Chapter 5

Jiang Xichu’s scolding was completely unreasonable; Chen Man was stunned stupid by it; only after great while did she finally react, raising her brows high, and said, “Jiang Xichu, explain it to me clearly! What did I do that you’re scolding me like this!”

Jiang Xichu gazed at her, and after a few seconds, she let out a long breath, eyes slowly lowering, feeling that the heavy frustrations in her heart had more or less been dispelled; she raised her head, easily wiping her eyes, which had turned a light pink from the tears shed; being looked at by this pair of eyes of hers, Chen Man couldn’t get out a single harsh word, hesitating for quite a while, intending to act softly and coax her Secretary Jiang. But before she could open her mouth, Jiang Xichu spoke first. “Nothing; last night I had a nightmare of the two of us being chased and killed, and you pushed me to make me bait, running away yourself; when I woke up, I was still very upset, and so I came looking for you to get my revenge.

Chen Man was silent: “...”

The room was quiet for five moments, and then Chen Man’s voice, startled and angry, emerged. “You slapped me because you had a ridiculous dream?! You still won’t speak reason, and this grand General Manager was admonished by you like this—you had a single dream and treat me like this? Stay still, Jiang Xichu, I’m not done speaking!”

Jiang Xichu headed for the door; when she opened it, Chen Man’s voice, clear and incomparable, emerged, and the other three secretaries stared, startled, in that direction; Jiang Xichu, unperturbed, came face to face with them, and said, “What are you doing looking at me? Did you finish your work?”

The three secretaries immediately returned to their workstations; whether genuine or feigned, they all started typing with a clatter. Jiang Xichu turned her head; it was nine in the morning now, and the sun had already risen to its set place, the beams of sunlight spilling into the office; Jiang Xichu stood beneath the sun, appreciating the warmth she hadn’t experienced in a long time; she couldn’t help her lips rising, and she paused for a moment, only then returning to her own station.

At that moment, she was writing a message of apology for delay of a machine she’d ordered from Germany, which had run into a customs inspection; it was originally planned to arrive in a month, but now, it would only arrive after two months. They could only start the operation after this machine was received, and this order was made in cooperation with a state-owned enterprise, and so, with it having been delayed for this long, a formal apology really had to be written. Not wanting to check other text materials, Jiang Xichu merely raised a hand and typed out a standard document; Secretary Yang, sitting on a swivel chair, shifted backwards, her chair carrying her to Jiang Xichu’s side. She surreptitiously carried a pen, asking in a low voice, “Secretary Jiang, what did Manager Chen do wrong again?” Having worked at the office for two years, the situation that Secretary Yang saw most commonly was Manager Chen and Secretary Jiang quarrelling, usually because of something Manager Chen had done, which Secretary Jiang was unable to approve of, and then afterwards, the two would argue, and the more they argued the more they became furious, and then finally, Manager Chen couldn’t withstand the assault, sitting, panicked, in her chair, and would hang her head and, in the end, admit to her mistake.

Secretary Yang assumed this time was the same, so she happily went looking for office gossip; Secretary Jiang’s fingers, typing, continued pressing the keyboard, and a moment later, she said, “No, she didn’t do anything wrong.”

Secretary Yang was startled; if she hadn’t done anything wrong, then what was the situation that she’d just heard? Secretary Yang thought a moment, and then her eyes turned, and, seeing what was on her computer screen, asked, “Ah? The shipment was delayed? How didn’t I know about this? When is this from?”

It was an issue from three days in the future, approximately. Jiang Xichu let out a soft sigh, and took a folder out from the drawer, saying, “Deliver this to the Head of Financial Affairs, and mention to him to come to Chen Man’s office tomorrow along the way; we need to discuss the matter of next month’s bulk purchase.”

Secretary Yang took the folder, letting out a sound of affirmation, and then left. 

The usually quite busy office passed the afternoon quietly; Jiang Xichu had printed out all the documents for the afternoon’s meetings, and just as she was returning to the office, she saw Chen Man standing at her station. Jiang Xichu’s steps paused, and then she continued, her pace a bit slower; hearing the sound, Chen Man turned her head, earnestly looking at her, and said, “There’s no more yoghurt at home.”

Jiang Xichu’s arm holding the folder tensed, and she suddenly realised that making a sound was a very challenging matter; only after a good while passed did she hear her own voice say, “Do you want me to go buy it for you?”

Normally, before Jiang Xichu helped her with these insignificant matters, she would scold her with a few sentences; this time, not hearing that admonishment, she was a little lost, but she was also a bit happy. She shook her head, and said, “How could I let you go by yourself? I’ll accompany you, and act as your driver. Let’s go to that Huarun^[1] nearby Vientiane, and after we finish shopping in the supermarket, we can go wander around Vientiane a bit.”

