My girlfriend who has been running for ten years is getting married tomorrow

Chapter 17 The rival in love shows up, the mother-in-law doesn't believe in love (1)
During that time, we lived together in that small nest in Nanjing. She went to and from get off work, and I did the shopping and cooking. This kind of model where the man was in charge of the house and the woman was in charge of the house was a kind of compensation for her.Every morning I wake her up, cook noodles and omelets while she is grooming, tidy up her things while she is eating breakfast, and give her a box of scalded yogurt when she goes out.

"I went to work, you stay at home obediently, guard the door of our house, and don't let the little thieves and bad women steal it." She tied her scarf and gave orders as she left.

In the past twenty-five or six years, I have always been a fair-skinned literary youth, but after staying at the seaside for nine months, my appearance has completely changed.Even though I wore decent clothes and had my hair styled neatly, after a few days the clothes became wrinkled and my hair messed up.

I feel like a crumpled transparent sugar wrapper that will never be ironed flat again.

The most unacceptable thing for me is that when I returned to normal human civilization, I found that my skin color was clearly different from the peers around me.In order to restore the original skin tone, I bought various brands of whitening skin care products and used them every morning, noon and night, and even learned how to use a mask under her guidance.

However, the ultraviolet radiation on the beach is several times higher than that in the city, and the skin exposed to the salty sea wind is like bacon, and those measures are almost useless.

The reason why I was so anxious was because her parents were introducing someone to her again, and I had to pay a visit at the end of the year to let them recognize me as a son-in-law.When I told Ling Yiyao about my inner worries, she comforted me indifferently: "It's okay, I just said that you came here to support me, and they won't make things difficult for you."

When she said that, I felt a little relieved.

Even though I have joined the company for less than four months, Ling Yiyao has gotten along well with her colleagues in the unit. When the company's annual meeting was held, the leader personally asked her to bring me to attend.But I have been far away from the city for too long, and I am extremely unfamiliar with this kind of occasion, so I can't help being somewhat resistant. Ling Yiyao insisted on persuading: "Others have already been invited, so why not go? Besides, if you show up this time, my life will also stop. .”

I understand what she is referring to. The lonely young man in the company and the good-hearted aunt have already annoyed her a lot.

She took me to Xinjiekou and carefully selected a black suit, which was exactly the same and fit just right, as if it had been custom-made.And she picked out a long beige slim-fitting windbreaker in a small foreign trade shop, which was fresh and natural and showed off her slim figure, but the price was only a quarter of my suit.I was rather displeased and asked in a low voice: "Are you afraid that I don't have enough money? Why don't you choose a better one?"

She asked disapprovingly, "Isn't it pretty?"

"It's pretty, but..."

"But it's too cheap, isn't it?" She looked at herself in the floor-to-ceiling mirror from side to side, and said, "You men don't buy more clothes for yourself, you have to be more high-end and decent; and women, the clothes are updated all year round. It's fast. If you want both good quality and low price, it's best to go to a foreign trade store to find goods. Look at this windbreaker, put it on the shelf of a big shopping mall with a different label, and even if you add another zero, someone will buy it. "

The more calm she was, the more guilty I felt. I would rather she not be so considerate, but just ask me for something from the counter of the mall.In her most beautiful youth, I owed her too much, and I can only make up for it with all my strength in the rest of my life.

"Come here," she said, pulling me in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror, and we stood side by side.

"Well, that's great, it's a bit like a wedding photo!" She nodded with satisfaction, then looked up again, and asked doubtfully, "Why is your hair messed up again?"

The annual meeting of her company was quite lively that day, with more than 100 people up and down. When she appeared at the entrance of the hall holding my arm, the nearby attendees suddenly fell silent.She wasn't used to such attention, so she pulled me to a remote corner to sit down. Even so, there were still people watching here from time to time, as if there was some news passing among them.

It's no wonder that such a highly educated and beautiful female colleague doesn't accept any overtures or even confession, and only uses "already has a boyfriend" to prevaricate everything.People naturally wondered what her boyfriend would be like, and now that I finally showed up, I would of course be surrounded like a monkey in a circus.

The programs of the annual meeting were performed by employees from all departments of the unit, and they were extremely funny. Even the serious leaders on weekdays came on stage and sang an old song from the 90s: "Wow, love is a glass of wine, anyone who drinks it will get drunk ..."

Ling Yiyao snuggled up beside me, watching the performance with a smile on his face. When the atmosphere was very good, he raised his small plastic slap and slapped it twice. From time to time, a female colleague came over enthusiastically, first greeted her, then nodded to me, and asked : "Is this your boyfriend?"

"Yeah." She readily admitted, embracing my arm.

"I heard that you guys started talking when you were in high school. I'm very envious." The other party seemed to be full of compliments, but they stared at my face, which was a bit impolite.

Ling Yiyao said calmly: "The complexion is very dark, isn't it?"

"A little bit, it's okay..."

She joked: "I wanted to follow Gu Tianle's route, but I accidentally went astray."

"It's become Obama." I also laughed at myself.

