Chapter 45 Beijing Welcomes You
The cell phone vibrated over and over again in her hand. Ge Lin sat in the stairwell, watching the screen light up and go out. When her aunt upstairs came downstairs, she was frightened and said, "What are you doing sitting here in the middle of the night, little girl? It's so scary."
Ge Lin quickly stood up and apologized to her neighbor. She seemed to be used to apologizing to everyone. The moment she stood up, her finger accidentally touched the answer button of the phone, "Hello, hello, Ge Lin, it's me. You finally answered my call."
"What do you want to talk to me about?"
Zhang Haiming's voice was obviously drunk, and he kept saying sorry. A sound of wind came from the other side of the microphone, "Where are you? Why didn't you go home?"
"Ge Lin, you are not at home and I can't find my way home."
Five-year-old Ge Lin picked up the fifth kitten home. Her mother looked worriedly at the hungry mouths in the box, then looked at little Ge Lin standing aside with eyes full of pity, "This child is so soft-hearted. What will happen when she grows up?"
Ge Lin walked out of the gate in a hurry. Zhang Haiming said on the phone that he was outside the Songjiazhuang subway station. As soon as he walked out of the subway station, the water that someone had poured on the ground froze into thin ice. Ge Lin didn't pay attention and almost slipped. He barely stood firm by holding on to an electric bike on the side of the road.
I looked around and saw him squatting there, his down jacket stained with dark brown mud, with bits of dry grass hanging from his sleeves and hems. A gust of wind blew his hair into a tangle, covering most of his face. Only when he occasionally raised his hand to rub his face could I catch a glimpse of the tips of his ears, red from the cold.
Ge Lin walked over and was about to speak when Zhang Haiming suddenly raised his head. The wind was too noisy and he was stunned for a moment before he recognized Ge Lin's voice.
Zhang Haiming's knees wobbled as he stood up from squatting for so long. Without waiting for Ge Lin to react, he held her tightly in his arms. The chill from his down jacket mixed with the stench of earth hit him in the face, but he held her tightly, as if afraid she would die if he let go.
"Ge Lin, you're finally back. Do you know how much I missed you?" His voice was wrapped in the wind, trembling, and even his shoulders were shaking slightly. The warmth from his arms came through two layers of down jackets, making Ge Lin feel a little dazed.
The bus announced its stop nearby, its lights flickering across the two figures before quickly driving off. Occasionally, a pedestrian would pass by, a quick glance before quickening their pace, no one paying any attention to the sudden embrace outside the subway station. Only the wind continued to blow, swirling around them before quietly drifting off into the distance.
Ge Lin said nothing, took Zhang Haiming to the roadside, stopped a taxi, and went to the place that was so familiar.
"Hey, how much did this guy drink? Don't vomit in my car."
"Master, don't worry, he won't vomit after drinking. If he does, I'll compensate you." Ge Lin stuffed Zhang Haiming into the taxi and then took off her scarf to cover Zhang Haiming's mouth.
Arriving at the gate of the community, Ge Lin dragged Zhang Haiming home. After not seeing him for a month, he hadn't changed much, and neither had the house. Aside from her things being missing, everything else was the same as it had been a month ago, five years ago, eight years ago.
"Drink some water," he held Zhang Haiming's head and fed him some water. After checking that he did not have any other discomfort, he helped him change his clothes and prepared to leave.
"Can you please not go, Ge Lin, please don't go."
"You've called my name more than a dozen times tonight, Zhang Haiming. We broke up a long time ago. Do you find it interesting now?" Ge Lin shook off Zhang Haiming's hand. Everything about him now made her mind confused. If she continued to stay here, she would definitely fall into the trap he had designed long ago.
"I was wrong, I was wrong from the beginning. I like you, I know I should have told you earlier, can you please stay with me and don't leave."
"You drank too much. You don't remember anything when you woke up in the morning. Stop talking nonsense here."
Men have plenty of ways to make a woman fall for them, and men like Zhang Haiming have even more. He's just feeling unwell, and by pretending to be pitiful, the unfortunate woman will fall into his clutches. When Ge Lin went to the bathroom to get a towel, she saw a woman's bra hanging on the towel rack by the door. It was clearly not her size, nor a brand she could afford.
Zhang Haiming had many excuses to prevaricate, the most common one being that it was props used by the crew for filming. However, there was no need to delve into why the props appeared in his home, because no matter how he asked, the truth would not come out.
Ge Lin lay beside Zhang Haiming, accompanying him, just like she had done countless times before. The smell of alcohol began to fill her ears, and Zhang Haiming held her arms tightly in his arms. Her pulse beat in unison with his. At this moment, they became a couple in sync again.
The lips he had missed so much in the past nights gently fell on his cheek again. His mouth was a little dry, perhaps because the lipstick he bought for him had run out, or perhaps because the alcohol had drained away all his rationality. The kiss, the trembling of the tongue, made him forget all the conflicts that had happened in the past.
"Zhang Haiming, are you really drunk?" Ge Lin gently pushed Zhang Haiming away, but he hugged her tighter. In his arms, there was the familiar scent of perfume, the one she had specially chosen for him, Lelo Yunsa. Zhang Haiming was like a giant lemon soap, slowly melting under his body heat. Ge Lin gradually relaxed and clung to him tightly.
