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I never thought that I would encounter such a thing and such a person at such a time.
Perhaps all the legends of mandarin ducks and butterflies are created through such sudden opportunities.
Looking out the window, the people who were filing out of the office building opposite all rolled up their neat shirt sleeves over their elbows. They looked like they were very uncomfortable with the stinging eyes from the midday sun.
It was a hot day.
I'm glad I got up at this time. For someone like me, other people's noon is equivalent to my morning.
It is usually not easy to adapt to unexpected cold and heat.
My main living place is this one-bedroom apartment. An air conditioner easily changes the season to the refreshing autumn. I am an autumn katydid, shaking the pen in my hand and chirping consistently on the manuscript paper.
The result of the chirping of autumn insects is the end of life, but the words I write on the manuscript paper can be turned into lead type and sold for money.
This is how I make a living.
I should be considered a writer, or just a homebody.
When I brought the simple brunch to the glass table with four steel legs on the balcony, I found that the bunch of white gladioluses in the frosted vase, which I had pruned frequently to the same length as the roses, were withering.
I decided to go to the flower market.
He casually put on a pair of pure cotton plaid trousers and a white linen top.
Animals that live in small caves do not always have the harmonious colors of the forest in appearance. They will be recognized at a glance when they walk on the street. As the saying goes, a day in the cave is like thousands of years in the world.
The flower market is not far from the building where I live. It is enough to walk instead of driving.
Maybe the weather was really hot. As soon as I entered the flower market, I was greeted by posters announcing price reductions. Even the usually arrogant noble flowers such as Singapore orchids, lilies, water lilies and birds of paradise were all chopped off with only a few branches.
Sometimes dozens of branches are tied together into a "bundle" and sold, just like the swallows flying in front of the mansions of wealthy families and flying into the huts of ordinary people.
Common people's prices and noble enjoyment, that's when I feel the happiest.
I wandered among the bouquets, not buying anything, just looking and asking about the prices, and I felt good.
I stopped in front of a stall selling red roses that I had always just glanced at and walked past. The red color is still as red as blood, overflowing in various flower vases as if filling up the whole valley.
The shop owner didn't greet me because she knew I wasn't buying anything. I go to the flower market once a week and always come to see her red roses, but I never buy any.
Flowers in the world originally live and die on their own, each expressing its own way of survival, but people have given these beautiful plants human language, and the red rose has therefore taken on the mission of expressing one person's love for another. I don't buy it.
Because there is no one in my life who needs me to borrow flowers to talk. And no matter whether men or women around me, they never use flowers to tell me anything.
Once, the shop owner advised me to buy a bouquet of "Red Flame", saying: "Buy it for yourself, as long as you are happy." I thought about it and decided not to buy it. I love red roses, but do I love myself to that extent?
I have no idea.
"Boss, I want 999 red roses. Please make them into a flower basket."
Suddenly, there was such a man's voice beside me. The shop owner immediately smiled and looked away from me.
The person next to me was actually wearing a beige linen suit and grey trousers. I glanced at him, and he acted as if I didn't exist.
The boss's voice was already full of joy and flattery: "Sir, you have a good eye. My red roses are the best in the market. They are all airlifted from Kunming and are guaranteed to last for more than a week..."
The man said with a half-smile, "Hurry up, okay? I'm in a hurry."
"Ten skills are a bundle, and a bundle is 40 yuan. Please take a look at the flowers first."
A businessman is a businessman. Roses all over the market are 50 cents a stem and the owner is afraid that they can't sell them. But this shop owner dares to multiply the price of her flowers by 8. The man still has the same expression as before, a little lazy and absent-minded: "It's too expensive, I want so many..."
"My flowers are great. They are big and bloom for a long time, making them perfect as gifts.
How about you take another look? "The shop owner began to perform the "painful sale" that every vendor is good at.
The man smiled and said, "Two dollars a stick, no more, I want it now."
The shop owner was obviously happy, but he remained calm, as if he was very helpless: "Come on, it's my luck that I met someone who knows what's good. If it weren't for the hot weather, you wouldn't be able to buy a flower like this for 5 yuan. If you don't believe me, ask this lady..."
The man finally turned his gaze to me and nodded slightly.
He really could be considered handsome. Angular face, very healthy complexion. His eyes seemed to be half-closed out of habit, looking at people, cunning yet calm.
I nodded too.
"Boss, please give it to the lady first. I can wait for a while." The man ordered.
"I'm not buying it." I explained immediately, "I'm just going to take a look and leave."
"Such beautiful flowers, why don't you buy them?"
"If I don't buy it, I have nowhere to use it." I said this casually, and then I realized that the man had turned around.
It was facing me and seemed to be staring at my clothes with great curiosity.
Our tops are made of the same texture.
“It would be nice to buy one and keep it at home…” He seemed to be talking to himself, but his eyes never left me.
Buy a bouquet of red roses and put it in my home? I never thought about it that way.
I have never dreamed of a Prince Charming, nor have I ever hoped that one day I would be like those girls in the movies, walking into the office and being surprised to see a room full of roses. Then, before I could come to my senses, I received a marriage proposal call from downstairs. I had never thought of it this way. but,
I insist that roses, especially red roses, should be given to me by a man, and he must be a man whom I always keep in my heart and can touch by touching my chest. I don’t think this requirement is high, it just requires me to wait patiently for this person to come.
But, who is this man going to give the surprise that only appears in the movies to when he bought so many red roses?
It must be a woman.
A man and a woman, that's a story.
Thinking of this, I didn't say "goodbye". Instead, I said, "A person's home cannot bear such bright colors. Sir, you didn't buy flowers just to display them at home, did you?"
The man frowned inconspicuously, and I saw it.
"I bought it for someone else, not as a gift." He said indifferently, with a bit of boredom.
"Are you from a gift company that specializes in delivering gifts on behalf of others?!"
Idle people are like this, they like to inquire about things, no matter how small the matter is that has nothing to do with them, and what they find out may be a clue to a story that may be useful in the future.
The man smiled: "You want to know?"
I nodded.
"I bought flowers for a lady. Her husband is having his birthday today and will be back from Hong Kong this afternoon. I sent the flowers to the hotel we have booked so that we can celebrate together in the evening. Her husband is my eldest brother." He said while looking at me with a smile.
"Is it enough to know this much?"
"If that's the case, she should buy the flowers herself."
"It's too hot." The man looked at me, as if telling me, this is what you want to know, and now you know it.
