Please Be More Serious - Chapter 48

Chapter 48
Zhengqing sat on the floor looking at the sheets of paper he’d found; would this be their love diary? He remembered the first time he met Yin Ting. She had come to contrived to meet Gu Yingjie by change that day in the conference room. Yingjie asked if she had come to see Yu Fei, she replied that she had, but Yu Fei wasn’t around. He had thought she was a client of Yu Fei’s, and he was afraid Yu Fei had missed an appointment, and offered to help if she required something.
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That had been their first conversation. In May, just over six months ago. Miao-dada came over wondering what Zhengqing was interested in on the floor. He saw the drawer was open and tried to climb into it. Zhengqing pulled the cat away, and held it on his lap. While stroking the cat’s head, he took his phone and dialled Yin Ting. The phone rang a few times before Yin Ting answered. He tried to talk and found his throat tight, ‘That day was the 22nd.’ ‘What?’ Yin Ting asked. He cleared his throat and said, ‘We first met on the 22nd of May.’ ‘You actually remember?’ she said surprised. ‘Well, it was a meeting with Gu Yingjie.’ ‘Oh,’ Yin Ting said a bit dejectedly, he didn’t remember because of romance, he remembered because there was a meeting, ‘Do you have romance contradictory complex?’ ‘What is this new term?’ ‘When you sent me the picture frame, I was moved to death, then you told me it was a power point presentation. I asked Yu Fei and Yingjie they didn’t remember, but you suddenly called and told me the date, I was so touched and then you poured water on it, when you tell me you had it in your diary.’ ‘How should I say it?’ ‘You don’t need to say anything. I am just taking note.’ ‘I feel I should protest.’ ‘Although, I don’t think it is necessary, I would like to know how you would protest.’ She said cheekily, ‘Please protest,’ ‘…’ Zhengqing did not know what to say in protest; he decided to take a page from her book and said, ‘I will tell you when I think of the words.’ Yin Ting laughed, ‘Shameless, Mr Qiu. Shameless.’ ‘I have been taught bad habits by you,’ ‘Do not put all responsibility on me,’ ‘I am not shirking my responsibility, you are my responsibility,’ ‘Those words are not romantic;’ sighed Yin Ting, ‘really want to hear you say something romantic,’ ‘What was wrong with those words?’ ‘Responsibility. You are talking about our love like it is duty. Where is the sentiment?’ ‘…’ Zhengqing was confused, ‘Where is the conflict between responsibility and sentiment? Logic?’ ‘Protest does not want the logic,’ ‘What?’ How did this turn into a protest? ‘I gave you a demonstration of the correct way to protest between lovers. You’re welcome,’ Yin Ting said happily. (Zuben is confused) ‘You decided you are not touched by my words but were unable to justify yourself, so found a flimsy excuse to demonstrate protesting,’ ‘…I was demonstrating how a couple bickers, did you learn anything?’ ‘Your ingenuity is fully reflected.’ He replied drily She laughed, ‘Very good. There is something to record in the diary for today: We had a boring and interesting couples&r

squo; chat.’ ‘A boring and interesting couple dialogue, this is a good thing?’ ‘Yes, ah, very interesting. Do not mind this. Remember that you worked overtime, did not call me till six thirty when I had already bought dinner?’ Zhengqing was silent; Tingting laughed, ‘Just demonstrating how a lover complains,’ ‘I will try to remember to call on time,’ ‘And?’ Yin Ting’s voice was soft and made Zhengqing’s heart ache with longing ‘What else is there?’ he asked ‘Most important is if you need to work over time, you can come home and do things. Don’t stay out too late and make your girlfriend worry,’ she said quickly (Zuben: You know he lived before you came along right?), ‘and this is a demonstration of raising a bone of contention.’ ‘…’Zhengqing was defeated. Her mind was really strange; everything she said this evening seemed to be a demonstration method. The curriculum was too much to digest all at once. Moreover, the demonstrations were just a way of bringing up old grievances. ‘You would feel relieved that I am not recording unhappy things in the diary.’ She said, ‘I am only recording the good things because they are easy to forget.’ Oh? Were happy times easy to forget? ‘I will write the good things down when we are happy so that when things get difficult we can read thing and remember the good times,’ (Zuben: You can appreciate the good times and still break up, but okay) ‘We can remember all the things that made us love each other.  Hmm on August the 31st, my bicycle chain broke and you drove by and offered to help. You bought be lunch and lent me money. However, I felt that you needed help with dating Huizhu-jie. We were just thinking of helping each other at the time. The weather was nice that day, there were many fluffy clouds. I was chasing a particularly beautiful cloud, but was unable to catch up and then you picked me up.’ As he listened to her, his eyes felt heated. ‘On September the 3rd, I went to your work place to return the money I borrowed and give you the red string. At the time, I thought you most desperately needed help from the god of love or your girlfriend would dump you. But now, I’m your girlfriend! I think you inspiration is quite a lot, although the origin is a little embarrassing. I don’t want to leave you, so I am writing these down so we can last a long time,’ Zhengqing lifted a hand to cover his face. He couldn’t believe that a man like him would nearly be crying listening to his girlfriend. Such a loss of face. ‘On the Autumn Festival, we met the cemetery. My mother and your parents are neighbours; really predestined friends. ‘ ‘You gave me a big grapefruit,’ he said, ‘It was the first time I ate such a sweet one. Afterward, I went to supermarket to buy another and it tasted terrible.’ ‘Really?’ She exclaimed. ‘Yes, too sour. I forced myself to eat it every day till it was finished.’ Yin Ting laughed, ‘You’re so stupid.’ ‘This is not stupid. I don’t waste food, I won’t throw it away.’ ‘If it was too sour, why didn’t you add sugar?’ ‘…’ Damn why didn’t he think of that. ‘So stupid,’ she said laughing. ‘I am not stupid,’ he grumbled, ‘I know. I know. You just lack inspiration. I know.’ She said still laughing, then she cried out, ‘I have thought of another riddle: Why is a grapefruit sour?’ Zhengqing sighed, ‘Because you need to add sugar?’ ‘Haha! You’re very intelligent. The grapefruit is sour so you can add sugar. Why is love boring? So you can add sugar. Why is life boring, ah? You need to add sugar. If it not sufficient it is because it is not good. You had the opportunity but wasted it. You cannot blame anyone but yourself.’ Yin Ting was jubilant, ‘I must write this down; it is like the chicken soup issue. Please Be More Serious, you are a font of inspiration.’ Zhengqing smiled, ‘Then you must also add for today that I gave you some inspiration.’ ‘I am going to write down the chicken soup too, it should be remembered.’ Yin Ting said happily, ‘I thought there was nothing worth noting down for today, but I wound up having lots of things to write. I have to buy you grapefruit to make it up to you.’ ‘How many entries have you written?’ ‘Six.’ ‘How come there is only one in my drawer?’ ‘I only just thought of it. I wrote the first entry today. I will leave a couple at yours, and keep a couple, so we both have good memories to remember. What do you think? Is my idea good?’ ‘It’s great,’ he said ‘How come you opened the drawer?’ ‘I thought there might not be enough money, so I was putting in more.’ ‘Really, how nice! I must write this down. You worked so hard today, yet thought of me and things at home. This shows thoughtfulness. It’s all the small things.’ She really was an angel; to put money in the drawer for her was a small thing, but she found something beautiful in that. ‘We must remember the little things, because they are easy to ignore. Let me tell you, I will put one entry in your drawer each day, there is a fear that if I don’t record everything that we would lose it and I would get lazy.  But if I put one in your drawer every day, when you see it you will be happy. And if I am consistent in my recording, and I have lots of entries but it would mean we haven’t seen each other in a while. So I must pay attention. And if there had been nothing to record for a long time, we must pay attention.’ ‘Such a profound strategy, only you can think of it.’ ‘It’s easy to come up with but hard to stick with. If I get lazy, you need to encourage me. This would give us something in common. Our work and life circle are not linked. We gotta have something we do together, right? I have only just started, but I will continue to work on it. I am going to write all our lovely memories, little and large, and on our first anniversary I will collect all the entries and get it bound. So we would have one for every year we are together.’ ‘Every year?’ Every year.’ ‘Then I will have to have a special cabinet made for your diaries,’ Zhengqing said. Yin Ting laughed, that meant they had to be together for a long time, ‘Will we grow old together?’ ‘We will,’ Yin Ting laughed some more. ‘I am being serious,’ Zhengqing said. If they could remember all their little moments of determination and perseverance, then how will they break up? He could not think of it, he felt it was impossible. Yin Ting said, ‘I must write down our first fight. Because a quarrel is not a good matter, but it is commemorating it.’ ‘We will not quarrel,’ ‘We will definitely quarrel, but I cannot think of a reason we might. Perhaps, you working overtime too much,’ ‘Um, are you demonstrating tactful complaining again?’ Yin Ting laughed, ‘I was going to write that down, but forgot. Turned a difficult hindrance to something good, and adhered to the contract.’ ‘How did we change something difficult to something good?’ Didn’t she say she was only writing down happy things? ‘Difficult things aren’t, however, if there is a breakthrough to something happy then it must be written down.’ Zhengqing was silent, he could not speak. He felt if she could find a lot of good in the mundane, then she was the most beautiful one. Zhengqing was suddenly fearful, how could he a common mortal love an angel like her?