Six Records of A Floating Life 浮生六记

Six Records of A Floating Life, 4

【1】

Yesterday, my husband had a company dinner. I watched the TV while waiting for him to come back. I felt a little tired, so I laid on the sofa to rest for a while. I heard someone open the door, my husband came in and sat next to me, calling me gently.

I purposely did not respond, my husband lowered his voice and said: "Why are you sleeping here?", then he gently carried me towards the bedroom. When he was setting me on the bed, I could not hold back my laugh, I hugged his waist. My husband also laughed and said: "Look at you being pleased."

【2】

Profanity never left from my husband's lips, he often reused "f*ck", "sh*t", "dumb*ss", sometimes I liked it when he swore, it felt very manly.

But my favourite was when he said "Look at you being X" with a little feeling of hopelessness; "Look at you being happy", "Look at you being all busy". When he said X it always had a little nasal tone, rhythmic.

I only realised after visiting Tianshui, that everyone spoke like that; it counted as a local characteristic. Fortunately, I did not visit it earlier, otherwise, what would I do if I had fallen in love with every Tianshui locals?

【3】

I liked to watch "Friends", an American soap opera. My husband would not watch it, because he could not relate to some of the complicated American jokes.

But reality also had some similar situations.

One day we went for a walk and passed an antique furniture store. It had an old wooden door with flower carvings. It had plenty of old stuff inside--

There was a chair in the corner, I could not tell which era it was from. It was dark red, very quaint. My husband bent his back to admire it, and suddenly, he quietly called for me. I did not know why until he gestured, then I saw there was a bulge in his trousers.

A person in his 20s, and still had an erection without regard to place and time, what a monster!

I glanced at the chair and then his trousers a few times and made fun of him: "Wow, you really like that chair."

My husband did not understand the joke.

【4】

I edited out the section where he lied about his Level 4 and showed him this piece of writing. He read it and said with uncertainty: "How come it feels a little surreal."

I understood what he meant, when I was writing this, I subconsciously used techniques of novel writing. The material was carefully arranged and edited, memories and current events were intertwined, so it looked more like an original creation rather than a writing about realistic events.

I said: "Of course I have edited it a little, otherwise it's too straightforward. But look, what's written here is all true."

My husband revelled and said: "It doesn't really matter, but can't you write me a little better?"

【5】

It was almost the mid-autumn festival, last year August 15th, my husband was on a business trip, I was bored by myself. After dinner, I wore my shoes like slippers and went out to admire the moon. There were groups of 3 or 5 people everywhere on the street, there were also couples, holding hands or waists, talking, and laughing in low voices. Only I was alone.

Feeling bored, I went home. I casually wrote on a piece of paper: "It should be a beautiful scenery, with thousands of feelings arising, but to whom do I tell it. Where will I be when I recover from this night's drunkenness, perhaps somewhere along the willowy shore, in a breeze under a waning crescent.[1]"

If this was a novel, then when I sat by the window alone, there would be a knock on the door and when I opened the door, it was actually my husband who rushed back home to spend the festival with me.

Unfortunately, this was the reality, there was no knock on the door, my husband did not even give me a call.

Idiot!

【6】

During college, I had a classmate that I got along well with. With him I could appreciate strange literature, discuss, and analyse doubts, I considered him my first best friend. One time, I was reading Haruki Murakami's novel "The Second Bakery Attack''. It used "water falling on a mountain peak" as a metaphor to describe hunger, I thought this was interesting, so I pointed it out to him.

A few days later, he told me when he was hungry at night, he remembered that line from the book and became even more hungry. After hearing this, I was very pleased with myself, as if I was being praised.

He was the only person that knew about my relationship with my husband. I was particularly grateful to him, because when I told him, even though he did not understand, he still showed huge tolerance and support.

After graduation, he went to Shenyang Chinese Academy of Science, institute of metal research for his postgraduate. Sometimes, when we chatted online, he would ask: "Are you guys still ok?", I understood what he meant, he was concerned for us.

Previously in university, our interactions were relatively innocent. When two people were close, they would only think we were good brothers. When they entered society, people were more complex, and we had to be more considerate. In public, we would not show any affections and we would not visit each other's workplaces. If we met a colleague in the street, we would introduce the other as a university classmate, carefully avoiding worldly eyes.

I wrote a piece called "Not enough confidants" to thank my friend.

【7】

My parents, my husband's parents, were very traditional and regarded the happiness of their children as a lifelong career.

I was always afraid to tell them, because my husband's father and my mother both had high blood pressure, they must not be angry or stressed.

When my family pressured me to find a girlfriend, I would come up with a hundred excuses to avoid it.

How would it be in the future? No one knew. But because I have this person next to me, therefore I have the courage to continue this restlessness and happiness.

T/N:

[1] Where will I be when I recover from this night's drunkenness, perhaps somewhere along the willowy shore, in a breeze under a waning crescent: 今宵酒醒何处，杨柳岸晓风残月, the two verses are from a poem from the Song Dynasty by poet Liu Yong