Chapter 10 UK

No matter what you can't get what you want, all kinds of twists and turns, Or the infinite joy of holding hands and getting married, Those are all very good. But the best is just the beginning. With an eight-hour time difference, this is a country whose latitude is comparable to that of Heilongjiang Province in my country. His eyes and smile are far away on the other side of the world. I started counting down from day to day.The day when Mingji will come to the UK is getting closer day by day. On the early morning of August 31, I stood in the lobby of London Heathrow Airport. In the crowd, I saw him at a glance.

After more than ten hours of flying, he looked sleepy and tired.His face was gloomy, and there was a circle of newly grown stubble on his chin. But his eyes overwhelmed me like a tide. I am filled with joy and mixed feelings. I remember that Mingji said on the postcard Dali wrote to me: "Trust me. We can be together, no matter how difficult the road will be." ("Trust me. No matter how difficult the road ahead, we will definitely be together." ) He really did. Reminds me of Chu Anping's poem: "Two fallen leaves finally float together." After going around for more than four months, wandering around, and going around half the world, we finally came together.

I will never be awakened by the nightmare of parting again, and I will never have to endure the pain of lovesickness of "I don't know when to see you again". Mingji works in a seaside city in the southwest of England.There is plenty of sunshine and blue sea, and it is only four hours away by train from the city where I live.In order to save half an hour's travel time, Mingji bought a second-hand car and started commuting between the two cities every weekend. For Mingji, frequent driving at night and commuting between different places was an extremely hard year.For me, every day is spent in the joy of looking forward to the reunion on the weekend, and all the waiting is full of meaning.My roommates from France, Greece, and India are used to the existence of Mingji, a "non-staff member of the dormitory", and often jokingly call us "the best evidence that love still exists in this world".

It was an extremely ordinary Saturday in May 2004.Like every weekend, Mingji drove to my city again. But that was destined to be a day I will never forget.On that night, without warning, Mingji suddenly said to me: "Let's get married." I froze. It's not that she hasn't thought about her future plans since dating him.I wished I could hold his hand forever, but at the time when I was just in my early twenties, I still felt very far away from the word "marriage". I asked him a little confused, "Are you serious?" "Yes." He looked into my eyes and his expression became very serious.

"Does this count as a marriage proposal?" "Well..." He suddenly felt a little embarrassed. That night, I tossed and turned in the dark, unable to sleep all night.I don't know if girls, like me, flashed scenes from the acquaintance to the present in their minds like a movie playback when they were asked this perhaps the most important question in their lives. This is definitely a boy who doesn't play by the rules.He looks as gentle as water, but he is actually a crazy warrior. In this high-speed world, he is desperate to defend the best love.Since he appeared in my life, countless corners and fog have appeared in my life path.However, after turning the corner, there are surprises, and the fog clears to see a smooth road.

I looked at Mingji beside me, and felt that I could put the future in his hands. It was almost like a wedding of two children who didn't grow up. On 12th June 2004 we held a simple ceremony at the Marriage Registry in Birmingham.Both of us are the kind of people who are most afraid of red tape, and there is always an instinctive resistance to grand ceremony.This wedding has no parents to attend, no red carpet flowers, no diamond ring wedding dress.We ourselves are elated and contented. Mingji was wearing an ordinary black suit, and I was wearing a simple light-colored skirt. All the good friends from all over the world attended the ceremony.In front of a smiling crowd, we exchanged rings and said "Yes, I do".

The words "forever" and "forever" were used more than once during the vows of the wedding ceremony. How long is forever indeed?How long and how long?Even if I am not deeply involved in the world, I have never expected that the sea will dry up and the sky will last forever.But in this moment, when your hand is holding mine, when your eyes are looking into mine, I truly believe in your promise, in your ring, in what you will bring to me forever and long . After graduation, Mingji and I moved to live in London.Mingji changed to a new company and planned to continue working in the UK for a few years.And I also went through a period of rough job hunting experience, and finally found a very ideal job.

London is a city that we both really like.We built our first little home here.The identities have changed, the work has been busy, and luckily our feelings for each other are still the same as before.In my spare time, I read books, watch movies, listen to operas, watch art exhibitions, and travel during holidays.In the city of London, the sky is wide and the clouds are low, and the atmosphere is full of poetry. We only feel that the world is peaceful and the years are quiet and beautiful. The life after marriage is just like the long aftertaste of "gambling books and splashing tea".

In a letter my father wrote to me before the wedding, he said: "Love is the eternal theme of literature. I have taught literature in college for so many years. I don't know how many love stories I have told people, but romantic love like you Stories are rare in the literary world, let alone in the real world. Two young men and women from different cultural backgrounds met by chance at the foot of Mount Everest and fell in love at first sight. Finally, they overcame various barriers and came to London to tie the knot. .This story is too legendary. If it didn't happen to my daughter, I would definitely regard it as a drama story in Shakespeare's time..."

