Who Moved My Ashes Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Jiang Xichu wouldn’t scold for no reason, so Chen Man was stunned by her tirade. After some internal buffering, she finally raised her eyebrows and said, “Jiang Xichu, tell me clearly! What’s so wrong with me that you had to say that!”
Jiang Xichu looked at her clearly for the first time. After a few seconds, she exhaled deeply and slowly lowered her eyes. She felt that the heavy burden in her heart had almost dissipated. She raised her head, wiping her eyes without a hint of embarrassment. The corner of her eyes had turned a light pink from the tears that had been shed. When Jiang Xichu looked at her with those eyes, Chen Man couldn’t say anything harsh. She wavered back and forth in her mind, then decided to soften her approach and coax her Secretary Jiang.
But before she could speak, Secretary Jiang said, “It’s nothing. Last night I had a nightmare where we were being chased by a murderer. You pushed me out as bait and ran away. I was still angry after waking up, so I came to settle the debt.”
Chen Man: "........."
The room was quiet for five seconds, and then came Chen Man’s horrified voice, “You slapped me because of some ridiculous dream you had?!”
“How dare you. I am your general manager and I was scolded like this by you? Because of a dream? Stop, Jiang Xichu, I haven’t finished talking to you yet!”
Jiang Xichu pushed the door open and left. When she opened the door, Chen Man’s voice was clearly heard. The other three secretaries just stared from the side. Jiang Xichu calmly looked at them, “What, are you looking at what I’m doing? Have you finished your work?”
The three secretaries immediately went back to their workstations, no matter whether it was genuine or fake, and the pitter-patter of typing resumed.
Jiang Xichu turned her head. It was already past nine o’clock in the morning. The sun rose to its fixed position as usual and the first bright sunshine fell into the office. As she stood in the sun, Jiang Xichu could feel the long-lost warmth. A faint smile touched her lips. After a pause, she returned to her workstation.
She was drafting an apology for the shipping delay. A shipment of machinery from Germany had been caught in customs clearance, what was supposed to arrive in one month would now take two. They couldn't start production without the equipment, and since the contract was with a state-owned company, a formal apology was necessary.
Without needing to consult any reference materials, Jiang Xichu raised her hand and typed out a standard official document. Secretary Yang sat on the swivel chair and moved back towards Jiang Xichu. With a sly look, pen in hand, she asked in a low voice, “Secretary Jiang, what has President Chen done wrong again?”
After working in the company for two years, Secretary Yang often saw Chen and Jiang curse at each other. Usually it was Chen who had done something and Secretary Jiang couldn’t agree with her, then they would quarrel. The more they quarreled, the fiercer it would become. Finally, because Chen couldn’t bear the threat of using force, she would sit on her chair and admit her mistake.
Secretary Yang thought this time would be the same, so she was very eager to look for office gossip. Secretary Jiang continued typing, her fingers pressing on the keyboard, “No, she didn’t do anything wrong.”
Secretary Yang was surprised. Had she heard that right?
Secretary Yang still wanted to ask again, but as soon as leaned in, she saw the content on Jiang Xichu’s computer screen. “What? How come I didn’t know that the shipment was going to be delayed? When did this happen?”
…
About three days later…
With a cough, Jiang Xichu took out a document from the drawer. “You need to send this to the CFO. Also, tell him to go to Chen Man’s office tomorrow. It’s time to discuss the bulk purchase for next month.”
Secretary Yang took the document, sighed, then left.
The morning quickly passed just like this, with her quietly doing busy work. Jiang Xichu printed out all the documents that had been used for the meeting in the afternoon. As soon as she came back to the office, she saw Chen Man occupying her position.
Jiang Xichu's footsteps walked over and her pace slowed. Chen Man heard the noise, turned around and looked at her seriously. “My yogurt is gone.”
Jiang Xichu held the documents tightly in her arm. She suddenly found it very difficult for her to speak. After a long pause, she heard her voice say, “Do you want me to buy it for you?”
Usually, Jiang Xichu would scold her before helping her with these trivial matters. This time, she didn’t scold her. Chen Man wasn’t used to it, but she was a little happy at that.
She shook her head. “How could you go alone? I will accompany you and be your driver. Let’s go to the China Resources near Vientiane city. After the supermarket, we can go shopping there.”
Jiang Xichu had a strong sense of self-esteem. If Chen Man wanted to buy something for her, she would never take it. So, Chen Man could only find reasons to gift them to her. For example, if today was the beginning of spring, she would be given a set of skincare products to protect her dry skin in this season. If tomorrow was the Dragon Boat Festival, she will be given a dishwasher so she doesn’t have to wash dishes after eating zongzis. Even on Qingming*, she cooked up an excuse to gift her an Ipad; claiming that on such a solemn and dignified day, shouldn’t she be watching films commemorating the departed heroes?
