Please Be More Serious Chapter 61-62
Chapter 61 Plan B, C ...
Yin Ting was silent in her warm
nest of Zhengqing’s arms for a time. Then she softly asked, ‘What should we do?’
When Zhengqing did not immediately
answer, she also rushed to say, ‘I will also not be bossy about your working
hours.’ ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
‘I do not want you kept waiting for
me.’ He said. Knowing that she was at home waiting for him, he could not be at
ease working overtime.
‘Then I will not come to see you.’
Zhengqing was at a loss for words;
if she did not come, his heart would be uncomfortable. Sure enough, people are
cheap. That was not good. Was it really checkmate?
‘Why don’t we do away with the
rules, and let nature take its course. When you don’t work overtime, let me
know and we can go out to eat, or eat at home. If you think about it, there are
come couples that don’t even see each other for a week.’ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
‘Ah,’ Zhengqing nodded. ‘But
thinking about it, we didn’t meet very much either.’ It was the New Year, and
then Yu Fei’s wedding preparations, and then the Spring festival. Things had
been chaotic.
Yin Ting looked thoughtful as she
said, ‘Maybe our expectations and antic.i.p.ations were too high and therefore, we
did not handle things well.’ (Zuben: Ya think?) Their ideas were grand, but
they did little to reach their goals. (Zuben: shrug*) And when expectations are
not met, the heart would be aggrieved. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
‘My only demand is that you’re my
girlfriend,’ he said, ‘the rest is up to you.’
(Zuben: My only requirement is that
you are there when I want you. I don’t want to have to work for it)
Yin Tin laughed, ‘The person who
doesn’t have demands usually has the higher expectation.’ She coughed a bit and
looked up at Zhengqing, mimicking his serious tone of voice she said, ‘My
request is that you do your work well, and look after me.’
She giggled, ‘See your tone of
voice, so commandeering.’
Zhengqing thought about it and
laughed as well. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
‘Then let’s let nature take its
course.’ Zhengqing said, ‘When we are free to see each other, we will. We won’t
make uneccesary sacrifies on either part. We have been told worst thing that
could happen.’ Like he told Guohao, he did not feel any pressure to be a
perfect boyfriend anymore because Guohao did not give him any room to
manoeuvre. He had asked them to break up; there was no room, nothing worse than
this situation. So even if they didn’t meet often, even if Yin Ting’s rules
cause him to lose a bit, it didn’t matter. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
They were still in love with each
other.
‘Did your dad say you should never
see me again?’
‘He didn’t say that, but he said he
didn’t approve of us dating. He has always been strict with us.’
Zhengqing was silent, trying to
a.n.a.lyse what her dad’s thought process was. a.n.a.lysis of the intentions of the
opponent was very important, so that he could deduce what his next steps would
be. He knew Guohao would not do something as stupid as commanding them not to
meet. But, since he asked them to break up and did not approve of their
relationship, he still had control over them.
As he was thinking, Yin Ting said,
‘Don’t be unhappy with this but this weekened, lets not meet for the time being.
My dad just put this matter before us, for us to immediately do the opposite
would be rude. Elders must say their piece and see that it has been taken on
board. Why don’t we let him calm down a bit and we progess slowly, and with
time, eventually convince him.’
‘I think so too.’ His stance was
not to come into direct conflict with a person with strongly differing
opinions, but leave and consider options, and return from a different angle and
change their mind. In the end, earn victory. (Zuben: The way this paragraph
came out on the translators was just…I sincerely wonder if it reads better in
Chinese)ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
‘Then you aren’t angry?’ To be honest,
Yin Ting was very affected by her father’s words. But when Zhengqing told her
he was waiting for her, she had no idea what to do. But in his arms, she could
laugh and feel joy again. She decided: I must try again. She had not done well
in the past, but she would change her way of doing things. Though she did not
want to ruin Zhengqing’s glory or make him hate her, she did not want to give
him up so easily. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
If love could be shaken easily, it
must not be love.
‘I am not angry; we have a long way
to go. I will try to speak to your father again.’
‘I am so happy you came or I really
don’t know how I would have been this night or tomorrow. My mind was in chaos. What
my dad said is justified, I was really persuaded.’
‘So I came.’ If he hadn’t been able
to see her that night, he didn’t know what he would have done.
‘Fortunately, you came.’ She said
softly and hugging him around his waist.
Zhengqing placed a kiss on top of
her head. She looked up and gave him a small kiss on his lips. With a smile,
she held up her index finger for a promise, ‘Well, shall we implement plan B
for our love?’
Zhengqing laughed. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
Ying Ting continued, ‘If plan B
doesn’t work, we will implement plan C. Why turn the car around?’
