Yang Zhao’s head drooped slightly at the sound of that “all right”.
When she recalled Chen Mingsheng’s face and the look he had when he smiled, something about that simple “all right” released the tension in her shoulders, and the thick stench of tobacco in the car didn’t seem so suffocating anymore.
On the phone’s other side, Chen Mingsheng continued to speak. “I’ll leave the venue up to you.”
Yang Zhao considered. “Where are you now?”
“At home.”
“In that case, let’s go somewhere that’s near your place.”
Chen Mingsheng paused. “You must be a fair distance away from my place. It’ll be pretty inconvenient, no?”
Yang Zhao pressed her lips together. “It’s fine. I can drive anyway.”
A peal of soft laughter sounded from her phone. Yang Zhao’s heart skipped a beat, and the image of Chen Mingsheng looking down and grinning that day floated before her eyes. “What’re you laughing about?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Chen Mingsheng replied.
His tone was relaxed. Yang Zhao frowned. “What’re you laughing about?”
Chen Mingsheng laughed again.
“…”
“Do excuse me, Ms Yang,” Chen Mingsheng said. “I didn’t do that on purpose. I simply thought…” He trailed off.
“Yes?”
The phone quieted down again, and Yang Zhao stared outside the car window. Since Yang Jintian’s school was in the city center, traffic was very heavy. A green light lit up at the road junction, and a swarm of cars drove over.
As Yang Zhao watched one car after another pass by, she waited for Chen Mingsheng’s reply.
”Nothing…” Chen Mingsheng said in a low tone.
Yang Zhao reclined her seat and leaned on her back. “So what were you thinking?”
Chen Mingsheng laughed lightly. “Must you have an answer every time?”
Yang Zhao stared at the gray roof of the car. “Not always.”
“When will you arrive?”
Yang Zhao noted how Chen Mingsheng avoided giving her a straight answer and didn’t press. Yang Zhao looked at her watch. “40 mins later, probably.”
Just then, a passing truck honked. “You’re outside?” Chen Mingsheng asked.
“Yeah,” Yang Zhao replied, then added, “I’m at my brother’s school.”
“Where’s that?”
Yang Zhao told him the address, and Chen Mingsheng said, “That’s even farther. Let’s pick somewhere in the middle.”
”No need. Just wait for me.”
“Okay, then.”
There was a brief break of conversation, then Chen Mingsheng spoke up, “In that case, I’m—”
“Is this your number?” Yang Zhao cut in.
“Yeah.”
“Wait for me, okay? I’ll call you again when I’m there.”
“All right.”
“That’s all then. I’m hanging up.”
”Just as she was about to hang up, Chen Mingsheng said suddenly, “When you input the directions into the navigation system, just key in ‘Lingkong Police Station’ directly. That’s the closest route. My apartment’s along the way, too.”
Yang Zhao didn’t speak, so Chen Mingsheng did, “You…you do know how to use the navigation system, right?”
Yang Zhao took in a breath and said composedly, “I do. See you later.”
She hung up without waiting for Chen Mingsheng’s reply. She threw her cell phone into the front passenger seat, straightened up, and stared at the car’s navigation system expressionlessly.
She was just a tad slow last time…Yang Zhao reached out a finger and punched in the directions for Lingkong Police Station into the navigation system.
Input: success.
”There! Easy peasy,” Yang Zhao muttered to herself, chuckling sardonically. Then, realizing how silly she was being, she checked herself and shook her head.
She picked up the phone that she’d thrown aside, and checked the call log. A string of numbers lay quietly on the uppermost corner of the screen.
‘Chen Mingsheng’, she keyed in. Done.
Yang Zhao opened up her phone’s contact directory and tapped on the letter C. Chen Mingsheng’s name appeared at the bottom of the list. Yang Zhao thought of editing his name to bump his name to the front, but could not think of an alternative. She’d never been much of a prankster, and had saved the names of all of her contacts using their real names. Not one of them were nicknames.
Yang Zhao entertained the idea, but ultimately abandoned it.
This is fine.
She adjusted her seat back to its original position and drove on whilst following the navigation system’s directions.
By the time she was close to where Chen Mingsheng lived, it was already past one o’clock in the afternoon. As she looked for a place to park her car, she spotted Chen Mingsheng smoking by a minor intersection.
That intersection, an extremely narrow stretch of road that cut a direct path to the housing estate, could fit a single file of cars at the maximum. It was also very deep and flanked by poplar trees on either side.
When Yang Zhao saw Chen Mingsheng, he hadn’t yet noticed her presence, and a cigarette was suspended from his mouth as he stared out at the road, zoning out. The ends of the white T-shirt Chen Mingsheng wore were tucked into his pants, and he had on a light gray coat over it.
