Title: Misty Road
Tags:
- Life
Excerpt: ''
Categories: - Note
Abbrlink: 49268
Date: 2018-08-07 13:04:33
(Wen. Jing)
"I won't force you to quit smoking."
"Oh, why not?"
"Because I think you look natural when you pout while smoking."
Jin Jing likes to wear clothes with hats. She feels safe when she wears a hat.
During her time in college, she didn't like talking to people and had a small circle of friends. She was familiar with everything she could do on her own, such as painting, reading, playing games, and quietly sitting in a nearby bar near the school.
Her favorite song in the bar was sung by a thin guy with slightly long hair who always wore a hooded sweatshirt. Unlike those pretentious rock songs, his gentle old songs or songs from Japanese anime filled her heart.
Jin Jing liked both of these styles, one healed her and the other filled her up.
One night, after the hooded guy finished work, he walked out of the bar with a guitar on his back.
Jin Jing followed him while wearing a hat, and the hooded guy lit a cigarette. Jin Jing also lit one.
The guy walked into Jin Jing's university, and Jin Jing followed him inside.
The hooded guy turned around and looked at her, and she stared back at him.
The hooded guy stood in the shadow of the moon and said, "I know you. My name is Dai Li."
Dai Li said he had noticed Jin Jing a long time ago, always sitting in the farthest booth when he performed.
Dai Li said he didn't attend this university; he just had a good friend who studied here. He came to this city to pass the time and lived in his friend's dorm.
Dai Li said that one time he saw Jin Jing wearing a T-shirt with Hanamichi Sakuragi's print from "Slam Dunk," so he sang the theme song of "Slam Dunk."
Dai Li said that when he saw Jin Jing wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the print of Hyouga Kojiro, his heart skipped a beat.
Dai Li didn't talk much, and during the month they were together, Jin Jing only remembered these important things.
Jin Jing bought many hooded sweatshirts for Dai Li, and they often held hands and went to the internet cafe to play games together.
Dai Li was good at playing, especially tank heroes. Jin Jing had her studies, so she didn't have much time to play games. Dai Li would sing until two or three in the morning and then stay at the internet cafe until morning, then sleep all day.
Most of their time together was during the night. Jin Jing knew the taste of every small stall under the streetlights.
Dai Li needed his voice for singing, but he was also heavily dependent on cigarettes. As time went on, his singing time became shorter. During Jin Jing's final exam week, Dai Li developed pharyngitis.
From that time on, Jin Jing seemed to have become a virtuous wife and mother. She didn't go to the library or participate in group activities. She secretly bought a small cooking pot and cooked pear soup for Dai Li, saving money to buy medicine for his pharyngitis.
Dai Li lost his job at the bar and spent his days playing games in the male dormitory. At night, he would come out and take a walk with Jin Jing on the campus, watching the tall girl holding the slender young man.
Most of their time together was at night. Jin Jing knew the taste of every small stall under the streetlights.
Dai Li sang softly, "I won't force you to quit smoking."
"Oh, why not?"
"Because I think you look natural when you pout while smoking."
During the winter break, Jin Jing returned to her hometown. She missed Dai Li like crazy on the sleeper train.
The two of them played online games and ranked together while being in different cities. Dai Li would sing to her with his hoarse voice, and he would send her chestnut cakes.
Jin Jing started growing her hair and learned to cook porridge and stew at home every day. When she went out to buy groceries, she liked the vibrant colors of radishes.
She bought all the couple skins in League of Legends. When she saw Ahri standing next to Dai Li's Garen in the mid lane, she would shoot an ice arrow with a smirk, dealing a critical hit every time.
One day after the Lunar New Year, Dai Li sent her a screenshot of his highest rank in the game, and an invitation to a channel as a streamer.
Jin Jing bought him a complete set of pool-themed skins, but she realized that Dai Li only liked using the crocodile skin from the set.
Jin Jing returned to Guangzhou for school, and Dai Li wrapped her in a white down jacket at the airport.
She smelled the strong scent of tobacco and CK perfume, which warmed her heart from his embrace.
Dai Li's pharyngitis still hadn't healed, and he hoarsely said, "I really miss you." She accompanied Dai Li at the airport for their last meal together before he flew to Suzhou with his luggage in the afternoon.
