☆Enemies on a Narrow Road
Gao Yulan hid in the bathroom, afraid to breathe, fearing that the outside would hear her.
Her dad was full of energy, but she couldn"t hear Mr. Little Guo"s voice. Gao Yulan thought her dad had too much to drink and had come back home alone, imagining he"d brought somebody back. If that was the case, it was good!
After some time, she heard Mama Gao say, "Sorry for the inconvenience, this old man drank too much."
"No no, I, I just came to send back Uncle Gao. Now that he"s safe at home, I should get going." Hearing the clear and bright voice, Gao Yulan covered her face in despair. Her dad had really brought back a man.
Shame!
Leave, leave, hurry up and leave. It isn"t wise to stay here any longer, leave quickly! So we don"t meet! Gao Yulan used all her strength, thinking of what Mr. Little Guo had said.
Unexpectedly, her dad started talking loudly once again. "Don"t go! Little Guo, don"t go!"
Gao Yulan really wanted to rip the wall apart. Dad, Dad, what are you trying to do? Please let your daughter have a way out, alright!
"Little Guo, wait a minute. She"ll finish s.h.i.tting quickly. You two can meet and then you can go."
Still s.h.i.tting? Gao Yulan determined that Mr. Little Guo still hadn"t left. She decided she wouldn"t be leaving the bathroom.
Fortunately, outside Mama Gao was sober and could think intelligently. She sat Papa Gao on the sofa and poured him a gla.s.s of water. "You"re making such a racket in the night. Let Little Guo return to rest."
Mr. Little Guo and Gao Yulan in the bathroom were both relieved. Like an arrow, Little Guo flew out of the front door. Mama Gao let out a string of apologies as he left in a hurry.
Gao Yulan, still in the bathroom, listened attentively to the door closing and Papa Gao"s snoring. Then someone knocked on the door of the bathroom again. Mama Gao was outside. "Little Guo left already, you can come out now." ▂Thinking▂Rabbit▂Connecting
Gao Yulan let out a long sigh of relief. This was really a disturbing visit to the bathroom.
Of course, Gao Yulan couldn"t sleep that night.
She tossed and turned, and her stress lingered. She knew that her father and mother wanted the best for her, but it was getting more and more agitating. This kind of blind date was just too excessive. It really got people to stop being lazy and hurriedly find work.
Gao Yulan thought about it and got up to pack.
The next day, after eating breakfast, Gao Yulan received a call for a job interview. She rushed back to City A to prepare for it. In the end, Papa and Mama Gao reluctantly bid her farewell. She didn"t see that after she"d left, Papa and Mama Gao were in tears and encouraging each other. "The next time our daughter comes back, we"ll have another chance!"
Gao Yulan returned back to City A and decided to carry out some employment exercises. She skipped lunch to go online and finish her résumé.
She opened her mailbox and was surprised to find a letter from Wen Sha. There wasn"t any nonsense. It introduced companies" background, strengths, position, and wage to her. Although they weren"t as good as the Hengyuan group, they were alright. There were phone numbers to contact them to meet. As long as Gao Yulan contacted them, work wouldn"t be a problem.
But after reading them, Gao Yulan decisively deleted the mail. She couldn"t just show weakness to the enemy now.
Gao Yulan sent a number of applications on the internet and, after finishing, couldn"t help but look towards her computer in a daze. She suddenly felt alone. She was in City A to work and most of her friends had also been colleagues—now she couldn"t even talk to them. In a way, she had really failed.
Gao Yulan spent a long time in a daze before finally feeling hungry. She looked at the clock for a moment and took her purse and keys to go buy food.
There wasn"t anything delicious in Gao Yulan"s neighborhood, so she had to go to another street. Turning a street corner, she saw the place where she"d been intoxicated and stolen Mantou. She couldn"t help but twitch her lips over the stupid thing she had done.
But now that we"re on the topic, the bar was very close to her home. She had stolen the dog and gotten into a taxi. The driver must have cheated her.
Walking down the street, there was a fast-food shop ahead. It was pretty good and Gao Yulan was a frequent visitor. Before she entered the building, she saw a five-year-old girl. She was very beautiful, like a doll. She wore pretty clothes and had small curls in her hair with a pretty headband. She seemed very neat and tidy. Her family must be pretty good. Gao Yulan looked around. "There aren"t any adults around," she thought as she walked into the fast food restaurant.
Maybe the little doll was waiting for her parents. Maybe her parents were shopping in the vicinity.
The fast-food business was really good—even at this hour, there were still people lining up. Gao Yulan stood in line and looked across at the girl. The girl opposite of the McDonald"s suddenly looked into Gao Yulan"s eyes. She and Gao Yulan shared a gaze for a few seconds before the girl revealed a timid, lovable smile.
Gao Yulan had no resistance against cute lovable things, and the smile of the little girl brought a smile to her face. Then the little girl turned away. Her little back looked so pitiful.
