I slept until noon on Saturday, not having to attend the morning lecture. The afternoon was free, and I had plenty of time, but after aimlessly wandering around, I almost arrived late to Siying’s birthday party.
The birthday celebration was quite lively, with most of our Shanghai classmates attending. The food was delicious, and afterward, everyone went to KTV together.
Just as we entered the KTV, Siying’s phone rang. She glanced at it before answering, her expression turning slightly peculiar. “Hello, Rong Rong… Thank you, haha… We just finished dinner and arrived at KTV to sing… Oh, you’re coming?…”
Her eyes met mine as she continued, “Of course you’re welcome. Xiguang is here too… Okay.”
She gave the KTV address.
After hanging up, she pulled me aside, “Xiguang, Rong Rong is coming. As you saw, I had no idea she was planning to come. You don’t mind, right?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Let her come.” Thinking about what Xiaofeng told me yesterday, I felt a bit anticipatory. “However…”
I suddenly thought of something – would Zhuang Xu come with Rong Rong?
Siying immediately noticed my slight hesitation and tactfully commented, “Come to think of it, something must have happened between Zhuang Xu and Rong Rong. Recently, when Rong Rong dines with us, she hasn’t mentioned him at all.”
“Ah?” I laughed awkwardly, offering no comment.
After singing for about half an hour in the private room, Rong Rong arrived as promised. She wore a white dress suit with a brown trench coat, looking elegant and radiant. Her entrance immediately caught everyone’s attention.
The guy who was singing stopped and announced with the microphone: “Look who’s here! Welcome our A University Business School beauty, Ye Rong.”
Rong Rong waved him off and walked straight to the women’s side, handing something to Siying, “A gift, happy birthday.”
Siying looked at it and beamed with joy: “You didn’t even come for dinner, yet you’re giving such an expensive gift.”
Rong Rong replied, “I saw it and thought it would look good on you.”
Then her gaze shifted to me, greeting me naturally: “Xiguang, you’re here too.”
“Just happened to be in Shanghai for work.”
Siying teased me, “She’s been here since Friday but only contacted Xiaofeng, and didn’t even try to meet up with us.”
The senior’s sharp glance immediately turned to me, and I quickly defended myself, “Like you said, it was Friday, you were all working!”
Neither the senior nor Siying bought my excuse, so I could only surrender with both hands up, “I should have worked here again at the end of this month, I’ll treat everyone to dinner then?”
Everyone finally seemed satisfied: “That’s more like it.”
After Rong Rong arrived, no one sang anymore. The guys gathered around to chat and gossip.
“Is Sheng Yuan’s salary that high? Ye Rong, your outfit looks expensive.”
“Is your company still hiring? Ye Rong, can you refer us?”
“Why didn’t Zhuang Xu come?”
“Why are you all so nosy?” Siying shooed them away, “Let the girls chat, go play pool next door.”
The guys reluctantly left.
Once they were gone, the senior curiously asked, “Rong Rong, you got a new bag? Never seen you with it before. You just got a new phone and now a new bag, this brand isn’t cheap, right?”
Rong Rong smiled: “It’s not that expensive, just a few thousand yuan. It’s nothing special at our company. I just like how small it is.”
Siying teased, “A few thousand isn’t expensive? You’re splurging. Did you buy it yourself? Or…”
Her tone was probing, and Rong Rong said, “Just ask what you want to ask, why beat around the bush? I bought it myself. Last year’s year-end bonus was pretty good, and my boyfriend wanted to buy it for me but I didn’t let him.”
Everyone was stunned.
Saying: “You have a boyfriend? Could it be…”
Rong Rong interrupted her: “I mentioned him before, my boss, Sheng Xingjie.”
Siying was stunned for a few seconds, then let out an exaggerated “Wow,” “That’s incredible, are you marrying into wealth? When did this happen?”
“We got together after the New Year, I just hadn’t told you all. But he’s been pursuing me for a long time.”
Siying clicked her tongue in amazement, “Our dorm has such good feng shui, two people marrying into wealthy families.”
Xiaofeng said: “Not really, Xiguang’s family was already rich.”
“I just thought of something funny.” Siying joked, “Xiguang, Rong Rong, won’t you two be relatives in the future?”
I: “…”
That wasn’t funny at all.
