The Early Spring - Chapter 16

Chapter 16 - Boring Intimacy

Shang Zhitao sent the meeting minutes to Luan Nian, followed by a text message: "Hello, Luke. The meeting minutes have been sent to your inbox. Please review them."

Ten minutes later, Luan Nian replied with a text: "What were you doing earlier?" Luan Nian's meaning was crystal clear: since she knew the minutes needed to be sent, she should have given a heads-up. Why hadn't she sent them and confirmed everything yesterday?

"It was too late yesterday. I was afraid of disturbing your rest."

"Good working habits have nothing to do with whether it's early or late."

"Thank you for your guidance. I've made a note of it."

Luan Nian frowned slightly, tossed his phone aside, and continued confirming other work matters with Grace.

"This evening, we need to go with the client to the factory in Shunde to follow up on the client's products and folk spokesperson details. Once the basic information is clear, we can put together the first draft of the creative concept," Grace explained, outlining her schedule. "However, the client's schedule is tight, and I'll need a helper once we get there. Can we have Lumi come with us? I've collaborated with her a few times before—she's sharp-tongued and can hold her own against clients."

"Alright. Bring Flora along too," Luan Nian added.

"Sure. We all really like her. She's always smiling and very capable." Shang Zhitao had approached Grace twice; she was humble and easy to communicate with, and Grace felt that talking to her required zero effort.

Capable?

Luan Nian glanced at Grace and said nothing more.

"Then we'll leave at four this afternoon. Luke isn't coming with us?"

"I'm not going. I have matters to attend to."

Luan Nian stayed at the hotel to handle work, and he went out in the early evening. He rarely had the chance to visit Guangzhou, and he had a very special friend here. There was a small dance studio in Gangding. When Luan Nian arrived, the children were still in class. He stood by the doorway watching for a while. Zang Yao, just like before, had her hair tied up in a neat bun at the back of her head, exposing her smooth, clean forehead. In the middle of a spin, she spotted Luan Nian standing at the entrance, and the corners of her mouth lifted into a strikingly beautiful smile.

A feast for the eyes.

If anyone asked Luan Nian who he thought the most beautiful woman was, his friends would undoubtedly answer for him: Zang Yao, of course! Did one even need to ask?

Luan Nian patiently waited by the doorway, watching Zang Yao dance.

He didn't have many friends. Back in China, there was only Tan Mian, along with two good buddies in America whom he saw a few times a year. Aside from them, there was Zang Yao. They had known each other for ten years. From eighteen to twenty-eight, that covered quite a lengthy stretch of life's journey.

Tan Mian had once asked him, "Haven't you and Zang Yao ever hooked up?"

Luan Nian would never answer that question. There was always something missing between him and Zang Yao. As for what it was, he couldn't put his finger on it.

Zang Yao stepped out of the classroom and walked over to him with a smile. "Why are you so early? I need to go shower and change my clothes."

"Take your time. Go ahead."

Zang Yao stepped a bit closer to Luan Nian, her face breaking into a radiant smile. "You look pretty good. It seems this latest breakup still didn't deal you a fatal blow."

"You sure like to meddle," Luan Nian tapped her on the head. "Go on. We'll grab a drink afterward."

"Alright, wait for me." Zang Yao turned and trotted away, the ballet skirt she wore fluttering in a very pretty manner.

Zang Yao treated Luan Nian to rooftop barbecue near the studio, and the two of them sat up on the roof, letting Guangzhou's humid, salty evening breeze wash over them.

"I'm thinking of setting off for my next stop," Zang Yao told Luan Nian as she gnawed on an oyster.

"Where's the next stop?"

"I was thinking, maybe I'll go to Guiyang. Guangzhou is too hot, and Guiyang is cool—refreshing Guiyang," Zang Yao said, lifting her draft beer mug with a raised pinky finger. "Though I suppose Guiyang doesn't have any of your company's clients?"

"There are two."

"Then can you still come visit me?"

"I can."

Zang Yao set her beer mug down and tapped her fingertips against the back of Luan Nian's hand. "How come you broke up again?"

"Boring."

"You think women are boring?"

"No. Intimate relationships are boring."

"So you're just going to stay single forever? Not fulfill your physiological needs?"

Luan Nian shrugged. "I don't know."

Luan Nian hated being reined in. He couldn't fathom why women, once they entered a relationship, always felt the compulsive need to restrict you—what time you came home, who you were with, whether you were replying to another woman's messages. While they were taking their stroll, he asked Zang Yao, "Would you care about which female acquaintances are in your boyfriend's contact list?"

"Why on earth would I care? He should be the one sweating bullets over me," Zang Yao said with a look of utter disbelief. "Insecure women are the ones who want to keep men on a leash; confident women have men chasing after them." Having said that, she paused thoughtfully, then turned to Luan Nian. "You hate being reined in—maybe it's because you don't love enough."

"Has psychological counseling begun?" Luan Nian asked her.

"Don't, I wouldn't dare." Zang Yao swept her long hair to one side, exposing the graceful curve of her neck, and giggled as she said, "You don't have a psychological disorder. Your root problem is simply that you're too arrogant."

"I'm arrogant?"

"Aren't you? Didn't you once say most of your colleagues are idiots?"

"I take that back. The only reason I said that was because I hadn't yet witnessed a truly genuine idiot."

... Shang Zhitao sneezed.

"I thought you took that back because you realized your own flaws. Tell me, aren't you especially vicious with your tongue?"