I said I was going to buy some gladioli.
He said if I wanted, he could accompany me around the market: "Of course, you accompany me. I've never been here before."
The shop owner seemed to be eager for us to leave and immediately interrupted: "That's right, there's no point in waiting here. When you come back later, the flower baskets will be ready."
It was the first time for me to walk in such a romantic or romantic place with a person of the opposite sex whom I had known for less than half an hour. We all seemed to be keeping about a step apart unconsciously.
The short guy who sold me white gladioli every week waved at me across the dense flowers: "Ms. Lin,
All flowers are on sale today! ”
I like gladiolus. Long branches can be pruned back 1 inch every day, and a branch can still have five or six flowers blooming, and they will still bloom full and vigorous. No arrogance.
I bought the same 12 gladioli as usual for half the usual price.
"All flowers are on sale today. You bought the roses too expensively." I hugged the flowers wrapped in newspaper and said to the person following me. He naturally stretched out his hands and motioned for me to hand the flowers to him: "It was expensive to begin with."
“Why don’t you buy roses?”
I stood on tiptoe to brush away a strand of someone's hair that had fallen on a gladiolus bud: "A woman who buys red roses should be plump and beautiful, and a mature woman, over 30 years old. Moreover, the red roses should bloom in a dark living room, with red wine on the dining table, waiting for a mysterious guest... I have none of these." He held my gladiolus and followed me, walking past one stall after another with blooming flowers.
"You are quite interesting. You speak as if it were true."
"Everything I said is true."
We seemed to be acquaintances and could even talk half-jokingly in such a noisy place filled with the smell of damp plants.
I suddenly felt that maybe I am a person who is easy to get familiar with, or maybe it is because we will still be strangers even after today?
The flower basket is basically ready. It stood tall above a field of cut flowers and dirty green leaves. This is the first time I have seen such dirty branches. People who have not seen the whole process would never imagine that such a gorgeous and beautiful flower basket is made from such dirty and even rotten bouquets.
The shop owner was still showing her pursuit of excellence, directing two girls who were found from nowhere to trim,
Arranging until we stood in front of the flower basket.
The flower basket is indeed beautiful. The roses, budding, entangled their branches together, and their intimacy made them particularly charming.
However, that kind of rich red color is indeed very eye-catching, as if it is spreading an unrestrained emotion.
"Do you like it?"
Ask me.
I nodded. "It's beautiful. But..."
"It doesn't belong to you." The man laughed, "It doesn't belong to me either."
He is right. Such a flower basket may belong to a wealthy lady or a prostitute.
The shop owner was still flattering: "Sir, are you satisfied? A total of 999 flowers, plus the production fee, a total of 4200
Dollars. ”
The man took out a stack of cash that was obviously prepared in advance from his suit pocket, quickly counted out some of it, and handed it to the store owner: "Help me carry it to the car outside."
He turned and looked at me: "Let's go together. I can give you a ride."
The shop owner was already looking me up and down with a look full of surprise and a little contempt, and I stared at her without hesitation.
"Sir, when I was making the flower basket just now, there were more than a dozen branches that were cut and not used. Why don't you give me 10 more dollars and take them all away. We can't sell them anyway." The shop owner looked at me and the man staring at the flower basket with a twinkling eye.
The man took out his wallet expressionlessly and pulled out 10 yuan.
The shop owner smiled and handed over a bouquet of short-stemmed roses with both hands: "In fact, it's just right to give it to this lady."
Two girls were carefully carrying the flower baskets out, and I chased after them: "Let me help you."
Following them, I walked out of the flower market.
There was a minibus parked outside the door, with the door wide open. The driver was obviously getting impatient and saw us coming out.
He came slowly towards me from the corner where he was enjoying the cool air, holding a large can filled with half a cup of tea, and said to me as he walked: "Miss, I have been serving you two all afternoon, and I have been waiting for more than an hour. This job is much harder than running around on the street. I can't just give you 50 yuan..."
Before I could react, the man's voice came from behind me: "Please follow my car and deliver the flower basket to Jinrui Building. You won't suffer any loss."
Someone holding a bouquet of red roses was already standing next to me. The rich red color and the color of his clothes set off and echoed each other, and I suddenly had a special feeling. At this moment, this strange man seemed to be overlapping with an image. It was a role I had seen in many other people’s weddings, a handsome and cheerful groom?
"Let's go. I'll give you the flowers first, then you." The man gently touched my arm with the bunch of crowded roses.
I returned to the scorching sun outside the flower market from that wedding where thousands of people wanted to perform the same thing.
"No, I live next door. It's very close. I can walk there."
At this time, a black Lincoln sedan stopped quietly in front of us.
"Get in the car. I'll take you there." The man opened the door for me. "Don't you want to know where I'll take the flowers?"
What does it have to do with me where the flowers are sent?
But I couldn't resist this person who wore clothes of the same material as me. It seemed that from the very beginning, I couldn't stop caring about his roses. There was something that was attracting me to get closer to him, and even subconsciously I was looking forward to getting as close as possible.
I got in the car.
This was the first time in my life that I had ridden in such a nice car. Before that, the best car I had ever ridden in was a Santana. On the day my mother remarried, my stepfather’s driver came to the school to pick me up and took me to a restaurant for dinner.
The car was driving on the Third Ring Road that I was familiar with, and the minibus carrying flower baskets followed behind.
The driver looked very young and was quiet.
Sitting in the back seat, all I could see was his carefully trimmed hair above the collar of his beige suit. There was a faint white hair visible, and I couldn't guess the man's age. Everything seemed like a dream. My home, and the restaurants and entertainment centers where I signed songs every night—all were left behind. I followed this strange man, sitting in a strange luxury car, to a completely unfamiliar place.
When the car stopped, I saw clearly the hotel with the red roof that I had passed more than once.
The man who had been silent all the way said to the driver beside him: "You take the flower basket to the private room, and then go pick up Sister Lan. You don't need to take care of me here."
The driver said "yes" respectfully and got out of the car.
The man also got out of the car, walked around the front of the car, and sat in the driver's seat: "Come sit in the front, I'll drive you."
While I was changing seats, he rolled down the window and called to the driver: "Give the minivan driver 100 yuan, no ticket!"
The young driver answered "yes" and looked at me curiously as I was closing the car door. I smiled at him and he nodded slightly.
Turn around and leave.
"What do you do?" He drove casually, with one hand seeming to just lightly hold the steering wheel.