“Yes, we do have quite a connection. But Xiguang and Mr. Lin will probably live in Suzhou, so we won’t be able to hang out often.” Rong Rong’s gaze fell on me again, her tone unexpectedly gentle.
Saying: “No way, isn’t Xiguang’s boyfriend the grandson of Sheng Yuan’s chairman? He won’t stay away forever, right?”
Rong Rong said: “I heard from Xingjie that his grandfather gave the Suzhou company to Mr. Lin. Xiguang, is that true?”
“Yes, it is.” I had just recovered from the shock of Rong Rong and Sheng Xingjie being together, and said with a grimace, “We’re struggling to build up the business in Suzhou, working overtime every day.”
The senior reached across Xiaofeng to pinch my ear, “Alright, young lady, stop playing pitiful.”
I swatted her hand away, “Senior, how come you still haven’t broken this habit? Your future baby’s earlobes will be very long.”
Everyone burst out laughing, and the senior punched me: “You’re always talking nonsense.”
Amidst the laughter, I whispered to Xiaofeng: “She seems different from before.”
Xiaofeng said: “Mystery solved, it’s because she’s in love.”
I agree, that must be the reason. Being in love makes you happy and cheerful; even receiving a text message when you’re apart can make you radiant.
So… how long has it been since Lin Yusen sent me a message?
I took out my phone from my bag and checked my messages. Sure enough, there were no new messages, and the last one was from two and a half hours ago.
Didn’t we agree on checking in every two hours? So untrustworthy!
I sent him a message: “Have you eaten? Where’s the photo? Didn’t we agree on every two hours? You’re overtime.”
While I was focused on sending the message, Siying stood up and grabbed the microphone, “Let’s sing while they’re playing pool, once they come back we won’t get a chance, they’re all mic hogs.”
The senior quickly said: “You guys sing, you guys sing, I’m not good at it.”
However, before they could even start selecting songs, Zhuo Hui excitedly rushed in from the pool room, “Siying, look who’s here!”
“Who?”
“Zhuang Xu!”
Zhuang Xu?
Everyone fell silent for a moment. I looked up from my messages, just in time to see Zhuo Hui step aside, revealing the person behind him.
After a brief silence, Siying looked at Zhuang Xu, then turned to Rong Rong, “Did you two plan to arrive one after another?”
“No.”
They answered simultaneously.
Zhuang Xu looked straight ahead as he explained to Siying: “I had work nearby today, Zhuo Hui just called to ask if I was free to come, and said… everyone was here.”
“So I came.” He handed the paper bag he was holding to Siying, “It was hastily prepared, happy birthday.”
Siying accepted it with a bright smile: “Having you here is enough, everyone’s being so formal.”
It would be a lie to say there wasn’t any awkwardness; when my eyes fell on him for that moment, there was some turbulence in my heart, but it was faint and fleeting.
Besides, my message alert just rang.
I immediately opened the message, Lin Yusen’s plaintive tone jumping off the screen: “I’m eating at XXXX restaurant on Huaihai Road. Didn’t take a photo because it’s not good. What do you mean overtime? You took more than half an hour to reply to my last message, I reasonably extended the time.”
I was in such a rush earlier that I hadn’t noticed, and knowing I was in the wrong, I avoided the topic: “When will you be done?”
“Don’t know, the experts are passionately expressing their views, the atmosphere is tense with everyone standing their ground.”
I was filled with reverence, “Are you discussing something very professional? Then listen carefully, don’t reply to me.”
“Professional. Which winery’s red wine is more worth collecting.”
I… replied with six dots.
I was immersed in texting but somehow felt something unusual. Looking up, everyone was bustling about selecting songs, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Xiaofeng leaned over to peek, “What are you doing? You’ve been messaging non-stop.”
I pushed her head away, “It’s been quite a while, okay?”
Xiaofeng pouted, enthusiastically recommending: “The duck tongue here is delicious, want to try some?”
The KTV became lively again, everyone taking turns singing. The seating arrangement was still like in college – boys on one side, girls on the other, each group having their conversations.
Xiaofeng, the senior, and I attacked the platter of cold dishes, not singing a single song – after all, we were the tone-deaf trio. Rong Rong and Siying sang well, each performing two songs, earning rounds of applause.
Later, the main battlefield was handed over to the boys, while the girls sat on the side chatting. During the quieter moments between songs, fragments of conversation drifted to my ears, seemingly about Sheng Xingjie.
