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Discontent:
Zhengqing arrived at work on Monday
in a not so good mood and he was not able to hide it. (Zuben: Dude is horny)
Nothing bad happened, Yin Ting had text him
good morning, the day was bright and blue, the sun was warm, even the Monday
morning meeting reports were good but Zhengqing’s demeanour was cool.
His mood was so low, his expression
was dark. He spoke stoically and firmly making everyone who attended the
meeting nervous.
After the meeting, Manager Chen,
pushed by everyone, came over to ask Zhengqing what was up. Chen did not feel
like he was the best candidate for this, he felt that Zhengqing’s secretary was
more appropriate, but she refused saying,
‘I am a woman and Qiu Zong’s
secretary. He could misunderstand that I am interested in him. What if I get
reported for sexual harassment in the work place? I’m not going.’ (Zuben: Isn’t
that an exaggeration?)
He turned to Zhengqing’s personal
assistant who also refused saying, ‘No, if I go and ask, then make him even
more unhappy, my work would be affected. Manager Chen you have a high position,
and Qiu VP gives you face. Furthermore, if VP Qiu is not happy about something
later, I can quickly get the secret information to you.’
Well, that was fine, but what would
he say to him? Everyone stared eagerly at Manager Chen, because everyone cared!
Truthfully, it was because they
wanted gossip. Manager Chen himself liked to gossip. Especially since VP Qiu
fell in love, he began to have a touch of humanity in him, he laughed, and he
was soft and gentle and got off work early!
The very right and serious VP
changed to a gentle person, he did not work overtime (Zuben: Might I remind
everyone that it has only been just under a week?) which shocked the upper
management. Everyone had been curious. Tingting yuli 413 really had skill. She
caught VP Qiu and changed him. But it seemed that the VP has reverted. Why?
The people want to know!
The colleagues standing behind
Manager Chen had the flames of anticipation in their eyes for juicy gossip. So
Manager Chen broached the dragon’s lair with the guise of talking business,
After their discussion, Manager
Chen tentatively asked, ‘VP Qiu doesn’t seem very happy today. How are things
at home, anything we can do to help?’
Zhengqing looked up from the
documents he was perusing at Manager Chen. They must want gossip. But have they
reached the point where they gossip together?
‘Nothing is the matter, I am fine.’
‘Was something in today’s meeting
unsatisfactory?’
‘No, everyone’s performance was
good this month.’
What is it then? Why does he have
that serious face? Manager Chen did not have the liver to directly ask whether
he quarrelled with his girlfriend. So he said, ‘Tingting Yuli hasn’t been here
in a while,’ it was a stylish way to ask.
Zhengqing frowned, ‘Manager Chen,
Xiaoting is my girlfriend.’ (Zuben: This is why the whole world should not know
your business)
‘Yes ah,’ he knew that! He did was
not interested in taking his precious girlfriend. The he looked at Zhengqing’s
face, ‘Oh so that’s it,’ he said, ‘I understand now.’
What did he understand? Zhengqing
was confused, ‘I did not quarrel with Xiaoting.’
‘Yes, yes,’ It was in line with his
speculations (Zuben: That VP is horny?), he really understood. Now that he’d
succeeded in sussing out what was wrong with the VP, he said goodbye and left.
Later in the afternoon, Zhengqing
went to the break room to get some tea when he overheard a colleague
complaining to another about Zhengqing, he’d been asked to redo a proposal for
the next quarter,
‘It was a good proposal; I
shouldn’t have had to redo it. Especially since New Year holiday is coming.
(Zuben: Hold on, is it February already? 1), I hurried to adjust and
finish it. But VP Qiu rejected it; it must be because he is discontent. If I
had given him last week, when his mood was good, there would not have been an
issue.’ (Zuben: Lazy idiot)
Zhengqing was confused; who was
discontent?
At this moment, the two colleagues
came out of the break room and saw him,
Zhengqing glowered, ‘First of all,
your proposal was unrealistic. Someone in your section should have gone to the
store and had a meeting. The report should be based on the previous year’s
earnings from around the New Year, then the increase in purchasing around the
Spring Festival and then based on projections from advertising. Why is the
second quarter so high? What data did you analyse for this? The budget for
advertising was baseless. Your plan did not convince me. No matter how I feel,
this is my professional judgement, it will not change.’
The both of them were speechless.
