The Early Spring - Chapter 53

Chapter 53 - Turmoil and Defeat Without a Fight 

Later on, Shang Zhitao would travel to many places, but this one would forever remain her absolute favorite. Full of the vigor of youth, they marched forward along the mountain trail, treading the towering heights beneath their feet. Thus, the best kind of journeys are those taken with kindred spirits.

When they returned to Beijing on Sunday, they still felt a lingering excitement. Zhang Lei proposed having another meal together at home to summarize their reflections on the trip. Everyone wanted hot pot, so Sun Yu stayed home to stir-fry the broth base, Shang Zhitao and Sun Yuanzhu went to buy vegetables at the market, and Zhang Lei went to the supermarket to buy alcohol.

On the way to the market, Shang Zhitao overheard Sun Yuanzhu answering a phone call. It sounded like his father was asking him for money, and he said alright, he would go to the bank to wire the money that afternoon. Then he asked whether his father's health had improved a bit, whether his younger sister's grades were good, and if his mother was still losing hair. They were all very ordinary conversations, yet Sun Yuanzhu was gentle; those questions carried the warmth of an elder, sounding remarkably like the tone Old Shang used when calling Shang Zhitao.

She occasionally glanced at Sun Yuanzhu, his glasses reflecting a glint of light in the late-summer sunshine of Beijing.

Such an understated person had nevertheless spoken such heroic words upon seeing the sunrise: "I really want to jump into the sea of clouds."

He hung up the phone and apologized to Shang Zhitao: "Sorry about that, the call went on a bit long."

"It's no problem at all. My dad's calls to me always start at an hour minimum." Shang Zhitao let out a chuckle. The Shang family was comfortably well-off without being extravagantly wealthy; Shang Zhitao had never experienced extreme riches, nor had she suffered any real hardships. She was simply an ordinary daughter raised with tender care by an ordinary family, the kind of person who would vanish into a crowd.

"You look like you come from a very happy family," Sun Yuanzhu observed.

"Ah? How can you tell?"

"Innocent, bright-eyed girls are mostly spoiled and raised by their parents." Sun Yuanzhu turned his head and smiled at her: "So you must never let yourself suffer any grievances, or your parents will be heartbroken to death."

"I haven't suffered any grievances."

"So your relationship makes you very happy too?"

Shang Zhitao wanted to say she wasn't in a relationship, but a tiny, taut string was pulled tight within her heart—a string that must not be touched, for the slightest contact would send tremors through her entire soul. On one side of that string lay a self-respect she could never reveal to outsiders, and on the other lay a misplaced love she could never confess.

"Just... pretty average."

"Pretty average won't do. Your parents certainly don't hope your relationship is just 'pretty average.' And neither do we; we all hope your relationship is wonderful."

Shang Zhitao pressed her lips together in silence and pointed a finger at the beef and mutton stall: "Today I'm going to buy meat! Buy lots of meat!"

"Why? You don't have an easy time earning your money."

"You guys always say I don't have an easy time earning money, but I simply earn a bit less than you do; the effort we put in is exactly the same." Shang Zhitao put on a serious face to reason with Sun Yuanzhu: "Besides, I'm buying meat because I got a raise! Isn't getting a raise for the very first time in life a reason to treat everyone?"

Sun Yuanzhu nodded: "Yes, you're footing the bill today."

"So you really like the sea of clouds?" Shang Zhitao asked him.

"I really do." Sun Yuanzhu didn't hesitate.

The few of them gathered together to eat hot pot, enjoying themselves immensely. It was while she was drinking cola that Shang Zhitao suddenly thought: Had Luan Nian given away that bouquet of flowers? Did he pick them out himself? Did he offer suggestions for the packaging?

She cared more about those flowers than she did about Luan Nian. She had the courage to admit that she envied the woman who received Luan Nian's flowers.

Right in the middle of their hearty meal, she received a message from Lumi. Even in text, her excitement was palpable: "Shang Zhitao! Guess who I saw?"

"Who?"

"Luke! Remember I told you that the rundown house in my grandma's hutong was rented to a fairy?"

"I remember."

"I went back to the hutong today to haul some stuff, and I saw Luke! Carrying a bouquet of flowers! Inside my grandma's house!!"

