When Lin Yingtao was little, she heard a song on the tape at her father's bedside.
It was a man, reciting many words that she didn't understand at the time. There were so many words, and they were so complicated.
Only a few of the lyrics are melodic.
The man sang: Where is happiness
Where is happiness
Lin Yingtao stood downstairs, watching Xin Tingting running down crying. Xin Tingting was still wearing slippers. She pushed open the door of the unit, but didn't see Lin Yingtao. She only vaguely felt that many people in the community were attracted by the noise from her house, so she ran out along the road in front of the building.
"Tingting..." Lin Yingtao hurriedly chased after her, "Tingting!"
Xin Tingting's figure was so thin. She was just a girl in her early twenties. What had the past twenty years given her? Her body seemed unable to contain or balance the contradictions, grief and pain she felt. She ran under the street lights outside the community, as if escaping for her life.
Across the residential overpass, at the door of a car wash, Lin Yingtao stood there, watching Xin Tingting hugging her knees and squatting in the garage door of the car wash. She was squatting on the wet concrete floor and making a phone call.
"I'll wait for you here..." Xin Tingting was disheartened, "Drive carefully..."
Lin Yingtao was still holding an inappropriate red wedding invitation in her hand. She folded it tightly and stuffed it into the pocket of her dress.
Xin Tingting saw her first.
She used the light from the car wash sign, squinted her eyes, and stared at her for a long time.
"Is it fun?"
Lin Yingtao walked forward and stepped on the ground covered with dirty water.
"Why did you go back to the headquarters community?" Xin Tingting asked.
Lin Yingtao looked at her swollen eyes. "My mom said you were back, so I came to see you."
Next to the car wash is a seafood barbecue restaurant. At ten o'clock in the evening, business is booming. Office workers who don't want to go home, or young couples, all gather around a table and laugh. Lin Yingtao pulled Xin Tingting and found a small table in the corner to sit down. Lin Yingtao never cared about this kind of street stall, but she thought Tingting might not like it. But Xin Tingting really sat down, and she took a deep breath from time to time. Maybe she cried too hard and it was difficult to calm down her breathing. She needed to get close to some other people's happiness to maintain her emotions.
The shop owner brought a large glass of draft beer, and Lin Yingtao poured it into a small cup. On the TV, Hunan TV was playing a TV series, "Gu Jian Qi Tan". Lin Yingtao suddenly said, "This TV series is adapted from a game. Do you remember when you came to my house in high school and watched me play that game? It seems to be made by the same group of people."
Xin Tingting reached out and wiped her face, then turned back to look at the picture on TV.
Lin Yingtao said: "At that time, my parents thought playing computer games was not serious... But now you see, games have become TV series and are on Hunan TV. Do you still remember Cai Fangyuan? He is now making games in Shanghai, mobile games, and he is making a lot of money."
Xin Tingting looked at her.
Lin Yingtao thought about it, and once her big eyes stopped smiling, they looked cold and fierce: "Times are changing too fast... People like our parents' generation didn't know how to use computers or mobile phones, so they probably don't understand what the times have become. In fact, they don't understand it as well as we do."
Xin Tingting was stunned.
She suddenly felt even more miserable. She laughed.
At this time, the waiter grabbed a handful of grilled lamb skewers, mushrooms and eggplants and placed them on their table. The aroma quickly spread.
Xin Tingting looked at the greasy food that vulgar people loved the most.
She looked at Lin Yingtao again and found that she was dressed beautifully and dressed like a noble girl. People in the community said that Jiang Qiaoxi made a lot of money in Hong Kong and bought a big house for Yingtao. Lin Yingtao picked up a skewer of meat. She really liked to eat it. She always liked to do what she liked. It seemed a bit willful, but Yingtao had endured a lot, so she naturally gained a lot. Lin Yingtao took a look at what was being played on TV, and she suddenly said, "Tingting, do you still remember the good man?"
Xin Tingting's tears silently flowed down her cheeks. She also reached out and picked up a skewer of mutton. She tried to bite a piece and put it into her mouth.
