Chapter 4 4. Make friends with rivals

On the weekend, rain was clearly forecast, but the rain was frozen in the air and kept falling, making people feel heavy and precarious. Xiangru went to a suburban county for an interview and will not be back until next week. I asked Nian'er to have dinner together after closing the file.She brought a colleague with her and said she would introduce customers to me, but they would get a 20% discount. "Xia Nian'er's colleague, 30% discount is also available." I greeted the female customer with a smile.She should be about the same age as Nian'er, but there was an air of arrogance on her face, which made her appear older than her real age.But the taste is really good. I chose a silk peach crepe long shawl in my store with Wen Junqin pick at a glance, and ordered a set of silk crepe satin dress with isolation glue and dyeing, stating that it was going to be painted with swans.

"What a narcissist." Nian'er curled her lips quietly, and whispered in my ear, "She is the pillar of our troupe, she danced Ogenia in "Swan Lake"." "White Swan?" "No, black swan." Nian'er gave me a blank look, annoyed at my ignorance, "It's the one who pretended to be the white swan Odette and got engaged to the prince, and she can be considered the main character." "Oh." I was ashamed, and hurriedly made up for my mistake with flattery, "Her neck is not as long as yours, and she doesn't look like a swan."

"I think so too." Nian'er immediately forgave my ignorance, and at the same time twisted her waist and went to help her natural enemy choose silk, with a kind and generous attitude, which is the kind of generosity unique to a winner in the face of weakness. I smile, proud of my diplomatic rhetoric. But after sitting in the western restaurant for half an hour, I realized that Nian'er's sense of victory was not due to my simple "her neck is not as long as yours", but another mystery. "I dated her husband." Nian'er said, and at the same time she raised her head and smiled, showing her fine white teeth, "He also said that my figure is more shapely than hers, my neck is longer than hers, and that her skin is not as elastic as mine .”

I was startled and speechless.I invited you for dinner, thank you Nian'er for helping introduce business.She really unceremoniously ordered the most expensive revolving restaurant in the city. It was just two people, and they also meticulously ordered everything from appetizers to desserts, red wine with steak, and coffee for scandals. At this moment, she lowered her head and took a sip of coffee, looked out the window, and said to herself: "I know you already know about my underground career, thank you for not belittling me because of this, and treating me to such a good steak."

I was even more surprised, wishing there was a ground seam drill. Fortunately, she didn't wait for my answer, so she murmured to herself: "Not all the girls who danced "Swan Lake" were pure white swans, there were also opportunistic black swans, wild swans who couldn't become princesses, and An ugly duckling that can’t become a swan, or a rotten duck egg that can’t even become a duckling... This is life, with different divisions of labor and different roles. You have to fight for many roles so that you can get more of your own role, otherwise you have to be an audience. I am not reconciled , of course I had to dance on different stages, one more stage, one more role, more scenes. Her husband is one of my accounts, and we dated more than once, not because of how handsome and forthright he is, but because of his It's her husband. From her husband, I know that they are also their first love. He has been chasing her for a long time before marrying her. If he really married her back home, it's nothing more than that. It's impossible to really hold her like a swan, let alone, even if She is a swan, and he is not a prince. This is life. There are no fairy tales, no Swan Lake, no fidelity and eternity, and no eternal victor. It doesn't matter who is Auginia and Odette. The protagonist and Supporting roles don't matter, she won me on one stage, but lost to me on another..."

Nian'er's voice lowered, just as the night fell outside the window.Although what she narrated was such an upside-down life, there was no contempt in my heart, but an indescribable sadness.Maybe it is really like what Nian'er said, this is life. Whether the story of Nian'er encouraged me, or the gloomy sky that hadn't rained for a long time confused me. In the afternoon of the second day, I finally picked up the phone and took the initiative to call - not Corn's cell phone, but his home. I know he won't be at home at this time, but his wife is there, that little Jin, she left me the phone number.

