Chapter 13 Chapter 12 Best Friend, Standing at Both Ends of Love

In late December, Li Li got an opportunity to work as an on-site interpreter at an industrial fair.She happened to meet Qiu Zian outside the Shanghai Exhibition Hall. In addition to club activities, the two usually meet on campus and just nod and say hello.She wanted to pretend she didn't see it, but Qiu Zian walked towards her first, and she couldn't avoid it. "I always forgot to say that your calligraphy has improved a lot." After exchanging pleasantries, Qiu Zian raised the topic.When she first joined the calligraphy club, she experienced Qiu Zian's poisonous tongue skills, and he criticized her calligraphy to be useless, which made Li Li wonder if she was Chinese.

Li Li chuckled and answered him: "Diligence can make up for one's weakness." The gentle man pushed his glasses and nodded in agreement. "Although calligraphy is learned after a long time, smart people and diligence can indeed achieve twice the result with half the effort." "Is this considered a compliment?" She reacted extremely quickly and immediately continued.Qiu Zian was startled for a moment, then smiled and said, "Forget it." He is good-looking, with a gentle and refined temperament, he is the kind of man that a woman can trust her for life.No wonder Wang Xiaofeng, who is not in a good relationship, often teases Qiu Zian as the number one killer in front of Li Li.

Now that they met, the two of them would naturally take the car back to school together after work was over.At the roadside stall in front of the school, one was frying stinky tofu, and the aroma seduced Li Li. "Do you want to eat? I'll treat you." One yuan bought eight yuan. She was afraid that she would not be able to eat and wasted, so she wanted to drag him into the water.In the dormitory, everyone made a weight loss plan and urged each other to refuse all snacks after eight o'clock. At this moment, she couldn't bear the smell. Dieting is against human nature! Qiu Zian didn't realize what she wanted to eat, so he subconsciously said "Yes", his questioning tone was heard by Li Li as a statement, and he turned around and ran to the stinky tofu stall to buy a portion.

"Four yuan per person, I'm fair." Li Li put a lot of sauce in the foam plastic box and handed him a toothpick.After he took it, she immediately used a toothpick to fork a piece of stinky tofu dipped in sauce and put it in her mouth.The food that just came out of the frying pan burned her mouth, she opened her mouth and patted the fan with her hands while shouting "Wow, it's delicious". "Is this delicious?" Qiu Zian asked suspiciously.He stays away from things with the word "smelly" in their names, and preconceives that they are unpalatable.

Li Li wiped out the second piece, and said vaguely: "The meaning of trying is to let you have a taste first." He looked at Li Li, picked up the stinky tofu that had been fried into golden yellow, and said calmly: "This is the first time I heard that I tried it." He said, and took the first bite. Qiu Zian felt that Li Li was a bit special that night, and it was unbelievable that she touched his heart with four pieces of stinky tofu. Wang Xiaofeng was the first to see that Qiu Zian was chasing Li Li, and Li Li slammed him with "boring" and invited him to a meal.Li Li didn't believe that the outstanding Qiu Zian would like her. According to her mother, she was a girl who couldn't find a trace of beauty when viewed horizontally or vertically.

"Women are not loved only because of their beauty." Wang Xiaofeng's spoon dipped into her mashed potatoes and stole a spoonful.They sat in the brightly lit KFC, on the ground floor by the window. "This sentence should be told to your male compatriots. The above, the identification is complete." Li Li joked leisurely while drinking orange juice. He shook his head violently, with a heartbroken expression on his face. "Li Li, you can't overturn a boatload of people just for a man who may be nearsighted, glaucoma, or cataract." She thought for a while before realizing that these three eye diseases were all about Pei Shangxuan Unwilling to be reconciled to Wang Xiaofeng's slander, he retorted angrily: "What about you, why don't you come after me, an ugly woman? You weren't on that boat, you were already in the water."

He was stunned, unable to speak for a moment, then shook his head and sighed after a while: "You are hopeless, Li Li! Pei Shangxuan is so good, it is worth you to protect him like this? The difference between a friend and someone you like is right here. Isn't it right? Think for yourself, is he treating you the same as you treat me? You are a smart person, so I don't need to go on. " Li Li bit her lip tightly and did not speak.I regretted it in my heart, after all, Wang Xiaofeng's starting point was for her own good.After muttering for a long time, she raised her eyelashes to secretly observe his expression, and apologized uneasily.

