Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li

Author:Lillian Li
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

14

Ah-Jack’s wife officially introduced him to her new lover at the second-best hotpot restaurant in Maryland. After Jimmy had let him leave early, Ah-Jack had spent the rest of his day off waiting for Michelle to come home. He’d called her so many times that the phone started sending him automatically to voicemail. Ironic, then, that this was how she finally chose to contact him. He woke up Wednesday morning to a long message from Michelle. He couldn’t bear to listen to it until he was in the car, on his way to pick up Nan—then, he could not bear not to. At the end of the voicemail, she’d asked him to come to Li Wah’s, where she and the other man would be until close. He should’ve just driven into a tree. At least Michelle cared enough not to book the meeting at his favorite hotpot joint. Li Wah’s was stingy with their fish balls, and their vegetables were unclean. He was happy to give the place up.

By the time Ah-Jack showed up at the restaurant, Li Wah’s was mostly empty. Jimmy had kept refusing to let him take his lunch break, even though the new staff had finished all his remaining tasks. Now it was almost two. Waiters were eating their family meal at a round table in the corner. Michelle was easy to spot in her headscarf. Beside her in the booth was her new lover. The other man was younger, his face generously creased around the eyes and mouth but nowhere else. He was dressed casually, but his hair looked freshly combed. Ah-Jack could smell the man’s recently applied cologne. Michelle also looked younger—or, rather, newer. But when she stood to greet him, the healthy glow on her face revealed the marks of makeup. She rubbed nervously at the line of her bottom lip, painted an unnaturally rosy color. Her cheeks were a similar shade, and the soft down above her upper lip glimmered with translucent powder. The one thing unenhanced by makeup was the eager, hopeful look that came into Michelle’s eyes whenever she glanced at the man next to her. Ah-Jack wanted to bring a wet washcloth to her face and scrub everything, down to that terrible look, away.

“Order whatever you like,” the other man, who called himself Gary, said. “This one’s on me.”

Gary was acting as though the late lunch were a normal event. He tried to make small talk that, given the circumstances, came off as perverse, even malicious. After they’d ordered, Ah-Jack pretended to keep reading the menu. He was secretly studying Gary, trying to find what was so appealing about him. Gary was a fat-cheeked man whose clothes looked too new, as if he’d swiped his outfit off a store mannequin. His speech was to the point, lacking any finesse or tact; based on the coarseness of his manner, he was most likely from some mountain village up North, where the men were known for eating too much meat and beating their wives.

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