Journey of Lies

A few days ago, at Xu Xiujie's memorial service, a high school classmate whom Jiang Xia hadn't seen for many years found him.

Did you know that Xiu Jie has another woman in Thailand?

Jiang Xia was in a daze, it seemed unnecessary to joke about a dead person who had jumped into the river and committed suicide.

*

Bangkok.

Damp, disorderly, everything goes wrong.

When Jiang Xia received Shi Xiaolan's call, he had just finished vomiting and having diarrhea, and was so weak that he was sweating profusely.

"Jiang Xia, if this hadn't happened, Li Xia wouldn't have become the supervisor. You have no idea, she's been targeting me all day, it's so annoying..."

"Sister Xia works long hours and has a bit of a short temper."

"You're even defending her? I've heard them talking about you, saying you drove your fiancé to his death, that you're a jinx, a cursed woman, and they're all so vicious!"

Jiang Xia leaned against the sink, rinsed her mouth, and said, "Let them say what they want. People have mouths."

Sensing Jiang Xia's lack of enthusiasm, Shi Xiaolan simply stopped talking and asked, "When are you coming back?"

"If things go smoothly, it will take half a month."

"To be honest, I really feel sorry for you. You two were together for ten years and finally made it to the point of marriage... This man is so irresponsible. What could have happened that he chose to end it all and leave you to clean up this mess alone? How can you even live like this? He's ruined you."

Her phone alarm popped up, reminding her to go out.

Jiang Xia hurriedly hung up the phone, drank a bottle of electrolyte water, grabbed her bag, and went out.

Hsu Hsiu-chieh is a young painter whose works have been exhibited in Southeast Asia for the past few years, with the last stop being Bangkok.

Although the person is gone, the artwork still needs to be taken care of, and the matter still needs to be cleaned up.

Mr. and Mrs. Xu, both elderly, had to bury their son. They had a lot of things to deal with at home, and right now only Jiang Xia could help with the final work in Thailand.

I had just gotten into the car when my mom, Zhao Lan, called me.

"Mom, is everything settled at home?" she asked, referring to the mess left by the canceled wedding.

"The money for the banquet has been refunded, and the wedding planning company has expressed their understanding. The process is underway."

Jiang Xia leaned against the car window, looking up at the messy power lines on both sides of the road. This was the capital of Thailand, yet the infrastructure didn't even reach the level of a county town in China.

She didn't understand why Xu Xiujie was so keen on living in Thailand. The two had been in a relationship for ten years, and he had spent a third of that time in Thailand.

"...Xiaxia, are you listening?"

Pulled back to reality, Jiang Xia switched the phone to the other side, saying, "I'm listening."

"Your dad and I have discussed it. We'll tell everyone that you two didn't get a marriage certificate. If friends or relatives ask, don't give us a different answer."

After waiting for a long time without hearing Jiang Xia's reply, Zhao Lan couldn't help but sigh: "Xiaxia, you have to think about your future too. She died just a few days after we got our marriage certificate. What if..."

Jiang Xia closed her eyes. "Mom, once you get the marriage certificate, it has legal effect. No matter what you say, it can't be changed. After Xiu Jie's household registration was cancelled, my household registration will show me as widowed."

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Xia felt a sharp pain in her stomach.

Bangkok traffic was terrible, and Jiangxia arrived at the River City Arts Centre ten minutes late.

Director Kevin, a Thai-Chinese, expressed deep regret over Xu Xiujie's sudden passing after their meeting.

"In recent years, James has been the dark horse of the Southeast Asian art scene, without exception. Perhaps art has driven him mad. My condolences."

As they spoke, the two went up to the office on the second floor.

After exchanging pleasantries, Jiang Xia laid out the relevant documents one by one: death certificate, notarized relationship certificate, will, and so on...

Before coming to Thailand, Jiang Xia and Xu Xiujie's parents reached an agreement to entrust the paintings to Kevin for safekeeping and sale, otherwise it would be troublesome to bring them back to China.

"I understand what you mean. There are currently twenty-seven works on display. Seventeen of them have already received deposits from buyers who will hand over the paintings and receive the final payment after the exhibition. Three of the remaining works are representative pieces that will be returned to their previous collectors after the exhibition. As for the last seven... if you agree, I will put them up for auction at the local auction house."

"Okay, we'll do it your way."

"Then go downstairs and take a look first. I'll have my assistant quickly prepare a new agency agreement. Oh, and I need your payment information."

Jiang Xia left his bank account information and went downstairs alone to see the exhibition.

She knew nothing about art.

For example, she knows that Xu Xiujie's paintings are art, but she can't appreciate what's so special about them.

The two were childhood sweethearts. Back then, in order to study at the same university in the same city as him, she studied like crazy. In the end, Xu Xiujie was admitted to the China Academy of Art, and she was also successfully admitted to her ideal university, Zhejiang University.

During their first semester of college, the two became a couple, marking Jiang Xia's first adventure. No one knew that this seemingly well-behaved girl had served as Xu Xiujie's nude model for six hours that day.

She doesn't understand art, but she appreciates Xu Xiujie's focused demeanor when he paints.

People say that an artist's work becomes more valuable after they die.

Jiang Xia stood in front of Xu Xiujie's most famous work, with his biography written in the lower right corner.

[James X. Hsu Hsiu-chieh, blending reality and fantasy to explore individual memory and the expression of contemporary emotions...]

Hidden among the black and white flowers is a face whose features are indistinct, genderless, emotionless, and even its facial features are blurred.

Jiang Xia had seen it reposted countless times online, and only remembered that it was drawn by Xu Xiujie five years ago, when the pandemic had just begun and he was stuck in Thailand for a whole year.

It was also from that year that he began to frequently travel to Thailand, and the two gradually went from dating in the same city to dating in different countries. Jiang Xia made a fuss about this several times, but she could not persuade him otherwise, after all, artists need inspiration.

His gloomy voice always echoed on the other end of the phone, saying that Thailand could give him inspiration.

Suddenly, a faint scent of jasmine approached, and Jiang Xia turned his head to see a short-haired woman.

The woman was wearing a black sleeveless business suit. Jiang Xia made way for her, but the woman's gaze followed her closely.

"Excuse me, do you know Xu Xiujie?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia was stunned, and those words echoed in his ears once again.

"Did you know that Xiu Jie has another woman in Thailand?"