Chapter 76
When Mo Daoyan passed by the reception room, he saw the girl again. She was wearing a mustard yellow coat, a red woolen skirt, a headband of the same color in her hair, and a pair of eye-catching green boots. If this outfit was put among a group of literary young people, they might be praised for their postmodern mix-and-match aesthetics, but if an old lady eating melon seeds at the corner of the alley saw it, she would definitely say it was a colorful golden pheasant. This was not an insult, but a factual description, especially the feathers that looked like those of a male golden pheasant. Relying on her beautiful face and proud figure, she wore these contrasting colors to complement each other, like a beautiful girl walking out of a calendar poster or New Year picture.
The girl's name is Ren Zhanyue. It is her third time to come to the company. Mo Daoyan is busy with the front-end design and has only heard a few gossips from Dading and Lao Lu. They say that Ren Zhanyue is Tong Zhaoyang's junior. When Tong Zhaoyang dropped out of school to study in Hong Kong, she followed him and obtained a master's degree from Lingnan University. After graduation, she became the editor-in-chief of a beauty magazine under a local international journal publishing group. Now Tong Zhaoyang has returned to Xicheng to develop his career, and she quit her job and followed him back. She has been pursuing him for five or six years, but Tong Zhaoyang has repeatedly rejected her and avoids her now.
Although the current situation is not as good as before, there are still many girls who rush to pursue men, but it is still rare to see someone so unreserved.
Da Ding commented sharply: "When a man pursues a woman, there's a mountain between them; when a woman pursues a man, there's a thin veil between them. But Zhaoyang's window is welded with steel plates!"
At this time, Ren Zhanyue was leaning against the door frame, smiling at everyone she met. When she saw Mo Daoyan, the corners of her mouth seemed to be smeared with honey: "Manager Mo, good morning, I've heard a lot about you."
"Ms. Ren doesn't seem to be a guest of the company."
"I'm a family member. Doesn't Miss Tong come here often?"
"She doesn't occupy the reception room."
"Then please inform Tong Zhaoyang and take me to a suitable place. Miss Tong and I are half colleagues."
He had no prejudice against strange women, but he was quite disgusted by her bringing Tong Yufei along. However, before he could respond, Tong Zhaoyang came out of the office and pulled her out of the company. From that day on, he never saw the girl in colorful clothes again. According to the news updated by Da Ding, Tong Zhaoyang once again withstood Ren Zhanyue's relentless pursuit. The saying that a vicious dog is afraid of a rough stick and a good woman is afraid of a clinging man has no effect on Tong Zhaoyang at all.
So two weeks later, when he saw the wedding invitation on the table, he thought that Ji Xilin and Qiao Zhuoyuan had finally set a date. But when he opened it, he saw that the names of the newlyweds were Tong Zhaoyang and Ren Zhanyue. The invitation was a rose-red card with the words "We will hold our wedding ceremony at Tianyue Pavilion Restaurant at noon on the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month. Please come to the ceremony."
The news of their marriage was just like this invitation card that didn't even have a decent decorative pattern, it was so simple that it was almost crude. Tianyue Pavilion was an ordinary hotel that barely made it into the mid-range, and it was not a good choice for a wedding banquet. With Tong Zhaoyang's financial situation, he could have chosen a venue of higher standards. Marriage was not the time to save money. But it was not his turn to comment on these things. The wedding he had given to Tong Yufei was well-organized in every way, except for the most important thing. He was even reluctant to announce the good news to the public.
Tong Zhaoyang is getting married, and Tong Yufei is definitely on the invitation list. Counting the days, I haven't seen her for twelve days.
She had already made it clear that she wouldn't accept anything from him anymore. If he insisted on leaving things at her doorstep, she would donate all the items to the sanitation workers in his name and share the coal briquettes with the neighbors. If she didn't want her to waste coal money, she should stop doing these useless things. Without a reason to come to his house, he thought about dragging her to the street office for mediation. She didn't agree, perhaps because she knew that if he was determined not to leave, the mediation would result in a repeat of the union farce, with much ado about nothing, and she would be the one getting scolded in the end. So she said that if he was determined not to leave, they would not see each other anymore. If they dragged it out for two or three years, maybe they could even get their work unit to allocate an apartment to them, and then she would have to thank him.