The fat and tender part of the mutton was roasted and the gravy burst in your mouth.
Xin Tingting nodded.
"The actor who plays Tu Su," Lin Yingtao said, "seems to have not appeared in a long time. What year was Good Man released in? 2007?"
Xin Tingting ate the second piece of mutton, and she felt a little bit of happiness. She nodded and continued to eat.
Lin Yingtao said: "It's been seven years. What were the other people doing back then?"
Xin Tingting took a sip of draft beer, swallowed it and said, "This is what talent show stars are like. Look at the Super Girls back then, and what else, My Style My Show. How popular were those people back then?"
Lin Yingtao's phone vibrated in her pocket. She took it out and found it was a WeChat message from Jiang Qiaoxi, asking her where she was and why she was not at Xin Tingting's house.
"I'm having dinner with Tingting outside. You just wait for me at my parents' house first," she replied.
Xin Tingting glanced at her and asked, "... Is it Jiang Qiaoxi?"
Lin Yingtao looked at her and said "hmm" softly.
The unpredictability of fate does not only happen to the talent show stars who were once the focus of everyone's attention.
Everyone who seems ordinary is bearing his or her own unknown and unpredictable fate.
"How can you forgive him, Qile?" Xin Tingting said, "Aren't you afraid that Jiang Qiaoxi will disappoint you again?"
Lin Yingtao lowered her eyes and held her face with her hands.
"Then I will divorce him." Lin Yingtao smiled.
Xin Tingting frowned and said, "Why don't you hold a grudge?"
"Who said I don't hold grudges? I do hold grudges," Lin Yingtao snorted, propping up her face and said, "Jiang Qiaoxi asked me some time ago if I wanted to go to a cocktail party together, saying that the annoying Felinger would also be there, but I didn't want to go..."
Xin Tingting burst out laughing.
"There are also people from my former dormitory at South Campus who added me on WeChat," Lin Yingtao looked at Xin Tingting, "Why should I add them? I'm very happy."
Xin Tingting said: "But you just don't remember Jiang Qiaoxi's grudge."
Lin Yingtao was silent for a while.
"It's different," Lin Yingtao said to her, "Some grudges are remembered so that we won't get close to that kind of person again, but Jiang Qiaoxi... He didn't mean it. He treated me very well."
"You just like him," Xin Tingting said, "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder."
Lin Yingtao suddenly felt that what happened between her and Jiang Qiaoxi was indeed something that only the two of them understood.
Not to mention her and Tingting, even Tingting and her parents and relatives, who have lived under the same roof for so many years, cannot understand each other.
"Anyway... I think I'll regret it if I hold a grudge against Jiang Qiaoxi," Lin Yingtao suddenly said, picking up a bunch of roasted eggplants. "By then, I'll definitely cry and find fault every day, and then watch Jiang Qiaoxi find a new partner? Isn't that crazy? I won't do that."
Xin Tingting laughed and said, "You are too direct!"
Lin Yingtao raised her big eyes and looked at her old friend, but she didn't seem to be joking. "I think the key is to know what you want."
Xin Tingting looked at her.
Lin Yingtao asked: "Are you still together with your league secretary?"
"Yeah," Xin Tingting nodded quickly, "but his job is not very good, so he has to help others drive outside after get off work."
Lin Yingtao said: "He is so willing to work!"
Xin Tingting was about to cry again: "Don't mention it, it was because my parents complained about this and that that we almost broke up again..."
Lin Yingtao moved a small stool and sat closer to Xin Tingting. She told her about her past in Hong Kong. She did not mention herself and Jiang Qiaoxi, but Jiang Qiaoxi's cousin's wife and cousin. "I think a lot of things are uncertain," Lin Yingtao said to her. "Jiang Qiaoxi's cousin has been lying in bed for three years, but he is fine now. Look at that ruffian Wei Yong, he has suddenly become so rich. We don't want to learn from him, but he is not the only one who can encounter good things. You and your partner should work hard, take exams, and continue your studies. One day, your luck will definitely change! Just like this," Lin Yingtao turned around and watched "Gu Jian Qi Tan" on TV, "like this actor who plays Tu Su!"
