The Love in That Summer
She enjoyed Strauss, KFC and Brazil Espresso, I know, she was like a busy bee in an office building in a decent grey dress suite. That was the case before she met me and all this has vanished since she fell in love with me.
Let me date back to 1997. I started my so-called business and she followed me without any reservation. That summer came very early and the flowers made a red city. We lived in a small suburb house, which was an illegal construction, with wind blowing through four sides into the house. That made our temporary home.
Just for saving money, we walked to our downtown store in the mooring, ate very simple lunch just worth 1.5 Yuan for each, and walked back home in the evening, thus we felt totally exhausted every day. We seemed to live through one whole year in such situation.
We tasted hardships and sorrows in those days. At that time, the business was my totem, while the love was her belief. These were all on which we could rely to go ahead.
One day, we walked home very late. She sat at the bed edge and washed her feet. I went to the landlord for boiled water to make instant noodles. When I came back with a thermos bottle, I found that she had fallen into a sound sleep. She kept a pose of being totally exhausted with her feet dunked in the basin. One of her arms was under her body, thus a light snore could be heard. I tiptoed to the bed with the intention of flipping her over to make her more comfortable. I gazed at her face, a young and pretty one which was filled with tiredness. On this pretty face, I found a mosquito.
That summer, the city was like a huge steamer box. We put off the time of buying a mosquito net one day after another just for saving money. I knew mosquitoes flew everywhere in our room, but it seemed nothing to me. So exhausted when lying on the bed, I doubted whether I would wake up even if someone cut a piece off my body, let alone mosquitoes bit me.
The mosquito lay on her forehead and sucked her blood greedily. She was sleeping like a baby and feeling nothing at all. Perhaps she was dreaming of our business turning better. There came a sudden throb in my heart. I reached my hands and waved, but the mosquito cared nothing about my threat. With the intention of patting it to death, I raised my hand high, but could not bear to pat down. I was afraid of waking her up — because she was so worn out.
Between her and me, a puny mosquito was harming her at the moment. I stood there woodenly with my hand in the air. I fell into conflict and worry. Suddenly, I began to detest myself deeply. On that summer night, I stood there with an extremely guilty feeling for her and our love. After the mosquito flew away, I forgave it, but I could not forgive myself.
When I passed by a peddler’s stall one day, I found a pink mosquito net priced at 16 Yuan. Many things could be done with the money at that time. Then I stayed up the whole night, waving a hardboard to keep mosquitoes from approaching her just like a guard. I acted as her temporary mosquito net. After a while, she woke up and gazed at me. Ten minutes later, tears flooded her face.
The next day a pink mosquito net hung in my room. We just kept silent when hanging it on our bed. I gave it to her as a gift, but I did not tell her my intention. I felt it was like a full-blown rose which could be regarded as my compensation for the love. But I thought that nothing could really make it up. That day was also her birthday.
Still later, there was a period of time, I got or we got 160,000 Yuan. We bought a lot of things, but we never bought a mosquito net. We did not need mosquito net any more, because no mosquito could fly into our well-decorated room. However, I always feel that all my money and belongings are far less valuable than the 16-yuan mosquito net to her or to our love.
That summer was gone. We could do nothing but love each other.
爱在那个夏天
我知道她听施特劳斯，吃肯德基，喝巴西现磨，穿着得体的灰色套裙在写字楼里自在地忙碌。但那只是以前。后来，她与我相恋，这一切便消失了。
记得是1997年。那一年，我开始了自己所谓的事业，她跟着我，义无反顾。那个夏天来得特别早，花儿染得城市一片彤红。我们住在市郊，一个属于非法建筑的小屋，四壁透风。那是我们暂时的家。
为了省钱，每天我们步行至市区的店铺，中午买两份一块五毛钱一碗的凉皮，晚上再步行回来，累得骨头散架。好像，整整一年，都是那样熬过来的。
那是一段艰苦和心酸的日子。那时，事业是我的图腾，爱情是她的信仰。那是支撑我们没有倒下去的全部。
有一次，记得很晚了，我们步行至临时的家，她坐在床沿洗脚，我去房东那里讨开水泡面。当我提着暖水瓶返回时，我发现，她已经睡着了。她保持着一种疲劳至极的姿势，两只脚仍在脸盆里泡着，人却已斜倒在床上。她的身体压着自己的一只胳膊，于是，有了轻微的鼾声。我轻轻地走过去，想翻动一下她的身躯，让她睡得更舒服。我盯着她的脸，那是一张年轻美丽的脸，此时却写满疲惫。在这张脸上，我发现了一只蚊子。
那个夏天，城市像个巨大的蒸笼，可为了省钱，我们一天天向后推着买蚊帐的时间。我知道屋里到处都是蚊子，但我好像感觉不到。那样劳累的身体，睡下了，别说蚊子，切下一块肉，我都怀疑自己能不能醒来。
蚊子趴在她的额头，贪婪地吸食着她的血。她睡得很香，毫无察觉，也许正做着生意好转的梦。我的心猛地抽搐了一下，伸出手，挥动着，但蚊子对我的恐吓并不理睬。想用手拍死它，手扬着，却不忍拍下去。我怕惊醒了她–她已经那样地疲惫。
我与她之间，有一只弱小的蚊子，此刻正对她实施着伤害。我站在那里，就那样扬着手，愣着，矛盾着，心焦着，突然间，我对自己产生出一种深深的厌恶。在那个夏天的夜晚，我站在那里。那是一种极端亏欠的感觉，对她，对爱情。蚊子飞走了，我原谅了蚊子，却不能够原谅自己。
白天经过一个小摊，我注意到一个粉色蚊帐的标签：16元。这16元在当时，可以做许多事。那天我一夜没睡，我拿着一个硬纸板挥动着，像一名士兵，不让蚊虫靠近她的身体。我成了她临时的蚊帐。后来她醒了，醒后的她盯着我看，10分钟后，我突然发现她泪流满面。
第二天，小屋里挂上了粉色的蚊帐。挂蚊帐时，我们一直没有说话。我是把蚊帐当成礼物送给她的，但我没说。我觉得那像一朵盛开的玫瑰，就算是爱情的补偿 。但我觉得，其实什么也补偿不了。那天，也是她的生日。
再后来，有一段时间，我有了16万，或者说我们有了16万，我们买了很多东西 ，却没有再买一床蚊帐。我们已经不再需要蚊帐了，装修严密的房间，已经飞不进一只蚊虫。可是，我总觉得，这些钱，这些东西，远不如那个曾经16元钱的蚊帐，对她有价值，或者说，对我们的爱情，有价值。
那个夏天过去了，我们别无选择，只能相爱。
