On My Way - Chapter 58

Chapter 58 - The Spicy Hotpot in Our Canteen Is Especially Good

"Weren't you going abroad?"

"Yeah, I'm back. I didn't get a chance to tell you," he said.

"What’s there to talk about?" I laughed, then awkwardly pulled back my smile. "How have you been lately?"

Before he could reply, Zhou Ting came jogging over with the water. He looked at us, bewildered, and asked, "Your friend?"

"Oh... let me introduce you. This is my high school classmate, Zhou Ting," I said. "And this is my childhood friend, Cheng Xia."

Zhou Ting’s expression immediately became three parts ingratiating. He reached out his hand first and said, "Hello, let’s eat together sometime when you're free."

Cheng Xia shook his hand and said with extreme gentleness, "It might be a bit awkward. After all, besides being her childhood friend, I’m also her ex-boyfriend."

Zhou Ting stared at me, dumbstruck, while I stared at Cheng Xia, equally dumbstruck.

Cheng Xia didn't notice at all and said, "Where are you two headed? Mind if I join you?"

...I gasped inwardly.

"We aren't going anywhere else; I'm about to head back," I said. "We drove here, so we're leaving now."

Zhou Ting nodded in agreement from the side. He looked like he wanted to escape this "Shura field" of a situation even more than I did.

"What a coincidence," Cheng Xia said. "I didn't drive today. Can you give me a ride?"

Me: ...

When we arrived, Yu Shixuan and I sat in the back. Given the current situation, it clearly wasn't appropriate for me to sit in the back.

I sat in the passenger seat. Cheng Xia still didn't seem to sense anything; instead, he asked Zhou Ting with great interest, "How much was this car out the door?"

Zhou Ting replied, "About three hundred thousand. My parents like Japanese cars."

"Same here, though I've been thinking about switching to a hybrid lately."

Guys generally like cars, so they started chatting about them. Zhou Ting wasn't very talkative, but Cheng Xia asked questions, and he answered.

I looked out the window. Twilight had descended; many people were carrying groceries home, and groups of students were standing by the roadside buying grilled cold noodles or fried chicken cutlets. Dressed in school uniforms that fit like burlap sacks, they were laughing and joking—the girls’ laughter was crisp and bright, just like mine used to be.

Everything felt like a hazy dream.

In the rearview mirror, Cheng Xia was talking. He had changed so much.

First of all, there were wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. When he laughed or frowned, the lines of time piled up deeply there, but they didn't detract from his good looks; instead, they gave him a certain gentleness.

Secondly, he was brighter and appeared happier—at least on the surface, he looked like someone without a care in the world, smiling carefree.

In short, he was neither the spirited, upright youth in my memory nor the desperate, melancholic young man. He was an entirely new Cheng Xia.

This brand-new Cheng Xia met my eyes in the rearview mirror, and while still talking to Zhou Ting, he gave a faint smile.

I looked away, neither speaking nor smiling.

Zhou Ting dropped Cheng Xia off at his home. After getting out of the car, Cheng Xia said to me, "Come visit the house sometime if you have a chance; my dad has been missing you."

"How is his health?" I asked.

"Not bad. He’ll be retiring in another two years."

On the way back, Zhou Ting and I didn't say a word.

I truly didn't know what to say—this situation was beyond my brain's capacity.

As for him, I had even less of an idea what he was thinking.

"Goodbye," Zhou Ting waved at me after we arrived at my place.

"Goodbye."

I said.

—

My confusion didn't last long.

After I got home, Yu Shixuan didn't have a trace of the pampered attitude she’d had earlier. She had just tied her hair into a messy bun and was busy typing away on her laptop, looking like she wished she could grow eight arms.

"Did you have dinner?" I asked while taking off my coat.

"Eat what!" she shrieked. "The president of North-South University wants a meeting with me!"

North-South University was just a second-tier university, though it did have a few strong majors and had been promoted to first-tier in recent years.

The president, surnamed Wu, was a Peking University graduate with quite a bit of "Weiming Lake" nostalgia; he was determined to build a school with character that would give students a sense of belonging.

That was why he sought out an edgy designer like Yu Shixuan.

President Wu personally thought highly of Yu Shixuan, but the contract hadn't been signed yet. They had many other candidate designers, all of whom had better credentials than she did.

In other words, if Yu Shixuan didn't perform well tomorrow, forget about starting a business—this project would be a total bust.

