Before Mi Cai came back, at noon, the sunshine was so brilliant. I kept standing in front of the teahouse watching Chen Jingming drive away. My mood was no longer so pure, and returning to Xuzhou to start a new life had become something difficult to judge right or wrong. Right or wrong no longer depended on our feelings and attitudes.
Arriving at the bus station, I bought a one-way ticket to Shanghai. I had promised Mi Cai that I would pick her up at the airport, but I could only do it this way. My car and all my wealth had been completely returned to the company Luku. Compared to my mood, my pocket was even emptier!
After an hour and a half journey, I arrived in Shanghai and took a taxi to the airport. I still had to wait for more than half an hour. This time, neither long nor short, was hard for me to endure. Standing on the street opposite the airport, I smoked several cigarettes. Except for the dissipating smoke, my whole body was motionless, only watching the planes taking off and landing above me, as if I saw those soaring moods and the search after landing… Yes, everyone landing from the sky longs for someone waiting for him or her on the ground. I was waiting, and Mi Cai would find me.
Thinking this way, our relationship was so simple. Why should we care about those worldly troubles and grudges?
Calculating the time, I arrived at the airport exit and finally saw Mi Cai dragging her suitcase. In the sunlight, she wore sunglasses, so I couldn’t see her expression, but I noticed some gazes directed toward her. Her posture and appearance always attracted the attention of strangers.
I walked toward her, instinctively wanting to take her suitcase, but she opened her arms and wanted a hug… Then I remembered that we had been apart for almost two weeks, long enough for us to give each other a warm hug out of missing.
After a brief hesitation, I straightened up and hugged her. Her scent was still so distinct. I indulged in the sweetness of her hair, almost losing my sense of self until she whispered in my ear, “Did you miss me?”
“I missed you, but I think you missed me more!” I said, taking off her sunglasses. I noticed a faint scar just above her nostrils, as if scratched by a branch.
She indeed looked shaken as she told me, “Last week I went to the mountains to take photos. My face was scratched by a dry vine, only one centimeter away from my eyes!”
“See, I’ve always told you that loving photography isn’t something good. Edison got ruined because of it… You’re even worse, nearly losing your beauty. Will you learn a lesson this time?”
“You’re just talking nonsense all day!”
“Well, I’m just a rascal from the streets… Talking nonsense fits my identity, hahaha…”
Mi Cai shook her head with a smile, then handed me her suitcase and said, “Let’s go back. Where is your car parked?”
I looked toward where the taxis were parked and said, “They’re all there, Japanese, American, and German cars. Choose whichever you like.”
“…My eyes are dazzled. Let’s just pick a German car then.” Mi Cai said, walking toward a Passat. She put her sunglasses back on, seemingly unwilling to let others see the small flaw on her face, even though it was just a minor scar that would soon heal!… At least that’s how I thought, because she had never had the habit of wearing sunglasses.
…
On the bus heading to Suzhou, Mi Cai and I sat in the back seats, watching the scenery outside the window together. In the sunlight, the morning dew seemed to have evaporated completely, leaving only the dryness and withering of winter. Perhaps because the scenery along the way was too dull, she soon felt tired and held onto my arm, leaning on my shoulder to fall asleep…
She might not have fallen asleep yet when her rest was disturbed. The person in front suddenly reclined his seat, immediately squeezing Mi Cai’s space and leaving no room for her legs to move. Worse still, the man took off his shoes, placed his feet on the edge of the window, and a foul odor began to spread in the enclosed bus cabin…
Mi Cai obviously hadn’t experienced this before, and she was somewhat taken aback… A surge of anger rose in my heart. I immediately stood up from my seat, hitting the headrest in front repeatedly, and shouted angrily, “Can’t you see there are people sitting behind? Put your seat back and put your smelly feet into your shoes…”
The man with acne turned back, even angrier than me, saying, “Who the hell are you? Can’t you speak nicely?”
My voice turned cold from anger: “I give you one minute to put your seat back and put your smelly feet into your shoes.”
Our argument had already drawn the attention of other passengers on the bus. They also found the odor unbearable and began to blame the man, but he still showed no shame, saying, “I paid for the ticket, this seat is mine, I can do whatever I want with it…”
Mi Cai pulled my clothes, indicating not to argue with him; she could endure… But I couldn’t endure it at all. After leaving my seat, I grabbed the man’s collar, threw him into the aisle, adjusted the seat back to its original position, and said to him, “My hands are on my body; I can hit you however I want… Do you think what I said makes sense? You people are trash, messing up society, and still dare to act so self-righteously! Do you really think society belongs to you alone, and buying a seat makes you so arrogant?”
