Golden Scale [EN]: Chapter 91

120. A Chance Encounter – How Could a Golden Dragon Be Confined to a Pond?

Ru Yun had politely stood up before the deputy manager of Honda’s investment department even entered the office. However, when the person actually appeared, she didn’t extend her hand as expected. Her hand froze just as it reached the edge of the desk, her face filled with extreme surprise. She never imagined that after more than a decade, she would reunite with the man who had changed her life in such a situation. “Fang… Fang Jie…”

“Yun Yun,” Quan Zhilang walked to the desk with a smile. “Won’t you invite me to sit down?”
“Mr. Quan, please call me Director Xu,” Ru Yun said. The blush from her earlier intimacy with Hou Longtao had faded, and her expression had returned to normal. She extended her hand, shaking the man’s hand formally. “Please sit down.” With this handshake, she clearly conveyed a message: “There’s nothing between us except business.”

“Director Xu,” Quan Zhilang smiled slightly. He didn’t take the woman’s “warning” too seriously, as he saw the rosy cheeks on her beautiful face and mistakenly thought they were for him. “Time hasn’t left any bad marks on you; instead, it has made you even more perfect.”
“Mr. Quan, IIC [International Investment Corporation] has never had a cooperative relationship with Honda. Please get straight to the point about your business.”

“It’s been thirteen years since we last contacted each other, right?” Quan Zhilang looked at the celestial beauty before him, much more radiant than when he had left. Especially in terms of temperament, she had completely transformed from a beautiful housewife into a dazzling businesswoman. The bright eyes behind her frameless glasses sparkled with wisdom, and her eyes and brows revealed maturity and confidence. “Stunningly beautiful” was the only phrase he could think of. He really didn’t know how he could have abandoned such a rare and unattainable woman. “How have you been?”

“Mr. Quan, my time is limited. If you want to talk about personal matters, I’m afraid I can’t accompany you.” Ru Yun’s face was frosty, even colder than when she first met Hou Longtao.
“Yun Yun, I know you hate me…”
“Please leave.” Ru Yun reached for the intercom, wanting to call her secretary in, but after calling out “Yueling,” she remembered that Hou Longtao had borrowed her. She was probably using her “mouth” to please that thick tool right now.

“My uncle just passed away. I came back this time for his funeral, so even though I’ve wanted to see you, I haven’t had the time.” Quan Zhilang had anticipated the woman’s reaction and came prepared.
“Uncle Fang passed away?” Ru Yun’s tone softened slightly. After she divorced this man, only his uncle didn’t approve of his actions. Later, his uncle also helped her arrange her trip to the United States.

“A month and a half ago, a sudden heart attack.”
“Oh…” Ru Yun felt a little guilty. After going overseas, she had focused all her attention on her studies and quickly lost contact with Uncle Fang. Even after returning to China, she hadn’t looked for him. Thinking about it now, she felt a bit “ungrateful.”
“I’m truly sorry.”
“Thank you. I’m leaving for Japan tomorrow.

How about we have dinner together tonight? Catch up.” Quan Zhilang immediately pressed his advantage.

“I have nothing to catch up on with you.” Ru Yun’s emotional display was fleeting.
“You hate me; I don’t blame you.”
“Why should I hate you? To me, you’re just a stranger.”
“That’s not fair. Would you be so cold to a stranger?”
“I’ll say it again: if you’re not here as a representative of Honda to discuss business, please leave.” Ru Yun got up and opened the door, personally seeing him out.

“Yun Yun,” Quan Zhilang stood up and walked to the door. “Why be so heartless?”
“Please leave.”
“I…”
“Do I need to call security?”
“Okay, I’ll go.” The man left the office. “Yun Yun, I’ve never forgotten you, not a day goes by that I don’t miss you…” The office door slammed shut. He smiled slightly and turned to walk towards the elevator. Although he didn’t get the good result he had imagined, he had basically achieved his goal.

