Chapter 65 I’m not interested in your brother…
Just when she was feeling hopeless, thinking her reputation had been ruined by Tao Qian's words, the girl opposite her suddenly asked her, "Hey, sister, have you ever been to Rome before?"
"?"
The series of movies that were being played out in my mind, such as "loss of ethics, challenge to human nature, breaking through secular concepts", etc., were forced to pause at this moment.
At this juncture, Tao Siyun even felt that it would be more reasonable for her blind date to ask her "Is your brother a bit perverted?" rather than "Have you been to Rome?"
"Don't you remember?" Seeing her confused and unresponsive face, the other party continued to give key information: "In the pizza shop next to Plaza de España, Gi?"
After a brief moment of confusion, this vague memory finally emerged from the depths of Tao Siyun's mind...
It was three years ago that she went to Rome.
Tao Siyun loves "Roman Holiday" starring Audrey Hepburn. She has been watching it every year since she could understand the original English dubbing.
So before the summer vacation that year, she and Bian Chengzi made an appointment for a two-week trip to Europe. They would first spend a few days in Paris, then go to Rome, which she had been longing for for a long time. Then they would go to Milan to find Zhao Yiran, and finally return home for the summer vacation.
Tao Siyun thought that she would not waste money on booking a hotel after her best friend arrived. Besides, with the security in France, no matter how good the hotel was, it would not be as comfortable and safe as the apartment she lived in. Her room was big anyway, and after Zhao Yiran left, she and Zhou Yu would share the apartment.
So she planned to find time to discuss with Zhou Yu that she could pay for next month's water, electricity, internet, and gas bills by herself, and she promised that she would never disturb Zhou Yu.
However, before she could discuss it with Zhou Yu, a strange Chinese girl suddenly appeared in front of her the next morning.
Tao Siyun had just returned from the supermarket. As soon as she entered the gate, she saw the building manager waving her hands and struggling to talk to a girl. The Romanian woman, upon seeing her, seemed to have found a lifeline and called out to her joyfully, "Hi! Dorothy! Here!!"
Tao Siyun put down the large box of water in his hand and stood between the two of them, acting as a temporary translator.
After the conversation, we learned that the girl had just come from China and could not contact her boyfriend because she had a fight with him. However, her boyfriend lived in this building. After talking for a long time, the building manager just wouldn't let her go up.
"He blocked my phone number and WeChat. I flew here specifically to get back together with him."
Tao Siyun thought for a moment and said, "Do you have his overseas phone number? I can call him for you."
"No." The girl finally told the truth: "In fact, we broke up more than a year ago. I sent him something to this address before. I don't know if he moved away later..."
Because this building is close to the university town, there are several Chinese student families living upstairs and downstairs. However, they are not in the same school and have almost no interaction with each other, so they don’t know each other.
Apart from her and Zhou Yu, she only knew that there were two households on the third floor, and not long ago, a young couple of exchange students moved in on the fifth floor.
So I said, "What's your boyfriend's name? I'm emailing the landlord now to ask for his contact information. He owns the entire building."
"Zhou Yu."
…
When Zhou Yu came back, Liu Ying had been sitting in the apartment waiting for him for more than an hour.
Tao Siyun returned to her room early. The house was not soundproof and she didn't want to eavesdrop on other people's conversations, so she turned on her computer, put on headphones, sat in front of the window, watched a French movie and practiced her listening skills.
Zhou Yu glanced at the suitcase at the door, then looked at the tearful person, and said in a cold voice, "Liu Ying, what do you mean, a self-torture trick?"
The crying on the other side suddenly stopped. Liu Ying looked up in disbelief. "Do I really need to use this self-torture trick on you? Do I have to spend more than ten hours flying from the west of Shanghai to Paris just to perform this self-torture trick in front of you?!"
"Are you serious? You were the one who proposed breaking up. I tried to persuade you to stay. You told me that an international relationship wasn't realistic and asked me not to waste your time. Okay, fine, I agree. So what are you doing now going to change? It means nothing to me. Really, I'm not your backup, not someone you compare yourself to after dating several boyfriends. We're all adults, so be mature. Let's part ways amicably and stop bothering me."
Zhou Yu's resolute expression made Liu Ying, who still held on to a glimmer of hope for reconciliation, unable to hold back any longer.
"Of course it's meaningless! You have such a beautiful female roommate, no wonder you broke up so easily. You said that girl you shared the apartment with was your friend, but what about now? She moved out, so why is your roommate still a woman? Zhou Yu, have you been cheating on me for a long time? You must have been dating someone else behind my back!"
"Does your roommate not know that you have a girlfriend, or are you shameless enough to just take the initiative and get close to her?!"
Liu Ying was quite excited and stood up to leave. Zhou Yu did not expect that she would suddenly walk towards Tao Siyun's bedroom, and he had no time to stop her.
The door was not locked and it opened as soon as I pushed it, hitting the wall with a "bang"!
Tao Siyun was also startled even though she was wearing headphones. She turned around and was surprised to see the girl with tears on her face who had been saying "thank you" to her repeatedly just an hour ago.
Liu Ying stood at the door of her bedroom with a fierce look, as if she was looking at an enemy.
Tao Siyun looked at her in confusion, and before he could figure out what was going on, she pointed at his nose and scolded him—
"You international students are so open-minded after going abroad. Each one is more extravagant than the other. European countries advocate freedom! Not only are your thoughts open, but your private lives are open too! Men and women can live however they want. Even if there are three or four of you sleeping in one bed, you won't think it's crowded!"