The night before, he tossed and turned, unable to sleep, his right eyelid twitching wildly. As an atheist, he didn't actually believe in those things, but this time, he was uneasy, so he drove to the Oil and Cotton Mill dormitory overnight. It was silent and peaceful, not even the cats or dogs could be heard barking. He smoked half a pack of cigarettes and waited at the door for half the night, but he didn't knock. When he came to her in the middle of the night, no matter what he said, it seemed like he was alone and couldn't sleep, so he came to her for "relief", although this was indeed the reason for his insomnia. When the sky was just beginning to turn pale, she took her brother out on her bike. After dropping him off at the Red River Woodcarving Studio, she went to work at the newspaper office, and only then did he turn around and leave.
He heard about her recent situation from Boss Sun.
After their last argument, Boss Sun and he had become more friendly, and he was actually a bit more polite than before. He said there was a new student from the Communication University of China joining the carving class, learning the craft purely for fun, not for a living. When Tong Yufei was picking up Ye Yimo, he struck up a conversation with the student, treated her to a few meals, and inquired about her application for a postgraduate degree in journalism. When it came to journalism, Xi'an University was one of the best in the country, but unfortunately, it didn't accept students from other majors, so he had to consider Communication University of China. However, Communication University of China's journalism program was also very popular, with a huge number of applicants every year, making it difficult to get in.
Tong Yufei had an equivalent degree and was qualified to take the exam, but the difficulty lay in the fact that it was difficult to grasp the key points of study. The student found some textbooks from the school for her to refer to, but since she had to work and take care of her brother, she could only find time to study in her busy schedule, such as on weekends, or when she got off work early. While waiting for Ye Yimo to finish class, she would squat in the corner of the corridor outside the carving classroom to read. To take care of her, Boss Sun added a set of tables and chairs, pulled out the electrical wires, and installed a small 15-watt light bulb.
"Their parents passed away early, and she was swamped with trivial matters, yet she still had such a strong ambition. It's quite rare. I'll help her if I can," Boss Sun said, taking a sip of tea and adding, "The student is a girl, my master's eldest granddaughter. Don't get the wrong idea."
Mo Daoyan thought to himself, so what if he is the eldest grandson? He is not a jealous person who can hold all kinds of vinegar in his body.
The twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month is the last Sunday of the first lunar month. The clouds are as soft as cotton and clustered on the blue sky. Just looking up can make people feel happy.
Mo Daoyan was waiting in front of Room 2 in the Oil and Cotton Factory dormitory before eight o'clock, even more punctual than the groom who came to pick up the bride.
The door was ajar. Tong Yufei was bending over to carry coal briquettes into the room. He walked in and took the coal tongs from her hand. "I'll do the rest. You go and prepare it."
After all, they were still husband and wife. She had always been reluctant to trouble others, and the street staff did not want to bother her, let alone deliberately keep a distance from him on someone else's wedding day, to act out a love-hate relationship. She sent her brother to Aunt Zhang's house in advance to avoid distracting the newlyweds from the limelight.
She returned to her bedroom and put on makeup in front of the mirror. Her eyebrows had not been trimmed for more than two months and were very thick and messy. When she got off work last night, she bought an eyebrow trimmer at the supply and marketing cooperative, trimmed her messy eyebrows into two long willow leaves, and carefully outlined them with an eyebrow pencil. Then she spread vanishing cream evenly on her face to brighten it, applied a layer of violet agarwood powder, and applied eye cream thickly under her eyes, finally covering up the traces of staying up late for days.
After finishing her makeup, she changed out of her sports sweatshirt and put on a light pink tweed coat, a white cotton and linen dress, and a pair of light brown patent leather stilettos. When she finished tidying herself up and came out with her bag, Mo Daoyan had just finished moving the last basket of coal briquettes. Seeing her in bright clothes and her face as tender as the petals when she was just married, so tender that water could be pinched out, he couldn't help but think of the past. He once laughed at her for wearing a watercolor coat and saying that she was "pretending to be a lady" to please her grandmother. At this moment, he realized that although he was full of pearls, he could not hide his arrogance and missed such a touching scene.
"Wait a minute." Seeing her heading for the door, he hurriedly washed the coal dust off his hands and took out a few books from the backpack he had brought. "I asked someone, and these study materials are based on the book list for last year's Communication University of China's postgraduate entrance exam in journalism. If you're going to take the in-service postgraduate entrance exam, there's a fundamental difference between asking someone who has actually taken the exam and asking current students."