Once again, the thought came to Yang Zhao that Chen Mingsheng was in great shape.
Discounting that leg, that is.
Yang Zhao’s gaze was involuntarily pulled toward Chen Mingsheng’s leg. The length of his right pant leg was not altered, and it seemed that all Chen Mingsheng did was hitch it up and stuff it into his belt. His arm half-rested on the crutch rested beside him. From time to time his elbow would bend, he would remove the cigarette from his mouth, and lightly flick off the ash from it.
He was very steady on his feet.
Yang Zhao always felt inexplicably drawn to Chen Mingsheng’s leg. While that missing leg made him look very fragile, Yang Zhao knew he was not a fragile person—far from it.
In Yang Zhao’s eyes, this extreme contradiction was indescribably…hot.
That’s right, hot.
Chen Mingsheng noticed Yang Zhao’s car very quickly. He stubbed out his cigarette and straightened up.
Yang Zhao rounded the car at the intersection and drove up to Chen Mingsheng.
She rolled down the windows.
”Why are you waiting outside?” she asked.
Chen Mingsheng looked down at Yang Zhao and smiled. “You drive really slowly, you know that?”
Yang Zhao frowned. “Slow?” she glanced at her watch. 1:30PM. “You think I’m slow?” She looked up at Chen Mingsheng, and with her face perfectly straight, said, “Well, I did come from downtown.”
Watching the serious manner in which Yang Zhao attempted to explain just how far away the middle school was, Chen Mingsheng had to turn toward the tree well by the roadside to hide his mirth.
None the wiser, Yang Zhao turned to Chen Mingsheng after she finished her explanation. ”Hop in.”
“Mm.” Chen Mingsheng opened the door to the backseat. Yang Zhao called out to him, “The front seat’s open.” Chen Mingsheng raised his head. Yang Zhao was watching him via the rearview mirror. He nodded, popped his crutch inside the backseat, opened the front door and, bracing against the car for support, hopped into the car.
Where shall we go to eat?” asked Yang Zhao.
“What do you feel like eating?”
“Anything goes.”
Chen Mingsheng thought about it and said, “Pick a place with food you want to eat, all right? This meal will be on me. Take it as thanks for the help you gave the other day.” By the other day, he meant the day when Yang Zhao accompanied him to the rehab center.
Yang Zhao took him up on the offer. She turned to Chen Mingsheng and asked, ”Are you hungry?”
Chen Mingsheng stared at her in stunned silence, recovered, and nodded. “Yeah.”
“We’ll go somewhere nearby, then.”
“All right.”
Chen Mingsheng waited for Yang Zhao to start the car, but the car remained stationary. He turned to give Yang Zhao a puzzled glance, only to discover she was looking at him as well.
“What’s wrong?” Chen Mingsheng asked.
“Seat belts.”
“…”
Not knowing what to say, he put on his seat belts silently, and only then did Yang Zhao start the car.
The remoteness of the area where Chen Mingsheng lived meant that decent restaurants were few and far between. Unperturbed, Yang Zhao found an ordinary family restaurant by the roadside, and asked Chen Mingsheng, “Would this place be okay with you?”
Chen Mingsheng was a little taken aback.
Only a few days had passed since he first met Yang Zhao. The few strange encounters with Yang Zhao notwithstanding, his first impression of Yang Zhao was that she had to be very well-off.
It was obvious enough from her car, a Jaguar XJ 5.0L with automatic transmission and a price tag of at least 2 million yuan—even if her driving didn’t quite showcase what it was capable of. Then there was her gigantic apartment, too. Chen Mingsheng was no connoisseur when it came to clothing brands, but even he could tell that the clothes Yang Zhao wore, while simple in design, were by no means your run of the mill, street stall goods.
In short, Yang Zhao looked nothing like someone who would deign to have lunch at “Second Sister’s Dumpling Restaurant”.
Admittedly, it wasn’t her first choice. However, Yang Zhao’s unfamiliarity with this area meant that she had not the faintest idea where to find a restaurant, and Chen Mingsheng’s hunger made her reluctant to waste too much time searching for one. Thus, when she saw several cabs parked by the entrance of this dumpling restaurant, and how it seemed to be doing good business, she decided their search was over: this restaurant was it.
After Yang Zhao parked the car, Chen Mingsheng picked up his crutch from the car’s backseat and made his way toward the restaurant.
As it happened, there was an empty table for two inside.
The restaurant was modest in size, and customers could sit wherever they wanted to. Chen Mingsheng wove past several people before reaching the empty table, his conspicuously missing leg attracting curious stares as he passed by.
