Chapter Five: The Dust-Settled Years

  In the evening, Gu Xixin walked on the street, having just finished a day's work, and her stomach had already started to sing "Empty City Plan". Gu Xixin thought of finding a place to eat, looking around at both sides of the road, and along the street were characteristic restaurants of ethnic minorities.

  A city is one of the few cities in the north where ethnic minorities gather. In this city with a population of over 30 million, there are four or five ethnic minority groups, and among these ethnic minority groups, Mongolians are the most populous. The county where Gu Zixin was born is an autonomous county of Mongolian nationality.

  Gu Xixin is not a Mongolian, but she has been influenced by the local culture and is very interested in Mongolian culture and history, especially food. She loves to eat hot pot, perhaps it's also because of this.

  But today was busy all day, near dinner time in the evening, suddenly lost appetite, wandered around on this street for over 20 minutes, still couldn't think of what to eat.

  That day, at the entrance of Shengyu, after reacting to what Yin Shu said, Gu Zhi Xin was completely stunned. Yin Shu saw Gu Zhi Xin's unbelievable wide eyes and seemed very satisfied with her reaction, haha laughed a few times before getting into the car and speeding away.

  In the next two or three days, Gu Xixin would occasionally recall the words spoken by Yin Shuo in her mind, as well as his expression at that time which was half joking and half serious.

  Perhaps due to the influence of her profession, Gu Zixin has a very clear plan for her life, from long-term career goals and short-term work plans to what she will eat for lunch on weekends. Everything that can be controlled is arranged in an orderly manner.

  Gu Zhixin likes the feeling of being in control of her own life.

  So once uncertainty or even helplessness appears in life, Gu Zixin will be extremely anxious.

  For the past two or three days, Gu Zhenxin had repeatedly pondered over what Yin Shuo meant by those words and came up with hundreds of reasons, only to dismiss them one by one, leaving herself feeling confused.

  Finally, Gu Zixin concluded that the answer was that it was a prank by General Manager Sheng Yu's occasional whimsy, which seemed to be a joke.

  "I don't want to think about it anymore, anyway we won't have the chance to meet again in the future, let's just treat it as a joke, although I didn't find it funny at all." After thinking this way, Gu Zhi Xin seemed to nod her head in confirmation, but soon realized that she was on a bustling street, and making such a gesture would make people think she was "special".

  Unexpectedly, Gu Zixin immediately threw away the messy thoughts in her mind and after clearing her head, she also suddenly discovered that her stomach was "clear" too. She decided to find a place to solve her hunger first.

  When Zheng Zhuomo was about to enter the store, his phone rang, and it was Xu Rui.

  "Xin, I happen to be near your workplace handling some business, now that it's done, I was thinking of asking you out for a meal."

  "I'm off work now and not in the office, it just so happens I haven't eaten yet either. Why don't you wait for me there and I'll come find you." Gu Zixin thought that eating alone was boring anyway, and chatting with Xu Rui wasn't bad either. Thinking of this, she added another sentence: "This time I'll treat you."

  "It doesn't matter who pays, I'm quite hungry now. Where are you? I'll go find you, it's convenient for me to take a taxi from here."

  After Gu Zixin reported her address on the phone, she hung up.

  In less than twenty minutes, Xu Rui arrived. He said there was a nearby iron pot stew that was particularly delicious, not only affordable but also quite tasty. Gu Xi thought to herself, since she didn't have any other ideas, she might as well listen to him.

  That iron pot stew is not far away, walk forward over an intersection, then turn into a small alley, walked for dozens of steps to see a not-so-large storefront, the front door with wooden fence, the roof is like the past thatched cottage eaves hanging down a section of the house, close look at the original is made of grass curtain covering the tile roof to create a fake image. Under the eaves hung more than a dozen wooden plaques, on which were written in clerical script the restaurant's specialty dishes. Above the front door, two bright lanterns shone out with a hint of red light. Simple decoration, rustic meaning suddenly made Gu Xixin's interest greatly increased.

  Although it was in a very narrow alley, but walking in and taking a look, I found that there were actually many diners. Gu Xixin only found a small table in the corner and walked over to sit down.

  It's called a table, but it looks more like a farmhouse kang, with a brick-built stove and a large iron pot on top. The chairs on either side are designed to resemble the kang. Although the decoration style is old-fashioned, it doesn't make people feel uncomfortable, but rather increases their appetite due to this primitive way of dining.

  Two people ordered a pot of pork ribs chicken mushroom pot and also ordered several portions of vegetables that can be stewed. Finally, they had two bottles of beer.

  After the dishes were served, Gu Xixin poured a glass of beer for each of them. "It's rare to have such good food to go with our drinks today, it's been a long time since I've had a drink."

  "Huh, didn't see you drinking last time we met?"

  "Nonsense, last time we weren't familiar with each other, who drinks wine on the first meeting?" Although it was only their second meeting, both of them had easy-going personalities, so becoming familiar with each other was a natural thing.

  "We're not very familiar with each other now, are we? You're a young lady, aren't you afraid of drinking too much and getting into trouble?"

  "You seem quite confident in your drinking capacity, well then let's see how it goes, you don't look like the kind of person who would do anything bad either."

  Gu Zi Xin took a bite of the pork rib and said, "Not bad, it's really quite delicious. How did you find this place?"

