The Early Spring - Chapter 86

Chapter 86 - Illusion

Shang Zhitao received the company's notice to return to work the day after Luan Nian's phone call. Tracy called her personally.

Shang Zhitao felt a wave of nervousness as she picked up the phone; Luan Nian's words the night before had been vague and obscure, keeping her awake all night. She had thought about texting him to ask, but she knew he wouldn't tell her. He was that kind of person—unwilling to say a single extra word.

"Hi, Tracy."

"Flora, you're coming back to work next week!" Tracy's voice was light and cheerful, sounding thoroughly pleased.

"Mm? Have the internal audit results come out?"

"Yes. They came out this morning."

Yet Luan Nian had called her last night. Shang Zhitao was completely baffled as to what kind of information delay had occurred.

"So, what was the outcome?"

"The outcome is that the supplier confessed to falsely accusing you."

"Huh?"

Tracy could easily imagine Shang Zhitao's bewildered expression and burst out laughing: "Wondering why the supplier changed their story, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"I don't know either. Anyway, the supplier changed their tune, and internal audit found no anomalies in any of your records. You're completely innocent. Come back to work."

"Thank you."

Even after hanging up, Shang Zhitao remained dazed. Why had the supplier withdrawn the complaint? What was going on? She couldn't wrap her head around it. Unable to figure it out, she called Luan Nian. Luan Nian rejected the call: In a meeting. Send a message.

Tracy said they only received the supplier's decision to withdraw the report this morning, but you said the results were out last night. I wanted to ask what happened.

Luan Nian sent back a smiley face—a insincere, forced grin that was quintessential him. Then he said to Grace, "No need to worry about being short-staffed. We found out this morning that Flora can return to her post next week. Go to your prenatal checkups as scheduled; don't worry about anything else."

"Really?" Grace was genuinely delighted. With Shang Zhitao absent, she felt as though she had lost her left and right hands. Having to handle so many matters personally made her feel the baby kicking even more frequently than before.

"Mm."

Luan Nian's phone lit up again. It was still Shang Zhitao, who had sent a single question mark.

Luan Nian turned off his phone screen, having no intention of clearing up her confusion. The meeting ran long, so his secretary ordered lunch around noon, which they ate in the conference room while going over details. A short while later, the secretary came back in carrying coffees.

"Flora ordered these for everyone," the secretary announced before distributing the beverages, cross-referencing a sheet of paper.

Shang Zhitao had been remarkably thoughtful; she remembered everyone's preferred tastes. Grace got a mocha, Luan Nian got an iced Americano, two colleagues received lattes, and another colleague got black tea.

Watching the secretary hand out the coffees, Luan Nian suddenly recalled Shang Zhitao when she had just entered the workplace—someone who only knew how to charge forward blindly, completely ignorant of office social etiquette. Now, she remembered her colleagues' preferences, proactively treated everyone to coffee, and handled workplace subtleties with ease and grace.

So, time really could change a person.

Experiences could change a person too.

Luan Nian took a sip of his iced Americano. It tasted slightly sweet. Frowning, he set the cup down. Shang Zhitao had taken it upon herself to have the barista add a pump of syrup to his iced Americano. His phone rang again, and it was her text: Added an extra pump of syrup to express my gratitude for Luke's help.

Shang Zhitao was no fool. Luan Nian had specially called to warn her because he was afraid the situation might reverse; his silence over the past few days was likely because he was helping her resolve the issue behind the scenes. Shang Zhitao knew he was the type of person who refused to talk about what he did. That was just his posture—if he wanted to help you, he would help you without reservation. You didn't need to offer excessive words of gratitude, which would only sound fake and superficial. To him, helping was purely a form of charity.

He certainly loved playing the good Samaritan.

And he was quite fond of bestowing favors.

Even though there was no longer any special relationship between them, she was deeply grateful for Luan Nian extending a helping hand.

She dragged her luggage back to Beijing, running into Wan Jun at the boarding gate. Both of them found it quite a coincidence. Wan Jun asked her, "Didn't you say you were going to stay and travel for a few more days?"

"An urgent work matter came up, so I need to return early."

"That's great. So, can I buy you a cup of coffee?" During those few days in Dali, they had bumped into each other several times by chance, and spent every evening hanging out at that same bar, making them somewhat acquainted. Wan Jun had wanted to treat Shang Zhitao to a meal, but she had politely declined. Bumping into each other again today felt like a stroke of magic to both of them.

"Yunnan small-grain coffee?" Shang Zhitao smiled. "I want to have my final bowl of rice noodles from this Yunnan trip at the airport."

"Let's go."

