Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Formal Meeting After a Long Separation (... Yu Jianghai clutched the blueprints, standing in the shadows, his gaze dark and heavy upon her, as if something deep within his eyes was locked away. No—it was about to break free. Like surging emotions about to pour out. But he suppressed them with iron control, his voice low. "Long time, no see." Perhaps because of the summer evening breeze, it didn't sound quite real. Secretary Shen keenly sensed that the atmosphere between the two seemed off. With great tact, he slipped away quietly, design drawings in hand. Leaving the time and space to the two people before him. Once Secretary Shen was gone, only Lin Meiyan and Yu Jianghai remained. Lin Meiyan stood at the intersection of Simenkou Hengjie, looking at the sky, the ground, the moon—anything but Yu Jianghai. Yu Jianghai looked at neither sky, nor ground, nor moon—only at Lin Meiyan. She had grown noticeably thinner, her head lowered, revealing a slender pale neck so fragile it seemed it might break with the slightest pressure. Lin Meiyan felt uncomfortable under his gaze. Noticing the large blueprints still clutched in his hand, she asked casually, "Still working this late?" Yu Jianghai hummed in acknowledgment. They stood too close; a gentle breeze carried her fragrance toward him. He held his breath slightly and averted his gaze. Lin Meiyan grew a little impatient, her pinky finger curling slightly. Yu Jianghai caught it in his peripheral vision, his gaze sharpening. She had always been like this—whenever she lost patience, she would curl her pinky over and over. But because her temper was too gentle, she could never bring herself to voice a rejection. Yu Jianghai broke the silence first. "How is the child?" Lin Meiyan paused, then nodded with polite detachment. "She's doing well. Oh, right." Mentioning her daughter seemed to make her more natural. "Thank you for helping me find Qiaoqiao when she got lost." The summer evening breeze in Jiangcheng was strong, carrying bits of plane tree fluff that made Yu Jianghai's throat itch. He raised a hand to loosen his collar, as if only then could he breathe deeply. Yet his expression remained utterly composed. "Qiaoqiao?" Before he could finish his sentence— Lin Meiyan cut him off. "Qiaoqiao is my child. And she will only ever be Lin Meiyan's child." Yu Jianghai's face suddenly darkened, like an impending storm. Lin Meiyan couldn't withstand it. No. She could withstand it. She had always known exactly where Yu Jianghai's weak spot was—and she knew precisely how to strike it. Her tone was grateful. "On behalf of my child, I thank Uncle Yu for bringing her back." They were not ordinary friends. And on top of that, they had been apart for five years. The separation hadn't been honorable either. If that was the case, it was better to be decisive from the start. She had always been gentle—except when it came to matters of the heart, where she was decisive, wasn't she? Just like five years ago, cutting through the tangled knot with one swift stroke. Yu Jianghai stood rooted to the spot, staring at her without a word. Lin Meiyan took a step back, widening the distance between them. Her tone was as gentle as ever. "My daughter is waiting for me at home. Let's part ways here." The moment she stepped back— Yu Jianghai suddenly reached out. In the darkness, he caught her wrist with unerring precision, a cold laugh escaping him. "Part ways?" "Like five years ago?" Five years ago? What was five years ago like? Cold against burning heat. The iron grip made Lin Meiyan's face instantly pale. She called his full name. "Yu Jianghai." She reached to pull away, but before she could even try— Yu Jianghai had already let go. Under the moonlight, his features were no longer as youthful and brooding as they once were. Instead, they had gained a mature, rugged quality. The two faced off. Lin Meiyan stood still for a moment, then said softly, "Yu Jianghai, we're in the past." That was an indisputable fact. With that, she didn't look at his reaction. She turned and walked away quickly. Yu Jianghai didn't stop her. The air still seemed to carry the faint trace of her fragrance. He watched her retreating figure, his gaze shifting from obscure and murky to sharp and stubborn. "In the past?" "Don't even think about it." "Lin Meiyan, don't you dare think about it!" Secretary Shen had been hiding for a while. He emerged from behind the wall of Jianghai Dicai's second phase like a ghost. "Boss, are we still doing the survey?" Yu Jianghai shot him a look, ignored him, and got into the car. Secretary Shen stood there for