Ru Yun leaned against the door, her arms hanging naturally at her sides. She tilted her head back, her eyes gradually blurring. Two streams of tears silently slid down her cheeks uncontrollably. The strength in her body seemed to have been suddenly drained. Her legs weakened, and she slowly sat down on the floor, pressing her forehead against her knees, wrapping her arms around her legs, curling up into a ball. She didn’t make a sound, but her shoulders trembled.

When Ru Yun was confiding in Xue Nuo, she had said that she no longer hated Fang Jie. She wasn’t intentionally lying at the time; she really thought she had no feelings for that man anymore. But the grievances she had suffered back then were so great, the betrayal so deep. Thirteen years later, suddenly seeing her heartless ex-husband, the scars in her heart were torn open again. Beneath her noble and resolute exterior, she was still an emotional woman. From loving each other to breaking up, scenes flashed through her mind like slides, lingering.

After a long while, Ru Yun stood up, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, turned around, and opened the door a crack. Seeing that no one was outside, she slipped out of the room, lowered her head, and quickly walked to the restroom. She carefully tidied herself up, concealing all traces of crying, and put on a faint smile. Leaving the restroom, she didn’t return to her office but walked towards the investment department, meeting a radiant and blushing Yueling.
“Long Tao?”

“He’s in the office.” Yueling was a little breathless when she spoke.
“You little hussy, you’re glowing?”
“Need you ask?”
“Finish the work at hand, and we can go home.”
“No rush; he’s free right now.”
“Hmph.” Ru Yun rolled her eyes at her secretary. She understood what her secretary meant, but she wasn’t in the mood right now.

It was almost 4:00 PM. Hou Longtao lit a cigarette and began to tidy up his desk, planning to leave after he was done. He had been fooling around with Yueling upstairs, making a mess.
“Smoking in the office again; you’re really incorrigible.” Ru Yun walked in after knocking on the door twice.
“Hehe, who dares to control me?” The man stood up. Although he was tough on the outside, he still put out the cigarette. His wife was more effective than his mother.

“Are you busy tonight?”
“Huh? I’m going to Huairou.”
“Oh, right,” Ru Yun gently patted her forehead. “You mentioned it earlier; how could I forget?”
“What’s wrong? Is there something you need?”
“Nothing, I just wanted you to come to my place tonight. Never mind, go do your thing.” The beauty finished speaking and turned around, wanting to leave. She concealed it very well, not revealing any emotional fluctuations.

Hou Longtao darted behind the beauty, hugged her body, his arms squeezing her large breasts, his cheek rubbing against her face. “Wife, I promise I won’t let you sleep all night when I get back.”
“Alright,” Ru Yun raised her right hand, reaching behind to gently pat her young lover’s cheek. “Have fun.”
“Yeah, what did the Japanese want from you?”
“Nothing, just ordinary cooperation matters.”

Hou Longtao let the woman go. He was eager to leave work early, so he didn’t continue to press about Honda’s affairs, figuring there would be plenty of opportunities in the future. Although he was attentive, he couldn’t completely see through Ru Yun’s heart. He only instinctively felt that his wife’s behavior was a bit abnormal, but this feeling was extremely faint, and he himself didn’t really notice it…

Going out to play, a suit and leather shoes would be inappropriate. After leaving the office, Hou Longtao first went home to change into a T-shirt and a pair of knee-length denim shorts, and then set off in slippers. Today, starting from 3:00 PM, the sky had become overcast. Although there was no scorching sun, it was even more stuffy, making it difficult to breathe. It seemed that a heavy rain was inevitable.

The SL500 [Mercedes-Benz model] drove to the bottom of Yu Qian’s building. It was already the agreed time, but the girl hadn’t appeared yet, indicating that being late was her habit. Hou Longtao lowered the seat back a little, opened the car window, lit a cigarette, and began to lean back, closing his eyes to rest. A fragrant breeze wafted in through the window. The man opened his eyes, and Yu Qian was already smiling outside the car.

