Chapter 46: Se Se… She’s Never Gotten Better
This year, Xiaonian (Little New Year) fell on the second-to-last day of January.
In Tongcheng, the customs for Xiaonian included dusting the house, getting a haircut, and eating sweet glutinous rice balls. Jiang Se was woken up early in the morning by a call from Jiang Ye.
“Second Sister, I’m almost home. Should I come over to see you? I brought you a box of niangao (sticky rice cake); you can use it for breakfast.”
There was still an arm wrapped tightly around her waist. Just as she tried to get up, the person holding her wouldn’t let go. A hand pressed firmly on her left shoulder, pulling her back into the embrace—so close that no space was left between them.
A faint, almost inaudible chuckle followed.
Jiang Se: “……”
“I just woke up. Wait for me at home, okay? I’ll pick up Big Sister and come back, then we can eat the niangao together.”
Her voice was a little hoarse—thanks to last night’s exertions.
Jiang Ye immediately frowned upon hearing her voice. “Did you catch a cold? Your voice sounds kind of strange.”
Another soft chuckle came from above her head.
Jiang Se moved the phone slightly downwards and replied, “I’m not sick, Xiao Ye. I need to get up and wash up. Talk later.”
With a few quick words, she brushed him off and hung up. Then she turned over and raised her eyes to look at Lu Huaiyan.
Lu Huaiyan chuckled softly, “Your voice does sound a little strange.”
“……”
Jiang Se didn’t want to respond. She gave him a sideways glance, then lifted the blanket and got out of bed to head to the bathroom.
“I’m not having breakfast with you. I have to go to the airport to pick someone up.”
“Your sister?”
“Mm.” Jiang Se squeezed toothpaste onto her electric toothbrush. Looking at the man who had followed her in through the mirror, she asked, “Is Aunt Han spending the New Year here this year?”
Lu Huaiyan leaned against the door frame and said, “No, she’s going back to the Han family for the Spring Festival. I’ll go back to Beicheng with her the day after tomorrow and probably won’t return until after the New Year.”
Spring Festival was always the busiest time of year.
Banquets filled the calendar from the end of the old year to the start of the new one—from New Year’s Eve all the way through Lantern Festival. There were constant social engagements, endless rounds of toasts and pleasantries. No one left before midnight. It was a life of nightly revelry.
Jiang Se gave a muffled “mm” in response.
She felt incredibly fortunate not to be part of that world anymore.
Lu Huaiyan waited for a moment. Seeing that her expression showed no trace of reluctance, he added casually, “We won’t see each other for at least ten days.”
Only then did Jiang Se glance up at him and say, “I’ll call Aunt Han tonight and wish her a Happy New Year in advance.”
Lu Huaiyan looked at her quietly.
After a pause, he chuckled lightly. “Alright. My mother will definitely be happy to hear from you.”
Jiang Se lowered her eyes and softly responded, “Mm.”
—
Jiang Tang’s flight was scheduled to arrive in Tongcheng around 8 a.m. After getting ready, Jiang Se headed to the airport to pick her up.
Before she left, Lu Huaiyan had the housekeeper send over two breakfast sets. After picking up Jiang Tang, she handed her a brown paper bag and said, “Buckwheat bread and black coffee.”
Jiang Tang was very disciplined with her diet and never touched sugary or high-calorie foods.
Looking at the logo on the brown paper bag, she removed her face mask and laughed. “You went all the way to Junyue for breakfast? Took a big detour just to get me buckwheat bread and black coffee?”
Jiang Se smiled. “Someone else brought it. Is the shoot wrapped up?”
“It is. Thankfully, I made it back just in time for Xiaonian.” Jiang Tang took a sip of the coffee and said, “Really needed this. We finished filming just after midnight yesterday. I didn’t even get a bite of the wrap party meal.”
Jiang Se slowly turned the steering wheel. “Isn’t skipping the wrap party a problem?”
Even though Jiang Tang only played the second female lead in the film, she was still a newcomer in the seniority-driven movie industry. Without a strong background, it was customary to attend the wrap party arranged by the director—even if you were in a rush, you should at least stay for part of the meal.
