Summer Night’s Evening Breeze
I have a certificate of disability. They can have another child, and it won’t be considered exceeding the birth limit.

The waiter brought their two bowls of noodles. Pang Qian asked Gu Mingxi, “Can you do it on your own?”

Gu Mingxi nodded. He leaned back in his chair and brought his right foot up to the table. Pang Qian put his chopsticks between his toes. He lowered his head, his heel against the table, and grabbed up his noodles to eat.

The tables in the shop were kind of tall. His posture looked a bit strained, but still, it wasn’t that big of a problem when he was eating.

Gu Mingxi didn’t touch the slices of beef on top of his noodles, waiting for Pang Qian to grab them. But she seemed to have forgotten, as she slurped away deliciously at her own pork bone noodles. Gu Mingxi couldn’t stop from reminding her, ” Didn’t you say you wanted to eat beef?”

After a moment, Pang Qian reacted, “Oh yeah! Let me try it!”

She reached over and without a hint of courtesy, she plucked up a piece of beef and stuffed it into her mouth. After chewing it she sighed, “It costs 2 dollars more than mine, but the beef is really tender. It’s really good.”

Gu Mingxi pursed his lips, then said, “If you like it, you can have all the beef.”

Pang Qian shook her head, “No, the beef is the best part. If I eat it, what will you eat?”

Gu Mingxi said quietly, “I’m fine just drinking the soup and having an egg. I don’t really like beef that much.”

“Nonsense. Your mom said that you like beef the most!” Pang Qian unveiled his white lie, not leaving him any face. “Next time, I’ll order beef noodles. And you can try the chicken one. It shouldn’t be very spicy.”

Gu Mingxi smiled a little. He lowered his head and ate some noodles and a piece of beef.

Yeah, Pang Qian was right. He really liked it.

When they finished eating, it was still early. Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi rested at the shop for a little while, each ordering a cup of cola.

Pang Qian started worrying about their living accommodations that night. She said to Gu Mingxi, “I asked Xie Yi and they’re staying at a nearby guesthouse. I think it was 260 dollars a night. He said if we need to stay there, he can ask his friend to help us reserve a room.”

Gu Mingxi didn’t respond, so Pang Qian continued, “But I didn’t give him an answer yet. I wanted to ask you first. Gu Mingxi, what do you think?”

For some reason, Gu Mingxi felt a bit happy. He asked expectantly, “Why didn’t you agree to it?”

Pang Qian answered very seriously, “Because I think 260 dollars is too expensive.”

Gu Mingxi, “…”

Pang Qian pouted and said, “Gu Mingxi, what do you think? Should I call my dad’s friend again and have him help us reserve a place?”

“No, don’t call him. That will leave a bad impression [of us] on him.” Gu Mingxi thought about it carefully, and finally said, “Don’t trouble Xie Yi either. I’ll think of something.”

Pang Qian asked, “What are you going to do?”

“I’m not sure if it will work. Let’s go out and I’ll make a call to try.”

They left the noodle shop and found a public phone near a small shop. Pang Qian helped Gu Mingxi dial the number to his house, then she held the the phone up to his ear.

He tilted his head to cradle the phone between his head and shoulders. After a moment, the call went through. Gu Mingxi said, “Mom, it’s me, Mingxi. Is Dad at home?”

Pang Qian listened to his call off to the side. Gu Mingxi’s words were very organized. He explained the situation with just a few words, with a few lies thrown in. He said that Sun Mingfang and Jian Zhe had gone home early.

They exchanged words back and forth, and then Gu Mingxi smiled, an excited look crossing his face. “Thanks, Dad! Then Pang Qian and I will wait at the entrance to the convention center. The address is x.x.xxx.”

“…”

“Okay. Bye, Dad.”

Pang Qian helped him hang up the phone. After paying, she asked curiously, “Who’s coming?”

“One of my dad’s good friends in Shanghai. My dad said that he’s going to call the man, and then he’ll come help us set up a hotel, somewhere nearby.”

Pang Qian cried out excitedly, “Really?!”

They waited in front of the convention hall, sitting side by side on the steps leading to the doors, avoiding the sun. Pang Qian fed Gu Mingxi some cola, and then showed him all her plunders from the morning. She talked to him excitedly about the origins of her hand drawn picture.

About half an hour later, a middle-aged man rushed over. He looked around the entrance, his eyes skimming over Gu Mingxi several times, though never stopping on him. Gu Mingxi stared at him a long while, then he stood up and walked over to him. Pang Qian quickly followed him, and heard Gu Mingxi say, “Excuse me, are you Uncle Lin?”

Lin Weibin turned around to see Gu Mingxi, and was extremely surprised. He asked hesitatingly, “You…are Gu Guoxiang’s son?”

Gu Mingxi smiled at him, “Mm, my name is Gu Mingxi. h.e.l.lo, Uncle Lin.”

Lin Weibin looked over Gu Mingxi. A young boy whose hair was covered in sweat, his face slightly red from exposure to the sub. Taking a close look at his facial features, he did resemble Gu Guoxiang. His gaze lowered to his shoulders, carrying a large backpack. Next to the wide straps, there hung two empty t-s.h.i.+rt sleeves. When he spoke or made a slight movement, the empty sleeves would swing about.

