‘P

lease be

more serious, h.e.l.lo!’ Yin Ting greeted him loudly on the phone, calling her

nickname for him without reserve. She was particularly spirited tonight.

Zhengqing thought that this girl was taking an “I have a lot of spirit every

day!”drug.

‘How are you

and what do you need my help for?’ Yin Ting asked directly.

He laughed,

‘Why do you think I need your help?’

 ‘You

won’t be calling me about work and you don’t gossip, so the most likely reason

you’re calling is to ask for a.s.sistance with something,’ Yin Ting said in one

breath.

 He

smiled, ‘Aside from work, what do you and your friends talk about?’

 ‘Ah,

yes, we talk about lots of things, but mostly about eating and drinking,

nothing you’ll be interested in.’

It really

sounded like they had nothing in common, Zhengqing coughed and said, ‘Well,

last time when we had dinner with Mao Huizhi, you said that the restaurant is

not appropriate…’

‘Who is Mao

Huizhi?’ she asked interrupting him.

‘Zoe.’

‘Oh so her

Chinese name is Mao Huizhi, her parents must love her. The pearl of wisdom.

People should be more than their name, and Zoe is very capable and beautiful. A

good name is really important,’ she said giggling.

Zhengqing

guessed what she was thinking so he said, ‘So I am very serious, right?’

Zhenqing had

lived thirty-three years; his very nice name had turned into something slightly

crooked upon meeting her. It was the first time his name had been twisted like

this.

 Yin

Ting laughed, ‘You’re really humorous.’

What was

funny about that? He chose not to reply but returned to his reason for calling

her, ‘Last time you said the restaurant I picked was not appropriate for

dating. So I was looking on the internet and I came across a prolific reviewer

and decided to ask her directly which restaurant she recommends for my next

date.’

‘Who is this

reviewer?’ she asked, it had not yet dawned on her, ‘This person could be

sponsored by restaurants even though her columns are in foodie magazines. They

are simply for publicity. You have to make sure that the reviewer declares

whether they’ve been sponsored or not. High popularity of a restaurant is not

necessarily the truth. This kind of thing is subjective, everyone likes

different things.’

Zhengqing

was silent during her drivel. She talked for so long. He just figured that she

had a talent for talking incessantly.

‘Tingting

YuLi 413,’ he replied. He was indirectly asking if the ID was her.

‘Oh my, that

is me! You are really discerning. My reviews are truly red.’

This girl

was not modest at all.

Yin Ting was

very excited, ‘Wow! Wow! We are really destined. You see, that red string is

really divine. It guided you to find my restaurant reviews for dates. The ones

I recommended are very good. You can go to any of them, I don’t take

advertising or sponsors.h.i.+p from the restaurant, I pay my own way.’

Zhengqing's

fingers silently drummed on the table; it wasn’t just about eating was it? She

had specified the restaurants good for dating and love, restaurants suited to

break ups, the one suited to take a fool to. The chocking girl was not his

style so Zhengqing did not say anything (Zuben: There is no need to mention

that she’s not your type, dear or are you beginning to consider her?)

‘Which do

you recommend?’ he asked.

‘Who are you

going with?’ she asked in reply.

‘That is not

important.’ He said, he did not want to tell her to keep her from asking

questions from East to West.

‘Oh,’ she

did not sound disappointed but pressed on, ‘Are you at the dallying stage or

maintaining a stable relations.h.i.+p stage?

Zhengqing

frowned, his forehead darkening. What does this have to do with the choice of

restaurant? Moreover, he did not have time or inclination to be going into

every specific detail that she wanted.

He remained

silent so Yin Ting said, ‘I see you’re shy,’ she named a restaurant. She said

it had nice atmosphere, the food was good and it wasn’t too much. The owner was

named Yin, and he had another restaurant, but that was more high-end.

Listening to

Yin Ting, she seemed to be winding down so he quickly said, ‘I’ve heard of the

restaurant, I’ll check online.’ He said as he typed on the search bar. "Tingting

Yuli 413" also highly recommended this place and even recommended several

dishes on the menu.

As Zhengqing

read her review online, he listened to Yin Ting go on about the restaurant, she

had to tell him which dishes were good and suitable for two. He did not stop

her, her commentary began to almost match her online review.

Zhengqing suddenly began to feel weird; her family couldn't be the stuffy types, could they? Her father

and brother seemed to listen to her lively conversation. It must be very nice.

He thought that Yin Ting must eat the “I am lively every day” pill, and he

smiled to himself.

Sunday

afternoon rolled round.

Zhengqing

was going to have dinner with Huizhu but she informed him the day before that

she had some work to do on Sunday evening, for some executives that were coming

to review her branch on Monday. So dinner changed to lunch, which was fine by

him.

Zhengqing

arrived at the restaurant first. He got out of his car and headed for the door

when he saw a familiar figure with three children not far from the restaurant.

Zhengqing stood for a while looking carefully, it really was Yin Ting.

She was

wearing a tee s.h.i.+rt and jeans, her bicycle was nearby. She was holding a box

that was colourfully decorated, but he could not see it clearly. At her side

were, three children who looked to be between the ages of six and eight, two of

them were holding post cards, while a slightly larger child was also carrying a

box.

Zhengqing

was wondering what they were doing, when Yin Ting caught sight of him. She

cheered and ran over, followed by the children.

Zhengqing

was caught short and his scared feet did not move. But he stepped forward a

little bit, he must have caught a boldness disease.

