Echoes of Lotus District | Chapter 74 | Moonlight and the Sudden Fall | Novela.app

Qi Shuai stood idly on the steps in front of the house, smoking a cigarette. The hand holding the cigarette was coated in a layer of white dust. Sunlight spilled across his face. With every drag, his cheeks hollowed slightly; with every exhale, his gaze grew misty and inexplicably handsome. He narrowed his "peach blossom" eyes, watching Qi Lian dig in the northeast corner of the yard. With each plunge of the shovel, Qi Lian pressed his left foot onto the blade, braced his core, and heaved a mound of earth upward, the muscles in his arms bulging like solid rock. Qi Lian wore only a short-sleeved shirt, and his exposed forearms had already been tanned to a deep wheat color. "What are you flipping that soil for? The inside isn't even finished yet, and you won't be able to get this garden done anyway. Don't you get tired after working all morning?" Qi Shuai remarked, exhaling a cloud of smoke. Qi Lian didn't look back as he drove the shovel in again. "I can't plant anything right now, but I figured I’d turn the soil and bury some fertilizer to prep it. It’ll make things easier when the time comes. This yard has been neglected for years; the soil lost its richness long ago." Qi Shuai shrugged dismissively. "You’ve really turned 'living off a woman' into a professional craft—hardworking, meticulous, and doing it all with class. Truly my brother." "Piss off." "I don't even need to use my brain to know what those bastards are saying behind your back. 'He’s well-endowed, gives great service, and landed himself a rich lady in a villa.' Brother, doesn't that feel stifling to you?" Qi Lian stopped his work, resting both hands on the shovel handle as he took a moment to think. Beyond the yard lay a lush green meadow where a few egrets took flight. Yu Mo had told him she would handle the planning for the house. Then, one day, she brought him here to see it. She led him through the yard, took him on a tour of the upper and lower floors, and told him she wanted to tear out the original decor. She asked him if he liked it. As a detached villa, the house wasn't massive, but its location was secluded, and the river was just a short walk away. It was a beautiful house; of course he liked it. But he couldn't afford it. With joy shimmering in her eyes, Yu Mo had looked at him and said, "Qi Lian, I’m going to buy it." He had suppressed the emotions that were sprouting like bamboo shoots after a spring rain and simply said, "Okay." "I’ve made my peace with it," Qi Lian said now. "Whether I’m living off her or not doesn't matter to me. I work hard, I give all the money I earn to my wife, and I let her do whatever makes her happy with everything else. So what if I eat her food? That girl of yours said one thing right: I’ve already gone this far to please her; why bother trying to maintain some false sense of pride now?" Qi Shuai nearly choked on his smoke. He coughed twice, tossed the cigarette butt to the ground, and crushed it with his foot. "Shut the hell up. God, I don't want to imagine you fawning over a woman like that." He turned to head inside, muttering as he went, "You know, sometimes I really do hate that woman of yours." By October, the majority of the structural renovations were finally complete, leaving only the custom cabinetry to be installed. That day, after finishing a meal at Hollywood, Yu Mo suggested, "Let’s go look at the house." Her passion for the renovation was as fervent as a child’s obsession with a new toy. The renovation cycle had taken far longer than expected, largely because she was constantly struck by new ideas. She would seek out new materials and sometimes even tear down what had already been installed, repeating the process over and over. Qi Lian never said "no" to anything she wanted. Even for materials that didn't exist or techniques he had never seen, he would find a way to figure them out for her. He found immense satisfaction in Yu Mo’s constant stream of praise. Take the wainscoting in the upstairs study, for example. To achieve the "weathered by time" look she desired, Qi Lian painted a layer, sanded it down, painted again, and sanded again. It wasn't until the seventh coat that she was satisfied. If it hadn't been for Qi Lian, no contractor would have put up with her. The two of them worked together in perfect, unspoken harmony. That night, the moon was as round as a great silver platter, following their car as they drove. The sky was so bright it hardly felt like night at all. Yu Mo pressed her face against the car window and cried out in surprise, "The moon is so round today! Is it the sixteenth of the lunar month?" Their house stood quietly in the moonlight of the sixteenth. The upstairs windows and the downstairs foyer had been replaced with large panes of glass that shimmered under the night sky. The surroundings were silent, with only a few distant streetlights visible in the darkness. Qi Lian folded back all the sliding doors of the downstairs foyer, and the house suddenly merged with the outdoors. They stepped onto the teak herringbone floors and climbed the white geometric spiral staircase to the second floor. The breeze drifted in, carrying the scent of osmanthus. None of the lights had been installed yet; they were illuminated only by the moon. Descending back to the first floor, the space felt vast and empty. The herringbone floors made the wide area look like a ballroom waiting for guests. The half-open foyer and the windows at the back allowed the wind