He didn't even bother asking his teachers or classmates for help, only asking his colleague Zhang Hui. Given Zhang Hui's fondness for her, she could have asked him personally, but she preferred the easy way out rather than ask Zhang Hui for help, probably worried that someone would use it to make a story about her and damage her reputation. Thinking of this, his heart warmed. Even if she denied it a thousand times, her actions still hinted at her true feelings; she still had him in her heart.
"You'll be taking exams in Ideological and Political Theory and a foreign language, along with two specialized courses: Journalism and Communication History and Theory, and Journalism and Communication Practice. You can choose between English and Russian as your foreign language, and you absolutely must choose English. If you want to improve quickly, I can help you." He handed the book over. "Whether you consider me black or white, books and knowledge are pure and innocent. They won't corrupt you if you're around. If you do well, I'll be proud too. Take it."
"Divorce is simply because we're not compatible, it has nothing to do with right or wrong." When she reached out to take the book, she saw a streak of coal dust under his eye. She pointed to the corner of her eye and said, "Here, it's dirty."
I don't know if her gestures were too vague, or if his understanding was running away from home. He wiped it on his face four or five times but couldn't wipe it clean. Instead, it got bigger and bigger. Finally, he gave up and put his face two or three centimeters in front of her, his breath floating on her lips: "Help me."
"Look in the mirror." She put the book on the desk and asked, "How much did it cost?"
The sound of a towel being wrung out came from the bathroom, and then he walked into her bedroom with a wet towel and wiped the coal dust in front of the mirror: "Forty-six dollars and fifty cents."
She pulled open the bamboo basket under the bedroom cabinet. It was specifically used to store needles, thread, scissors, and scraps of fabric. Inside was a woven bag containing her bonus, part of which she would use for living expenses and part of which she would save. She counted out five Big Unity bills and handed them to him, "I'll pay you back."
Her figure was reflected in the mirror. The originally harsh hair lines had now become soft, and the side bangs that she always pinned up fell down to her ears. Although her words were stiff, her appearance was much gentler and more honest. He reached out his hand, but not to take the money. His warm palm wrapped around her wrist, and with a little force he brought her into his arms.
She frowned and said, "Mo Daoyan..."
He crossed his arms tightly, not letting her move. "The date for going abroad is set. I have to leave before the New Year. These few days are all I can use to bother you." The person in his arms struggled, but he tightened his grip even more. "Just chatting. It's broad daylight. I won't eat you." He rubbed her hair with his chin. "Don't cut it short anymore. This length is just right."
"You have no right to care. Even if I shave my head, you can't care."
"Once you shave your head, you'll be a nun. I think the young master has a unique charm. Do you want to return to secular life? My family has a few acres of good farmland, and I'm strong and healthy. I can let the young master work on me day and night."
"rogue."
Seeing her blush, he decided to quit while he was ahead. "I've replaced my house. The new one is in the Hongqi community behind your newspaper office. It's only a five-minute walk. The commuting time you save compared to your current residence is enough for you to finish a set of mock exams. Even if you don't want to move now, when I go abroad, I'll take Yi Mo to live with me. The house is empty anyway, and you can help take care of it if you live there."
Such a wasteful thing, this lightning-fast sale would have to be discounted by at least 20%, but he didn't even blink. Instead, she was a little anxious: "Who wants to live in your house?"
"It's yours too. You've been married to me for so many years. If I were to kick you out, people would probably call me a relic of the old days who exploited his wife. Give me some face." He pulled out a notarized document with a seal and a brass front door key from his inner pocket and solemnly pressed them into her palm. "If I ever do something stupid again, just throw this in my face. The room number is written on the back." Seeing that she refused to take it, he stuffed the thing into her coat pocket. "Use the rent you save to hire a nanny to pick up Yi Mo and prepare his meals. You can focus on studying for the exam. After you finish your studies, won't it be easier to make money and pay me back?"
His words were full of wit, simply teaching her to change her habit of studying whenever she could to finding a way to accompany Ye Yimo whenever she could. However, her hands could not move, and her mouth remained firm: "I don't want your things, and I don't want you to tell me what to do."
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