The Fading Away of Our Youth (So Young) Vol 2 Chapter 9.2

Chapter 9, 2/2

Zhou Qu’s complexion immediately showed delight and he said, “I actually never knew there was this relationship. Since its like this, Deputy Lin should eat a meal with us even more. Putting aside the job done, its a meeting of old friends, you should also chat a bit. We do not have the face to invite you, we only have Zheng Wei’s sneaky good fortune.”

Hearing this, Bureau Chief Liang (it seems this t.i.tle keeps changing, just remember that Lin is above Liang) beamed with pleasure and said, “Deputy Lin’s hometown really has so many outstanding people, it truly is a place with lots of talented people. No wonder I saw from early on this young girl was quite clever. Deputy Lin, we all know the truth in our hearts, Manager Zhou has very good reasons for this meal.”

Lin Jing looked at Zheng Wei with a smile on his face, and seeing her earnest nod, he had no choice but to say to Zhou Qu, “Since it is like this, refusing would be really unreasonable, I’ll respectfully and obediently accept.”

To get to the bar, Lin Jing and Chief Liang drove a car by themselves, and Zheng Wei rode in Zhou Qu’s car. Zhou Qu asked, “Turns out you knew Lin Jing, did he really grow up together with you?”

Zheng Wei nodded and said, “En (yeah), we used to be neighbors.”

Zhou Qu meaningfully glanced at her and said, “I see that his att.i.tude towards you is quite friendly, you knew each other well?”

Zheng Wei was starled and immediately said, “When we were younger our families could be considered to having frequent relations, but he is older than me by 4 to 5 years. He also didn’t normally play with us, and went to study abroad afterwards. We haven’t seen in each other in a long time, and our meeting today was quite unexpected. It’s rare that he still remembers me.”

Although her words couldn’t be considered a lie; Lin Jing had been a child with many opinions ever since he was young, and he did not run around all day in the yard crazily with them wild kids. He also wasn’t very familiar with the kids around his own age, but, the only exception was with the Small Jade Flying Dragon back then. However, at this time, Zheng Wei was not willing to reveal this series of past events with Lin Jing to other people, not even to Zhou Qu who she had always greatly respected, because she did not want to mix private matters with work ones. This was especially because Lin Jing’s ident.i.ty was pretty special/important within their company, so she ought to be cautious. If she had not seen Zhou Qu’s hopelessness when trying to invite them to stay for a meal, she would’ve even wanted to pretend they weren’t acquainted and deceivingly moved on over the matter at the time. It was only that she didn’t know whether Lin Jing would turn a blind eye/deaf ear to it. Seeing him downplaying their relationship using a few weak sentences just now, the sentences weren’t false, but every word was there, so she couldn’t guess his intentions.

Zhou Qu was driving the car, and stayed silent during the road there along with Zheng Wei. When they reached a traffic light, he suddenly said to Zheng Wei, “It was all because of you that we were able to make him stay behind. You also know, these public security authority divisions, if they could give us face by eating together with us, that’s the only way we’ll have leeway to talk. If later on, problems arise, Lao Liang (old Liang, kind of like “xiao” before a name but for an elder) only came over as a routine practice, he is not difficult to send, but this time Lin Jing came personally, and although he said he came
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to visit on his way, I think this is a false reason. He is younger that Lao Liang, his position is above Lao Liang, he is more subtle/sophisticated, and he is also the leader in charge of the police office’s economic crimes division. Although I don’t have any dirt (evidence against me) that he can arrest me for at Er Fen, but during this sensitive time, who has nothing to be scared when they meet the police?”

Zheng Wei thought for a moment before saying, “Leader, it really is like what you said. If we do not give them any hold on ourselves, we do not need to fear the consequences [of him].”

Zhou Qu sighed and said, “That state enterprise fell into shambles after just a little bit, Zheng Wei, do you know, Ling Jing was in charge of the investigation case of our former CEO of Zhong Jian, He Shu Shan. Of course, we also have people within who added fuel to the fire (helped it along), but on the case of the sacking of He Shu Shan, he definitely played a crucial part in it. He is young, but he is definitely not simple (easy to figure out I think is what he means).”

When the two od them arrived in the designated private room [of the restaurant], a.s.sistant Manager Zhang, his secretary and Chen Xiao Zheng were already waiting there ahead of time. Not long after, Lin Jing and Lao Liang also came in lead by the waitress, and Zhou Qu immediately stood up to introduce Lin Jing [to the others]. When he was introducing Chen Xiao Zheng, Zhou Qu said, “Deputy Lin, this young person is the youngest power in the backbone of our Er Fen, and at the moment, he is my a.s.sistant, Chen Xiao Zheng. a.s.sistant Chen, this person is our XX area/district’s Deputy Inspector Lin.”

“h.e.l.lo, Deputy [Inspector/Prosecutor] Lin.” Chen Xiao Zheng lightly smiled and held out his hand.

