“Didn’t you go abroad?”

“Mm, came back. Didn’t have time to tell you,” he said.

“There’s nothing to tell about that.” I smiled, then awkwardly put away my smile: “How have you been lately?”

Before he could answer, Zhou Ting came jogging over with water, looking at us both, at a loss: “Your friend?”

“Ah… let me introduce you. My high school classmate, Zhou Ting,” I said. “My childhood friend, Cheng Xia.”

Zhou Ting’s expression immediately took on three parts ingratiation. He extended his hand first: “Hello, let’s have a meal together sometime.”

Cheng Xia shook his hand, saying very gently: “A bit awkward though, because besides being childhood friends, I’m also her ex-boyfriend.”

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

Cheng Xia seemed completely oblivious, saying: “Where are you heading? Want to go together?”

…I drew in a sharp breath.

“Not going anywhere, I need to head back now,” I said. “We also drove here, we’re leaving now.”

Zhou Ting nodded beside me. He looked even more eager to escape this battleground than I was.

“What a coincidence.” Cheng Xia said: “I didn’t drive. Give me a ride?”

Me: …

On the way here, Yu Shixuan and I had sat in the back. Now with this situation, sitting in the back obviously wasn’t appropriate.

So I sat in the passenger seat. Cheng Xia never seemed to notice anything amiss, instead asking Zhou Ting with interest: “How much did this car run you on the ground?”

Zhou Ting answered: “Around three hundred thousand. My parents like Japanese cars.”

“Me too, though I’ve been wanting to switch to a hybrid recently.”

Boys probably all liked cars. They chatted about this topic, with Zhou Ting not much of a talker, just answering Cheng Xia’s questions one by one.

I turned my head to look out the car window. Dusk had arrived. Many people carried groceries home. There were also groups of students buying grilled cold noodles or fried chicken from street vendors, wearing sack-like school uniforms, laughing and playing around. 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’d changed a great deal.

First, he had wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. When he smiled or frowned, those marks of time were deeply etched at his eye corners. They didn’t diminish his good looks—instead they added a gentleness to him.

Second, he was brighter, more cheerful. At least on the surface he seemed like someone without worries, smiling carefree.

In short, he was neither the soaring, upright youth from my memories, nor that despairing, melancholy young man. He was an entirely new Cheng Xia.

The new Cheng Xia made eye contact with me through the rearview mirror. While talking to Zhou Ting, he smiled slightly.

I looked away, neither speaking nor smiling.

Zhou Ting dropped Cheng Xia off at his home. After getting out, Cheng Xia said to me: “Come visit when you have time. My dad misses you quite a bit.”

“How’s his health?” I said.

“Not bad. He’ll retire in another two years.”

On the way back, Zhou Ting and I didn’t speak the entire way.

I genuinely didn’t know what to say—this situation exceeded my brain capacity.

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

“Goodbye.” After arriving at my place, Zhou Ting waved at me.

“Goodbye,” I said.

——

My confusion didn’t last long.

After getting home, Yu Shixuan showed none of her earlier delicate manner. She’d casually tied her hair in a bun and was frantically typing on her laptop, wishing she could grow eight hands.

“Did you eat dinner?” I said while taking off my clothes.

“Eat what!” she shrieked: “The president of Nanbei University wants to meet with me!”

Nanbei University had originally been a second-tier university. A few of their programs were indeed excellent, and in recent years they’d been upgraded to first-tier.

The president, surnamed Wu, was a Peking University graduate with considerable sentiment for Weiming Lake. He was determined to create distinctive features and generate a sense of belonging among students.

That’s why he’d seek out emerging designers like Yu Shixuan.

President Wu himself was very optimistic about Yu Shixuan, but the contract wasn’t signed yet. They also had many backup designers, each with more credentials than Yu Shixuan.

In other words, if Yu Shixuan’s performance tomorrow didn’t pass muster, forget entrepreneurship—this project would fall through.

I got anxious too: “Why are you only mentioning this now! And you were so unhurried.”