The girl bent over and tilted her head. “Hey, can’t you wait even a little while? Were you sleeping?” Her hairstyle had changed again today. The two strands at the front were braided into two thin pigtails, each with a small gold butterfly hairpin. The rest of her hair was held in place by a wooden hairpin.

Hou Longtao’s mouth was slightly open, the cigarette stuck to his lower lip, his eyes wide, looking a bit silly. Even his usual gentlemanly demeanor was gone, and he didn’t get out of the car to open the door for the lady.
“You wouldn’t be so easily impressed, would you?” Yu Qian smiled sweetly. She used one foot as a pivot, turned around, put her hands behind her back, and walked proudly towards the front of the car.
“Ouch!” The cigarette butt fell onto Hou Longtao’s hand, waking him up.

Yu Qian was wearing a pink halter top embroidered with a few gold flowers. Except for two thin straps at the top and middle, her entire smooth back, shoulders, and arms were exposed. It seemed that she must have worn a “three-point” swimsuit [very revealing bikini] when she was swimming in the United States, as there was a faint mark left by a bra strap on her back. The front of the halter top had a diamond-shaped opening, revealing a glimpse of her beautiful cleavage. In contrast to her exposed upper body, the girl was wearing a white, low-waisted, narrow skirt that just covered her knees. There was a very high slit on the right side, extending to the middle of her thigh. The skirt was very tight at the hips, completely revealing the curves of her high, rounded buttocks. Ordinary underwear would definitely leave marks on this kind of skirt, so she was either wearing a T-back thong or not wearing any underwear at all.

Although she wasn’t wearing stockings, Yu Qian’s legs still looked as smooth as silk. She was wearing a pair of pink high-heeled sandals with bows. This outfit could be considered very sexy, but perhaps because of the colors, it didn’t give off an overly lewd feeling, only a sense of beauty. Perhaps it could be described as an alternative purity, or “exposed purity.”

“I really am a country bumpkin,” Hou Longtao kept looking at her after the girl got into the car. “You’re dressed like this; it’s hard for me to control myself. I want to hug you.”
“Then hug me.”
“Okay.” The man twisted his upper body, opened his arms, and leaned towards the beauty.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Yu Qian pushed him hard in the chest. “I was just joking; are you serious? Don’t be so impulsive.”

“Hmph,” Hou Longtao sat up straight helplessly. “Your way of joking is very dangerous. Not every man can stop like I can.”
“What are you doing? Giving me a lecture again? Who dares to provoke me? I’m not afraid.”
“You’re not afraid, but I am. When something really happens, no one will care what your family does. It’ll be too late to regret it then. I’m not lecturing you; I’ve seen too much of that kind of thing. I don’t want you to be in danger.”

“Don’t be so serious,” Yu Qian grabbed the man’s right arm with both hands and leaned over to kiss him on the face. “I only joke like this with you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s more like it,” Hou Longtao no longer frowned. “Is that all you brought?” He pointed to the white leather bag the girl had brought.
“Yeah, there’s nothing to bring. Anyway, it’s your treat. I only have twenty-something yuan on me.”

“Alright.” Hou Longtao started the car. “It’s not just the two of us, is it?”
“No, I booked ‘Reporter’s Home.’ ‘Dongxing’ is paying. Over a hundred employees left at noon; it’s like a perk for them.”
“What about your brothers?”
“Of course they’re going. They left a long time ago too.”
“So disloyal; they didn’t even wait for us?”
“Hmph, those guys never wait for this kind of thing. By the way, what department do you work in now?”

“The Ministry of Public Security.”
“Why did you want to become a police officer?”
“Didn’t I tell you? It was a condition for me to move out.”
“Which department specifically?”
“Why are you asking so many questions?”
“Being a police officer is a dangerous job. I don’t want anything to happen.”
Hou Longtao turned to look at the girl.
“It’s not dangerous,” Yu Qian saw the tenderness in the man’s eyes and smiled happily. “I’m just a secretary; I sit in the office all day.”