"I'm not mad at you." Wang Xiaofeng sighed, "Forget it, I won't talk about it." Thinking about being depressed, he snatched her share of mashed potatoes and swept them into his stomach. Wang Xiaofeng is a good man, but unfortunately he couldn't touch Li Li's heart.When she was fourteen years old, a boy recklessly broke into her heart and never left. Sometimes, it is not the priceless precious ability that moves people, but the sudden warmth in ordinary days is more tempting.This was the case for Li Li, who continued the warmth she received on her fourteenth birthday throughout her life.

Qiu Zian stood in front of Li Li holding a bouquet of roses, and she believed that he was really pursuing her.A talented student in the German department and the number one "girl killer" in the school, Li Li admitted that she was also an ordinary and vain girl, and she forgave Pei Shangxuan's preference for beautiful women at that moment. Heart of beauty in everyone.The first thing people see is the face before understanding the clever mind, the kind and excellent inner. She accepted the first bouquet of red roses in her life, and her heart was beating as usual.Li Li decided to give herself a chance, try to forget the nightmare Liu Qianren brought her, and learn to give up Pei Shangxuan.

On New Year's Day in 1998, Li Li bought a diary with a lock, and the cover was dreamy pink.She hopes this is the last time she buys a diary and writes down her New Year's resolutions. This year, I don't like Pei Shangxuan anymore! She looked at the beautiful regular script on the smooth surface of the book with some relief.After practicing brush calligraphy for several months, I didn't expect that the level of pen calligraphy has also improved greatly. It was like joining the calligraphy club, she never expected that there would be a prince charming waiting for her. On February 14, 1998, Saturday, Li Li and Qiu Zian went to the cinema to watch the original version of "Titanic".This Hollywood blockbuster that swept the box office around the world was called a super tear-jerker. Qiu Zian took out a handkerchief that was folded squarely and said with a smile that he had prepared everything in case she needed it.

