TSMLI CHAPTER 19

Lin Chu flinched in panic. Her elbow hit the iron gate, which banged twice.

Shen Zhongxun slowly stepped in and stopped in front of her, still holding a tissue in his hand. Lin Chu pursed her lips and didn’t move, shrinking further against the iron door.

The corner was dimly lit, yet each of her eyelashes was clearly visible. Shen Zhongxun shifted his gaze from the fluttering lashes, trying to suppress the urge to touch them, and turned instead to the sweat on Lin Chu’s forehead. “Want to wipe it off?” he asked, holding the tissue out toward her face.

Lin Chu turned her head away, snatched the tissue with an awkward smile, but didn’t wipe herself. She avoided his gaze and said, “Thank you, Manager Shen. Why are you still here? I’ll go out for a bit.” She pointed to her right, where Shen Zhongxun was blocking half of the exit, so she couldn’t get through.

Shen Zhongxun asked, “Why did you come down again?”

Lin Chu casually replied, “Just buying some things.”

What to buy?

Lin Chu finally wiped the sweat from her forehead and moved her legs to shoo away the mosquitoes. She couldn’t help thinking that Shen Zhongxun’s clothes were the best at keeping mosquitoes away. Lost in thought for a moment, she was startled when he called out, “Lin Chu?”

She realized what was happening and smiled. “Let’s buy some food.”

Shen Zhongxun said, “I’ll go with you.”

Lin Chu frowned. The mountain of a man in front of her seemed to have taken root, blocking out most of the light in the already dim corner and making the air even stuffier. She couldn’t help saying, “Manager Shen, I don’t need you to accompany me. You’re really putting me in a difficult position. Maybe I’m just being presumptuous, but could you please stop saying ‘accompany me’? You said you already understand what I mean!”

After impulsively uttering the last word, Lin Chu regretted it. She was most afraid of awkward situations.

Shen Zhongxun remained silent for a moment, his gaze fixed on Lin Chu, whose face was full of impatience. Seeing that her delicate nose was covered with sweat, he also felt hot and unbuttoned one of his shirt buttons.

Unable to bear his complete disregard any longer, Lin Chu was about to ask him to make way when Shen Zhongxun suddenly swung his palm toward her. Startled, she shrank back and cried out, her eyes closing tightly. A loud smack resounded in her ears, and the iron gate behind her vibrated. Lin Chu cried out again.

Shen Zhongxun moved even closer. With a slight tilt of his head, he could smell the faint scent of her hair. He slowly withdrew his arm, opened his palm, and said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m swatting mosquitoes.”

Lin Chu slowly opened her eyes and saw a huge mosquito corpse lying on the wide palm in front of her, bloodstains spreading in the center. She suddenly felt an itch on the back of her neck and couldn’t help reaching out to scratch it.

Shen Zhongxun then said slowly and deliberately, “Lin Chu, I’ve thought about it. Rejection is your decision, and pursuing is mine. I’ve decided to pursue you anyway, and I hope you can give me a chance.”

Lin Chu answered bluntly, “Manager Shen, let me be frank with you. I don’t like your type, and I won’t like you. This has nothing to do with whether I have a boyfriend or not, or whether you decide to pursue me or not. I just don’t like you!” After saying that, she breathed a sigh of relief and felt instantly relaxed.

Shen Zhongxun was taken aback, perhaps not expecting her to be so blunt. He didn’t know how to respond, and even his neck turned slightly red. Another resident came in from outside and was startled when he saw the two in the corner. He patted his chest and muttered to himself as he entered the elevator. Lin Chu was embarrassed and blushed. She pushed Shen Zhongxun away forcefully and hurriedly squeezed out through the iron door. Fresh air rushed into her nostrils, and she felt refreshed.

Lin Chu ignored whether Shen Zhongxun was still behind her and simply ran through the shortcut to the supermarket. After carefully selecting a light bulb, she also bought a bottle of floral water. After paying and leaving the supermarket, she immediately poured the floral water on the back of her neck, which relieved the itching slightly.

When she got back downstairs, Shen Zhongxun was nowhere to be seen. She breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that this matter was over.

The room was pitch black. Sang Feiyan shone a flashlight on Lin Chu, watching her sway precariously as she stood on two stools. “Be careful. If it doesn’t work, we can do it again tomorrow!”

Lin Chu smiled and said, “It’s nothing.” She removed the old bulb, screwed in the newly purchased one, and then asked Sang Feiyan to turn on the light to test it. The bright light hurt her eyes.