  "I've been here with friends before, it's not bad, right?" Xu Rui said with a smile.

  "By the way, after we met last time, Aunt Wang called me and asked how I felt." Xǔ Ruì suddenly remembered something and said to Gù Zhǐxīn.

  "What did you say?"

  "I said it feels pretty good, a pretty girl. As a result, after I finished saying this, Wang Ayi hung up the phone with a smile, and I guess she must have thought that we had something going on."

  "No wonder." Gu Xixin suddenly remembered her mother's phone call two days ago, and she was surprisingly happy to tell her that if work was too busy, she didn't need to come back. Being busy with work is a serious matter. It turned out that she had probably also heard Wang Ayi's news and thought there was hope, so she encouraged her to make time for a date.

  The two of them chatted while eating, and before they knew it, it was already 7 or 8 o'clock in the evening. Gu Zhi Xin was fine, but Xu Rui's face started to turn red after drinking a few beers.

  "It's really embarrassing, I'm actually being outdone by a girl in drinking." Xu Rui had apparently already started to get into the zone.

  "Who says men must be immune to getting drunk?" Gu Xixin glanced at her watch, "Let's eat our fill and leave, I'm afraid if we keep drinking, I'll have to carry you back."

  In the end, Xu Rui rushed to pay the bill. Gu Xixin looked at him swaying back and forth as he took out his wallet and couldn't help but laugh: "You're all drunk and still fighting for the bill."

  Flagged down a taxi and stuffed Xu Rui inside, Gu Zixin wrapped her windbreaker tightly around her and walked forward.

  On an autumn evening, Gu Xixin walked to a small square near her home. This road was the route she took every day to and from work, rushing past in a hurry, sometimes seeing elderly people exercising in the morning, or children playing here in the evening. Now, there was a fountain spraying water, surrounded by lights and the glow of electronic screens displaying advertisements around the square, making the scenery unusually enchanting. Gu Xixin thought to herself that she had never noticed how beautiful this place was before.

  In the county town where Gu Xixin lived, there was also a small square. She remembered when she was young, her parents were not yet divorced, although their relationship had always been bad and they often quarreled, but because they wanted to live a better life and make her happy, they worked hard and maintained the warmth and coziness of this home. So, Gu Xixin's childhood may not have had many beautiful clothes and toys, but she was very happy.

  At that time, the town often had a film projection team to show movies, setting up a screen in the square, showing some very old films. At that age, Gu Xixin couldn't understand what the movie was about. However, every time there was a movie showing, she would still happily pull her father and mother's hands to the small square. A crowd of people surrounded the screen watching the movie, sometimes Gu Xixin couldn't squeeze in, so she would ride on her father's shoulders to watch. Around the square, there were vendors selling cotton candy, and her father would spend a few cents to buy her one. Usually after the movie finished showing, Gu Xixin still didn't want to go home, so her father would carry her around in circles, and she would laugh loudly on his shoulders, while her mother looked at her gently from the side.

  Later...

  Later, Gu Zixin was admitted to a key high school in the county and then to her dream university. However, her parents' marriage came to an end...

  On that sweltering afternoon, Gu Zixin woke up and walked out of her room to see her parents sitting stiffly on opposite ends of the sofa, with a divorce agreement placed on the coffee table in front of them.

  Her father and mother looked at her shocked face, trying to explain something to her, but she only remembered her heart beating wildly, as if it was going to burst out of her chest. She stared at her parents' opening and closing mouths, but couldn't hear anything. She wanted to make a sound, but it was like someone had grabbed her throat. Her head hurt badly, and her ears were ringing. Finally, she covered her ears and let out a loud scream, then rushed out of the house.

  Her memories of that day ended there, and after waking up later, Gu Zixin found herself lying in the hospital. Her mother told her that she had been in a car accident, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember any details about it.

  During that time, her father and mother showed great guilt over the car accident, even saying in front of her hospital bed that they could continue this marriage for her sake. No matter what they said, Gu Xixin didn't say a word, just gazing at the lush green trees and chirping birds outside the window until she got tired and closed her eyes.

  Because the injury was not serious, Gu Zixin was discharged from the hospital and returned home soon. As her physical pain healed, the psychological trauma seemed to have also recovered. Her parents still took care of her carefully every day, she occasionally chatted with them, occasionally surfed the internet, watched movies, and occasionally went out to play with her classmates, as if nothing had happened.

  Facing her classmates' sympathetic or pitying gazes, or their hesitant expressions, she just smiled lightly.

  Soon, the time for university enrollment arrived. Before leaving, Gu Zhi Xin had a heart-to-heart talk with her parents. She told them that she was already an adult and could accept whatever happened, including their divorce. If separating would make them happier, she had no objections. Finally, under her auspices, her father and mother went through the divorce proceedings. Her father left for a distant land to join his aunt far away.

  Then there was no then anymore.

  Gu Xiangli smoothed out her disheveled hair, gazing at the fountain in front of her that was shining with colorful lights. As night fell, the water jets of the fountain gradually became smaller.

  Gu Xixin thought that maybe it was because she had a bit of wine today, or perhaps the scenery was too suitable for evoking memories. It's been a long time since she last thought about these things.

  She smoothed her hair and went to the roadside, hailing a taxi.

  Digression

  Friends, move your fingers and collect it