Chapter 4 Chapter 1 Soul Exodus (1)

If Marty in a pink dress is like a pink flower blown by the wind, then it must be a gust of wind to send her across such a long distance. Marty walked more than half of Taipei City on foot before collapsing. For a long time, how much she wished to go on like this.Go straight when you see a green light, turn when you see a red light, but never stop.Because once she stands still, she will inevitably have to think and face what to do. In the midsummer evening after the typhoon, the hot air was not less than noon, and Marty just walked aimlessly all afternoon.If it weren't for the high heels under her feet, she would be willing to walk forever.Wearing these high heels was a terrible mistake.They are the only formal pair of her shoes.Although it is a little old, and there are small cracks in the hidden parts of the soles, but after polishing, it is an excellent match with her light pink dress.They are beautiful shoes, not made for long walks, but for entering and exiting noble and splendid occasions.They are a pair of delicate high heels for parties.

Marty walked to the southernmost boundary of Taipei, turned right after meeting Jingmei River, and continued walking towards the sunset, while thinking about Linda's wedding banquet.At this moment, the joyful chatter at the wedding banquet should be silenced, right?But the topic left by Marty is probably enough for the guests to talk about for many years.She regretted being at the wedding.Ever since she received Linda's red wedding invitation with a gold border, she has been caught in long-term thinking many times, how to make excuses for not going to the banquet, how to send the gift money in advance, and how to salute her with a letter.There were too many people in the wedding, including Linda, whom she didn't want to meet again.After all, on this day, she still dressed up, put on the most decent suit, the best pair of shoes, and went out early, becoming the first guest seated at the wedding lunch.

It was really too early. In the luxurious banquet hall of the international hotel, even the gift table has not been properly arranged.Waitresses in lace aprons were arranging flower baskets, and two handsome waiters in tuxedos were busy arranging wedding photos. Without any reception, Marty walked directly into the empty banquet.A young man walked towards her in a hurry, stopped in the middle of the walk, took out the "General Host" red card from his pocket and pinned it on the lapel.He shook Marty's hand briskly and glanced apprehensively at the cash desk.Marty knew this man, he was the president of the Guoshu Club in her same year of college.He didn't remember her and exchanged business cards with her in a completely traditional way.

The head receptionist perused Marty's business card with professional enthusiasm and praised her impressive name.Apparently her name wasn't distinctive enough to evoke his memory, but Marty's memory of him was revived by the pleasantries.His name is Chen Qusheng, an overseas Chinese student in Hong Kong. When he was passionately pursuing Linda in his freshman year, he spoke Cantonese, which is confusing to hear. Now this accent has been completely naturalized in Taipei.Linda, who was in the same class back then, was Marty's roommate, and she always stayed out of the camp four or five times a week, all thanks to her to manage in front of the dormitory supervisor.Occasionally rushing back to the dormitory to change and wash clothes, Chen Qusheng always sat in the lobby and waited. Sometimes Linda seemed to not want to go out again, so she asked Marty to go downstairs and send him back.She was very displeased with this job, so she walked to the door of the social hall to be a few meters away from him, waved her hand and said, "Linda said she won't come down."

On the other hand, he got up quickly as if he was startled, bent down and said to her frequently: "Sister Duo!" That is the meaning of thank you in Cantonese pronunciation. Looking back now, there are good reasons for Chen Qusheng not to have an impression of her.Why remember her?There was little friendly contact between them.Even she couldn't understand the alienation in the middle.Ever since he left home and moved into a university dormitory, Marty had been full of anticipation for the upcoming independent life.She looked forward to the feeling of home in the crowded dormitory—though she didn't have a real home to compare with, imagination could make up for the lack of feeling.She soon realized that Linda was like a sister who came many years too late, but this sister fell in love too early.

