Just a reminder
Running Commentary running about
Suitable for Dating?:
‘Please be more serious, hello!’
Yin Ting greeted him loudly on the phone, calling her nickname for him without
reserve. She was particularly spirited tonight. Zhengqing thought that this
girl was taking an “I have a lot of spirit every day!”drug.
‘How are you and what do you need
my help for?’ Yin Ting asked directly.
He laughed, ‘Why do you think I
need your help?’
‘You won’t be calling me
about work and you don’t gossip, so the most likely reason you’re calling is to
ask for assistance with something,’ Yin Ting said in one breath.
He smiled, ‘Aside from work,
what do you and your friends talk about?’
‘Ah, yes, we talk about lots
of things, but mostly about eating and drinking, nothing you’ll be interested
in.’
It really sounded like they had nothing
in common, Zhengqing coughed and said, ‘Well, last time when we had dinner with
Mao Huizhi, you said that the restaurant is not appropriate…’
‘Who is Mao Huizhi?’ she asked
interrupting him.
‘Zoe.’
‘Oh so her Chinese name is Mao
Huizhi, her parents must love her. The pearl of wisdom. People should be more
than their name, and Zoe is very capable and beautiful. A good name is really
important,’ she said giggling.
Zhengqing guessed what she was
thinking so he said, ‘So I am very serious, right?’
Zhenqing had lived thirty-three years;
his very nice name had turned into something slightly crooked upon meeting her.
It was the first time his name had been twisted like this.
Yin Ting laughed, ‘You’re
really humorous.’
What was funny about that? He chose
not to reply but returned to his reason for calling her, ‘Last time you said
the restaurant I picked was not appropriate for dating. So I was looking on the
internet and I came across a prolific reviewer and decided to ask her directly
which restaurant she recommends for my next date.’
‘Who is this reviewer?’ she asked,
it had not yet dawned on her, ‘This person could be sponsored by restaurants
even though her columns are in foodie magazines. They are simply for publicity.
You have to make sure that the reviewer declares whether they’ve been sponsored
or not. High popularity of a restaurant is not necessarily the truth. This kind
of thing is subjective, everyone likes different things.’
Zhengqing was silent during her
drivel. She talked for so long. He just figured that she had a talent for
talking incessantly.
‘Tingting YuLi 413,’ he replied. He
was indirectly asking if the ID was her.
‘Oh my, that is me! You are really
discerning. My reviews are truly red.’
This girl was not modest at all.
Yin Ting was very excited, ‘Wow!
Wow! We are really destined. You see, that red string is really divine. It
guided you to find my restaurant reviews for dates. The ones I recommended are
very good. You can go to any of them, I don’t take advertising or sponsorship
from the restaurant, I pay my own way.’
Zhengqing's fingers silently drummed
on the table; it wasn’t just about eating was it? She had specified the
restaurants good for dating and love, restaurants suited to break ups, the one
suited to take a fool to. The chocking girl was not his style so Zhengqing did
not say anything (Zuben: There is no need to mention that she’s not your type,
dear or are you beginning to consider her?)
‘Which do you recommend?’ he asked.
‘Who are you going with?’ she asked
in reply.
‘That is not important.’ He said,
he did not want to tell her to keep her from asking questions from East to
West.
‘Oh,’ she did not sound
disappointed but pressed on, ‘Are you at the dallying stage or maintaining a
stable relationship stage?
Zhengqing frowned, his forehead
darkening. What does this have to do with the choice of restaurant? Moreover,
he did not have time or inclination to be going into every specific detail that
she wanted.
He remained silent so Yin Ting
said, ‘I see you’re shy,’ she named a restaurant. She said it had nice
atmosphere, the food was good and it wasn’t too much. The owner was named Yin,
and he had another restaurant, but that was more high-end.
Listening to Yin Ting, she seemed
to be winding down so he quickly said, ‘I’ve heard of the restaurant, I’ll
check online.’ He said as he typed on the search bar. "Tingting Yuli
413" also highly recommended this place and even recommended several
dishes on the menu.
As Zhengqing read her review
online, he listened to Yin Ting go on about the restaurant, she had to tell him
which dishes were good and suitable for two. He did not stop her, she her
commentary began to almost match her online review.
Zhengqing began to suddenly feel
weird; her family won’t be the stuffy types? Her father and brother seemed to
listen to her lively conversation. It must be very nice. He thought that Yin
Ting must eat the “I am lively every day” pill, and he smiled to himself.
Sunday afternoon rolled round.
Zhengqing was going to have dinner with
Huizhu but she informed him the day before that she had some work to do on
Sunday evening, for some executives that were coming to review her branch on
Monday. So dinner changed to lunch, which was fine by him.
Zhengqing arrived at the restaurant
first. He got out of his car and headed for the door when he saw a familiar
figure with three children not far from the restaurant. Zhengqing stood for a
while looking carefully, it really was Yin Ting.
She was wearing a tee shirt and
jeans, her bicycle was nearby. She was holding a box that was colourfully
decorated, but he could not see it clearly. At her side were, three children
who looked to be between the ages of six and eight, two of them were holding
post cards, while a slightly larger child was also carrying a box.
Zhengqing was wondering
what they were doing, when Yin Ting caught sight of him. She cheered and ran
over, followed by the children.
Zhengqing was caught short and his
scared feet did not move. But he stepped forward a little bit, he must have
caught a boldness disease.
