After leaving Dawenshan’s wedding dress shop, I didn’t feel like speaking and plunged straight into the crowd, walking aimlessly forward without a destination, while Mi Cai closely followed behind me, fearing that she might lose me in the bustling crowd…
After a while, I finally stopped at a street food alley and sat down on a plastic chair I grabbed from a stall, occupying a small area. Since I wasn’t buying anything, the vendor gave me a disapproving look. Mi Cai, who had stood beside me the entire time, took out 20 yuan from her wallet and handed it to the vendor, saying, “Boss, do you have any vinegar? Get him a bottle!”
Perhaps it was because of Mi Cai’s beauty effect, or maybe the vendor was simply money-driven, but in any case, he became friendlier and smiled, replying, “Mao Ni (a Xuzhou dialect term similar to ‘young lady’), I actually do have vinegar. Are you really going to buy it?”
Mi Cai gave me a sharp glance before responding to the vendor, “Give it to him.”
The vendor smiled and shook his head, saying, “Young couple having a disagreement? You two should move somewhere else. This is the busiest time for business, and you’re costing me money!”
I pulled out 50 yuan from my wallet and tossed it onto the table, saying, “I know it’s tough for working people. Since I’m blocking your business, bring me two bottles of beer and just grill whatever you think.”
After thinking for a moment, I added, “And another bottle of vinegar—I’ll dip my food in it!”
I didn’t look like I was joking, but the vendor only squinted and smiled, picked up the money from the table, wiped his spatula on a towel, and began to get to work. Mi Cai also found a stool and sat down beside me. Thus, two people originally intending to buy wedding dresses now sat in a food alley filled with spicy smells, staring at each other with unclear emotions.
After a while, the vendor placed the grilled skewers and two bottles of beer in front of us, and gave back 12 yuan in change. He actually wasn’t as greedy as I had imagined and seemed quite honest. If I had encountered those petty vendors who always calculate and haggle, I probably wouldn’t have gotten any change from 50 yuan.
I started eating by myself, still upset about the earlier wedding dress incident, and didn’t think I was overreacting. All along, I hadn’t opposed Mi Cai having male friends, but there needed to be boundaries. However, in retrospect, this was just wishful thinking on my part because with a woman like Mi Cai, it’s extremely difficult for men to view her with purely innocent intentions!
At that moment, a sense of latent crisis finally surfaced in my heart. I shifted perspectives and thought about how I had once made Mi Cai feel hurt, yet I always thought she was overreacting and mocked her for being overly jealous. In reality, neither of us was noble in love—we were both too concerned with gains and losses!
In the midst of my inner turmoil, I finished an entire bottle of beer in just two gulps. When I was about to open another bottle, Mi Cai held my hand and shook her head, signaling me not to drink anymore. Then she took my hand and started walking toward the exit of the food alley. I knew she didn’t really like this place full of haggling and street smells, but I was unwilling to leave so easily. I grabbed the skewers that I hadn’t even touched yet and followed her.
…
Mi Cai led me into a newly built residential complex nearby. Since there weren’t many residents yet, the area was very quiet, but the lights were on everywhere, allowing us to clearly see the patterns on the wooden benches along both sides of the road.
We stood under a streetlight, and I handed all the messy skewers in my hands to Mi Cai, freeing my hands. Habitually leaning against the lamppost, I lit a cigarette. Mi Cai looked at me for a long time before softly saying, “Zhaoyang, I’m sorry… I didn’t know he would do that… But I believe he didn’t have any ulterior motives!”
“Is that so? If he really wanted to thank you, wouldn’t it be better to give us a free wedding dress photo session?… Can wedding dresses just be given away freely?” I questioned, yet I felt that such questioning lacked grace and reason since this was an unexpected situation for Mi Cai as well. I looked at her apologetically, but still didn’t know how to resolve the discomfort in my heart.
Mi Cai softly told me, “Zhaoyang, we’re practically at the stage of getting married. You should know me well enough by now. Some things aren’t things I want to happen, and I really believe Dawenshan had no ulterior motives… Because he truly is a careless photographer who sometimes doesn’t pay much attention to details. You should think about it this way—he just happens to own a wedding dress shop, so he wanted to give us a free wedding dress. It’s not like he specifically bought a wedding dress to give to me. There’s a big difference between the two, you know?”
“Do you also think I’m making a big deal out of nothing?”
“A little bit. If we felt it was inappropriate, we could have politely declined. There’s no need to react with such hostility because it might misinterpret someone else’s simple good intentions!”
I flicked the ash from my cigarette and fell silent. I couldn’t tell whether my reaction to this incident was normal or abnormal, but I really cared about Mi Cai. I didn’t want her to have unnecessary interactions with others.
Seeing that I didn’t speak, Mi Cai took out her phone from her handbag, found Dawenshan’s contact number, and without hesitation added him to her contact blacklist. She grabbed my hand and said, “Alright, I know you’re only acting this way because you care about me. In the future, in terms of our relationship, we can adopt the attitude of ‘better to mistakenly eliminate ten thousand than let one slip through,’ and then we won’t have any worries anymore…”
My mood finally became a bit more relaxed, and I smiled but intentionally teased her, “Are there really ten thousand people for you to mistakenly eliminate?… I’m really scared by your unparalleled charm!”
Mi Cai looked at me half-smilingly: “Want to try?”
“You dare!”
“Look at how anxious and hesitant you are!… Do you still want to give me the wedding dress? What about your own suit, do you still want to give that to me?”
Only then did I realize how sensitive I had been, making this night, which should have been deeply meaningful, so dull. I pushed aside those troubling thoughts and said to Mi Cai, “Of course we should still give them. Once we’ve bought your wedding dress and my suit, everything will be ready!”
Mi Cai nodded, and so we walked again on the bustling streets, searching for the second wedding dress shop on this street. I treated the unpleasant incident just now as the last harmless little bump before our marriage, and we should establish a solid trust in the upcoming married life!
Yet, an increasingly real pressure began to weigh on my heart. If I truly wanted to keep Mi Cai firmly by my side, I needed to build enough confidence in myself, and this confidence must come from my soon-to-be-revived career! At this moment, I genuinely felt how insightful my father’s advice had been when I first returned to Xuzhou. I should strive to improve myself for Mi Cai, who came from such a privileged background. Sometimes, symmetry truly is an important way to maintain love!
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