Xin Tingting looked at the TV screen with tears in her eyes, and then looked at her with a smile.
"How can such a good thing happen!" She suddenly said loudly, in disbelief, "You are the only one who is so lucky!"
Lin Yingtao said helplessly: "But a few years ago, didn't you think I was so miserable?"
"You ran away from the community crying that year..." Xin Tingting suddenly became worried, "Now I am the same."
"It's okay, don't be afraid," Lin Yingtao leaned in and said, "Our neighborhood is full of old houses, and more and more uncles and aunts have moved out. Today, Jiang Qiaoxi and I were talking about how we have always lived in a state-owned enterprise compound and didn't know that in commercial communities outside, neighbors don't know each other. Now that I think about it, there is actually a good side to it. If we don't know each other, who would gossip about you?"
Xin Tingting listened and nodded.
Once upon a time, Xin Tingting was sitting in Lin Yingtao's bedroom, and they were watching "It Started with a Kiss" on the computer screen together.
They were still young at that time, only 15 years old. Xin Tingting felt that her future life would be very good. Even if it was not like what was shown in the TV series, she would not be an ordinary white-collar worker rushing on the roadside, wearing rustic clothes and with an anxious face.
"Qile, when will you and Jiang Qiaoxi have your wedding?" Xin Tingting suddenly said.
Lin Yingtao wiped her hands quickly and took out the folded red wedding invitation from her skirt pocket.
"Oh my!" Xin Tingting grinned unconsciously when she saw such a formal wedding invitation.
Sincerely
October 3, 2014
The tenth day of the ninth month of the Jiawu year in the lunar calendar
Second son Jiang Qiaoxi
Lin Qile
Wedding ceremony
We welcome Miss Xin Tingting to visit us
Jiang Zheng and his family
Lin Haifeng and his family
Respectful Appointment
Lin Yingtao talked with Xin Tingting for a while. They talked about work, exams, and where they wanted to go for their honeymoon. Lin Yingtao said she wanted to go to the Maldives, but she hadn't discussed it with Jiang Qiaoxi yet, and she had to wait until the winter vacation to go.
Suddenly, car lights shone from behind them.
Lin Yingtao watched Xin Tingting stand up. She was still wearing the slippers she wore when she left home. She suddenly walked behind Lin Yingtao and started running. She ran to the open driver's door of the van, hugged the male driver, and suddenly started crying.
Lin Yingtao stood up and turned her head to look over. The light made her squint.
We just talked for so long, but it seems that only now has Tingting started to express her true emotions.
Xin Tingting whispered a few words to her boyfriend, who hesitated for a moment and nodded. Xin Tingting turned around and pulled her boyfriend over.
"Then Lao Zheng and I will go to attend your wedding with Jiang Qiaoxi together!" she said with a smile.
Xin Tingting's boyfriend, Lao Zheng, is also a student of the 2005 class of the Provincial Experimental High School South Campus. After the division of arts and sciences in the second year of high school, he was assigned to Class 34, the same class as Xin Tingting.
"I've heard of you! You and your husband Jiang Qiaoxi are both very famous!" Old Zheng said with a smile, putting his hands in his trouser pockets. "I have a buddy who is from the Experimental High School. He told me a few days ago that Jiang Qiaoxi married a young girl who came from the countryside to pursue him—"
Xin Tingting suddenly nudged him with her elbow: "What country?"
Old Zheng waved his hands quickly: "Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue!"
Lin Yingtao laughed.
"It's okay. The mountains are just a small place..."
Old Zheng touched the back of his head with emotion: "Oh, Jiang Qiaoxi's wedding!" He glanced at his girlfriend and said, "I have to go and show off to my classmates!"
Life spans a hundred years, and these three people are only twenty-four years old.
There are still too many opportunities waiting for them to work hard and make changes.
