As soon as Lin Yingtao had her summer vacation, she had nothing to do. Her teaching assistant colleagues were busy taking exams, and Lin Yingtao had a summer to prepare for her first, and probably only, wedding in her life.
She spends all day in the dance studio near Nanshan Impression Mansion. In two weeks, she will go to try on her wedding dress. Instead of going to the gym, Lin Yingtao would rather continue practicing dancing and keep in shape like she did in college.
She thought Jiang Qiaoxi would be happier too... She just guessed.
The dance studio has a large hall for free practice and a small hall for teachers to teach. Lin Yingtao met students in the dressing room and they approached her and asked her what class she taught. "Sister, you have a great figure!" They said, "You are not a teacher, but you practice so hard!"
Lin Yingtao put on a short-sleeved tennis shirt and zipped it up to hide the tight curve of her sports vest on her chest. Lin Yingtao wore sports shorts and went to blow dry her hair, happily listening to people praising her. She held the hair dryer in her hand and looked in the mirror. She was not Jun Ji-hyun or Liu Yifei, but she could work hard to become beautiful, so that she could be a beautiful bride who walked into the wedding with Jiang Qiaoxi.
After coming out of the dance studio, Lin Yingtao brushed her hair with her hands, thinking of going to a nearby supermarket to buy a few small crucian carps to make fish soup for Jiang Qiaoxi. She was walking on the side of the road and turned on her cell phone.
In the small dining table group at the Qunshan construction site.
Duchamp: "I am still waiting for the statement. What bad luck I have... [crying][crying][crying]"
Cai Fangyuan: "Your director will never fire you no matter what. I'm telling you, I'll definitely give you some money secretly! I'll definitely keep you here!"
Duchamp: "I'm still stuffing money in. My director is still lying in bed..."
Yu Qiao said: "You didn't do anything, and you didn't touch anyone, so what are you afraid of?"
Duchamp said: "You said it lightly! Is it clear?"
Yu Qiao said: "Isn't there a video?"
Duchamp said: "The video was shot facing me, with my back to them. You know, this situation is not good for me! It only shot me!"
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "There should be other angles. There should be surveillance cameras at the entrance of the department. Wasn't there a department behind you at the time?"
Du Shang made a crying face and said, "I'll go ask her after I finish taking the statement."
Yu Qiao said: "There should be witnesses at the scene."
Cai Fangyuan said: "If they want to say that you beat him, please give them a medical examination! I'm telling you, the internet is full of people criticizing the medical trouble makers, and they all support you. I think you're really going to get mad this time."
Duchamp said: "I don't want to be famous. I have studied for seven years and I just want to finish my studies!!"
Qin Yeyun appeared at this time.
"Duchamp," she said, "if you are fired by your hospital, you can come to work in our beauty salon! Our director is eager to find you, and the salary is very high! It's a deal!"
Lin Yingtao called Dushan, but he didn't answer, probably because he was taking a statement.
By the evening, the video secretly filmed by the patient had become even more popular online. Lin Yingtao sat on the sofa, leaning against Jiang Qiaoxi's arms, and used his laptop to browse Weibo together. Various familiar big Vs with more than a million fans were reposting and discussing it.
"A doctor who knows martial arts can't be stopped by gods."
“Don’t let down the hearts of medical students anymore. Who will dare to treat and save lives in the future?”
“It is urgent for medical schools to offer Sanda, martial arts, boxing and self-defense classes for both male and female students!!”
Lin Yingtao pressed her forehead against Jiang Qiaoxi's chest. The Duchamp, who had band-aids all over his face, was small and always cried during the Chinese New Year, has transformed into what people call the "contemporary Huang Feihong" in a white coat.
At around ten o'clock in the evening, Dushan called Lin Yingtao back and said that he had been released from the police.
Duchamp's voice revealed a sense of relief at having survived the disaster.
“Oh my god, I’m so surprised… I’m so grateful to the relative who took the video and posted it online…” he said excitedly, “I don’t know what happened but those guys suddenly changed their words and admitted that I didn’t hit them—actually I was so nervous at the time that I really don’t know if I rubbed against them, but I definitely didn’t hit them!… The policeman even praised me and asked if I had practiced before!!”
Lin Yingtao was surprised and asked, "Then are you okay?"
"I don't know..." Du Shang said as he walked, "Maybe they will deduct some of my salary, just symbolically. My senior brother said that this kind of thing should be deducted, otherwise someone will come to cause trouble... Okay, deduct it if you want, it's not a big deal anyway! Cherry, I'm going to go back first, and quickly find my partner-"
Duchamp became famous.
