Jiang Qiaoxi hadn’t returned to the provincial capital in four years. The city where he was born and raised had undergone rapid changes during this time.
“Has this entire area been demolished?” he asked, gazing out the bus window.
That street used to be where he attended cram school every day after junior high classes.
Lin Yingtao, the setting sun reflected in her eyes, sat beside him and said, “It’s been over two years since they tore it all down. They’ve built a Wanda Plaza nearby. Cai Fangyuan says property prices here have skyrocketed!”
Jiang Qiaoxi had never felt particularly attached to this city before. However, having been born and raised here, hearing the familiar local accent of passersby and seeing the street advertisements stirred something within him. Even receiving a welcome message from China Mobile filled him with emotion.
Yingtao held his hand as they alighted at an intersection beneath an overpass. This elevated road was built in 2007. Jiang Qiaoxi looked towards the Electric Power Construction Corporation’s residential complex. The surrounding streets, tobacco and liquor shops, and eateries had all changed.
Lin Yingtao led him across the street. This time, there was no wooden fish sound urging him on.
“Uncle Qin’s supermarket has moved across the street,” Yingtao said excitedly, reminiscent of when she first showed Jiang Qiaoxi around the Qunshan construction site. “He bought out the two shops that used to sell roast chicken and dried fruits. Look over there, isn’t it huge? It’s several times larger than the original small store!”
As she spoke, someone emerged from Qin’s supermarket. He walked with a limp, wearing gloves, carrying a box of broken fresh eggs out to place in a small cart by the door. He glanced in their direction and suddenly waved.
“Uncle Qin!” Yingtao called out from afar.
Uncle Qin, now more robust than before, furrowed his brow and asked, “Yingtao, why aren’t you at university yet?”
Only then did he notice the young man beside Lin Yingtao.
He looked somewhat unfamiliar, yet somehow familiar at the same time.
Lin Yingtao, holding Jiang Qiaoxi’s hand, ran across the street. She said, “Uncle Qin doesn’t seem to recognize you.”
When they reached the supermarket entrance, Yingtao smiled and said, “Uncle Qin, this is Jiang Qiaoxi.”
Jiang Qiaoxi bowed his head slightly and said softly, “Hello, Uncle.”
Uncle Qin stared at Jiang Qiaoxi in surprise, looking him up and down repeatedly. He glanced at Lin Yingtao’s smiling face.
“Jiang Qiaoxi?” he asked, chuckling, “You’re back?”
The security guard at the residential complex entrance was new, no longer the familiar face from 2008. On this Sunday afternoon, the complex was filled with people walking dogs, parents strolling with infants, and old men playing chess at the street corner.
“Yingtao!” An auntie pushing a bicycle, preparing to go grocery shopping, called out, “How come you’re back from Beijing?”
Lin Yingtao replied, “I came home to see my parents on Sunday!”
“Oh my, Engineer Lin is so fortunate!” The auntie smiled, glancing at Jiang Qiaoxi beside her, frowning slightly in confusion.
Lin Yingtao arrived at the base of her building, looking up at her family’s window. She said to Jiang Qiaoxi, “It seems neither uncle nor auntie recognized you.”
Jiang Qiaoxi said, “Maybe I’ve changed too much.”
“Not really,” Lin Yingtao raised her hand, touching his face. After a moment’s thought, she said, “Maybe they didn’t expect you to come back.”
Lin Yingtao took out her keys from her bag and opened the building door. She walked in, while the tall Jiang Qiaoxi remained outside.
Suddenly, Lin Yingtao turned back and hugged Jiang Qiaoxi’s waist tightly.
It was unclear what she had remembered.
Jiang Qiaoxi held onto Yingtao’s hands wrapped around his waist.
“Did you expect it?” Jiang Qiaoxi asked softly, lowering his head.
Lin Yingtao shook her head vigorously.
Jiang Qiaoxi brought her hands to his face and squeezed them firmly.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come up with me?” Lin Yingtao asked.
Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his eyes. “I’ll wait down here,” he said. “If Uncle and Auntie agree, just give me a call.”
“They’ll agree,” Lin Yingtao muttered. The stairwell echoed, and she feared her parents might hear if they opened the door upstairs. “They like you very much.”
“Liking me doesn’t mean they’re ready to let you marry me now,” Jiang Qiaoxi said, lowering his eyes. “I still have nothing to offer.”
Lin Yingtao pursed her lips. “You have me,” she said defiantly.
Jiang Qiaoxi couldn’t help but smile.
Yingtao went upstairs, her footsteps light, quickly disappearing from Jiang Qiaoxi’s sight.
Jiang Qiaoxi stood there for a moment before closing the building door beside him.
