I thought I had met a sweet and lovely woman. That was all, but now she has casually shown me the sword behind her back.

  She looked at me again, seeming a bit hesitant, biting her lip, and continued: "Your T-shirt is a good brand, your pants are new too, but your shoes are very old and cheap. This shows that you come from an ordinary family and are frugal by nature. You must have earned some money recently helping your supervisor with a project and came to travel, right? But..." She paused, staring straight into my eyes: "Your girlfriend is very pretty, dressed simply like you, its clear that her family background is similar to yours. However, she doesnt have a single new piece of clothing or shoes on her. Some people only care about buying things for themselves, showing off and being flashy, but dont buy anything for her. Hmph..."

  I was stunned. I never expected her to say that. Wu Miaos image flashed through my mind, and I had to admit that I hadnt paid attention to what she was wearing at all. Recently, I finally had some spare money on hand, and apart from setting aside the necessities for living, I sent everything else to my mother. But my mother is frugal by nature, and has always been nagging me about saving up a dowry for her. Maybe she just cant bear to spend it. I hadnt noticed that both she and Wu Miao were wearing several years worth of the cheapest old clothes.

  I said: "Have you had enough?"

  She glared at me, seemingly sensing that I was also getting angry. She slowly took a step back and shifted her body towards the door, as if ready to run away at any moment. She said: "Sir, dont think Im trying to pry into your private life, I have no interest in that. I just happened to see an injustice and lent a helping hand. You didnt expect that a stranger like me could make a simple judgment about your life through just a few words, did you? Just like the book you threw away, you probably havent even read it carefully, right? How do you know its not a great book that touches peoples hearts? That book was even ranked number one on the bestseller list for 8 weeks in a row! You called it garbage and nonsense just because youre too full of yourself!"

  I was stunned for a moment, and didnt quite follow the turn in her words. She turned around and walked towards the room, saying as she went: "So, you can see that youre not really concerned about your girlfriend at all, just assuming shes watching trash. You dont understand or respect her at all."

  You may be poor, hardworking, self-disciplined, intelligent and ambitious. But you took her out to travel, and all you talk about is academic performance, comprehensive ability, social competition. Youre a person who does everything with a strong sense of purpose.

  A word of advice: one should not live with too much purpose or be overly self-centered. Otherwise, when you gain more things in the future, you will inevitably lose even more. Moreover, what you lose will be the things you cherish most, and by then it will be too late for regrets!

  My heart suddenly felt like it had been pricked by a needle. I looked at the womans proud back and wanted to grab her back. Wanting to explain, yet not wanting to explain.

  "Shes not my girlfriend," I heard myself say indifferently. "Shes my own sister."

  She stopped in her tracks, seemingly a bit embarrassed as well, but still stuck out her neck and said: "Same to you!"

  She scolded me like that and then went into the house. I sat alone on the balcony. After a while, I looked down at my watch and it was already 5:20.

  I went to Wu Miaos room, she was still doing the fourth-grade questions, frowning and biting her pen. I patted her head and said: "Go eat." She immediately threw away her pen and cheered: "Oh yeah!"

  I let Wu Miao go into the dining hall first. I stood alone at the entrance of the dining hall.

  The sky gradually darkened and it started raining. The rain came suddenly, pounding against the top of the boat and the deck with a loud clatter. I leaned against the passageway, guarding the entrance to the dining hall, when I suddenly realized that I didnt even know her name.

  Later, I never knew her name again.