The Generous Poor with the Really Stingy 1
Zhen Xiaoqi has fallen out of love.
Carrying two bottles of beer, he came knocking on Qiong Dafang"s door.
"Dafang… Dafang… wu... wuu...wu..."
After knocking for a long time, the door finally opened. Qiong Dafang glared at the mess. With a murderous expression, he said "What are you howling about? Did someone die?"
Zhen Xiaoqi could not hear what he said at all. He pushed Qiong Dafang away, went into the house on his own and sat on the sofa. He opened one of the beers he brought and poured it into his mouth. "Why am I always the one getting hurt? Wu wu wu… Why do people always not cherish a sincere heart?"
Qiong Dafang ruffled his hair in irritation as he moved to sit beside Zhen Xiaoqi on the sofa. "What happened to you again?"
"Wu wu wu… I got dumped! I was hurt!" Zhen Xiaoqi gulped down a mouthful of beer, painfully clutching his own chest.
"Are you talking about that Han Bo?" Qiong Dafang reached out to open the other bottle of beer. "Didn"t you two go out for the first time yesterday? How is it considered a relationship?"
As he said, he drank a sip. In the next second, he "pu" and spat it all out. "f.u.c.k, so disgusting!"
Qiong Dafang examined the beer bottle carefully. After looking for a long time, he smacked the table. "Qingniao? I was wondering why it tastes like urine! Zhen Xiaoqi, where did you get this fake and shoddy product?"
Zhen Xiaoqi, while howling, took away Qiong Dafang"s beer. "What fake and shoddy? This beer is cheaper than Tsingtao beer by $1.20. If you don"t want to drink it, fine. I made the decision to drink my heartache away."
Qiong Dafang glared at Zhen Xiaoqi, an expression that said "hating iron for not becoming steel". "Look at you, always wanting to shackle them, scaring those men and they run off. The previous time, when you fell for that whoever and wooed him. In the end, you sent spoilt food to his home and got him hospitalised for 3 days. And the previous, previous time, that person… The one you brought for the outing. It was freezing yet you made him walk from the city to the suburbs ah. Just to save that bit of taxi money….."
(t/n: idiom meaning resentful towards someone for failing to meet expectations and impatient to see improvement.)
Xiaoxiao wiped his tears and defended himself, "I did not do those things on purpose. I kept the lunchbox I made in the refrigerator, who knew the refrigerator would break down. And that outing, I didn"t know the public bus had changed its route...Wu wu wu... I have suffered so many grievances ..."
He cried and cried, hiccupped, and stopped to catch his breath. Then, he turned to Qiong Dafang. "Do you still want this beer?"
"No! It tastes horrible!"
"Then don"t waste it. I will drink it." Zhen Xiaoqi tearfully drank the other bottle of beer.
Qiong Dafang looked helplessly at Zhen Xiaoqi, his friend of many years and asked, "Do you feel better now? Still sad?"
"Hic… much better. Although when I think about last night and Han Bai saying there would not be another time, I still feel sad."
Qiong Dafang was very curious. He asked Zhen Xiaoqi, "Where did you two go for a date yesterday?"
"I invited him to watch a movie?"
"That"s not too bad. Was it the cinema near your home?"
"No, it was the open-air movie at my grandma"s village."
Qiong Dafang stared at Zhen Xiaoqi, fiercely rolling his eyes. "I think you really deserve it!"
To comfort Zhen Xiaoqi who has failed at his confession so many times, Qiong Dafang generously offered to treat Zhen Xiaoqi to hotpot.
Zhen Xiaoqi was indeed very happy. But he told Qiong Dafang to wait as he needed to go home first.
Qiong Dafang did not know what Zhen Xiaoqi was up to and was too lazy to bother, so he headed to their usual hotpot restaurant to wait for him.
When Qiong Dafang finished ordering the dishes and the chili oil in the hotpot had turned hot, Zhen Xiaoqi finally appeared. He was carrying a huge and tattered looking backpack.
"Zhen Xiaoqi, what are you up to again?" Qiong Dafang had a bad feeling and asked him.
Zhen Xiaoqi placed his backpack down and opened it with joy. He took out the items one by one. There was c.o.ke, white wine, fresh vegetables wrapped in Ziploc bags, several chicken wings, and frozen dumplings.
Qiong Dafang quickly covered his face with his hand and scolded Zhen Xiaoqi quietly, "Can you not be so embarra.s.sing! Who would bring their own ingredients to eat hotpot!"
Zhen Xiaoqi grinned. "It doesn"t matter. I asked the boss before. The vegetables and chicken wings are leftovers from my dinner last night. You also know that my refrigerator is broken, I can"t keep them for too long, they have to be eaten quickly."
Qiong Dafang picked up a bag of frozen dumplings. "The refrigerator is broken so where did this come from?"
