The Fisherwoman - Chapter 5

Even after helping him until the middle of the night, my excellent habits woke me early.

I opened my eyes and stared blankly at the unfamiliar ceiling.

“Awake?” A cold, hoarse voice came from beside me. “Then let’s discuss what happens next.”

Zhuang Jinyu’s voice brought me fully awake. I remembered everything from the night before, including how excessive I had become near the end. I seemed to have made him cry.

My face burned with shame, and I wanted to apologize.

But Zhuang Jinyu, wearing only a shirt over his reddened, swollen chest, had no wish to revisit the matter.

“My loss of control was caused by the drug. You would be wise to forget everything that should be forgotten.”

With the night gone, the wanton, seductive older man had turned back into a shrewd and distant superior.

Before I woke, he had already had me investigated from top to bottom. He knew my origins and why I had come to the city.

It felt strange to have someone see straight through my underwear.

Reading my thoughts, Zhuang Jinyu said bluntly, “Don’t worry. Your barren, tedious past doesn’t interest me. I only needed to confirm you had no part in drugging me.”

“I had to know your background was clean before discussing our next transaction.”

I scratched my head. “What transaction?”

He calmly told me he was ill.

“I have gynophobia. Physical contact with a woman causes an allergic reaction.” He glanced at me. “But when you touched me last night, I felt no discomfort.”

“My doctor recommends that I continue spending time with you to treat the psychological cause.”

“I also understand your financial position. You need money. This arrangement benefits us both.”

Then he named a sum that seemed astronomical to me.

“For one year, you help treat me. I’ll pay you a doctor’s annual salary.”

His extravagance stunned me again. I shook my head at once.

“That won’t do. I was the one who took advantage of you. How can I accept your money too?”

Rubbing my hands nervously, I raised the matter that had occupied me all night.

“Mr. Zhuang…” I cleared my throat, shy and constrained. “What happened was an accident, but I’m willing to take responsibility for you.”

People in the fishing village were simple and honest. No one played fast and loose with relations between women and men. I was a responsible woman too. Even without much foundation for affection, I had no intention of pulling up my trousers and denying everything like a scoundrel.

Feelings could grow later.

The moment he shed tears beneath me, I had prepared myself to spend our lives together, catching fish to support him forever.

Zhuang Jinyu heard my solemn promise and gave me an emotionless glance, as if I were mud splashed onto his suit.

“This is a financial transaction. I don’t want you entertaining thoughts beyond its boundaries.”

“I am treating myself to facilitate a future marriage alliance. Whatever happens, I could never fall for a country woman like you.”

His long speech came down to this:

He didn’t want me to take responsibility, and he insisted on paying me to sleep with him.

I had no words.

City men were shockingly open-minded.

“Isn’t that a little improper?”

I didn’t think my skin was thick enough to take both the man and his money.

But Zhuang Jinyu misunderstood.

“You agreed to stay last night. What difference does it make whether it happens once or many times?”

“I cannot give you status, but as long as you don’t covet what isn’t yours, I won’t treat you poorly in material matters.”

Clearly, he had decided before I woke. He was merely informing me. My wishes meant nothing to him.

I abandoned the struggle and made one request.

“Then you must never tell anyone.”

If the villagers learned I had become a kept woman who lived off a man, no decent husband would want me later.

“It would do me no good either,” he assured me. “I won’t speak of it.”

And so I accepted our arrangement of mutual aid.

The extra income transformed my life. I never worried about money again.

But I had paid for it with the dignity of a strong woman.

Alas. Alas.