71 | Reborn
It was he who made me this way.

The next morning, Pang Qian felt especially bad. She went to wash up with a pair of panda eyes, giving Pang Shuisheng quite the scare.

“What happened to you last night? You look terrible.”

“I couldn’t sleep all night.” Pang Qian’s mouth was full of toothbrush foam as she vaguely said, “I have a splitting headache.”

“Did you work overtime?” Pang Shuisheng asked, standing outside the bathroom door.

“No.” Pang Qian rinsed her mouth. After thinking for a moment, she stepped closer to Pang Shuisheng. In a quiet voice, she said, “Dad, there’s something I have to tell you. But don’t let Mom know about it for now.”

Pang Shuisheng grew anxious from her serious tone. “What is it?”

“I think I’ve found Gu Mingxi.”

Pang Shuisheng’s suddenly widened. “Really?!”

Aside from slight fatigue, Pang Qian felt pretty good. She carefully put on her makeup, and then put on a navy blue wool coat and walked out the door.

She drove to work, and as she was waiting for the elevator, she ran into Zou Liwen. Zou Liwen was more than 30 years old. He was wearing a dark suit. When he saw Pang Qian, the first thing he said was, “Didn’t you say you weren’t coming?”

“Team Leader, I took an overnight train and rushed back. I arrived home yesterday afternoon at 1 PM, so I came to work today.” Pang Qian’s face looked aggrieved. “It’s one thing to not award me a top employee trophy, but why are you talking like I skipped work and spent the past few days playing and relaxing. Look at my dark circles.”

Zou Liwen looked over Pang Qian, then said lightly, “You look very pretty today.”

“Thank you,” Pang Qian smiled. “Team Leader, you’re super handsome too!”

This was really Pang Qian’s life, the ideal that she’d shared with Gu Mingxi more than seven years ago.

She became an office lady. Every day, she put on delicate makeup and wore pretty clothes. Standing on a pair of heels, she headed to work in a tall office building downtown. She bought a car, and her family moved to a bright, s.p.a.cious house that was decorated in a modern style. She earned a decent salary. Sometimes she would be in a morning business meeting, and then be sent out on a business trip in the afternoon. She spent a lot of time in the air, and even going to Hong Kong had become very commonplace.

In front of others, Pang Qian was put together and beautiful, but alone in the dark of night, she put on her black-rimmed gla.s.ses and dirty clothes, sitting up at night to work overtime on her computer. Sometimes, she felt confused about it.

Perhaps her life had really changed because of certain things. Presently, there were multiple people pursuing her, and their qualifications were pretty good. But deeply rooted in her heart, there had only ever been one person.

During the morning meeting, Pang Qian’s mind wandered a bit. After the meeting, she immediately pulled out her phone and slipped into the stairwell.

She dialed a number that she’d found online. The publisher for “My Miss Crab.”

The receptionist answered the call. Pang Qian just said that she was a fan of Mister Ostrich and wanted to get in touch with his editor. The receptionist stayed calm in light of surprising matters, and helped Pang Qian connect to the phone.

No one picked up the phone, so eventually, Pang Qian hung up reluctantly. She called the receptionist again and said, “It’s really important that I contact Mister Ostrich. Can you give me his editor’s cell phone number?”

The receptionist said, “I’m sorry, we can’t just give out personal numbers as we like. She’s out on a business trip these few days. If you’d like, you can leave a message and I’ll help you relay it.”

Pang Qian thought for a moment, and then straightforwardly said, “Actually, I’m the Miss Crab from the book. I want to find Mister Ostrich. I’ve already lost contact with him for so many years.”

The receptionist laughed. “I’m really sorry, miss. I often received calls from girls claiming to be Miss Crab.”

Pang Qian got angry. “I can prove it! I know Mister Ostrich’s name. Do you want me to tell you?”

“But I don’t know his name.” The receptionist’s voice sounded very pretty, and she sounded sincere. “To be honest, I can understand your feelings. A lot of female readers call to ask about Mister Ostrich. I, myself, am very curious about him, but in the office, we only have contact with his editor. None of use know anything about his personal life.”

She didn’t seem like she was lying, so Pang Qian could only hang up after the call.

 

She returned to her office and turned on her computer. She went onto Sina Blog and searched for Mister Ostrich’s blog page. His latest post was from two years ago. Seems like he stopped using this blog a long time ago.

His posts were mostly comics. A casual drawing with a few interesting words even received lots of comments.

The previous night, Pang Qian had actually stayed up all night. She went through each and every post on Mister Ostrich’s blog, but she didn’t find any hint of his personal information. But who could understand his style more than Pang Qian?