a good while before it clicked. "Boss isn't surveying anymore?" "Boss, your mind is clearly elsewhere, isn't it?" Yu Jianghai found him noisy. "Shut up." Secretary Shen felt wronged. Secretary Shen said nothing. Money is hard to earn, shit is hard to eat. Secretary Shen knew that. Because she had run into Yu Jianghai that evening, Lin Meiyan couldn't sleep for the first half of the night, her heart bobbing up and down like driftwood on a river. It wasn't until the latter half of the night that she finally fell asleep. But in her dreams was Yu Jianghai's young, youthful face. His days had been hard back then—the entire Yu family was an outcast in the bay. Not just ostracized, but bullied too. A bad element sent to Niupeng, a stinking old ninth—what kind of standing could they possibly have? Lin Meiyan had initially avoided him too. After all, she didn't want to be dragged down. It wasn't until one time, after the Yu family had just been through a struggle session, that Father Yu was too old. Mother Yu was in poor health. And Yu Qingya was only twelve years old. To protect his entire family, Yu Jianghai had no choice but to accept the punishment that should have belonged to all of them. For him, every day was torment. No matter how young the body, it couldn't withstand such beatings. Eventually, Yu Jianghai collapsed on his way home, burning with fever, unconscious. Every passerby who saw him treated him like the plague, avoiding him like a snake or scorpion. Only Lin Meiyan, after struggling for a long time, returned to the Zhiqingdian and took out from her bundle what her mother had prepared for her before she went to the countryside—fever-reducing medicine. She clutched the medicine and stared blankly for a long time. Should she go? Should she go? Lin Meiyan was not a bold person, nor was she particularly clever, and she feared gossip and rumors. But in the end, a life was a life. She finally made her decision. She went over specifically in the dead of night, avoiding the people in the bay and the people at the Zhiqingdian. When she arrived, half of Yu Jianghai's body was soaked in the sand on the shore. When he had fallen unconscious, the tide hadn't come in yet, but by the time Lin Meiyan arrived, the tide had risen. Burning with fever, most of his body was submerged in the seawater, and he could be swept away by the tide at any moment. That was the first time. Lin Meiyan felt that a person could be pitiful. She was pitiful. Yu Jianghai was also pitiful. Afraid he would drown, Lin Meiyan dragged him little by little, struggling toward the shore. Yu Jianghai was groggy and disoriented. He didn't want to go home, so Lin Meiyan could only drag him into an abandoned cave in the bay. She fed him the fever-reducing medicine and gave him water to drink. Yu Jianghai looked at her through a haze, unable to see clearly. He tried to force his eyes open a bit more, and only felt that the flashlight made her seem to glow. Lin Meiyan set her own portion of food beside him and touched his forehead, which was about to cool down from the fever. She spoke softly, "Yu Jianghai, I have to go now. When you wake up, eat this yourself." Yu Jianghai wanted to answer, but he had no strength. However, it was that fever-reducing medicine and that portion of food that kept him alive. Later, the two gradually became familiar with each other, though neither of them spoke much. Lin Meiyan was a Zhiqing. Every day she had to earn Gongfen, working on repairing the salt fields, drying salt, and carrying dirt to fill the sea. Every single one of these tasks, she couldn't complete. She cried while working, and missed home at the same time. At some point, the salt field she was assigned to would always get repaired by someone whenever it broke down. Even the salt-drying was the same. She searched everywhere to find who had done her work for her, until her eyes met Yu Jianghai's, and he looked away. Lin Meiyan understood—it was Yu Jianghai who had helped her. She wasn't the type to take advantage of others' kindness, so she thought about repaying him in some way. As time went on, the two became familiar. When she was too hungry to sleep at night, she would sneak out of the Zhiqingdian to find Yu Jianghai. Yu Jianghai seemed to be there every day. Anyway, every time she went out to find him, he was there. When Lin Meiyan arrived, he was leaning against a straight coconut tree, as thin as a bamboo pole. The only thing he held in his hands was a heavy, clumsy green coconut. Lin Meiyan stepped onto the silver sand beach, rubbing her empty stomach, and ran toward him joyfully. "Yu Jianghai, how did you know I was