After getting down, Sang Feiyan asked, “Hey, did you take a picture of that handsome guy downstairs?”

Lin Chu shrugged. “When I went downstairs, there was no one left.”

Sang Feiyan said, “What a pity,” and turned around to run back to her room to watch TV. Lin Chu played with the broken light bulb for a while, then looked around the simple bedroom. The cement floor and walls were uneven, and tiny insects were crawling on the walls. The light bulb that had just been replaced was immediately covered with a ring of flying insects. She couldn’t help but sigh and lay down on the bed in a huff.

On the other end, Shen Zhongxun was driving absentmindedly, his mind replaying Lin Chu’s earlier words over and over again. A wave of sadness washed over him, surging into every organ. He couldn’t help unbuttoning another button, feeling stifled and unable to escape the heat.

While waiting at a red light, he adjusted his rearview mirror. The face in the mirror was angular, with thick eyebrows and sharp eyes, without any wrinkles left by time, and he didn’t look old at all. He considered himself good-looking, and he had had many suitors when he was in school. It was just that he rarely came into contact with women after starting work, but that didn’t prove he wasn’t attractive. Shen Zhongxun thought again that Lin Chu had only graduated a year ago, and perhaps she still had some childlike qualities. At her age, she would unconsciously blur the lines between different age groups, just as a seven- or eight-year-old child would call an eighteen-year-old female student “auntie.” Lin Chu felt that he was too old, and that she would understand when she matured a bit more.

Children’s affections are not everything in life. In this unusually hot summer, every corner of Nanjiang City was moving at a rapid pace with time.

A delegation of party and government officials from a neighboring city would visit Nanjiang City. Provincial and municipal leaders would attend the event. The delegation’s first stop would be the emerging industrial park in Nanjiang City, and the second stop would be to inspect the local urban construction. All units under the city investment group were on high alert.

At the same time, the investment promotion activities of Chuqian Project Company were proceeding in an orderly manner. Various catering and entertainment groups had set their sights on the area surrounding the scenic spot, and the bidding process was in full swing, with banquets becoming a frequent destination.

Lin Chu had been keeping a low profile lately, with her phone mostly silent, though the phone on her desk rang frequently. This day, she was busy processing information on the bulletin board, holding a stack of posters and gesturing in front of it. Behind her, colleagues walked back and forth in the corridor, all preparing for next week’s inspection.

Lin Chu pulled out a piece of paper and fiddled with it in front of the window, feeling that it wasn’t very aesthetically pleasing. Just as she was fretting over it, someone suddenly leaned close and asked, “Hey, beautiful, why is no one in that management department over there?”

Lin Chu glanced at him quickly and replied, “They’re probably all in a meeting in the conference room. You can go in and wait for a bit.”

The man asked, “You must be one of them, right? Why didn’t you go to the meeting?”

Lin Chu then took a good look at him. The man was dressed in fashionable clothes, with a sparkling earring on his left ear. His hair was pulled back in the middle, indicating that it had been carefully styled. At that moment, he was winking at her, looking nonchalant.

Lin Chu didn’t answer, only saying, “If you have something to do, you can go inside and wait. The meeting should be over in fifteen minutes.” After saying that, she ignored him and continued to focus on the pictorial in her hands.

The man moved a few steps closer, said “thank you” with a grin, and then walked away.

After a long while, Lin Chu finished updating the bulletin board and returned to the office carrying a pile of discarded materials. As soon as she entered, her colleague waved to her. “Little Lin, come on over! We finally have another young person in our department. Let me introduce you. His name is Xue Quan. He just rotated to our department.” Turning to Xue Quan, she said, “This is Lin Chu. You’re all young, you can chat. If you don’t understand anything, you can ask her. This girl is very capable!”

Xue Quan laughed and said, “We’ve met. I was just asking her some questions outside, and she was quite—” He winked. “‘enthusiastic’!”

Lin Chu smiled and said, “What a coincidence! Hello!”

After exchanging a few polite words, the two returned to their seats. Lin Chu had a mountain of work to do and had been overwhelmed with tasks for the past few days. Her older colleague, holding a water glass, sat down next to her and whispered, “He’s the one who got in with connections. He’ll probably only stay for two months. He’s actually quite good-looking, but a bit effeminate.” In her opinion, a grown man wearing an earring was effeminate.

Lin Chu smiled and said, “It’s alright.”

