"Since elementary school, he told me that there was a little girl living next door to his family in Qunshan who pestered him and played with him every day. I thought it was very interesting at the time because Qiaoxi rarely told me such things..."
"When he came to Hong Kong for the summer vacation, he asked my girlfriend for the first time what kind of fashionable gifts girls want. He was only ten years old at that time, and he bought a lipstick. He was too mature since he was a child, but he was still a child."
"He used to be at his uncle's house and he hardly smiled. After he went to the mountains, he changed a lot. He said you gave him an imported watch..."
"If my first cousin were still alive, he would be 38 years old this year," the cousin wrote in the letter. "His death would have been very sad for my uncle's family, but it was very unfair to Qiaoxi."
"When he was very young, he often asked me why he came into this world. After he met you, he no longer asked that question."
Lin Yingtao never attends Jiang Qiaoxi's work dinners. By chance, her cousin and his wife were there that day. Jiang Qiaoxi said they were having dinner with several investors from Beijing. "A boss helped my cousin, and my wife wanted to thank him, but as a lady, she felt a little lonely."
Lin Yingtao sat at the table, next to Jiang Qiaoxi and his cousin's wife, eating quietly. The young boss from Beijing had a round face and naturally curly hair, and Lin Yingtao wanted to laugh when she saw him. The boss Ai and his cousin chatted a lot, speaking Cantonese with a hint of Beijing flavor, which was very friendly.
"It seems to be rare," said the cousin, wiping his hands. "In Central, ask Qiao Xi about it in the past two years. I seem to have seen more Paganis in the past."
Jiang Qiaoxi, who was sitting next to them, said, “There are a lot of Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Mercedes-Benzes.”
They were talking about the sports car. Lin Yingtao leaned close to Jiang Qiaoxi's ear and said she was going to the bathroom.
Jiang Qiaoxi nodded to her.
Lin Yingtao left the private room and walked in the corridor. From both sides, she heard people toasting and drinking. She took out her cell phone, but then she remembered that she forgot to charge it, so she couldn't play.
She went downstairs and heard a commotion downstairs for some reason.
The TV in front of the payment bar in the lobby was on, broadcasting a local news.
“… According to the China Earthquake Networks Center, at 19:08 this evening, a 5.1-magnitude earthquake occurred in Fengchang District, Gunsan City, with a focal depth of 11km. The earthquake was strongly felt in all counties and cities in the Gunsan area…”
Lin Yingtao ran upstairs quickly. She pushed open the door of the private room. Her cousin and several Beijing bosses were still talking inside. Lin Yingtao pulled Jiang Qiaoxi's sleeve and pulled him out.
The news downstairs is still being broadcast.
“… As of now, aftershocks are still continuing in the epicenter of Gunsan, and landslides have occurred on some roads in the mountains. The Gunsan Municipal Government is organizing rescue teams to rush to the epicenter to carry out rescue operations and relocate the affected villagers.”
Jiang Qiaoxi took out his cell phone belatedly and saw that Cai Fangyuan had called him.
He lowered his head and pressed his phone, and said to Lin Yingtao: "I'll call Feng Letian."
Lin Yingtao stood on the stairs, staring at the screen from afar. She wanted to ask, looking for Feng Letian? Feng Letian, the high school monitor? Why did he give...
The TV news began to interview a grassroots street cadre in Fengchang District, Qunshan City. He was helping to inspect the damage to houses on the street and comforting citizens who were wandering on the streets and were afraid to go home.
Lin Yingtao opened her mouth, reached out to pull Jiang Qiaoxi, and pointed at the TV.
Feng Letian on TV was still wearing glasses. He looked exactly the same as he was in high school, with a short beard, dark skin, and a slight hunchback.
"Not yet, there are no specific casualties," he said when questioned by local journalists. "Qunshan City has made more than 20 years of efforts in earthquake prevention and earthquake resistance, and the landslide prevention and control project has also continued for more than 10 years. Don't panic, don't panic!"