Chen Mingsheng was not bothered, and neither was Yang Zhao. She surveyed her surroundings while the employee went to fetch some menus, and commented to Chen Mingsheng, “There seem to be a lot of cab drivers here.”
Chen Mingsheng nodded. “The food’s cheap, and as far as the location goes, it’s one of the better ones. It’s a pretty popular lunch venue amongst cab drivers.”
“Does that mean you’ve been here before?”
“Yeah.”
Yang Zhao imagined it. “I suppose you came with other drivers for lunch?”
Chen Mingsheng casually loosened his collar button and stretched his neck. “How can I?”
“Hmm?”
Chen Mingsheng raised his eyes, looked into Yang Zhao’s, and gave a half-smile. “Look at what happened to me when you found out. Eat with a bunch of others? Ha! I might as well retire from the trade right now.”
Yang Zhao fell silent.
She drew her lips into a line and stared fixedly at Chen Mingsheng. Chen Mingsheng ignored it at first, but it eventually got to him. Before he could open his mouth to speak, Yang Zhao spoke up, “I didn’t mean to threaten you.”
Chen Mingsheng stilled.
“As unbelievable as it sounds,” Yang Zhao continued, “my only thought at that time was to get you away from the rain.”
Chen Mingsheng dipped his head subtly and dropped his voice. “I know. It was just a joke.”
A waitress appeared bearing a menu. “Is it safe to be eating here?” Yang Zhao whispered to Chen Mingsheng, “Will you get recognized?”
Chen Mingsheng took the menu and looked at it. “It’s fine,” he said unconcernedly. “I don’t know anyone here.”
The company he was working for had fixed eating locations for its drivers, and practically no one would eat elsewhere at their own expense. Not that he bothered to explain this to Yang Zhao, though. When Chen Mingsheng sensed no movement from Yang Zhao despite looking at the menu for a long time, he looked up.
Today, Yang Zhao was clad in a black knitted top, and had a clean and natural look to her. She sat straight-backed, with her hands neatly folded upon her thighs. Seeing Chen Mingsheng lift his head, she leaned forward, as if afraid they’d be overheard.
Yang Zhao’s brows were furrowed as she whispered to Chen Mingsheng in total seriousness, “It’s not safe. We’ll have to eat quickly.”
Yang Zhao’s head drooped slightly at the sound of that “all right”.
When she recalled Chen Mingsheng’s face and the look he had when he smiled, something about that simple “all right” released the tension in her shoulders, and the thick stench of tobacco in the car didn’t seem so suffocating anymore.
On the phone’s other side, Chen Mingsheng continued to speak. “I’ll leave the venue up to you.”
Yang Zhao considered. “Where are you now?”
“At home.”
“In that case, let’s go somewhere that’s near your place.”
Chen Mingsheng paused. “You must be a fair distance away from my place. It’ll be pretty inconvenient, no?”
Yang Zhao pressed her lips together. “It’s fine. I can drive anyway.”
A peal of soft laughter sounded from her phone. Yang Zhao’s heart skipped a beat, and the image of Chen Mingsheng looking down and grinning that day floated before her eyes. “What’re you laughing about?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Chen Mingsheng replied.
His tone was relaxed. Yang Zhao frowned. “What’re you laughing about?”
Chen Mingsheng laughed again.
“…”
“Do excuse me, Ms Yang,” Chen Mingsheng said. “I didn’t do that on purpose. I simply thought…” He trailed off.
“Yes?”
The phone quieted down again, and Yang Zhao stared outside the car window. Since Yang Jintian’s school was in the city center, traffic was very heavy. A green light lit up at the road junction, and a swarm of cars drove over.
As Yang Zhao watched one car after another pass by, she waited for Chen Mingsheng’s reply.
”Nothing…” Chen Mingsheng said in a low tone.
Yang Zhao reclined her seat and leaned on her back. “So what were you thinking?”
Chen Mingsheng laughed lightly. “Must you have an answer every time?”
Yang Zhao stared at the gray roof of the car. “Not always.”
“When will you arrive?”
Yang Zhao noted how Chen Mingsheng avoided giving her a straight answer and didn’t press. Yang Zhao looked at her watch. “40 mins later, probably.”
Just then, a passing truck honked. “You’re outside?” Chen Mingsheng asked.
“Yeah,” Yang Zhao replied, then added, “I’m at my brother’s school.”
“Where’s that?”
Yang Zhao told him the address, and Chen Mingsheng said, “That’s even farther. Let’s pick somewhere in the middle.”
”No need. Just wait for me.”
“Okay, then.”
