My Husband's Lover (3)
Staying in my room was stuffy. But my current situation was even stuffier. Dingxiang, Guowei, Liqin, and I ate togetherin the dining area. The tofu was soft but because of the heavy atmosphere, it took me a long time to finish chewing one piece.
"Liqin, one of the guards saw you last night. You were hugging a woman," Dingxiang said.
Liqin and I choked. Guowei started giving off a different vibe.
"She fell on top of me," Liqin explained.
"The way the guard described it, it was more than just falling on top of you. When I asked the maid to wake you up, you were not in your room. But there is nothing for you to be worried about. All men desire the embrace of a woman."
"I was not doing that kind of thing," Liqin said.
Dingxiang acted shock and said, "Then were you out there last night to steal the herbs? All the herbs are gone."
Dingxiang's way of speaking was really irritating. I wanted to staple his mouth so bad.
"Liqin is not that kind of a person," Guowei said.
"If you say so."
***
I put my ears close to the door of Guowei's room to listen in their conversation. I had no idea what would happen because this was not in the original novel.
"What did you do when I left?" Guowei asked.
"A woman just fell on top of me. We were not doing anything else."
"I know that. But why did you steal the herbs?"
"I did not steal anything."
"Liqin, I know you need the herbs for your grandmother. You could have asked for them."
"I did not steal them, Guowei."
"Liqin, you do not need to lie to me. I will always protect you."
"Fine. If that is what you want you to believe, then so be it. I am a thief."
I moved out of the way when I heard Liqin was about to leave. He did not notice me standing there. I was about chase after him when Guowei went out of the room as well.
"Li-"
He stopped when he saw me.
"We need to talk," he said.
"Well, I'd love to talk to you but not now. I have a more important matter to tend to. So just do your thing in your room and I will do my thing as well."
"Jingyi." His voice was stern.
So I responded with a stern voice as well, "Guowei."
"You dare to talk back to me now?"
"And you dare to silence me?"
"Sir, someone is looking for you," a maid interrupted.
"I am not done with you."
"Sure. We can continue later."
While looking for Liqin, I kept on cursing Guowei. How could he not believe in Liqin? A similar thing happened in the novel. Later in the story, Guowei would accuse Liqin of cheating with his brother. But I never realized how irritating it was to witness it in the flesh. Reading that part was fun for me because it added some spice to things. But now that I was a part of the story, I was not enjoying one bit of it. I just wanted to strangle Guowei so bad. When he would accuse Liqin of cheating, I was sure I would strangle him that time.
I found Liqin in the same place last night. He was crying again. And once again, I sat beside him and caressed his back.
"I told you not to mention his parents. If you didn't, you wouldn't have quarreled. Then you would have left this place together. But I guess some things are just bound to happen. O fate, you're so heartless." I balled my fists and continued, "Don't you want to punch Dingxiang? And how about Gouwei? I want him to taste your fist just a little bit."
"Yanyu, I'm scared."
"Scared of what?"
He looked me in the eye and said, "Dingxiang. He is going to put me in prison. My grandmother cannot go on without me. Yanyu, I do not want to go to prison."
We were silent for awhile then he started chuckling.
"Are you crazy?"
"Maybe I am," he replied. "I cannot believe I am sharing this with you."
"Why? What's wrong with me?"
He chuckled again. "It is absurd that I am sharing this with you when you yourself tried to harm me."
"Oh, right. Almost forgot about that. Well, you don't have to worry. I'm already tired of doing those things."
"Then it would not be absurd to do this, right?"
He leaned on my shoulder.
"It's not an absurd thing between friends."
"Are we friends?"
"Sure we are."
"It's nice to have a friend."