Dali Airport was small, but it did have a restaurant serving rice noodles, though they didn't taste very good. The two of them finished their noodles with furrowed brows. Once they were done, Wan Jun asked her, "If I ask to exchange contact info now, you won't think I'm a bad guy, will you?"

Shang Zhitao narrowed her eyes and smiled: "Go ahead."

The two exchanged contact details and left Dali on the same flight, officially bringing her trip to a close.

When Shang Zhitao pushed open the door to her apartment, her two wonderful roommates had strung up a banner in the room that read: A Warm Celebration of Ms. Shang Successfully Completing Her First Solo Travel Feat. It was a bit over the top.

Shang Zhitao's face turned bright red from laughing. She pulled out her phone and snapped photos of the banner for a long while, after which the three of them sat beneath it to take a group picture. Sun Yu had even ordered a bouquet of flowers for her to hold, taking commemorative photos of her.

Once they finished taking photos, they all felt it was ridiculous and laughed together for a long time.

"Was it fun?" Sun Yu asked her.

"It was great!" Shang Zhitao nodded.

"Will you go again?"

"Yes!" Shang Zhitao said earnestly. "I want to travel the entire world!"

"Then you need to fill your stomach first." Sun Yuanzhu finally managed to chime in, encouraging the enthusiastic ladies to sit down for dinner.

Setting off alone to experience the world, and coming back to true friends who would listen, drink, and eat meat with her—it was immensely gratifying. The genuine joy inside her hadn't dissipated even by the day she returned to work.

Lumi was somewhat shocked when she saw Shang Zhitao. The crestfallen Shang Zhitao from a few days ago was nowhere to be seen. Lumi leaned in and whispered, "Did you have a romantic encounter?"

"What?"

"A romantic encounter in Dali or Lijiang?"

"Huh?" Shang Zhitao looked like a confused goose, taking a second or two to realize what Lumi meant. She hurriedly shook her head: "No, no, definitely not."

"Didn't make any friends either?"

"I did make friends."

"Well, there you go!" Lumi tossed her bag onto her desk and plunked herself down on Shang Zhitao's desk: "Let me tell you, that bastard Kitty was fired from the company by Jiang Lan. On the grounds that her probation performance failed to meet expectations."

"What happened?"

Lumi shrugged: "Eight out of ten, she offended someone important. Everyone in the company has been gossiping these past few days, saying Kitty probably went to Shenzhen to pursue her career. This industry is so small—she can't survive in Beijing anymore."

Shang Zhitao faintly felt that things were not so simple. Before she could process it, Lumi added, "And then, that bastard named Wang—his company's bank accounts were frozen."

"? What happened?"

"Supposedly, someone reported them for tax evasion and even provided evidence." Lumi shook her head: "So you see, people shouldn't do bad things, you know? Retribution will come back to bite them sooner or later."

"My goodness."

Recalling Luan Nian's silence regarding the matter, Shang Zhitao suddenly felt that all of this was more or less connected to him. She wanted to ask him, but didn't know how to bring it up.

That afternoon, the Planning Department held a meeting. When everyone walked into the room, Luan Nian was already in the conference room, taking a phone call.

Everyone held their breath, listening as he said, "Alright, we will cooperate with the investigation." Then he hung up. Seeing Shang Zhitao, he remarked, "Flora is back from her vacation?" He acted as if they weren't familiar with each other at all.

Shang Zhitao nodded: "Yes, Luke. I'm back to get to work."

"Then get straight to it."

Grace slowly sat down and said to Shang Zhitao, "Everyone missed you while you were away. Especially when we had to work overtime."

Everyone laughed. Who wouldn't? Whenever they worked overtime, they thought of Shang Zhitao. Shang Zhitao smiled as well.

Luan Nian cast a glance at Shang Zhitao. She looked bright and happy, as if she had never experienced being falsely reported for taking bribes. Grace sent her a private message: Kitty left President Jiang's company. I discussed it with Luke, and moving forward, you and I will handle the work for President Jiang's company together. So pay extra attention when we reach that section later.

Shang Zhitao recalled workplace boundaries and deliberated on how to reply to her.

Grace's next message arrived before she finished thinking: I took the initiative to suggest it. I hope you can get up to speed quickly so I can take my maternity leave earlier.

"Isn't your due date in October?"

"A little over three months will pass in the blink of an eye."

"Understood."

"Also, coming up, we have a few S-tier clients who need workshops. I won't be able to go, so I'll trouble Flora to go in my place."

"By myself?"

"Together with Luke."

"Oh."

Fearing she might feel pressured traveling with Luan Nian, Grace reassured her: Don't be afraid. Luke is actually quite easygoing when you interact with him in private. Looking at the current situation, he'll be managing us for a long time. Getting more familiar with him might be helpful for your future work.

"Alright, thank you, Grace."

