105. They Leave Me Confused

After chatting idly for a while, they took a taxi to the shopping mall. Given the children’s family backgrounds, anything Zhang Pa could afford to buy was probably something they already had in abundance, which made choosing a gift difficult. He could hardly sign his name on a copy of *The Strange Chef* and call it a present… They would probably beat him to death.

They soon arrived at the mall and headed straight for the children’s section to choose a gift. They looked around and around, yet still had no idea what to buy.

Liu Xiaomei thought they should simply spend one or two hundred yuan on something. Zhang Pa said, “If we give them something they don’t like or won’t use, we might as well give them nothing.”

“I just like how serious you are about things like this,” Liu Xiaomei said.

There was quite a lot packed into that sentence. Zhang Pa thought for a moment, then asked, “Did you see me before I started pursuing you?”

Liu Xiaomei gave a sly little laugh. “Choose a gift.”

After looking at far too many things, they finally settled on a construction set. It came in a huge box, and the sales assistant explained that it contained more than five hundred pieces of different sizes. Following the diagrams, one could assemble all sorts of things—a bed, a house, a bookshelf, and so on.

“This is good,” Zhang Pa said. “You can even build airplanes and cannons.”

Liu Xiaomei laughed. “How deprived of a childhood are you? Shall I buy you a set?”

“No need,” Zhang Pa said. “But I really didn’t have any toys when I was little. I didn’t buy a paper popgun until I was in primary school, and I bought that one myself.”

Liu Xiaomei looked astonished. “Oh, you went to primary school too?”

“Not only did I go to primary school, I studied for more than ten or twenty years. Even our principal managed to endure it until retirement.”

When it was time to pay, Zhang Pa tried to take out his money, but Liu Xiaomei stopped him and insisted that he listen to her.

Just as Zhang Pa handed over the cash, Liu Xiaomei turned and walked away. He hurriedly caught hold of her. “Hey, old man, you done paying?”

Liu Xiaomei answered sweetly, “That sounds wonderful. Say it again.” Then she went back to settle the bill.

After leaving the children’s section, they reached the women’s clothing department two floors below. There were brands of every size and price range. Zhang Pa asked, “Suppose I bought you an outfit according to my own standards. Would you wear it?”

Liu Xiaomei smiled. “What wicked scheme are you plotting?”

“Just tell me—would you wear it or not?”

“If you buy me underwear, even if I put it on, you wouldn’t be able to see it,” Liu Xiaomei replied.

“I wouldn’t do that.” Zhang Pa said, “I want to buy you a short skirt like the one Lin Lan wore, then pair it with high heels and stockings. You’d look incredibly sexy.”

That was the wrong thing to say. Liu Xiaomei gave an angry snort. “You lecher. Have you taken a fancy to Lin Lan?”

Naturally, Zhang Pa refused to admit it. “I just don’t know what that kind of clothing is called. Women’s clothes are divided into so many categories. Do you just call them skirts? Short skirts? Miniskirts?”

“Explanations are useless,” Liu Xiaomei said. “You’re a lecher. You pursued me the first time you saw me, and now you saw Lin Lan last week and you still can’t stop thinking about her. Shall I call her back and introduce you?”

“You might as well kill me,” Zhang Pa said.

“I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to bully you for the rest of your life.” Liu Xiaomei smiled. “You really do have good taste, though. Lin Lan’s skirt was Chanel—at least six or seven thousand yuan, maybe more. Will you buy me one?”

Zhang Pa shook his head. “I was only talking about that style. The important things are the stockings and the high heels. With your beautiful legs, the effect would be stunningly sexy.”

Liu Xiaomei smiled. “Do you actually wish I were wearing nothing but stockings and high heels?”

“May I refuse to answer that question?” Zhang Pa said. “If you don’t like wearing that sort of thing, then we won’t buy it.”

Liu Xiaomei smiled at him. “You want to buy me clothes? Heh. Wait until I summon you, young master. For now, we’re going to buy clothes for you.”

“I don’t need any,” Zhang Pa said.

Liu Xiaomei looked at him. “Fine. Let’s go.”

It was ten o’clock. The hotel was not far from there, so they walked over. Once inside, they sat on the first floor for coffee and discussed the great plans of life.

“That web series script is really good,” Liu Xiaomei said. “Are you truly willing not to film it?”

“There’s no one to film it with. The guy playing the lead ran off with someone else.”

Liu Xiaomei laughed. “Was the protagonist really a hundred and ninety pounds?”

“More than that, if anything.”

“That’s rather frightening. He weighs almost as much as two of me.” She paused, then asked, “You’re not making the animated film either? I think it has something meaningful to say—showing concern for autistic children. As long as it’s good, people will keep watching it if it stays online. Even serving as a reminder would be worthwhile.”

“The people responsible for investing pulled out. They left the computers behind, at least, but what use are those?”

“I see.” Liu Xiaomei asked, “Do you want to make it? If you do, I can pay for it.”

“That money is never coming back. No matter how much you put in, it’ll be a bottomless pit. Forget it.”

“If you want to do it, then let it be a bottomless pit. It’s not every day I’m willing to give you money.” Liu Xiaomei said it as naturally as if it were nothing.

Zhang Pa smiled and shook his head. “No need. Things are fine as they are.”

“I have a little money, and I rarely have any use for it. If you ever need it, just tell me.”

Zhang Pa smiled. “We sound exactly like an old married couple. How blissful.”

“Dream on! I’ve never agreed to anything,” Liu Xiaomei said.

Zhang Pa put on a foolish expression. “Heh heh, you haven’t agreed.” What he meant was that although she denied it verbally, the two of them were already practically a couple.

