Chapter 64: Crazy Dream
Hang Liumei saw that her grandson was indifferent and thought he didn't understand, so she explained to him: "Your mother will celebrate your father's birthday tomorrow night, and your father will propose to your mother tomorrow night. The time and place are the same. These two are really..."
Qi Xiuchun interrupted, "It's true that 'two different people can sleep in the same bed'! Okay, let's just assume good things take time, and let's talk about what to do first."
What to do? I have to let Dad Mai propose to me first.
The next day, from morning to noon, the six people stayed at home and did not go out. Even eating was like a meeting of spies. They were on high alert themselves, but at the same time they wanted to get something out of others, especially Mai's father and Mai Sui.
After dinner, both of them wanted to go out early to make arrangements, but they did not dare to act rashly.
Dad Mai sat on the sofa pretending to watch TV, constantly changing channels with the remote control. Mai Sui took a shower and found that he was still at home. She was a little anxious. She sat next to him and asked while drying her hair, "Mom and the others are resting. Why don't you take a nap at noon?"
"I'm not sleepy, not at all. This TV is good. I'm watching it right now."
“All I see are ads.”
"It's 'Snow Mountain Flying Fox', the old version. TV stations in small places are just good. I love watching it." Dad Mai's cell phone rang just after he finished speaking. He took it aside to answer it. It was the delivery man who arrived at the campsite and asked him how to sign for it.
He pretended that the person opposite him was Zhao Xiaowei: "Hey, Xiaowei——" as he moved into the yard.
When he came back and saw Mai Sui still sitting on the sofa, he pretended to yawn and said, "I'm so sleepy, I'm going to sleep too, you see." After that, he stuffed the remote control to Mai Sui and walked straight into the bedroom. As soon as he closed the door, he sent a message to Xiaomai saying that he was ready to take action.
Mai Sui, clutching a towel in one hand and a remote control in the other, was suddenly left in the living room. She thought there was something wrong with this person, but then she realized that Mai's father was probably still discussing the matter with Zhao Xiaowei about finding Xiao Huzi. She had just received word that the hired help had arrived at the location, and since Mai's father had gone to bed, she went back to the house to dry her hair and put on makeup, waiting for the right time to slip out.
Xiaomai followed the instructions and swaggered out of the front door. His father opened the bedroom door and whispered to his son twice, but he didn't hear anything because he was wearing headphones. Anxiously, he opened the window and waved to his son, "Cover me while I climb out from here. Be careful and push the motorcycle out first so that no one else can see you."
The father and son left without anyone noticing. Hang Liumei, Qi Xiuchun, and Pu Zhihe stopped Mai Sui as she was about to leave, insisting she go with them.
Upon arriving, Mai Sui was about to head to their reserved tent, but Hang Liumei claimed she had a heat stroke and needed to use the air conditioning at the visitor center first, sending her off to get some ice water. When Mai Sui returned, Hang Liumei explained that the staff had just informed them that there was a temporary problem with their tent and they had been replaced. Mai Sui was about to confront someone, but Hang Liumei quickly held her forehead and urged her to find a place to lie down.
Qi Xiuchun and Pu Zhihe, one holding Hang Liumei and the other holding up the wheat ears, lured them to the place where Mai's father wanted to propose like a kidnapping.
Before arriving, they'd worried about what Barbie-pink hearts, sequined streamers, and colorful light-up signs Ma's father might use. He was surprisingly simple. They had no idea where he'd found such realistic ears of wheat and a ton of reeds. There were only a few flowers, but plenty of citrus fruits, orange and yellow. He usually looks rather rough around the edges, but this time he was really particular about color coordination. Ma's father had just finished hanging the last jack-o'-lantern and had retreated into the tent.
Mai Sui turned around in surprise: "Are you kidding me?"
She turned and looked at the three people behind her, all of whom spread their hands and pretended to be stupid.
A distant whirring sound from the dunes caught everyone's attention. It was Dad Mai, speeding towards them from a hundred meters away on a fiery red sand scooter. He wore sunglasses, his denim jacket tied around his waist, and a ribbed hurdle vest revealed his well-trained, muscular arms. Dad Mai imagined himself as a lone wolf in the Gobi Desert. He rode at full speed, sending clouds of sand flying in his wake, drawing applause and cheers from the young people queuing for sandboarding on the higher ground.
It was a cool scene, but the closer they got to the camp, the more the sand became a mess from the passing wheels. The people in the car were tossed from side to side, and one of their sunglasses flew off because he didn't hold it firmly. He didn't care about that. Anyway, his hat and ear clips had been knocked off when he just started, so he just increased the horsepower and rushed over.
According to the original plan, he should have drifted with a few dozen meters left, then quickly got out of the car while Mai Sui covered her face with her hands to shield herself from the wind and sand, walked up to her, and without giving her time to react, took out the ring and gave it to her. However, he had accelerated too much and suddenly went too far, leaving an "S" on the road. He couldn't stop and had to keep driving forward.
Mai Sui had a clue what this guy was planning, but why didn't he stop the car? Instead, he drove towards the door. Everyone was confused and could only follow Mai's father as he circled the camp and then turned back.
Dad Mai's face was covered in sweat from the sun. He had been running around outside these days. He was not fair to begin with, and now he looked even darker like Bao Gong. The accident just now made him even more nervous. When he was nervous, he frowned, which made him look very serious. He walked over so aggressively that people who didn't know him would think he was here to challenge him to a fight. In fact, his legs were weak as soon as he got out of the car.
Wheat Ear stood there with his arms folded, smiling. When he took the heavy step onto the wooden steps, he asked him, "Good riding? Do you want me to give you a hand?"
