Chapter 67 - Dream trip at home
On May 10th, Tingting
Yuli413 published a blog post announcing she was joining the Show competition.
She wrote:
When I was younger, my dream was to
become a traveller. My father asked me what I thought a traveller was. I
replied that a traveller was a person who visited many places and saw many
beautiful scenery and then shared those scenes with others. Fortunately, I have
had the chance to be to many places and seen many beautiful scenes, heard many
stories, but I haven’t become a traveller. On my birthday, my boyfriend gave me stationery, my father gave me a camera, my brother gave me a laptop.
They told me to fulful my dreams. So I have been carefully sorting through the
places I’ve been, the pictures I have taken, the stories I have heard…and I
hesitate. Which would be good?
Reading the other participants’
proposals, their locations and stories are very exciting. I didn’t know where I
wanted to go. Until today. Today is mother’s day and my boyfriend’s birthday.
This day has become one of great significance to me, I have been given a great
energy borne of happiness.
So, the place I choose to go is the
city I live. I haven’t encountered thrilling things and have no trials and
tribulations. My life is very ordinary, but I see beautiful things everyday. So
I decided that even though I am not travelling, I still have dreams. I want to
share the beauty I see everyday with you. This is the traveller of life.(Zuben: snore*)
She accompanied the post with a
photo of her notebooks, her new camera and the laptop. Her new notebook was
open and written in it was May 10th with cute paper lace tape to
decorate.
To do:
Departure everyday!
Harvest everyday!
Sing up for the Dream Trip
completion.
Jiāyóu! Jiāyóu! Jiāyóu!!!!
A peace hand sign was drawn at the
bottom.
After she published the post, she
went to sign up for the competition, created an avatar and bound her blog
account so that her blog posts could show up on the event platform. The
platform automatically sent her a link she could post on her blog.
She posted it up.
She watched her name appear on the
participants’ list.
She went to read the other
competitors’ blogs. They had updated in the past few days. The one she was most
interested in was “Kōng qìqiú”’s trip to Greece. Just as she finished reading,
Yufei called her.
‘What kind of ghost do you have?
Yesterday, we gave you so many suggestions. Why did you decide to stay local?’
Yufei asked angrily.
Yin Ting calmly replied, ‘I think
being local is very good, I have lots of things to share. And it’s my site.’
After Yufei hung up, her phone rang
again. It was Zhengqing. He was at the hospital with her father. When she
picked up, she could hear her father in the background,
‘Let me talk to her about it.’
Zhengqing sighed and in a helpless
tone said, ‘I’ll give the phone to your dad, he wants to speak to you.’
‘What is with this choice?’ Guohao
said once he had the phone to his ear, ‘It’s not like you can’t buy your own
ticket, or book your own hotel.’
‘It doesn’t matter that I am sick.
If you had chosen a foreign country, there would still be the draws, the
planning before you go. I’ll be out of the hospital by then.’
‘Why did you choose to stay in the
city? What can you talk about here? Is it those little roadside flowers and
snail on the leaves?’ Guohao said shouting angrily down the speaker. She could
go wherever she wanted, but she was so stubborn. (Zuben: Like father like
daughter?)
Yin Ting laughed, ‘There is nothing
wrong with the roadside flowers and the snails on the leaves. I feel that they
are dreamlike. Dad, everyone misunderstood my dream. Why does it have to be far
away?’
Guohao sputtered in surprise.
‘A lot of people have never left
their cities in their lives but they’ve never let go of their dreams. Although
the idea of a faraway land is full of mysterious beauty and charm, but everyone
is looking so far away and they forget their own surroundings.’ (Zuben: Grass
is greener)
Guohao tried another tack, ‘Are you
an old person? Don’t you always say; why is the sun so bright? Isn’t it
something to aim for?’
‘The flight to the sun is already
full, no more seats.’ Yin Ting said with a laugh, ‘Do you know why the earth
has flowers, grass water and air? Because it is the most sustainable planet to live.’
(Zuben: In other words, only when
it suits. Human nature)
So sometimes the sun isn’t good
enough? What was with this chicken dumpling logic? (Zuben: I know right)
Guohao thrust the phone back to
Zhengqing, ‘You talk to her!’
