Chapter 11 Part II, Section 9: The Great Handyman

At that time, I was really capable. If there was a problem with the gas at home, I would fix it. Yingda is famous and can make money.His career has increased my trust and dependence on him.I discuss everything with him and follow his decision.It is undeniable that I was happy in those 10 years of love and marriage, but I was also very tired.It's hard to imagine that I have such resilience to be the "pillar" of that family in the long run, both materially and spiritually. At that time, Yingda was not a person with strong living ability, he would not and would not do housework that belonged to men, and his forgetfulness was outrageous.He never remembers what I tell him to do.If someone gives me something, I must not let him transfer it, maybe he will just throw it somewhere, and then I won’t remember it at all.

Once I installed curtains for his small study, I handed him the sewed cloth, and gave him a slender wire, "help me put it on".I started hammering nails by the window, and we chatted and worked, and it took me a long time to realize that his wire hadn't gone in at all. "It sticks out all the time, I can't do this job!" He was anxious. I took it, bent the end of the wire back a little, and put it on in a minute.Every time this happens he gets angry: "Why do you keep trying to make me feel like an idiot?!" Based on his abilities, I rarely ask him or expect him to do anything.I am the one who repairs lights, locks, gas, and toilets at home.

One day our car broke down half way and no one knew what was wrong.Yingda was about to give up and asked for a taxi to go home. I said to him, "Open the front cover." He smiled: "What do you mean? You want to fix the car?" Seeing his unbelievable look, I didn't pay attention at all, rolled up my sleeves and started touching.Mind you, I don't know anything about car construction, I couldn't drive a car, and I didn't have the slightest idea what that mess of steaming stuff was under the hood.But I "fixed" it, with a few touches the car started and we drove home.

"You are a witch." He said to me, "You have magical hands!" Maybe I wasn't born to be an actor, I could be a great handyman! We bought that car in 1988, a dark green, streamlined British car: the Vauxhall.Yingda said that she had never driven such a good car while studying in the United States.We love it so much. When the new car was just bought, the whole family was so excited that they were fidgeting.It happened that I had just returned from filming in other places. After dinner, everyone decided to drive a new car for a drive.Please note: No one in the family has a driver's license, but Yingda and his father have both driven in the United States.That night his father drank a lot of wine and took his "National People's Congress Representative Card" with him when he left the house.

"If anything happens, no one can catch me!" he said. We went downstairs laughing, and I complained that he had spoken inauspiciously. Yingda drove the car to the Red Scarf Park not far from my home, but there was no one there.His father strongly demanded to "have a good time", and we agreed.He sat in the driving seat.First, it couldn't start, and when it was turned on, it made a harsh sound of metal friction. Yingda was teaching him patiently.Finally started, and then the car jumped out with a "bao". I can't imagine the scene at that time. The car was galloping like a runaway horse, and it rushed towards a middle-aged woman riding a bicycle.The woman turned her head and seemed to smile, she had no idea how scary the driver of the green car behind her was.He drank a lot of whiskey and hadn't driven a car in years.He doesn't have a driver's license, only the "National People's Congress Representative Card" in his pocket!

Yingda and I were both yelling, we yelled like crazy: "Step on the brakes!" Then we saw the steering wheel in the old man's hand turn to one side, only heard a "boom", and the rearview mirror on the right side of the car was on 1 It was gone within seconds, and the car hit a utility pole with a bang. The car stopped and none of us moved. The middle-aged woman turned her head again and continued to ride away.I heard the voice of an old man outside the car window: "The mirror is at the back, don't pick it up yet!" we went back.Parked the car downstairs and no one would go upstairs.Yingda and his son squatted at the door of the unit. Yingda said, "This is great. I have never driven such a good car. It turned into a broken car in a blink of an eye."

We looked at the huge "dimple" in front of the car's nose, and no one complained about the frightened "deputies to the National People's Congress". When they woke up the next morning, the father and son said that what they dreamed at night was a dream of a car crash. In fact, I did the same. My feet kept pressing the brakes hard in the dream. We have driven this car for less than two years, and Yingda has lost his driving license and car keys one after another.We had no choice but to invite a thief in the prison who specializes in sliding doors and picking locks to open the car.Every day when he went out, I shouted: "Bring your driver's license!" And when he came back half an hour later than scheduled, I was restless.In the end, I was determined to sell the car, or I might die on it.