Please Be More Serious Chapter 77

Chapter 77 Live Your Life

The long post was written by a

woman, her online name was “森林沒有木” sēnlín méiyǒu mù. In her post she wrote:

She also had a dream. Her dream was

to be a pianist, but dreams were just that, dreams. Her family had little money

and she had never touched a piano in her life. Only ever seen it on television or

in a shop window. She never dared walk close and touch one because she could

never afford it. She was just a waitress in a restaurant.

She had compiled piano pieces on

her computer, and everyday she listened to them imagining her fingers dancing

across the piano, making these wonderful melodies.

She had a boyfriend she had been in

love with for six years. He got into university while she did not. He had to go

to another city, while she stayed behind. His family’s conditions were also not

good. She worked as a waiter in a high end restaurant, but the pay wasn’t good.

She lived frugally to send money to her boyfriend, so he could study without

worries. (Zuben: AKA a foolish move) Her boyfriend promised her that when he

graduated, and found a good job, he would take care of her. (Zuben: That old

chestnut)

She happily waited for that day to

come.

However, as the days went by, they

had less and less contact. Their calls became shorter because they stopped

knowing what to say to each other. They no longer had things in common except

for their past. She did not know his classmates; he did not know her

colleagues. Soon she realised that if she didn’t call him, he would not call

her. And when she did, she noticed his conversations were short and

perfunctionary. Even though he still told her he loved her, she felt there was

something wrong. Although, it was only speculation, she dared not ask if there

was something, or she would just blame herself for being suspicious.

He always asked her for money. He

said his dorm was noisy and he wanted to move out, so she should help. Then he

asked for money to buy a new laptop. (Zuben: What an idiotic woman)

When she went to visit him, he was

attentive to her but she still felt like there was something off.

She started paying attention to the

Xiu’s activities, because to the promise to bring people’s dreams to life.

Although many people thought that dreams have been co-opted by big business to

deceive people, and this event was a publicity stunt, she still liked to pay

attention to it. When the news that Tingting Yuli 413 was a black box operation

came out, she had been at home on a day off; she was playing on her computer

and trying to get through to her boyfriend. She had been angry about the news.

Some of the anger she felt was towards

her boyfriend. She had been getting more and more suspicious of him at the time.

She would try to catch him online, but he was always absent. When she called

him, took a long time to answer and when he did there was no enthusiasm.

She thought that she was being

deceived, but the post about Tingting Yuli made her feel even more so. She

really wanted to call her boyfriend and ask him what was going on and whether

he still loved her.

But she did not dare ask because

she felt the question would ruin everything and there would be no turning back.

But her anger had nowhere to go, so she laid it at TingtingYuli413’s door. A

lady caught in an affair incited her her sense of justice. She rained abuse on

TingtingYuli413, and she felt she had been justified.

However, Tingting Yuli 413 did not

reply. There was nothing. Her fans came to her aid, the official statement from

Xiu followed. She read it, and felt that the statement made sense. She

eventually began to feel sorry for herself, she actually needed to go and attack

a stranger to make herself feel better.

She didn’t know what came over her

that day, she kept looking at her phone waiting for her boyfriend to call or

even send a text. To say something that would end her months of frustration. She

had her suspicious, but she did not dare confirm it herself. She didn’t know

what she was doing, she just went crazy thinking about her boyfriend, waiting

for his call, but as usual he never did.

The next day, after work, she

logged on and went to TingtingYuli’s blog. She had written a post, whether it

was true or false did not matter to her, she was just a bystander, but what

TingtingYuli had said touched her. She wrote: The airtight protection is safe,

the perfect is respectable but from that place of imperfection I saw the sun.

She thought of this for a long

time. Had she been protecting herself by deceiving herself, thinking it was

safe and good. But, was it really?

Another day, she saw

TingtingYuli413 had put up another post about roller coasters. She didn’t think

much of it. She only thought TingtingYuli was very stubborn despite so many

people mocking her.

Another day, TingtingYuli posted

again. She said there was beauty everywhere, one just needed to open their eyes

to see it.