It's a small world.

This world is truly too small.

The bouquet of flowers Shang Zhitao desired was sitting right inside Lumi grandma's house, in the hands of that fairy.

"What's the fairy's name?"

"You're such a gossip! Hahaha!" Lumi was thoroughly delighted to share this gossip with Shang Zhitao: "Zang Yao, that fairy's name is Zang Yao."

"That's nice."

Shang Zhitao thought that those flowers must have been personally selected by Luan Nian. He would have matched the colors, offered wrapping advice, and undoubtedly bought a gorgeous bouquet rarely seen on the market.

"I'd love so much to receive a bouquet of flowers." She suddenly said to Sun Yu: "Can you send me a bouquet?"

Sun Yu nearly spat out a mouthful of alcohol, quickly swallowing it and coughing twice before asking Shang Zhitao: "So from now on, our interaction model has to balance both utilitarianism and romanticism?"

Zhang Lei burst into laughter: "It's just a bunch of flowers! Give me your address, Big Brother will send you some."

"Why do you want flowers?" Sun Yu interrupted Zhang Lei to ask Shang Zhitao.

"Because all my female colleagues have received flowers, and I'm the only one who hasn't." Shang Zhitao wasn't lying; the girls at Lemei were all so pretty, and people holding bouquets were often seen waiting for them downstairs at the company. After receiving fresh flowers, the pretty girls would share them with their female colleagues, scattering romance into every corner of the office.

"Our classmate Shang Zhitao actually has a fighting spirit for once, Big Brother will send you flowers for five days straight," Zhang Lei patted his chest in a guarantee: "Different every single day."

"You're quite the expert, aren't you?" Sun Yu teased him.

Zhang Lei shrugged: "Even if I haven't eaten pork, haven't I seen a pig run?"

True to his word, Shang Zhitao received flowers on Monday morning. She carried the fresh bouquet upstairs and returned to her workstation. As usual, her female colleagues gathered around with smiles and banter: "Oho, does our little girl have a secret admirer?"

Shang Zhitao blushed, though it was out of embarrassment. Only she knew the truth behind this bouquet of flowers—it was nothing more than her own superficial pride and competitive spirit. She secretly sent a message to Zhang Lei: "I got the flowers, thanks Brother Lei."

"What? I haven't even sent any yet!"

…… Shang Zhitao froze in place. She stood up and searched through the bouquet for a card, and sure enough, there was one, inscribed with a single, simple sentence: "Wishing you a good mood."

That was it.

So who sent me a bouquet of flowers? Was it Sun Yu? She asked Sun Yu, who denied it. Then she asked Sun Yuanzhu, and Sun Yuanzhu denied it as well.

The next day, the bouquet arrived right on schedule.

The third day, the fourth day, the fifth day—it never stopped.

Having received flowers for five consecutive days, Shang Zhitao suddenly became the most envied female colleague in the company. When she went to the pantry to fill her water glass, she ran into Tracy, who even walked right up to her side, smiling as she asked: "Girl, seeing someone? Your boyfriend is quite the romantic."

Shang Zhitao nodded, then shook her head. She wanted to say she had no idea who sent them, but seeing Luan Nian happen to walk past, she merely smiled at Tracy.

Shang Zhitao didn't know she had entered a bizarre loop. Her heart had been thrown into total turmoil and robbed of peace because of Luan Nian; she wanted to compare herself, wanting whatever others had. She didn't know what exactly she was competing against—perhaps she simply refused to lose too ugly, or to put it bluntly and directly: What you couldn't give me, someone else will.

On Friday evening, she carried the flowers into the elevator and spotted Luan Nian downstairs just as he finished meeting a client. She politely greeted him: "Hello, Luke."

Luan Nian swept his gaze over the flowers in her arms and remarked, "Nice flowers, but they don't suit you at all."

"Then what kind of flowers suit me?"

His tone remained indifferent: "Dogtail grass." He pressed the close button on the elevator doors, not sparing Shang Zhitao another glance.

Shang Zhitao suddenly felt it was all meaningless.

What was the point of any of it? From the moment she wanted to compete, she had already lost. She tossed the bouquet straight into a trash can and boarded the bus home. She didn't need to go to Luan Nian's place this Friday; she was going to take an early morning flight to Phuket with her department colleagues to begin their perfect vacation.