Not only in the mountains, provincial capitals, and Shanghai, but also in various TV news, newspapers, and public accounts these days, his seductive figure dancing wildly with a stethoscope in hand can be seen everywhere.
Even Duchamp's tone of posting to WeChat Moments began to sound like a celebrity, and he began posting thoughtful landscape photos with the caption: "Too many teachers have added me on WeChat recently to interview. I want to remind myself to stay true to my original aspiration and keep moving forward."
In comparison, Jiang Qiaoxi's work has been seriously neglected.
Since his wife had her summer vacation, he had been living a life of a king who didn't attend court early in the morning for several days in a row, and finally found some of the feeling after marriage. He went to bed very late, and even though he was awake in the morning, he had to pretend that his wife woke him up. He brushed his teeth and washed his face in his pajamas, shaved while checking the index, and replied to short work emails. He sat at the table to eat the loving breakfast made by his wife, drank coffee while reading the Wall Street Journal, and then listened to his wife scolding him, saying that he threw his tie everywhere and didn't fold his shirt after taking it off.
He put on his ironed shirt, buttoned it up, and watched his wife tie his tie for him. He put on his shoes, sat on a high stool near the entrance, and hugged his wife, burying his forehead in her nightgown, and hugged her for a long time.
“I want summer vacation too…”
Jiang Qiaoxi said suddenly.
"I didn't see you liking it that much during the summer vacation before," Lin Yingtao muttered, ruffling his hair, "At that time, Du Shang and I went to the movies, but you insisted on studying Mathematical Olympiad at my house..."
Jiang Qiaoxi raised his head and sighed, lamenting his disappointment in the past. He took the car keys, and before leaving, he reached out and pinched his wife's face.
"I'm going out to get a facial today," Lin Yingtao told him secretly, looking forward to it but also feeling nervous, "I hope it doesn't disfigure me..."
Jiang Qiaoxi pinched her chin and lifted her up to take a look: "Do you still need a face job when you're so pretty?"
Lin Yingtao came up again. She was wearing a nightgown. She put her hands on Jiang Qiaoxi's shirt shoulders and stood on tiptoe to kiss him.
"Go to work!" she said with a smile.
Jiang Qiaoxi was kissed by her and reached out to touch his face. "Hey!" He sighed and walked towards the elevator door depressed.
After two years of marriage, Jiang Qiaoxi discovered that Yingtao would only use the word "my husband" when mentioning him in front of outsiders.
And when they were alone together, whether in the car or at home, even when it was late at night and they were no longer distinguishable from each other, she would only call him "Jiang Qiaoxi".
Is it because they have known each other since childhood and grew up together, so they can't change their name? Or is it because Yingtao particularly likes the name "Jiang Qiaoxi".
Jiang Qiaoxi took a photo outside the office building rented by his partners. He was not familiar with the new team yet and arranged a buffet dinner in the evening. He sent the photo of the office building to Yingtao and told her that he would not be home for dinner in the evening.
"Then I'll wait for you at home," she replied.
There is always such a moment, like now, when Jiang Qiaoxi looked down at her message and suddenly his heart softened.
When they were in love before, Jiang Qiaoxi thought more about "me" most of the time, "I want to make her live a good life", "I will work hard", "I want to get this internship", "I must do this for our future"... But since getting married and having a family, Jiang Qiaoxi found that many things are no longer like this. How Cherry spends her day, whether she is happy or unhappy, worried or not, lonely or not, happy or unhappy, is all directly related to him, her husband.
Lin Yingtao wore a pair of low-heeled shoes and a short shirt over her dress. She went downstairs with her lunch box at around 8pm. She met her aunt who lived upstairs in the elevator and greeted her with a smile. The aunt asked her why she went out so late. She said her husband was working overtime and she took this opportunity to go back to her parents' home to get some soaked sea cucumbers for her parents: "It's very close. I'll be back in an hour and a half. If I don't soak it well, they won't remember to eat it."
The aunt upstairs frowned and said, "Xiao Lin, how can you be so filial!"
The aunt brought several gift boxes, all of which looked like wine. She said she would put them in the trunk of the car and ask her family to drive it to the tutoring class tomorrow: "I don't know how difficult it is to enroll my grandson in a summer class now!"
Seeing that it was difficult for her to carry the box, Lin Yingtao offered to help her carry one and went to the underground parking lot with her.
Jiang Qiaoxi was halfway through his meal when he felt really upset, mainly because he was worried about his wife. He drove back and just in time saw Lin Yingtao being greeted by the aunt upstairs holding her arm in front of the car.
