CH 9

Guo Zhi ate dinner outside before returning home, took a shower, and fixed her hair.

Her hair was medium short length. When it was down, both sides could cover her ears and cheeks, but it did not reach her chin. At work, she was accustomed to keeping her bangs at the top of her head with a clip, revealing her forehead; sometimes, she would keep her hair fixed at the back of her head.

She dried her hair, let down her bangs, and curled the ends of the hair surrounding her cheeks. She searched through her closet and found a black sequin skirt. She paired it with a pair of black stilettos and a mini red handbag.

To match her bag, she applied lipstick that had the same shade as it.

After finishing, she looked at herself in the mirror and suddenly felt sad. It seems like… I haven’t dress up to the nines since a long time ago… These two years, she rose through the ranks steadily, and, consequently, her workload and work pressure also increased proportionally. At the same time, she stopped placing importance to dressing up and became more and more used to wearing androgynous clothes.

At work, her gender was hidden, and the people around her became used to treating her as a man.

She knew that people called her ‘Guo Ye’ behind her back.

Guo Ye: It’s like calling her Mr. Guo, but it doesn’t sound as polite as that, more like a call between people who know each other.

She did not care though. What she was sad about was that the years were passing in the blink of an eye, and she was suddenly 28.

When she initially came to the capital, she was the same as other young girls who harbored many fantasies. She also looked forward to love and work. Slowly, life made her tough, and she stopped yearning for things related to love. She was already 28. Whenever she returned home, all the aunties in her family would nag at her. They were even more anxious than her, fearing that she would not be able to be married off.

In the beginning, she also felt apprehensive and obediently listened to them and went to the blind dates, but slowly, she gave up. Going to blind dates was like going to the market. First, they would look at the financial condition, after that, they would look at the appearance, and lastly, they would look at the personality of the person.  

Many people found a partner to make ends meet through blind dates.

But Guo Zhi did not want make ends meet.

In the last two years, she was strongly convinced of that. She really believed that the state she was in right now was pretty good. Her feet were planted firmly on the ground. She bought a car and a house by herself. She could earn more in the future.

Right now, towards marriage, she did not feel as apprehensive anymore. She only went to the blind dates because she was helpless against her parents.

In fact, she had already started thinking about never getting married.

Of course, she did not have the guts to tell this to Her Majesty Mom.

She looked at her reflection in the mirror that radiated womanly energy and turned left and right to admire herself.

In the end, she lightly hmphed with her chin lifted.

****************************************************

Alex almost did not recognize Guo Zhi.

He was standing at the entrance of MIX. They had agreed to meet at nine, so he started waiting by the door at eight forty. Smoking by the door, he waited for a while, heard a voice calling his name, and once he turned his head, he saw a woman.

Slender and tall, with thin shoulders and slim arms. Curled middle short length hair that covered half of her cheeks and red lips that burned like flames. She stood there, with a red handbag on her hand and wearing black stilettos.

Alex was stunned for a moment, before uncertainly saying: “Sister… Guo?”

The blatant surprise and stunned expression on the boy’s face swept away all trace of bad mood she had since morning.

Sure enough, when in a bad mood, it is a good idea to go out and play, she thought in a good mood.

“What? You can’t recognize me already?” She laughed.

“I did not recognize you.” Alex honestly said and complimented her from the bottom of his heart: “Sister Guo, you’re really beautiful.” Completely different from the usual tomboy image… He silently swallowed the last part into his stomach.

Guo Zhi laughed happily. Which woman would not become happy after being complimented by a handsome guy?

“Let’s go in.” Guo Zhi said.

Alex turned sideways. He wanted to be closer to her, but whenever he tried to approach her, he would unconsciously become timid. He did not dare to hold her hands or hold her waist. He only dared to walk by her side.

This place charged for entry tickets during the weekend.

Alex had already paid before. Guo Zhi followed him to stand in front of a security guard and extended her hand. Once the guard placed an invisible fluorescent stamp on the back of her hand, she was allowed to go in.

Guo Zhi had arrived a little early. It was not nine yet, and people were only starting to arrive. The dance floor was still empty. Even though the music was blaring, everything was only starting.

Alex led Guo Zhi to the right after going in, to an area that was far from the dance floor. Their group was big and occupied most of the sofa. There were men and women, and Guo Zhi even saw people whom she knew and models that she recognized.

The music in this type of place was deafening, and it was not a good place to talk. Seeing that a new person had arrived, everyone greeted with a nod of their heads. Guo Zhi wanted to greet those whom she recognized, but they acted as if they did not recognize her… Damn, do they really not recognize me?

It shouldn’t be… was I really that sloven usually?

The waiters were very smart. When they saw new people, they approached and asked what drinks they wanted. Guo Zhe asked for a bottle of Corona. Just as she opened her bag, Alex had already swiftly paid for it.

The drink was brought very fast.

People continuously arrived. In this type of gathering, everybody would call each other friends, whether they knew each other or not. As Alex was dragged away by other people, a man sitting across her moved to Guo Zhi’s side and sat down. He yelled at her: “Beauty! You look very familiar! Have we seen each other before?”

There was no other way, in this place, people only had two options: talking ear to ear, or yelling. This man had the intention of striking up a conversation, but he was not familiar with the beauty yet, so he could only yell.