Lin Weibin couldn’t help but ask once more with emphasis, “Are you really Gu Guoxiang’s son? Are you his elder or younger son?”

Gu Mingxi stared for a moment, then responded, “My dad only has one son.”

Lin Weibin opened his mouth as he wiped away the sweat on his forehead, “Oh, sorry. Although I’ve known your father for nearly ten years, I’ve never met your mother or you. You should have contacted me yesterday when you arrived in Shanghai. I would have taken you out for a meal.”

Gu Mingxi smiled embarra.s.sed, “Yesterday, we were with our friends. Uncle, sorry to trouble you today. It’s your day off and you still have to help us.”

Lin Weibin quickly said, “It’s not a trouble at all. Aiya, when Engineer Gong comes, he helps us all a lot. I’m very happy that his son has come to visit Shanghai!”

Lin Weibin drove Gu Mingxi and Pang Qian to a nearby 4 star hotel and helped them reserve a standard room. He got their room key and led them up the elevator. He spoke about how he and Gu Guoxiang had met and what they usually did when they met up.

“Every time your dad comes to Shanghai, he’ll call me out for a drink. We’re really good friends. He’s even come to my house for dinner before,” Lin Weibin said. “Don’t blame me for not recognizing you. When your father talks about you, he talks about how outstanding you are at school, that you test 1st in the grade, that your drawing won an award. How could I have imagined that…”

Pang Qian couldn’t stop herself from interjecting, “Gu Mingxi is the 1st in our grade. He always is, after every test.”

Gu Mingxi pursed his lips, without a sound. Lin Weibin continued, “That’s even more difficult then. Little Gu, how did this happen? Your father never mentioned it to any of us that something happened to you. Was it from the transformer incident when you were younger?”

“Mm,” Gu Mingxi said quietly. “When I was 6 years old.”

“That was many years ago!”

“Nine years,” Gu Mingxi said with a smile.

Lin Weibin sighed, then asked, “Nine years… Then, are you used to it now?”

“It’s alright. I can take care of myself.” Then shyly, “But of course there are things I can’t do on my own, and I need someone to help.”

Lin Weibin frowned as he looked at him. His eyes had some doubt as he asked, “Then… Do you have a younger sister?”

Gu Mingxi looked at his eyes, and gradually understood his meaning. He considered how to word it, then said, “My parents decided to have another kid, but they haven’t had one yet.”

“Oh, oh,” Lin Weibin said with understanding. “Engineer Gu is 40 years old this year, a year younger than me. He’s still young, still young. He’s so outstanding, of course he should have another child. And having another one isn’t considered exceeding the birth limits, right? With your condition, your parents can still have another child, right?”

Gu Mingxi nodded, then answered calmly, “Right. Since I have a certificate of disability, they can have another child, and it won’t be considered exceeding the birth limit.”

Lin Weibin started talking about the unreasonableness of the Family Planning Policy (one child policy). For example, in his case. Like Gu Guoxiang, he was an employee of a large state-owned enterprise. He’s risen through the rank to get there. If he were to break the policy, he would either be demoted or directly dismissed. And he would even have to pay heavy fines.

Pang Qian was extremely angry listening to this, but since he was Gu Guoxiang’s friend, she knew to hold back her anger, and she didn’t released her anger onto him.

The elevator arrived to their floor, and Lin Weibin swiped the room card to unlock their room door. Pang Qian stared in surprise when she saw the room. She’d never stayed in a starred hotel before, so she could never expect how luxurious the inside of the room would be.

Lin Weibin spoke quietly to Gu Mingxi for a bit. In the end, Gu Mingxi said that is wasn’t early, and mentioned that he and Pang Qian had to return to the comic convention. When Lin Weibin invited them out for dinner, Gu Mingxi declined.

Lin Weibin saw that Gu Mingxi had no arms, so he wondered if the child could even feed himself. By declining his offer for dinner, his suspicion was confirmed. Gu Mingxi was Gu Guoxiang’s son after all. Lin Weibin couldn’t bear to see him make a spectacle of himself.

He sent the two kids back to the convention center, then left after giving them a few words. After he left, Pang Qian’s face fell down. Angrily, she told Gu Mingxi, “The way that man talked was so hateful. Your dad’s known him for ten years, why didn’t he ever tell him about you? He looked so surprised. It was so annoying.”

Gu Mingxi and Pang Qian walked back into the exhibition area with their afternoon tickets. He said indifferently, “Actually, probably none of my dad’s friends know about it.”

Pang Qian was very surprised, “Why?”

“Who would bring that sort of things up? My son is disabled, he’s missing his arms,” Gu Mingxi joked. “Those people wouldn’t ever see me. My dad would definitely only talk about praiseworthy things.”

Pang Qian thought for a moment, and figured that that really was probably how things were.

Gu Guoxiang never brought Gu Mingxi out to play. When he had business trips in the summer, he was allowed to bring his son along, but he never did.