They did not dare move. The offending colleague nodded vigorously,
‘Make a proper plan ahead of time.
Don’t write proposals casually. And, I am not discontent!’ With that Zhengqing
entered the break room, and the two ran back to their desks. When Zhengqing
returned to his office, the main office was quiet, especially austere. As soon as
he entered his office, everyone relaxed. He was definitely discontent!
At six thirty, Zhengqing’s alarm
rang. He thought about clocking off, but he had so much work to finish and some
of the time had been taken overseeing another subordinate’s work. Because of
the coming vacation, everyone was getting lax. And because of the vacation, he
needed to get as much done as possible.
Zhengqing thought that he had
scolded his subordinate, he should also be a model example (Zuben: You
shouldn’t bother, dear) There were too many things to finish; he would not be
able to peacefully have dinner with Xiaoting. (Zuben: Shoulda told her before
six thirty though)
Zhengqing remembered that Yin Ting
said he could ask for leave, so he called her,
‘Are you on your way back?’ she
asked perkily,
‘Ah, no,’ He said, it wasn’t easy
for him to say. ‘I have a lot of work today, I can’t get away early.’
‘Oh,’ Yin Ting said suddenly
dispirited.
Zhengqing scratched his forehead as
he said, ‘Because of New Year, there is a lot of work to be done before the
holiday and then there is the Spring Festival, this a very busy time for us. I
am sorry; I will be coming home late,’
‘It’s alright,’ she said with a
sigh, ‘You’re busy, it can’t be helped. I will order dinner so you won’t have
to think about it when you get home.’
‘Okay,’ he replied obediently,
‘I won’t keep you since you are
busy. I won’t wait for you either, so you can work without worry.’ Yin Ting said as
she looked sadly at the dinner she was setting out.
‘Oh you could watch TV and play
with Miao-dada while waiting for me,’ he said tentatively. (Zuben: wait for
whose ghost?!)
‘No. I don’t want you to be worried
while you are working. And you will be tired from working overtime and you will
want to drive me back home. I don’t want that. Feel at ease. And make sure you
have a snack,’
‘I will order something,’ he
promised, ‘Be careful going home,’
‘Will do. Later,’ she said and hung
up. She sighed sadly as she put her phone away. She tried to eat a bit, but she
couldn’t. It was too boring, ah. She would go home to eat with her dad.
She put the dishes in the refrigerator,
washed the dishes she’d already used and fed the cat.
Yin Ting returned home just after
dinner. Her father was watching TV when she entered,
‘Have you eaten?’ he said surprised
to see her. Didn’t she say she was going to be late home because she was having
dinner with Qiu Zhengqing?
‘Haven’t eaten. He wasn’t able to
come back, he’s working overtime. So I came home to eat. Has brother gone to
the bar?’
Guohao called to their housekeeper
to serve Yin Ting something to eat, but Yin Ting went to the kitchen and asked
Aunty to teach her to cook something.
‘You should have told me you were
coming back; I would have waited for you.’ Her father said,
Yin Ting laughed, ‘You can eat what
I cook with me,’
‘Good, Dad will eat with you,’
Guohao said as he watched Yin Ting add salt to the meal she was making. He did
not need to taste to know the soup needed more salt,
‘Wouldn’t it be too salty?’ She
asked,
‘Add a little more,’ their housekeeper
said,
Yin Tin tasted it soup, it was
really salty, ‘I should add water,’ she said decisively pouring water into the
soup.
Their housekeeper smiled and said,
‘It won’t be tasty that way,’
‘The water would boil off,’ Yin
Ting replied, (Zuben: Are you sure you want to learn how to cook, dear?)
Guohao wondered if this was going
to be alright.
‘Dad, do you still have the number
of that driving school teacher friend of yours? Introduce him to me again,’
‘Why?’ Guohao asked, he thought he
was developing a headache, ‘You want to learn to drive? I thought you gave up
on that? Didn’t you say that you want to preserve the lives of the pedestrians
and other drivers?’
‘I want to try again,’
‘I don’t know the full number of
driving schools that have been affected by your scourge. If I called one of
them to book you in, they will all go on sick leave.’
‘Dad! Don’t exaggerate!’ Tingting
said unconvinced. The driving instructors were just too stiff and they had been
frightened by her older brother into being prejudiced against her skills. Okay
so she wasn’t good with mechanics, actually it should be more like; she lacked
inspiration in this aspect of life. (Zuben: All you have to know is how to
change your brake oil and tyres, right? Anything else, tow to the mechanic.
