Chapter Sixteen

  We know that most men's greatest pleasure in life is to spend money and share a woman with other men, commonly known as prostitution; the thing they hate the most is when other men don't spend money but still share the same woman with them, commonly known as wearing a green hat.

  From a slave society to a feudal society, skipping the capitalist society and entering the primary stage of socialism, despite the tremendous changes in production relations, even the Yellow River has changed its course seven times, but men's values in this regard have not been affected by external shocks at all, and have been passed down firmly. The vast majority of men still love to visit prostitutes rather than wear green hats, and generally will not marry a woman who has already made them wear a green hat before marriage, such as an unmarried mother.

  So, I fully understand the unreserved shock of all of you in the program group towards me, an unmarried mother who can actually find a boyfriend. Of course, this is purely a misunderstanding, but such things are often exaggerated and distorted when talked about too much, which can easily lead to further misunderstandings among the public and unnecessary associations.

  The food on the table was quickly eaten by us, and everyone dispersed. When almost everyone had left, He Dashao suddenly came to our table and sat down beside Zhou Yueyue.

  Zhou Yueyue bowed her head to drink soup, He Dashao lowered his head to play with a lighter, everyone was silent, the firelight flickered, and the atmosphere was really thrilling. I and Yan Lang were infected by the atmosphere, both of us stopped our chopsticks and stared at them.

  Finally, in a flash of firelight, Zhou Yueyue spoke up first: "Teacher Wu got divorced two years ago, did you know that?"

  He Dashi looked at Zhou Yue's profile as she drank the soup and said calmly, "For the past two years, I've been in Sydney. I don't know what happened to her. All I know is what happened to you."

  Ke Zhōu Yuè didn't seem to be moved at all, and said indifferently: "No wonder I didn't see you two flying together in pairs. So you flew solo to Europe first? Europe is great, European women have good figures."

  Yan Lang and I fell silent.

  He Da's mouth twitched slightly and he fell silent. After a while, he finally couldn't bear the silence and said, "I didn't go to Europe, Sydney isn't in Europe."

  I'm done, how can he discuss geographical issues with Zhou Yueyue?

  Zhou Yueyue put down her bowl and muttered to herself: "No, that's not right. Sydney is in Europe, isn't it? I mean, there's the Sydney Opera House, so Sydney must be the music capital of Europe. That's what I said."

  Her words were logical and well-reasoned, and both I and Yang Lang were stunned, sitting in our chairs thinking about whether Sydney was really part of Europe.

  It's rare for someone as old as you to still have a clear head, and he countered with a sharp tongue: "The music you're talking about is all from Vienna, Vienna is in Europe, but Sydney isn't in Europe, it's in Oceania."

  Although he was clear-headed and had a clear mind, it was obvious that he had already forgotten the original intention and topic of coming to talk to Zhou Yueyue.

  The two of them were still discussing geography, because Zhou Yue was a complete geography idiot and she was very stubborn, which made the conversation extremely difficult to progress, and it was getting more and more absurd. Lang and I couldn't take it anymore, so Lang said: "Let's go, we'll go downstairs to find Uncle."

  Qin Mo was already waiting downstairs, sitting on the sofa in the hall reading a newspaper. The light from the corner was not very bright, and his profile was blurry under the interplay of light and shadow, with a particularly elegant posture. It was as if I had caught a whiff of damp sea breeze blowing across the sky, carrying a fishy smell, my nose suddenly sour. Someone said: "Do you want to keep up with his pace? He's walking so fast, unless you're the wind on the ocean." I turned my head and saw that there was only me and Yan Lang on the stairs, and the stranger closest to us was a waitress in a bright red cheongsam downstairs. I thought this was absurd, had I now developed a lingering symptom of dreaming? And what a terrible metaphor it was, why did I have to become the wind on the ocean to keep up with him? Was it saying that if I were the wind on the ocean, I could conveniently whip up a wave and slap him to death, so he wouldn't be able to walk fast anymore?

  Qin Mo had a drink and it was inconvenient to drive, so we could only take a taxi to Dashijie.