thirsty and wanted to drink sweet coconut water?" Yu Jianghai handed over the coconut that had already been opened, with a thin straw sticking out of it. Lin Meiyan took the coconut, took a big sip, and her face was filled with a satisfied smile, her big eyes curving into crescents. "So delicious." "But I'm still so hungry, Yu Jianghai." After hearing this, Yu Jianghai silently took off his vest and prepared to go into the sea. Lin Meiyan would shyly cover her eyes with her hands, but peek through the gaps between her fingers, teasing him as she watched. "Yu Jianghai, you look pretty thin, but you're actually quite sturdy." Like a well-dried salt field, piece by piece, wheat-colored skin, lean and powerful. At times like this, Yu Jianghai would usually stride away quickly and dive into the seawater. In a place where no one could see, the tips of his ears would be bright red. While he went to catch fish, Lin Meiyan would guard the shore, counting numbers, watching him leap up from the water's surface, catching a fat grouper. On the shore, Lin Meiyan would stand up with a splash, clapping her hands joyfully, her brows curved. "Yu Jianghai, you're so amazing." —Yu Jianghai, you're so amazing. The bell-like voice by her ear instantly jolted Lin Meiyan awake. She looked up at the mosquito net, no longer sleepy, and lay there with her eyes open until dawn. Early the next morning. Qiaoqiao had thought of a solution. She said to Lin Meiyan, "Mommy, I know how to get the Linji house back." Lin Meiyan was just about to go out. She needed to go to the relevant department to ask about the situation with Linji. Even if there was no way, she still had to move forward. Lin Meiyan crouched down and hugged Qiaoqiao, speaking gently, "What solution?" Qiaoqiao said, "Go find the big leader! If the people below won't do their job, we go to the big leader and make the big leader pressure them into doing it." In later years, all her business licenses were obtained this way—when the lower-level staff dragged their feet, she would file complaints. Level by level. If that didn't work, she would leapfrog to higher authorities. Lin Meiyan smiled and tapped Qiaoqiao on the nose. "Good idea, but don't dwell on it." "How could an ordinary person ever get to see a top leader?" Qiaoqiao's little face instantly fell. She had forgotten. This wasn't the future. In the future, information was public—she could find top leaders' contact details on local government websites. She could even search for them online. But in the 1990s, none of that existed. "Then what do we do?" Lin Meiyan pinched her little cheek, thinking for a moment. "Just keep going back and asking around." "Alright, this is adult business. Our Qiaoqiao just needs to focus on her studies." Qiaoqiao pouted in displeasure, but there was nothing she could do—her words carried little weight. Whether in her mother's eyes or anyone else's, her top priority was school. And Lin Meiyan did exactly that. After dropping Qiaoqiao off at school, she turned around and headed straight to Luosiban. She found the clerk she had contacted before. "Officer Chen, I'd like to ask—when will the Linji property be returned to me?" The moment Officer Chen saw her, his head began to ache. "Comrade Lin, it's not that we don't want to return it, but the Linji property is a bit complicated." "After the Linji property was confiscated and nationalized, it should have been returned to you by rights. But now, people have already moved into the Linji property." "Our people at Luosiban have contacted them several times, but the other party won't budge." At this point, Officer Chen's face carried a hint of apology. "Comrade Lin, it's not that Luosiban refuses to return your family's property—it's that we can't." "If you could persuade the people living in Linji to move out on their own, then we at Luosiban would naturally process all the paperwork for you right away." Lin Meiyan had heard this exact speech for five years. From the very first day she returned to the city, she had come to inquire, and it had been the same story then. Like kicking a ball around, she had been passed back and forth for five years. She had opened Linji, and now even Linji was facing a rent increase. Lin Meiyan was an ordinary person who had been disciplined by life. She had lived by the rules for so many years. If there was any trace of temper or cunning in her, it had all been spent on Yu Jianghai. Back then, she had burned her bridges—she had no other choice. Only by giving him up, by leaving him, could she return to the city. So she had cut off the past without hesitation and come back. And now, she seemed