Chapter Seven Days Later

  "Wow, look at that! So big and so cool!" Hao Ling seemed to have transformed into a different person, staring at the various strange fish, his hands gesturing non-stop. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, as if he had discovered a new continent, pointing behind me on my right side.

  Following her finger direction, I saw a huge sea turtle swimming towards us. It looked so carefree and adorable.

  Such an underwater sightseeing tunnel, every amusement park with the "Underwater World" sign will have one. Hualing and I were at the Ocean World Pavilion in Changfeng Park. This might be a place for couples to date, but yesterday, June 1st, 2007, Friday, after giving Xiaoluqi a bath and being exhausted, I received a text message from Hualing. It was her first time sending me a text message, saying that she wasn't happy on Children's Day, was cheated by someone who didn't give her money, had her phone stolen, and didn't dare to report it to the police, so she could only buy a new phone herself, feeling very depressed. I asked her how she still had my number after losing her phone, and she said she memorized it.

  I have to admit, the moment I received this text message, I felt a little moved. Although she is a street girl, in this bustling metropolis, every night standing in places where the streetlights can't reach, wearing thick and vulgar makeup, using her own reluctant but already accustomed flirtatious words, smiling at every passing man with a welcoming face.

  She had long been tired and numb about sex. No matter how hard those men who wanted to show off their charm or ability tried, she just pretended to be extremely enjoyable, simulating a very charming voice - this was probably what was called "professional attitude". If not, many men would run online to post a comment about how you were "bad in bed" after they finished, and the customer volume would drop sharply.

  Perhaps many people would say that a disguised woman is extremely hypocritical. However, in this society, who isn't living with a hypocritical mask? She wears the most despicable kind, and everyone thinks that as long as they have money, they can make her lie down and obediently spread her legs apart. Who has ever asked if she has even a little bit of need for care?

  Maybe I'm just bored to death, if you must comment like that. But after receiving her text message, I read out the thick sadness and helplessness hidden in her plain words, and immediately replied with a text message, tomorrow I'm off work, if you're free, I'll take you to Changfeng Park for a walk.

  It wasn't until about 20 minutes later that I received a one-word response: "Okay."

  Today, when I saw her at the entrance of Changfeng Park, her eyes were still red. Without makeup, her hair was casually scattered around her pale face, but overall it wasn't bad, and a genuine, pure smile hung on her face. In this sunny afternoon, her smile brought me some relief from my heavy workload and fearful mood.

  Hualing took her mobile phone and snapped photos everywhere, but the light in the underwater corridor was not good, so the photos were very blurry.

  I carried a small backpack and smiled as she hopped around me like a little bird.

  It was already evening when we came out of the underwater world, and we found a place to have dinner on Zaoyang Road outside the east gate of Changfeng Park. This is a gathering place for students from East China Normal University to shop and eat, with many delicious foods available, although the sanitary conditions are worrisome, but the flavors are often quite good at these small roadside shops that don't look very clean. While having dinner, we chatted about her hometown's mountains and rivers, then chatted about my hometown's scenery, and then I asked if she could accompany me to a place.

  Her face turned red all of a sudden, and she nodded quickly.

  I knew she was thinking wrongly, but didn't explain.

  Explanation must be a kind of hurt for her.

  After dinner, I packed two cold dishes and said let's go. She didn't say a word, following me slowly to the Jinsha River Road Station of Line 3 Light Rail. Taking Line 3 Light Rail to Shanghai South Railway Station, then transferring to Line 1, and again from Xinzhuang to take Line 5 to the end. It was already over 10 o'clock in the evening at this time. She thought we had arrived at my home, but I hailed another taxi, telling the driver: "No. 85 Nanle Road, Building A."

  Hualing finally couldn't help but ask: "Your home is so far away?"

  I looked at her and replied: "This isn't going to my home. I want you to help me with something."

  Hualing blinked quickly and asked: "Help? Help with what?"

