Chapter 31 Ordinary

Chapter 31: An Ordinary Day

Mou Wen went to the window again—all three of them stood there in silence.

She laid out breakfast on the dining table. Western-style breakfast: slices of bread she baked herself, scrambled eggs, pickled cucumbers, chili rings, lettuce leaves, and her own homemade tomato chili sauce. Each thing went on its own plate, and whatever you wanted, you stacked onto your bread slice.

She kinda liked the little plates and dishes of Western breakfast—each one holding a small amount of food, but spread out on the table, it looked pretty impressive.

Xie Chong came back looking rough. Mou Wen asked what was wrong, and he said, "Weird day. I'll tell you about it when I get back."

He grabbed a slice of bread, piled stuff on it, slapped another slice on top—simple sandwich done—then chugged the warm milk in one go and headed out with the food in hand. He scarfed it down while waiting for the elevator, a little annoyed that such a good breakfast deserved to be eaten sitting at the table.

Qian Song and Wu Qile were still out there waiting.

Wu Qile was one of the equestrian friends, outwardly super close with Jiang Wu. They'd come to find Xie Chong because Jiang Wu broke a bone.

After Jiang Wu got married, she'd fallen out of touch with all her friends. Occasionally she'd say a few words, but the conversation always wrapped up fast. She always sounded busy on the phone, background noise always loud, with no real interest in talking to anybody.

Xie Chong hadn't contacted Jiang Wu since. He'd only heard bits and pieces here and there.

When he suddenly found out that day that Jiang Wu had broken something, he figured they ought to go visit her. Qian Song had called Xie Chong early that morning but he didn't pick up, so they'd hurried over to find him. When they got to the door and were about to head in, Xie Chong blocked them and told them to step outside. Qian Song hadn't thought much of it at first, but Xie Chong not letting him in pissed him off on the spot.

He asked Xie Chong why not.

Xie Chong said, "You know why yourself."

Wu Qile was pissed off for Qian Song too, and sneered from the side: "I used to think you were so into Jiang Wu. Turns out she was right not to choose you."

"Did you tell them?" Xie Chong turned to Qian Song, thinking Qian Song had spilled his business to Wu Qile. Xie Chong didn't like Wu Qile—she was a blabbermouth who talked too much. Some people talk a lot just because they talk a lot, and it's not annoying. Wu Qile's talking was the kind that got people in trouble. Xie Chong never discussed his private stuff with Wu Qile and the rest—he really hated their gossiping.

"Tell them what?" Qian Song thought, don't you dare accuse me—I haven't told anyone about your marriage. He immediately asked Wu Qile: "Say what you mean. Don't be so cryptic! Let's talk straight—why bring up the past? If you're gonna be like this, go see Jiang Wu by yourself. Don't come with us. We didn't even want you to come!"

Wu Qile said, "Jiang Wu just got married a few days ago? Now she's hurt and you don't wanna go see her. She's still a friend, right?"

Qian Song spread his hands at Xie Chong, signaling he was innocent: "Let's go. It'd be wrong not to visit. She's in the ICU—almost died from the fall. We gotta go, at least for Coach Jiang's sake."

At the mention of Coach Jiang, Xie Chong couldn't say no, so he went with them.

Jiang Wu's new place was in the suburbs.

Her husband Song Jian had a piece of land in the suburbs—a big one-story house. Jiang Wu lived there pretty freely, raising chickens and ducks every day, digging eggs out of the coop in the morning. The only annoying thing was the noise.

Song Jian liked people to call him SJ.

SJ's friends came to the house nonstop—a bunch of people eating and drinking, playing music and singing every day. Jiang Wu thought it was fun at first, but over time it got old. She felt SJ and his friends were ruining her "Sanmao"-style peaceful life, so she decided to take off.

While they were drinking late into the night, she grabbed her bag and split. The village road was under construction, she didn't see the sign, fell into a hole, and broke her arm.

Xie Chong and the others went to her house to visit her.

It was her "utopia" of a home.

They saw a cat napping lazily in the yard, free-range chickens, ducks, and geese running wild, and two little guard dogs that came up wagging their tails when they saw people arrive.

Jiang Wu was sitting in the yard soaking up the sun, arm in a sling, no makeup, skin tanned dark, hair all over the place. Her husband SJ was combing her hair beside her.

In that instant, Xie Chong understood why Jiang Wu had rushed into marriage. In the little yard behind the stables, she'd had that same kind of freedom. But those days were long gone, so she'd chased it down here.

SJ brought two chairs for Qian Song and Wu Qile, but not for Xie Chong—told him to find his own spot. Xie Chong sat silently on the steps.

