Chapter 82
Mo Daoyan did not ignore her. He made a long-distance call on the day he arrived in Germany. In the past, he would have found such a conversation extremely boring. The topic of their conversation always revolved around the weather in Munich. He was the one who talked most of the time and she responded mechanically. He didn't know when he had acquired the eloquence, and he performed a stand-up comedy by himself, and he never repeated himself for ten minutes.
She hung up the phone first, saying that international long-distance calls were too expensive and that both incoming and outgoing calls were charged, which was not cost-effective.
He said on the other end: "My salary can still cover our phone bills."
She answered logically, "Money should be spent wisely."
As to why phone calls between couples are not considered "knife edges", no specific explanation was given.
The next day, Chinese New Year's Eve, he called again. Spring Festival greetings shouldn't be dismissed as "cutting-edge." This time, they chatted for fifteen minutes, their topics shifting from the weather to local culinary customs, his frequent focus on international politics, and the outbreak of the Gulf War. He mentioned a new colleague, an Iraqi, who had emigrated to Germany, with family still in China. During Operation Desert Storm, the multinational airstrikes against Iraq, his ancestral home was bombed. Of his eleven family members, only his younger sister survived. Despite the danger, he was planning to return to China and try to get his younger sister out. He then recounted the plane crash on the Los Angeles runway a few days prior, explaining in detail the circumstances that led to the runway incursion. Only when he heard the blast of firecrackers from her end did he realize the time wasn't right for such heavy conversation. He then explained that today was also Valentine's Day, and the two festivals wouldn't coincide again until 2020.
Qiao Zhuocheng had come over specially that morning with a bouquet of flowers, saying it was from Mo Daoyan. She'd thought it was just a holiday courtesy, but she hadn't expected it to have such a deeper meaning. The Spring Festival is incredibly meaningful to Chinese people, and it's especially evocative of homesickness for those traveling abroad. She wondered how he felt, thinking about seven years of being alone in a foreign country. She imagined he was lonely, and now, with this phone call, even lonelier. She'd spoken a few more words, mentioning that Chen Ruchao had invited her to his house for New Year's Eve dinner, and that she could bring her brother along, but she'd preferred to spend it alone with him, as that would make Ye Yimo more comfortable. She declined the offer and asked how he was spending the holiday.
Mo Daoyan said that he had dinner with his colleagues, but Germany has a two-day weekend system, and New Year's Eve is a working day, so the dinner was scheduled for the nearby Saturday, which is the second day of the Chinese New Year in China. He will still spend the day today and cook dumplings after get off work. Due to the time difference, he cannot watch the Spring Festival Gala in China at the same time, so he can only watch the recording. It is the indispensable background sound of his hometown, and he has to play it even if he doesn't watch it.
"My brother wants me to set off fireworks." She was about to hang up the phone again, "Happy Chinese New Year!"
"Hey, sister-in-law, why are you lying? Brother Ye is obviously asleep." As soon as she hung up the phone, Mo Daoxing, who was sitting opposite her, said, "My brother is obviously not satisfied with the conversation. It's better for me to sit here. You are embarrassed to say intimate words to him."
Mo Daoxing showed up at the door of their newspaper office early yesterday morning. In fact, he had secretly returned to China from Bern a week ago and had been staying at a classmate's house. As the Spring Festival was approaching and he had nowhere to go, he had to come to her. He originally just wanted to borrow some money from her to stay in a hotel, but he accidentally learned that his brother had gone abroad, so he dared to follow her home. If his brother knew that he was a "deserter", he would be even more angry than his parents.
Music had once been Mo Daoxing's pride, but now that pride had been crushed by him. He had given up on a world-class symphony orchestra, and his bright future had vanished into thin air... Returning home with such a price on his back, he couldn't face his family without coming up with a plan. He quickly accepted Ye Yimo. His sister-in-law had many relatives from her hometown, and he couldn't recognize them all, so adding a stranger wouldn't be a big deal. Furthermore, Ye Yimo's exquisite carving skills perfectly solved his problem of preparing New Year's gifts for his classmates. He had never lacked pocket money, but now that money was tight, he had to be frugal, calling him "good brother" more often, thinking of it as a credit, and paying it back when he had money.
Tong Yufei interpreted Mo Daoyan's avoidance as homesickness. Among the reasons he gave for returning to China, the most important one was that he couldn't get used to the foreign food. Therefore, she prepared a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner for him: "You can spend the New Year here with peace of mind, and then go back to study."
"The termination agreement has been signed, how can I go back?" Mo Daoxing lowered his head and picked at the braised eggplant, his cheeks as red as the eggplant. "Being selected was a coincidence. I was too naive and took the coincidence as a necessity. Now I understand. I don't want these things. I just want to do what I like in a comfortable environment, perform music with classmates and friends, go home when I want, read the newspaper with grandma, listen to my parents bickering, and eat the food cooked by Aunt Lin and sister-in-law. I can't be a person like my brother. This is how my life is. Sister-in-law, please don't persuade me. I know you reporters are the most reasonable, but sooner or later they will line up to scold me. Can you... stop standing across from me?"