  I sensed a thread of subconscious fear in her rapid blinking. Blinking is a typical human reaction to something potentially terrifying, a subconscious defense mechanism, a visual cutoff or self-consolation. For a girl like her, with no one to rely on, who could be sold off or used as a commodity at any moment, I hastened to reassure her: "Maybe this errand seems strange to you, but it's definitely not dangerous. I promise."

  "What can I do to help?"

  "It's nothing, just arguing with me."

  "Why argue? Why do we need to argue?"

  "Just pretend to be okay, you've never had a fight with a guy before, have you?"

  "I've met many silly kids like you before, don't you know how to argue?"

  I saw her say this with a proud and arrogant attitude, and I couldn't help but smile. "That's good," I said. "When we arrive at the destination, you can scold me as much as you want and kick me out of the car. Then you can take a taxi back home." As I spoke, I handed her 100 yuan.

  "But I still don't get it, is this going to be a big deal or something?"

  I smiled and said, "Just pretend you're acting, okay?"

  To my surprise, her expression suddenly turned gloomy and she said, "So to say, going to the aquarium today was all just an act?"

  Girls are girls, no matter what they've been through or what they're doing, there's always a place in their hearts that's soft and easily hurt, sentimental. I hurriedly comforted her with kind words, saying that helping out this time was just acting, and that I had also had a great time playing in the afternoon, as I'd been too busy with work to relax like this for a long time. After talking for half a day, the clouds on her face finally cleared up.

  When I arrived at Nanle Road, I asked the driver to pull over and stop outside No. 85 gate. A burst of Sichuan dialect curses came from inside the car: "You damn idiot, do you want to die? You're really annoying! Get out of here!"

  I wasn't going to back down either, so I got out of the car and slammed the door shut while muttering curses. The driver, knowing better than to mess with me, sped off like the wind, disappearing from sight in an instant.

  I slung a small backpack over my shoulder, kicked at the stones on the road, irritably pulled out a pack of cigarettes from my pocket and squatted down by the side of the road to smoke.

  A middle-aged security guard in his fifties poked his head out of the window of the gatehouse and said, "Young man, what's wrong? Had a fight with your wife?"

  I turned around and looked at him, forcing a wry smile: "Don't mention it, not a wife, just a girlfriend. One wrong word and I'd be kicked out of the car."

  "Oh no, this is terrible! What a bad temper!"

  "Yes," I walked over, pulled out a cigarette and handed it to the old man, saying, "Women are like that, once they get angry, they don't care about anything."

  The uncle took over the cigarette, looked at it and said: "Zhonghua ah, this young man is a rich guy."

  "Uncle, don't tease me, I'm going to her house to meet her parents today, that's why I bought this cigarette, otherwise I wouldn't normally spend the money."

  "Listen, kid, don't worry about it. Women are like that, just coax them and they'll be fine. My wife is the same way. Come on in, sit down, we have air conditioning inside."

  I somewhat embarrassedly said: "Then thank you, uncle!" and entered the gatehouse.

  After chatting for a few sentences, I became much more familiar with this uncle. Two men who often suffer from women's temper naturally have a lot of grievances, and they vented their frustrations to each other for a while. The uncle sighed and said that at this time, the road is too remote, and it may take a long time before a taxi passes by. Why don't you go around and find a tricycle to take you to a crowded street where it's easy to hail a cab?

  I pointed to the backpack on the ground and said, "I went to her house for dinner today. Her dad was still very polite. Before leaving, he even asked me to pack some food. Uncle, it's been great chatting with you. Since I don't have work tomorrow, why not take this stuff out and have a little something to eat and drink?"

  Without waiting for his consent, I took out a bottle of Yanghe Blue Classic from my backpack and shook it. There was still about two-thirds of the wine left in the bottle.

  The gatekeeper was about to refuse when he saw that the wine was quite good, and his two eyes narrowed.

  I took out the two cold dishes that I had just packed from the restaurant and said, "This dish is also packed from her house. Take a look, garlic mashed cucumber, fried peanuts, the taste is okay. Come on, let's eat and drink together." As I spoke, I opened the two take-out boxes and placed them on the table, with a faint smile at the corner of my mouth that was hard to detect.