After dinner, Zhuang Dong Na, in order to assume the role of a generous and polite hostess, offered to have Jiang Chen send us home. Taking into account the location and time, as well as the cost of taking a cab, Su Rui and I graciously and shamelessly accepted this blessing.
I thought Zhuang Dong Na would accompany us throughout the trip, but I didn’t expect that Jiang Chen, with a doctor’s practical and realistic way of handling things efficiently, would plan the most convenient route according to the geographical location of our addresses. Hence, Su Rui alighted the car ten minutes later, Zhuang Dong Na also got home, but not before throwing me an intense look as she got off which I interpreted as that of, “You better stay away from my boyfriend. You’re an unwanted third party who caused me not to kiss my boyfriend goodbye!”
When it was only me and Jiang Chen left inside the car, in order to avoid swords being drawn and crossbows being bent*, I had to close my eyes and pretend to be asleep. Only that I have no idea why, but the car suddenly came to a stop at the roadside and the engine was slow in turning over, making my little act of pretending to be asleep very hard to perform. (T/N: Swords drawn, crossbows bent means be in mutual hostility)
Just when I was struggling whether to carry through the act till the end or to wake up to know what was happening, Jiang Chen's voice suddenly reached my ears, "Chen Xiaoxi, stop playing dead in front of me. The car stalled, get off and give it a push."
As I am certain that I could never afford even a single tyre in this lifetime, I only have the most superficial, and the most literal understanding of a car’s brand and structure. For example, BMW is the most expensive of all cars, because its name has the word “treasure”. Mercedes-Benz is the fastest of all cars, because it is called “run fast”. Shanghai Volkswagen is the most common/popular car, because its name is very familiar, and besides, all the cabs in the city are Shanghai Volkswagen. The rest of the car brands are just there to buy soy sauce*. (T/N: BMW is “Bao Ma” in Chinese with the word “bao” meaning treasure. Mercedes-Benz is “Ben Chi” with “ben” meaning to run and “chi” meaning fast therefore run fast. Shanghai Volkswagen is “Shanghai Da Zhong” with “da” meaning big and “zhong” meaning crowd, therefore big crowd/ masses, also "popular" when put together. "Buy soy sauce" is a buzzword meaning irrelevant (in this context) or to express disinterest. It was popularized when a passerby was asked his opinion regarding Edison Chen’s scandal and his reply was "I don't give a sh*t. I’m just out buying soy sauce.)
Jiang Chen's car is a soy sauce car.
In the TVs, cars also frequently stall, hence I just calmly accepted the fact that Jiang Chen's soy sauce car broke down.
I don’t know if it was that I was as strong as an ox or if a soy sauce car stalls its engine in a “soy sauce” way, in short I just casually gave it a push, and it lurched forward. I even got a sense of achievement which I find embarrassing to have.
I set off at a quick trot after the car to pull the car door open, only to find out that Jiang Chen had locked the car door which infuriated me instantly. Using a lowly person’s mind, I guessed Jiang Chen's little act of making me get off the car was just to play with me. Hence I turned on my heel, and walked away at an exceptionally slow pace. My walking away was just to show I can still walk away with my head held high with my ego intact. I really don’t intend to leave him as it’s a terrible location to hail a cab.
Fortunately, Jiang Chen reversed his car and was keeping up with me, I figured that since he isn’t my boyfriend now, it’s rare that he’s still willing to lend me a hand out of an embarrassing situation, as such,  “When there are steps for you to descend, do not hesitate to descend. Do not wait till there are no more steps and you can only stomp your feet in vain*." So I hurriedly opened the car door, but it was still locked……(T/N: Giving someone steps to descend” is a Chinese way of describing allowing someone the chance to save face. The sentences here are a play on a poem from the Tang dynasty “Golden Thread Robes” where the original subject matter of these two lines were about flowers – “Do not hesitate to pick the twigs when flowers are in bloom, do not wait till the flowers wither and picking the twigs will be in vain.)
I couldn't help but scold him, "Jiang Chen, you can’t insult me like this, if you don’t want to send me home then say it outright, you, not opening the car door, what are you trying to get at!"
The window of the front door slowly rolled down, and Jiang Chen stuck his head out, "Chen Xiaoxi, you're freaking sick ah. Come take the front seat!"
I fiddled with the handle, and embarrassedly opened the front door, after I got in and put on the seatbelt, I sincerely and earnestly told Jiang Chen, "I was, of course, only joking with you just now, but it was wrong for you to swear."
Jiang Chen ignored me, one foot was stepping on the gas pedal to its maximum extent. I burst with joy when I felt the seatbelt on me. Fortunately I've fastened it right away, otherwise, I would have long flown through the windshield, and ten minutes later, the police officer uncle would have arrived to outline my corpse with a chalk.
Jiang Chen whizzed through the road. Perhaps he started to contemplate how truly precious one's life is, and slowed down little by little. I felt relieved — put away my look as though I was greedy for life and afraid of death, and switched it to a tranquil face as though I was accustomed to seeing strong winds and big waves.
The entire drive to my place went in silence, Jiang Chen finally stepped on the brakes and said, "We've reached."
As I was undoing my seatbelt, I thanked him as well, “Thank you for the dinner and for sending me back.”
To this he nodded faintly, there was no sign of wanting to initiate small talk with me. I opened the car door preparing to get off, my feet haven't even stepped on the ground when my phone rang. Hence, I was fishing for my phone inside my bag while getting off the car, only when I got on the ground did I manage to find my phone, it was Su Rui.
"Hey."
"Chen Xiaoxi, did you got home?" Su Rui's voice was indistinct.
