Fleeting Midsummer

Chapter 4.2: The Revolution is Inviting Guests to Dinner

“Ok ok ok, Lin Lin, I will just wish you success.” Wang Jie turned and sat at her own seat. She carried a mirror and began to do her makeup.

I turned and stared at Wang Jie putting eyeliner onto her eyes. Wang Jie turned and looked at me: “When you stare at me like this, how can I do my makeup, I feel so uncomfortable.”

“Hahahaha, Jie’er, why don’t you also help me do my makeup. I have a date tonight.”

Wang Jie laughed: “All right, no problem.” After she finished she began to put something onto my face. She wiped it on as she said, “Your skin is a little dry. The T-area [1] is a little oily. Mm, here is a small pimple.”

[1] The area including the forehead and the nose. This is often referred to as the T-area because it forms a T shape. A lot of people exude oil from this area.

“Big sister, can you stop being so against me. If you continue saying things like this I will become a yellow faced grandmother. I’m only like this because I was too agitated these past few days. Isn’t this testing your makeup skills? I also have a date tonight, so give me confidence okay?”

“Oh, what yellow faced grandmother? Why would a yellow faced grandmother have a pimple on her face? You are definitely not a yellow faced grandmother. Haha. Say something serious. Put some light makeup on for your first date then, so that you’ll be a little soft and comfortable.”

After half an hour, Wang Jie shoved the mirror into my hand: “Look at my handiwork. I’ve made you into someone who people will love at first sight, a little fairy at whom flowers will upon seeing you.”

“It’s uncanny ah, uncanny ah!” I tutted praise in front of the mirror. When I looked it over, my pimples, and dark whatever had all disappeared. Another circle had been added around my eyes.

*Probably eyeliner or whatnot.

I fiercely hugged Wang Jie: “Wait for lao niang to complete my mission, and when I return, I’ll treat you to meat.”

I looked at the map. Guolin wasn’t that far from Peking Uni. I estimated that it would take about 10 minutes for me to get there. In the face of modesty, I decided to arrive there punctually. I never stopped checking my watch. When it hardly reached 6:50, I was so anxious to set off.

Fang Yu Ke and Xiao Xi were already talking at the entrance of Guolin. From faraway, the two hot guys posing as door gods in front of Guolin was really a little romantic. I readjusted my breathing, walked over, and waved my hand: “Hi*, sorry,  I came late.”

*she says this in English

Fang Yu Ke turned to look at me. He was started for a moment before he turned his cold face back and said: Let's go. I automatically followed him and walked to Xiao Xi’s side, saying, “Xiao Xi, did you wait long?”

Xiao Xi shook his head: “No, no. I just went to the economic center and almost missed the time. I just ran over. The person who waited should probably be Fang Yu Ke who waited for a long time.”

When we were ordering food, I asked Xiao Xi what he wanted to drink. Xiao Xi asked: “Do you guys drink beer?”

Fang Yu Ke said: Anything is fine with me. I wrung my hands: “You guys drink. I won’t drink any. I can’t drink alcohol. Haha.”

Actually my alcoholic capacity was still pretty good. From a young age, my dad would use chopsticks dipped in rice wine to feed me. Now, drinking beer was just like playing around. Such a great summer day, drinking beer was obviously the solution. Thus it was only unfortunate that I hard to wear this princess dress, and put on some light makeup. It wouldn’t be according if I staked wine. It would be bad if I scared Xiao Xi. I should still endure it first.

On the table, it made my arm stretch so much before I could pick some of my dish, so I gave up. No matter how attractive it was, I automatically filtered it out. I drank a cup of cold water, ate a bite of the dish, and slowly chewed, slowly swallowing. All the women on television ate like this. Even if my stomach was very hungry, I was more afraid that I would scare my future husband. I grabbed a napkin and wiped my mouth, when I recited the line I had memorized before I ate: Xiao Xi, what should I do in University to make it meaningful?

I didn’t know what Fang Yu Ke had choked on but he continued to cough. I looked up at the sky: God, at the same time you dropped me meat pies, please also crush this person to death. Fang Yu Ke is basically my nemesis. Every time when things are so great, the atmosphere will be ruined by him.

Xiao Xi laughed, his eyes narrowed to become cute crescents. His dimples deepened: “It depends on what you want to pursue. If you want peaceful days, you can learn just like how you did in high school; if you have ever thought of enriching your life, you can think of participating in many clubs. Peking Uni has a lot of clubs. There is the “Contestation between the 100 Clubs”; in the beginning of school, each club will begin to recruit new people. You can participate in one or two clubs according to your interest or you can go find an internship. Some people have already decided if they want to go out of the country or test into graduate school before they go to the school. Different goals may make life different.”

The moment I heard this, my heart cooled. If I said: My goals are to not get kicked out of school, and find a guy to marry? I hesitated and said: “Oh oh, entering school, I don’t think that my days will be easy. What are your plans for the future?”

Xiao Xi didn’t say anything. After a while he sighed and said: “I plan to go out of the country to study Finance, and try to get a scholarship. But my dad is not in good health right now. I do not feel at ease.”

Seeing Xiao Xi’s sudden depression, I didn’t know how to comfort him, so I could only say: “If one’s health isn’t good then go see the doctor more often, eat more medicine. It will get better.”

Fang Yu Ke drank a sip of beer: “You idiot. Eat some more medicine. Does anyone say things the way you do? If you continue on like this, his father will become a doctor.”

I also felt I said something wrong. I immediately said: “Oh oh, I really don’t know how to say things. I meant, heaven helps the worthy. You don’t need to be too worried.”