The restaurant owner came over, saw that Lin Yingtao was fidgeting, and asked, "Are you from Qunshan, little girl?"
Lin Yingtao raised her head, she didn't know how to answer.
"Do you have any relatives in the mountains?" asked the boss.
Lin Yingtao shook her head.
In fact, Lin Yingtao had no relatives or friends left in the mountains. That’s why she had been away for so many years and had never found the opportunity or excuse to go back.
It always seems like the mountains are there and I can always go back.
Lin Yingtao said, “I grew up in the mountains…” When she said the word “grew up,” she suddenly burst into tears, and Jiang Qiaoxi hugged her.
Feng Letian didn't call Jiang Qiaoxi back until almost dawn.
"No, no, don't come over for now. There are still aftershocks. The troops are here to help. Volunteers are not needed," he said to Jiang Qiaoxi. "You really care about our little place... Actually, there is nothing wrong in the city. The buildings are all good. It's mainly the villages in the mountains. Yes, didn't the mountains have a big earthquake before? The earthquake prevention is very good now, but there is a risk of landslides-"
The next morning, Lin Yingtao was at work, staring out the window in a daze. A foreign teacher came to teach the children to sing English songs, and Lin Yingtao stood beside them. She was participating in the childhood of these children. Lin Yingtao took out her phone and looked down at the chat history of the "Qunshan Little Dining Table Group".
Duchamp asked, "Is our original construction site okay?"
Yu Qiao said: "I checked the map this morning and found that a new residential area has been built there, and there is a RT-Mart nearby."
Cai Fangyuan said: "I think he has completely changed and is unrecognizable."
Yu Qiao said: "The Zhongneng Power Plant is still there."
Cai Fangyuan said: "But let's demolish our primary school."
Lin Yingtao asked: "Do you want to go back to the mountains and take a look?"
Duchamp said, “It’s true.”
Yu Qiao said, "It's true."
Qin Yeyun said: "No, there's nothing to see in this small, broken place. You should stay at home honestly, in case something happens before the earthquake ends."
Cai Fangyuan said, "Lin Yingtao, finish your wedding first! You've been busy for half a year, why are you going to the mountains now?"
This happened in late September. Lin Yingtao called her parents, who had also watched the news about the earthquake in Qunshan. Her father said, "It's not serious, Yingtao. What are you worried about?"
Six days after the earthquake, Qunshan issued a government announcement that more than 20,000 villagers affected by the earthquake had been relocated, and a total of 29 people were injured in the city, none of whom were in danger of life. Experts from the Earthquake Bureau also said that the possibility of a larger earthquake was very small, and Qunshan would not experience a major disaster like the one that happened more than 20 years ago.
Lin Yingtao donated money to the villagers in Qunshan through the donation channel on Weibo, so that they could build new houses after the disaster. She wiped her wet hair and clicked on a short film shot by local media in Qunshan City, called "24-hour documentary of the Qunshan 921 earthquake - the red bridge of life in Qunshan".
Jiang Qiaoxi called her from the living room: "Cherry, where is the ink for our pens?"
"Ah?" Lin Yingtao put down the towel she was using to dry her hair and ran out wrapped in a bathrobe. "I put it on the bookshelf—"
"It's blue." Jiang Qiaoxi said.
The short film was still playing on Lin Yingtao's computer screen. In the video, the PLA troops were helping the villagers in the mountains to cross a red suspension bridge across the cliff with their families during the aftershocks. The reporter said in front of the bridge: "Maybe it was fate. This beautiful red suspension bridge was just completed in July this year..."
Lin Yingtao opened her eyes in the middle of the night. Listening to Jiang Qiaoxi's even breathing beside her, she looked at the pot of evergreen by the window.
Her wedding was only five days away.
But she couldn't fall asleep. Lin Yingtao turned over and faced Jiang Qiaoxi. She knew she was getting married and should get a good night's sleep every day.
"Want to go to the mountains?" a sleepy voice asked.
