Between Two Rose Bushes:
Zhengqing quickly text back: No
need to stop her.
But Yin Ting did not reply, which
made Zhengqing apprehensive. Did girl would not do something to let him lose
face, right?
Huizhu finished sending her email
at that moment, and turned back to Zhengqing to find him also looking at his
phone, ‘I am sorry,’ she said, ‘Today is really chaotic.’
‘It’s okay,’ Zhengqing replied
while wondering whether Yin Ting did manage to send May Shen off.
Zhengqing’s reply was a bit
absentminded, which made Huizhu think of her behaviour earlier, so she
apologised, ‘Sorry about everything today, I am a bit annoyed and may have come
off rude. I hope you and your acquaintance don’t mind.’
Zhengqing smiled at her and said,
‘It really doesn’t matter. I understand very well. Everyone has high pressure
times in their work. Yin Ting also thought you may be tired from work, but you
still kept your appointment. She said you were very good. Don’t feel bad,
anyone can understand.’
Huizhu was surprised. Yin Ting said
that? It made her feel guilty. She had lost patience, especially with the
shouting children. They had been innocent. She subconsciously looked out the
window to see Yin Ting and the three children walking away while an attractive
woman carrying high fashion branded carrier bags waving them off. The woman
turned and seemed to seemed to notice Zhengqing, her expression turned bright
and she headed into the restaurant. That woman’s expression put Huizhu on
egde.
At that time, Zhengqing received a
text: Sorry, I could not head her off. She said she must eat there. I have
tried but of course could not reveal the secret. So I’m taking the children
first. (Zuben: I dunno how she thought she was going to do that, May was
already someone Yin Ting could not win against)
Zhengqing put down his phone and
looked up to see Jiaqi walk up to their table, ‘Qiu zong, really skilful.’
The Jiaqi turned to Huizhu. The two
women regarded each other; Jiaqi was smiling while Huizhu looked at her
silently. Zhengqing introduced them to each other. The two women smiled and
shook hands.
Zhengqing was dumbstruck; Shen
Jiaqi said she must eat here? And Yin Ting had run off? But it seemed that he
had been somewhat infected by Yin Ting’s ideas, and was feeling a small
trepidation. But that was not right, he had done nothing wrong.
Jiaqi began to talk very casually,
‘I was just shopping, and then I thought to have some lunch. I did not expect
to meet someone I know. You don’t mind if I have lunch with you two, do you?’
Zhengqing looked at Huizhu, but she
was reluctant to refuse. This person may be one of Zhenqing’s business partners
or friends, she did not want to offend them and make Zhengqing lose face. So
she smiled and nodded, ‘It doesn’t matter, let’s eat together.’
Jiaqi happily sat down and hung her
bags on the hook provided at the end of the table. She had to packets of postcards,
the same type that Zhengqing had bought earlier. Jiaqi saw her looking at the
post cards, ‘Do you like the postcards? You can have a pack. My friend sells
them; the print quality is very good. Everytime, I run into her, I buy many
packs.’
Huizhu was surprised (Zuben: for
the ‘eleventh’ time in the last hour), her friend? Does she mean Yin Ting?
As Zhengqing listened to their
conversation, he wondered what Yin Ting told her.
It seemed Jiaqi was a regular at
the restaurant; the wait staff greeted her with deferent familiarity and she
was able to order her food quickly without looking at the menu.
There as a beep from his phone
informing him of a received text message, it was Yin Ting: You’re now in a love
triangle. I didn’t want the children to see bad things so I took them
elsewhere.
Zhengqing was confused: what bad
things? What love triangle, ah?! (Zuben: It’s more of a love quadrangle, but
hey who’s counting) As he was trying to reply to Yin Ting, he heard Jiaqi ask
Huizhu, ‘So how do you know Qiu zong?’ as she raised her glass of water to
drink.
Zhengqing looked at Huizhu and she
returned his gaze, then replied, ‘We went to college together,’
Their relationship status wasn’t
final. Zhengqing was still thinking about it, and they were still unfamiliar
Huizhu thought it was best to err on the side of caution.
Jiaqi put her glass down and
laughed, ‘That’s great. I asked because I am trying to woo Qiu zong, so I
thought I should clarify the relationship. I didn’t want to get into an
embarrassing situation.’