She felt that was right, she wanted

to open her eyes. So she took a day off, bought a ticket for an overnight

train, stood for nine hours to see her boyfriend. At dawn, she knocked on her

boyfriend’s door, he opened it wearing only his pyjamas bottoms and a female

voice from within asked, ‘Who is it?’

She looked at him for what seemed

like a long time. Without the need for words, she understood. She slapped him,

and beat him till she was tired. Then without a backward glance, she walked

away. She did not cry until she was at the station waiting room, waiting for

the bus. She cried until she was out of breath, she was crying when the bright

sun burst through the clear glass of the shelter and warmed her.

“I saw the sun.”

At that moment, she remembered the

sentence TingtingYuli had made all those posts ago. She felt fortunate she

came, for she was now free and everything was done. She regretted not coming

earlier. She had hidden in the dark to comfort and deceive herself.

Now she had seen the sun.

When she returned home, she saw

TingtingYuli413 had made a post. She talked about family, love and friendship

and said she was living a good life. So ‘sēnlín méiyǒu mù’ thought, if others

were doing well, there was no reason why she shouldn’t. She also wanted to tell

TingTingYuli not to hide. She only put up the posts, and did not read the

comments, so what was the use of this sharing? Was she afraid she was not

strong enough? Like her, she had been afraid to be alone, but eventually, she

had slapped him and ruthlessly kicked the man, and she had survived.

It was no big deal, there was life.

The sun still rose. She still had her family and friends. She believed she will

fall in love again. Losing the bad was to welcome the good. She would continue

to live frugally and save money – to learn to play the piano. So she wouldn’t

be a pianist, but she wanted to learn, therefore she should.

She had saved enough money for her

ex boyfriend, enough to buy some piano lesions. Why did she ever feel she could

not touch a piano before? So stupid.

So TingtingYuli413, sēnlín méiyǒu

mù said, I just signed up for my dream. I would never be a pianist on the grand

stage, but I want to learn to play a complete piece on the piano. And I want to

show it off. Come back I hope you’ll see my post!

Zhengqing replied: I will tell her.

That evening, Zhengqing went to see

Yin Ting at her family home. He told her about it.

She was very moved, but she still

hesitated, ‘Are the scolding comments still bad?’

He nodded, he had looked at them

today, though they were less than before, the last post incited the keyboard

warriors. They cursed her out, they had cursed her mother.

There had been a lot of foul

language that Zhengqing did not repeat. He still thought she shouldn’t look at

it, but he said, ‘If you want to see that post, I will email it to you without

the comments.’

She thought about it, and then

nodded.

When he got home, Zhengqing sent

the post to her. Ying Ting read the post three times. She sat back in her seat

then after a while, she logged into her blog. There was a lot of abuse…and a

lot of support.

A lot of 'Love you, jiāyóu!’

It was really too much, Yin Ting

saw at a glance. It was impossible not to be affected, but Yin Ting realised

she didn’t feel as bad as she thought she would feel.

She read that line: You only

put up posts but did not read the comments, what is the point of sharing?

Yin Ting decided she was right.

Yin Ting went to see Zhengqing’s

blog, he usually posted so rarely that his post of “Love you, jiāyóu!” was

very conspicuous.

Yin Ting laughed, as looked at her

computer screen, she suddenly had an impulsive idea. She got dressed and left

her room in a hurry. When she ran into her father, she announced, ‘I’m going to

see Serious.’ She ran away before he could formulate a reply

Guohao opened his mouth intending

to say something, but closed his mouth. Although, he did not object to their

marriage, this was not the way to act. Wasn’t running to Qiu Zhengqing’s house

in the middle of the night too inappropriate?

Yin Ting did not think about it,

and got a taxi to Zhengqing’s house. She rang the door bell and Zhengqing

opened the door shortly after. He stared at her in shock,

‘What happened? Why are you here?’

Yin Ting gave him a wide grin as

she entered, looking about pretending to look for something, ‘Ah no other

women.’

Zhengqing poked her head, ‘Naughty

girl. How come you’re here?’

‘I took a taxi.’

‘Should you be taking a taxi this

late?’ he asked unhappy with her actions, ‘Is the matter that urgent? You

should have called me and I would have come to pick you up.’

