TDU Chapter 379
Chapter 379 Wicker Basket
"Are you stupid or somethin’?" she hollered again. "Couldn’t ya grow yer firm at any other time? Why’s it gotta be right when Chengcai’s gettin’ hitched?"
“Mom, be reasonable,” I replied. “I decided to expand first; he decided to get married after.”
"What kinda nonsense you spoutin’?!"
I frowned, holding the phone further from my ear to spare myself the noise.
Her next words were so familiar, I could chant them from memory.
She and the old man brought me up with bitter toil, tending to me through filth and tears.
Bringing up one child alone would have been simple enough, but instead they carried the weight of two. Oh how weary they must have grown over the years.
In her version, if not for their devoted care, I could never have been admitted to Southwest University of Political Science & Law, nor landed such a good job.
But I remember clearly, after graduating middle school, I had cried and begged to go to high school.
She refused.
She sent me out to work, to earn the tuition for my dead-last-in-class younger brother.
I had even overheard her and my father discussing marrying me off at seventeen, in exchange for a ten-thousand-yuan bride price, so they could send Chengcai to study in the city.
If it hadn’t been for a teacher who came to our village as a volunteer and paid my tuition so I could attend high school, I would probably still be in that mountain village right now. At thirty-three, with children already in their teens, my days would be bound to a pigpen and chicken coop.
Teacher once told me, if I wanted to change my life, I had to go out and see the world.
She was the guiding light of my life.
"Do ya know how much face you done cost me?!" my mother kept shouting. "You’re thirty-five! Thirty-five years old, ya hear?! How many more years ya even got left to make money?"
“Mom, I’m thirty-three,” I replied.
"You’re past thirty and still ain’t married! Yer dad and me can’t even show our faces! Anybody in this village over thirty still single? Nope! They all say somethin’s wrong with you, ya know that?"
“That’s exactly why I don’t want to stay in the village anymore, Mom,” I said with a bitter smile. “I want to live a different kind of life.”
"You might not wanna, but yer brother sure does!" she dragged the topic back yet again. "Hand us two hundred thousand so yer brother can buy hisself an apartment down in the county. After that, ya won’t have to fork over another cent, alright?"
“No,” I reiterated my stance. “Chengcai is already thirty-two years old and has never held a single job in his life. What right does he have to get married? Does he even have the ability to plan for his own future?”
“He’s got you!” she shot back. "Ain’t you some big boss man down in Chengdu?"
“Mom, I’m not a boss. I’m a lawyer.”
"So you can sue folks, huh? You know how to drag people to court, so all them bosses are scared o’ you, ain’t they?" she continued to feed me her twisted logic. "Go hit ’em up for money. If they won’t pay, then sue the hell outta ’em!"
Utterly ridiculous.
“Mom, that’s not only illegal, it’s also unfair,” I said. “When is Chengcai getting married?”
“Next week. June sixth,” she grumbled. "Just one week left, so ya better hurry it up!"
“Fine, I’ll make sure to give a red envelope then.”
“A red envelope?! You damn—”
I didn’t let her finish. I hung up.
Even after all these years of hard work, no matter when or where it happens, a call from home still has the power to throw me into utter collapse.
My family has never spared even the slightest thought for me.
In their eyes, I serve only two purposes.
Either I go back, get married, bring in a bride price, and become a childbearing machine with no further ties to them. Or I stay in Chengdu earning money, sending it home, and become a money-making machine that never stops.
I pulled a pack of KZ from my bag, took out a cigarette, and clamped it between my lips.
I was exhausted beyond belief.
Dealing with my family is more draining than fighting a lawsuit.
The moment I lit my cigarette, the safety door was pushed open. Reflexively, I tucked it behind me; after all, people often look at women smokers with hostility, and I wished to avoid that.
“Zhang jie?” Xiao Sun poked his head in, eyeing me curiously.
Seeing it was him, I put the cigarette back between my lips. “You scared me. What is it?”
“I saw you were on the phone for a long time and thought something might’ve happened. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Xiao Sun, all too familiar with the motion, took my pack, tapped out a cigarette, and asked, “Zhang jie, you haven’t smoked in a long time. What’s going on?”
“Nothing much.” I shook my head. “Family matters.”
After a pause, I glanced at the way he was lighting his cigarette and asked, "Didn't you quit?”
“Zhang jie, I told you before. If you quit, I quit. If you smoke, I smoke.” He took a drag, closing his eyes slowly. “If we’re going to take care of our health, we do it together. If we’re going to ruin it, we ruin it together.”
I let out a helpless sigh, half amused, half exasperated. “What kind of logic is that? Tying your health to mine, do you think that’s fair?”
“It’s fair.” Xiao Sun nodded. “Zhang jie, no matter what it is, I just want to do it with you.”
He’d said similar things before. They always left me a little uneasy, so my approach had always been to simply not respond.
Seeing I didn’t speak, Xiao Sun tried again, though this time his tone was a bit unnatural. “Zhang jie, there’s no work tomorrow. I accidentally bought an extra ticket to Richie Ren’s concert; I heard you really like him. Want to go together?”
I pulled out my portable ashtray, gathered the ash, and raised my head. “Xiao Sun, you just happen to have no work tomorrow, just happen to have bought two tickets to Richie Ren, and he just happens to be my favorite singer. What are you trying to pull?”
“I…” Xiao Sun hesitated, the tips of his ears turning red. After a long pause, he finally confessed, “Zhang jie, we’ve known each other for so many years. I don’t want us to stay in a boss-and-subordinate relationship. I want to know more about you.”
Young men these days truly had courage. Even after all the storms I’d weathered in the courtroom, his words still made my heartbeat quicken.
“But Zhang jie… you’ve always kept yourself closed off. I can never seem to reach your heart.” Xiao Sun’s tone grew tense. “Life is still long. Should we… walk it together?”
I looked into his clear eyes, then lowered my head, slipping the cigarette into my portable ashtray.
For some reason, hearing such words filled me not with joy, but with a deep sense of loss.
I’m a wicker basket full of holes, unworthy of holding anyone’s tender affection.
“Xiao Sun… you’re twenty-six this year, right?”
“Yes, Zhang jie. After my birthday, I’ll be twenty-seven.”
“I’m seven years older than you,” I said flatly. “You’re young, accomplished, and capable of finding a far better partner. Together, you’ll build a better life. But if you tether yourself to me, one day you’ll discover that I am marred by countless scars, and all you see now is but a façade.”
A deeper quiet settled into the air, save for the faint, muted sound of wedding music far away.
“I…I don’t care whether you’re battered or broken. I’ll give everything I have to fill in the cracks” Xiao Sun’s gaze grew resolute. “Zhang jie, I like you. I don’t mind your age, background, or past. I like your strength, your drive, your seriousness, your persistence. I’ve thought over every word I just said for a long time. Now all that’s left is your reply.”
TL Note: Rant goes here ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀)
