If a Rapper Says Sweet Nothings

In 2020, in Beijing, I met a girl who was a year older than me. She thought it was our first time meeting. She thought I was a pretty cool younger guy, and she became interested in me. Naturally, I accepted her friend request. The reason was simple: she had a great figure.

She liked hearing me call her "Sis." Especially in bed. I'm pretty traditional about some things. For example, if I sleep with someone, I have to take responsibility. For example, by marrying her.

With that in mind, in that snow cabin in Finland, I didn't do any of the things a normal man and woman would do in that kind of atmosphere. I had to give my girl time, so she could be sure that being with me and sleeping with me weren't just impulsive decisions.

In the apartment near Qingbei, we had sex for the first time in our lives, and it happened naturally. The next morning, I wanted to bring up marriage, but she'd flown to Switzerland. She had no idea how I spent that week waiting for her. The day she returned to China, one of my buddies happened to be confessing his feelings to her best friend. I thought girls were easily swept up in that kind of atmosphere.

I brought up marriage with utmost seriousness.

She turned me down as casually as could be. She gave me just three words: "Stop messing around."

Truthfully, I expected her to say no, but I never expected her to dismiss me with just those three words. She couldn't even be bothered to humor me.

"What do you mean, I'm not part of your plans?" I asked her. She didn't answer. She slammed the door and left. I lit a cigarette and thought it through. If she didn't need me to take responsibility, why was I making such a big deal of it?

But a few days later, at a dinner, a friend asked me, "If it were some other girl who'd slept with you, would you be such a gentleman and marry her too?"

I answered without a moment's hesitation. "She's the only one who gets to sleep with me."

From Lu Bingyu's memoirs.

Theme: Some people will always love niche cultures