If he were more confident, perhaps he could have gone upstairs with Lin Yingtao and strongly insisted that Uncle Lin and Aunt Juan let him marry Yingtao.
But Lin’s parents were both gentle-natured people. They might reluctantly agree, not wanting to disappoint the young couple.
It was better to let them have a chance to talk to Yingtao alone, to express their parental concerns and worries. Jiang Qiaoxi also hoped Yingtao would think it through carefully before making a decision. After all, once they entered into marriage, their relationship would be bound by law. In the future, even if Yingtao fell in love with someone else and wanted to leave, Jiang Qiaoxi wouldn’t let her go easily.
“Are you…” a girl’s voice asked from behind, “Jiang Qiaoxi?”
Jiang Qiaoxi turned around under the eaves.
A stranger stood behind him.
Xin Tingting’s face turned pale. “What… what are you doing here?” she asked.
Jiang Qiaoxi said, “Who are you?”
Lin Yingtao opened the front door to find her parents sitting around the coffee table, making dumplings.
The TV was on, and her mother was watching a drama while rolling out dumpling wrappers. She laughed, “Every time I hear this Song Xiaobao call out ‘Yingtao’, I can’t help but laugh…” She held the rolling pin, turning her eyes towards the door, suddenly staring at their doorway.
Lin’s father, a bit slow on the uptake, also turned to look.
“Why are you back?” Mom stood up and asked Lin Yingtao.
Lin Yingtao glanced at the TV, which seemed to be playing a rural-themed drama. She said, “Dad, Mom, stop making dumplings for now. I have something very serious to discuss with you.”
The TV was turned off.
Lin Yingtao stood in front of the TV, facing her parents sitting on the sofa. She lowered her head, gathering her thoughts for this serious matter. Her father asked why she had come back. Lin Yingtao waved her hand at him, indicating he shouldn’t interrupt. As if preparing for a speech, she said, “I want to formally tell you… I plan to marry Jiang Qiaoxi.”
Her father looked at her, stunned for a moment as if he had been somewhat prepared for this.
Her mother, however, sensed something was amiss and frowned at Lin Yingtao.
Sure enough, Lin Yingtao said in the next second, “We’re going to the civil affairs bureau tomorrow!”
“What?” Even the usually calm Engineer Lin was shocked.
Mom suddenly stood up beside him: “You suddenly came back from Beijing without even a phone call!”
Lin Yingtao said, “I wanted to give you a surprise.”
The winter break had just ended not long ago, and her parents weren’t missing her that much. Lin Yingtao sat on the sofa, thinking her father had always liked Jiang Qiaoxi and would surely agree. So she wheedled her mother, covering her hand and leaning close to her ear: “Mom, Jiang Qiaoxi and I are so good together. We lived together every day in Hong Kong. Jiang Qiaoxi will earn a lot of money in the future. It’s safer to get married now. If we wait a few more years, what if some other woman seduces him and he doesn’t want me anymore—”
Mom tapped her head with the rolling pin, and Lin Yingtao yelped “Ouch.” “You’re certainly eager!” Mom said disapprovingly.
Dad took the rolling pin from his wife’s hand across from them and continued rolling out dumpling wrappers. He said, “Yingtao, you’re both so young, you can’t get married yet, can you?”
Lin Yingtao said, “Jiang Qiaoxi will turn 22 tomorrow. We can get our marriage certificate.”
Mom asked, “How long have you been planning this?”
Lin Yingtao, looking a bit embarrassed, puffed up her cheeks and smiled, “He proposed to me during the winter break.”
“Oh my, ‘proposed,'” Mom said. “You’re just kids. Why didn’t you tell me about the winter break proposal?”
Lin Yingtao mumbled, “I wasn’t sure when we’d get the certificate then. I thought it would be after graduation… He gave me all his bank cards and bought me a ring. His sister-in-law even gave me two big gold bracelets—”
Mom’s expression changed: “She gave you what??”
Lin Yingtao lowered her head and said, “Big gold bracelets. Anyway, I’ve already accepted them. You can’t ask me to return them now…”
Dad moved the wrapped dumplings into the kitchen, washed his hands, and came to sit beside Lin Yingtao. He lowered his head and asked, “Yingtao, are you serious about this?”
Lin Yingtao nodded vigorously to her father, like a little chick pecking at rice.
“But how can you get the certificate by yourself?” Dad said, troubled. “To get a marriage certificate at the civil affairs bureau, both people need to be present. Qiaoxi is still in Hong Kong—”
Mom, wiping the table behind them, said, “Little brat, you don’t understand anything—”
Lin Yingtao said, “Jiang Qiaoxi is downstairs right now!”
“What??” Lin’s parents exclaimed in unison.
