The Fading Away of Our Youth (So Young) Vol 2 Chapter 11.1

Chapter 11, 1/2

That night Zheng Wei went to bed very early, [but] before she went to sleep, she pulled on all of the window curtains [shut], afraid she wouldn’t be able to resist it and peek out. In the end, she didn’t know what time he had left, and the next day the two met in the elevator, coincidentally at rush hour, and the elevator was filled with colleagues familiar with one another. Along with everyone else, Zheng Wei greeted everyone as a mere formality, and at last when she saw him standing next to her, [she said] “Morning, a.s.sistant Manager Chen.”

He was still neat without a single hair out of place, every thin crease of his white shirt was straight and just right, his smile was amiable, and there was a distant look in eyes. In the crowd [of colleagues] displaying exhaustion and sleepiness, his cold exterior was like a wall,  invisible, and separating him from the rest of the crowd.

He looked at Zheng Wei, and responded to her greeting. “Morning.”

The elevator stopped at the 6th floor, and he slightly bowed for her to go first. Zheng Wei hurriedly made a gesture. “You first please.” He laughed, and walked out first, only then did Zheng Wei follow him, leaving the elevator. Then the two people each walked into the office.

Everything from last night, there was no trace of that clear/quiet dream.

However from that day onwards, everytime Zheng Wie returned home late, she always hesitated when she was about to step into the stair entrance. She never looked in that direction, a lamp was always on in the living room until late into the night.

During the day when they met at work, there was no one more polite then they were. Zhou Qu said a lot of work would be given to them to collaboratively complete, Zheng Wei did work agilely, and Chen Xiao Zheng was very careful and meticulous. Zhou Qu who had strict expectations praised their work immensely. Only the gossipy small logistics workers frequently said, “Zheng Jie, when your together with Chen Xiao Zheng, if you casually take a video of him it would be a great etiquette teaching material.

Sometimes during meetings when Zheng Wei rose her head from her meeting notes, she had the illusion that his eyes lingered on her, but when she seemed to glance in his direction, she discovered his line of sight had not only pa.s.sed over her, but was lingering somewhere else.

After August, Zhou Qu’s work became very busy, Zheng Wei alsos frequently worked overtime organizing his papers for a conference. Sometimes she would stay at the office till very late, and she would realize she had been the only one in the whole building only after she had left.

The first time she worked overtime, she met Chen Xiao Zheng, he had just wrapped up and was returning from a dinner party.

Zheng Wei seeing him was a bit unexpected.

He said, “I came up here to get some stuff, and saw that the light in your office was still on, and came over in pa.s.sing.”

Accustomed to respecting the ice (distance between them) during the day, the quiet of the night in the office, one more person suddenly made it cramped and narrow.

“Yeah, I still have some things to finish.” She thought she would be able to say, “Goodbye,” very soon. But he was exhausted and sat down on the visitors’ sofa.

“You still have things?” She tried hard to look extremely busy. He heard the implication behind her words and said, “I’ll leave after sitting just a bit.”

Zheng Wei buried herself into her work, and after a few minutes, she still couldn’t resist taking a look at him. He was leaning on the back of the sofa, both eyes closed, the coat that he ha
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d taken off draped over his legs, his tie also loosened and hanging around his neck. It was the appearance of sleeping, and she could smell the scent of alcohol from far away.

“Don’t sleep here.” She said, getting up and pouring him a gla.s.s of water, and placing it on the coffee table next to him. “Drink it, hot tea can help a hangover, after you’ve awakened a bit more you can go home.”

He opened his eyes and looked at the cup of tea. “This is actually the first time you’ve poured tea for me, you were really lazy in the past, I always brought the water downstairs, and I even washed the dishes for you.”

“You’re drunk, what’s the point of saying those things from the past now?”

He picked up the cup, and laughed. “If you hadn’t said it I would’ve almost forgotten, it really has already been 3 years. It’s probably that I drank a bit more … … It’s okay like this too, I’m afraid if I’m too sober.”

Zheng Wei changed the subject. “Who were you drinking with, to end up like this?”

He said, “With a few other leaders of ther branches, this kind of gathering happens pretty often. Manager Zhou doesn’t drink much, and there’s only us two from Er Fen, so all of it comes to me.”

Zheng Wei frowned. “You guys didn’t happen to meet those drunkards from Yi Fen.” (like, you guys didn’t meet those guys, RIGHT?)

Chen Xiao Zheng shook his head. “No, Yi Fen actually didn’t go, I drank a lot with the a.s.sistant Manager of Qi Fen, you still remember him.” (implied, don’t you?)

“The a.s.sistant Manager of Qi Fen, I don’t recall.” Zheng Wei said blankly.

