Please Be More Serious Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Chapter 50: Happy New Year   Z   hengqing decided to work over time. Yin Ting didn’t regard him, and what he did, so he was going do what he liked. He knew his ideas were out of pique, but he could not control it. He had been so full of expectations, but a large bucket of cold water was poured on him, he could not have a good mood. When it was closing time, everyone moved quickly and within ten minutes the office was dead. Zhengqing felt lonely sitting in the office, looking out into the twinkling night in the emptiness and quiet. He should have been one of them, happily rus.h.i.+ng into the elevator to leave. But now… Zhengqing leaned back in his chair, he did not feel like looking at the computer, yet did not feel like going home. He sat quietly for a while, and then he decided to concentrate on work. He sorted out a few doc.u.ments, but realised he didn’t want to work anymore, so he shut down and prepared to go home. There was a notification beep from his phone. Yin Ting had sent a message: I’m on the train with my father. Have you eaten? He replied: Not yet. Come on, eat okay: she text back. Zhengqing did not feel like it, so he didn’t reply. He packed his bag and set off home. When he got home, he cooked some instant noodles. The picked up Miao-dada, who wanted to run away. As Zhengqing kept grabbing for Miao, the cat scratched him a little. Zhengqing also patted his paw. Then the cat retaliated. The game of you pat my paw, I pat your paw lasted ten rounds. Zhengqing finally smiled, and Miao gave him a look that said, ‘You must be really bored,’ and returned to ignoring him. After a while, the cat came back and jumped on Zhengqing’s thighs and settled down. ‘Ahem,’ Zhengqing said poking its head, ‘You didn’t want to hug me earlier,’ Miao yawned greatly, and did not mind him. Zhengqing’s mood changed so he decided text Yin Ting to ask if she was able to rest. Going by train could be tiring. After a while, she replied: Have not rested. We got a sleeping berth. Going by train is not tiring, but the rocking is making me dizzy and keeping me from falling asleep. How pitiful, he thought. He called her, ‘I thought not to send you text because you’re dizzy,’ he said She laughed, ‘Close your eyes and sleep, you won’t feel so dizzy, you’ll wake up feeling better.’ He said. ‘Hm,’ she replied then said softly, ‘Let’s have a chat?’ ‘What do you want to talk about?’ his tone softening to match hers. ‘How is Miao-dada? Was he bad or good? Did he do something clever?’ ‘Hmm, while I wasn’t paying attention, he got into the study and tried to scratch the chair. I kicked him out,’ ‘Are his nails long? Need to cut them,’ she said. ‘I’ll wait for you to come back and cut it,’ ‘Alright,’ she replied happily, glad that he wasn’t still annoyed. ‘He scratched me today,’ ‘Why?’ ‘Didn’t want me to cuddle him.’ ‘Why did you want to hold him?’ ‘He is my cat, I want to hug it.’ He replied righteously. Ying Ting blushed on her end; there was something yellow about what he just said. (Zuben: Girl, you better get your min

d right, or get it on quickly), she did not speak so Zhengqing had become sensitive to these things, ‘Are you thinking crooked thoughts?’ ‘How could I,’ ‘You can’t say because your dad is next to you?’ Yin Ting’s blushed deepened, if her was not next to her she would have educated him that exposing a girl’s thought was impolite behaviour. So instead she asked, ‘So the cat scratched you?’ ‘I hit it back,’ What? He hit the cat? ‘Where?’ she asked. ‘Just a pat on his paw,’ Yin Ting imagined him doing that and she laughed, ‘And then?’ ‘He hit me back, then I hit him, and he hit me. On and on,’ Yin Ting laughed, hearing her laugh he also laughed. The mood was nice. He asked her, ‘Want to sleep yet?’ ‘Not yet,’ ‘Will you try to come back quickly?’ ‘Yes,’ she replied without hesitation. So his heart settled. ‘Where is your home town? Do you need to go there by train?’ she asked. He told her where it was, ‘It’s twenty six hours by train, but now you can fly to the city then transfer; only two hours.’ ‘Tell me about it,’ ‘What? Riding the train?’ he asked laughing in spite of himself, ‘When I was in university I did not have any money to go back home. I could not go back for the four years of study; I worked on my vacations so I could make money for my living expenses. So the first time I took the train, I was very excited, and very anxious. I did not know what uni life would bring me. To save money I bought a standing ticket.’ ‘You stood for more than 20hrs?’ she asked incredulous, (Zuben: You stood for more than two hours?! h.e.l.l I wouldn’t even bother if the bus is standing room only. I’ll just wait for the next one) ‘Yes,’ he replied as he recalled his past, ‘I was young, and there were many others that had the standing tickets so it was very crowded. I could not sleep,’ Standing only ticket - chinasmack.com ‘There is no way to rest when you’re standing,’ (Zuben: That idea is for rich folks) ‘It is not, but I was also very excited. Beside me was a girl, she was so tired, she fell asleep with her head on my shoulder,’ ‘Didn’t you wake her?’ ‘No, taking the train is very tiring; she had also been standing for very long. If I hadn’t been there to support her she would not be able to sleep. I also endured and let her rest. She rested for a long time. When she woke up she was very embarra.s.sed. She offered me some mineral water,’ ‘And then?’ ‘Nothing. When the train arrived, we parted ways, never to meet again. Even if we met, I would not recognise her. She did not leave a deep impression.’ Yin Ting was peacefully silent for a while, ‘Why aren’t you saying anything?’ he asked, ‘I thought I was going to be jealous, but instead, I think what you did was very kind.’ ‘Maybe it was because she was a girl, if it was an uncle, I would have woken him,’ She laughed, ‘This way, I am jealous.’ Zhengqing also smiled, and said, ‘Are you relaxed now? Close your eyes and go to sleep,’ ‘Yes,’ she said, then rang off. Zhengqing sighed as he looked at his phone. He stroked Miao’s head, ‘New Year’s day is in three days?’ Miao-dada turned unto his back, indicating that he was open to stroking; Zhengqing ignored him and put him aside. He got up to take a bath and prepare for bed. He heard the cat meowing outside the bathroom door, but he ignored it. After raising a cat, he felt he also had to lock the bathroom door. (Zuben: Why?) When he left the bath, the cat looked up at him piteously and reared up on his hind legs, ‘I know. I know. You want to replace Xiaoting and stick to me, but I prefer Xiaoting,’ he said to the cat. It followed him into the bedroom, where he dressed for bed. He looked at the cat and sighed; these three days are not going to be fun. He checked his phone and found Yin Ting had sent him a text; My dad was near me so I couldn’t say. I miss you. Goodnight. Zhengqing smiled and replied: I miss you too. Goodnight. As Zhengqing lay on his bed trying to fall asleep he realised that he hadn’t told her “I love you”. He picked up his phone from his bedside table but found that it was now past midnight. The last day has been missed. Zhengqing sighed and went back to bed. Just those three simple words he did not say. He text her the words, and he felt relieved. Soon after there was a text back from her in reply with a happy emoticon. ‘Can’t sleep? Shall I call you?’ he text. ‘Don’t,’ she text back, ‘It will be noisy. My dad is asleep.’ Well it was her dad, he did not want to say he was jealous so he told her, ‘Goodnight,’ ‘Goodnight,’ she text back. This time, Zhengqing went to sleep without difficulty. The next morning, he saw a text message from Yin Ting telling him she had arrived. He gave her a call, and she picked up, ‘We are having breakfast at the hotel,’ she said, ‘We’ve spoken to the family and we would see them in the afternoon,’ ‘Did you sleep last night?’ ‘No, just a sleep like state,’ ‘You should get some sleep this morning. You can call me when you have time.’ Yin Ting laughed, ‘You’re worried about me,’ His girlfriend was really not reserved but he laughed, ‘Yes ah, so hurry and go and sleep.’ She laughed and he heard a very loud mua~ sound. ‘Don’t you want to send it back?’ she asked ‘No,’ he said. He was sort of embarra.s.sed, so he sounded very serious. Just as she was going chastise him, he said, ‘I want it to be true, come back soon.’ Yin Ting laughed. Zhengqing did not like holidays. The feeling was with him this time as well. He called his aunt. Then went to the cemetery, where he visited his parents’ graves as well as Yin Ting’s mother’s grave. Then he went to the market and bought two boxes of fruit and took them to the orphanage. When s.h.i.+ Liang saw him, her face lit up. He had set aside the best looking apple for her. He thought that s.h.i.+ Liang was a little eccentric, rather like Yin Ting. ‘Quickly eat, uncle has cleaned it for you,’ Zhengqing said to her, her eyes twinkled when she saw the red apple. Her expressions were like Yin Ting (Zuben: Do you think Yin Ting had a child and gave it up to the orphanage?) She took the apple, but said in a timid voice, ‘To be honest Uncle, I am not hungry. Can I give the apple to the grandmother to eat?’ ‘Your grandmother?’ he asked surprised. Did she still have relatives? ‘Not my grandmother, the old lady who sells egg cakes near the orphanage gates,’ Xiao s.h.i.