‘I could not wait.’ She said as she

pulled him by the arm, ‘come quickly.’

Zhengqing was scared, ‘Is this it?

Yin Ting cocked her head and looked

at him, ‘What is it?’

Zhengqing’s expression was

delicate, but he let her dragging him off.

She pulled him to his study.

His expression turned quizzical.

Yin Ting made him sit on his chair

so she could sit in his lap and put his arms around her. She leaned forward to

get to his computer to open her blog. As she shifted in her seat, she noticed

something was getting warmer and firmer underneath her. She heard Zhengqing

sniff behind her, she turned to look at him, his face was not very good, she

turned red, ‘What are you thinking?’

‘Any normal guy will think of it.’

‘Why do I have such a wolf?’ Was he

going to drag her to bed tonight? (Zuben: When else is his going to do it? You're there, he's there.)

‘I am shocked you’re here. I can’t

believe it.’

Zhengqing’s tone was such that Yin

Ting could not smack him, ‘I have serious business, you have to be serious.’

‘I am being serious.’

Yin Ting turned to look at him,

‘Really serious,’ he said, then he

cleared his throat. ‘Why have you come to see me?’

‘I want to return, but I am afraid.

So I wanted to be with you when I did it.’

‘Return? Continue interacting?’

‘Ah.’ She turned to look at the

screen, ‘I read the comments.’

Zhengqing pulled her closer into

the circle of his arms.

‘If you’re with me, I am braver.’

She said as she searched for ‘Sēnlín méiyǒu mù’s’ long essay. Yin Ting turned

to Zhengqing and gave him a peck on his lips, ‘Shall I?’

‘Hao,’ he said and he gave her a

kiss too.

Yin Ting turned back and wrote to ‘Sēnlín

méiyǒu mù’, ‘Thank you, I am back!’ she clicked send.

She heaved a sigh of relief and

turned to smile at Zhengqing. He gave her many kisses, ‘This is very good, very

good.’

Yin Ting was very happy; she felt

heroic and majestic. She turned around and refreshed her page. There were many

comments of encouragement and love.

And there were many derisive and

insulting comments too.

‘Ha! Delete and blacklist for you!’

Zhengqing encouraged Yin Ting.

Yin Ting bit her lip as she moved

her mouse and deleted the comment.

‘Well done,’ he said planting many

kisses on her cheek, ‘Now we do the rest.’

Yin Ting smiled, getting somewhat

excited and the continued to delete and blacklist the insulting comments. She

completed several.

‘How do you feel?’ He asked.

‘Pretty cool,’ she said with a

laugh. Sure enough, doing this kind of thing with Zhengqing was best, at home

she would be shy, but she felt completely at ease with him. She deleted a few

more insulting comments. Then after a moment’s thought, she decided to put up a

new post on Weibo.

‘I have returned! I will read all

the comments; your shares and forward it. Any foul comments will be deleted and

the users blocked!!!!!’ She added five exclamation points followed by a dancing

proudly emoticon.

Zhengqing laughed, ruffling her

hair and kissing her, ‘I love you so much!’

‘Hao,’ she said. Her morale was now

ignited, ‘Look, I’ll delete them all.’

While she was busy deleting the

comments, a comment came up on her new post: Do not have the ability to delete,

ah!

‘Watch me!’ she said as she deleted

and blocked them.

She continued to delete and block,

when ‘Sēnlín méiyǒu mù’ commented with a smiley face and: Welcome back!

Yin Ting replied, ‘You were right, sharing

that way did not make sense. I have learned my lesson. I am back!’ After she

clicked sent, she felt Zhengqing’s arm tightened around her waist. He smiled at

her

‘Quickly praise me.’ She said.

Zhengqing kissed her.

Yin Ting blushed and muttered as

she turned back to the computer, ‘Ah there are so many more to delete.’

She turned back to deleting and

blocking the comments, she replied to familiar people and interacted with her

supporters. She was touched by it all; yes, she thought, this sharing makes

sense. She could not back down, she must fight on bravely. As she continued,

she was more aware that the man behind her was getting impatient. Her face turned

hot, but she couldn’t pretend that she didn’t know. She turned to him, and she

saw his eyes aflame with desire, ‘Arent you deleting them?’ he asked her

gently.

