O

n the night of the twenty third,

Zhengqing called Yin Ting and informed her that he was booked on a flight at

noon the next day.

Yin Ting screamed excitedly down

the phone, Zhengqing could not help but laugh. Then she sighed and said, ‘The

cooking lessons have not been successful, otherwise I would have personally

made you a romantic western style meal.’ (Zuben: What? Steak and potatoes?)

‘Ah that’s alright, thank you for

the thought,’ he said a little nervously, ‘Is my kitchen okay?’

‘Yes, it’s done. I got the work

rushed and it was finished today,’ she replied as she made effort to recall

whether there were other damages to his house. She’ll have to look through

tomorrow and check again.

‘I will land at two o’ clock, but I

will have to go to the office first and give my report and hand in the

doc.u.ments. Then I’ll come home.’ He told her.

‘Alright, I thought so,’ she said

as she thought, she would have more time, ‘I will wait for you at home, since

you don’t have your keys.’

‘Um, can I still use my keys?’

‘Of course, of course.’ Yin Ting

said with a little guilty p.r.i.c.k to her conscience.

‘I haven’t had time to arrange a

restaurant for us to eat. I’ll see if I can make a reservation somewhere.’

‘Don’t worry, I’ve already arranged

it,’ she said excitedly, ‘and if you can’t come back it won’t be wasted, I’ll

take my dad.’

‘….’ Zhengqing felt a sense of crisis

ah; it seems the boyfriend can be replaced by the father at any time. (Zuben:

Yeah, don’t try to get between a girl and their loving father.)

The next evening, Zhengqing wearily

dragged his suitcase to his door. He looked at his watch, it was just past

five. He just needed to take a shower and accompany Yin Ting to dinner.

He took a deep breath and raised

his hand to the doorbell.

It was the first time that he’d

ever had to ring his own door bell. Because he had no family who visited, his

house only ever had him in it. There was never anyone else to open his door. If

he was outside the door, there would be no one inside. It would be quiet and

lonely.

This feeling of ringing his

doorbell was very fresh.

There was movement behind the door

and his heart began to pound. He had a girlfriend; he was going to accompany

her to eat Christmas dinner. He suddenly felt nervous.

His girlfriend.

There was a timid intimate feeling.

The door opened, ‘Welcome home,’

she said in a loud vibrant voice. At Yin Ting’s sweet smile, his heart warmed.

His girlfriend. His family. (Zuben:

Really, rein in your heart, bros!)

‘I’m back,’ he said letting his

affection for her show in his eyes. His eyes felt warm.

‘Come in, its cold outside,’ she

said tugging him in, and pulling out indoor slippers. He noticed a new set of

slippers, they were red matching his blue ones, and they were very festive.

Yin Ting dragged his suitcase into

the house as she closed the door, while shouting, ‘Dada! Come see daddy, he’s

back!’

Zhengqing smiled, he was now also a

daddy. Miao-dada ran over, Zhengqing could not help but laugh. He was wearing a

splendid attire, he was dressed like Santa Claus, and he looked really chubby,

‘Miao, you’ve gotten really fat.’ He said as he help up the cat. The cat

struggled to get down; it was more interested in the suitcase.

Zhengqing crossed the threshold and

entered his living room.

Things had changed. It was strange

but he kind of liked it.

The brown leather sofa was gone. In

its place, an even larger beige and brown fabric sofa with many cus.h.i.+ons as

well as a blanket. Near the floor to ceiling windows was now a tall evergreen

tree. The tree was decorated with glittering lights, and golden bells, and

pretty ribbons and cute baubles. Under the tree were a few wrapped boxes. His

beige curtains were tied back with their sash in a neat bow. He had never

really cared how they looked. The bookcase in the living room had a few new

things than a few red blue yellow ornaments, it was looking very festive.

‘Do you like it? She asked

tentatively. She pulled him to touch the couch and let him sit in it. The fabric

seemed to be made of the best cotton, and memory foam on the inside. ‘It was

cheaper than the leather one. And the seat covers can be changed, so I bought

another set; red and brown, so they go with your colour scheme. Do you find it

comfortable? The fabric is difficult to scratch.’

Zhengqing relaxed on the couch, it

was really comfortable. He pulled Yin Ting down beside him, this time she

blushed, but she cosied up next to him.

‘Very nice, I like it,’ he said.

Yin Ting grinned happily and said,

‘There is a true gift, oh,’ as she pointed to a box under the tree.

‘Did you buy all of that?’ He asked

surprised. The boxes were also very nicely decorated with wrapping paper.

