Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Qin Zhi’ai had stopped, pouting, then turned around, about to angrily ask if he could stop calling her sweetheart.
However, before she had asked, he had opened his mouth, saying, “I’m enlisting in the army next Wednesday.”
Qin Zhi’ai had suddenly frozen in the middle of turning her head.
Enlisting in the army… Does he mean he’s joining the army? He chose to join the army instead of going to college after he graduated high school? The dream he told me wasn’t just a dream to be kept in his mind, but a goal to be achieved one day.
After quite a long while, when Qin Zhi’ai had recovered from the shock, she had turned her head slowly to see him, and the words that she had previously wanted to say had been squeezed out of her mind by what he had just said.
When Qin Zhi’ai had looked at Gu Yusheng, he had just blown out a smoke ring, his face hidden behind the cloud of smoke. She hadn’t been able to see his expression clearly, but had only heard his exceedingly calm and beautiful voice, which seemed extraordinarily melodious—”I’ll be gone for five years, and I won’t come back to Beijing for at least five years.”
Five years… He won’t come back to Beijing for five years? That means I won’t see him for five years?
Staring at Gu Yusheng, Qin Zhi’ai had grasped her clothes more tightly, but she hadn’t dared to breath, for she was afraid that her tears would fall down if she did.
Gu Yusheng had tilted his face and gazed at the street lamp not far away for a while. It had seemed he had something else to say to Qin Zhi’ai, but in the end, he had just turned his head back and said, “See you this weekend.”
Then, he had put out the cigar after a deep inhale, threw it into the trash can, and walked back to the car.
When Qin Zhi’ai had recovered from the shock caused by Gu Yushang’s words—that he would be gone for five years—Gu Yusheng had already driven out of her sight.
For those few days, Qin Zhi’ai had suffered from intermingled happiness and sadness.
She had been happy about the date with Gu Yusheng, but sad that he would soon leave Beijing.
At that time, Qin Zhi’ai had always felt that Gu Yusheng had special feelings for her, because if not, then why had he known her address? Why had he fought for her when Jiang Qianqian had forced her to apologize? Why had he protected her from his father’s violent golf club? Why had he told her his patriotic dreams? Why had he wanted a date with her alone before he left Beijing and even given her his phone number?
But that day, she had gone to the cinema early like she had the last time, and he still hadn’t shown up. As it had rained heavily, she had walked for over an hour, then found a phone booth, but when she called him, the only response she had received was, “The number you dialed is not in service.”
She had been unwilling to believe that the number he gave her didn’t exist, so she had dialed again and again, even after the number was deeply ingrained in her mind, but the response from the phone remained the same: “The number you dialed is not in service.”
