‘P

lease bemore serious, h.e.l.lo!’ Yin Ting greeted him loudly on the phone, calling hernickname for him without reserve. She was particularly spirited tonight.Zhengqing thought that this girl was taking an “I have a lot of spirit everyday!”drug.

‘How are youand what do you need my help for?’ Yin Ting asked directly.

He laughed,‘Why do you think I need your help?’

 ‘Youwon’t be calling me about work and you don’t gossip, so the most likely reasonyou’re calling is to ask for a.s.sistance with something,’ Yin Ting said in onebreath.

 Hesmiled, ‘Aside from work, what do you and your friends talk about?’

 ‘Ah,yes, we talk about lots of things, but mostly about eating and drinking,nothing you’ll be interested in.’

It reallysounded like they had nothing in common, Zhengqing coughed and said, ‘Well,last time when we had dinner with Mao Huizhi, you said that the restaurant isnot appropriate…’

‘Who is MaoHuizhi?’ she asked interrupting him.

‘Zoe.’

‘Oh so herChinese name is Mao Huizhi, her parents must love her. The pearl of wisdom.People should be more than their name, and Zoe is very capable and beautiful. Agood name is really important,’ she said giggling.

Zhengqingguessed what she was thinking so he said, ‘So I am very serious, right?’

Zhenqing hadlived thirty-three years; his very nice name had turned into something slightlycrooked upon meeting her. It was the first time his name had been twisted likethis.

 YinTing laughed, ‘You’re really humorous.’

What wasfunny about that? He chose not to reply but returned to his reason for callingher, ‘Last time you said the restaurant I picked was not appropriate fordating. So I was looking on the internet and I came across a prolific reviewerand decided to ask her directly which restaurant she recommends for my nextdate.’

‘Who is thisreviewer?’ she asked, it had not yet dawned on her, ‘This person could besponsored by restaurants even though her columns are in foodie magazines. Theyare simply for publicity. You have to make sure that the reviewer declareswhether they’ve been sponsored or not. High popularity of a restaurant is notnecessarily the truth. This kind of thing is subjective, everyone likesdifferent things.’

Zhengqingwas silent during her drivel. She talked for so long. He just figured that shehad a talent for talking incessantly.

‘TingtingYuLi 413,’ he replied. He was indirectly asking if the ID was her.

‘Oh my, thatis me! You are really discerning. My reviews are truly red.’

This girlwas not modest at all.

Yin Ting wasvery excited, ‘Wow! Wow! We are really destined. You see, that red string isreally divine. It guided you to find my restaurant reviews for dates. The onesI recommended are very good. You can go to any of them, I don’t takeadvertising or sponsorship from the restaurant, I pay my own way.’

Zhengqing"sfingers silently drummed on the table; it wasn’t just about eating was it? Shehad specified the restaurants good for dating and love, restaurants suited tobreak ups, the one suited to take a fool to. The chocking girl was not hisstyle so Zhengqing did not say anything (Zuben: There is no need to mentionthat she’s not your type, dear or are you beginning to consider her?)

‘Which doyou recommend?’ he asked.

‘Who are yougoing with?’ she asked in reply.

‘That is notimportant.’ He said, he did not want to tell her to keep her from askingquestions from East to West.

‘Oh,’ shedid not sound disappointed but pressed on, ‘Are you at the dallying stage ormaintaining a stable relationship stage?

Zhengqingfrowned, his forehead darkening. What does this have to do with the choice ofrestaurant? Moreover, he did not have time or inclination to be going intoevery specific detail that she wanted.

He remainedsilent so Yin Ting said, ‘I see you’re shy,’ she named a restaurant. She saidit had nice atmosphere, the food was good and it wasn’t too much. The owner wasnamed Yin, and he had another restaurant, but that was more high-end.

Listening toYin Ting, she seemed to be winding down so he quickly said, ‘I’ve heard of therestaurant, I’ll check online.’ He said as he typed on the search bar. "TingtingYuli 413" also highly recommended this place and even recommended severaldishes on the menu.

As Zhengqingread her review online, he listened to Yin Ting go on about the restaurant, shehad to tell him which dishes were good and suitable for two. He did not stopher, her commentary began to almost match her online review.

Zhengqing suddenly began to feel weird; her family couldn"t be the stuffy types, could they? Her fatherand brother seemed to listen to her lively conversation. It must be very nice.He thought that Yin Ting must eat the “I am lively every day” pill, and hesmiled to himself.

Sundayafternoon rolled round.

Zhengqingwas going to have dinner with Huizhu but she informed him the day before thatshe had some work to do on Sunday evening, for some executives that were comingto review her branch on Monday. So dinner changed to lunch, which was fine byhim.

Zhengqingarrived at the restaurant first. He got out of his car and headed for the doorwhen he saw a familiar figure with three children not far from the restaurant.Zhengqing stood for a while looking carefully, it really was Yin Ting.

She waswearing a tee shirt and jeans, her bicycle was nearby. She was holding a boxthat was colourfully decorated, but he could not see it clearly. At her sidewere, three children who looked to be between the ages of six and eight, two ofthem were holding post cards, while a slightly larger child was also carrying abox.

Zhengqingwas wondering what they were doing, when Yin Ting caught sight of him. Shecheered and ran over, followed by the children.

Zhengqingwas caught short and his scared feet did not move. But he stepped forward alittle bit, he must have caught a boldness disease.

