The next morning, He Xian woke up in his bed. The sofa in the living room had been restored to its original state, with no signs of someone staying overnight. His pajamas were washed and hung on the clothesline. Lin Sitao had already left.
During the lunch break, Ding Shengguang went to He Xian's office to sit and chat.
Ding Shengguang is a person who cannot stand being alone for a moment, and He Xian was busy with something on the computer, so he just responded to Ding Shengguang's words with a perfunctory nod.
Ding Shengguang laughed: "Don't you have a moment to rest?"
He Xian said: "Can't you ever stop talking nonsense for a moment?"
The printer hummed, and soon a thick stack of information came out. Ding Shengguang went over and took a look: "What is this? Whose child is going to take the college entrance examination? No, Xiaohan is only in junior high school. And this... No one needs this, right?"
He Xian said: "It's not a relative's or friend's child. It's Lin Sitao."
Ding Shengguang had already forgotten the name: "Who?"
He Xian had no choice but to say, "Child labor."
Ding Shengguang suddenly realized that he certainly felt pity for young people who came to work on construction sites at the age of 17 or 18, but this pity was no different from his pity for beggars on the street. He would not take special actions against a specific person. Charitable acts should be done in charity activities.
"You are so cute. Be careful not to get entangled by others." Ding Shengguang reminded him.
He Xian sorted the printed materials and put them in a file bag without saying anything.
He had to go back to the company in the afternoon, and he stopped by the construction site. He called Lin Sitao to the car and talked to him for a few words, and then handed him the information bag.
The temperature was high at noon and the lunch break was long. Without the sound of construction work, the construction site was much quieter. Even the chirping of cicadas could be heard.
"Here are some documents, take a look." He Xian handed them to Lin Sitao through the car window.
Lin Sitao was a little confused. He Xian waited for him for three seconds. He held the information bag and said nothing.
"Look carefully, I'm leaving now. We'll talk later." He Xian's voice came from the car. Lin Sitao lowered his head and stood there for a while after the car drove away.
Lin Sitao ran back to the dormitory. There was no one in the six-person dormitory. It was too hot at noon. There was no air conditioning in their makeshift room, so few people came back to take a nap.
He opened the information bag, which contained several documents, all of which were about how to apply for student loans, and national grants and scholarships policies.
Lin Sitao glanced through it roughly, feeling nervous and excited like a thief. Suddenly, there was a cough outside the door, and someone pushed the door open. He hurriedly stuffed the things under the pillow.
At night, Lin Sitao took the phone IC card and ran to the public telephone booth opposite the construction site to make a call.
He calls home every few days. Grandpa has poor hearing, so only grandma talks to him.
After he told her he was safe, his grandmother asked him, "Is it hard working on the construction site?"
"It's not bitter." Lin Sitao said.
Grandma laughed and said, "You're so stubborn, how can it not be hard to work on the site?"
Lin Sitao really didn't feel it was hard. He was young and had plenty of energy. It was just boring. I thought sitting in the classroom and listening to lectures was boring, but I didn't expect that working on the construction site would be ten times more boring than listening to the teacher reading from the textbook. The sound of pile driving was endless.
After hanging up the phone with his grandmother, he hesitated and made another call.
"Hello." A lively female voice rang out.
Lin Sitao called her: "Dandan, it's me."
Xu Dan screamed and loudly blamed him for not contacting her for half a month and only calling her now.
He and Xu Dan were classmates in junior high school and high school, and he lived close to Xu Dan's family. Xu Dan's family was a little better off than his, and his father was still alive, but he didn't ask about family affairs at all.
"You should be able to buy a lot of things working on the construction site, right? That's great to be able to earn your own money," she said enviously.
Lin Sitao asked her seriously: "Do you think I should continue to work on the construction site?"
He and Xu Dan talked about everything. He also discussed the matter of dropping out of school to work with Xu Dan before leaving, but they never made a decision.
"What are you doing? So serious? Didn't you say you should work for a while and see what happens? Who knows, you might not be able to stay on the construction site if you want to," she chirped. "I saw a news report on TV today saying that it's hard for college students to find jobs now. I'm afraid that all the people working on construction sites will have to be college students in the future."