A few more male colleagues passed by one after another. They were all gentle and fair young talents. They were obviously much more cautious than the female colleagues. They just greeted each other briefly, and seemed unwilling to stay for a second.I can even guess one of them, he once gave Ling Yiyao a gift on Qixi Festival, "The spectacle lens is as small as two fingernails", Ling Yiyao described it this way.

"Later, our department will go to eat boiled mutton, shall we go together?" He took the initiative to invite, looked around and said mysteriously, "Our boss is treating guests."

Ling Yiyao nodded and agreed, "Okay."

"I don't really want to go..." After Naigai'er left, I told Ling Yiyao in a low voice.

"I know, let's sit down for a while before leaving," Ling Yiyao pointed to a middle-aged man in a suit and leather shoes in the front row, and whispered, "That is the boss of our department. Tea, that cup will be used by him for at least a day."

"So picky?"

"So he treats guests today, and we all have to go to support him."

At around nine o'clock in the evening, we walked directly to the hot pot restaurant. Her colleague had already taken a seat in the box, and two bottles of liquor were placed on the table.The head of the department toasted to welcome, and I paid respects to everyone present at the same time, thanking everyone for your concern and care for Ling Yiyao, and drank the glass of wine.

Unexpectedly, the other young people ignored my friendliness and stood up to toast one after another, as if fighting with each other.I could see that they planned to partner up to pour me over, but Ling Yiyao rarely experienced this kind of drinking situation, thinking that I was very popular.I couldn't break it directly, so I could only pick up the wine glass pretending to be straightforward, clinked a glass with the fingernail, and yelled: "Well, let's either drink slowly, or speed up the progress. If we clink glasses, we will see the bottom!"

I drank it all in one gulp again, and Nailaier had no choice but to drink it down. After two or five baijiu, my face, which was already fair, turned pale.The rest of the people praised both of them for being good drinkers, but none of them was willing to stand up, because no one likes a sip of boredom.

And my heart was like a fire burning, tears almost came out of my eyes, Ling Yiyao poured me half a glass of orange juice, and blamed me for drinking too recklessly, she didn't realize that there had been a war without gunpowder smoke between men at all.

The head of the department squinted his eyes, with a strategizing attitude.

In the following time, they chatted about the company and interesting things about this annual meeting, while Ling Yiyao and I ate away from the matter, and occasionally she would explain to me a certain topic they were talking about in a low voice.Inexplicably, they suddenly talked about the academic qualifications of the department staff, and Fingernail asked Ling Yiyao: "Ling Yiyao, you have a master's degree from Nantah University, right?"

"En." Ling Yiyao nodded.

"Oh, yes, what about you?" Fingernail looked at me again, "You two have been talking about it since high school, so you should have graduated from graduate school, right?"

I was stunned for a moment, but Ling Yiyao hesitated to speak, she didn't know how to help me out, and everyone present stopped and waited for my answer.I said, "I started working after graduating from university, and didn't go to graduate school."

"Oh? Also an undergraduate from Nantah University?"

"No, it's just a university in Nanjing," I paused, and added, "a junior college."

"Oh? Then why didn't you take the postgraduate entrance examination with her?"

This time Ling Yiyao jumped in front of me and said: "He graduated a few years ago, and he worked when I was in graduate school. Isn't it good to enter the society to explore the way first? We can't both stay in school. After finishing graduate school, you can’t even change a light bulb if you stare and stare, right?”

Ling Yiyao's answer was hidden in the needle, in order to protect my dignity, she obviously went all out, that guy had to laugh a few times, and stopped pestering me.The others hurriedly smoothed things over, trying to restore the original harmony, but it was no use wrapping the fig leaf after it was torn off, the atmosphere in the box became extremely cold.

These people have no friendship with me, let alone interests, and their attitudes are not worth mentioning to me.Ling Yiyao sat there sullenly, while I chatted with them nonchalantly, talking about billions of municipal projects, the unpredictable climate by the sea, gang fights with real knives and guns, and heroic struggles.

In contrast, the short-lived conversations of their parents have become ridiculous, such as the freshly ground coffee in a certain pastry shop has a strong taste, a certain movie theater provides free popcorn, and a certain street needs to be changed to a one-way street.They gradually put away their arrogance, and held their heads up like children listening to a grandfather telling a story under a big locust tree. The white wine in their cups was slowly drained under my careful guidance, and then filled up again.

"Who the hell doesn't want to guard the comfort zone, who the hell wants to sleep outside? But this is a patriarchal society with a history of thousands of years, and men have to fight for our women. This is the driving force for social progress and development !” I raised my wine glass and yelled, “Everyone who is a man has done it together!”

"Do it!" Everyone poured it down with reluctance.

That night, most of her colleagues were drunk, and Ling Yiyao and I hailed a taxi by the side of the road, sent them away one by one, and then walked home.The dim street lamp shone coldly, making our shadows longer or shorter. She grabbed my sleeve and stepped on those withered yellow leaves from time to time.At this moment, when the cold wind blew, my alcohol gradually subsided, and I asked, "Did I cause you trouble?"

