Red Balloon 《紅色氣球》 Hong Se Qi Qiu
Red Balloon, Chapter 1: Divorce
In the dark night, Xia Zhi Chen held a gun and slowly walked to the mirror. He looked at himself in the mirror as if he were the version of the 17 year old self. He slowly raised his gun and pointed to himself in the mirror.
When Xia Zhi Chen woke up, he was sweating, his vision became clear and his surroundings became familiar. Fortunately, everything he experienced was a nightmare.
"Ding Dong..."
The cell phone suddenly vibrated, bringing his thoughts back to real life.
"Don't forget to go to the studio for a family picture at two in the afternoon."
It turned out to be a message sent by Fang Shi Lan, his wife. Xia Zhi Chen remembered that his wife seemed to mention that she would take his daughter to take a family photo together. He got up quickly and was ready to rush there.
When Xia Zhi Chen arrived, it was just two o'clock. His wife was playing with her daughter in this rather stylish photography studio. Her daughter came to the new environment and jumped around. Maybe she wanted to take photos with her parents and that made her very happy.
At this time, the assistant photographer handed him a cup of coffee. "Hello, Mr. Xia. The photographer will be here soon."
“Thank you." Xia Zhi Chen had a strange intuition that something was going to happen today. He was a little nervous and frowned staring at the coffee. He didn't drink it.
Suddenly someone patted him on the shoulder. He looked back, as if he had come back to the that summer, the classroom, and the moment he turned around at the age of 17 and saw Li Xiang Wan's brilliant smile.
...
“You don't want to learn to take pictures?" Li Xiang Wan was a little curious in asking Xia Zhi Chen.
Xia Zhi Chen smiled, “You can teach me."
"Let me take a picture for you." Li Xiang Wan aimed at Xia Zhi Chen, who smiled wide in the sun.
If time can go backwards, Xia Zhi Chen hoped to stay in the year when he was 17 years old forever, together with Li Xiang Wan.
Xia Zhi Chen took her daughter to the room and hugged her. Suddenly he saw that his daughter's nails were a little long. He took out his nail clipper and gently cut them for her.
"Dong Dong......"
Fang Shi Lan tapped on the door of the room, drawing Xia Zhi Chen's attention. "I've seen it," he said with a slightly serious look.
“Then let's go to the living room." Xia Zhi Chen put away the nail clipper. They didn't want their daughter to hear what they were talking about.
"I didn't put the share of the office in these documents. I made a new one. Have a look." Xia Zhi Chen took out another document and handed it to Fang Shi Lan.
"I don't need look, I'm sure you'll handle it well." Fang Shi Lan signed the divorce agreement and looked very lonely. She handed the signed divorce agreement to Xia Zhi Chen.
Xia Zhi Chen is a lawyer himself, and Fang Shi Lan believes that he will not treat himself badly.
"At the beginning of this second, we are all free. Let's celebrate."
Freedom, these two words are really, very important for Xia Zhi Chen. He really waited a long time for this.
Fang Shi Lan took out a bottle of red wine and pours it on glasses for herself and Xia Zhi Chen. She raises her glass, “To our perfect and false marriage."
The world thought they were a harmonious and happy couple. Fang Shi Lan had a good feeling for this serious and mature man when she entered Xia Zhi Chen's law firm, but she was refused several times whenn she tried to have a thing with Xia Zhi Chen. When she was discouraged and wanted to give up, he unexpectedly proposed to her. At that time, she was too happy to say anything, and suddenly felt that all of these had happened and she felt that this was ridiculous.
For all this has now ended, her face was full of unwillingness, but she knew that there were some things even if one in unwilling and there was no way to continue.
She poured herself as much as she could, when Xia Zhi Chen stopped her and warned, “That’s too much."
She gave Xia Zhi Chen a cold stare, “These are less than the flukes in my life." Then she grabbed a large glass of red wine and drank it.
Fang Shi Lan held back tears and spoke with a crying voice. “You should have told me earlier. When I asked you if you knew him well, I should have noticed something wrong."
Today, when taking photos in the studio, Fang Shi Lan thought that it was not the first time that the photographer and his husband had met each other. She thought it was just like past friends meeting at first sight, and now she thought it was his carelessness.
"A year, Xia Zhi Chen, do you know what I went through? This year, every minute, every second, I'm thinking about what I did wrong. How can I make you change your mind? But today, when I saw you and him, I finally understand why you didn't like to touch me so much for so many years." Fang Shi Lan continued to drink. In her words, she felt so grudging and helpless.
Xia Zhi Chen seemed more helpless than her, "I... I'm really sorry, I'm just not fit for marriage, OK?” He felt like Fang Shi Lan was talking nonsense. He filed for divorce a year ago, but Fang Shi Lan didn't agree with him all that time. They started to live separately. After taking photos today, she suddenly said she agreed to divorce. Xia Zhi Chen, though a little happy, felt a little strange, didn't think much about it...
"Ah," said Fang Shi Lan, holding her slightly dizzy forehead, “You don't have to apologize. I should be the one who apologized..."
“You're drunk." Xia Zhi Chen didn't want to continue this kind of unintelligible conversation.
Fang Shi Lan patted the table gently and looked at Xia Zhi Chen carefully. "I'm not drunk. Today is the best time to confess..."
"What do you mean?" Xia Zhi Chen was puzzled.
Fang Shi Lan took out a bunch of photos. "I hired a detective to follow you. Do you know, the detective told me, your husband is really boring. He walks the same road every day, works out at the same time, reads the same newspaper, drinks the same coffee, and laughs at the same column. But one day every month, he will drive from Taipei to Taichung, and he will go back to his former high school... Going there, he will do nothing, just sit there and stare at the playground."
Speaking of this, Fang Shi Lan sighed, "I used to have a knot that I couldn't crack. Today I finally know the reason. I didn't care when I found this picture before. Now I finally know why you hid it."
A year ago, after the death of Xia Zhi Chen's father, Xia Zhi Chen began to separate from Fang Shi Lan. Fang Shi Lan really didn't understand why her husband, who was always gentle, suddenly asked for a divorce.
She left the photo in front of Xia Zhi Chen, the two teenagers in the photo, green sunshine, both laughing so happily.
Fang Shi Lan seldom sees Xia Zhi Chen smile to others, and his sincere smile is even less.
When Fang Shi Lan stole out this photo and looked at it carefully, she felt that the other person in the hairstyle photo has the same eyebrows and eyes as the photographer.
Xia Zhi Chen stared at the photo. He was silent. The photo was his only precious object for so many years. If he didn't have this photo, he probably doesn't know how he will survive to get to this day here.
Today, at the moment when he saw Li Xiang Wan in the studio, his heart told him that he still couldn't escape his love for Li Xiang Wan for so many years.
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