Online friendship to real-life encounter
That day, while wandering around the Tianya City forum, I saw a post almost drowned in spit. The gist of the post was that the original poster created a QQ group, inviting netizens with a monthly salary of over eight thousand yuan to join. It was conceivable that only a few people earning eight thousand a month from their boss had time to hang out on forums. Out of curiosity, I joined the group. Despite the criticism, within twenty-four hours, the group already had more than seventy members.
I had heard that literati disparage each other, but it wasn’t until I joined this group that I realized that “rich people” also disparage each other. The most common scene was someone just mentioning their industry, and others immediately expressing disdain—working as a translator earning 8K, are you working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Doing printing earning 8K, are you printing money? It seemed like, if I’m so excellent and only earning eight thousand, how can you also earn this much?
When it was my turn to introduce myself, I told the truth that I was looking for a job. As soon as the message was sent, it drew a lot of sighs, with some civilized people reminding me to look at the group’s name. When I realized that “rich people” were not easy to approach and was about to exit the group, someone named Cheng Xiao’an stood up and said, “You all earn such high salaries, and you are considered successful people. Help her find a suitable job.”
I added Cheng Xiao’an on QQ at that time but also exited the group. Fantasizing is a personal thing; collective fantasizing is really boring.
On QQ, I expressed my gratitude, and Cheng Xiao’an replied after a long time: “Sorry, I was just in a meeting. Don’t mind what those people said. I don’t think there are many with an 8K monthly salary in the group, and even if there are, who didn’t start from zero?”
Later, I learned that he was a department manager at an IT company, thirty years old, and single.
Although Cheng Xiao’an didn’t directly introduce me to a job, he gave me a lot of advice on how to judge if a company is a scam, how to find a job while working, etc. For someone who just graduated, this was really beneficial. A week later, I started working at a software company, though my monthly salary was less than half of eight thousand.
1689 pages of love letters
After that, Cheng Xiao’an and I kept in touch on QQ. A year flew by, and our chat logs reached 1689 pages. Although we were less than ten kilometers apart, neither of us mentioned meeting up.
They say IT people have only work and no fun, but Cheng Xiao’an was a very interesting “IT guy.”
Several nights, I asked him, “I heard that IT people are very busy and often work overtime. How come you are online almost every night? You have been in Shenzhen for so long, you should have a rich nightlife.”
Every time I asked him this, he always said, “I see you just came to Shenzhen, and you don’t have many friends here. I’m afraid you feel lonely at night, chatting with you counts as nightlife, doesn’t it?”
Even though I knew he was lying, I was still very touched. I even secretly blamed him, why don’t you ask to meet up?
The more he was like this, the more precious he felt to me. They say love in Shenzhen is like fast food. If you say you went to bed with someone on the second date on the forum, there will definitely be a bunch of people standing up to scold you: snail, so slow!
Fortunately, Cheng Xiao’an was not like that. In such a fast-paced city, willing to spend a year with you without mentioning meeting up, my affection for this man grew day by day.
There are typhoons every year, but this year, there were especially many.
One day, because a typhoon was about to land, the company dismissed us an hour early, but it was still late. As soon as I walked to the building entrance, I was blocked by the pouring rain.
Usually, there would be taxis passing by after work, but not today. After waiting for ten minutes, there wasn’t a single one. It takes seven or eight minutes to walk to the bus stop from here, and with such heavy rain, an umbrella wouldn’t help.
The rain didn’t seem like it would stop anytime soon. Just when I was at my wit’s end, a light gray Hyundai slowly drove up and stopped at the building entrance.
As the window rolled down just five centimeters, I vaguely saw a pair of bright eyes and immediately recognized him—it was Cheng Xiao’an! We had video chatted before, but I didn’t expect we would meet under such circumstances, and it felt so familiar, as if we had been together for a hundred years.
