The road ahead was congested.
Li Chief turned his head to look at me: "Hu Li has been worried that you wouldn't come today."
I said: "I don't like crowds."
Li Chief smiled again. He seemed to smile a lot. "That's not the reason. Qing Qing will come today."
I was very puzzled: "So what?"
Wasn't it normal for Qing Qing to come?
With the same alma mater, having shared a dormitory before, and later coming to the same hospital for internships, it was understandable that Hu Li, Qing Qing and I, the three of us, were close.
"I heard Qing Qing is dating Song Qi," he said.
I knew about this.
"I heard it from Hu Li before," I said.
I felt Li Chief glance at me again, so I looked back at him.
He smiled again, his lips curled up in a big bracket. "Bao Zhu, you..." He paused for a moment, cleared his throat, "Cheng Peng plans to propose to Hu Li today."
"That's really great," I said sincerely.
I probably always have the ability to end a conversation, so Li Chief didn't say anything all the way to our destination, and neither did I.
The music in the car was very nice, a very old English song:
Allmybestmemoriescomebackclearlytome,Somecanevenmakemecry,justlikebefore...
My best memories ended when I was seven years old. After that, I never had another birthday, because my birthday was followed closely by my sister's birthday, which was also the anniversary of her death.
When the car came to a stop, Li Chief smiled and said, "Bao Zhu, we've arrived. Go left after entering the lobby."
I hurried out of the car to thank him: "Thank you, Li Chief."
"Bao Zhu," Li Chief looked a little troubled, "if you call me Li Chief again, they'll probably hear it later and make you drink alcohol as punishment."
He said gently: "You go ahead first. I'll park the car out back. Most of the people inside work with us."
I didn't wait for him to finish because Hu Li had already rushed over with a shout, grabbed my hand, and yelled at us: "You two sure took your sweet time! Are all superstars like this? Grand entrance, huh?"
I was dragged along helplessly by her to the front. When I looked back, Li Chief nodded to indicate that we should go in first. I think I smiled at him before following Hu Li inside.
Cheng Peng took great care with the dinner. The food was not only delicious but also exquisite. Even my stomach, which had pig's trotters in white broth for lunch, couldn't help indulging fully.
Hu Li was very happy. Her carefully made-up cheeks were simply so rosy that one felt an urge to kiss them. Her eyes were bright and her laughter was charming. She was the undisputed star of tonight's event. There weren't too many people, about half were colleagues from our hospital that I knew, and the rest seemed to be Cheng Peng's friends who brought their girlfriends along.
Qing Qing and Song Qi were also there. We greeted each other when they arrived, but didn't sit together. Hu Li kept me by her side all along, making me feel as if I was the maid of honor tonight.
A waiter brought out a cake decorated with roses. It was a three-tier cake with Hu Li’s favorite character, the Blue Fairy, on top.
I figured the ring must be inside the cake.
So when they cut to the jewelry box, I wasn't surprised, but Hu Li was clearly very excited. She covered her mouth, leaving only a pair of shining eyes. Those eyes overflowed with tears when Cheng Peng knelt down.
I was truly happy for her. I didn't feel envious or jealous at all.
But I felt a little sad as I was reminded of a memory. Lying in bed with someone, listening to her drowsy voice say to me: “Bao Zhu, I hope that one day, after we graduate from college together, he would propose to me as he said.”
“Sis, what does propose mean?”
“Oh you silly pig, you really are dumb. It means he wants me to marry him.”
“Like Mom married Dad? That doesn’t sound very good.”
“You fool, not every man is like Dad.”
“Oh.”
“But it’s too early to think about this now. First I have to get into the best college.”
She didn't make it to college because she died, she died in a small pond.
She decisively tied her favorite scarf around her feet and rolled into the pond, drowning herself.