Jiang Xichu’s self-respect was very strong; she’d never wanted to buy things when Chen Man told her to, and she’d need to search for a reason, such as the day being Lichun,^[2] and send her to get a set of skincare items for protecting against dry skin, or tomorrow being the Dragon Boat Festival, and send her to get a dishwasher, and this way once she finished eating a zongzi, she wouldn’t have to wash dishes, and even Qingming,^[3] she could come up with some nonsense reason and send her to get an iPad, finding some pretence—on this serious and solemn a day, shouldn’t you watch a few films commemorating martyrs?

Chen Man had taken great care to come up with all sorts of reasons; this time sending her to the shopping mall wasn’t to make her buy things there, but rather to seize the opportunity to observe what Jiang Xichu liked, and when the moment came, she could stealthily come, with International Labour Day soon arriving, and gift her a set of clothes, which she could then wear while working.

…

Chen Man’s calculating abacus let out clattering sounds; Jiang Xichu looked at her calmly, and Chen Man suddenly felt unable to sit or stand still; how come it was that she felt like Jiang Xichu had already seen through her idea?

Seeing Chen Man’s expression grow more and more anxious, Jiang Xichu lowered her eyes, and said, “Alright, we’ll go after we get off work.”

Chen Man grew quite happy, and stood up, taking the folder Jiang Xichu was holding along the way, and said, “Then let’s go; we can go downstairs and eat—I heard that a new dumpling restaurant opened downstairs, let’s go try it.”

That dumpling restaurant wasn’t good; Jiang Xichu had already tried it. But seeing Chen Man this eager to give it a try, she didn’t say anything, just smiled, and walked out with her. It was only at six in the evening that the work day ended, but because Chen Man was there, the two of them openly left early, and a bit after five, the two of them showed up at the supermarket downtown, with Chen Man pushing the cart, and Jiang Xichu running her gaze unceasingly over the shop shelves. Chen Man had been sternly forbidden from grabbing things as she pleased, and she impatiently watched a set of spicy sticks pass in front of her, and couldn’t help but take a few steps back, tugging at Jiang Xichu’s sleeve and saying, “I want that one.”

Jiang Xichu set down the bag of almonds she’d been holding in her hand, and turned her head to look at where Chen Man was pointing, and her face darkened immediately, and she said, “You can’t grab that! Your digestive system already isn’t well—eating something this spicy, are you stupid?!”

It was just a bag of spicy sticks…

Chen Man indignantly drew back; in the end, she didn’t take that bag of alluring-looking spicy sticks.

Chen Man couldn’t cook; in university, she had learned some things from Jiang Xichu, and in the end, she had only learnt how to scramble eggs, and every five times she made them, they’d end up burnt thrice; Jiang Xichu knew that, and hadn’t bought groceries.

She’d just bought a pile of quick-freeze food items that could be heated up and eaten, and put this set of most important items, along with two sets of yoghurt, into the shopping cart, and then ordered Chen Man to walk to the checkout counter. As she was walking there, Chen Man caught sight of where there were beverages lined up, and took advantage of Jiang Xichu’s lack of attention, reaching out and grabbing a six-pack of Cola, and cautiously and solemnly put the Cola in so that it didn’t crush the other items and let out the sound of plastics crumpling. She could have sworn that she had put it in very carefully, but when she raised her head, she saw her Secretary Jiang giving her a deathly glare.

Chen Man was silent: “...”

The two stared face to face for a number of moments, and then Chen Man picked up the Cola and put it back on the shelf, and stood properly. It was only then that Jiang Xichu turned back. Chen Man’s heart was crying big, thick trails of tears. Being this manager as she was, she really had no human rights…

On returning to Chen Man’s house, once everything was put away properly, Chen Man detained her for dinner, and Jiang Xichu, without thinking, immediately agreed. Chen Man ordered a takeout pizza, several types of snacks, and nine or ten shish kebabs, and half a dozen cans of beer. The two of them alternated between eating and drinking; they were friends first, and no matter what, they would have something to chat about; the newest show had been put on, and Jiang Xichu gazed at it with narrowed eyes for a couple moments, and then suddenly let out a couple words. “This woman died afterwards—she was murdered by her younger sister.”

Manager Chen, caught off-guard by the spoiler, was silent: “...”

She turned her head fiercely, but before she could say anything, she saw Jiang Xichu askew on the sofa, already asleep. Chen Man made a movement, and set down the lamb kebab she was gnawing on, moving over to sit down at Jiang Xichu’s side; after sitting for around ten or so minutes, Jiang Xichu still hadn’t moved, and Chen Man let out a quiet sigh, and cradled her head with both hands, adjusting her posture so she could sleep a bit more comfortably. Seeing Jiang Xichu’s face peaceful with sleep, Chen Man lowered her body, using her fingertips to gently touch the corners of her eyes. “What was it that made you feel so wronged?”

Her voice was very quiet and low, and besides herself, no one could hear it clearly, and she said, “Being so wronged, you still didn’t tell me—that’s too far; you didn’t even think of how dearly I love you.”

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Translator's notes:

[1]: Huarun (华润), also known as China Resources, is a Chinese state-owned conglomerate.

[2]: Lichun (立春) is the beginning of Spring.

[3]: Qingming (清明), also known as Tomb Sweeping Day.