Zhen Lang choked on a piece of steak meat. He put his knife and fork down and he drank a sip of water.
Gu Jing secretly gave Zhen Lang a why-didn’t-you-choke-to-death look. Then she smiled at her stingy date.
Gu Jing’s date pa.s.sed the plate of fried potato chips to her after he ate most of the chips except for three measly chips.
When the waiter returned Gu Jing’s date pretended to be generous, he pa.s.sed her the menu a second time. ‘Miss Gu, feel free to order anything from the menu.’
Gu Jing stared lovingly at Zhen Lang’s steak and she pointed at the steak on the menu.
‘No, it’s too expensive. Take a look, there are only a few pieces of meat but it costs eighty Yuan. Think about how many fried potato chips you can get compared to the pieces of meat. If you go to the shops you can buy a kilogram of meat for eighty Yuan and it’ll feed you for a month!’ the man said.
Gu Jing smiled stiffly at the waiter and the waiter smiled politely.
Peng Cheng Gui’s voice popped inside Gu Jing’s head and the voice reminded her to be civil toward her date. Gu Jing sighed and she gave up ordering the steak. Instead she decided to order coffee, because she could eat after the date ended.
Gu Jing pointed at the espresso coffee under the drink section of the menu and the waiter nodded his head.
‘No, it’s not worth eight Yuan for twenty-five millilitres of coffee. You can buy a jar of coffee at the supermarket for ten Yuan and you’ll have enough coffee to drink for a fortnight,’ the man said.
Gu Jing’s finger that pointed at the espresso coffee caused a dent on the menu. She glanced at Zhen Lang, he held up a cup of coffee and he smiled at her. She looked back at the waiter and she shook her head. ‘I don’t need to drink the espresso coffee.’
‘Miss Gu, take a look around this place. Its furnishings are average, the music here is average and even the table cloth is cheap. I don’t know how this place is reputed as the best cafe in the city,’ the man said.
Gu Jing noticed the waiter’s face flinched and the waiter walked away from her table. Suddenly her back felt itchy like there were angry eyes focused at her table. But her date felt no shame and he continued to harshly critique the cafe’s surroundings.
Gu Jing’s date’s tactless chin pointed at the tables behind her. ‘Miss Gu, turn around and look at the customers sitting behind you. It’s no surprise an ugly cafe like this will attract many ugly customers.’
Gu Jing’s hands gripped the corners of the table. She wanted to curse her tactless date! She hated men who harshly judged other people the most!
Gu Jing heard Zhen Lang coughed and she glared at his amused face.
‘Miss Gu, look at the waiters here. There are tall waiters and short waiters. No consistency-’ the man said.
‘I’m sorry. I need to…’ Gu Jing said and she was about to leave but she noticed Zhen Lang’s face glowed triumphantly so she bit her tongue. ‘I mean… why don’t we talk about something else?’
‘Ok. Miss Gu, how much do you earn a month?’ the man asked.
Gu Jing vaguely remembered Peng Cheng Gui drilled her monthly earnings into her ears, but the numbers were lost on the way to her brain.
‘Miss Gu, it’s ok if you’re too embarra.s.sed to tell me your monthly earnings. Can you at least tell me if you work in the public or private sector and is your job stable?’ the man said.
Gu Jing didn’t get a chance to open her mouth, because her date rudely made the wrong a.s.sumption.
‘Oh… so you’re unemployed. It’s ok if you’re unemployed. I make enough to support myself and a wife too. My wife won’t need to work and she’ll be staying at home,’ the man said.
Gu Jing thought ‘won’t need to work’ were the first decent words to come out of her date’s mouth.
‘But…’ the man said. His eyes focused on Gu Jing’s dress. ‘I think women shouldn’t care too much about clothes and makeup. It’s a waste of money to spend on unnecessary luxury items. There are too many women who overspend on clothes, makeup, bags and shoes on a monthly basis. Why do women need to buy new shoes when the shoes they have aren’t broken?’
Gu Jing thought her date was lucky she wasn’t Peng Cheng Gui. If Peng Cheng Gui heard him, Peng Cheng Gui would throw her newest pair of shoes at his mouth.
Gu Jing stopped paying attention to her date. She looked at Zhen Lang’s empty table, and she saw a waiter rushed to Zhen Lang with a bag of take away containers.
Gu Jing widened her excited eyes. She wanted to go home together with Zhen Lang to… steal his food in the car! She needed to steal her enemy’s food, eat all his midnight food and let him starve in the middle of the night!
‘Women shouldn’t prioritise their looks. They should stay at home and look after children. They don’t need to socialise like going to karaoke bars. I hate places like karaoke bars. What a waste of money. Miss Gu, do you go to karaoke bars often?’ the man said.
‘No,’ Gu Jing said and she silently planned to eat Zhen Lang’s lobster buns first.
‘In the future I’ll give my wife a two hundred Yuan monthly allowance. Miss Gu, what do you think?’ the man said.
Gu Jing didn’t care about her date’s future wife’s monthly allowance, it was none of her business. ‘Is that so?’
‘I think two hundred Yuan a month is a generous allowance. My wife can spend fifty Yuan on tops, fifty Yuan on pants and fifty Yuan on shoes and she’ll still have fifty Yuan leftover. But if my wife knows how to be thrifty, she won’t spend her allowance on unnecessary items… like cigarettes and alcohol. I hate women who smoke and drink alcohol. Miss Gu, do you smoke or drink alcohol?’ the man said.
Gu Jing was hypnotised by Zhen Lang’s bag of food and she stood to follow Zhen Lang outside the cafe.
‘Miss Gu!’ the man called and he stood to chase Gu Jing.
A waiter who guarded the front door put out an arm and he stopped Gu Jing’s date from leaving. ‘Gentleman, you haven’t paid your bill.’
Gu Jing’s date quickly paid the bill. ‘The service here is poor. I sat here for less than half an hour and the cafe skinned me twenty Yuan. I can buy dozens of buns with twenty Yuan and it’ll feed me for a week.’
‘Gentleman, I recommend you find yourself a man. Because a man spends less money on clothes, shoes, bags, makeup, haircuts, manicures, pedicures and… a man can save a lot of money each month, because a man doesn’t need to buy tampons,’ the waiter said.
Gu Jing’s date closed his mouth for the first time that day.
The moment Gu Jing sat inside Zhen Lang’s car, she grabbed his bag of food. She opened the container lids and he thought her eyes lit up like a hungry puppy’s eyes that found food. She bit into a lobster bun and she moaned.
Zhen Lang turned on the ignition. ‘Gu Jing, you’re eating my midnight food. Pay up.’
Gu Jing ate another lobster bun. She choked and she rubbed her chest. ‘I don’t have money.’
Zhen Lang tried to take back the containers from Gu Jing’s lap, but she protected the containers. She put another lobster bun in her mouth and she smiled at him.
Zhen Lang noticed Gu Jing’s blind date was running toward his car. Zhen Lang put his car in drive mode, he stepped on the accelerator and he drove Gu Jing and himself home.
Gu Jing was too busy satisfying her neglected stomach so she didn’t pay attention to her abandoned date.
Zhen Lang kept his eyes on the road. ‘Next time ask your match maker not to introduce you to a man who speaks rubbish.’
Gu Jing laughed and she spat out a piece of lobster bun in an unladylike manner. She looked at Zhen Lang. ‘How did you know?’
‘I could tell by looking at your expressions from where I was sitting at the cafe,’ Zhen Lang said.
Gu Jing silently ate another lobster bun. She thought in the world the person who understood her the most was her enemy.
End of Chapter Fourteen