"No." She seemed uncertain.

I was not sure about her attitude for a while, so I could only walk forward in silence.

"I'm not unhappy." She took my arm again as if she could guess what was on my mind, "In the past, we were like two cowardly children who were embarrassed to grab a seat on the bus, but now we finally don't It’s good to be submissive.”

I can only sigh from the bottom of my heart, "Human nature is inherently good" is just a ridiculous statement in middle school textbooks, people will bully the good and fear the evil after all.If I behave with my tail between my legs tonight, instead of accepting my friendliness, these so-called urban white-collar workers will completely despise me, and Ling Yiyao will not be able to escape the boring entanglement from now on.This may be regarded as a victory, but the world is so big, with thousands of people, all kinds of grotesques, how can a high-spirited and strong stand against this world that people have to accept.

"Can we two get married next year?" she asked suddenly.

I stroked her soft long hair and said, "I can't wait for tomorrow."

The winter in Nanjing that year seemed to be extremely cold. The cold wind passed across the overpass, and the metal railings hummed and trembled.

Before the new year, we bumped along the way for more than nine hours, went to the golden beach in Yantai, and finally realized the dream of the sea for many years.The seaside in winter is extremely deserted, few people can be seen, the air is full of humid water mist, the ears are full of the rushing sound of the tide, and a few long and narrow reefs can be faintly seen in the distance.We walked aimlessly on the soft and wet sandy beach. Occasionally, when the tide suddenly came to my feet, she would slowly back away, like avoiding a deliberately provocative young child.When we were tired from walking, we sat on a stranded and abandoned boat on the beach to rest. The tip of her nose was red from the cold, and her long hair was disheveled by the sea breeze, but she still looked into the distance without moving.

"Growing up so big, it's the first time that I have such a wide field of vision," she said.

"Well," I glanced left and right, and said regretfully, "It's just that it's not the right time, and there's no one there."

She said solemnly: "Of course no one, didn't we spend 100 million to book the venue?"

I laughed knowingly.

She turned her head to look at me and said, "Actually, I have many wishes, and seeing the sea is just one of them."

"for example?"

"For example, to decorate a house, go to anyone's concert, go to Putuo Mountain to worship Buddha, as long as it is something that I have envied and dreamed about, I hope to realize it with you when I am young."

"Isn't one going to be realized today?"

We stayed in Yantai for three days, and the Spring Festival travel rush had already started on our return trip. The long-distance bus we took was stuck in traffic jams on the expressway for fifteen hours.Ling Yiyao's cervical spine has some old diseases, and she can't sit for a long time. I can only give her a pinch every once in a while, and said guiltily: "If I had known this, I would have booked a plane ticket."

"There are also scenery along the way." She opened the curtains and looked out. However, the red sun had already set in the west, and only vague outlines of fields and hills could be seen.Winter nights always come so hastily.

On the morning of the 27th night of the Chinese New Year, I came to visit with gifts, a box of Tieguanyin tea leaves, several bottles of Tianzhilan, and a dozen catties of beef sausage made by my family.In the summer vacation of her freshman year, Ling Yiyao's parents went on a business trip, and she felt nauseous eating instant noodles at home alone, so I took a ride to cook her a dinner.White rice, shallot stewed eggs, fried chicken with sliced ​​bamboo shoots, winter melon pork ribs soup, and then I walked home on her bicycle.

Although I knew the address of her home very well and even remembered the kitchen furnishings, Ling Yiyao deliberately described the route to me on the phone, pretending that I had never been to her home.Because she only informed her parents of my existence after researching for a while, claiming that they only got together after college.

Her parents were busy with the dishes on the table, and they even opened a bottle of white wine. Even her mother poured a cup for the first time.Although the two elders showed great enthusiasm, I still felt that it was more of a courtesy, as if they just wanted to entertain and then sent me out of the gate.

"I heard from Yaoyao that your family is in the countryside, so you have a field now?" her father asked.

"Well, there are still five or six acres."

"Parents farming at home?"

"Well, it's all green trees."

"Doing greening can make money, right?"

"It's better than growing grain, but not much better." I told the truth.

"So what do you do now?" he asked again.

I'm sure that he has already asked these questions in front of Ling Yiyao, and he just wants me to give the answer again in person.This kind of technical torture made me very uncomfortable, but I still replied respectfully: "My major is civil engineering, and the most important thing is to do roads, bridges and water conservancy."

"Oh, it's pretty good, Jinqiaoyinlu Road," he nodded approvingly, "I also have quite a few friends in this line of work, and it seems that the construction has not been booming in recent years."

"It is indeed a bit sluggish at present, most of them need advance funds, and project funds are not easy to recover," I defended myself while obeying his point of view, "However, we do a good job in technical management, and the pressure and risks are borne by the boss. .”

"Working on a project is not very stable. It's hard to take care of your family when you run around the country, right?"

I nodded in embarrassment and said, "It's really inconvenient. I've saved enough money after working for two years and plan to change my career."

(End of this chapter)