Fated Marriage Chapter 2.2

Chapter Two (Part 2)

Han Ting Ting and Qin Song’s honeymoon was postponed. Qin Song decided to cancel leave and returned to work. Han Ting Ting stayed at home and did housework. The new home was one of Qin Song’s many properties in an upscale district. The house was one hundred and fifty metres wide and furnished with luxurious fittings. Qin Song occupied the entire upstairs area and she lived downstairs. Out of fear their fake marriage would be revealed they didn’t hire any servants. Han Ting Ting didn’t mind, she reasoned the house belonged to Qin Song and she got free lodging so it was fair that she did the housework.

With responsibilities clearly split between Han Ting Ting and Qin Song, their married days flew by faster than a chicken flapping and a dog pouncing.

Ting’s dad had six st.i.tches on his forehead and his old wounds on his left leg ached whilst he was in the hospital for a week. After discharge, his left leg was still sore and had to rest at home for a while. Han Ting Ting visited her parents’ home each day after cleaning Qin Song’s house.

There were no buses or taxis operating in Qin Song’s district. In the mornings Qin Song drove Ting Ting to the bus stop. In the afternoons she returned home before him and prepared meals for him to eat after work. But after a few days of taking taxis home, she was distressed she wasted fifty dollars on taxi fares. Then she decided to take three buses and walk forty minutes. By the time she arrived home his stomach rumbled out of hunger.

She felt guilty he had to wait long. ‘I’ll go cook straight away.’

He made a long face and chucked car keys at her. ‘Tomorrow you drive yourself to your parents’ home! Then drive yourself back here!’

She was startled but returned the car keys. ‘I don’t know how to drive.’

‘You have a car license!’ he said.

How dare ‘little country bun’ lie to him. When they first met on her record stated that she was a preschool teacher, owned a grade eight piano certificate and had a type c driver’s license.

‘I do have a car license…’ she said weakly. ‘But it doesn’t mean I can drive…’

Back in her old district she was forced to get a car license by that person. It took her eight attempts to pa.s.s the theory test and it wasn’t necessary to recount what happened during her practical test. Finally after an ordeal she received a car license that person was more elated than she was, praised that she was smart and gave her a new G500 car model for her to drive. She drove it for less than ten minutes and almost hit the curve if that person didn’t take control of the steering wheel and changed direction. The front of the car was sc.r.a.ped but no car accident happened.

After she regained her wits, that person rubbed her head and smiled.

‘It’s my fault, Ting Bao you don’t have a driver’s instinct and skill set needed for driving. Forget it, I give up, I’ll continue being your chauffeur!’ that person said.

She was holding lotus roots and in a trance thinking about the past.

‘Hey!’ Qin Song said after he saw her blank eyes.

‘Little country bun’ was startled and dropped the lotus roots on Qin Song’s toes.

‘I’m… I’m… I’m sorry!’ she stuttered. ‘Are you hurt?’

Qin Song’s face scrunched up out of pain and grimaced. ‘Han Ting Ting!’ He clenched his teeth. ‘Tomorrow-morning-walk-to-the-bus-stop! I-don’t-care-anymore!’

She didn’t make a fuss about his rudeness but was more concerned about his pain. ‘Does your foot hurt? Let me see!’

Threats had no effect on ‘little country bun.’ He was hurt physically and frustrated on the inside. He scowled, took his empty stomach and limped upstairs to take care of his foot injury.

The next day, breakfast included porridge and pickled vegetables too. But Qin Song only touched the shiny golden omelette on the plate in front of him like usual. He intended to enjoy the omelette then leave after breakfast without looking back.

She finished washing the pots and sat next to him but he stood up to leave.

‘Drive carefully!’ she said.

Unexpectedly he gave her a glare.

After tiding up after breakfast, she locked the front door and headed to the bus stop. In front of the house a car drove beside her and the windows were wound down. It was her neighbour who had an adorable son named Xiao Tao. Xiao Tao’s father saw her walking and offered her a lift.

When she visited her parents’ home, her mum wasn’t home and her dad was laying in bed reading.

Her dad brushed his grey hair. ‘No, your mum went to the factory to bring work home.’

She recognised in her dad’s tone that he was uncomfortable about burdening her mum.

It was understandable that any man who was bedridden would feel uncomfortable for his wife to work in order to support the family household financially. She empathised with his plight but didn’t show it on the outside.

After chatting with her dad for a while, she went to buy food. When she brought food home she saw her mum was home. It was a humid day, her mum’s greying hair was sweaty and some of it clung to her worn out face.

