Chapter 127
“I want you to help me ask Huang Zengyue why he is treating me like this,” Meng Zuoyi said.
“At first, I just thought he was taking a shortcut, but… lately, I’ve been thinking it over and it doesn’t seem that simple.”
“There must be some other reason. If I don’t know, I probably won’t be able to close my eyes in peace. Qiao…”
Meng Zuoyi’s voice came to an abrupt halt.
Because he saw the expression on Qiao Wei’s face.
He understood: “You know?”
Qiao Wei fell silent: “You don’t know?”
Qiao Wei said: “Zengyue and your second daughter… you don’t know?”
Meng Zuoyi was surprised: “There’s nothing between those two.”
The two of them looked at each other.
Meng Zuoyi said: “Tell me…”
Qiao Wei said what she knew.
“Bullshit! They weren’t dating at all,” Meng Zuoyi said. “The second girl had a bit of a crush on him, so she asked for my opinion. I analyzed it, and she realized they weren’t a good match. So it fizzled out.”
“But she appreciated him, so she recommended him to me. That’s why I hired him.”
“But if you’re saying he was with her, there was absolutely nothing between them!”
It was a Rashomon-style situation.
Perhaps someone was lying, or perhaps no one was lying at all; rather, it was the same event, viewed through everyone’s own subjective filter.
Everyone has their own cocoon.
“If he just wanted to climb the ladder, I’d respect him as a man. If he’s doing this for that…” Meng Zuoyi scoffed, “Then he won’t go far.”
Qiao Wei fell silent.
Was he right?
Someone who climbs the ladder like Huang Zengyue would, at most, have ten years of glory.
After that, everyone from his faction would be purged, and his political career would have no future.
Meng Zuoyi finally let go of his grudge against Huang Zengyue.
He looked at Qiao Wei: “You went to the Library?”
Qiao Wei nodded.
Meng Zuoyi was pleased: “You know how to find a place. You married well, and you have both ability and foresight. Stay safe and steady, don’t chase after momentary glory.”
He rubbed his knees: “I’m down and out now, so this might make people laugh. But Qiao Wei, I believe the current situation won’t last; sooner or later, things will be set right. Our Party has been through this several times. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
But this time was especially long.
It lasted ten years.
He didn’t know.
Qiao Wei’s eyes blurred a little.
She wiped her eyes: “Secretary Meng, you are right. I think… at most ten years. As long as we hold on, it will all pass.”
“Secretary Meng, I came to see you just to tell you: hold on!”
Meng Zuoyi smiled.
“If Huang Zengyue really holds a grudge, he wouldn’t let me die,” he said. “Silk robes cannot be worn in the dark.”
“Help me ask him, is starving me his intention?”
“I don’t think so.”
It certainly wasn’t.
Qiao Wei went to the County Party Committee building.
Huang Zengyue was in a meeting, so she waited over half an hour to see him.
Huang Zengyue walked quickly into his office: “Qiao Wei, why are you here today? Is work at the Library going smoothly?”
He had just finished his meeting and was parched. Since he was familiar with Qiao Wei, he didn’t need to play any social games, and while he spoke, he was already lifting his tea mug and gulping down water.
Qiao Wei spoke up: “There is no food at the warehouse in the back courtyard of the Health Bureau.”
Huang Zengyue froze.
He slammed his tea mug on the table and opened the office door: “Clerk Pan!”
Back when Qiao Wei had stood firm with the office staff against Guan Tuwei at the XX meeting, refusing to kick Meng Zuoyi while he was down, Huang Zengyue—who had been on Guan Tuwei’s side at the time—did not retaliate or make things difficult for these people after he took office.
On the contrary, he promoted and made good use of these colleagues who had previously worked in the same office.
Clerk Pan was now Secretary Pan to Department Head Huang, equivalent to what Secretary Huang had been to Secretary Meng in the past.
Secretary Pan trotted in upon hearing the call: “Department Head?”
Huang Zengyue asked: “How were the meal portions determined for the back courtyard of the Health Bureau?”
Secretary Pan said: “They were halved according to the standard.”
The main idea was to keep them hungry, but not starve them to death.
Huang Zengyue said: “Go verify it; there’s no food there right now.”
Secretary Pan let out an “Ah” and looked at Qiao Wei, guessing the source of the news.
Qiao Wei admitted: “I went to see it today.”
Qiao Wei really was daring. Secretary Pan admired her immensely.
“Alright. I’ll go verify it right away.” He left.
