Dong Qiangqiang's Story of Leaving Germany

Chapter 1156. Passing By

On the speeding train, Dong Qiangqiang, who was a little tired from reading, cast his eyes on the highly saturated geometric blocks of color on both sides of the railway tracks, letting his thoughts run wild in the fertile fields.

The last time he went directly from Venice to Munich was at the end of March when spring was in full bloom. He didn't expect that half a year had passed in a flash. Looking back, he has not been idle at all in the past six months since he came back from China: he started to help overseas Chinese to run furniture before returning to China, and after returning, he led student groups to travel around Europe without stopping, followed by preparations for the China Week, gathering the meager strength of overseas students to fight SARS. Even more fortunately, he made a group of new friends in the process. Through the introduction of Zheng Chunhua, he found a part-time job in the university and began to have a stable income besides investment. He took some time out of his busy schedule to arrange for the landlord to choose Le Bai to travel in China, and his father was discharged from the hospital and recovered. In the blink of an eye, it was already the examination season for the advanced stage of his master's degree. He took five exams and also had the first make-up exam in his life. When he was leading a tour group and was trapped by a flood, he accidentally rescued a child who was hiding from the water on the roof. He got to know the child's parents, the local wine merchants, and coordinated his own resources to help them sell wine to save themselves. He and his old classmates became new neighbors whom he saw every day, helped them prepare for the talks on exempting classes, helped Old Bai to organize a themed tour group, dug a pond for his German neighbors, installed broadband with great difficulty, made steady profits by going long on Volkswagen, officially opened the cicada catching business, and gained several customers, but of course he missed out on more. He seemed to have grown up, but it also seemed that everything was an illusion. Thinking of all the things that had happened in the past six months, he couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion.

The high-speed train arrived at the station soon. He changed to the light rail in a familiar way. The light rail with strange graffiti on the body slowly drove out of the train station like a giant beast coming out of a cave to look for food. Dong Qiangqiang looked out of the window. The rolling clouds occupied most of the blue sky. In the soft autumn light, the vegetation on both sides of the street showed a rich color scheme, constantly changing between grass green, gold, bright red, maroon and orange. The squirrels on the branches carefully accumulated nuts for the winter. The Baroque buildings hidden behind the streets looked particularly magnificent and solemn. The road was wide and clean. Except for the occasional dark green protective nets on both sides of the street, there was no trace of the flood. The negative impact of the flood seemed to have been eliminated long ago. The locals sitting outside the cafe flipping through the newspaper leisurely and the tourists passing by the downtown area, either quietly or laughing, were clearly distinguished. Some restaurants had long queues for some reason. People who came to Munich liked to eat and drink outdoors regardless of the season. Munich has never left Dong Qiangqiang with any stereotypes like other German cities: there are Middle Eastern-style cafes in the train station area, the Isar River and the numerous churches, countless palaces, boulevards and monuments make him feel like he is in Paris. In the west of the huge city, he can find temples with typical East Asian style, and those iconic buildings that serve as the city landscape, the Ludwig Street on the Royal Avenue, the neoclassical King's Square and the ancient buildings scattered in various districts of Munich have also become familiar to him as he has rich experience in leading tours.

About half an hour later, the light rail took him to his destination: the Munich International Conference Center.

He stepped out of the train and headed towards the modern and elegant conference center. His steps were brisk. Although he had not finished reading all the books on the teaching assistant's list, he had gained confidence after reading a few of them. Moreover, he had one day to prepare tomorrow.

Outside the main entrance of the conference center was a vast expanse of water, which instantly reminded him of Lake Mariensee in Hanover. When fountains in different locations rose into the air, the autumn breeze carrying the fresh fragrance of vegetation blew over the water, and the water droplets from the fountains were blown in all directions like dandelion seeds, and then there was a golden light on the water surface.

Because it was not yet time for the forum to officially open, the center was still closed. With the friendly reminder of the security guard, Dong Qiangqiang could only take a quick look and simply familiarize himself with the routes between the different exhibition halls in the center. The task he assigned to himself was to scout the area, and after the meeting started the day after tomorrow, he would come here to clock in every day.

The sun slowly set towards the horizon, and when the purple-pink sunset filled the sky, he felt he had it almost under control, so he called Du Lan.

He waited for almost a minute, but Du Lan didn't answer for some reason. Just as he was beginning to think about what to say in the other party's voicemail, a familiar female voice sounded in his ears.

"Hello, you haven't answered the phone for so long, what are you busy with?" He deliberately dragged out a strange tone that Du Lan didn't like, "Please do me a favor and have a meal, Teacher Du."

"You're going to Munich?" Du Lan's voice gave him a sense of emptiness, as if she was standing in some empty place. "When? Why didn't you tell me in advance?"

"I just arrived. I didn't tell you in advance because I wanted to give you a surprise." Dong Qiangqiang noticed that Du Lan used the word "go" instead of "come". He immediately realized that the other party's geographical location might have changed. He didn't bother to answer more questions and asked back in a hurry, "You're not in Munich?"

"Vienna." Du Lan's tone was full of regret. "If you had told me yesterday, I would not have accepted this tour. I had to take a make-up exam and could not come. I left last night for emergency and only arrived (Vienna) this morning. Alas..." Dong Qiangqiang did not expect to get this answer and did not know what to say for a moment. He was still thinking about having a romantic candlelight dinner with Du Lan and reporting the unofficial good news that he had passed the make-up exam.

"What about you? Didn't Mr. White send you a few tour groups to lead after you finished your make-up exam? There are a lot of domestic tour groups these days."

"You forgot I told you that there is a famous car exchange forum in Munich this week. I came here to study."

"Oh, yes, you said that, and I completely forgot about it." Du Lan woke up from her dream, "Then where are you now?"

"Munich International Conference Center. I wanted you to treat me to a meal, but it seems that won't be possible." Dong Qiangqiang said regretfully, "When will you be back?"

"It will take about a week and a half, maybe two weeks. Sorry." Du Lan said apologetically, "I had a lot of classes in the first half of the year and little work, and then there was SARS, so I don't have much money..."

Although the two are boyfriend and girlfriend and often give each other gifts, they have been financially independent since the first day of their relationship. Du Lan never asks Dong Qiangqiang for money, nor does she ask Dong Qiangqiang if he needs money. Dong Qiangqiang also understands this tacitly. They both feel that this way of dating is balanced and natural and will not cause trouble to the other party, but when the other party asks, the other party will still do their best.

"Okay, then you should pay more attention to safety," Dong Qiangqiang didn't expect that he and Du Lan would miss each other so perfectly. It's true that man proposes, God disposes. "If you are short of money, just tell me. I helped the Germans dig ponds during the holidays and earned some loose change."

Du Lan felt sorry for Dong Qiangqiang's depression, and she was also depressed. She hurried to comfort him. Dong Qiangqiang knew that she was with a lot of people and it was inconvenient to talk on the phone for a long time. She didn't say much, but said a few more words of concern. After agreeing to call again, she hung up the phone reluctantly.

Du Lan was not there, and the only acquaintances in Munich were Lu Shan and Lu Wei, a brother and sister. Dong Qiangqiang was a little worried about meeting Lu Wei, but then he thought that he had not done anything to let Lu Wei down, so there was no reason to feel guilty. So he called Lu Shan without hesitation. When he heard that Dong Qiangqiang was in Munich, Lu Shan enthusiastically asked him to meet in the city center.