41
His tiredness and drunkenness were clearly visible on his face, but he was smiling as he looked into her eyes.
Meng Shuyu had never seen Zhou Jun like this before.
It should be said that she had never seen anyone with such a complicated expression in front of her.
For a moment, she even felt that the look in Zhou Jun's eyes when he looked at her was not just simple surprise or surprise.
It was more like he was carrying a heavy bag, searching for water all alone in the desert, until he was exhausted and couldn't even utter a sound of despair. When he was about to resign himself to his fate, he suddenly saw an oasis.
His eyes seemed to say, he was saved.
Meng Shuyu stared at his eyes, not knowing whether he was staring too hard, and felt his eye sockets a little swollen and sore.
After a moment of silence, she took a breath and glanced away, then looked down at the pitifully small piece of cake on the table and pursed her lips: "It's strange that this will work..."
Zhou Jun lowered his head following her gaze.
"When you make a wish, you should hold your hands together. It doesn't mean you should put them flat on the table. You should raise them up to your chin," Meng Shuyu said with a blank expression on his face. But he spoke softly, "It's not enough to just make a wish. You have to blow out the candles for it to count."
As soon as she finished speaking, a gust of cold wind blew into the store, and the flickering flame at the candle tip was suddenly extinguished.
The remaining smoke drifted into the wind and disappeared in a blink of an eye, leaving only a blackened core.
Meng Shuyu looked at Zhou Jun's dazed face again.
No one really taught him how to make a birthday wish.
How come no one had ever taught him how to make a birthday wish
When Meng Shuyu frowned, Zhou Jun seemed to be awakened by the wind. His eyes fell on her open coat, and he suddenly stepped forward and tightened her collar.
Meng Shuyu stepped back, raised his head and then froze, then lowered his head to look at Zhou Jun's hand.
Zhou Jun quickly buttoned the top button of her tweed jacket, then bent down to button the second, third, and fourth buttons. His waist bent lower and lower, and finally he stood there with his back hunched, staring at her feet.
The front half of her feet were hidden in the fluffy slippers, and the heels were completely exposed to the cold air.
Noticing his gaze, Meng Shuyu raised his hand, pushed his shoulder, and took two steps back.
Zhou Jun stood up and looked around, then quickly walked to the shelf, picked up a pair of thermal socks, and went to the checkout counter to pay.
The cashier looked at the two people for a long time and was stunned, and scanned his code blankly.
"Please help me pack the cake, thank you." Zhou Jun said to the cashier, turned around and pulled Meng Shuyu aside.
Meng Shuyu followed his force and moved to the table and sat down. She saw him unpack the package and squat down holding the socks.
She blinked and pushed his hand away: "... I can do it myself."
Zhou Jun looked up at her, said nothing for a moment, handed her the socks, and stood up.
Meng Shuyu realized belatedly that his heels were really cold. He turned around, hurriedly put on his socks, and stuffed his feet back into his slippers.
Just at this moment, the cashier brought a packaged cake and handed it to Zhou Jun.
Zhou Jun held the cake box in one hand and moved the other hand to the top of Meng Shuyu's head, as if he wanted to touch her head, but he suddenly stopped when he touched her hair.
Meng Shuyu raised his eyes and saw his hand hanging in the air slowly clenched and then dropped.
"Go back." But Zhou Jun was still smiling.
Meng Shuyu got up and walked out of the convenience store, put his hands in his coat pockets, and walked towards the community with his head down.
After walking for a while, she found that Zhou Jun was following her from the side and had never come forward to walk parallel to her.
The two long slanted shadows on the ground always maintained an awkward distance.
Walking all the way back to the downstairs of the apartment building, Meng Shuyu grasped the door handle. Before pushing the door, she turned back and looked at Zhou Jun who was watching her from the bottom of the stairs.
After looking at it for a while, she suddenly said, "I didn't take Lou Wenhong's things, and I blocked him when I went upstairs."
Zhou Jun nodded hesitantly, as if trying to figure out what she meant.
"Last time he came to deliver hot pot, I didn't invite him upstairs." Meng Shuyu added.
Zhou Jun nodded slowly again.
