Chapter 5
Chapter 5
The wait wasn’t long, and I even found it quite enjoyable.
The feeling of controlling human nature was unexpectedly satisfying.
The next day, under a sparse moon and few stars, I received a call from Da Shan.
“Professor Jiang, are you busy? I have something I want to tell you.”
When Da Shan met me, his face was a mask of hesitation.
I glanced at my watch.
“Since you’re here, it means you’ve already made your decision.”
“Speak.”
Da Shan took several deep breaths, as if he had summoned a great deal of resolve before finally opening his mouth.
“Professor Jiang, Xin Nan and I love each other very much. I used to think she was my everything.”
“Until you gave me everything I have now.”
“I’m not well-educated, but I still know this much: a man should start a family first, then build his career.”
“Professor Jiang, I agree to the conditions you mentioned.”
“But, I beg of you, please don’t do… that kind of thing while Xin Nan is conscious.”
“Let her believe nothing ever happened.”
“I… I really do love her, but I’m truly terrified of being poor.”
As he spoke, this eight-foot-tall man actually crouched on the ground and began to sob.
My goal had been achieved.
I stepped forward and patted his shoulder.
I comforted him in a gentle voice.
“Don’t take it to heart too much.”
“Among those from the bottom who climb their way up, not a single one is clean.”
“They either use themselves as a bargaining chip, or they use everyone they can exploit.”
“Da Shan, thank you.”
“You’ve made me believe that my decision twenty years ago was absolutely correct.”
Saturday night.
It was raining heavily.
Da Shan arrived late, carrying an unconscious Xin Nan in his arms.
When he handed Xin Nan over to me, he hesitated for a long time.
I spoke to him with persuasive guidance.
“Since you’re so reluctant, I assume you two haven’t… done it yet?”
Da Shan shook his head, his face pale.
“Xin Nan is a very traditional girl.”
“She insisted on saving her first time for our wedding night.”
“And we were supposed to get married so soon.”
I scoffed.
“There are too many things in this life that are unattainable.”
“You should be grateful that you had the right to choose.”
I looked at Da Shan. “Now, you may leave.”
Da Shan shook his head.
“I want to wait here. The dosage wasn’t very high; it won’t last until dawn.”
“I want to take her home later.”
I gave a light chuckle and said nothing more.
I opened a room for Da Shan next door.
Under the dim light, Xin Nan slept with a peaceful expression.
In my memory, this was the first time we had been intimate in such a tranquil environment.
The first time, Xin Nan had climbed into my bed of her own accord.
The second time, her partner had delivered her to my bed.
The brightest moon is the most distant; the closest couple can be the greatest strangers.
When profit is at stake, who can truly resist?
When Xin Nan woke up, she looked at me with hollow eyes.
They were even more hollow than the first time.
Initially, her eyes were full of ambition.
Now, they were full of vacancy.
She knitted her brows.
“Teacher, I don’t understand.”
“Why did we end up like this?”
I didn’t speak, quietly listening to her vent.
Xin Nan said that her family was very poor when she was a child.
Her parents favored boys over girls and viewed her as a burden.
It was her grandmother who had picked her up from the chicken coop and raised her, feeding her bowl after bowl of rice water.
Later, her grandmother collected scrap and recycled trash to put her through school.
Xin Nan was ambitious and excelled in her studies.
At this point, Xin Nan looked up at me.
“But Teacher, do you know?”
“The tuition and living expenses for high school were just too high.”
“My grandmother couldn’t afford to support me anymore.”
“She was a woman over seventy, crouching on the ground and crying like a child, saying she was useless.”
“I held her, my heart aching so much I could barely breathe.”
“I told her, ‘Grandma, I won’t go to school anymore. As long as I can be with you, it’s enough.'”
“But Grandma was stubborn and just kept crying.”
“That was when Da Shan appeared.”
“He wasn’t a ‘good’ guy; his grades were terrible.”
“That day, he had a cigarette dangling from his mouth as he looked at us with a relaxed expression.”
“‘What are you crying for? I’m quitting school. I’ll support you.'”
“Because of that promise, Da Shan moved bricks at construction sites. Whenever he earned money, he sent it to me.”
“He did that all the way until I finished my master’s degree.”
“Teacher.” Xin Nan looked up.
“My own future wasn’t that important, but I carry the expectations of too many people on my shoulders.”
“My grandmother’s, Da Shan’s.”
“I couldn’t afford to lose, which is why I risked everything that night.”
“Now, I’ve paid Da Shan back. Teacher, let’s not see each other again.”
I don’t know what happened between Xin Nan and Da Shan afterward.
I only know that Da Shan came to me in tears, saying he and Xin Nan were over.
Like a benevolent elder, I gave him the resources to climb the social ladder and sent him away from this city forever.
It was fate. Xin Nan is such a clean girl.
She can only belong to me.