Chapter 13

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Chapter 13 Stars On The Sky (13)

Zhai Chen drove his small electric bike home, and bought a few popsicles which were going to be distributed to Teacher Mi and Aunt Zhu. As soon as he walked into the corridor, Aunt Zhu’s hearty burst of laughter came to his ear. Aunt Zhu didn’t allow her grandson to use air conditioner, but was still concerned about what Zhai Chen told her. Therefore, she just simply sit at the door gate to look after Zhai Mengmeng, chatting with Teacher Mi at the same time.

“What are you talking about so happily?” Zhai Chen handed two popsicles to Aunt Zhu.

“We are talking about the things in your childhood.” said Aunt Zhu, who joyfully put one popsicle into the refrigerator and another into her mouth, not planning to give her grandson a taste. “Kids can’t eat cold food.” she said.

Teacher Mi, who took care of Zhai Mengmeng diligently, took the popsicle over with her face turning to be somewhat red, saying “I think I should go now.”

“It’s already noon. Why don’t you stay at our home and have lunch?” Aunt Zhu tried to persuade her to stay here hospitably.

“Thanks for your invitation, but I think the meal has already been made in my home.” Mi Qing picked up her bag with head bowing down, running away without hesitation

The moment when Zhai Chen put a popsicle into his mouth, Mi Qing has already disappeared from his sight, without saying goodbye to him. He looked at Aunt Zhu confusedly, who focused on biting her popsicle and asked, “What’s wrong with her?” His colleague Zhai Qing suddenly showed up and then disappeared in a second, which is not normal in his eyes. He was actually aware of this and told Aunt Zhu this morning to pay attention to this woman before leaving home.

“She was shy in front of you.” Aunt Zhu took one bite of the popsicle and found Zhai Cheng was still confused, and said “That girl has a crush on you. Can’t you feel it?” She uttered the sentence like an experienced love expert.

“Well, I thought she wanted to borrow money from me, because she acted a bit secretly.” Hearing this, Zhai Chen immediately relaxed and went back to his house without much concern.

“Why, you little boy. That girl likes you, and why you acted like this? Aunt Zhu followed Zhai Chen to his home, educating him on this matter while eating that popsicle.

Zhai Chen pretended to give his popsicle to Zhai Mengmeng. He put the popsicle back to his mouth when Mengmeng’s mouth came near the popsicle, saying “Too many girls have a crush on me, which is quite a normal thing.”

“……” Aunt Zhu realized that she was nearly sixty years old and had never seen such a brazen man before she recovered her voice. “Why don’t you take a consideration?”

“You know I’m not in a good health condition and rely on the oxygen cylinder to live. So I don’t want anyone to involve in this.” Zhai Chen handed the popsicle over to her again, smiled to Aunt Zhu and said,” You are clear about this, aren’t you?” It’s well-known in the neighborhood that Fang Chuyang, a kindergarten male teacher with a salary of no more than 3,000 yuan, can’t find a girlfriend due to his bad health, even with the help of Aunt Zhang.

“Who knows you are so popular among girls? Aunt Zhu muttered, and began to painstakingly persuade him:” She knows you are not in a good health condition, and is willing to take care of Mengmeng. I think you two are quite match with each other, because she is also your colleague.”

Zhai Chen retracted his hand, and let the little boy of Aunt Zhu bite the popsicle in vain. “Many elite rich and handsome men are fond of marrying kindergarten teachers, thinking they are gentle and kind. I should not delay Mi Qing.”

Aunt Zhu said Zhai Chen was as stubborn as his father, Zhai Jianguo. After the persuasion failed, she walked away angrily.

After being cheated twice, Zhai Mengmeng decided to neglect her uncle Zhai Chen. She continued to watch her cartoon of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It was playing the scene when Cao Cao scolded to his doctor:” You are useless!” when his headache can’t be cured.

“Uncle, why don’t you find a girlfriend? Zhai Mengmeng said this while looking at the screen. Although everyone were talking about her uncle was sick, she knew well that her uncle was in fact as strong as a superman.

