Chapter 35: In Your Dreams
Mi Hongcai, reeking of alcohol, stumbled into the house and collapsed onto the sofa, his eyes half-closed, burping repeatedly.
“Why did you drink so much again?” Wang Bide frowned, got up, opened all the windows, and then sat back down as far away from Mi Hongcai as possible.
“Business dinner, business dinner…” Mi Hongcai slurred, burping again. The smell of alcohol in the room intensified. “Get me a glass of water and a couple of steamed buns. I only drank, I’m not full.”
Wang Bide reluctantly got up, went to the kitchen, poured a glass of cold water, and handed it to Mi Hongcai. “It’s so late, where are the steamed buns coming from? Do you think I’m that woman? I can’t do such menial work as making steamed buns.”
“Why are you mentioning her again? That was decades ago.” Mi Hongcai gulped down the cold water, slightly quenching his thirst and sobering up a bit.
Mi Yu had been standing far away since Mi Hongcai entered, afraid of the smell of alcohol. Now that the air in the room was circulating and the smell had dissipated somewhat, she walked towards the sofa and said, “Dad, didn’t I call you this afternoon and say I saw Mi Hongdou at Shudian Film City? She was even wearing a costume. Is she filming? Is she going to be an actress?”
“Impossible, impossible.” Mi Hongcai waved his hand and held out the glass to Wang Bide. “Pour me another glass of water, the last one was too cold, I want warm water. If there are no steamed buns, just get me something to eat.”
Wang Bide didn’t take the glass and said angrily, “I told you not to give Li Ma time off so casually. Now that there are no servants, do you want to treat me like one?”
“Hey, hey, what are you talking about?” Reprimanded like this, Mi Hongcai sobered up a bit more. He rubbed his head and unsteadily got up, went to the kitchen himself, and poured a glass of hot water.
The water was too hot to drink. Mi Hongcai, still drunk, couldn’t find the cold water jug. He poured out half of the hot water and filled the glass with tap water, swirling it around and taking a large gulp.
“Dad, there’s half a box of pizza next to the rice cooker.” Mi Yu stood at the kitchen door and pointed to a corner of the kitchen.
Mi Hongcai slowly shuffled over, found the cardboard box, opened it, and smiled. “Isn’t this just Tujia flaky baked flatbread?” He took a piece and started eating, regardless of whether it was cold or hot.
Mi Yu frowned: “Dad, I’ve told you so many times, it’s pizza, not some flatbread.”
“Okay, okay, it’s not flatbread, it’s foreign flatbread.” Mi Hongcai took two large bites and another big gulp of water before continuing, “I still say, it’s not as good as Tujia flaky baked flatbread. That one has fresh minced beef marinated with cumin, meat floss, and minced garlic, sprinkled with coarse salt, pepper, and chopped scallions, then baked. Oh, it’s so delicious. Much better than this flatbread with some sour stuff on it.”
“…” Mi Yu didn’t even want to talk to him. She snorted, went back to the living room, sat on the sofa, and whispered to Wang Bide, “So uncultured.”
“Don’t say that about your father.” Although she said that, the corners of Wang Bide’s lips curled up slightly before quickly returning to normal.
The pizza was cold, and the sour taste of the tomato sauce was even stronger. Mi Hongcai wasn’t used to it. But fortunately, he had drunk too much earlier, and his sense of taste was dulled, so he managed to eat a few pieces. As he ate, he thought that the Tujia flaky baked flatbread from the small street vendor was still the best. It looked similar to this, but the taste was much better. Before Mi Hongcai became rich, he ran a small food stall, so naturally, he had a special fondness for those authentic local snacks. Even now that he was wealthy, he wasn’t used to these foreign things. But Wang Bide and Mi Yu never ate at those small restaurants.
After eating the pizza and drinking water, Mi Hongcai sobered up considerably and started to feel sleepy. He stumbled out of the kitchen, ready to go to bed.
“Dad!” Mi Yu, seeing that Mi Hongcai was about to go upstairs, called out to him unwillingly. “How is that Mi Hongdou doing recently? What is she doing, do you know?”
Mi Hongcai glanced at Wang Bide, who seemed to be watching TV intently, and coughed. “You know I haven’t seen that child in more than two years. Shouldn’t she still be in school?”
