Chapter 19 Chapter 18 Meet 100% Red Lotus

When I saw Red Lotus for the first time, the word love was what I thought of.Moreover, I intuitively think that these two words should be the first thing anyone can think of when they see Honglian for the first time. Guren was the bartender at the tavern at the time.Before that, according to her own account - she also worked as a restaurant waiter, a department store cosmetics counter lady, a gourmet restaurant second chef, an assistant in a stunt troupe, a special nurse in a hospital, a babysitter, a primary school and cram school teacher, an advertising star and a movie star Actress, studio and photography society model, taxi driver and salesman; she has sold fermented milk, encyclopedias, houses, insurance, curtains, baby products, fitness equipment, bathroom fixtures, imported health foods, computers, stationery , pet feed and ink calligraphy and other artworks.Before working as a bartender, she opened a homestead.All of the above mentioned are things that I came to know slowly later; the night I first met her, I only said that I met love.Guren was the first person to give the image and content of this word that I couldn't capture in my mind.

At that time—it was also 1982, the end of the third year of my graduate school, summer—in order to thank the Burmese overseas Chinese students in charge of the dormitory for allowing me to live on campus for free every winter and summer vacation for many years, I accidentally learned that Their group of overseas students are all model airplane enthusiasts, but they suffer from no spare money to buy additional parts.So I put everything I had into 20 to 30 boxes of a dozen model planes I had collected since I was a child, along with dozens of books on fighter jets, reconnaissance planes, bombers, etc., and gave them all to the Burmese overseas Chinese student.

From what I've seen from the sidelines, Kiu Seng is one of those peculiar human beings -- like wild animals who are easily spooked and perpetually overprotective -- and they'll think you're arrogant just because you accidentally rolled your eyes; Inadvertently nodded and concluded that you are kind and upright.Facing the dozens of boxes of my waste, they discussed for a whole week, and finally decided to take me to this tavern called "My Place", the name is to celebrate my passing the qualification examination of the graduate school.However, due to our seldom communication, there was no common topic between us, and the scene was extremely embarrassing.Everyone sat in a row in front of the bar, I was in the center, and from left to right were Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia.When Myanmar on my right wants to talk to Thailand on my left, or Vietnam on the outside left wants to talk to Malaysia on the outside right, if I don’t cover the beer glass in time, I will feel that There was never enough beer to drink.Finally, I thought of an idea: why don't everyone sit according to the location of each country on the map?So I changed my seat to the far right, and at a glance I saw the perfect red lotus standing opposite me at the bar.She smiled at me and said, "Congratulations!"

"what?" "Didn't you just pass some exam?" She went on smiling. "I'll buy you a drink. What do you want?" Twenty, should be a college student who came out to work during the summer vacation, and learned from foreign movies or albums—this kind of Western-style social service posture—needless to say: learned very well—"I buy you a drink." The result I guessed all wrong.This is the first time she has invited someone to drink.The reason why I serve a cup is not to win over me, a poor customer.She is not a part-time student either.Also, she is already a thirty-three-year-old woman.Especially the item of age, when I knew it was already very late.To paraphrase a common saying in bad novels: "I'm already in deep."

After changing seats, those overseas Chinese students and I became more at ease.Vietnam got drunk first, and I learned from what I heard intermittently: a younger brother and a younger sister of Vietnam died in an accident in Los Angeles not long ago. They were only six and seven years old respectively.This unforeseen accident was caused by a movie called "Dawn District" being made by Warner Corporation of America.Vietnamese siblings are extras in the film.When the accident happened, the two little sisters were held in the arms of the leading actor Vic Morrow. As a result, a helicopter flying above their heads was hit by an inexplicable bomb and fell to the ground in the air. The high-speed rotating propeller could smash Vic, Morrow and the two children's brains out.Vic/Morrow used to be a big hero to the kids in our village who watched TV together—Squad Leader Sanders on the show Warriors.Vietnam cries that they Vietnamese deserve to be killed by the Americans - both at home and abroad.After speaking, he fell asleep on the bar counter.The remaining three, as if relieved by this, began to talk about model airplanes and the just-concluded Battle of the Falkland Islands.At this time, the perfect woman squawked towards Vietnam, and said in a low voice: "He has many younger siblings. Once he said that when Saigon fell, a naked little girl ran on the road—that was the girl who appeared on the "Times" magazine. The little girl in the photo on the cover of the magazine—it’s his sister. And now there’s another one.” As she spoke, she stared intently at Vietnam, who started snoring with wine dripping from the corner of her mouth; What a joke.She blinked her eyelashes twice, very reluctant to look away from Vietnam, and then said: "If he really has a sister, he must be very happy to be his sister."