Although I don't seem to have much experience with men, and I have fallen in love with the wrong person again and again, but when it comes to women, especially those who are greedy for cheap and vain, I know how to bait them. "Miss Jin? I am the confidante of Xiangyun Sha. I want to tell you that we have a new batch of sample yarns in our store. If you are interested, you can pre-select the silk material you like. I will design a few sets specially for you. The dress, of course, is 50% off the price." As I expected, there was a muffled cheer from the receiver, followed by a short "I'll be right there."

I don't know why I do this.I have decided not to see Corn anymore, but I still continue to communicate with him through Xiaojin.Maybe, it's just another form of contact? I started to put on makeup, and meeting Corn's wife was like seeing Corn, even more grand than dating Corn, because I didn't want to lose to his wife. "My husband is on a business trip and will be away for a month." This is the first sentence Xiao Jin said when he entered the store, "I've been bored to death these days, and I was just thinking of something to do for fun. It's really time. Otherwise, I would have to worry about preparing dinner at this time, and I wouldn't be able to get out."

Corn on a business trip?No wonder he hasn't called me for so long.I was relieved, and found an excellent excuse for being ignored, almost a kind of relaxation and ecstasy that was lost and regained. "You and your husband love each other very much, right?" I insinuated, deliberately making a casual tone, while moving the silk materials onto the table one by one, but my hands were clearly shaking. "I'm an old husband and wife. I can't say how much they love each other. They're just a companion. When he's not around, life is a bit empty. I'm really not used to it." Xiao Jin smiled, which is the typical middle-aged wife's satisfaction. smile.

My heart ached faintly, and I had to hold on to the corner of the stage to keep myself steady. Xiao Jin stroked the samples, put down one and picked up another, loving each one, "What should I do? I think any one is good, and I won't choose any." "Then make one of each, and I will only count your capital." At that moment, I made a decision, to get close to Xiaojin without hesitation, to become her close friend and guest in the house.Only in this way can I understand corn more deeply and approach my love more intimately. Only after I got close to Xiaojin did I realize how lonely she was—except for Corn and their son, Baby, she hardly had herself in her life.