Before Mi Yu could respond, Wang Bide threw the remote control onto the sofa and said sarcastically, without looking at Mi Hongcai, “Oh, you remember quite clearly, ‘that child.’”
“Hey, hey, Mi Hongdou, Mi Hongdou, I haven’t seen her for years. The last time was when she turned eighteen, right? After that, I didn’t have to pay child support anymore, so I haven’t seen her.” Mi Hongcai obsequiously sat next to Wang Bide, picked up the remote control, and put it back in her hand.
“Mom…” Mi Yu was frustrated. Was this the time to be jealous?
Wang Bide glanced at her slightly unhappy daughter and stopped making a fuss. She took the remote control with one hand and pushed Mi Hongcai away slightly with the other. “That Mi Hongdou should have graduated by now. I’m telling you this now, she’s an adult now. Whether she finds a job or not, what kind of job she finds, it’s none of your business, don’t interfere.”
“Yes, yes, I know, I know.” Mi Hongcai nodded.
“Dad, I really saw Mi Hongdou in a film crew at Shudian today. Can you call them tomorrow and ask about it for me?” Mi Yu was still persistent. Although she was studying acting, she was only a sophomore and hadn’t had any opportunities to join a crew. If even Mi Hongdou could act in a drama, why couldn’t she?
Mi Hongcai glanced at Wang Bide, who remained silent, and waved his hand dismissively. “What’s there to ask? She didn’t study acting, let her be.”
“Dad, you didn’t pull some strings to get her into acting, did you?” Mi Yu narrowed her eyes. “Why are you being so evasive?”
“Hey! Don’t talk nonsense!” Mi Hongcai broke out in a cold sweat. This was going to lead to sleeping on the floor tonight. “I’m in the food business, not the movie business. Besides, if I had connections, wouldn’t I think of my own daughter first? Why would I let her go?”
“So she’s not your daughter?” Mi Yu was very unhappy.
“My own daughter is you, I’m talking about you. She… sigh, I can’t control her anyway.” This was actually true. Since he divorced Wang Linyue, although they were both still in Jiang City, they had never met again. He had seen Mi Hongdou a few times, but perhaps because her mother had said something to her, they never became close when she was young, and they had even less to say to each other when she grew up. This daughter was like she didn’t exist, how could she compare to Mi Yu, who grew up by his side and was so close to him?
“Then will you ask for me or not! I really think it was her!” Mi Yu wouldn’t be fooled by Mi Hongcai’s attempts to brush it off.
“Aiya, even if it was her, so what?” Mi Hongcai still remembered the last time he met Mi Hongdou. They sat face to face, drank coffee, barely spoke two words, and in the end, Mi Hongdou gave him a bank card. That card was the one he specifically opened after divorcing Wang Linyue, and it contained all the child support payments he had made over the years. Actually, Wang Bide was strict with their finances, so even after Mi Hongcai became rich and his restaurant chain took off, the monthly child support payments were only a few hundred yuan. That small amount of money, over more than ten years, they hadn’t touched it, leaving it all in the card, and returned it all at once. Mi Hongcai tried to refuse, but Mi Hongdou just got up and left, so he could only accept the card. Although he hadn’t seen Wang Linyue all these years, he could guess that it wasn’t easy for a single woman raising a child. But if she didn’t want the child support, why didn’t she refuse it in the first place? Why wait until Mi Hongdou turned eighteen to return the untouched card? Mi Hongcai never understood this and always felt a bit awkward about it, so he hadn’t contacted them since. Now, Mi Yu insisted that he inquire about it, and he really didn’t want to.
Mi Hongcai never told Wang Bide and Mi Yu about the returned child support. Firstly, because he didn’t understand it himself, and secondly, because he felt inexplicably ashamed. So now, Mi Yu couldn’t understand why Mi Hongcai, who usually indulged her, was being so hesitant and evasive, and she became even more unhappy. “If I was mistaken, then fine. But if it was really her, why can an art student get a role in a drama, while I, an acting student, can’t even get an audition? If it’s really her, Dad, you have to talk to her and ask her to recommend me to the crew.”
