To Covet (GL) - Chapter 12

“Yu Keyi, does your school have exams on Saturday if you have supplementary classes?” Shi Yunya, with her leather bag slung over her shoulder, was about to leave, but walked back to the dining room. “I mean, those big exams that count towards rankings.”

“No, just weekly math and physics tests.”

“That’s good,” Shi Yunya tapped the table with her index finger. “Your dad told me to tell you that he’s arranged a leave of absence for you with your homeroom teacher. Just go over there later.”

“Go where?” Not only Yu Zhouwan, but I also didn’t understand what she meant.

I got good grades on the city’s unified exam at the end of September. I told Yu Hanyang that there were too many people in the dormitory, which affected my rest. The school’s withdrawal application was still under review, and I hadn’t finished moving my luggage. Fortunately, I could go home without restrictions, even though this didn’t really count as “home.” I occupied a room that didn’t belong to me like a hermit crab.

Shi Yunya was equally surprised: “Didn’t he tell you? Your grandmother’s health has had some problems. You’d better go back and see her.”

My heart tightened. I wanted to ask Shi Yunya for more details, but she had already left for work with her bag. The half-bowl of red bean porridge left in my hand had lost its flavor.

I was absent-minded before receiving Yu Hanyang’s call, and didn’t notice Yu Zhouwan putting down her spoon and looking at me when she heard those words.

“Here.” I took out a roll of gauze from the side pocket of my backpack, tore off a piece roughly, and threw it over. “Cover it up, it’s pretty obvious.”

Yu Zhouwan took it, looked down at the wrist resting on the edge of the table. The bruise was a light pink, almost white, when she washed up this morning. You couldn’t tell unless you looked closely, but now it had become particularly noticeable, with jagged, uneven marks on the edge. I thought it must be the result of the narrow elastic band being stretched to its limit.

The weightlessness from the elevator going down reminded me of the piece of gauze again. My first reaction when I saw the marks on Yu Zhouwan’s wrist was fear, fear that Yu Zhouwan would reveal something under someone’s questioning and concern. Although she definitely wouldn’t publicize the fact that she was tied up and fondled and bitten by her own sister last night, what if she did? After all, Yu Zhouwan wasn’t going to school today, but to the studio, where there were nearly a hundred people coming and going. What if she happened to meet someone who was open-minded, and what if he had bad intentions…

I was thinking wildly, not even realizing that I had created a “hypothetical enemy” for myself. It wasn’t that I was afraid of being exposed, just afraid of losing the opportunity to play with Yu Zhouwan in the future.

When I walked to Yu Hanyang’s car, he suddenly honked the horn. The half-melted Snickers bar in my hand fell to the ground with a thud.

The delicious chocolate bar was covered in dust and cement particles. I lost my appetite and wrapped it in a paper towel, throwing it far away into the trash can.

Through the transparent black sticker on the car window, I saw a familiar figure walking near the community’s garbage station, raising her hand to throw something into the bin accurately, before turning and walking away.

I didn’t see what it was clearly, just a small white ball. Her wrist was empty.

“Wanwan,” Yu Hanyang opened the car window, “get in, I’ll take you to the studio.”

“What happened to Grandma?”

The studio was next to a university in the higher education district. I fastened my seat belt again. The car made several turns and left the central area, driving onto the ring road highway. I took the lead in breaking the silence.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Her next-door neighbor called and said she was cut off by an electric bike outside and fell,” he slowed down and stopped because of the traffic jam ahead, and wiped his glasses, “Old people are more vulnerable to bumps and bruises than we are. We can’t take it lightly.”

Shucheng was in the northwest of Linzhou, about a two-hour drive away. It was named that way because the Shujiang River, a water fortress, ran through the city.

Yu Hanyang drove fast on the cross-river bridge. I opened the window, but was choked by the dense dust in the wind, so I shrank back and looked out at the wide water under the bridge through the black glass.

This was where I grew up, but my memory of it was limited to the community area: one-way streets, small stalls, and old residential areas built at least fifteen years ago, which barely counted as the local customs of Shucheng.

Yu Hanyang parked in front of the city’s People’s Hospital, took a call, and then drove away again. He followed the navigation for several circles and finally found the unmarked community, driving into it from a group of randomly parked electric bikes.

“Nannan.” When Grandma opened the door and saw me, her first reaction was to immediately pull me inside with her hand that wasn’t holding a cane.

“Why are you still so thin? Tell Grandma, did he and that woman bully you and not give you good food?” She glared angrily at Yu Hanyang, who was carrying nutritional supplements.

“Grandma, I usually eat at school.” I pushed her hand away helplessly.