"Just arrived." I turned around and closed the car door. Just as I was about to lean on the car window to wave Jiang Chen goodbye, the car lurched forward like a shooting arrow, leaving a cloud of dust on its wake.
"……conspicuous." A bunch of indistinct words from Su Rui went through my ears, I put down my hand that was hanging mid-air with a wry smile, "Speak properly, I can't hear you clearly."
Su Rui said, "I'm eating ice cream, I said I was afraid Doctor Jiang giving you a lift was to destroy your corpse not leaving any marks. After all, when doctors kill, they're the most inconspicuous.
I replied with a snigger, "You're such a girl, actually eating ice cream."
"Who said eating ice cream is girly!" Su Rui yelled, "My dad also eats ice cream!"
I laughed heartily, "It only proves that your dad also has feminine qualities."
“Hey, when it comes to my dad, I only feel sad.” I could detect from Su Rui’s voice that he was laughing. “I’ve always suspected that him marrying my mom, and giving birth to jie jie & I were just a pretense. I also made my brother-in-law take away my dad for his research. It’s a pity he did not dare do so.”
"It's better to have given birth to a piece of barbecued pork* than you." I replied while almost turning my bag upside down, looking for the building key. "Hey, is there anything else? I can't find my key, I have to concentrate in looking for it." (T/N: a popular, wacky expression more popular among the Cantonese speaking regions used to voice a mother's disappointment over a misbehaving child (implying a piece of char siu is much more appealing than their child at this point, lol.)
"Nevermind, you're so heartless, bye." Su Rui's words were indistinct. I reckon he ate ice cream again.
"Bye." I threw my phone into my bag, and was rummaging through it under the faint light emitted by the lamp post when suddenly, a car was approaching with its headlights glaring. I subconsciously grabbed my bag to block my eyes with. I thought the car was just going to pass by quickly, but it came to a stop not far away, its headlights were not turned off and seemingly looked brighter and more dazzling. I tried hard to adjust my sight on the strong light and slowly lowered my bag, looking at the person in the strong light beam walking unhurriedly towards me.
Jiang Chen.
The Jiang Chen that accompanied me through my most pure, most beautiful years. The Jiang Chen who is my favorite, looking as though he just crossed over the merciless times, the prehistoric universe, and was suddenly standing in front of me again.
I bit my lower lip with a wry smile. It's no wonder that in action movies, cops love to use bright lights when interrogating criminals, it turns out that it could help make people want to instantly pour out and reveal some things buried in the depths of one’s mind.
"Chen Xiaoxi." Jiang Chen called out my name whilst looking at me.
I lifted my gaze to meet his, put on a strong act, and smiled at him with such calmness, “Why did you turn around back here?”
I desperately tried to suppress the surging from deep inside my heart, I desperately tried to ignore the voice in my heart that continuously clamored at me to chase back this stupid guy who wants to take my life.
He reached out his hand to me, and opened his palm, "You dropped your keys in my car."
"It probably fell out when I was looking for my phone." I picked up the keys from his palm. "Thank you."
In the movies, those travel-worn male leads who are on their way home, would never return just to hand over a key. I really am not fated to become the female lead.
Jiang Chen, however, didn’t turn away like what I have imagined, he was just standing there looking at me, which made me strongly doubt if I ought to give him a bow or kneel in front of him in order to express my gratitude.
I also don't know how long it took before he said, "Chen Xiaoxi, I'm very busy, I have a lot of things to do, do you understand?"
I smiled apologetically, "I understand, I'm sorry for troubling you to make another trip."
He still did not budge, "You know I'm not talking about this."
I shook my head, "I don't know."
His face suddenly looked angry, "Do you have to make me explain it to you clearly?"
I nodded, "Explain clearly."　
He's really angry, because when he gets angry he would squeeze his mouth tight which would make a dimple slightly deeper than that of when he smiles, appear. I zeroed in on the dimple which looks darker than the rest of his face in this backlit state when my heart suddenly had a strange impulse. Before I could react, I've long reached my hand out to poke his dimple twice with my index finger.
He certainly did not expect me to suddenly do such an action because I also didn't see that coming too.
What both of us didn't expect made us very shocked, so he was looking at me, and I was looking at him, in mutual silence.
Finally, he let out a cough twice, "What do you mean?"
I casted him a sincere look, "I really don't know."
Jiang Chen gave a long sigh, and grudgingly said, “Why do you not know anything at all?”
I bit my lips and replied, "Since you know everything, you tell me."　　
He stared at me for a moment with a complex expression, looking as though he had made up his mind on something and is determined, like he's about to smash an already cracked pot to pieces*, he said with a deep voice, "Apologize to me." (T/N: it means writing oneself off as hopeless in the midst of a setback so they act recklessly, and let things unfold on its own for the worst.)　
I froze for a moment, "What?"　　
"Apologize to me." He repeated with his deep voice.　
I found it a bit unbelievable, using such calm and collected, mature voice for a childish request like this, acting as if it's the rightful thing to do, what's up with him?　　
"Apologize." He urged impatiently.
When it comes to Jiang Chen, I always have this indescribable feeling of being small, this feeling makes me involuntarily take his every word, so I squeezed the key tightly in my hand and uttered in a low voice, "I'm sorry."　　
He breathed a sigh of relief, "There won't be a next time. Got it?"
I nodded, with a vague feeling that we don't seem to be talking about the same thing, as a matter of fact, we're really not talking about the same thing as Jiang Chen suddenly gave me the most gentle smile, and said, "Come over here."　　
I didn’t know I've already taken two steps towards him, he leaned over, and kissed me.
It's a quite a long kiss, if I have to describe it, I think it’s like I swallowed roughly around a can of cola of Jiang Chen’s saliva.