20demayo Chapter 31: I Like You
Chapter 31: I Like You
The next morning, Yu Chen was woken up by her phone vibrating in her hotel room.
I reached over and saw it was only seven o'clock.
Several messages popped up on the screen, all from Ye Rong.
That's really persistent.
"Good morning, Mr. Yu. Sorry to bother you, but President Sheng asked me to confirm with you again: are you free to have dinner together tonight?"
"President Sheng said that the location and time are up to you."
"Mr. Yu, what do you think...?"
Yu Chen rubbed his temples, then immediately silenced his phone and stuffed it back under his pillow.
I somewhat regret accepting Ye Rong's WeChat message.
Last night, when I was teaching Nie Xiguang how to use WeChat, she happened to see me.
"Come on! I want to see what she has to say!"
That pouty look in his eyes almost melted his heart.
Fortunately, Ye Rong only invited him and Sheng Xingjie to dinner last night.
Yu Chen stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, then got up!
The cold water splashed on his face finally woke him up completely.
But when Yu Chen thought about the place he was going to take Nie Xiguang to later, a smile appeared on his lips.
At 8 o'clock sharp, he drove his car to Nie Xiguang's building.
It was very close to his hotel, but Nie Xiguang insisted on giving him the car.
She also said that driving was her least favorite thing, and asked Yu Chen to work part-time as her driver.
The building entrance door opened in less than two minutes.
Today, Nie Xiguang wore a beige cashmere coat and a light gray scarf. Her hair was loosely tied back, revealing her clean forehead and bright eyes.
She jogged over, opened the car door, and sat in the passenger seat, bringing with her a faint fragrance of osmanthus.
"Have you been waiting long?" she asked, her voice light and cheerful.
"Just arrived." Yu Chen started the car. "Have you had breakfast?"
"I ate a piece of bread." Nie Xiguang fastened her seatbelt, turned her head to look at him, and said, "So now can you tell me where we're going?"
"You'll find out when we get there," Yu Chen said, unusually keeping everyone in suspense. "Anyway, I won't sell you out."
The car weaved through the morning traffic of Shanghai, drove onto the elevated highway, and headed west.
The view outside the window gradually changed from high-rise buildings to low-rise factories and warehouses, and finally to vast fields and scattered farmhouses.
Nie Xiguang peered out the car window for a long time before finally asking, "Aren't we almost out of Shanghai already?"
"Yes, let's go to Suzhou," Yu Chen said. "I'll show you a place."
"Suzhou?" Nie Xiguang's eyes lit up. "I've been in Suzhou for months, how come I didn't know such a mysterious place existed?"
Yu Chen smiled but didn't reply.
More than an hour later, the car exited the highway and turned onto a county road lined with metasequoia trees on both sides.
In winter, the leaves of the dawn redwood fall, leaving only straight branches pointing towards the gray sky, creating a simple yet beautiful scene.
After driving for another ten minutes or so, a cluster of white-walled and gray-tiled buildings came into view.
"This is... an ancient town?" Nie Xiguang sat up straight.
"It's not exactly an ancient town, but a cultural park transformed from an old village." Yu Chen parked his car in an open space. "A few years ago, a design team came and rented dozens of old houses in the village, transforming them into studios, guesthouses, and exhibition spaces."
As the two got out of the car, a blast of cold air hit them, carrying the unique dampness of the Jiangnan water towns.
Yu Chen led Nie Xiguang along the bluestone path.
The village is very quiet. Occasionally, you can see an elderly person carrying a vegetable basket walking by. When you see them, you nod kindly.
There were mottled water stains on the white walls and withered grass growing in the cracks between the tiles, but the overall area was clean and tidy.
"How did you find this place?" Nie Xiguang asked as they walked.
"I have a client who lives nearby. He brought me here once and thought it was good."
Yu Chen paused and looked at Nie Xiguang: "If you're ever in a bad mood, this place is a good place to calm down."
Nie Xiguang turned her head to look at him.
Yu Chen spoke in a very calm tone, but she could hear the unspoken meaning in his words.
Those pressures carried alone, those unseen moments.
"So you brought me here today..." she asked softly, "to give me some peace and quiet?"
"I brought you here to see what it's like." Yu Chen stopped in front of a waterside promenade. "You've been stuck in the factory for the past few months, so I brought you here to give you some fresh air."
"Pah, you make it sound like I'm in prison."
Nie Xiguang took a sip, her little face flushed.
At the end of the corridor was a small teahouse with a bamboo curtain hanging at the entrance. Yu Chen lifted the curtain and went inside, where a warm feeling washed over him.
The teahouse owner was a woman in her forties, dressed in an indigo cloth dress, sitting in front of a charcoal stove boiling water.
Upon seeing Yu Chen, she smiled and said, "Mr. Yu, you're here? It's been a long time."
"Sister Shen," Yu Chen nodded, "Please brew a pot of black tea for the two of you."
"Okay, let's sit by the window. It's sunny and warm today."
The two sat down by the window.
Outside the window is a narrow river, and on the opposite bank stands an old locust tree with its bare branches reaching towards the sky.
Sunlight streamed through the wooden lattice window, casting dappled shadows on the table.
Sister Shen brought over a tea set and a small dish of osmanthus cake, added a piece of charcoal to the stove, and then left.
Only the two of them remained in the tea room, so quiet that the faint crackling of the charcoal fire and the bubbling of the boiling water could be heard.
Holding the warm teacup, Nie Xiguang looked at the slowly flowing river outside the window and suddenly felt the fatigue and tension that had accumulated over the past few days gradually relax.
"This is a nice place," she said softly.
"Mm." Yu Chen poured her some tea. "Sometimes I feel that people need a place like this to remind themselves that life is not just about work, performance, and relationships."