“You don’t remember anymore?” Chen Xiao Zheng was slightly astonished. “When I first came to Er Fen, I ate a meal with him once, you were also there, he sat in front of you, staring at you.”

Zheng Wei attended innumerable dinner parties, no matter how hard she thought she couldn’t recall this kind of person. “Really, you must have remembered wrong.”

He laughed, “How could I have remembered wrong, that day you were wearing a white top, and your skirt was a pale green with little dots. Your hair was down, and the same earrings you have on today.”

When he said it like this, she vaugely remembered that she had an outfit like that, but half a year had already gone by, she had forgotten early on, but he somehow still remembered. If she didn’t remember incorrectly, in those situations, he had never looked at her full on.

After it was said aloud, the two were silent. Zheng Wei was dazedly looking at her computer monitor, and didn’t know what she was thinking, and the hot tea in his hand emitted curls of white steam.

“Wei … …”

“Don’t say anything… …”

After that night, the time Zheng Wei spent doing overtime increased more and more, he saw the light. He frequently came up to sit for a bit, and she remained the same and didn’t really interact with him at all. But, when he didn’t come, every time she heard the wind blow, rustling the leaves, she would always mistake them for the sound of footsteps.

Zhou Qu was amazed at the astonishing increased efficiency of her work, the work he relegated to her during the day, asking her to finish it in half a month, she would hand it over onto his office desk early the next morning.

“Did you work overtime at night? It’s not actually that urgent, you don’t have to let yourself work so hard. Young women should have more personal time in the evenings.

He didn’t know, it had already been three years, this way she felt that her personal time actually had some meaning. She was able to feel the reigniting of her expectations in her heart, a little bit, silently spreading. That’t right, she knew, she was aware of everything, there wasn’t anything else stupider than waiting like this, but she longed for the crowded, faintly happy flame, flickering, extinguishing with a single gust of wind, but this last observation warmed her. He was quietly sitting on the sofa looking at a newspaper, sometimes saying a few words to her. At these times, Zheng Wei thought, why can’t we choose what we want to remember, remember the happiness, forget the sorrow, the occasional silliness. She still loved him after all, because she loved him, she was able to, because of one bit of sweetness, forget nine bitter times. (*cry*)

One time, Zhou Qu suddenly seemed to recall something and asked her, “Zheng Wei, have you and Deputy Lin gotten in contact after that meal we had that day?”

Zheng Wei, distracted for a moment, said, “Yeah, very little.”

Zhou Qu nodded. “I can see that he treats you very carefully (well, gently), and I’ve heard that he isn’t married yet. Admittedly his circ.u.mstances are good, but he is too astute, and you wouldn’t necessarily make a good couple.”

Zheng Wei felt a bit of surprise, Zhou Wu had never tended to a.s.sess her personal life this way in the past, even though before, his understanding of her relationship with Chen Xiao Zheng was pretty clear, he had never pointed it out so bluntly. She doesn’t know/understand this comment that appears to be careless, what’s the purpose.

“Leader, what are you thinking about?” (like, where is the direction of your thoughts going, why are you inferring that). With some awkwardness/embarra.s.sment, she laughed, “haha.”

Zhou Qu laughed as well, “I’m just saying it carelessly, there’s no other meaning.” He thought for a bit, and mentioned lightly, “That’s it, last Monday I was at the office for two nights in a row to finish writing some things, and I actually met a.s.sistant Manager Chen. I asked him if there was anything, and he said working overtime, and seeing that I was there, we talked for a bit, but shortly after he sat down, he left after only saying a few sentences. Young people are pretty interesting.”

Zheng Wei suddenly blushed, and agreed (but only with her mouth/words). “It is pretty interesting.” After turning she began to unconsciously laugh slightly.

Not long after, Zheng Wei’s 26th birthday came upon her. She hadn’t planned on making it a big occasion originally, but as it happened, right after work began she recieved a large bouquet of lilies sent to the office. The card on top had no sender, there was only a few simple words. “Happy Birthday.” After this,  everyone questioned the origins of the mysterious person who had sent the flowers very closely, and one by one, they shouted at her to take them out for dinner that night, led by the fun loving He Yi. After getting married He Yi became a bit more restrained, and adding on how something had happened to his father, he wasn’t as carefree as usual. He still worked at Er Fen, and even though he wasn’t the crown prince anymore, but he wasn’t concerned in the least.Maybe to him, by losing that status restriction he might have actually became even more unrestrained. After his father had been in custody for a few days, with cooperation from the central branch of Zhong Jian and the police department, he was finally able to tie up and finish matters. His office and party membership were expelled (revoked), allowing him to retire early. Being able to have a normal, comfortable and easy retirement was already the best conclusion he could have, of course, he quietly and silently retired, letting many people inwardly sigh in relief.