No?) But she really wanted to learn properly now. She wanted to be able to go
and pick up Zhengqing after a tiring day at work, and she didn’t want him to
have to drop her off home either. If she could drive, she would save him a lot
of trouble.
‘You forget you got your driving
license with great difficulty, I don’t feel assured that you can drive. You
just want to drive Zhengqing after work.’ Guohao said
And drive very coolly. Do a drift
park in front of Zhengqing and say “No time to explain, get in the car!” plot.
She laughed stupidly at her imaginary play.
Guohao poked at his daughter’s head
but also laughed at her foolishness.
That evening around ten, Zhengqing
called Yin Ting.
‘It’s so late. Kiss Kiss, then kiss
miao dada, bathe and sleep,’
‘Um. What are you up to?’
‘I am doing things I like.’
‘What kind of things you like?’
‘My interests are very broad.
Right, did you finish work? Because, if you haven’t, it’s okay, I won’t be able
to meet up tomorrow. I have to meet my friends tomorrow or they will be
unhappy. Then we can spend lots of time together on the New Year holiday,’
‘You’re not coming tomorrow? I
thought I only got a penalty if I don’t warn you before-hand.’ Zhengqing said
unhappily.
‘But you didn’t warn me before hand,
you told me at six thirty when I had already bought dinner. Oh the food is in
the fridge.’
‘But I want to see you,’
‘There is no chance tomorrow.’
‘Very well. But this should offset
something else,’
‘Haha, okay.’
He was counting her leave from him
as well. She laughed, she had thought he would be too busy to think about
things like that, but both of them were being reasonable. He was taking
opportunities when he could to increase his chips.
‘I am very generous. Go and bathe
and sleep.’
Zhengqing agreed and hung up. He
went to his study to put some money in the drawer for Yin Ting. When he opened
the drawer to find a folder, very much Yin Ting’s style. He looked into the
folder to see what was in it. There was a note: In view of the gift you sent
me, I want to give you something similar. Please keep it safe. There is only
one in the world. I intend to bind them into a book every year on our
anniversary.
The second page was a patterned paper;
it looked like Yin Ting had painted it. In the centre she wrote: Love Diary.
(Zuben: ¬.¬)
Looks like the planned cover page.
Under that she wrote: Only record
the good things.
The third page had a picture of the
Yongkai building affixed to it and she had written: I asked Yingjie and Yufei
when they think I first met you. I can’t remember, they can’t remember. I think
it was sometime in May.
I have been to that building and
that floor several times. But I don’t remember seeing you. I should think I
would have seen you; after all, it is where you work. But I did not know you
and you did not know me. We never left an impression on each other.
Until that day.
That day my goal was Gu Yingjie,
but Yu Fei got him. And you sat with him.
What happened on that day was you
knew me and I knew you. You thought I was frivolous girl and I thought you were
a stiff workaholic.
Even so, we were happy.
In the folder were, Tingting’s
scissors and a picture of her smiling.
[1] The Chinese have four days off
in the Gregorian New Year! That is so unfair! Dec 31st till Jan 2nd.
Zhengqing sat on the floor looking
at the sheets of paper he’d found; would this be their love diary? He
remembered the first time he met Yin Ting. She had come to contrived to meet Gu
Yingjie by change that day in the conference room. Yingjie asked if she had come
to see Yu Fei, she replied that she had, but Yu Fei wasn’t around. He had
thought she was a client of Yu Fei’s, and he was afraid Yu Fei had missed an
appointment, and offered to help if she required something.
That had been their first
conversation. In May, just over six months ago.
Miao-dada came over wondering what
Zhengqing was interested in on the floor. He saw the drawer was open and tried
to climb into it. Zhengqing pulled the cat away, and held it on his lap. While
stroking the cat’s head, he took his phone and dialled Yin Ting.
The phone rang a few times before
Yin Ting answered. He tried to talk and found his throat tight, ‘That day was
the 22nd.’
‘What?’ Yin Ting asked.
He cleared his throat and said, ‘We
first met on the 22nd of May.’
‘You actually remember?’ she said
surprised.
‘Well, it was a meeting with Gu
Yingjie.’