Li Li pushed his elbow against his chest, "I've made progress. You used to be serious enough to die, but now you can joke around." He pressed the place on his chest that was hit by her, and a trace of displeasure flashed across his handsome face.Li Li was used to observing words and expressions, so she immediately stopped laughing. "What's up?" The atmosphere was obviously harmonious just now, but it changed as soon as it was said. He shook his head, excused himself to buy her popcorn and walked away.Li Li vaguely felt that he was dissatisfied, but couldn't figure out why.Is it because I criticized him for being serious before? "Li Li!" A familiar voice came from behind her, slightly surprised.She panicked all of a sudden, not knowing what expression to use to face Pei Shangxuan.God, Shanghai is so big, why did I meet here! Pei Shangxuan thought he had misidentified the person, but the back and standing posture of the girl in front looked more and more like Li Li, so he yelled at the risk of misidentifying her.Seeing that the other party didn't move, he thought maybe he really admitted his mistake.Pei Shangxuan took his girlfriend's hand and was about to leave, but she turned her head. It was indeed Li Li, who waved at him generously and said "Hi". "Girl, what are you doing here?" He dragged his girlfriend forward, before he had time to introduce them, he went to the topic first. "Watching a movie alone?" Today is Valentine's Day, and the streets are full of couples in pairs. "My boy...boyfriend, he went to buy popcorn." Li Li cheered herself up for a long time, but she still couldn't say the title boyfriend, so she had to switch to English. Pei Shangxuan opened his mouth, but couldn't make a sound, as if the mouth of a fish jumping ashore was opening and closing in vain.When the atmosphere was unprecedentedly awkward, Qiu Zian came back with a cup full of popcorn. Li Li breathed a sigh of relief and took the initiative to introduce them. "This is my boyfriend Qiu Zian, Pei Shangxuan is my best friend, and this beautiful lady is his girlfriend." "Hello." Qiu Zian greeted with a smile, polite. Pei Shangxuan looked at Qiu Zian and then at Li Li, feeling a sense of loss.He couldn't explain this weird phenomenon, and he seemed to suddenly realize that his best friend for many years would one day become someone else's girlfriend, or someone's wife.Before this moment, he had never imagined this possibility at all. After bidding farewell to Li Li, his girlfriend took him to the Pacific Department Store, saying that he had found an eye shadow and wanted to ask his opinion.Pei Shangxuan lost interest, and said perfunctorily: "You are already pretty enough." After a pause, he added meanly: "I don't know how many times more beautiful than the one I saw just now, you can find a good man for her, what are you worried about?" .” The girl giggled, glanced at him coquettishly, and lightly thumped his shoulder with her fists. "Shang Xuan, you are necrotic. But you look like you are jealous." jealous?He was startled, am I jealous of that man?This is impossible! "Nonsense, you've read too many novels." He raised his chin impatiently, and the corners of his mouth were tense without realizing it. "Aren't you going to buy eye shadow? Hurry up, the air in the mall is too bad." The girl gave a "hmm", and thoughtfully asked him to wait for her at the same place, and walked quickly to the L'Oreal counter.Pei Shangxuan stood in front of the huge advertising picture of the supermodel, and couldn't help thinking about the couple in the movie theater. This girl has no experience in men and women, so don't be fooled! He attributed his abnormal mood to worry. On Valentine's Day in 1998, Pei Shangxuan was distraught by the fact that Li Li had a boyfriend. Li Li almost fell in love with Qiu Zian, it was really only one step away. She is not very keen on romantic movies. The last time she went to the cinema was to watch "Four Weddings and a Funeral". She originally agreed to apply for a university in Beijing with Li Jun, but changed her mind because of Pei Shangxuan's words.He only said "Li Li, don't go so far", and she willingly stayed in Shanghai. Li Jun went to the north to study for a year, and he was obviously thinner than high school. It is said that he was not used to eating.Upon returning to Shanghai, Li Jun first took Li Li to Chenghuang Temple to eat steamed buns. Li Jun returns to Shanghai with a boy.The boy was tall, and he smiled shyly. He sat quietly eating shrimp wontons. Li Li asked Li Jun if he was her boyfriend. "Student, I want to come to Shanghai to play, so I brought him back with me." Li Jun replied carelessly. Before leaving, he bought a pack of spiced beans for him to take back to Beijing as a souvenir of Shanghai.Li Li clearly felt that there was an ambiguous surge between the two, so she made a phone call at night to embarrass her for duplicity. Li Jun's tone was rather helpless: "Li Li, sometimes, if you like something you don't want, it will become a burden." She felt sympathetic when she heard this, as if she foresaw the distress she would bring to Pei Shangxuan if she confessed to him.Li Li didn't want to embarrass him. Sitting in the dark theater, Jack said to Ruth on the screen: "You jump, I jump." He looked at each other with passionate sparks in his eyes.Li Li knew that they would love each other, and the love story was full of the same clichés. She watched them fall in love with indifference, wondering if they could really last forever if the Titanic hadn't sunk.Love may be desperate, but marriage will definitely encounter the problem of matching.But the movie is like a fairy tale, and basically ends with "the prince and the princess live happily together". She prefers a movie like "Kramer and Mrs. Kramer", which is realistic and profound. Qiu Zian was on her left, watching the movie quietly and intently.Li Li occasionally turned to look at the gentle curve of his side, slightly moved in the dark. At least, they are academically matched. Her mind wandered until the Titanic began to sink.Her eye sockets were involuntarily wet, for the greatness of human nature and the humbleness of life in the face of disaster. A handkerchief was handed over, which Qiu Zian had prepared for her early in the morning. Li Li took it and wiped away tears.The freshly washed handkerchief, with