I couldn’t help but glance over; Rong Rong was smiling contentedly.
As another song’s intro started playing, Zhuo Hui called out: “Faith, Zhang Xinzhe’s Faith, who picked this?”
The senior’s husband shouted while eating: “I picked it, skip it, skip it, I’m too drunk to sing something this difficult.”
The senior glanced at their table and was shocked: “How much have you guys drunk? Treating it like water?”
Siying said: “It’s rare to be so happy, leave them be. Skip to the next song.”
I liked this song and felt a bit disappointed. The senior’s husband’s voice was quite good. Just as I was about to suggest using the original vocal track, a slender hand picked up the microphone from the table.
“I’ll sing it.”
A cool voice rang out, and the private room fell quiet for a moment.
Siying was stunned before starting to clap, “Amazing, amazing, our handsome Zhuang is going to sing, a once-in-a-century spectacle.”
Zhuo Hui said: “He’s sung this before, that time we went to KTV before graduation.”
Siying said: “Wasn’t that time canceled because the KTV was full?”
Zhuo Hui made an “oh” sound, “I remembered wrong, it was later with some classmates from our department.”
Zhuang Xu completely ignored their conversation, his gaze focused on the screen.
The music grew louder, covering their conversation.
“Whenever I hear a melancholic melody
It stirs up painful memories
Whenever I see the white moonlight
I think of your face
Knowing I shouldn’t think, can’t think, yet thinking until lost
…”
I had never heard Zhuang Xu sing before, turns out that when he sings… he’s quite good.
I’ve forgotten which day it was, but I remember it was a night, in the dormitory, everyone lying in bed, soft music playing from a small speaker.
This song, “Faith,” was among them.
Around that time, someone had set up candles and sang under the girls’ dormitory building to confess their love. As I listened, I randomly said: “That junior who confessed the day before yesterday didn’t choose the right song. If he had sung this one, he might have succeeded. If someone sang this song to me under the dormitory building, I would say yes.”
At the time, my dormmates laughed at me uncontrollably.
But I was serious. Young me thought, if someone would sincerely tell me, I love you, it’s my faith.
What could be more moving than that?
By then, I already knew Zhuang Xu, had even moved back to the dormitory because of him.
But when I said those words, I hadn’t thought of him at all, because he would never do that.
My thoughts drifted away in the song, but the next moment, the singer stopped before the climax.
The guys protested: “What’s going on, stopping before the climax?”
“Don’t know the rest.” Zhuang Xu put down the microphone and walked back to his seat.
Siying shouted over the accompaniment: “I’ve heard of people who only sing the climax, but who only sings the beginning?”
Xiaofeng commented: “This is normal, I really can’t imagine Zhuang Xu singing such a love song.”
I completely pulled myself out of my memories, thinking I should leave.
But not now – after two more songs, that way it wouldn’t seem deliberate.
So after two more songs, I got up to say goodbye.
The KTV was in a shopping center. After leaving, I first went to the restroom, and when I came out, I unexpectedly saw Zhuang Xu waiting for the elevator.
I slowed my steps, just thinking about how to avoid him when he looked over.
“Nie Xiguang.”
He called my name from afar.
I hadn’t expected him to greet me and stopped in my tracks.
“Not singing under the dormitory building, is that okay?”
For a moment, I was horrified as I looked at him, blurting out: “How did you know?”
Zhuang Xu didn’t answer, just stood there. The elevator door beside him slowly opened, but he didn’t move, only reaching out to stop it when it was about to close.
“Sorry, had too much to drink.”
“It’s just a song.” He smiled self-mockingly and walked into the elevator.
I ran to where Lin Yusen was having dinner to wait for him.
I didn’t tell him I was coming. I sat on the bench outside the restaurant, seriously watching people coming and going through the entrance, but gradually began to space out. After who knows how long, a pair of long legs appeared in front of me, and someone bent down with a smile to chat me up.
“Miss, you look like you’re lost.”
I looked up and directly wrapped my arms around his neck.
Lin Yusen was somewhat surprised but took the opportunity to hug me, “Why did you come all the way here to find me? Wasn’t today’s birthday party fun?”
“It’s not that.” I buried my head in his neck, “I just forgot your house password and was afraid I couldn’t get in, take me home quickly.”