Chapter 9 8

8 At half past eight, we went out to meet Tonglun.Peter didn't seem to be in a bad mood just now, but now he's a little weird. I've never seen him like this before, so I don't want to talk much in the car.His eyes were fixed on the road, he didn't slow down when he turned, and he muttered under his breath to complain to other drivers that he wasn't even wearing his seat belt. When I told him to go to Tonglun to meet up later, he was not very happy at first, even though I said "you will definitely like him", he was not very enthusiastic. "Who is that man?" He asked suspiciously.If it were another person, I would think it was a little jealous. Peter is not the kind of person who is jealous.

"An old friend," I said, "college friend, just back from England, who's probably doing TV production or something." I understand that Len wasn't really that far in that line of work, but Peter was Pay attention to people's positions.Since I wanted to entertain Peter by taking him to see Len, I naturally hoped that everyone had a good evening. "Oh," said Peter, "arts and crafts, maybe a little eccentric." We're sitting at the kitchen table eating frozen peas and bacon as we say this, the kind of food you don't have to unpack in plastic and cook in three minutes to eat, and Peter doesn't want to go out to eat.

"Oh no," I said, rushing to Len's defense, "quite the opposite." Peter pushed the plate aside and said petulantly, "Can't you cook a dish or two yourself?" I was very angry and I felt that was very unfair.I've always loved cooking, and I refrained from cooking at Peter's place for fear that he might think his life was being disturbed.Besides, he'd always liked bacon, and it was a very nutritious thing.I wanted to retaliate with him, but I restrained myself, because Peter was unhappy after all.I asked him, "How was the wedding?" Peter snorted, leaned back in his chair, lit a cigarette, and stared blankly at the other wall.Then he stood up again and poured himself another gin.He planned to walk up and down the kitchen a few times, but the space was too narrow, so he had to sit down again.

"My God," he said, "Poor Trigg. He's looking terrible. How could he be so easy to take the bait?"In his words Trigg sounded like the last of the Mohicans, noble and free; The dodo, too unresponsive to escape extinction.Then he lashes out at the bride for being predatory and evil, sucking poor Trigg into the chaos of domestic chores (which makes me think of the bride as a vacuum cleaner), and finally he laments He stopped talking sadly about his lonely future, and by lonely he meant that he was the only bachelor left. I swallowed my last morsel of frozen peas, having heard the same or a similar speech twice before, I knew I couldn't comment on it.If I agreed it would only frustrate him more, and if I disagreed he would suspect that I was on the bride's side.I remember that I was very happy the first time, and consoled him in a philosophical tone. "Well, now that it's done," I said, "it might be a good thing in the end. After all, she can't be said to have cheated the little baby, isn't he already twenty-six?"

"I'm twenty-six," Peter said gruffly. So this time I just kept my mouth shut, thinking that it might be a good thing to let Peter vent his complaints earlier tonight.I stood up and offered him some ice cream, which he took as a gesture of sympathy, and he put his arm around my waist and gave me a thoughtful hug. "My God, Marianne," he said, "I'm glad you understand me, or I wouldn't know what to do. Most women don't understand that. You've got a good head." I leaned on him and stroked his hair while he ate his ice cream. We got off on a side road behind the Park Hotel where our car used to be parked.I took Peter's arm as we walked down the street, and he smiled absently down at me.I smiled at him too - I'm glad he's not as pissed off as he was driving - and he put his other hand on mine and I was about to use mine I came to hold his hand, and suddenly realized that he would withdraw his arm and use his hand to press my other hand. It was like a child playing a game after class.So, I just squeezed his arm affectionately.

We got to the Park Hotel and Peter opened the glass door for me, as he always does.Peter was very attentive in such matters, and he opened the door for me.Sometimes I can't help thinking that he might snap to attention. While waiting for the elevator, I looked at the image of the two of us in the floor-to-ceiling mirror by the elevator door. Peter was wearing a summer suit with a relatively plain color, greenish brown, well-tailored, which further brought out his thin and lean figure. The other items on the body also match very well. "I don't know if Lun is here," I said to him, squinting at the mirror, talking to him in the mirror, thinking I was almost as tall as him.