a faint scent of soap, is as warm and comfortable as he feels. After work, Li Li saw a certain writer wrote: "Women can easily fall in love with a man who wipes their tears." She remembered that she almost fell in love with someone else, but luckily he just gave her the handkerchief. After watching the nearly three-hour movie, it began to rain outside, lingering and fine as needles.Qiu Zian took off his coat, put it on the two of them and ran to the station. The night of February 14th was very cold. He took off his clothes and caught the cold just now, and he sneezed twice in succession. "It's nothing to do with such a light rain." Li Li was embarrassed. Although his actions made her feel very considerate, she rationally believed that risking a cold to pursue romance was really not worth the candle. He took out another handkerchief from his pocket, covered his nose and sneezed again, smiling subtly and politely. "It's better for me to be sick than for you to be sick." She couldn't help laughing, her eyes narrowed into slits when she smiled. "Qiu Zian, this sentence sounds like 'you jump, I jump', and Wang Xiaofeng also said that you can't speak sweet words at all." He still had a smile on his face at first, but after hearing her mention Wang Xiaofeng's name, his face sank.Li Li was sensitive to his abnormality and thought of his sudden seriousness just now. "Li Li, I don't want you to get too close to other boys." Qiu Zian looked at her, seemingly taking it easy.She was caught off guard, and couldn't find an excuse all of a sudden, staring at him with wide eyes. When the car came, they got on the car one after the other and sat in the last row.The bus travels through the empty road in Shanghai at night, and the lonely neon lights cast a cold and blurred light on the wet ground. The noisy and crowded during the day is in contrast to the silence at the moment. Li Li didn't speak, the rickety car caused her and him to bump shoulders from time to time.She looked at his side, and couldn't find the feeling of heartbeat. "Is it jealous or an order?" Downstairs in the dormitory, Li Li ran out and called Qiu Zian again.She stood in front of him, although she was not tall, she was not inferior to others. Qiu Zian raised his eyebrows, as if puzzled.Li Li repeated what he had said, and finally said: "I think you misunderstood my friendship with Wang Xiaofeng." "It's not a misunderstanding, but I hope you stop." He pushed his glasses and spoke clearly. "Wang Xiaofeng, and the person I met just now, I don't want to see my girlfriend have a complicated relationship between men and women." He spoke so directly that Li Li was speechless.Qiu Zian raised his hand and gently stroked Li Li's hair: "Li Li, I believe you are a good girl who cleans herself and loves herself, and will definitely understand my difficulties." She couldn't possibly like him anymore. Before Li Li broke up with Qiu Zian, she was questioned by Pei Shangxuan for a long time.It was the day after Valentine's Day, and he invited her to eat skewers. Omitting side-talking, the first thing Pei Shangxuan said when he saw Li Li was: "Age, place of origin, family background, major you study, whether you have any bad habits, have you ever had a girlfriend before, and how many did you have? These questions will be added later.” "What are you doing?" She blinked her eyes, unable to respond to his barrage of questions. Pei Shangxuan snorted dissatisfiedly, then rubbed her hair desperately out of habit. "Girl, don't tell me if you have a boyfriend. If you hadn't met you yesterday, would you have planned to send a wedding invitation and just notify me?" It was for this.Li Li shrugged her shoulders and spread her hands: "There's no need, I plan to break up." She seemed to be at ease, making Pei Shangxuan anxious for her. "Li Li, you just told me that he is your boyfriend yesterday, right?" Pei Shangxuan snatched the grilled mutton skewers from her hand and refused to give them to her. Pei Shangxuan patted the table to signal her not to think about eating, but to listen to himself carefully. "Your breakup was too quick to hide the momentum." He made a slip of the tongue and used the two idioms together. Li Li burst out laughing and knocked over the coke cup. "Li Li, be serious." Pei Shangxuan was a little annoyed when she saw that she refused to cooperate to answer the question. "You are not this kind of person at all, and you don't make fun of your feelings. Is he going to break up with you?" She put away her smile and stared at him intently, finding sincere concern from those deep eyes.Li Li's heart felt warm, like the warmth she felt on her fourteenth birthday. "Idiot, it's because I don't want to joke, so I have to break up." "What's the reason?" He asked, feeling that she had concealed the details.Pei Shangxuan regards Li Li as his best friend, and he can't see Li Li being hurt.It's a pity that he didn't know that he was the one who hurt her first. Finally, when he opened fifteen diaries, he thought he was a fool indeed. She has loved him for so many years, but he has never noticed it. She couldn't tell Pei Shangxuan what the reason was.Qiu Zian's last words made Li Li understand that she is a person who has no chance of happiness. Even if she can get out of Liu Qianren's shadow, how many men in this world can accept to spend the rest of their lives with an impure woman? In Shanghai in 1998, "sex" was still an obscure term.Even if the dark current is surging, it still cannot be upright.In 2005, when condom vending machines were everywhere, and abortion cases of unmarried pregnancies were often reported in the newspapers, Li Li didn't know whether she should be grateful that the shackles that bound women were finally removed, or mourn the loss of morality. Li Li wrote casually: "Do you have a reason every time you break up with your girlfriend?" Pei Shangxuan sprinkled cumin powder on the lamb skewers and handed them to her. "If it's not suitable, we will break up." She lowered her head and bit down a piece of mutton. It smelled a little burnt after it was overcooked, and it was because he was so focused on talking to herself.Li Li chewed, and said vaguely: "Me too, it's not suitable." He didn't ask any more questions, and concentrated on grilling chicken wings with his head down.Li Li's eyes stopped at the handsome