I didn’t even open my umbrella, just ran over and got into the car. It wasn’t until I was in the car that I felt something was wrong. It was our first meeting, shouldn’t I be a bit more reserved? Since my image was already ruined, I didn’t care anymore. Before I even settled in, I started talking, “How did you know I was stuck in the rain?”
“I just came to check. If you weren’t stuck, great; if you were, then it’s hero saving beauty.”
“Do you think I look better in the video or in person?”
“Of course, you look better in person.” Cheng Xiao’an glanced at me for less than a second before focusing back on the road.
If I look good, why not take another look? This made me feel very hurt, and my heart cooled down. Am I really that unworthy of his attention? At that moment, my heart sank halfway.
So many instances of love dying upon meeting, and it was happening to me. Slowly, I lowered my head—only to realize that my white shirt was soaked, clinging to my black bra, almost transparent. Sneaking a glance at Cheng Xiao’an, I quickly used my bag to cover myself.
At that moment, Cheng Xiao’an smiled mischievously, as if he had been peeking at me with one eye on the road and the other eye seeing through me, summarizing naughtily, “Beautiful, indeed beautiful!”
I was overjoyed. Honestly, I had mostly seen Cheng Xiao’an during night video calls, and this was the first time I saw him properly dressed, clean, handsome, with white, long fingers that seemed to be playing a piano rather than steering a car. He wasn’t just driving a car but my love.
Is this love?
The journey didn’t become longer just because it was our first meeting. It only took half an hour to reach my residential area, though I could tell Cheng Xiao’an was driving slowly enough.
After hesitating for a long time, I finally pushed open the door. As one foot was already out, I retracted it and asked, “Do you want to come up for a while?”
Cheng Xiao’an got out of the car faster than I did, and when I stood up, I was already under his umbrella.
As soon as I turned on the light and prepared to take a good look at this six-foot-tall prince charming, the power went out. I found half a candle and then remembered we hadn’t eaten. In such weather, going out to eat was no fun. Well, it was a chance to show off and make up for the awkwardness of our first meeting.
When I took out tomatoes, eggs, and noodles from the fridge, Cheng Xiao’an grabbed them and said, “Tonight, let me show you my cooking skills.”
So “IT guys” do eat regular food too.
Not long after, two bowls of delicious tomato egg noodles were served. Cheng Xiao’an joked that this was a “candlelight dinner.”
After dinner, we chatted about everything under the sun. By then, the candle had burned out. Around midnight, the rain hadn’t stopped and was accompanied by thunder and lightning. Cheng Xiao’an got up to leave. As I walked him to the stairway, he asked, “Xiaowei, are you afraid of the dark?”
When I lowered my head, he moved closer and held me in his arms. It was a powerful embrace, as if he wanted to embed me into his ribs. My hands slowly raised as well. We stayed like this for half an hour, and then he whispered in my ear, “Xiaowei, can I stay?”
I didn’t refuse…
It seemed like love, but neither of us said it. For over a year, he hadn’t even called me dear once; if it wasn’t love, why did we tremble like it was our first night when we touched each other’s skin in the dark?
The dawn broke, and the rain finally stopped. That night was particularly long and short. Several times, I wanted to ask him, “Cheng Xiao’an, do you love me?” But before hearing his answer, I needed to hear my own: “Xiaowei, do you love him? This was your first meeting. The speed of Shenzhen is meant to describe economic development, not taking off your pants!” I didn’t let him drive me to work.
Dear, that was not love
For several days, I didn’t log into QQ, fearing I’d run into Cheng Xiao’an. A week passed, and when I logged in invisibly, my heart sank. I expected a bunch of greetings, a bunch of confessions, but his QQ hadn’t blinked once.
In my headphones, Angela Chang was singing piercingly: “You said holding hands was a promise, but dear, that was not love. Like a wish not made in time, no matter how beautiful, it can only be the past…”
Trembling, I deleted Cheng Xiao’an from my contacts. This trembling was different from when I first touched his skin.
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
