Shoutout to Alinaza for the commission!
The plane landed in Tongcheng at seven in the evening.
Holidays were always when Fuchun Street was the liveliest. Jiang Chuan and Yu Shiying were both busy at “Wangchuan,” so they sent Jiang Ye to pick her up.
The youth drove Jiang Se’s little electric car. When he got out to lift her suitcase, he glanced at Jiang Se’s face and said: “Why is it that after just a few days, you look like you got thinner? Did your family over there abuse you or something?”
Everything that happened in Beicheng was naturally unknown to the Jiang family in Tongcheng, and Jiang Se didn’t intend to mention it. Her injured hand stayed tucked in her coat pocket.
“How would Little Aunt ever bear to?” she said, glancing at Jiang Ye and asking with a smile, “A rare holiday, why aren’t you out on a date?”
Jiang Ye’s ears flushed red, “Dad and Mom have to work at the bar, big sis is still exhausting herself on set; if I went to date, who’d pick you up? Do you know how long you’d have to wait for a ride at this hour?”
Jiang Se: “Then after you take me back, hurry and go on your date. I’ll go to ‘Wangchuan’ myself to find Dad and Mom later.”
Jiang Ye closed the trunk, “Dad made slow-cooked broth for you. Eat dinner first, then talk.”
After helping Jiang Se bring her luggage back to the apartment, Jiang Ye went with her to Liyuan Street.
Only when they entered the courtyard did they realize Yu Shiying had already returned and was coming out of the kitchen with soup.
“Hurry and drink some hot soup to warm up. Little Ye said you lost quite a bit of weight. Your dad made your favorite plum ribs tonight, make sure you eat more.”
Yu Shiying’s chattering instantly warmed the cold night a little. Jiang Se unwrapped her scarf and responded: “Don’t listen to Little Ye’s nonsense. I was only gone a few days, how much weight could I lose?”
Saying that, she went into the kitchen to wash her hands. When she came out, Yu Shiying had already put down the stew and was examining her face.
“Mom also thinks your chin looks a bit sharper.”
“……”
Jiang Se was about to say something to brush this topic aside when Yu Shiying’s eyes suddenly froze, her gaze landing straight on Jiang Se’s right hand.
“What happened to your hand, Sese?”
Jiang Ye, who had been drinking water, heard this, put down his cup, walked over to look, and frowned: “How did this happen? Did someone bully you?”
“There was a bit of an accident.” Jiang Se simply opened her palm to show them the almost-scabbed wound, “It’s almost healed, don’t worry.”
Yu Shiying said in distress: “Does it hurt? Do you want Mom to put some more medicine on it for you?”
“No need, it’s really almost healed.” Jiang Se smiled, “Can I drink the soup now? I’m really hungry.”
These words successfully diverted Yu Shiying’s attention.
Yu Shiying hurriedly lifted the lid of the stew jar and said: “Drink quickly, be careful not to burn your mouth.”
Jiang Se drank a whole jar of soup, ate half a plate of plum ribs and half a bowl of rice before going back to Xiangshu Alley.
After tidying up her luggage, she came out into the living room and only then noticed an international package placed beside the sofa. When she left, she had given her apartment key to Yu Shiying, so it must have been delivered in the past few days.
After removing the layers of cardboard and foam on the outside, a vintage-style vinyl record player came into view.
On the record player was a card, with a whole long paragraph written flamboyantly on it: 【Dear big baby, surprise or not surprise! This Queen squeezed through mountains of people and finally snatched a vinyl record player the same age as you. Do you like this New Year’s gift? If you do, hurry and mwah mwah me!】
Jiang Se curved her lips, took out her phone and was about to video call Guo Qian, when Lu Huaiyan’s call came in at that moment.
Her fingertip didn’t retract in time, and she tapped “answer” just like that.
“……”
Jiang Se had no choice but to pick up: “Do you need something?”
There was silence for two seconds on the other end before he spoke: “What has you so happy?”
Clearly they weren’t face to face, but he still seemed to have caught that fleeting moment of joy from her.
