Chapter 4 (1)

Time quietly came to April 1996.

As the pages of the calendar turn around and the weather warms up day by day, people find that they have just put away their heavy and bloated winter clothes, and before they put on their spring clothes for a few days, it is time to prepare for the coming summer. The beautiful woman is always ahead of the season, the weather forecast is still repeatedly reminding people to be careful of the spring cold, the street is already full of colorful long skirts, and the more fashionable young girls even wear short skirts, and do not flinch to expose the skin between the skirt and high-waisted leather boots directly to the cold of the morning and evening. Clothing stores large and small are also full of all kinds of summer clothes, whether it is style, fabric, quality and price, these are carefully selected and carefully matched, even the most discerning customer, as long as she is willing to put in enough time, can be sure to find her perfect summer dress......

One of the salespeople at Romanty's counter had been keeping an eye on the young customer for a long time, and in the two hours since she had been on the job, the customer had stopped here four times, and each time he paid special attention to the brown denim dress, not only twisting the fabric with his hands repeatedly, but also looking at the skirt from top to bottom several times, and occasionally looking back again as he walked. From her reluctant eyes, it can be seen that she really likes this dress, and the designer satchel she has been holding in front of her also shows that she has the financial ability to buy this long dress, but she can't make up her mind just now - maybe there are other styles that make her tempted, she needs to compare them repeatedly, and of course there may be some other reason. But one thing is for sure, this is a potential customer.

Soon after, the customer turned in the other direction and stopped in front of the dress.

The salesman immediately walked over and introduced her to the dress as if he had seen her for the first time: "It matches your complexion perfectly; "It's not a compliment, the girl's skin is indeed fair and delicate." The style of this skirt also matches your temperament, which is both elegant and generous. There was a clear sell-out in her eyes, for the girl's eyes were filled with a deep melancholy and sadness, and her demeanor was so cautious that she had not uttered a word from the first time she approached the counter. The salesperson went a step further and aggressively suggested, "You can try it on." As with her previous efforts, the young customer was indifferent to the kind suggestion, just frowned and looked at the dress several times, and walked away without saying anything.

The salesperson tugged at the corners of the skirt and let it fall back into shape. She's used to this kind of scene, and potential customers aren't necessarily real customers. But when she was ready and turned back, she saw the customer walk a few steps and stop, and look back at the dress again. She smiled at her. The girl didn't seem to expect her to greet her, smiled at her awkwardly, and hurried away with a red face.

It wasn't until she walked out of the mall that Jiang Lihong's face gradually returned to normal.

It seems that this little girl is still as shy as when we first met her, and she is still not good at dealing with others, and she is careful about such a small thing as buying a dress.

But we can still see some other changes in her.

She was dressed like a city girl, a dark blue denim dress, a light-colored sweater, flesh-colored stockings, low-waisted dark brown leather shoes, and that delicate little satchel, no matter where she went, no one would see her as a rural person. Her complexion is also much more ruddy than when she first arrived in the provincial capital, her healthy skin is as lustrous as white marble in the sun, and her plump and well-proportioned figure makes many passers-by can't help but look at her a few more times. It's just that her expression makes us a little worried, except for the heart-wrenching sadness and melancholy in her eyes, and her brows are slightly twisted together.

She probably didn't have anything urgent, just wandered around this commercial pedestrian street aimlessly, from one mall to another, from one specialty store to another, casually browsing the dazzling array of clothes on the shelves, casually listening to the salesperson's introduction, and then carelessly putting down what she was doing, and continuing to kill time boringly.

She spent the whole afternoon wandering the street.

When she walked out of the famous Japanese brand store again, she stopped on the side of the street. She pulled out a small and delicate pager from the satchel she had been holding in front of her, looked at the time, and then walked across the street to the big mall, straight up to the fourth floor.

Her good friend Jiang Yan sells men's clothing here.

When she found Jiang Yan, Jiang Yan and her colleagues who came to take over were counting the goods, and she was watching the shelves alone. It's full of men's clothes, including suits and shirts, and there are several styles of T-shirts, and there are small men's clothing items such as ties and wallets on the glass counter. She looked at it intently, much more attentively than she did on the long dress, and even took a beige T-shirt and gestured in front of the mirror. The girl in the mirror is very beautiful, and her face is full of joy and happiness, especially when she holds her clothes high above her, her smile becomes even sweeter......

Jiang Yan had already dealt with the matter in hand, signed the delivery with his colleagues, and walked over and said, "He can't wear this biggest number." ”

The smile immediately froze on the girl's face in the mirror, and the sparkle in her eyes gradually dimmed.