“I make a living by writing.”
“Can you make a living by writing articles?”
"Yes. I'm doing pretty well."
"What do you write?"
"Write whatever you can write, and write whatever others like to read."
“What do other people like to watch?”
"Of course, it's a story you haven't seen before."
“So you just look for stories everywhere.”
"That's about right. Sometimes I don't even need to look for it. Just finding a shadow is enough. I can make up the rest."
“So you’re a writer.”
"My profession should be considered a writer, but I'm just starting out, so I can only be considered an author at best."
"Then you have something to make up today. 999 red roses is the beginning of a good story." The man skillfully connected the lines.
overtake. "Maybe. But it has to be changed. For example, it can be changed to a single man buying a flower basket for a married woman and giving it to her husband. The married woman was or still is the lover of the single man... In short, it can't be as simple as what you are doing now. Just because the weather is too hot, you come out for your sister-in-law, and you are just trying to help others..."
Before I could finish my words, the man burst into laughter. “You’re really amazing! Soap operas are written by people like you, right?”
"I'm not good enough yet. Those are talented and generous people."
I laughed with him.
There are so many professions in the world, and each profession supports a large number of people with its own characteristics, and each profession can produce elites. However, I chose such a profession, writing, more specifically, writing stories, stories about mood. In my mother's words, "Writing stories? How ridiculous." However, there are indeed some outstanding people in this industry who can gain both fame and fortune. If this is the case, there is nothing wrong with this business. This is originally an era where "the winner is the king and the loser is the thief."
At this time, his cell phone rang.
"It's me. ... Go ahead, it's okay. ... I'll send someone, let Xiao Li pick you up, and drive your car over here. ...
I go there in the evening and arrive half an hour early. ...You can go directly to the hotel. ...It's too hot, you shouldn't go to the airport. ...Listen to me, if you have to go, I will go, otherwise, let the driver take two people. ...Okay, okay, then I'll go. I'll call you when I've arranged it. ……All right. ”
He casually put his phone into his pocket and stopped talking.
"I don't even know who you are." I'd better speak first.
My experience is that when two people are together, one of them must be able to take the initiative to adjust the atmosphere, because it is easiest for one person to run out of things to say when facing another person, unlike when several people are together, where they can talk about the same things over and over again with different people.
"I'll tell you now." He took out a business card from the pocket where his cell phone was, looked at it himself, and then handed it to me. The business card was very exquisite, with gray letters overlapping light blue shadows; General Manager of Weida & Co. China, Yu Tao.
"What about yours?" The car had already driven out of the main road. "Tell me when we get to the turn."
"I don't have a business card. I'll write it down on a piece of paper for you."
There was a gray-white-handled signature pen next to a small bottle of perfume on the windshield. I picked up a parking receipt and wrote my name and pager number on it.
I rarely give people my home phone number, not out of security concerns, but because I really don't like hearing someone's voice when I clearly don't want to receive a call from that person. I like the pager because it gives me a certain degree of choice; I can decide whether to return the call, at what time to return the call, or simply not to return the call. Of course, this habit inevitably carries traces of my past life. Before my mother remarried, she didn't allow me to answer the phone at home. I had gotten into the habit of writing down a pager number for others, and I've been using this old, outdated digital machine since I went to college and have never changed it.
I handed the note to Yu Tao.
He took it and looked at it: "Huh, are you sure you want to reply?"
"certainly"
"If I call you now, you can't answer, right? You only have a wallet in your hand, and you don't even have a pager."
"But when I got home and saw you calling me, I called you back right away."
He shook his head. "No, you have to tell me a phone number. I hate calling people and then waiting by the phone like an idiot. I need to find you right away."
Yu Tao is different from the few men I have met. He is a little arrogant, or in other words, a little overbearing. I don’t know if it’s because he looks like a really rich man. I don't know how big the Weida & Co.
But judging from their behavior and style, it doesn't seem like a small company with only three or five people. He is probably used to giving orders to others.
He wants others to accommodate him, so he doesn't call others. Instead, he can pick up the phone and give that person a direct order. However, others can only call him and have to let him choose whether to respond immediately or ignore it at all.
"Your business card only has the office phone number on it, which is just as useless." I waved his business card at him.
"I'm driving, so I can't write to you. I said, please remember my cell phone number and home phone number."
I wrote down the two numbers on the blank space at the bottom of his business card.
“I don’t have a cell phone.”
Yu Tao turned his head and squinted at me: "You don't dare to tell me your home phone number, are you afraid that I am a bad person?"
"No. But we did just meet."
"Then wait a little longer."
The car turned at the intersection leading to the flower market and Yu Tao stopped. "Is it still for you? You didn't even tell me the phone number of your home.
If I send you there again, will I know your home? ”
I knew he was staring at me, even though I was only facing him sideways. I closed my eyes and nodded: "Okay,
Tell you everything. "I wrote down my home phone number on a piece of paper," Walk about 500 meters from here and turn right.
The first building you go straight past is Unit 1, Room 403. That's where I live. But you don't have to send me off. The road is narrow and it's difficult to turn around. ”
"Okay, call."
I had already opened the car door when he suddenly called me: "Wait, your flowers..."
He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car, then took out my bouquet of gladiolus from the back seat. I took it, and he bent down again and took out the bouquet of red roses that he bought for 10 yuan from the back seat: "You should take this home too, I have nowhere to put it."
Gan Tao stood tall in front of me, holding two bunches of bright flowers. His beige linen suit was a little wrinkled from driving, but it still provided a perfect background for the rose-red color.
This is the first time I have met such a man in my life, but I cannot accept this kind of gift without any reason.
"I don't want any. I told you, I never have red roses in my house."
"There's no harm in making a change. Besides, this can't be considered as sending you flowers. It's just asking you to do me a favor. Take it. I thank you."
I said that since I met this person, I always felt like I was in a dream even during the day, and he had a way to make me accept all his requests and actively cooperate.
The same thing happened when I accepted the bouquet of roses.
"Goodbye then?"
"goodbye"
I walked towards home holding two bouquets of flowers.
Behind me was the sound of a car.
I didn't need to look back to know that he didn't stop there to watch me leave, but quickly ran to the next place.
I looked back as the sound of the car faded away.
Yu Tao is walking away in a cloud of dust.
After returning home from the flower market, I returned to my "homebody" state.
A long white muslin nightgown with suspenders, a cardigan that was too old to wear out, pure cotton socks and cloth slippers with animal patterns.