There was a brief break of conversation, then Chen Mingsheng spoke up, “In that case, I’m—”
“Is this your number?” Yang Zhao cut in.
“Yeah.”
“Wait for me, okay? I’ll call you again when I’m there.”
“All right.”
“That’s all then. I’m hanging up.”
”Just as she was about to hang up, Chen Mingsheng said suddenly, “When you input the directions into the navigation system, just key in ‘Lingkong Police Station’ directly. That’s the closest route. My apartment’s along the way, too.”
Yang Zhao didn’t speak, so Chen Mingsheng did, “You…you do know how to use the navigation system, right?”
Yang Zhao took in a breath and said composedly, “I do. See you later.”
She hung up without waiting for Chen Mingsheng’s reply. She threw her cell phone into the front passenger seat, straightened up, and stared at the car’s navigation system expressionlessly.
She was just a tad slow last time…Yang Zhao reached out a finger and punched in the directions for Lingkong Police Station into the navigation system.
Input: success.
”There! Easy peasy,” Yang Zhao muttered to herself, chuckling sardonically. Then, realizing how silly she was being, she checked herself and shook her head.
She picked up the phone that she’d thrown aside, and checked the call log. A string of numbers lay quietly on the uppermost corner of the screen.
‘Chen Mingsheng’, she keyed in. Done.
Yang Zhao opened up her phone’s contact directory and tapped on the letter C. Chen Mingsheng’s name appeared at the bottom of the list. Yang Zhao thought of editing his name to bump his name to the front, but could not think of an alternative. She’d never been much of a prankster, and had saved the names of all of her contacts using their real names. Not one of them were nicknames.
Yang Zhao entertained the idea, but ultimately abandoned it.
This is fine.
She adjusted her seat back to its original position and drove on whilst following the navigation system’s directions.
By the time she was close to where Chen Mingsheng lived, it was already past one o’clock in the afternoon. As she looked for a place to park her car, she spotted Chen Mingsheng smoking by a minor intersection.
That intersection, an extremely narrow stretch of road that cut a direct path to the housing estate, could fit a single file of cars at the maximum. It was also very deep and flanked by poplar trees on either side.
When Yang Zhao saw Chen Mingsheng, he hadn’t yet noticed her presence, and a cigarette was suspended from his mouth as he stared out at the road, zoning out. The ends of the white T-shirt Chen Mingsheng wore were tucked into his pants, and he had on a light gray coat over it.
Once again, the thought came to Yang Zhao that Chen Mingsheng was in great shape.
Discounting that leg, that is.
Yang Zhao’s gaze was involuntarily pulled toward Chen Mingsheng’s leg. The length of his right pant leg was not altered, and it seemed that all Chen Mingsheng did was hitch it up and stuff it into his belt. His arm half-rested on the crutch rested beside him. From time to time his elbow would bend, he would remove the cigarette from his mouth, and lightly flick off the ash from it.
He was very steady on his feet.
Yang Zhao always felt inexplicably drawn to Chen Mingsheng’s leg. While that missing leg made him look very fragile, Yang Zhao knew he was not a fragile person—far from it.
In Yang Zhao’s eyes, this extreme contradiction was indescribably…hot.
That’s right, hot.
Chen Mingsheng noticed Yang Zhao’s car very quickly. He stubbed out his cigarette and straightened up.
Yang Zhao rounded the car at the intersection and drove up to Chen Mingsheng.
She rolled down the windows.
”Why are you waiting outside?” she asked.
Chen Mingsheng looked down at Yang Zhao and smiled. “You drive really slowly, you know that?”
Yang Zhao frowned. “Slow?” she glanced at her watch. 1:30PM. “You think I’m slow?” She looked up at Chen Mingsheng, and with her face perfectly straight, said, “Well, I did come from downtown.”
Watching the serious manner in which Yang Zhao attempted to explain just how far away the middle school was, Chen Mingsheng had to turn toward the tree well by the roadside to hide his mirth.
None the wiser, Yang Zhao turned to Chen Mingsheng after she finished her explanation. ”Hop in.”
“Mm.” Chen Mingsheng opened the door to the backseat. Yang Zhao called out to him, “The front seat’s open.” Chen Mingsheng raised his head. Yang Zhao was watching him via the rearview mirror. He nodded, popped his crutch inside the backseat, opened the front door and, bracing against the car for support, hopped into the car.
Where shall we go to eat?” asked Yang Zhao.
“What do you feel like eating?”
“Anything goes.”
Chen Mingsheng thought about it and said, “Pick a place with food you want to eat, all right? This meal will be on me. Take it as thanks for the help you gave the other day.” By the other day, he meant the day when Yang Zhao accompanied him to the rehab center.