Jiang Tang turned her head to glance at her and teased with a laugh, “Worried about me again like a little grown-up? Don’t worry, I talked to Director Gu ahead of time. He was fine with it.”
Director Gu?
Jiang Se vaguely remembered that for the film Jiang Tang had worked on, the Gu family from Beicheng was the main investor. The Gu family had a certain member—often referred to by the elders as a rich idler who didn’t take on proper business—who had insisted on going to the U.S. to study film directing. Upon returning to China, he had thrown himself headfirst into the movie industry.
“Gu Yunzhe?” Jiang Se asked.
“That’s him, though he uses the stage name Gu Zheng,” Jiang Tang replied. As she spoke, something seemed to cross her mind, and she glanced at Jiang Se. “Yesterday, when Director Gu was taking me to the airport, he mentioned something—”
She stopped mid-sentence.
Gu Yunzhe had been filming in Nancheng and didn’t know much about what happened at the Cen family’s house on New Year’s Eve. He only heard that there had been an incident that night—apparently, someone had been drugged.
Noticing that Jiang Tang seemed hesitant, Jiang Se took the opportunity during a red light to glance over at her. “What did Gu Yunzhe say?”
Jiang Tang looked at her seriously and asked, “Se Se, when you went back to the Cen family’s place on New Year’s Eve, did anyone bully you?”
Her tone was earnest and serious. Jiang Se was momentarily stunned by the question but quickly shook her head. “No.”
Jiang Tang let out a breath of relief. “If anyone ever does bully you, you have to tell me.”
Jiang Se smiled. “Okay. Has Cao Xun been bothering you again?”
“He came to find me once, but hasn’t shown up since,” Jiang Tang replied lightly. “That time, Director Gu got into a fight with him because he was seriously disrupting the filming schedule.”
A fight?
Gu Yunzhe got into a fight with Cao Xun?
The light turned green. As Jiang Se released the brake, she asked, “Gu Yunzhe likes you?”
“Maybe just a little crush.” Jiang Tang tore open the brown paper bag, took out the whole wheat bread, and took a bite, speaking casually, “But I’m not looking to date right now. Now that filming’s done, I’m heading straight back to the dance troupe for rehearsals. I probably won’t even run into him again.”
Jiang Tang had always lived with clarity and confidence. When it came to relationships, she also knew exactly what she wanted.
So Jiang Se didn’t ask any more about her and Cao Xun or Gu Yunzhe.
—
Back on Liyuan Street, the three siblings ate niangao in the living room. Since the bar wasn’t open during the day, after they finished, Yu Shiying took them to get haircuts. The barbershop was at the end of Liyuan Street—Jiang Tang and Jiang Ye had gone there since they were kids.
Jiang Ye reminded Jiang Se, “Whatever you do, don’t let Uncle Yaoji design a hairstyle for you. Just a simple trim, that’s it.”
Jiang Tang heard this and immediately burst out laughing. “When we were kids, Xiao Ye once asked Uncle Yaoji to give him a one-of-a-kind hairstyle. Uncle Yaoji gave him a buzz cut and said he had a good head shape and that hair was just a burden for him.”
“…” Jiang Se lowered her head and smiled faintly.
Despite the tough, street-style nickname “Uncle Yaoji,” he was actually a chubby, kind-faced uncle.
As soon as he saw Jiang Se, he said to Yu Shiying, “Ah Tang looks like you, and Xiao Ye looks like Old Jiang. I always wondered why there wasn’t one that looked like both of you—and here she is!”
Yu Shiying laughed. “Your eyes are as sharp as ever, Brother Yaoji. This is Se Se—her first time here.”
Uncle Yaoji immediately raised a hand in a calming gesture. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure her haircut turns out beautiful. Come here, Se Se, let Uncle give you a nice style.”
Before Jiang Se could say anything, Jiang Ye hurriedly chimed in, “Uncle Yaoji, please go easy on her. Don’t give my second sister a buzz cut or any other weird styles!”