Lin Jing grasped [his hand] back and said, “h.e.l.lo, a.s.sistant Chen. You should be a few years younger than me, so you really are young and promising.”

“Saying I’m young and promising in front of Deputy Prosector Lin, isn’t this a joke?” Chen Xiao Zheng laughingly said.

“You don’t have to be polite, our ages are similar, you can call me Lin Jing.”

Lin Jing …… Lin Jing!

He was unsure whether Lin Jing had felt the momentary light tremble of his hand right before he had released it. Chen Xiao Zheng raised his head to look for the officer’s eyes, yes, he [CXZ] was suspicious, clearly it was his first time meeting him [LJ], why was there is unshakable feeling of familiarity. How could he [CXZ] forget this pair of eyes, confident and calm, in pictures when he [LJ] was holding “his little dragon” in his arms, there was a trace of tenderness in those eyes. (These hes and hims are confusing me so much because they’re both guys!! AHHHHH this is so hard). This pair of eyes, they were the reason for Chen Xiao Zheng’s jealousy and frustration at at night. That was the one quality he desired but could not attain; if he also had that kind of innate confidence, he also would not hesitate to declare to the entire world: That (she) was his little dragon, his!

Zheng Wei stood in the back, watching the two men who shook hands for a long time, her palms drenched with sweat.

The food was quickly carried in, and Zhou Qu invited Lin Jing to [sit at] the head of the table, with Zheng Wei at the end seat, and Chen Xiao Zheng modestly declined the seat near the head of the table and left it for a.s.sistant Manager Zhang, and sat himself [down] next to Zheng Wei.

After Zhou Qu gave a speech (more like a few sentences of thanks/prayer to start the meal), one by one, everyone raised their gla.s.s after 3 drinks, the few leaders of Er Fen took turns toasting to Lin Jing. Zhou Qu laughed and said, “Finally, today, we were fortunately able to invite Deputy Lin, not because of our Er Fen’s face is big (reputation), but because of Zheng Wei’s face. Zheng Wei, you should really respect Deputy Lin, to meet an old friend in a foreign place (this is an idiom) is already uncommon, you guys have even known each other since childhood.”

Snapping out of her dream, how could she forget about this rule today, it must be that her subconcious mind has yet to be able to grasp the fact that the person who guided her hand to draw strokes over the red characters on her calligraphy paper (its how Chinese children learn calligraphy, they trace over faintly marked out in red characters in 3×3 boxes, to learn the positioning and flow and etc.) is regarded as an honored guest of her company. She saw that her small wine gla.s.s was still completely empty, and hurriedly poured the wine. Lin Jing reached over and used his hand to stop her saying, “You can just use soda instead.”

Zheng Wei made a sound, “Uh” before a.s.sistant Manager Zhang said, “Zheng Wei, Deputy Lin is just being polite, how could you actually subst.i.tute it with soda.

Chief Liang who came with Lin Jing also laughed and said, “a.s.sistant Lin, you don’t know, your fellow small townsperson here has a pretty good alcohol tolerance, even I may not be her match.”

Lin Jing laughed slightly saying, “I’ve always not advocated for young girls drinking alcohol, as long as the meaning is conveyed it’s fine.”

Zheng Wei was in a predicament, Zhou Qu resured her saying, “Since Deputy Lin already said it this way (that is was fine), you can do it.”

Zheng Wei walked over and clinked gla.s.ses with Lin Jing and said, “Deputy Lin, I toast to you.” (the you used here is the polite form, just so you all know).

He raised his eyebrows, and laughed at the person present and said, “The little girl has grown up, she used to stick to my back and call Lin Jing Gege, Lin Jing Gege (gege=older brother), now she calls me Deputy Lin.” Everyone laughed, and Chen Xiao Zheng also laughed saying, “Yes, Secretary Zheng, everyone knows you are former acquaintances with Deputy Lin, being too polite is rather unreasonable.”

Zheng Wei lowered her head and drank a sip of soda, hurriedly returned to her seat, strongly wishing that this evening dinner party would finish, the faster the better. Every second was torture.

The wine culture of Chinese people was strange, after the wine is placed on the table, the few people who aren’t drunk cannot reflect the host and guests enjoyment, they aren’t enjoying themselves enough. No wonder everyone said, “You’re hazy, I’m hazy, everyone just happens to sign the contract.” Zhou Qu’s party of people took turns raising their cups to toast to Lin Jing. Today, many people from Er Fen came, and everyone [took turns] toasting, so they officers drank unbearably [much]. Not long after, Chief Liang who was entirely red in the face addressed a.s.sistant Manager Zhang with great familiarity (like if they were brothers) and said very bold words about any area that still had the least bit of reservedness,  normally, this was the host’s greatest desired outcome to achieve. Lin Jing did not drink any less than Chief Liang, and his face was also slightly red. But his consciousness was clear at least, and he remained cheerful, talking and laughing. Zheng Wei didn’t know how deep his alcohol tolerance was, when they were young they ate together frequently, he never touched even a drop of alcohol. There were too many things that were only learned after they had parted from each other.