Without me having to ask, she would be candid about everything I wanted to know about corn.And, like all new middle-aged people, her favorite topic to talk about is recalling the past—— "When he chased me back then, he was very enthusiastic, even my parents were touched. Originally, my father was optimistic about the son of the chairman of another company, and he was asking someone to match us, but he came to work every day. , no matter what kind of face my family members have. Later, my mother fell in love with him first, and said that this young man is good, good-looking, and polite. If he doesn’t come for a day, my mother misses him more than I do. My father heard My mother, I agreed. He is a person who knows how to repay his kindness, and he still has better feelings for my mother than my father. My father said that day, hey, this kid is holding grudges, and he is still thinking about my disagreement. Things are not going well between you two. "He doesn't bother to eat anything now. It wasn't like that at the beginning. When we first fell in love, he was delicious. Our colleagues all said that he is a gourmet. He is very particular about food. Where did he open a new restaurant? He knows which restaurant has changed chefs, and he drags me around to try food all day long, so he is interested. "He especially likes to buy me gifts. I celebrate my birthday, we know each other's anniversary, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Women's Day on March 8. He will buy me gifts, and sending flowers is commonplace. He also sends me things now. , but there are not so many tricks in the past, just give one on my birthday and wedding anniversary..." This is what I know, if he hadn't given her Xiang Yunsha, I wouldn't have known him. That afternoon, he walked into my store wearing Armani to buy an Ella as a gift for his wife.He dressed so grandly that he regarded himself as a gift. His relationship with me was just a by-product of his gift to her. I am sad.Does this count as buy one get one free?However, if she knew the truth, she would probably never wear Xiangyun Sha for the rest of her life. How ridiculous that I should be friends with my lover's wife. Through Xiao Jin, I gradually learned many small secrets of corn’s daily life, such as he likes to brush his teeth with black toothpaste, when he wakes up in the morning, he has to drink a cup of freshly ground coffee on an empty stomach to go to the toilet smoothly, and his favorite juice is watermelon rind—yes , not watermelon, but cut the melon skin into pieces and squeeze the juice after removing the pulp. What I am more familiar with is Xiaojin's many habits, including her menstrual cycle-in other words, I also understand the forbidden areas of their married life.This made me feel a sense of voyeuristic uneasiness and ecstasy, and consciously took another step closer to corn, which is skin-friendly. There was a kind of malicious teasing in the association with Xiao Jin.I like to see her show timidity in front of me, and the vulgar her conversation is, the more inexplicably proud I am.It seems that we are not two people, and Corn has been watching, comparing, admiring, and picking—naturally, he is admiring me and picking on Xiaojin. I am deceiving myself and others in this way, I am completing my own game in this way, and I am not tired of it. Because of this, when Xiaojin proposed to learn fabric hand-painting from me, I readily agreed. If two people want to maintain communication, they either have mutual interests or share common interests.Just selling clothes at a 50% discount is far from enough to form a solid foundation of interests for me and Xiaojin, so we have to work hard to seek common ground while reserving differences and develop common hobbies. It is rare for her to offer such a long-term topic on her own initiative. Even though I knew that with her talent, learning painting would be tantamount to trying to catch a fish, I still agreed. I really insult painting. "Painting was called '缋' in ancient times, so painting has had an indissoluble bond with fabrics from the very beginning. Painting on fabrics is different from painting on paper. Painters must first understand the texture of fabrics and dyed materials. Know the characteristics. Different dyes have different personalities, and the fabric is the same, so what kind of dye is used on what kind of fabric will make the painting effect very different. The history of fabric hand-painting has a long history in China, as early as the Zhou Dynasty. The crown clothes of the emperors and officials are hand-painted with patterns on the upper garments, and embroidered with patterns on the lower garments..." I have tried my best to make it simple and easy to understand, but Xiaojin was still confused and kept shouting: "Hongyan, I don't understand anything you said. Can we stop talking about theory and just practice it?" It takes a deep breath to force myself to say "Okay" and confess again in the bottom of my heart: "Hey, I really insulted painting." Well, there's an old saying in the clothing world that "the fabric speaks for itself," and perhaps Jin's request can further confirm this truth.Anyway, truth always comes from practice. I arranged the silk samples one by one on the counter: "In order to unify the title, we usually divide silk into fourteen categories, including yarn, Luo, damask, silk, spinning, silk, crepe, Qi, brocade, satin, Ge , tweed, velvet, silk. Like these - plain satin, crepe de chine, electric spinning, georgette, are the silk fabrics that are most used in hand-painted designs, I don't know which material you want to choose?" "So many, so beautiful." Xiao Jin was obviously nervous. Learning to paint is different from choosing clothing materials. She hesitated, "Which material is the cheapest?" I laughed and suggested gently: "Then it's better to use imitation products to learn first. Polyester imitation silk is good." "Silk imitation?" Xiao Jin became confused again, "Is that different from real silk? You just said that different