Qin Qiao'an had thought about finding himself a girlfriend, but he hadn’t been in any particular hurry.
When he was twenty-seven, he took a train back to Wencheng and met a young woman at the station.
She had permed hair, a stylish polka-dot dress, and high heels. A suitcase sat beside her.
Amid the surging crowd, she struggled to keep hold of her suitcase, swaying as people jostled her from all sides.
“Hey! Don’t push! Stop pushing!” she said nervously.
Her accent was almost exactly the same as his mother Qiao Lanshu’s.
She was probably visiting relatives in Wencheng from Yangcheng. Even her clothes were clearly in the style of those imported from Hong Kong.
Qin Qiao'an hadn’t been home to visit his family in two or three years. Hearing a girl with the same accent as Qiao Lanshu’s suddenly made him feel an inexplicable sense of closeness.
He immediately strode over, pushed the crowd aside, and steadied the girl. He even picked up her suitcase for her.
“Come with me,” he said.
When the girl first saw him, she was frightened. But then she noticed his military-green T-shirt and camouflage trousers, the army-style bag slung over his shoulder, and his tall, broad build and close-cropped black hair. Without thinking, she followed him forward.
The train station was packed with people at the end of the year. And Wencheng’s station was a major stop, so the crowds were especially heavy.
Public safety was poor in those days, with pickpockets and kidnappers everywhere.
Qin Qiao'an couldn’t understand what this girl had been thinking, dressing so beautifully and traveling alone to a place so far away.
After they left the station, Qin Qiao'an found a corner and set down her suitcase. Then he lowered his head to look at her.
“Are you alone?” he asked.
The girl nodded somewhat sheepishly.
“Did you come here from the south to visit relatives?”
The girl looked a little embarrassed. “Sort of. My father runs a business here. I just graduated this year, so I came to help out at his factory.”
Qin Qiao'an frowned at her. “You don’t even know who I am, and you’re already telling me all about your family? Don’t you know how easy it would be for someone to kidnap you?”
The girl’s eyes widened slightly, and she asked nervously, “Huh? Then… are you a bad person?”
Her large eyes revealed a certain innocent cluelessness.
Qin Qiao'an looked at her speechlessly for a couple of seconds before asking, “Where is your father? I’m not in a hurry. I’ll take you there.”
The girl immediately brightened. “Really? Thank you so much! Here’s the address.”
She pulled a telephone directory from her handbag and flipped to a page with her father’s phone number and the factory’s address written on it.
Qin Qiao'an had grown up in Wencheng and knew the city like the back of his hand. He recognized the place at a glance.
“It’s a bit far to walk,” he said. “Let’s take a motorcycle taxi.”
Motorcycle taxis were common in those days, though the drivers were notorious for overcharging passengers.
Qin Qiao'an paid two yuan to have the girl taken to the entrance of a food factory. After watching her reunite with her family, he turned around and left.
The girl hurried after him.
“Hey, wait! What’s your name? Could you give me your phone number?”
Her voice was soft and sweet, and her accent really did sound just like Qiao Lanshu’s.
Qin Qiao'an liked hearing it. Without hesitation, he wrote his name and his family’s telephone number in her directory.
“I’m from Wencheng. I’m going home for the New Year. If you need anything, you can call me.”
The girl smiled and nodded. “My name is Chen Yafeng. I’ll give you my number too.”
With that, she took the pen and wrote down a number, then tore off the page and handed it to Qin Qiao'an.
He accepted it casually and walked away without looking back.
Chen Yafeng watched his departing figure. She wanted to call out to him, but felt too embarrassed.
A middle-aged woman said to her, “Yafeng, who was that man just now?”
Chen Yafeng answered shyly, “Sister Wang, he’s a good person. He brought me here.”
Sister Wang tugged her back toward the factory, lecturing her as they walked. “Oh, please. You think far too many people are good just because you say so. Your boss already told you not to talk to strangers. You should have waited for us to pick you up at the station. You shouldn’t have gone off by yourself…”
Sister Wang went on and on, but Chen Yafeng didn’t take any of it in.
Her face flushed as she lowered her head, apparently lost in thought. At last, she said, “He’s different from the others. He’s really handsome—tall and good-looking—and his voice is wonderful too.”
Sister Wang: “…”
Sister Wang was truly at a loss. “Child, do you only care about someone’s looks? You’re going to get yourself tricked sooner or later.”
Chen Yafeng ignored her completely. “Qin Qiao'an would never trick me. Besides, even his name sounds nice!”
Sister Wang: “…”
…
The following afternoon, Qiao Lanshu was at home when she received a call from a young woman. The girl’s voice was soft and sweet, with the accent of someone from Yangcheng. She asked somewhat nervously, “Hello, is this Qin Qiao'an’s home?”
