Liu Yue, who had never known that Niu Yueqing had that kind of analytical ability, felt sorry for her for what she had to put up with as Zhuang’s wife. She nodded, and after Niu Yueqing gave her more instructions, she washed up and put on some makeup before leaving the house.
She was sent to see Tang Wan’er, who looked anxious as she invited her in. “Did you come from the apartment?” she asked. “Did you see the note? Isn’t Zhuang Laoshi home?”
“He’s home. Dajie went to Shuangren fu, so Zhuang Laoshi wants you to come over.”
Elated, Tang Wan’er took a piece of candy out of a box for Liu Yue and, when she refused, unwrapped it and put it in the girl’s mouth. “It’s very sweet. Suck on it slowly, and you can feel the sweetness reach the bottom of your heart. Since he’s home, he could have sent a message back with the pigeon. Why have you come all the way out here?”
“I’m going to buy some noodle sauce at the Yang Family Shop in Desheng Lane. It’s not far from here, so I brought the message over,” Liu said and left.
Tang carefully made herself up and got on her bike to head over to the compound.
When she had returned from seeing Zhuang that night, Zhou had been drinking with a man nicknamed Tiger, who worked for some corporation. After Zhou met him while working at the nunnery, he came to visit a few times, and Tang Wan’er got to know him a little. So she greeted Tiger before bringing a stool over to sit down to listen to them talk. An articulate man, Tiger had a fleshy face and thin lips. She quickly realized that he was trying to get Zhou to write a book for someone who had just made a lot of money. He told Zhou that the man was so rich he didn’t know what to do with his money. He wanted to be known as a cultured person, which was why he was looking for someone to write a book for him. When it was done, he would take care of the printing and publication; all he asked was for his name to be on it. He would pay Zhou twenty thousand yuan. Zhou was reluctant at first; writing a book is hard, and putting someone else’s name on it did not sound like a good deal. “You’re not a famous writer, so what makes you think you can publish a book under your own name?” the man said. “Even if it got published, how much do you think you could make from it? Think about the life you and Wan’er are living. Why pass up an opportunity to make some real money and get out of your impoverished state? Besides, I’m not asking for a masterpiece; all you have to give me is two hundred thousand words. That’s not too much work, is it? Many writers have come to me, and I’ve turned them all down. I’m saving this breeze of a job for you, so what’s with the self-righteous attitude?”
Zhou told him he would be happy to take the job if not for the lawsuit. When Tiger asked him about that, Zhou told him everything, including the spot he was in at the moment. When Zhou mentioned Zhuang’s plan to seek the mayor’s help, Tang Wan’er cut in: “You’ve had too much to drink, Zhou Min. Stop the nonsense. Why would Zhuang Zhidie resort to that kind of backdoor ruse? You’re smearing his reputation, and you could get the mayor in trouble.”
“Stay out of men’s conversations,” Zhou said, making her so angry that she stormed into the bedroom. Lying in bed, she tried to hear what they were saying.
“I’m a lawyer myself. It’s not a full-time job for me, but I won all five cases I helped on. Your case is no big deal, so there’s no need to trouble the mayor. If Zhuang Zhidie doesn’t want to say in court that he and the woman have slept together, there’s another way to win the case.”
“How?”
“Didn’t Jing Xueyin claim that she was the woman in your article, while you argued that it wasn’t her? If another woman were to file a lawsuit saying she was the one, that would muddy the water and create a mess; the court would declare that no one could prove it was Jing, and the case would be thrown out.”
Tang Wan’er thought the solution sounded slightly crazy, but it was one way to end the suit. When Tiger left and Zhou came to bed, they talked about the suggestion.
“I could be that woman if that would help end the suit,” Tang said.
“Great. I was so worried about finding someone to do it, I didn’t even think about you.”
“I was just testing you,” she said. “Would you really want me to do it? You’d send me into his arms to serve your own interest?”
“It’d just be a ruse.”
“What if it were real?”
Smiling, Zhou couldn’t stop talking about what a great idea it was, but he dozed off as the effects of the alcohol took hold, and she regretted her offer. It would be for Zhuang’s sake, but she wasn’t sure he would agree to it. She had made the suggestion without talking it over with him first; what would he think of her if Zhou decided to carry out the ruse? After fretting about it the whole night, she waited for Zhuang’s visit to talk to him. Two days had gone by, and he hadn’t shown, while Zhou had her read the article to gain a better understanding of the case. He would carry out the plan if Zhuang’s visit to the mayor yielded unsatisfactory results. She couldn’t wait for him any longer, which was why she had sent the pigeon that morning.
. . .
To her surprise, it was Niu Yueqing who opened the door when she knocked softly. The smile froze on her face. Niu Yueqing looked away for a second before she said, “Ah, it’s you, Wan’er. I just got back. We made something delicious today, and I was saying to your Zhuang Laoshi that we ought to invite you over, since you haven’t been here for some time. And here you are.”
“What did you make? And you thought about me? You’re just saying that because I’m here, aren’t you? But I guess I’m lucky to have come in time for food.”
“You have a nice large mouth, and as they say, a large mouth gets to eat everywhere.”
“That’s for men. For a woman, a large mouth only eats chaff.”
“You won’t eat chaff. You’re more like the locust that eats crops in someone else’s field.”
That did not sound friendly to Tang Wan’er, who was about to ask whether Zhuang was home when he walked in with Liu Yue.
“Ah, you’re here,” he said.
“You haven’t been home?” Tang Wan’er asked.
“Old Meng invited me over for tea, and Liu Yue went to get me, saying they’d made something good for some guests. I was wondering who it might be. It turns out to be you.”
“So you haven’t been home all day.” She wondered why Liu Yue had said that Zhuang had sent her. Could Niu Yueqing have found the message on the pigeon? Sensing that something was wrong, she said to Niu Yueqing, who was in the kitchen, “Thank you so much, Shimu, for your kindness. You think I was born to eat good food, but in fact I’m only destined for tofu. Before Zhou Min went to work this morning, he said he was going to invite some people from the magazine for lunch, so I can’t wait for you to get the delicacies ready. I need to go home.”
“No deal,” Niu Yueqing said as she came out of the kitchen. “Now that Zhuang Laoshi is back, you two can talk. Lunch will be ready soon. You can’t leave today without eating, and I don’t care about Zhou Min.” She went over, locked the door, and put the key in her pocket.