Lin Yingtao said to Jiang Qiaoxi who was driving, "Tingting's boyfriend has a very cheerful personality. No wonder she likes him so much."
Jiang Qiaoxi listened and felt that something was wrong.
"He is in the same high school as us, in the same class!" said Lin Yingtao.
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "You all like cheerful people?"
Lin Yingtao looked at the road ahead. She suddenly laughed and then pursed her lips.
While waiting for the traffic light, Lin Yingtao turned her head away and rubbed her face on Jiang Qiaoxi's shoulder. Jiang Qiaoxi held the steering wheel with one hand and replied to his cousin's WeChat messages with the other hand, and had to endure her coquettishness.
The car was parked in the basement downstairs. Because the down payment was paid early, their family chose the best independent garage. They walked in through the ordinary basement, at the end, with two parking spaces per household, with rolling doors. Jiang Qiaoxi parked the car, unbuckled the seat belt, but did not remove the key. He got out of the car and opened the trunk. Inside was the Northeast rice that his father-in-law and mother-in-law asked them to bring back, and some hand-rolled noodles...
Lin Yingtao got off the car and happily played with her cell phone with her small bag on her back.
The parking space next to it was empty. Jiang Qiaoxi wanted to buy Lin Yingtao a car, but Lin Yingtao was unwilling to do so: "You haven't paid off the loan for this car yet! How can your family have so much money..."
At this moment, Lin Yingtao came over and said, "Why are you carrying so many things?"
Jiang Qiaoxi raised his hand to close the trunk door unhappily. He looked down at his wife and said, "You should talk to your parents too."
"It's no use for me to say that," Lin Yingtao reached out to hug him closely, raised her head and said, "It's not like you don't know that they..."
Jiang Qiaoxi looked down at Lin Yingtao.
He reached out and suddenly pinched her nose.
Jiang Qiaoxi certainly knew that any parent, with a daughter like Lin Yingtao, would try every possible means to love her.
The door to the back seat of the car opened. Lin Yingtao, who was wearing a pair of low-heeled shoes, was caught off guard and lay down in the back seat. Her shoes fell on the garage floor outside the door.
Her dress was lifted up.
"Cherries." Jiang Qiaoxi said.
Lin Yingtao was so nervous that she dared not make a sound. Even though the electronic rolling door was closed, she huddled and hugged Jiang Qiaoxi's neck.
"Cherry," Jiang Qiaoxi looked down at her, "I'm going to wash the car tomorrow morning, do you want to come?"
Lin Yingtao's hair rubbed against the leather seat cushion, her face was flushed, and Jiang Qiaoxi kissed her for a long time.
"Go..." she whispered.
The car's tires bounced constantly on the garage floor to cope with the violent imbalance of the car body moving back and forth.
Jiang Qiaoxi suddenly said, "How about we go in the afternoon?"
Lin Yingtao opened her eyes, looked at him staggeringly, and nodded foolishly at his whim.
"How's that, wife?" Jiang Qiaoxi asked.
"Okay, husband..." Lin Yingtao replied.
When I was in Hong Kong, I always counted the days.
Now that we are together every day, it is inevitable that there are still some side effects of being in different places.
Lin Yingtao's hair was messy. She sat on the edge of her seat, lowering her head to adjust her skirt and collar. Her calves were trembling. Fortunately, she was only wearing a pair of low-heeled shoes. But even so, her legs went weak when she stood up. Jiang Qiaoxi held her up.
The car door was closed and locked. Jiang Qiaoxi simply picked up his wife, since they didn't have to run up to the eleventh floor.
Ever since she had a facial at a beauty salon, Lin Yingtao has become addicted to the feeling of being a rich lady. She wears a bathrobe and sits in bed browsing Sephora, using the "huge" bonus she just received at the end of the semester to buy herself expensive skin care products.
The famous celebrity Duchamp knocked on her on WeChat and asked her to help him record a song.
