Chapter 70 The Classic

Translated by Twelve_Months_of_May

When the sun shines on the sea, I miss you. When the dim moonlight shines on the spring, I miss you.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Miss Crab is an interesting girl.

When Mister Ostrich was still a small ostrich, he already knew Miss Crab. Of course, at the time, she was also just a little crab.

The little crab loved to eat and sleep. With a plump, round face and a plump, round body, she didn’t have the smartest brain. She did all the childish things that a childish kid would do. After being scolded very badly, she cried. But after she realized that her tears were useless, she would wipe them away and start to act cute towards the adults.

On this point, Little Crab definitely wasn’t dumb.

She was just a bit innocent.

Little Ostrich played together with Little Crab ever since he was very small. At that time, they didn’t know what the world outside was like. They were very happy and carefree. Even if they fought sometimes, they would make up really quickly.

That wonderful life came to an end the summer that Little Ostrich turned 6 years old. He had a serious illness.

The sick Little Ostrich felt very scared, unsure of what the outcome would be in the end. Would the cowardly Little Crab no longer agree to play with him?

Little Ostrich won’t ever forget the moment that he realized the rest of his life would no longer be the same, and then he saw Little Crab’s eyes.

Little Crab didn’t cry out of fear, nor did she try to hide. She just gave a gentle look towards Little Ostrich and curled her lips without making a sound.

When she realized that Little Ostrich was crying, she reached out her little plump hand and helped him wipe away his tears. And then she smiled.

Little Crab loved to eat sweets. Several of her teeth had cavities, but she didn’t care. She just smiled mischievously with a mouth full of rotten teeth.

That year, Little Crab was just 5 years old.

…

The 19 year old Mister Ostrich wrote a letter to the 18 year old Miss Crab.

He stuffed it into a pretty picture frame. He gave the frame to Miss Crab and told her to immediately put a photo inside. And Miss Crab agreed to.

Mister Ostrich thought, she’d definitely see that letter.

Actually, Mister Ostrich wasn’t a cowardly person. He’d already expressed himself and left implications many times. Although he was uncertain whether Miss Crab was pretending to be a fool or if she was truly that slow, in any case, Miss Crab’s response left Mister Ostrich very confused.

Mister Ostrich could never understand Miss Crab’s intentions. But they were grown up now, and the cruel reality was that they would probably be separated. Mister Ostrich wrote that letter to Miss Crab as a last chance for himself. Miss Crab was ever the romanticist, so Mister Ostrich used a very romantic gesture to express his feelings to her.

He thought that as long as she showed even a sliver of a response, he wouldn’t be afraid of anything, and he would continue to stay by her side.

Mister Ostrich went to a small park, where the two of them often played together, and he waited under that London planetree. Mister Ostrich’s heart beat rapidly, his eyes stuck on that road into the park. He waited expectantly for his Miss Crab to show up in front of him.

But she never came.

That day, there was a heavy rainstorm. Mister Ostrich kept waiting. He imagined that Miss Crab couldn’t find the place, or that she’d been delayed by other matters. Or even, maybe she was embarrassed, so she was hiding behind some tree, silently watching him.

Drenched in rain, Mister Ostrich waited a very, very long time, until he finally admitted that Miss Crab wouldn’t show up.

His world lost all color. In that heavy storm of torrential rain, Mister Ostrich stood alone in that dark park. In that moment, he decided to let go.

Pang Qian opened her eyes, surrounded by quiet. She fished up her phone to check the time, 7:10 AM.

She had slept in a simple hostel, but it had heating so it wasn’t too cold. Pang Qian got up, walked to the window, and pulled open the curtains. She looked out at the snow-covered world and watched as the snowflakes flew through the air. She let out a sigh and made a call to the airport. She was informed that because of the blizzard, the airport was still closed. The weather condition was too poor, so no flights would be taking off.

Pang Qian immediately decided to ask for a refund.

She collected her luggage, braved the snow, and hailed down a taxi to the train station. The train station was filled with people. Pang Qian wanted to buy a sleeper ticket back to E City, but there weren’t any. She asked about Shanghai. Yes, there was a soft sleeper. She immediately bought the ticket without hesitation.

Because of the snow, the train was also two hours late arriving to the station. While they were waiting, Pang Qian called Jin Ai’hua. She asked, “Mom, do you remember when we moved, I brought along a crystal picture frame? It was pretty big. The one that Gu Mingxi gave me when we graduated high school.”