Dad is a professor of literature, so his statement is naturally exaggerated and dramatic. However, just as everyone finds their own love story the most moving, we are no exception. I often recall the bits and pieces of Tibet and Dali together, and the taste is endless.Although the initial passion has gradually settled, the stability and happiness of the long stream are more real and beautiful. When I was a child, I read fairy tales. After the hero and heroine went through various trials and finally got married, the story ended.The closing line is usually: "The prince and princess lived happily ever after."

As a child, I thought perplexedly that a happy life is a life without stories. Today, I finally understand that there are so many people in the past, whether it is the endless tossing and turning, or the infinite joy of holding hands and finally getting married, those are all very good. But the best is just the beginning. The story has come here, but it is not over yet. In the first winter after marriage, I took Mingji back to Nanchang for the first time to meet the elders in my hometown. Since my parents both work at the university, my home is on the university campus. When the car we took was getting closer and closer to the gate of the school, Mingji's expression became more and more strange. "I seem to have been here before..." Mingji murmured. I turned to look at him, and he had a sleepwalking look on his face. The car circled half a circle along the statues and flower beds at the school gate, and drove straight to the lake in the East District. "I've been here..." His voice trembled a little with excitement, and his entire face lit up. This was another almost incredible surprise he brought me. He really came to the university campus where my family is located, as early as seven years ago. Not long after Mingji entered the University of Hong Kong, he participated in the "Jiangxi and Zhejiang People's Feelings Investigation and Exchange Mission" organized by the National Affairs Society of the University of Hong Kong, and conducted student exchange activities in Jiangxi and Zhejiang. Back then, he used to live in the university in front of me where I was born and raised. Even more coincidentally, my father was the person in charge of receiving their group of Hong Kong students back then. Dad still remembers the scene when they were wearing thick down jackets and their rucksacks were scattered all over the floor.What he didn't expect was that among this group of innocent Hong Kong university students, one of them would become his son-in-law many years later. Mingji and I wandered around the campus.He still remembers the roads he has traveled and the places he has been to.He pointed out to me the hostel he lived in back then, the air-raid shelter he visited, and the piano room of the music department where he once poked his head curiously. What is more likely is that he may have been on the tree-lined avenue of the campus, in the small bamboo forest by the lake, or in front of the food stall at the school gate—— I passed by when I was still a high school student. You are the most familiar stranger who ever passed by me. If there was a god who predicted the future at that time, at the moment we passed by, he yelled to stop and told us "this is your future partner", young us would definitely turn around immediately, look at each other in surprise, and then Decided it was a prank and laughed together. Mingji turned to look at me: "No wonder I felt deja vu when I first met you in Tibet..." I was both surprised and delighted: "Really?" "fake." "Lying is not a good boy..." "……real." The past beats like another heart inside me.Time and space are dislocated, and the world has become smaller.We started from here, one left, one right, traveled so far, and finally returned to the original point.Eight thousand miles of road, cloud and moon, even if the vicissitudes of life in the world are like the sea, it is just the memory of the world that God has long expected. The ancient Greeks believed that everyone had their own patron saint, and only by finding their own patron saint and following his light could they find their own way of life.However, we in reality are not living in the mythology of the ancient Greeks after all.In this endless dark night, only our own heart can light a candle for us.The softest touch of blue in the candlelight is our belief in love.This belief illuminates each other's faces in the dark, we look at each other for a long time, your eyes are tender, and my eyes are wet.That crazy little thing called love, and we're addicted to it, day after day, forever and ever. At 5:30 a.m. on August 31, I arrived at London Heathrow Airport on Virgin Atlantic VS201.Really is already outside, waiting for me like every time before. The place where I work is in Plymouth, a coastal city in the southwest of England.It takes five and a half hours to get there by bus from London.The real place to study abroad is in Birmingham in the middle of the country.It takes four hours to travel from Plymouth to Birmingham by train. Although we are in the same country, we still live in two places. Like many couples who live apart, we mostly connected by phone.Fortunately, work in the UK is not very busy, and I can go to Birmingham to meet her almost every weekend.However, train tickets in the UK are so expensive that people feel distressed, so sometimes I have no choice but to take the bus, which lasts five and a half hours.Although such a tiring journey is quite hard, every time I see her, I feel that it is all worth it.For parting and reunion, we seem to have antibodies, and we are more able to bear it than others. Three months later, I bought a second-hand car for the convenience of traveling between the two places.Although the car is relatively old, it is in good condition.Every Friday and Sunday night, I drove it on the dark highway at a speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour. Although the days to come are duller than before, they are happier than before. Time flies, and we have spent more than half a year in the UK in a blink of an eye. One Sunday night in April, I said goodbye to the truth and drove up the highway home.Because I also went to Nottingham to see friends that weekend, I felt a little tired.I tried turning up the music to the max and opening the windows as far as I could to keep myself awake.Halfway through the run, I stopped to rest, drank a cup of