Rose Lock - Chapter 37

The lights were fully lit, and the rain started to patter down again non-stop. Li Zhen was cracking sunflower seeds at the front desk. Every time it rained, the number of guests coming to Feng Hai to listen to music would drop significantly.

There were only a handful of guests drinking in the lobby now.

“Li Zhen, come and give me a hand.”

A-Qiang carried a crate of red wine from the cellar and was doing inventory. Seeing Li Zhen cracking sunflower seeds, he unceremoniously called her over.

“Coming, coming.” It took Li Zhen and A-Qiang a great deal of effort to move the crate of red wine out. This task would have been much harder for a girl with less strength, but Li Zhen was strong and useful.

“Brother Qiang, I can’t do it, my back hurts. You know my back acts up when it rains.” Just after inwardly praising Li Zhen, Li Zhen instantly cried out that she was tired. A-Qiang felt his praise was wasted, “Alright, alright, you watch these wines for me at the bar.”

Having successfully slacked off, Li Zhen was inwardly delighted, “Then, Brother Qiang, I’ll go help you watch them now. Be careful, don’t bump or fall.”

A-Qiang: “…”

Li Zhen returned to the bar, pulled a handful of sunflower seeds from her pocket, and saw a graceful figure descending the stairs out of the corner of her eye. “Sister Manyi, why are you coming down?”

Hua Manyi’s face was pale, her nose was red, and she coughed a few times, “I’m going out to buy some medicine.”

“Oh, if Brother Qiang didn’t need me to watch the bar, I would have gone with you to buy medicine, Sister Manyi,” Li Zhen said with great regret and pity.

Hua Manyi smiled, “It’s fine, it’s not far. I can go by myself.”

“Then, Sister Manyi, take an umbrella. Here, take it. Be careful on the road.” Li Zhen could be quite thoughtful sometimes, she was just occasionally incredibly lazy.

“Thank you.”

Hua Manyi took it, glanced at the rain falling on the street, and a cool breeze from the street corner swept her ankle-length qipao. Her small high heels clicked on the wet floor as she walked to the left.

…

At seven in the evening, in the courtyard of the Luhe Winery villa, Gong Yan saw that the time was about right, so she got up and prepared to leave. A man was standing outside the courtyard corridor, handing something to Gong Shulan.

“Shulan?” Gong Yan looked at the man turning and leaving, feeling a little puzzled.

“Sis, this is a gift for Jiang Yin. I’ll rely on you tonight,” Gong Shulan handed over the envelope in her hand.

“What’s inside?” Gong Yan weighed it; it wasn’t light.

Gong Shulan said helplessly, “Sis, if I tell you, it won’t be a surprise.”

Gong Yan: “Fine, I’m leaving then. Take good care of yourself at home.”

With that, she turned and got into the car. Gong Shulan placed her hands on her legs, watched the rear of the car drive away, and revealed a knowing smile, “Go prepare the car, I want to watch a good show.”

At eight o’clock, Gong Yan was sitting in the back seat. Outside, the night had completely fallen. The streetlights in Haicheng lit up one after another, illuminating the road brightly and bustlingly.

“Madam, Miss Jiang Yin said she is already waiting at the coffee shop,” Butler Fu said while driving in the front.

“Then let’s go straight to the coffee shop.”

Gong Yan was about to light a cigarette. When she took it out of her bag, she accidentally touched the envelope, and the corner inside bumped her little finger. Gong Yan glanced at it, saw the outline looked like photos or something similar, and didn’t think much of it.

Outside, the rain was hazy; it had lessened and turned into a drizzle.

“Madam, we’ve arrived.” Butler Fu quickly got out of the car with an umbrella and followed Gong Yan into a coffee shop.

“Wait for me in the car.” Gong Yan saw the figure sitting in the corner stirring a cup of hot coffee, and walked towards her.

“Jiang Yin.”

Hearing the voice, Jiang Yin looked up, “A-Yan, you’re here. Sit, I ordered a cup of coffee for you.”

They didn’t sit in a booth but on a simple woven rattan chair by the window, with a small and exquisite low table holding a few fresh floral arrangements.

“Oh, right, this is a gift from Shulan for you.” As soon as Gong Yan sat down, she handed over the envelope.

Jiang Yin’s hand trembled when she heard that name. After a few seconds, she spoke as if nothing was wrong, “A gift from Shulan for me? Why would she suddenly send me a gift?”

