Going out with Chu Yifeng on company business was normally Gao Yongfu’s responsibility. Unfortunately, Assistant Gao, now a father, was in the same situation as Wang Cheng: the day before school started, he had accompanied his son out of Shanhai City to report to university. He had taken four or five days off, so he would not be back until tomorrow.
When Li Yu heard that the boss wanted to borrow her assistant, she pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose and agreed without saying anything. If she refused, the boss would probably remember it.
“It’s great that you get to go out on business with the boss, Brother Cheng.” As soon as Cheng Cheng heard about it, he came over to congratulate Wang Cheng. Being personally chosen by the boss was definitely a sign that he was being given important responsibilities.
Wang Cheng could not share his excitement. He had even eaten meals with the boss. What was so great about this?
After Cheng Cheng left, Zhu Chunlin and another coworker came over as well. Colleagues who barely said a few words to him on ordinary days suddenly became enthusiastic. One asked whether he was tired; the other asked whether he wanted some water. Their attentiveness made it obvious they had ulterior motives.
Wang Cheng could not fend them off. The moment the boss called for him, he seized the excuse and escaped.
When they reached the place where they were handling business, Wang Cheng discovered that it was actually a hotel. The name looked especially familiar: Jinding Hotel, the same name as the hotel where he had stayed in the capital. The only difference was the architectural and interior design style.
It turned out Jinding Hotel was an international luxury hotel group. Twenty years ago, the people in charge had decided to make China their primary market for expansion. By now, branches could be found in many major cities, catering mainly to prominent figures in local political, business, and entertainment circles. Wang Cheng rarely came to this part of the city, so he had not known Shanhai City had one too.
Jinding Hotel was designed in the Baroque style, which originated in Italy. The style pursued not only splendor and wealth, but also elaborate, exaggerated ornamentation and a grand artistic effect. It had originally catered to princes and aristocrats who loved luxury and pleasure, so extravagance was one of its defining features.
Wang Cheng had no idea what sort of business his boss was here to discuss. He simply followed him to meet several foreigners and listened to them speak a whole stream of words he could not understand. He spent the entire time as a mute, occasionally running an errand like a junior assistant, but otherwise being of little use. He wondered whether the boss regretted bringing him. Li Yu or Zhang Yiheng would actually have been more suitable.
Later, Chu Yifeng told him to go downstairs and wait.
Wang Cheng had no desire to keep listening to a language he could not understand, so he went down without hesitation. What he did not know was that the foreigner who had been speaking with Chu Yifeng immediately switched to Chinese after he left, and spoke it with astonishing fluency.
Besides being dazzlingly luxurious, the inside of a five-star hotel was also complicated. Wang Cheng wandered around for a while without finding the elevator and could no longer tell which direction was which. Just as he was considering whether to call Chu Yifeng and confess this embarrassing truth, a heavenly voice sounded behind him.
“Hello, sir. Is there anything I can help you with?”
Wang Cheng turned around and found a female hotel employee in a neat red uniform, a professional smile on her face. But before he could speak, surprise appeared on her face once she got a clear look at him.
“Wang Cheng?”
“You know me?” Wang Cheng studied her carefully for a few moments. The longer he looked, the more familiar she seemed, until a figure from deep in his memory surfaced. “Don’t tell me you’re Wei Dandan?”
“I am Wei Dandan. I thought you wouldn’t recognize me.” Delight filled Wei Dandan’s eyes.
How could Wang Cheng not recognize her? It had simply been too many years, so he had not placed her immediately. Wei Dandan had been his high-school classmate, and he remembered her quite clearly because she had been a friend of the school beauty who once confessed to him.
Back then, the school beauty had flown into a rage after he rejected her confession. She joined forces with the boys in their class and boys from other classes who liked her to ostracize him. Some of the girls close to her treated him badly too. Wei Dandan alone had not joined them. Unlike those girls who glared at him whenever they saw him in order to curry favor with the school beauty, and occasionally made pointed remarks within earshot, Wei Dandan had left him alone.
“It’s been almost six or seven years, hasn’t it? You’ve gotten more and more handsome. Have you been doing well all these years?” Wei Dandan had a cheerful personality, and once she realized he really was her old classmate, she relaxed.
Wang Cheng slipped both hands into his trouser pockets. “Pretty well. I’m more surprised about you. I didn’t expect you to be working at a five-star hotel. It must be pretty hard to get hired here, right?”
There were many different kinds of hotel service jobs. A large five-star hotel like Jinding had extremely strict hiring standards and placed great importance on employee quality, so the average salary was also high. But people with limited experience would often look down on the job the moment they heard the words “hotel server.”
Wei Dandan had encountered that attitude before. She had attended class reunions in the past, and some classmates stopped wanting to talk to her as soon as they heard she was only a hotel employee. Wang Cheng having no such reaction made her very happy.
“It is pretty hard. By the way, would it be convenient for you to give me your mobile number?” There was a trace of caution and uncertainty in Wei Dandan’s voice. They had not seen each other in so many years, so naturally they had grown distant. Whether he would still want to be friends with her was hard to say.
