Читать книгу Hector and the Search for Happiness - Francois Lelord - Страница 11

BY the end of the meal, Édouard looked very cheerful indeed, but apparently this wasn’t enough for him because he insisted on taking Hector to another place.

‘You must get to know China!’ he said, although Hector wondered whether the type of places Édouard liked going to, like that restaurant, were the real China. He would have preferred to go back to the hotel and write down what he had learnt about happiness, but since Édouard was his friend he agreed to go where he proposed.

At the entrance was a very tall, very smartly dressed Chinese man wearing an earpiece. When he saw Édouard, he winked at him.

Inside was like a very big bar with soothing music and very soft lighting, and quite a few men like Hector and Édouard – that’s to say not only Chinese men. Hector immediately noticed that there were some Chinese women as pretty as the ones in the films, and some of them were so pretty that it almost hurt to look at them. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. They were talking to the men like Hector and Édouard, who also seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Édouard ordered a bottle of white wine, which was placed in an ice bucket on the bar next to them. Almost immediately, a pretty Chinese lady came up to speak to Édouard. They must have known each other quite well because she laughed at all Édouard’s jokes and from time to time she whispered things in his ear which made him laugh, too.

This was all very well, but Hector reminded himself that he was making this trip in order to learn about happiness, and he didn’t want to forget what he’d discovered during dinner.

He took out his little notebook, opened it on the bar and began writing.

He thought of all those people working very hard so that they could retire one day with six million dollars.

Lesson no. 3: Many people see happiness only in their future.

And then he thought of the people who decided mergers.

Lesson no. 4: Many people think that happiness comes from having more power or more money.

‘What are you doing?’

Hector looked up and saw the prettiest Chinese girl he’d ever seen in his life smiling at him.

Hector was quite bowled over, but managed to explain that he was taking notes in order to understand what made people happy or unhappy. The pretty Chinese girl gave a charming little laugh and Hector realised that she thought he was joking. So he began to explain a bit more about why he was taking notes and she stopped laughing and gave him a funny look, but even the funny look she gave him was charming, if you see what I mean.

Hector and the very pretty Chinese girl introduced themselves. Her name was Ying Li and she was a student.

‘What are you studying?’ asked Hector.

‘Tourism,’ replied Ying Li.

Hector could see why she came here; it was a very good way of getting to know the tourists who visited China. Ying Li asked Hector what he did for a living, and Hector told her about the people who were scared, unhappy or had strange thoughts. Ying Li seemed very interested and said that when she felt sad she went to see her friends and afterwards she felt better. Hector asked her if she’d always lived in this city, and Ying Li began telling him that she came from another part of China where the people were very poor and that she was very happy to be here. She had sisters, but they had stayed behind. Her sisters weren’t studying tourism. They worked in the sort of factory Charles had set up in China. Ying Li carried on talking to Hector, because Hector’s gift of being genuinely interested in people worked without him even knowing it.

After a while, Édouard tapped him on the shoulder. ‘Is everything okay? Are you enjoying yourself?’ Hector said that he was and that everything was okay, but he thought that enjoying himself was not at all the right expression: he felt he was in love with Ying Li.

She continued talking about her life, but Hector didn’t hear everything she said, because she was so pretty that it was hard for him to look at her and listen at the same time.

Eventually, people began leaving and they left, too. The four of them climbed into a taxi waiting outside: Édouard and his Chinese girlfriend, Ying Li, and Hector, who sat next to the driver. Édouard told the driver where to go in Chinese. They soon arrived outside Hector’s hotel, and he realised that he hadn’t asked Ying Li for her telephone number. How in God’s name would he make sure he saw her again? But he needn’t have worried, because Ying Li followed him out of the taxi, and Édouard and his Chinese girl drove off, leaving them standing alone in front of the hotel.

Hector felt a little awkward, but he told himself that a man, even a psychiatrist, should know how to act decisively, and so he took Ying Li by the hand and they walked across the hotel foyer without looking at the staff behind the front desk, and stepped into the lift. And there Ying Li kissed him.

There’s no need to say what happened next because, of course, Hector and Ying Li went to Hector’s room, where they did what people do when they’re in love, and everybody knows what that is.

When Hector woke up the next morning, he heard Ying Li singing in the bathroom. It made him very happy, despite the headache he had as a result of all the wine Édouard had ordered.

Ying Li walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, and when she saw that Hector was awake, she gave another charming little laugh.

Just then the phone rang and Hector answered. It was Édouard, who asked him if he’d had a good evening. Hector said that he had, but it was a little difficult to say any more with Ying Li standing there watching him.

‘I chose her for you,’ said Édouard, ‘I knew you’d like her. Don’t worry, it’s all taken care of.’

And suddenly Hector understood everything. And he saw that Ying Li understood that he’d understood, and she stopped smiling and looked a little sad.

Hector was also sad, but he was still nice to Ying Li and gave her a kiss on the cheek when she left, leaving him her telephone number.

He climbed back into bed and after a while he picked up his notebook. He thought for a moment then wrote:

Lesson no. 5: Sometimes happiness is not knowing the whole story.