People like me who live a simple life just have a connection with pure cotton.
I cut off the long branches of the gladiolus to about four inches long, and only then did they stand obediently in my frosted vase. But what about Rose? I had no extra vases, and there was hardly any space in my small house suitable for such showy flowers.
In the end, I chose the windowsill next to the single bed.
I washed the big coffee bottle that I got from my stepfather's house to drink water so that I wouldn't have to stand up every time to refill it.
The roses settled in there temporarily.
I found it funny to see the red roses in an odd glass bottle, each pointing in different directions. It was like a person wearing cloth shoes had a diamond pin pinned on his collar for no reason.
The simple little speaker slowly played Teresa Teng's song of the Song Dynasty: "I go up to the west tower alone without saying a word, the moon is like a hook..." I thought
999 roses and Yu Tao who buys roses for others. Perhaps he could not understand that there are some people in the world who may never have the chance to enjoy this kind of rose-like luxury in their entire lives.
My life is poor most of the time, but the difference is that I can live a leisurely life.
Ever since I quit that "serious" job, my life has become very free.
When people ask me, "What do you do for a living?" I usually say, "I write." The listeners don’t understand, is writing a profession? That primary school student can also be considered as my colleague. I have to explain it. The process of explanation is always boring. I said that I am what people call a freelance writer, who makes a living by writing articles and selling words. I'm used to seeing those weird looks of confusion mixed with some respect for the so-called cultured people.
Every time this happens, I think to myself: I don’t know who is more old-fashioned, as he can’t even understand such a free and easy thing.
I have a friend named Liu Chao who opened a small cosmetics store. He is the fourth oldest in our small circle, so we call him Liu Laosi.
He said that this society divides people into different classes according to the color of their collars. For example, young men and women who work in office buildings are usually called "white-collar workers," probably because they often have to dress decently and wear a tie from time to time.
There is also a type of people called "blue-collar workers", which refers to the working class, those who wear blue and work hard in different places to earn money. The cultural level of "blue-collar workers" is usually not as high as that of "white-collar workers".
That day, a bunch of us sat by the French window of a bar called "Lan Gui Qi Fang" on Bar Street.
I had a very respectable and cheap Watsons tonic water. I said I couldn’t figure out what category someone like me should belong to. Liu Laosi was drinking cheaper ice water, and when he heard what I said, he laughed unscrupulously: "What kind of collar are you? You didn't get any! When you make money, it's just like the pink collar on your little dress, making do with a few days of romance;
When you can’t make money, you are not even a monk.
Do you understand? “
From that day on, I was called a "pink-collar worker" by everyone, and we drank up the drinks in our glasses just for this word.
This is how people like us talk. No matter how serious the matter is, we can speak in a light-hearted tone, because we know that worrying is useless. If we worry, bad things will still happen. We still have to carry our heads on our shoulders, stretch our necks and wait for the sky to fall and hit us.
Before I decided to resign from my previous job as an office secretary, Liu Laosi and I had met here.
Liu Laosi was the best-performing of our good friends at that time. What is meant by good is that he owns a store that sells everything from high-end perfumes like Chanel No. 5 to daily necessities that cater to different classes of people, such as Safeguard soap. The daily income is enough for him to not only cover his food, drink, defecation and urination expenses, but also to occasionally sit in a bar and have a glass of ice water.
“I want to quit.”
"Why?"
"No reason."
"Why not?"
Liu Laosi rested his arms on the small wooden table, holding his hands around his bottle of Lin Yongyuan's ice water, half lowered his head, tightened his chin, and looked up.
"I told you that you don't want to do it anymore, so don't look at me helplessly like Diana, okay?"
"It would be nice if there was a Diana between us. You are the helpless one now. Have you thought about how to live after you quit your job?"
Liu Laosi has a way of making me have to ask him "why" seriously.
I said I wanted to apply for a job as a reporter at a newspaper.
“Is it that easy to be a reporter?”
"I don't know whether it's good or not, I just know that I don't want to work in this crappy office anymore. When I got to work at 8:30 in the morning, they started calling me Zhang Guaner and Li Guaner. What the hell are they? They're just a bunch of farmers who came to the city after liberation. When it's hot, they roll up their trouser legs. When they're off work, they each have a pump pipe on their leg. It makes me angry just looking at them. I don't want to serve them anymore.
Besides, there is no hope for me if I continue to do this. I will never become Director Lin until I die. I feel anxious in the morning and don’t want to go to work… “Liu Laosi is two years older than me. He quit his job in the office less than half a year after graduation and went out to work on his own.
There was no way he didn't understand my situation.
He laughed: "Why is it exactly the same as me back then?!"
"How is it? Is the reason sufficient?"
He took a big gulp of water and slammed Linzi onto the table: "Have you told your mother?"
"She doesn't care. She loves my stepfather enough. She doesn't have time to care about me."
Liu Laosi didn't say anything.
That's true.
Ever since my mother remarried when I was in my senior year of college, it was as if I had become a person who had never existed, and my mother only had my stepfather in her eyes.
However, I should also be considered a beneficiary of my mother's remarriage. She moved into the big house of my professor stepfather.
It turned out that the one-bedroom apartment we lived in together was now mine. I don’t care. Since everyone has to have their own life, my mother should be no exception.
Before Liu Laosi could say anything else, his pager rang.
He read the message with a frown on his face, raised his cup towards me, and drank it in one gulp: "I have to go, there are new products,
I have to go to the airport this afternoon. ”
As usual, Liu Laosi paid the bill. After that, we walked out of the bar one after another and got into a minivan he drove.
This is a second-hand car bought by the fourth brother. It can transport cargo when it has cargo, and when there is no cargo, it can transport people like us. The white car body has the colorful words "Good Day Cosmetics Store" written on it as well as the phone number and address.
"All the cars parked here are Mercedes-Benz and BMWs. How dare you drive this junky car over here?" I said as I watched him start the engine.
"Why? I earned this myself. It's still making money for me now."
Lao Si's car turned onto the Third Ring Road. My home is right next to the Third Ring Road.
"Don't worry, Lao Si, I will definitely be better than I am now. At least I like writing. Have you forgotten when we were little?
Why are my compositions always used as models for everyone to learn from? ”
"Being fat as a kid wasn't considered fat." The fourth brother drove with a blank expression.
"As a reporter, I can get to know a lot of people. Maybe when I'm interviewing someone, I can get to know someone rich and powerful.