Wang Cheng was surprised, but she was a woman and he had always had a good impression of her, so he gave it to her readily.
Wei Dandan did not have her phone with her. Employees were not allowed to carry mobile phones while working, only the hotel walkie-talkies. She gave Wang Cheng her number and asked him to call it so it would be in his phone; after she got off work that evening, she would call him back. Then she gave him directions. A few minutes later, Wang Cheng successfully made it to the lobby.
Half an hour later, Chu Yifeng came downstairs to find him, and the two left Jinding Hotel together.
They returned to the company to deal with some follow-up matters. After work, Wang Cheng said he needed to stop by the supermarket. Yesterday’s feast had wiped out the meat stored at home, and if he did not buy more, there would be no meat for dinner. He bought chicken, beef, lamb, pork, and several other kinds of meat. When they checked out, the cashier looked at them as though she were looking at a pair of pigs. Neither of them was fat, so how could they possibly eat that much?
Once they got home, Wang Cheng stuffed all the meat into the refrigerator at Chu Yifeng’s place, then disappeared into the kitchen to make dinner.
Chu Yifeng sat in the living room reading a financial newspaper. Halfway through, he went into the kitchen to help. One dish after another was carried to the table. As they ate and chatted, the subject of driving practice came up again. Wang Cheng had had an idea earlier that day and took the opportunity to mention it to Chu Yifeng.
“Boss, I heard the driver’s license test is kind of hard.”
“Who told you that?”
“Some of the other students. They said there are shady unwritten rules. Some examiners deliberately make things difficult for candidates and pick faults on purpose. Other people say you have to pay money to pass.”
“So?”
“Is there any way to make sure I pass on the first try?”
“Yes. Bribery.”
The corner of Wang Cheng’s mouth twitched. “I mean a way to pass without bribery, where the examiner won’t deliberately make things hard for me.”
Chu Yifeng finished his last bite, drank a few mouthfuls of soup, then pulled out a tissue and wiped his mouth. Looking at Wang Cheng, he said, “When did you become this timid? You haven’t even taken the test and you’re already worrying about failing. If your skills are solid enough, even the pickiest examiner won’t be able to find fault.”
“That’s not necessarily true,” Wang Cheng muttered.
Chu Yifeng ignored him after that. He cleared away the bowls and chopsticks and went to wash them himself. Wang Cheng could take credit for that. At first, Chu Yifeng had not washed dishes, but somehow he had started doing it later on and had kept up the habit ever since.
It was nearly eight by the time Wang Cheng returned to his own apartment. He was about to take a shower when his phone rang. Sure enough, it was Wei Dandan. She was not on the evening shift today, so she had gotten off work at six. She had wanted to call him then, but worried that he might have just gotten off work and waited until now. After talking for a few minutes, Wei Dandan ended the call on her own. Even though they had once been classmates, six years without seeing each other had made them strangers again.
At eight-thirty, Wang Cheng took the car keys downstairs to practice. He had already run through the entire set of exercises at the training ground, and his instructor had explained the key points for the test. Practicing here was less convenient, but the instructor’s method was rigid and mechanical. It would be better to truly master the tricks himself, which would make the actual test much easier. After he finished practicing and came back, he took another shower, then called Wang Ziyu.
The dormitory lights were not turned off until eleven, and it was not even ten yet, so Wang Ziyu was still awake.
Over the phone, Wang Ziyu told him what had happened during the first two days of school. Because she held the title of provincial top scorer, she had more things to deal with than most other students. She had already been chosen as a freshman representative and would have to speak onstage at the opening ceremony. Right now, she was busy writing her speech.
There was another freshman representative, a male student, but she had heard that he had gotten the role through connections. He would be onstage with her, and Wang Ziyu was a little nervous.
“There’s nothing to be nervous about. It’s not your first time giving a speech onstage. As for that other student, just ignore him. The school obviously won’t make the two of you read the same speech. Just do what you’re supposed to do.” Wang Cheng comforted her, then added, “Oh, right. Remember to wear the white dress Second Brother bought you that day, okay?”
“Okay,” Wang Ziyu answered somewhat guiltily. She had not worn any of the clothes even once since buying them. They were too expensive, and wearing them made her feel uncomfortable instead.
“What do you mean, ‘okay’? Say it properly. Send me a photo that day. I want to see you wearing that dress.” Wang Cheng knew his little sister far too well. Precisely because he knew she would avoid wearing it, he reminded her.
“Fine. There’s something else. Eldest Brother called me last night. He said he’ll come cheer me on at the opening ceremony.” Wang Ziyu had never expected her eldest brother to come see her, much less cheer her on, so there was a thread of excitement in her voice. She loved Second Brother, but she admired Eldest Brother. He had always been her role model.
“That’s great. Eldest Brother is a senior alumnus of Jing University. With him there, you have even less to worry about.”
“Mm.”
“Have you called Mom and Dad lately?”
“Yes. I just called them this morning. Mom said the new house is almost finished, but it sounds like something else happened too. Second Brother, when are you going home?”
“I’ll go back this weekend. You focus on studying. Let’s leave it here for now. I’ll call you next time.”
“Okay. Good night, Second Brother.”
“Good night.”