On June 16 2012 Xiang Yu received her bachelor’s degree and academic qualification certificate. Carrying both certificates she walked out of school.
Apparently, people in China receive two degrees when they graduate from school. One is for completing the courses in school and the other is proof of a student’s learning ability and academic level.
The story starts from this day.
It was evening when it began raining in Beijing. The concrete road on the campus was washed clean of bright scattered leaves and petals that once stuck to the road. The air filled with a coolness from the fading summer heat.
Xiang Yu stood under a tree at the entrance of the university and waited for a taxi.
Her phone kept vibrating; it was Zhao Yanmo constantly sending messages asking her why she hadn’t arrived yet.
Zhao Yanomo is Xiang Yu’s boyfriend, they have been together for nearly a year. The university he attended is located in a province next to Beijing. They were previously in a long-distance relationship.
Now that Zhao Yanmo graduated he wanted to come to Beijing to develop his career. Their long-distance relationship finally came to an end but it was not as pleasant as Xiang Yu once thought it would turn out to be.
Zhao Yanmo’s meaning of career development was to come together with a pack of scoundrel friends every day. Accompanied by alcohol on the table they would brag about fake matters and then he would call Xiang Yu to listen to it too.
Hanging out with girls around the table they would use their drunk brains to lay out a vision on how to make bank.
It could be inaccurate to say that his ideology was wrong, but it was definitely different from what Xiang Yu believed in.
On the taxi ride the driver glanced through the rearview mirror and asked, “Where are you headed to?”
“Can you drive me to Xiuchuan Street.”
She had spoken on the phone with Zhao Yanmo at noon and had already said that she didn’t want to go to dinner with them as she had menstrual pain.
Zhao Yanmo, who had learnt the Beijing dialect said a few words with “er hua yin” in a strange tone.
Er hua yin refers to a type of pronunciation that the dialect has.
“How bad could it be, we booked a restaurant with soup on the menu, come on Yuyu we haven’t seen each other in days.”
Dinner was on Xinyi Street which is considered to be a dining street in the older area of Beijing. There were many traditional courtyards there. The street had many soup-making restaurants, one is a well-known Cantonese restaurant and another a chicken soup shop.
Xiang Yu was not sure which one it was and called Zhao Yanmo, “Where are you?”
“Xiuchun Street BBQ Restaurant, come on, hurry here now, I will wait for you.”
Her lower abdomen pain felt like it was drilling at her belly, frowning Xiang Yu said, “Didn’t you say that the place has soup?”
Zhao Yanmo’s side of the phone became a little less noisy. He had probably cupped the microphone, he lowered his voice and said, “So many of my friends are here, they can’t just accompany you to drink soup because of your pain. It’s not that painful, just put up with it okay.”
Because he was in a hurry he didn’t speak in the Beijing dialect anymore.
“Forget about it, I’ll order a portion of ginseng chicken soup for you to eat at home.”
“Xiang Yu, don’t make a fuss okay, I told them that my girlfriend will come later. If you don’t show up, what face will I have left?”
Xiang Yu felt a little angry. She wanted to ask, was keeping his face or was her health more important.
In the next second, Zhao Yanmo lowered his voice once again, “Yuyu, today I invited the son of a CEO of a listed company. If I can build a relationship with him I will be able to get permanent residency in Beijing. Don’t you also want me to stay in Beijing?”
Xiang Yu did not answer and hung up.
This kind of discord between them has happened more than once since Zhao Yanmo came to Beijing. It happens on more than one occasion each week.
At first, they would quarrel, they would fight, have a cold war, become hysterical and lose their temper. But now Xiang Yu doesn’t want to quarrel with him anymore.
Xiang Yu met Zhao Yanmo during the holidays after their first year at university. He came to Beijing to find friends to play with and met Xiang Yu on campus.
The teenager wore a casual jacket and parked his bicycle in front of her. His ears were a little red, and his friends were howling as he handed his phone over, his hand shaking with nervousness, “Hello, my name is Zhao Yanmo, is it convenient for you to add me on WeChat?”
In Xiang Yu’s family, there were many elderly people who loved calligraphy and painting. They would frequently purchase black carbon ink to paint.
On that day, it was unknown whether it was because the word “Yanmo” was too familiar, or because Zhao Yanmo’s eyes were full of sincerity that Xiang Yu agree.
Black carbon ink in pinyin is: youyanmo
Yet only after a year, that originally naïve countenance of a young man was gone after continuously associating himself in various kinds of alcoholic parties.