coffee, and continued on my way.Because it was already late at night, there were very few cars on the road, and most of the time I was the only one driving fast.I looked at the clock on the car, it was already past one o'clock in the morning.The sign said it was fifteen miles to Plymouth, less than fifteen minutes.The cold wind hit my face, I sneezed and closed the window subconsciously.I felt very warm, very comfortable, very comfortable, and then slowly closed my eyes... Boom boom boom boom boom... I woke up immediately, but at this time the car had deviated from the main road and ran onto the dirt slope on the side of the road.I seemed to be riding a wild horse bumping at high speed, and my cerebellum responded for me, braking suddenly and turning the steering wheel.The tires kept rubbing against the ground until the car turned 180 degrees and stopped just in the middle of the three-lane lane. For more than a minute, my mind went blank.Then, I touched my face to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I literally had a narrow escape. If it was downhill next to the road, I believe I would have been smashed to pieces.Or if a car comes head-on, injury must be inevitable.I tried to start the car again, but it still started, so I drove home tremblingly. When I got home and calmed down, I called Zhen. "I just had a traffic accident and almost died..." I said. "Isn't it? Are you okay? I'm worried about you. I really don't know what to do without you." She said. That night, I couldn't sleep all night, and I kept replaying the scene when the car lost control in my mind. It turns out that we will disappear in this world at any time.Therefore, I want to cherish every minute and second of my life, and cherish the people I love even more. For a long time to come, I really had to make sure I had enough energy to drive me home. May 12th is really my birthday again.It has been a year since I arrived in England from Dali.There's no legendary reunion this time around, but our feeling hasn't changed one bit. The day before her birthday, I went to a company in London for an interview.I didn't have high expectations at the beginning, I just had the mentality of giving it a try.After a few days, the agency replied that the company was willing to hire me. London has always been my favorite city.There are beautiful buildings along the Thames River, Big Ben, Parliament Building, London Eye, Tower Bridge and other beautiful scenery.There are many ancient buildings on the street, and any building has a history of more than a hundred years, which contrasts with the unique modern buildings.There are countless art galleries and museums in the city, and most of them are free.Every night in London's West End, "The Phantom of the Opera" and other mesmerizing musicals are staged.In general, London is a very atmospheric city in my mind. Having grown up in Hong Kong, I really couldn't stay in the small town of Plymouth. However, I know that it is very likely that I will return to China after graduation.If I choose to work in London, what will happen to us in the future? When we were discussing this issue, I blurted out: "Let's get married." "Married? Are you serious?" she said in surprise. I continued: "Because, after the last traffic accident, I thought about many things, about my life, and what is most important to me. Things are unpredictable, maybe we will not be in this world tomorrow. We met in Tibet You are the greatest happiness in my life, I really want to continue this happiness, I really want to live with you for the rest of my life, cook for you every day, and cover you with a quilt at night." "Does that count as a marriage proposal?" she asked. "Hmm...well." I said. No flowers, no diamond rings, no kneeling on one knee, no touching scenes in movies.But I have a sincere heart. A bit windy, but the sun was shining. By the time they arrived at the Marriage Registry in Birmingham, they were already ten minutes late.Our friends in England had already arrived, and people from the office urged us to hurry into the auditorium, because the ceremony was about to begin.The auditorium is not very big, but it is more than enough for our small group. I was very nervous and excited, and I made the oath with a smile on my lips: “I do solely declare that I know not of any lawful impediment why I, Ming Kei, may not be joined in matrimony to Zhen.” (I solemnly declare that to my knowledge, Mingji, there is no legal obstacle preventing me from being legally married to Zhen.) I read the oath carefully, terrified of mispronouncing any word. Then there is the exchange of wedding rings.Probably because I was too nervous, I almost said the above words to the staff, and everyone laughed a lot. I also laughed, everyone's laughter just relieved my tension.I took a closer look, only to find that she was wearing a pearl-colored dress today, which was very, very beautiful. I took the ring and said to her: “I call upon these persons here present to witness that I, Ming Kei, do take thee, Zhen, to be my lawful wedded wife. I give you this ring as a symbol of our marriage, as a token of my love and commitment to you." (I am here to ask all of you to witness that I, Mingji, am willing to marry you, really, to be my legal wife. I give you this ring as a symbol of our marriage, as a seal of my love and commitment to you .) Our stamp certainly doesn't end with a pair of rings.In fact, everything in Tibet has long been deeply imprinted by our love. After the wedding ceremony, we walked out from the marriage registry.As soon as we walked out, pieces of "snowflakes" landed on us, followed by cheers. That feeling seemed familiar, just like the evening when I was really in Lazi. Look at it more clearly, it turns out that it is a grain of rice.The real foreign students looked at us with a smile.It turned out that this was their ghost idea.I don't know where they learned the custom, saying that this is a blessing to the newcomers. With the blessing of "Mi", we ended the "long-distance love run" of one year and one month, and prepared to start a new life in London. One year and one month may be a very short period of time for ordinary people, but in our condensed time, there are already infinite memories. We decided to fulfill our five-year agreement in a few years and set foot in Tibet again, a place where we met, knew each other and loved each other. I hope everyone can find their own piece of Tibet, find their own white paper on Tibet.