Yin Ting’s heart skipped a beat but

she could not turn away from his gaze, ‘Well…that…there are so many it’s almost

endless, it will be impossible to delete them all for a while.’

As she finished, she felt Zhengqing

stroke the skin at her waist. She felt her body melt, but she gritted her teeth

and pulled her arm around Zhengqing’s neck and kissed him. Zhengqing rose

suddenly out of the chair causing it to fall with a loud bang.

Yin Ting was shocked by the sudden

movement and yelped, but he lifted her in his arms and carried into the

bedroom.

Hao, her serious husband is very

powerful and majestic.

Miao was thrown out of the bedroon.

In Yin Ting’s bag in the living room, her phone rang, but the two lovers did

not hear. The online flame war continued, but Yin Ting ignored it. How were

they related to her? Those people did not matter at all. The most important

thing was to love her family and her loved ones, like this Serious Sir, who was

holding her tightly right now.

Yin Ting stayed over at the

serious-looking gentleman’s house that night.

The next day, the serious gentleman

took her home and came face to face with her father.

She tittered.

While her father was not paying

attention to her, she caught his eye and mouthed. ‘I love you, jiāyóu!’

Yin Ting had a good time. She no

longer evaded her comment section, there were still people who did not like

her, but there were more who did.

‘Sēnlín méiyǒu mù’ was also being

critisied. People said she had been paid off by TingtingYuli413. But she

responded that her critisicm was quite deserved because she blindly followed

the crowd to abuse TingtingYuli413. Now she truly believed that Tingting yuli

was not a black box operation.

@Sēnlín méiyǒu mù started to share

warm stories on her blog. Though there were many uncivilised happenings at the

restaurant, she only shared the nice things that happened. (Zuben: *snore*)

Soon other microbloggers took up

the spread of good vibes ans shared it with @Tingting Yuli 413. Someone filmed

people giving up their seat on the bus. Someone recorded children running more

than ten metres to throw trash in a bin. Somone recorded the night lights of

the city, so show its beauty. Someone recorded a theif being caught by a heroic

passerby. Someone recorded the goodwill of the traffic police helping the

hard-working passer-by…

There were so many…

Yin Ting was touched by all these beautiful

everyday things.

She also actively shared.

She went to a deserted landfill.

Hidden in the ruins was a big beautiful Bougainvillea plant.

She wrote: Do not just look at the

surface, do not be biased or prejudiced. Do not look down on anyone. For there

are hidden things you do not see. No one should be underestimated no dream

should be ridiculed.

After that she got more and more

support on her blog. As well as more votes. Though, the people who did not like

her were still there but no one paid them any mind.

Sometime later there was an article

in the news entitled “Don’t kidnap dreams, don’t let the pragmatic cry”: the

article was long and the writer was unnamed. It talked about a certain brand

which organised an internet activity which caused great controversy and said brand

disregarded this. While it may be tricky to create eye catching publicity, but

in the long run, this turned out to be failed marketing. The article continued

to say that the focus of the dispute was who should talk about dreams. The author

believed a pragmatic person who has a dream would set sail for this dream. But

the weak, who were like sour chicken dumplings, would definely be abandoned by

their dreams. A pragmatic dream is a real dream. It is not a stupid child who

can we used. It will not let you kidnap it.

(Zuben: You have time)

Tha article was praised. Though no

names were mentioned, people knew what it was referring to. The now silent

keyboard warriors were excited again.

“Good things shine through the

ages,”

“This was a good article. It is not

like a primary school essay composition.”

“Yes, don’t always put your dream

on you mouth. It’s disgusting.”

“I was so annoyed that Tingting

Yuli had called people, I wanted to beat them to death.”

When Yin Ting saw the article, she

called Zhengqing to ask, ‘What is this about?’

Zhengqing read it and looked at the

byline, ‘It looks like a gun bought by the competition. It doesn’t matter.’

‘Oh. Then I’ll go back ah.’