Secretary/Clerk Fang stopped Lin Jing 3 cups (okay, here I’m extremely confused, original text was 书记方敬罢林静三杯 or shu ji fang jing ba lin jing san bei, and I was absolutely at a loss for what it means. Any suggestions? I think the verb was ‘strike’ but then later on it mentions he had drank 3 cups, so I thought ‘stopped’ made sense). Right after Lin Jing took a sip of tea, Chen Xiao Zheng raised his gla.s.s and rose yet again and said, “[Now it’s] my turn to toast to Deputy Lin, I hope for more advice and comments on all future work.” In his hand he was holding gla.s.ses to split the bottle of wine, 56% strong alcohol, inside of it there was at least 50 grams worth, Lin Jing frowned slightly.

“What, even though we aren’t old friends, but Deputy Lin’s feelings (sentiment, sensitivity to other’s feelings and face/reputation) other than being given to Secretary Zheng, you also have to split some to give to us.” Cheng Xiao Zheng half jokingly said, a.s.sistant Manager Chen’s group all nodded their heads, echoing [his words].

Lin Jing took another sip of tea, and did not say anything, only took the gla.s.s in from of him and added an amount equal to his. He said, “Giving advice/comments is out of the question, everyone mutually learns [from each other].”

Zheng Wei took a look at Chen Xiao Zheng, Lin Jing just drank 3 gla.s.ses, and had no shortness of breath, why should they cruelly force one another right now?

However Chen Xiao Zheng did not display any expression, not looking at her.

When Lin Jing raised his gla.s.s, the wrinkle on his forehead visibly deepened, and Zheng Wei could not find a way to not think about how his stomach hadn’t been the best even since childhood. Under her worry she couldn’t think much (well), before her brain could react she rose and blocked, saying, “But drink slowly, there’s no need to rush.”

Chen Xiao Zheng looked at Zheng Wei, smiling yet not smiling and said, “As expected, this is the affection from growing up together, Deputy Lin’s alcohol tolerance is over there, why are you bothering to protecting him (because you feel sorry for him).”

Zheng Wei bit her lip, she felt sad because of his words, but even more [importantly] was that the air could not be taken out of her (her spirit). Since he has already said it this way, she will insist on protecting him (LJ) openly and without fear for him (CXZ) to see. Thereupon she grinned and said, “Since it’s already been said that it was affection from growing up together, then a.s.sistant Manager Chen’s gla.s.s of wine, if I drink it in place of Deputy Lin, it also isn’t a big deal.”

She entirely filled the wine gla.s.s in from of her, allowed no explanation, clinking gla.s.ses with Chen Xiao Zheng’s wine gla.s.s and raised her head and drank it. She drank too fast, and choked her face entirely red, turning around to cough violently. Chen Xiao Zheng’s regret and remorse engulfed him, [but] he appeared to insist on pretending nothing had happened, but his hand hurriedly grabbed for the napkin on the table. However Lin Jing immediately stood up and walked over, patting Zheng Wei’s back, and reproachingly said, “It’s wasn’t like I couldn’t drink it.” When he had begun to rise, the tissue grabbed in Chen Xiao Zheng’s hand had paused on top of the table, and the tissue in his hand had noiselessly been molded into a ball, without anyone seeing it.(AHHHHH *silently sobs* now I don’t know whether to ship Zheng Wei with LJ or CXZ ;.; I mean I used to ship her with LJ but I feel like recently CXZ has been so sweet and I kinda empathize with him now… I DON’T EVEN KNOW ANYMORE, ARGHHH (this is the so called, “midlife crisis,” lol))

After Lin Jing’s pats Zheng Wei’s coughs slowly recovered, and said softly to him, “No need, go back and sit.” Towards this act the majority of the people rather implied (I’m thinking this means a.s.sumed that their actions implied they were something more), only Zhou Qu was a detached bystander, not saying a word.

When it ended everyone mutually sent (one another) off to the door of the bar, other than Zheng Wei, each of them all drove cars over. Chen Xiao Zheng was the only one who lived in the company complex along with her, Zhou Qu said, “a.s.sistant Manager Chen, why don’t you be in charge of sending Zheng Wei back (home), drive carefully.”

Chen Xiao Zheng said, “I’m sorry, Manager Zhou, in a while I have some things I have to rush to do. I don’t know whether Deputy Lin lives faraway or not, how about troubling Deputy Lin to send Secretary Zheng.”

Zheng Wei stared at him coldly, a slight smile on her face.

“Of course there’s no problem, Zheng Wei, then we’ll be going, goodbye everyone.”

Once everyone had gotten in their cars and left, Zheng Wei shook her head and said to Lin Jing, “You drank a lot, I’ll just take a taxi.”

He allowed no explanation, grabbed her hand then walked towards his own car.