“I’m not well educated and don’t have a good salary. That’s the reason.” Zhai Chen deprecated himself, being afraid that she thought too much.

Zhai Mengmeng turned over and looked at him, and said unhappily:” You are useless because you can’t find a girl friend at such an old age!”

“…… I see you have an itchy skin! Zhai Chen pulled a slipper to hit the child, slowly chased two steps, and the phone rang. “Who will call on the weekend?”

Zhai Mengmeng has already hidden in the bedroom, and whispered to him with half of her dead exposed: “I think it’s someone who has a crush on you.”

“Go away!” Zhai Chen looked at the caller on phone, which says Fu Xinhan(a Chinese phrase describing a man who betrayed his girlfriend or wife).

“It occurred to me that I am going to see a photography exhibition today. I want you accompany me.” It sounded like Gao Yusheng was on the street because there were noises around him. He spoke gently with a kind of reasonable willfulness, making Zhai Chen have the illusion of being his boyfriend.

“My young gentleman, don’t you know you are in danger of various threats? How can you have the mood to see photography exhibition?” After all, Gao Yusheng was his boss instead of his girlfriend. But due to the fact that this was not the working time, he so he refused the invitation without hesitation.

“I will pay for you”.

“I don’t wanna go.”

“I will pay you 5,000 yuan if you accompany me one day.

“Deal! Being attracted by money, Zhai Chen easily abandoned his principle of “safety first” and replaced it with “customer is God “.

Smiling a little bit seemingly, Gao Yusheng said he was on the way to the police station, and would meet him after a while. More than an hour later, he appeared in front of the family member courtyard of the police station. Zhai Chen was curious about the reasons of “Tiao Che”(staggering), but Gao Yusheng wouldn’t tell him a word about it.

“The police will believe it anyway, and they won’t bother you again.” Gao Yusheng and Zhai Mengmeng sat together in the back seat with big eyes looking at small eyes.

“Where did you get the car? You even drive a China-made car.” Zhai Chen looked at the logo on the steering wheel, surprisingly. The small-winged imported luxury car was badly broken, which was sent to factory for repair. This car, without any decorations inside, must be borrowed from somewhere for temporary use.

The logo of this car featured in a pair of mirrored “J”, with a horizontal bar inserted in the middle, looking like a Pisces sign or a written number “9”. This was a relatively high-end domestic car brand, namely “Jiu Yi “. Its performance and appearance were actually not inferior to imported cars. It was originally sold with the foreign brand name of “JOY “, claiming itself the imported cars. And the car company also made up a legend of European royal court attached to this car. But eventually it was revealed to be a Chinese domestic car, drawing ridicules from the public for quite a long time.

“It was borrowed,” Gao Yusheng sat upright, looking at the road calmly, “Turn right at the crossroad ahead.”

“Who is so generous to lend you a new car?” Zhai Chen could drive without much concentration because the directions were given by Gao Yusheng. They soon arrived at the art exhibition center.

“4S Shop.” Gao Yusheng opened the car door and carried Mengmeng out.

“What?” Zhai Chen did not catch what he said clearly, locked the door tightly after pulling out the key, and brought Mengmeng to stay in his arms.

“Why don’t you send Mengmeng to the kindergarten with children care? Gao Yusheng couldn’t understand why Zhai Chen worked part time jobs at the kindergarten which offers quite a low salary, because he is really in urgent need of money to make up family expenses.

“Mengmeng has congenital heart disease so I can’t rest assured to send her to kindergarten.” Zhai Chen told the truth to him. The normal and average kindergartens that took care of dozens of kids would definitely unable to take care of Mengmeng if she felt ill. If she didn’t receive on-time rescue and treatment, she would lose his life. Another reason was that it was extremely expensive to pay for the tuition claimed by the kindergarten with small – scale teaching.

“This is a typical mind of poor people.” Gao Yusheng put down the rolled-up sleeves and buckled them gracefully.

“But I have no other way. This is the lifestyle of poor people.” Zhai Chen didn’t plan to listen to Gao’s lesson about how to become rich, walking to the venue firstly.