Zhengqing and Huizhu were
stupefied; they glanced at the each other. This was rather awkward. Things were
really off kilter today. But Huizui did not falter, she said very politely, ‘Is
that so? What a coincidence that I have the same idea too.’
(Zuben: I raise a cup of tea/glass
of juice/wine/fizzy water/not so fizzy water/minerals in toast to all you
strong go-getter women of the world. This person begs for your energy.)
‘Is that so, ah.’ Jiaqi’s looked and
Zhengqing and then turned to Huizhu and laughed, ‘I can understand that.’
Zhengqing watched both women’s fake
smiles and felt very embarrassed. What was there to understand, this was simply
stirring up trouble. Things were really out of kilter today, just because they
had to squeeze in a date. In the face of the straight-forwardness, he didn’t
know how to react. Unfortunately, he didn’t find these kind of high nosed
misses like Qin Yufei attractive.
In his thirty three years, there
have been women who had considered him, but he had been engrossed in his work
therefore did not have time to consider them. But now, due to Yin Ting red
string of love, his peach blossoms have really blossomed, except it was
blossoming into disaster! (Zuben: It’s only two women; don’t get your panties
in a knot. It’s only a disaster if it was four ¬.¬)
This situation was rather
irritating, he could not enjoy it. Would returning that red string be too
excessive?
At this moment, the waiter
delivered Zhengqing’s and Huizhu’s starters.
‘Thank you both for your affection.
You’re giving me too much face, I am very flattered. You are so frank, making
me very awkward. Pardon me, I will eat first.’
Huizhu picked up her cutlery and
said to Jiaqi, ‘I will eat first, pardon me.’
‘Please do,’ Jiaqi said generously.
As they began to eat, Jiaqi looked
at their meals, ‘Your dishes are so simple, are you in a hurry?’
‘I have to go back to work after
this,’ Huizhu answered. She was suddenly glad she didn’t have time today, she
really didn’t want to have to deal with this woman. She was too tired and in no
mood.
‘Oh,’ she said, and turned to
Zhengqing, ‘Qiu zong?’
‘I have an appointment after,’ he
replied. Huizhu was satisfied, she maintained his face and he maintained hers.
He was such a gentleman, she really liked him.
‘Then eat and do, I will pay,’
Jiaqi said
‘Miss Shen is too kind,’ Huizhu
said, but she thought the young woman was just trying to show off, it annoyed
her. She finished her dinner and looked to see Zhengqing had finished his. She
asked him if he was ready with a look, he gave her a bare nod.
Jiaqi’s side dishes arrived.
Zhengqing bid her to take her time and they would leave first.
‘Lovely, it was nice seeing you. I
will be in touch,’ she said. She wasn’t long winded, so Zhengqing and Huizhu
were able to leave together. Huizhu wanted to pay, but Zhengqing stopped her,
‘Don’t be spiteful,’ he said
softly.
Huizhu raised an eyebrow and said,
‘If feel like you invited her to dinner, I’m not happy about it.’
Zhengqing mirrored her expression,
‘But then that’s makes things even, you haven’t suffered a loss.’
Huizhu could not help but smile,
truly, she hadn’t lost. They got to the parking lot, Huizhu waved goodbye and
drove off.
Zhengqing got into his car and
breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t like this situation; being pursued by two
women. He had not factored it into his plan. If there were two women, he would
have to waste more time and energy, which also meant he had to be determined
about Huizhu; whether he wanted to date or not. But this matter was important,
he did not want to sign on the dotted line carelessly.
For now, he would go to the
supermarket. At this point, he had nothing to react to; the enemy was not
moving, so he could not move either (Zuben: What enemy?). Right, he also needed
to correct Yin Ting’s erroneous idea, he took the matter of friendship between
men and women seriously and earnestly; what love triangle? He was not a chaotic
person. She could only think in chaos.
As he drove, he saw Yin Ting on a
street corner (Zuben: Selling her wares…)
She still had the children with
her. The four of them had lollipops in their mouths. The two girl each held a
box of lollipops and the boy had the box of postcards. The four of them had happy
expressions on their faces. Their bright smiles and cocky gait was as though
they all had golden crowns on their heads, not just on the street eating
lollipops. (Zuben: Magical…)
Zhengqing could not help laughing.
