In confusion, Fangyuan opened the personnel file of Zhuomei Shopping Mall, his gaze fixed on the first page, his expression changing rapidly, no less shocked than I was when I first saw it.
Yanyan, who was beside him, noticed Fangyuan’s unusual behavior, said “What’s wrong?” and looked at the personnel file in his hand. After glancing at it, she was so shocked that she covered her mouth and stared at me with wide eyes. After a while, she exclaimed, “Oh my God, the CEO of Zhuomei Shopping Mall is your girlfriend!! This is too incredible, am I hallucinating?”
Fangyuan put down the file and, with the same expression as Yanyan, looked at me and said, “Zhaoyang, what’s going on? I’ve never heard you mention before that Mi Cai is the CEO of Zhuomei!”
“I just found out this morning when I looked at this personnel file. I felt the same as you two—I thought I was hallucinating too!”
Fangyuan and Yanyan exchanged glances, still shocked, and asked me, “How exactly did you meet her?”
“Do you remember when I told you that the old house I used to live in was bought by a woman driving a luxury car?”
“Yeah, you told me that.”
“It was Mi Cai who bought it, and naturally we got to know each other after that.”
Fangyuan nodded, suddenly seeming to realize the key point, and asked me with a piercing look, “So within less than a month, she became your girlfriend?”
I still tried to hide it: “Well, there’s nothing I can do about it—when fate strikes, you can’t stop it!”
“You actually managed to win over the CEO of Zhuomei in less than a month? Even in novels, the plot doesn’t develop this fast!”
Yanyan chimed in, “At first when you introduced Mi Cai to us, we all thought you two had been dating for a long time, just hiding it from us. But who would’ve thought you two hadn’t even known each other for a month! Zhaoyang, your flirting skills are truly unparalleled!”
“Can you two stop talking to me in such a sarcastic tone?” I glared at the two of them after speaking.
Fangyuan and Yanyan simultaneously questioned me, “Then tell us honestly, what exactly is the relationship between you and Mi Cai?”
Actually, the moment I showed Mi Cai’s file to Fangyuan, I already knew that today the truth couldn’t be hidden anymore. Who would believe that the CEO of a top shopping mall would fall for an unreliable little employee? It’s just that life is too damn crazy—why did Mi Cai have to be the CEO of Zhuomei? Even if she were the daughter of a small-town enterprise owner or had sprung from a rock, I wouldn’t be in this awkward situation of being exposed.
After a while, I impatiently said to Fangyuan and Yanyan, who were staring at me intensely, “Stop looking at me like I’m a criminal. I’ll confess already!”
“Hurry up, or we’ll have to torture you,” Yanyan threatened me with her little fist.
I leaned back in my chair and finally stared at the ceiling, as if resigning myself to the truth and said, “She’s not my girlfriend. That day at your wedding, I was feeling pretty empty inside, so I called Mi Cai and lied, saying I’d treat her to dinner and invited her to your wedding banquet. Then I met Jianwei, and I got excited and told everyone she was my girlfriend. After that, I kept lying to cover up the previous lies until all of you really believed she was my girlfriend…”
“Oh my God! Zhaoyang, does this mean you still haven’t gotten over Jianwei?” Yanyan exclaimed loudly despite the crowded restaurant.
“Fangyuan, give your wife a tranquilizer shot—she’s too noisy!” I said in the calmest tone possible.
Fangyuan gave Yanyan a look to tell her to be quiet. Yanyan finally looked at me apologetically and fell silent, leaving the conversation space for me and Fangyuan.
After a moment of silence, Fangyuan said to me, “Zhaoyang, why do you have to use such childish methods to fool yourself?”
I smiled and said, “Childish? I just wanted to feel better, and for Jianwei and Xiangchen, at least everyone wouldn’t seem so bitter and resentful. At least we could still talk like friends.”
Fangyuan sighed and fell silent again. The most helpless thing in this world is love between men and women—it comes and goes as it pleases, and no one can save the past between me and Jianwei. Fangyuan chose to remain silent because he understood this truth.
