CH 4.3

She did not know what everyone was doing for amusement inside the vehicle. It was only when Jia He drew closer that she heard someone inside the motorhome strumming the guitar and singing. The voice was quite pleasant to listen to, and there were also two or three female voices singing along. She was easily able to distinguish the voice of tone-deaf Qiao Qiao. While she was gloating over Qiao Qiao’s misfortune, Yi Wenze, who had been walking ahead of her, suddenly ceased his steps and turned around. Caught off guard, she nearly walked right into him.

“Thank you.” Yi Wenze finally spoke up. “The hot pot was delicious.”

“Oh, that.” Jia He gave a little laugh. “It’s no big deal.”

Gazing at Yi Wenze, she wavered for a moment, but in the end, she still did not offer any words of comfort. To be at this distance, neither too close nor too far, and to be able to eat at the same table as him were already very nice. As for his love relationship and his life, she would just secretly have her silent criticisms when she read the news on the web.

“Next song, next song.” Qiao Qiao’s voice drifted out from the motorhome. “Who got the the ‘2’?”

It seemed Cheng Hao was the one who admitted to it, along with an attempt to explain that he truly was tone deaf. This brought about a wicked tongue-lashing from Qiao Qiao, who said she, the model of tone deafness, was standing right here, so who dared still to declare that he was tone deaf? …

Yi Wenze leaned against the back of the vehicle. “You go in first. I’ll come into the RV a little later.”

Understanding his intention, Jia He stepped into the vehicle first. The cards had been tossed aside. Beverage cans were littered about. Everyone seemed to be in extremely high spirits, not caring in the least about tomorrow’s early rise for work. By now, Cheng Hao had already been forced by Qiao Qiao to the extent that he was clearing his throat. Holding a guitar, her one leg propped on the other, Qiao Qiao gave an arbitrary couple of strums. “What are you going to sing?”

Cheng Hao rubbed a hand across his forehead, heaving a deep sigh and resignedly answering, “I’m an old man. I’ll pick one that I have a deep impression of. ‘Spring’s Soil[1].’”

Qiao Qiao flicked him a sideways glance. “Isn’t this song about the love between him and his wife? They’re divorced already. So inauspicious.” But though her lips said this, she still responsibly and dutifully gave him a musical introduction. Cheng Hao’s voice actually very much had potential. The familiar lyrics and melody of the song, “Spring’s Soil” came forth:

“Words that fill the sky swirl down to land in our ears

But you and I remain silent and do not give a response

I am holding your hand, yet your eyes are reddened from weeping…”

She still remembered what the gossip reports had documented on how this gifted musician and his wife had met: a dream-like talent show, love at first sight, and then together for decades… But still, it had merely come to an extramarital affair being exposed and a lusterless ending.

For reasons unknown, she once more thought of Yi Wenze.

Only when the song gradually came to its final notes did Yi Wenze come back into the motorhome, taking the beer that Xiao Ou handed to him. The exuberance inside the vehicle did not subside because he had stepped in and, rather, intensified when he made his appearance.

Qiao Qiao cast a sly look at Jia He. Then, handing over the guitar, she grinned and said to Yi Wenze, “Teacher Yi, you’re the grand finale.” The instant she spoke this, everyone, with some crashing and banging, made room for him. Yi Wenze smiled lightly, not refusing. Taking the guitar, he plucked out a few notes to test the sound, then began playing a low tune.

Jia He squeezed herself in beside Qiao Qiao and took a seat. With no trouble, she recognized this song to be “Don’t Cry.”

An old song.

His throaty, low-pitched, quiet singing very easily conjured up many thoughts in everyone. Though no one said anything aloud, they all thought of that marriage of his that had brought about much discussion, and so, of their own accord, they held their silence. This song first rose to fame because of the guitarist’s powerful accompaniment and the lead singer’s voice quality. And now, before them, Yi Wenze, leaning back in his seat, holding the guitar, very easily took these two factors and melded them together into the perfect performance, the way he was carrying himself seeming as if no one else was present here.

Jia He took in the side view of his face as well as the posture in which he held the guitar in his arms, and his fingers that strummed the strings. Such a song, with such lyrics, did indeed cause people to think of many things.

