Early the next morning, we were trying to catch a ride outside the company. Mainly it was Ying Jie and Yu Hua doing the flagging while I sat on a nearby flower bed, catching up on sleep. In my drowsy state, I thought I heard Ying Jie’s delighted voice: “Vice President Lin, are you going to Shanghai too?”
Why would he be here?
I jerked my head up in alarm, but it was already too late.
I had already heard Lin Yusen’s famously pleasant voice, “Yes, I can give you all a ride.”
I frantically tried to signal Ying Jie to decline, but not only did she ignore my signals, she actually grabbed me and pushed me toward the passenger seat, “Thank you, Vice President Lin! Xiguang, you sit in front!”
She said this loudly, then quickly whispered to me: “This is a great chance! Try to build a better relationship with Vice President Lin. After all, we’re not at work now, everyone’s more relaxed.”
She pulled Yu Hua into the back seat with lightning speed, giving me no chance to refuse, and slammed the door shut with a “bang.”
I had no choice but to sit in front.
In the confined space, the presence of the person beside me was impossible to ignore. I really couldn’t understand why he would agree to be our driver. When he released the handbrake, his hand almost brushed against my clothes. I silently pulled my clothes closer and shifted away.
His hand paused for a moment, and he stepped on the gas pedal with an expressionless face.
The car drove smoothly along. Ying Jie reached forward and pinched my arm hard, urging me to say something. I shifted even further away, ignoring her.
Lin Yusen glanced at us.
Ying Jie quickly withdrew her hand and forced out a couple of awkward laughs.
Lin Yusen asked flatly, “Where are you heading?”
“We’re going to Jing’an Temple first. Yu Hua loves praying to Buddha and says Jing’an Temple is effective for praying for wealth… I want to go to the Bund too, even though they say only tourists go there, but hey, I am a tourist, haha~~”
With Ying Jie around, the atmosphere was never dull. Lin Yusen asked one question, and she chirped away endlessly.
Drowsiness hit me again, and I covered my mouth to stifle a yawn…
Chatter chatter chatter…
Amid Ying Jie’s rhythmic babbling, I couldn’t fight the sleepiness and dozed off again. I vaguely heard Ying Jie saying: “Hehe, Xiguang’s been tired lately… I heard during inventory she had to climb up and down on lift platforms and such. She fell and scraped her hands and legs, and even got hit on the head by a falling part…”
When Yu Hua shook me awake, we had arrived at Jing’an Temple. Ying Jie and Yu Hua thanked Lin Yusen together while I got out without a word.
Standing beside the car, I accidentally met his gaze and quickly turned away, looking at the magnificent temple before us.
Lin Yusen drove away. Yu Hua watched the departing car and said emotionally, “Vice President Lin is nice. I thought he’d make us get out and take a taxi once we reached Shanghai.”
Ying Jie said sarcastically, “He probably felt bad kicking us out with Xiguang sleeping like a pig!” Then she scolded me, “What a great opportunity! We weren’t at work, you could have said something to improve your relationship with him.”
I said, “I don’t need to curry favor with him.”
Ying Jie said irritably, “Why are you so stubborn!”
Yu Hua quickly mediated, “Come on, let’s not argue at the temple entrance. Let’s go in.”
Ying Jie huffed, “Who’s arguing with her?”
I said, “Right, whoever argues is a pig.”
Ying Jie punched me twice but couldn’t help laughing.
Yu Hua pushed us both into the temple. When Ying Jie saw the entrance fee was several dozen yuan, she refused to go in, so I went in with Yu Hua, feeling indifferent.
However, kneeling on the prayer cushion, I found myself at a loss.
What should I wish for?
The answer came naturally the moment I pressed my palms together. What appeared in my mind wasn’t my parents, wasn’t myself, wasn’t that person, but—
Lin Yusen…
I pressed my palms together, closed my eyes, and sincerely prayed: Please make Vice President Lin Yusen disappear quickly, whether through promotion or transfer back to headquarters, anything would do, even being abducted by aliens would be fine, just please make him disappear…
After making my wish, I felt the trip was worthwhile and my mood improved considerably. Yu Hua also looked like she expected to get rich tomorrow. We left Jing’an Temple and went to the Bund with Ying Jie. There wasn’t much to do there, so after a brief walk around, it was time for lunch.
However, Ying Jie and I disagreed about where to eat.
Ying Jie was set on going to the City God Temple: “It’s one of Shanghai’s attractions, we can eat and sightsee at the same time!”
I said, “Let’s cross the river.”
“Why go to Pudong? City God Temple is closer, and they’re having a snack festival! Think about it, streets full of delicious food, and it won’t be expensive! Let’s go to City God Temple!”
“We can find food anywhere, and I’ll treat you to a feast over there.”
Ying Jie’s whole body trembled, “Really? You’re treating us to a feast?”
I nodded, emphasizing, “A feast.”