to be at the same crossroads again. She had endured nine years on the island. She had endured five years trying to reclaim Linji. She had endured until now, with almost no room left to retreat. With that thought, Lin Meiyan calmly took a length of white silk from her bag and placed it on Officer Chen's desk, speaking evenly, "My father chose to resist when Linji was confiscated, and in the end, he hanged himself at Linji." "Tell me—if I hang myself here at Luosiban, do you think you'll be fired?" She didn't want to make things difficult for a clerk. But she had no other path. Officer Chen's face changed color, and before he could say anything— Lin Meiyan cut him off. Still calm, still gentle, but with force: "I don't know if you'll be fired, but I do know that if I die at Luosiban, Luosiban's reputation will be ruined." Luosiban was a unit that existed only because of its specific mandate. If someone died on their premises, who knew whether the unit itself would even survive? Officer Chen was startled. He immediately stood up, came around from behind the desk to the front, no longer looking down on her but instead with a hint of ingratiation. "Comrade Lin, let's talk this through." "Let's talk this through." He took the initiative to invite her. "Would you like to discuss the details in the office inside?" Lin Meiyan ignored him. "Right here." That woman, so meek to the extreme, now revealed a different side of herself. She had no family standing, no connections, no leverage in her hands. All she had was that fragile, slender life. But those with nothing to lose fear nothing. That was exactly Lin Meiyan's situation now. After hearing this, Officer Chen grew as frantic as an ant on a hot pan. He could only stamp his foot. "Then wait a moment—I'll go consult my superior, Director Liu." Director Liu was exactly who Lin Meiyan was after. A slippery character—every time she came, he managed to slip away. His motto was simple: don't manage, don't ask, don't touch anything. Officer Chen left, but Lin Meiyan didn't move. Her slender white hand held the long strip of white silk as she stood in the main hall of Luosiban's office—quiet, silent, and stubborn. Some things needed to come to a resolution. At the entrance of Luosiban. Officer Chen had run off on a fool's errand—the Director Liu he was looking for was right at the entrance, waiting to receive the important guest they were expecting. Ten minutes later. A black Mercedes pulled up at the entrance of Luosiban. Secretary Shen stopped the car and hurried around to the right side to open the door for Yu Jianghai. Yu Jianghai, dressed in a black suit, stepped out of the car with an easy stride—refined and noble, yet carrying a cold, sharp air. Director Liu saw him coming down and immediately rushed over with a beaming smile. "I was just saying this morning that the magpies were chattering away in the big tree behind our Luosiban office—turns out it was because an honored guest was coming." Look at how different the attitude was. "Director Liu." Yu Jianghai gave a slight nod, his tone cold and low. "The Jianghai Dicai Phase Two project will abandon the demolition of Simenkou Youeryuan, but at the same time, we need to pass through the seven properties under Luosiban's name." "From what I understand, four of those properties have had no claimants and are currently sealed." Director Liu nodded and stepped aside to make way. "Yes, yes. Secretary Shen already called me earlier to discuss it—said the Jianghai Dicai Phase Two project needs to borrow the passage." "Shall we go into the office to discuss the specifics?" Director Liu made a gesture of invitation. Yu Jianghai nodded and had just stepped up onto the stairs when his gaze suddenly froze, landing on Lin Meiyan, who stood in the middle of the Luosiban lobby. She wore a white dacron blouse, slender and delicate, her brows and eyes cool and distant. She was leaning against the office desk, holding a long strip of white silk in her hand. The white silk was very long—long enough to wrap around her entire body. Yu Jianghai's gaze fell on that strip of white silk, and his brow gave a violent twitch. Yet he wasn't surprised. She always appeared gentle, but in truth, beneath the surface, she was more stubborn than anyone. And more ruthless than anyone too. Director Lin followed his gaze and immediately felt it was bad luck. "President Yu, let's go to the office next door." He turned to lead Yu Jianghai to the adjacent room. But Yu Jianghai didn't move. His gaze rested on Lin Meiyan with restraint, then quickly withdrew. His tone was indifferent as he asked, "That one—what's going on with her?"