"I'm not saying this because I feel obligated to explain it to you. I just don't like others interfering in my affairs. I feel uncomfortable when being misunderstood." Meng Shuyu said this stiffly. Without waiting for Zhou Jun's reaction, he turned around and opened the door. "Just like that, I'm leaving."
Zhou Jun stood there, watching her walk into the elevator, watching the elevator door close, and watching the numbers on the electronic panel outside the elevator jump from one to seven and finally stop.
The late autumn wind blew up the dead leaves on the ground, blew up his thin shirt, and woke him up.
Ever since he received the message from Meng Shuyu that night saying "You don't need to pick me up recently", he seemed to have never been sober.
Reason told him that when she didn't even want to be angry anymore, it meant she had truly given up on him.
Emotionally I just can't accept this.
During these eleven days, he took the mentality of taking chances, which he always hated, to the extreme, and guessed that maybe she really just wanted to concentrate on her work, or maybe she was testing him in this way.
So every look, expression, and interjection she made when working with him in the company became a signal that he could interpret.
This mentality of taking chances makes people happy one moment and worried the next, it's so scary that it makes people go around in circles.
But what was even more terrifying was that one day he suddenly realized that the speculations he was experiencing and every moment of his falling into the abyss these days were all things Meng Shuyu had experienced before.
Who could still like him after going through such pain
He no longer had any room for luck.
So he forced himself to accept the reality and had to accept it just as He Tan Qin said.
He convinced himself that Meng Shuyu would no longer be sad because of him, which was also a happy thing.
But tonight, when he saw Lou Wenhong appear downstairs of her house, when he thought about how she would be happy and sad for another person in the future - those hidden resentments suddenly grew sharp edges uncontrollably, colliding in his chest like crazy.
After eleven days of struggle, it only takes one second to fail.
He was still not that great, and was not able to be relieved that she left him.
But I don’t know what he can do now.
So on this desperate day, he ran to make a wish to the candle.
When he was almost twenty-nine, he did things he hadn't done when he was nine.
Then, unexpectedly, he got the candy in her hand that he didn't get when he was nine years old.
I also learned that birthdays can be happy.
The next morning, Meng Shuyu woke up from bed, picked up his phone to check the time and unexpectedly saw a message from Zhou Jun at 4:11 in the morning.
What time is eleven
Meng Shuyu opened the message with a lot of questions on his face: I'm going to Nanhuai to visit my grandparents today, and I'll be back before Mr. Cai arrives tomorrow. You don't have to take care of the company anymore, Mr. Cai won't be here until the afternoon, so he won't be here for long, so you should have a good rest at home.
Why didn't he report his itinerary at 4 o'clock in the morning? Is he sick or is she unable to keep up
Who cares what he does on his day off
Meng Shuyu closed the dialog box, lifted the quilt and prepared to get out of bed.
I took a step forward and saw the pair of thermal socks on my feet.
It's made of furry coral fleece, and there's a doll that looks like a dog or a fox hanging on the heel, with a sad face and a crying expression.
It was made in a convenience store and I bought it on the spur of the moment, so I really couldn’t be picky about it last night.
Now if you look closely, it is really not just a little bit tacky or ugly.
But if you look at it a few more times, you will feel a kind of funny cuteness.
Meng Shuyu moved his toes and frowned: Meng Shuyu, is there something wrong with your aesthetic
On Sunday, Meng Shuyu had nothing to do, so he went to the company early after lunch and was on standby.
Relevant persons in charge were asked to work overtime in the office building and the workshop. She went around each department to confirm that there were no mistakes. Seeing that it was almost time, she went back to the general manager's office to make tea.
Just as I prepared the tea in the pantry, I heard a familiar burst of laughter coming from the corridor outside.
Meng Shuyu went out with the tea and indeed saw Cai Zhenlin and his little granddaughter.
Of course, there is also Zhou Jun who brought them here.
Zhou Jun was wearing a neat black suit, shiny leather shoes and a well-ironed tie. He didn't look as shabby as he did on Friday night at all. I don't know what he said to make Cai Zhenlin laugh like that.
"Mr. Cai, Mr. Zhou." Meng Shuyu greeted them with a smile.