He honked, then saw Cherry turn in the headlights and see him along with the aunt.
What era is it now? In 2014, when people live together in a building, I am afraid that few of them know each other or have a good conversation with their neighbors, let alone those living on the same floor above them.
But Jiang Qiaoxi's wife can still chat so happily with all the neighbors.
"The aunt just now expressed her feelings to me," Lin Yingtao put the lunch box with the soaked sea cucumber on her knees as she sat in the front passenger seat of Jiang Qiaoxi's car. "She said that her family used to own a pharmaceutical factory, and at that time, if she heard any noise from the neighbors' house, she would go over to ask what happened."
Jiang Qiaoxi was driving and sent a WeChat message to his father-in-law, saying that he and Yingtao were on the way.
Lin Yingtao said: "She went to Beijing last year to help her son and daughter-in-law take care of their grandson. They lived in a very remote area. The community was full of tenants, a bit like when we were in Hong Kong."
"If people quarrel, no one cares. If the noise is too loud, someone will turn on the building vibration machine," Lin Yingtao and Jiang Qiaoxi described. "The vibration makes people upstairs dare not make a sound, or they quarrel even more loudly."
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "There is no way to rent a house because we don't know each other."
Lin Yingtao muttered: "Houses are so expensive now... Do you think children in the future will be able to afford houses? Maybe they will all rent houses."
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "You can always afford it, but you don't necessarily want to buy it."
Lin Yingtao said: "Then we will all live together and we won't know each other. What if something goes wrong?"
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "I suddenly thought of Japan."
Lin Yingtao said: "What happened to Japan?"
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "Perhaps gradually, people are not unable to get to know each other, but they just don't want to get to know each other."
Lin Yingtao turned to look at him: "Is it just like you didn't want to know me before... You ignored me the first time you saw me in the mountains!"
Jiang Qiaoxi couldn't help laughing.
Electrician Lin didn't expect his son-in-law and daughter to come back together. Cherry took the lunch box in her hand to the kitchen as soon as she entered the house. She urged her parents to add sea cucumber to the porridge every morning, which is said to be good for memory.
Jiang Qiaoxi didn't eat much, so his stomach was still empty. He sat down and ate a few bites of hot dishes with his father-in-law. His mother-in-law said, "Qiaoxi has to drive away soon, don't let him drink!" She reached out and slapped the bottle that Electrician Lin had picked up aside.
Electrician Lin smiled and said, "Oh, I forgot, I forgot..."
Mother Lin suddenly remembered: "Yingtao, your high school classmate Xin Tingting is back today."
Lin Yingtao was lying in her small bedroom during her student days, playing with her phone. Now she sat up and asked, "Is she home now?"
Mom turned around and said, "Lao Lin, write a wedding invitation to the Xin family's daughter and ask Yingtao to take it. It's so close!"
Electrician Lin was talking to his son-in-law, breaking the jujube-flour steamed bun in his hand and said, "Isn't it already written? Qiaoxi took it away last time."
Mom said, "I didn't bring the cherries. They are at her house."
Jiang Qiaoxi wanted to go with Lin Yingtao. Lin Yingtao changed her shoes and said, "You and Dad should stay at home. Eat more. I'll be back soon!"
There were several people standing downstairs of Xin Tingting's house.
"What's wrong? Why is my daughter making noise again after coming back?" The residents were worried and suddenly asked, "Hey, Cherry! Why are you here?"
Lin Yingtao was standing downstairs. She looked up and saw black shadows flashing behind the curtains of Xin Tingting's house.
"Why don't you look at Wei Yong?" It was Xin Tingting's mother. "How come he is so successful? Did I raise you to be able to find a driver casually?"
Lin Yingtao suddenly heard a shrill scream, as if she would not be able to suppress or cover up the other sounds unless she screamed like that.
"You lied to me... Why did you lie to me!!" It was Xin Tingting's voice, trembling. "You gave birth to me just to lie to me, right? Right!!!"
"Xin Tingting! What nonsense are you talking about? How could your mother lie to you?"
"You actually compared Wei Yong to me!!!" Xin Tingting screamed, "You actually compared that scoundrel Wei Yong to me..."
"Wei Yong is so successful now, and he found such a good partner. How can he not be compared with you, Tingting? I am just a small accountant now. If you don't marry someone better-"
I could only hear Xin Tingting sobbing and saying, "I will not listen to you anymore... All the standards you set for me were lies to me... From childhood to adulthood... You have all lied to me!!"