Nie Xiguang lowered his head and took a sip of tea, the rich aroma of black tea melting on his tongue.
She was silent for a while before speaking: "Yu Chen, sometimes I wonder what the point is of what I'm doing in the factory now."
She looked up at him with clear eyes: "I'm just an ordinary person. Sometimes I want to slack off, but staying in the factory is like being wound up. I can't stop except when I get off work. Sometimes I feel so tired."
"Besides, those things about the purchasing department's contracts shouldn't be my responsibility in the first place. I always feel like I have too many things to do."
Yu Chen did not answer immediately.
He picked up the teapot and slowly poured tea into his cup. The rising steam blurred his features.
"Xi Guang," he put down the teapot, his voice steady, "most of the meaningful things in this world are things that no one initially thought they should do themselves."
He looked into her eyes and said, "Sometimes I get tired too, and like you, I want to take a break, but I still have to earn money to get married, and I still have to be on the same level as her."
He paused, then added, "At least the point of me doing all this is to let my wife take it easy in the future."
Seeing Yu Chen staring at her, Nie Xiguang's face flushed red instantly.
"Moreover," Yu Chen picked up a piece of osmanthus cake and handed it to her, "you're not an ordinary employee, you're Nie Xiguang."
These words, though simple, were like a pebble dropped into her heart, creating ripples that spread outwards.
Nie Xiguang took the osmanthus cake and took a small bite.
The cake was soft and fluffy, with a sweet and delicate osmanthus fragrance. She chewed it slowly, and suddenly smiled.
"What are you laughing at?" Yu Chen asked.
"Laughing at myself." Nie Xiguang's eyes crinkled into a smile. "Then shouldn't I also work harder so that my future husband can also take it easy on me?"
Yu Chen smiled and said, "It seems your future husband will be quite happy."
The two sat for a while longer, chatting idly.
They talked about the yellowed contracts in the archives, which dish was the best at Shuangyuan Canteen, and the differences between Shanghai and Suzhou.
Trivial and ordinary, yet inexplicably reassuring.
Around noon, Sister Shen came out from the inner room and asked if we wanted to have lunch there.
"We have fresh crucian carp today, caught directly from the river. We also have homemade salted pork and some stewed bamboo shoots," said Sister Shen. "Would you like something simple?"
Yu Chen looked at Nie Xiguang, who nodded: "Okay."
Lunch was indeed simple: a steamed crucian carp, a plate of salted pork stewed with bamboo shoots, a dish of stir-fried greens, and two bowls of rice.
The fish is freshly killed, and the meat is tender and flavorful;
The salted pork, with its alternating layers of lean and fatty meat, is stewed until tender and melts in your mouth. Combined with the sweetness of the winter bamboo shoots, it's an exceptionally delicious dish to eat with rice.
Nie Xiguang ate two bowls of rice, and when he put down his chopsticks, he was a little embarrassed: "Did I eat too much?"
"That's good." Yu Chen ladled a bowl of fish soup for her. "Eat more, you have to leave this afternoon."
After finishing their meal, the two took a leisurely stroll along the river.
The village was quiet in winter, with the occasional barking of dogs coming from afar.
Sunlight shone on the stone pavement, giving it a warm, lustrous sheen.
When Nie Xiguang reached the big banyan tree at the entrance of the village, he suddenly stopped.
"Yu Chen," she turned around to face him, "thank you for bringing me here."
"You're welcome," Yu Chen said.
"I'm serious." Nie Xiguang said earnestly, "It's not just today, but also the time you spent with me in the archives, helping me analyze President Lin's thoughts, and... and the time you waited for me in Shanghai."
Yu Chen looked at her.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the banyan leaves, casting shimmering spots of light on her face.
Her eyes were bright, and he was clearly reflected in them.
"Dawn." He spoke, his voice lower than usual.
"Um?"
Yu Chen took a step forward, and the distance between the two suddenly shortened.
I was so close I could smell the faint fragrance of osmanthus on her and see the trembling of her eyelashes.
He reached out and gently touched her cheek.
"I like you," he said.
Nie Xiguang's face flushed red.
She wanted to say something, but no sound came out; she just stared at him with wide eyes.
Yu Chen smiled, a smile so gentle that it made Yu Chen's heart skip a beat.
He did nothing more, only withdrew his hand and said, "Let's go, it's time to go back."
On the way back, the two of them barely spoke.
But the atmosphere inside the car was different.
There was something quiet, warm, and unspoken flowing within.
Yu Chen drove the car into the city and parked it downstairs at Nie Xiguang's house.
"arrive."
Nie Xiguang didn't move. She sat there, her fingers unconsciously tracing the edge of the seatbelt.
"Yu Chen," she suddenly spoke, her voice soft but earnest, "was what you just did... a confession?"
Yu Chen was taken aback: "Why doesn't that count?"
She turned to look at him, her eyes bright, but her tone was stubborn: "No."
She unbuckled her seatbelt, opened the car door, and looked back at him: "I've never been in a relationship before... so I can't just agree to date you like this. Right now... you're at best a prospective candidate! We need to observe you further, we need to... anyway, today doesn't count, it's too informal!"
"How long will the investigation take?" Yu Chen asked helplessly, but his eyes were smiling.
"Let me think about it. You go back to the hotel quickly and be careful on the way." After saying that, she closed the car door, turned around and ran into the building.
Yu Chen sat in the car, gazing in the direction where her figure disappeared, remaining still for a long time.
My phone vibrated again.
It was a long message from Ye Rong, talking about how much Sheng Xingjie valued and how sincere he was, with almost a plea in the words.
After reading it, Yu Chen replied with only one line:
"I'm at the Central Intercity Hotel. Contact me when you arrive."