Outside the gate of this district was a road that wasn’t too narrow but was designated as a one-way street from east to west. Hou Longtao decided to ignore this rule because going west would be too far out of the way. He had only driven for two minutes when he saw a mounted police officer coming out of the intersection ahead. “Damn it, this is too unlucky.” He had only cursed in his heart when the police officer was already in front of him, pointing to the side of the road, signaling him to pull over.

“My cousin, it’s my cousin,” Yu Qian seemed quite happy, patting the man’s arm. “Pull over quickly, pull over quickly.” Hou Longtao had a premonition, but he didn’t expect to be so unlucky. He grimaced and pulled the car over.
“You go down and talk to her; let me off the hook.”
“I’ll ask her to come with us.”
“Huh?”
“To go to Huairou together.” The girl didn’t wait for the man to comment and jumped out of the car.

Hou Longtao saw in the rearview mirror that the two beauties held hands and said a few words, then walked towards his side of the car. Knowing that he couldn’t avoid facing his “enemy,” he got out of the car with an embarrassed expression.
“You… it’s you!?” Feng Yun didn’t recognize him at first glance, but after a closer look, she realized it was the crazy guy who had cursed at her last time. It had been many years since she had heard someone yell at her, so she remembered it very clearly.

“Hehehe,” Hou Longtao chuckled dryly, reaching out to scratch his head. “Sister Yun, I’m really sorry about last time. I didn’t know you were Yu Qian’s relative. It was all my fault. Please forgive me.” As he spoke, he carefully sized up the woman in front of him. Her height was about the same as Yu Qian’s, around 1.65 meters, but her breasts inside the police uniform weren’t as perky as Yu Qian’s. Although they couldn’t be called “airports” [very flat-chested], calling them flat-chested wouldn’t be a problem.

“Hmph,” Feng Yun looked at the man coldly. “Are you saying that if I weren’t her relative, it would have been okay for you to be so arrogant towards me?”
“No, no, of course not.”
“Alright, stop talking nonsense and show me your driver’s license.”
“What?”
“What are you pretending for? This is a one-way street. Do you have a license? If you do, show it to me.”
“Hehe, Sister Yun, you’re being…”
“Stop trying to get close; we’re doing this by the book.”

“It really was a misunderstanding last time.” Hou Longtao was being as patient as possible, mostly because of Yu Qian’s face, but also partly because of his admiration for Feng Yun, and a little bit because he didn’t dare to provoke her too much.
“Are you having hearing problems? I told you to show me your driver’s license. Driving without a license is punishable by fifteen days of detention.”
“Cousin, don’t be like this,” Yu Qian grabbed the woman’s arm. “He’s already apologized; just let him go.”

Feng Yun glared at Yu Qian. “Are you going to Huairou with him?”
“Yeah.”
“Aren’t you going with a few girlfriends?”
“Yeah, there are over a hundred people; there are always a few girls.” Yu Qian lowered her head, pursed her lips, and her nimble eyes darted around.
“When did you learn to lie to me?”
“I… um, um, I was afraid to tell you. You ask this and that. Why do you talk like my mom?”
“Why are you dressed like this?”
“What’s wrong?”

“You know I hate women who use exposure to please men,” Feng Yun didn’t give her niece any face.
“I… I, I think I look pretty this way too.” Yu Qian didn’t directly deny her cousin’s “accusation.”
“Hmph, do you think that this way, this guy will value you? He’s just a defender of a male-dominated society. The more you’re like this, the more he’ll see you as an object, not an equal.”

Hou Longtao understood that this police girl was an extreme feminist. Although he was a bit of a chauvinist, he didn’t object to women fighting for their basic rights, such as not being discriminated against in admissions and hiring, and equal pay for equal work. However, he was very disgusted by women who dragged everything into gender equality, wanted to be above men in everything, and were determined to restore a female-dominated society. It wasn’t very common in China yet, but American society was already a bit “overcorrected.”
“Is it necessary to scold me? I just treated you like a man last time. Look at how relentless you are; you’re so petty.”