Qiao Wei sighed: “I knew it wasn’t you. He also said it definitely wasn’t you. Alright, as long as you’re aware of it, I’m going back.”
Huang Zengyue, however, called her back: “Qiao Wei.”
Qiao Wei turned her head.
He said: “If you have time, go check on them often. Little devils are hard to deal with; I approved it here, but it’s hard to say what happens down below. I can’t keep an eye on that place every day. You keep an eye on it.”
His approach was even tinged with some warmth.
It was as if he were worried about an old leader who had already retired peacefully. It almost made one forget that it was he who had caused Secretary Meng to step down.
He really did want Secretary Meng to stay alive.
Silk robes really cannot be worn in the dark.
Qiao Wei nodded: “Okay.”
At night, she sat cross-legged on the bamboo mat, looking up at the stars.
Yan Lei heated up some milk for her: “I added sugar.”
Yan Lei wasn’t used to drinking it, but Qiao Wei and Yan Xiang both liked it.
Yan Lei drank hot tea: “What are you spacing out about?”
Qiao Wei blew on the milk skin: “Silk robes cannot be worn in the dark.”
Yan Lei raised an eyebrow.
Qiao Wei twitched the corner of her mouth: “Zengyue insisting on keeping me might also have this meaning.”
Among the people around him, only Qiao Wei knew the thorn that had been stuck in his heart for many years.
And so, only Qiao Wei could truly appreciate his silk robes.
The stage of life needs an audience.
Yan Lei sat down next to her, put his arm around her shoulder, and took a sip of hot tea: “It doesn’t matter. As long as you are safe and steady, that’s enough.”
“You are steady, I am steady, and Zengyue is steady.”
“As long as everyone is steady, that’s fine.”
He asked: “What exactly are you worried about?”
Qiao Wei shook her head and didn’t say.
As long as Meng Zuoyi could hold out until the day he was rehabilitated.
It wasn’t only after ten years that people could be rehabilitated. During this period, there were always people being struggled against, and there were also always people being rehabilitated.
When the day came for Meng Zuoyi to endure through it, what would happen then?
The meals in the back courtyard of the Health Bureau improved. Of course, they wouldn’t be full, and the food wouldn’t be good, but they wouldn’t be so hungry and weak that they couldn’t get off the bed.
Director Xiao said to Meng Zuoyi: “Thanks to you.”
He praised him: “You have a good eye for people.”
Meng Zuoyi laughed dryly: “If I really had a good eye, why am I here now? Go to sleep early, save your strength.”
At the end of September, there was an autumn rain.
In this kind of weather, no one would come to the Library.
A row of small bamboo chairs was set up in the corridor of the office.
Actually, Qiao Wei really wanted to get a few of those bamboo lounge chairs from home. But that would be going too far, really too far. No matter how leisurely the job was, it was still work; it wouldn’t be appropriate to have something like that.
She settled for the next best thing, buying small bamboo chairs with public funds, one for each person.
On the rainy autumn day, the librarians sat in a row on the corridor, sipping tea.
Librarian Zheng Ai insisted: “The water temperature is still too high. It’s astringent.”
Someone else said: “I didn’t taste it.”
Librarian Zheng Ai said: “Your tongue isn’t good enough; my tongue is the most sensitive.”
Qiao Wei sighed: “We don’t have good tea sets.”
That kind of thing was one of the “Four Olds,” who would dare? Just make do with enamel tea mugs.
Sitting in a row, Qiao Wei put her feet on the corridor bench, tipped the front legs of the small bamboo chair, and rocked back and forth.
Some were drinking tea, some were reading, some were murmuring poems that fit the mood, and some were just zoning out. They listened together to the autumn rain hitting the eaves, water dripping and wearing away the stone.
The mood of this place was something you couldn’t easily find a kindred spirit for outside this Library.
Before Library Director Qiao came, everyone was worried to death. Who knew she would be such a person?
Qiao Wei looked at the sky: “It’s raining today, they probably won’t parade people through the streets.”
“Who knows, they might take them to the auditorium for a meeting.” Everyone sighed.
The atmosphere turned gloomy. Especially with the autumn rain, the ethereal nature of the autumn day suddenly became desolate and melancholy.
Qiao Wei sighed softly and promised: “When it snows in winter, we’ll roast sweet potatoes around the stove right here.”
The air lightened up again.
They were excited and had something to look forward to for winter.
Yan Xiang practiced calligraphy while listening to the rain.