  The car drove to the entrance of Dashijie, and I stared blankly at the magnificent building in front of me, thinking we had come to the wrong place. I said, "Is this a KTV? Didn't we come to see your family?"

  Qin Mo said: "Yeah, she's decided on a place, she likes singing..."

  Before I could finish speaking, he suddenly pulled my arm with force. He and I were originally standing face to face, and with his pull, I naturally fell into his arms.

  This fall was particularly heavy, and my head happened to hit his chest. My brain was dazed for a moment, but Qin Mo didn't make a sound, really great.

  Two young men's voices sounded from behind, one said: "Be careful when walking, almost bumped into someone." The other said: "Still not you chasing me." Then hurriedly said to me: "Sorry about that."

  Qin Mo let me go, and I rubbed my forehead in embarrassment: "Didn't hurt you, did I?"

  He smiled and said, "It's okay." The little guy who almost crashed into me was still apologizing profusely. I turned around to comfort them, and just as I lifted my eyes, I froze.

  This is really a narrow road, two or three meters away, Lin Qiao was coldly watching me with his hands in his pockets, and next to him was still the haunting presence of Han Meimei. I didn't have any other thoughts about Han Meimei before, and I even admired her perseverance, but since she came to me with 200,000 yuan asking me to leave C City, I completely lost all thoughts about this woman. Of course, if she had come with 20 million yuan at that time, the effect would have been entirely different.

  Qin Mo leaned in close to me: "Do you know him?"

  I said: "Well, I guess we know each other." After thinking for a moment, I felt that I shouldn't deceive him and added: "Actually, it was my first love and his girlfriend. You also saw the girl last time."

  Qin Mo bent down to hold Yan Lang's hand, I didn't see his expression clearly, Yan Lang awkwardly dodged for a moment, Qin Mo leaned in close to his ear and said something, Yan Lang's pair of bright black and white eyes suddenly shone brightly, not only did he stop dodging, but he even proactively held Qin Mo's hand and gave it a firm squeeze, which made me feel extremely shocked, and I got goosebumps on my back.

  Qin Mo took out two lollipops from his coat pocket, handing the lemon-flavored one to Yan Lang and the strawberry-flavored one to me. I took the candy and tore off the wrapper, and he said, "Are you going over to talk to them?"

  I shook my head with a hint of sweetness. He patted me on the shoulder: "Then go in."

  As I walked past Lin Qiao, I subconsciously glanced at him. His expression was silent and his eyes were cold, like a sculpture. And suddenly, I remembered that year when he held my hand in front of the movie theater, looking at Su Qi and her pursuing junior with the same expression. It seemed like he called out to me softly: "Yan Song." Or maybe it was just the wind blowing by, a hallucination. I thought, even if it wasn't a hallucination, what could I say to him if I stopped in my tracks? Could I say something like, "The weather is really nice today, and you can still see stars in the sky, how rare"? Or, "Your girlfriend's dress looks great, where did she buy it? You two are really well-matched"? But in reality, when all that's left to talk about between two people is the weather and complimenting each other's partners, it means their relationship has reached a dead end. To go further would require seeking negative growth.

  Just now almost hit my little partner ran over to hold Lin Qiao's shoulder: "What are you dazed about, come in with your sister quickly."

  Han Meimei pulled Lin Qiao's sleeve.

  At this time, a song floated out of the hall: With a word in my eyebrows, I see a scene of human scenery, who is not tasting sorrow and joy, the sea and sky are endless, and it's hard to calculate gratitude and resentment. Yesterday is not today, should be forgotten. I thought to myself that this was really fitting, while humming two sentences, catching up with Qin Mo's pace.

  Half an hour later, I figured out a life insight and thought it was indeed the truth. That is, life is really too unpredictable, even more unpredictable than the weather forecast of CCTV.

  When the truth came out, Qin Mo took Yan Lang to the bathroom. The lights in the private room were dim, and the screen was playing the MV of "Hair Like Snow" on mute. Water, Land, and Air's three-star Zheng Mingming was leaning against my shoulder, wanting to whisper something to me.