He did notneed to walk far, for Yin Ting soon came up to him, ‘Qiu zong! h.e.l.lo!’

‘h.e.l.lo,’ thechildren mimicked kind of loudly.

Very good,he felt a little pleased that little Yin Ting did not call her nickname for himin

‘h.e.l.lo,’ hegreeted politely.

‘We arefundraising for charity by selling postcards,’ Yin Ting supplied withoutwaiting for him to ask.

Now he couldsee clearly the box she was holding. It had “Charity Postcards Sale” drawncolourfully, one card for two yuan and 15 for ten yuan.

The youngestlooking child, a girl, nodded furiously, ‘It’s for good cause,’

YinTing laughed at the child and turned to him, ‘They are children of anorphanage.’

Zhengqingnodded and guessed that they were raising money for the orphanage. He was aboutto buy a postcard, when someone called from behind.

He turned tosee Huizhu walking up to him, he waved to her. Huizhu saw Yin Ting and raisedan eyebrow, but her phone rang, she frowned. This last two days her phone hadnot stopped ringing; Monday was going to be a mess for everyone. Nothing wasclear and easy, suddenly wanting this report and that report, many of which arenot readily available. They needed time to collate the data and write thereports. Huizhu was annoyed by these things, but she had made an appointmentwith Zhengqing, and did not want to miss it. But the issues with work wererunning roughshod over her antic.i.p.ation, so she was irritable.

She quicklysaid a few words to her colleagues directing them on what to do and went toZhengqings side, just in time to hear Yin Ting say to Zhengqing, ‘Support usand buy two sets of postcards,’

Huizhu browstightened as Zhengqing readily said, ‘Sure.’

Zhengqingreached for his wallet, Yin Ting smiled to Huizhu as she drew near, ‘Miss Zoe,h.e.l.lo.’

Threechildren followed and shouted, ‘h.e.l.lo, Miss!’

Huizhu was quiteunhappy, shouting lady who? Curse it? She did not care to hide her expressionas Zhengqing gave Yin Ting some money, and Yin Ting found him change and handedhim two sets of post cards. She turned to the restaurant and whispered to him,

‘I’ll goahead,’ and she was gone.

Yin Tingwatched her leave and said to Zhengqing, ‘She looks tired, there may be troubleat work. She’s tired yet still came to the appointment. It is very good. Youhave to be patient Oh.’ They had heard Huizhu on the phone earlier, so henodded, expressing his understanding. He took his postcards and thanked her.

One of theboys said, ‘We are working hard to fundraise, so we can study well. As long aswe’re willing to work hard, when we grow up we will be able to live our ownlife.’ (Zuben: Random but okay…)

‘Thank you,uncle,’ the children shouted in unison.

Zhengqing smiled at them and went into therestaurant. He looked for Huizhu, there were many people in the restaurant buttheir seats were at the second row of windows. He turned to see Yin Tingoutside laughing with the children, he felt good. He watched as they returnedto the intersection. A middle aged woman walked by, and the little girl went upto her with a post card, bravely asking her to buy, but the woman shook herhead and walked on.

The littlegirl’s face collapsed in frustration and turned to Yin Ting, but Yin Ying gaveher a thumbs-up. It seemed to cheer the little girl up, because she laughed,and the other boys patted her shoulder. And then they went to accost anotherpa.s.ser-by.

‘How did youmeet, so clever?’ Huizhu asked curtly. She had finished a text message andlooked outside to see the situation, her heart was unhappy. Yin Ting did not leaveher with a good impression the last time they met. Now she was forcing sales onpeople. There were many charitable fundraisers in operation, and they ask formoney from their acquaintances, some time with high pressure sale tactics, butwhere does the money all go? Huizhu had encountered such things several timesand her mood today was very bad, so it was not a good expression on her face.

‘Veryclever,’ he replied, ‘Are things okay at work?’ he asked caring about herwelfare.

 Huizhurubbed her forehead, ‘Not good. I have so much to do. My boss has gone mental;I don’t know where he’s going to attack from this time, so I’m trying toprepare everything. Hopefully it should all be fine in a few days. Let’s orderquickly so I can get back.’

‘Alright,’he said as he called for the waiter. Their orders were simple; fried rice and apasta. As Zhengqing ate, he thought of the children with Yin Ting and wonderedif they’d eaten. So he texted Yin Ting about getting the kids something to eat.Especially since they were standing near a restaurant, they must be salivatinglooking at what others are eating.

Yin Tingsoon replied, ‘No need, we’ve already eaten. We will take some snacks back tothe orphanage later. If I get them western food, they will go back and tell theother children and they would feel unfair.’

He read thetext, and sent back, ‘Alright,’ he can understand. Life was already unfair tochildren in this situation; there was no need to add another thing. He lookedat Huizhu, she was texting furiously. She seemed to be sending an email.Zhengqing checked his inbox to see if anything was waiting for his attention.

There was atext message, it was Yin Ting, ‘There’s a situation, I see May Shen coming. Youcouldn’t have made two appointments, right?’

Zhengqing’sforehead darkened, Yin Ting’s expression full of contempt appeared in his mind,he quickly replied, ‘I haven’t been in contact with her.’

Yin Tingquickly replied, ‘I’ll try to help you head her off.’

Zhengqingalmost banged his head on the table. He really did not need this today. Thisgirl and her “I am very brave” medicine, she didn’t need to stop May, he hasdone nothing wrong.

Zuben: Ting Ting eats too many Chinese pills

❀ Chapter 11...