Chapter 16: Unforgettable Tonight
He Xiaolan gnawed on dry bread that had been dead in the refrigerator for who knows how many days, and drank a sip of milk that was three days past its expiration date. It was okay, not bad. The milk helped the bread that was stuck in her throat to go down. Her throat hurt a little from being stretched, but the cold milk flowed down her throat, and she felt completely awake. Next, she simply washed her face, applied some sunscreen, and was about to go out. Just as she changed her shoes, she saw Wang Qingwei enter the house with an expressionless face. He lay down on the sofa without changing his clothes.
"Why aren't you sleeping at the company? Did Tao Lin show mercy and give you guys a day off today?"
"I didn't work overtime. I stayed in the hospital all night yesterday."
He Xiaolan hurried over to check on Wang Qingwei. Her method was simple: she felt his forehead to check for a fever. "I'm fine, no fever. What was wrong with you that brought you to the hospital? Your heart? Did you faint and they called an ambulance? Then why were you told to drive back yourself? Or did you take a taxi?" A string of firecrackers had been set off early in the morning, the crackling sound so intense that Wang Qingwei didn't know which question to answer first.
"I'm fine. Lin Yaping gave birth, and Lao Qian and I stayed in the hospital with her all night."
"Who is Lin Yaping? Why is Qian Helin involved here? Did he cheat on her?"
Wang Qingwei reluctantly grabbed He Xiaolan's hand and shifted his hips to give her a little space, trying to let her catch her breath so he could talk. "This has nothing to do with Old Qian. Don't talk nonsense. Lin Yaping is that so-and-so, Zhang Hang's wife."
It's seven o'clock and I have to go to work. "If you have anything, send me a WeChat message. Have you driven back? I drove directly to the company."
"Can't you take today off? Let's stay home all day. I'm feeling a little down right now."
The meeting notice in the DingTalk group was scheduled last week. It is definitely impossible to cancel it at the last minute. There are also two interviews scheduled. Jasmine from Shanghai has been transferred to Beijing for work, and a small welcome ceremony has to be held for her.
A workday is like your stomach, filled with things that should and shouldn’t be there.
Wang Qingwei was just about to get some sleep when the phone rang. It was his father-in-law, whom he had barely met, calling. He was so startled that the phone waltzed in his hand before answering it. He Guoqiang had come to Beijing with his beloved son, He Tianci. He had already arrived at Beijing South Railway Station when he called Wang Qingwei, asking him to pick him up quickly.
Not daring to delay, he quickly reported to his leader He Xiaolan. The leader's instructions were simple, "Whose father? I don't have a father. Don't bother with him. Let him stay at the South Station." Even after saying that, Wang Qingwei thought about it over and over again and still didn't dare to not go.
Wang Qingwei had long forgotten what his father-in-law looked like, and there were definitely no photos of him at home. Standing on the subway, Wang Qingwei tried hard to recall, and then desperately browsed his circle of friends hoping to find some clues, but found nothing.
The last time Wang Qingwei saw him was seven years ago, when he and He Xiaolan had just gotten engaged and were back home for the Lunar New Year. He Guoqiang claimed to be visiting his son-in-law, but in reality, he was looking to borrow money from He Xiaolan. He was scolded by Zhang Xinrong, and feeling humiliated, he started smashing things. The whole family spent New Year's Eve at the police station undergoing a four-hour lecture. When they returned home, the broken TV and the shattered people were singing "Unforgettable Tonight."
Beijing South Railway Station is always crowded, and every old man of similar age is like his father-in-law. One cannot be like Prince Duan in "East is Red, West is West," searching for an old man for a signal, waiting for him to say the three words "father-in-law." Wang Qingwei searched everywhere, and He Guoqiang was quick to recognize the confused Wang Qingwei from his wedding photo with He Xiaolan.
"Xiao Wang, here, we are here." At this time, the father and son had been sitting on the ground at the exit for an hour.
"Brother-in-law, why did you come so late? I'm dying of thirst. Go buy me a bottle of water. I want some Pocari Sweat." Heaven had issued an imperial decree, and Wang Qingwei obeyed. Standing in front of the vending machine, he felt a little regretful. If he hadn't come, at most his father-in-law would have scolded him, but the old couple had divorced a long time ago, and he wouldn't have heard a few complaints. He had come in the heat of the moment, and not only would he have to serve the old man and the prince, but he would also be scolded when he returned home.
As soon as they sat down at Ziguang Garden, the father and son took a fancy to the other person's water cups. They stuffed two into their bags, saying they were going to use them at the hotel because the hotel's water cups were never clean. Wang Qingwei didn't want to talk anymore, but He Guoqiang wasn't going to let him go. He grilled Wang Qingwei about everything, from where he bought the house and the price per square meter to how much he and He Xiaolan had earned in the past few years and whether they had saved any money for retirement.
Wang Qingwei was cunning and didn't tell the truth. He heard He Guoqiang shaking his head and telling them to go back to their hometown as soon as possible. He knew the driver of the owner of the largest chemical factory in the county and could introduce them to work in the workshop there so that they could earn enough money to eat.