  I'm still puzzled as to why the person Qin Mo wants to meet, Yan Lang's family member, would be Zheng Mingming, who had an affair with him. Or how did Zheng Mingming get involved in a scandal with his own aunt's son? It seems that Zhou Yueyue was right, to be a good celebrity, you have to know how to create trouble, turn stories into accidents, and make things complicated. What a true artist, what a true celebrity, always treating the entertainment industry with a twisted mind.

  But in any case, this was a blessing for Yan Lang.

  Yan Langpu was stunned for half a day as soon as he saw Zheng Mingming, and then immediately rushed up to kiss him. After Qin Mo introduced "This is my cousin", he had already calmly and not shyly proposed to Zheng Mingming.

  He said: "You and my uncle are collateral relatives within three generations, the marriage law dictates that you cannot get married in this life. But don't be afraid, I have no blood relation with you, I just kissed you, I will take responsibility for you, wait for me for eleven years, when I'm established, I can bring you home."

  Zheng Mingming was stunned for half a day, his mouth twitching. Qin Mo rubbed Yan Lang's head and seriously praised him: "Well done." And I, influenced by the urban rebirth, finally began to think seriously - even if Yan Lang wasn't from another world, could it be possible that he was reborn?

  I sang a duet with Zheng Mingming. When we sang to "Take my back and give it back to me, eat mine and spit it out", everyone was full of emotion, and found that they had the same values and views on right and wrong, and naturally became close.

  Yan Lang sat beside Zheng Mingming all along, while Qin Mo occupied more than half of the sofa by himself, peeling a pear on one side.

  Zheng Mingming didn't want a fruit platter, on the glass tea table there was a small basket with several out-of-season fruits, each kind had only one.

  Qin Mo's pear peeling was quite impressive, the sharp knife gliding along his slender fingers and stabbing straight into the round body of the pear. With a slight effort, the skin and flesh flew apart, I watched in shock, fearing that with the next cut he would peel off his own fingers, so I hurried over to stop him.

  He handed me a knife and a quince which had been trampled on and was now only half intact.

  I sliced the skin very thin, one circle at a time, and showed it to him. Then I handed him the peeled pear. He took the knife and was about to cut it open. I thought this was indeed someone who grew up abroad, completely unaware of the feudal superstitions that have been passed down in my great country for thousands of years. I quickly grabbed his hand: "You can't use a knife to divide this, dividing pears means separation, not a good omen." Zheng Mingming was singing and the sound effect was particularly good, so he couldn't hear what I was saying at all. I leaned in close to his ear and repeated it again: "You can't use a knife to divide this, dividing pears means separation, bad luck."

  He stopped the knife and leaned close to my ear, saying slowly: "I'll test your brain with a riddle. A three-mouth-sized pancake can't be divided using any tools, but it must be shared among the three people present. What should you do?"

  I've done thousands of such brain teasers, no need to think twice, I can answer right away: "Isn't it three people sharing one mouthful? This is easy, just one person per mouthful."

  As soon as I finished speaking, my mouth was blocked by a half-eaten pear. Unconsciously, I took a bite of it. Qin Mo calmly picked up the pear that I had bitten into and also took a big bite, then handed it to Yan Lang. Yan Lang was completely absorbed in Zheng Mingming's singing and didn't realize what Qin Mo had handed him, so he just put it straight into his mouth.

  I was left speechless and stunned.

  Just as Zheng Mingming finished singing, the room fell silent during the song changeover. Qin Mo fiddled with the shiny knife in his hand and said, "Is this the method you taught?"

  I thought about it and felt that what he said was all true, couldn't be refuted at all, but still felt something wasn't right. It wasn't until I swallowed my saliva that I suddenly realized: "The key is that it's not hygienic."

  Qin Mo said: "You despise me for being unhygienic."

  I hastily waved my hand: "Not that, not that. I mean I took a bite first, and then you took another bite." After saying this sentence, I felt my face turning red, and the next words were very soft: "It's not very hygienic for you."

  He picked up his teacup and took a sip of water: "Oh, I don't mind."

  That's it, I'll be heading back to my hometown during the Spring Festival, so updates will be suspended. Hope you all understand. If things remain busy over the next three days, this will be the last update before the holiday... Wishing everyone a happy new year!