This was her Gu Mingxi. From 2006 to 2008, he had been here.

Pang Qian rested her chin in her hands and zoned out. Suddenly a cold voice pulled her back to reality. “I didn’t know that you had such a child-like side to you.”

Pang Qian held up her head and looked at the ill.u.s.tration on her computer screen. It was about a group of pink pigs. She silently X-ed out of the page. Turning to Zou Liwei, “Team Leader, are you looking for me?”

Zou Liwen glanced at her. “Come to my office, there’s an E I want to talk to you about.”

That evening, Pang Qian made an unprecedented call to Yu Jialei, inviting him out to dinner.

The two of them met in a private restaurant. Yu Jialei was obviously in a good mood. He took a seat and said, “Little Crab, what’s up today? Inviting me for a meal?”

He looked at her face and then laughed. “You’re really pretty today, but your expression is too scary. That’s not good.”

Pang Qian looked at Yu Jialei. She bit her lip hesitantly, and then said, “Today, Yu Jiawei gave me an E. You introduced it, right?”

“Yeah.” Yu Jialei said as a matter of fact. “My friend wanted to do some business. If I don’t introduce him to you, who would I introduce him to?”

Pang Qian said, “Yu Jialei, I already told you. I don’t like you.”

“That’s because you still don’t understand me.” Yu Jialei poured Pang Qian a cup of tea. “Pang Qian, do you think that I’m not being serious enough?”

“No, that’s not what I mean.” Pang Qian waved her hand dismissively. “I know that you’re very serious and genuine. That’s why I’ve never hidden it from you that I’m looking for someone. I have to find him. Before I find him, I won’t be able to date.”

“Pang Qian, I’m really curious. Is there really such a person?” Yu Jialei folded his hands in front of him on the table. His hands were very pretty. Long, slender fingers, delicate joints. His index finger was tapping lightly on the table, and he was really mesmerizing.

Yu Jialei was 33 years old, who’d returned after getting his master’s degree abroad, a bank executive. He and Pang Qian met through work. Although it hadn’t even been half a year, he had very seriously starting pursuing her.

Pang Qian didn’t answer Yu Jialei’s question, but instead asked, “Yu Jialei, what is it that you like about me?”

“Hey, are you trying to say that you’ll change whatever I like about you?” He laughed. “Pang Qian, I’ve never had such a difficult time chasing after a woman. Especially with someone who has such suitable qualifications for marrying.”

Pang Qian asked again, “I’m not joking around. I really want to know, what do you like about me?”

Yu Jiahe was actually quite unsure about this question. “You’re a girl with great qualifications. Isn’t it normal for me to like you?”

“Great qualifications?”

“Don’t you think so?” Yu Jiahe smiled. “Although it’s a bit cra.s.s, I’ll tell you a bit about your strengths. First, your family background. You’re from this area, your family is on good terms, your parents are healthy, your mother’s retired, your father has a stable job that pays well and he’ll also retire. Next, you’re also very qualified. You graduated from a top university, you have a good job, you’re strong and smart. And Zou Liwen told me that you’re a hard worker. Although you complain about the workload sometimes, but you’ll work overtime when you need to, and you’re not lazy. As for money, you have a decent income, really not bad… Sorry, I’ve been friends with Zou Liwen for more than ten years now, so this (information) really isn’t a secret. And lastly, as a person… You’re 25, very young, very pretty, very interesting, very lively. When I’m with you, I’m always very happy. You might not know this, but every time I eat with you, my appet.i.te is especially good, because when you eat, you really look like you’re enjoying it. I always felt that a woman who likes to eat and can maintain their figure is the kind of person who enjoys life the most.”

This long explanation really left Pang Qian a bit stupefied. So she’d already been reborn as a delicious cake on the marriage market?

But, why was it that after hearing Yu Jialei’s praises, Pang Qian felt some sorrow and grief? She was silent for several minutes, and then came back to answer Yu Jialei’s question from earlier.

“Yu Jialei, I’m not lying to you. There really is someone like that. This person absolutely exists. It’s not just an excuse, and I’m not just saying it for you to hear.”

Yu Jialei looked at her silently. Pang Qian smiled at him and said, “Do you want to hear about my story with him?”

“…” His eyes looked like they were concealing something, and then after a moment, he said, “Okay, tell me. I’ll listen.”

“Where should I start.” Pang Qian lowered her eyes, smiled slightly, and said, “Let’s start from your praises for me. Yu Jialei, you think that right now, I’m full of merits, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then let me tell you, it was that person, it was he who made me this way.”