"Xiao Meng, long time no see." Cai Zhenlin pointed at her with a smile.
Meng Shuyu lifted the tea tray higher: "That's right, luckily I still remember that you like to drink Pu'er."
Zhou Jun smiled and gestured to invite him in: "Then Mr. Cai, would you like to have some tea inside?"
"Okay, let's take a break first." Cai Zhenlin walked inside.
The two adults walked in front, and Meng Shuyu lagged behind. He lowered his head and looked at the little girl beside him: "Little Yuanyi has grown taller again. Don't you remember your sister?"
Cai Yuanyi shook his head: "Of course I remember! Sister Shuyu is so beautiful, I will never forget it! It was Grandpa who told me not to interrupt when adults are talking..."
"We'll talk in secret later."
Meng Shuyu followed Zhou Jun and Cai Zhenlin into the office, saw the two men sitting down on the sofa, poured them tea, and then stood aside.
"Don't stand anymore, sit down." Cai Zhenlin gestured to Meng Shuyu at the sofa opposite.
"Grandpa, what about me?" Cai Yuanyi muttered.
"Sit there and do your homework well." Cai Zhenlin pointed at the guest chair next to Zhou Jun's desk.
"Okay." Cai Yuanyi pouted, picked up her schoolbag and walked over.
Seeing that Cai Zhenlin and Zhou Jun were just chatting about family matters and not work, Meng Shuyu asked Cai Zhenlin in a low voice, "How about I go and help Yuan Yi with her homework while you chat with Mr. Zhou first and I'll come over later?"
Cai Zhenlin smiled and nodded, then asked Zhou Jun: "Is she as smart with you as she is with me?"
Zhou Jun seemed to recall: "It's a little worse."
This made Cai Zhenlin happy again: "It seems that I still have the most face."
Meng Shuyu didn't want to listen to the evil man anymore, so he moved a chair and sat next to the little girl: "What homework is Xiao Yuanyi doing?"
The office is large, so even if both sides talk at a normal volume, the voices won't conflict.
But Meng Shuyu still lowered his voice.
"Homework," Cai Yuanyi frowned and tapped the paper with the end of his pen, "I can't understand this poem, and grandpa won't let me check my phone."
"Then let me tell you about it."
Meng Shuyu took the paper and saw that it was Yu Guangzhong's "Waiting for You in the Rain".
"This is a love poem. It's normal for you to not understand it at your age. Don't be discouraged." Meng Shuyu looked at the questions, "Don't you know how to answer the first question?"
"Well, why did the poet say 'It doesn't matter whether you come or not' when he was clearly waiting for someone? Does he want people to come or not?"
"Of course I do. This depends on the context," Meng Shuyu tried to explain in simple language. "Look at the protagonist looking at the red lotus in front of him in the rain, waiting for the person he likes, and then he said - 'It doesn't matter whether you come or not, I feel that every lotus looks like you'. He waited and waited, and even the lotus flowers looked like the person he liked. How could he not want her to come? This actually shows that when he thought about meeting the person he liked soon, he felt very happy just by looking at the lotus flowers, and even waiting was a pleasure."
Cai Yuanyi let out a long "Oh".
"I think I understand a little bit. Then why is the following sentence 'The Swiss watch says it's seven o'clock'? Is the poet abroad?"
"I think the Swiss watch here should refer to watches made in Switzerland. Switzerland is the country of watches. It was quite rare to have a Swiss watch when the poet wrote this poem. You just saw Uncle Zhou Jun..." Meng Shuyu paused, "Did you see the watch my brother was wearing?"
Cai Yuanyi turned his head and looked at Zhou Jun: "Oh, that's a Swiss watch!"
Zhou Jun looked up and continued talking to Cai Zhenlin.
Meng Shuyu looked over and briefly met Zhou Jun's eyes before quickly separating. He touched Cai Yuanyi's head and said, "Well, that's a Vacheron Constantin watch, made in Switzerland."
After teaching Cai Yuanyi to finish two papers, Zhou Jun and Cai Zhenlin walked around the park, and the afternoon passed.
