Chapter 56
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          "Tell your grandson not to bother me."

          The old lady sneered.  "Little girl, don’t say something that your heart doesn’t mean in front of elders.  You will not benefit from it."

          I retaliated.  "I don’t dare but it was your grandson who clung to me in the first place.  I speak in honesty."

          She glanced at me and thoughtfully said.  "You don’t like my family’s Ah Kang?"

          "I like him."  Without any hesitation, I admitted my feelings for him and had no intention of lying to myself in front of the elderly.  I might as well bravely face her provocation. 

          "Then…..you are still not satisfied?"  The old lady's sharp eyes looked at me with disapproval and she seemed to criticize me for the contradictions.

          I said with confidence.  "Like…..does not mean that I am satisfied.  For example, others will only look at his wallet, his appearance, and his panache.  But when he clung to me, I realized he likes to plot against people, has a belly full of bad ideas and has a strong controlling streak.  He is an enemy that is almost difficult to defeat."

          "What?  You treat him as an enemy?"  The old lady frowned.

          "Sometimes, yes…….that is why getting involved with him does not guarantee any happiness."

          The old lady seemed to understand a little of my reasonable explanation, then she asked.  "Then what about his good points?  Do you see it?"

          "He has a lot of good attributes or else I will not like him."  I pondered for a moment and decided to tell the truth.  "But I would prefer…….he is not so handsome, has less money, be straightforward and occasionally let me win over him.  He is too strong and it hurts my self-esteem."

          Unconsciously, I poured out the distress in my heart to the old grandmother, mainly because I had suffered at Kang Zixian's hands and had nowhere to complain.  Today, I simply poured out my heart for the old grandmother to listen and let her know that her grandson is not all perfect and without flaws. 

          It was a pity that my whispers of complaints of Kang Zixian turned into words of flattery for him in Wan Taijun's ears.  After all, I had complained that he was too strong, I was always the loser and this became another kind of affirmative which made Wan Taijun smiled and nodded.  "I understand."

          I refuted.  "You don’t understand."

          The old lady was angry and with a cold expression, she said.  "This old lady had eaten more salt than the rice that you have eaten and I have crossed more bridges than the roads that you have walked on.  What else do you think this old lady doesn’t understand?"

          Taking the privilege as an elderly, the old lady exploded and I bowed my head unwilling to give in and mumbled.  "How can there be so many bridges in this world?"

          The old lady naturally heard.  With a calm face, she overlapped her two plump hands and sulked like an old turtledove perching on the treetop. 

          "Disobedient, disregard for the elderly when speaking and no discipline."  She nagged while she stood up and walked to the door.  "I am displeased with you."

          I decided not to hide my rogue personality and followed behind her.  "Okay, you are not pleased with me and I am not satisfied with you but now I like your grandson.  You can throw me a cheque but I will still not let him go.  If you want to separate the both of us, every day I will go to your house to put up a banner.  If you throw me out and I will abduct your grandson."

          The old lady turned around with a fierce tiger face and said sternly.  "You are good, Fang Liang Liang!  These 10 plus years, nobody had dared to threaten me, Wan Qi Hua!  You are very brave!"

          I pouted my lips, raised my chin and with a rogue expression, I retorted.   "If you, Grandmother Flower* is allowed to trample on my grounds, why can't I, Liang Liang threaten you?"

          (The name Grandmother Flower is derived from the name Wan Qi Hua.  ‘Hua’ means flower and FLL cheekily called the old lady by this nickname instead of addressing her formally and respectfully.)

          Wan Taijun's cold bitter eyes glared fiercely at me and I glared back at her.  As a result, two pairs of eyes were deadlocked for a while.  Probably the old lady's eyes felt tired, her tight lips let out a sound 'puchi' and then she relaxed.  Her facial muscles shook slightly and a smile appeared on her tiger face.

          My chin dropped.  Initially, I wanted to go all the way without budging but the confrontation between one old and one young began to develop into a funny situation.  Actually, fire sparks should be flying around shooting into the sky due to my robust instigation but how come the old lady smiled?  What was so funny?

          I could not help but ask.  "Grandmother Flower, why are you smiling?  I am very serious!"

          Wan Taijun wiped off her smile then resumed her stiff face and stared at me.  "When this old lady wants to smile, should I explain to you?"  She gave me another label.  "No respect for the elderly!"

          "And another thing, you are not allowed to call me Grandmother Flower."