His time at the restaurant, it seemed, obviously could not compare to the day
that these four jolly ones had.
He drove past them and beeped his
horn. Yin Ting turned at the sound, seeing him, her expression turned bright.
Zhengqing discovered he was grinning too. Her expression was very funny,
‘Qiu zong elder!’ Yin Ting rushed
forward and the children trailed after her.
Zhengqing opened his car door,
‘You finished your lunch so
quickly?’
‘Yes. Did you sell out? Are you on
your way back, would you like me to take you back to the orphanage?’
‘Yes, that would be great,’ Yin
Ting replied cheerfully, she was not being shy. She turned to the children and
said, ‘Come in, Uncle Qiu is going to send us home. We must thank Uncle.’
‘Thank you, Uncle!’ the children
chorused. The youngest one after a moment said, ‘Thank you, car.’
‘You’re welcome,’ Zhengqing
answered, ‘The car is also blunt,’
Yin Ting gave him a light punch in
the arm, ‘You are so serious they well think the car has special powers,’
What special powers? Zhengqing
frowned,
‘Like you can talk with the car,
and you are interlinked and such like,’ (Zuben: Wait? He wasn’t trying to make
them thing the car can talk?)
‘Really?’ the little child called
Xiao Shitou [Little Stone] asked,
‘Of course not, Uncle was being
kind with Xiao Shitou thanking the car, very polite’
‘Oh’ the children chorused settling
down, though they felt regretful.
‘Fasten your seat belt,’ Zhengqing
said, as he realised he could not talk to children as one would an adult. They
were somewhat scattered, and their brain was everywhere thinking everything.
When he heard the click of safety
belts, Zhengqing put the car into gear and drove, ‘Tingting jie jie, can we
give Uncle a lollipop to eat. He has helped us.’
‘But Uncle is driving now, he
cannot eat the lollipop. Uncle can’t eat and drive.’ Yin Ting said helping him
decline, he shot her grateful look.
‘Do you know why sugar is sweet,
Uncle?’ Xiao Shitou asked,
In Zhengqing’s mind, he recalled
the chemical composition of sugar and the structure of the tastebuds in the
tongue, but the little one did not wait for him to answer, ‘Because, it wants
you to be happy!’ (Zuben: I feel for you Zhengqing)
The other girl also said, ‘So that
when you eat it you will be happy!’
Zhengqing glanced at Yin Ting, was
she the one teaching them this silliness? (Zuben: Yes)
Then little one asked, ‘Uncle, do
you know why the sun is so far and bright?’
Zhengqing did not want to sort out
his knowledge of astronomy, (Zuben: it would be a silly ass reason anyway), he
would really like to ask Xiao Shitou to plug her mouth with a lollipop. Of
course, he was a gentlemanly uncle, so he could not ask her to do that.
Of course, Xiao Shitou answered her
own question, ‘The sun has to be, so we can have a goal.’
An amiable and bright goal?
Zhengqing gave Yin Ting a look. Yin Ting laughed behind her hand, Xiao Shitou
had a really good memory, she remembered everything.
‘I also have remembered one,’ the
older girl said, not to be outdone, ‘Uncle, do you know why the moon has
segments and is curved?’
Zhengqing really wanted to say,
“Uncle just wants to send you home. Uncle does not know.” (Zuben: Why are you
torturing Uncle/me, writer?)
But he now has experience, they
don’t want him to answer they want to tell him the answer, Xiao Shitou butt in,
‘Because change will also be beautiful, so we should not be afraid of change.’
(Zuben: That one is actually good.)
Zhengqing did not know how he
should respond, but they children had tired of the “Ask Uncle” game and began
playing amongst themselves.
They were quite noisy. He glanced
at the through the rearview mirror, they were laughing very happily. The sound
echoed in the car. He found Yin Ting staring at him, her eyes were bright, his
heart could not help but jump,
‘They are very lively,’ he said
quickly to hide his discomfiture,
‘Thanks,’ Yin Ting said, smiling
sweetly, ‘If you get tired of the noise I can tell them to be quiet. They are
very clever,’
‘No need,’ he said, trying to be
calm. He was suddenly nervous. Back at the restaurant, were those two ladies
were doing their “tug-of-war” he hadn’t been nervous, just embarrassed. It was
probably because the children were noisy and he wasn’t used to it.