As he was about to talk to Yin
Ting, Guohao asked, ‘Can she amend her registration?’
‘I’ll talk to her first, try and be
calm.’ Zhengqing said soothing the older man’s feathers.
‘So tell me about it.’ He said to
Yin Ting
‘There are so many good things
happening around me. I don’t want to follow the crowd. I can’t fight the
popularity of those bloggers, they have their own style and if I do the same,
finding a far location, telling a story, it’s useless, it will be forgotten. I
don’t want that. I know I can’t win. So I want to do something I like, just
like I have done before, just like I would do after.’
Zhengqing was quiet seemingly
pondering.
‘I am greedy and I want to tell
more stories. Don’t worry I will talk to Father, its not because he’s ill or I
cant bear to be away from him. I did it for me. I want to do things that make
me feel moved. I don’t want to be a competitor. They show them, I show me.’
‘And I also thought the main
purpose was to advertise your shoes. Your positioning is closer to the people;
you may not want to take a high end route. So we should be thinking of
capturing the larger market; for example, white collar workers, young people.
People like me who can go to Greece or Antarctica aren't many, if everyone in the
streets wear Xiu shoes, they'll find a common beauty, this is the brand effect.
Right?’
Zhengqing laughed, Yin Ting became
a bit embarrassed. ‘I know if I chose the business angle I will be laughed at
by you. But I’m just trying to organise it in a language you understand,’
‘Yes, yes.’ Zhengqing said.
‘Anyway I know what I’m doing, you
can be rest assured. This is a brand created for my mother, it’s something of
my father and my mother. You gave me such an opportunity, I cherish it very
much. I’m not being lazy by picking our city.’
Zhengqing sighed and said, ‘Well,
since you’ve thought about it well, if you need help, let me know.’
‘Alright,’ she said. Then her voice
lowered, ‘How come you’re in the hospital?’
They had all left together.
‘You father isn’t agreeing to
tomorrow’s test, so the doctor called me. I came back to talk to your dad. I
went to your twitter page and saw your post.’
‘Oh. Go home early, you have work
tomorrow. I will be with him for the tests tomorrow.’
‘Alright, I’ll be leaving soon.’ He
said calmly.
When he hung up, Guohao asked, ‘Did
you persuade her? Did you?’
‘Xiaoting has a plan.’ He said
without arguing.
Guohao watched him for a time, then
said, ‘Fine, fine, you can go.’ Zhengqing was henpecked, almost like him.
‘Alright, I’m off. Xiaoting will
be coming tomorrow morning. You must do the tests. Don’t be stubborn. If you
are, Xiaoting will be hard on you.’
‘Fine fine, are you an old man? Go
away. I want to sleep.’ Guohao said as he slipped down to the pillow. Zhenging
pulled the quilt over him and closed the window.
As he went out of the hospital
room, Guohao muttered loudly, ‘Why did they call you? I have a son. I have a
daughter.’
Zhengqing laughed and bid him
goodnight. He left gently closing the door.
Guohao stared at the door,
continuing to chant, ‘I do have a son and a daughter.’ Perhaps, soon there will be one more; a son-in-law.
Xiuping, probably I will not come
to join your company so soon. I will treat him well and soon, I will bring our
grandchild to see you.
The next day, Yin Ting went to the
hospital to keep her father company. She called Zhengqing to update him that
her dad had been well behaved and gone through all his tests, and did not throw any
tantrums. He had also eaten a large bowl of porriage and told her it was a
bundle of unhappiness.
Zhengqing laughed, and promised to
come and play chess with Guohao after work.
Yin Ting told this to her dad.
‘He pouted. He said you dare come
with your terrible technique.’
Zhengqing laughed.
In the afternoon, Yin Shi came and
took over and Yin Ting went out.
After work, Zhengqing browsed Yin
Ting’s blog and saw a new post. She had posted two pictures of the flowershop
next to the hospital.
