Chapter 9 Section IX

My junior high school life was miserable, but the third year was fleeting.Once the summer vacation is over, I have to start thinking about how to go in the future, but I don't have any ideals and goals for the future.Once upon a time, I had vaguely thought that I might inherit my father's practice as a dentist, but the practice is now closed.Besides, to become a dentist you have to go to a medical university with high tuition fees, but my family probably doesn't have that much money.Maybe it is okay to enter the National Medical University, but I am self-aware of my grades, and it is undoubtedly a dream to enter the National Medical University.

So I didn't think too much about it, so I decided to go to higher engineering.I don't particularly like science or mathematics. Anyway, I thought that since I can't go to university, I might as well choose engineering, which is easy to find a job after graduation. The senior engineering school I went to forced students to decide on major subjects as soon as they entered school.I also didn't think too much about choosing the electronic department.Because words such as computers and electronics were beginning to be popular at that time, I just hoped that what I learned could meet the needs of the future era.After a while, I realized that my choice didn't make much sense.

The expressway under construction can be seen from the classroom window, and this high school is my long-awaited resting place.No one in my class came from the same junior high school as me, so no one knew about my past, what happened to me, and no one was interested in those things.I'm still not good at making friends. The best friends I make are just chatting with each other after class. In the summer of the first grade, I did my first part-time job in my life.The content of the job is to sell juice and soft cream in the sales department store of the public swimming pool.Although the school strictly prohibits students from working part-time, few students take the school rules seriously.

There are many customers in the sales department, and one person has to do several jobs, and the hourly wages are meager in comparison.However, I always go to work full of joy.The reason is simple, because I can see Yoko Ejiri. In that store, apart from a middle-aged female store manager and me, there was also a working-study student Yoko.She was studying for a local business school. With a petite figure and an oval face, she still has a childlike look on her face. It is not an exaggeration to say that she is a junior high school student.Whenever there is a smile on her face, the anger, annoyance and other negative emotions in my heart are always swept away.I want to see her smile, so I always talk to her without words.No matter how uninteresting the topic, she would look me in the eyes and listen to me, and always smile at me at the end.

"Tajima is such an interesting person, he only thinks of interesting things." From the beginning to the end, she only said this to me once.Maybe I was, as she said, an interesting young lad back then.It was her who changed me. The store manager is very strict with money, but if there are no customers in the store, she won't talk when we chat.Not only that, Yoko and I would slip away to cool places whenever we had a little free time, so we often had the opportunity to be alone with each other. Yoko's family is a single-parent family. When he was in elementary school, his father died of stomach cancer.Since then, I have been relying on my mother to make kimonos for others.When she heard that I was also dependent on my father, she blinked her eyes and said, "Yes, what a coincidence."

"However, Yoko is so cheerful and always smiling. I think you are amazing. Unlike me, people often say that you have a gloomy personality." "My mother told me: 'You have no good points, so at least you have to laugh a lot.' Plus I'm naturally cheerful, after all, I have the yang of the sun in my name," she finished. Finally, he added with a smile: "You are also very cheerful. I am very happy to be with you." At that time, her voice and smile appeared in my mind several times.I think I probably won't forget it until I die.She is one of the beautiful things I have ever met in my life.

There are several side benefits to that job.That is, you can eat whatever you want in the store at noon, and you can eat as much ice cream as you like.It's really nice, but nothing is more exciting than swimming in the pool.The sales department closes at 5 pm, and you can swim as much as you want after work until the swimming pool closes at 6 pm. Yoko and I go swimming together almost every day after work.We raced to see who could swim faster, chased each other, played in the water, laughed and played like schoolchildren.She was wearing the blue and white striped one-piece swimsuit required by the school, and I was always dazzled by her bronzed skin.

I think, I am really in love.I really hope this happiness can last forever. After the time sequence entered August, uninvited guests came to visit. It was probably a cloudy day, and there were fewer customers in the store than usual.I'm glad to have some extra time to talk to Yoko. It happened when work was over and I was racing myself to think "I can talk to her again". "An ice cream." I had my back to the counter and the voice came from behind me.Even though the weather was so hot that I was still sweating profusely, the moment I heard the voice, the hairs all over my body stood on end.

As soon as I turned around, I saw Cang Chixiu's wicked smile.It seems that he has realized that the clerk is me. "Kuramo..." "Hi, you look good." Kuramochi looks more like an adult than when he was in junior high school.He has a tall figure, is dressed in swimming clothes, and has just the right muscles on his slender body. "How will you be here?" When I asked, he opened his mouth comically. "I just wanted to ask you. Why do you sell ice cream in a place like this?" "Working." "I know that. What I want to ask is, why are you doing this kind of work with a low return on investment?"