I also fell silent, in silence there was helplessness, and in helplessness, sadness. But there was no boat in this deep autumn night that could sail through the waves and take me away from this sadness. So I restrained my desires, let my soul sway, and looked around anxiously…
After dinner ended, I walked alone on the street. I wasn’t exactly heartbroken, but I felt like leaving this city. Actually, I had wanted to leave for a long time because this city had let me dream for two years and had also made me tired for two years.
In countless sleepless nights, I imagined that one day Jianwei would return to me, but my dreams kept shattering, and I became increasingly weary. Now I finally didn’t have to dream anymore because Jianwei already had someone else. When Xiangchen put the engagement necklace around her neck, I had already become sober.
How I wished I could leave all my dreams, my disappointments, and my loneliness behind in this city, and leave without looking back, letting the cold autumn wind tear all this damn stuff to pieces, so that it would never concern me again. How great that would be!
I wanted to leave! Leave here and return to the city where I grew up. There, I could have a sweater knitted by my mother when it’s cold, and cool tea brewed by my father when it’s hot…
But I couldn’t leave this city. My soul had already been deeply buried here. Here was a lonely guitar, a city filled with the past, and an old house that comforted me.
Sitting on the bench at the bus stop, I blankly watched bus after bus carrying passengers heading to every corner of the city, but I seemed to have nowhere to go tonight.
The last 32nd bus pulled up at the bus stop, I suddenly woke up, then hurriedly ran on board, dropped in the fare, and finally had an identity called passenger. This night, I would take this 32nd bus, passing through six streets, and return to that old house.
…
Subconsciously, I never wanted to leave this old house, so this morning, I took a risk and went to Mi Cai’s room, found a set of keys to this house, and naively thought that Mi Cai had really left this house to me and would never come back.
I took out the key, opened the door to the house, and was surprised to hear the sound of someone brushing their teeth in the bathroom. I looked at the shoe rack and saw a pair of Chanel crystal-embellished women’s leather shoes—there was no doubt that Mi Cai had returned.
I stood silently at the bathroom door and suddenly said to the person brushing their teeth, “You’re back?”
Mi Cai wasn’t startled, probably having heard the sound of me opening the door earlier, but she didn’t respond, seemingly still angry about my persistent behavior yesterday.
“Did you just rinse your mouth?” I asked Mi Cai again.
Mi Cai instinctively looked at her toothbrush before replying, “Why are you asking that?”
“I got up late this morning and didn’t have time to buy toiletries, so I used yours,” I replied.
Mi Cai’s expression immediately turned stormy, and her breathing became heavier: “You…”
“You left so decisively yesterday. I thought you wouldn’t come back, otherwise I would definitely have told you in advance, or bought you a new set,” I explained.
Mi Cai gave me the same look as if she had seen a cockroach and angrily said, “Don’t you find that disgusting?”
“I definitely don’t think it’s disgusting that you’re a beautiful girl. What’s the big deal if I used your toothbrush? Actually, to me, this is really a trivial matter. Back in college, a few guys would smoke one cigarette, squeeze the saliva off it with their mouths, and then smoke it. By that standard, why would I mind using a toothbrush used by a beautiful girl? Besides, I really planned to buy you a new set. Who knew you’d come back tonight?”
“I’m saying your behavior is disgusting!”
I said innocently, “I really don’t think it’s disgusting to use your toothbrush. You really don’t need to worry about me.”
Mi Cai looked even angrier. She threw her toothbrush, towel, and even her cosmetics into the trash bin. Then she walked up to me, who was blocking the bathroom doorway, pushed me hard, and for the first time, swore, “Get lost!”
I grabbed Mi Cai and “suddenly understood,” saying, “Oh! So it’s because I used your toothbrush that you think it’s disgusting! You see, your communication skills are really worrying. You couldn’t even make yourself clear!”
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