Shang Zhitao exchanged private messages with Grace while taking meeting minutes. Everyone was engaged in discussion, and she listened attentively. She positioned herself as a newcomer in the Planning Department with a vast amount left to learn. Combined with her naturally humble disposition, she didn't speak much during meetings.

The Planning Department's projects were all S-tier company projects, each highly complex, especially Grace's. Yet Grace handled them with effortless mastery. Grace was somewhat similar to Luan Nian; she exhibited a slight aggressiveness during meetings and insisted on reaching a definitive outcome, otherwise considering the meeting a waste of time.

As a result, the atmosphere during Planning Department meetings was usually intense and tense.

When Luan Nian spoke, Shang Zhitao looked at him attentively just like everyone else. She didn't know where others rested their eyes, but hers were fixed on his shoulders, refusing to move upward and avoiding any eye contact with him. In short, she wanted to muddle through unnoticed.

Luan Nian had no intention of letting her muddle through. While reviewing a progress report, he suddenly asked her, "So, what does Flora think?"

"Pardon?"

"What is your view on the client changing their strategy?"

It was like a teacher catching a distracted student back in school, tossing a piece of chalk right at your head to see where you could run. Shang Zhitao thought for a moment and answered, "I consulted Grace about this issue before. First of all, if a client changes their advertising strategy due to corporate strategic adjustments, that is completely normal, and we should align with them. If it's just a sudden whim on their part, we need to dig deeper into their underlying needs. I searched for news about this client today, and there are no updates regarding strategic adjustments, so it's likely a sudden whim. Therefore, we ought to dig deeper into their needs to confirm why they want to make this adjustment."

Grace sent her a thumbs-up emoji.

"Then go dig into it," Luan Nian said.

"But I..."

"Grace will guide you. The sooner you get up to speed, the less overtime your colleagues in the Planning Department will have to work."

"Understood."

The teacher's questioning was over, and Shang Zhitao secretly breathed a sigh of relief. When would Luan Nian ever change? Become a bit gentler and less overbearing. The moment the thought crossed her mind, she felt she was overthinking. He would never change.

By the time she finished work, Wan Jun was already waiting outside her company building. How full of coincidences was this world? The place where he taught ice hockey happened to be near her company.

Seeing Wan Jun from afar, Lumi clicked her tongue: "Is this the Mr. Wan from Dali?"

Shang Zhitao pinched her: "Don't talk nonsense. We were originally just ordinary friends, but saying things like that will make it awkward."

"Alright, alright." Lumi took another look at Wan Jun and whispered to Shang Zhitao, "He's got a great physique. If I weren't afraid of feeling guilty, I'd really want to hit on him today."

Indeed, Wan Jun taught ice hockey and had athletic habits since childhood—a bright, sporty guy. Standing there, he was quite eye-catching. Lumi gave her a nudge: "Go get him." Then she turned and walked away.

Luan Nian's car pulled up to the front. There was a stream of pedestrians, so his driving speed slowed down. He saw Lumi give Shang Zhitao that nudge, Shang Zhitao turning to swat her back, and then walking smilingly toward a young man. In his rearview mirror, the young man stood with his hands tucked into the pockets of his sweatpants, smiling at Shang Zhitao. Luan Nian couldn't see the smile clearly, but he felt that they seemed very familiar with each other.

Shang Zhitao sat with Wan Jun in a Hunan restaurant near her company. Smelling the spicy, pungent aroma around her, she was so hungry she felt like eating two bowls of rice. While ordering, Wan Jun ordered quite a few dishes, and Shang Zhitao stopped him: "Don't order too much, it'll go to waste."

Wan Jun smiled at her: "I exercise a lot, so I have a big appetite."

"Oh, I see. Okay then. I just feel bad wasting food."

Wan Jun looked at Shang Zhitao, finding her quite different. She worked at a top-tier company, yet she appeared humble and pure, especially her eyes, which seemed untouched by commercialism—clean and clear.

This girl was really nice.

While the two were waiting for their dishes, Shang Zhitao received a message from Lumi: The guy looks pretty good. Way more reliable than my flashy childhood friend.

...We really are just ordinary friends.

Things won't stay ordinary if you let them develop. It's time for you to date anyway.

"Oh."

Shang Zhitao put away her phone and watched the waiter serve the dishes. Wan Jun had certainly ordered a lot; he had selected several of the restaurant's signature dishes. Two people, six dishes. Although she was a bit hungry and craved carbs terribly, she still felt they wouldn't be able to finish it all.

Wan Jun took care of her first, unlike many athletes who were rough around the edges. Only when Shang Zhitao took her first bite did he pick up his chopsticks. He didn't wolf down his food as Shang Zhitao had imagined, but his appetite was indeed enormous.