Yes, it was because the children
made him nervous. (Zuben: Definitely the children)
Whimsy, Harmony and Happiness?:
There was silence for a little
while, then Yin Ting opened her mouth, ‘How did it go?’
Zhengqing knew she was asking about
the restaurant, ‘Nothing happened. Miss Shen saw us and joined us. We ate
together.’
‘Oh,’ was her reply. She looked at
the children behind them, ‘Go back and say it,’ (Zuben: ?)
Go back? Zhengqing became somewhat
nervous, and say what?
‘Love triangle?’
He could take this opportunity to
correct her wrong idea, since she insisted on discussing it with him. That
being said, maybe it was better not to talk about it. Talking with a little
girl about his values on marriage was very embarrassing, especially Yin Ting,
this little girl and her quirky way of thinking.
‘How old are you?’ he asked. Although,
asking in a straightforward manner seemed very rude.
'24,’ Yin Ting replied without
hesitation, she gave him a smile.
She certainly was a little girl.
Most likely recently graduated from university. Zhengqing adjusted himself in
his seat. He did not want to have to explain that his question had no hidden
agenda behind it. She just seemed really young, younger than Qin Yufei.
Yin Ting, not waiting for him to
finish his mental deliberations, asked, ‘And you’re thirty-three?’
Zhengqing nodded, feeling a bit
strange, but he could not pin point the cause.
‘I saw an article on you on the
internet, that’s how I know.’ Yin Ting said with a grin,
Zhengqing was very embarrassed,
that financial magazine article was much exaggerated. But he felt satisfied
that she had looked him up, but also embarrassed. (Zuben: I have written the
word embarrassed so many times, in this last chapter, than I have ever written
in my whole life!)
'66 Dashun!’ Yin Tin said suddenly.
‘What?’ Zhengqing did not
understand.
‘Your age. Three plus three is six,
therefore life would be smooth,’
What has this got to do with
anything, but he asked, ‘How about when I become thirty four?’
‘Looking forward to that year,
where whimsy meets harmony and happiness,’
Zhengqing smiled; whimsy, harmony
and happiness?
‘And thirty five?’ Although, this
one would not be too hard, eight was an auspicious number.
She really did not need to exert
herself coming up with something, ‘You will get rich, and your enterprise is
succeeding. You will be a father at that time.’
Zhengqing laughed in spite of
himself. His plan was to marry in two years, so being a father at thirty five
wasn’t a stretch. The rest of the ages were very easy to collect auspicious
tidings, so he asked, ‘How about forty?’
‘Do you want to wait till then?
Won’t you be too old?’
‘…’ Zhengqing was unable to
describe the feelings in his heart, but he suspected his expression was very
splendid. It was a pity that he was concentrating on the road. Yin Ting could
only see half his face. She could not see his shock.
Old age!
What is this ghost?! (Zuben:
Chinese thing I am assuming)
Zhengqing did not say anything, Yin
Ting tried to placate him, ‘You’re attaching great importance to this matter.
Forty is not old for a man. For a woman, it is different; you must consider
your wife, when child birth would be very difficult.’
Zhengqing could not bear to look at
Yin Ting, ‘Sorry sorry, I was wrong, I shouldn’t speak of these things. I just
thought of you like my older brother.’
Zhengqing was silent, if her older
brother heard this, he would jump out to call ‘One child is a ghost!’
One can’t be too kind in life or
you will always be sad an heartbroken
Elderly…
Zhengqing decided to talk to the
children instead, ‘Kids, how was the postcard business today?’
‘We sold well!’ the Xiao Shitou
said nodding.
The slightly older boy was also
excited, ‘Ting Ting jie jie calculated, we got enough to feed five children for
a week,’
‘More than that,’ the other little
girl said, ‘This is just what we have sold. The other children have gone out to
sell as well; we certainly would get a lot.’