‘Of course not, I only bought one,

and I will give you when we eat, the atmosphere would be nice.’ (Zuben: They

seem to be obsessed with ‘atmosphere’)

Zhengqing thought it was lucky that

he didn’t give her his gift right away, since she wanted to have the Christmas

atmosphere. He would wait till dinner.

‘The rest are from my brother, Yufei,

Gu Yingjie and Zhuzhu-jie. They are small gifts that they sent over,’ Yin Ting

said with a smile, ‘I got them ready in advance.’

He laughed at her expression and

asked, ‘So when you were receiving the gifts, did they know about us?’

Yin Tin blushed but said, ‘I did

not say anything. It is Christmas. Whether they know or not, they sent gifts

for you. Of course, one expresses thing differently to different people. Who

knows what they thought. They handed me the gifts, and I delivered them.’

Zhengqing smiled, he estimated that

they all know.

‘I am not stupid, I must wait for

you to come back and we can tell them face to face.’

‘Yes yes, it is not good of me.’

‘It is not that you’re not good, I

am reasonable. You must work, but you have also hurried back, so I am very

happy.’

‘I am also very happy,’ he replied,

thinking that her face was really cute, would it be too much too quickly to

kiss her?

‘Would you like a cup of tea or do

we leave now? I reserved for half past seven, but there would certainly be

traffic.’ Yin Ting said reminding him of the time.

‘No I won’t have tea, I’ll quickly

take a shower and change clothes,’ he said as he got up quickly and went to get

his suitcase. He turned back and asked; ‘You know Yufei is pregnant?’ He had

heard from colleagues at work. Yufei confirmed and also told him she was

getting married to Yingjie.

‘I know,’ Yin Ting said nodding,

she was clearly very happy for her friend, ‘Yingjie telephoned to show off to

everyone. They built the fruit of virtue.1’

 Qiu Zhengqing nodded and

calmly said, ‘We will too,’ then took his suitcase to his bedroom. He pa.s.sed

the kitchen on his way and took a glance in. It had really been renovated. He

turned to Yin Tin with a raised eyebrow, Yin Ting giggled.

He went to his room.

Once his door was closed, Yin Ting swayed

back and forth on the sofa, ‘We can also…’ so sure, so calm, although it was

not like he was madly in love, but there was such self a.s.surance, ah. But the

way he said it…!

Yin Ting grabbed a cus.h.i.+on and clutched

it to her face feeling shy.

He’d only been gone half a month,

when did he become so handsome? She really liked him.

She clutched the pillow, hiding her

face as she rolled about on the sofa, remembering his twelve points she giggled

happily (Zuben: You and I remember different things, dear) Then she was

imagining how he’d react when she gave him his gift. She giggled again. He most

likely won’t have a gift for her. She guessed that might be the case, but it

did not matter.

She was lolling on the sofa, lost

in thought, when she turned around and saw Zhengqing all dressed up standing in

the living room watching her.

She squeaked and jumped up, and

quickly sat in a lady like manner. Although it was kind of too late, she must

still display composure. How did he bathe so quickly, or had she been fooling

around too long?

Zhengqing tried very hard to hold

back the laughter. He has thought there was too little time to wash, so he

dressed and rushed out only to find his girlfriend giggling and rolling about

the sofa and his chubby cat hanging off the study door handle.

This cat really does worry a

person, ah.

He pretended not to have noticed

Yin Ting’s silliness and turned to Miao-dada, ‘What is he doing?’

‘What…?’ she asked, she could not

see the door from the sofa so she came to his side to have a look.

‘Oh he’s trying to open the door.’

‘…’

‘It’s the only door he can’t open. So

he tries really hard to do it.’ The door was very hard to open and close and it

needed a bit of muscle strength to open, so no matter how much Miao-dada tried,

it could not open the door.

‘…’ He looked at her then back at

the cat, ‘Will there come a day when I come home and find the door open and my

house robbed because the cat let the thieves in?’

‘…ah…’ Yin Ting also thought of the

problem but then whispered, ‘But think of the advantages, the cat can also…’

 He stared at her as Yin Ting

quickly scrambled for an excuse, ‘It isn’t me who taught him how to open doors,

really. When I come over, it is already out of its room. Besides, it has proved

that it is a smart cat.’

‘Hmm, I am really pleased,’ he said

a tad sarcastically as he went to pry Dada from the door, ‘it didn’t have the

strength to open the doors before, but I will solve this problem.’ He said as

he took Miao-dada back to its room, and locked the door.  