Guo Zhi stared at him intently.

Just as the man started doubting if he had something stuck in his mouth and drank a sip of wine to try and clean it away, Guo Zhi suddenly lowered her head, intertwined her fingers into her hair, lifted her head to show her face that had been partly concealed by her hair, and yelled at him: “Old Zhang! Did your eyes rot? It’s me!”

Old Zhang spit out the wine with a ‘pfft’ sound! Fortunately, he turned his head at the last moment, and all of it fell on the floor. On the side, the waiter looked at him with dead eyes and turned to call the cleaning staff.

“F***!” Old Zhan pointed at Guo Zhi with trembling fingers, “Guo Ye!”

“To dare call me that to my face, you have guts!” Guo Zhi smiled very gently.

“No! I, I was just scared because of your sudden change in gender! Ouch, hey, be gentler with your foot! Guo Zhi, I was wrong! Editor Guo! Editor Guo!”

Guo Zhi took back her foot and said scoldingly: “Who told you to have a trashy mouth!”

Old Zhang grinned and rubbed his toes: “Why did you come today?”

“Is there a rule that says that I can’t come?”

“I invited you many times, but you never came. I even thought that you were reciting Buddhist scriptures to cultivate your mind.”

“Scram! That was because I was busy!”

“Hey, I heard… Michael disgusted you once more?” Old Zhang winked, happy to see her shriveled.

Guo Zhi said angrily: “Your ears are everywhere!” Mentioning things that should not be mentioned.

Since they were familiar, both did not continue yelling at each other. Alex talked briefly with other people, and when he looked back, she saw that a photographer that he was not very familiar with was by Guo Zhi’s side, talking with their heads close. Guo Zhi’s expression was very relaxed, and they obviously knew each other.

Alex paused and approached them when they were drinking. “Sister Guo,” he said, “let’s go dance!”

Guo Zhi glanced at the dance floor. In this moment, people were starting to go there. The ones who went at this time, were either those who were confident of their looks and body, or those who were confident of their dance moves. Even though Guo Zhi believed that she was beautiful today, she was still far from being confident enough to lead the dance.

“You go first, I will talk for a bit more.” She said, “someone that I know.”

Alex could not say anything else and was dragged by two girls to dance.

“Holy crap, little Guo Zhi!” Old Zhang bared his teeth and smiled. “I was pondering about the reason why you decided to come today, so it was because of a little fresh meat!”

“Can you not be so dirty?” Guo Zhi rolled her eyes. “I just came out to relax. Listen, Michael is very disgusting!” She told him what happened that day.

Old Zhang laughed loudly and said: “You! You are so upright!”

“Was that young woman called Lily?” He said, “Yesterday, Michael brought her out to dinner. She is currently his new lover. Everyone in this circle knows. Only you would still think about blocking the path. Be careful, the girl may end up thinking bad of you.”

Gu Qing Xia was on point. Guo Zhi depressingly said: “Can’t she just work properly? Instead of taking shortcuts.”

“Little Guo Zhi… ” Old Zhang was older than Guo Zhi by a few years, close to thirty, so he earnestly said to her, “You shouldn’t be so narrow-minded. Everybody is different. Not everybody has access to education and the opportunity to slowly climb the ranks. You can slowly accumulate experience and add achievements, going to the top. These kids…” His eyes looked around. Quite a few of the ones present were models, and others were in the entertainment industry.

“These kids depend on their youth. Men have it better, but  women… their youth is shorter. They can’t afford it.”

“Think from a different perspective. What they do doesn’t look good in your eyes, but they haven’t ever harmed you, right?” Old Zhang drank some wine.

Guo Zhi was silent for a moment, “I just feel bad for them. If their family knew, they would sad.”

“It’s not your problem, let’s drink!”

The two clinked their glasses and drank a round. Their alcohol tolerance was okay, and a bottle of beer was gone rapidly. Guo Zhi drank happily and reached out a hand to call the waiter: “Bring us a dozen!”

When she moved to open her bag, Old Zhang had already taken the chance to pay.

“What’s with your expression?” Old Zhang squinted at Guo Zhi with a cigarette in his mouth.

“Weird. Why is everybody rushing to pay today?” Guo Zhi was not used to it. She was used to paying for everything or AA.

Old Zhang laughed with a ‘pfft’ sound.

“Isn’t it because you changed gender today? Ouch! It hurts! Editor Guo! Editor Guo!”

“You talk as if I’m not a woman normally!” Guo Zhi took away her foot reluctantly.

“Normally… ouch… who would dare to treat you like a woman?” Old Zhang rubbed his toes, “Anyways, I don’t dare. You are even more manly than men. Otherwise, why would everybody call you Guo Ye?”

“However, speaking of it, little Guo…” With a cigarette between his fingers, he looked at Guo Zhi up and down, “Your figure… you really have some assets huh! They usually aren’t noticeable!”

“Of course!” Guo Zhi was proud and stuck out her ‘assets’.

Alex looked faraway from the entrance of the dance floor. Far away, he could see them conversing happily.

Under the lights of the bar, Guo Zhi’s smile was alluring. Completely different from usual times.