Jiang Yan immediately understood that he had said something very stupid, and hurriedly changed his words and said, "This one is suitable, it is a large one." She skillfully pulled out a T-shirt of the same style and color from the hanger and handed it to Jiang Lihong.

As soon as the words came out, Jiang Yan couldn't wait to swallow it back. This is even more stupid!

Jiang Lihong's face was so pale that she was almost bloodless, and the corners of her mouth twitched several times before she barely squeezed out a smile at Jiang Yan in the mirror: "I'm just looking." ”

Jiang Yan lowered his head and hung up the clothes in his hand, and when he turned around again, he had already changed the topic: "Let's go, let's go eat KFC, I did a 'group purchase' a few days ago, and I can have a bonus of more than 1,000 yuan." If you don't come to me today, I'll call you too. Then he asked his colleague again, "What do you want?" I'll buy it for you later? ”

The colleague who was burying his head in the record raised his face: "Please still invite me?" That's two chicken wings and a glass of Coke. He winked at Jiang Yan again, pretended to think about it, and said, "Forget it, I only came after dinner, don't want it, you can stay and invite me another day." She and Jiang Yan have been working in this mall together for a few months, and they know that Jiang Yan is telling lies and playing a round, and they don't want to take advantage of her. They haven't opened for almost three days......

Jiang Yan took Jiang Lihong's arm and sent her to the escalator, saying, "I'll go change clothes, you go downstairs and wait for me first." ”

Jiang Lihong nodded. She knows the rules of the big shopping mall, she will be fined if she wears work clothes and goes out of the door to catch it, and the fine is usually fifty yuan, and she will notify the brand agent at least fifty yuan.

Jiang Yan quickly changed his clothes and rushed over, and then the two went to the fast food restaurant next door arm in arm.

During the meal, Jiang Yan kept talking about the fun things she encountered in the shopping mall, or she would introduce the topic to several TV series, because her job was to rotate in the morning and evening, so she told Jiang Lihong to tell her all the storylines she missed in those TV series, and kept expressing her own opinions, and from time to time took out the actors' clumsy performances and plots full of loopholes to ridicule, and was smug about her high opinions.

Jiang Lihong kept listening to her and laughing with her until Jiang Yan couldn't find a new topic.

Both fell silent. Only then did they suddenly realize that there were so many people in the fast food restaurant, and the buzzing sound was upsetting; It turned out that the music broadcast in the fast food restaurant was so noisy, and the voice of the male singer from Hong Kong and Taiwan was as greasy as oil......

Jiang Yan said without words: "Today is Sunday." ”

"Oh." Jiang Lihong responded, slowly stirring the coke in the paper cup with a plastic tube, and the crystal clear ice cubes collided together, making a slight clicking sound.

Jiang Yan stopped talking. If she goes on any more, it's time to ask questions she doesn't want to ask. She lowered her head and shaved her fingers at the browned chicken wings.

Jiang Lihong suddenly said happily: "I just saw a romanty dress in 'Blum', beige, here," she compared her hand back and forth on her bulging chest, "there are two pockets, very beautiful, the kind of shallow edges; There are also two pockets at the waist, very deep and large, they say they are British famous brands......" she said and lost her breath, biting her lip and staring at the paper cup in front of her.

Jiang Yan stared at her worriedly.

"Where will he go, you say?" Jiang Lihong suddenly asked thoughtlessly.

Jiang Yan shook her head, how did she know where he went? Even if she knew, she wouldn't tell her - did she still have that unrealistic idea? Wake up, you have to look at your situation before you think about your way out! But she couldn't tell her friends what was in her heart, and she could only say lightly in a tone of a passer-by: "If you have the chance, you will meet again." But she herself thinks it's almost zero. She had met him, and the man had changed. She never talked to Jiang Lihong about that incident, because she didn't think it was a bad thing to keep her hopeful. Sometimes she even envied her, because in this cold city, having a good hope was about to become a luxury.

After a while, Jiang Lihong said in a low voice: "Am I a little stupid?" ”

Jiang Yan looked at his friend helplessly and nodded. Yes, silly. But better than me, at least you can still fantasize about your reunion over and over again, and you don't have to worry about the cruel reality exposed.

It wasn't until all the ice cubes of Coke melted that Jiang Lihong said, "I'll go there to live at night, okay?" ”

"You guys quarreled?"