The two chatted as they ate. Wan Jun proactively shared his situation: he owned an apartment of over a hundred square meters near the East Third Ring Road, had a car, and had been single for over two years.

Then he asked Shang Zhitao, "What about you?"

"Me..." Shang Zhitao took a bite of chicken giblets over rice. It tasted so delicious that fine beads of sweat formed on the tip of her nose: "I've been single for twenty-some days."

Wan Jun chuckled: "Are you two still in touch?"

Shang Zhitao thought for a moment: "Yes. But not as romantic partners; we just still have shared projects to complete."

"Do you plan on getting back together?"

"No."

Shang Zhitao had no intention of continuing her relationship with Luan Nian; she wanted to look forward. Just as Sun Yu had said: enjoy being single, but don't shy away from getting to know members of the opposite sex.

Seeing how firm she was, Wan Jun grinned widely. When he smiled, two dimples appeared on his cheeks, which was quite rare—a person radiating bright sunshine. Completely different from Luan Nian, and different from Sun Yuanzhu as well.

As they continued chatting like this, Shang Zhitao was surprised to find that Wan Jun had finished every single dish, along with his rice. She had never seen anyone with such a huge appetite. Back in school, Xin Zhaozhou had exercised a lot and eaten plenty, but nowhere near this much.

"Did I scare you?" Wan Jun asked her. Seeing Shang Zhitao shake her head in fluster, he added, "I was too busy today. I taught basketball this morning, had three ice hockey classes in the afternoon, and gave a lecture on nutritional science to a company in the early evening. I barely ate anything all day."

"You know about all those things?"

"I've had athletic talent since I was little, so I'm interested in anything related to sports. My family sent me to learn all kinds of sports—soccer, basketball, ice hockey, fencing, I learned them all."

"My goodness. That must have cost a lot of money, right?"

"It was alright." Wan Jun's parents both worked in the government, so his family background was fairly well-off: "What about you? What interest classes did you take?"

"Calligraphy... does that count?"

Wan Jun nodded: "Of course it counts. I saw the postcard you wrote at the foot of Mount Cangshan. I didn't mean to pry, but at the time I thought the handwriting was beautiful and glanced at the signature. Later, when I found out your name, I matched them up. Your handwriting is the prettiest I've ever seen. Mine is terrible—looks like cockroaches crawling around."

Shang Zhitao felt a bit embarrassed by his compliment, her face flushing slightly red.

Wan Jun felt like he hadn't seen a girl who blushed so easily in a long time, which made him think even higher of her. When paying the bill, Shang Zhitao pulled out her wallet: "Shall we go Dutch?"

Wan Jun pushed her wallet back: "Don't be like that. I know people working in foreign companies have this habit, but that's not how I do things." His stance was very firm.

Shang Zhitao had no choice but to put her wallet away, saying to him, "Then I'll treat next time?"

"Sounds good."

After finishing their meal, Wan Jun offered to walk Shang Zhitao home, but Shang Zhitao declined: "It's really far."

"Is it farther than from Dali to Beijing?"

"Well, no."

"Let me walk you."

They took the subway. It was late, so there were few people on the train. The two sat side by side, their reflections visible on the train window. Shang Zhitao wasn't used to chatting on the subway, so she pulled out a book from her bag—a French textbook she was studying.

Wan Jun didn't disturb her either; he plugged in his headphones and listened to music by himself.

The journey was long, but Shang Zhitao didn't feel awkward at all. She now agreed with Sun Yu's words: "You've just met too few men, which is why you got trapped with that one person." Sun Yu was only sensible when giving advice to others; all her own principles went out the window when it came to Sun Yuanzhu. She didn't make a move on Sun Yuanzhu, yet she quit drinking and stopped dating altogether.

Stepping out of the subway station, the two walked casually down the street. Wan Jun slowed his pace to chat with Shang Zhitao. He talked about how he had broken his wrist while practicing sports as a child, and even showed it to Shang Zhitao. In the dim night, she couldn't see clearly, so she touched it with her fingertips, feeling a protruding piece of bone—he truly hadn't lied to her.

"Did it hurt?"

"It hurt so much I cried."

"Then you must be careful in the future."

When they arrived at the entrance of Shang Zhitao's residential community, Wan Jun checked the time: "It's getting late, you should head up. I'll be waiting for that meal you promised—hopefully not too far in the future."

"Alright!"

Shang Zhitao nodded. Standing in front of Wan Jun, she looked delicate and petite, looking up to talk to him. The scene looked lovely, reminiscent of campus days, like two simple people falling in love.

Shang Zhitao waved goodbye to Wan Jun: "See you!"

She turned and ran inside.

Luan Nian stood beneath that tree until he finished the cigarette in his hand, then got into his car and drove away.