Grandma moved from the countryside to Shucheng when I was in junior high school. Because Yang Chun didn’t come back often, I spent most of my time with this little old lady. After Yang Chun passed away, Grandma, who often complained about not being used to living in the city, suddenly became quiet and stayed in this broken house, saying she couldn’t bear to waste the rent that was paid annually.

“If the food in the school cafeteria isn’t good, you can buy something outside,” the denim cloth covering the cane tip was so worn that there was only a layer of mesh left, tapping on the warped floor with a “da da” sound, “If you don’t have money, Grandma will give you some. You have to study at this age, it’s hard. How can you do without eating more?”

The glass cabinet in the bedroom originally only had a portrait of Grandpa, who died young. The photo was cut from their marriage certificate. Now there was a photo of a woman next to it, who looked very similar to him.

“I told you, why did you have to run to live with him, alas,” Grandma’s back was even more hunched, “It would be so good to go to school here. Grandma would bring you lunch and dinner every day.”

She rummaged through a drawer and found a cloth bag, untied layers of thin ropes, took out a roll of hundred-yuan bills wrapped in crumpled toilet paper, and stuffed them into the bottom of my pocket. She patted it reassuringly: “Don’t save it. Buy whatever you want. If you don’t have enough, ask Grandma for more. I still have a lot of money in my card.”

“Your dad is rich now, but he’s married someone else and has children. He definitely won’t care about you. Is that also a little girl, about your age?” She spat in disgust.

“You should go to the hospital for a checkup. Get a detailed examination. I’ll pay for it.”

Grandma had been taken care of by her uncle and aunt for the past few days after she fell, but she insisted that she was fine and felt suffocated in the hospital. The couple worked out of town, so they had to let the old lady go back to live here according to her wishes.

“I don’t need your pity for my old bones,” Grandma didn’t turn to look at him.

Grandma wanted me to stay for a night. There were clothes at home, all washed and dried and neatly placed, but she couldn’t bear to let me take another several-hour bus ride back to Linzhou alone. Before dark, I followed Yu Hanyang back to Linzhou. She wanted to pack some food for me, but was afraid that the good stuff would be coveted by the “bad woman.” In the end, I only took the leftover braised chicken from lunch and a palm-sized wooden box onto the car.

“I left a bank card for your grandma, and gave her the password too. I also left some cash,” Yu Hanyang coughed, “Your uncle’s family plans to take her over. It’s not safe for the old lady to live alone. It’s better to have someone to take care of her.”

I didn’t speak.

“It’s too late today. Do you still want to see your mother?”

The car lights illuminated the old people selling vegetables at the entrance of the community. They hurriedly pulled their plastic sheets to the side, afraid of being run over by the wheels.

“If you want to go, I can drive faster and we’ll make it in time.”

“No.”

He didn’t understand Grandma’s character. She would find ways to give the money back to me in the end.

“Then… should we find a restaurant here, or wait until we get back to eat?”

“I’m not hungry.”

I felt waves of drowsiness coming over me.

“Wanwan, where are your drawing pens?”

“I forgot to take them.” Yu Zhouwan quickly jumped out of the car.

“I’ll bring them to you tomorrow after work.”

“No, there are a lot of people in the studio, they might get taken.”

Yu Hanyang got out of the car to smoke. Yu Zhouwan returned less than two minutes later, holding a roll of pen cases.

I was awakened by the conversation and the sound of the car door opening. I couldn’t help but want to close my eyes and continue sleeping. Finding my arms empty, I suddenly opened my eyes, reached under the car seat, and felt the bag strap in the corner, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

Yu Zhouwan looked back when she heard the noise, then sat up straight again.

“Wanwan, is your birthday coming up soon?” Yu Hanyang deliberately stayed outside for a while, so the smell of smoke on him had dissipated a lot, but it was still pungent in the closed car. “I have some friends coming to Linzhou in a few days. It’ll be lively with a lot of people. Let’s celebrate early. When your birthday comes, we’ll buy you another cake, and our family can have a nice meal together, okay?”

“Whatever.” Yu Zhouwan said.

“Then I’ll book a hotel tonight. Remember to have your mother help you choose a nice outfit, something formal, but it doesn’t have to be a gown.”

Shi Yunya wasn’t home. Yu Zhouwan quickly went into her room and locked the door after she got home. Yu Hanyang was about to tell her not to slam the door so rudely, but after staring at the door and complaining for a long time, he still didn’t hear a response. He was stunned, wondering what he had said to upset his daughter, and told me to knock on the door and check.

I yawned and said I was too tired, ignoring his request.

She was just avoiding me.