          I pursed my lips, smiled at the old lady in front of me and said.  "If I am not allowed to call you Grandmother Flower, then should I call you?........ Flower Fairy, ah?"

          As soon as my voice faded, I felt a pain on my forehead and I screamed.  "Aiyo!" 

What came into close contact with my forehead?  It was Wan Taijun's Hermes platinum bag that hit me.  Although she did not hit me very hard, I guessed a swollen lump would appear soon as I massaged that slightly painful spot.  When I saw the old lady's somewhat angry face, my heart was also confused and like a child, I clamored.  "You hit me!  I will tell Kang Zixian, you hit me!"

          "Who said you can call me Flower Fairy?"  The old lady pulled a face and a smile was leaping in her eyes while her clear eyes reflected my foolish face looking at her.  "You dare to complain about me to him?  You dare?"

          "No, I dare not."  I rolled my eyes and waved my hand as I looked at the energetic old lady who was quarreling with me.  Obviously, she is not as terrible as it was rumored and clearly she is somewhat cute.  Other than putting on a stiff face like an elder, she actually did not act like a pretentious wealthy old lady.

          I relaxed and laughed lightly at her while I swayed my head like a rogue.  "But I will still call you Flower Fairy, Flower Fairy, Flower Fairy!  You are Flower Fairy!"

          I guessed the old lady had never seen such a shameless female before and she glared angrily at me.  When I saw that the expensive bag making its way towards me, in order to save my own life, I slipped my right hand onto the shoulders of the old lady affectionately and quickly changed the topic.  "*he,he*.......Grandmother, I am just joking.  I say, how much is the value of the cheque you brought with you today?"

          "Aiyo!….."  The heavy bag still landed onto my head.  I shouted miserably and could not help but complain.  "Why do you like to hit people?  What is in your bag, iron ingots?  Ah….so painful…..aiyo........"

          As I yelled 'aiyo, aiyo' but the old lady did not throw off my hand that was resting on her shoulders.  She turned her head and gave me a sidelong glance.  "The moment you open your mouth you only talk about the cheque.  Do you love money so much?  Let me tell you, I didn’t bring anything with me, you have miscalculated.  Nowadays, young people really are..……."   

          I could not help but kick myself.  "Then it is your fault.  Why didn’t you follow the rules when you come?  A cheque is the basic essential item for you to break up a pair of mandarin ducks.  I am cooperating with you and I suffered your blows.  Do you think it is easy for me?"  I ripped off my thick skin and gave her a cheeky smile.  "I just wanted to know my worth....... *he,he,he*  How much is it?  Ten million?"

          Wan Taijun's serious expression faded and she smiled faintly.  She impolitely poked on my forehead and spoke in a strong voice tone.  "How much?!  A dollar!........"

          "What?  A dollar……now a stick of popsicle costs two dollars!  I am not even worth a stick of………"

          I felt incredulous and holding my head in my hands, I completely collapsed while the old lady beside me gave a hearty laugh.  Her face showed a chrysanthemum of wrinkles and the initial coldness that she had when she walked in, had disappeared. 

          With her laugh, we became inexplicably familiar and we were suddenly pulled closer.

          At night, with my hand on the old lady's shoulder, we went to dinner in the restaurant that I and Fei Ge usually frequent.  The old lady is actually a very funny old lady who loves to tell cold jokes but only thing is that she loves to use her cold face to deceive people.  Probably because when she was young, she had to be deeply prepared and as she aged, it had become a habit.  She likes to wear a mask and it was not easy to force out her real self but under my endless pestering, the old lady finally exposed her true personality. 

          She sighed.  "My husband died early, that is, Ah Kang's grandfather, and when he was young his mouth was very sweet.  No matter how angry I was, he would be able to coax me until I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.  Now I am old already, my children and grandchildren have their own lives to lead, so every day I could only reminisce his sweet words and the days would pass slowly."

          I said.  "Flower Fairy, don’t worry.  When you are lonely, you can look for me and I will come to you with my melon seeds.  Do you know why my mother married so far away?  It is because she wanted to stay far away from me.  I can be annoying.  When my mother thinks of my father, she will have insomnia and I will begin to talk to her from the rain to the stray dogs on the road, from dog's excrement to the public bus, from the public bus to the neighbor auntie who sells boiled tofu soup.  You don’t know about this but when I talk, it is better than sleeping pills.  When my mother listens to my voice, it would be like listening to a hypnotic song and immediately she would fall asleep.  You must give it a try next time."

