I stared at my phone screen for a long time before finally dialing Mi Cai’s number. I waited anxiously for her to pick up, but to my surprise, her phone was turned off.
I dialed again pointlessly, only to receive the same message that her phone was off.
Suddenly, I became worried. This worry quickly turned into wild speculation. However, I didn’t know any other way to get in touch with her. I couldn’t possibly go to Suzhou to find out what was going on.
I turned off the lights and lay down on the bed, attempting to shift my focus to my recent work to suppress this unsettling concern. However, one negative assumption after another inevitably took over my entire thinking process.
I grew increasingly restless and finally couldn’t hold back any longer. I took out my phone again, found Fang Yuan’s number, and dialed.
Fang Yuan answered the call quickly, seemingly already resting, and asked with a yawn, “What’s up, calling so late?”
I hesitated for a moment, feeling that bringing up Mi Cai directly might cause misunderstanding. I said first, “I’m getting engaged.”
“What? Say that again.”
“I’m getting engaged.”
Fang Yuan realized what I had said and then, excitedly, said to Yan Yan, “Honey, honey, wake up… Zhao Yang says he’s getting engaged!”
Yan Yan made a “humph” sound, seemingly suddenly waking up, took the phone from Fang Yuan, and asked me excitedly, “Zhaoyang, Fang Yuan says you’re getting engaged? My God…”
I laughed and said, “It’s absolutely true. Don’t get too excited.”
“When? When? Is it with that Li Xiaoyun you were introduced to?”
“I’m getting engaged after the New Year. I’m going to buy the engagement jewelry tomorrow.” I said briefly and concisely.
Yan Yan was silent for a long time, probably waking up fully during the silence, then exclaimed loudly, “Thank God, Zhaoyang, you’ve finally reformed… No, I want to cry!”
“Then go find a place to cry for a while, and give the phone back to Fang Yuan. I have something else to ask him.”
After cursing me with “You’re so annoying,” Yan Yan handed the phone back to Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan chuckled and said to me, “You told us a week before your engagement. My Yan Yan and I need to prepare well.”
“Okay…” I paused, then pretended to suddenly remember something and asked Fang Yuan, “By the way, have you… seen Mi Cai recently?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I just couldn’t get through to her phone, so I was a little concerned. Don’t misunderstand me, okay? I mean, just as a regular friend.” I emphasized the word “regular friend.”
“I didn’t misunderstand you. You don’t need to explain so nervously.”
“Who’s nervous? Just answer me quickly, have you seen her or not?”
“I actually haven’t. She’s a senior executive at Zhuomei, so she’s not someone we can just meet whenever we want. Last time, to tell her about your help, I had to ask several people to arrange a meeting with her!” Fang Yuan sighed.
I wanted to ask Fang Yuan to find someone to get more information, but eventually didn’t speak up. For one thing, maybe Mi Cai’s phone was just out of battery. For another, being too anxious might really make me seem to have ulterior motives.
After a brief silence, I said to Fang Yuan, “Okay then, I mainly wanted to let you know about my engagement. It’s getting late, so I won’t disturb you two anymore.”
Fang Yuan agreed, and after saying goodnight to Yan Yan, I hung up the phone.
After ending the call, I turned off the lights in the room again. The bright moonlight poured in through the drawn curtains outside the window. I lit a cigarette by the moonlight, and was also surprised by why I was so anxious about Mi Cai. Perhaps it was really because of sympathy for her pitiful background. I didn’t want anything unexpected to happen to her, because that would be unfair to her. Since she had already lost her family, heaven should compensate her by giving her a happy life… I also sincerely hoped she could find a man who would love her with his whole heart.
I put out the cigarette butt in the ashtray, constantly telling myself: she’s just out of battery, or doesn’t want to turn on the phone to disturb her rest… Repeatedly self-consoling like this, my mood gradually calmed down, and I fell asleep shortly after.
…
The next morning, I was woken up by my mom. She was holding a bank card and said to me, “Zhaoyang, there’s 30,000 yuan on this card. Take it and use it to buy the engagement jewelry with Xiaoyun this afternoon.”
I felt a bit embarrassed, but I had only been working properly for more than a month and didn’t have much savings. I took the card from my mom and said, “I’ll consider this as a loan from you. I’ll pay you back when I save up enough money.”
My mom gently patted me and said, “You silly child, don’t talk about paying back or not. We can’t take our money with us when we leave. Your best repayment to us is to work hard and treat Xiaoyun well in the future!”
I was deeply moved and nodded heavily. My mom then told me she had already prepared breakfast and left my room. I picked up my clothes from beside the bed and started dressing. Suddenly, I remembered again that I hadn’t been able to contact Mi Cai. Without even finishing putting on my pants, I picked up the phone again and dialed Mi Cai’s number.
The result was still disappointing. The phone was still off, and instantly I felt restless again, just like last night.
During breakfast, I was still somewhat absent-minded. It suddenly occurred to me that today was Saturday, and perhaps Mi Cai hadn’t woken up yet. I didn’t need to be overly worried. Maybe she would answer the phone if I called her around noon.
I comforted myself again and finished my breakfast. After resting for a while, I went out for a run. When I finished running, it was almost 10 a.m. I guessed Mi Cai should have woken up by now, so I dialed her number again, but still couldn’t get through.
After that, I called every half hour, continuing like this until 1 p.m. in the afternoon, but still couldn’t get through. My sense of unease grew stronger and stronger. Finally, I managed to keep my composure and thought of CC again. Mi Cai also liked to eat at the “Empty City” restaurant, maybe she had been there recently.
Without further thought, I immediately dialed CC’s phone number. A moment later, CC answered the call.
This time, I got straight to the point and asked CC, “CC, has Mi Cai come to your restaurant recently?”
“What’s going on?” CC asked in confusion.
“Just tell me first whether she has or not.” My tone became increasingly urgent.
CC thought for a moment before saying, “She came once over half a month ago, but hasn’t come since. What’s wrong with her?”
“I’ve been trying to call her since last night and couldn’t get through. She’s all alone in Suzhou, and I’m really worried something might have happened to her!”
“That can’t be!”
“CC, why don’t you go check where she lives now? It’s Saturday today, and unless she has something special to do, she should be at home. Maybe she just forgot to turn on her phone.”
“Okay, I’ll go right away. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know as soon as I have any news.”
“Okay, be sure to inform me immediately.” I emphasized again.
After CC said “Don’t worry,” he hung up the phone, and I prayed in my heart, hoping that I was just overthinking! But I was even more eager to know the answer CC would give me soon.
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