Afterwards, how she returned to the hotel or how Qiao Qiao used every possible means to grill her about what they did when they were outside of the motorhome, she did not really have much recollection of. She merely finished her shower and then immediately flopped onto the bed, raising her mobile phone above her and randomly surfing the web. By the time her mind processed what she was doing, she had already, out of habit, gone onto Yi Wenze’s Weibo.

He had updated his Weibo with a post of a photo: a line of footprints stretching into the snowy night.

Thump, thump. Her heart thundered wildly. Dropping her phone and getting off the bed, she picked up the kettle, went into the bathroom, filled the kettle with water, and then, walking back, pressed the switch to boil the water.

Straightaway, the kettle began rattling noisily, stirring her heart into even greater confusion.

Fixing her eyes on the mirror over the little bar counter in front of her, she inexplicably began focusing on her own face, trying to divert her attention. Hmm, there was a small brown spot below her eye; it was time to do something with her skin care…While she was thinking this, a text message alert sounded from her mobile phone.

She picked it up. It was a text from Gu Yu: Five years isn’t enough time for you to forgive me?

……

Click. The kettle’s power switch automatically snapped back up. The water had come to a boil.

She was so utterly shocked that she extended a hand to grab the kettle, instantly burning that hand. Grimacing, with her phone raised high, she dashed to the bathroom and stuck her hand under running water. And then… her iPhone successfully managed to get a thorough bath—black screen of death. As she stared at that phone, not knowing whether she should laugh or cry, she realized that she was in a ridiculously sorry state. She had not even had a chance to reply to the message and draw the clear boundary between the two of them before, just like that, her mobile phone became a write-off.

In the first one or two years after their breakup, she had imagined, what sort of tone of disdain she would use to reject Gu Yu when he came back to find her and then how she would give him a vicious slap to the face. However, with the passage of time, as she looked back on that now, she only felt that she had been silly, and the only thing she wanted was for that person to not appear before her anymore, for that reminded her of her foolish love of that time and how it had not been worth it.

Because the shock she received had been too much, she had very early buried herself in her comforter vand gone to sleep, and it was not until some unknown hour that she was woken by furious pounding on her door. Crawling off the bed, she shuffled over to the door. The instant she opened it, Qiao Qiao burst into her room. “O great and honourable screenwriter, why is your mobile turned off?”

“It’s broken.” Jia He looked at her with narrowed eyes, still not adjusted to having been woken.

“It sure broke at a good time.” Wagging her own mobile phone, Qiao Qiao let her have a look. “Do you know what time it is? Past twelve o’clock.”

“It’s not like there’s anything to take care of today. I was even thinking that it’s time for me to head back to Shanghai. If any changes need to be made to the script, they can just email me.” As Jia He mumbled on, she turned around and returned to the bed, sliding herself back under the covers to continue keeping warm.

It was better to go back—no pleasant surprises, and no frightening ones either.

Qiao Qiao scrutinized her in astonishment. “You’re still going back to Shanghai even with such a situation?”

Flabbergasted, Jia He gazed back at her. “What situation?”

Climbing up onto the bed, Qiao Qiao looked down at her. “I’m going to tell you something. You need to stay calm, one hundred percent calm.”

Jia He was given a scare with these words of hers. “You’re fearmongering first thing in the morning. If you have something to say, just say it…”

“An accident happened this morning. Your idol was sent to the hospital.” Though Qiao Qiao had completely broken apart “your idol was in an accident” to explain the situation, it was apparent there was not much use in that. A tremor rushed through Jia He, and she shot out of the comforter. “What accident? Is it really serious?”

“This morning, the horse suddenly went crazy. He was thrown off and then trampled a coupled of times by the horse. His leg is broken.” Qiao Qiao gave a simple, clear explanation. “He’s in the Dongyang People’s Hospital. I’ve been busy for the entire morning before finally getting a break, but when I called you, your phone was shut off. I was about to die of frustration. Do you want to go? Come on, hurry and tell me. I’ll get a car ready for you.”

Jia He first nodded, but then she haphazardly shook her head. “I’ll be no use anyway if I go. It’ll be really awkward.”