"If speaking the truth counts as vicious, then I plead guilty."

Zang Yao didn't know what to do with him; she couldn't win an argument against him. "What day are you heading back?"

"Friday night."

"Then how about having dinner with my boyfriend tomorrow?"

"No. I don't have time."

"Why don't you like my boyfriend?"

"Should I like him?"

Zang Yao's boyfriend was a guitar player who looked somewhat sickly. Luan Nian wasn't particularly fond of that type—not because of his posture, but simply because he looked all skin and bones like a telephone pole, yet spoke with an intensely radical fervor.

"If you don't like him, you don't like him. I'm heading off to Guiyang soon anyway."

"He's not going with you?"

"He isn't. A wealthy old Guangzhou local can't live without clay-pot porridge and herbal tea."

"Aren't you also a wealthy Boston girl? Why wander all over the place?"

"Money is just endless..." Zang Yao murmured lightly, sounding as though she were showing off, yet tinged with a hint of melancholy. Luan Nian understood her sorrow and offered a soft word of comfort: "Don't be like that."

"Oh."

Zang Yao let out a long sigh, leaning against the riverside railing as she gazed out into the distance. She had half a mind to ask Luan Nian: once she left Guangzhou, would it be okay if she went to Beijing? Beijing wasn't all that hot either, and Beijing had him. But she didn't dare ask.

She felt that her current dynamic with Luan Nian was probably the best state they could possibly have—stepping an inch further or pulling an inch back wouldn't work. She had even thought about whether she should just grab Luan Nian, get him to drink heavily, and once they were both drunk, strip off their clothes and do everything that needed doing; perhaps that would break this bizarre stalemate.

Yet they were the exact same kind of people.

Neither of them was willing to lower their head in a romantic relationship.

"So, are you interested in any women lately?"

"No."

"Then what are you interested in lately?"

"Work."

"Liars." Zang Yao let out a soft laugh.

"?" Luan Nian looked at her.

Zang Yao shook her head. "Never mind, it has nothing to do with me." She took a few light, skipping steps forward. "Are you going to walk me home?"

"Alright."

The two of them walked from the Pearl River toward Zang Yao's place. Every now and then, groups of two or three foreign men stood along the roadside. "Try not to go out alone at night," Luan Nian advised her.

"I'm a total homebody, you know that." As they passed a small puddle, Zang Yao caught the sleeve of Luan Nian's jacket to hop across it, adding as if casually, "If the two of us reach thirty and still aren't married, we might as well just make do and settle down together."

"I don't make do."

In Luan Nian's mind, settling down in marriage was a tragedy. He would rather never marry than settle. He silently escorted Zang Yao to her building entrance, refusing to go upstairs. "Go on up. See you next time."

"I might very well come visit you too."

"You're welcome to."

Zang Yao stepped forward, slipped her arms around Luan Nian's back, and gave him a gentle pat. "I'll miss you."

"Take care."

Luan Nian watched until Zang Yao made it safely upstairs, then took out his phone and saw several missed calls from Shang Zhitao.

"What is it?"

"Luke, I'm terribly sorry. Grace left some documents in your room, and it's too late for a courier, so she asked me to come back and pick them up so I can bring them to Shunde first thing tomorrow morning."

"Wait for me at the hotel."

Hanging up the phone, Luan Nian saw a message from Grace containing a very sincere apology. She knew Luan Nian had zero tolerance for low-level mistakes like this.

"Watch it next time."

Getting out of the car, Luan Nian saw Shang Zhitao waiting by the hotel entrance, standing as ramrod straight as a delinquent student awaiting a teacher's reprimand. Luan Nian said nothing as he walked past her. Shang Zhitao silently trailed behind him into the elevator. The feeling was surreal: she was clearly just here to fetch documents, not to sleep with him, so why was she so nervous?

Yet nervous she was.

A single man and a single woman riding an elevator together late at night, heading to one of their rooms—if this were a story, the plot would be turning quite ambiguous right about now. Shang Zhitao's young mind couldn't help running wild with stray thoughts: Could this be how a woman makes a meteoric rise in the corporate world?

Following Luan Nian out of the elevator, she automatically stopped right outside his door and waited. Luan Nian searched his room for a long time without finding the documents Grace had mentioned, so he called out to Shang Zhitao from inside, "Get in here."

"Huh? That's not very appropriate, is it?" Shang Zhitao's mind was still replaying the rest of that hypothetical story—the kind of tale unfit for polite company. It was only a fleeting thought, yet it smelled richly and scandalously of temptation.

Are you out of your mind! A burst of unholy irritation flared up in Luan Nian. He strode to the door, grabbed Shang Zhitao by the wrist, and yanked her straight inside. "Go find it!" Paying no heed to her soft gasp of surprise, he turned and stood guard by the doorway.

Her wrist felt scorched by the heat of his palm, and she glared daggers at his back: I have a temper too, you know! But Luan Nian didn't see that look; he was facing the hallway with the absolute air of a righteous gentleman.

When it came to searching for things, most men—even Luan Nian—were utterly useless. Within three minutes of stepping inside, Shang Zhitao spotted the documents tucked right inside the middle compartment of Luan Nian's laptop bag. As she walked toward the door, she caught sight of Luan Nian's clothes hanging in the wardrobe. His taste was truly exceptional.

"Found it, Luke. Sorry to bother you so late."

"What were you just thinking about?"

"Huh?"

"Just now, standing right there—what were you thinking about?"