Jiang Se had fairly long hair, nearly down to her waist. Luckily, Uncle Yaoji didn’t give her anything wild—he just trimmed it to shoulder-length.
Her face was small and delicate—like a peony in bloom—able to pull off any hairstyle effortlessly.
Later that afternoon, when they went to pick up Zhang Yue from the hospital, He Miao immediately noticed and exclaimed, “Miss Jiang, you cut your hair? It looks amazing!”
“Mm, my mom took me for a haircut this morning. Do you guys want to get one too? I can take you,” Jiang Se offered.
“I’ll pass, I need to go home and help out later,” He Miao said, glancing at Zhang Yue. “Why don’t you take Master instead? I don’t even know how long it’s been since she’s had a haircut.”
Zhang Yue’s hair was indeed long, nearly reaching her hips. When not tied up, it looked cumbersome.
She instinctively wanted to decline, but when she turned and saw Jiang Se looking at her, she heard her say, “If you don’t cut your hair for a long time, it just ends up sucking the nutrients from your body and gets more and more damaged. You should go cut it.”
Zhang Yue fell silent for a moment, then nodded and said, “Thank you.”
Jiang Se first took Zhang Yue back to her apartment to drop off some things, then brought her to Uncle Yaoji’s salon, where she got a shoulder-length cut.
With the extra length gone, she looked completely refreshed—clean and neat, like a new person.
Wangchuan opened at six that evening. They returned to Liyuan Street just in time for dinner.
Jiang Chuan had prepared a whole table full of dishes. He and Yu Shiying were both naturally warm and hospitable. Even someone as reserved as Zhang Yue began to relax little by little in the lively atmosphere.
Dessert was brown sugar glutinous rice balls, a specialty of Tongcheng.
Zhang Yue was from Tongcheng, and as a child, her mother used to make her this very same dessert. She ate this small bowl slowly, chewing carefully and savoring every bite.
It was as if she were reminiscing about the beautiful childhood she once had, or perhaps tasting the rare sweetness she’d finally found after eight difficult years.
After dinner, Jiang Ye originally wanted to take Jiang Se and Jiang Tang out for a bit of fun.
But Jiang Tang, having stayed up all night, just wanted to sleep. Jiang Se was still spending time with her friend and didn’t have time to go out either.
“Why haven’t you gone to find Chen Liyin yet?” Jiang Tang teased him. “You only have one day off. You’ve spent half of it with us—shouldn’t it be your girlfriend’s turn now?”
Chen Liyin was the same person nicknamed “Little Stutterer”, a high school classmate of Jiang Ye’s for three years.
Jiang Ye’s ears turned a little red. “She’s busy during the day too. I was planning to take her out with you guys.”
“Bringing along two single older sisters as third wheels?” Jiang Se glanced at him. “If you really brought us along, you wouldn’t even get a chance to hold Chen Liyin’s hand tonight.”
Jiang Ye: “…”
After Jiang Ye left, Jiang Se brought Zhang Yue to the room next to the persimmon tree.
The two of them sat by the window, looking out at the tree in the courtyard. The persimmons were all gone now, and the bare branches held only a few fist-sized glass lanterns and several red paper lanterns.
As the evening sun cast its last rays on the horizon, the courtyard lights lit up.
Though quiet and devoid of people, the soft, warm lighting and festive red lanterns brought a sense of lively warmth to the place.
It was a kind of bustle that lacked human noise but was still full of everyday life.
Zhang Yue looked at the persimmon tree, a faint smile appearing at the corner of her lips. “Your home… it’s very lively.”
Jiang Se gave a soft “Mm” and asked with a smile, “Aren’t you curious how I went from a wealthy heiress to becoming the second daughter of this household?”
Zhang Yue held a cup of warm water in her hands and shook her head.
She didn’t want to pry into someone else’s painful past.
