Closing Leyao’s marriage certificate, I exhaled deeply, then squinted at the snowy night sky. Leyao held the marriage certificate in one hand and warmed her mouth with the other. The intermittent snowflakes had already left white traces on her gray scarf.
Finally, I turned my head and looked at her, asking, “You’re 26 this year, right?”
“Why are you asking this?”
“Just a bit emotional. At your age, I hadn’t found my life’s direction yet. After today, tomorrow I might not even remember what I did.”
“So you’re envying me for getting married at 26?”
“No, I just feel like 26 for me might have been an unforgettable dizziness… What about you? How do you feel about being 26?”
Leyao thought for a moment and replied, “No matter how much pain and turmoil I’ve experienced this year, I’m still young and beautiful! …Even after getting married, I’m still a beautiful young woman.”
I smiled, “You sure have a positive mindset!”
“Who wants to be as silly as CC… Is it really so easy to leave for distant places? Perhaps you won’t even find someone to talk to!”
“I don’t know. Maybe CC is now sitting in a courtyard of a roadside inn somewhere, lighting a campfire, singing songs to passing travelers with a guitar…”
“She might also be drinking heartily and eating meat, then complaining about the innkeeper beside her who always nitpicks, asking him to bring more good wine.”
I imagined CC as Leyao described, and smiled to myself… The image she was “experiencing” was indeed interesting. So in that sense, leaving might not really be a sin, but rather a liberation.
We remained silent… Finally, Leyao stood up and said to me, “I should go home now.”
“I’ll see you off.”
“No need, I’ll take a taxi. It’s not far.”
“I promised Cao Jinfei to make sure you get home safely.”
“You also promised me to become a master of life. Have you achieved that now? …Seeing me off doesn’t necessarily mean safety, and taking a taxi isn’t necessarily unsafe. Everything depends on fate, right?”
“That’s somewhat true.”
“Then I’m off.”
“When you get home, send me a message. Better yet, give me a call, so I won’t worry about your safety.”
“You’re so nagging!”
After scolding me, Leyao left alone, giving me the opportunity to sit alone on the street. I felt a bit cold, so I went across the street to buy a cup of hot milk tea. Instead of returning to the place where she had just sat, I chose another bench to sit on. Suddenly, the scene in front of me completely changed. Everywhere were unfamiliar faces and music I had never heard before. So I briefly emptied my mind, placing myself outside of this world, gradually becoming drowsy, until my phone rang…
It was Leyao telling me she had arrived home. She also sent me a photo of herself trying on a wedding dress. Of course, I thought she looked very beautiful in the wedding dress, gazing at it for a long time. Gradually, I began to imagine what Mi Cai would look like in a wedding dress, with me standing beside her wearing a red flower on my chest. On that day, the weather was pleasant, the whole world was soft, and she was also soft, melting together with the sea into my heart.
It seemed that these beautiful fantasies had always been supporting me while waiting for her to return. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know how to get through and endure the days alone! And I had already started disliking using cigarettes to pass the time. Sitting alone for so long, I crumpled the cigarette pack into a ball without lighting another cigarette.
…
At nine o’clock in the evening, I returned to Zhuomei again to supervise the wedding company’s setup of the venue. However, as the venue gradually took shape, my sense of guilt towards Leyao became increasingly heavy. I felt somewhat sorry for her. It was for the sake of boosting Zhuomei’s sales that I had filled her wedding with commercial elements. I knew this wasn’t the kind of wedding she wanted. Often, she was a quiet woman, so what she truly desired might have been a quiet island in the Maldives or Mauritius, wearing a wedding dress while waiting for the man who would marry her…
Perhaps my absent-mindedness appeared very strange amidst the bustling crowd, so as soon as she arrived, Jian Wei immediately noticed me. She came to my side and joked, “Your detached state doesn’t look like a staff member or a shopper; rather, it seems like you’re a clumsy commercial spy sent by our competitors, pretending to hide your identity with this detachment!”
I glanced at her but didn’t respond to her teasing with much emotion, only asking, “Why are you here too?”
Jian Wei explained, “This time, Zhuomei has extensively used our Simi Advertising’s resources, so of course I need to come and evaluate the effectiveness of the ad placements.”
“Based on the information feedback from various channels this afternoon, the ad placements have been very effective.”
“I need solid data, not judgments based on appearances… So I have to wait until after midnight when the event officially starts to understand the real-time effective customer traffic. Also, I need to conduct a questionnaire survey in the mall to accurately assess the effectiveness of the ad placements as much as possible.”
I gave Jian Wei a thumbs-up and said, “Just two words, professional! No wonder your advertising company has solidly occupied the top seat in Suzhou’s advertising industry.”
“You’re still so fond of exaggerating!”
“It’s you who has become more modest. Actually, I can understand. The higher a person flies, the more they tend to look down, afraid to look up at even higher places!”
Jian Wei seemed quite emotional, remaining silent for a long time before replying, “Yes, always afraid of falling, so one has to humbly lower their head to see where there’s something soft beneath, so when they really fall, they won’t get hurt too badly!”
“You’re thinking too much!”
Jian Wei smiled and didn’t continue this topic meant to fill the silence. She took out a still-steaming roasted sweet potato from her handbag and handed it to me, saying, “You’ll probably have to stay up late with Zhuomei tonight. Eat it while it’s hot; it can warm you up and fill your stomach.”
I took it from her hand, peeled it, took a bite, found it a bit dry, and then said to her, “Go help me buy a cup of hot tea. Eating this alone is too dry.”
Jian Wei obediently nodded, then placed her handbag in my hands and walked towards a beverage shop across the mall with her wallet. I felt a bit dazed… I vaguely recalled the days when she always took care of my meals and clothes in the past, so I once again lost myself, still standing out in the crowd.
…
Before finishing the roasted sweet potato in my hand, I saw two familiar faces again—Chen Jingming and another assistant of Mi Cai’s, besides the one in America. They seemed to be preparing to have a late-night snack, or perhaps inspecting the venue. We soon met up, and I greeted Chen Jingming first: “President Chen, you’ve worked hard today.”
Chen Jingming didn’t show any obvious emotion towards me because of the previous incident. He smiled and replied, “Not at all. I’m just helping out today.”
I nodded, then turned to Mi Cai’s assistant and said, “It’s still early for 12 o’clock. Assistant Chen, can you arrange a temporary place for me to rest?”
“President Zhao, you can rest in Mi Cai’s office. I have her access card here; you can go in with the card.”
I recalled the warmth that had once happened in Mi Cai’s office, instantly feeling this was the best place. Immediately, I took the access card Mi Cai had left from the assistant’s hand, already imagining the comfort of lying on that soft sofa and taking a nap!
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