“She said she felt bad about eating and staying at your house these past few days, so she prepared a gift for you.” Gong Yan stirred her coffee, elegantly picked it up, and drank.

Eating and staying at your house…

Jiang Yin found it hard to imagine that woman having such a thoughtful side, especially since she had been so hateful towards her when she left that day.

Thinking this, she opened the envelope. The first thing she saw was a bloody, black-and-white photo. Two bloody fingers lay on a chopping board, with a knife next to them.

Jiang Yin’s pupils widened instantly. She quickly flipped to the second picture, and the scene of Huo Suqiu blindfolded and tied to a chair, her right hand forcibly pulled onto the chopping board, jumped into her sight without warning. Jiang Yin quickly covered her mouth, afraid she would scream.

“What’s wrong?” Gong Yan had lowered her eyes to drink coffee just now and hadn’t seen her expression. She put down the coffee, looked up, and saw Jiang Yin covering her mouth, with tears welling up in her eyes.

Cold sweat seeped out of Jiang Yin. She wanted to scream, but the next moment, a line of text on the photo warned her—If you tell my sister the contents of this letter, you will receive Huo Suqiu’s dead body tomorrow.

A chill ran from her feet to her brain. The thought of Gong Shulan, this lunatic, kept echoing in her mind.

“Jiang Yin?” Gong Yan leaned closer. Jiang Yin frantically stuffed the photos back into the envelope, “No…”

Gong Yan noticed her panic, and belatedly sensed that something was off between Gong Shulan and Jiang Yin. She asked in a deep voice, “Jiang Yin, what’s inside?”

As she spoke, she reached out to take it.

Jiang Yin’s mind was still haunted by the warning on the photo, like a cold gun pointed at her back. As soon as Gong Yan saw the contents, the gun would pull the trigger without hesitation.

“No!”

Jiang Yin watched the envelope reach Gong Yan’s hand, frantically got up, and lunged to grab it, but unexpectedly stumbled and fell onto Gong Yan, their legs tangling.

The envelope fell to the floor. Gong Yan felt a pain in her chest but was mindful of the woman on her, afraid the hot coffee would spill and scald her. She wrapped her arms around Jiang Yin’s waist, “Jiang Yin, are you alright?”

Before she finished speaking, the woman on her chest looked up with teary eyes. She caught a glimpse of a car hidden in the darkness at the street corner opposite the coffee shop window. A car passed by with its headlights on, illuminating the car in the alley clearly. Gong Shulan’s face, through the misty rain, jumped into view, dark and unnervingly fixated on her.

“What exactly is inside?” Gong Yan realized that the contents of the envelope were probably not a gift in the ordinary sense. What had happened between Gong Shulan and Jiang Yin?

Jiang Yin remained silent. After retracting her gaze, she stared at Gong Yan for several seconds. The last trace of madness flashed across her eyes. She closed them and, with a mix of urgency and panic, cupped the woman’s cheeks and kissed her.

In the alley, the rain beat against the car window, sounding like the howling of a wicked spirit.

The smile on Gong Shulan’s lips vanished completely.

…

“Miss, take this. Boil the medicine with one and a half bowls of water until it’s reduced to half a bowl. Drink it once after breakfast and once after dinner, and it will expel the cold from your body.” The old Chinese doctor handed the packaged medicine to Hua Manyi.

“Thank you, Doctor. Cough, cough, cough—” Hua Manyi coughed a few times, paid 20 copper coins, and left the Herentang pharmacy with the medicine bag. Herentang was at a street corner exposed to the wind. The damp sea breeze brought a fishy smell. The night wind pierced her skin, giving her goosebumps.

She walked back the way she came, holding her umbrella. The rain was getting heavier. There were no rickshaws with drivers on the road, so she had to walk back alone.

“Move, move aside…” Someone behind her was aggressively ringing a bell while cycling in the rain. Perhaps because the rain was heavy, the person was cycling unsteadily. Seeing someone ahead, he couldn’t brake in time and instinctively swerved the front wheel to the side to avoid her, then sped away. But even so, Hua Manyi was still knocked down. The medicine bag fell to the ground and was quickly soaked by the rain.

The umbrella fell to the ground and was blown far away by the wind.

The cold rainwater quickly soaked the qipao on her back and penetrated her skin. Her wrist was slightly grazed. Hua Manyi coughed non-stop. She felt her forehead getting hotter and needed to get back as soon as possible.

She picked up the half-soaked medicine bag and stood up, looking ahead to continue walking, but the next moment, her whole body went rigid.