"It's not as bad as you say." "Really? It doesn't look much better." He looked around the store quickly. "But then again, I'm waiting for your ice cream." "Ah, sorry." At that time Yoko left to go to the bathroom.As I poured the ice cream onto the biscuits, I thought she'd better not come back for a while.I subconsciously didn't want her to meet with Kuramochi.In hindsight, that was an astonishing intuition. However, Cang Mochi took the ice cream and refused to leave immediately after paying the money.While eating ice cream, he chatted with me.I responded to him perfunctorily, thinking: "Why doesn't the next guest come soon." But no one came at this time.The store manager still didn't know where to go to cool off.

I haven't seen Kuramochi since the Taiyaki incident, so I don't know which school he went to.He held an ice cream in one hand, and said fart that he went to a regular high school, and he also joined the English conversation club and tennis club at school. "The English conversation club is okay, isn't the tennis club expensive?" "It's okay. I use the old tennis racket given by the senior. The school doesn't need court fees, and the coach doesn't need to spend money. It's really profitable. The only fly in the ointment is that the training is very strict, but it's good to be patient for a year. Anyway, the senior is not here You can fish while watching it. Besides, I don’t want to be an official tennis player.” It turns out that there is still this way of thinking.I felt like I was being taught another lesson by him.I just hated rigorous training and spending money, so I didn't join the club. At this time, Yangzi came back.She should have seen us, so she asked me: "Are you friends?" "Primary school classmate." I replied. "Yes." Yoko smiled at Kuramochi. "Hello." "Hello." Kuramochi also responded with a smile. "Are you a high school student too?" "Yeah." She nodded in response. "My name is Axiu, Cang Chixiu, how about you?" "My name is Ejiri." "Miss Ejiri, what's your name? I think it will be Miyoko." His joke made Yoko smile brighter.Her expression made me nervous. She replied that she was called Yangzi.Kuramo then asked her how to write her name.For people he didn't know, at that time, he had already practiced the communication skills of not letting the conversation be interrupted, and the ability to adapt to the situation. "How long does it last to work here?" Kuramochi asked me. I didn't want to answer because I guessed what he was going to say next.Just when I was hesitant to say anything, Yoko replied from the side: "Until half past five." "So, there are still thirty minutes left. In this case, I will change clothes later, and then come back around five o'clock. See if the three of us go to the coffee shop together on the way home?" "Well, but..." I looked at Yoko, praying in my heart that she would refuse. But my prayers at the time were not fulfilled. "I can," she said.If so, I must go. "Me too. But, Kuramochi, didn't you bring your friends?" "No. I came alone. See you at five o'clock." Cang Mo raised a hand, and he finally left. "He's very funny." Yoko said after watching him leave.Her kindness to Kuramoki made me very concerned. "That guy has been a good talker since before." "He said he would come alone. I think he must like swimming very much." "Really..." I tilted my head and looked back at my childhood memories. In my impression, he didn't particularly like swimming. "I can't swim today." I said tentatively.I wanted to emphasize the mood of having a happy time interrupted by unexpected guests. "Then ask him to wait a while before changing into his swimsuit. It's okay for the three of us to swim together until six o'clock before going to the coffee shop." "No, forget it. That guy may have gone to the locker room." I said.I don't want Kuramochi to see Yoko in a swimsuit. Cang Chi reported on time at five o'clock.He was wearing a plaid shirt and white trousers.Both look like high-end goods. He took us to the nearest downtown area and walked straight into a coffee shop that he knew very well. Kuramo ordered an Americano, and I ordered the same, but I had no idea what an Americano was.I don't know how it's different from regular coffee, nor have I ever had real coffee.Yoko ordered a glass of milk soda. We sat in a coffee shop and Kuramochi led the conversation.He became better at speaking than when he was in middle school.There seems to be an endless stream of topics to talk about recently watched movies, gossip about artists, popular things, music, etc.And I can only echo with my voice, sometimes admiring and sometimes surprised by what he said, sometimes drinking weak coffee that I don’t know where to drink. Yoko became unusually talkative.Not only was it the first time I heard that she was a Rolling Stones fan, but I had no idea until then that she, like the average teenage girl, pays attention to trends.When she mentioned the future, there was even a serious expression on her face that she didn't usually see. Cang Chi is not only good at eloquence, but also seems to be very good at getting the other party to tell the truth.He quietly dropped many baits, and immediately saw which bait the opponent took.After seeing through this point, he encourages the other party, or pretends to be interested in what the other party says, and sometimes deliberately sings the opposite