The first picture was of a doll-like
three year old girl carrying a bouquet of flowers. Yin Ting wrote: This little lady told me
her mom had just given birth to her sister, so she and her grandmother had come
to by flowers for her mother. She loves her mother and her little sister. The
young girl and her grandmother gave me permission to take this picture and post
in on the net. They are very happy to share their joy with everyone. I wish
them happiness forever.
The second picture was of a
middle-aged man carrying a beautifully wrapped basket of fruit smiling broadly
at the camera. Yin Ting wrote: This uncle had a resection of a tumour, it was
very successful. The basket of fruit was for the nurses and doctors that took
care of him to say a heartfelt thank you to them. He gave me permission to post
the picture on the internet so he can thank the hospital staff openly.
Underneath the pictures, she continued:
My dad is also in the hospital, he is unhappy because he doesn’t like being
there, but my boyfriend told him; he had come to the hospital because he had a
discomfort, he had come to the hospital to cure his illness, therefore, taking
away the discomfort. The hospital did not cause his discomfort. This is the
right logic.
Life isn’t permanent, there is
sickness and death. Everyday in the hospital, there are many sad partings, but
there are also countless joys born there.
The miracle of life, dislay of professionalism,
hard work, strength bravery, as well as love and care.
Today’s question: Why do flowers
have fragrance?
When Zhengqing got to the end of
the post, he found he had been smiling all the while. He suddenly felt her
decision was right. It was Ying Ting, even if she went somewhere far, she would
probably ramble on about these kind of little things. No soul stirring. No twists. No
dog blood melodrama. No commercial value that could be hyped.
But this was Yin Ting.
He went to Yin Ting’s personal page
to see her journey plan.
Everyday start.
Every day harvest.
Zhengqing called the Xiu team
and asked them to put up “Tingting Yuli 413” homepage on the event’s
recommendation page. He thought it had no commercial value.
When he helped push Yin Ting through
the back door. He voted for her. After a moment’s thought he called his
secretary, ‘Tell everyone to participate in the Xiu activity. After all, it’s
a group brand.’
His secretary was very excited,
‘Yes Qiu Zong, we have long been organised. The first thing we are going to do
is vote for Tingting Yuli 413.’
An IP address was limited to one
vote a day, they would absolutely not be wasted. The bandwith requirement was
large, so voting was limited, and they also allowed voting from mobile phones.
Zhengqing coughed, a little
embarrassed to be seen through. After hanging up, he called Mao Huizhu,
‘Zoe, Yin Ting is participating in
our event. Vote for her.’
‘Yes, I know.’ She said without
hesitation, ‘We only have seven people but the rate is 100%! That’s the first
thing we’ll do when we get to work.’
How is this now the first thing
they are doing when they get to work? Zhengqing suddenly felt he was lacking as
a boyfriend.
But he is the Vice President who
was competent at his job. The first thing to open when he gets to work is his
mailbox and to read through files.
Zhengqing went to look at Yin
Ting’s votes; it was really low. He couldn’t bear to look at it.
‘Xiaoting votes are climbing!’
Huizhu said cheerfully,’ There is still a lot of time, the gap will certainly
close. We will support her.’
He smiled and said, ‘Thanks.’
When Zhengqing rang off, Huizhu
returned to her computer. She found herself smiling at the words on Yin Ting’s
blog. There was a knock on her door, Huizhu looked up to see Wu Fei,
‘What’s up?’ she asked.
‘You didn’t leave the office all
afternoon.’ He said as he entered. He reached for her glass and there was still
half the water left, ‘You haven’t drunk any water either. There is still water
left in here, you should finish it.’
‘Oh,’ Huizhu drank the rest of the
glass down.
Wu Fei took the empty glass and
said, ‘I’ll refill il.’
‘So who were you chatting with so
happily?’ he asked.
‘Zhengqing ah.’
‘Oh,’ he replied his eyes downcast.
‘Xiaoting updated her blog.’
‘Oh.’ He replied as he began to
leave her office with her glass in his hand. (Zuben: Are you going to do an
indirect kiss)
‘Why do flowers have fragrance?’
she asked.
After what seemed like a lot of
hard thinking, ‘Because it’s fragrant.’ He replied.
Huizhu laughed.