to swirl the fragrance in and out, making one feel as though they were standing outside, losing all track of time. The October air was cool and sweet with osmanthus, a sensation so pleasant it seemed to soothe every pore. Yu Mo threw herself into Qi Lian’s arms, and he reached out to hold her. "Qi Lian." "Mm." At first, neither moved. Then, Yu Mo kicked off her beige ballet flats and placed her bare feet on top of Qi Lian’s. Qi Lian leaned down to accommodate her, leading her in a slow, shuffling dance. Occasionally, Yu Mo would look up and whisper something into his ear. Their steps followed no rhythm or rule. Perhaps it was the magnetic pull of the full moon, but Yu Mo felt that Qi Lian’s face, as he leaned over her, was more handsome than ever. The hazy moonlight left her intoxicated. She felt something rising, gathering within her, and even the cool breeze couldn't chill the heat. A force almost beyond her control took over, leaving her simmering with a strange, weak-limbed fervor. She let out a blurred sigh. "Qi Lian..." Qi Lian cradled the back of her head, tilting her face up high to provide the only cure she needed. The wind scattered their feverish breaths. Yu Mo tugged restlessly at Qi Lian’s T-shirt. "Duo'er..." That was the last of his reason; a second later, he forgot what he had intended to say. A thin layer of dust lay upon the newly laid teak floors, trampled and ground down. The expensive, wall-to-wall flooring, supported by its resilient joists, began waving violently with a nearly imperceptible rhythm. The moonlight shone down silently, indifferent and serene, as if illuminating two leopards in the jungle, locked in a rolling, biting embrace. They cried out beneath the moon. "Sweetheart, I can't... hurry," Qi Lian’s voice suddenly rang out, high and urgent. He wasn't the only one who had lost his mind. Someone had locked him away with love, and he was utterly defeated. The heavens and the earth seemed to tilt toward him, and his vision went black. In the half-floating state of his consciousness, he thought he heard a melody from somewhere—perhaps from a dream, or perhaps from a past life. "You’ve been bad, Qi Lian. You dirtied the floor," he heard the voice from his dream say to him. He pulled the dream into a tight embrace and whispered softly, "We were both bad. We’ll go to hell together." By the end of November, the weather turned cold abruptly. Those sensitive to the chill hurriedly pulled out thin padded jackets that had been tucked away for a year. Only people like Qi Lian seemed eternally immune to the cold; sometimes he would strip off his jacket to reveal a short-sleeved shirt. Those thirty-yuan-for-two T-shirts were certainly being put to good use. That day, Yu Mo was in her father’s office. She sat on the sofa, leaning over the coffee table to sign documents. Beside her sat an older woman wearing glasses, who handed Yu Mo file after file and set them aside once they were signed. She was Yu Shenming’s lawyer. Yu Mo’s father and mother sat on the opposite sofa, watching their daughter and chatting casually. Yu Shenming said, "I remember someone delivered Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs this morning. Amin, go check on that in a bit. It’s perfect since Mo Mo and Shen Xing are both here today. I’m afraid the season for hairy crabs is almost over." Without looking up, Yu Mo said cheerfully, "Great! I haven't really had any this year. I'm so excited!" Her childlike tone brought smiles to the other three people in the room. Yu Mo’s mother looked at her daughter with a beaming smile. Her speech still carried a hint of childhood innocence and spoiled charm. Lately, her complexion had been remarkably good, and she had clearly put on some healthy weight. The mother thought that her daughter really was doing well and wasn't just being stubborn. Although she still didn't understand why Yu Mo had to divorce Xue Shen—what hidden flaws could a man like that possibly have to make her discard him?—it seemed her daughter truly knew what she wanted. The tension that had been lingering in her heart eased slightly. Yu Shenming was busy and was called out of the room several times. When he finally returned, he was holding his phone. Standing at the door, he said to Yu Mo: "Mo Mo, guess who just called me? Do you remember your childhood friend, Sun Yi? He managed to get a hold of me." "Who?" Yu Mo let out a startled cry. How could she not remember? The boy who used to bring her snacks and chase after her bicycle? She leaped up from the sofa, shouting with excitement. It had been nearly fifteen years. She thought they had lost touch forever, never expecting that he was looking for her too. At that moment, as she took two steps toward her father, right before the eyes of the other three, she went limp like a noodle and collapsed onto the floor, motionless. *** | Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 气运丹田 | Braced his core | Literally "directing qi to the dantian," used here to describe physical exertion. | | 桃花眼 | Peach blossom eyes | A term for attractive, almond-shaped eyes that seem to smile. | | 软饭 | Living off a woman / Soft rice | Idiom for a man supported financially by a woman. | | 人字拼 | Herringbone | A pattern of floor tiling/planking. | | 护墙板 | Wainscoting / Wall panels | Decorative wooden panels on the lower part of a wall. | | 阳澄湖大闸蟹 | Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs | A famous seasonal delicacy in China. | | 孙一 | Sun Yi | A childhood friend of Yu Mo. | | 于深明 | Yu Shenming | Yu Mo's father. |