When A Snail Falls In Love

Yao Meng & Shu Hang Short Story Part 1.2

The next day, Shu Hang went to the cafe that Yao Meng frequently visited. He watched her, bathed in the glow of the sunset, get into Feng Ye's car and zoom off. Moreover, Feng Ye looked at him provocatively.

When they had driven far away, Shu Hang lit a cigarette as he sat in his car, and puffed away in a blue funk.

He decided to give up.

After a few days, it happened to be the anniversary of the Lin City Chamber of Commerce. Shu Hang was to attend this as his main undertakings would be shifting to the southwest in future.

He was hardly surprised to see Yao Meng there, standing in the midst of a crowd of middle-aged businessmen. She looked particularly striking, and her expression was as serene as before.

This time, Shu Hang did not come forward. He kept his distance from the crowd, and occasionally observed her from afar.

She also did not appear to notice him as she laughed winsomely with the others. He thought – she's probably showing herself to be somewhat green in her networking skills as she talks to those bigwigs.

Dance music started playing soon after. Several well-groomed men and women moved smoothly onto the dance floor. Somebody's daughter invited Shu Hang to dance. He cheerfully held her waist and leisurely promenaded around the dance floor with her.

The lights twinkled, and a great variety of forms and figures thronged the room. He looked back to see Yao Meng sitting by herself on a sofa in the corner of the room, with a drink in her hand. She was the most valuable pearl there, yet no one invited her to dance.

At this point, the current song came to an end. On realising that he was looking at Yao Meng, Shu Hang's dance partner laughingly commented, "Her name is Yao Meng. She's a rather unusual person."

Beside them, a girl in her twenties, with an arrogant expression, interrupted them, "If I were her, I would not dare to show my face outside."

"Some people say that she was that person's accomplice . . ."

Shu Hang's dance partner saw a frightening expression flit across his face. Seemingly full of consideration, she softly explained, "Young master Shu, you are not a Lin City resident, so perhaps you don't know. Her former boyfriend was a psychopathic murderer who was violent towards women . . . she's also not one of us. Apparently, she was a police officer, her boyfriend left her a large legacy . . . I don't know her well, all I know of her is what I've heard from others. They say that people give her the benefit of doubt for the sake of preserving face, but everyone knows in their hearts that they should stay away from her. Look, no one has invited her to dance."

"You are not right ah." Shu Hang turned and looked at the girl with a slight smile as he interrupted her. "Someone will invite her to dance the next round."

In full view of the crowd, Shu Hang strode purposefully towards Yao Meng, facing her as a series of complex expressions, including astonishment, flitted across her face. He bent slightly from the waist, and said, with a bright smile, "May I?" Then, he softly muttered, "If you don't want me to pursue you, I won't. I'm going back to Beijing tomorrow night. Surely you have to give me face by allowing me this dance?"

After Lin Qingyan died, Yao Meng still dreamt of him. At times, she would awake, startled, from a nightmare and look around the dark and empty room, so frightened that she could not go back to sleep.

When she watched news reports on violent abuse of women, or on murder cases, she would always experience a sense of physical nausea. She knew that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, but could only let things follow their natural course and slowly recover.

Tonight, after she had danced with Shu Hang, Yao Meng felt an emotion stirring within her that she could not define or express. It was as if her life, as dead as stagnant water, had finally experienced a hint of movement. Moreover, the expressions on the faces of those who watched her dance with the famous young master Shu who had come from the capital, gave her some pleasure, especially when considering that she had often been ostracised and excluded.

However, she could not be in a relationship with Shu Hang. There was a very simple reason: if she really wanted to make a fresh start, she would look for someone who did not know anything about her history. Perhaps she would even leave Lin City for some foreign land.

She did not for one moment want her past to affect her future. Her life still stretched out before her.

She had thought that her mood this evening had been pretty good, but she once again dreamt of Lin Qingyan.

In her dream, Lin Qingyan was embracing a girl and enthusiastically making love to her. And, she was standing at the side, crying continuously, crying as she grabbed his arm to say, "Qingyan, why are you like this? Why did we become like this? Qingyan, return to me, please, Qingyan . . ."

She woke herself up with her crying, and found her pillow half soaked with tears. The room was silent and cold, with the moonlight shining obliquely outside the window.

Choked with sobs, she struggled out of bed to huddle against the wall in a corner of the room, sobbing quietly by herself.

She was only aware of an excruciating pain in her heart, a tremendous feeling of shame, as well as fathomless longings and frailties that surged up in the blackness of night and threatened to swallow her whole.

In the midst of her confusion, she suddenly recalled dancing with Shu Hang tonight.

He had been all smiles as he looked at her, wearing a black suit, together with a white shirt frivolously striped in light pink and a tie in jewel-hued blue. He was completely different from Lin Qingyan. Lin Qingyan's attractiveness was quite overbearing, and his elegant countenance always harboured something that spoke of unrestrained* and extreme** emotions and thoughts.

*放荡不羁 (fàng dàng bù jī) – unconventional and unrestrained

**嬉笑怒骂 (xǐ xiào nù mà) – lit. laughs, jeers, anger and invective

Shu Hang appeared to be always happy, happy to play in this world of human beings. However, in his seemingly indifferent eyes, there was a touch of something deeper that she could not understand.

Moreover, as he held her while they were dancing, he had suddenly, earnestly, said, "Don't worry. I won't pursue you for the time being, and I won't harass you again, either."

She had nodded, and smiled at him faintly for the first time. Then, with his slender eyes fixed on her, he had suddenly changed tack and said, "Don't rejoice so early! I can't guarantee that I won't go back on my word in future."