Zhengqing laughed and replied
helplessly, ‘Because of the corner?’
‘Yes,’ she replied brightly, ‘Plan
A has not worked, we go to plan B; we have to be tactful and flexible.’
Zhengqing laughed again, Yin Ting
glared in mock indignation, ‘I am talking very seriously here.’
He laughed even harder, she did not
look very serious at all, ‘I just remembered that day I picked you up when your
bike was broken, and you told me you had plan A, B and C.’
‘Of course.’ Yin Ting said, ‘Don’t
underestimate me, ah. I am not a stupid woman. Just wait and see, I will show
you how clever I am.’
‘Yes, you are the cleverest.’ He
replied flattering her.
Yin Ting rested her head on his
shoulder. She looked out the window, and kept looking. Zhengqing wondered what
she was looking at: was it her dad? The hairs on his neck rose, he turned
around but there was no one. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
‘Don’t scare me to death, ah.’ He
said.
‘What’s scaring you?’
‘Nothing.’ He didn’t want her to
know; he was afraid of her father.
‘Please be more serious, tell me, in love, what is gla.s.s?’
‘Same s.e.x love.’ Zhengqing replied
quickly, not wanting to think.
Yin Ting gave him a light smack,
‘Chicken soup brain.’
Chicken soup again? Zhengqing
looked out the window,
‘Wind and rain, this is love?’
‘No that is rational. The gla.s.s
allows you to see the outside, and the horizon, but also protects you from the
wind and rain.’
‘Hmm, it makes no difference to
me.’
‘But it is also a barrier, if you
want to go out you will have to break it. Once shattered, its shards will hurt
you and stop sheltering you.’
‘Then you should change to tempered
gla.s.s.’ He quipped.
Yin Ting glared. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
‘Don’t be silly. Besides, one
should break the gla.s.s, because otherwise, you will be stuck in the protective
sh.e.l.l, can only look at the scenery and not experience it.’
‘Ah.’
Men were such puzzling creatures,
Yin Ting thought as she smiled and continued, ‘Like one can see that there are lovers, but they
are very far away.’
‘Okay.’
‘Like us now?’
‘Not quite like us.’ He replied.
She really liked making this kind of chicken soup jokes. Yin Ting stared at
him, so he said, ‘Maybe, kind of…’
Reason protected them but in
breaking the beauty of reason to dream, they could get hurt.
‘So we need to think of a way.’
‘A way to manage our differences,
and get your father’s approval,’ but he thought that the solution to the issues
would be more intuitive. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
‘The first step for me,’ Yin Ting
said, ‘is to hand over the accounts back to you. I no longer hold any deposit
to meet delivery.’ She sighed. ‘After talking to my dad, I realised all those
things were naïve, and would have eventually put pressure on you. Overtime, you
would eventually stop complying and it would become useless; the original
intention long forgotten.’
‘Then I will help you keep it. We
can make a date, and read the diaries in a year’s time. I am looking forward to
putting them in a cabinet.’
‘That sounds good.’
Just then Yin Ting’s phone rang,
she looked at the display; it was her father.
‘It’s my dad.’ She said. Both their
expressions collapsed. Seeing their mirrored expressions, they laughed at each
other.
She picked up the call. Her father
asked her where she was and asked her to come back home quickly. Yin Ting
replied she was on her way.
‘I’ll go with you.’ He said.
Her expression became alert. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
‘Not to talk to your dad, don’t
worry.’ He said ruffling her hair, ‘I want the diary pages. I was here for them
anyway and since we aren’t going to meet up this weekend, I want the pages.’
She laughed, ‘Just like a kid,’ she
teased.
Yin Ting returned to their house
and quickly came back with the diary pages. As she was about to run off, he
pulled her back and stole a long kiss before he let go.
Yin Ting ran back to their
apartment with a smile on her face, and found her dad in the sitting room
staring at her. She put on a bright expression, ‘Dad, don’t be annoyed. We have
talked and we see where you are coming from. We will pay attention.’
She did not say they were breaking
up. Guohao made a non-comittal sound.
‘Why don’t we go fishing tomorrow?’
she suggested.
Guohao did not reply for a bit, and
then he said, ‘Fish what fish? It will be boring with you. Let’s go and see a
movie.’
Yin Ting grinned, ‘Alright.’
‘Then the day after tomorrow we’ll
go shopping, I want you to help me pick some clothes.’
(Zuben: Daddy is a sore loser)
‘Ok,’ she replied still smiling. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
Guohao watched her for a while,
then without any more petulant words, he returned to his room.