Wu Fei smiled. Now that she had
gone independent, she was a lot more cheerful. In the past, she gave off an air
of confindence and intensity. But now it was self confidence with calm.
Huizhu looked up to see Wu Fei was
still standing there.
‘What’s the matter?’ she asked.
‘Nothing.’ He replied. He left and
returned with a full glass for Huizhu.
‘Thank you,’ she said to him
offhandedly.
Wu Fei said nothing and returned to
his desk.
Why are flowers so fragrant? He
asked himself. He went to look at Yin Ting’s latest blog post. He sat back and
thought more about it. Then an idea popped into his head, he quickly replied to
the blog post. He wrote: This is another form of beauty.
After work was over, he returned to
Yin Ting’s blog. His post has been liked many times and was at the top of
popular replies, and there were many praising his answer, and many reposts of
his reply.
Wu Fei was surprised by this.
Huizhu burst out of her office and said to him, ‘Wow, Wu Fei! I didn’t think
you were this sentimental.’ Then she returned to her office.
Wu Fei groaned and laughed. She
really had become cheerful. How many times did she meet up with Yin Ting, that
she was now infected?
Yin Ting was cute, no question, but
he preferred Mao Huizhu. He liked her strong indepence, her strong sense of
justice, and her talent. Everyone has different versions of beauty. He looked
at his watch, and poked his head through Huizhu’s door.
‘What are you going to eat tonight?
Do you want me to order something?’
‘No need, I’m not working
overtime.’ She replied as she shut down her computer.
‘Shall we go out and eat noodles.’
He asked. Always eating by himself was getting boring.
‘Can’t. I’m having dinner with
Xiaoting tonight. She doesn’t have to been in hospital with her dad. After, we
are going to the mall to buy Show shoes.’ She said with a laugh.
‘I see, alright.’
‘See you tomorrow.’ She said as she
picked up her bags and left.
Wu Fei watched her figure leave and
suddenly had a thought; he could say that she was seeing her off. He rushed out
but Huizhu was already in the elevator, and it was empty. Wu Fei was
disappointed.
But he decided not to let it get
him down. There was no hurry.
Zhengqing was on the phone to Yin
Ting, ‘So you’re going on a date with someone else, not me?’
She laughed.
He had spent the day pondering on
how to increase her popularity. Even if she doesn’t get to the finals, as long
as she squeezed in to the preliminaries.
‘Well, have fun.’ He said, then he
will continue research activities.
His angel was so gifted, she should
win.
Rose Tinted:
Huizhu and Yin Ting went to the
mall to by Xiu shoes. The two women happily tried on shoes and took pictures
of themselves. Yin Ting also took photos of the shopping assistant lady, and
several pairs of shoes she liked.
She posted them on her blog. She
wrote: I made a special trip to the Xiu shop with my friend. Each of us bought
a new pair of shoes. My friend is a strong woman very different from me. She is
a professional. In her last job because she didn’t want to go against her morals,
she chose the ‘more desirable to insist on losing’ path. Now, she has started
her own business, she had just made her first sale and signed new contracts.
Her company isn’t big, but she had great zeal and is full of confidence for the
future.
Sometimes this was the way it is,
even change can be beautiful.
The shopping assistant was very
young, she told me this was her first job. She’s been doing it for six months.
Everyday standing, smiling talking. Some customers her difficult, some are
straightforward, some customers just come to browse and not buy anything, some
try on lots of shoes and don’t buy. I asked her who had been her most
impressive customer. She told me with was a husband and wife who were pregnant.
He had brought his wife to buy shoes, but the wife thought the shoes were
expensive and was hesistant, insisting they go and buy shoes in the market. But
the husband told her not to worry about the price, she worked hard and she
should have a good pair of shoes. (Zuben: There is no price on keeping your
feet well) At last, they bought a pair of shoes. As they left, the wife said to
his shopping assistant: “You worked hard, thank you.”
The shopping assistant said she
didn’t know why but these words touched her. It happened in the two weeks ago, but
she remembers it well. So I asked her, is the work tiring? She thought about it
and smiled, she said the work is very hard, but if makes her feel satisfied. I
thought she had a beautiful smile.