This vacation promised to be truly perfect—if she hadn't spotted Luan Nian right there at the boarding gate.

"Isn't that Luke?" Shang Zhitao asked Lumi.

"Yeah, isn't that Luke? Is he coming to Phuket with us?"

"Why is he coming to Phuket with us?"

Every single word of their whispered murmur reached Luan Nian's ears. He removed his sunglasses, hung them on the collar of his shirt, and turned back to tell them: "Probably because I'm the boss and can go wherever I want?"

……

That sentence was rather infuriating.

Lumi and Shang Zhitao smiled at him, and Lumi, quick-tongued as always, retorted: "As expected of a boss, your hearing is better than anyone else's."

Lumi was puzzled too; everyone else spoke so loudly, so why did the plague god manage to eavesdrop on just a few quiet words between her and Shang Zhitao? And even if the big guy heard it, why did he have to chime in? Beijing girls generally couldn't tolerate such antics, unless the person in question happened to be your unyielding, indifferent boss.

Watching Lumi and Shang Zhitao look like two defeated roosters, Luan Nian was in a fantastic mood. When lining up to board, he walked right beside Shang Zhitao and suddenly asked her: "Didn't the flowers get delivered to the airport today?"

The fact that Shang Zhitao had received flowers had somehow become fodder for Luan Nian to mock her. She pretended not to hear him, plugging in her earphones to listen to music. The song she had been listening to those days was "To the Future Me." She felt she was truly both childish and shallow, needing to rely on a song to heal the unwillingness buried deep in her heart.

She had once imagined what her future self would look like: she ought to be living quite well, owning a small apartment of her own in Beijing, running a small company that could support her, surrounded by a group of wonderful friends, and keeping a dog.

Right, and a dog named Luke, an Alaskan Malamute. She would walk it every leash-length of the way, diligently picking up its poop right behind its backside while earnestly laying down the law for it: "Luke! Sit! Luke! Up! Luke! If you make trouble again, you don't get any food!"

The future she envisioned was exceptionally concrete.

There was no Luan Nian in it, yet there was a dog named Luke.

Entering first class, she assumed Luan Nian would stop there. According to company policy, Luan Nian's travel standard was first class and five-star or higher hotels, yet to her surprise, he followed the main group toward the back. Being such a tall man, he took a seat at the emergency exit, his two long legs blocking the entire aisle.

Alex even praised him to the female colleagues: "Luke is really great. He almost always flies economy on business trips, saying he doesn't want to receive special treatment."

Shang Zhitao missed that praise because she had her eyes closed, listening to music and beating Luke up in her imagination because Luke had fallen in love with the neighbor's dog and refused to walk home with her.

Phuket wasn't as hot as she had imagined.

The beach was fine-grained and soft, and the seawater was azure and crystal clear. Shang Zhitao was thoroughly pleased that her very first trip abroad was dedicated to this place. She and Lumi shared an ocean-view room; pushing open the window revealed the vast sea, a sight dizzying in its beauty.

There was no rush to go out upon arriving at the hotel; they rested individually first, saving group activities for the evening.

"When are we going to wear our bikinis?" Shang Zhitao lay face down on the bed, her legs kicking back and forth in a rare state of relaxation and comfort.

"Which one did you end up buying?"

Delighted, Shang Zhitao hopped off the bed, fished the bikini out of her suitcase, and held it up to show Lumi: "Look!"

Lumi sighed: "My dear, is this what you call a bikini?"

Shang Zhitao had chosen a one-piece backless swimsuit. The front was very conservative, while the real action was on the back, featuring a deep V-cut dipping all the way down to her waist. This was already the most revealing style she could possibly imagine.

"I am not going to allow you to wear this while sunbathing with me," Lumi wagged her index finger: "Absolutely not."

"Huh?"

Seeing Lumi pull two items out of her suitcase and toss them in front of her, Shang Zhitao listened as Lumi scolded her: "This is a bikini, understand? Today, Big Sister here is going to gift you a set of bikinis—a real bikini. You'd better hook yourself a foreign hunk on the beach for me, or our friendship is over."

Shang Zhitao burst into laughter, clutching her stomach: "Deal!"