Arlene's first time gave an uncle I met at nightclub. She had just turned 19 that year, and later her uncle and wife came over and beat her up. That time, Arlene left the city without a single tear.
Later she told me on WeChat: Being beaten is the price of love. She likes that uncle and she doesn’t regret it! . After spending a few years outside in the nightclub, she went home to open a small supermarket, bought a house with her own loan, found a young man from the mountain to get married, and gave birth to a daughter. She lived a stable life.
When I saw her, she told me: Now love is boiled water, it doesn’t taste at all, but you have to drink it every day! In the first year of the epidemic, I met her on the nightclub again and she returned to her old career.
That time she was drunk and leaned against my shoulder and cried loudly. She said she had divorced and her family's property was cheated by the young man in the mountains. Now she had to pay the mortgage and her child wanted her to raise her. She really couldn't stand it! She cried and said to me: I don't want anything, you can raise me! That time I rejected her! She then drunk and said angrily: Love is nothing!
This year, I met her again. At the street stall in the night market, she was selling fruits with an old man. We exchanged a few words, and suddenly she smiled and said to me: That old man, that uncle back then, they live together now. Although life is hard, they feel warm in their hearts. Before leaving, his daughter smiled and said to me: Uncle, please buy some apples, it’s so sweet! So I bought some, and at this time, I heard a message from the night market radio: Go left, right, look forward, love needs to turn a few turns before coming!
Original article @Northeast Qing