“It’s not something I can’t talk about,” Jiang Se said. “When I was born, there was an arson attack at the hospital. I was accidentally switched with another baby. I didn’t find out who my real family was until last May. And just a few days before that, I had only just found out about you. When I learned that the owner of that handkerchief might be in Tongcheng too, do you know how I felt?”
Zhang Yue said she didn’t know.
Jiang Se took a sip of her tea and said slowly, “I felt like my dead-end life was finally about to change, like something was guiding me to Tongcheng—telling me that if I came here, I could find myself again.”
There was a fire burning inside her—a fire that had been lit seven years ago.
It burned painfully.
She had to find other ways to slow it down until Zheng Huan told her, “We might’ve found Zhao Zhicheng’s past.”
Zhang Yue asked, “Do you hate me?”
Jiang Se looked at her. “I don’t hate you. I only hate Zhao Zhicheng. Your love for him… it was moving. He killed for you, and you were willing to die for him. But no matter how moving a love story is, it can’t be used to justify crime. Zhao Zhicheng saved you, but he hurt me. No matter what his reasons were—he hurt me.”
Zhang Yue lowered her eyes. “You should hate him.”
The room fell quiet. After a moment, Jiang Se looked out at the orange-red afterglow of the setting sun and suddenly asked, “Boss Zhang, do you think tonight’s sunset is beautiful?”
Zhang Yue lifted her eyes and looked out the window.
It hadn’t snowed today—it was a clear day, and the sunset was especially grand. The afterglow painted the sky into a richly colored canvas, with golden-edged clouds torn into ribbons drifting across it.
Zhang Yue was entranced. “It’s beautiful.”
When the last sliver of light faded into the horizon, Jiang Se finally looked away from the window.
“People always say that sunsets are a symbol of despair because they can’t resist the coming night. But it’s that same sun, after passing through the darkness, that rises again in a place we can’t see—on the other side of the world—as a blazing dawn, as a scorching sun. Boss Zhang—”
Jiang Se looked at Zhang Yue and smiled. “Let’s find a time to go see the sunrise together.”
When Zhang Yue left Liyuan Street, she took the stack of Spring Festival couplets Jiang Se had bought for her. She’d said she would ask He Miao to come over in a couple of days to help her put them up.
She wanted to celebrate the New Year properly.
After the Little New Year, the festive spirit grew stronger. Every household busied themselves with hanging lanterns, buying New Year goods, and pasting couplets.
Jiang Se had been staying on Liyuan Street these past few days.
Even in ordinary households, the New Year season came with its share of social visits. In just a few days, the courtyard had piled up with gifts from friends and neighbors.
A pot of kumquats had appeared in Jiang Se’s room—it was a gift from her Aunt Eleven, the one who had brought her a big watermelon last time.
The bright yellow-orange fruits were festive and vivid. Picking one, washing it, and taking a bite released a burst of sweet-and-sour juice that filled the mouth.
Jiang Se ate one or two a day, and by New Year’s Eve, the pot was almost bare.
Jiang Ye happened to see it from the window and laughed so hard he could barely stand up straight. “Who eats their New Year decorations until they’re bald like that?”
Still laughing, he went back to his room, brought over the pot of kumquats Aunt Eleven had given him, and placed it on Jiang Se’s desk through the window.
“Here, take mine for display. Don’t eat this one bald, too,” he said, eyeing her. “If you really love them, wait until after the seventh day of the New Year to eat them.”
The boy wore a bright red festive shirt and had a fresh buzz cut. Jiang Se looked him up and down and said, “Xiao Ye, you look like a xiangsheng (crosstalk) comedian today. If you’re going on a date later, remember to change clothes.”
Jiang Ye choked, then fired back, “And you look like a—”
He glanced at Jiang Se and couldn’t come up with a suitable insult.
Her outfit, made by Aunt Qi, was a modified two-piece cheongsam. Zhang Yue had personally reviewed the pattern. It looked every bit as elegant as a traditional one-piece.
After struggling for a while, Jiang Ye finally said, “You look like a big red flower!”
Today, it wasn’t just Jiang Se who looked like a big red flower—Yu Shiying and Jiang Tang did too.