“I don’t have any contact with them anymore. Even if it’s really her, would she listen to me? Besides, do you remember? You’ve only met once, when you were eight and just found out you had a sister. You insisted on having her come to your birthday party. And then, she injured her shoulder, and you never played together again. If it weren’t for the time I went to see her two years ago, and you secretly followed me, you wouldn’t even know what she looks like now, right? You just saw her from afar through the cafe window, are you sure you didn’t mistake her for someone else today?” Mi Hongcai doted on his daughter, but he wasn’t a fool. Hearing his daughter’s somewhat unreasonable demands, he really didn’t know what to do.
There were some things he really didn’t know how to say. When Mi Yu was young, she didn’t know that before Wang Bide, Mi Hongcai had another wife and daughter. It wasn’t until she was almost eight that, somehow, she heard about it while playing at the restaurant. Not only did she make a fuss, but she insisted on meeting her half-sister, who was three years older than her. Mi Hongcai eventually brought her over. But within a few hours, she injured her shoulder in the kitchen, covered in blood. It seemed that from that time onwards, Mi Hongdou, who had been somewhat close to Mi Hongcai when she was younger, always had a cold expression. But in any case, Mi Yu never asked to see Mi Hongdou again after that and became more obedient for a while. They said it was an accident in the kitchen, and Mi Hongcai hoped that was the case. The two families, which were already not very close, became even more distant. Now, even if Mi Hongdou was really acting, whether she would be willing to help her half-sister… Mi Hongcai thought it was unlikely.
“That shoulder injury… she also said it was her own fault, that she was playing around and knocked something over, scratching herself.” Mi Yu stamped her foot. “Anyway, I don’t care, you have to ask for me. If you don’t find out, I won’t be able to sleep!”
Mi Yu also understood that if her status wasn’t high enough, forget about getting someone into a crew, even just introducing someone to a director or screenwriter she had worked with, they might not give her face. But what did that have to do with her? If Mi Hongdou was really in the crew, any introductions would be using Mi Hongdou’s connections. If it worked out, great. If not, it had nothing to do with Mi Yu. At worst, she could just continue to pretend that Mi Hongdou didn’t exist.
“Sigh…” Mi Hongcai was about to refuse again, but Wang Bide interrupted him.
“The child asked you to ask, so just ask. Will asking cost you a pound of flesh?” Wang Bide grabbed the remote control and turned off the TV. “Go to bed early. Tomorrow morning, you go ask. After you’ve asked, then go to the company.”
“Mom is the best!” Mi Yu happily hugged Wang Bide’s waist and stuck her tongue out at Mi Hongcai triumphantly.
“Okay… okay…” Mi Hongcai was always so afraid of his wife. He would ask, since there would be no peace until he did.
“You,” Wang Bide pointed at Mi Hongcai, who was getting up to take a shower and go to bed, “sleep in the guest room. The smell of alcohol is too strong, I can’t sleep.”
Mi Hongcai sniffed himself and said innocently, “It’s not strong, I’ll shower, and the smell will be gone.”
Wang Bide shook her head: “Guest room.” She didn’t care that Mi Hongcai was unsteady on his feet and went upstairs with Mi Yu.
The bedding in the guest room seemed like it hadn’t been aired out for a while. Mi Hongcai tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. From what Wang Bide and Mi Yu said earlier, Mi Hongdou had already graduated. He wondered what kind of job she had found. Thinking about Wang Linyue, back when he had a small food stall and wanted to expand, when he went out for business dinners, there would always be warm tea to sober him up and warm snacks in the steamer when he came home. The steamed buns Wang Linyue made were also exceptional. But, no matter what, her refusal to have a son was wrong. Otherwise, she could be living in a big house with him now. But, Wang Bide was still more beautiful. One thought after another ran through Mi Hongcai’s mind, and he couldn’t fall asleep for a long time.
He wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep that night.
Mi Hongdou, after taking two showers and cooking two meals, was truly tired. She forced herself to take a third, quick shower, and as soon as she lay down in bed, her eyelids started to droop. But, in her drowsiness, she seemed to hear a rustling sound, like a small animal scratching at something, continuous and unsettling. Mi Hongdou jolted awake, her sleepiness gone, and sat up.
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