Chapter 167: Behave Well

In the night, Jane and I barely communicated anymore until I felt the urge to smoke again, and so I said to her, “Got a light?”

“Don’t smoke anymore.”

I didn’t reply, instead looking up at the sky. Jane, puzzled, followed my gaze. I took the opportunity to grab her lighter, calmly lit my cigarette, and began smoking while exhaling all my chaotic emotions into the smoke.

Jane didn’t argue with me. She hugged her knees and after a while asked, “Zhaoyang, do you remember how we met?”

“I remember…” I said, inhaling deeply again. The scene of our first meeting appeared in my mind, but now it felt like a distant dream.

Jane smiled and said, “It feels like it was yesterday.”

I looked at Jane in surprise. Why do two people who experienced love together have such different perceptions of time? To resolve this confusion, I asked her, “When we were together, what moment impressed you the most?”

“During the campus Top Ten Singers competition, when you played the guitar for me… How about you?”

“Every weekend, when your dad picked you up in his Mercedes-Benz.” My reply came just as quickly. Somehow, from that time on, I had begun to feel uncomfortable, though I never let those negative feelings grow while we were at school. I simply thought being happy together was enough. But now, recalling those days, the differences between Jane and me were precisely what left the deepest impression. Of course, there were also beautiful memories, but for me at this moment, those beautiful moments were nothing more than a distant dream.

Jane fell silent after my response. After a long pause, she said, “It’s late. I should go back now.”

“Yeah, drive slowly on the way.”

“I didn’t drive. My place is very close now.” Saying this, Jane had already begun walking up the riverside steps.

Looking at her back, I felt as if there was something unsaid between us, but I couldn’t figure out what it was, which left me feeling somewhat restless.

Just then, Jane stopped again, turned around, and said, “Zhaoyang, if the bar is really busy on New Year’s Eve, give me a call—I can come help… My number hasn’t changed!”

I just looked at her, my mind drifting back to the scene when we first met and I asked her for her phone number. Even though she said her number hadn’t changed, it was no longer the one I could recite by heart back then.

…

When I got home, I took a shower despite the cold, and then habitually lay in bed smoking, thinking about how to create a warm and emotional marketing campaign for the bar on New Year’s Eve. The more I thought, the more excited I became, and eventually I couldn’t fall asleep until 4 a.m.

Lying in bed, I boredly opened WeChat and started browsing through my old chat history with Mi Cai, as it was a way for me to pass the time.

Suddenly, I noticed Mi Cai had changed her profile picture—it was now the guitar I had given her—and she had also posted a new status update. The update included several photos of the guitar and a short message: “Thank you, I really like it!”

I smiled. It seemed like she really liked it, since this was the only status update she had posted on WeChat.

Looking back through hundreds of pages of our chat history, I realized we had really known each other for a long time, yet the scene of our first meeting still felt like it had happened yesterday.

Gradually, I felt sleepy, and my phone slipped from my hand—but then it vibrated again. In the middle of the night, I received a WeChat message, which instantly woke me up, because it was from Mi Cai.

“Zhaoyang, I’m here!”

“You’re here already!”

Mi Cai replied with a shocked emoji: “It’s almost morning in China. You’re still not asleep?”

“You know it’s morning and you still message me? Deliberately trying to wake me up?”

“Not on purpose! I just landed.”

“So you’re saying you wanted to let me know you arrived safely as soon as possible?”

“Did you miss me?”

“Why would I miss you? After all, airplanes are said to be the safest transportation in the world… Welcome to America!”

Even though I said I wasn’t worried, Mi Cai didn’t seem upset. She sent a smiling emoji: “Get up and drink a glass of milk, then go to sleep quickly.”

My mood changed subtly at that moment. At that point, she was clearly showing me the care of a girlfriend. I couldn’t help but wonder: When she returns from the U.S., would we really start a romantic relationship?

I really got up quickly, warmed some milk, drank it all, and then replied to Mi Cai: “Done!”

“Take a photo and send it to me.”

I didn’t mind at all. I took a picture of the empty cup and sent it to her.

Mi Cai quickly replied with a satisfied emoji: “Good, go to sleep now!”

“You go to sleep too!”

“You go first!”

“I’m not as obedient as you.”

“You’re the most obedient!”

And so, separated by more than ten thousand kilometers, we began this silly conversation…

Wait a minute, is this silly?

Not at all. At least in my heart, I longed for her to be a sweet and obedient girl who wouldn’t make me worry too much. And she, I suppose, probably hoped the same from me.

…

The next day, I woke up at noon. After a quick lunch, I received a text from CC. She told me she was already with Luoben and Leyao. I envied them a little, since they each had someone to accompany them or be accompanied by someone else, while I had to spend this New Year’s Eve alone in Suzhou.

The whole afternoon, I remained at home, working on the event plan for New Year’s Eve, until Jane called.

I answered the call with some surprise: “Hey, what’s up?”

“If you’re free now, can you come with me to buy some office equipment for the company?”

I didn’t respond immediately, sensing something was a bit off.

Jane continued, “You should be free during the day, right? If you help me today, I can help you at the bar tonight. Wouldn’t that be more efficient?”

I thought about it and didn’t refuse Jane. Ever since CC left, the bar had been in urgent need of singers. If Jane was willing, she could perfectly fill CC’s spot. Viewed this way, it really was a mutually beneficial arrangement.

…

Shortly after ending the call, I met Jane at a local plaza, and we divided our tasks. I went to the computer market to purchase some computers, projectors, and similar office equipment, while Jane went to the furniture market to buy desks and chairs.

We met again at dusk. We chose a fast-food restaurant by the roadside for a quick meal, and then I shared with her what I had purchased in the afternoon.

After hearing my report, Jane looked relaxed and said to me, “Zhaoyang, thank you. With your help, everything went much more efficiently. Running around all over Suzhou these days has been really exhausting!”

I smiled and said, “Don’t thank me yet—we had a deal. Tonight you’re going to perform at the bar.”

“That’s easy… Oh, by the way, tonight you have to play the guitar to accompany me!”

Before Jane finished her sentence, I was already stunned. The guitar she had given me had already been exchanged with AJ for another guitar, which I had then given to Mi Cai…