To the left is the road, and to the right are various shops downstairs: duty-free shoes and bags, long queues at cosmetics stores with a dazzling array of products, and every now and then a tea restaurant.
Walking under the arcade, you can only see the light of day when you reach the intersection. Even after you come out, the sky, cut by towering buildings and tram tracks that make your neck ache from looking up, always exudes an ancient and profound feeling.
She quickly lost her sense of direction.
The people around her were rushing by, speaking in broken Cantonese. She asked for directions, but all she heard was a bunch of "Go this way, walk that way."
When she asked someone again, she opened her mouth only to find that Mandarin was utterly useless.
Finally, I heard two pedestrians speaking in a mix of English, and three Chinese people using a mix of English and broken Mandarin to ask for and give directions.
Shi Ling breathed a sigh of relief.
The price of the retro red-headed taxis was prohibitive, the round, rotating bus signs were puzzling, and the double-decker trams clanged along the tracks on the road. Shi Ling also followed the directions given earlier for a while.
After much trouble, Shi Ling finally arrived at the hotel lobby where she was taking the IELTS test. She connected to the Wi-Fi and decided to turn on roaming this time, instead of relying on the simple bus routes and the road right under her nose.[1]
She soon discovered that she had miscalculated not only about roaming, but also about the 20-degree air conditioning in Hong Kong.
Shi Ling took the room key and stood in the elevator lobby waiting for the elevator.
She noticed that many people around her were speaking Mandarin, and some of them were mentioning the IELTS exam the next day. She glanced at the screen.
The couple was still talking, "Have you finished memorizing the practice questions?"
"Almost there, but your hit rate seems to be pretty high lately?"
"I saw that two of the listening passages were correct in the last test. Let's see if we can get three right."
"Section 4 is all fill-in-the-blank questions. I keep memorizing and forgetting, and I still haven't finished memorizing Section 1."
"Let's memorize it together in Xianxian's room later."
"Okay, eat your fill and then get a back massage."
Shi Ling has never believed in such divination and prediction methods, so she only glanced at it before looking away.
However, the elevator opened, and a group of people filed out, mostly foreigners in suits.
When Shi Ling looked away just now, she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure among them.
She then doubted that she had seen wrong; he should have been in Thailand taking the exam.
The crowd jostled to make way for the group that came out. Shi Ling saw the people in front of him step back, so he also stepped aside. When he looked again, he seemed to be giving directions to a few foreigners. He had already reached the corner and was gesturing with his hands.
When Shi Ling looked over, Chi Cheng didn't seem surprised at all and casually waved to her.
It disappeared around the corner in the next second.
The air conditioning in the room didn't make it much warmer.
It wasn't until Shi Ling put her things down and left the hotel that the goosebumps on her body slowly subsided.
There's not much to eat nearby, just a few similar tea restaurants.
She randomly picked the nearest one and went inside.
She had just sat down to look at the menu when the bell hanging by the door started ringing.
Chi Cheng pushed open the door and pointed to Shi Ling at the boss who was asking him how many people were in his party.
“I have a friend here.”
The author has something to say: [1] This is from Zhang Xiaofeng's "The Road Is Right Under Your Nose", a short essay about asking for directions in Hong Kong. I think it's quite interesting and recommend it to all the fairies.
There's also the movie Like Crzay, which I recently watched and really enjoyed. Please take my recommendation!
**
I am so sorry for not updating yesterday, I apologize to all the fairies.
Chapter 15
(Flashback)
In Hong Kong, you don't need to get up as early as in mainland China to take the IELTS test. Generally, you can't get into the test center before almost 9 a.m.
Chi Cheng naturally slept until the very last moment before leisurely washing up and going downstairs.
While eating breakfast, he glanced at WeChat and saw that Lin Shan was still awake at 2 a.m., asking him which movie he wanted to watch.
Lin Shan knew he was taking an exam in Hong Kong today, and said she would come over to visit him in the afternoon after he finished the exam.
Chi Cheng thought that taking the exam was already exhausting enough, and he didn't want to accompany Lin Shan shopping until her legs were about to give out. Every time the two came to Hong Kong, they would end up having a small argument at the end.
Chi Cheng told Lin Shan last night that after he finished his oral exam this afternoon, the two of them might as well go see a movie.
Hong Kong films often feature niche Category III films, or foreign films are imported without much censorship.
Unexpectedly, Lin Shan agreed. She had obviously only remembered to check the movie schedule in the middle of the night, and sent him several screenshots asking which movie to watch.
Chi Cheng picked a movie to watch with her, teasing her as he suggested they go to Lan Kwai Fong after the movie.
Knowing that Lin Shan hadn't gotten up yet, he put away his phone and waited in line at the door.
Chi Cheng looked around and saw Shi Ling standing in line several bends ahead, holding a notebook and reading.
Her hair was still loosely tied up, and she gave a perfunctory reply to the boy next to her who was talking to her.
Shi Ling turned the corner with the crowd and stood right under the air conditioner vent. She couldn't help but shrink her neck from the cold, and her collarbone became more prominent under the force.