‘Very good!’ Xiao Shitou said very
happily, rounding up the speech.
Zhengqing frowned, a bit worried
and turned to Yin Ting to ask, ‘Is the orphanage short of funds?’
‘Not us,’ the boy said, ‘We are not
short of money,’ he said very proudly.
‘We aren’t short of money!’ Xiao
Shitou said,
‘We are full every day. We have
clothes, and can go to school.’
‘Our homework is done.’
‘There is sugar to eat,’ Xiao
Shitou said, ‘Every child has, oh. Tingting jie jie said to be fair, everyone
has,’
‘We’re helping an orphanage in the
rural area to raise funds,’ Yin Ting said, ‘we want to get the children to do
something for other children, right?’ she asked the children.
They all nodded.
‘Others help us, we help others.’
‘Xiao Han is right,’ Yin Tin said
praising the little boy,
He seemed a bit embarrassed, but he
loudly declared, ‘I will study hard, get into university and get the ability to
help more people.’
Zhengqing clenched the wheel,
thinking of his own lowly beginnings. His life hadn’t been as miserable as
these children’s, at least he had a home and relatives. He also received many
people’s encouragement and help. Though he regularly donated to the Yongkai
charitable fund, he realised he needed to help someone directly, so he said,
‘Xiao Han, if you work hard and can get into university, Uncle would help you
pay your fees till you finish.’ (Zuben: *Roll eyes* what about the girls…?)
Xiao Han got excited, ‘I, I will
work hard.’
Zhengqing laughed and caught Yin
Ting looking at him, her she was laughing and her expression was sweet.
Zhengqing got nervous again, ‘I’m not just saying, I am serious.’
‘Thank you,’ she said.
They children in the back were
cheering for each other. Zhengqing thought they were cute. Zhenqing looked at
Yin Ting; there was still laughter in her eyes.
Zhengqing was embarrassed (Zuben:
again). He cleared his throat and kept his eyes on the road. He recalled that
Yin Ting had told him that she spent time in ann orphanage playing, it seemed
she was very familiar.
She directed him to the orphanage.
When they arrived, there was much jollity and excitement.
Behind them, Yin Ting and Zhengqing
watched the melee, he turned to her retrieving his wallet and took out the rest
of the cash he had, ‘Something for the rural orphanage,’
Yin Ting winked and said, ‘You
already donated. You bought two boxes of postcards,’
Zhengqing nodded, ‘A little more
wouldn’t hurt,’
Yin Ting smiled at him, she
suddenly stepped forward and gave him a big hug,
‘You’re so kind,’
Was the hug for two seconds or
three? Zhengqing was unsure, only that she let go of him too soon. His body
seemed to keep the warmth of her hug long after she had stepped back,
‘Then I will take it,’ she said
sweetly,
‘Very good,’ he said as he handed
her the money. She thanked him, and was about to leave but turned and asked,
‘Do you still have time?’
‘I’m waiting for you,’ he replied.
He had time, there was no problem getting her home. Yin Ting laughed waved at
him and ran towards a small side building.
Zhengqing watched her back as she
ran off, thinking of it, that’s what, actually, uh, as if they were not on the
way. (Zuben: This is how is came out of google translate. I couldn’t make head or
tail of it. I assume he lost his train of thought watching her butt)
He had time.
He felt his clothes being pulled;
he looked down to see Xiao Shitou standing near him. She smiled up at him and
gave him a lollipop,
‘Shushu, you’re not driving now,
you can eat.’
She actually remembered! Zhengqing
was somewhat touched. He took the lollipop and tore open the wrapper and popped
it into his mouth, Xiao Shitou gave a happy smile.
Zhengqing though the sweet was
really very good. It can make people happy.
Why was a sweet sweet? Because, it
will make you happy.
Zhengqing ruffled Xiao Shitou’s
head as thanks, and asked, ‘Xiao Shitou, do you have a name?’
‘My name is Shi Liang. The others
said my name is like a boy’s and laugh at me. But Tingting jie jie said that a
gleaming stone is a gem. So everyone started calling me Xiao Shitou,’
‘Shu Liang is a very good name,’ he
said. His name was also very good, he could think of a happy meaning, but
although he tried, he could only think of “Please be more serious”, he had
certainly been brainwashed. This was not good, he must find an awe-inspiring
meaning to his name.