‘Take a seat, let me go cook,’ her mum said and rubbed her face that was red hot from sunburn. ‘Look at how hot you are! Go get an ice pop from the freezer.’

She bought pork ribs to cook soup and the vegetables and mushrooms were fried. The three family members sat together and ate. Her parents’ chopsticks hovered back and forth over the plates of food but only picked up the vegetarian dishes.

She placed pork ribs into their bowls. ‘Dad, mum, eat the pork ribs too.’

Her mum smiled, transferred the pork ribs from her mum’s bowl to her her dad’s bowl. ‘Ancient hubby, you need to eat lots to nourish your injury and heal faster.’

‘Mum, you should eat meat too,’ she said and placed vegetarian dishes in front of her. ‘I’m on a diet to lose weight, I’ll eat the vegetables. Dad, mum, don’t hog the vegetables.’

Her mum laughed. ‘You’re not fat or too thin, you’re well balanced. Anyway your in-laws don’t want their daughter-in-law to be too thin, not good for bearing fruit.’

‘Yes mum!’ she said, nodded and smiled sweetly. ‘Qin Song’s mum often buys delicious food for me.’

Ting’s parents exchanged smiles and thought that their daughter married the right man.

Han Ting Ting felt burdened by their smiling faces. She silently bowed her head and ate.

Han Ting Ting learnt from yesterday to head straight to her parents’ home straight after house ch.o.r.es were done, otherwise her parents would need to toil too much. At three in the afternoon she rushed to her parents’ home. It was another humid day and her mum was busy a.s.sembling beads using little tweezers onto the fringe of a thick woolen shawl on her lap, it was tedious labour. Her mum was too scared to turn on the fan and after beading a portion of the fringe her mum gulped down a gla.s.s of water.

She took advantage of her alone time with her mum. ‘Dad resting at home, didn’t he receive any bonus or work compensation?’

Her dad was too righteous and never bothered to suck up to his superiors to make his work life easier. As a result he worked half a lifetime and was still only an ordinary cop, his superiors and colleagues both feared and marginalised him.

‘There is a little… you don’t need to worry about it,’ her mum said. ‘We’ve got by all these years. Now that you’re not living with us, it’s one less person to feed.’

‘Then why do you have to take on hard labour? Mum, what about the money you saved up for my wedding? Why aren’t you using it?’ she asked.

‘Your dad and I aren’t in desperate need of money. I’m only safekeeping your wedding money for you and Qin Song,’ she said and patted her hand. ‘Just because you married into a rich family, don’t take on bad habits like burning money on wasteful extravagant things!’

‘I haven’t…’ she muttered with her head down. ‘I better get going. I need to prepare meals before Qin Song’s back home from work.’

‘Oh, hurry home!’ her mum said. ‘Make sure you cook lots of delicious food, Qin Song works hard all day long.’

‘Yes mum, I know,’ she said and took off.

Qin Song wanted to rush home early, he’d never been so productive during a meeting before.

After the meeting Rong Yan stalled Qin Song and smiled teasingly. ‘Everyone take a good look at Qin Song, he looks like he regrets he can’t ride a cloud straight home.’

The big boss could sympathise with Qin Song’s eagerness. ‘He’s a newlywed, his impatience to leave is understandable.’

Black belly Chen Yu Bai was leisurely wiping his gla.s.ses. ‘Qin Song’s only started sampling a new taste, being impatient as him is perfectly normal.’

Li Wei Ran burst out laughing.

Qin Song heard their speculations and became enraged. He thumped the table. ‘You b.u.t.t wipes! It’s you people that aren’t accustomed to that taste!’

Qin Song’s sworn brothers heard the s.e.xual frustration in Qin Song’s tone and gave him pity looks. Then his sworn bothers took out their phones to either call or message their own warm family of a beautiful wife and children.

Qin Song could only silently swallow the injustice. He grabbed his briefcase and fled home.

Qin Song got home and wanted to cause trouble for ‘little country bun.’ Just because he wanted to get home early to force Ting Ting to cook, he was laughed at by those b.u.t.t wipes.

At home, he saw an empty dining table and was ecstatic she didn’t finish cooking.

‘Han Ting Ting!’ he said and took off his shoes at the same time. ‘Did you walk home today?’

Han Ting Ting heard the doorbell and ran from the kitchen. She wore a green ap.r.o.n, which highlighted her white skin.

‘Why are you home early from work?’ she asked.