Jiang Qiaoxi stood with his hands in his pockets, leaning against the building entrance, lost in thought.
“Jiang Qiaoxi, why are you here?” The girl named Xin Tingting reacted as if she’d seen a plague god. She glanced at Lin Yingtao’s building entrance and said bitterly, “Do you know how much Qile suffered because of you? She was accused of puppy love since elementary school and then ostracized in high school. She endured years of gossip from headquarters staff and classmates. When you left back then, Qile chased you out to the street late at night, crying at the intersection in her pajamas and slippers. The whole neighborhood knew and laughed at her…” Xin Tingting looked at him, perplexed. “Why did you come back?”
She glanced nervously at the nearby intersection as if fearing someone might see them. “You should leave quickly. Qile has a boyfriend in college now. She’s doing well. If you come looking for her, no matter what, people will gossip about her again if they see you. Your family moved away, but Qile and her parents still live here!”
Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his head, staring at the floor tile patterns. His mind suddenly flashed back to that night when Yingtao, wearing pajamas with a key strap on her wrist, looked up at him in his arms, understanding nothing.
“Qile chased you out to the street late at night, crying at the intersection in her pajamas and slippers…”
“…Everyone knew and laughed at her…”
Jiang Qiaoxi looked up the stairwell through the building door. Those steps led to Yingtao’s home. He suddenly thought that if he had lost her in Hong Kong and returned now, he might have heard the same words from Xin Tingting.
Go away, she has a boyfriend now.
Footsteps sounded from upstairs.
“Jiang Qiaoxi!” Yingtao hurriedly pushed open the building door. She had taken off her coat and wore slippers, her cheeks flushed with excitement. She grabbed his hand. “Come quickly, my parents want you to come up!”
The Lin household had always been warm. Jiang Qiaoxi stood at the doorway, looking up to see Uncle Lin Haifeng and Aunt Juan standing inside, also looking at them awkwardly.
Jiang Qiaoxi pulled Lin Yingtao close. “Uncle, Auntie,” he raised his eyes to face them directly, his throat tightening. He took a deep breath and said, “Please let me marry Yingtao… I will treat her well for a lifetime.”
Engineer Lin stood before them, stunned for a moment, looking at Jiang Qiaoxi who had suddenly appeared, then at his teary-eyed daughter Yingtao gazing at Qiaoxi.
“Qiaoxi,” he said with a helpless smile, “Your aunt and I just happened to make dumplings today. You probably don’t eat dumplings for New Year’s in Hong Kong, right?”
Mrs. Lin, who had been a bit angry earlier thinking the two kids were being rash, now softened her tone seeing Jiang Qiaoxi’s nervous state: “How long have you been waiting downstairs? Come in and put down your travel bag first.”
While eating dumplings, Lin Yingtao looked up at the TV drama her parents had been watching earlier. She frowned, realizing the drama was called “Yingtao,” about a mentally challenged mother named Yingtao and her lame husband.
Jiang Qiaoxi, being tall, had to bend down to eat at the Lin family’s coffee table. He drank some alcohol with Uncle Lin, who had specially brought out half a bottle of Wuliangye. Jiang Qiaoxi rarely drank baijiu. Uncle Lin said he usually had no one to drink with, and this bottle was brought by Yingtao’s uncle from Beijing last time.
Lin Haifeng and Jiang Qiaoxi chatted while drinking, discussing Jiang Qiaoxi’s experiences living alone in Hong Kong these past few years, his cousin’s illness, Lin Yingtao’s personality from childhood to now, her strengths and weaknesses, her university major, and then about Jiang Qiaoxi’s father. Lin Yingtao eavesdropped nearby, occasionally glancing at them. She said worriedly, “Dad, eat your dumplings quickly, they’re getting cold—”
Lin’s father turned back, smiling, “Yingtao, can you fry some peanuts for dad? You know how to do that now, right?”
Lin Yingtao exchanged a secret glance with Jiang Qiaoxi.
When they were young, at the Qunshan construction site, adults would always send the children away when they ate and drank together, enveloped in smoke.
Now, in her father’s eyes, it seemed Jiang Qiaoxi had already taken a seat at this adult table.
Lin Yingtao wasn’t sure if this was good or bad, but it appeared to be a kind of family ritual: there were some things her father wanted to discuss with Jiang Qiaoxi alone.
She stood in the kitchen, peeling pre-dried peanuts. Her mother came in from outside and approached, asking in a low voice, “Has Qiaoxi booked a hotel for tonight?”
Lin Yingtao glanced at her, mumbling softly, “He has, but I want him to stay here…”
Her mother watched her from the side.
Lin Yingtao’s ears turned red. “What? It’s convenient for us to go to the civil affairs bureau together tomorrow morning…”
Her mother tapped her head again. “All you talk about is the civil affairs bureau!”