‘Oh,’ Yin Ting said a bit
dejectedly, he didn’t remember because of romance, he remembered because there
was a meeting, ‘Do you have romance contradictory complex?’
‘What is this new term?’
‘When you sent me the picture
frame, I was moved to death, then you told me it was a power point
presentation. I asked Yu Fei and Yingjie they didn’t remember, but you suddenly
called and told me the date, I was so touched and then you poured water on it,
when you tell me you had it in your diary.’
‘How should I say it?’
‘You don’t need to say anything. I
am just taking note.’
‘I feel I should protest.’
‘Although, I don’t think it is
necessary, I would like to know how you would protest.’ She said cheekily,
‘Please protest,’
‘…’ Zhengqing did not know what to
say in protest; he decided to take a page from her book and said, ‘I will tell
you when I think of the words.’
Yin Ting laughed, ‘Shameless, Mr
Qiu. Shameless.’
‘I have been taught bad habits by
you,’
‘Do not put all responsibility on
me,’
‘I am not shirking my
responsibility, you are my responsibility,’
‘Those words are not romantic;’
sighed Yin Ting, ‘really want to hear you say something romantic,’
‘What was wrong with those words?’
‘Responsibility. You are talking
about our love like it is duty. Where is the sentiment?’
‘…’ Zhengqing was confused, ‘Where
is the conflict between responsibility and sentiment? Logic?’
‘Protest does not want the logic,’
‘What?’ How did this turn into a protest?
‘I gave you a demonstration of the
correct way to protest between lovers. You’re welcome,’ Yin Ting said happily.
(Zuben is confused)
‘You decided you are not touched by
my words but were unable to justify yourself, so found a flimsy excuse to demonstrate
protesting,’
‘…I was demonstrating how a couple
bickers, did you learn anything?’
‘Your ingenuity is fully
reflected.’ He replied drily
She laughed, ‘Very good. There is
something to record in the diary for today: We had a boring and interesting couples’
chat.’
‘A boring and interesting couple
dialogue; this is a good thing?’
‘Yes, ah, very interesting. Do not
mind this. Remember that you worked overtime, did not call me till six thirty
when I had already bought dinner?’
Zhengqing was silent; Tingting
laughed, ‘Just demonstrating how a lover complains,’
‘I will try to remember to call on
time,’
‘And?’ Yin Ting’s voice was soft
and made Zhengqing’s heart ache with longing
‘What else is there?’ he asked
‘Most important is if you need to
work over time, you can come home and do things. Don’t stay out too late and
make your girlfriend worry,’ she said quickly (Zuben: You know he lived before
you came along right?), ‘and this is a demonstration of raising a bone of
contention.’
‘…’Zhengqing was defeated. Her mind
was really strange; everything she said this evening seemed to be a
demonstration method. The curriculum was too much to digest all at once.
Moreover, the demonstrations were just a way of bringing up old grievances.
‘You would feel relieved that I am
not recording unhappy things in the diary.’ She said, ‘I am only recording the
good things because they are easy to forget.’
Oh? Were happy times easy to
forget?
‘I will write the good things down
when we are happy so that when things get difficult we can read thing and
remember the good times,’ (Zuben: You can appreciate the good times and still
break up, but okay)
‘We can remember all the things
that made us love each other. Hmm on
August the 31st, my bicycle chain broke and you drove by and offered
to help. You bought be lunch and lent me money. However, I felt that you needed
help with dating Huizhu-jie. We were just thinking of helping each other at the
time. The weather was nice that day, there were many fluffy clouds. I was
chasing a particularly beautiful cloud, but was unable to catch up and then you
picked me up.’
As he listened to her, his eyes
felt heated.
‘On September the 3rd, I
went to your work place to return the money I borrowed and give you the red
string. At the time, I thought you most desperately needed help from the god of
love or your girlfriend would dump you. But now, I’m your girlfriend! I think
you inspiration is quite a lot, although the origin is a little embarrassing. I
don’t want to leave you, so I am writing these down so we can last a long
time,’
Zhengqing lifted a hand to cover
his face. He couldn’t believe that a man like him would nearly be crying
listening to his girlfriend. Such a loss of face.
‘On the Autumn Festival, we met the
cemetery. My mother and your parents are neighbours; really predestined
friends. ‘
‘You gave me a big grapefruit,’ he
said, ‘It was the first time I ate such a sweet one. Afterwards, I went to
supermarket to buy another and it tasted terrible.’