He did not

need to walk far, for Yin Ting soon came up to him, ‘Qiu zong! h.e.l.lo!’

‘h.e.l.lo,’ the

children mimicked kind of loudly.

Very good,

he felt a little pleased that little Yin Ting did not call her nickname for him

in

‘h.e.l.lo,’ he

greeted politely.

‘We are

fundraising for charity by selling postcards,’ Yin Ting supplied without

waiting for him to ask.

Now he could

see clearly the box she was holding. It had “Charity Postcards Sale” drawn

colourfully, one card for two yuan and 15 for ten yuan.

The youngest

looking child, a girl, nodded furiously, ‘It’s for good cause,’

Yin

Ting laughed at the child and turned to him, ‘They are children of an

orphanage.’

Zhengqing

nodded and guessed that they were raising money for the orphanage. He was about

to buy a postcard, when someone called from behind.

He turned to

see Huizhu walking up to him, he waved to her. Huizhu saw Yin Ting and raised

an eyebrow, but her phone rang, she frowned. This last two days her phone had

not stopped ringing; Monday was going to be a mess for everyone. Nothing was

clear and easy, suddenly wanting this report and that report, many of which are

not readily available. They needed time to collate the data and write the

reports. Huizhu was annoyed by these things, but she had made an appointment

with Zhengqing, and did not want to miss it. But the issues with work were

running roughshod over her antic.i.p.ation, so she was irritable.

She quickly

said a few words to her colleagues directing them on what to do and went to

Zhengqings side, just in time to hear Yin Ting say to Zhengqing, ‘Support us

and buy two sets of postcards,’

Huizhu brows

tightened as Zhengqing readily said, ‘Sure.’

Zhengqing

reached for his wallet, Yin Ting smiled to Huizhu as she drew near, ‘Miss Zoe,

h.e.l.lo.’

Three

children followed and shouted, ‘h.e.l.lo, Miss!’

Huizhu was quite

unhappy, shouting lady who? Curse it? She did not care to hide her expression

as Zhengqing gave Yin Ting some money, and Yin Ting found him change and handed

him two sets of post cards. She turned to the restaurant and whispered to him,

‘I’ll go

ahead,’ and she was gone.

Yin Ting

watched her leave and said to Zhengqing, ‘She looks tired, there may be trouble

at work. She’s tired yet still came to the appointment. It is very good. You

have to be patient Oh.’ They had heard Huizhu on the phone earlier, so he

nodded, expressing his understanding. He took his postcards and thanked her.

One of the

boys said, ‘We are working hard to fundraise, so we can study well. As long as

we’re willing to work hard, when we grow up we will be able to live our own

life.’ (Zuben: Random but okay…)

‘Thank you,

uncle,’ the children shouted in unison.

Zhengqing smiled at them and went into the

restaurant. He looked for Huizhu, there were many people in the restaurant but

their seats were at the second row of windows. He turned to see Yin Ting

outside laughing with the children, he felt good. He watched as they returned

to the intersection. A middle aged woman walked by, and the little girl went up

to her with a post card, bravely asking her to buy, but the woman shook her

head and walked on.

The little

girl’s face collapsed in frustration and turned to Yin Ting, but Yin Ying gave

her a thumbs-up. It seemed to cheer the little girl up, because she laughed,

and the other boys patted her shoulder. And then they went to accost another

pa.s.ser-by.

‘How did you

meet, so clever?’ Huizhu asked curtly. She had finished a text message and

looked outside to see the situation, her heart was unhappy. Yin Ting did not leave

her with a good impression the last time they met. Now she was forcing sales on

people. There were many charitable fundraisers in operation, and they ask for

money from their acquaintances, some time with high pressure sale tactics, but

where does the money all go? Huizhu had encountered such things several times

and her mood today was very bad, so it was not a good expression on her face.

‘Very

clever,’ he replied, ‘Are things okay at work?’ he asked caring about her

welfare.

 Huizhu

rubbed her forehead, ‘Not good. I have so much to do. My boss has gone mental;

I don’t know where he’s going to attack from this time, so I’m trying to

prepare everything. Hopefully it should all be fine in a few days. Let’s order

quickly so I can get back.’

‘Alright,’

he said as he called for the waiter. Their orders were simple; fried rice and a

pasta. As Zhengqing ate, he thought of the children with Yin Ting and wondered

if they’d eaten. So he texted Yin Ting about getting the kids something to eat.

Especially since they were standing near a restaurant, they must be salivating

looking at what others are eating.

Yin Ting

soon replied, ‘No need, we’ve already eaten. We will take some snacks back to

the orphanage later. If I get them western food, they will go back and tell the

other children and they would feel unfair.’

He read the

text, and sent back, ‘Alright,’ he can understand. Life was already unfair to

children in this situation; there was no need to add another thing. He looked

at Huizhu, she was texting furiously. She seemed to be sending an email.

Zhengqing checked his inbox to see if anything was waiting for his attention.

There was a

text message, it was Yin Ting, ‘There’s a situation, I see May Shen coming. You

couldn’t have made two appointments, right?’

Zhengqing’s

forehead darkened, Yin Ting’s expression full of contempt appeared in his mind,

he quickly replied, ‘I haven’t been in contact with her.’

Yin Ting

quickly replied, ‘I’ll try to help you head her off.’

Zhengqing

almost banged his head on the table. He really did not need this today. This

girl and her “I am very brave” medicine, she didn’t need to stop May, he has

done nothing wrong.

Zuben: Ting Ting eats too many Chinese pills

❀ Chapter 11...