Qiao Lanshu was sitting on the sofa with her eyes still fixed on the television, but her expression had already turned to utter astonishment.
She turned to look at Qin Yuanzheng. He lowered his newspaper and asked, “What is it?”
Qiao Lanshu ignored him and smiled as she answered, “Yes, it is. And you are?”
The girl on the phone sounded a little embarrassed. “I’m Chen Yafeng. I need to speak to him about something. Could you ask him to come to the phone?”
“Of course. Just a moment,” Qiao Lanshu replied.
She set down the receiver and hurried over to knock on Qin Qiao'an’s door.
When Qin Qiao'an came out, he immediately noticed the strange look on Qiao Lanshu’s face.
Qin Qiao'an: “…”
He picked up the phone, spoke for less than a minute, and quickly hung up.
Qiao Lanshu hurriedly asked, “Who was that? Who called you? What did you talk about?”
Qin Qiao'an walked to the entrance and put on his shoes as he said, “A friend. She just arrived in Wencheng and doesn’t know her way around, so she asked me to show her the city.”
Before Qiao Lanshu could ask anything else, Qin Qiao'an had already hurried out.
Standing in the doorway, she muttered, “That rascal. He sure ran fast…”
At first, Qin Qiao'an didn’t think there was anything strange about Chen Yafeng getting lost.
But on the third day, and then the fourth, Chen Yafeng called him every day to ask him out. Each time, she claimed that she didn’t know where she was, didn’t know where to find good food, or didn’t know what there was to do for fun…
After they went out, the two of them would eat together and stroll around the city. Sometimes, when she was in the mood, she would even drag him to the cinema.
Over the course of his more than ten days of holiday, their relationship progressed by leaps and bounds. They went from strangers who had met by chance to close friends who got along extremely well.
After the New Year, Qin Qiao'an went to the train station to return to his military unit.
To his surprise, he ran into Chen Yafeng there again.
Qin Qiao'an was startled. “I thought you said you were going to help out at your father’s factory?”
Chen Yafeng said with a smile, “My dad says I’m all thumbs, so he won’t let me help.”
Qin Qiao’an sat beside her. After a moment of silence, he looked at her and asked, “Are you going back to Yangcheng this time?”
Chen Yafeng looked at him. “No. I’m going to the same place as you.”
As she spoke, she handed him the train ticket.
Qin Qiao’an: “…”
Chen Yafeng was from Yangcheng, where all her grandparents and other relatives lived.
Her parents ran a factory and a business in Wencheng.
She wasn’t going to either place. Instead, she was following him to the city where his unit was stationed.
What else could he possibly misunderstand?
He was silent for a long while before finally saying, “My—my father is with the Wencheng Military Region, and my mother is a university professor. My older brother is with the Capital Military Region, and my younger sister works at the Capital Commerce Bureau. I—I’m a lieutenant now. As for my salary, I’ll need to send two or three tenths of it home every month. Would… would that bother you?”
His family didn’t actually need his money. Qiao Lanshu and her husband both earned good salaries, and she also owned shares in Zhong Mei’s department store. Han Ye and Xiaxia often sent money home as well.
But Qin Qiao’an still wanted to send money to his family. He felt that supporting his parents was part of his duty, and that he ought to contribute to the household.
Still, he stammered a little and seemed somewhat embarrassed.
The moment Chen Yafeng heard this, she brightened. “My family is in business. I have two older brothers. My eldest brother runs the factory with our parents, while my second brother studied traditional Chinese painting and now teaches at a school. As for me, well…”
She looked a little embarrassed. “I just graduated from university. I used to work at the Forestry Bureau, but it was too exhausting, so I quit. I don’t have a job at the moment. You—you don’t look down on me, do you?”
Chen Yafeng had grown up in comfortable circumstances, doted on by both her parents and her brothers.
She had lived a carefree life and had never had to worry about making ends meet.
So when she disliked her job, she simply quit.
Now, she was wholeheartedly chasing after Qin Qiao’an, without ever considering that he might look down on her.
Looking into her innocent eyes, Qin Qiao’an smiled. “Of course not. I can afford to support you.”
Chen Yafeng happily hopped in place. The two of them were remarkably sincere with each other. They hadn’t even started dating, yet they were already discussing such practical matters.
Chen Yafeng said earnestly, “Once we get there, I’ll study hard and take the civil service exam. Don’t worry—I’ll work hard for sure! We’ll use your salary to support the family, and I’ll save mine. Then we can use it to raise our children in the future.”
Qin Qiao’an: “…”
This girl really could think far ahead—very far ahead indeed.
He took Chen Yafeng’s hand and said, “Come on. The train’s here.”
—The End—