Pang Qian still wanted to discuss this, but Gu Mingxi advised her, “Our sleeping accommodations are taken care of now, so you don’t have to worry about it. Let’s just have fun this afternoon.”

Pang Qian stared at him. Gu Mingxi was smiling, with bright, s.h.i.+ning eyes, as if he hadn’t been at all affected by Uncle Lin. So she nodded her head and said, “Okay!”

In the morning, Pang Qian had spent most of the time with Xie Yi. She knew that it made Gu Mingxi upset, so in the afternoon, she only went to greet Xie Yi. Then she spent the rest of her time strolling around, visiting different exhibit halls with Gu Mingxi.

There were many things that Gu Mingxi had already seen in the morning, but he happily walked along with Pang Qian through them again. In the drawing compet.i.tion area, they were having a 10 minute sketching contest. Pang Qian desperately encouraged Gu Mingxi to partic.i.p.ate. Since he couldn’t compete with her, he ended up partic.i.p.ating in the contest.

The compet.i.tion area had no chairs, so all the compet.i.tors were standing next to tables to draw. Only Gu Mingxi stood very straight, his left leg planted firmly on the ground, his right foot up on the table drawing.

He attracted many people’s attentions, but Gu Mingxi was very calm. He lifted his head up to see the excited Pang Qian over on the side, and used her as his model to draw a cartoon girl.

At the end of the compet.i.tion, Gu Mingxi was awarded 3rd place. He won a hardcover notebook. Pang Qian leaped for joy in happiness.

Pang Qian brought Gu Mingxi over to the hall where artists were signing things. The artists rotated out to sign for the fans. Pang Qian looked at the long line of people, and then said to Gu Mingxi, “I think that one day, you’ll be sitting there to sign things for people.”

Gu Mingxi looked at her in surprise. Pang Qian opened her palms, where she held that picture, the picture of her. She said, “Gu Mingxi, look. Your drawing is so amazing. In the future, you’ll definitely become really, really famous. The line of people waiting for your autograph will be really, really long, extending all the way to the street outside.”

Gu Mingxi smiled and said calmy, “Mm, I’ll do my best.”

Then they bought a few souvenirs. Gu Mingxi picked out some art supplies. Pang Qian, on the other hand, bought several comics. In the evening, the people in the convention center decreased. Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi had gotten a bunch of things. They went to say goodbye to Xie Yi and got ready to leave.

They hadn’t expected that Xie Yi would have left already. His friends said he left, but they didn’t know where he went to.

“Will he show up to tomorrow’s compet.i.tion?” Pang Qian asked.

“The cosplay compet.i.tion?” The boy shook his head. “Probably not. Xiao Xie has always been kind of childish like that. He goes whenever he feels likes it. He’s just in it to play for fun. When he doesn’t want to play anymore, he just turns around and leaves.”

Pang Qian stood there distracted, feeling extremely disappointed.

She and Gu Mingxi returned to their hotel room to rest a bit. When the sky started getting dark, the two of them went out to forage for food.

Gu Mingxi relied on his memory and took Pang Qian to ride the train to the City G.o.d Temple. He treated her to the famous Nanxiang xiaolongbao (dumpings). Pang Qian ate a lot. Carrying her bulging belly, she took a stroll with Gu Mingxi. They walked to the bund at Renmin Road.

It was their second night in Shanghai, and Pang Qian finally got an sense of what it meant to be an international metropolis. She looked at the spectacular nightscape across the Huangpu River. Being so near to the Oriental Pearl Tower, little Pang Qian felt rather intoxicated.

She’d already forgotten about the fear and anxiety that she felt yesterday, when she first arrived to a foreign land. At that moment, her heart was filled with excitement and pride. She felt like a grown up. Look, she had taken the train. She’d taken the subway. Following their plan, she had gone to the comic convention. She’d also gone to the City G.o.d Temple and eaten the famous xiaolongbao. Now she was at the legendary bund. Gu Mingxi even said that they would follow the bund all the way to Nanjing Road.

The view outside was really gorgeous. The Huangpu River was flowing calmly, and the ambient lighting around it was like a movie, completely enchanting. And there was also all the contemporary buildings against the skyline. The 14 year old Pang Qian couldn’t come up with the words to describe her excitement. She could only look around greedily, and dancingly expressed her thoughts to Gu Mingxi.

The bund was very noisy and crowded. She Shanghai night sky was still grey, but the crescent moon was hanging in the sky. Unsure of when, but Pang Qian had calmed down. Her hands were tucked behind her, her feet stepping around. Occasionally, she would step back and stand next to Gu Mingxi, tilting her head and smiling at him.

A breeze brushed by the air at her ear. She had on a pink t-s.h.i.+rt and white capri pants. She was dressed like any ordinary girl. But Gu Mingxi felt that her eyes were even brighter than the Oriental Pearl across the Huangpu River.

Seeing her bright smile, a song suddenly floated into his head.

The summer night’s evening breeze
blows at you in my arms
Your hair inflates
and swings and twirls around me
The moon hangs in the sky,
bound fo your feelings
The breeze that carries your scent
is the love that I am waiting for
The love of a summer evening’s breeze
A lonely heart’s love
A love that is still waiting…