He took me in, and you gained a rich friend, right? Even if I don't, I can still build a lot of relationships.
When the time comes and we want to do something, there will be someone to help us... There is only one step from a reporter to a writer, and when I have enough material, I can write novels. You know I admire Agatha most. Christie, the old lady who wrote detective novels..."
The fourth brother still drove with an expressionless face.
Looking out from the front windshield of the car, there were several rows of various types of cars running wildly on the Third Ring Road. Some of the brand-name cars with logos I recognized had black curtains hanging, and some had dark-colored explosion-proof film on the windows, so I couldn't see who was sitting in the cars. Whenever I see all this, I would guess that perhaps, in such a small car, there is a mysterious story and a special experience. How many roads has it traveled? What kind of roads are those? How many owners has it had? What kind of masters are they?
When I'm with Liu Laosi, I always talk more than him. Most of the time, I always follow him while he does his own thing and I say things that have nothing to do with him and are just what I want to say. Sometimes I wonder if he's listening to me. Occasionally I would try to ask him, "Old Four, do you understand what I mean?" He would look at me and say, "Go on."
He never judged me, never said whether he agreed with me or not, never even told me whether he felt the slightest resonance in what I said. He just listened, and after that he took me out to eat or sent me home.
But I am used to telling Lao Si everything.
When I was a high school student, my mom and dad divorced. They asked me separately who I wanted to follow. I couldn't make up my mind, so I went to find Liu Laosi.
At that time he was attending a day college and went home every afternoon.
I sat in his yard playing with a big tabby cat, waiting for him. He came back and I followed him into the house.
Is that a tomorrow or a sunny day? I forgot. It seemed very hot, so he gave me a drink of Sprite that he had just taken out of the refrigerator.
I drank and he watched.
I told him that my father and mother were getting divorced, and he nodded.
I said I didn't know who I should follow, but he still nodded.
I asked him, “What do you think I should do?”
He thought seriously, then said slowly, "No one will follow me."
I remember crying and saying, “Then I won’t have a home!”
The fourth brother stood opposite me and said firmly, "What are you afraid of? In a few years, you will follow me."
He seemed to be thinner than he is now, and from the angle from where I was sitting, his face looked a little long and angular.
Were we in love at that time? It seems not.
It seems like it never existed.
When I left his house, he made sure I took the half-finished can of Sprite away.
Our two families lived not far from each other. His house was on a small street behind the building where we lived. It was said that it was a courtyard where several generations of people had lived.
Later, I followed my mother. Because the younger woman my dad had just met didn't want him to take care of the child.
The afternoon my dad moved, the house was a mess, with his clothes and books everywhere. My mother seemed to be at ease.
They chose this time specifically to take out the photos of their 19 years of marriage and burn them one by one.
I went to find Liu Laosi again. He happened to be at home. I told him that my dad didn't want me. I sat on his little single bed and he walked back and forth in front of me. After a while, he stopped and said, "I will never do this to my wife and children in my life."
He seemed to be less than 20 years old at that time.
Later we remained friends, and he was even the one who replaced the gas tank in my house every month as required by law, until I went to college, until I had my first boyfriend and then broke up, until my mother moved away, and until today.
How many tanks of gas are there?
He never mentioned again that I would follow him in a few years, but I never heard that he had a girlfriend.
Before I went to college, I always called him "Brother Liu Chao". Later, he started to enter my circle of friends and eventually became Liu Laosi. Time is a magical thing. In the blink of an eye, I am already 24 years old and have started to make a living for myself.
Who says that time doesn’t easily abandon people?
I was sitting in the car, thinking about all sorts of things, and Lao Si still didn't say anything. About 100 meters further on, you will see the somewhat dilapidated residential building where I live.
I sighed: "Old Four, sometimes I don't know whether you are listening to me or thinking about your own things..."
"Of course I'll listen to you. I have nothing to think about. Get out of the car!" Lao Si parked his "minivan" steadily in front of the door of my unit.
I jumped out of the car and Lao Si followed me down. I suddenly got angry: "From now on, I won't tell you anything. Even if I tell you, you won't respond."
Lao Si put his thumbs in the pockets of his jeans and looked up at the sky. A cloud was passing quietly over our heads. He nodded and said, "Okay, it's settled. But you'd better resign politely. This is one of your future relationships, right? If you find that it doesn't work out for you, don't worry. I happen to be short of a cashier, so I'll keep the position for you..."
The day after talking with Liu Laosi, I submitted a resignation report.
After leaving the office where I had worked for almost a year, I did not get the so-called retention offer that I had planned for at home.
My direct superior, Office Director Sun, is a woman in her early fifties. Although she is old, she still dresses very young. Her husband is the deputy director of another industry bureau at the same level as ours, his surname is Zhao. I have seen the sense of superiority that she inadvertently revealed when she mentioned "our Lao Zhao" on many occasions, which is difficult for others to learn. She said I was the office secretary, but actually I was her secretary.
Director Sun was particularly concerned about me on the day I submitted my resignation. He even sat down on the yellow wooden chair opposite me, which no one would sit on easily, and asked me in a nonchalant manner, "Xiao Lin, have you found a good place to go?" I said no. She laughed and said, "It's still a secret! I've said it before, who would want to work in a government agency for a lifetime if they have a Beijing family like you? You can earn more in any company than here. Even those non-local college students join government agencies just to stay in Beijing. After a year or two, when their household registration is settled, they immediately change jobs. People like us who are older didn't catch up with the good times, otherwise, I would have left long ago."
I could only nod in agreement.
I can't imagine that one day I will be as old as Director Sun, sitting on a wooden chair that is older than my daughter, saying things that can be said or not. Hearing someone call you "Director X" or "Director X"
They would immediately smile, or they would put on airs for no reason. No matter how I look at it, it resembles the joy my mother showed when she was honored as a professor's wife.
My resignation report was approved very quickly. It took me several days to complete the relevant formalities and my file was transferred to the Talent Exchange Center. I have completely become a person without a job, and I no longer have to eat fried dough sticks while jogging to catch the bus every morning.
Of course, I didn't become a journalist smoothly. The newspaper I applied for required me to go through a long internship period until they considered me qualified as a full-time reporter. There is no time limit for this. During my internship, I had no financial security and could only live on my royalties.
I told Liu Laosi about this situation, and he nodded and said, "It's piecework wages. You'll be paid based on how many words you write."
That's true.
However, this also has its advantages. I can get a letter of introduction proving my status as an intern reporter.