There was an older sister surnamed Shen among the librarians who was bored, and she asked Qiao Wei if she could teach Yan Xiang calligraphy.
My god, in the future, a calligraphy class would cost hundreds! Someone wanted to teach for free!
What else could Qiao Wei say? Of course, it was a yes.
These colleagues at the Library had many things in common, such as patience. They did everything without rushing.
Compared to the classes at school where he couldn’t learn much, Yan Xiang loved the Library more.
Practicing calligraphy in the rain.
Auntie Shen spoke slowly, tapping his wrist with a small bamboo stick and explaining the key points to him.
Uncle Zheng said: “Just let him write the Song poems I told him to memorize; it serves two purposes at once.”
Uncle Zheng liked poetry and led him in memorizing them.
Auntie Shen looked down on him immensely and rolled her eyes directly: “Laypeople should talk less and point fingers less; different professions are like mountains apart.”
Uncle Zheng: “Tsk.”
Qiao Wei herself learned to play Go from the oldest man in the Library, Old Man Li.
In her past life, an auntie in the hospital ward had taught her a little.
But after that auntie left, no one could play with her, and later, when she lost the ability to take care of herself, she gave up on everything.
Just a phone stand on the bed frame, watching videos.
That was the least strenuous, saving both physical and mental energy.
Waiting to die.
She had long expected that she would spend several years in this Library, with the world outside in chaos, and Qiao Wei hid here with a heart as calm as water.
Playing chess was just right.
She would go to the back courtyard of the Health Bureau from time to time to take a look.
Sometimes she would quietly bring some medicine.
The back of his neck was rubbed raw by the wire, looking painful just to see.
She heard that there was a female employee surnamed Zheng at the fertilizer plant who was particularly active, always taking the initiative to struggle against Meng Zuoyi, and it was she who took the wooden sign to soak it in water.
“I don’t even know who she is,” Meng Zuoyi said. “Later they told me she used to be a teacher at our Kindergarten, and she got hepatitis, so I had her transferred.”
It wasn’t even “forgotten,” it was “didn’t know.”
For the former Secretary Meng, it was simply a casual instruction that required no thought. That person and that event had never even entered his brain.
Perhaps it was also because, among the people Meng Zuoyi had offended, she was the least worth mentioning.
When Qiao Wei went to see Meng Zuoyi, she naturally also took a look at Director Xiao.
Everyone in the Library missed Director Xiao. But they didn’t have Qiao Wei’s status and connections, and they didn’t dare to go in and out of the Health Bureau’s back courtyard with a “get out of jail free card” like Qiao Wei.
After coming more often, Director Xiao gradually trusted her.
Finally, one day, he said: “In the No. 7 reference room, on the second row of shelves, there are ten or so boxes that I’ve marked.”
They looked no different from the other boxes, but inside were the Library’s treasures.
They were all ancient books passed down locally.
If they were destroyed, they would be gone.
Qiao Wei understood, and she said: “I’ll do my best.”
Director Xiao said: “Don’t do your best, promise me.”
Qiao Wei was helpless and sighed, looking up: “How can I promise you that? Look at the situation now. If something happens, I definitely have to protect myself first. No matter how precious the items are, they aren’t more precious than me.”
Director Xiao said: “If you don’t promise me, I won’t be able to close my eyes.”
The little old man looked at her pitifully.
Suffering greatly every morning and afternoon, he probably couldn’t sleep at night. Because Meng Zuoyi had also said similar words about not being able to close his eyes.
Qiao Wei’s heart softened, and she coaxed him: “Alright, alright, I promise.”
The little old man was happy: “Then I’ll leave it to you, Library Director Qiao.”
At night, the little old man crept over to Meng Zuoyi’s room.
Meng Zuoyi was woken up by him.
The little old man said: “Do me a favor.”
Meng Zuoyi raised his eyelids.
On the first day, a female librarian rushed in with red eyes.
“I just passed by the Health Bureau, and they were dragging… dragging a body out.”
Half an hour before opening, everyone was cleaning, and they all stopped when they heard this.
The female librarian’s lips were trembling.
“Director… Director Xiao… hanged himself.”
“It’s clean to go, no need to suffer anymore.” That night, Director Xiao had woken Meng Zuoyi up.
“I’m not the same as you.”
“You’ve been a soldier, you can endure any hardship.”
“As for me, a scholar is useless, a scholar indeed; the ancients did not deceive me.”
“Get up, help me. I can’t reach it.”
