Chapter 12: This Life

“Hey! Sister Mei, you all should be more considerate about the renovation! You’ve been banging all day long, making it impossible for me to sleep! What time is it now? Aren’t you done for the day?” A young woman, around eighteen or nineteen years old, from the neighbor’s house was carrying a bag and seemed ready to head out. As she passed Sister Mei’s door, she complained angrily inside.

“How are you talking, Xia Yan? Didn’t your own family do the same when they renovated? Sleeping during the day, no less?” Sister Mei was not in a good mood; she walked out and began quarreling with the young woman.

The young woman Sister Mei called Xia Yan’s surname was Xia, and her full name was Xia Yan. Sister Mei and Xia Yan became acquainted because Xia Yan’s parents were both doctors. They ran a community hospital near their residential area, and Xia Yan worked there as a nurse. Sister Mei once visited that community hospital for a check-up and learned during her visit that they were actually neighbors in the Qingyuan Residential Area, so they became familiar.

Lü Yang heard the commotion outside and knew it was because of his wall-banging. This made him even more annoyed. After putting down the hammer, he went to the temporary faucet in the kitchen to wash his hands and face, then headed to the inner room to change his clothes and shoes.

He himself had a lot of troubles to deal with and had kindly tried to help Sister Mei, only to end up with this result. If Sister Mei also thought all this trouble was his fault, it would be pointless.

Oh well, it was better to mind his own business from now on.

After Lü Yang changed his clothes and shoes and came out of the inner room, the neighbor’s young woman, Xia Yan, had already left. Lü Yang kept his head down, avoiding looking at Sister Mei, and walked straight toward the door.

“Hey! Are you leaving?” Sister Mei quickly followed and grabbed Lü Yang’s arm.

“About today, I’m sorry. Maybe I was in a bad mood and spoke a bit harshly to them, which interfered with your plans…” Lü Yang did not turn around but apologized to Sister Mei.

“This was not your fault. They already wanted to leave and just used it as an excuse to blame you. You came to help me, and they yelled at you. I should be the one to apologize.” Sister Mei said this and even started crying.

Lü Yang turned to look at Sister Mei. He wanted to comfort her but didn’t know what to say, so he just sighed. This poor woman—her husband had died over two years ago, and she still couldn’t escape that shadow. Even trivial matters made her cry. However, all Lü Yang could do to help her was with these small things.

“Sorry about that…” Sister Mei quickly wiped her tears, seeming to feel she had acted improperly in front of Lü Yang.

“It might rain tonight. Go find a big plastic sheet, and I’ll help you cover the sand pile. You can hire someone to move it tomorrow. Otherwise, if the sand gets wet, it will be heavy, and those workers will probably charge more.” Lü Yang thought for a moment and gave Sister Mei a suggestion.

Helping her—this was all he could do. It was time to go back and tend to his own matters.

“Forget it, if it rains, it rains. Let things happen as they may. Whatever I do, it never goes smoothly anyway.” Sister Mei shook her head, her face full of sorrow. Lü Yang didn’t need to guess—she must have been thinking about her deceased husband again.

For a moment, Lü Yang’s heart suddenly ached, and he broke out in a cold sweat across his back… Sister Mei had lost her husband, but he had also lost his Yi Yi. Perhaps because of the unusual circumstances of the loss, he still couldn’t accept it deep down.

Just a while ago, when Lü Yang decided to go back to his rented room, he unconsciously imagined that as soon as he opened the door, Yi Yi would come to greet him. She would complain about him dirtying the clothes she had just washed, but at the same time, she would happily bring him a warm meal, watching him eat it bite by bite with a smile.

Lü Yang couldn’t help but freeze. In that moment, he didn’t know if he was in a dream or in reality. Could it be that he had lost Yi Yi forever too?

Those supernatural tasks were too difficult; they were simply impossible to complete! Not to mention gathering enough points.

“Xiao Lü? Lü Yang?” Sister Mei shook Lü Yang’s arm, probably alarmed by his dazed expression.

“Oh…” Lü Yang snapped out of it. Suddenly, he felt a bit afraid of returning to his rented room.

The sky was getting darker, and he was hungry. No matter what, he needed to find a place to eat first. After eating, he could wander around the streets and try to figure out how to complete those strange supernatural tasks.

“I took up a lot of your time today; let me treat you to a meal. Where would you like to go?” Sister Mei made the offer to Lü Yang. She could tell he wasn’t happy and wanted to ease the tension with him.

“No, I have things to do back at my place.” Lü Yang politely declined Sister Mei’s offer. He knew she seldom ate out herself. They had both had a rough day; why make her spend money?

“Hey… don’t be polite with me. I know you don’t want me to spend money, but today I insist on treating you. Just keep me company…” Sister Mei suddenly became very persistent, and her tone carried a hint of feminine coquettishness.

Maybe Sister Mei had never spoken to Lü Yang in such a tone before, or maybe Lü Yang was taken aback by her sudden charm. He stared at her for a long moment without saying a word.

“What’s wrong? Afraid I’ll take advantage of you, a young guy?” Seeing Lü Yang’s seemingly nervous expression, Sister Mei laughed. “I know you’re taken; I won’t make a move on you.”

“That’s not it…” Lü Yang quickly shook his head. His stomach chose that moment to betray him with a growl. Indeed, after all this delay, he was already starving.

“Then let’s go.” Sister Mei tugged at Lü Yang’s arm again and gave him a very charming smile.

Seeing that Sister Mei insisted on the invitation, Lü Yang had no choice but to agree, though he still didn’t want her to spend too much. “Well… why not eat in? Sister Mei, can you just cook a couple of simple dishes at home…”

“At home…” Sister Mei hesitated this time. Ever since her husband left her, she had never invited another man into her home.

“Ah… never mind, I really have something to do tonight.” Lü Yang seemed to realize his previous suggestion might be inappropriate and quickly added a follow-up.

“No, that won’t do. Come on, let me show you my cooking skills tonight—I’m not just good at making soups.” Hearing Lü Yang’s words, Sister Mei suddenly made up her mind. She immediately gathered her things and took Lü Yang out the door.

On their way downstairs, Lü Yang received a phone call from Yi Ya. She asked him when he would be back, saying she needed to talk to him about something tonight.

Lü Yang hesitated, checked the time, and told Yi Ya he might be back around 7:30. Yi Ya didn’t say much and hung up the phone.

Lü Yang and Sister Mei walked downstairs. Passing by the three-ton sand pile at the entrance of the apartment building, Lü Yang looked at the sky and brought up his earlier suggestion again: “Before we go back to eat, let’s stop by the building materials store and see if we can borrow a big plastic sheet from the shopkeeper’s wife to cover the sand pile. Otherwise, if it gets wet in the rain tonight, it will be even harder to carry upstairs tomorrow.”

Sister Mei shook her head, her expression somewhat desolate. “If it gets wet, so be it. At most, I’ll pay those workers extra tomorrow. No matter what I do in this life, things go wrong. The more I try to force things, the more they go awry. Might as well just leave it to fate.”

“Don’t talk like that—’this life, this life.’ Sister Mei, you’re still very young and beautiful. This life hasn’t even started yet…” Lü Yang wanted to persuade Sister Mei to find someone else to marry so she wouldn’t have to struggle so much as a woman. But the words caught in his throat, and he swallowed them.