Xiao Shitou pulled at his trouser
leg, and he squatted to listen to her. She looked about checking for
eavesdroppers, before she said, ‘Xiao Han ge studies earnestly, and his results
are good. He will certainly be admitted into university,’ Xiao Shitou did not
know what university was, but she thought that is seemed very great.
Zhengqing nodded, ‘This shushu will
certainly help him,’
Xiao Shitou nodded happily and
declared, ‘Uncle is very kind,’ before giving him a hug.
‘I am quite stupid and do not do
well in my studies. I think that I will not be admitted into university, but I
will also try hard. Tingting jie jie said that I do not have to be admitted to
university. Do something else.’
‘What do you want to do?’ he asked
Xiao Shitou blushed and looked
somewhat shy, she looked around again before saying, ‘I like Xiao Han ge, I
want to be his bride when I grow up,’
Zhengqing was a dumbfounded. He
thought that she would say something like starting a small scale business like
opening a shop.
But Xiao Shitou’s face was red but
she was resolute, ‘Tin Ting jie-ie said that this goal is very good, but Xiao
Han ge has to agree. When we grow up I will ask Xiao Han again.’
Why is the sun so high and so
bright? So we must have a goal.
Zhengqing could not help but laugh
and held Xiao Shitou, ‘This goal is good,’ he said assuring the child. But
later on, he would try to encourage her to pursue an enterprise; girls should
be independent. But she was only a little girl now.
Zhengqing saw Yin Ting coming out
of the building running over to him.
Her ponytail swayed, gleaming in
the sun. Her face had a sweet smile, her body full of sunshine (Zuben: cue
romantic violins)
Making A Girl Cry:
Zhengqing drove Yin Ting home.
It was the second time he had taken
her home. The first time had been that day when Qin Yufei wanted Yin Ting to help out with
Gu Yingjie. Zhengqing and Yingjie had been in a meeting, but while the formal
meeting was done, Zhengqing and Yingjie still had much to discuss so they had
stayed in the conference room to chat. Yin Ting passed by, and invited them out
to dinner.
That sort of behaviour was her
style, which was being tightly hugged by the god of thoughtlessness.
Nothing she did made any sense but she acted as if it did.
Thinking of that day, Zhenqing
remembered what Yufie told him, when she said she hoped that he didn’t
misunderstand that Yin Ting liked him. He had thought that Yin Ting was
interested in Yingjie, but now Yufei was in love with Yingjie.
Zhengqing thought of it more, and
decided to carefully probe, and asked Yin Ting, ‘What do you think of Gu
Yingjie?’
‘He is very nice,’ she replied on
unabashedly, ‘in my mind he’s like a prince on a white horse.’
‘…’ Zhengqing did not speak. It
seemed like the situation is really bad. (Zuben: Your situational awareness is
bad) Did Yin Ting really like Gu Yingjie? But Yingjie’s heart belonged to
someone else now. If Yin Ting knew, would she be sad? Would it get awkward
between her and Yufei?
Zhengqing remained silent in his
thoughts, Yin Ting continued, ‘I wanted to meet up with Gu Yingjie, but wasn’t
able to. He is still a gentleman. Yufei tried to help me, but their tempers
flared, it was very confusing and awkward. I was also very embarrassed.’
This fool, he thought. Others are
getting happy in their love, you’re being vigorously embarrassed.
Zhengqing felt like he was driven
beyond the limits of forebearance. His head heated up and he found himself
blurting out, ‘Yufei told me she was in love with Gu Yingjie.’
‘What?’ Yin Ting shouted, her eyes
wide in surprise.
Zhengqing suddenly regretted his
rashness. But words said could not be returned, and now must be absorbed into
the car, or maybe a car accident would erase things?
‘Yufie and Yingjie in love?’ Yin
Ting asked again, her pitch was high and her tone was surprised.
‘Hmm,’ Zhengqing replied quietly,
his eyes fixed to the road. He drove seriously. He really was bad at a
chatting.
‘They are actually dating?’ She
repeated, he could not decide whether she was talking to him or herself.
