I had been sitting at the entrance of the stairwell for almost forty minutes, but Luo Ben still hadn’t finished. The autumn wind made me feel quite cold, and I wanted to go upstairs to urge him.
Just as I stood up, that woman called Lily came down from upstairs, and the air was filled with a strong perfume smell.
“Finished already?” I asked while tucking my clothes.
Lily glanced at me and said discontentedly, “If it weren’t for you, I would have stayed here tonight.”
“Luoben still has several bars to perform at tomorrow; you should stop messing with him.”
“I just don’t get why two men would live together!” Lily said to me with lingering dissatisfaction.
“I’m only temporarily staying here for a while. Once I find a place, I’ll move out,” I explained to Lily somewhat apologetically.
Lily nodded, then said, “I forgot to bring my wallet. Give me 50 yuan for a taxi.”
I was a bit surprised, “Why didn’t you ask Luoben for it earlier?”
“I forgot earlier. I’m too lazy to go back up. Don’t be so slow, just give it to me,” Lily gestured again for the money.
“You’re not a prostitute, right?”
Lily gave me a cold stare and said, “Have you ever seen an openly lesbian prostitute who only charges 50 yuan?”
“That’s true,” I said, taking my wallet out of my pocket. I searched through it but couldn’t find a 50 yuan note. Lily directly pulled out a 100 yuan note and waved it in front of me, as if I had slept with her.
After Lily left, I felt that staying at Luo Ben’s place wasn’t a long-term solution. It was quite inconvenient, and it was also far from the company, so I still needed to continue looking for a new place.
…
Back inside, the air still seemed to carry a lingering scent of debauchery. Instinctively, I glanced at the bed, but the quilt was still neatly folded.
“I didn’t do anything on the bed because I was afraid it would make you uncomfortable,” Luo Ben explained.
“Thanks for the hard work!”
Luo Ben smiled, “Not a problem. Sleeping or standing, it’s all the same.”
I placed the cherries I had brought from Mi Cai on the table and said to Luo Ben, “A friend gave them to me. Try some.”
“Wow, these are imported from Chile. Which friend of yours is so extravagant?” Luo Ben said, picking one up and popping it into his mouth.
I didn’t answer for a while, realizing that calling Mi Cai a friend might be wishful thinking. In reality, we were barely more than strangers, and many times Mi Cai was actually quite annoyed by me.
“Just a friend,” I replied vaguely.
It was an insignificant matter, so Luo Ben didn’t press further. He took out his guitar from its case, plucked the strings, looked deeply immersed, and then asked me, “Didn’t you say you pawned this awesome guitar to pay off debts? How come it’s back in your hands now?”
“She gave it back to me,” I answered truthfully.
“Who is ‘she’?”
“Do I have to write a book to answer you?”
Luo Ben grinned at me knowingly, saying, “Calm down…” He finally stopped asking and strummed the guitar again. A rendition of “Cinderella” floated out from the small ten-square-meter attic, carried by the autumn night wind.
…
The night was as quiet as a stagnant pond. Luo Ben and I were lying on the bed, each holding a cigarette, equally lost and silent.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew hard through the window, quickly dispersing the smoke lingering in the room.
I stubbornly took a deep drag of my cigarette and exhaled heavily, once again filling the room with the smell of tobacco.
I quickly finished my cigarette and stubbed it out in the ashtray before finally asking Luo Ben, “Ben, what are you thinking about?”
“Thinking about a girl,” Luo Ben said, taking a deep drag of his own cigarette.
I teased him, “Didn’t you just sleep with Lily?”
Luo Ben smiled, stubbed out his cigarette, took another one from the pack, lit it, and after a while said, “I wonder how she’s doing now.”
“If you miss her, contact her. Just like checking in as old friends.”
“You haven’t contacted Jian Wei in over two years since your breakup. Why are you bringing her up?” Luo Ben countered.
“Why are you bringing up me and Jian Wei?”
“It’s the same logic. What can contacting her change? Just keep thinking about her like this.”
“I just feel it’s unfair for you. You clearly still love her, and she was forced by her parents to leave, but in the end, you ended up with a reputation for betrayal in her heart.”
“As long as she’s happy, my suffering isn’t a big deal.”
I lit another cigarette, took a few puffs, and fell silent again, no longer urging Luo Ben to contact that girl from Beijing.
“Let’s sleep. It’s almost dawn,” Luo Ben stubbed out his half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray and said to me.
I looked out the window, as if seeing through all the darkness before dawn broke, and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: being alive is truly an unsolvable puzzle, full of right and wrong, truth and falsehood…
The next day, I spent another busy day like this. This kind of busyness was something I hadn’t experienced in the first two years at the company, mainly because Fang Yuan’s work had temporarily fallen onto my shoulders. But this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. If I was fortunate enough to become the leader of the planning and copywriting team, then right now was the perfect time to start adapting in advance.
Besides being busy all day, I had other gains too. Today was finally payday, so as the workday neared its end, I began planning how to spend this month’s salary.
After thinking for a while, I decided that my first expenditure would be to invite Mi Cai to dinner. I clearly remembered how, a few days ago, I had tricked her into attending Fang Yuan’s wedding under the pretense of having a meal, and how angry she had been. Undoubtedly, I had been quite thoughtless in doing that, so tonight I had to sincerely invite her to dinner. One, to apologize, and two, to thank her for cooperating with me in that little play at the bar the other night, which saved me from being completely humiliated in front of Jian Wei.
I found Mi Cai’s phone number and dialed it. She answered after a short while, her tone still calm as ever, saying, “Hello, what’s up?”
“I want to invite you to dinner tonight. Would you do me the honor?” I said very earnestly.
“Is it another friend’s wedding again?”
I felt a bit speechless. She always managed to leave me half-dead with her calmness. After a pause, I finally said, “No, really, it’s not a friend’s wedding this time. I just want to invite you for a meal.”
“Oh, maybe some other time.”
I felt a bit disappointed, but still insisted, “Come on. I just got paid today, and you’re the first person I thought of. Don’t reject me when I’m being so enthusiastic.”
“My car is at the garage for maintenance, and it’s not very convenient to take a taxi here. Maybe next time,” Mi Cai finally gave me an excuse not to come.
“That’s easy to fix. I have a car. I can pick you up. Where are you?”
“You have a car?” Mi Cai asked in surprise.
“Yeah, it’s almost the same as yours. Please just give me the honor. Tonight I’ll take you to a really interesting restaurant. I promise you’ll like it.”
After thinking for a moment, Mi Cai finally replied, “Okay, I’m at Liuan Jingyuan. You can come here.”
“You live at Liuan Jingyuan!” I exclaimed, because it was a very upscale neighborhood in town. I guessed that was why she had gone there yesterday since the bathroom couldn’t be used after I had sprayed insecticide in it.
“Why so many questions?” Mi Cai said before hanging up the phone.
I smiled, not minding Mi Cai’s attitude. I had already expected she had another house in Suzhou.
Putting my phone in my pocket, I said to Zhao Li, who was still busy working next door, “Zhao Li, can I borrow your little Prince Auto tonight?”
Zhao Li looked up cautiously and asked, “What for?”
“I’ll fill it up with gas after I’m done. Hurry up,” I said impatiently.
“You said so. Don’t trick me,” Zhao Li said, handing me the car key from the drawer.
…
As the sky gradually darkened, I drove Zhao Li’s Auto towards the “Liuan Jingyuan” community. This time, I really wasn’t fooling Mi Cai. The car I was driving was indeed almost the same as hers. Hers was an Audi, and mine was an Auto. Both were the same eye-catching purplish-red color.
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