On her third day at Hongtu, Su Wanting ran into someone at the pantry.
Lu Yichen.
He wore a dark blue shirt with a Ruiheng Real Estate badge hanging from his chest, leaning against the counter talking and laughing with the front desk girl. The instant he saw Wanting, a flash of surprise crossed his face, but in the blink of an eye it was replaced by a smiling expression.
"Wanting? You're at Hongtu too?"
Wanting held her cup and looked at him without expression.
"Here to discuss a collaboration."
He held up the folder in his hand.
"Data handover for the Star River Bay project."
Star River Bay. Her first project. The client was Wand Group. Ruiheng Real Estate was among the bidders. And her ex-husband was the project manager on Ruiheng's side. What a small world.
Wanting unscrewed the cup lid and took a sip.
"All wrapped up?"
"More or less."
Lu Yichen patted the non-existent dust off his clothes.
"That's good. Hongtu may not be a big company, but they're willing to give newcomers opportunities. Take your time."
After speaking he left. The front desk girl looked at him, then at Wanting. Her smile faded by half.
She worked late that day. When she was packing up to go downstairs, passing the parking lot she saw that white BMW. The car window was half open, and there was light inside. She was about to walk past when her peripheral vision caught something on the passenger seat.
A hand. A woman's hand. Fingernails painted bean-paste pink, resting on Lu Yichen's arm.
Wanting stopped. She looked at the license plate. No mistake - it was that car. Three months before the divorce, Lu Yichen said it was assigned by the company. He drove it to and from work every day.
She didn't walk over. She stood behind a pillar at the parking lot entrance and waited for over ten minutes. The car door opened. Lu Yichen got out first, walked around to the other side and pulled open the passenger door. Meng Yao got out of the car - high heels, professional pencil skirt, hair pinned in a low ponytail. Lu Yichen locked the car, and the two walked side by side toward the office building. When they reached the lobby entrance, Meng Yao suddenly reached out and swatted Lu Yichen's lower back. The movement was very casual - and that casualness itself was the answer. Not supervisor to subordinate. Not even colleague to colleague. The two walked in one after the other.
She had suspected. In the second year of marriage, Lu Yichen started taking frequent business trips. Sometimes he'd be gone a whole week, saying he was going out of town for inspections with President Meng. She asked once - how come you always go with President Meng? Lu Yichen's face darkened immediately:
"President Meng is my direct supervisor. If project matters don't go through her, who should they go through? Can you not be so paranoid?"
She believed him. Or rather, she was willing to believe him. Because back then she had just received that infertility diagnosis. Her mind was full of her own problems. She had no mental bandwidth to think in other directions.
The more affectionately Meng Yao smiled at her, the more frequently Lu Yichen went on business trips. The more aggressively Lin Hui pushed for a grandchild, the less Lu Yichen came home.
It wasn't that she couldn't bear children. It was that Lu Yichen had never intended to have children with her.
Back in the rental, Wanting sat on the edge of the bed and sorted through everything she had seen that evening. Angry? A little. But more than that, she felt cold. The kind of cold that seeps out from inside the bones.
She thought of what Lin Hui said on the day of the divorce:
"Our family's Yichen has good conditions. Plenty of women lining up. If you know what's good for you, sign early. Don't make it ugly for everyone."
Where did Lin Hui get that confidence? Not because her son was so outstanding. It was because there was someone backing him. Meng Yao. Vice President of Ruiheng. Money and power. After the divorce, Lu Yichen could directly go over and become a project director. She, Su Wanting, was just a transitional arrangement. The marriage existed so someone could wait on the mother-in-law. The divorce happened because that transitional period was over.
As for that infertility diagnosis - she opened her phone and searched the name of that private hospital. It had business registration, but there wasn't a single patient review to be found. The address was in the city suburbs. She searched for the doctor who signed the report. No licensing information whatsoever.
Wanting gripped her phone. The corner of her mouth curved. Not a smile. It was the expression of someone who had been thoroughly chiled through.
The next morning she took half a day off and went to the Provincial People's Hospital. Registered for the reproductive medicine department. Blood draw, ultrasound, hormone panel - six items. The whole set cost less than two thousand. Three days later the results came out. All indicators normal.
The doctor flipped through the report, looked up at her:
"Your reproductive function has no problems whatsoever. Who told you that you're infertile?"
Wanting didn't answer. She put the report in her bag and walked out of the hospital. The plane trees outside had started dropping leaves. Someone on the street was sweeping fallen leaves. The swishing sound traveled far. She walked on the leaves toward the subway station. Passing a osmanthus tree, she suddenly stopped.
The osmanthus had already faded. Only a few dried petals remained on the branches. But that sweet, silky scent seemed to still linger. She stood under the tree and closed her eyes.
A blurry image floated up. A small courtyard. A very large tree. Under the tree, someone was laughing. Someone was calling out a name. She couldn't hear clearly what was being called. The image flashed once and shattered.
She opened her eyes, took a deep breath, and pressed those images back down. Right now there were more important matters.
Two things. How exactly did that infertility report come about? And Lu Yichen and Meng Yao - when exactly did they start?
She walked into the subway station. Her pace was considerably faster than when she arrived.