“Gu Mingxi?” Jin Ai’hua hadn’t heard that name in a long time. She thought for a moment, and then said, “Didn’t you pack up all your things? Gu Mingxi gave you a lot of stuff. Didn’t you put it all into one box?”

Pang Qian was silent, and then said, “Oh, that seems about right. As long as we didn’t throw it away, that’s good.”

“What? Why did you suddenly mention Gu Mingxi?” Jin Ai’hua asked, “Did you find him?”

Pang Qian smiled and said, “No.”

“Where are you right now? The plane still can’t take off?”

“Nope. Don’t you watch the weather report? There’s a blizzard up north. I got my ticket refunded and bought a train ticket. We get on at 12 PM, and we’ll probably be back in Shanghai tomorrow morning. And then I’ll take the railcar back home. If things go smoothly, I should be home tomorrow afternoon.”

Jin Ai’hua exclaimed, “So much trouble!”

Pang Qian sighed, “Yeah, there’s no other way.”

“Did you call Xiao Yu yet?”

“No, I’m not calling him. If he asks you, don’t tell him when I’m coming home.”

Jin Ai’hua chuckled. “Got it.”

When she entered the sleeper car, Pang Qian was met by two men, a 40 year-old and a 20 year-old, who seemed to be on a business trip together. And there was also a young mother with a 3 or 4 year old boy. The young mother had bought the top bed and Pang Qian had the bottom. The young mother sheepishly asked Pang Qian if she wouldn’t mind switching beds, and Pang Qian smiled and agreed. The young mother was about to repay Pang Qian for the difference, but she said forget it, since it was only a few dollars’ difference.

And so, the two of them became friendly. The young mother warmly invited Pang Qian to sit on the bottom bunk and the two chatted.

The weather was bad, real estate was expensive, the price was raised for vegetables, kids are getting harder to raise…

Pang Qian’s phone rang. She looked at it, it was her team leader, Zou Liwen.

Zou Liwen’s voice was as cold as always. “How’s the progress?”

Note: In her work conversations, words in italics were originally written in English.

Pang Qian answered calmly, “The DD in Shenyang is complete. I already spoke to the lawyer about it, and I’ll put out a memo when I get back.”

Zou Liwen said, “The Regulatory Commission and the stock exchange already gave their OK. Follow up with them.”

Pang Qian responded, “OK, I can check the work inbox on my BB at any time. It won’t leak. I’ll update the agenda, and then I’ll send it to the client.”

“Okay, good work.” Zou Liwen’s voice finally eased up a bit. “When are you getting back?”

“Can’t get back. There’s a blizzard here, so the plane’s can’t take off.”

“…” Zou Liwen asked, “Then where are you right now?”

“Aiya, the signal’s really bad–” Pang Qian pulled the phone away from her ear. Holding in her laughter, she said, “Team Leader, what did you say? Hello? Hello?! I can’t hear–”

And then she ended the call.

The young mother looked at her with admiration. “What kind of work do you do? I couldn’t understand anything you said. How amazing.”

Pang Qian laughed. “I’m just a regular worker.”

“Regular workers don’t make calls and speak English. What do DD and BB mean?”

“Oh, DD means due diligence, due diligence. BB is a phone, blackberry, blackberry. They’re just abbreviations we’re used to using.” Pang Qian looked at the young mother’s perplexed face, and then she smiled. “I’m really just a normal office worker. It’s just that my team leader likes to pretend to be cooler, so we can only pretend along with him.”

The young mother laughed. “You’re really interesting. What field do you work in?”

“I work in investment banking.”

“Investment?”

Pang Qian didn’t know how to explain it, so she just threw out some nonsense. “Like, banks.”

The twenty-something man across from them let out a short, muffled laugh.

The young mother looked on with realization and said, “Ah, so it’s banking!”

On the long journey, Pang Qian couldn’t help pulling out the illustrated book again. She’d already flipped through it three times, but she didn’t seem to tire of it.

The little boy saw the picture book and leaned over to look at it. The kid couldn’t read yet, but he liked the colorful pictures. He pointed at the illustration and said, “This is an ostrich.”

Pang Qian smiled. Then she pointed to the crab and said, “What’s this?”

The kid looked at her with a bit of disdain. “This is a crab! You’ve never eaten it before?”