Now, looking back, Jin Jing didn't know when Dai Li became famous and became a player known by professional gamers.
Thousands of people watched his live stream, and his name even appeared on Baidu's headlines. Jin Jing just lived her days silently, thinking about the half-long-haired and spirited Dai Li in front of the food stalls.
In the first month, Jin Jing flew to Suzhou to visit him. He shared an apartment with a few other streamers, and there were piles of takeout boxes from Sha County on the table. Dai Li's room was a mess. She tried her best to visit him in Suzhou every month, helping him with cooking and cleaning the room.
Dai Li's stomach was also affected in Suzhou, and his sleep was poor. Jin Jing would often stay up all night with him during his live stream, then hold him like a child and coax him to sleep.
Gradually, many girls started to like Dai Li, and many people liked his live stream.
During that summer vacation, Jin Jing didn't go home. She helped Dai Li open a Taobao store, while she found a part-time job in Suzhou. Dai Li streamed every day, while she was busy with order fulfillment and sales offline.
Dai Li had cut his hair short and was full of energy.
Occasionally, Dai Li would invite her to play a duo stream with him. She would only choose support or ADC, and Dai Li would follow her to the bottom lane.
His ADC playstyle was too aggressive, and he didn't play any support heroes, often resulting in a disastrous bottom lane.
Jin Jing would always laugh and Dai Li would helplessly pat her head.
Dai Li bought Jin Jing a mint-flavored Ai Xi.
He said, "Don't you like Ashe?"
The following year, Dai Li bought Jin Jing her favorite Samoyed dog. That was probably the only gift Dai Li ever gave her.
Dai Li called her "Xiao J8," and later Jin Jing changed it to Garen.
Jin Jing always tried to quit smoking, but it seemed like she couldn't.
She wanted to smoke when she looked at Dai Li, and she wanted to smoke when she couldn't see him.
When Dai Li played jungle, she wished she was Blue Daddy. When Dai Li got caught in the top lane, she wanted to scold the mid lane Twisted Fate for not using his ultimate. When Dai Li dove under the enemy tower in the mid lane, she wanted to charge in and tank for him.
Dai Li's guitar was still in the corner, and she would clean it when she was bored. When she saw the girls in the chat room who were crazy about Dai Li, she would sneer.
She would hold Dai Li's head in her arms, wanting to comfort him like this for a lifetime.
After that, there was no "after." After Dai Li participated in an offline tournament and became popular, he returned to his hometown in Anhui, bought a dedicated computer and chair, and became a full-time streamer.
She gradually moved many of her things to Dai Li's place: couple pajamas, slippers, toothbrushes, Teemo plush toys, Ashe figurines, and her hooded sweatshirts... She returned to Guangzhou to prepare for her graduation defense, and she was as excited as if she was holding a marriage certificate.
She knew it was almost time.
She started thinking about quitting smoking, but she couldn't bear to.
She always remembered the first time Dai Li praised her.
They were sitting on the side of the road near the university, smoking together.
Dai Li patted her head and said, "I won't force you to quit smoking."
"Oh, why not?"
"Because I think you look natural when you pout while smoking."
Before she knew the result of her defense, Jin Jing flew to Wuhu to see Dai Li. It was the most melodramatic scene in her life. Dai Li was sleeping in bed in the middle of the day - that was normal, but there was another woman in there - that was not normal.
After that, she didn't know anything.
When she started to regain consciousness, she was writing down Dai Li's habits one by one.
- He can't eat spicy food, leftovers, or vacuum-sealed food. He can't drink milk. He has bad breath in the morning. He has severe stomach problems. He rarely shows affection...
She didn't dare to imagine how he would defend himself in front of that woman.
It was like her being a support and standing next to the enemy ADC.
If that was a game, she would have grabbed you and brought you under their tower, torturing you and killing you.
She opened her game records, and almost all of them were duo queue with Dai Li. He played ADC, or he played jungle.
She closed her eyes and wrote, "Dai Li doesn't like playing in the bottom lane, don't force him."
On the day she left, Jin Jing cried and said, "Dai Li, I will work hard. I want to join Riot Games. I want them to have a duo combination in the top lane. I don't want to be alone in the top lane!"
Jin Jing seemed to have really quit smoking.