After sending Chen Qusheng away, she would probably lean behind the glass curtain of the dormitory room and watch his figure on a motorcycle go away.There is a special iron frame on the side of his motorcycle, which houses the double knives he uses to practice martial arts.The motorcycle has gone far, far away, and the double knives are still shining in the sun.The light pierced her eyes, and sometimes, it hurt like she was about to shed tears. At this time, Chen Qusheng was about to lead Marty to his seat, and he asked her if she was a guest of the man or the woman.woman.she says. Linda's college classmate.she added.

oh!Then we may have met, I am also Linda's college classmate. So she sat alone at the "reserved table for bride and classmates" at the front of the auditorium.She wandered around and saw that the hall was deserted, the maids were arranging sweets one by one, and two entertainers who looked like Nakaxi were playing with the electronic organ, it seemed that even the newcomers hadn't arrived yet.Sitting alone like this is easy to look overwhelmed, so she peeled a few melon seeds and arranged them in the shape of a heart on a white porcelain plate.The entertainer began to sing a fashionable Taiwanese dirge.

A cluster of sharp red lights pierced from behind, and the neon dragon and phoenix lights on the wedding curtain lit up.This made Marty realize that when everyone's eyes were on the podium, she, who was sitting with her back to the podium, would meet all eyes.She changed her seat, facing the dazzling dragon and dancing phoenix, bathed in the scarlet sea. The atmosphere around her was gloomy, but she knew that soon, the table reserved for the bride and classmates, and other tables would be full of guests.They will reminisce, eat and drink, talk nonsense, and socialize anyway.It can be imagined with her eyes closed that she is surrounded by classmates, classmates from the English department that she has avoided seeing for seven years.

Heke gradually settled down near Marty.The former classmates have more friends by their side, and some have even added children.The classmates gathered in circles to cheer, and Marty found himself alone again.What a familiar feeling. In the four years of college, Marty was almost completely alone.Although free seating is used in class, the students have their own small circles, clusters of students form an implicit and orderly ecology, and Marty does not belong to any circle, so she sits at the outermost edge of the classroom.This kind of loneliness is okay in the classroom, and it doesn't even pose a threat when assigning group work. When the students were asked to practice freely with the ball equipment, as soon as the whistle for disbanding the team was blown, Marty's cover disappeared on the spot.In response to this embarrassing situation, she came up with a countermeasure, which was to make herself seem very, very devoted to her solo practice, as if the exercise completely attracted her, and she was so concentrated that she didn't even have time to wipe the sweat off her forehead.So, the physical education teacher used an excuse to go back to the office to avoid the sun, and the female students chose the shadows to rest and chat and laugh, while shouting to Marty who was sweating and practicing volleyball in the sun: "Sabine-na, it's time to rest. I want to be a national player!" ?” Because he was too busy to stop, Marty could only grin shyly.

Students in the English Department are used to calling each other by English names. This is almost a tradition. Over time, they forget each other's Chinese names.So in the impression of my classmates, Marty is not called Marty, but Sabina, the lonely Sabina, Sabina who walks alone, or Sabina who seeks the fruit of her own suffering. For this situation, Marty is not unconscious.She deeply understood that the reason why Sabina was isolated was because Sabina was too eager to find a close partner beyond the friendship of classmates, and her partner-Jason-just happened to be the teaching assistant in the class. Hao is a handsome teaching assistant who doesn't care about the so-called social relationship.This kind of avant-garde and self-styled style violated the norms of the students' mood.The students used tacit understanding to form their verdict: Sabina wants to create a two-person world, then give them a purely two-person world.

For a sense of spiritual belonging, Marty has been soloing from the front of his classmates since his freshman year. For many people, this is a disproportionate sacrifice. They cannot understand Marty's addiction, nor can Marty. Understand, why such a personal affair must cater to everyone's mood?Jason told her: "Sabina, the important thing is your own opinion, don't live for other people's values." Isn't that very clear?What she wants is nothing more than that simple, a home, a feeling of coming home.Jason's place has warm and full lighting, a room full of original English books, hundreds of classic jazz records, and an electric coffee machine, which makes Marty feel at home, although it is so far away from her growing up , but Marty's imagination can automatically extend the mysterious connection.She moved out of the dormitory in the first semester of her freshman year, moved in with Jason, and felt that she would never be able to leave this home.