Compared to my surprise, Lu Jia seemed to have been prepared. She came to Chen Jin and me, smiled and said to me, "Maybe I'm not suited to come to this place, but I really came with the same purpose as you... I want to see my uncle and aunt. It's been so many years since I've seen them."
I had some thoughts in my mind, but I didn't express them to Lu Jia, so I just nodded and didn't say anything.
Lu Jia stood awkwardly beside me, and her awkwardness was enough to prove that she had mustered the courage to do this, because she couldn't possibly be unaware of what kind of atmosphere would arise when we met in this setting.
...
I glanced at her again, feeling a little dazed: two years ago, in the winter, at the Shanghai train station, we experienced the same scene as now. She was wearing a thick down jacket and snuggled up to me. Those conversations were still vivid in my mind.
I complained to her, "Shanghai is supposed to be in the south, but the winters are so cold... If there were a stove right now, I would definitely stick my hands and feet inside and be happy to turn them into roasted claws!"
"The train is delayed, there's nothing we can do, just bear with it a little longer."
“I’m fine, I was just worried you’d be cold… Why don’t you go back first, I’ll wait here for Lao Mi and my mom.”
Lu Jia took my hand, smiled, and said, "If I can't even face this little difficulty with you, how will I be a good daughter-in-law in front of your parents in the future?"
"The more you say that, the more I feel sorry for you... We've been together for quite a while, and I've never given you anything decent, yet you've suffered so much because of me... Last time I went home with you, your parents scolded you quite a bit, didn't they?"
"You're so outstanding, why would they say anything about you?"
"Come on, I'm a very sensitive person. From the moment I stepped into your house, the way they looked at me was off..."
"You're really sensitive!"
I had a wildly imaginative look on my face, and then I said, "Tell me, if I walked into the house and slammed the keys to my luxury car on the table, and then pulled out a few property deeds from my clothes, wouldn't they look at me differently?"
"Can you stop being so sarcastic?"
"I'm serious, I've been having the same dream for the past few days. I dream that I'm driving a Mercedes-Benz, wearing golden armor, and driving around your neighborhood... I feel so proud and smug in the dream; but when I wake up, I feel so depressed! I ask myself: Where did I squander these precious years of my youth? Look at me now, I'm like a stray dog, I have nothing at all."
"Don't talk about yourself like that. You still have me, don't you?"
I looked at Lu Jia and lowered my voice, saying, "It's because you're here that I'm even more eager to take a step forward, even if it's just a small one... Right now, I really hope we can have our own place in Shanghai, with good soundproofing, so that next time we're having sex, you won't have to hold back anymore. You can moan and scream as much as you want, so the neighbors won't keep knocking on the door. That's the last thing I can stand..."
"Can you please stop being so inappropriate in the middle of your conversation?"
"It's true, love between men and women is a human instinct. If even this can't be enjoyed to the fullest, you can imagine how terrible the living environment must be!"
"I just can't say anything to you!"
I leaned closer to Lu Jia's ear and said with a grin, "After we settle my parents in, let's go to a hotel and get a room with a king-size bed... According to scientific research, if a couple makes love in a comfortable and spacious environment, their child will be particularly intelligent and ambitious; conversely, if they make love in a dark and gloomy rented room, the child will lack ambition and will at best be a burrowing rat... Because even a sperm can sense its environment; that's the spirituality and selectivity of being born as a human being!"
As I was rambling on, Lu Jia scolded me for being shameless, but her fingers tightened around my hand. I knew that the topic of having children had touched her; she wanted to have a child for me.
That night, we actually had sex. She was fully conscious and put a condom on me... At that moment, I felt truly lost. As a human being, I was being deprived of my most basic right to procreate simply because I didn't own a house.
After releasing my pent-up desire, I collapsed heavily onto Lu Jia's body. In the darkness, my hand accidentally touched her face, and she cried…
It wasn't until that moment that I understood: when two people are most in love, not being able to have a child is not just painful for me... she is even more painful, because my pain is only superficial, while hers is deep in her heart.
...
I seem to have gone a bit off-topic, but this is what I truly experienced when I was with Lu Jia; I also remember that when I was in Shanghai, Lao Mi and my mother visited twice, once in the cold winter and once in the hot summer, and Lu Jia accompanied us both times.
The scene before me gradually overlapped with the past, and I almost thought that time had never passed between Lu Jia and me... and that my year in Dali was all a lie, that she was still by my side, enduring hardship and that we had never broken up.
...
After regaining my senses, I quickly lit a cigarette, but still didn't say anything. Chen Jin probably didn't want the atmosphere to remain awkward, so he took the initiative to ask Lu Jia, "I saw that the car you just drove over had a Dali license plate. Where did you get it?"
“Michael’s friend who runs a guesthouse lent it to me so I could take my parents around.”
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