Then go out and interview. At the same time, I can also use this identity to contact some newspapers and magazines and write some supplement articles for them that have no political inclinations and are just about love and romance.
Gradually, my name began to be accepted by several magazines in the industry that specialize in publishing articles about women's lives and emotions and even popular fashion. Every month, I opened several columns in different publications with different writing styles but similar content. Their manuscript fees ranged from 100 to 300 yuan per 1,000 words. In a month, I could always write 100,000 words.
This is enough to support life.
I can live a less stressful life.
When a woman is not nervous, she will have leisure time; when she has leisure time, she will not be afraid of not having one short story after another to write.
I believe that everyone must give up something in order to get what they want. I gave up a stable life.
In exchange, I can arrange every day freely. Although in a general sense, I am a typical poor person.
Nowadays, roses are also placed in the homes of poor people.
I sat in front of the window and laughed silently.
The phone rang, it was Liu Chao.
"Where have you been? I've been looking for you all afternoon."
"I went to buy flowers."
"I have some new stock. Come and see if you like any perfume."
"OK."
"What are you having for dinner?"
"I haven't thought about it yet, maybe instant noodles. When I was buying flowers, I met someone who bought 999 red roses. Guess who he bought them for?"
Liu Chao might be laughing: "You think there's a story, right? Actually, it's probably quite simple. Either he bought it for a government event, or he bought it for his girlfriend. Did you see him pay? Cash or check?"
I suddenly felt that I had nothing to say to Liu Chao.
I was holding the phone, standing in front of the window, next to a bouquet of red roses. Outside the window were the gray-black windows of an office building reflecting the sunlight.
During the silence, Liu Chao said, "Don't worry about him. How about we have dinner together tonight?"
"Forget it, I'm very tired today. How about tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?" I didn't want to go out. I didn't want to go to a small restaurant and wait for a few side dishes amid the noisy crowd.
I want to be at home.
"What's wrong with you? Are you sick?" The voice on the other end was full of concern.
"No, maybe it was too hot to go out at noon. It's okay. I'll be fine tomorrow."
"Then I'll call you before dinner tomorrow."
After hanging up the phone with Liu Chao, I sat by the window for a while.
Unlike in the past, I was not eager to tell him about today's adventure, nor did I say anything about Tao. Moreover, for the first time, I had a strange feeling towards Liu Chao. There was something I didn't want to tell him, but before that, even my relationship with my boyfriend had to be reported to him.
Teresa Teng has already sung "May we live long and happily together."
So what if a person lives for a long time?
I was determined not to write anything today, so I picked up a collection of Pai Hsien-yung's novels and opened it, which happened to be "Dream in the Garden".
Like every day, I woke up at noon and combined a simple breakfast with lunch. Then turn on the computer and write.
When I opened the curtains, I saw that the bunch of red roses in the large glass bottle were still quietly blooming. The water in the bottle had decreased a little, and the flowers, which had absorbed all the water, bloomed much more blooming than the day before.
I sat in front of the computer, not knowing what to write, and typed the words idly: "A red rose is like a young woman, it blooms without thinking after being given some water, not caring that it may wither tomorrow, or even be discarded like grass if it doesn't wither..."
People who have read and liked my articles all say that there is a strong sense of world-weariness in my writing, but I always express the tranquility and brightness of life at the end of a story. Very contradictory. The editor said that such contradictory texts have readers because today's readers themselves are contradictory.
I don’t know what to write today.
The so-called feminine prose of "repeatedly playing with a beautiful French perfume bottle in the evening of May" is boring to write.
Although it is precisely such pretentious articles that provide me with two meals a day and a little bit of sexual pleasure, but for me, I can only say that I have no choice but to follow the rules.
At this moment the phone suddenly rang.
"Lin Ling, I'm Yu Tao."
"Hello. What's up?" I thought it would be him. I don't know why, but when the phone rang for the first time, I knew it must be him. My heart started beating faster.
"What are you doing?" His voice sounded particularly gentle on the phone. Moreover, I don’t know if it was because of the phone line or something else, but his voice sounded very soft, and he had to hold the receiver close to his ear.
"Writing."
"I want to invite you to dinner tonight."
Have dinner together. Are you going?
I walked around the room holding the phone, and as I walked, I came to the red rose. Looking out the window, three colorful flags on the office building opposite were fluttering in the hot wind.
Are you going?
"Do you have plans tonight?"
"without"
"Then I'll pick you up. I'll call you when I get downstairs. Now I won't say any more. Just write. See you tonight!"
The other end of the phone hung up happily, and I realized from my confusion that I had agreed to a date.
Don't plan on writing anything this afternoon.
I started looking for clothes.
What should I wear in such hot weather?
Yu Shi is different from my previous friends. When I am with them, I can dress like a little hippie, but,
Yu Tao is a big boss. What is he wearing today? Whatever it is, it must be respectable and tasteful…
I spread out all the summer clothes in the closet on the bed.
This bed of clothes really disappointed me. There are about 6 or 7 sets of clothes in total.
T-shirts and jeans accounted for most of the
The rest were linen shirts.
She wore homespun trousers and had only two skirts, one long and one short. They were all made of pure cotton and were already wrinkled.
If one day, my readers knew that the fashion female writer they liked who talked about "high quality of life" all day long couldn't even find a set of clothes to go out for dinner at night, I'm afraid that all columnists like me who always have to give others advice on food, drink and clothing would have to go out of business.
Finally I decided to wear a linen top and homespun plaid pants. This is also the principle of fashion people. Before finding a substitute that can give them complete confidence, the most reliable way to score is to remain unchanged in the face of ever-changing circumstances.
Hang the clothes back in the closet. Wash your face and apply light makeup.
I carefully checked in the mirror and found no flaws. I can go out any time.
Turn off the computer. On the white screen were the two lines written after lunch: "Red roses are like young women,
"Give it some water and it will bloom without thinking, not caring that it may wither tomorrow, or even be discarded like grass if it doesn't wither..." It seemed like it was mocking me. In such an afternoon, I only received one phone call, and then I was like Cinderella, drowned in a pile of shabby clothes.
I stood in front of the old-fashioned dressing table left by my mother, looking at the face in the mirror. It looked very young, full of expectation, and my eyes were jumping. I picked up a bottle of CK that Liu Laosi brought me when he was buying goods.
Spray some perfume behind your ears.
I was shocked. How could I have forgotten it? We agreed to have dinner with Liu Chao today.