He concealed his amus.e.m.e.nt by wearing a dark expression and sat on the sofa and mercilessly ha.s.sled Ting Ting. ‘Why isn’t dinner ready?’

Han Ting Ting looked at the clock hung on the wall, it was four in the afternoon… who would eat dinner so early?

‘Was the food you ate for lunch at work not appetizing?’ she asked sympathetically. ‘Wait for me a bit. I’ll start frying the vegetables, it’ll be quick. The soup is ready. I’ll scoop a bowl of soup to ease your hunger.’

‘No need!’ he said.

A strange unfamiliar sensation he never felt before stayed with him even after dinner was cooked made his heart itch continuously.

She scooped for him a bowl of chicken and mushroom soup and put the bowl next to his arm. He was startled, lifted his head to stare at her and she tensed.

‘What’s wrong?’ she asked and touched her face in case there was something stuck on her face.

He took a deep breath, choked and looked away. In his confused state he waved the chopsticks wildly at the soup. ‘It’s too greasy! I don’t want to eat it.’

‘But yesterday you said the vegetable soup was too bland,’ she said and sipped the chicken soup broth to taste. ‘Doesn’t taste greasy. I skimmed off the oily top layer already.’

She dared to talk back at him? He frowned. ‘Your cooking sucks!’

She awkwardly lowered her head. ‘Then… tomorrow I’ll go to your parents’ home to learn how to cook the dishes you like eating.’

She dared to use his parents to threaten him! He slammed his chopsticks on the table and glared at ‘little country bun.’

His icy condescending look made her feel she was out of her element. The steam of chicken and mushroom floated into the tensed atmosphere. She thought about yesterday’s lunch at her parents’ home how they had to be frugal about a bowl of pork rib soup made her heart ache. Compared to Qin Song, she didn’t have enough resources to provide food and clothing for her parents. Not only that, she made her parents who were at an advanced age had to move from their country house to a distant and cruel city.

‘Hey…’ he said.

‘Little country bun’ was crying. Did he go too far?

‘What are you crying for…’ he asked. ‘I hate girls who cry in front of me!’

She rubbed her eyes and was still sobbing. ‘I… didn’t ask you… to like me.’

He choked. ‘Don’t cry anymore!’

He pa.s.sed her a tissue. ‘The truth is… you cook delicious food, I was only kidding before.’

‘Not funny at all!’ she said.

The tissue in her hand was soaked. She was about to reach out for another tissue, but he stood up and put the box of tissues in front of her.

‘In the morning when you went out, did you walk to the bus stop again?’ he asked.

He thought that one criticism about how her cooking was hard to swallow couldn’t have made her cry that much. Was she still mad at him for driving to work in the morning and not giving her a lift to the bus stop?

She was startled and looked up. ‘No I didn’t walk. In the morning Xiao Tao’s father from next door gave me a lift to the bus stop.’

Once again he was taken by surprise… his threats were useless against her. Who was Xiao Tao’s father? He’d never known there was someone living next door.

She saw that his complexion wasn’t good and thought that he must have felt guilty and hastily explained. ‘I’m not crying because of you.’

He heard the sound of his crushed ego and looked away.

After Qin Song found out why ‘little country bun’ was crying, he thought it was a ridiculous reason.

‘You can give money to aunty. I’ve given you your allowance already,’ he said.

In his view, problems that could be solved by using money weren’t problems.

‘That’s your money,’ she said and cried until her nose turned red. ‘I know you’re a wealthy and a generous person. But you and I aren’t in a real marriage. You don’t have any responsibility toward my parents. I can’t take money from you.’

‘Do you have money?’ he asked and gave ‘little country bun’ a conceited glance.

‘I don’t,’ she said and shook her head in despair.

She didn’t have money at all. When she was preparing for the wedding, Zhang Yu without consulting her had quit her job at her old preschool on her behalf. Her old boss politely settled three month pay for her and she gave it to her mum for the wedding preparations.

Ting Ting’s sunken despair made Qin Song’s childish heart bounce high.

‘Ok,’ he said. ‘Don’t cry anymore. I’ll think of a way to help you. Do you want me to lend you money? Or do you want me to find a job for you?’

She looked pitifully at him. ‘I can go to work?’

His family wouldn’t want to their daughter-in-law to be seen working outside the house.

He lifted his chin with confidence. ‘Leave it to me.’

Her eyes shone of admiration toward him.

It was the first time after they were married that he felt proud of himself.

End of Chapter Two (Part 2)