Yin Ting rushed to her room and
called Zhengqing, ‘Are you driving? Not yet, ah. I just had a brief moment with
my dad.’
‘What happened?’
‘He wants to go to the movies
tomorrow and shopping the day after.’
Zhengqing laughed, ‘So he’s
declaring war?’
‘I think he also has his own plan
B.’
‘Yes.’
‘Please be more serious, setbacks
equal incentives.’ Yin Ting was fired up.
‘That is the best att.i.tude.’
‘Please be more serious, do you
know why the car gets powered by petrol or diesel?’
Zhengqing laughed, ‘Xiaoting, with
this kind of setback, other people will be sad, but you’re happy. Is your brain
chicken soup?’
‘No, I am just very motivated.’
‘Alright, why is a car powered by
petrol?’
‘So that we can cheer, cheer, cheer
up!’
Zhengqing burst out laughing, ‘So
childish.’
‘I am not!’
‘This is childish.’
‘It is not.’
Zhengqing could not help but laugh
as he drove home; so you can shout cheer cheer cheer.
But while father in law setting his
plan B in motion, it looks as though they would have to work hard to cheer in
the future. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
Chapter 62 Counter moves
The next day, Yin Ting and her
father went to the cinema.
The movie they were seeing was set for ten ‘o’ clock in the
morning. It was a melodramatic romance about a man and woman, who met and fell
in love at first sight. Their pa.s.sion burned bright, soon the woman was
pregnant and they got married. The two of them were happy about their marriage
and hopeful about the future, but real life invaded their idyll, and their
pa.s.sion began to ebb. They started to quarrel and have cold wars. They
disagreed with each other’s suggestions and plans, and disliked details of each
other’s lives. They fell into a cycle of blame, coupled with the husband’s
negligence, they finally divorced. Ten years later, they each found other people
to fall in love with, but looked back on their lives resentfully. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
When she realised this was the film
her father chose, Yin Ting was speechless. He was trying to reinforce his
message.
Yin Ting sighed inwardly and took a
shot of the film poster, ‘Putting it on my blog,’ she told her dad.
Guohao did not reply. Yin Ting
posted the picture and captioned “This is the film my dad took me to see.” She
wanted Zhengqing to see it. (Zuben: You’d think he didn’t want you to get
married at all.)
When they took their seats, Yin
Ting could not concentrate. She put her phone on mute, but kept looking at it
to see if Zhengqing had commented. The other blog followers were full of
praise, calling Yin Ting’s father trendy for going to see a movie about young
love.
Yin Tin complained in her mind; it
is not for your guys to understand, it was for her family’s Serious to
understand, but where was he? ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
Ten minutes pa.s.sed, and Yin Ting
looked at her phone again. Zhengqing had made a post.
He put up a picture of a gas
station and the staff were cheering his car captioned: Do you know why cars
start on gasoline?
Yin Ting burst out laughing. At
this time, the theatre was very quiet, people were getting engrossed in the
film, so her laugh caused a lot of people to turn and look at her. Guohao
glared at his daughter; didn’t she know she was being embarra.s.sing right now?
Yin Ting covered her mouth, still
laughing.
Why does a car reply on gasoline to
start? Because you can cheer: Come on! Come on!
It was even funnier to her because he
had teased her about it yesterday calling her ‘chicken soup brain’. He was so
cute. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
After this, her heart was calm and
she began to concentrate on the movie. It was actually good. The story and the
cinematography were excellent.
At the end, she thought the most
sensible thing they did was to sign the divorce papers. (Zuben: There was a lot
more to this but I honestly didn’t want recount a bloddy imaginary movie. So if
you want to read it yourself, please feel free to google translate it)
The movie brought to mind her and
Zhengqing’s relationship, but it spurred her on to be more vigilant. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
She looked at her blog page again
to see that Zhengqing had posted again. It was very cute: Miao-dada was dressed
in little clothes and a little hat, held in Zhengqing’s hand as he took the
picture in the mirror; Miao’s eyes looked wide, helpless and innocent. The
picture was captioned: Hostage.
She burst out laughing again,
though she tried to stop herself from laughing too loud, it was too late, she
had distracted the other cimena goers, who were being touched by the movie.
There were indignant glares at her.
Her father tried to look as though
he didn’t know her.
ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
Zhengqing was really cute, she
thought.
That evening, the both of them
video chatted. They talked about their day, after the movie Yin Ting and her
dad went to eat and then visited a friend of his. Zhengqing went to the gym,
played hostage with the cat, and then worked a bit.
It looked like everyone was doing
fine. The two of them laughed. Though they could not have their date, they felt
fulfilled. She told Zhengqing about the movie, and told him her thoughts on it.