“Why wouldn’t you go?” Qiao Qiao looked at her in bafflement. “Are you daft? Liao Jing and the others are all going. What’s the issue with you going? You’re there purely to visit a friend. Don’t tell me you’re not willing.”

The final outcome of their discussion was, still, that she would go. Qiao Qiao did not even give her a chance whatsoever to argue otherwise.

She had been on location for production many times, but never had she visited an actor or actress who was injured at work. The basic reason behind that was that she could not even remember the names of those actors and actresses; they had practically had no association with her, so she was not going to join in on the excitement. Now, as she stood in front of the main entrance of the hospital, she still vacillated for a long while before at last stepping into the entrance hall, its air thick with the smell of disinfectant. Not far away was Xiao Ou, and spotting Jia He, she immediately waved. “Screenwriter, over here.”

When she arrived at the floor of his inpatient room, there were already many people gathered around outside. A-Qing was crouched in a corner, making a phone call, her eyes red as she spoke some words that were indiscernible from where Jia He was. With a pat to Jia He, Xiao Ou said that she was going downstairs to wait for people and then ran off again.

Retreating to the head of the staircase, Jia He once more began to waver, and for quite some time, she did not move.

After a while, many reporters suddenly rushed up. At the same time, there also stepped out from the hospital room a person wearing sunglasses and a surgical-style mask, her head lowered as she, under the protective escort of her assistant, squeezed in amongst the reporters and, inch by difficult inch, headed outside. When she reached the elevator, she at last removed her mask and, with a smile, addressed the media, “A-Ze’s injury is not serious. Thank you, everyone, for your concern.”

This one statement was like a tossed pebble, inducing thousands of layers of waves, and immediately aroused even more noisy questioning. “Did you come here today specifically to visit him?” “Do the two of you intend on getting back together?” “Reportedly, the drama you are in this time is a result of Yi Wenze pulling connections for you. Is that considered an invitation for you to get back together with him?”

……

Tian Chu once more resumed a stance of silence, and with her assistant, she strode into the elevator.

The reporters seemed as if they had planned everything in advance. Their forces split into two groups, with half chasing after Tian Chu and the other half remaining camped out by the stairwell of this floor, where, in low voices, they exchanged amongst themselves the information they had obtained. Jia He, seeing that there were so many reporters at the doorway, mused that it would be best if she did not get involved in any way. She would hang out downstairs for a while and wait for the excitement to pass before coming back up. Because the elevator was currently being obstructed, she decided to simply take the stairs all the way down. However, at the second floor, where the staircase turned a corner, she saw Tian Chu.

“Jia He.” Tian Chu appeared as if she had been waiting for her. “Do you have time for a few words?”

Jia He walked over. “Sure.”

Tian Chu’s assistant was standing guard at the entrance to the stairs, purposely maintaining a distance from them. Pulling out her mobile phone, Tian Chu held it up in front of Jia He. “A friend sent me this a few days ago.”

Jia He gave her a puzzled look. Tian Chu tapped her index finger against the screen, indicating that Jia He should have a look herself. On the opened webpage was an entertainment news story, and a photograph could be seen. In it, through the side window of a white minivan, Yi Wenze was seen driving the vehicle, his right hand casually resting on the steering wheel. And the person in the front passenger seat… was Jia He.

“I’m not the only one who’s seen this; Mai Jie has, too.” Tian Chu looked at her with a smile, her eyes bright and clear. “So, I would believe that Mai Jie has already shown it to A-Ze.” Tian Chu put away her phone. “I really don’t have any other intention in this. Judging from the look on your face, A-Ze probably hasn’t told you about this matter. I trust that, being in the showbiz circle, you would know that now is a rather inappropriate time for the appearance of such a photograph.”

An unforeseen calamity—this was the only thought that popped into Jia He’s mind.

[1]《春泥》“Chun Ni” which can be translated as “Spring’s Soil” was composed and sung by Harlem Yu while lyrics were written by Annie Yi. The song was released in 2003, and at the time, the two were still married. In story time, it is currently 2011, so this song would be relatively old already. Harlem Yu and Annie Yi dated for fourteen years before marrying in 2000, but in 2009, they divorced. The catalyst for the divorce allegedly was Annie Yi’s extramarital affair with Taiwanese actor and singer, Victor Huang.