text | Wu Zehua
Some people say that marriage is about fate, I don’t believe it. However, ten years later, I finally admitted it.
Actually, she loves me very much, and I love her very much. If I hadn't lost the phone number she gave me, I wouldn't have waited ten years to meet.
The wonderful time I used to have always made me linger like seaweed.
When I was in my sophomore year, I fell in love with a girl from the English department, and her name is Zhou Zitao.
The first time we met was autumn. One evening, she was wearing a pink long skirt and looked like a little bird was leaning against the people, graceful. She sat by the pond, holding a book in her hand, and was watching the fish in the pond.
I was sitting on a casual stool about ten meters away from her, holding a copy of ", the Right Bank of Ergun River " in my hand. When I looked up and relaxed my eyes, she attracted me in my eyes.
Just as I was deeply fascinated by her, suddenly, the book in her hand slid into the pond.
She exclaimed, and I ran over, grabbed a Yangtse tree by the pond with one hand, and quickly grabbed the book with the other. Fortunately, the book was not all soaked in water, and only the cover was wet.
She stared at me and looked at me for a long time, her face was like a sunset in the sky, and said, "Thank you!"
I said as if nothing had happened, "No need to thank me!"
It was so simple, but I longed for her to invite me to have a cup of milk tea or a cup of coffee.
Meet the second time, I had dinner in the cafeteria. That afternoon, I had no class in the afternoon, and I forgot the dinner time when I slept. When I woke up, I found it was already seven o'clock, so I hurried to the cafeteria.
Just as I asked the aunt in the canteen, is there any food left? She appeared and said to me with a smile, "Oh, you only have dinner now?"
I smiled and said, "Yes. There was no class in the afternoon, and I overslept."
She smiled and said, "I thought you were studying and forgetting to eat and sleep!"
The two of them made a meal and sat together to eat.
So we started chatting.
She asked me what my name was?
I told her that my name is Guo Xinghan, I am from the Civil Engineering Department, and I studied water conservancy major.
I asked her what her name was?
She said that her name is Zhou Zitao, she is from the Foreign Language Department and she majors in English.
In the 1990s, we didn’t have mobile phones. When I left
, I gave her the landline number in the dormitory and said, "You can chat with me if you have time."
She also gave me the phone number of her dormitory.
A week later, it is winter vacation. I went back to Guizhou to celebrate the Spring Festival, and she went back to Heilongjiang to celebrate the Spring Festival.
She left first. When she left, I bought her a scarf and gave it to the train station.
Her companion asked me if it was her boyfriend. I smiled but didn't answer. She didn't say anything either.
After the Spring Festival and when she was in school, she came to me and brought me a lot of local specialties.
That night, we went to the restaurant at the entrance of the school to have dinner together.
After having a meal, we went to watch the movie together. When I came back from watching the movie, when I sent her downstairs, I confessed to her and said, "Zi Tao, I like you!"
She smiled shyly and said, "Let's talk about it tomorrow, I have to go back."
The next day, after class, I was very excited, so I called her, invited her to dinner, and then went to the movie.
She said she had something to do and hung up the phone. When I passed by again, it was another girl. She said that Zitao went out. I asked her to send a message, and Zitao came back and asked her to call me.
I waited until twelve o'clock in the evening and she didn't call me.
, this one took five days, and I was discouraged and suspected that she didn't like me at all.
Until Saturday, she called and asked me to row a boat in the forest park next to the school in the afternoon. I was a little excited, and after dressing up, I hurried to the school gate.
I suspect she must have brought a few girls with her, but in the end, she was the only one standing there with a bag of snacks in her hand.
That day, we had a very happy time. In the evening, we had a meal at a restaurant in the park.But I have always longed for her to give me a reply, would she want to be my girlfriend?
Just when I urgently needed a reply, she took the initiative to say, "I tell you, I don't want to fall in love! Don't get me wrong, don't think I don't like you!" I don't like to hear these words from
, which is just a tactful rejection.
From then on, my heart became more and more distant from her. However, she was not like that. On Saturdays, she couldn't move in the afternoon and always asked me to play. In the evening, I like to have dinner with me.
After graduating from university, I first went to a water conservancy and hydropower construction group in Guangdong.
When I left, she had not found a job.
The night I left, she came to see me and said, "Xinghan, before the 7th, the school required all graduates to leave school. I had moved out and rented a house with a few classmates outside the school. If you want to contact me, make this call." Then, she took out a note and gave it to me, which was a phone number.
When I got on the train, my wallet was stolen by a thief because of the crowds and the crowds.
I called the police, but the police did not catch the thief, so I lost contact with her.
During the Spring Festival, I went back to school to find her, but there was no news.
I asked, and a fellow villager knew her. He said, I don’t know where I went? However, there is a QQ group in their class. I know one of them. I asked him to pull you in. Take a look, she is not in the group.
