say something of this caliber? You are from Beijing, a scientist. You have read more books than me, so your ideas should be smarter than mine."
She understood what Yue Ming said. If she felt good, this person had a kind heart. But there is still a question in her mind that she has been trying to figure out - whether this person is a mediocre rural primary school teacher, or a person with great courage, vision and even great wisdom. She laughed at herself, because this just confirmed Yue Ming's almost sarcastic statement - she was not clever at all, she was confused.
"Look, is it better to move here or move somewhere else?"
Yueming said that he had no other options. After the relocation, the primary school was reduced and their primary school was closed. He had no other skills to make a living and he was not a real painter. He just wanted to make a living by painting a few strokes here. He couldn't live like this forever. He said that he was going to Qinghai, where he was relocated, at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The primary school there might need him to teach, but his level was not enough to get a teaching position elsewhere.
Cassandra Liu panicked. She had never heard him mention it, nor had she heard Aunt Mabel mention it. Although she herself came from far away, she always felt nervous when she heard about Yuan Qian. "Does your Mother Evelyn know what you are thinking?"
Yueming's face darkened. "My Mother Evelyn is very unhappy, but there is nothing I can do. Everyone needs a job. A son like me is useless."
Cassandra Liu shook her head. She wanted to persuade Yueming to stay and find any job in Liang County so that Aunt Mabel could have someone to rely on in her later years. It was obvious that her husband would not be very strong after the operation for stomach cancer, no matter how good it was. But the person in front of her didn't seem to consider practical life.
"My Mother Evelyn always said that I was not raised by her." Yue Ming smiled bitterly and said, "I don't know what this means? Die Gu is an adopted daughter, and she is closer to me than her biological daughter, so that's good."
Cassandra Liu said, "My Mother Evelyn also kept nagging me that I was not the daughter she raised."
"Maybe all mothers are the same, they like to complain like this." Yueming said.
Cassandra Liu suddenly thought, maybe her Mother Evelyn had thought about it like Aunt Mabel, if so, then her Mother Evelyn wanted her to come to Liang County, the purpose seemed not so simple. Impossible, Cassandra Liu immediately denied, this is just a Mother Evelyn's complaint out of special feelings. She thought that she really did not bring any comfort to her Mother Evelyn's life, and she had never painted so frantically in the middle of the night for her Mother Evelyn's affairs. When she left her Mother Evelyn, she had no regrets. The first time she went abroad, her Mother Evelyn wanted to send her to the airport, but she said no. When her Mother Evelyn heard it, she cried and said that once you leave, I will have no relatives. She is more uncaring than Yueming.
Yue Ming put down his cup and was packing up the paintings. He obviously put the more "presentable" paintings together, the most "presentable" ones on top, and the art that Cassandra Liu thought was the most amazing. The products were thrown aside. There were a few, and after thinking about them, I crumpled them into a ball and threw them in the corner.
She wanted to tell him, don't throw those two away, give them to the store tomorrow, mark them, I ordered them. But she couldn't say it, she couldn't say these words to the man who worked hard to paint and operate on his stepfather. She couldn't tell him that his artistic judgment was all wrong and that the paintings he produced were mediocre. What was the use of saying so? This man was in complete denial of what kind of artist he was.
The question popped up again: Is this man just an ordinary mortal?
Yueming finished packing and said to Cassandra Liu, "Let's go down the mountain." As he spoke, he turned off the lights one by one. The night became gloomy and the moon disappeared. When they walked out of the door, it was still far from daybreak.
The road was very dark, not to mention it had rained. It was originally more difficult to walk down the mountain than up the mountain. In addition, the cold night had left a thin layer of dew on the stone slabs, making it sticky and slippery. The slope without stone steps is full of mud and even more slippery. This man who came to this world almost at the same time as her stretched out his hand to her, just like when he jumped out of the police car that day, he looked at her and leaned slightly, and she took his hand, naturally, No need for any reason, they walked down hand in hand.
Cassandra Liu was distracted and almost slipped, Yueming quickly caught her. She looked down again and realized that she was dazzled, there were only feathers of osprey or pheasant on the ground, but the eyes of the two generals Heng and Ha were still shining strangely.
Yueming pointed to this place and said, "This is the 175-meter water level."
"Then, let's not leave in a hurry and take a look at this place." Cassandra Liu said.
They sat down on the edge of the cliff, on the stone steps below the steps of the King of Hell's Palace, right under the nostrils of the King of Hell and under his terrifying eyes.
Cassandra Liu felt that the sky was gradually getting brighter. In this early morning when dark clouds covered the sky, there were no bright and colorful clouds in the east, but the clear light gradually spread over, almost like water, first rising from the dark city, then rising up from the stone steps little by little, lingering in front of their feet, creating slowly rotating whirlpools.
She asked Yueming, "Then tell me, what will happen to this reservoir in two thousand years?" She wanted to use a sudden and unexpected attack to break through this man's mediocre disguise - if it was really a disguise.
"Two thousand years later," Yueming seemed surprised. "Oh, you mean what I said in the temple? There is no special meaning to that. Because I happened to see a 2,000-year-old artifact, a golden peacock lamp holder. Such an exquisite item was made 2,000 years ago, and it actually had a practical use at the time."
"You mean," Yue Ming's words are not mysterious at all, but Cassandra Liu still wants to guess the mystery of these words. "You mean, we are the peacocks two thousand years from now?"
Yueming seemed not to hear, but stared at the clouds that were beginning to light up. Cassandra Liu felt that she had answered her own question. If she could understand the chaotic past, she might be able to figure out the confusion of the future. She understood why she felt familiar when she entered the temple tonight. She seemed to remember every threshold and stone step clearly. She also understood why she didn't like these newly built sculptures and the ridiculous newly written couplets.
Now, she could imagine possibilities she had never dared to imagine.
They sat there, watching the morning mist in front of their feet rise like water, submerging the entire city and the entire Three Gorges River.
She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, feeling relieved.
[The End]
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