The exhibition center was very lively today. The electronic guiding sign in front of it said:

Main Venue: Antique Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition

Hall on Second Floor: Star ·J Star Photography Exhibition

What Gao Yusheng wanted to appreciate was the exhibition on the second floor. The spacious Art Center was designed like a maze so that Zhai Chen failed to find the entrance to the second floor, and he even almost lost himself in the abstract art maze. However, Gao Yusheng, who was a “walking navigator”, discovered the entrance soon, leading confused Zhai Chen to the right direction.

Compared with the noisy crowds on the first floor, the environment of the exhibition on the second floor appeared to be much quieter. Zhai Chen, who barely had artistic minds, has always believed those confusing photos definitely wouldn’t get good sales. But the result turned out to be quite depressing, because a lot of people visited here today.

The photos displayed in Star Photography Exhibition were basically related to stars, which were all shoot by the same photographer – Star ·J. According to the brief introduction, he was acknowledged to be the top photographer of shooting stars, with abundant famous awards in hand.

The incoming audience all appreciated the photos attentively. Some were shocked at the delicacy of the photos, some were discussing the connotations embedded in the photos, and some even cried when staring at a piece of photograph. However, this scene made Zhai Chen extremely confused because he literally couldn’t understand this communication between mankind’ soul and nature’s art from those photographs. In his opinion, these photos were no different from the decorating marble floor tiles in a company.

Gao Yusheng took a careful appreciation for the works outside, and stopped in front of the last wall when he slowly walked inside. There were only three exquisitely framed photos with instructions handwritten by an old pen, which were connected by a continuous scene.

[S Province, July, 1999]

This photo was shoot 19 years ago, representing the process and track of how a meteor fell in the sky. The meteor was illuminating, making the audience feel it was so close to be real. Coming from the horizon in the sky, falling among the mountains, it was like Prometheus carrying fire to the earth.

“This meteor had a specific name, which is Huo Dou(Disaster), because of the fact that it created a fire on earth after it fell to the ground.” Gao Yusheng explained the story behind those three pictures to Zhai Chen in a low voice.

Huo Dou (Disaster) is a fire-causing beast in ancient myths and legends. In fact, only few meteors would trigger a fire because most of them had already burn out before landing on earth. Usually they would become meteorites making no noise even if landing on earth. But this one created large scale forest fire, with triggering lightening in the mountains.

“Hi, see you again.” Behind came the Chinese words with a foreign accent. Zhai Chen turned back, and staggered a step in front of Gao Yusheng, waiting for the sudden approach of the guy. The man is Chinese-looking and middle-aged, wearing a photo vest, a painter’s hat and a black-and-white moustache.

“It’s all right. He’s a photographer.” Gao Yusheng calmed Zhai Chen down and shook hands with the man. “Mr. Ji.”

The man was actually the owner of the photography exhibition, whose original name was Ji Changhe, and later changed his name to Ji Xinghe because of his obsession with the stars. He changed his nationality and then took himself a foreign name, Star ·J.

“Gao is a big fan of mine. He visited my exhibitions in Paris and Rome.” Ji Xinghe explained to Zhai Chen this was his earliest work of shooting meteors, which didn’t draw many appreciators. He valued Gao Yusheng very much and explained the situation when he shot this meteor. He was shooting the stars on the cliff when he suddenly saw something fell. A big fireball, exploded in a blast, which turned to be a lifetime unforgettable experience. Therefore, he had been a star observer and had been obsessed with shooting meteors ever since.

“I have seen meteors too much, and sometimes I feel they are not meteors.” Ji Xinghe lowered his voice and said quite mysteriously.

“What will it be if it’s not a meteor? Is it a UFO?’ Zhai Chen looked at this artist as if he was looking at a fool.

Ji Xinghe touched his beard and smiled, without answering, but continued to narrate the story of his favorite meteor to Zhai Chen. “Huo Dou (Disaster) “became a meteorite after landing on earth, which was now housed in the museum in S province. You can have a look when having the spare time.” Then he left by putting his hands behind his back.

