Chapter 15
The contract was spelled out in black and white in roughly ten clauses:
1. During the term of the contract, neither party may develop excessive feelings for the other;
2. Party B may not pry too much into Party A’s private affairs;
3. Everything Party A buys while they’re pretending to be a couple belongs to Party B and does not have to be returned;
4. When they aren’t pretending to be a couple, Party B may not contact or seek out Party A for any reason;
...
10. Party A shall pay Party B 20,000 yuan per month. This amount does not include additional expenses.
Chen Ju read each clause to himself. The warmth that had just returned to his body gradually ebbed away. When he reached the last clause, he paused for a few seconds, made sure he hadn’t misread it, and then looked up.
“Is there anything about the contract you’re dissatisfied with, Mr. Chen?” Secretary Liu asked with a smile.
Chen Ju clenched his fist and stayed silent for a long while. At last, he shook his head and said, “No.”
“All right. Please sign your name on the contract, Mr. Chen.” Secretary Liu smiled encouragingly.
Chen Ju picked up the pen. His palm was sweaty, and the characters he wrote came out crooked and lopsided, like a child’s handwriting.
Ever since he’d dropped out of school, he’d rarely picked up a pen. He used to write beautiful floral hairpin-style small regular script, but now even his own name looked as ugly as a worm.
Chen Ju put down the pen and looked away from the contract, staring at his palm instead.
Secretary Liu took the papers and looked them over. “All right, everything seems to be in order. We’ll leave it here for today. Oh, the Eldest Young Master gave you this phone. His contact number is saved on it. He’ll text you when he needs you.”
Chen Ju looked up. A brand-new phone sat in the middle of the table. Jiang Zhou knew he didn’t have a phone and had bought one especially for him. Even knowing it was only to make it easier to contact him, Chen Ju still felt a joy he could barely suppress.
This was the first gift Jiang Zhou had given him, and his first phone. He would take good care of it.
After Secretary Liu left, Chen Ju didn’t leave the mall right away. He wandered around until he finally spotted a help-wanted notice on a glass window.
“Hiring mall security guard. Day shift, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monthly salary: 2,500 yuan. Contact: xxxxxx”
Wonderful! The hours fit perfectly around his night job. He’d finish at five thirty and still have a few hours to rest. So excited that he forgot he had a new phone, Chen Ju spent ages wandering around the mall’s first floor before finally finding the security office.
Though slender, Chen Ju stood 175 centimeters tall, with a fair, clean-cut appearance. Most of the men in the security office were older fellows who looked listless, so the security supervisor took a liking to a young man like Chen Ju. They’d barely talked for a few minutes before he told Chen Ju to come in and report for work the next day.
Once he left the mall, Chen Ju was so happy that he wasn’t sleepy at all. He calculated his earnings as he walked back. His night and day jobs would bring in 8,500 yuan. After food costs, he could still save 8,000 a month. In six months, he’d have more than 40,000, and with the money Jiang Zhou was giving him, he’d still have a little left over.
That way, after getting his mother out, he could use what remained to rent a place and move out of that house.
All his happiness vanished when he saw his belongings piled by the back door. Chen Ju hurried over. His clothes, shoes, and quilt had all been thrown on the ground, like a heap of unwanted trash.
In a panic, Chen Ju gathered everything from the ground and folded his quilt neatly. He stuffed his clothes and shoes into his big backpack. All that remained were a few odds and ends: several tattered books and an empty iron box. Inside the box lay a shattered photo frame. Branch-like cracks crawled across the faces of him, his father, and his mother, splitting them apart.
Plip. A drop of water struck the smiling faces of the three people in the photograph. Then another fell, and another, as if it were raining.
His vision blurred. Suddenly, he heard a faint sound from behind the door. Chen Ju immediately lowered his head and quickly wiped away his tears with his sleeve.
With a click, the door opened. Chen Yifa stood there with his arms crossed, looking down at Chen Ju with a triumphant expression. “Take your trash and get lost. You’re making me sick.”
Chen Ju clenched his fist and stared at Chen Yifa without saying a word.
Chen Yifa looked disgusted and rolled up his sleeves. “You dare glare at me? Are you asking to get beaten?”
“Little Brother! Stop talking and go upstairs to do your homework!” a middle-aged man barked, cutting Chen Yifa off. Then Chen Fu came out from behind the door. When he saw Chen Ju, he put on a warm smile.
“Little Ju, your aunt threw your things out. You know what she’s like. There’s nothing your uncle can do, so you’ll just have to put up with it.” Chen Fu sighed. He patted his pockets, then pulled out a crumpled fifty-yuan note and held it out. “Take this. Hire a car to haul your things away. This is all your uncle can do for you.”
“Dad, why are you giving him money? You might as well save it for my breakfast!” Chen Yifa complained.
Chen Fu glared at Chen Yifa and shooed him away with a wave of his hand. “Go back and do your homework. This has nothing to do with you!”
Then he turned back, his face wreathed in smiles. “Can you carry all this by yourself? Want your uncle to help?”
Chen Ju looked away without answering Chen Fu or even glancing at him. He put on his big backpack, laid the thin quilt across it, and tied it down with a rope several times. Once he was sure it was secure, he bent to pick up the iron box from the ground, straightened his back, and walked away from that place, one step at a time.
Ring, ring. The abrupt phone ringing jolted Chen Ju awake. He was curled up on a park bench, with his quilt and backpack arranged neatly beside him.
He was so tired that his mind felt like a lump of paste. It took him several seconds to realize the ringing was coming from his pocket.
Chen Ju hurriedly took out his phone. When he saw Jiang Zhou’s name on the screen, his heart lurched. He took a deep breath before pressing the green button with a trembling hand.
“Where are you?” Jiang Zhou skipped any greeting and went straight to the point.
Chen Ju hesitated for a few seconds, then stammered, “I-I’m at home, sleeping. Is something wrong?”
“Get ready. I’m coming to pick you up.” Jiang Zhou’s tone brooked no argument, leaving no room for refusal.
Chen Ju glanced at his large backpack and quilt and hurriedly said, “I’m not really free right now. How about you send me the address where we’re meeting? I-I can take a car there myself.”
There was silence on the other end for a few seconds. Chen Ju nervously clenched the hem of his clothes, his heart in his throat.
“All right,” Jiang Zhou said. “Don’t be late. Be there before five.”
Chen Ju caught sight of a mother pushing a stroller not far away. The sound of a baby crying carried over from a distance.
“Okay! Then I’ll hang up now.” After ending the call, Chen Ju let out a long breath. That was close. He’d almost been caught lying to Jiang Zhou just now.
On the other end, Jiang Zhou stared at the call that had been cut off, his gaze dark.