I joined their group, but I didn’t see her in the group, so I left a message in the QQ group: Who has Zhou Zitao’s contact information?
No one answered, but the group owner kicked me out of the group.
Her home is in Harbin, Heilongjiang. During the National Day holiday, I asked my unit for three days off. The National Day holiday was ten days together. I believe I will find her in ten days.
She once told me that her family lives in Nangang District, Harbin, an old community next to No. 16 Middle School. Her parents are old farmers.
When I found that location, it was full of construction areas. It turned out that the shanty town was renovated, and all the people moved away.
I asked for it for two days, but no one knew her.
I went to the school to inquire again. A teacher helped me contact several people, and they all said that they had not contacted her and didn’t know where she went.
I believe she will come to me, after all, she knows the name of my company.
A year later, she did not contact me or look for me.
Two years later, she still did not contact me or came to me.
Five years later, ten years later, she still did not contact me or look for me.
I am already thirty-three years old, and my mother advised me that it is time to get married, otherwise I will not be able to find a woman. Chairman Li of the union of
unit is also anxious. Every time he meets me, he will shake his head and ask me: "Guo Xinghan, what kind of woman do you want to marry? The unit will bring in a group of girls every year. Why are you not moved? Are they not beautiful?"
I feel embarrassed to say, in fact, I am waiting for someone. I'm waiting for Zhou Zitao.
On National Day, Chairman Li asked me to go to the office and said, "Guo Xinghan, on Saturday afternoon, there was a blind date in the school next to us. You can attend it! You are not young anymore, you should get married. Otherwise, how can you do a good job?"
In the morning, I got up and went to the mall to buy a brand new suit, and dressed myself up like a rich young master.
Then, after lunch, I went there with great energy.
As soon as I entered the school gate, several aunts came up and asked me for my name. I took Chairman Li’s invitation and said, “Guo Xinghan!”
An aunt took me to the stage and I found that there were forty or fifty tables of single men and women in the audience.
The host handed me a microphone and asked me to introduce myself.
I held the microphone and said confidently: "Hello everyone, my name is Guo Xinghan! I am 33 years old this year and I am a water conservancy design engineer. I am now working in a water conservancy and hydropower construction group in Guangzhou."
After briefly introducing myself, I walked off the stage and walked towards my seat.
Just as I was looking for a seat, a hand suddenly stopped me.
When I looked, it turned out to be Zhou Zitao.
I smiled and said, "Are you Zhou Zitao?"
She smiled and said, "Yes! What's wrong? Divorce?"
The people around me cast a surprised look, and I had to explain, "What divorce? I'm not married at all!"
She said, "Then why don't you contact me?"
Seeing the people around me staring at me and her, Zhou Zitao stood up and pulled me aside, and said, "I tell you that the blind dates are all young people. We are not worthy at all. Let's just find a place to have coffee!"
I smiled and said, "Okay! I don't want to come either. Chairman Li of the unit asked me to come. If I don't marry me, no one will want it."
She covered her mouth and smiled, and then said, "I'm different from you. I'm old, wherever I go, I hope to meet someone I like. It's funny, but I can't meet it."
walked out of the school and sat down in a gong-style cafe across the street. The two of them chatted while drinking coffee.
I asked her, "Where have you been in the past few years?"
She asked me, "Why didn't you call me after coming to Guangzhou?"
I said, "When I got on the train, my wallet was stolen by a thief. The phone number was stolen."
She was silent and after a long time, she said, "I'm sorry! I wronged you. I thought you met a close lover in Guangzhou! You don't know, since you left, I've been doing it every day. I went to the convenience store at the door and asked if anyone called me. After asking a few times, the old lady got bored and shouted at me and said, "If you have a phone call, you will call you."
I asked, "Where did you go after graduation?"
She said, "I went to , Daliangshan, Sichuan, and to teach. I thought you didn't like me at all, so I closed myself up."
She said, tears flowed out of her eyes quietly.
I took the tissue for her, and she took it and wiped her tears, saying, "I returned to Harbin after teaching. The next year, my parents were in a car accident and left. The house was demolished, so I came to Guangzhou to find you alone. I was afraid of finding you, and I longed to find you. I was afraid that you would get married. I longed, I hope you are still waiting for me."
It turned out that I misunderstood her.
I said, "I went to Harbin to find you. That year's National Day. However, your family had been demolished and no one was found. I went to your school to find a teacher. The teacher contacted several classmates, but they all said they didn't know where you were."
I saw that she was very sad and advised her to leave.
We sat down in a corner of the park and I asked her, "How is it now?"
She said, "Being a teacher in a private training institution has a good salary."
I said earnestly: "Zi Tao, let's get married!"
Narrator: Guo Xinghan. He is from Guizhou and currently lives in Guangzhou.
(image comes from headlines)
—————