"Go ask your girlfriend to record it!" Lin Yingtao calculated the price of the gift sample on her phone's calculator. "Don't bother me. I'm busy!"
"She finds me annoying, too. She finds me annoying!" Duchamp cried. "She just thinks you sing beautifully!"
Lin Yingtao had no choice but to agree.
Jiang Qiaoxi was drinking cold beer in the kitchen and chatting with his cousin and his wife about his work via video. As they were talking, he suddenly heard a strange, coquettish voice coming from the direction of the master bedroom.
"Hey handsome, what grade are you in?" Lin Yingtao pinched her nose and said, "I'm Xiaoyi from Class 5 of Grade 2! I want to invite you to go to Jay Chou's concert with me—"
Jiang Qiaoxi had just taken a sip of beer when he lowered his head, turned around, turned on the tap, and spit out the beer.
My cousin said, "Is that Cherry singing?"
Jiang Qiaoxi wiped the water off his chin with kitchen paper and sat back down.
After a while, Lin Yingtao came in from outside. She was wearing a bathrobe and slippers. She circled around Jiang Qiaoxi, then came over and touched his face.
"What are you doing?" Jiang Qiaoxi had finished chatting and was looking at the information his cousin sent him.
Lin Yingtao observed him carefully: "Is your skin dry or oily?"
Jiang Qiaoxi doesn't even have a single acne on his face. From childhood to adulthood, his skin has been fair and clean. Except for the scar on his forehead, he is absolutely perfect.
"I don't know either." He looked at her.
Lin Yingtao pouted.
"What do you want to do?" Jiang Qiaoxi said.
"I'm going to buy you some skin care products!" she said.
"Give it to me?" Jiang Qiaoxi asked.
"You're twenty-four years old!" Lin Yingtao frowned, "Don't think that just because you're good-looking you won't get wrinkles or age!"
Jiang Qiaoxi laughed.
Lin Yingtao felt that he didn't know how to take care of his skin either, so she reached out and touched his face, pinched it back and forth, then leaned over and kissed him to feel it.
She left the kitchen, went back to the bedroom, jumped on the bed and said, "Let me make you look better!!"
At that time, Lin Yingtao insisted on going to the United States to study and take the exam. She said: "We both rely on you to make money. What if something happens in the future..."
From the beginning, she had imagined that if something unexpected happened one day, she would work hard to earn money to support their family.
But now there are no accidents. So Lin Yingtao can spend her bonus as much as she wants, buying books for her father, silk scarves and a new mobile phone for her mother, skin care products, swimsuits, and sunscreen for herself, and then use the remaining money to buy men's skin care products and men's perfume for Jiang Qiaoxi.
Lin Yingtao said in bed before going to sleep: "I suddenly understand why those local tycoons want to buy so many bags for their mistresses—"
Jiang Qiaoxi reached out his hand, pinched the soft flesh on her face and shook it.
Lin Yingtao shut up and went to sleep quietly in her husband's arms.
The author has something to say: －－－－－－－－－－－
Notes to this chapter:
＊"Where is Happiness?": "Advanced Animals", a song sung by Dou Wei, written and composed by Dou Wei, included in the album "Black Dream", released in 1994.
* "Gu Jian Qi Tan": An ancient fantasy drama starring Yang Mi, Li Yifeng and others, adapted from the stand-alone game "Gu Jian Qi Tan" developed by Shanghai Zhulong. It was launched on Hunan Satellite TV's Diamond Exclusive Theater on July 2, 2014, and is broadcast every Wednesday and Thursday at 22:00.
* “The actor who plays Tu Su”: Li Yifeng, who participated in the Dragon TV show “Come on! Good Man” in 2007 and won the eighth place in the country, making his official debut. In 2014, he became a star for his role as “Bai Li Tu Su” in “Gu Jian Qi Tan”.
* “Hey handsome guy, what grade are you in… I want to invite you to go to Jay Chou’s concert with me”: "The Happy Life of a Chatty High School Student", sung by Heisa, released in 2007, included in the album "Getting Up Earlier Than the Chickens".