Chapter 59: The Red Rose and the White Rose

Lu Ming was still busy with something unknown, leaving early and returning late every day. She, on the other hand, had no work engagements lately and could only while away her time at home experimenting with food.

The phone on the table rang.

"Hello, Qing..."

"I agree to work with you," Quan Qing's voice was choked with tears, "but before that, can you come pick me up outside my house? I... I have nowhere to go..."

"What?"

So serious?

Lian Youyou didn't think twice before agreeing. She turned off the gas, changed her clothes, grabbed her car keys, and dashed to the entrance.

As she opened the door, she almost collided with Lu Ming, who was just coming in.

"Lulu, you're home early today! I just made some mulled wine, remember to have some," Lian Youyou said in a rush. "I have to go to Quan Qing's place now, but I'll be right back."

"Is Qu Wuyan bringing people to beat her up again?" Lu Ming instantly thought of Qu Wuyan.

Is Qu Wuyan really that violent, getting into fights every few days?

Even after Lian Youyou explained, Lu Ming insisted on driving her there himself.

Lu Ming drove steadily, his left hand on the steering wheel, his right hand resting on Lian Youyou's slightly cold hand.

He knew the path she had chosen was full of thorns and dangers.

But even so, since it was the road she had chosen, he was willing to walk it with her.

Lian Youyou watched Lu Ming's profile, illuminated now and then by clusters of streetlights. His expression was calm and composed, just as it had been when she first met him at the hospital. All his emotions were subdued and cool.

Yet the gesture of him holding her hand was so warm.

"Lulu, what have you been busy with lately?" Lian Youyou tilted her head and asked. "It's rare that I have a few days without work, but you're never around."

"Side business," Lu Ming replied succinctly.

"...Still so vague..."

She was really curious about what Lu Ming's side business actually was.

Before they reached their destination, Lian Youyou already saw Quan Qing standing at the corner.

She wore a thin wool coat, with a large and a small suitcase by her feet. Her slender figure trembled slightly in the cold wind.

"Qing, why are you standing here?"

Without waiting for the car to fully stop, Lian Youyou jumped out, took off the scarf from her neck, and wrapped it around Quan Qing.

"Thank you, Youyou..." Quan Qing's nose was red from the cold, her eyes full of gratitude. "I was kicked out by Fan Chi and his new lover. My ID, savings card, and credit cards are all with Fan Chi. I can't even get a hotel room now..."

She never imagined that, in her most desperate moment, the only one willing to help her would be the daughter of her lover, whom she had approached at first only with ulterior motives.

"Let's talk in the car," Lian Youyou opened the trunk and put Quan Qing's suitcases inside. "We'll get you a new ID tomorrow. Tonight, stay at my place."

In the car, Quan Qing told Lian Youyou and Lu Ming everything about her ID, savings card, and credit cards.

Since getting together with Fan Chi, she had been coaxed by him into taking out loans under her name, supposedly to help with his company's cash flow. She was utterly devoted to Fan Chi, so she did whatever he asked without a second thought. He used her name to open many credit cards and take out high-interest loans, maxing out each card as soon as it arrived.

"Fan Chi used to help me pay the minimum payments every month, but ever since my relationship with him was exposed, he hasn't paid a cent," Quan Qing said, hanging her head in deep regret. "The interest and penalties have snowballed to more than twenty million now. My savings can't even begin to cover it, and the interest goes up by the millions each month. I'm truly at a dead end now."

Lian Youyou frowned deeply, silent.

In the twenty-plus years since her death, Fan Chi had not only shown no remorse, but his methods had grown even more cunning. He had even learned to use loans to trap women.

She had greatly underestimated Fan Chi.

Her own intellect was still stuck at twenty-eight, while Fan Chi was now a seasoned schemer nearing fifty.

Lu Ming asked, "Did you try reporting him to the police or hiring a lawyer to sue Fan Chi?"

"I tried everything," Quan Qing replied, utterly hopeless. "The police said there wasn't enough evidence for a case. Lawyers say I don't have much of an advantage. All the credit cards and loans have my signature and photo, and the money never went directly to Fan Chi's account, so it's not considered credit card fraud. Now my credit is ruined. I won't be able to get a loan to buy a house or car in the future."

Besides, she couldn't even borrow money from friends to pay off her debts.

The eternal law of human nature: friends and family may be close, but mention money and the friendship ends.

"If you sell the villa Fan Chi bought for you, wouldn't that clear the debt?" Lian Youyou asked.