Ying Jie struggled weakly, “But I still want to go to the snack festival.”
“There are lots of handsome guys there, and they’re all elites.”
Ying Jie’s eyes instantly lit up with stars, “Really?”
“Of course, it’s the financial center, the most dynamic place in Shanghai, with securities companies, banks…” I paused, “…handsome guys everywhere.”
Ying Jie decisively said one word: “Let’s go!”
We took a taxi there.
Ever since I mentioned the handsome guys, as soon as we emerged from the cross-river tunnel, Ying Jie’s eyes sparkled as she stared at the streets. After a while, she suddenly turned around, “Isn’t Sheng Yuan headquarters around here? Do you think Vice President Lin might be at Sheng Yuan now? Could we maybe get a ride back with him?”
I absently mumbled “mm” and said to the taxi driver, “Driver, please go to Sheng Yuan Building.”
Ying Jie looked at me in shock.
After getting out of the taxi, Yu Hua tugged at my sleeve: “Xiguang, are you… going to look for Vice President Lin?”
“…What?” I came back to my senses, “Let’s just eat around here.”
There were many restaurants in the nearby buildings. We chose one and sat down. Yu Hua asked worriedly, “Won’t this place be expensive?”
“All that overtime pay from working extra shifts, it’s fine.” I flipped through the menu and efficiently ordered a table full of dishes. Ying Jie kept trying to catch my eye, but I pretended not to notice. After the server left, she burst out, “Xiguang, are you crazy? This many dishes must cost six or seven hundred yuan, and we definitely can’t finish them!”
“Then we’ll just take our time eating.”
I looked up through the window. In the distance, that curved logo gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight.
The meal lasted a full hour and a half. Inevitably, everyone was stuffed. While asking the server to pack up the leftovers, Ying Jie rubbed her belly and said, “I feel like I’ll never be able to eat another grain of rice!”
Yu Hua asked, “Where should we go next?”
I said, “There’s a famous café downstairs known for afternoon tea. Shall we go sit there?”
Ying Jie was speechless, “I beg you, can we go somewhere else? No more eating, please.”
“I heard their cakes are really good.”
“No way, I can’t eat another bite, no matter how good it is.”
“…My knee hurts, I can’t walk far.”
“You’re being so unreasonable!”
Ying Jie dragged Yu Hua along, tearfully following me to have afternoon tea.
Although she claimed she couldn’t eat anymore, as soon as the beautiful cakes were served, she suddenly became energetic again, eating more enthusiastically than anyone.
Yu Hua helplessly reminded her, “Weren’t you trying to lose weight recently? Even if this is a rare outing, you don’t need to go this far. You’ve wasted all those days of dieting.”
Ying Jie defended herself vigorously, “It’s exactly because I ate so little these past few days that I’m like this. Do you understand how it feels to see your favorite foods right in front of you but not be able to eat them? When you hold back at first, you just want it more and more over the next few days, and then you can’t control yourself anymore. The more you suppress it, the harder it is to control! Ah, it would be fine if I never saw delicious food at all… You people who’ve never been on a diet wouldn’t understand!”
The more you suppress it, the harder it is to control.
“There’s nothing not to understand about that,” I stirred my milk tea, looking out the window.
“Oh come on, you don’t need to diet, how would you understand?”
After eating several small cakes, Ying Jie really couldn’t eat anymore. She joined me in looking outside: “Xiguang, you’ve been looking out there for ages, have you seen any handsome guys? I haven’t seen a single one.”
Yu Hua said timidly, “I wanted to ask earlier… it’s Saturday, right? Handsome guys don’t work on Saturdays…”
I froze, suddenly feeling all my energy drain away.
Right, it was Saturday… If it wasn’t Saturday, how could I have time to come to Shanghai… And if it’s Saturday, people don’t work…
I’d become brain-dead from all that overtime work, to forget even this.
Ying Jie said dramatically, “We’ve been deceived by Xiguang! Just admit it, Xiguang, you’re just a foodie who wanted to eat here, right?”
“Let’s go back,” I said after a long pause.
“Yeah, it’s about time.”
We walked out of the café together into the crowded street. Once again, I looked up at that building, at all those rows of windows, and stopped in my tracks.
Among all those windows, which one would he look down from during his workdays?
“Xiguang?”
“Xiguang? What are you thinking about? Let’s go!”
What was I thinking about?
I stood on this bustling street where countless people rushed past me every minute, coming toward me and brushing past me. I encountered countless strangers, but not him.
I knew he passed through here every day, I knew he was somewhere in this city, perhaps on the next street over, perhaps about to stand in the exact spot where I was standing.
But at this moment, I couldn’t meet him.
And he would never know that someone once stood here, imagining meeting him.
Ying Jie tugged at my sleeve, “Xiguang? Why did you stop? What are you thinking about?”
“Hm? Nothing, just thinking…” I said softly, “Meeting someone in Shanghai is too difficult.”