"Didn't you say she almost died and was in the ICU?" Xie Chong asked.

Qian Song grinned sheepishly: "Would you have come if I hadn't said that?"

Xie Chong said nothing more.

SJ kept combing Jiang Wu's hair. Qian Song asked for water, and SJ told him to get it himself. "It's in there anyway—make yourself at home."

None of them liked SJ. They all rolled their eyes when he said that. Jiang Wu stayed quiet too, just sitting there with her eyes half closed.

She hadn't seen Xie Chong in a long time.

It was the longest stretch since she'd first known him. Something about Xie Chong had changed—he didn't seem as angry at everything as he used to be. He seemed content with life.

Jiang Wu missed Xie Chong, but not in a romantic way. She didn't like him anymore. She had many ways to live her life—her father had left, her mother had gone to Xinjiang to work with horses. She was free and easy, doing whatever she wanted. When she needed money, she found ways to earn it; when she had money, she went out to play; sometimes she earned money while playing. No one was her final destination. Xie Chong wasn't, and SJ probably wasn't either.

That was just who she was. Unlike Xie Chong, who never dated, as if he'd been waiting for her all along—really it was his own emotional fastidiousness. He'd wanted forever from the start. It wasn't true that she looked down on his "rich man's habits"—what scared her was how serious he was.

Now Xie Chong was different.

Jiang Wu could tell—Xie Chong must have fallen for someone else. But she didn't ask anything.

She held out her hand for red envelopes: "Five thousand each. Once you've paid, you can go. We're not receiving guests today."

Qian Song was hurt again.

One friend after another treated him coldly. He'd driven nearly a hundred kilometers to Miyun, and before his seat had even warmed up, the host was showing him the door.

SJ didn't like Jiang Wu's friends anyway—thought every single one of them was pretentious—so he wasn't going to fake politeness and keep them.

All told, they'd exchanged only a few words inside, left the red envelopes, and left.

Even as they were leaving, SJ was still combing Jiang Wu's hair—who knew what magic that comb had, that it needed combing endlessly.

"Jiang Wu has changed," Wu Qile said. "I don't like who she is now."

"And you liked who she was before?" Xie Chong suddenly spoke. "You only came today because you wanted to see how she was doing. Don't think I don't know what you're thinking. You're the best at quietly comparing yourself to others."

With one sentence, Xie Chong tore off Wu Qile's mask.

She didn't actually like Jiang Wu. She liked Xie Chong, but Xie Chong liked Jiang Wu. For years, Wu Qile had never gotten what she wanted. When Jiang Wu got married, she was thrilled—thought Jiang Wu had finally let Xie Chong go and her chance had come. Then Xie Chong told her: "I don't like you. Didn't before, won't ever."

"Then what kind do you like?"

"I have an aversion to you." Those were Xie Chong's exact words. He rarely spoke to women that way, but Wu Qile wasn't worth his courtesy.

Wu Qile came from an extremely wealthy family and had been treated like a princess her whole life. Being rejected by Xie Chong repeatedly bred resentment. She thought, how am I not as good as Jiang Wu? That morning she stood at Xie Chong's door and clearly heard movement in his kitchen, yet he refused to let them in.

She asked Qian Song if there was someone in Xie Chong's house. Qian Song said, Someone? How would I not know if there were someone? If there were someone, how could I not know?

Despite arguing with Xie Chong, Qian Song always took Xie Chong's words to heart. If Xie Chong told him not to say something, he didn't say it. Being a friend meant being a reliable friend.

Wu Qile kept pressing: "Then why won't he let us in to sit for a bit?"

"Then go ask Xie Chong—why are you asking me?" Qian Song was annoyed with Wu Qile too. He thought she had something wrong with her, had been off since childhood. Everyone had their own horse, but she insisted Jiang Wu's was the best. Jiang Wu's horse was hard to handle, and she mounted it without permission, got kicked, and her parents filed a complaint against Coach Jiang. Because of that, Jiang Wu was punished—Coach Jiang said she hadn't watched her horse properly.

With Qian Song saying this, Wu Qile became even more certain someone was in Xie Chong's house. She planned to find a time to check it out.

Wu Qile just wanted to know: what kind of immortal being had managed to move into Xie Chong's home.

Mou Wen ran into Lin Weisen in the neighborhood where Chu Yuxi's new house was.

Since leaving her job, she hadn't kept in touch with anyone except Xiao Gu. Lin Weisen had called her twice to ask what she was doing, and she said she was preparing to get her driver's license and study for the graduate entrance exam.