‘OK.’ Zhengqing said with a laugh.

His angel was fighting more and more.

Yin Ting put new post: If someone

wants to help you with your dreams, will your dreams laugh and ask “Who are

you?”

Zhengqing continued working. He

stopped for a small break and a glass of water, he peeked at Yin Ting’s blog

and nearly spat out his water. Did Qin Yufei have children or has the goddess

of sharpness attached to his family’s Xiaoting?

There were even more sharper

tongues than Yin Ting.

“Someone wants to make dreams noble;

dreams laugh and say ‘Roll’.

Another commenter added, “Someone

wants to make deams poor, the dream laughs and say: Think beautiful”

“Someone’s dream is to be a hero,

and his dream laughs and say: Uncle Police Office, the kidnapper is him!” was

another comment.

“Don’t kidnap the dream, be

pragmatic. Don’t let the dream cry.”

Xiu’s manager called Zhengqing.

They told him that the competitor did not expect the backlash. They had

intended on using the publicity to showcase their new products, but instead the

promoted Xiu with the hype.

Zhengqing smiled and replied and

thought his family’s Xiaoting has good luck, but it couldn’t be said. He

couldn’t be too proud.

Time passed quickly and in a blink

of an eye, it was the final sprint for the primary vote. Kōng qìqiú had the

highest number of votes followed by Ai zǒulù de nǚrén, the next three spots

were also popular online personalities, but Tingting Yuli 413 came in tenth

place and the number of votes for her was growing rapidly.

Her dissenters raged, saying they

would vote religiously for the people ahead and behind her so she could not

take the lead.

Yin Ting could not be bothered, for

at this time she became very busy.

Yufei gave birth to a daughter.

Before her due date, she had cried to Yingjie that he had to be in the delivery

room with her, otherwise she would be afraid. On the day of the birth, the

result was that Yingjie was relegated outside, while Yufei was surrounded by her friends while she gave birth.

Huizhu was being pursued by Wu Fei.

She was unnerved by it, so she came to talk to Yin Ting about it. Yin Ting

transformed from angel to matchmaker, concerned about their progress.

‘What is the biggest obstacle?’

‘I am older than him by seven

years. Not exactly - six and half years.’

‘Please Be More Serious is nine

years older than me.’

‘It’s alright for a man to be older

than the woman.’

‘Why? What is the difference?’

Huizhu could not reply for a

moment, then she tried a different tack,

‘That..well, my family is

troublesome. If they found out, there would be no shortage of talk. And would

Wu Fei’s family agree for him to marry an old woman like me?’

‘Isn’t that his problem? He should

solve it. Your own question is; do you like him?’

Huizhu grumbled, ‘Xiaoting, are you

helping me or not?’

Xiaoting looked thoughtful, it

wouldn’t do to be kicked out as a matchmaker would it? She put a lollipop in

her mouth, and she searched in her bag for a bit, eventually she pulled out a

red string.

‘I will give this to you. What I

asked for came true, it is very effective. I found Serious. Take it, it will

help you.’

Huizhu’s face fell. Oh no, she

wanted to play it like this?

Wu Fei received a courier while at

the office, it was from Zhengqing. He opened it and found a red string. He

called Zhengqing to find out what it was about,

‘Xiaoting asked me to send it to

you. She said you need it. When I was looking for an object, she gave it to me.

Now I am with her I don’t need it. She gave hers to Zoe.’

Ah, so it is like this! Wu Fei

suddenly felt very sprirted, he really needed the boost very much.

Also Xiao Shitou – Yin Ting was

very concerned since the little girl was selected to appear in a public welfare

program.

It was a charity program that cared

for children; fighting child trafficking and denouncing child abandonment. The

program especially invited a reknown psychologist Su Xiaopei to give insight

into childcare and to inform the public on how criminals lure children from a

psychological perspective.

The director went to the welfare

home to choose which of the children will appear on the program, based on the criteria

and will achieve the best effect and attract most attention from the audience.

The director had two questions for

the children. The first one was: what do you want to say to the Uncles and

Aunts out there who are helping you and your brothers and sisters? Second

question: If you want to say a few words to your family, what would you say?