Zhengqing listened, and they chatted while his hands were busy with something.
When she was finished talking, he
sent an attachment to Yin Ting. When she opened it, she was surprised. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
He had scanned the pages of the
diary they were creating and added one that he had created himself.
Yin Ting was touched by this. She
was almost moved to tears. They really could be much stronger than the couple in
the movie. This was the other side. (Zuben: It’s not like you’re caught in a
fiery pa.s.sion anyway)
‘Now we both have a copy. Neither
of us will forget.’ He said.
Yin Ting laughed, ‘Your plan is
very complicated ah’ but also very encouraging.
‘It’s not complicated, this is just
the beginning.’ He said in his usual serious manner.
Yin Ting sniffed and said, ‘My plan
B is much simpler.’
‘How so?’ ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
‘It is very good. I will be good to my dad
and good to you, so much so you will shout loudly that you cannot bear it. Then
you’ll listen to me.’
‘Doesn’t sound like a good idea,’
‘I disagree.’
‘You can take care of your father.
And be good to me, I will remember. No need to do more than that.’ Zhengqing
said. (Zuben: I don’t know what she’s going for here)
Yin Ting laughed, how could something
be too good? Maybe, she was wrong, maybe what she thought was good was not. Maybe
a change of mind was what she needed.
The next day, Yin Ting went
shopping with her dad. While they were shopping for her father, she looked at
things that may look good on Zhengqing, so they could come together some other time.
The surprising thing was Zhengqing
went to see the movie by himself. Alone!
When they chatted, Zhengqing told her what he
thought of the movie. It seemed that the both of them had different opionions
on the subject matter, but it was still fun to discuss them.
‘Very interesting, next time we
shall go and see a movie together.’ He said. His chances of watching a movie
was small, but his girlfriend had told him the plot was interesting, so he went
to see it.
‘Alright! We should see a horror
movie together.’ Yin Ting said excitedly rubbing her hands together. Discussing
horror movies was fun, and it also had the added advantage creating opportunity
to be hugged and spoiled by her boyfriend. She wasn’t afraid of horror movies,
but being spoiled was a must. (Zuben: What if he’s the scared one?)
For their day’s entry Yin Ting
wrote: You went alone to see a movie, though I could not go along with you, I
was very touched. Though we interpreted the plot differently, we had a fun
discussion about it without acquiescing to the other. For the first time, we
have a date to go and see a horror movie; your blank look was funny. You made me realise that sometimes change and
reactions aren’t always excitement or tears. Let’s continue simply and laugh
lots together.
Monday was the same as always,
Zhengqing read emails, went to meetings, signed doc.u.ments etc. Yin Ting called
him that morning,
‘Dad doesn’t want me to go out and
play. He said there is a virulent flu going around.’ (Zuben: OMG, so naff. Is
this his plan B? It isn’t going to last though)
‘Ah.’ Zhengqing nodded. So this was
his plan B; not scold or shout, but gently restrict her movements. And if she
quarrelled, it would lead to contradictions and conflict, ‘Then listen to him.’
(Zuben: For how long?)
‘I think so too.’ Yin Ting said
relieved he was thinking the same as she was. She had been worried he would not
be happy. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
‘Are you working overtime today?’
‘Yup.’ Today was a busy day full of
meetings; he would need the time to catch up on his paper work.
‘Then I will send you dinner,
alright?’
‘Alright.’ He replied. She hadn’t
minded that he was working overtime.
At half past six, Zhengqing was in
his office working when his secretary placed a big package on his desk,
‘Miss Yin sent this over, it’s your
dinner. She also said she sent you an email.’
Zhengqing remembered what Yin Ting
had said a while ago, “I want to get into your friend circle; starting with
your secretary.”
He laughed, and thanked his
secretary. She asked if there was anything else she could help with. He told
her it was only doc.u.ments involving the meeting, and let her go home. He turned
to the package that had been sent, it was a nicely packed dinner. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
He looked at his emails; there was
one from Yin Ting. She had not bothered him in his meeting or text or
called. She wrote: The box is
microwavable. The square boxes are food, the round one is soup. Warm it up,
don’t eat it cold. Eat it all and do not throw anything away.
At the end she said: Although I
can’t eat with you, I hope you can eat warm good food. Eat well and work hard. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
Zhengqing warmed the food in the office
kitchen, and ate. His stomach and heart were filled with warm. ALLABOUTMYNOTHINGS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK
There will be typos. I apologise. I'm still looking for s.m.u.t that is hot and sweet. Not just sweet and not just hot. It's a difficult balance to manage it seems.
❀Chapter 63&64