I quickly picked up the phone and left a message on Liu Chao's pager: "I have something to do tonight and can't go out with you. I'm sorry. Lin Ling."
As soon as I put down the phone, before I had time to turn around, the ringtone rang sharply.
"Is it the fourth one?" I blurted out.
"It's me, Yu Tao. What's wrong with you? Waiting for a call, right?"
"No." I breathed out, "No. I thought it was a friend of mine."
"Can we go now? I'm downstairs."
"Okay, I'll come."
I checked one last time to make sure the doors and windows were closed and stood in front of the mirror again. The person in the mirror looked a little nervous and his face was slightly red.
Perhaps to calm myself down, I walked to the window, stood next to the red rose and looked downstairs. Yu Tao was standing next to a green Mitsubishi jeep, smoking and looking upstairs. I immediately took half a step back. Did he see me? When I walked out of the corridor, Yu Tao was facing me, stepping out the cigarette butt on the ground.
He wore a black cotton shirt. French crocodile, expensive.
"What do you want to eat?"
He asked me like an old acquaintance.
"All right."
"People who are good at everything are good at nothing. People like you are the hardest to please."
We got in the car. The car was huge. I was sitting next to the driver and looked back: “Your car is as long as a bus.”
"I like jeeps. There was a war correspondent who also liked jeeps. He said this type of vehicle is the best. It can withstand the worst environment and also provide the best experience.
What to eat? “
The car drove along the slow lane of the Third Ring Road, and we inspected the restaurants one by one.
It was just time to get off work, and cars behind him kept honking their horns, but he remained indifferent. The car behind us angrily passed us.
The driver looked back and muttered something, as if he hadn't seen anything. "What do you want to eat? Just pick a place."
How would I know which one to choose? Normally, I eat instant noodles and frozen foods. Occasionally, when Liu Chao and I go out for dinner, we always go to small restaurants that serve home-cooked meals. I don't know what's in those restaurants.
What is something I can afford to eat.
"Do you really have to eat at a restaurant like this?" I really couldn't bear to hear the cars behind me honking their horns any longer, and I couldn't bear to watch the drivers look back with resentment after car after car passed us. I think he is scolding us.
"Not necessarily. As long as you think it's good, it's fine." He squinted at me, "If you name a place, I'll go with you."
"I really don't know." I lowered my head. "I haven't eaten anything good. The places we often go to are not suitable for you. You decide. But we'd better leave quickly. We'll be scolded to death if we keep going like this."
Yu Tao laughed loudly: "Who dares to scold us?"
I don't speak.
Are all rich and powerful people like this? Is Yu Tao also like those people who got rich overnight, habitually acting bossy? I suddenly regretted agreeing to go out with him.
"Okay, let's go. I'll take you to eat Japanese food, okay?" He finally drove the car through the fast lane.
"I don't know how to eat. It's up to you."
This is a restaurant with an extremely elegant environment. From the moment we entered the door, a lady in Japanese kimono nodded and bowed to lead us into a private room. There were no chairs, so guests had to take off their shoes and kneel beside the table on the tatami. The furnishings in the private room are very similar to the Japanese homes seen in movies. .
"Okay?"
Yu Tao sat cross-legged near the door and motioned for me to sit inside.
The lady waited respectfully by the side, and Yu Tao handed me the menu: "Order whatever you want."
I looked at those strange names that were a mixture of Chinese and Japanese and didn't know what to do.
Gan Tao lit a cigarette and looked at me.
I handed the menu back to him: "You order first. I have never been to such an aristocratic place in my life. I don't know how to order. I will eat whatever you want."
Yu Tao handed the menu to the lady and ordered lobster, raw fish, and some dishes I had never heard of, and also asked for green wine.
The lady said "Hi" again and again. When I went out, I closed the door.
"Do you like it here?"
I nodded. “I’ve only seen places like this in movies.”
"What do you do?"
"Didn't I tell you? I write articles and sell them to support myself, so I can't be considered to have a formal job." I drank the tea that tasted a bit strange. "What does your company do?"
"Doing business. Selling some textiles from Beijing overseas, and doing some other import and export business."
"Is this how you make money? The textile business doesn't seem to be doing well."
Yu Tao smiled calmly: "I haven't always been doing this. Before, I have done many things, some of which you can't imagine."
"Isn't it illegal? People say that none of the people who got rich in the early years were honest businessmen."
In the smoke, the person opposite looked very calm, completely different from the man who was acting arrogantly on the street just now. "How do you say it? Primitive accumulation is all bloody..."
The dishes started to arrive. Beautiful dishes, exquisite details.
"This dish is not for people to eat, but to let you know that there are such exquisite things in the world." I sighed sincerely.
"It's not the best. Nothing money can buy is the best. Eat it."
Yu Tao started first.
I looked at him and slowly picked up the chopsticks. There is an indescribable feeling similar to sourness in my heart. There has never been such a scene in my life, and all this that he is accustomed to is very far away from me. I thought that Yu Tao was really a very thoughtful man. He didn't take care of me and just started eating. In fact, he was demonstrating to me how to deal with these things that I had never touched before.
At this moment, the cell phone he placed on the table as soon as he entered the door started ringing unscrupulously.
"Sorry." Yu Tao motioned for me to eat first.
"It's me. ... I'm having dinner. ... With a friend. ... My girlfriend, a little girl. ... She's a writer. ... I'm not coming today. I have other things to do in the evening. ... You didn't eat? How about having someone bring it to you? ...
All right. You should pay more attention to yourself. I'll call you at the company tomorrow morning.
……All right. “
Gan Tao turned off his cell phone as he hung up.
I couldn't find the words to say, but on Yu Tao's face, I saw the same expression as when he answered the phone on the way home that day.
I concluded that it was the same person who called. A woman.
I said the lobster was really delicious. It was the first time in my life that I had eaten something raw.
"Why didn't you ask me who was calling?"
Yu Tao lit a cigarette and watched me eat.
"Why should I ask?" I felt uncomfortable with his gaze.
"Don't you girls always monopolize your boyfriend's time when you're with him?"
"You're not my boyfriend."
"Do you have a boyfriend? I mean, the kind that's going to go deeper and deeper."
I gazed at the lobster lying in the crystal boat-shaped container with its long tentacles extended. There was a very faint sound of music coming from somewhere, it seemed to be the theme song of "Ghost". This kind of environment and atmosphere is suitable for chatting.