Most of the children thanked the

uncles and aunts helping the welfare home. To their parents, they said they

missed them and wanted to go home. When it was Xiao Shitou’s turn, she calmly

listened to the director’s words then took a bow. She raised her little hands

to the sky and said in a loud voice,

‘Why is the sun so high and bright?

Because we have goals.’

She steps back and put her arms up

in a circle over her head, ‘Why is the moon sometimes round and something

curved? Because change will be beautiful.’

The director was dumbfounded.

Xiao Shitou continued loudly,

‘We need help in our welfare home, but we aren’t pitiful. We eat till we are

full and warm and we can have sweers. It’s very good. Uncles and aunts please

be rest assured. There are still many children who need help, so Uncles and

Aunts, cheer everyone together. Thank you!’

The director was in such a state of

surprise, he didn’t realise that Xiao Shitou was finished.

To the second question, Xiao Shitou

smiled and said to the camera, ‘Mother and Father, how are you? I am doing

well, you have to live well.’

The director asked, ‘Don’t you miss

them and want them to be near you?’

‘I don’t remember what they look

like.’ She answered.

The director looked at Xiao

Shitou’s information. She had been abandoned in a mall when she was a year old.

She only had a small bag with her name and birth information. She had been

crying looking for her mother. Kind hearted people took her to the police

station who then placed her in the welfare home.

‘Do you blame them?’ the director

asked.

‘I don’t know what happened,’ she

replied, ‘they may have had a lot of hardships.’

The director was taken aback by the

mature response. He went back and showed the child psychologist Su Xiaopei the

videos and the children’s information. The children were also invited to the

studio to watch the taping and listen to Su Xiaopei’s opinions.

After watching the videos, Su

Xiaopei became very interested in in the child named Shi Liang.

Hence, Xiao Shitou was selected to

appear on the programme. Yin Ting had been very shocked by the news, she rushed

down to the welfare home to ask about the programme, and whether it would bring

harm to Xiao Shitou.

But the dean assured her, ‘It’s a

good thing, hopefully, her relatives would see the show and come and find her.’

She went to see the director and

asked about the details of the programme. When she saw Xiao Shitou’s session,

she became distressed and cried a little. That evening she returned to

Zhengqing’s house and told him the news, he was surprised.

‘Xiao Shitou is too sensible. She

is smart and so cute, why would anyone abandon her?’

Zhengqing held her in comfort.

‘Can we make her a flower girl at

our wedding? She and I are very close, I want her to see my happiness. She will

be very happy.’

‘Alright,’ Zhengqing promised, ‘she

is very much like you.’

‘Is she?’

‘Yup,’ he replied. He did not tell

her that when he was missing her, he went to the welfare home to see Xiao

Shitou, because she was a like a mini-angel, made him think of Yin Ting. He

suddenly had a thought, ‘Xiao Ting, after we are married - couples are qualified to be able to adopt…’

Yin Ting stared at Zhengqing with

widened eyes as she digested what he was saying. She screamed with excitement

and jumped on Zhengqing and cuddled him, ‘You’re so good, you’re so sweet, I

love you so much.’

How could she be so happy? All the

twists and turns of her past loves had led her to meet great happiness; she

knew it and had always believed so. And now, here it is!

The results of the voting for the

Journey to find a Dream event were published.

First place was Kōng Qìqiú, as

expected.

Tingting Yuli 413 came sixth place,

she missed being in the finals by 1,600 votes. But, Yin Ting was happy.

Everyday, people shared beauty they saw with her. They have created different

groups on the internet. Many people in different cities set up public

welfare activities. Everyone has achieved a special fulfilment.

Xiu set up a dinner for the finals. The contestants were invited to attend. In the first place, the five

finalists would be formally sent off on their dream seeking journeys. Secondly,

the remaining participants in the primary event had their own merits. So it was

a show off event to celebrate Xiu and keep the momentum going.

Some stars had been invited and

there were performances. There were lectures and speeches. Yin Ting had been

invited to give a speech but she declined. She felt that she had caused the

event too much trouble already. She would be embarrassed to be on stage.