Full of desire in the heart to rise in Beijing, yet wanting to reap without sowing.
“Miss, Xinchun Street is right ahead, there is a traffic jam, look..”
The driver’s meaning was quite obvious, the rain had stopped and the traffic jam began from the front intersection. If the customer could walk on their own, it couldn’t be any better and it would save both parties’ time.
Xiang Yu grabbed the back of the co-pilot seat, her voice was a little weak when she said, “Sir, please keep driving, I am not feeling very well.”
Northern Chinese people generally speak faster and talk more boldly but Xiang Yu’s voice is a bit prolonged, like a weeping willow drenched in the mist and rain outside the window.
The driver subconsciously glanced back. The university degree and academic qualification certificate were poking outside of the girl’s bag, her slender hands were pressed against her lower abdomen and her face was pale.
“Then you sit back down, I am not afraid of waiting a bit in traffic. I will send you to Xiuchun Street.”
“Thank you.”
The car was stuck at the intersection for a while. Through the rain-covered window, the neon signs and lights turned into a blur of dotted lights.
Xiang Yu remembered that last summer Zhao Yanmo covered her with an umbrella under the heavy rain, half of his body wet when he said “Xiang Yu, I like you, let’s get together. Can you give me a chance?”
Such a moment made her feel comforted and warm in an instant, however, it only existed at the start of their relationship. She didn’t understand why men were like this, they exhaust all means to chase after another but once they got together, they instead do not cherish them.
The disappointment and sadness that Xiang Yu should have experienced had already happened. A relationship that was near its end was actually not painfully unbearable compared to her current physical pain.
She thought calmly, let’s have one last meal and end the relationship.
At the entrance to Xiuyu Street, the car came to a sudden break and Xiang Yu leaned forward due to inertia. After the sudden movement, her lower abdomen burst out in pain and cold sweat, she looked out of the window.
A pure black Mercedes drove from the opposite direction seemingly getting to the street faster than the taxi. On the license plate beside the region was unexpectedly the sequence 44444.
People in the older area of Imperial City are a bit superstitious. They feel that it is not auspicious to have a “4” on their number plate, house number or even phone number so few people use it.
Don’t know if it was because the car was expensive or because the license plate was unusual, the taxi driver rolled down the window and didn’t immediately start to shout.
The black Mercedes on the opposite side of the street reversed back a distance yielding the area of the road. A hand holding a cigarette appeared in the back seat window, the smoke scattered across the air and a male voice sounded “Sorry, you first.”
The taxi driver drove into Xiuyu Street and stopped at the door of the BBQ shop, “Miss, I see that you feel uncomfortable, don’t eat too much BBQ.”
Xiang Yu was stunned for a moment, then she smiled and thanked earnestly, “Thank you.”
Even strangers who had only accompanied her for a short distance showed a bit of care, but Zhao Yanmo is not even aware.
The BBQ shop is said to be an old Imperial City building. They remodelled the courtyard house; it has the remnants of carved beams and pillars from a noble family in the Qing Dynasty. The lights of the restaurant itself seemed to be red lanterns that took one back in time.
Xiang Yu endured the pain in her lower abdomen and walked in. Zhao Yanmo quickly pulled her wrist to go in and remanded her while walking, “The crayfish has been on the table for a long time but you still haven’t come, I was waiting for you.”
Several boys in the private room were heavy smokers, the row of exhaust fans was unable to keep up and the room lingered of smoke.
Many of the guys were smoking, the BBQ on the table was filled with chilli peppers, and there was spicy crayfish and mixed vegetables.
The tableware in front of Xiang Yu was yet to be opened and the smoke around her caused her to blink her sour eyes.
The pain in her lower abdomen became more apparent from time to time, and the ache made it less appetible to consume the food.
After persisting for about 40 minutes Zhao Yanmo and a few boys went out to the bathroom and came back, their bragging voices came through the hallway.
“I just saw a car straight on, five fours, truly a f*cker.”
“Man, that was such a fine car, must have been one of the top Mercedes S500.”
“That good, aren’t they also eating at the same restaurant as us?.”
“Exactly, we will make money someday and can do the same.”
Several of the friends that Zhao Yanmo made had some money at home, somewhat rich. After entering the door one of the guys began to brag about his wealth, “Mercedes S what, it is some stranger’s car, daddy will change to a Volvo at the end of the year and take you guys for a drive.”