+tou said, ‘It used to be that, she and her husband sold egg cakes together, but now only grandma sells them. I think grandpa is sick because grandmother doesn’t have her ring anymore. She must have sold it to pay for hospital bills. I don’t have any money to give her. I just thought I could give her the apple and make her a little happy.’ She said looking embarra.s.sed. Zhengqing was surprised at the little s.h.i.+ Liang’s compa.s.sion, ‘Go ahead,’ he said. ‘I’ll go.’ She said happily and ran off. Zhengqing followed her to the egg cake stall where she smiled at an old lady, he didn’t hear what she said but he saw her hand the apple to the woman. The old woman looked tearful, and her hands shook as she took the apple. Zhengqing walked up as she told Xiao s.h.i.+tou thank you. As she saw someone come up, the old lady wiped her tears and plied her egg cakes, ‘Buy an egg cake; very fragrant, crisp and delicious.’ ‘Make one got Xiao s.h.i.+tou to eat,’ he said. The little girl nodded hard when she remembered she hadn’t eaten anything, ‘Looks very delicious,’ she said. Zhengqing laughed. The old lady looked happy. Xiao s.h.i.+tou turned to Zhengqing and said, ‘Uncle, you also eat one,’ (Zuben: Uncle, if you’re not careful someone may call you a paedophile) While the egg cake was being made, Zhengqing asked the old lady why she had no helper for her stall. She told him that her husband was sick, and was home recuperating but he had little energy to go about. Hence, she was the only one who could look after the stall. Zhengqing nodded. It seemed that Xiao s.h.i.+tou was very observant; she had been right about the lady’s circ.u.mstances. Zhengqing crouched beside Xiao s.h.i.+tou and said, ‘Why don’t you ask your teacher whether the other children could have egg cakes.’ Xiao s.h.i.+tou’s eyes grew bright, and she ran to the orphanage. A little while later, the teacher came out and spoke to Zhengqing about the situation. The other children rushed out. When they heard their teacher agreed they were very happy. He bought enough egg cakes for everyone in the orphanage. The old lady was stunned, ‘I don’t have enough ingredients for this,’ she stammered. ‘Then make more tomorrow and the next day. You don’t have to prepare more ingredients. Sell all you have and go home early,’ Zhengqing said as he handed her the money. He did not have enough for the next week, but he gave her five hundred yuan. The old lady accepted the money hesitantly, but she knew that she was not in a position not to accept. She took out a piece of paper from her cart that she used for accounting and wrote the amount received on it, ‘I will make note of the amount and give them,’ ‘Very good,’ Zhengqing said with a smile. He was very happy to see little stone smiling. ‘If you need anything but can’t find Tingting-jie, you can call Uncle,’ he told the Xiao s.h.i.+tou. He had not brought his cards along, so he got her to get a piece of paper to read out his phone number to her. ‘What did you write?’ he asked. He had deliberately said the numbers quickly, but s.h.i.+ Liang recited the numbers as he said them. She had told him she didn’t study because she was slow. There was nothing slow about the girl’s brain (Zuben: She’s just bored) ‘Xiao s.h.i.+tou, you should study well, so that Xiao Han can like you in the future, if you get bad results, he would not like you.’ He said trying to convince her. ‘Really?’ s.h.i.+ Liang’s eyes widened in askance. Zhengqing nodded. s.h.i.+ Liang thought that this was a serious matter. She will soon get into Primary 1; she would have to work hard. (Zuben: ¬.¬) That night, he told Yin Ting about the happenings of the day, ‘I really really love you,’ she said when she heard about what he’d done for the old lady. ‘Good, come home quickly,’ he said, ‘Alright,’ she said laughing, ‘I am like Xiao s.h.i.+tou, I am not a social elite, but you can’t hate me.’ ‘Come back faster then I won’t shut you out,’ She laughed, ‘Alright,’ But New Year’s Day came and went, she did not come home. Zhengqing sorely missed her. When work resumed, he wondered how he would carry on without Yin Ting (Zuben: ¬.¬), but he knew his responsibility and tried to focus on work. He signed a couple of doc.u.ments, and handed them to his secretary who confirmed them. ‘Qiu zong,’ ‘Yes,’ he answered his tone very serious ‘Um, this doc.u.ment is wrong.’ She said hesitantly as she handed the folder back to him. Zhengqing frowned as he perused the doc.u.ment again. What was wrong with it?

 

He came to the signature, and was suddenly very embarra.s.sed. With his impressive dragon and phoenix handwriting, he had signed ‘Xiaoting’ instead of his name.