"It's useless for you and He Xiaolan to study so much. After so many years in college, you can't even earn enough money to eat." He Tianci finally looked up from the exciting battlefield. The main reason was that the roast duck had arrived. The delicious sizzling taste hooked him and made him lose interest in fighting.
The main purpose of He Guoqiang's visit this time was to find a job for He Tianci. He knew that He Xiaolan would definitely not answer the phone, and he could still control this good-natured son-in-law with a good temper. At the dinner table, He Guoqiang gave important instructions: the job must be decent, not tiring, not being bullied, and not working overtime. It would be best if the salary was more than 10,000 yuan a month, and the company had to pay five insurances and one fund.
When Wang Qingwei relayed this to He Xiaolan, her sneer nearly froze him. "This old man doesn't even consider what kind of person his son is. A jerk who only got into technical secondary school thanks to sponsorship. He didn't even get 150 points on the high school entrance exam. He could have gotten a higher score even if he'd just thrown his answer sheet on the ground and stepped on it."
He Xiaolan was still happy. Her own father had waited so long for this, only to have a foolish loser. She would have to watch him laugh for the rest of his life. The thought of this made her heart happy. She had to drink a glass of red wine to celebrate. Late at night, and with the alcohol in the air, the couple hadn't been so ambiguous in a long time. After lying in bed playing with their phone for a while, Wang Qingwei's hands started to get naughty. As soon as he leaned over, He Xiaolan knew what he was going to do. They took off their clothes, grabbed condoms, and ten minutes later, they were both washed up and back in bed.
"I heard from Qian Helin that drinking water from the thing in the middle of the walnut shell can enhance male sexual performance. I wonder if I can buy some."
"We don't want a second child, so there's no need to work so hard," I said, intending to comfort him, but it became a false alarm. "That's not what I meant. You're doing fine, really. We can't compare ourselves to some twenty-something guy, right..." The more I said, the worse it got. It was best to just stay on my phone.
Qin Tiantian herself thought the same thing. She rolled around on the hotel bed, unable to fall asleep. She sent messages to He Xiaolan and Hua Hudie, but neither of them replied. It was almost midnight, and it was indeed time for them to go to bed.
She was sent on a business trip to Qingdao these days, and she wanted to take the opportunity of leaving Beijing to think carefully about her relationship with Jerry. She looked through the chat history between the two of them, and the last reply was from the day before yesterday, which was about the puppy on the set that Jerry took a photo of for her.
Suddenly, a message popped up on the conversation interface, "Why are you ignoring me? Where are you now?" "You haven't replied to my message for a long time, I miss you so much." Jerry's messages came one after another, and Qin Tiantian just muted her phone and gave herself another night.
She never imagined that every relationship of hers would have a happy ending. She gave herself some precautions at the beginning so that she would not be sad when it ended. Because when she broke up with her first love, she cried for a whole week and childishly wrote her first love's name all over her diary.
She still had her first love's WeChat account, the one she'd added at a class reunion. When they met again, he was married, and she was single, Dr. Qin. They hadn't spoken since adding each other. Time had changed, and he seemed to have deleted her. Occasionally, she'd open his Moments and watch the background images change from one person playing basketball, to a wedding photo of two people, to a family photo of three. Suddenly, it seemed like his daughter was about to start elementary school.
Who isn't a twisted person? As long as it's a good thing, everyone wants it. Although sex is dirty to her, love is not. When she was fifteen or sixteen, love was pure, and holding hands took a long time to think. She still has some regrets about her first love. When they were in school, they were considered the golden boy and jade girl in the class, with comparable academic performance. Her first love was also well-rounded in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor, with no shortcomings to be found.
But Qin Tiantian's parents told her that falling in love is not a good thing, especially when she's in school. It's premature love and a violation of the law. How could a teenage girl obey? Just like all the traumatic literature about young people, she went on hunger strikes, skipped classes, and eloped.
However, this elopement ended on the train platform. The ending for both of them was that the first love, overwhelmed, transferred to the provincial capital, while Qin Tiantian gritted her teeth and studied hard until she was admitted to university, then to graduate school, and finally to a doctorate. There was no unexpected reunion many years later. The first love got married and had children early, and she was constantly groping, searching for a lifestyle, or a way of loving, that suited her.
Perhaps what we didn't have is always the best. Sometimes I wonder if I hadn't broken up with him, and if we had continued on together, our child would have graduated from elementary school. Looking back on the road we've traveled, it's useless. The Jerry in front of me still bears some resemblance to my first love, and I've finally experienced the joy of substitute literature.
The phone rang. It was Jerry calling. There was a ten-second countdown before I had to decide whether to answer the call or not.
"You finally answered my call, where are you now?"
"I'm on a business trip in Qingdao. What's the matter?"
"Open the door..."
Qin Tiantian guessed that Jerry was outside the door. Although it was a cliché surprise, she would still do it. Love that is made with heart does not need to be questioned.
The taste of the sea in late autumn filled Qin Tiantian's mouth. This time, it seemed that she was really going to surrender to love.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