She agreed to let me take her
picture and put it on my blog. She tidied up her appearance before I took the
picture, she was in the company uniform and she must present a good image. I
think she is great. Every girl who tries their hardest is great and very
beautiful.
Yin Ting linked her new blog post
to the competition website, she was surprised to find out that in addition to
the real time update list, she was on the official recommendation page. She
quickly called Zhengqing, ‘Were you asleep? I have been recommended!’
‘Congratulation, you are only there
for one day. They only select the really good blog posts to display. It will
change tomorrow.’
Yin Ting laughed, ‘You actually
helped me get put on, didn’t you? Please Be Serious can actually use the back
door!’
Zhengqing chuckled, ‘You sound like
you’re in high spirits. Are you having fun?’
‘Having fun. I took lots of
pictures today; my theme today is Xiu shoes. Helping you advertise.In a few
days I want to write a real ‘Xiu’ story.’
Zhengqing didn’t say anything so
she said, ‘Tomorrow, it’ll be the same. I’ll go to the hospital in the morning,
and then go and take pictures in the afternoon with gege comes to take over. Lets have a meal together tomorrow
evening. Will you be free?’
‘Yes,’ there wasn’t time, but he
would make time.
‘The doctor said Dad is improving.
He has another test tomorrow, if there are no problems, he will be discharged
the day after tomorrow, I will strictly implement his diet plan. I haven’t been
good with taking care of him.’
‘He looked alright when I went to
see him.’ Zhengqing had gone to the hospital to see Yin Guohao, he had been in
a good mood. There hadn’t been any major episodes, so he had been relieved.
‘I think dad being hospitalised is
a good thing. We were able to confirm that it wasn’t a major health issue, so
we are all relieved. And it’s a caution for us to pay attention our health.
Therefore, I think it’s a good thing.’
Zhengqing smiled, in her eyes,
everything was a good thing.
‘I thought of a way today.’
Zhengqing said, ‘to let you quickly gather popularity to win. But I don’t think
you would agree.’
‘What way?’ Yin Ting said, her tone
curious.
Zhengqing was silent.
‘You know sometimes complaints are
not bad things. Sometimes, these things gather people’s attention. Therefore in
business, sometimes they use fake complaints made by the government. The
attitude is good. After accepting the complain, it is handled and processed by
a third party and the public is informed that the product is verified and free
of problems. The incidence is used to prove service quality and product quality
is excellent.’
‘So in short,’ she replied, ‘you
want to find a PR player to blacken me on the internet and a PR saviour to
rescue me to create hype for popularity?’
‘About right.’
‘Isn’t this a competition to find a
dream?’ she asked a bit dumbfounded.
‘No, it’s an advertisement
activity.’
‘Isnt beauty found everywhere?’
‘Some people will be able to stay
beautiful.’
A realisation came to her and she
smiled, ‘You’ve used this trick at the mall.’
‘Yes.’ He admitted bluntly,
Yin Ting was silent for a while,
then she said, ‘I don’t want this.’
‘I thought not.’
‘I know I haven’t been to a day of
class properly, nor do I have any idea of marketing. I know I am idealistic,
and my fans aren’t many, but, I don’t care if I get a high place, I’m not bothered
if I don’t make it to the semi finals. If I agree to what you’re suggesting, I’ll
be sorry. If you find pay someone to attack me on the internet, even if I know
it isn’t true, I will be sad. And if I won, I won’t be happy about it. I don’t
want that.’
‘I understand.’
‘I get that you have strategy you
use in your business, which is fine. As long as you are not a black-hearted
businessman, and treat customers well with sincerity and operate with high
quality, you can go on forever.’ She said.
Zhengqing laughed, the sound made
her blush. She mumbled, ‘Well I don’t know what I am talking about. Why do I
have to teach an elite workaholic business?’
Zhengqing laughed even more.
‘What is funny?’ Yin Ting
complained.
‘I’m not laughing.’
‘So, you’re crying?’
Zhengqing laughed even harder, ‘No.
I think you’re cute trying to comfort me.’
‘Oh.’ Was she trying to comfort
him? Obviously not. She grimaced at the phone.
They chatted some more and hung up.