Pang Qian was extremely amused.

The young man across from her struck up a conversation with her. He pointed to the book and asked, “Do you like this author?”

“Mister Ostrich?” Pang Qian nodded. “I do.”

“He’s really popular right now,” the man said. “He’s already put out several books. This one, My Miss Crab, is said to be semi-biographical. It’s selling especially well now.”

Pang Qian stared at him. “I’ve never heard of him before. He’s already published several illustrated books?”

“Yeah, at first, he used to post comics online. He was really popular on Tianya and Sina (websites). Later on, he published a book,” the man said. “But he’s pretty low-profile. People only know that he’s a man, but not much else.”

Pang Qian let out a sigh. “I must have been too busy with work these years. I haven’t gone to a bookstore in a long time.”

One day and night later, the train finally arrived in Shanghai. Because they were in a soft sleeper, Pang Qian didn’t really feel tired after the trip. She got off the train and bought a ticket back to E City on the railcar. Less than two hours later, she arrived at E City’s train station.

When she exited the station, she saw Yu Jialei. He smiled as he stood among the group of people waiting outside the station. He wore a fitted black coat, and with his tall stature, he looked very elite.

Pang Qian walked up to him, “Don’t you have to work?”

“I skipped work. At worst, they’ll just take out a day’s wages.” Yu Jialei took Pang Qian’s luggage. “You must be tired. I’ll send you home.”

Pang Qian’s lips twitched. Yu Jialei reached out grab her shoulders, but she slipped away from him.

“Keep your hands still, move your feet.” She stared at him, and Yu Jialei smiled warmly at her. “Little Crab is really mean.”

Pang Qian, “…”

Pang Qian’s new house was in an area called Prosperous North, situated in the heart of E City. She lived on the 17th floor of the 28 story building. 109 sqm, north and south facing, with good lighting and a good view.

Carrying Pang Qian’s bags, Yu Jialei and Pang Qian entered the house, and were welcomed in by Jin Ai’hua.

“You’re back?” You could see the wrinkles in her face for how big the smile she gave Yu Jialei. “Xiao Yu, you’ve worked hard. You haven’t had lunch yet, right? What do you want to eat? I’ll make you something.”

Pang Qian rolled her eyes at the side. She said, “I’m going to change.”

She entered her room and quickly locked her door. She took off her jacket and then started rummaging through her things.

After searching for ten minutes, Jin Ai’hua knocked on her door. “Qian Qian, come out and watch TV with Xiao Yu. What are you doing in your room by yourself?”

“I’m changing!” Pang Qian shouted. She wiped away the sweat on her forehead, and then said to herself, “Where is it…”

And then, in a flash, she finally remembered.

Pang Qian rolled up her sleeves, and then pushed the pillows and blankets off her bed. She pushed the mattress aside somewhat. Under her mattress, there was a separator and then storage space in her bed. She finally found that hidden box.

The box was stuffed full with things, with a layer of dust on top. Pang Qian knew that there were still a lot of comics inside. She couldn’t pull the box out, so she just started pulling out the items.

Very quickly, she found that picture frame.

Yu Jialei knocked on the door. “Little Crab, what are you doing?”

“Be quiet! I’m changing!” Pang Qian’s heart boomed. She took out the dusty picture frame and sat down beside the table. Carefully, she opened the back.

This time, she was very careful, so as not to prick her finger. After she took off the backing, she saw that between the back and the cardboard, there was a sheet of light blue stationary.

Pang Qian pulled out the paper and opened it. After many years, she once again saw that youth’s elegant writing.

There were just a few sentences, but they entered her mind very clearly.

Pang Qian recalled that year, after the college entrance exams, she was very relaxed. When she was hanging out with Gu Mingxi, they watched a new movie on his computer. It was a Korean romance movie, “The Classic.”

The movie was very moving. The young Pang Qian had cried buckets. Leaning onto Gu Mingxi’s shoulder, her tears wouldn’t stop flowing.

There was a classic line from the movie, and Pang Qian had repeated it many times. And then, it was written into Gu Minxgi’s letter. He wrote–

My Pang Pang,

When the sun shines on the sea, I miss you. When the dim moonlight shines on the spring, I miss you.

Tonight at 8, I’ll be waiting for you at the Little Market.

I’m sure that you’ll come.

Gu Mingxi

2003 June 25