After the five of them finished their New Year’s Eve reunion dinner, they went out into the courtyard and took a family portrait.
Yu Shiying and Jiang Chuan sat on chairs, while Jiang Se stood behind them, flanked by Jiang Tang and Jiang Ye.
Just as fireworks bloomed in the sky over the Fuchun River, Jiang Ye shouted, “Are the kumquats sweet?”
Click—
The camera in the middle of the courtyard captured that moment when they all answered “Sweet” in unison, freezing it forever in time.
Far away in the Lu family’s old house in North City, Lu Huaiyan had just finished a tasteless New Year’s Eve dinner. After handing out red envelopes to the younger generation, he returned to his room and called Jiang Se.
It was only ten o’clock. He had already attended two parties and had a third one coming up—a drinking event specially arranged by Guo Song.
Lu Huaiyan held the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt. He was on the fourth button when the call finally connected.
“Lu Huaiyan.”
“Mm. Finished your New Year’s Eve dinner?”
“Yeah.”
Hearing the noise and laughter in the background from her side, the man chuckled and asked, “Where’d you run off to?”
“…I’m by the Fuchun River. Watching fireworks with my parents and big sister.”
“Are the fireworks beautiful?”
“Not bad.”
Hearing that, Lu Huaiyan curled his lips slightly and put on a fresh dress shirt. “Rare to see fireworks that actually meet your standards.”
“……”
If he had been in front of Jiang Se at that moment, she probably would’ve rolled her eyes at him.
As he buttoned the last button, he chuckled lightly and said, “I won’t interrupt our young lady enjoying her fireworks any longer. I’m going to meet up with Guo Song and the others. I’ll call you again tomorrow morning.”
After hanging up, Lu Huaiyan grabbed his coat and headed to the Mayfair Club.
The private room Guo Song had reserved was on the top floor. When Lu Huaiyan arrived, more than ten people were already there—including Cen Li.
“Ah Yan’s here!” Guo Song came over with a glass of wine. “We were just betting on what time you’d show up tonight. Turns out Ah Li knows you best—he said you’d definitely be here before eleven.”
Lu Huaiyan gave Cen Li a faint glance, took the wine glass from Guo Song, and asked, “What was the wager?”
Guo Song said, “Gu family’s shares. Their company’s been seriously unlucky this month—scandal after scandal. Their stock has already dropped 30%.”
And it wasn’t just the Gu family. The Zhang and Hu families, who had major collaborations with them, weren’t doing well either.
Lu Huaiyan didn’t respond. He looked into the room, picked an empty game room, and walked in with his wine.
It was obvious—he wasn’t in high spirits tonight.
Guo Song followed after him, and with a glance at Cen Li still seated on the main hall’s sofa, he lowered his voice and asked, “What exactly happened between you and Ah Li?”
The last time Cen Li was here at this very club, the two of them didn’t seem to have fallen out yet.
Guo Song had never figured out what exactly went wrong—they just suddenly broke off contact.
He had arranged this gathering hoping they could clear the air and reconcile.
Lu Huaiyan sat back on the cigar chair, legs crossed and propped on the seat, then smiled and asked in return, “What could possibly be going on between me and him? Instead of worrying about us, maybe you should worry about your sister.”
Lu Huaiyan never meddled in other people’s family affairs, so for him to suddenly bring up the sister caught Guo Song completely off guard.
His mouth opened slightly, about to say something, but then he saw Lu Huaiyan look past him toward the door.
Guo Song turned around—and who else would be walking in but Cen Li?
“Good, you came. You two deal with your own mess. I’m staying out of it.”
With that, Guo Song left and even closed the door behind him.
Only the wall lamp was on in the room, casting a dim glow.
Neither of them spoke.
After a moment of silence, Cen Li suddenly said, “That night at the Cen family home, when you tore into me… At first, I was angry and thought you were being unfair. But later, I realized everything you said was true. I really haven’t done my duty as an older brother. Se Se, she—”
“Still hasn’t recovered.”
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