After eating the dinner Su Qiao prepared, I locked myself in the large bedroom and called my dad’s cellphone.
I tried calling my dad last night, but no one picked up. Don’t tell me no one’s going to pick up today too?
“Hello, who are you looking for?” The person who picked up sounded like an intoxicated woman and her tone was rude.
Damn, it’s Auntie Ren. Why did she pick up when I called my dad so late at night?
“Auntie… Ren. Where’s my dad?”
“How would I know who your dad is… go ask your mom.” Auntie Ren, who was drunk, wasn’t able to identify me initially based on my voice, then she came to a realization and said: “Oh, you’re talking about Ye YuanFeng, he’s dead.”
Dead? Even though my dad might have accidentally gotten you pregnant, you still shouldn’t beat him to death! And why are you carrying a dead man’s phone?
Auntie Ren might have a violent temper, but she would never kill people that easily, so I knew she was just angry.
“Um, Auntie Ren, I have a test that needs my dad’s signature, so can you call him for me?”
I could hear an object being kicked through the phone, “Get up. Get up!”
That object (I assume it’s my dad) had no reaction.
Auntie Ren’s voice came again, “Ye YuanFeng is dead drunk and won’t wake up, I… I’m going to sleep too…”
I could hear Auntie Ren falling down on the bed followed by the sound of heavy breathing of an intoxicated person.
How much did they drink? It’s fine if my dad drank a lot, but how can a pregnant woman drink that much? Most people have miscarriages due to certain medicines, but it she trying to have a miscarriage using alcohol?
The next day, I found out the truth from my dad.
On Tuesday, the class leader and I went to my dad’s hotel to do a ‘home visit’. In the end, my dad got dragged away by Auntie Ren. Auntie Ren told my dad about her pregnant and wanted my dad to go with her to the hospital to get an abortion.
My dad is kindhearted. Even when he sees a beetle when he’s cleaning, he has to toss it out the window and set it free. Of course, he doesn’t wish for his own child to be aborted.
Auntie Ren made up her mind and she didn’t want to give birth to a nameless baby. Also, she didn’t know how to explain it to her daughter, so they best way was to abort the child.
My dad might be indecisive and softhearted, but he wasn’t a fool. He knew Auntie Ren had connections with a lot of foreigners who had open mindset. If Auntie Ren wanted to get an abortion, she could have asked any of her male friends to pretend to be the father and sign their name.
Thus my dad worked up the courage to ask Auntie Ren: “How about let’s get married?”
Afterward, Auntie Ren was called back on set by the director, so my dad couldn’t try changing Auntie Ren’s mind.
But my dad didn’t just laze around, he sent a text to Auntie Ren telling her to meet with him the next day. Then, he wore a jacket and strolled next to Da Ning river and thought for a couple hours while blowing in the night wind.
My dad might have not said it exactly, but I felt it was a ceremonial action to say goodbye to his past. When he was dating Ai ShuQiao, Da Ning river was a place where they passed the most.
Then, he walked to the large shopping mall by the river and made a rare decisive decision of his lifetime. He used half of his savings to buy a large diamond ring.
And that’s why he knelt down on one knee and proposed to Auntie Ren with the ring on the next day.
Auntie Ren was scared by his actions probably because she didn’t expect a bookworm to have the courage. The diamond ring in the velvet box sparkled in the dimly lit hotel room. Auntie Ren was moved, but she rejected him.
“I had a larger diamond the last time I got married, but what’s the use?”
Auntie Ren sat behind the coffee table and she couldn’t hide her lonely and heartbroken expression.
“All men are the same, they whisper sweet words, but they are all loose by nature. They aren’t devoted to love and their heads are only filled with ‘sex’, ‘sex’, and ‘sex’. If I was the head of state, I would pass a law that all men who has an affair have to be locked with sows.”
My dad was curious about which animals a woman who has an affair would be locked with, but he didn’t dare ask.
“I… definitely won’t have an affair…” my dad feebly guaranteed.
“You.” Auntie Ren mockingly stared at my dad, “Do you think I will give you a chance to betray me with only a few words? Get me some beer, you have some in your fridge, right?”
“You’re pregnant, you can’t drink…”
Auntie Ren ignored my dad’s protests and went to get two six-packs of beer from the fridge. My dad had listened to the class leader’s warning and planned to limit his drinking, so there were still a lot left.
