This afternoon after parting with Mi Cai, I busied myself at the company for half a day. Finally, during this time, I managed to clear up the pile of pending work on my desk. When I left the company, I actually felt an indescribable sense of relief. In fact, I had been under tremendous work pressure recently. I hope this artistic path can become a truly profitable project, rather than merely a tool to satisfy my personal ideals. Moreover, I really need a profitable project to increase my influence within the company.
Stepping out of the office, the sunset in the twilight was beautifully intoxicating. The wind was gently blowing. As I hummed a poem I had turned into a song, I took out my phone, preparing to call Luo Ben and Xia Fan Ye. I wanted to invite these two buddies, who often suffer from loneliness, to have some drinks. After all, this is the only kind of extracurricular activity I really feel like participating in. In this lonely world that makes it hard to breathe, finding two like-minded friends is really not easy!
As I took my phone out of my pocket and just found Luo Ben’s number, Leyao called me. I really suspected she was lurking nearby, because her timing was just too perfect. I answered the call and asked, “What’s up?”
“You really have a bad memory, don’t you? Didn’t we agree that you’d come with me this afternoon to get Jingang back?”
“It’s not that I have a bad memory—it’s that I simply don’t think this is something worth arguing over!”
“Yeah, right, since it’s not your dog, how could you possibly understand the unbearable pain of separation～!”
“Your vocabulary is already limited, so don’t misuse idioms…”
Leyao’s tone turned cold: “Don’t talk nonsense. Just tell me, are you coming or not?”
“…Fine, fine, fine!” I impatiently replied, stubbing out my cigarette.
“Twenty minutes—you better hurry.”
…
After ending the call with Leyao, I dialed Wei Xiao. It was the weekend today, so he was probably playing at the plaza. As expected, when he answered, there was a lot of background noise, and he cheerfully said to me, “Brother Yang, you finally called me! I haven’t seen you in ages.”
My tone was very low as I said, “Little Fatso, you’d better prepare yourself mentally—I have something not so good to tell you.”
Wei Xiao immediately exclaimed, “What’s going on, what’s going on? Is it something with Mi Cai?”
“Speak softer! You’re going to damage my ears… This has nothing to do with your Mi Cai sister.”
Wei Xiao sighed in relief: “Then I’m fine…”
I continued, “What I need to tell you is… the original owner of your teacup dog has returned and wants to take it back… Is this enough to crush you?”
Sure enough, Wei Xiao was devastated. He first fell silent for several seconds, then wailed, “Brother Yang, I’m really crushed! Can’t you stop her from taking Jingang back? I have such deep feelings for Jingang!”
This silly kid must have recently followed the trend and binge-watched a bunch of Taiwanese idol dramas. His affected accent was unbearable, so I quickly cut him off and asked, “Do you want to keep Jingang?”
Wei Xiao eagerly said “Yes” three times, expressing his urgency. I chuckled and said, “Actually, this is quite easy. Right now, go home and grab a bag of dog food, then come back to the plaza and wait for me…”
“But why do I need dog food? I just fed Jingang!”
“This is a secret, so don’t ask. Just go get the dog food immediately—make sure it’s his favorite kind, understand?”
Wei Xiao obediently said “Understood” and hurriedly hung up. I could already picture his back swaying as he ran.
…
A little while later, I arrived at the plaza. Revisiting this place, my mood couldn’t help but become complex. It was right here that I had calmly sung a song, “If You Want Me,” which made our feelings between each other unforgettable and let me experience the ecstatic joy of regaining something lost. I still remembered that rainy night after parting with Mi Cai, when I returned home and kept tossing and turning in bed, thinking about how I wanted to cook for her every day and accompany her shopping—those tiny, trivial things. Perhaps that’s love, and the feeling of anticipating these small things is simply because she was by my side.
If we ever truly got married, on our wedding day, I would definitely bring my guitar back here and sing a song to engrave the mark of our love deeply onto this plaza.
Before long, Wei Xiao arrived, panting as he rode up on a bicycle. He wiped the sweat off his face and said, “Brother Yang, I’ve brought the dog food as you instructed.”
I looked into the front basket. The bag of dog food was even bigger than Jingang himself. I couldn’t help but admire Wei Xiao’s determination—either succeed or perish. My resolve to help him became even stronger. I took the huge bag of dog food out of the basket and said, “Stretch out your hand.”
Wei Xiao looked puzzled but, trusting me, immediately extended his hand. I tore open the bag, poured some dog food into Wei Xiao’s palm, and said, “Now use all your strength to crush it.”
Upon receiving the order, Wei Xiao squatted down in a horse stance, howling as he crushed the dog food into crumbs. His fighting spirit was off the charts, clearly showing his determination to never abandon Jingang. This put pressure on me—if I ultimately failed to help him keep Jingang, the pain would be comparable to losing Mi Cai.
While I was daydreaming, Leyao arrived as promised, still wearing her knitted hat and oversized sunglasses. I quickly threw the bag of dog food into a nearby trash can and winked at Wei Xiao, signaling him to stop crushing when he was nearly done.
Approaching me, Leyao ignored me and turned to Wei Xiao, asking, “Kid, where’s my diamond?”
Reluctantly, Wei Xiao pointed to the front basket of his bicycle. Leyao immediately dropped her handbag, called out Jingang’s name, scooped him out of the basket, and began showering him with uninhibited pets and kisses. Her unrestrained display of affection left Wei Xiao utterly crushed, and he looked at me with a pleading expression.
After giving Wei Xiao a reassuring look, I said to the overjoyed Leyao, “Miss, you’d better put the dog down first. Regarding Jingang’s final ownership, we had an agreement beforehand.”
“What agreement? This is my dog! Look at him—he’s so happy to see me, wagging his tail nonstop!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. With such a short tail, how could he wag it?”
“This is my Jingang, my dog!”
I said sternly, “Cut it out. Is it fun to argue with a child like this?”
Leyao changed her strategy, adopting a gentler tone as she spoke to Wei Xiao, “Kid, first of all, thank you for taking care of Jingang during this time. But now that I’m back, shouldn’t you return him to his rightful owner?”
Wei Xiao was almost in tears!
Leyao continued, “You’re a good boy. A good boy shouldn’t take something that belongs to someone else, right?”
I interrupted, “He’s just a little fatty. Who cares about being a gentleman… Leyao, I’m telling you, be fair. Remember what we agreed on before? We should follow through today.”
Knowing she was in the wrong, Leyao asked somewhat hesitantly, “Then what do you want to do?”
“Let him be a democratic dog—give him the right to choose freely as a citizen of dogkind!”
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