During the performance, a girl

in an evening dress sat at the piano on the stage. Yin Ting wondered

which star was going to sing. Unexpectedly, there was no star, just the pianist

playing. The young lady played very well.

When the pianist finished her

piece, she rose from the chair and went to the microphone stand.

‘Hello everyone, I am Sēnlín méiyǒu

mù. My dream is to become a pianist, and today I fulfilled that dream. I can

only play one song though. Thank you all.’

She was Sēnlín méiyǒu mù! Yin Ting

was surpised and applauded with the rest of the audience. She held Zhengqing’s

hand and said very excitedly,

‘It’s her; Sēnlín méiyǒu mù! She

did it.’

‘Tingting Yuli 413, are you here? I

would like to give you a hug.’ “Sēnlín méiyǒu mù” said to the audience. Yin

Ting burst into tears and rushed up to the stage and hugged the girl. Everyone

applauded.

Afterwards, there was mingling. Yin

Ting took Kōng Qìqiú’s new book to her to have it signed.

‘I’m your fan,’ Yin Ting said to Kōng

Qìqiú.

Kōng Qìqiú smiled as she signed the

book for Yin Ting. Just as Yin Ting turned away,

‘Tingting Yuli 413,’ Kōng Qìqiú

called.

Yin Ting turned back and Kōng Qìqiú

smiled at her, ‘I am your fan. I like to read your Weibo. Love you, jiāyóu!’

Yin Ting cried again.

She went to find Zhengqing, she

held his arm as she wiped her tears. Zhengqing used a paper serviette to wipe

her tears.

After the last performance, the

General Manager of Xiu took the stage. He thanked everyone for their support

and praised the beauty discovered by the pariticipants.

‘The warmth you pass on is better

that any reward we can give.’ He concluded.

Yin Ting gave an enthusiastic

applause. But Zhengqing handed her another serviette.

‘I haven't cried.’

‘Hold it,’ he said, ‘You might need

it in a bit.’

The General Manager cleared his

throat and said, ‘Everyone knows the Vice President of our Yongkai group, Qiu

Zhengqing. His full name was in the announcement on our page in the last month.’

The audience laughed. Yin Ting also

laughed and glanced at Zhengqing. He looked back at her laughing. She didn’t notice

that he seemed nervous.

‘So strictly speaking, his position

is higher than mine and his power is bigger, hence, he forced me to do this,’

The audience didn’t laugh, but were

filled with curiosity. Yin Ting grasped his arm and asked, ‘What did you do?’

but he didn’t reply.

When everyone didn’t laugh, the

general manger gave a laugh and took out a piece of paper from his pocket and

read, ‘Tingting Yuli413, 413510 asks; can the wedding date be scheduled for the

24th of December? He says the date is special to the both of you.’

Yin Ting held her hand over her

mouth, her eyes filled with astonishment.

The spotlight hit her and she was

surrounded by applause.

Yin Ting blinked. She saw the

people around her smiling and applauding. Zhengqing smiled at her. She began to

cry. It’s so hateful, she really did cry again.

‘Yes!’ she answered loudly.

With a pounce, she threw herself

into Zhengqing’s arms and shouted even louder, ‘Yes!’

Zhengqing laughed. Everyone

laughed.

Yin Ting buried her face in

Zhengqing’s arms.

She was happy!

THE END.

Et Voila. It is finished!

Personal Thoughts - An Essay:

It turned into the Yin Ting Show towards the end there, didn't it? I know a lot of you like her, so people won't mind. While bits and pieces here and there resonated, I found her mostly tedious an annoying. I liked Zhengqing for the most part.

As for the story as a whole, if I hadn't taken it upon myself to edit the machine translations of this book and just had to read someone's work, I would have been fluffy, because I naturally skip the bits I find tedious and contrived. Alas, I couldn't. So I was both impressed in a minor way, and insenced in a major way by the author's ability to write details of pointless minutae. Some days I just wanted to cry; what is this? Why is it here? Does it serve any purpose other than to pad word count?!

Anyway, on a whole it was a nice book. I am glad many people enjoyed it.

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