"How do you know he doesn't have a sister?" I asked. "I know half of the things in the sky, and I know everything about the things under the earth." She said, shaking a small silver pot vigorously in front of me.At this time, I had already thrown Vietnam and his sister out of the ninth heaven, and focused on watching and thinking about the perfect woman in front of me.On the inner side of the radius of her left wrist, there was a vague red mark, which could not be seen clearly under the dim yellow flickering light—maybe it was a birthmark?If it is a very obvious birthmark, does that count as a violation of perfection?Shouldn't count.I told myself in my stomach, and then hiccupped.This is the first time I've had a drinking burp, and I feel like wishing time would stop forever at this very moment.In the past twenty-five years of my life, there has never been a moment so close to perfection.Because at this moment, Honglian stretched out her left hand and rubbed it on the back of my right hand, and I could see it more clearly: the birthmark-like pattern was a ocher red lotus. "My name is Honglian." Honglian said, "Nice to meet you, Zhang Dachun."

I'm not particularly curious about how Guren knew about me.Maybe those overseas students had told her, maybe she had read some novels or essays I wrote to earn living expenses.In short, I didn't doubt that she should know me. Everything that followed seemed perfectly natural.Guren mixed wine for the guests one cup after another, and then placed coasters provided by the manufacturer with various beer logos on the bottom of the wine glasses, wiped the countertop clean, and came back to me , chatted with me one after another, and without one.I've never talked so much to someone and couldn't remember a single topic afterwards.I only know that she always starts like this: "By the way, when I was working as the second chef...", or: "When I was driving a taxi...", or: "I was buying and selling houses. when……"

My goodness, she seems to have done everything.Her voice is not particularly low, but it can always reach the depths of my eardrums amidst the deafening heavy metal music and the noise of customers.When she spoke, she had no intention of showing off or admonishing me with her rich work experience; instead, she seemed to be opening one window after another to the world with me.Outside every window there is a scene of life that makes us equally surprised, weird, brilliant, beautiful or funny.Frankly speaking: "another life" that I could never have imagined suddenly rushed towards me this night.Unprecedented, I finally know the strong and full meaning of the word "society".For a few moments—after I don’t know how many times I’ve had a screwdriver, or a Bloody Mary, or a “Tequila Sunrise”—I think of Little Five, and at the same moment, I feel a surge of happiness from the depths of my bone marrow. An inexplicable sense of guilt or resentment.It seems that I am ashamed of myself for Xiaowu.Compared with Honglian, Xiao Wu's demure, gentleness and even beauty have become so mediocre, vulgar, and petty. (Xiao Wu must be hooking something on the knitting hook in front of the color TV in her living room that can only reflect red, blue, and purple at this moment?) This feeling of being ashamed of Xiao Wu will surface once in a while. , and became more and more intense, more and more disgusting, and more and more frightening and disturbing to me.I resisted this feeling from time to time, but resisting it would only make it more delayed and clearer - in the end I had to painfully discover that it had nothing to do with Xiao Wu at all!At this moment, although Xiao Wu is indeed knitting at home, watching TV, crying and laughing with the vulgar electronic images, the embarrassment I realized in front of Honglian is just my dissatisfaction with myself, and I put it away. Just transferred to Xiao Wu.

Knowing this doesn't change anything; on the contrary, it only makes me loathe Xiao Wu and the prison well-like village where Xiao Wu is imprisoned, and myself even more in my alcohol-drenched consciousness.Then, I threw up violently.