As he said, his parents didn't originally have high expectations for him. It was that fleeting opportunity that led them to misjudge their youngest son's talent. But after blooming, a blooming flower is always a fleeting flower. After blooming, it will always return to ordinary life. Looking at Mo Daoxing who had "abandoned himself", Tong Yufei put aside the prepared sermon: "Ordinary life also needs planning. If you don't go back, then what?"
"I'm going back to school, but I canceled my student status as an early graduate. It's hard to continue with my original class, so I have to repeat the grade and join a new class. After winter vacation, I'll go to the principal. I have to take responsibility for my own mistakes. I can't always rely on them."
If the Mo family's parents knew that their well-behaved little son was secretly planning a life completely different from what they expected, how would they feel? Tong Yufei gave all the cash to Mo Daoxing: "If you need it, come to me again and I'll go to the bank to withdraw it."
"That's enough. Once I re-register as a student, I can live in the dormitory and go home." Mo Daoxing touched his red nose and said, "Sister-in-law, I'll just stay here for one night and leave tomorrow morning. If anyone asks, don't say you've seen me or borrowed money from me."
The matter was of grave importance. If she "knew about it but kept it to herself," it might bring trouble upon herself. Mo Daoxing didn't want to drag her into it. After going abroad, he made an international long-distance call home once a month. In order to conceal his secret upon returning home, he called his mother from a supermarket in Bern a few days before leaving Switzerland, lying that his band was on tour and he couldn't visit her as scheduled for the Spring Festival, so he sent his blessings in advance. His university major included "acting," so he acted naturally, and Meng Ruqing didn't suspect anything.
He thought he could hide it from the world, but in less than a month, Mo Daoyan found out. When he made that greeting call, Mo Daoyan was still in China. When he left the country, the two brothers worked in Munich, Germany and Bern, Switzerland, respectively, more than 300 kilometers apart, which could be reached in more than three hours by car. After the Spring Festival, Mo Daoyan was worried that his younger brother might not be able to adapt to leaving home for the first time, so he borrowed an old classmate's car and took time to visit his younger brother who was "still performing hard during the Spring Festival", to make up for the reunion and then give him some living expenses and spiritual comfort.
Mo Daoyan hadn't contacted his brother in advance, wanting to give him a surprise. However, when he arrived at the theater where the orchestra was performing, he discovered that his brother had already slipped away. Mo Daoyan called Tong Yufei, who, knowing he couldn't hide it, confessed everything. Without waiting for Mo Daoyan to question him, she defended him, saying, "He has what he wants. We all have our own paths."
"Only after truly reaching the summit can one be qualified to discuss making choices. Giving up simply because you're 'uncomfortable' is simply a pursuit of comfort, like a child who thinks the journey is too long and picks the nearest watermelon, missing out on the entire melon field's bountiful harvest." Upon learning that Mo Daoxing had chosen to return to school to enroll in his sophomore year, he sighed with regret. "Joining sophomore year and then repeating junior year means wasting two extra years. If I had known this, I could at least help him get back into his original class. A gamble for a moment of anger is simply not worth it." To prevent her from making any further assumptions, he was considerate and said, "This has nothing to do with you. Life is fleeting. He was just too willful."
Tong Yufei disagreed. "Learning isn't about rote repetition. Two more years of study will yield new gains. He's been restless these past few months and needs to calm down. If someone doesn't yearn for the snowy mountains, missing out on the summit view isn't a loss. But you should think about why he'd hide such a big thing from you, even if it meant suffering in vain. Does failing to meet your expectations make him a failure?"
A long silence fell on the other end of the line. She was busy preparing for an interview with Ling Ke and studying for the postgraduate entrance exam. Looking at the phone bill that had reached over 200 yuan in the first month of the year, she suggested, "Let's just write letters from now on. Postage stamps are much cheaper."
He didn't object: "It's okay to call less, but you have to wait until I come back."
Tong Zhaoyang was newly married, and although Mo Daoyan was far away in Germany, he had close ties with domestic companies. It was impossible for him not to know about this news. Tong Yufei sensed the temptation hidden in his words: "What are you thinking about?"
"Do you have something for me to ponder?"
"Forget it."
"Tong Yufei, if someone pursues you, you need to make it clear to them that you already have a boyfriend."
I see.
Cheng Yuan had urged her to consider other suitable matches, but she wasn't interested. Despite the current fervor of modern thought, with many advocating breaking free from the shackles of marriage, pursuing love bravely, and even indulging in pleasure, none of this concerned her. She did receive advances, but upon hearing that her husband was seeking a divorce and leaving for overseas, they assumed she had been abandoned and needed support. These included married men with ulterior motives and single colleagues with genuine affection. The most persistent one pursued Qiao Zhuocheng from the newspaper office to his restaurant, where, upon seeing her working part-time as a waiter and calligraphy seller, he offered himself as a heroine, but she rebuffed all of them. Even without the constraints of marriage, for her at this stage, no other emotion could compare to the ecstasy of her work. Mo Daoyan, despite his complex relationship with her, was a man of integrity.
She disdains to go beyond the line, but she also doesn't want to make meaningless promises and feel guilty for no reason: "I'm not that shameless, believe it or not."
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