face opposite, slowly descending from the half-draped hair that covered the forehead, gliding over the handsome eyebrows, the high bridge of the nose, and finally to the thin lips. He was a good-looking man, but by no means the most handsome she had ever seen.But the person she likes the most is him, no matter what he looks like in the future, the warmth he gives her will always be fresh. The cold air came to Shanghai. When they went out, there were snowflakes in the sky, falling on their shoulders one by one.Li Li looked up at the sky and reached out to catch the snowflakes.The hexagonal snow fell into the palm and immediately melted into water. "It's snowing." There was a heavy snowfall in Shanghai during the Spring Festival one year, and they met in the alley on the first day of the new year. After chatting about how much lucky money they got, Pei Shangxuan proposed to go to Hongkou Park to enjoy the snow scenery. Neither of them had any money with them, so he led Li Li to the back door, taking advantage of the fact that no one climbed over the wall to enter. It snowed heavily overnight, forming a thick layer on the ground.Although it can't be compared with the Northland, they still excited them who rarely experienced snow. After reciting a few poems learned in books arty, they immediately showed their true colors and started a snowball fight. Pei Shangxuan and Li Li built a little snowman in Hongkou Park. It has no eyes, no nose, just a round head on a round body, which is ugly. He laughed loudly, pointed at the snowman and pointed at Li Li, jumped up and said, "It's like you." She tilted her head to see that she was indeed as ugly as herself.Li Li grinned brighter than usual. That day her hands were freezing cold, Pei Shangxuan put her hands in his pockets to warm them on the way home. Li Li finally remembered the fragments lost in the years.She turned her face to look at the tall and handsome man beside her. His eyes shot to the sky, staring intently at the snow falling from the sky. "Is it cold?" He looked back and found her hands were exposed to the air, frowning. "I forgot to wear gloves again." The reproachful tone seemed to criticize her for not knowing how to take care of herself in the next second. Pei Shangxuan took Li Li's hand, held it gently, and put it in his coat pocket. Time flies, and the beauties around him change like a revolving lantern, and the only person who can enjoy this pampering action is Li Li.He forgot to tell her, and he forgot to ask himself why. Li Li and Wang Xiaofeng watched the match between Argentina and England in the quarter-finals of the 1998 World Cup in a small bar near the school for 120 minutes, and the subsequent penalty shootout. "Wonderful, so wonderful." Argentina's free kick and England's Irving's counterattack made Wang Xiaofeng couldn't help but applaud. It was the first time for Li Li to watch a game with a male friend, and he was a little restrained at first. Seeing England score a goal, Li Li became anxious.She is not a fan of Beckham or Irving, and supports her Argentina wholeheartedly, although there is still no Caniggia in the team.She was very dissatisfied with Wang Xiaofeng cheering for England, and questioned him angrily during the intermission that his stance was not firm. Wang Xiaofeng had a smirk on his face, and said cheerfully: "Fraternity is good. Even if you are disappointed with one, you can find another substitute immediately. Don't you think it is very tiring to be dedicated?" Li Li was silent, took a sip of the beer on the table.Wang Xiaofeng always teases her overtly and secretly for her infatuation with Pei Shangxuan. She understands that he has good intentions and hopes that she will come to her senses, but she still feels uncomfortable. Like Pei Shangxuan, that's his own business, it has nothing to do with others. Wang Xiaofeng asked Li Li what he liked about Pei Shangxuan, so that he was reluctant to let him go after so many years.Girls who usually come to him to complain about their grievances are always expecting Ai Ai and can't explain why. After all, love is often an irrational behavior, and it is often just a sudden impulse to fall in love. But Li Li answered him. "Warm, only he can give me this feeling." It was impossible for her to forget the warmth she got from the boy in the cold winter. She was born in winter, destined to yearn for warmth. So Wang Xiaofeng had nothing to say, and confirmed once again that Li Li was stubborn and would not give up until the Yellow River.He didn't know why she didn't want to tell Pei Shangxuan, but preferred to like him silently. He secretly thinks that Li Li is actually enjoying his unrequited love morbidly, and the long-lasting infatuation becomes a moving story, which first moves him, so he is trapped in it and unable to extricate himself. Li Li never defended herself, licked the wound alone, silently waiting for the wound to heal.After she rejected Qiu Zian, from time to time she heard grievances for Prince Charming, but she remained the same and threw the rumors into the air. One person said that she would not joke about her feelings, which was enough for Li Liye.She just took her relationship too seriously, and she couldn't deceive Qiu Zian, who pursued perfection. Her body was no longer pure, but her heart never stopped liking Pei Shangxuan, so Li Li insisted on breaking up. Hearing her proposal to break up, Qiu Zian was obviously taken aback.Xu Shi was outstanding. He had never suffered such a complete rejection. He looked at Li Li strangely and asked her if she was joking. "No." She only answered two words. "I wanna a reason." Li Li lowered her head, her bangs covered her forehead.She kicked the small gravel under her feet and decided to choose the least hurtful words. "You're too good to put me under pressure." He raised his head and looked straight at the gentle and refined face with a calm expression, "And I want to live a little easier." At 6 o'clock in the morning, the England defender kicked the ball into the deep black night sky in France. The Argentine defeated his old enemy England and entered the quarterfinals.These two countries have become sworn enemies because of the Falklands War and because of Maradona's Hand of God, and perhaps the hatred will always be entangled. Li Li thought on this day: How can life be truly easy?