Mi Cai’s originally joyful expression suddenly turned cold. She looked at me, and the atmosphere became increasingly tense in our mutual silence.
Finally, I broke the silence uncomfortably, “Why didn’t you call me when you came back?”
Mi Cai ignored my question and looked at Leyao, asking me, “What’s wrong with her?”
Only then did I remember to take Leyao off my back. I forced a smile and told Mi Cai, “She’s feeling a bit unwell.”
“Oh, then come in.”
As soon as Leyao and I entered the house, Mi Cai grabbed her handbag and left. Her sudden action left me momentarily stunned.
Leyao nudged me and said, “Go chase her quickly, or you won’t catch her once she gets in the car.”
“Oh… oh!”
Regaining my senses, I immediately ran outside.
When I reached downstairs, Mi Cai had just arrived there too, but she already had her car keys in hand.
Fortunately, I remained calm under pressure, instead of dragging her, I swiftly grabbed the car keys from her hand and tightly clenched them, making it impossible for her to leave.
Sure enough, she stopped and looked at me, her expression still eerily calm.
I scratched my nose and forced another smile as I said, “You should have called me when you came back.”
“You don’t even reply to WeChat messages, so why bother calling?”
Only then did I recall Mi Cai’s WeChat message that I had temporarily ignored. Thinking about it now, no wonder she had asked me, “Have you been lonely these days?”
If I had told her I was lonely, she would have surprised me, but this ridiculous version of myself had altered the script.
“Give me back my car keys,” Mi Cai said coldly.
I ignored her and immediately stuffed the car keys into the innermost pocket of my jacket, zipped it up tightly, and concealed them well. She wouldn’t get the keys unless she tore my clothes apart.
At that moment, I secretly wished she would curse me as a “stinky rascal,” but she simply furrowed her brows and walked away toward the neighborhood entrance.
It wasn’t raining heavily at that moment, but enough to soak us. I followed Mi Cai closely, pulling and tugging with her several times, finally dragging her under the eaves of a shop. I placed my hands against the wall, trapping her within my arms.
“Zhaoyang, what exactly do you want?”
“I just don’t want you to leave.”
“Where I go is my own freedom. If you don’t let go now, I will call the police.”
“Is this trivial matter worth calling the police? Even if the officers come, they’ll just treat it as a domestic dispute between a couple…”
Before I could finish, Mi Cai interrupted me, “I don’t want to hear your nonsense…”
I cut her off too, “If you want to call the police so badly, go ahead… I’ll help you call.”
With that, I took my phone from my pocket, dialed 110, and handed it to Mi Cai, saying, “Press it. As soon as you press the call button, the people’s police will come in minutes and deal with me like rotten cabbage!”
Unexpectedly, Mi Cai took the phone from me and pressed the call button…
Before I could react, I grabbed the phone back from Mi Cai, hung up, and angrily said, “What did I do to you that you genuinely want to send me to jail?”
“You dialed the number yourself, and you handed me the phone. Why are you getting angry at me now?”
“That was just pretense you couldn’t see through, right? Or do you really think I’m so lonely that I plan to spend New Year’s Eve with a bunch of police officers?”
“You lonely? You’ve got women around you every minute… and you talk about being lonely enough to sleep under a bridge alone, pretending to be pitiful? Seeking sympathy?… Only an idiot like me would believe your nonsense.”
Her words hurt me inexplicably, and I finally understood that she had returned early from America to rescue my loneliness.
Finally, I softly explained to her, “Please don’t be angry anymore, okay? Leyao just came back tonight, and she started her period and has some cramps, so I brought her back to our place…”
Mi Cai’s expression turned even darker, “Is that so? I remember when I had my period, I asked you to buy a pack of… a pack of… you wouldn’t even go… I realized how ridiculous I was, building everything on my own assumptions!”
Suddenly, my mind went blank, unable to explain further. Mi Cai finally lost her patience, shoved me hard, and ran toward the roadside, hailing a taxi.
Regaining my senses, I ran after her again and once more grabbed her, not wanting her to leave like this.
Seeing our struggle, the taxi driver got out of his car, approached me, and scolded, “Young man, this is a society governed by law. You can’t treat a young lady like this!”
“I warn you not to meddle; can’t you see we’re a couple?” I still held onto Mi Cai while glaring at the driver.
The driver, looking doubtful, turned to Mi Cai for confirmation, asking, “Miss, are you really a couple with this young man?”
I quickly jumped in, “Of course, with our perfect match in talent and appearance, what else could we be if not a couple?”
While struggling, Mi Cai frowned and said, “Driver, don’t listen to his nonsense.”
The driver looked as if he understood and took out his phone, saying, “This is easy to resolve. Let’s call the police…”
I interrupted furiously, “If you dare to call the police, I’ll smash your car!”
“Hey, you little brat, just try it… I’ve got a temper too!”
Immediately, I let go of Mi Cai, grabbed a nearby brick from the roadside, and walked toward his car…
Mi Cai grabbed me, angrily saying, “Zhaoyang, what are you doing?”
However, the driver was unfazed as he said to Mi Cai, “Miss, I’ve been driving a taxi for many years and have seen all kinds of people. Today, I’d like to see just how tough this little brat really is!”
I stopped and said to Mi Cai, “Did you hear that? He called me a little brat. Let go of me, and I’ll smash his junker car!”
But Mi Cai held me tighter, clearly at her wit’s end, “Stop acting crazy, okay?”
Suddenly, I threw away the brick in my hand, then hugged Mi Cai tightly and said to the still-glaring driver, “Brother, first of all, I have to acknowledge your fiery temper. Then, let me talk to you a bit. After all, I’m also a well-educated, decent young man who would never really smash your car… I believe with your IQ over 120, you’ve definitely figured it out by now. If she weren’t my own wife, would she be persuading me like this? So, it’s really just a small family dispute. You know how it is, couples fight and make up quickly. Could you please be kind enough not to get involved?”
The driver looked at me and finally softened his tone slightly, saying, “That sounds better.”
Seizing the opportunity, I pulled out 50 yuan from my wallet and handed it to him, saying, “This is for the inconvenience. Take it and buy yourself a pack of cigarettes!”
The driver didn’t take the money, waving his hand at me, saying, “Forget about the money. As the saying goes, better to destroy ten temples than ruin one marriage. I won’t get involved in this matter anymore.”
“Brother, you taxi drivers are truly the city’s image of Suzhou—enthusiastic, generous, and understanding!” I quickly praised with a thumbs-up.
The driver patted my shoulder, and we exchanged smiles to resolve our conflict. As he was leaving, he said to me again, “Young man, your wife is so charming, it’s normal for her to have a bit of a temper. You should be more considerate and try to comfort her more. It’s obvious she still cares about you!”
I turned to look at Mi Cai and grinned shamelessly, “Of course, she’s my own woman. How could she not care about her man!”
The driver shook his head with a smile, then walked back to his car and drove away, soon disappearing from our sight. Once again, it was just Mi Cai and me left at the scene.
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