          I added a little bit of tofu to the old lady's bowl and she could not conceal her smile.  "Is it so magical?"

          "That is Liang Liang's brand of sleeping pills which guarantees you will sleep until morning."

          During the conversation, the old lady's phone rang and she looked at me.  "It is that boy."

          The old lady's face with a layer of healthy pink smiled broadly and her voice lighted up.  "Wei, Ah Kang, ah……grandmother is having dinner with One Dollar..….."

          My mouth twitched.  On the way I had joked with the grandmother that in private, I would call her 'Flower Fairy' and she would call me 'One Dollar' but I did not expect the old lady would make me lose face in front of Kang Zixian now.

          "Who is she?  I will let her talk to you then you will know who she is."  Grandmother winked at me and handed over the phone.  I threw a 'No loyalty' look back at her.

          "Hello."  The other end, Kang Zixian's low rich, magnetic voice sounded.  Now listening to his voice, it felt especially attractive.  Fortunately these two days, he was not in A-city and he would just call at night to check on me.  If he knew that I had ventured into the monster's cave and almost lost my little life, he would have cut me up into minced meat.

          Anyway, the old grandmother had just lectured me and I did not want him to give me another lecture, so mischievously I pinched my nose, raised my voice higher and spoke in a delicate voice.  "Hello, Brother Zixian, remember me?  I am your childhood friend, One Dollar."

          The man on the other end paused for a while, then in a smiling tone, he said.  "Certainly I remember you……Sister Liang Liang."

          Defeated, I put down the hand holding my nose and in a dejected tone, I said.  "This is no fun.  Why is it, every time you don’t cooperate with me and play a little stupid?"

          "Okay, next time.  You are now with grandmother but why did she call you One Dollar?"

          Thinking of the humiliation of the 'one dollar' tag, I almost burst into tears.  Suddenly I shouted.  "Ah, ah,…..Kang Zixian, Kang Zixian, your family’s Flower Fairy said I am only worth a dollar!  It hurts my heart and your family’s Flower Fairy bullied me!  You have to get justice for me when you come back!  You must tell her sternly that I am at least worth two dollars!"

          I shouted making a lot of noise while the grandmother sitting opposite me was laughing and Kang Zixian's hearty laugh drifted over through the phone.  "Okay, when I come back, I will tell my family’s Flower Fairy that you are my precious baby and you are priceless……."

          This guy's rare sweet words warmed my heart.  I did not know how to answer and could only bow my head and stammer.  "Come back early…..I……miss you......"

          I really missed him.  When my life was hanging by a thread, I thought I would never see him again.  In the middle of the night, I longed to snuggle in his arms and smell the soothing fragrance of his body which made me feel at ease.  This man is able to make me calm down and I thought of the future, our future.  I realized that I had to protect myself and not allow myself to be injured and bleed.  I think I would not like to repeat my father's mistakes, going off alone and leaving his lover in the world to sigh for him for so many years.

          When I thought of the incident a few days ago, I could have left him forever divided between yin and yang* (Parted by death.  The dead lives in the Yin world while the living stays in the Yang world.),  and my heart started to hurt.  So this love is like a wildfire which is unforgettable.

          On Monday, I did not go to school and hid at home.  This time, I had gotten into trouble and at the same time exposed my identity which made Lao Tan terribly angry.  Although I am not a full-time undercover, I would not be able to carry out any more undercover jobs later.  Recently Lao Tan was even more furious because, with the information gathered from Jiang Li's home, it could be deduced that Jiang Yuan Loong's suspicion basically could be ruled out.  His wife recently sold a piece of land that they had kept to solve the company's dilemma and their financing had smoothen out, erasing any doubt about his business. 

          Lao Tan's meticulous arrangements were like a rattan basket gathering water.  Nothing was accomplished and the trail of clues was broken once again.  No wonder he cursed me and instructed me to report back to the Bureau on Tuesday.  Actually, I did not dare to go against him and with a bitter face, I hung up the phone.

          On Monday afternoon, I sent Ye Sha to take a train back to her hometown.  She wanted to leave A-city and start her life afresh in her little hometown.  I warmly hugged her and wished her the best in her new life.

          At night, I just stuffed something into my stomach to stamp my hunger and Kang Zixian was very busy so he could only talk to me for five minutes before he hurriedly hung up his phone.  I laid down on the sofa surrounded by silence and felt uneasy as if something big was about to happen.  But I did not know what was going to happen and was unable to quiet down my heart.

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