Романтика простой рисовой каши

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In the summer of 1990, the air was thick with the smell of dry heat. The unique tranquility of a summer afternoon felt like a large, fleshy hand holding me tightly between its fingers. Hu Xiaoling and I huddled idly in a grassy burlap sack, my eyes closed. I could feel the sunlight relentlessly filtering through the dense sycamore leaves, lazily tapping at my tender eyelids, while the river flowed quietly beside us.

"Li Hao, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Hu Xiaoling suddenly asked me. I think she was probably a little bored. But in that era before "Age of Empires" and F4, imagining the future was always the most exciting topic for teenagers. The future world was like a juicy peach, full of temptation for us who aspired to be conquerors of the future.

In about five seconds, a thought suddenly sprouted like the grass pressed down on us in summer, and then overwhelmed my entire world:

"I want to be a rich person!" I said with absolute certainty, just as I predicted that I would be 1.7 meters tall on my eighteenth birthday.

Hu Xiaoling seemed startled, giggling foolishly a few times before falling silent. But after a while, she finally couldn't hold back any longer: "Being rich? Don't you think that's a shameful thought? Besides, what would you do if you were rich? Eat stir-fried pork with wild ginger every day?"

"Why is it shameful? If I were rich, I could go wherever I wanted. What's a stir-fried pork with wild ginger? I'd only eat Shanghai plums and white cream chocolate. And remember Rita from 'The Tramp'? If I were rich, I'd have a beautiful garden with a swing. My dad would develop photos in his darkroom, and my mom would knit while watching TV in a room with a separate bathroom and balcony. I'd buy that hardcover edition of Andersen's Fairy Tales from Xinhua Bookstore and read it every day on my swing..."

"And what about me?" Hu Xiaoling was clearly so moved by my description that she forgot her shame and jumped out impatiently.

"If you bring me a basin every time I do a deep clean, I might consider letting you come into my garden for half an hour every day."

"One hour, plus preserved plums and chocolate, I'll even bring you a dishcloth." Hu Xiaoling's shrewdness, inherited from her mother, was already on full display at the age of eleven.

"Deal." I knew when to quit while I was ahead. But at the same time, I secretly reminded myself that I must build the garden and swing in a place where Hu Xiaoling couldn't find me.

Part One, Chapter One

The sweltering, long summers of Guangzhou are no challenge for me, but the nearly two weeks of humid, damp weather have almost driven me mad—every inch of my skin feels constantly sticky and dirty. No matter how high you live, without air conditioning, the humidity will find you; even the walls painted with ICI are covered in a layer of cold water droplets. Not to mention the seemingly endless condensation on the furniture and windows. The whole world feels like it's been covered by a huge, damp, cold plastic sheet, leaving you with no choice but to pray for time to pass quickly. During these extraordinary times, my only survival goal is to try my best not to get moldy.

It was noon, so I found a roadside stall and bought a three-yuan boxed lunch. Like a migrant worker, I hunched over a greasy stool, spooning the mushy contents into my mouth. I didn't even know what it tasted like, because my eyes were glued to the stall owner and his wife, along with their helper, busily collecting money and selling meals. I counted the boxes they sold while calculating their daily costs for running such a stall. Roughly, they could net about 150 yuan a day, and around 3000 yuan a month (assuming 22 days). I shook my head inwardly. Doing this my whole life, I'd never get rich, couldn't afford to maintain my garden, and would barely be able to feed myself. I'd have to rely on God to keep me healthy, otherwise, a simple appendectomy would wipe out half my fortune.

"Beep beep beep beep..." My phone suddenly started ringing loudly. While everyone was still looking down at their phones, I had already finished the last few grains of rice in my lunchbox, grabbed my backpack, and started talking into my earphones as I walked back into the steamy street.

"Good girl, did you receive the money from Hengwei today?" The loud voice of our sales department's guy with the yellow hair resounded in my ears without the slightest distortion, and even my heels were vibrating.

"I'm downstairs at Hengwei right now. I've been keeping an eye on things here all morning. They say their heir hasn't arrived yet, so they can't stamp the checks without his signature. Don't worry, Mr. Huang, I've got all the money back with me."

"That's right, that's right. Otherwise, how could you be our top salesperson? Work hard, and if we can collect Hengwei's money this time, I'll submit a report to promote you to sales supervisor." The man with the yellow hair unceremoniously shoved a carrot into my hand. I immediately did the math in my head: as sales supervisor, I'd get a 15% monthly allowance, my phone subsidy would increase to 500 yuan per month, and my commission would rise from 10% to 13%. This meant my actual monthly income would increase by at least 1000 yuan, and by the end of the year, I could save at least 50,000 yuan. That was a really big carrot! I was immediately overjoyed.