Quan Qing shook her head. "Fan Chi was always on guard against me. I only recently found out he only paid the down payment; he's been paying the mortgage all along. Even if I sell it, there won't be much left after clearing the loan. Fan Chi told me if I didn't return the house to him, I'd have to keep paying the mortgage myself. If I gave the house back, he'd return the down payment as a breakup fee."

"You actually believe that," Lian Youyou and Lu Ming said in unison.

It was clear Fan Chi was just tricking her into leaving. There was no way he would give her even that bit of money.

After bringing Quan Qing to Lu Ming's home, Lian Youyou prepared a guest room for her to stay in that night.

"You'll have to make do at my boyfriend's place tonight," Lian Youyou said, bending to make the bed. "I'll help you find somewhere else tomorrow."

"Youyou, you're staying at your boyfriend's place and even brought me along..." Quan Qing said nervously. "Does his wife know about you two?"

Lian Youyou burst out laughing.

She'd completely forgotten that, in order to win over Quan Qing, she had lied and said she was also a mistress.

"Does my boyfriend look like the kind of man who would cheat?"

Quan Qing looked at Lu Ming's tall figure. From the first moment she'd seen him, she hadn't seen him smile even once. He emanated a cold, aloof aura that made him seem above everyone else.

"He doesn't look like a playboy," Quan Qing whispered. "He seems too proud and distant, hard to approach. He's handsome, but there's never even a hint of a smile on his face—he feels cold as ice."

"Doesn't smile?"

He smiles at her all the time...

That was the difference between Lu Ming and Fan Chi. Fan Chi hid his heart, never letting anyone see his true self.

But Lu Ming saved his smiles for her alone.

After chatting a while longer with Quan Qing, Lian Youyou went to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth, then returned to the master bedroom to sleep.

Lu Ming, dressed in dark silk pajamas, was leaning against the headboard reading. When Lian Youyou returned, he didn't look up but asked, "So, what's your plan? Are you going to help Quan Qing pay off her debts?"

"No way! I don't have that kind of money!" Lian Youyou replied without hesitation. "Even if I did, I wouldn't spend it. Fan Chi is the one who spent the money, so he should be the one to pay it back!"

Even if Quan Qing's credit rating took a hit, she couldn't pay off her debt for her. If she did, it would be even harder to force Fan Chi to pay it back.

"So if you won't pay, you won't help her?" Lu Ming set down his book. "Then why bring this trouble home?"

His first impression of Quan Qing was not good. No matter how pitiful she was now, she was, after all, someone who had exploited Lian Meng's name for her own gain.

Seeing Quan Qing's face, surgically altered to resemble Lian Meng, disgusted him to the core.

"I'm not helping her out of sympathy," Lian Youyou said, sitting at her vanity and applying her skincare in layers. "Quan Qing is a crucial part of my revenge."

From their earlier conversation, she had a bold guess: perhaps Fan Chi still had unresolved feelings for her former self!

He had been ruthless enough to kill her before, but now he missed her. Lian Youyou wasn't surprised by this seemingly contradictory mindset.

Men, as Eileen Chang wrote in "Red Roses and White Roses": perhaps every man has had two such women, at least two. If he married the red rose, over time she became a smear of mosquito blood on the wall, while the white one remained "the bright moonlight before his bed"; if he married the white rose, she became a grain of rice stuck to his clothes, while the red one was a scarlet mole over his heart.

Men always cherish what they cannot have.

Besides, ever since she came here, her personality and actions were so different from her daughter's that she must have aroused Fan Chi's suspicion to some extent.

So she needed someone to recreate her former self.

And Quan Qing, who had altered her appearance to look just like her, was the perfect choice!

...

Qu Wuyan and Fan Chi walked hand in hand down a muddy path in a village rich with ethnic charm, looking for all the world like a loving couple. Behind them trailed the cameraman, director, and other crew members.

Lately, in order to improve his public image, Fan Chi had appeared with Qu Wuyan on a couples' reality show, trying to present themselves as a harmonious, affectionate pair.

Of course, all their interactions on the show were scripted.

Now that the cameraman wasn't filming, Qu Wuyan shot a glare at Fan Chi and muttered, "I must have had the worst luck in eight lifetimes to end up with you. Acting with you is bad enough, but coming to this godforsaken place is torture."

Because he needed her to keep up appearances, Fan Chi had to swallow his anger and coax her gently, "Yes, yes, thank you for all your hard work, darling."

"Hmph, then behave yourself from now on!"

"Honey, didn't you say you wanted to find a feng shui master to check out our house? Did you find one yet?" Fan Chi asked suddenly.

Qu Wuyan was taken aback. "Why are you asking about that all of a sudden?"