Auntie Ren pulled the tab to open the can and began chugging on the beer as if it could cure her ‘pregnant’ ailment.
My dad, who was worried about Auntie Ren’s body, tried to snatch the beer away, but he was sent sprawling after one punch to his waist. The diamond ring also slipped out of his pocket and spinning to a corner.
My dad endured the pain and didn’t go to pick up the ring, instead he sat across from Auntie Ren and persuaded her to stop drinking.
“I want to drink, it’s none of your business. Do you think you could stop me from drinking?”
My dad thought about it for a while, then said seriously: “It’s boring drinking alone, I’ll drink with you.”
Auntie Ren was shocked by his words, but then she realized my dad had no chance to physically stop her from drinking, so he would try to drink all the beer to stop her from drinking anymore.
In terms of drinking speed, my dad drank three cans in the time Auntie Ren finished one can.
The two of them drank rapidly and both quickly became intoxicated.
Auntie Ren held half a can of beer in one hand while she leaned her face in her other hand. She looked at my dad and laughed.
“You… hiccup…. you think you can compete with me? If I didn’t have something in my stomach, then you wouldn’t be able to face me…”
Currently my dad’s blood alcohol content was three times higher than Auntie Ren’s and he began to shoot off his mouth.
“If… if you refuse to accept the results, then we can compete again after you give birth.”
“Keep dreaming, he probably already drowned in the alcohol.”
“No… no way. Our kid can definitely drink a lot. At most he’s drunk and is currently taking a nap.”
The diamond ring that had rolled into a corner reflected a group of eye-catching light fragments.
“The ring is fake, right? Can you afford such a large diamond?”
Usually, if my dad got rejected, he wouldn’t retort, but he was really drunk. He pulled out the receipt for the ring and showed it to Auntie Ren.
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to marry me, but it hurts me when you say its fake… it cost me half of my savings.”
“Huh.” Auntie Ren who had read the receipt was astonished, “If that’s half of your savings, then you have more money than I thought…. why didn’t you get remarried?”
The income from the adult goods store was pretty impressive after it was saved up for many years. And my dad and I didn’t have any expensive hobbies, so it wasn’t strange to have a large savings. Auntie Ren initially thought the reason my dad never remarried was because he had financial troubles.
My dad took another gulp of beer then slammed the can on the coffee table without saying another word.
Auntie Ren suddenly recalled when they were still neighbors, there was always a female university student with long braids who always came looking for my dad (and always fed me candy). Anyone could tell she was interested in my dad.
“By the way, wasn’t Xiao Juan really interested in you back then?” Auntie Ren actually still remembered her name, “When you went on vacation with Ye Lin to Beijing, she came and asked me what happened when she noticed your home was locked… you don’t even want someone who even threw themselves at you, aren’t your standards a bit too high?”
“I’m her teacher. We can’t be in a relationship.”
“But you weren’t her teacher anymore at the time.”
“But Xiao Juan was still my student. She will have a better future and I can’t waste her time.”
“Huh, you’re pretty conscientious.”
“What about you, why didn’t you get remarried?” It was my dad’s turn to ask questions.
Auntie Ren leaned back, “The more friends I had, the more I felt men were unreliable. There are some married who hit on me, and I’m already troubled enough by Xiao Qin. I’m not in good terms with my old man either…”
“If I’m not mistaken, Xiao Qin’s father Huo ZhenBang is someone from the Hong Kong film circle. I heard he keeps on requesting to get remarried with you, why don’t you agree?”
“Hmph, people from film circles all have fake families. It’s all my fault I didn’t see through him earlier and actually fell for his lies. As for Huo ZhenBang wanting to remarry, that’s his own wish. I will never give a second chance to a man who already betrayed me once.”
“Um…” My dad had some beer on his fingers and he drew circles on the coffee table, “If you marry me, I will never betray you.”
Auntie Ren took a swig of beer, “Words alone aren’t enough.”
My dad was silent for a while, “In the 14 years Xiao Lin grew up, my relatives and friends introduced a lot potential partners for me, but I still couldn’t forget Xiao Lin’s mom…”
“Wait.” Auntie Ren interrupted my dad, “I heard about that woman. She treated you poorly, but why do you still have no backbone and still think about her?”
“Sigh, it was my first love after all.” My dad sighed and as he felt the past catch up with him, and a few tear drops rolled out from his eyes.