Dad Mai let out a long breath through his nose, and with a "dong", he knelt down on his knees in front of Mai Sui.
Fortunately, there weren't any tourists around, so only the family witnessed the scene. Pu Zhihe turned away, and Qi Xiuchun, afraid of losing control of her expression, hid behind Hang Liumei, resting her hands on her shoulders, head bowed, laughing so hard her whole body shook. Hang Liumei couldn't control her, because she herself was also feeling very uncomfortable.
"Are you going to wish me a happy new year?" Mai Sui asked him.
Mai Dad knelt on the ground, pursed his lips, and just wanted to punch himself twice - why did he mess up today? He propped up one leg, took a deep breath, adjusted his mentality, and looked up to meet Mai Sui's eyes. Mai Sui stopped laughing with him, and they both knew what he was going to do next.
Dad Mai reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a small, dark green velvet jewelry box, slowly opening it towards the wheat ears. Finally, this moment had arrived. Whether he had just acted cool or embarrassed himself, it didn't matter. He had been waiting for this moment since his last divorce. Dad Mai suddenly became excited, his brows no longer furrowed, but his nose felt sore.
He was about to speak when Mai Sui's expression changed. Such a beautiful ring, why did she react like that? He turned the box around, took one look, and couldn't help but exclaim, "What the hell is this?"
Why is there not his ring in there, but a small hoop earring, and only one at that!
Xiaomai subconsciously reached into his pocket and pulled out an identical box. He opened it and saw his father's precious ring nestled inside. He'd made a mistake in his haste today, giving his father the box he'd intended for Pu Zhihe. Xiaomai walked out of the tent, striding over to his father, took the earrings with one hand, placed the ring box in his hand with the other, and then slipped back into the tent, all in one go.
Still staring at the swaying door curtain, Dad Mai came to his senses, opened the ring box, and examined it. He only said, "You kid!" But now was not the time to scold his son. He turned around and held the ring to Mai Sui. Mai Sui stared at the box without saying anything, and he knew that Mai Sui would like his design.
Xiaomai tiptoed out of the tent and flipped on the decorative light strip, bathing the tent in a shimmering glow. Hang Liumei was also moved by the scene. She looked at her son and daughter-in-law, who were still gazing at each other, and gently tugged at Qi Xiuchun's clothes. "Xiuchun, hurry up and get your things out," she said, extending her hand, palm up, toward her.
Qi Xiuchun put something heavy and cold in her hand. Hang Liumei took it back and looked at it. "Why did you give me half an orange? Where did you get this orange? Why did you eat the decorations tied to it? Oh, I'm talking about the fireworks and candles that Sui Sui asked us to prepare. Look, the atmosphere is already here, let's light them up too."
"Hmmmm!" Qi Xiuchun stuffed the remaining half of the orange into her mouth, opened her bag, and pulled out her two fanciest fireworks, one for her and one for Hang Liumei. They hurriedly lit them and held them in their palms. The two weak streams of fire burned out, but no fireworks burst forth. Just as they were wondering what was going on, the closed lotus-shaped "firework" suddenly blossomed, its outer ring of plastic petals opening in unison. Each petal held a small candle, which spun in their hands as they blared the Happy Birthday song.
"Mai Sui, I—" Dad Mai started, but was interrupted by the incredibly loud electronic music. He and Mai Sui looked toward the source of the sound. Hang Liumei and Qi Xiuchun were holding up their lotus flowers, searching for the button to turn off the music. They could only smile awkwardly. Mai and Pu Zhihe hadn't expected to light the birthday candles by mistake. Pu Zhihe knew the candles would keep playing until they ran out of battery, so she quickly took over the two hot potatoes and ran away to find a place to deal with them.
When their eyes met again, the charming atmosphere was gone. After looking at each other for two seconds, they both smiled at the same time.
"Otherwise, you should get up first." said Mai Sui.
"I'm already numb from kneeling, just let me finish what I want to say." said Dad Mai.
"Then you speak, and I'll listen."
Dad Mai gave a wry smile. No matter how many words he had prepared beforehand, they simply didn't come to mind. Somehow, the words he'd prepared just couldn't come out. His mind was blank, and he blurted out a question: "Mai Sui, would you like to go see the snow with me this winter?"
Every winter they would visit the Qinling Mountains; climbing and seeing the snow was an unwritten ritual. One year, Mai Sui was on a business trip to Northeast China, and her father surprised her with a visit. They went to Changbai Mountain, but the weather was bad and they couldn't see Tianchi Lake. Her father promised they'd have another chance. Even after Xiaomai started high school, they joked about spending the winter in the southern hemisphere as a family during the summer after her college entrance exam. Unexpectedly, they divorced that same year.
Mai Sui saw that his father's eyes were red, and thinking about the promise he made that year, he said, "So do I have to wear the ring myself?"
"If you want to wear it yourself, you can wear it yourself. If you want me to wear it, I will wear it for you. You are free to do whatever you want and go wherever you want, but I will listen to you."
Mai Sui was touched at first, but then he made her laugh: "The reason I asked you this question is just to ask you to put it on me!"
Mai Dad's hands were shaking slightly. Mai Sui thought he was too slow, so he pulled him up from the ground and put the ring on himself. Mai Dad hugged Mai Sui and said, "Actually, I have prepared something else." Then he walked to the other side and pulled open a curtain, which looked like a movie screen.
Wheat Ear asked, "What are you going to put in there for us?"
"You can guess."
"Isn't it the same one we watched when we decided to get married last time?"
"Yes, it's The Grudge. Let's use it as a souvenir!"
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