This attracted the attention of the boy next to her, who glanced at her a couple more times.
She bought a black cardigan at a nearby clothing store yesterday. In a store where summer clothes were the main focus, she couldn't find anything thicker than this.
After having her photo taken and fingerprints recorded, Shi Ling followed the flow of people into the examination room. Fortunately, she had taken the exam once before in mainland China, so even though the staff guided her in Cantonese and English throughout the process, she was not troubled by the steps.
There was a large crowd of people queuing to see their seat numbers. She always disliked being in a crowd, so she decided to wait until the crowd dispersed before going over.
The exam room was very cold, so Shi Ling buttoned up her knitted cardigan one button higher.
Someone patted me on the shoulder.
Hey, you're here.
Shi Ling frowned and thought for two seconds before she remembered that this was the boy who had struck up a conversation with her while she was in line earlier. He was wearing a red and black plaid shirt. After the line turned a corner, the distance between them was greater, and she was able to concentrate on her writing.
The man in the red and black shirt was clearly pleased to see her again. "I'm in seat 79. What's your seat number?"
Shi Ling was about to shake her head and say she didn't know.
A male voice came from behind her and answered for her, "108."
Chi Cheng stood next to her. "I've checked it for you."
Shi Ling nodded. "Thanks."
She thought for a moment and then asked him, "What about you?"
“32,” Chi Cheng said, pulling up his coat which was almost falling off. “They are arranged by surname.”
The man in the red and black shirt noticed the two seemed to know each other well and asked, "You two know each other?"
Chi Cheng's outstanding appearance made him even more annoyed. He clearly knew how to use his advantages, dressed in a Hong Kong style today. His bangs were parted in a 4:6 ratio, his loose, retro khaki shirt was rolled up at the elbows, and his trousers were rolled up twice, revealing his ankles, making him look tall and long-legged. He was also wearing khaki Martin boots.
Instead of wearing his perfectly good coat, he carried it in his hand.
Chi Cheng recognized the boy's Cantonese accent and said to him in Cantonese, "You won't get her."
Shi Ling knew he wasn't saying anything nice, so the man in the red and black shirt turned and left.
After a long wait, the listening test was finally completed in the examination room. Shi Ling felt even colder after sitting down, and her knuckles turned white. Before starting to answer the questions, she kept rubbing her hands together and breathing on them to warm them.
Throughout the entire listening test, she covered her nose and endured it until the test ended. Only then did Shi Ling take a tissue to cover her nose and sneeze several times, which she had almost been unable to hold back earlier.
Shi Ling let her hair down, propped one hand on the side of her face. The air conditioning made her head feel heavy, and she didn't even see the proctor approaching.
The proctor was looking down at the student information she had placed on the table.
Shi Ling reached out and removed the eraser that was blocking the view.
Unexpectedly, after the proctor finished reading, he asked her in a low voice, "Are you 108, Shi Ling?"
Shi Ling gave a heavy hum and looked up in confusion.
The proctor handed her the coat he was holding and said in English that her friend, who sat in seat 32, should bring the coat to her. He had checked that there were no items related to the exam inside the coat, so it was fine.
Shi Ling, clutching the clothes, thanked him in a daze.
Looking down to take a closer look, it was indeed the one that Chi Cheng had casually picked up that morning.
She sneered as she did the problems.
Chi Cheng is always like this, always insisting on showing off his superior methods, yet you can't help but feel grateful. He could have given it to her in the morning, but he insisted on hanging it on her hand and dangling it, only remembering his kindness when she got colder.
Shi Ling didn't refuse the clothes because of this minor detail; she genuinely needed them. His clothes were large and thick, and she quickly felt warmer after putting them on, which even made writing and answering questions much smoother.
After finishing the exam at noon, Shi Ling had originally checked out of the room, but couldn't bear the headache and stuffy nose that followed, so she booked another night and went to rest with her room key.
Her spoken English session started late, almost at 6 pm.
Chi Cheng finished his oral exam around 1 p.m. and rushed to Nathan Road. Lin Shan was already sitting with her legs crossed, biting her ice cream spoon and glaring at him.
"I'm starving to death."
Chi Cheng: "You eat first."
He glanced at the seat next to him; there were several bags on it. Lin Shan had indeed done some shopping while waiting for him.
"You go shopping by yourself and then blame it on me."
Lin Shan was hit where it hurt, but she wasn't embarrassed at all. She said confidently, "Please, I've already been very kind of you by not asking you to come shopping with me."
Chi Cheng smiled and helped her pick up the bags.
"Let's go, let's go eat first."
Lin Shan waved the movie ticket in her hand, "Let's eat snacks along the way, I want to try a few more places."
Chi Cheng has always been easygoing in this regard, so of course he let her eat whatever she wanted.
So after watching the movie, the two of them took a bunch of photos with Lin Shan on the street, full of gritty, gritty images, and then went into a Japanese restaurant.
While having dinner, Lin Shan saw that someone in the high school class group wanted to vote, and remembered to say to Chi Cheng, "Hey, when Jianming went back the other day, he asked me if I had the WeChat of the fairy sister you brought last time."