“Do you prefer a Volvo now? Or still want the Volkswagen from before that won’t work?”
“Work your mother! Let it be!”
Zhao Yanmo smiled flattering and said, “Ah brother, if you don’t drive it, don’t chuck it, give it to me to drive.”
Xiang Yu forcedly endured it for another ten minutes before taking advantage of the excitement, and calmly said to Zhao Yanmo, “At what time will it end at? I have something to tell you.”
Considering Zhao Yanmo’s face, Xiang Yu kept her voice low.
“It’s still too early today, in a moment I will go karaoke later.” Zhao Yanmo said in a low voice.
Xiang Yu silently nodded, “Then I will go first.”
In the feelings that accumulated between them for nearly a year, there was a small moment in her that actually hoped Zhang Yanmo would stop her which vanished in a flash.
Just like when they first got together, he would ask her thoughtfully, “Does your stomach hurt, I’ll walk you home.”
But Zhao Yanmo didn’t, in a flash there was a bunch of questions such as, “Hey, why did your girlfriend go?”, “Is she upset?”, “Is she angry with you?”, “Zhao Yanmo, you can’t repeatedly simp after your girlfriend.”
He just used his lame imperial accent to downplay her pain, “Hey, girls are unreasonable, they feel a little ache from menstruation and they feel that the sky is going to collapse…”
It did not rain again and the air was left with a dampness. Walking into this kind of air from a heated room caused one’s bones to chill.
In the end, she was a 21-year-old girl who had just finished university and was so emotional that she had graduated her eyes had already turned red more than once.
Even if there were few feelings left when breaking up, it was still mixed with her downcasted mood from menstrual pain making her want to cry on this rainy day.
After a few steps, Xiang Yu walked out of the lively BBQ restaurant, turned into an alley next to the restaurant and simply sat on a low concrete platform. The concrete platform is hidden behind a trimmed square plant isolating her from the noise, only the patter of rain dripping from the roof could be heard.
At first, no one saw each other.
Xiang Yu was sad for a moment but when she raised her eyes she realized that there was someone a few steps away.
There was a very tall man with broad shoulders and a narrow waist standing not so far away and holding his phone on a call.
The light was dim in this place and only a man who had a sharp face and a clear jawline could be seen.
He sandwiched the phone between his shoulders and the side of his face, then he took out a cigarette case picking out a cigarette, took out a small box using a needle-like object he jabbed at the cigarette’s mouth, and seemingly he stuffed something like an incense into the cigarette.
The man’s movement was slow, his eyes lowered as he faintly responded to the conversation on the phone.
For the first time, Xiang Yu saw a man who made smoking seem like spring water sencha, graceful and free. Originally, she had just unconsciously casted her gaze on him but in his every move the question “Who should ride off as a stranger to the capital?” suddenly appeared.
A line from a poem named 临安春雨初霁, This part is specifically laminating how weak human feelings are in the world.
The man obviously didn’t know that there was someone else around, he paused slightly when he turned his head to light the cigarette.
Later, when he recalled their first meeting he said with a smile that he thought she was a ghost.
Xiang Yu knew that her face must be pale, her eyes red and since she was hidden in the dim light it is estimated that she must appear to be quite scary. But she was really not in the mood to say anything so she looked at the man confusingly.
The man lit the cigarette and exhaled a white mist while biting the cigarette butt.
He took off the black shirt he was wearing over his short sleeves and walked in front of Xiang Yu.
Due to the smell of smoke in the room just now which she utterly detested, Xiang Yu subconsciously wanted to hold her breath but there was only a soft agarwood scent by her nose.
He crumpled up his shirt and handed it to Xiang Yu, “Sit on this, it’s cold on the ground.”
The author has something to say:
One day, I saw a sentence on the Internet, “Do You Think What You Think You Think?“
I didn’t understand it initially, so I looked at it again.
Does a relationship with such ease exist, then I suddenly wanted to write a story about “miscalculation”.
This is “Long Street”.
This is the name of a philosophical book by Jeremy Stangroom and Julian Baggini
Author: 殊娓
http://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=5163285
Note:
I thought that recently there haven’t been many modern-day romance translations recently and I have decided to pick this one up. I myself haven’t finished this yet but it’s quite a good somewhat cliche read to pass time. This is mainly MTL with my basic Chinese and terrible English skills so please try to bear with me as I finish this.
RiahTrans 