Jiang Se’s smile hadn’t fully faded yet. Hearing this, she reached out to touch the big horn on the record player and said slowly: “I just received the vinyl record player Guo Qian sent from Houston. This record player is as old as me.”
She used to have a vinyl record player produced the year she was born, a gift from Cen Li, her beloved treasure.
When she left Beicheng, she didn’t take it with her. She left it at the residence.
There was another stretch of silence on the other side. A moment later, Lu Huaiyan asked: “If I hadn’t made this call, were you planning on listening to music with it?”
“Mm, I was going to listen after video-calling Guo Qian.” Jiang Se said very honestly, “Then your call came in.”
“Sounds like somehow it turned into my mistake,” Lu Huaiyan let out a low laugh, “Do you mind adjusting the order? I’ll listen with you first, then you can video-call Guo Qian?”
Jiang Se hadn’t replied yet when he added another sentence: “Just take it as a return gift for those boxes of agarwood?”
“……”
Jiang Se didn’t respond. She directly sat down on the floor and went through the vinyl records Guo Qian had mailed along with the record player, casually pulling out a collector’s edition old vinyl,《Born to die》.
The record player came with a phono preamp and source speakers. Jiang Se skillfully adjusted the setup and placed the record on.
Her phone was right next to the record player. The moment the silver needle touched the vinyl, lazy and retro music slowly flowed out.
It was clearly a desolate undertone, yet filled with a fearless sense of despair.
The four-to-five-minute-long song stretched slowly across the quiet night. The phone acted like a bridge connecting two different spaces, and they quietly listened to the same song from opposite ends of the wire.
Guo Qian had naturally sent this record because Jiang Se liked this song, except she hadn’t listened to it in a long time.
Before, whenever she listened to this song, she always felt lonely. Even with the chirpy Guo Qian listening alongside her, that loneliness rooted deep in her bones never dissolved.
But listening to it today, perhaps because she had grown older, even though this empty apartment held only her, the loneliness of her youth suddenly felt very distant.
When the needle completed a full rotation, Jiang Se lifted it from the vinyl’s groove, ending this song as her “return gift.”
She picked up her phone and pressed it to her ear, asking the man on the other end: “Did you receive the return gift? The sound quality isn’t great through the phone.”
Lu Huaiyan let out a soft “Mm”: “If you think it’s a pity, next time we’ll listen again.”
“It’s fine,” Jiang Se said honestly, “I don’t think it’s a pity.”
After all, she had enjoyed it, the one who didn’t was him.
A faint, soft laugh quickly came through the receiver.
As the man’s laughter carried along with the static into her ear, for some reason, Jiang Se felt as though she could see the smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
She lowered her eyelids halfway and returned to the main topic: “What did you call me for?”
“Just to check if you got home,” Lu Huaiyan said lightly, “Did you see the WeChat message I sent you?”
Once he mentioned it, Jiang Se recalled the WeChat she received when she exited the airport asking whether she had arrived in Tongcheng.
She had been busy looking for Jiang Ye at the time, so she didn’t reply. Then she got caught up and completely forgot to message him back.
“I saw it,” she said, “I just didn’t have time to reply.”
Being ignored entirely, Lu Huaiyan didn’t seem to feel angry at all.
Though he was never a good-tempered person, patience was a rare commodity in him. But with Jiang Se, he seemed to have many exceptions.
Having witnessed this girl pull up her pants and immediately deny all emotion before, a late WeChat reply was nothing more than a small appetizer.
The man calmly poured himself a cup of black tea, took a light sip, and said unhurriedly: “Looks like I still need to work a bit harder.”
“Work harder at what?”
“Work harder to earn the privilege of you taking the initiative to tell me you’re safe.”
“……”
—
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Se sat on the sofa and listened to two more records.
After listening, she leaned her head back and looked up at the incandescent light overhead, staring for a long moment before getting up and walking into the room, turning on the recording function on her computer.
Jiang Se looked at the built-in camera on the screen, and only after quite a while did she press the start button.