Just as Zhou Jun said, Cai Zhenlin came to Hangzhou mainly to accompany his granddaughter to an event, and he also stopped by to visit Sendai and did not stay too long.
But at the end, Meng Shuyu vaguely realized that Cai Zhenlin had something to say to her in private.
Together with Zhou Jun, Meng Shuyu sent the grandfather and grandson to the bottom of the office building. She thought of a superficial explanation and said in front of Zhou Jun that she also had to go back to the apartment and wondered if Mr. Cai could give her a ride.
Cai Zhenlin said of course, and let her sit in the assistant seat on the passenger seat.
When the car drove away, so far that Zhou Jun could no longer be seen, Cai Zhenlin smiled and said, "You are really smart."
"Mr. Cai," Meng Shuyu turned around and said seriously, "I really want to take a ride."
"Okay, since you're on board, I'd like to ask you how you feel about staying in Morishiro?"
Meng Shuyu originally thought that Mr. Cai was going to ask him about Zhou Jun, but he was asking about her own affairs. After thinking for a while, she said, "It feels very different from the headquarters. I have learned a very systematic administrative management method from Mr. Zhou, and I have gained a lot."
"Well, your position at the headquarters was to learn 'points' and 'lines', and now you've learned 'surfaces'." Cai Zhenlin nodded, "Do you want to return to the headquarters after that?"
Meng Shuyu said carefully: "As long as I can make use of my expertise, I can be anywhere. It depends on where you think I am suitable."
Cai Zhenlin smiled and said, "The headquarters may have to vacate an important administrative position next year. We'll compare them then."
As night fell, Meng Shuyu took Cai Zhenlin's car to the gate of Wangjiang Mansion, thanked the grandfather and grandson, walked into the community, and thought about what Cai Zhenlin said in the car all the way.
Given Cai Zhenlin's style, he would definitely not bring up something that didn't happen.
Meng Shuyu was almost certain that this so-called important administrative position would be vacant next year.
Cai Zhenlin also expressed his inclination, which was both to give her reassurance and to remind her not to forget the training from the headquarters.
Meng Shuyu returned to the apartment in a daze. As soon as he entered the door, he heard the sound of heavy rain outside the window.
She quickly went to the balcony and moved the window closer. She saw that the clothes above her head were dry and took them down.
After finishing my work, I looked at the time and started thinking about dinner.
She had originally planned to have a meal in the company cafeteria after seeing Mr. Cai off today, but because she saw that Cai Zhenlin wanted to chat with her, she hurried back early. Now she doesn’t know what to eat for dinner.
Meng Shuyu looked at the empty refrigerator, sat on the sofa, took out his mobile phone and started choosing takeout.
As soon as I opened the app, my phone vibrated and a new message popped up -
Zhou Jun: I run pretty fast.
What else? She wouldn't follow the big boss's wishes and follow him, the little boss
Seeing that it was a declarative sentence, Meng Shuyu didn't reply for the time being and continued to pick takeout.
Then a second message popped up: Today is the beginning of winter, do you want to eat hot pot
Meng Shuyu's gesture of sliding through the takeaway list was a little slow.
Third message: Come downstairs if you want.
Meng Shuyu got up from the sofa, walked to the balcony suspiciously and looked down.
In the rain, the black car was parked quietly at the bottom of the building, with only the wipers moving regularly.
Meng Shuyu stood on the balcony and typed a reply: Don’t you want to
Zhou Jun: Then I’ll wait and see.
Meng Shuyu walked back to the living room, sat down on the sofa again, and opened the app again to order takeout.
Listening to the sound of pouring rain outside the window, my thoughts drifted away, and I remembered the poem I taught Cai Yuanyi in the afternoon.
It was like two different magnetic fields resonated at the same frequency, and the next second, a new voice message came into the phone.
Meng Shu opened the raindrops and heard Zhou Jun's smiling voice: "Anyway, my Swiss watch hasn't reached seven o'clock yet."
The author has something to say: "It doesn't matter whether you come or not. I feel that every lotus is like you." "The Swiss watch says it's seven o'clock." - Yu Guangzhong "Waiting for You in the Rain"
The protagonist in the poem waited for the person he liked at seven o'clock.