“I thought it was next week! Who knew he’d have a business trip and move it up!” Yu Shixuan was so anxious she was about to cry: “Quick, help me look at this!”

“Don’t panic, don’t cry, I… I… let’s work on it together.”

I didn’t really understand art. After spending all night revising her budget sheet, I took leave the next day to accompany her to Nanbei University.

No matter how arrogant Yu Shixuan usually was, she was still a young girl. The dark circles under her eyes couldn’t be covered even with powder.

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

The success of Gentle Breeze Meadow was because she herself was the owner—she could be as imaginative as she wanted with Chi Na’s money backing her.

This was her first time independently handling a client project. As Party B to Party A, it really wasn’t just about talent. You had to satisfy their needs and precisely grasp every fleeting emotional change.

“Don’t be afraid.” I held her ice-cold hand and said: “Aren’t I here? Ten-year veteran Party B! If I can’t serve a client well, even Li Lianying reborn would be useless.”

She rolled her eyes at me, but her face was still very pale.

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

Ten minutes later, several teachers entered.

The baldest one was the president. He amiably shook hands with us: “Little Yu, long time no see. How’s your father? And this is?”

Yu Shixuan said: “This is my team leader, Ren Dongxue.”

“Hello, teacher. Just call me Little Ren. I’m a local. I’ve heard about many things regarding your establishment of the school here—I’ve always admired you.”

“Ah, a local is great. It’ll be convenient when working later.”

He then briefly introduced us: “This is Director Zhao, this is Professor Li, this is Professor Cheng… who’s also the chief designer for our new campus. You’ll probably be in frequent contact.”

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

He also shook my hand, very courteously saying: “Hello, Manager Ren.”

I cursed Yu Shixuan a hundred times in my heart, but on the surface remained attentive, extending my hand: “Professor Cheng, please give us guidance later.”

The meeting officially began.

“Professor Cheng’s overall design has east and west sub-zones with metaphorical implications of ‘carp’ and ‘dragon’ respectively. As the connection between the two and the highest point of the entire campus, I’ve designed the library building as a rotating water splash…”

“Stop.”

Cheng Xia said: “This is quite different from our last discussion. I suggested you design it as a ‘gate.'”

“I thought about it. The concept of ‘gate’ is mediocre and stable. I think it’s one-size-fits-all schools, lacking distinctive features…”

As soon as Yu Shixuan said this, the leaders’ expressions all soured.

I quickly picked up the conversation: “Actually, the water splash we designed is an expansion of the ‘gate’ concept. Through the upward curve of this outer wall, it forms smooth lines with the linear architecture on the east side and connects with the varied height building cluster on the west side. Both sides merge within the gate—neither obtrusive nor lacking creativity…”

Cheng Xia pointed at one spot, interrupting me: “Has the local bearing capacity under pressure here been calculated?”

Yu Shixuan said: “It should be sufficient.”

Cheng Xia said: “This must be calculated clearly, otherwise the entire design drawing doesn’t hold up.”

The entire meeting became Cheng Xia’s unilateral interrogation and suppression of us both.

As I’d worried, Yu Shixuan was too self-centered—she simply didn’t know how to be Party B.

And I was just an outsider to architectural design. At first I could rely on cleverness to interject a sentence or two, but when countless professional terms came crashing down on us layer by layer, I couldn’t get a word in.

This meeting lasted a full morning. When it ended, I felt my back was completely soaked through.

“I think we can review another draft,” the president said. “I have a business trip coming up. Professor Cheng, can you interface with them directly?”

“Sure.”

The meeting finally dispersed. Yu Shixuan’s face was pale. I wanted to scold her but couldn’t bear to, so I could only ask through gritted teeth in a low voice: “You knew he was here all along?”

And! How coincidental was it to run into Cheng Xia at Vegetable Market Street? It was probably also her doing!

Yu Shixuan didn’t answer. Cheng Xia walked up to me and said: “Let’s go, I’ll take you to eat.”

He smiled, his emotions unreadable: “Our cafeteria’s spicy hot pot is especially delicious.”