Her older colleague said, “Hey, you have so much work to do. You could share some with him!”

Lin Chu looked up and saw Xue Quan holding his phone, leisurely reclining in a chair. She wondered if he was playing a game. She shook her head. “No need. I can handle it.” Not knowing who he was, she didn’t dare to trouble him.

On Friday, Lin’s mother called and told Lin Chu not to come home over the weekend. “I heard that there will be a power outage here due to circuit repairs. It’s all your dad’s fault for buying this house. He bought a staff dormitory that shares the same circuit as the company inside. So when the power goes out, we all go out together!”

Lin Chu asked worriedly, “How long will it be shut down? It’s so hot today. How can we stand it without electricity?”

Lin’s mother said, “That’s why I told you not to come back. Your father and I will stay at your grandparents’ house for the next couple of days.”

There was no guest room in her grandparents’ house. The second bedroom had long been converted into a storage room, filled with cardboard boxes and bottles that the old folks couldn’t bear to throw away, as well as plastic bottles that her grandfather hadn’t had time to sell. Where was there a place to sleep?

Lin Chu thought for a moment and said, “You might as well stay in a hotel. Don’t try to save money. There’s no room at Grandpa and Grandma’s house. The air conditioner is in their room. If you go there, you’ll only be able to use the fan!”

Lin’s mother gave a few perfunctory replies, clearly ignoring her. Lin Chu knew that her mother was reluctant to spend money, so she thought she should go back and forcibly drag them to a hotel.

The moment this thought formed in her mind, she received a call from Ye Jing.

“Chu Chu, will you come with me to the hospital?”

Lin Chu’s heart skipped a beat. “What’s wrong?”

Ye Jing stammered, “I feel a little uncomfortable down there.” She found it difficult to say, only saying that it might be because the anti-inflammatory treatment hadn’t been done properly. Lin Chu breathed a sigh of relief, as long as it wasn’t something else.

“My cousin is coming over in the next couple of days, and I can’t get away. Why don’t you come with me after you come back from home on Sunday?”

Lin Chu asked, “Is it alright? Can we wait two more days?”

Ye Jing replied, “I’m not sure either. I’ll take the medicine for two more days and see. I’ll come see you again on Sunday.”

Lin Chu agreed, hung up the phone, finished the remaining work, and left work in the blink of an eye.

As soon as she got downstairs, she saw Yang Chunbei waiting there. When she saw Lin Chu, she smiled and went up to her, and they walked to the bus stop together. After exchanging a few words, she asked about Jiang Jin’s recent situation. “I called him, but he kept saying he was busy. He promised to treat me to dinner but didn’t keep his word. Have you been in contact with him recently? Can you help me make an appointment with him?”

Lin Chu said, “How could I possibly have any contact with him? He’s a reporter. He’s probably really busy.”

Yang Chunbei sighed. “I think you two should be quite familiar with each other.” Just then, a car sped out of the company gate, brushed past them, and disappeared into the distance. Yang Chunbei tugged at Lin Chu’s arm. “That person is Xue Quan, the new guy in your department, right? A lot of people have asked me to ask you for his phone number. Do you want to share it?”

Lin Chu laughed and said, “You think too highly of me. I don’t have his phone number!”

Yang Chunbei covered her mouth and laughed. “That’s how I replied to them. I guessed you wouldn’t have it so soon either, and they didn’t believe me!”

The two chatted and laughed until the bus arrived, at which point they waved goodbye.

Lin Chu planned to go home tomorrow to see how things went. She didn’t know if her grandparents’ air conditioner was powerful enough or if the cool air could spread to the living room; otherwise her parents would really faint from the heat.

Shen Zhongxun sat down at the table again, eating and drinking until dark. Halfway through, Wen Peiru called and asked, “What happened to the girl you said you wanted to date? I can’t explain this to your father. Why don’t you come back tomorrow and meet some other girls?”

Shen Zhongxun suddenly lost his appetite. The people at the table urged him to continue drinking. He smiled and gestured to his phone, put down his wine glass, and stood by the window. He silently calculated the time and suddenly realized that another week had passed. He wondered how Lin Chu was doing.

Thinking about tomorrow being Saturday, he replied, “I have something to do tomorrow, so I won’t go with any other girls. I’ve been quite busy lately.”

Wen Peiru was somewhat dissatisfied, but there was nothing she could do about it. She could only try to persuade him a few more times with kind words before hanging up the phone amidst the noisy urging of others to drink.