The plump peanuts were placed in a small bowl.
Lin Yingtao hugged her mother from behind, nuzzling her face in her mother’s hair, both playful and seemingly reluctant to let go.
“Mom,” she said softly, “I’ve thought it all through.”
When she was little, Lin Yingtao wanted to be everything.
She wanted to be a little star, a little artist, a little dancer… Her life had a million possibilities, and in Lin Yingtao’s heart, the whole world opened its arms to her.
But gradually, imperceptibly, she stepped onto her long life path. She passed by each of her childhood wishes and plans for the future.
Among these wishes was one that said, “I want to marry Jiang Qiaoxi.”
And this wish was about to come true.
Lin Yingtao crouched on the balcony, brushing the fur of the lazy Mimi. She looked up to see Jiang Qiaoxi wearing her father’s slippers, appearing outside the balcony door.
“Did you finish talking with Dad?” she asked.
Jiang Qiaoxi sat in the balcony’s armchair, hugging Yingtao and letting her sit on his knee. “Mm,” he nodded, deep in thought.
“What did you talk about?” she asked.
Jiang Qiaoxi’s eyes were moist, either from drinking or for some other reason. “We talked about… things from the past, things for the future.”
“Jiang Qiaoxi.”
“What is it?”
“When can we start living together?” Lin Yingtao tilted her head, leaning on Jiang Qiaoxi’s shoulder. He held her hand. “Like mom and dad, like other couples, living together, eating together, then going to work, always being together…”
Jiang Qiaoxi thought for a moment and said, “You’re going to America, and I’ll work in Hong Kong for a few more years…”
Jiang Qiaoxi seemed to always have a plan, though he rarely mentioned it.
“In a couple of years, when we’re twenty-four,” he said, “we should be able to buy a house.”
“Jiang Qiaoxi.”
“Mm?”
“Are you my husband already?”
Jiang Qiaoxi said, “Legally speaking, we will be after we get the certificate tomorrow.”
Lin Yingtao said, “I wish it was tomorrow already.”
Clouds veiled the moon in the sky.
Jiang Qiaoxi suddenly said, “Wife.”
Lin Yingtao’s cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. “Don’t call me that now… Save it for tomorrow, or it won’t feel fresh anymore.”
Jiang Qiaoxi suddenly wrapped an arm around her waist, his other hand under her knees. He stood up, lifting her high.
“Then let’s sleep now, and when we wake up, it will be tomorrow.”
In 2004, in Lin Qile’s little room, a clivia from Qunshan once held a wedding with a Barbie doll from Hong Kong. That wedding was quite lively, although Lin Qile herself played the roles of officiant, usher, and band, it lasted from early morning until night.
Lin Qile’s arms wrapped around Jiang Qiaoxi’s waist, the bedroom light was off, and she curled up in his embrace. Lin Qile mumbled “Jiang Qiaoxi” in her sleep talk, her fiancé sleeping beside her, holding her tightly.
“Mom!! I want to wear, my Olympic T-shirt from 2007! Where is it… Ah, Mom!!!”
Lin Yingtao felt things weren’t going smoothly from the early morning: her mother wouldn’t let her wear the Olympic couple T-shirt to take wedding registration photos with Jiang Qiaoxi.
“Oh no, I think I forgot my household registration book…” Lin Yingtao sat in the back of her father’s old Santana, rummaging through her small bag, her face pale. She turned to look at Jiang Qiaoxi, then watched as Jiang Qiaoxi took a deep breath. He was also very nervous, showing her the two books he held in his hand.
At the marriage registration office, Lin Yingtao stayed anxiously by Jiang Qiaoxi’s side. She sat down, calmly filling out the marriage registration form with him. Suddenly, Lin Yingtao’s nose began to tingle. She pressed her red handprint with him, and after finishing, she unconsciously raised the back of her hand to wipe away tears.
When she stood with Jiang Qiaoxi to recite the vows provided by the civil affairs bureau, Lin Yingtao tried to hold back but was already sobbing. She used to be a little announcer at Qunshan Elementary School’s broadcasting station, but that was of no use now.
Jiang Qiaoxi hugged her, reciting for both of them. His voice was low and not smooth, but he finished the long passage.
“We two willingly become husband and wife, and from today onwards, we shoulder all the responsibilities and obligations that marriage bestows upon us: to respect our parents, to educate our children, to respect and love each other, to support each other through thick and thin.
From now on, whether in good times or bad, rich or poor, in health or sickness, in youth or old age, we will weather storms together, share joys and sorrows, and stay together for life.
Declarant, Jiang Qiaoxi.
Declarant, Lin Qile.”