When the elevator came, Peter said to the waitress wearing white gloves, "Excuse me, the top floor", and the elevator went up smoothly.The Park Hotel is actually a hotel, but there is a bar on the top floor, which is one of Peter's favorite places to go for a quiet drink, which is why I met Yolen here.At such a height you get a special sense of vertical height, which is not easy to experience in the city.The bar is well lit, unlike many similar venues which are dimly lit and look like they are in a sewer.It's clean again, almost never drunk, and there's no band or singer, so you can hear yourself talking to yourself.The seats here are also very comfortable, the interior decoration is antique, reminiscent of the eighteenth century, and the waiters in the bar all know Peter.Ainsley once told me that one day when she came here, someone threatened to commit suicide by jumping over the porch wall, but that was probably a story she made up too.

We walked in, and there weren't many people in the bar, so I caught sight of Len, sitting at a black table.We went up, I introduced Peter to him, they shook hands, Peter was a bit stiff, Len was very warm.The waiter came at once, and Peter ordered two more gins. "Marian, it's a pleasure to meet you," Len said, leaning across the table and kissing me on the cheek. I think he must have brought this habit back from England, for he never did it before.He gained some weight. "How's England?" I asked.Peter was looking sour, and I wish he'd talk more to cheer Peter up.

"It's okay, but there are too many people. Every time I go out, I can always bump into one or two people passing this way. Therefore, I don't need to go there at all. That place is full of annoying tourists. However, " He turned to Peter and said, "I'm still reluctant to leave. I have a good job there, and everything else is not bad. But you have to be careful when those women chase you. They always If you want to marry you, you have to hit and run, strike first, and sneak away before they catch you." He smiled, showing his white and bright teeth. It can be seen that Peter's face has changed from cloudy to sunny. "Marian told me you were doing TV," he said.

"That's right," Lun said, looking at his square nails. His hands were disproportionately large. People with experience are still needed. Engage in news reports and other things. I really want to have a good current affairs commentary program in this country, I mean really top-notch. But there is too much bureaucracy here, so I have to do something I don't know how much it will take." Peter became interested. He probably thought that people who wanted to make news reports could not be eccentric. Suddenly someone touched my shoulder, I turned my head, and standing behind me was a young girl I didn't know at all.I was about to ask her what's the matter, but Peter said, "Oh, it's Ainsley, you didn't tell me she's coming too." I took a closer look, and it was Ainsley.