But we have only known each other for one day. However, for some reason, from the first time I saw Yu Tao's appearance clearly, I had a familiar feeling. Moreover, I had a hunch that he and I might spend a long time together, and this was just the beginning.
Yu Tao raised the small blue and white porcelain wine cup and said, "Sorry, don't say it.
Come, have a drink to celebrate our acquaintance. “
He drank it all in one gulp.
The wine was still hot. I took a sip and it was a little spicy and a little sweet.
The lady in kimono brought the last dish and said, "Enjoy your meal," and the door closed gently behind her.
We have no topic.
Summer wine also cools down. Yu Tao just watched me eat and rarely picked up his chopsticks.
"Why don't you eat?"
"You eat with such relish. Just like when I was your age, you could enjoy a steamed bun."
"This is much more delicious than steamed buns. How old are you?"
He extinguished his cigarette and took out his ID card from his purse: "Take a look. Once you have verified my identity, you won't have to worry about me being a bad guy."
I was secretly surprised that he was already 39 years old, 15 years older than me.
"I should call you uncle now."
"Isn't it? If I worked in the same unit as your father, you would have to call me uncle."
"39 years old. Your son should be in junior high school by then, right?"
Yu Tao put away his ID card and looked at me seriously: "I'm not married."
I was surprised again. But she immediately started to joke with him: "You are a rich bachelor, so there must be tens of thousands of people chasing after you?!"
He still looked at me seriously: "I don't have a girlfriend. There are people chasing me, but none of them are the ones I like. If you
Are you chasing me? ”
I can't entertain myself anymore.
The chopsticks are in my hand. It is not right to put them down, nor is it right to continue eating. I can only play with it in my hands.
"We just met... it's not that..."
"Okay, I'm just kidding. Eat it." Yu Tao put the lobster meat on my plate, as if to comfort me.
"But you should tell me a little about yourself, otherwise I will feel like I have met a bad person."
At this time, the music had changed to "Hotel California", and the sound of the acoustic guitar sounded even more ethereal in such a small private room.
Where do I start?
"I don't have a boyfriend either. When I was in college, I had a classmate who was very nice to me. He was from another place.
My family lives in a small county town. My father is a teacher and my mother is a farmer. We got along well for a semester. During the winter vacation, he went home to celebrate the Spring Festival, and when he came back he told me that he couldn't do it anymore. His father didn’t allow him to date a girl whose parents were divorced, saying that such girls were mentally unhealthy… Later I got a job, and then quit. After I quit, I had fewer and fewer opportunities to interact with people, until now…” Yu Tao filled my glass with wine, raised his glass to me, and then drank it all in one gulp.
"You live alone now?"
I nodded. "My mom got married when I was a senior in college and moved to my stepfather's house. My dad got married a month after divorcing my mom. It's nice to live alone. I have freedom."
I don't know why I said this to this person. Moreover, I was surprised to find that after my so-called first love ended, it was the first time that I told an unrelated person the real reason for our breakup. It was also the first time that I looked back at the boy who had always been very nice to me and suddenly told me, "Let's break up." He is the eldest and only son, and his descendants are the cigarettes of their family. I discovered that my parents’ relationship had been a little secret that I had subconsciously thought was difficult to talk about for so many years, because someone once said, “Loyalty or unloyalty in relationships is also hereditary.”
I picked up the wine cup and said goodbye to the past.
Yu Tao and I clinked glasses: "For the past."
My eyes suddenly became moist, and I immediately lowered my head: "For the past."
The wine heated my throat and tears started to flow.
Yu Tao tilted his head to light a cigarette, seemingly not noticing my embarrassment: “The first time I saw you, I thought you were very peculiar.
Don't you think you're a very cold person? You said you didn't buy roses because a home couldn't bear such bright colors. When you don’t speak, you are just a little girl, but once you open your mouth, you are different… I am curious about you…”
curious.
Does the understanding between people all start with curiosity?
"You should go home."
Yu Tao paid the bill, which was more than 900 yuan. That’s almost half a month’s income for me.
Walking out of the restaurant, the early summer night breeze blew and I felt a little dizzy. I tripped over something and as I was shaking, Yu Tao grabbed my arm. It was a heavy and strong grab, and my tears welled up again for no reason.
He let me go in an instant and I turned my head away.
I couldn't speak in the car. The smell of alcohol was rising up in waves, and I was afraid I would vomit if I opened my mouth. Thinking back to when my parents were together, I was such a talkative person. My mom always said, "A thousand words cannot hurt yourself," and I'm afraid that's the case tonight. And it has indeed been a long time since I last spoke so seriously.
We said goodbye downstairs of my house.
In the darkness, I looked at Yu Tao and the cigarette butt that flickered in his hand, and I actually felt a little reluctant.
"Go home, I'll call you again."
I nodded.
"Sometime, I'll tell you a story, and you won't feel sorry for yourself."
I nodded again.
"Do you want to write a novel? I can give you a source material."
He was smiling invisibly in the darkness, but I saw it because we were so close.
"Come upstairs. I'll watch you turn on the light and leave."
He patted my shoulder.
"Goodbye." I turned and went upstairs.
When I took out the key to open the door, a voice suddenly sounded behind me: "Lin Ling!"
The keychain fell to the ground with a clatter.
Liu Chao bent down and helped me pull it up.
"Why are you here?" I was startled and became much more sober.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time. I called you several times but you weren't home. I was worried so I came here. Have you been drinking?"
Liu Chao reached out his hand to touch my forehead with concern, but I dodged and avoided him.
"Nothing, just an old friend, we had a meal together, had a good chat, and drank a little beer."
"Didn't we agree to have dinner together? What kind of friends are you?"
"You wouldn't know me even if I told you."
The lights in the corridor were very dim, but I could still clearly see the disappointment and accompanying suspicion on Liu Chao's face.
I'm too lazy to explain. I was eager to get back to my room and turn on all the lights in the house. Yu Tao was still waiting for my signal downstairs.
"You should rest first. I'll come to see you tomorrow." Liu Chao helped me open the door, took out the key and handed it to me, then turned around and half ran downstairs.
I locked the door in a daze, and immediately turned on all the ceiling lamps, floor lamps and table lamps in the living room and bedroom one by one. Then I stood by the open window, pressed my face against the screen and looked out at the darkness downstairs.
As a large black jeep started up, a black figure walked along the curve toward the back of the building.
I stood motionless by the window, next to me was a bunch of red roses in a simple glass bottle.
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