I grew anxious too: "Why are you only telling me now! And you’re acting so calm."

"I thought it was next week! Who knew he’d be going on a business trip and pushed it up!" Yu Shixuan was on the verge of tears. "Hurry and help me look at this!"

"Don't worry, don't cry. I... I... we’ll fix it together."

I didn't know much about art, but I spent all night correcting her budget spreadsheet, then took the day off the next day to accompany her to North-South University.

No matter how arrogant Yu Shixuan usually was, she was still just a girl; the dark circles under her eyes were showing even through her foundation.

"Do you think they’ll be satisfied?" she asked.

The success of [Breeze Grass] was because she had been the owner herself, and she had had her father’s money to back her up no matter how wild her ideas were.

This was her first time independently handling a client-side project. When a service provider faces a client, it’s not just about talent; you have to satisfy their needs and precisely grasp every momentary shift in their mood.

"Don't be afraid." I took her cold hand and said, "Aren't you with me? I'm a veteran service provider of ten years! If there’s a client I can't handle, then even Li Lianying brought back to life wouldn't stand a chance."

She rolled her eyes at me, though her face remained pale.

In the conference room, some students came in to pour us water and told us to wait a moment.

Ten minutes later, the professors entered.

The one with the baldest head was the president. He shook our hands cordially: "Xiao Yu, long time no see. How is your father? And this is?"

Yu Shixuan said, "This is my team leader, Ren Dongxue."

"Professor, nice to meet you. Just call me Xiao Ren. I'm a local; I've heard many stories about you coming to run this school, and I've always admired you."

"Oh, being a local is great—it will be easier to work later on."

He then introduced us briefly: "This is Director Zhao, this is Professor Li, and this is Professor Cheng... he is also the chief designer for our new campus. You two will likely be in contact a lot."

And so, after three years, I shook Cheng Xia’s hand.

He shook mine as well, acting extremely polite: "Engineer Ren, nice to meet you."

I cursed Yu Shixuan a hundred times in my heart, but outwardly, I reached out my hand with diligence: "Professor Cheng, please give us some guidance later."

The meeting officially began.

"Professor Cheng’s overall design incorporates metaphors of a 'Carp' and a 'Dragon' for the eastern and western sub-plots. The library building serves as the connection between the two and is also the highest point of the campus. I have designed it to look like a rotating splash of water..."

"Stop."

Cheng Xia said, "This is different from what we discussed last time. I suggested you design it as a [Gate]."

"I thought about it, and the concept of a [Gate] is too safe and steady. I feel that if every school uses a gate, it lacks character..."

The moment Yu Shixuan said that, the expressions on the leaders' faces turned quite sour.

I quickly picked up the conversation: "Actually, this 'splash' we designed is an expansion of the [Gate] concept. Through the curvature of the exterior wall, it forms smooth lines with the linear buildings in the east and connects with the varying heights of the building complex in the west. The two sides merge into the gate—it’s neither abrupt nor lacking in creativity..."

Cheng Xia pointed to a spot and interrupted me: "Has the local load-bearing capacity for this part been calculated?"

Yu Shixuan said, "It should be enough."

Cheng Xia said, "This must be calculated clearly; otherwise, the entire design blueprint is invalid."

The entire meeting turned into Cheng Xia’s unilateral interrogation and suppression of the two of us.

Yu Shixuan was exactly as I had worried—she was too self-centered and had no idea how to be a service provider.

And I was a layman in architectural design. I could get by with a bit of wit for a sentence or two at first, but when countless technical terms came crashing down on us, I couldn't respond to a single one.

The meeting lasted for an entire morning. When it finally ended, I felt as if my entire back was soaked in sweat.

"I think we can look at another draft," the president said. "I'm going on a business trip soon. Can Professor Cheng handle the follow-up with them directly?"

"Certainly."

The meeting finally broke up. Yu Shixuan’s face was deathly pale. I wanted to scold her, but I couldn't bear to. I could only grit my teeth and ask in a low voice: "Did you know he was here the whole time?"

And another thing! Why was it such a coincidence that we ran into Cheng Xia at Vegetable Market Street? It was probably her doing too!

Yu Shixuan didn't answer. Cheng Xia walked up to me and said, "Let's go. I'll take you to get something to eat."

He smiled, his emotions unreadable, and said, "The spicy hotpot in our canteen is especially good.”