. . .
Niu Yueqing was immediately suspicious when Zhuang did not return after walking out of the wedding ceremony. Since all his friends were there, he might have gone to meet Tang Wan’er. But she could not leave the restaurant; when the mayor and his wife asked about Zhuang, she had to lie and say he had been called away on urgent business. The mayor insisted that she go take a look at the newlyweds’ room after the banquet and stay until the guests had their customary antics with the couple. It was eleven that night when Niu Yueqing finally got home, and one look told her that someone had been in the bedroom. Suspicious, she combed through the bed and found a long strand of hair and three curly pubic hairs, along with the overturned picture of her on the wall. Outraged, she snatched everything on the bed and began throwing it out, starting with the pillow, then the sheets, and then the blanket. She screamed and kicked open the study door and knocked down the books, writing paper, stone carvings, and pottery. When she finished stomping and smashing the objects, she sat down to await his return.
She waited the whole night, but he did not come home. Another day went by, and there was still no sign of him. Her anger finally spent, she lacked the energy to smash anything else; instead she packed some clothes in a large suitcase. Then she heard someone knocking at the door. She walked over and pulled the latch but left the door shut. She went to the bathroom to wash her face, and felt terrible when she spotted a new wrinkle, which spurred her to massage her face using Princess Diana’s method. “You’re back,” she said without turning to look. “There’s longan extract in the fridge; go make a glass to replenish your energy. Make sure to clean up the hair when you finish in the future.” She got a loud wail for a response.
She turned at the unusual sound and saw someone keeling over in the living room. But it wasn’t Zhuang Zhidie; it was Mr. Huang, the pesticide factory owner. Niu Yueqing came out and, making no attempt to help him up, asked in a cold voice, “What’s wrong with you? Did your factory go under?”
“I want to see Mr. Zhuang.”
“Well, go see him, then. Why are you kneeling there and wailing like that?”
“My wife took pesticide again.”
She sat down to paint her brows with a mirror. “She did it again? Then she must have been hungry or thirsty.”
“I mean she ingested the pesticide.”
“Hasn’t she done that before?”
“But this time she died,” he said as he got to his feet.
Her body twitched, and she dropped the mirror. It cracked. “Dead?”
“I always thought that 102 couldn’t kill anyone, so she could drink as much as she wanted. I was out all morning. When I went back at noon, the pot was empty, so I flew into a rage. I yelled at her for getting lazy and not cooking for me. Then I went to the bed and saw her lying in there, one leg raised high in the air. I pulled at it and she rolled over, cold and stiff.”
She was quiet for a while as Huang talked on about what had happened. “I don’t get it. The pesticide was harmless when it needed to be lethal, but now it was actually toxic when it shouldn’t have been.”
“Mr. Huang, it’s good she died, isn’t it?” Niu Yueqing said with a smile. “With all your money, you can have anything that strikes your fancy. Now all you need is a foreign wife. She died because she was no good for you, and now she’s moved aside to make room for an eighteen- or twenty-year-old, which I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding.”
“That was what she said before taking the pesticide. But why not ask for a divorce? I promised her a hundred thousand yuan, and yet she chose to kill herself. I know she didn’t mean it, that she just wanted to scare me. Who would have thought that the pesticide was lethal again? Now that she’s dead, her brothers got someone to write up a complaint and send it to the court, the District Government Office, and, I heard, even the mayor’s office. They’re all accusing me of selling fake 101 and 102 pesticides.”
“Ah — so you’re here to see Zhidie so he can write another article to promote your products or speak to the mayor to help you get off?”
“Right. He’s my only hope. He can’t refuse to help me.”
“Then you’ll need to wait for him at the compound entrance. I’m going out, and I’ll have to lock the door.”
“But — but—” Huang looked troubled. Niu Yueqing picked up the mirror and smashed it on the floor.
“Get your ass out of here! What do all you stinking men have, except money? You killed your wife, and instead of taking care of her funeral, you came here with that sad face for someone to find a way out for you? And you have the nerve to tell me about it? Who did you bring with you? Is your shameless slut here also? Is she waiting for you downstairs? Bring her up here so I can take a good look. I want to see what kind of woman would hurt another woman. Did it ever occur to you that after killing your wife, someone would be waiting to kill you next? Get out. Get the hell out!” She pushed him out and slammed door.
She turned around and saw the muddy prints from his shoes; disgusted, she got a mop and ran it over the floor before sitting back on the bed breathless.
Zhuang was still out that afternoon, so she sat down and wrote him a long letter about the dozen or so harmonious years they had shared since their wedding. She recalled how he had looked like a country bumpkin and how dirt-poor he had been; it was only after she married him and sacrificed everything to encourage him and devotedly care for him that he had been able to struggle to where he was today. Now that he was successful, with fame and wealth, naturally she was no longer good enough to be his wife, for she was old. She hadn’t been good-looking to begin with, but it was also because she had sacrificed herself over the years, to the point that she pretty much had never lived for herself. Their marriage had been dead for a long time, and they had different dreams even though they shared the same bed. It would be better to end it than to suffer together. Then she changed the subject: She didn’t understand what she had done wrong to have everything turn out this way. For him and for their family, she had made diligent efforts, but he had repeatedly hurt her. Did that mean that nothing was real? Was that any way to live? She scratched out the passage, for it was no longer important to bring that subject up. Instead she wrote that in order to protect his reputation and to ensure his future happiness, she refused to raise a stink at the end of their marriage and turn them into enemies, like so many other women. She hoped for a peaceful dissolution without going to court; they could take care of it at the community office. She added that she was moving back to Shuangren fu and asked him not to look her up there, except when the divorce agreement was drawn up and they were ready to file. After finishing the letter, she picked up her suitcase and walked out of the compound with a curious sense of liberation.
When Niu Yueqing got home, she spotted her mother sitting on a stone at the gate with a blank look. “Mother,” she called out, but there was no response. The elderly woman remained motionless except for a quick glance at Niu Yueqing, who squatted down in front of her and said, “Why are you ignoring me, Mother? What’s wrong?”