Zhengqing lay on his bed unable to
sleep thinking about Yin Ting’s words. Her reaction was just as he thought she
would. She was very idealistic, and everything was good in her eyes. He really
liked her, he liked her so much. He closed his eyes, but his head was filled
with her. In the end, he could not help but call her again.
‘Xiaoting.’
‘What’s happened?’ she asked.
‘I suddenly had a thought…’he said
but did not complete his thought.
‘What thought?’
‘When the event is over, lets get
married.’ He really hoped she would be nearby when he missed her. And he missed
her so much every day.
Yin Ting was silent for a few
seconds. Zhengqing became nervous, so he asked, ‘Are you alright?’
‘Mister ah please!’ She said with a
mocking sigh.
‘Okay…’
‘Which man have you seen call his
girlfriend because he couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night, and suddenly
say to his girlfriend: Well I suddenly I had a thought we should get married?’
He hadn’t but then he’d never seen
any other man’s proposal before.
‘Do you sometimes think of
something work related at odd hours and then call the relevant colleage?’
‘Yes.’ He replied.
Yin Tin smiled and wrinkled her
nose, ‘Mr Zhengqing, when you wanted to date you sent a photo. When you want to
propose, you phone at night. Do you think your strategy is appropriate?’
‘That was what I thought and I
wanted to tell you.’
It wasn’t sweet talk but she felt
it was very touching and memorable. She buried her face in her pillow and said,
‘So you think you can propose marriage without a ring or spending any money.
The girl would be foolish to agree.’
That sounded reasonable, he
thought.
‘Even if the girl wants to agree,
there is no way she can jump excitedly infront of the guy. How foolish is the
boy to say such a thing across the phone.’
‘That…’ made sense.
‘Of course not.’
‘Hao,’ he said admitting his
mistake, ‘I will improve next time.’
After he hung up, Yin Ting pulled
up her quilt to cover her fave and screamed happily. Stupid Serious. Stupid.
His romantic cells are certainly stunted. She could never have imagined someone
would call her up on the phone and say, ‘After the event, let’s get married.’
What the hell!
But why was he so cute? Really
cute. Please Be More Serious was so silly.
She rolled left and right and back
again in excitement. She rolled for a long while, then finally could not hold
back, she switched her light to write in the love diary. She must write this
event down, and wait to bring it out when they are old. It would be very
interesting to bring it up.
She conscientiously drew her mobile
phone in her hand and the lace of her night gown, she drew a girl’s surprised
face and some pink heart bubbles. Then wrote up the conversation. She read it
over several times and could not help but laugh.
Just then, her doorbell rang. Yin
Ting was startled, how come there was someone at her door so late.
Her dad was in hospital and her
brother was at the bar, she was the only one home.
Yin Ting was alert, but did not
move.
The bell rang again.
She put on her house coat and
picked up her mobile phone. She would look in the cat’s eye. If anything was
wrong, she would call the security, then her brother and Zhengqing.
She hadn’t reached her door yet,
when her phone rang. It was Zhengqing, she rejoiced and answered,
‘Please Be More Serious, someone is
ringing my doorbell.’
‘Open the door.’ He replied.
She was stunned.
‘It’s me, open the door.’
She was so surprised she flew to
the door and opened it.
Zhengqing stood at her doorstep.
‘Why are you here? What happened?’
She asked.
‘You did say things must be said
face to face.’
What? Proposal?
‘It's late, so the flower shop is
closed as well as the jewellery store.’ He said as he bent down. At his feet
was a cat carrier. He opened it and
pulled out Miao Dada, wearing a large flowery dress that Yin Ting had bought.
‘Since there are no flowers, will
this do for now?’
Miao dada gave a ‘meow’, his
expression was very innocent. He made Miao wear flowery clothes to replace real
flowers?
Yin Ting was still in a daze,
Zhengqing cuddled the cat and with his trademark serious face he said, ‘Miss
Yin Ting, when the event is over, let’s get married.’
‘Meow~~~’
 |
| pngtree.com |
Wow, so excited!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the update :D
ahahaha so cuuuttttttteee! borrowed my bf's mail! ahaha.. aikalee
ReplyDelete