Zhen Xiaoqi looked at that bag of dumplings and a smile came from the bottom of his heart. "My mom sent it to me. I kept in the freezer of my neighbour’s house."
He was happy as he added, "This month"s electricity bill is lesser by fifty yuan."
He poured wine into Qiong Dafang"s cup. "This wine did not cost money. It was left over after my company"s meeting. I especially kept it to drink with you."
Qiong Dafang looked at him suspiciously. "Did you pour back the wine that was left by others on the table?"
"How could it be? This bottle has not been opened before." Zhen Xiaoqi gave the wine cup to Qiong Dafang. "The wine that was opened, I have drunk it. Didn"t I give you some last week? I didn"t waste it at all. The white wine, rice wine, and red wine that were not finished on the table were all poured in."
"Alright, alright." Thinking of that weird bottle of wine that he drank, Qiong Dafang glumly drank one gulp of wine.
After dinner, Qiong Dafang suavely called the boss over for the bill.
The total bill was 347 guan. Qiong Dafang checked his pockets and awkwardly realised he was only left with one 10 yuan note. Then, he remembered he went drinking with his colleagues last night. Originally, they said they would go Dutch. But at the last minute, he arrogantly paid for everyone. Now his wallet was cleaner than his face.
Zhen Xiaoqi eyes sparkled as he expectantly waited for Qiong Dafang to pay the bill.
Qiong Dafang was very awkward. "That… Xiaoqi ah…"
Zhen Xiaoqi saw him stuttering and immediately clutched his pockets. "No! Don"t even think about it!"
Qiong Dafang gnashed his teeth. "Who did I do this for? Wasn"t it to comfort you? Take the money out, I will pay you back next time!"
Zhen Xiaoqi shook his head angrily. "No, you said it was your treat!"
"It is not like I won"t pay you back!"
"You said so before, in the end?"
"d.a.m.n, Zhen Xiaoqi, it was just a slice of bacon of yours that I ate in university? Must you bring this up after so many years? Plus, didn"t I buy you a new school bag in the end?"
Zhen Xiaoqi pulled the zipper on the school bag and was still not satisfied as he retorted, "It was a slice of bacon, why did you go buy a school bag? Did not keep to your words!"
Qiong Dafang was infuriated. He went over and grabbed Zhen Xiaoqi before searching his body, finally fishing his wallet out to pay the bill.
Then, he hurriedly took Zhen Xiaoqi away.
"Wu, Wu wu…. 347 yuan, my heart is aching!" Zhen Xiaoqi walked behind Qiong Dafang, sobbing. "Now I am sadder than falling out of love! Dafang, you better pay me back!"
"Fine, fine!" Qiong Dafang was so annoyed, he had a headache. He did not know if he would be able to survive for the rest of the month. He had better hurry back and rummage for money. Otherwise, this person definitely would not let him go!
Qiong Dafang thought of how persistent Zhen Xiaoqi was and was terrified. Once they were out of the door, he quickly walked off. His legs were long and he was able to leave Zhen Xiaoqi behind rather quickly.
But soon, Zhen Xiaoqi caught up to him.
"Dingling danglang... dingling danglang…"
Zhen Xiaoqi was riding a bicycle, sweating profusely, flushed face and panting heavily.
Qiong Dafang silently stared at the old bicycle that did not look like a bicycle other than the bell. He grabbed the back seat of the bicycle and pulled him down. "What happened to your scooter?"
Zhen Xiaoqi placed both his hands on the side of his waist and caught his breath before saying, "The parking meter at the carpark near my place has changed to those coin-operated kind. I went to the junk market and bought a bicycle. This is cheap. It’s only twenty yuan.”
"Fine fine!" Qiong Dafang had nothing else to say. He suavely got on the bicycle. He nudged at Zhen Xiaoqi with his head. "Get on, let me take you."
Without any politeness, Zhen Xiaoqi sat down on the back seat and hugged Qiong Dafang’s waist. "I am seated."
Qiong Dafang shouted. "Go to your.. "The left foot was on the pedal but the bicycle didn"t go a few meters forward. He twisted around and almost fell.
"f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k! What kind of lousy bicycle is this?" He grabbed the handlebars tightly. Each pedal was heavy and required strength. He suspected that the wheels were grinding wheels.
By the time Qiong Dafang sent Zhen Xiaoqi home, he was so tired that his legs were shaking.
But Zhen Xiaoqi dug around in Qiong Dafang"s pocket and took his last 10 yuan out. "You can give me back how much you have first."
Qiong Dafang glared at him and was about to scold him but Zhen Xiaoqi took out two coins from his pocket. "This is for you to take the bus."
Qiong Dafang"s house was not far away. Usually when Zhen Xiaoqi went over, he would take the bus.
Thus, Qiong Dafang could only scold Zhen Xiaoqi crazily in his heart.