Please Be More Serious Chapter 10

‘P

lease be more serious, h.e.l.lo!’ Yin Ting greeted him loudly on the phone, calling her nickname for him without reserve. She was particularly spirited tonight. Zhengqing thought that this girl was taking an “I have a lot of spirit every day!”drug.

‘How are you and what do you need my help for?’ Yin Ting asked directly.

He laughed, ‘Why do you think I need your help?’

 ‘You won’t be calling me about work and you don’t gossip, so the most likely reason you’re calling is to ask for a.s.sistance with something,’ Yin Ting said in one breath.

 He smiled, ‘Aside from work, what do you and your friends talk about?’

 ‘Ah, yes, we talk about lots of things, but mostly about eating and drinking, nothing you’ll be interested in.’

It really sounded like they had nothing in common, Zhengqing coughed and said, ‘Well, last time when we had dinner with Mao Huizhi, you said that the restaurant is not appropriate…’

‘Who is Mao Huizhi?’ she asked interrupting him.

‘Zoe.’

‘Oh so her Chinese name is Mao Huizhi, her parents must love her. The pearl of wisdom. People should be more than their name, and Zoe is very capable and beautiful. A good name is really important,’ she said giggling.

Zhengqing guessed what she was thinking so he said, ‘So I am very serious, right?’

Zhenqing had lived thirty-three years; his very nice name had turned into something slightly crooked upon meeting her. It was the first time his name had been twisted like this.

 Yin Ting laughed, ‘You’re really humorous.’

What was funny about that? He chose not to reply but returned to his reason for calling her, ‘Last time you said the restaurant I picked was not appropriate for dating. So I was looking on the internet and I came across a prolific reviewer and decided to ask her directly which restaurant she recommends for my next date.’

‘Who is this reviewer?’ she asked, it had not yet dawned on her, ‘This person could be sponsored by restaurants even though her columns are in foodie magazines. They are simply for publicity. You have to make sure that the reviewer declares whether they’ve been sponsored or not. High popularity of a restaurant is not necessarily the truth. This kind of thing is subjective, everyone likes different things.’

Zhengqing was silent during her drivel. She talked for so long. He just figured that she had a talent for talking incessantly.

‘Tingting YuLi 413,’ he replied. He was indirectly asking if the ID was her.

‘Oh my, that is me! You are really discerning. My reviews are truly red.’

This girl was not modest at all.

Yin Ting was very excited, ‘Wow! Wow! We are really destined. You see, that red string is really divine. It guided you to find my restaurant reviews for dates. The ones I recommended are very good. You can go to any of them, I don’t take advertising or sponsorship from the restaurant, I pay my own way.’

Zhengqing's fingers silently drummed on the table; it wasn’t just about eating was it? She had specified the restaurants good for dating and love, restaurants suited to break ups, the one suited to take a fool to. The chocking girl was not his style so Zhengqing did not say anything (Zuben: There is no need to mention that she’s not your type, dear or are you beginning to consider her?)

‘Which do you recommend?’ he asked.

‘Who are you going with?’ she asked in reply.

‘That is not important.’ He said, he did not want to tell her to keep her from asking questions from East to West.

‘Oh,’ she did not sound disappointed but pressed on, ‘Are you at the dallying stage or maintaining a stable relationship stage?

Zhengqing frowned, his forehead darkening. What does this have to do with the choice of restaurant? Moreover, he did not have time or inclination to be going into every specific detail that she wanted.

He remained silent so Yin Ting said, ‘I see you’re shy,’ she named a restaurant. She said it had nice atmosphere, the food was good and it wasn’t too much. The owner was named Yin, and he had another restaurant, but that was more high-end.

Listening to Yin Ting, she seemed to be winding down so he quickly said, ‘I’ve heard of the restaurant, I’ll check online.’ He said as he typed on the search bar. "Tingting Yuli 413" also highly recommended this place and even recommended several dishes on the menu.

As Zhengqing read her review online, he listened to Yin Ting go on about the restaurant, she had to tell him which dishes were good and suitable for two. He did not stop her, her commentary began to almost match her online review.

Zhengqing suddenly began to feel weird; her family couldn't be the stuffy types, could they? Her father and brother seemed to listen to her lively conversation. It must be very nice. He thought that Yin Ting must eat the “I am lively every day” pill, and he smiled to himself.

Sunday afternoon rolled round.

Zhengqing was going to have dinner with Huizhu but she informed him the day before that she had some work to do on Sunday evening, for some executives that were coming to review her branch on Monday. So dinner changed to lunch, which was fine by him.

Zhengqing arrived at the restaurant first. He got out of his car and headed for the door when he saw a familiar figure with three children not far from the restaurant. Zhengqing stood for a while looking carefully, it really was Yin Ting.

She was wearing a tee shirt and jeans, her bicycle was nearby. She was holding a box that was colourfully decorated, but he could not see it clearly. At her side were, three children who looked to be between the ages of six and eight, two of them were holding post cards, while a slightly larger child was also carrying a box.

Zhengqing was wondering what they were doing, when Yin Ting caught sight of him. She cheered and ran over, followed by the children.

Zhengqing was caught short and his scared feet did not move. But he stepped forward a little bit, he must have caught a boldness disease.

