Outdated Love

"Miss, we will expedite your custom tie order to Italy and inform you as soon as it is ready. Please come to see the sample when it's convenient." The sales associate beamed a professional smile at the college-aged woman in front of her, and her conduct is nothing short of impeccable.

With her many years of experience in the luxury goods industry, she could easily tell that the T-shirt the young girl was wearing was a cheap knock-off item, seemingly three years old, and the jeans she wore were substandard goods purchased from a street stall. Her canvas shoes were falling apart, with threads coming loose and the sole breaking, yet they were scrupulously clean.

From the colorful plastic bags she was carrying, there comes a smell of raw meat, likely ingredients she purchased from the morning market.

Just ten minutes ago, she would never have believed that this "raggedy girl" could afford their products.

She even dressed with less elegance than the mall's janitors.

Especially when she walked in, her thin pale face was anxious and embarrassed. Holding her plastic bags cautiously as if she did not want to break anything.

None of the other sales girls wanted to deal with her. She only approached her because she had nothing else to do, trying to prevent this girl from dirtying their displays.

Who knew that the girl wanted to order a custom tie based on a design she provided?

The total cost was thirty thousand, and this girl bargained hard, finally reducing it to twenty-eight thousand, with an upfront deposit of ten thousand.

"Please hurry, I need this before my boyfriend's birthday, thank you." Unexpectedly, the girl paid the deposit without hesitation, scanning the QR code for payment without a moment's delay.

As she was exiting the counter with her receipt, the sales associate noticed that in addition to the pile of plastic bags, the girl was carrying a bag from another luxury store.

She appears poor, but she is surprisingly generous.

It's for her boyfriend. Perhaps she's love-blinded and got manipulated by one of those Phoenix Men.

The salesgirl sneered in her heart.

...

After carefully putting the receipt away, Meng Xiao left the mall, carrying plastic bags in her hands, and waiting for the bus at the station.

She also did not want to enter the mall carrying plastic bags, but there were no lockers in the mall. If she had come to the mall before going to the market, she would have missed the freshest meat of the day.

She felt embarrassed for the first time in her life, but she was lucky to encounter a patient and kind sales associate.

Now that the tie has been ordered, her next goal was to save money, striving to accumulate enough funds for her postgraduate entrance examination next semester.

Yesterday afternoon, her boyfriend, Yang Yi, sent a message from Paris, France, stating that his week-long business trip had ended and he would return home on an afternoon flight today.

Meng Xiao originally planned to pick him up at the airport, but Yang Yi complained about the unsatisfactory food in France and missed her signature stewed chicken dish. As a result, she reserved an old hen from an acquaintance at the market early in the morning and bought enough ingredients to cook a delicious meal for him.

Today is also her birthday, and he would rush back to spend part of the day with her.

The May sun was not so lethal, yet Meng Xiao felt her vision blurring from the heat, and the plastic bags full of groceries felt like they weighed a ton.

The bus arrived, and Meng Xiao got on.

The bus was not crowded, and Meng Xiao chose a two-seater to rest.

In her mind, she couldn't help replaying the scene she just saw in the mall's foyer, where she saw Yang Yi with another woman.

They were in the cosmetics section of the mall, a place she had to pass when exiting the mall, and they were acting intimately with each other. Yang Yi was entirely focused on the girl beside him. She walked past him from behind, and he didn't even notice.

For a moment, Meng Xiao thought about returning the tie.

But in the end, she didn't. Maybe the woman was just a friend of his?

Today is her birthday, and maybe he's planning a surprise for her?

After a thirty minute bus ride and an exhausting twenty-minute walk carrying numerous bags, Meng Xiao finally arrived at the old apartment complex where Yang Yi was renting.

She wasn't in a hurry, leisurely saving two dollars on cab fare by walking.

Meng Xiao unlocked the door. The small living room was neatly arranged, and the connected small kitchen was fully stocked with pots and pans, exuding a homely atmosphere.

She finished preparing the ingredients and put the needed ones on the stove to simmer. She then picked up a cloth and started to tidy up the house, a layer of thin dust had settled on the furniture after being vacant for seven days.

She changed the dirty beddings and put them into the old washing machine.

Yang Yi always thought this washing machine was too much trouble and wanted to buy an automatic drum-type washer. She refused, considering it a wastage.

After straightening everything out, Meng Xiao lied down on the living room sofa, her back towards the entrance, facing the balcony, her view of the outside sky.

The aroma of food wafted in from the kitchen, the washing machine rumbled from the balcony, and the antiquated clock in the living room ticked on, each second steadily passing.

