Chapter 23 — The Bed of Your Own Choosing

On Monday she went to Shanghai, on Thursday I went, and on the weekend I went back to Hangzhou. Outsiders find it difficult, we actually quarrel too. She criticized me when I went to Shanghai and immediately rearranged the refrigerator according to the expiration date. I criticized her for only bringing one coat every time she went on a business trip and coming back full of smell. But we no longer understand that every conflict means the relationship is about to end. One time she took on a foreign project and had to go for three months. When she told me, she put all the information on the table and asked: "What do you think?" I said:
"I can't bear it, but I support it." "Only these two things?" "Still jealous. I've never been to the place where you're going." She smiled: "I'll bring you a refrigerator magnet when I get back." "No need, the house already has all the stickers." The day she left, I sent her off to the airport. Before going through the security check, she turned around and asked: "Didn't use the ring to block me this time?" I raised the hand wearing the wedding ring: "I already wear it, I can't stop it." She turned around and hugged me. "Marriage is not a roadblock." "I know." "It is what lets me return after I leave." I did not say I would wait for her. I simply adjusted her scarf and text her when she lands. Three months later, she returned on time. When we met at the airport, her first sentence was: "Buy eight refrigerator magnets." I received the suitcase: "So we have to change the refrigerator." She smiled and took my arm. Marriage does not make us become one person. It just makes two people who are constantly moving forward begin to be willing to adjust their pace for each other.

Ten years after graduating from college, the school announced that Dormitory Building 6 would be renovated. Han Dongming said in the group that the spiritual heritage of Room 407 was about to disappear, asking everyone to take photos. Zhao Yue asked if he could pay for the trip. Du Hang said the company's finance department did not accept the "sink memorial" category. Finally we all arrived. The school is much smaller than in memory. The printing shop is still there, Boss Qiang's belly is rounder, and the shop has been changed to a self-service printing machine. After recognizing me, the first sentence he said was: "You still sell the documents from that year. Should I charge you a copyright fee?" Meng Lan asked whether I had ever been paid for my college work. Boss Qiang thought: "There is no salary, and there is a lot of food debt." When we got to Room 407, the door was half removed. The walls were covered in tape marks left by students, the bed frame was rusted, and the table next to the window even had someone's name engraved on it. Han Dongming found a red plastic pot in the storage room, with two cracks on the edge. "Look! A treasure passed down through generations!" Du Hang said: "This is not the original one; the school bought them all from the same supplier." "Impossible, I have feelings for it." Zhao Yue squatted and sniffed: "Your feelings for someone else's foot basin are really deep." A few people laughed together. Gu Cheng also came. He did not participate in the entire gathering, just stood in front of the door of Room 406 and looked for a long time. After the company failed, he sold his remaining operations and went to a southern business to work as a professional manager. "How does it feel to go to work?" I asked. "Pretty good." "The pay arrives on time, and I do not get calls from investors in the middle of the night." "Adapted?" "At first I didn't adapt, always felt that others should listen to me. Only later did I find out that I was receiving someone else's salary. It would be strange not to listen." He laughed. Shen Nianchu didn't come. She texted that she was on a business trip abroad, telling us to take a photo of the classroom instead. Later she left the investment agency, and worked with her friend to do vocational education. It is said that she was married once and then divorced, without children. Her life did not collapse because I left, nor did she pay the price.
tragic because of Gu Cheng. This is the reality. Some relationships end, no one kneels in the rain and regrets it all their lives. People only carry the unfinished parts forward with their work, their spouse, and themselves. Gu Cheng walked to the door of Room 407 and looked at my old bed. "You changed here that year?" "Yes." "Qian Kai also said you moved rooms to join him and his high-school friends." "That's right." He leaned against the door frame: "Later I thought, if you hadn't changed, maybe we could start a business together." "It's also possible that the second year would have fought."
"Do you write a plan for me?" "No." "Then we really have to fight." After laughing, he suddenly said: "Before getting married, Nianchu used to look for me." "I am not asking what happened in detail." Gu Cheng continued: "She asked if she needed me, would I be like she was to me before, quitting my job to go find her." "How do you answer?" "I said we have to see what it is." "Very honest." "She also said the same. Then she got married." He bowed his head and kicked wood chips on the ground. "Before, I felt she was there forever because our relationship was special. Later I found out that she was always trying to prove that she couldn't go." "It's not too late to understand now." "It's not up to me to decide whether it's late or not." This sentence coming out of Gu Cheng's mouth was a huge change. After taking photos, we went to the grilled fish restaurant that year.