He did not need to walk far, for Yin Ting soon came up to him, ‘Qiu zong! h.e.l.lo!’

‘h.e.l.lo,’ the children mimicked kind of loudly.

Very good, he felt a little pleased that little Yin Ting did not call her nickname for him in

‘h.e.l.lo,’ he greeted politely.

‘We are fundraising for charity by selling postcards,’ Yin Ting supplied without waiting for him to ask.

Now he could see clearly the box she was holding. It had “Charity Postcards Sale” drawn colourfully, one card for two yuan and 15 for ten yuan.

The youngest looking child, a girl, nodded furiously, ‘It’s for good cause,’

Yin Ting laughed at the child and turned to him, ‘They are children of an orphanage.’

Zhengqing nodded and guessed that they were raising money for the orphanage. He was about to buy a postcard, when someone called from behind.

He turned to see Huizhu walking up to him, he waved to her. Huizhu saw Yin Ting and raised an eyebrow, but her phone rang, she frowned. This last two days her phone had not stopped ringing; Monday was going to be a mess for everyone. Nothing was clear and easy, suddenly wanting this report and that report, many of which are not readily available. They needed time to collate the data and write the reports. Huizhu was annoyed by these things, but she had made an appointment with Zhengqing, and did not want to miss it. But the issues with work were running roughshod over her antic.i.p.ation, so she was irritable.

She quickly said a few words to her colleagues directing them on what to do and went to Zhengqings side, just in time to hear Yin Ting say to Zhengqing, ‘Support us and buy two sets of postcards,’

Huizhu brows tightened as Zhengqing readily said, ‘Sure.’

Zhengqing reached for his wallet, Yin Ting smiled to Huizhu as she drew near, ‘Miss Zoe, h.e.l.lo.’

Three children followed and shouted, ‘h.e.l.lo, Miss!’

Huizhu was quite unhappy, shouting lady who? Curse it? She did not care to hide her expression as Zhengqing gave Yin Ting some money, and Yin Ting found him change and handed him two sets of post cards. She turned to the restaurant and whispered to him,

‘I’ll go ahead,’ and she was gone.

Yin Ting watched her leave and said to Zhengqing, ‘She looks tired, there may be trouble at work. She’s tired yet still came to the appointment. It is very good. You have to be patient Oh.’ They had heard Huizhu on the phone earlier, so he nodded, expressing his understanding. He took his postcards and thanked her.

One of the boys said, ‘We are working hard to fundraise, so we can study well. As long as we’re willing to work hard, when we grow up we will be able to live our own life.’ (Zuben: Random but okay…)

‘Thank you, uncle,’ the children shouted in unison.

Zhengqing smiled at them and went into the restaurant. He looked for Huizhu, there were many people in the restaurant but their seats were at the second row of windows. He turned to see Yin Ting outside laughing with the children, he felt good. He watched as they returned to the intersection. A middle aged woman walked by, and the little girl went up to her with a post card, bravely asking her to buy, but the woman shook her head and walked on.

The little girl’s face collapsed in frustration and turned to Yin Ting, but Yin Ying gave her a thumbs-up. It seemed to cheer the little girl up, because she laughed, and the other boys patted her shoulder. And then they went to accost another pa.s.ser-by.

‘How did you meet, so clever?’ Huizhu asked curtly. She had finished a text message and looked outside to see the situation, her heart was unhappy. Yin Ting did not leave her with a good impression the last time they met. Now she was forcing sales on people. There were many charitable fundraisers in operation, and they ask for money from their acquaintances, some time with high pressure sale tactics, but where does the money all go? Huizhu had encountered such things several times and her mood today was very bad, so it was not a good expression on her face.

‘Very clever,’ he replied, ‘Are things okay at work?’ he asked caring about her welfare.

 Huizhu rubbed her forehead, ‘Not good. I have so much to do. My boss has gone mental; I don’t know where he’s going to attack from this time, so I’m trying to prepare everything. Hopefully it should all be fine in a few days. Let’s order quickly so I can get back.’

‘Alright,’ he said as he called for the waiter. Their orders were simple; fried rice and a pasta. As Zhengqing ate, he thought of the children with Yin Ting and wondered if they’d eaten. So he texted Yin Ting about getting the kids something to eat. Especially since they were standing near a restaurant, they must be salivating looking at what others are eating.

Yin Ting soon replied, ‘No need, we’ve already eaten. We will take some snacks back to the orphanage later. If I get them western food, they will go back and tell the other children and they would feel unfair.’

He read the text, and sent back, ‘Alright,’ he can understand. Life was already unfair to children in this situation; there was no need to add another thing. He looked at Huizhu, she was texting furiously. She seemed to be sending an email. Zhengqing checked his inbox to see if anything was waiting for his attention.

There was a text message, it was Yin Ting, ‘There’s a situation, I see May Shen coming. You couldn’t have made two appointments, right?’

Zhengqing’s forehead darkened, Yin Ting’s expression full of contempt appeared in his mind, he quickly replied, ‘I haven’t been in contact with her.’

Yin Ting quickly replied, ‘I’ll try to help you head her off.’

Zhengqing almost banged his head on the table. He really did not need this today. This girl and her “I am very brave” medicine, she didn’t need to stop May, he has done nothing wrong.

Zuben: Ting Ting eats too many Chinese pills

❀ Chapter 11...