Liu Xiaomei laughed. “Why are you pretending to be Crayon Shin-chan?”

“Oh, okay,” Zhang Pa replied in Crayon Shin-chan’s voice.

“Let’s see you talk to me like that for the rest of your life if you’re capable of it.”

Zhang Pa blinked, then returned to his normal tone. “Are you really content to remain a teacher like this? For the rest of your life?”

“What else would I do?” Liu Xiaomei asked.

“You’re so talented, and so many people online support you. To suddenly retire—isn’t that rather a waste of your gifts?” Zhang Pa said.

“It is a bit of a waste, but…” Liu Xiaomei thought for a moment. “The past decade or more was always so busy, especially the year after I came back from abroad and returned to the capital. I was practically worked to death. Everything needed to be managed, and I still had to train. Back then, I was always thinking about when I could finally take a long vacation—do nothing at all and truly rest for a while. Then one day I was performing onstage and saw so many couples sitting together in the audience. Suddenly, I felt exhausted. I didn’t want to dance anymore.

“After the performance, I began thinking seriously about it. I discussed it with the theater and the company, and it took more than a month of delays and negotiations before everything was finally settled. I lost some money because of it, but that wasn’t important. What mattered was that I had come back.”

As she spoke, Liu Xiaomei gently traced circles around the rim of her cup with her beautiful index finger. After pausing for a moment, she continued, “The past year or so has been the easiest, happiest, and most peaceful time of my life. Leaving the world of fame and profit, leaving that dazzling stage behind, naturally brought some reluctance. But that’s how life is: if you want to gain something, you have to give something up. Life is an equal exchange. Still, it was worth it, because I met you.”

Then she added, “You count as a bonus.”

Zhang Pa smiled. “You don’t miss it? You don’t want to return to the stage?”

“Of course I miss it. How could I simply let go of something countless people dream of?” Liu Xiaomei said. “At the time, I only intended to take a break for a while. The company refused and said they would blacklist me if I didn’t follow their arrangements.” She laughed. “You know what’s interesting? The contract I signed with them was a performance contract. We simply split the earnings. We didn’t have any closer relationship than that. It wasn’t an artist’s contract.”

She turned to look at Zhang Pa. “Don’t you think people in this world are interesting?”

“Whatever the future holds, whatever decision you make, I’ll support you,” Zhang Pa said. “If you want to return to the capital, I’ll quit my job and go with you.”

“We’ll talk about it later,” Liu Xiaomei said calmly. “Things are good now. This kind of leisure and ease can’t be bought with money.”

“Your current leisure was bought with money in the first place. If you gave it up, you ought to be able to earn a great deal of money.”

“That’s true too,” Liu Xiaomei replied.

They were in the early stages of a romance. Neither had made the relationship explicit, but they liked each other and had endless things to say. Whenever they were together, they could spend hours doing nothing but talking.

After discussing Liu Xiaomei’s dancing career, the conversation somehow shifted to makeup.

“I want to learn disguise techniques,” Liu Xiaomei said. “I’m going to work hard at makeup. Heh heh, just wait and see. I’ll become a woman of a hundred faces.”

“Don’t ruin that face of yours,” Zhang Pa said. “Other people have reasons to wear makeup. What do you need it for? You might end up looking even worse.”

“You have a very unusual way of complimenting people,” Liu Xiaomei said, “but I understand what you mean. Ten points for that.” Then she continued, “Makeup isn’t only about the face. There are hairstyles and all sorts of other things too. It’s like an actor in a television series: one appearance at twenty, another at thirty, and another at fifty. Isn’t that fun?”

Zhang Pa was speechless. “You’re learning makeup for fun?”

“What else? You said it yourself—I’m exceptionally beautiful. I have no need for makeup.” Liu Xiaomei giggled.

The two of them chatted sweetly and happily, and before they knew it, it was already eleven-thirty. Zhang Pa went to settle the bill, and then they went upstairs.

The International Hotel had stood proudly in the provincial capital for more than twenty years without declining, and business had always been thriving. It was Sunday, and the restaurant and the large banquet hall had been reserved for wedding banquets. Yezi’s birthday party was being held in the small banquet hall.

They had been sitting away from the noise in the café. Now that they had come out, they found people everywhere around the elevators, some going up and some coming down.

Liu Xiaomei glanced at the crowd. “Shall we take the stairs?”

Zhang Pa agreed and was about to head for the stairwell when a glamorous young mother greeted them.

“Hello, Teacher Liu.”

She was holding the hand of a pretty little girl, who asked in a sweet voice to greet her teacher.

Liu Xiaomei smiled. “Hello to you both. Did you just arrive?”

“Just now.” The glamorous young mother looked at the crowd ahead. “There are so many people.”

Everyone was waiting for the elevators. With nothing else to do, they looked around, and when they noticed Liu Xiaomei, they tried not to stare too obviously. But with the glamorous young mother suddenly joining her, the two beautiful women standing together proved too much for the men’s eyes to take in.

Before long, another young mother carrying a child joined them.

Regardless of their individual looks, these women were all willing to spend money and dress themselves up. Their figures, the foundation of all that spending and grooming, were at least decent, which made them attractive. At the very least, they drew the eye at first glance; only a closer look would reveal whether their beauty was genuine or manufactured.

The three beautiful women naturally became the focus of the crowd.

Just as more and more people gathered, one elevator finally came down, only to be filled with the passengers waiting in front.

Liu Xiaomei suggested again, “Shall we take the stairs?”

Both young mothers agreed, and the group headed toward the stairwell.