tune, creating an atmosphere that allows the other party to speak freely.In front of him, anyone can become a master of speech, but the speaker does not know that he is actually rolling in his Buddha's palm, acting according to his script. We hung out in that coffee shop for two hours, mostly Kuramochi and Yoko were talking, and I could only listen to their chat. After walking out of the coffee shop, he said that he would send Yoko home. "Because I have to go to a place later, which happens to be in the same direction as Yoko." He looked at his watch and said. I remembered that during the chat just now, he cleverly asked where Yoko's house was. If I had known this, I would have said "Let's go together".It's just that the directions of my house and Yangzi's house are too far apart, and I can't say this sentence at all.I expected Yoko to refuse, but she didn't.I even think she welcomes Kuramochi's words.We walked together to the station, where we said goodbye to both of them.I watched the two get on the tram from the other side of the platform. They had long forgotten that there was such a person as me, and they chatted happily. When I returned to Bailuzhuang, the lights in the administrator's room were still dark.I took out the key to open the door and entered the administrator's room. I walked inside without turning on the light. There were two rooms and the kitchen on the other side of the paper door.It is the living space of our father and son. The apartment my father had been looking forward to day and night was completed about a year ago.Regardless of whether the cost-benefit is cost-effective or not, the father decided to break ground when many premises were not yet clear.But the money borrowed from the bank was not enough to build a good house, so my father bowed to the relatives who had severed the relationship, and finally the one who was willing to borrow money was his closest cousin.However, the uncle wanted his father to keep it from his aunt and other relatives.Of course, he also reminded his father that this was the last time he borrowed money. It felt like my father wanted to build a high-end apartment, but it was impossible in terms of budget.The transportation here is not convenient, and the rent is not good.In the end, my father decided to build an apartment that would be rented out to single people and students.There are a total of sixteen rooms on the first and second floors; an administrator's room is separated from the entrance as our new home. As previously feared, running a condominium is not easy.The cost is more fierce than imagined, and the monthly income has not improved.After all, there were three vacant rooms that were not rented out.After repaying the monthly loan, the remaining money can barely cover three meals, so the reason why I work part-time is not entirely for seeing Yangzi. Father came home very late that day.Sure enough, as I expected, he was drunk again.At that time, my father was often with a man named Maeda.He always dragged his drunken father home.Maeda worked at a nearby pachinko shop; his father went there often, and Maeda seemed to secretly tell his father which one was most likely to win the lottery today.At first glance, he appears to be a kind person, but he is actually a wolf in sheep's clothing.I don't like that middle-aged man. As soon as my father entered the room, he collapsed on the floor of the administrator's room and started yelling and yelling inexplicably, with saliva dripping from his mouth. "Why are you so drunk?" I said to my father, with a hint of protest against Maeda.Anyway, Maeda must be relying on his father's money to eat and drink for nothing, dragging his father to get drunk one by one. "Oh, I said I was going home, Mr. Tajima asked me to have another drink with him." I thought to myself that this must be a lie, but I still said apologetically: "I'm so sorry for always causing you trouble." "It doesn't matter to me, anyway, I don't need to get up early in the morning. But, what's wrong with Mr. Tajima? The whole person seems to suddenly become very strange." "Getting weird?" "Well. He was fine as usual when we were drinking at the oden shop. But when we were on the way to the next one, he suddenly stopped on the side of the road and kept looking in a completely unrelated direction. I asked him what was wrong, He also said it was nothing, but after that it became very strange. He obviously didn’t know how to drink, but he started to drink heavily, and when he came back, he became this kind of virtue.” What is father looking at?What could make a father so out of control? Maeda was probably afraid that I would ask him to help take care of his father, so he fled back.I took a towel from the closet and covered my father lying on the ground.I think it's already summer, so I shouldn't catch a cold lying on the ground. When I woke up the next morning, my father had already got up and was sitting in front of the TV reading the newspaper.He frowned and pretended to be unhappy, obviously asking me not to ask about last night.I didn't say anything, silently toasted toast, fried poached eggs, and settled the breakfast.I don't know when, my family began to have the unwritten rule that we should eat and figure out what to do.My father eats out almost every day, but I often eat fast food, and sometimes I go to the supermarket to buy cooked food