"Hey, Marianne," she said breathlessly, pinching her throat, "you didn't tell me it was a bar. I wish they didn't look at my birth certificate." Both Len and Peter stood up, and I had no choice but to introduce Ainsley to Len, who sat down in a chair by the table.Peter looked puzzled. He had met Ainsley, but he didn't like her, because she had given him a big talk about the theory of liberating the "id" that time, which made him suspect that she held what he called the "self" theory. A flashy radical" point of view.Peter is politically conservative.She had called one of his observations that time "commonplace," and Peter was so offended that he had retorted that one of her remarks had been "rude."I think he must have seen that she came here with ulterior motives at this moment, but right now he has no way of knowing what her intentions are. He doesn't want to tear her down without knowing the details. He needs evidence. The waiter came again, and Len asked what Ainsley would like to drink.She hesitated, then said timidly, "Well, a glass of ginger ale, please?" Len looked at her with a broad smile and said, "Marian, I heard you had a new companion living with you, but you didn't tell me she was so young." "I'm keeping an eye out for her," I said grimly, "for the young people on this side of the family." Inside I was pissed at Ainsley.She put me in an extremely embarrassing situation.Isn't she lying?I could debunk her and tell Len that she was a few months older than me and had graduated from college;I know her intentions very well. She sees Lun as a target that can be hunted, and this is the first to conduct investigations.Because she had a premonition that I would not be willing to introduce them to each other. The waiter brought ginger ale, and strangely enough he didn't ask her for a birth certificate.But then I thought about it, any experienced waiter knows that although a girl in this dress looks very young, if she is under eighteen, she would never dare to enter a bar and ask for ginger soda.They tended to suspect young people who dressed old-fashionedly, but Ainsley didn't look old-fashioned at all.She dug out a cotton summer dress from nowhere, with pink and light blue plaids on a white background and a lace collar. This was the first time I saw her wearing this dress.Her hair was tied back in a pink bow, and on one wrist she wore a jingling silver bracelet with charms.She only wore a light layer of makeup, eye shadow was carefully applied on the eye circles (but you have to look closely to see it), which doubled the size of her round blue eyes, and her long oval nails had to be sacrificed. Yes, she bit her nails almost to the root of the flesh, the edges were uneven, just like a middle school student.I could see that she had made up her mind.Len was talking to her, asking her questions, making her talk.She sipped her soda and shyly replied with a sentence or a half. With Peter listening, she obviously didn't dare to say more.When Len asked about her job, she finally told the truth. "I work for an electric toothbrush company," the face flushed, as if embarrassed.I was so angry that I could barely speak. "I'm sorry," I said, "I want to go out to the corridor to get a breath of fresh air." Actually, I wanted to think about what to do. I couldn't disregard my friendship with my classmates and see Lun being cheated.Ainsley must have had some premonition about this, she gave me a meaningful look as I stood up. Once outside, I rested my arms on the top of the parapet (it was about neck height) looking out toward the city.A glowing stream of traffic appeared in front of me, and it did not turn around until a black shadow appeared, and there was a park. There is another traffic flow that intersects it at right angles, extending to the left and right, before disappearing into the darkness in the distance.What should I do?Am I meddling?I fully understand that if I intervene, it will mean that the tacit understanding between me and Ainsley will be broken. She will definitely get revenge on me about Peter, and she is very good at doing this kind of thing. . Lightning can be seen far away in the eastern sky, and thundershowers are coming. "Very well," I said aloud, "this will make the air clearer." Since I hadn't thought about what to do, I had to watch to stay awake, and the rabbit couldn't pay attention to what he said.I walked in the corridor two or three times, and felt that there should be no problem going back. The strange thing was that I found that I was a little unsteady when I walked with one foot high and the other foot low. The waiter must have come again, and I found another glass of gin served in my place.Peter and Len were chatting so intensely that they barely noticed me coming back.Ainsley sat silently, her eyes downcast, shaking the ice in her ginger ale glass.I took a good look at her latest image, and she reminded me of those big fat dolls that are displayed in stores at Christmas, the kind with bright eyes and rosy white rubber skin that can be washed with water. , and a head of shiny artificial hair. I pricked up my ears again to hear what Peter was saying. His voice seemed to come from a long way away. He was talking to Len about an incident that seemed to have something to do with the hunt.I knew Peter went hunting a lot, especially with his old friends, but he never talked to me much about it.Only once he said that they only shoot crows, woodchucks and other small harmful animals. "So I pulled the trigger, and bang, right in the heart. The rest scared off. I picked up the rabbit, Trigg said, and you know how to open it, just rip open the belly, hard With a shake, all the viscera fell out." I pulled out the knife, it was a croaking German knife, cut open the stomach, picked up my hind legs and slammed it hard, it was terrible, blood was everywhere And offal, splattered all