‘Haha! Great!’ she said suddenly
Zhengqing did a double-take. He was
confused.
‘Who won?’
Her tone was sweet, but Zhengqing
imagined that Yin Ting would have an aggrieved expression on her face. He
sighed and turned to her, but it really was not as he imagined. Her eyes were
round with excited curiosity. He’d never noticed she had such beautiful eyes,
ah. (Zuben: cue violins!) He quickly stopped himself, now was not the time to
be admiring her looks.
‘What?’ he asked foolishly. He had
forgotten her question.
‘Who chased who? How did they get
caught? Who overtook whom?’ she thought he did not understand the slang she was
using. (Zuben: I do not understand the slang you are using.)
‘I don’t know,’ he replied,
relaxing. He did not know, luckily.
‘You really don’t know?’ (Zuben:
How is he expected to know? Is he Yufei’s bosom buddy?)
‘No,’ Zhengqing usually minded his
own business. He hadn’t asked Yufei, it was Yufei spilled the beans, therefore
he did not know the details of their coming together.
‘Take means pursue, everyone knows
that.’ She said.
He almost lost control of the car.
Where they talking at cross purposes here? This thoughtless god could you let
go of Miss Yin Ting? If not totally, a little looser would be good so they could have a smooth
conversation between them, ok?
Zhengqing took a deep breath and
called upon his patience, ‘I mean I did not know who ‘took’ who,’
‘…I’m guessing it would have been
Yufei,’
‘…’ Zhengqing gave her a look then
turned back to the road. Shouldn’t her expression be anger? Instead it was
happy smiles. In the corner of his eye, he could see Yin Ting take out her
mobile, and dial.
‘What is it?’ he did not really
want to gossip, but eventually did not hold back.
‘I wanted to talk to Yufei but it’s
the weekend so they must be out. I don’t want to bother them.’
She really didn’t look angry, ah.
But he asked, ‘Are you okay?’
‘Why do you ask?’ she asked
puzzled. She was very well, wasn’t she?
‘I meant; don’t you like Yingjie?’
‘I did in the past, but he did not
like me, so I gave up.’
Zhengqing was silent. He did not
know how to reply to that. More and more, he was sure that he was not suitable
to talk to people about emotional issues. It was better to talk about work and
business, less pitfalls.
‘Do you know why a car can turn?’
she asked.
Zhengqing was distracted, he
thought she said he should turn around, so he subconsciously turned when they
came to a cross road, then realised he was asking one of her riddles with weird
positive answers. He looked at Yin Ting out of the corner of his eyes, she had
that innocent look on her face, she looked surprised that he turned,
He sighed and humoured her, ‘Why?’
Yin Ting decided to tell him that
he was going the long way, she replied, ‘Because you can change directions when
you end up in a dead end,’
She was trying to say that Yingjie
did not like her, therefore she wasn’t planning on tying herself down with him.
She was happy to find the next big tree. So shallow, do you want to use a dead
end to adjust the atmosphere. Zhengqing wanted to sigh,
‘Which one do you like; Zoe or
May?’ She asked.
This time, Zhengqing heaved a great
big sigh.
‘Why?’
‘Your conversations are not linked,
you jump from one topic to the other with not connection what so ever.’
‘I do,’ She protested, ‘I said Gu
Yingjie did not like me so I moved on. You have two choices, I am curious which
path you intend to take. There was a connection, it is in the same topic.’
Zhengqing was unable to refute.
(Zuben: I can refute!)
After a while, she asked again,
‘Which path do you intend to take?’
Zhengqing did not want to talk
about this with her, but he thought if he did not answer, she would think he
did not want to marry but play around.
‘Why do you want to know?’ he
asked. Regardless of her answer, he meant to avoid the question.
‘I thought that if we talked about
it I could help you make a choice. After all you’re too proper and serious,
your experience with this kind of situation will be limited. I am different I
have quite a lot of experience.’
‘Carrying torches for men who don’t
like you is experience?’ As they words came out of his mouth he regretted it.
This wasn’t his way,
But she did not care, ‘My multiple
failures are experience. Each defeat is meaningful. Therefore those experiences
play a positive role now.’ She replied. She really had a unique spirit, making
persistent and energetic positive effort.