Feng Yun turned her head and looked the man up and down. “Do you know that it’s not allowed to drive in slippers?”
“You’re obviously nitpicking, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean nitpicking? Did you violate the rules? Is this a one-way street? Are you driving in slippers? If so, show me your license.”
“I won’t.”
“What?”
“You’re from the Haidian Traffic Police. Why are you enforcing the law here? Aren’t you the one who hates special privileges the most? What is this? If you used the upper limit to fine me last time, I could still accept it, but what’s this?” Hou Longtao stuck out his neck.

“As a police officer, I have the right and the obligation to stop, correct, and punish anyone who violates the law at any time and in any place. Are you resisting the law?” Feng Yun took a step forward, her eyes flashing.
“What are you doing? Do you want to hit me? In broad daylight, a police officer dares to abuse violence?” Hou Longtao also didn’t back down, acting like a thug.

“That depends on whether you’re violently resisting the law. If you are, then I’m not abusing violence.”
“Of course I can’t resist the law, but your attitude is too bad. I want you to politely ask me to show my documents like a true public servant.”
“Enough!” Yu Qian shouted, putting her arms between the two people who were almost touching each other, and forcefully separated them. “What do you think you’re doing? Aren’t you afraid people will watch?”

Hou Longtao and Feng Yun then noticed that many pedestrians and cyclists had stopped to watch. Actually, many men were looking at Yu Qian.
“Hmph, show me your license.”
“Why aren’t you done yet?”
“What are you doing? You don’t care about me at all.” Yu Qian pouted, and her eyes became moist. She realized that being tough didn’t seem to work, and since she knew her cousin’s temper, she simply switched to a wronged tone.

“Stop making a scene here.” Feng Yun’s face darkened, and she stared sternly at her niece.
“Okay, okay, you want the license; I’ll give you the license.” Hou Longtao had never been able to resist a girl’s soft pleas. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket.
“Are you stupid?” Yu Qian pushed the man towards the Benz several steps. “Get in the car and wait for me.”
“Huh?”
“You big pig, I told you to get in the car and wait for me. Is there something you don’t understand?”

After Hou Longtao got into the car, Yu Qian ran back to Feng Yun’s side. “Thank you, Cousin.”
“You little brat, tell him that if I catch him again, I won’t spare him.”
“I know, I know.”
“Hmph, are you spending the night with him tonight?”
“What do you mean spending the night with him?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes.”
“You have to control yourself.”
“Um, but he is the one.”
“Stop speaking English to me; I don’t understand.”
“Hehe, then I’m leaving.” Yu Qian smiled as she walked towards the SL500.
“Hmph.” Feng Yun shook her head helplessly and turned to get on her motorcycle.

“Hahaha,” Yu Qian laughed happily as soon as she got into the car. “You two looked like fighting cocks just now; it was so funny.”
“You’re still laughing? I thought she was pretty upright, but now it seems like she has some problems.”
“Hey,” the girl hit Hou Longtao. “How can you say that? She’s my cousin.”
“Yes, yes, yes, so how do we go now?”
“Of course, we’re turning around. Do you want to give her another reason to fine you?”

The Benz turned around. There was no way to avoid going the long way. Yu Qian saw that the man’s frown hadn’t eased, so she reached out and scratched his cheek. “Aren’t you ashamed? A grown man, arguing with a delicate girl.”
“Tsk,” Hou Longtao laughed. “Says you, you were fierce one moment, wronged the next, and then giggling. Aren’t you ashamed? Besides, is your cousin what you call delicate? Then I really can’t imagine what a tigress is like.”

“What?” Yu Qian grabbed the man’s ear and pulled hard.
“Ah, ah, ah, okay, okay, I’m wrong,” Hou Longtao shouted, baring his teeth. “She’s a gentle lady, okay?”
“That’s more like it.” The girl sat up straight with a proud look on her face, as if she had won a battle. At this time, the scattered dark clouds had become overcast, and the wind had picked up. It was only a little after five o’clock, but it looked like it was already late at night…(How Could a Golden Dragon Be Confined to a Pond?)