After an autumn rain, the weather turned colder and colder. When there were fewer people in skirts but more in pants on the street, the company staff became extremely busy at work, yet Zhao Huixin often gazed fondly out of the window at the autumn rain.
Jiang Youyou received five thousand yuan of salary for a month’s probation period. She gave Xu Nuo a call to invite her to dinner but was declined because she said that she was going to have a good night with her boyfriend.
“Sis Zhao, are you free this evening?” Jiang Youyou said to Zhao Huixin who was tidying up. She was quitting her job in a week, for her baby’s welfare.
“What’s the matter?”
“Today I’m paid and I’d like to to treat you to dinner.” Jiang Youyou was recruited into the company by Zhao Huixin, so it was natural for her to invite Zhao to dinner to show her gratitude.
Zhao Huixin was in a daze and she could collect herself until five or six minutes later. “OK.”
There were always confusion and uncertainty in her eyes and she stared at the distance with her empty eyes as if she was physically here and her soul was out of her body. A lot of her hair had fallen out, perhaps through overwork. Jiang Youyou looked at her balding pate. For women, the baldness was the most terrible thing to suffer, but for men it was not a panic more serious than impotence.
Walking on the street, Zhao Huixin suddenly said “Let’s go to have hotpot.”
“To have hotpot? Is it ok? Is it harmful to have spicy food for the baby in your womb?”
Zhao Huixin shook her head and made a strange remark, “It doesn’t matter. I do like hotpot.”
The advantage of having hotpot with only two persons was that they didn’t have to worry that someone else would grab at their favorite food. There were many people waiting for the table who were looking all around at the door. Fortunately, Jiang Youyou came earlier.
“Do you know what I saw recently?” Zhao Huixin took a bite of the pig’s brain from the spoon and sucked it into her mouth.
“What did you see?” When Jiang Youyou saw her sucking in the pig’s brain, she suddenly felt her stomach upset.
Some pregnant women liked to eat strange food. It would be much better to have beef, mutton and green vegetables for the hotpot, but the mess of pig’s brain, the cartilage of the pig’s upper jaw and the live eels were somewhat difficult to accept.
“I saw a ghost.” Zhao Huixin whispered. “Don’t tell anyone else.
Jiang Youyou thought she was joking. “Sis Zhao, don’t scare me. There are no spirits on earth.”
“It’s true. I saw it by myself.” Zhao Huixin moved her eyeballs in an eerie way. “Last night I went home alone. When I opened the door I saw a bloodied female ghost in blue dress lying in my bed. I was too scared to move. Then she raised her head slowly, with a ghastly face. She disappeared when I turned on the light. But when I went to the toilet at midnight, I passed the mirror above the washbasin, I saw her again. She was riding on my shoulder and I could see blue veins on her feet crystal clear. When I went back to my bed, she was on my back following me onto the bed. And she even stuck out her tongue to eat my baby in my womb. I was extremely frightened.”
Jiang Youyou stared at Zhao Huixin, puzzled and asked, “You went home alone? Where was your husband? How could he allow you to go home alone when you’re in the family way? It’s too dangerous.”
“I don’t have a husband. I’m always single.”
“So whose baby is it?” Jiang Youyou recalled one day when she was in the shopping mall café, the café in which the coffee was so strong that she was poisoned, she glimpsed Zhao Huixin and a mysterious man in sunglasses flashing past from the shop window. At first she thought the man was Zhao’s husband.
“He didn’t want this baby now, but I have decided to give birth to it, and after its birth I’ll invite you to the baby’s full-month celebrating feast.” Zhao Huixin looked a bit haggard. She would resign a few days later and she had transferred almost all her work to her successor. Now her belly was so big that on the bus people would give up their seats to her.
“Please do take good care of yourself for your baby’s sake. As to those spirits, those might be your illusion. Remember, there is no spirit in this world. Believe in me.” Jiang Youyou took hold of her hands. They were icy cold. In fact, Jiang Youyou herself had seen a spirit once. When she was caught up in the pyramid selling whirlpool, she saw a black shadow squatting in the corner of that dark room. It might be that just when people felt they were dying they could see such dirty things. Whether they existed or not, no one could tell. To comfort Zhao Huixin, she should firmly make such remarks, of course.
“I’m not afraid of spirits. I just pity the baby in my womb. It was so lovely, how could he be willing to part with it? If he told me he didn’t want the baby earlier, I wouldn’t make an effort to try to give it a birth. I even resigned from the company. Little Sis Jiang, help yourself with more. Thank you for your invitation for dinner. You’re a good girl and you’re quick to learn things. You’re bound to achieve something in the future, unlike me.” Zhao Huixin’s eyes turned red.
Jiang Youyou couldn’t say anything, nor could she investigate more. Each person had his own trouble to deal with. For example, she didn’t know how she could make more money for a living.
They ordered some bottles of beer to go with the chilly oil hotpot. Zhao Huixin poured beer into her mouth glass after glass. “When talking about men, Youyou, alas, you must be careful and watch out. The more handsome a man is, the more honey-tongued he is, the farther you must keep yourself away from him. By the way, what if I put my hand into the hot pot, then take out? Whether they will be cooked immediately? Whether the flesh tastes good or not?”
The ring on her finger sparkled against the light.
Jiang Youyou recollected Bai Zhehan and felt a stabbing pain in the heart. Every one, even ancient people knew the truth that a romantic hero would be happy to die in the bed of a beauty.
Jiang Youyou thought Zhao Huixin had been drunk and was rambling on. Perhaps when one was drunk he would not feel afraid.
Jiang Youyou called a taxi and asked Zhao Huixin where she lived. She mumbled an answer. Jiang Youyou thought after all Zhao was the person who had given her an opportunity for the job. She should take her home safely. A pregnant woman would be unable to resist when they encounter danger on the road.
The security guard of the apartment building in Zhao’s community helped her to take Zhao Huixin to the elevator when he shook his head, “Recently she came back home at this hour of the day every day, I wonder what her husband would think.”
“You have seen her boyfriend?” Jiang Youyou thought, since she said she had not married, the man must be her boyfriend.
“I’ve seen him once or twice, but not in recent times. He would wear a pair of sunglasses whenever he came. If you don’t know him, you must mistake him as the blind.” The guard directly lifted Zhao Huixin up. She was really heavy.
When they got to the door of Zhao Huixin’s apartment, she was too paralyzed to move. Jiang Youyou thanked the guard and carried the pregnant woman into the apartment and closed the door tight.