Section 47: Left Ear (47)

  "How come you're still here?" he asked me.

  "I'll wait for you after work." I said.

  "Who is she?" A boy with a wad of chewing gum in his mouth and a head of blond hair pointed at me and asked Xu Yi.

  "I don't know," said Xu Yi bluntly.

  His face was expressionless, with fresh blood still on his nose. My heart ached sharply.

  "Is it?" said Blondie, "Don't you really recognize me?"

  "What do you want to do?" I continued to ask.

  "Haha." The blond-haired man laughed and said, "We're friends, I'll invite him to have a drink. Little sister, if you don't mind, why not go home and take a bath before bed?"

  "Wait a minute!" I said, "If you must take him away, I'll call the police!"

  "Stop messing around!" Xǔ Yì yelled at me loudly.

  "Oh? Interesting!" The blonde hair's gaze made me afraid, but I held on and stared back at him, unwilling to give in.

  "Who are you?" he asked me.

  "I am a friend of Xu Yi," I said.

  "Girlfriend?"

  I looked at Xu Yi, Xu Yi's face was expressionless, then I nodded with difficulty.

  "Then your boyfriend owes us more than 5,000 yuan, did you pay it back for him?"

  I thought for a moment and nodded, saying "Okay."

  Xu Yi stared at me in surprise.

  "Alright," I said. "But all my money is on the card, and it's too late now, I don't know if I can withdraw it. At the latest tomorrow, as soon as the bank opens, I'll definitely return the money to you."

  "Alright, I'll pay it back tomorrow," said Xu Yi, "You can come and collect it tomorrow."

  "Trust you one more time!" The blond-haired man pointed at Xu Ye, "Tomorrow is the deadline, 10 o'clock in the morning, right here, return the money. I warn you not to play any tricks, otherwise, you'll have to go and explain it to our boss yourself."

  "Got it," said Xu Yi.

  The blond-haired boy jumped onto the bus, just as it was about to leave. The window shook open and he shouted at me while chewing gum: "Little sister, be careful when making friends!" After that, he closed the window and the bus quickly drove away.

  Xu Yi looked at me and pushed me forward as he walked ahead.

  "Hey!" I shouted at him, "Hey!"

  "Go away," he said. "Haven't you heard that making friends should be done with caution?"

  "Do you still remember me?" I asked in desperation.

  "I don't remember." He gave me the answer I had imagined.

  "You're lying," I said.

  He thought for a moment and asked me: "Can you really lend me money?"

  I thought for a moment and nodded.

  "Are you hungry?" he asked me.

  "I'm hungry." I said.

  "Let's go eat first," he said.

  Xu Yi finished speaking and walked ahead, I followed behind him, we didn't say a word, he didn't even turn his head to look at me. We arrived at a small restaurant not far from their school, he pushed the door open and went in, I also followed him in. The restaurant was empty at night, with only water stains on the floor that had just been mopped. On the table, there was a red-checkered tablecloth with a thin layer of plastic sheeting with oil stains on it. Xu Yi frowned and quickly lifted up the plastic sheet. Now the tabletop was clean, the fine-grid cloth had a small bear printed on it, staring at me carelessly.

  A chubby little girl handed over the menu with a blank expression. Xu Yi ordered two or three dishes and said, "Bring a bottle of beer."

  I sat down across from him with my bag in my arms. Xu Yi finally looked at me and asked, "How about you? Want to have a bottle of wine too?"

  "I don't drink," I said.

  He pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took one out and handed it to me. I shook my head, he lit the cigarette himself and smoked silently.

  I asked him: "Why do you owe others money?"

  "It's none of your business."

  I said: "If you want me to pay for you, it's none of my business."

  He raised his eyes and looked at me, saying: "Lost the bet."

  I said: "Then you shouldn't gamble with others again in the future."

  "He said: 'Okay.'"

  The dishes were served, and he ordered a large bowl of rice, gobbling it down quickly, but still looking decent. I sat across from him watching him eat, without any appetite. Actually, I was really hungry too, but I couldn't eat anything. I remembered that a long time ago, there was a boy who sat across from me eating noodles and said the same thing: "I often do this, very hungry, but can't eat at all."

  This is exactly what I am going through right now.

  Xu Yi suddenly asked me, "Where do you live?" I told him the address. He said, "So far? You still need to go to the bank first, can you make it here by 10 am?" Jump!!! ~~~~~~????..