“Cen Se, that person might have appeared. I mean the true mastermind who kidnapped you seven years ago. Other than Zhao Zhicheng and the other two who are already dead, no one knows you were fed triazolam there. If this time wasn’t a coincidence, if it really is that person making a move again, I’m prepared to use myself as a wager and bet one more time.”
On the screen, the girl with delicate features slowly curved her lips and said softly: “If I win, I’ll bring you back. If I lose, I’ll go accompany you.”
—
The next day early in the morning, Jiang Se drove to a café in the old Lianan district.
After the old district renovation plan started, many shops here closed after signing demolition agreements. Although “Zhang Xiu” didn’t sign the agreement, because of previous property disputes and people causing trouble a few times, it also closed.
“Master is very homebound, usually either at the qipao shop or at home.” In the café, He Miao took a sip of her latte and said helplessly, “Usually when I ask her to come out and have fun, she won’t.”
Jiang Se took a sip of coffee: “Has she been at home these past few days?”
He Miao nodded: “Miss Jiang, I heard you already entrusted a lawyer to file a case about that painting. Is that oil painting really worth 1 million?”
Jiang Se: “Almost.”
Ji Yunyi was an oil painter. As her daughter, Jiang Se of course couldn’t not understand, and since young had studied painting under a renowned oil painting master.
She had also donated paintings several times at charity galas, and the auction prices always started at a million. Once it really went to court, when assessing that painting’s value, they would more or less reference previous auction prices.
He Miao let out an ah: “Isn’t that really a pity?” She showed a pained expression.
Jiang Se shook her head and said with a smile: “Not a pity, the painting’s purpose to begin with was for destruction.”
Although she didn’t quite understand what Jiang Se meant, that didn’t stop He Miao’s admiration for her from shooting upward.
“Miss Jiang, although I don’t know why you want to help me and Master, you’re really a good person! Thank you!”
A good person?
Jiang Se put down the coffee cup in her hand and said half-jokingly: “Don’t easily believe someone is a good person just because of a tiny little thing, even if the person is me. I’m helping you all only because I want your Master to help me with something. In the end it’s just a transaction.”
He Miao was confused: “Transaction?”
Jiang Se smiled, didn’t say more, and waved for the waiter to bring the bill.
The two separated at the café entrance. Jiang Se went to the parking lot to get her car. When getting in, she called the lawyer: “About the other party saying last time that they wanted to go to court for mediation, I’ve changed my mind. If the other party is willing to accept the conditions I propose and stop targeting the qipao shop, I can consider settling the case with them.”
After handing things over to the lawyer, the following days, Jiang Se was rarely relaxed.
Mo Jichen sent her the list of people who went in and out of the tea room that New Year’s Eve.
Many stewards of the Cen family including Uncle Tong and Aunt Zhang, the servants responsible for serving tea, several people in charge from the banquet planning company, and three children brought by guests had all gone in.
Jiang Se forwarded the list to that unnamed number in her messages: 【Check if any of these people are on the purchasing list for rose rock sugar.】
The reply came immediately: 【Received, the list needs some time.】
Jiang Se knew she couldn’t rush this. She set down her phone, was about to get up to make tea in the kitchen, but out of the corner of her eye saw the record player on the table by the sofa. Thinking of something, she sat back down.
She casually picked a record and put it into the player. She picked up her phone, first searched the past few days’ financial news, saw a few familiar companies, then opened the stock app. Sure enough, the Hu family, Zhang family, and Gu family’s stock prices were starting to show signs of fluctuation.
Lu Huaiyan, staying in Beicheng these few days, really hadn’t been idle at all.
While she was thinking, her phone vibrated. A WeChat message came in.
Lu Huaiyan: 【image.jpg】
Jiang Se opened the image. It was a flight from Beicheng to Tongcheng three days later.
She exited the image. Another audio message appeared in the chat box.
Not long, only three seconds.
With her fingertip lightly touching the screen, the man’s low voice came from the phone: “See you in three days.”
Jiang Se looked at the short audio bar, pressed and held the chat bar, and replied: “See you in three days.”