‘I am a realist, I don’t want too
much positivity.’ This logic was not right, ah, but she won’t notice.
She really didn’t, ‘Don’t look down
on the lovelorn. If you change the point of view, I am not lovelorn. You are
the same as me, the difference is I keep walking ahead and you remain static.
In reality, we are “no-love” allies, it is rather cordial.’
‘…’ she keeps walking her ahead,
while he remains still? No-love allies? It really made no sense yet somewhat
reasonable. Zhengqing pursed his lips. He was unable to refute. (Zuben: I can
refute for you if you want)
He decided to change topic.
‘What are you planning on asking
Yufei?’
‘What are you asking?’
‘Did she know you liked Gu
Yingjie?’
‘Yeah, but she also knows that I
have moved on.’
‘Oh.’
‘She’s so great, it’s nice that she
is in love.’
‘Why?’ Zhengqing really did not
understand women, shouldn’t her heart be sour? (Zuben: Why should her heart be
sour?)
‘He is a good man, and he is
finally in Yufei’s arms. I also feel proud and elated. May can’t laugh at me
anymore.’
Zhengqing was confused; Yufei was
in love with Yingjie and Yin Ting feels proud and elated? (Zuben: Too many ‘Y’
names) Wasn’t she the one who was after Yingjie, or as she says now she wasn’t
after him anymore. Why can’t Jiaqi laugh at her?
There was never any logic in her
conversation. He decided not to ask again. He feared that the more he asked,
the more he would realise that Yin Ting lived in a world of her own.
He heard her phone receive a text,
and the click of her replying. He drove silently, while wondering what she was
thinking. Soon, they arrived in Yin Ting’s neighbourhood. He parked carefully
near her house. She looked out the window when they came to a stop, she smiled
at him and wanted to say goodbye but Zhengqing suddenly asked,
‘Xiaoting, are you ever sad?’
She hadn’t been sad in the car,
returning home she was not sad, being lovelorn she was not sad, it
seemed…nothing made her sad. She really must eat a few “I am happy everyday”
pills every day.
‘Yes ah,’ She answered, ‘I was sad
when my mother died.’
Zhengqing was surprised for a
moment, ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. He did not intend to poke a wound.
Yin Ting shook her head, ‘My mother
knew she was going to die, she called me to chuang
side. I cried hard, I had been crying. She said, “My silly child, some things
happen. Crying isn’t going to stop it. You just have to face it. Mom is just
going somewhere else. It is a good opportunity to learn to be independent and
brave. You can do it, Mother will be happy”’ she paused for a bit, the
continued, ‘I didn’t understand at the time, but as I grew up, I slowly began
to understand. I want my mother to be happy,’
She looked at Zhengqing, he saw her
eyes were red and tears hung on the rims. He suddenly really regretted asking
her.
‘Mom just changed where she is
living. It is just inconvenient to meet and she cant tell me stories anymore.
When I was a child she told me stories every night. She must be really sad. I
should not be sad right?’
Zhengqing wanted to agree, but Yin
Ting sucked in breath and said, ‘I’m going. Thank you for driving me home,’
Zhengqing did not know what to say
to her, as she opened the door and stepped out.
‘Goodbye,’ she said.
‘Goodbye,’ he returned. The she was
gone.
Zhengqing sighed. He remained in a
daze. Did she just cry? He really regretted his words. Why did he bring up this
topic? And she cried, making him feel terrible.
Suddenly there was a dark shadow
rapping at the window, he jumped. It was Yin Ting,
‘I will email you later,’ she said
happily, then seemingly full of energy she ran off.
Zhengqing stared after her, what
was the purpose of this email? He did not understand this girl. He waited for a
while, just in case, she jumped out of nowhere again to give him more details,
but she didn’t. He could not decide if he was disappointed or relieved.
Suddenly popping out was strangely scary, it was nothing to look forward to.
Zhengqing drove home. His large
house suddenly felt empty. He wondered if he should buy more furniture, as he
crashed into his sofa. He took out his phone to see if he had any mail, but
there was nothing.
He threw the phone aside. He should
take the time to buy new furniture. Oh damn, he forgot to get groceries!
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