My threatening posture ready to hit him made the man with acne back down, only daring to mutter softly. Combined with the driver stopping to mediate and the other passengers’ blame, he had no choice but to swallow his anger, sit back in his seat, and even put his shoes back on. However, that nauseating odor still lingered in the air.
I sat back beside Mi Cai, but she had already lost the mood to sleep. She looked somewhat pensive… I pulled out a wet wipe and handed it to her, letting her cover her nose to block the lingering odor.
Although this was just a small incident, my mood had become heavy. Perhaps this was exactly what Chen Jingming had mentioned at noon about ideals and reality. Such things would certainly not appear in my ideal life, but they are everywhere in real life. Could I really keep asking Mi Cai to endure this life that should never have belonged to her?
I could imagine what would await her after returning to Xuzhou: endless buses, petty disputes in the marketplace, and office intrigue… These were all things she would have to endure. How long could she really endure?
This incident served as a warning to me. All along, we had only imagined the simplicity and ease of returning, thinking that being together would allow us to live life like a fairy tale. In reality, life, which is good at creating conflicts, is not as simple as we imagined. Small incidents may seem harmless, but when accumulated, they can produce destructive power… There are already too many examples of this in life!
…
When we returned to Suzhou, it was already dusk. Mi Cai was tidying up the room while I was preparing the last dinner in the kitchen before leaving. Moments later, the door was knocked. I was stir-frying the vegetables on the stove and couldn’t leave, so I asked Mi Cai to open the door for the visitor.
I heard the door being opened and simultaneously heard Mi Lan’s voice. She said to Mi Cai, “Sis, I knew you would come back today, so I came to see you…”
“Come inside and talk.”
I turned off the gas stove without taking off my apron and went to the living room, where Mi Lan was sitting on the sofa. I asked her, “What are you doing here? Don’t you know you’re not welcome here?”
Mi Lan completely ignored my accusation. She took out an invitation from her expensive handbag and handed it to Mi Cai, saying, “Sis, tomorrow is my wedding with Fang Yuan… I know you resent me, and I indeed did something wrong to you. But a wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and in our Mi family, there are only the two of us sisters. I hope you can attend my wedding… We once promised each other that we would definitely attend each other’s weddings… So coming here, besides inviting you to my wedding, I also hope that when you and Zhao Yang get married, you will let me know…”
I couldn’t bear it and said to her, “Mi Lan, you’re a pervert, you know?… You don’t really want your sister to attend your wedding; you just want to show off in front of her. After all, you’ve lived under her spotlight since childhood. Now, you finally got your way by clinging to Fang Yuan, who is no better than a swamp, and you’re so smug about it!”
Mi Lan ignored me again. She handed the invitation to Mi Cai once more, saying, “Sis, giving you this invitation is also my parents’ wish. They hope you can attend my wedding, especially my mother… You can ignore anyone’s face, but my mother is an outsider, and her kindness to you, you won’t forget, right… Auntie (Mi Cai’s mother) went to the United States many years ago. My father and uncle were busy with Zhuo Mei, and it was always her who raised us two sisters. Won’t you fulfill such a small wish of hers?”
Mi Cai’s emotions seemed deeply touched, and she finally accepted the invitation from Mi Lan’s hand, saying, “I will go tomorrow.”
Mi Lan nodded, then took out a bank card from her bag and placed it on the coffee table, saying to Mi Cai, “Sis, there’s 200,000 yuan in this card. My mother asked me to give it to you. She is just a university professor, and this 200,000 yuan is all her personal savings. She said it’s your dowry money… Please accept it together.”
“Mi Lan, I appreciate your mother’s kindness, but please take this money back and give it to her.”
“Sis… Auntie has long stopped caring about you… This 200,000 yuan is dowry money given to you by my mother as a mother. If you don’t accept it, you will truly become a woman without a family to rely on. I’ve already told you, aside from the grudges of Zhuo Mei, we are still a family. You know, my father only wants Zhuo Mei, but he still treats you as his own daughter… We are all Mi’s family!”
Mi Cai’s eyes were moist. Affection had always been what she lacked, so even facing the incomplete affection from the Mi Zhongde family, she was still fragile and reluctant…
Wanting Mi Cai to wake up, I spoke to Mi Lan again, “You wicked woman, stop pretending to be kind here! You just said Mi Zhongde treats Mi Cai as his own daughter, right? Then fine, let him make a will! After he dies, let him leave the shares of Zhuo Mei he controls to you and Mi Cai each half… Can he do that? If he can’t, don’t talk nonsense about treating her as his own daughter!! I feel sick hearing it!!”
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