The two people embracing and kissing in the nearby coffee shop caused her heart to plummet fiercely. Raindrops dripped from her fingertips. The wet, cold temperature began to spread from there to her limbs.

At the Feng Hai Dance Hall, Li Zhen had just finished cracking the last sunflower seed and was about to reach for another handful when she saw a figure walk in through the doorway.

Completely drenched, her permed, wavy hair was sticky with rainwater, clinging to her temples. Her alluring and beautiful face was now utterly pale. She was carrying three stacked medicine bags in one hand, which were unusable because they were soaked through. In the other hand, she held her small high heel, standing barefoot at the entrance, dripping with water.

Li Zhen was startled by the sight. Was… was this the Sister Manyi who left earlier? How did she turn into this ghostly appearance in the blink of an eye?

“Sister Manyi?” Li Zhen hurried over, concerned, “You, you’re…”

“I’m fine, I just tripped.” Hua Manyi didn’t lift her eyes. She passed Li Zhen, went upstairs in a daze, and locked herself in her room.

…

Exactly eleven o’clock at night, a black Ford drove through Zhengyuan Street.

Gong Yan sat in the back seat, rubbing her temples, constantly replaying the scene in the coffee shop. Compared to Jiang Yin’s kiss, she wanted to know more about what was inside that envelope. She didn’t believe Jiang Yin kissed her out of affection; it seemed more like she was trying to cover something up.

But when she suggested she wanted to know what was in the envelope, Jiang Yin trembled all over, crying and begging her not to look, saying she would give her an explanation tomorrow. In the end, Gong Yan had to compromise, watching Jiang Yin grab the envelope and rush out of the coffee shop.

It had been over an hour since they left the coffee shop. Gong Yan lit a cigarette to calm her nerves, a cold look in her red lips, “Go back to the winery first.”

She needed to ask Gong Shulan what that woman had done to Jiang Yin to make her so terrified.

Butler Fu was about to respond, but suddenly many people outside poked their heads out and whispered to each other. A newspaper reporter wearing a flat beret passed by, carefully protecting the camera hanging on his chest, while cursing, “Damn rain! It’s messing up my photos of the Huo family fire!”

The Huo family…

“What did Xiao Qi do for Shulan?” Gong Yan felt a growing sense of unease.

Xiao Qi was the person Gong Shulan had borrowed the day before, claiming she needed her to translate Morse code.

“This…” Butler Fu couldn’t answer. He wouldn’t dare ask too much about Miss Shulan’s affairs.

“Call Xiao Qi.”

“Yes!”

Butler Fu quickly got out of the car and found the nearest telephone booth. Just as he dialed the number, Gong Yan took the phone, “I’ll ask.”

Butler Fu: “Alright…”

“Xiao Qi, it’s me, Gong Yan. What did Gong Shulan have you do these past two days?” Gong Yan let the cigarette hang to the side, her expression becoming increasingly serious.

“Madam, Miss Shulan only asked me to sit at the telegraph machine and translate the Morse code telegrams being sent from the other side,” Xiao Qi said over the phone.

“What was on it?”

“It seemed to be a dyeing recipe…” Xiao Qi recalled the situation, clearly mentioning the proportion of the dyes.

That woman Shulan was skilled at winning people over. If it was a dyeing recipe, the person on the other end of the telegram was likely a confidant of the Huo family whom she had bribed, leaking the Huo family’s recipe at great risk.

Gong Yan frowned, “Did you notice anything unusual while translating?”

Xiao Qi was silent for a moment, “Madam, I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but when I went to that telegraph machine as Miss Shulan instructed, I seemed to smell blood.”

Telegraph machines were fixed, but that location was special and secret, as if it was specifically for secret transmissions.

“Anything else?”

“Also, the speed at which the other person tapped the Morse code was sometimes fast and sometimes slow, as if…” Xiao Qi thought for a moment, “As if that person’s hand was injured.”

Rain hit the telephone booth, making a pattering sound.

“I see.” Gong Yan hung up the phone, frowned, and after a few seconds of silence, dialed another number, “Aunt Liu, is Shulan home?”

“Madam, Miss Shulan left shortly after you did. She hasn’t returned yet.”

Gong Yan closed her eyes, walked out of the telephone booth, and got into the car, “Go to the Huo family immediately!”

Butler Fu was about to turn the car around when he heard a faint tremor from the back seat, “No… go to Jiang Yin’s place first.”

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