"You are a little girl. Do your parents know that you live with a man abroad? They really trust you! Easy girl!"
Tao Siyun had never been insulted with such explicit and vicious words before, and his face turned pale when he heard this.
"Liu Ying! I'm warning you not to go too far!" Zhou Yu forcibly dragged Liu Ying out of Tao Siyun's room, "She's just my roommate!"
Zhou Yu closed the bedroom door with such force that even the frosted glass embedded in the door frame was shaking.
There was a quarrel in the living room, but Tao Siyun could no longer hear anything. She didn't even know when things outside became quiet.
In the afternoon, large swathes of sunlight shone into the room, but Tao Siyun still felt cold all over.
Her rapid heart rate kept her in a panic for the entire afternoon, and she couldn't concentrate on anything.
After a long, long time, until it was completely dark, her heart gradually calmed down.
It was just a chance encounter, and she had helped her this morning...
Tao Siyun couldn't understand why a stranger would harbor such malice towards another stranger who had helped her.
As a girl, doesn’t she know that these words can be hurtful to others?
Good intentions need no reasons.
Those who intentionally do evil also do not need any explanation or justification.
After all, not everyone has the heart to do one good deed a day.
In the following days, Zhou Yu did not return to the apartment and did not send WeChat messages to Tao Siyun.
After Bian Chengzi arrived in Paris, Tao Siyun went to pick her up at the airport. The two stayed in a hotel and flew to Rome a week later.
***
On their last day in Rome, they visited the filming location of "Roman Holiday".
Zhao Yiran told Tao Siyun in advance that if they were unlucky and sat in the Plaza de España to eat gelato, they might be fined, so she and Bian Chengzi went to buy ice cream and find a place to eat after taking pictures.
At noon, the nearby restaurants were very crowded with tourists. Considering that they had to go to the Vatican Museum soon, they found a pizza restaurant nearby that looked good.
There were only a few high round tables in the restaurant and no stools, so all the customers had to eat while standing.
They were standing at a table further back. After taking two bites, Tao Siyun suddenly noticed a shopping bag with a luxury goods logo printed on it in the corner next to them.
Bian Chengzi had long heard that France and Italy were plagued by thieves. She bit into her pizza with a look of shock on her face and mumbled, "How could such a big 'Gi' be left here without anyone taking it? This completely overturns my long-held stereotype of Italy!"
"My domestic passport might have been put in when I bought the bag and registered it."
Tao Siyun opened the little red book, glanced at the name, and guessed that it must be a domestic tourist who accidentally forgot it here after dinner.
"Let's wait. The person who lost the item must be very anxious now and will definitely come back to look for it."
She knew how troublesome and time-consuming it was to apply for a new passport abroad.
About ten minutes later, a man and a woman came into the pizza shop and ran straight to the front desk, looking very anxious.
Tao Siyun heard the girl speaking in fluent English at a slightly faster pace asking the boss whether he had picked up the luxury shopping bags they had lost in the store.
Italians generally don't speak English well. The boss gestured for a long time, and it was very difficult for the three of them to communicate.
Tao Siyun and Bian Chengzi looked at each other and confirmed that this was the person who lost the thing, so they walked over and asked, "Excuse me, did you lose anything?"
Upon hearing her voice, both parties immediately ended their mutually incomprehensible conversation, which was a mixture of English and Italian accents.
The expressions on the two Chinese people's faces could be described as joyful.
"Yes, yes! A Gi shopping bag, the latest Queen Margaret white monogram, with my passport inside."
"May I have your name?"
The girl gave her name, which matched the one on her passport exactly. Tao Siyun finally handed the things to her with confidence.
The chubby Italian boss immediately understood what was happening and gave two thumbs up, saying repeatedly: "brava! brava! brava!"
“…”
"Thank you so much! Fortunately you are willing to wait here, otherwise I would not be able to return home tomorrow."
"It's okay, you're welcome."
“Are you Italian students?”
"No, I'm studying in France and came here to travel with my friends."
"Oh, we're also traveling in Rome. We were in a hurry to buy souvenirs. We've checked in at several attractions today. We were just about to check in at the Mouth of Truth. Have you guys been there?"
"No." Tao Siyun said, "There are a lot of people lining up. We have an appointment to visit another place this afternoon. We can only wait for an opportunity to come back later."
…
It had been so long, and if she hadn't brought it up, Tao Siyun really wouldn't have been able to remember it.
"I just thought you looked so familiar. What a coincidence."
If the scene were changed, Tao Siyun would feel that this was a fate worth cherishing.
But now, she could only smile politely and say nothing.
Once the word "fate" is spoken, the development of the situation will most likely be the opposite of what Tao Qian expected...
However, at this moment, the blind date suddenly asked: "Excuse me, is your brother's sister complex really that serious?"
"Well...right?" Tao Siyun pushed himself and decided to help his brother one last time. "My dad bought me a house in west Shanghai before, and when he found out, he bought the house across the street too, saying it would be closer to me."
"Then how much pressure will your future boyfriend have? Having a brother who's obsessed with his sister is really..." Realizing she was speechless, the girl and her friend looked at each other and laughed dryly, "Well... being his girlfriend must be quite stressful, but luckily I'm not interested in him."
“…”
Seeing Tao Siyun's embarrassed face, the blind date simply told her the truth: "I'm sorry, sister, your aunt asked me if I had a boyfriend before, and I said no. In fact, I have someone I like, but I haven't pursued him yet, so I didn't know what to say when she asked me..."
In such a long conversation, Tao Siyun only remembered the sentence "I am not interested in your brother".
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