The Moon Festival Cousin Switch novel · Chapter 22 of 24
Chapter 22: Apology
Shuhua stopped in front of the wreck on the carpet.
She did not look at Gao.
She bent down, with one hand on her knee, and picked up the lease papers one sheet at a time.
The jade bracelet lay broken in two pieces among them.
She left it where it was.
When she had the pages squared, she straightened and carried them to Gao's father, who stood white and stiff beside the microphone.
"Mr Gao," she said. "I thank you for your generosity."
"Madam Fang," he began.
"I do not accept it."
She put the papers into his hands.
"My husband's savings are in the bank across the road. I will go there this afternoon and write you a cheque for every month you paid. The rest, I will pay on the first day of each month until it is done."
"There's no need--"
"There is every need. It is my shop."
She turned her back on him and walked to table twenty.
Mengyao rose.
Her mother looked at the red silk dress and at the hand still wound into Anqi's, and the whole hall seemed to lean in.
"I was wrong," Shuhua said.
She said it plainly, in the voice she used to quote a price.
"I will put it right today, with my own hands, in front of the Gaos, so no one can call it quiet. And I will not ask you to forgive me first."
"Ma."
"I will say the rest. You are not a thing I sign for, Mengyao. You are my daughter. You came in a red blanket on a very cold morning, and I have forgotten that for three weeks."
Mengyao's face crumpled.
She crossed the gap in one step and was caught in a hug so fierce that her mother's jade bangle clacked against the table.
For a long time neither of them said anything.
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