"Nope." After a long time, Jiang Lihong said indifferently as if she were talking about an irrelevant person, "He went back to Singapore in the morning." ”

Jiang Yan lowered his eyebrows and sighed, so he had to agree. Can she still understand Jiang Lihong's thoughts?

When she accompanied Jiang Lihong to buy a dress, Jiang Yan unexpectedly found that the salesperson of Romanty turned out to be an acquaintance, the little foreman of the fast food restaurant she frequented before the Spring Festival. The little foreman also recognized Jiang Yan immediately, and also called Jiang Yan "sister" very affectionately, when she knew the relationship between Jiang Lihong and Jiang Yan, she immediately took it upon herself to buy this skirt in her own name - the internal price is seventy-fifty percent off the list price, which can save Jiang Lihong almost three hundred yuan. What makes Jiang Yan even happier is that the single room that the little foreman rents now is not far from her, and it is about to expire. She immediately invited the little foreman to move in with her, so that the two of them could take care of each other without saying anything, and they could usually have someone to talk to. The little foreman immediately agreed, and she was worried that she could not find a good place where no one would disturb her. The two left each other's pager numbers, and made an appointment, and the little foreman went to Jiang Yan to recognize the door on Tuesday afternoon.

When she went back, Jiang Lihong's mood was obviously better. Along the way, she sat on the back rack of Jiang Yan's bicycle and talked to Jiang Yan a lot. When she talked about the scene when the two of them were children watching TV over the mountains and running over the mountain, Jiang Yan laughed so much that her waist was almost straight, and her bicycle turned around, almost hitting a taxi. The frightened and green-faced driver stretched out his neck and scolded, but instead taught the two of them to laugh more and more irrepressibly.

"Two crazy women!" The angry driver saw that he couldn't please him, so he had to scold and drive away.

Neither of them bothered to help the bicycle that had fallen to the side, but just laughed with their backs on their backs.

Jiang Yan is still living in the house that the two of them rented at the beginning, but he has changed his room. Her room is the room where Gao Jinsong lived at the beginning. But the furniture and furnishings in the room have been replaced, the bed, table, chair, cabinet and TV are all things that Jiang Yan bought by herself, only the few nails on the wall she didn't move, and now they have come in handy, and a few large clothes that she often wears are hung on them.

"You just sit and watch TV first. I'm going to boil some hot water. Jiang Yan turned on the TV and prepared to go to the kitchen with the kettle.

"I want to take a shower." Jiang Lihong clasped her fingers and whispered.

Jiang Yan glanced up at Jiang Lihong, pretended not to understand anything, and said, "The pajamas are in the cabinet, and there is a big bear on the blue chest that I haven't worn yet." There are clean towels underneath, stolen from the giveaways on the cabinet, and they haven't been used, you take them yourself. And shampoo and body wash, I don't know if you can use it......" She went over and found these things. "I'll go boil the water first." With that, he went.

A soccer match was being broadcast on TV.

Jiang Lihong stood on the edge of the bed, looking up at the nails on the wall. She remembered everything in this room vividly. The rusty old spring bed, the brown mat, the sheets, the two futons, a rotten wooden stool, and the newspaper glued to the wall...... But what she remembers most clearly are these nails......

Jiang Yan had already returned, urging her one after another: "If you want to take a bath, hurry up, I'm afraid that I won't be angry enough for a while, recently there is either not enough air pressure or not enough water pressure in this vicinity, taking a bath can make people trouble to death!" The water heater is also a little faulty, called the landlord a few times, just said to find someone immediately, but no one came to repair! You change your clothes and hurry in, I'll help you light the gas outside......"

Jiang Lihong smiled and teased her while changing her clothes: "Then how do you take a bath alone?" Running out of the gas with a bare ass? ”

"Dead woman, what did you say?!" Jiang Yan smiled and slapped Jiang Lihong with her clothes, "The girl living next door is also a girl!" ”

A subtitle suddenly flew on the TV screen: Wuhan Yafeng No. 12 Gao Jinsong, No. 8 Zhou Jianxia; Then there is a close-up of Gao Jinsong - he bites the corner of his mouth, his expression is grim, and he is wrestling his wrists impatiently, almost can't wait for Zhou Jian to get off the field......

Jiang Lihong and Jiang Yan, who were playing and making trouble, didn't watch TV, football was as far away as the moon for them, and when they turned around and glanced at the TV, the camera had changed to a long shot, and Gao Jinsong, who had just been replaced on the field, was only left with a vague back, and he was running to his position on the field......