It seemed like someone in the neighborhood was drunk and crying, but they didn't care. Zhang Haiming's hand was attached to Ge Lin's thigh again, and gradually moved around. Ge Lin wanted to refuse at first, but Zhang Haiming's murmured question made her unburdened and let go of her insistence, and she was tightly connected with him.
He Xiaolan and the others' happiness will always come to an end. After walking out of the KTV room filled with dampness and smoke, they have to start fighting for the second half of their lives all over again.
Wang Qingwei came to pick up He Xiaolan after working overtime. The three women were standing crookedly on the side of the road. When they saw Wang Qingwei's car, they were as excited as if they had seen a helicopter. They waved desperately. Before the car could stop, they opened the door and got in. "Frozen to death" kept echoing in the car like a barrage of comments.
"Send them all home"? Wang Qingwei shook He Xiaolan, who was almost asleep in the passenger seat, and pushed her hard several times before waking her up.
The butterfly suddenly crouched down in the middle and waved her hand like a leader, "Everyone, come to my house! My door is always open for you. My door is always open, and I'm waiting for you with open arms..."
As the voices died down, two women began to sing over there, "Beijing welcomes you, and will create a new world for you..."
Wang Qingwei was so annoyed by the noise that he wished he could get out of the car and push it. There were fewer people getting on the Beijing-Tianjin Expressway late at night, and his ears would suffer less if there was no traffic jam.
"Beijing doesn't welcome me at all, but I'm leaving now! I'm leaving! Beijing, I'm never fucking coming back." Qin Tiantian just howled in the car. She felt that howling with the windows closed was not enough, so she opened the windows and continued shouting.
"Teacher Qin, even though you're going abroad soon, we still have to abide by some domestic laws. Close the windows." Wang Qingwei had a headache. He should have slept in the company earlier. Now he felt like he was in a duck's nest, with nothing under his control.
A small, warm yellow light was still on in the entrance of Butterfly's house, and the air was filled with the faint scent of cedarwood, softening the dust from the journey. Finally, the three of them calmed down.
"Smell it, how does this smell? Without that bastard, the air in the house is elegant." Butterfly threw away her shoes and couldn't wait to introduce the changes in the house. "I specially selected this incense. It has different scents for each season. I want to get rid of all the masculine smell."
"Where did you buy it? I want one too. I want to fumigate my house before selling it." Qin Tiantian's hands began to tremble as she picked up the aromatherapy bottle. Wang Qingwei quickly took it to her and placed it neatly.
"You two should go to bed quickly. If you have anything to discuss, we can discuss it tomorrow."
"Hey, man, wuwuwu, my house is dirty again," Hua Hudie pretended to cry as she walked towards the bedroom, still holding Qin Tiantian in her hand, "Stay away from men."
After all, He Xiaolan could drink a lot better, and she was mostly sober when she got home. She took Wang Qingwei's hand and looked up at him with a little gratitude and a bit of threat in her eyes: "You have to be honest and don't cause so many troubles. You are different from Qian Helin. You have a child."
Wang Qingwei scratched the back of his neck, his shadow swaying on the wall, and there was a hint of self-mockery in his tone: "What you said, how can I have the time? Cheating requires money, good looks and free time. Which of these do you think I have?"
"Very good, this state is very good, keep it up." He Xiaolan leaned back, and Wang Qingwei reached out to help her, but she pushed him away: "Don't get too close to me, it's not good to push and tug in someone else's home."
"Are you two in love?" Qin Tiantian's voice suddenly came from the direction of the guest room. She walked out, rubbing her eyes, wrapped in the light pink cotton nightgown given by Hua Hudie. The collar was a little crooked, and a few strands of her hair were messy and sticking up.
Seeing He Xiaolan and Wang Qingwei standing in the corridor, she curled up the corners of her mouth and joked with a smile: "Go to bed quickly. You have been married for many years and you still have so many secrets to talk about."
"There is not a single whisper, it's all education, family education in progress." He Xiaolan said that she was not worried that this marriage was fake, the wall clock in the living room was "tick-tick", the sound was particularly clear in the quiet night, as if knocking on people's hearts. They were piled with too many family responsibilities, mortgage bills, Yueyue's interest class payment notices, and especially the next generation they had to raise together, none of which could tolerate the slightest mistake. Sometimes when Wang Qingwei was asleep, with only a night light on the bedside in the bedroom, she would lean over to look at his face, which was so ordinary that it couldn't be more ordinary, with some fine lines at the corners of his eyes, and the stubble on his chin was not shaved clean, and even his breathing was a little tired, and the panic in her heart would slowly calm down.
After all, there can only be one blind man who falls in love with Wang Qingwei in this world.
During those fifteen years in Beijing, I had only one goal: to survive. But as I lived, I began to harbor higher aspirations. Once I had a glass bowl, I wanted a silver one. Once I had a silver bowl, someone else's gold bowl became my dream. It was like a donkey pulling a millstone, constantly drawn to the carrot.
On the way home from Huadie's house, Wang Qingwei insisted on stopping by the supermarket to buy groceries. It was a rare occasion for the couple to spend some time together at home, so they decided to cook a big meal. Every time they had a big meal, it would be ruined by something messy, but seeing that Wang Qingwei was in high spirits, they agreed to his request.
However, "cooking a big meal" was like a curse lingering in He Xiaolan's home. Before the meal was finished, Wang Qingwei was admitted to the hospital.
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