The apartment, although small, was a two-bedroom unit. Yang Yi occupied one room, while the other was converted into a study.

Normally Yang Yi does not like being disturbed, hence Meng Xiao rarely enters the study. Today when she wanted to clean it, the study was locked.

That's alright, less cleaning for her.

...

Meng Xiao closed her eyes, rested for a while, then checked her watch.

It was 6:36 in the afternoon. More than six hours had passed since she left school, and given that it takes nearly an hour to get from the airport to the city, Yang Yi must have landed and returned to Hai City before 11 in the morning.

Where had he gone in those almost seven hours? Why did he lie and tell her he would only arrive in the afternoon?

Was it because he didn't want her to see him accompanying a girl to the mall? Meng Xiao answered her own questions, putting all the pieces together as she reflected on what had happened at the mall.

The hopeful idea she had in her mind didn't fool her.

His first activity upon returning to the country was taking a young girl shopping at the most high-end mall in the city.

The innocent smile on the girl's face, as she tried out a variety of differently colored lipsticks and eye shadows, and the patience Yang Yi displayed while waiting for her.

Meng Xiao was shocked. She never knew that Yang Yi had the patience to accompany someone while shopping. Previously now, he'd always been impatiently rushing her, never waiting for her so patiently as now.

As a girl at this age, she too yearned for the dazzling colors under the dazzling lights.

She knew that shopping in such malls would be expensive, but she'd occasionally wished to just take a look around.

No buying, just looking.

But Meng Xiao was too timid, afraid of revealing her own modest circumstances.

She believed that Yang Yi, burdened with debts, disliked shopping because it was embarrassing to be unable to afford anything.

Later, once Yang Yi had a steady job and a decent income, Meng Xiao suggested a few times that they should go inside and take a look.

But every time she mentioned it, Yang Yi either refused or changed the subject.

Over time, Meng Xiao realized Yang Yi did not want to go.

Today, Meng Xiao had planned to pick up a tie she had ordered as a birthday gift for him.

Her roommate, Ye Siyu, knowing she was struggling to find a suitable shop, directed Meng Xiao to this mall, and told her to collect a bracelet she'd sent in for maintenance.

It was her first time in such a mall, it took her a while to find the brand Ye Siyu had recommended.

Just as Meng Xiao collected her bracelet, she ran into Yang Yi and that girl.

That girl's curly hair was meticulously styled, and she wore an exquisite makeup look. She was picking out lipsticks one by one with her slim, delicate fingers and then insisting that Yang Yi lift his arms so she could swatch each lipstick on his arm.

He was letting her swatch them on his arm, wearing a smile that seemed indulgent and helpless.

Born with outstanding looks, and boasting a tall and sturdy physique, the tailored dark blue suit Yang Yi was wearing drew many admiring glances from passersby.

A girl passing by Meng Xiao turned to pout at her boyfriend, expressing her displeasure.

"Look at that guy over there, then look at yourself. You start complaining as soon as I ask you to shop with me."

When she heard this, Meng Xiao froze. She wanted to grab that girl and tell her to be satisfied since that man was her boyfriend.

But Meng Xiao could only watch him rigidly from a distance, hoping to find some hint of misunderstanding from his expressions, yet all she could see were the girl's powdery pink fingernails.

After trying only six colors, the girl gave up. She clung to the arm of the man beside her, expressing her annoyance. Then Yang Yi casually swiped his card.

And in this way, the pampered princess got her set of cosmetics.

It was truly the complete set; the saleslady had confirmed it. When it was brought out, it took up two large bags.

A saleslady next to Meng Xiao whispered in astonishment, "A whole set, that's nearly a hundred grand."

A hundred grand, wonderful.

In their three years together, the most expensive thing he'd ever gotten her was worth only a hundred dollars.

There was a time when she was starving for two straight days because her salary from her part-time job was delayed. He only found out when he discovered she was out of money on her meal card, and so he topped up a hundred dollars for her.

After that, most of their money transactions involved the cost of buying groceries. It only just covered the cost of her groceries and her taxi fare to the rental apartment. There was never any extra money.

As for him, he so readily spent a hundred grand on someone else, buying the so-called glittering but empty items that he always talked about.

Meng Xiao's eyes were in pain, and she didn't want to keep watching the gentleman and the princess. Turning around, she left the mall, trying to convince herself that she had mistaken someone else for Yang Yi.

Yet, she was still clutching the receipt for the tie she had ordered for him, silently praying.

Yang Yi, please don't lie to me.