Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gu Yusheng lit a cigarette and raised his eyes without answering.
Seated next to him, his old bunkmate spoke up. “Single without a doubt. Our Captain Gu is a bachelor by choice!”
Perhaps it was the encounter with her in the afternoon that triggered his mory of little troublemaker. Or it might have been the influence of alcohol that made him slightly lancholy. Gu Yusheng, who’d been reticent for most of the night, abruptly said, “Not anymore.”
His outburst startled the group, and all eyes turned toward him.
Gu Yusheng acted oblivious. He took a drag from his cigarette and completed his announcent. “I’m not against the idea of marriage anymore.”
Veiled by the cloud of smoke he had exhaled, everyone in the room beca a blur. The scenes and feelings of that night began to unfold faintly before his eyes.
We’d been strolling along the streets when I kissed her deeply after she had finished singing a song.
Little troublemaker, not till now did I realize that nobody is single by choice. They simply haven’t t the person who makes them want to walk down the aisle.
In that instant, he beca sad and resud forlornly. “Because of a girl.”
The boisterous room quieted down sowhat. After gulping his beer, soone asked, “Captain Gu, so do you intend to marry that girl?”
Gu Yusheng blinked and did not reply.
Another person followed up by asking, “Captain Gu, when do you plan to get married? We will definitely show up to see it for ourselves—our new elegant sister-in-law.”
“Captain Gu, let’s get married on the sa day,” said his pal who had ntioned earlier that he would be tying the knot at the end of the year.
Gu Yusheng’s fingertips twitched, and the ashes fell from the cigarette into his mug of beer. Yet it seed as if he felt nothing. Lifting his mug, he chugged down the beer in one go before replying, “She… left for a distant place. I might have to wait longer.”
Without grasping the true aning of what he had said, the group pressed on. “Where did she go? On a long road trip? Or is she assigned sowhere for business?”
Gu Yusheng leaned into the sofa. Puffing out a perfect circle, he stared at the disco lights ceaselessly flashing on the ceiling. After a long pause, he murmured slowly in a husky voice, as though he were talking to himself, but clear enough for everyone to hear, “How I wish that she is only on a long road trip or a business assignnt. If that were the case, at least there would be a definite return. At least there would be sothing for to look forward to… a return date or sothing…”
Gu Yusheng seed incapable of continuing further. After a pause, he smiled wryly and, with a face of indifference, he resud, “But I want to wait for her indefinite return.”
Even he didn’t know when she would return.
Such a long and endless wait will always wear one’s patience thin.
He had always lacked patience, yet he was unwavering about waiting for her.
Such a long and endless wait is best at breaking one’s heart.
Even with his heart full of scars, he had never considered giving up.
Gu Yusheng remained silent for a long ti. Eventually, he blinked and started to speak again. With a cigarette in his mouth, his voice was barely audible. “I’ve always been waiting for her.”
Waiting for a person whose return date was unknown.
Only waiting for her indefinite return.
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