‘Really?’ She exclaimed.
‘Yes, too sour. I forced myself to
eat it every day till it was finished.’
Yin Ting laughed, ‘You’re so
stupid.’
‘This is not stupid. I don’t waste
food, I won’t throw it away.’
‘If it was too sour, why didn’t you
add sugar?’
‘…’ Damn why didn’t he think of
that.
‘So stupid,’ she said laughing.
‘I am not stupid,’ he grumbled,
‘I know. I know. You just lack
inspiration. I know.’ She said still laughing, then she cried out, ‘I have
thought of another riddle: Why is a grapefruit sour?’
Zhengqing sighed, ‘Because you need
to add sugar?’
‘Haha! You’re very intelligent. The
grapefruit is sour so you can add sugar. Why is love boring? So you can add
sugar. Why is life boring, ah? You need to add sugar. If it not sufficient it
is because it is not good. You had the opportunity but wasted it. You cannot
blame anyone but yourself.’ Yin Ting was jubilant, ‘I must write this down; it
is like the chicken soup issue. Please Be More Serious, you are a font of
inspiration.’
Zhengqing smiled, ‘Then you must
also add for today that I gave you some inspiration.’
‘I am going to write down the
chicken soup too, it should be remembered.’ Yin Ting said happily, ‘I thought
there was nothing worth noting down for today, but I wound up having lots of
things to write. I have to buy you grapefruit to make it up to you.’
‘How many entries have you
written?’
‘Six.’
‘How come there is only one in my
drawer?’
‘I only just thought of it. I wrote
the first entry today. I will leave a couple at yours, and keep a couple, so we
both have good memories to remember. What do you think? Is my idea good?’
‘It’s great,’ he said
‘How come you opened the drawer?’
‘I thought there might not be
enough money, so I was putting in more.’
‘Really, how nice! I must write
this down. You worked so hard today, yet thought of me and things at home. This
shows thoughtfulness. It’s all the small things.’
She really was an angel; to put
money in the drawer for her was a small thing, but she found something
beautiful in that.
‘We must remember the little
things, because they are easy to ignore. Let me tell you, I will put one entry
in your drawer each day, there is a fear that if I don’t record everything that
we would lose it and I would get lazy.
But if I put one in your drawer every day, when you see it you will be
happy. And if I am consistent in my recording, and I have lots of entries but
it would mean we haven’t seen each other in a while. So I must pay attention.
And if there had been nothing to record for a long time, we must pay
attention.’
‘Such a profound strategy, only you
can think of it.’
‘It’s easy to come up with but hard
to stick with. If I get lazy, you need to encourage me. This would give us
something in common. Our work and life circle are not linked. We gotta have
something we do together, right? I have only just started, but I will continue
to work on it. I am going to write all our lovely memories, little and large,
and on our first anniversary I will collect all the entries and get it bound.
So we would have one for every year we are together.’
‘Every year?’
Every year.’
‘Then I will have to have a special
cabinet made for your diaries,’ Zhengqing said.
Yin Ting laughed, that meant they
had to be together for a long time, ‘Will we grow old together?’
‘We will,’
Yin Ting laughed some more.
‘I am being serious,’ Zhengqing
said. If they could remember all their little moments of determination and
perseverance, then how will they break up? He could not think of it, he felt it
was impossible.
Yin Ting said, ‘I must write down
our first fight. Because a quarrel is not a good matter, but it is
commemorating it.’
‘We will not quarrel,’
‘We will definitely quarrel, but I
cannot think of a reason we might. Perhaps, you working overtime too much,’
‘Um, are you demonstrating tactful
complaining again?’
Yin Ting laughed, ‘I was going to
write that down, but forgot. Turned a difficult hindrance to something good,
and adhered to the contract.’
‘How did we change something
difficult to something good?’ Didn’t she say she was only writing down happy
things?
‘Difficult things aren’t, however,
if there is a breakthrough to something happy then it must be written down.’
Zhengqing was silent, he could not
speak. He felt if she could find a lot of good in the mundane, then she was the
most beautiful one. Zhengqing was suddenly fearful, how could he a common
mortal love an angel like her?
‘I love you,’ he said finally. He
decided to tell her that every day, tell his angel he loved her totally.
Though the future was unknowable, he hoped to always let her know he loved her.
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