Please Be More Serious

Ch 5

Lonely In Autumn:

The mid-Autumn holidays rolled round. Zhengqing did not like long holidays. A long vacation meant he’d have to stay at home on his own for far too many days. The company was usually busy, whichever side they were on there were always people around him, so at work, he felt more substantial. The Mid-Autumn Festival, although only one day more than a weekend, made him somewhat uncomfortable.

The day before the public holiday began, Zhengqing went through his work and finished his reports. He was bored. He did not know much about psychology, but as he was getting older he was beginning to understand feelings of loneliness and boredom. There was nothing tangible on TV, and he felt a little drained. His colleagues and friends sent him a lot of moon cakes commemorating the festival but only kept a small box and sent the rest to his aunt in his home town. He did not like to eat sweat and greasy food, and the moon cakes made him think of family reunions which he could not have. He sat on his sofa in a daze not paying attention to the TV.

His phone rang, Zhengqing looked at the caller ID, it was his aunt back home.

‘Are you busy, Zhengqing?’ she asked. She always opened with this sentence.

Zhengqing’s reply was always, ‘No,’ even if he was very busy he always made time for his aunt. He didn’t have much family and his aunt was the one most concerned about his well-being even though they have not seen each other in a long while.

‘I got the moon cakes, there is so much of it,’ his aunt said, ‘don’t send so much next time.’

‘It doesn’t matter they were given to me,’ he said, although he had bought a few more boxes in addition. The neighbourhood his aunt lived had many families that were close to her, she could give the moon cakes to them, facilitate good neighbourliness.

‘I also got the money. Zhengqing ah, don’t send me money anymore. I know you are filial, but A Hua has work and we are not short of money,’ A Hua was his cousin, his aunt’s only son. ‘When you are studying Aunt couldn’t help you much. You worked hard to get where you are now, it wasn’t easy. You should be enjoying yourself. Don’t send money to me, I know your heart.’

But Zhengqing said, ‘I don’t have any other relatives to show filial piety to, so please accept it.’ He knew his aunt and uncle’s pension was not much, and A Hua’s job at the factory did not pay that well His cousin also had a wife and children to raise. He was far from them, they only way he could contribute to their well being was to send money.

His aunt was silent for a bit, then asked, ‘Are you going to see your parents tomorrow?’

‘Yes,’ he replied.

‘Now that you’re doing well, your parents would certainly be happy, but you’re now getting older, you have to start thinking about marriage. A Hua’s children are now in primary school, you can’t delay, although aunt cannot help in this matter. You’re now very precious and Aunt isn’t worthy of you therefore can’t help introduce you to someone. So please meet a nice girl quickly, and get married so your parents would not be anxious about your well being.’ (Zuben: Weren’t his parents satisfied earlier?)

‘Nn, yes.’ Zhenqing replied as he should. The past two to three years, whenever he spoke to his aunt she must talk about this, he wasn’t anxious; it was just this year that he started getting restless and thinking seriously about it. (Zuben: ZQ, your biological clock is ticking.)