over my head and face, made a mess, and had intestines hanging from the branches, and my God, the surrounding trees were blood red..." He stopped laughing, and Len grinned too.Peter's voice changed so completely that I couldn't tell it was him talking.The article on "Quitting Alcohol" suddenly flashed in my mind, and I told myself that Peter had drunk too much, and I couldn't let his image in my mind be damaged. "Jesus, that's funny. Luckily Trigg and I both had old cameras and we took pictures of the whole mess. You guys must be familiar with cameras, I'd like to ask you for advice..." Then they talked about lenses made in Japan.Peter's voice seemed to be getting louder and faster, and I couldn't keep up with my thoughts, so I stopped listening to him and concentrated on imagining the scene in the forest.I seem to be sitting in a dark room watching a slide show, only to see green, brown, red on the bright screen, which is really colorful, and the sky is blue.Peter stood with his back to me in a plaid shirt and a shotgun slung over his shoulder.He was surrounded by a group of old friends that I had never seen before. The sun shone from the branches and leaves of those big trees that could not be named, and their faces were clearly illuminated. Blood splattered.I can't see the rabbit. I rested my arms on the black tabletop and leaned forward.I wanted Peter to turn around and talk to me, I wanted to hear his normal voice, but he wouldn't.I looked at the shadows of the other three people on the dark table, their every move was reflected on the bright table, as if in a pool.Only their chins were visible on the table, and the eyes of the other two were invisible except for Ainsley's eyes, which were looking down at her glass. After a while, I was a little surprised to find a large wet drop fell on my hand.I rubbed it with my fingers, spread it out, and was startled when I realized it was tears.Then I must be crying! I was overwhelmed and confused, as if I had swallowed a tadpole. At this moment, the grievance in my heart finally broke through the defense line.I can't hold it anymore, I'm going to make a joke in public, this is absolutely impossible. As unobtrusively as possible, I slipped out of my seat and walked across the room to the dressing room, being careful not to bump into other tables.After making sure no one else was in there (I didn't want anyone to see), I went into a pink posh cubicle, locked the door, and cried inside for a few minutes.I don't understand what's going on, why I'm like this, I've never been like this before, I think it's kind of ridiculous. "Don't get too excited," I whispered to myself, "don't make a fool of myself." There was a roll of white, limp toilet paper hanging helplessly waiting for someone to use.I tore off one and stroked my nose. A pair of shoes appeared in front of me, and I watched intently from under the door of my cubicle.I'm pretty sure it was Ainsley's. "Marian," she called, "are you all right?" "It's okay," I said, drying my tears and walking out. "Hey," I said, trying to sound as calm as usual, "have you found your target?" "That might not be the case," she replied calmly. "I'll learn more about him first. Naturally, you won't talk too much." "I don't think so," I said, "but it seems a little unfriendly. It's like gluing birds together, or spearing fish with a flashlight." "I wouldn't do anything to him," she said, dismissive of my metaphor. "It won't do him any harm." She removed the pink bow and brushed her hair. "What's the matter with you? I saw you were crying just now." "Nothing," I said, "you know I don't drink, maybe it's the humidity." By this time I had completely calmed down. We walked back to our seats, and Peter was talking to Len about different ways to take pictures of himself, such as using a mirror, using a selfie device, snapping the shutter and then running to his place, or Use the long fast line to open the shutter and the air pressure fast line to open the flash.Len also chimed in about how to get into focus, but after I sat down for a few minutes, he gave me a quick, peculiar look that seemed to displease me.Then he went on talking with Peter.what does he mean?I looked at him and then at Peter.Peter said, smiling at me.He kept his distance despite his tenderness, and now I think I understand.He used me as a prop on the stage. Although he didn't speak, he was reliable, a flat silhouette.He didn't mean to snub me out, maybe I was overthinking (I ran away ridiculously just now, was it for this reason?), in fact, he was relying on me to perform!Len sees me that way because he thinks I'm keeping myself low on purpose.If this is the case, the relationship is much more serious than what I said earlier.Lun has always disapproved of other people's marriage and family, especially for those he likes.In fact he did not know the truth, he was mistaken. Suddenly I felt panic again, and I grabbed the edge of the table.The square room was elegantly furnished, with looped curtains, a pastel carpet, and crystal chandeliers, but it concealed something shady, and there was something hidden in the muffled conversation. An imperceptible danger. "Hold on," I said to myself, "don't move." I looked at the doors and windows, estimating the distance.I have to get out. The light went out, then came back on again. "Gentlemen, it's closing time." There was a sound of pushing back a chair. We took the elevator downstairs.As we stepped out of the elevator, Len said, "It's still early, come over to my place for a drink, okay? You can also check out my teleconverter." Peter replied, "Great, let's go Bar." We walked out through the glass door.I took Peter's arm and walked ahead.Ainsley deliberately lagged some distance behind so that Len could walk with her. The air in the street was cooler, and there was a little wind.I let go of Peter's arm and started running.