Yang Zhao took him up on the offer. She turned to Chen Mingsheng and asked, ”Are you hungry?”
Chen Mingsheng stared at her in stunned silence, recovered, and nodded. “Yeah.”
“We’ll go somewhere nearby, then.”
“All right.”
Chen Mingsheng waited for Yang Zhao to start the car, but the car remained stationary. He turned to give Yang Zhao a puzzled glance, only to discover she was looking at him as well.
“What’s wrong?” Chen Mingsheng asked.
“Seat belts.”
“…”
Not knowing what to say, he put on his seat belts silently, and only then did Yang Zhao start the car.
The remoteness of the area where Chen Mingsheng lived meant that decent restaurants were few and far between. Unperturbed, Yang Zhao found an ordinary family restaurant by the roadside, and asked Chen Mingsheng, “Would this place be okay with you?”
Chen Mingsheng was a little taken aback.
Only a few days had passed since he first met Yang Zhao. The few strange encounters with Yang Zhao notwithstanding, his first impression of Yang Zhao was that she had to be very well-off.
It was obvious enough from her car, a Jaguar XJ 5.0L with automatic transmission and a price tag of at least 2 million yuan—even if her driving didn’t quite showcase what it was capable of. Then there was her gigantic apartment, too. Chen Mingsheng was no connoisseur when it came to clothing brands, but even he could tell that the clothes Yang Zhao wore, while simple in design, were by no means your run of the mill, street stall goods.
In short, Yang Zhao looked nothing like someone who would deign to have lunch at “Second Sister’s Dumpling Restaurant”.
Admittedly, it wasn’t her first choice. However, Yang Zhao’s unfamiliarity with this area meant that she had not the faintest idea where to find a restaurant, and Chen Mingsheng’s hunger made her reluctant to waste too much time searching for one. Thus, when she saw several cabs parked by the entrance of this dumpling restaurant, and how it seemed to be doing good business, she decided their search was over: this restaurant was it.
After Yang Zhao parked the car, Chen Mingsheng picked up his crutch from the car’s backseat and made his way toward the restaurant.
As it happened, there was an empty table for two inside.
The restaurant was modest in size, and customers could sit wherever they wanted to. Chen Mingsheng wove past several people before reaching the empty table, his conspicuously missing leg attracting curious stares as he passed by.
Chen Mingsheng was not bothered, and neither was Yang Zhao. She surveyed her surroundings while the employee went to fetch some menus, and commented to Chen Mingsheng, “There seem to be a lot of cab drivers here.”
Chen Mingsheng nodded. “The food’s cheap, and as far as the location goes, it’s one of the better ones. It’s a pretty popular lunch venue amongst cab drivers.”
“Does that mean you’ve been here before?”
“Yeah.”
Yang Zhao imagined it. “I suppose you came with other drivers for lunch?”
Chen Mingsheng casually loosened his collar button and stretched his neck. “How can I?”
“Hmm?”
Chen Mingsheng raised his eyes, looked into Yang Zhao’s, and gave a half-smile. “Look at what happened to me when you found out. Eat with a bunch of others? Ha! I might as well retire from the trade right now.”
Yang Zhao fell silent.
She drew her lips into a line and stared fixedly at Chen Mingsheng. Chen Mingsheng ignored it at first, but it eventually got to him. Before he could open his mouth to speak, Yang Zhao spoke up, “I didn’t mean to threaten you.”
Chen Mingsheng stilled.
“As unbelievable as it sounds,” Yang Zhao continued, “my only thought at that time was to get you away from the rain.”
Chen Mingsheng dipped his head subtly and dropped his voice. “I know. It was just a joke.”
A waitress appeared bearing a menu. “Is it safe to be eating here?” Yang Zhao whispered to Chen Mingsheng, “Will you get recognized?”
Chen Mingsheng took the menu and looked at it. “It’s fine,” he said unconcernedly. “I don’t know anyone here.”
The company he was working for had fixed eating locations for its drivers, and practically no one would eat elsewhere at their own expense. Not that he bothered to explain this to Yang Zhao, though. When Chen Mingsheng sensed no movement from Yang Zhao despite looking at the menu for a long time, he looked up.
Today, Yang Zhao was clad in a black knitted top, and had a clean and natural look to her. She sat straight-backed, with her hands neatly folded upon her thighs. Seeing Chen Mingsheng lift his head, she leaned forward, as if afraid they’d be overheard.
Yang Zhao’s brows were furrowed as she whispered to Chen Mingsheng in total seriousness, “It’s not safe. We’ll have to eat quickly.”