"You must keep your word, Mr. Huang."

"No problem, just bring the money back to see me."

"Snobbish!" I cursed inwardly as I hung up my phone just before the timer went off – exactly 58 seconds. I checked my watch; it was 1:28. Hengwei starts work at 1:30, so going up now was about time, lest their finance department use the excuse of "the cat or dog is not here" to delay payment.

Ignoring the old adage that ladies never apply makeup in public, I stood on the sidewalk and pulled out my lipstick to apply it. What could I do? When you're out on business, especially at a foreign company like Hengwei, if you don't wear lipstick, you won't even get to the front desk. And "naturally beautiful" is an insult here. Just as I applied it to my upper lip, I felt a huge shadow rapidly approaching me. I knew there was no time to react; I could only stand there resigned to my fate and wait for the impact—"Bang!" When I came to my senses, I found myself in the most intimate, all-around contact with the sidewalk tiles, my things scattered, and a tall, no, enormous young man was climbing off me.

"Where's my bag?" I asked anxiously. My bag contained my credit cards, debit cards, and ID card—my entire fortune.

The man was about to reach out to help me up, but my panicked shout startled him. He quickly withdrew his hand and, just like me, anxiously searched around with his eyes.

"Here it is, here it is." He ran back excitedly, holding the bag, and waved it in front of me before trying to help me up.

"Idiot! Give me the bag first!" This person's extremely low IQ and slow reaction made me furious.

"Oh, here you go!" The man finally remembered to hand me the backpack, and I managed to get up on my own. Looking down, I realized the hem of my skirt was torn. Oh no, I must have exposed myself while lying on the ground like that. My face flushed red instantly.

"Excuse me, miss, I was rushing to work and ran too fast. Plus, you're too short. By the time I saw you, it was too late to slow down... Ouch!" My height of 158cm is a sore spot for me. Not only did this person knock me down, but he also came up to me and said I was too short. He was practically asking for trouble. Kicking him was just a minor punishment.

Seeing a tall man, at least 1.8 meters tall, hopping on one leg in the street while holding his left foot really cracked me up.

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't know you were so tall and felt pain like a human being."

He suddenly collapsed to the ground, curling up in agony.

I initially suspected he was faking it, but seeing his snow-white shirt rubbing back and forth on the ground without hesitation, my confidence began to waver, because I knew myself that the kick he delivered in a fit of anger was definitely not light.

"Are you alright?" I asked, feeling a little guilty as I squatted down next to him.

"I don't know either, oh my god, it hurts so much."

"Should we take you to the hospital? Or call 120 here?" I almost cried.

"No, today is my first day at work, I don't want to be late. Okay, try helping me up." He finally stopped his movements on the ground that were making my heart race and offered me his left hand. I quickly put his hand on my shoulder and used all my strength to help him stand up, muttering under my breath, "Why is he so tall?! He really has no environmental awareness. He wastes food and cloth, he's bulky and heavy, it's hard to lift him up, and it's hard to find a stretcher."

"What are you babbling about? Oh dear!"

"Stop yelling, stop yelling, I promise I'll take you to the company, okay?" I was afraid of hearing him groan, as if I had committed a terrible crime. Luckily, he said I didn't need to go to the hospital, and I felt incredibly grateful. In today's society, there are plenty of people who would take advantage of you for no reason, and this guy kicked me so badly but didn't pursue the matter. I'm lucky to have him as his crutch.

"Hey, turn your head around for a second."

"What?" I turned around and asked him.

He ignored me, pulled out a handkerchief from somewhere, and wiped it directly on my face.

"What are you doing?" My hands were both busy, and I didn't dare to actually push him to the ground, so I could only shake my head from side to side to dodge, but he grabbed me and pinned me down.

"Don't move, let me wipe off the lipstick smudges on your face. I work at Hengwei in this building, and it would be embarrassing for my colleagues to see me walking with a girl like you."

I was so angry that I wanted to cripple his other leg too, but being a crutch is already so difficult, and I didn't want to impulsively become his wheelchair.

"Are you really sure you don't need to be taken to the hospital? Let's make this clear first, don't come looking for me if you have any problems later. Who can guarantee you won't be born infertile? If you do, I won't take responsibility for it."

"Hey, are you even a girl? How can you talk like that? But you're really strange. You fell on the ground so badly, and instead of getting up and tidying yourself up right away, you were only thinking about your bag."

“Nonsense, all my savings from the past few years in Guangzhou are here. I wouldn’t live if I lost this bag.”

"You're such a money-grubber."

"So what? Being a money-grubber is my ultimate ideal. By the way, your tone of voice is strange. Are you from out of town? Where are you from? It's not easy for out-of-towners to find a job here."

"I'm from Taipei. What about you?"