‘It really likes leather surfaces,’

she explained, ‘and your study has a leather chair. So I locked the door properly,

ah.’ Yin Ting said fiercely, her expression was like “I fought to keep your

chair safe!”

He laughed, ‘This proves my

girlfriend is really smart.’

Yin Ting looked up at the word ‘girlfriend’,

it sounded nice to hear. (Zuben: Finally?)

After getting the cat settled for

the evening, the two of them left the house for their dinner.

In the building where the restaurant

was, they took the elevator to the restaurant. As they moved up, Yin Ting was

deep in thought wondering how to express intimacy with Zhengqing. When it was

time to go, did she put her hand in his and pretend it was all natural and

casual. Or did she wait for dinner then hold his hand? Or should they go for a

romantic walk in the evening? That would certainly be more natural…

While deep in thought, her hand was

suddenly enveloped by a bigger warm hand.

Yin Ting’s heart was pounding as

she glanced surrept.i.tiously at Zhengqing, he was staring intently at the

elevator panel. Yin Ting tried not to grin, but smiled. She grabbed onto his bicep

with her free hand, and laughed, ‘You’re shy.’

‘I am not.’ He answered with a low

rumble

‘You are.’ She teased.

‘No,’

‘You are, definitely!’

‘What is there to be shy about?

Holding my girlfriend’s hand is perfectly justified.’ He said with a stubborn

look on his face.

Yin Ting laughed, she was so happy,

really happy.

The restaurant looked good as they

entered. Around them there many other couples enjoying each other and their

meals. Yin Ting and Zhengqing were both excited and shy; they didn’t talk much

as they ate their very nice dinner, but couldn’t help looking at each other and

couldn’t help but laugh

When it was time for dessert, Yin

Ting took out her gift and handed it to Zhengqing. He opened it to find a pair

of drop shaped cufflinks; he liked them so much he immediately put them on.

‘Very nice, I like them.’

Yin Ting was very happy.

At this time Zhengqing took out

from his jacket pocket a flat, not small but not big box.

‘This is my gift to you.’

A little excitement bubbled up in

Yin Ting, ‘Is that your little notebook?’ she joked.

Zhengqing smiled but did not

answer, he simply said, ‘I hope you like it.’

Yin Tin laughed and opened the

gift; it was an electronic photo frame

‘Nice, we can put our pictures!’

she said, but Zhengqing reached over and clicked the on b.u.t.ton.

The pictures began to run their

slide show.

The first picture was:

(Zuben: I can’t believe I have to

type this out again)

‘Firstly, feelings are the most

important thing; I like you. You said that if people like each other there’s

nothing inappropriate about it, and they can adjust to suit each other. But if people

don’t like each other mutually, then everything is useless. So the most

important thing is; I like you.

He had re-written the negotiations

by hand on a clean sheet of white paper and took photos of them and made them

into a slide show on the electronic photo frame.

The second picture was:

I have a car, no loan, a house with

five years left on the mortgage and a lot of annual dividends, and large

savings. Although, my circ.u.mstances are not as good as yours, I have enough to

give you a good quality of life.’

As the eight picture came up, she couldn’t

help but cry:

‘The eighth point, how long would I

like you? There are two conditions. First; you like me. Second; we work

together diligently. If we meet the above conditions, we should be together a

long time.’

Ninth, tenth ... Yin Ting wiped her

tears till she saw the thirteeth.

‘Thirteenth point, I am not with you

all the time, so please be sure to take care of yourself and don’t make me

worry.

 Yin Ting’s tears flowed

freely, ‘So hateful,’ she said through her watery smile, ‘making me cry in

public.’

Zhengqing silently handed her a

paper napkin. (Zuben: Paper napkin? What kind of shoddy establishment are they

in? Cloth serviettes, if you please.)

 Yin Ting took the paper napkin,

as she complained, ‘So hateful, how could you come up with this gift.’ This

gift was much better, so romantic. She had misjudged him. So romantic, he must

be the first.

‘Well, it’s nothing. I got the inspiration

at a meeting where they were showing me things on PowerPoint.’

(Zuben: Bwhahahah! Such a dork!)

‘…’

Only her proper gentleman can see

inspiration in a PowerPoint presentation, right?

[1] I a.s.sume this is a something the Chinese say about

marriage and babies. I couldn’t find any site that would easily confirm or deny

that for me.

N.B.: If you choose to comment, don't be worried they don't show up right away. Comments get moderated and I publish them as soon as I can. 

Thanks for reading. Be well :)

❀ Chapter 42...