and eat it. After eating, I hurried out.The drunk father is not important, I am more concerned about Yoko. She was at work earlier than me and had already put on her apron.The smile on her face when she saw me was the same as before yesterday. "What happened next?" I asked anxiously. "Yesterday?" "Ok." "It's nothing. We went straight home. What's wrong?" "No, nothing..." "Kuramochi is very funny. He knows a lot of things." "yes?" "A person like him should be very popular since elementary school, right? It feels like he is the leader in the class." "The guy? No, that's not the case. He's pretty unremarkable." "Yeah, it doesn't feel like it." Yangzi tilted his head slightly, then smiled as if remembering something. "Tajima, you should be very quiet, right? I heard that when you were reading a Mandarin textbook, you were always scolded by the teacher because your voice was too low." "Did the guy even say that?" "It doesn't matter, it's all a matter of childhood." She said it lightly, which was a big problem for me.I had low self esteem about my teenage years.If possible, I don't want her to know who I was at the time.Not only that, but I also wanted to hide the rumors that my grandmother was poisoned to death, and I didn't want her to hear about my being bullied by my classmates at school following the decline of the Tajima family. I was selling ice cream and juice as usual, and I was praying in my heart that Kuramochi would never come again. I don't know if it was because my prayers came true that I didn't see him all day.When I got off work at five o'clock, I happily said to Yoko, "Then, I'll wait for you by the swimming pool." That's where we meet up before going into the water.However, she clasped her hands together and said regretfully, "I'm sorry, I have to go back early today." "Ah, that's it." "Sorry, another day." "Then tomorrow. Ah, tomorrow is a holiday, so the day after tomorrow...?" "Okay. Goodbye." She waved slightly and walked out of the sales department. Feeling uneasy and lonely in my heart, I watched her back leave.I don't know why, but I always feel that she has become so distant today. That day, my father was in the administrator's room.He saw me and asked me to order takeaway for dinner.For my father, this was a strange thing.Because he always said: "Anyway, since you have to pay, of course it's easier to go to the store to eat." When eating, my father was not the same as usual.He usually doesn't care about my high school life, but he asked about it that day.Having said that, he didn't look like he was listening to me seriously.He pretended to be talking to his son, but was completely absent-minded.The Giants fight was on TV, and even though the player his father supported was struck out, he didn't slap the table with his usual excitement. I could tell my father cared about time.After eating, he looked at the clock several times.When the pointer passed ten o'clock, my father stood up from his seat. "I'll go out for a while and I'll be back later. Lock the doors and windows and go to bed first." I nodded silently, but my father didn't even look at me. It was already summer, but my father went out wearing a coat.I know that he not only checked the wallet just now, but also arranged his hair before going out. Similar situations seem to have occurred in the past.It was the year before entering junior high school, my father fell in love with a restaurant girl named Zhimozi, and went out every night.I can smell the same vibe from Father Hill as it was back then. I wondered uneasily, wouldn't he be spending money on some woman again?If that's the case, where is the woman from this time?As long as a father has anything to do with a woman, misfortune will definitely come.After he had an extramarital affair with Xiaofu, he got divorced, and after falling in love with Zhimozi, he lost his job.I don't want to be in another disaster. But on the other hand, I would dream that somewhere in this world, there is a woman who can save us.I want to eat hot, home-cooked food.I need peace of mind.I thought to myself that if my dispirited father remarried to a good woman, he might be able to restore his former reliability. Father came back around two o'clock in the morning.I pretended to fall asleep and listened to my father with pricked ears.Contrary to my expectations, my father was not drunk and felt as if he was sitting at the dinner table. Father neither spread the newspaper nor turned on the radio.Whenever he fell asleep drunk, he would snore like thunder, but I didn't hear it. I stood up quietly, put my face close to the gap in the paper door, and saw my father's hunchbacked figure.His shirt was soaked with sweat, forming the shape of a tank top underwear. There was a bottle of wine on the table, as if bought on the way home. Father took a sip of his wine and sighed slightly.I couldn't see his face, but his eyes should be fixed on a certain point. The pool was closed the next day, and I stayed home all day watching high school baseball and comics.My father sat in the administrator's room distraught. After nightfall, my father began to prepare to go out again. "Are you going out again?" I asked tentatively. "Yeah." Dad just nodded. "Where are you going?" "I... have something to do." My father, like before, went out without even looking at me. Can't go wrong!Father must be looking for a woman.