(TN: Qingming – Pure brightness festival or tomb sweeping day (early April). To me…it’s similar to the United States’ veteran’s day. )
Chen Man put in enormous amounts of effort to come up with excuses for every occasion. This time, the trip to the mall wasn’t for an immediate purchase, but rather to quietly observe what Jiang Xichu liked. With Labor Day around the corner, she planned to sneak back and buy an outfit, gifting it to Jiang Xichu and telling her to wear it to work on that day.
......
Chen Man’s small abacus* was working at full tilt, but Jiang Xichu just watched her in silence. Suddenly, Chen Man couldn’t help but shift in the chair. Why did she feel that Jiang Xichu had seen through her thoughts?
(TN: Small abacus (figurative) selfish calculations; think mental calculator/scale)
As she saw Chen Man’s expression become more and more nervous, Jiang Xichu looked away, “Okay, let’s go after work.”
Chen Man was happy when she heard that, so she stood up and took the document Jiang Xichu held. “Let’s go downstairs for a meal. I heard that a new dumpling restaurant has opened, let’s try it.”
The dumpling restaurant wasn’t good. Jiang Xichu had already tried it.
But she looked at Chen Man’s eagerness and didn’t want to say anything, so she just smiled and followed her out.
Work officially ended at six, but with Chen Man involved, they left early with no problem. By five-something, the two were already at a large supermarket downtown; Chen Man pushed the cart while Jiang Xichu constantly scanned the shelves.
Chen Man was strictly forbidden to take anything. She stared at the row of spicy strips* floated past her eyes. She couldn’t help but push a few steps forward and pull on Jiang Xichu’s sleeves. “I want that.”
(TLN: spicy strips / latiao (辣条) are a popular Chinese snack consisting of strips made of wheat flour, flavored with chili pepper. It is chewy, spicy, and tangy.)
Jiang Xichu put down a bag of almonds from her hand. She turned her head and looked at the place Chen Man pointed to. Her expression turned dark immediately, “No! Your stomach isn’t good, yet you still want to eat such harsh food, do you want to die?”
It was just a pack of spicy strips...
Chen Man wasn’t convinced and shrank back. In the end though, she still didn’t take the spicy snack that looked so very delicious.
Chen Man couldn’t cook. When she was in college, she learned a couple of skills from Jiang Xichu. At long last, she had learned how to fry an egg after several tries. Jiang Xichu knew this so she didn’t buy any vegetables. After buying a pile of frozen food that could be easily reheated and eaten, she placed two packs of yogurt into the shopping cart and directed Chen Man to the checkout counter.
In the past, whenever Chen Man saw rows of beverages in the aisle she would take advantage of Jiang Xichu’s inattention and reach for a 6-pack of coke. She carefully reached for a pack and placed the coke in so that it wouldn’t press on the other things and wouldn’t make an obvious plastic sound. She swore she had been very careful, but when she looked up, she saw her Secretary Jiang’s death gaze.
Chen Man: “...”
They looked at each other for a few seconds. Chen Man picked up the coke and put it back on the shelf. Afterwards she stood straight; honest and well-behaved.
Jiang Xichu turned away.
Chen Man cried wide noodle tears in her heart.
She was the general manager yet she had no human rights…
…
They went back to Chen Man’s house and put everything away. Chen Man invited her to stay for dinner, and Jiang Xichu didn’t even think before agreeing. Chen Man ordered a pizza, several snacks, dozens of skewers and a half dozen beers for takeout.
The two of them chatted while they ate and drank; they were still friends after all, and conversation never ran dry. The latest TV drama was playing in the background. Jiang Xichu squinted at it for a couple of seconds then blurted out, “This girl will be killed later by her sister.”
President Chen, caught off-guard by the spoiler: “…”
She whipped her head around but before she could say anything, she saw that Jiang Xichu had fallen asleep on the sofa.
Chen Man moved. She put down her lamb skewer that she had half-nibbled on, then sat down with Jiang Xichu. After sitting for ten minutes, Jiang Xichu still didn’t move. Chen Man sighed softly, then held Jiang Xichu’s head and adjusted her posture so she could sleep more comfortably.
She looked at Jiang Xichu’s quiet sleeping face, Chen Man leaned down and lightly tapped her eyes with her fingertips.
“Why? Why endure such hardship?”
Her voice was very light and low. No one could hear it except for her. “Going through so much pain and not even letting me know - how could you? Do you know how heartbroken it makes me?”