Chapter 167: Chapter 167: All encounters are long-lost reunions (Part 1)
The New Year is drawing near, and the streets are getting busier every day. Red lanterns are hung outside shops to welcome customers. freewebnσvel.cøm
If you walk around the streets, you will see that many shops have put up discount promotional posters outside, and some small shops have a loudspeaker hanging in front of them. You can't help but hear all kinds of 'tearing-your-eyes-out sales' and 'jumping-off-a-building sales'.
These days, some people who are on holiday are very idle, hanging out in shopping malls and buying New Year's goods.
But there are also many people who are busier than usual, putting aside their usual airs in front of their subordinates, and are busy burning incense and paying tribute to leaders from all walks of life. Therefore, it was not until the morning of the 25th day of the lunar calendar that Ma Jiwai notified Mei Yiliang to go to his house to meet his father.
Mei Yiliang went with Chen Xuefeng, left his business card, and was accompanied by Ma Jiwai. He was fortunate enough to speak to the branch manager for less than five minutes. This was already rare, and many people knocked on the door and came and went during that period of time.
At their first meeting, he was able to accept the gift, and after exchanging business cards, they got on very well. Don't expect to hear anything definite.
Feng Zhenchang and Mei Qiuping were also very busy. It was rare for the two of them to be together, and with Feng Yiping as their little tail, they went to each store to take stock, clean up, pay wages and bonuses to each employee, and then close the store.
There were six stores, and they were busy from early morning until late at night.
On the morning of the 26th day of the lunar calendar, the two cars set off together from the province, and happily set off on the road home.
Each car was packed with ten people, plus luggage, and was seriously overloaded. Feng Yiping did not sit in the car with his parents. He sat in the passenger seat of his brother-in-law's car, with his second uncle, Zhang Zuodong, and several people from the renovation team sitting behind them.
Feng Yiping was quiet the whole way. The people in the car were all happily talking about the New Year, while he just quietly looked out the window, thinking that the closer he got to Zhang Yan, the more excited and nervous he became.
At the thought of seeing Zhang Yan in the afternoon, Feng Yiping felt a little panicky, as if he were facing an important exam.
He had some concerns. This meeting was several years in advance, would it have any bad influence?
At noon, they stopped at a gas station outside the city to refuel, and the two cars parted ways. Once they entered the county border, even someone like Zhang Zuodong exclaimed, 'Haha, almost home!'
Everyone looked greedily out of the window at the familiar scenery, and the conversation became even more animated. As they waited in the county town to drop off a few people and then headed towards Zhang Zuodong's house, Feng Yiping quietly took a deep breath. If he didn't, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to say a word.
The car had been on this road that Feng Yiping knew very well for more than ten minutes, and it was almost time to reach the fork in the road. From afar, he could see a girl waiting there.
Closer, finally closer.
Zhang Yan was wearing a sky-blue down jacket, a red woolly hat, cotton shoes, and a pair of gloves hanging from her chest. Her face was red from the cold wind as she looked at the cars coming and going on the road.
She was not exactly beautiful, and now that she was a bit chubby, she could at most be described as cute.
Although she was much less naive than when they first met, she still looked vaguely the same.
'Oh, my daughter,' Zhang Zuodong said to the two Mei brothers in the car. He opened the car window and waved happily in their direction, 'Xiao Yan!'
Zhang Yan, who was standing on the roadside stamping her feet, released her hand covering her mouth and ran over with a smile on her face. Zhang Hong, who was playing with a small dog in a field nearby, also ran over when he heard the news.
Feng Yiping felt his heart pounding loudly, so loudly that he had to reach up and hold it. However, he still felt a little short of breath.
Mei Yiliang saw that Feng Yiping's face had turned pale, 'What's wrong? You're not feeling sick, are you?'
'No, I just feel a little uncomfortable.'
The car pulled over and stopped. Zhang Zuodong was the first to jump out of the car, and he ran over to hug his son, "Did you miss me?'
Zhang Hong hugged Zhang Zuodong's neck and said loudly, "I missed you a lot, sister missed you a lot, and mom missed you a lot too!'
'Haha,' his apprentice who got off the car next laughed heartily.
'Get down, you're so big now!' Zhang Yan said to his brother as he stood nearby.
'Xiao Yan, how long have you been waiting here?' Zhang Zuodong put Zhang Hong down and went to the boot to get the bags.
'We've been waiting here since lunchtime.' So that was two or three hours.
The second and third uncles also got out to help with the luggage. Looking at Zhang Yan, who was so close, Feng Yiping tried several times to open the car door, but each time he drew back his hand.
He was both nervous and hesitant.
At the beginning of the next century, he and Zhang Yan met for the first time on a train heading south, but it was love at first sight. Would it be bad to meet so suddenly now?
On the sixth day of the Chinese New Year that year, Feng Yiping and Xiao Zhijie took the train from the province to go to work at their company in the south. Three girls came towards them, one of whom was Zhang Yan.
At that time, Zhang Yan was taller and slimmer than she is now, with a more mature look in her eyes and brows.
She was still dressed like the girl next door. Although it was the first time they met and Feng Yiping didn't even know her name, he felt an instant sense of familiarity.
No, it wasn't just a sense of familiarity, it was as if they had been together for many years, as if they were related by blood. No, that's not accurate either.
But at that time, Feng Yiping, who had never been in a serious relationship and knew nothing about love, knew only that this was the girl he had been waiting for, the other half that heaven had arranged for him, the other heart he had been searching for.
Apart from Zhang Yan, everything around him, people and things, seemed to be covered in a milky white film, all becoming a background, and the whole world became soft and soothing.
All I could hear was the train's public address system, with its announcement of the song 'Life's scenery is passing by, whenever I'm lonely and I look back, your love is always waiting for me not far away...'
Feng Yiping couldn't help but think of a line from Eileen Chang's essay that he had borrowed from the company library a few years ago: 'Among millions of people, you meet the one you are meant to meet. Among millions of years, in the boundless wilderness of time, not a moment too soon, not a moment too late, you just happen to catch up.'
But he didn't have the nerve to follow it up with a soft 'Oh, are you here too?'
Girls are always sensitive to other people's gazes, and Zhang Yan lowered his head, blushing and not knowing what to say to the two girls with him, laughing from time to time.
Feng Yiping racked his brains trying to think of how to strike up a conversation, but soon he had no time to think about it. That year was just when the generators he was in charge of were selling well, and the year after that was the peak season. Soon after the car started moving, customers kept calling in to place orders.
During the Spring Festival travel rush, the trains heading south are always packed with people. The hard seats in the train carriages are so full of people that they form a three-dimensional structure.
The lowest people sit on the floor of the carriage, then on the seats, and the tallest sit on the back of the seats.
Of course, there was also one sitting on the backrest of the seat in the outermost row. That person was a heavy smoker who didn't pay attention when flicking the ashes. Most of them fell on Feng Yiping's jacket. Feng Yiping was busy answering the phone and writing down the model and quantity of goods that the customer wanted, so he didn't notice. Zhang Yan, who was sitting opposite him, saw it and took the initiative to say to him, 'Hey, be careful of the ashes on you.'
She took the initiative to strike up a conversation, and the mood immediately warmed up. There were two men and three women, and everyone exchanged information about their schools and places of work, and then talked about some interesting things that had happened to them.
As the destination drew nearer, although Feng Yiping was still smiling and chatting with Zhang Yan and the others, he became increasingly anxious. How was he going to ask her for her name and phone number?
Finally, half an hour before the train arrived at the station, Feng Yiping mustered up the courage and came up with a way to ask a strange girl for her phone number for the first time, and also the last time in his life.