Chapter 231
The feeling is like watching something you were really looking forward to gradually fall through, and your mood sinks little by little as well.
I am very disappointed and disheartened.
More than ten minutes have passed.
It seemed as if snowflakes were beginning to fall from the night sky.
Ji Wanmei stood in the cold wind amidst swirling snowflakes, stamping her feet incessantly. She tucked her head into a fluffy scarf, rubbing her hands together and breathing on them to warm them up.
The hot breath she exhaled turned into a white mist in a moment.
She finally arrived in East China, away from her father's watchful eye, so she could call him, but he wasn't there.
Sigh, it's so hard for those two to have a relationship.
Ji Wanmei stared silently at the phone booth, thinking that if he still didn't call by 9:30, she should go back.
She was so cold that her hands and feet were frozen.
Under the streetlights, Ji Wanmei's slender figure was stretched out long.
Even though the Lunar New Year is not yet over, there are very few vehicles and pedestrians in Huadong City, as if the whole city has become unusually quiet.
Ji Wanmei looked up at the stars and moon in the night sky.
She remembered that he had once said, "The moon is beautiful tonight. When I see the moon, I will think of you."
Now, when she looks up at the moon, will Lei Tingjun also think of her?
In mid-air, more and more snowflakes were falling, and Ji Wanmei reached out and caught one.
The snowflakes melted quickly in her palm.
Meanwhile, Lei Tingjun, who was far away in Pingdong City, had just gotten out of his pickup truck.
He was wearing the leather jacket Ji Wanmei had bought for him, loose jeans, and big leather boots, looking travel-worn and constantly moving.
Snowflakes drifted down onto his head, melting on his dark, stiff hair, and quickly dampening his hard-featured face.
Back in the dormitories, the workers had placed a charcoal stove inside, which was warmer than outside. They also used a thick cotton quilt as a felt curtain at the door to block the cold wind from outside.
Lei Tingjun lifted the curtain and went in. He glanced at the charcoal stove and frowned, saying, "When you're burning this in the dormitory, you must pay attention to fire safety. You have to take the brazier out before going to bed to prevent it from catching fire while you're asleep."
Everyone said they remembered it.
The coworker who received Ji Wanmei's call in the afternoon was also sitting by the stove warming himself. When he saw Lei Tingjun return, he said, "Boss, this afternoon, a young girl with a very nice voice called the workshop looking for you. I told her you weren't there, so she asked me to pass on a message to you to call this number at nine o'clock tonight. She said she would be waiting for you on time."
The workers gathered around the stove started joking, saying, "Brother Lei, is she your girlfriend?"
"It has to be her! Who else could it be but our sister-in-law! No one else would dare to do that!"
"However..." the messenger said, "it's already past nine o'clock, isn't it?"
Someone else said, "It's almost 9:30."
Upon hearing this, Lei Tingjun stepped forward, picked up the slip of paper with the number recorded, suddenly turned around, lifted the felt curtain, and ran outside.
The telephone in the workers' dormitory was located in the construction company's logistics management office; there was no telephone in their dormitory.
However, the dormitory is managed by administrators who are on duty day and night.
Lei Tingjun ran to the logistics office at almost the fastest speed he had ever used in his life.
When the administrator on duty saw Lei Tingjun, he was about to greet him: "Lei Tingjun, you're here so late?"
Lei Tingjun strode inside, shouting, "I'm going to make a phone call!"
He picked up the microphone, quickly pressed the number key, put the receiver to his ear, and nervously waited for the response.
...
Ji Wanmei had been waiting for more than half an hour.
The phone booth hadn't answered, and Ji Wanmei, shivering with cold, turned to leave dejectedly.
Just as she turned around and walked a dozen meters away, the phone finally rang the ringtone she wanted to hear.
Ji Wanmei was overjoyed and quickly turned around and ran back, immediately picking up the phone: "Hello?"
"Meimei." Lei Tingjun breathed a sigh of relief, but then became worried again, his tone tender and concerned. "Are you outside right now? You should have gone back earlier if you hadn't received my call. It's snowing outside, it must be so cold for you to be out like this. What if you catch a cold?"
When Ji Wanmei heard his deep, hoarse voice coming through the receiver, she felt a little wronged for some reason.
She said in a coquettish voice, "I told you to call me at nine o'clock, why did you call so late?"
He had no idea what she was feeling when she was waiting alone in the phone booth.
Lei Tingjun apologized on the other end, "I really didn't know you called me today. I just got back to the construction site and heard from them that you had called me, so I rushed over immediately."
"Weren't you with your father in Pingquan County?" Lei Tingjun was still breathing heavily from running so fast.
Good heavens, Ji Wanmei had no idea how many times Lei Tingjun had wanted to call her during the Spring Festival, or even drive back to Pingquan County to find her regardless of the consequences.
His longing for her tormented him deeply every day.
He could only suppress the urge to see her by keeping himself busy every day, so that he had no free time to think about her.
Especially on Lunar New Year's Eve, when everyone is reunited with their loved ones, Lei Tingjun, at the construction site, had a makeshift New Year's Eve dinner with a dozen or so fellow workers who hadn't gone home for the holiday.
You might not realize it normally, but when it comes to traditional Chinese festivals where families reunite, seeing everyone around you together in joyful celebration, even someone like Lei Tingjun, who has no roots and lives far from home, will wish for a home at that moment.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