Gao Yulan heard the cashier call for her and she pointed towards the Beef Meal. She hadn"t paid before she noticed an uncouth woman talking to the little girl out of the corner of her eye. She couldn"t hear what she was saying, but the little girl was shaking her head as the woman continued to speak. The woman reached out to grab the girl and the girl took two steps back, still shaking her head.
Gao Yulan felt like something was wrong. She didn"t pay for her food, and in a couple of long strides she had pulled the girl away from the woman who said, "Really, Aunty will help you find your mother…"
"How are you planning to help find her mother?" Gao Yulan bluntly interrupted.
The woman suddenly looked up at Gao Yulan and her eyes contracted in panic. Gao Yulan immediately asked the girl, "Do you know her?"
The little girl shook her head, and the woman said, "I saw her standing alone. She probably got lost from her family, so I came to help her."
Gao Yulan shook her head. "I want to be a good person too, is that alright? We should go report to the police and then…" She hadn"t even finished her sentence before the middle-aged woman turned to run away.
Gao Yulan looked at her quickly disappearing figure and gnashed her teeth in anger. The most hateful things were bullying children and small animals!
She looked down at the little girl"s black, crystal-like, bright eyes and asked, "Little friend, what"s your name?"
The little girl thought for a while and asked back, "Do you have any proof you aren"t with that woman from before?"
Gao Yulan was flabbergasted. "Why would you think I"m with the woman from before?"
"The adults at home taught me that people will commit crimes in groups. If by herself she won"t succeed, they have somebody kidnap the child and then the good man will come after she left. Then they will easily earn my trust and take me away."
Gao Yulan was stunned. What was with this family, teaching their child so thoroughly? She didn"t know what to say to argue and could only "uh" for a while before saying, "Your family taught you well, you can"t be too careful."
The little girl"s black eyes watched her. Gao Yulan didn"t know what to do. If she brought her to the police, they would think she had kidnapped her. But it wasn"t right to just leave the little girl here.
Gao Yulan considered for a moment, but still asked, "Did you get lost or did you lose your parent?"
"What difference does it make between getting lost and losing my parents?" She spoke with a crisp childlike voice and an innocent, pitiful expression.
Gao Yulan was surprised. "Getting lost is not being able to find home, and losing contact with your parents…" How was she supposed to explain that?
"That is, if you can"t find your parents, you can"t return home, right?
Gao Yulan was expressionless—this little girl had a lot to say. It would be strange if this child was kidnapped.
She sighed, bit the bullet, and asked, "Do your parents know you"re waiting here? Will they come to pick you up?" If this child couldn"t contact her parents, she planned to report this to the police and have them take care of it.
But the little girl nodded her head and said, "Mama will come to pick me up. We arranged that if we can"t find each other, we"d go to the nearest McDonald"s or KFC. There’s a lot of people, and it"s open for 24 hours, so it"s safe and my Mama can easily find me."
Gao Yulan once again felt like her parents had a talent for reasonable things. Then the little girl suddenly pulled Gao Yulan"s hand and sweetly said, "I"m called Niu Niu. Come with me to McDonald"s okay? My Mama should be coming to look for me right now."
Gao Yulan, holding the tiny hand and seeing the tiny trusting face, couldn’t help but feel a little responsibility. She happily took Niu to cross the road. The two of them sat by the window so Niu could see her mother and her mother could see her.
Niu Niu sat and looked at the other children in the restaurant, as they ate their french fries and chicken wings, and couldn"t help but lower her head and swallow her saliva. She pursed her lips and fiddled with her fingers, looking lonely and pitiful.
Gao Yulan"s heart softened and she thought about how she hadn"t eaten yet. It was only inviting a kid to eat, so she said to Niu Niu, "I"m pretty hungry, and I"m going to go order. Niu Niu, come with me, okay?"
Niu Niu looked up, and watching her with vigilant eyes. Gao Yulan gave her a gentle smile. "Big Sis wants to eat, but she"s afraid of eating too much. Niu Niu, help Sister eat little, and come choose some things, okay?"
Niu Niu listened, and then burst into a big lovable smile. She jumped off the chair and pulled on Gao Yulan"s arm. The two of them bought a lot of food to stuff themselves.
While they ate, Gao Yulan saw the door open and a familiar person walked in. He was tall with bright shining eyes, and he seemed to always be smiling. Gao Yulan nearly choked on her drink. Running into Yin Ze—how could this be?
Yin Ze nodded his head toward Gao Yulan"s seat and walked over. Gao Yulan"s nervousness spiked. Every time she sees this man, nothing good happens. Now that she was in front of this cute little girl, she didn"t want to be embarra.s.sed.
To her surprise, the little girl called out, "Uncle." Her small little face displayed a pleased expression as he came over.
Gao Yulan turned to look and only saw Yin Ze. Where was her uncle?
Author"s Note: Niu Niu is proving that the Gao family and Yin family are meant to be together!