Lin Yingtao raised her eyes and found that Jiang Qiaoxi was not asleep either and was looking at her.
On September 28, Lin Yingtao got off work at around 5 p.m. and sent the children away one by one. She waved goodbye to her colleagues and ran out of the kindergarten, where she saw the Mercedes parked on the side of the road.
Jiang Qiaoxi was sitting in the driver's seat and talking on the phone, watching her get in the car. Jiang Qiaoxi said helplessly to his cousin on the phone: "If I don't go there in advance and take a sneak peek, I don't think this marriage can be a good one."
Lin Yingtao sat in the passenger seat, leaned over and kissed her husband on the face.
Jiang Qiaoxi smiled and said to his phone, "I'm going today and will be back tomorrow. It's okay."
When she was a child, Lin Yingtao took a long-distance bus from Qunshan City alone, and it took seven hours to get to the provincial capital. Now she is sitting in a car driven by her husband Jiang Qiaoxi, taking the new provincial highway, and can get to Qunshan in four hours.
At around eight o'clock in the evening, their car stopped at a service area.
Jiang Qiaoxi filled up the car with gas. They got out of the car together and walked hand in hand to the service area restaurant. The closer they got to the mountains, the more mountain scenery there was on both sides of the highway. The trees were lush and green, and they stretched out at night. If you looked up, you could see more stars in the sky. Lin Yingtao flipped through her phone and found that the group had been quiet today, and no one was talking. She excitedly told Jiang Qiaoxi that when she got to the Qunshan toll station, she would send a photo to the group: "Scare them!"
They entered the service area and wanted to have a simple meal. Jiang Qiaoxi glanced at the menu and found beef noodles. He wrinkled his nose and didn't want to order it.
Lin Yingtao went to the supermarket to buy water.
At this time, the highway service area was full of drivers taking a break and chatting noisily. Lin Yingtao took two bottles of Coke. She found that she still loved to drink carbonated drinks even after getting married. Now she called them "fat house happy water" -
"I'll be back at base tomorrow afternoon."
Behind the shelf, Lin Yingtao suddenly heard a strangely familiar voice talking on the phone.
"Now, now at the highway service area, almost to the group—" He turned around and saw Lin Yingtao, "Ah!" He suddenly yelled and took a step back, obviously frightened.
Lin Yingtao looked up at him with her eyebrows drooping. She opened her mouth and gasped for breath.
"Yu Qiao!!" She jumped up on the spot, holding the Coke in her hand and yelled in disbelief.
Jiang Qiaoxi suddenly heard some noise in the supermarket. He frowned. At this moment, the plastic curtain behind him was lifted by someone from the outside.
"Yu Qiaoer!" Du Shang came in with a travel bag on his back, his mouth dry. Du Shang reached out and tugged at the bag strap, "What took you so long?"
He turned around and saw Jiang Qiaoxi. They were both stunned and looked at each other.
Cai Fangyuan woke up from his 50,000 square meter bed, holding his phone to his ear with his left hand, and covered his eyes with his right hand: "Fuck!" He got out of bed, put on his slippers, and quickly changed his clothes, "Why didn't either of you call me?"
In the service area, there was a table with four people sitting on both sides. In front of them were two steaming bowls of wontons and two bowls of ramen that had just been served.
Yu Qiao knocked his knuckles on the table and asked Lin Yingtao, "Why are you here if you don't want to get married properly?"
Lin Yingtao also knocked on the table with her knuckles and asked Yu Qiao and Du Shang: "Why are you here if you don't want to work properly?"
Du Shang was slurping noodles beside him. He asked Jiang Qiaoxi, "Do you want vinegar? If not, I want some more."
The author has something to say: －－－－－－－－－－
Notes to this chapter:
＊"Waking up from his 50,000 square meter bed": "Never expected" is a mini comedy directed by Yi Xiaoxing and starring Bai Ke, Liu Xunzimo and others. It premiered on Youku video website on August 6, 2013.