dyes are used for different silks." "It is best to use weak acid dyes for real silk, and disperse dyes for polyester imitation silk. The biggest difference between the two lies in visibility. Real silk has strong visibility, while imitation silk has weak visibility. Silk hand-painting is suitable for those detailed and specific paintings. For example, the fine brushwork flowers, birds and figures can be made into the clothes in my shop by using the isolation glue line type anti-dyeing painting technique; the polyester imitation silk is suitable for expressing some random patterns with thick lines, but..." "But my foundation is so poor, so I have to draw something simple and casual, right?" Xiao Jin smiled and said very easy-goingly, "Then let's imitate silk." "Just imitate silk." I breathed a sigh of relief.I also don't want her to be reckless. In my eyes, silk is a living thing—it has past and present, stories and souls—spring silkworms are dying, but they come back to life while their dresses are fluttering.I can't let Xiaojin's graffiti hurt Silk's heart. At this moment, the phone rang without warning. "Hongyan, please come back right away." It was Chanel's voice, contrary to her usual coquettish and lazy voice, she seemed annoyed. "Nian'er?" I was surprised, "What happened?" "Don't ask, it's inconvenient on the phone, we'll talk about it when we come back. Be right back!" I had no choice but to rush home as soon as possible. Halfway through the drive, it started to rain, a torrential rain.An explosion of depression and suffocation, thunder rolling, and lightning entangled and twisted in the sky, as if a group of snakes were biting unwillingly, or as if the gods were enraged, searching for the escaped evildoer. I looked at the lightning in the sky, and a strange scene flashed in my mind. In the entangled blue light, I seemed to see Xiangru and Xiangru's face.She watched me sadly from the horizon, as if asking for help. Fragrant as.My heart skipped a beat, and I felt inexplicable panic, and the car had already arrived. Pushing open the door, I saw Xiangru. However, is that still Xiangru?She was haggard and pale, with tangled long hair, bloodstained face, and stains on her white shirt. She curled up like a hedgehog, hid in a corner of the sofa and shivered, holding an empty wine glass in her hand. "Xiangru." I screamed, suddenly a hand seemed to reach out out of thin air and strangled my throat, making me suffocate, "Xiangru, what's wrong with you?" She looked up at me, as if she didn't recognize me, her eyes were full of panic and despair. I guessed a little bit, but couldn't believe it, I heard my voice shifted trembling in the air: "Xiangru, what happened?" "The beauty is back?" Nian'er came out of the bathroom, holding a hot towel in her hand, she sat down and took Xiangru's cup, gently wrapped her shoulders to help her wipe her face, and said softly, "I've put the bath water in, stirred the bubbles, drank a glass of wine, took a shower, and got a good night's sleep, and everything will be fine." I am ashamed.At this time, Nian'er was far more mature and calm than me, until Xiangru walked into the bathroom, I was still sitting on the sofa in a daze, unable to recover. Nian'er pushed me: "You just said something. I asked you to come back to discuss important matters. How are you? You can't help at all." I moaned, "Looks like I need a drink too." That glass of wine helped me, and I was finally able to think, "What the hell happened?" "Xiangru was raped." Nian'er replied briefly, "Yesterday she finished the interview and went back, but missed the last bus, so she took a private car. There were two men in the car. They knocked her unconscious and took her to the hospital. In the wild woods, she woke up once during the gang rape, and was knocked unconscious again during the fight. She didn’t wake up until noon today, and finally climbed to the road to find the car and come back.” sky!I covered my mouth, trying to silence my scream, but couldn't stop the sudden, overwhelming spasms in my stomach.The last sliver of reason reminded me: No, you can’t ask Xiangru to see me vomit, she won’t be able to bear it. I rushed out the door, vomited in the dark at the corner of the stairs, and tears welled up. Xiangru, poor Xiangru.Gang rape, rape, fighting, knocking unconscious... How can these dirty things be connected with the pure and pure Xiangru?She is so pure, so steadfast, so conservative and self-respecting, and regards innocence as a wall, how can she bear it? Nian'er came out right behind, handed me a stack of tissues and a glass of water, and said, "We need to discuss how to deal with the aftermath." "Call the police." I said without hesitation, "Xiangru will definitely remember the license plate. Call the police, we must not let those two scumbags get away with it." "Will Xiangru remember the license plate? In such a chaotic situation." Nian'er doubted, "Those two people must have believed that Xiangru didn't know the license plate to let her go, otherwise, maybe they would..." She shuddered.And I have already guessed what she didn't finish saying - rape first and then kill, destroying the corpse and eradicating traces. I threw up again. Nian'er sighed again and again, as if discussing with me, and seemed to be talking to herself: "If you call the police, the news will spread. Xiangru is in the media anyway, and she is a columnist. I'm afraid that this incident will ruin her and ruin her reputation. Besides, what will Bai Rutong say?" Bai Rutong.God, Bai Rutong. My stomach convulsed into a ball and I could barely breathe.I can't vomit anything anymore, but there is clearly something stuck in my throat, and I can't vomit quickly. When we got back to the room, Xiangru had already come out of the bathroom.Her face was still pale, with bloodstains and bruises running across it, but she was much more awake, and there seemed to be two fires burning in her eyes. She said word by word: "I've made up my mind, I can't let the wicked get their way. I decided to call the police."