“Uncle, is a meteor a spaceship?” Zhai Mengmeng once heard of UFO, and had a rough concept of it.

“Don’t listen to that strange old man. He is not clear-minded after seeing to many meteors.” Zhai Chen quickly corrected the kid’s understanding about meteor, and turned over to look at GaoYusheng, who had acquired some enlightenments from these artistic photographs. “I have a question for you for quite a long time. Why are you so obsessed with stars? Your daily outfit is deep blue and you even bought watch with luminous stars.”

“Have you ever heard that poem?” Unable to explain his watch was actually not luminous, Gao Yusheng sighed, still with his artistic style,” Are you looking at the stars, my stars? I would like to see you countless times in the sky.

“……” Zhai Chen was surprised by this sudden poetic romance, only to realize its meaning for a long while,” I know it.”

Gao Yusheng’s eyes are slightly bright, looking at him with some expectations: “What do you know?”

“You have a crush on that photographer!”

“……”

‘It’s all right. It’s already 2018, and I don’t discriminate against people with special sexual orientation.’

Gao felt his aesthetic art was insulted.

Just as they were leisurely strolling through the photography exhibition, Fang Chuyang was on the other side pondering Gao’s words:” Yuan Xiaoai, who was chasing after him, had aquatinted with Wang Qiang, who had also received the strange symbol before he died. Wang Qiang’ wife also knew the meaning of this symbol, and Li Ting also passed away after she received the symbol.”

Chen Zhaohui, sitting at the collar table, listened and drew a diagram on the paper. “Vice team leader, what does that symbol mean?”

“If this symbol really represents a kind of cult. What the bastard Zhai Chen said will be the truth – Li Mochou.＂ Fang Chuyang frowned.

“Who is Li Mochou?” The honest guy Chen Zhaohui hadn’t read the WuXia novel Shen Diao Xia Lv (The Return of the Condor Heroes) yet”.

Fang Chuyang stared at him and looked at Ma Tianxing, who was collecting the information of Wang Jinghang’s calling. He said, “Ma Tianxing, tell Chen Zhaohui the reason why Li Mochou left her bloody handprints.”

Ma touched his long horse –like face and said seriously: “She wanted to kill the man who betrayed her.”

“Exactly! She intended to kill the man who betrayed her.” Fang Chuyang pulled over the picture drawn by Chen. “These people all share a common characteristic, which is chased after by ex-girlfriends, current girlfriends or the delusional ones.”

Yuan Xiao’ai, the delusional girl who chased after Gao Yusheng, worked in Wang Qiang’s company when she was still alive. In other words, she should know Wang Qiang’s wife, Zhou Yufen.

“That is to say, if the killing was done by the same person, there should be a connecting relationship between Yuan Xiaoai and Zhou Yufen.” Mr. Fan, the team leader, came out with a cup of hot tea and leaned on the table, saying” the two women must have exchanged either the information of killer contact number or the information of cult organization.”

As the leader was speaking, Zhang, who had been rummaging the database for a whole day, called over and shouted like a cannonball: “Captain, I found it! This symbol appears in the database of 13 years ago. It was a cult in S province, which was called Star Religion!

In the evening, Zhai Chen drove Gao Yusheng back to his home, and called a taxi to send him back to his own house. It was a bit late at that time. Carrying the sleeping Mengmeng upstairs, he saw Aunt Zhu who opened the door to enjoy the cool air.

“Where did you go and come back so late?” Aunt Zhu asked with concern.

Zhai Mengmeng opened her vague eyes, answer Aunt Zhu immediately:” We hanged out to see the rich and handsome man.”

“Oh, it turned out to be…..” Aunt Zhu suddenly stopped, glared at Zhai Chen up and down, and suddenly thought of the sentence in the morning – “the elite rich and handsome men prefer marry kindergarten teachers.”

Notes:

Explanation：

Are you looking at the stars, my stars? I would like to see you countless times in the sky. — Plato

In the novel, “meteor” has another layer of meaning. To avoid misleading students who haven’t taken the college entrance examination, the name of “meteor” is now changed into HuoDou(Disaster).

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