“I don’t want our relationship to have any more twists and turns, so I can’t tell Mi Cai that I jumped into the river to retrieve the guitar. But I can’t find a good excuse either, so I chose to remain silent.
Mi Cai seemed determined to uncover the truth, her questioning gaze never leaving me.
“I had a few drinks today and was a bit dizzy. I accidentally stepped into the moat.”
“So you didn’t tell me to keep me from worrying, right?”
I felt ashamed because of this lie and remained silent. Mi Cai mistook my silence for agreement. She hugged me, sobbing, “I’m sorry, it’s my fault that you’re upset. I should have come back from Shanghai earlier to be with you.”
I was at a loss for words and after a while, I said to her, “I’m the one who’s not good, I’m the one who should blame myself.”
Mi Cai shook her head, not letting me continue.
Feeling guilty, I put my arms around her shoulders and said, “You must be tired today, you should go home and rest early.”
“I’ll make you some ginger soup. I’ll leave after you finish it.”
……
When Mi Cai left, it was already 11 o’clock at night. Afterwards, I inevitably thought a lot and reminded myself to keep a distance from Jian Wei. Because I understand that even if my meeting with her is accidental, it could become a hidden danger between Mi Cai and me.
Finally, after drinking the ginger soup and breaking out in a cold sweat, I felt a bit tired. In my drowsiness, the message alert on my phone rang. I thought it was Mi Cai checking on me, so I quickly sobered up and opened the message, only to find it was from Jian Wei.
“Zhao Yang, are you sick?”
After a slight hesitation, I replied, “No, how about you? Are you okay?”
“I caught a cold and am getting an IV at the hospital. It’s not a big deal.”
A few years ago, I would have rushed to the hospital with some nourishing late-night snacks for her without a second thought. But now, all I could do was send her a dry text message, “Oh, then you should go home and rest early after the IV, don’t tire yourself out.”
I thought our conversation would end there, but Jian Wei sent another message, “I heard you’re worried about work. Our company is planning to negotiate an annual advertising agency contract with a real estate company. If you’re interested, you can help follow up. If the deal goes through, you’ll get a 10% commission. What do you think?”
I roughly estimated that if it’s the annual advertising agency for real estate, it’s at least a million-dollar project. Ten percent is 100,000, possibly even more. This indeed tempted me, who was currently unemployed.
After a little thought, I replied to Jian Wei, “Thank you for your kindness. I’ll handle my work situation. I wish your company continued success.”
Jian Wei didn’t reply to my message, perhaps because my “I wish your company continued success” created a great distance between us. But I did gain some temporary peace. Yes, what I need most right now is peace, and then to sort out my work in this peace.
……
The next day, I got up early, had a simple breakfast, and embarked on the long road of job hunting. It wasn’t until dusk that I took a break, but the results were not satisfactory. At least there were no companies that showed great interest in me. Most of them asked me to wait patiently for the results of the interview. Although I was anxious, it was an expected result. After all, what society lacks the least is talent. I had already experienced this when I was looking for a job in Xuzhou. In the end, it was only with the help of Li Xiaoyun that I managed to get a satisfactory job.
As it got darker, I came to the square where Mi Cai and I often played racing games, feeling exhausted. I found a wooden chair and sat down, watching the children playing with their racing cars in a daze. I felt an indescribable envy, but even more helplessness. Helpless at the passing of childhood, helpless at the disappointments of life.
“Uncle… Uncle, would you buy my flowers?”
I looked up to see a little girl selling flowers standing next to me. I smiled and asked her, “How do you know Uncle needs flowers?”
“Because you have a girlfriend! I’ve seen you bring her here to play racing games several times. But I wasn’t selling flowers then… Hehe!”
Since I was bored, I started chatting with the little girl, “So why are you selling flowers now?”
“A friend in my class is sick. She’s my friend and she’s really pretty, but she doesn’t have money for treatment. So we friends decided to sell flowers in the square after school to raise money for her treatment. My house is the closest to this square, so I sell flowers here… Uncle, please buy some flowers. I’ll thank you on behalf of Dou Dou!”
“How much for one?”
“5 yuan.”
I took out 200 yuan from my wallet and said to her, “Give me all of them.”
The little girl seemed to be calculating, and after a while, she said to me, “Uncle, I only have 30 flowers here. 150 yuan is enough.”
“The extra 50 yuan is for Uncle to treat you and Dou Dou to candy, okay?” I said, handing her the money and taking the bouquet from her.
“Thank you, Uncle!” The little girl said to me happily.
Seeing her cute, I joked with her, “Then give Uncle a kiss.”
“No, no, your girlfriend is so pretty, I can’t kiss you. Otherwise, she won’t let you buy my flowers anymore!”Her antics had me laughing heartily, dispelling the gloom of the day. I patted her head and said, “Uncle was just joking with you. Your kisses should be saved for your future boyfriend. Once you’ve sold all your flowers, hurry home.”
The little girl nodded, bid me goodbye, and then hopped and skipped towards the exit of the square.
I looked at the bouquet in my hand and rummaged through my wallet. I found over two thousand yuan in cash, enough for a candlelit dinner. Since we started dating, I had never formally given her a bouquet or treated her to a romantic candlelit dinner.
…
I drove to the base of the towering Zhuomei building, holding the bouquet and waiting for Mi Cai to finish work. Unexpectedly, I spotted a white R8 and a Ferrari 458 in the distance, both with Shanghai license plates. I immediately recognized the R8 as Mi Lan’s, but I wasn’t sure who owned the Ferrari 458. It could just belong to a passerby.
I lit a cigarette, anticipating that Mi Cai might come out with that woman who I found extremely annoying. But I had no intention of avoiding them.
As I was about to finish my cigarette, I finally spotted Mi Cai and Mi Lan walking towards the parked R8 with the crowd. Upon closer inspection, I was surprised to see a familiar face following them – it was Wei Ran, the ‘little turtle’ from before. I didn’t expect him to be back in the country!
While I was still in shock, the three of them had already reached the parked R8 and Ferrari 458. Mi Cai seemed to be about to get into the R8, but Mi Lan pushed her towards Wei Ran. In the end, she got into Wei Ran’s car. Shortly after, the two supercars disappeared into the traffic flow and out of my sight…