Charity - Chapter 2

The next morning, the alarm woke Jiang Yi.

Usually, by then I would have made breakfast and woken him myself. Today I lay motionless, my back to him.

He said nothing. He got up quietly, washed, then came back to the bed and bent to kiss my forehead.

“Yanyan, I’m off to work. Stay home and get some rest.”

“I made a hundred and fifty delivering food yesterday. I’ve sent you a hundred and twenty for spending money.”

“If you go out, remember to tell me. Don’t do what you did last night, okay?”

I kept my eyes shut and ignored him. He didn’t seem to mind. He stroked my head gently, then left.

As soon as the door closed, I opened my eyes and got up. Ten minutes later, washed and dressed, I went downstairs just in time to see him riding his electric scooter out of the residential compound.

I hailed a taxi and followed.

The driver asked whether I was trying to catch a cheating boyfriend.

My mouth twitched. “Maybe.”

The scooter soon turned into an expensive residential complex. The taxi wasn’t allowed inside. I was patient. I asked the driver to park a short distance away.

About half an hour later, a black car emerged. Its window was halfway down. I could clearly see Jiang Yi inside.

The driver clicked his tongue. “A Rolls-Royce. Your man’s got money.”

“Is it very expensive?”

“Very. Even the cheapest basic model costs four or five million.”

Following Jiang Yi that day opened my eyes to a whole new world.

He rode in a car worth four or five million, with his own chauffeur. He visited a bespoke tailor, where, apparently, a suit started at well over a hundred thousand. He bought a set of jewelry from a store whose English name I couldn’t even pronounce.

I asked my knowledgeable driver what that would cost.

“Hard to say. A cheap set could be a few hundred thousand; an expensive one, tens of millions, maybe even a hundred million. Jewelry’s not my thing, so I don’t really know the prices. I just know that brand is ridiculously expensive.”

By nightfall, the Rolls-Royce, which was becoming familiar to me, had entered what was said to be the city’s most expensive villa estate.

“Well, miss? Want to keep waiting?”

I got out, paid him for the whole day’s hire, and thanked him.

“Security’s very strict here,” he told me. “Visitors can’t go in without a resident’s permission.”

I nodded. I understood.

Of course I’d never been to a place like this. But perhaps even heaven couldn’t stand to watch me remain so foolish, so completely deceived by Jiang Yi, and decided to give me one final reason to stop loving him.

At the security booth, I saw my friend signing in.

She was actually from the village next to mine. We hadn’t known each other very well before. But we were from the same area, and helped each other out a little when we could. She’d been willing to find me this job because, when she’d had her appendix out the previous year, I’d signed her surgical consent form and cared for her for a few days.

“Lili.” I called to her and asked if she could take me inside.

She looked surprised. A half smile touched her face. “This isn’t really your kind of place.”

“A friend of mine is in there,” I said. “I want to go and see.”

Then I promised, “Don’t worry. I won’t cause any trouble for you.”

She considered it, then agreed.

The estate was huge. It even had its own shuttle service. I hadn’t known which villa Jiang Yi had gone to, but by coincidence, I spotted him in the garden of the house Lili was visiting.

The spacious back garden blazed with light. Guests mingled around him. Surrounded by people, he was talking with impeccable manners to a woman in a beautiful princess-style dress.

“His name’s Jiang Yi. He’s the heir to the Jiang family.” Lili followed my gaze. “You know the Jiangs?”

I shook my head.

“Property developers. That biggest shopping mall in our city? It’s theirs.”

“Do you know him?”

I shook my head, then nodded.

Lili lit a cigarette, took a drag, and suddenly said, “There’s been a game going around among these rich kids for the last couple of years.”

“They find a woman who’s pretty enough but comes from a poor background, and pretend they’re poor too.”

“At first, they were betting on who could play poor most convincingly, without the women catching on.”

“Then they discovered that women at the bottom were incredibly stupid. Every last one believed them.”

“So they raised the stakes. Who could get a woman pregnant, make her have an abortion, and still keep her utterly devoted, refusing to leave him?”

“I heard a little while ago that Jiang Yi had won a few million from that bet.”

Her gaze settled on me. She raised an eyebrow.

“The woman who got pregnant by Jiang Yi, then had an abortion, and won him all those millions…”

“So it was you.”

That night, Jiang Yi came home very late.

He opened the door, changing his shoes as he called my name. “Yanyan!”

I was sitting on the sofa. I looked up.

He carried a little cake box. Approaching with a secretive air, he held it up. “Look!”

“A customer gave it to me when I delivered her food. It’s her birthday today. She said I should have some cake.”

“I looked it up. This cake’s really expensive! Try it. See if it’s good!”

He carefully opened the box in front of me and watched with eager anticipation.

Over the years, he had occasionally brought home expensive food. Not often, and always saying some kind customer had given it to him. Every time, I used to jump up happily and throw myself into his arms, declaring that there really were more good people than bad in the world.

He usually never ate any himself. He wanted to save the best for me, he’d say.

I used to be so moved.

Now I knew. These delicacies, far beyond my reach, were simply scraps from Jiang Yi’s gatherings. Of course he didn’t want them. He couldn’t stomach them.

I forced my lips into a smile. I was so ridiculous.

“Why aren’t you eating?” Jiang Yi tapped my forehead affectionately. “Try a little now. When I earn more, I’ll buy you a big one.”

Stiffly, I scooped up a spoonful and put it in my mouth.

It must have tasted good. But I was a wild pig that couldn’t appreciate fine grain. I couldn’t tell how excellent the cream was, or which famous pastry chef had made it.

I reached out and pulled a chestnut-colored hair from his collar. Fine, long, slightly curled.

Jiang Yi leaned in to inspect it, puzzled, then compared it with mine.

“That’s strange. Where did this come from? I haven’t been near any woman but you.”

After a moment’s thought, his face brightened with realization.

“The customer who gave me the cake tonight had long, curly chestnut hair. Maybe it caught on my clothes by accident?”

His tone was so natural.

I remembered that things like this had happened before. Sometimes he came home with a faint trace of perfume or alcohol on him. Every time, he brushed it off with “That customer wore too much perfume” or “Someone staying at a hotel still ordered takeout.”

I’d never doubted him.

“Go on and eat. I’m going to shower.” He wound the hair around his fingers and tossed it into the bin.

I set down my spoon and watched his back in silence.

All I could see was the way he’d laughed and talked with that beautiful woman tonight.

Lili said she was his fiancée. Tonight was her birthday party. They would be formally engaged very soon. Lili had even shown me the electronic invitation.

A handsome man and a beautiful woman. A match made in heaven.

“Li Yan, I’d advise you to cut ties with Jiang Yi as soon as possible. That fiancée of his is no pushover.”

“If she finds out there’s something between you two, I can’t guarantee what she’ll do.”

“And don’t imagine he’ll protect you.” A cold smile hung on Lili’s face. “You probably mean less to him than one of his family’s dogs.”

Her words were ugly. But the truth usually is.

I might be stupid, but I could still tell good advice from bad.