A woven bag of beer was finished by Luo Ben and me, and time had moved from dusk to night. The streetlights along the moat had unknowfully turned on, casting parallel shadows on the river surface, just like last time, with tiny sparkling reflections.
I touched my somewhat full stomach and asked Luo Ben, “Shouldn’t we go back now?”
He looked at the night sky and replied, “It’s still early, but we’re out of beer!”
I lay back on the grass, which had already become dewy, feeling as though it had been a long time since I last stayed so long by the moat. Today was an exception, from noon to dusk, and then to night.
I asked Luo Ben, “What are your plans for taking Wei Manwen out of the mountains this time? Won’t she go back?”
“She won’t go back. Perhaps she’ll find a job in Suzhou. That won’t be difficult for her.”
“Can she bear to leave her life in the mountains and those children?”
“She can’t, and she’s also worried that there won’t be good volunteer teachers to educate them in the future.”
“She compromised for you again!”
Luo Ben nodded, then lit a cigarette, taking several long drags before turning to lean on the railing and gazing at the river illuminated by the streetlights.
“What about you? Do you have any plans?… Will you still perform regularly at the bar?”
Luo Ben shook his head, “A provincial satellite TV station has launched an original music talent show, and I’ve received an invitation. I’m going to give it a try. Maybe I’ll get a chance.”
I didn’t respond immediately, but I understood that he had also made a significant compromise for Wei Manwen. In the past, he had always disdained participating in such shows, maintaining his identity as an independent musician in the folk music circle for years, continuously writing one great song after another. I hoped this attempt would bring him success, just like Leyao, not for himself, but to provide Wei Manwen with a comfortable material life.
A car door shut somewhere along the riverside, and instinctively I turned to look up, spotting Jian Wei walking toward the embankment with a stack of documents in her arms. She had become accustomed to appearing here at this time, so she naturally encountered me, who had been lingering around.
Jian Wei arrived at the embankment, clearly surprised to see Luo Ben and me, but she merely casually greeted us and sat down at a moderate distance, beginning to focus on the thick stack of documents she had brought, continuously making notes with her pen.
Not wanting to disturb her while she was working, I signaled to Luo Ben that we should leave, but he was still unwilling to go, sighing, “No wonder you always end up drunk here. I didn’t expect such a good place for drinking in the suburbs of Suzhou.”
Surprisingly, Jian Wei, who had been mostly quiet, looked up and responded to Luo Ben, “This place has existed for a long time, but has Zhaoyang really been drunk here many times?”
Luo Ben glanced at me before answering, “About two or three years ago, CC practically had to take him home every week from here… Zhaoyang, I’m not mistaken about this, right?”
Jian Wei looked at me, waiting for my response, but I avoided her gaze, staring at the river instead and said, “It’s a bit exaggerated to say every week. I only occasionally came here to drink and enjoy the breeze.”
Luo Ben looked at me doubtfully. He didn’t quite understand why I was unwilling for Jian Wei to know about this. Among all these changed sceneries, the person I liked the most was no longer her. In my current world, there was only that woman who appeared later… However, our relationship didn’t seem as perfect as I had hoped. There were too many unresolved troubles waiting for us to face and solve, and I didn’t have enough confidence to cope with this overly exciting life.
Just as I was wondering how to respond to Luo Ben’s doubt, another taxi arrived at the riverside, and we saw Wei Manwen coming to look for Luo Ben.
This was the second time I had seen Wei Manwen since she left that mountain village, but compared to last time, she had undergone a qualitative change. Simply wearing a fashionable outfit and having a beauty treatment completely erased her rural aura. She had never truly belonged there; her roots had always been in this bustling urban life.
Wei Manwen approached Luo Ben, and the two held hands tightly, seemingly never wanting to part again. Although I had never personally experienced the feeling of regaining what was once lost, I could empathize with it in my imagination.
I smiled at Wei Manwen as a greeting, and she gently nodded in response, while Jian Wei looked at her with confusion, as they didn’t know each other.
Luo Ben introduced Wei Manwen to Jian Wei, and Jian Wei smiled, saying to Luo Ben, “If I’m not mistaken, she must be that woman you’ve been longing for day and night?”
Luo Ben nodded.
“Congratulations to you two lovebirds finally being united!”
Wei Manwen politely said “Thank you” to Jian Wei and then waited for Luo Ben to introduce Jian Wei to her; this was also their first meeting.
Luo Ben and Jian Wei weren’t particularly close, so calling them friends was somewhat of a stretch. He looked at me somewhat awkwardly, unsure how to introduce her as my ex-girlfriend.
Finally, I spoke up to solve this dilemma for Luo Ben, telling Wei Manwen, “Her name is Jian Wei. She’s a girl from Shanghai. We’re friends. We just happened to meet here today.”
Jian Wei suddenly stared at me… I had no idea what I had said wrong, so I looked at her innocently.
Jian Wei finally stopped staring, picked up the documents beside her, then said goodbye to Wei Manwen and Luo Ben, and without another word, walked up the embankment, driving away and disappearing from our sight…
I was somewhat stunned, and after a while, I asked Luo Ben, “Did I say something wrong? Why did I make her act so strangely?”
Luo Ben glanced in the direction Jian Wei had left and said to me, “Perhaps she still has feelings for you, but today you treated her like a mere chance encounter…”
Only then did I somewhat blankly follow Luo Ben’s gaze toward the direction Jian Wei had left, but I could no longer see that Cadillac.
Luo Ben patted my shoulder and said, “You’d better figure out the reason she broke up with you back then, or else it will still be a knot that might choke you for the rest of your life, and it’s the same for Jian Wei!”
Caught in one wave after another without time to recover, I felt even more confused. Not only did I have to wait for Mi Cai to decide between me and Zhuo Mei in the future, but I also needed to uncover the truth behind Jian Wei’s breakup with me. This confusion was really too much, so I urgently lit a cigarette, and only after finishing it did I ask Luo Ben, “Is there still a need for that?”
Luo Ben nodded solemnly, saying, “Nothing brings more joy than regaining what was once lost. This is the deepest feeling I’ve experienced recently, and I’m telling you this from my own perspective… Perhaps Mi Cai isn’t the right final destination for you!”
Luo Ben’s words seemed to ignite a flame in my heart. I recalled how I used to embrace and kiss Jian Wei without hesitation, freely talking about life and the future. Thus, I truly experienced in my imagination the joy of regaining what was once lost. The happiness from the past, which had almost been forgotten, suddenly became vivid again, making me unable to resist looking back…
…
The night I returned to my residence was so deep and profound. I sat on the bed, gazing out the window, longing to break through the darkness to make things simpler. But then Mi Cai sent me a WeChat message, telling me: In a week, she would return home, and her trip to America would temporarily come to an end. However, the joy of the upcoming reunion felt so faint, and the night grew even deeper. I deeply understood: After another calm week, my life was about to undergo a dramatic change…
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