Lin Sitao was amused by her.
Xu Dan scolded him. They both fell silent, and she said, "Then I will ask you a serious question as well."
Lin Sitao hummed.
"Am I your girlfriend?" she said.
He and Xu Danlao played together and walked the same way to and from school. Their classmates had long been teasing them and jokingly saying that they were a couple.
The school doesn't care about premature love, and there are people who are in love in the class and outside the school. People like them can be called innocent.
Maybe it's too innocent.
Nothing happened between him and Xu Dan. They tried to kiss once, but he pushed Xu Dan away before they could put their tongues together.
From then on, they never had any more intimate physical contact.
"Am I your girlfriend?" Xu Dan asked again.
Lin Sitao answered her: "I don't think so."
Xu Dan said quickly: "Curly and I did it." Then he hung up the phone.
Lin Sitao was stunned. Juanmao was also their neighbor, two years older than them, went to a vocational high school, and had already graduated and was doing internship, working in a car repair shop.
He was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. He held the phone and called again, but Xu Dan didn't answer.
As soon as he left the phone booth, he saw He Xian walking slowly towards him with his hands on his chest.
He Xian changed his clothes again, wearing a white T-shirt, gray loose pants, and flip-flops, looking leisurely as if he was going out for a walk after dinner.
He waved to Lin Sitao.
The two crossed the bridge and walked for nearly ten minutes until they reached the square garden on another street. It was as lively as a night market there, so they sat down on a bench and watched the aunt practice dancing.
He Xian bought two ice creams, he took one and gave one to Lin Sitao.
They ate and talked.
"Have you seen what I gave you?" He Xian asked him.
Lin Sitao really wanted to ask him why such a big shot like him was so concerned about him, but that would seem too ungrateful - he was penniless, what could He Xian want from him
"Yes," he said.
He Xian did not ask any further questions, but just smiled and said, "Just read it."
He is very frugal with words.
After a while, he said, "It is a pity to give up your studies because of external factors."
Lin Sitao understood what he said.
He Xian held the ice cream but didn't eat it. A drop of melted cream dripped onto his hand. He shook his hand and handed the ice cream to Lin Sitao: "I bought it all for you in the first place."
"Director He..." Lin Sitao almost couldn't help but ask—Why are you so nice to me.
He Xian looked at him, and Lin Sitao said, "Thank you."
As soon as he returned to the dormitory, someone laughed at Lin Sitao for talking on the phone to his girlfriend for too long, and interspersed a few dirty jokes in between.
Lin Sitao lay on the bed, unable to hear any of the sounds around him. He was only vaguely thinking about the cream dripping on the back of He Xian's hand and the posture of He Xian shaking his hand.
He felt guilty towards Xu Dan because the world was spinning so fast and he didn't have much time to spare for her.
The next day at noon, He Xian did not come. Wu Jianghai's driver asked Lin Sitao to go to Old Wu's office.
Wu Jianghai was playing Landlord on the computer. He didn't even raise his eyelids when he saw Lin Sitao come in.
"sit."
Lin Sitao sat down.
Wu Jianghai clicked the mouse a few more times before saying, "What I'm going to say to you is all for your own good. Lao Chen said you're honest, and I said it because I see that you're really honest."
He raised his head and looked at Lin Sitao.
"Someone saw you and Director He getting close. Let me remind you - he is different from us."
Lin Sitao thought, Director He is certainly different from others.
Wu Jianghai said: "He has a very good family background, but because of some scandal, he came to work as a small engineering director here."
Lin Sitao said, "What?" He was so surprised. How could He Xian, such a good person, have a scandal? Besides, he thought the director was already powerful enough.
Wu Jianghai's eyes flickered: "He doesn't like women, he likes to play with men."
Lin Sitao froze.
Wu Jianghai said proudly: "You should be careful. People like him... who can blame him for being lucky? He was born higher than us. If you were a girl, you might have a chance to marry into a rich family. But you are a man, poor and without any background, so it would be a waste of time if you play with him."
He lit a cigarette with his lighter and glanced at Lin Sitao: "Go ahead."