Chu Yuxi had stopped working with Lin Weisen, which really bugged him. He'd asked around but couldn't figure out why. That day, when he saw Mou Wen coming out of Chu Yuxi's house, he understood everything at once.

Mou Wen was an ungrateful snake.

The first time Lin Weisen saw Mou Wen, he saw that fire in her eyes and could tell she was way too ambitious. As her mentor, even though he treated her well, he had a bad feeling about it when the company decided to hire her.

The company had always run on a partnership model—it didn't matter how long you'd been there, only what you brought in. If he'd landed Chu Yuxi as a client that year, he'd have made partner. Making partner meant better perks and treatment. So he'd swiped the Chu Yuxi account from Mou Wen.

But in the end, Mou Wen had taken Chu Yuxi right back from him.

Lin Weisen had been around the block. He smiled and walked up to Mou Wen: "Engineer Mou, long time no see. What are you doing here?"

This time Mou Wen didn't hold back. She said directly to Lin Weisen, "I came to check on how the construction's going."

"Mr. Chu's?"

"Yes."

Mou Wen said, "Master, don't be upset with me. You know my situation. I told you back then—I needed Mr. Chu's business."

Lin Weisen kept his cool and said to Mou Wen, "It's fine, I don't blame you. It's not easy being on your own in Beijing, and that's all understandable. Back then I just figured you were green, and designing such a big house for Mr. Chu might've been too much for you. Looking back, I was overthinking it. You did good."

"Thanks for understanding, Master." Mou Wen pointed outside. "I'm gonna head out now, Master."

"So how much did you charge Mr. Chu?" Lin Weisen suddenly stopped Mou Wen and asked.

"I gave him half off." Mou Wen made that up on the fly. "I gave him half off." She'd gotten smarter—no more showing her cards to anyone, especially someone like Lin Weisen. He was too calculating—the fact that he could stand here smiling and making small talk showed how dangerous he was.

"Fine, as long as you got paid." Lin Weisen finally let her go. Then he posted in one of his industry chat groups: "Keep an eye on a woman named Mou Wen. She used to be my intern. She's got absolutely no scruples."

"Got it."

"Scoop her."

"..."

Everyone in the group replied like that.

Mou Wen had heard about these so-called "circles" in the industry.

Xie Chong had told her about it.

Xie Chong said every industry had a "circle" culture—some people turned those circles into businesses, brokering deals. A circle was basically just a bunch of people getting together to do something as a group.

After hearing that, Mou Wen made a point of joining some designer groups and saw work getting subcontracted in them. She picked up some small gigs in her spare time. Sometimes she'd see people in the groups ranting about someone stealing their business... From that, she figured Lin Weisen had his own circle too—just one that was the most powerful in the industry.

She knew all this, but she wasn't scared.

After she married Xie Chong, she had free time and did some reading. She read some econ books, learned about "down-market" and "blue ocean vs. red ocean"—no one and no product could own 100% of the market. So Mou Wen wasn't scared of Lin Weisen one bit.

She'd also figured that if Lin Weisen ever gave her trouble, she'd go toe-to-toe with him.

Just then, Xiao Gu called, saying that afternoon the office was buzzing with rumors that she'd stolen Lin Weisen's client after quitting, and that she'd found herself a sugar daddy and become a housewife.

Mou Wen laughed. "How's a housewife supposed to steal clients? Even if she did, she wouldn't have time to do the work. That makes no sense!"

Xiao Gu thought about it—fair point. She told Mou Wen to watch her back.

Mou Wen wanted to tell Xiao Gu about getting married. She didn't want to keep it from her. Actually, she had her own plans—she had her eye on a small shop at the entrance to Xie Chong's neighborhood, and she wanted to rent it out and register a small company.

She wanted Xiao Gu to help her.

She made plans to grab dinner with Xiao Gu another day, then hung up.

That evening, she got home and was about to start cooking when Xie Chong called: "I know this is out of nowhere, but I just found out—my parents are coming. They'll be here any minute."

Mou Wen suddenly got nervous.

She had never met Xie Chong's parents.

At their wedding, she'd stood next to Xie Chong and called his parents together. The two old folks thought the marriage was too rushed, but since Xie Chong was insistent, they didn't push it.

"But we don't have any food in the house. I'll go grab some."

"Don't bother," Xie Chong said. "We'll eat out. I'll be home in twenty."

The doorbell rang, and Mou Wen went to answer it.

She met Xie Chong's parents: Xie Dongfeng and Liao Xiaohua.

They were two impressive people, dripping with money and class, but they had a warm way about them. They asked Mou Wen, "Are you Mou Wen?"