Really, my heart was very uncomfortable. Xiao Xi’s grades were so good. He could get a scholarship if he went out of the country. I was learning German, so if I went out of the country, I could go to Germany. Besides getting the interest of the American imperialists, I wouldn’t have anything else to do. Plus, I didn’t even know if I could graduate, so getting a scholarship was only but a faraway dream.

The air pressure at the table became lower instantaneously. To liven up the atmosphere, I immediately said: “For a beautiful tomorrow, cheers!”

Fang Yu Ke laughed, saying: “Cheers!”

I added: “To the smile of the millennial iceberg (referring to FYK), cheers!”

When it was □□o’ clock, I pretended to go to the bathroom to prepare to check out. The waiter said, the gentleman from before had already paid. I turned and saw them and lowly said: which one? The one with dimples or the one wearing glasses? The waiter pointed to Fang Yu Ke: “The one that looks like Won Bin.”

Later I recalled, I thought this person’s aesthetic appearance was really strange. I had obviously thought that Fang Yu Ke’s face was big and square, but why did the older lady and the waiter all say it was like Won Bin? Won Bin had some dimples, okay…….

Won Bin: Won Bin is a South Korean actor. He first gained wide popularity in 2000 after starring in the television drama Autumn in My Heart and has since gained critical acclaim for his performances in the films Taegukgi, Mother and The Man from Nowhere.

I ran back and secretly asked Fang Yu Ke: “Why are you helping me find some money?”

Fang Yu Ke glanced at me: “I am not used to letting girls treat me to dinner, even if you aren’t like a girl in the first place.”

I gritted my teeth and asked: “Where do I not seem like a girl?”

Fang Yu Ke purposely looked at my head, word by word he said: “What-do-you-think?”

I felt like all the blood in my body went up to my face. But since Xiao Xi was by the side, I couldn’t attack, so I could only swallow my temper and say: “Just wait, Fang Yu Ke!”

I snorted. The peaceful Xiao Xi said: “Are you full? If you’re full we can go.”

I stood up, preparing to leave. Fang Yu Ke suddenly said to Xiao Xi: “Xiao Xi you go first, me and her still have some matters.”

I glared at him, and tried not to move my mouth: “When did we have something private to say between us?”

Fang Yu Ke pulled me to sit, and said to Xiao Xi: “We really have something coming up. Her mom just called me, and said that when she called her (LL) it didn’t go through.”

I suspiciously took out my phone. That was wrong. My phone had no problem.

Xiao Xi looked at me, then looked at Fang Yu Ke. He laughed and said all right.

I watched Xiao Xi leave just like that. Frustrated, I asked Fang Yu Ke: “What matter?”

Fang Yu Ke was a little embarrassed and said to me, “The matter that has to do with you women.”

When I saw his hesitant appearance, I got angry and stood up,loudly asking: “What women matter? Say it clearly. What is the blind trouble?”

Fang Yu Ke pointed to my dress: “Behind there....it’s red….”

When I heard this, I immediately used my hand to block behind me: “Why didn’t you….didn’t you say it earlier?”

Fang Yu Ke lightly whispered a sentence; “I said you aren’t like a girl, but you don’t use this to prove it.”

I felt my face was hot, I aggressively roared to him: “Only the heavens, the earth, you and me can know of this matter, got it?”

Fang Yu Ke didn’t say anything. My heart was actually very messy. If I knew this earlier, I wouldn’t have drank ice water. Unlucky aunt [1], why did it come so much earlier. I bet it was that as an old person, she had not acclimatized yet. But continuing to sit was not the solution.

I said to Fang Yu Ke: “Didn’t you promise my mom that you would take care of me well?”

Fang Yu Ke nodded.

I followed with: “Before I came upstairs, I saw that there is a Jeansweat store nearby and a convenience shop. Buy me some pants or a dress, either is fine. By the way, by the way you need to buy me more sanitary napkins. I will give you the money in a moment.”

Fang Yu Ke was silent a moment. He watched me, and lowered his head as he went down the stairs.

After a long time, Fang Yu Ke lugged a bag of stuff back. I immediately grabbed it and rushed to the bathroom.

I opened the plastic bag. Inside was a pair of black pants, a black dress, and many different brands of sanitary napkins. I gloated happily. The rascal had probably dawdled for a long time before grabbing a pile of napkins. Oh God, oh God, even though I told you I want to crush him, remember not to hurt me. Why are you using me as the opening target?

I changed into a pair of different pants and went out the door. Fang Yu Ke was already waiting outside the bathroom. I patted his shoulder, and said: “Let’s go, it’s been hard on you.”

Fang Yu Ke coldly said: “The heavens know, the earth knows, you know, I know of this matter.”

I laughed: “Got it got it. In the future, if your Ru Ting is met with this, you’ll have experience. Right?”

Fang Yu Ke’s face immediately became long: “Your stupid head should stop thinking about that. In total, you only have such a tiny bit of brain cells. Otherwise you don’t even need to be on the right path.”

I was happy: “How did you know my brain cells weren’t of enough use? Usually I rarely use my brain cells. I have to transfer them to use them, like I am Einstein, do you understand? I got 140 points on my Gao Kao. 140! What did you get?”

Fang Yu Ke said: “150.”

I didn’t talk anymore. When I talked to him, I felt no particular sense of accomplishment. When I was taking the Gao Kao, I didn’t know how my brain resuscitated. Before, getting 125 in math was already very good for me. But I somehow got 140 on the Gao Kao. If I had to retake the test again, I estimated I could only get 110. How did this rascal get full points? After second grade I didn’t know the concept of full points!