He did not need to walk far, for
Yin Ting soon came up to him, ‘Qiu zong! Hello!’
‘Hello,’ the children mimicked kind
of loudly.
Very good, he felt a little pleased
that little Yin Ting did not call her nickname for him in
‘Hello,’ he greeted politely.
‘We are fundraising for charity by
selling postcards,’ Yin Ting supplied without waiting for him to ask.
Now he could see clearly the box
she was holding. It had “Charity Postcards Sale” drawn colourfully, one card
for two yuan and 15 for ten yuan.
The youngest looking child, a girl,
nodded furiously, ‘It’s for good cause,’
Yin Ting laughed at the child
and turned to him, ‘They are children of an orphanage.’
Zhengqing nodded and guessed that
they were raising money for the orphanage. He was about to buy a postcard, when
someone called from behind.
He turned to see Huizhu walking up
to him, he waved to her. Huizhu saw Yin Ting and raised an eyebrow, but her
phone rang, she frowned. This last two days her phone had not stopped ringing;
Monday was going to be a mess for everyone. Nothing was clear and easy,
suddenly wanting this report and that report, many of which were not readily
available. They needed time to collate the data and write the reports. Huizhu
was annoyed by these things, but she had made an appointment with Zhengqing,
and did not want to miss it. But the issues with work were running roughshod
over her anticipation, so she was irritable.
She quickly said a few words to her
colleagues directing them on what to do and went to Zhengqing's side, just in
time to hear Yin Ting say to Zhengqing, ‘Support us and buy two sets of
postcards,’
Huizhu brows tightened as Zhengqing
readily said, ‘Sure.’
Zhengqing reached for his wallet,
Yin Ting smiled to Huizhu as she drew near, ‘Miss Zoe, hello.’
Three children followed and shouted,
‘Hello, Miss!’
Huizhu was quite unhappy, shouting
lady who? Curse it? She did not care to hide her expression as Zhengqing gave
Yin Ting some money, and Yin Ting found him change and handed him two sets of
post cards. She turned to the restaurant and whispered to him,
‘I’ll go ahead,’ and she was gone.
Yin Ting watched her leave and said
to Zhengqing, ‘She looks tired, there may be trouble at work. She’s tired yet
still came to the appointment. It is very good. You have to be patient oh.’ They
had heard Huizhu on the phone earlier, so he nodded, expressing his
understanding. He took his postcards and thanked her.
One of the boys said, ‘We are
working hard to fund raise, so we can study well. As long as we’re willing to
work hard, when we grow up we will be able to live our own life.’ (Zuben:
Random but okay…)
‘Thank you, uncle,’ the children
shouted in unison.
Zhengqing smiled at them and went into the
restaurant. He looked for Huizhu, there were many people in the restaurant but
their seats were at the second row of windows. He turned to see Yin Ting
outside laughing with the children, he felt good. He watched as they returned
to the intersection. A middle aged woman walked by, and the little girl went up
to her with a post card, bravely asking her to buy, but the woman shook her
head and walked on.
The little girl’s face collapsed in
frustration and turned to Yin Ting, but Yin Ying gave her a thumbs-up. It
seemed to cheer the little girl up, because she laughed, and the other boys
patted her shoulder. And then they went to accost another passer-by.
‘How did you meet, so clever?’
Huizhu asked curtly. She had finished a text message and looked outside to see
the situation, her heart was unhappy. Yin Ting did not leave her with a good
impression the last time they met. Now she was forcing sales on people. There
were many charitable fundraisers in operation, and they ask for money from
their acquaintances, some time with high pressure sale tactics, but where does
the money all go? Huizhu had encountered such things several times and her mood
today was very bad, so it was not a good expression on her face.
‘Very clever,’ he replied, ‘Are
things okay at work?’ he asked caring about her welfare.
Huizhu rubbed her forehead,
‘Not good. I have so much to do. My boss has gone mental; I don’t know where
he’s going to attack from this time, so I’m trying to prepare everything.
Hopefully it should all be fine in a few days. Let’s order quickly so I can get
back.’
‘Alright,’ he said as he called for
the waiter. Their orders were simple; fried rice and a pasta. As Zhengqing ate,
he thought of the children with Yin Ting and wondered if they’d eaten. So he
texted Yin Ting about getting the kids something to eat. Especially since they
were standing near a restaurant, they must be salivating looking at what others
are eating.
Yin Ting soon replied, ‘No need,
we’ve already eaten. We will take some snacks back to the orphanage later. If I
get them western food, they will go back and tell the other children and they
would feel unfair.’
He read the text, and sent back,
‘Alright,’ he can understand. Life was already unfair to children in this situation;
there was no need to add another thing. He looked at Huizhu, she was texting
furiously. She seemed to be sending an email. Zhengqing checked his inbox to
see if anything was waiting for his attention.
There was a text message, it was
Yin Ting, ‘There’s a situation, I see May Shen coming. You couldn’t have made
two appointments, right?’
Zhengqing’s forehead darkened, Yin
Ting’s expression full of contempt appeared in his mind, he quickly replied, ‘I
haven’t been in contact with her.’
Yin Ting quickly replied, ‘I’ll try
to help you head her off.’
Zhengqing almost banged his head on
the table. He really did not need this today. This girl and her “I am very
brave” medicine, she didn’t need to stop May, he had done nothing wrong. (Zuben: There are many mysterious medicines in this world)
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