Chapter 41 (1/2)
Killer Nights
Chapter 41: A Meeting at the Noodle Shop
When Jiang Zhengkai arrived at the noodle shop, A-Jiao was already there waiting. Of course, she wasn’t just going to wait there in boredom. She put in her usual order of a bowl of hand-cut noodles, a saucer of paste, and half a serving of thentuk. The only difference today was that she ate incredibly slowly because she believed the person she was waiting for would eventually appear.
As soon as he walked in the door, Jiang Zhengkai saw A-Jiao sitting at a table eating her noodles. “You’re here, too, Miss Ren?” Jiang Zhengkai asked with feigned surprise.
“That’s right, Officer Jiang… I mean, Brother Jiang! You’re a regular here, too? How come I’ve never seen you here before?” A-Jiao smiled at Jiang Zhengkai as those shallow dimples once again emerged on her face.
“I normally come here late at night,” Jiang Zhengkai answered truthfully. He then pointed at the chair across the table from A-Jiao. A-Jiao naturally nodded in approval, so Jiang Zhengkai sat down across from her. This man and this woman had both secretly planned and hoped to run into each other in this noodle shop, but they also both acted as if their meeting was purely a chance event. Perhaps those in love were just that sweet and shy.
“Why aren’t you eating, Brother Jiang?” A-Jiao asked as she finished eating her own noodles. She looked up to see Jiang Zhengkai spellbound by her face, so she bit her lips in embarra.s.sment with her face turning a bright shade of red.
“Oh… yes… eat!” Jiang Zhengkai stammered. He buried his face in his bowl and started inhaling his noodles.
“You don’t look like someone who would like eating noodles,” A-Jiao said quietly as she looked at the way Jiang Zhengkai was eating with a smile on her face and tenderness in her eyes.
“Really? Yeah, you’re kind of right,” Jiang Zhengkai answered as he continued shoveling noodles into his mouth, “I used to know a… girl. She liked eating noodles, so I grew to like it as well.”
“Oh, hehe, so it’s like a love me, love my dog situation?” A-Jiao was so overjoyed by his response that she almost laughed out loud. So the reason why he kept on coming here was because of me! Still, she had to pretend she knew next to nothing about him, “You must be talking about your wife then?”
“No.” Upon hearing A-Jiao say the word “wife,” his face suddenly grew ashen. A-Jiao’s words reminded him of Su Jing and his daughter. His memory of them will forever be a festering wound in his heart.
“What’s up? Are you upset?” A-Jiao was a bit shocked by Jiang Zhengkai’s expression. She was afraid she had said something wrong because she didn’t know about what had happened to Su Jing. Had it been before, she absolutely wouldn’t have minded being Jiang Zhengkai’s mistress. Even now, so long as Jiang Zhengkai would have her, she would still be happy to oblige him. If a woman has had the experience of being a prost.i.tute and is somehow lucky enough to meet a man she truly loves, she wouldn’t care how it would look to the rest of the world. What’s big the difference between a wife and a mistress anyway? All she wanted was to be with someone she loved.
“Oh, no, it’s ok. You just reminded me of my past,” Jiang Zhengkai replied. He looked at A-Jiao’s expression of concern and felt a slight bit of pity for her. “My wife died. It happened five years ago.” This was the first time since Su Jing’s death that Jiang Zhengkai has acknowledged the fact that she had died. Previously, he had always considered her to be still alive because she was still alive in his heart.
“Oh… sorry, Brother Jiang… I didn’t know…” A-Jiao lowered her head as she spoke with her eyes fixated on the floor. She could feel her heart beating fast: thump thump. Perhaps it was because of nervousness, or perhaps it was because of excitement. Presumably, what she was feeling wasn’t sadness but rather joy.
The two of them fell silent for a while. Eventually, A-Jiao raised her head again and looked at Jiang Zhengkai with pursed lips. “So… the person who brought you here was your girlfriend?” she asked. She wanted to know where she stood in Jiang Zhengkai’s heart.
“Umm… I guess… I guess she was my friend,” Jiang Zhengkai chose his words carefully, “But… she looked a lot like you!” He sat there and carefully scrutinized A-Jiao’s face. They look so alike! Even those shallow dimples when they smiled are the same! Except A-Jiao had darker eyes, I think? According to his recollection, A-Jiao had pitch-black eyes, but this woman had noticeably lighter-colored eyes. They even contained a hint of blue if you look closely enough.
“Why are you staring at me…” A-Jiao asked as she blushed bright red again. She lowered her head to hide her face. She knew Jiang Zhengkai was trying to find features that would set her apart from herself. She was sure Jiang Zhengkai would eventually find some differences between her two personas. However, she didn’t know if Jiang Zhengkai was capable of seeing through her disguise.