"Yes. Please, come in." Mou Wen turned to find slippers and placed them on the floor.

She stood there awkwardly watching them change shoes, not sure whether to say "Auntie" or "Mom."

Xie Dongfeng was quiet, very polite—an older version of Xie Chong. Liao Xiaohua was elegant but talked fast.

Once inside, she said to Mou Wen, "Mind if I look around your place? If you do, just say so." But she didn't wait for an answer—she was already wandering through the rooms.

Liao Xiaohua hadn't expected her son's home to look like this: the plants, the goofy slippers, and his wife in a rabbit-ear headband. None of it matched what Liao Xiaohua had pictured.

Liao Xiaohua had figured that even if it wasn't Jiang Wu, Xie Chong would've found someone just like Jiang Wu. She never imagined it'd be someone like Mou Wen.

"What's for dinner?" Liao Xiaohua said. "I'm hungry."

"Xie Chong said we're eating out."

"I'll starve to death by then—he can come collect my corpse!" Liao Xiaohua scoffed. "Let's just throw something together. You and me, we'll cook."

Mou Wen wasn't sure what she was getting at, but she followed her to grab stuff from the fridge and then trailed her into the kitchen. In the kitchen, Liao Xiaohua picked up one thing, looked it over, then picked up another to inspect it, and finally said, "Okay, here's the deal—you tell me what you like, I'll cook, and you watch."

Mou Wen could tell Xie Chong's mom was just like him—she couldn't cook.

Without a word, she threw on an apron and gestured to the side: "Please wait over there."

Liao Xiaohua's first impression of Mou Wen had been so-so—she figured she was a smart girl from a small town trying to climb the social ladder. But that move was cute, and Liao Xiaohua couldn't help but laugh.

But she quickly stifled it and stood off to the side, all high and mighty, watching her cook.

This girl was something—young as she was, she had the kitchen totally figured out. She wasn't the type to cook all tired and resentful; she genuinely loved it. She handled everything with total ease, like it was a game. And the best part—she turned to Liao Xiaohua and said, "Watch this—I'm flipping it!"

Mou Wen figured since someone was watching, she had to show off a little. So she flipped the food in the wok beautifully, then tossed the wok—flames shot up. Liao Xiaohua yelled "Oh my god!" and clutched her chest as she ran out of the kitchen, never to go back in.

When Xie Chong walked in, he saw his parents lounging on the couch, and the smell of cooking drifting from the kitchen.

He said, "Why didn't you give us a heads-up? Now we're caught off guard. You didn't even have red envelopes ready."

Liao Xiaohua rolled her eyes and pulled out two large red envelopes from her bag. "You think your mom doesn't know any better?"

"Alright then," Xie Chong said. "I said we'd go out to eat—so why are you cooking?"

"I'm hungry, and I don't want to eat out," Liao Xiaohua said, looking at Xie Chong. "I know why you married her."

"Why?"

"You went and found yourself a nanny!" Liao Xiaohua said. "Don't think I can't tell. You just think she's like your grandma and great-grandma—someone to take care of you and cook for you. That's not really fair, to be honest. It's unfair to the girl."

"How is it unfair? How do you know what she wants, huh?" Xie Chong wanted to explain this properly to Liao Xiaohua. He wanted to say he could never marry without love, and that it was his own choice.

But Xie Dongfeng interrupted their conversation. "If you two have something to say, take it outside."

Mou Wen overheard a few words from the kitchen and cursed herself for having such sharp ears at that moment—unwanted words kept slipping in.

The living room fell silent.

Mou Wen came out with the dishes and said, "Dinner's ready."

Liao Xiaohua handed her the two large red envelopes. Mou Wen took them and called out crisply, "Dad," "Mom," without any awkwardness.

Seeing this, Liao Xiaohua secretly pinched Xie Chong's arm again, feeling her son was kind of taking advantage of the small-town girl.

During the meal, when it was Mou Wen's turn to raise her glass, she lifted it and said, "Dad, Mom, I don't know how you two view my marriage with Xie Chong. What I want to say is that I'm not a bad person, and neither is Xie Chong. The reason I married him is first and foremost because I like him."

She looked at Xie Chong as she spoke. "You know all this!"

Xie Chong hummed in agreement, and Mou Wen continued, "Xie Chong likes me too, which is why we got married."

She looked at Xie Chong again. "I'll take good care of Xie Chong, and I believe he'll take good care of me too. We'll make our life work. Please trust us."

With that, she tilted her head back and downed the glass of wine.

The wine tasted a bit bitter.