“Shen Yun, say it again.” Zhou Lan said fiercely.

Shen Yun said nothing, but raised his head with a smile and kissed the corner of Zhou Lan’s lips: “President Zhou is so innocent? Taking it seriously when teased?”

Zhou Lan released his hand with a sullen face, turned around and walked away. Shen Yun slowly followed behind him.

When he arrived at the garage, Zhou Lan had already waited for a while and scolded him in disgust, “So slow?”

Shen Yun smiled: “My ass hurts, I can’t walk.”

Zhou Lan stared at him, glaring. He also felt funny; his eyes were still hostile, but the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but turn upwards.

There was a special car to deliver him, and Shen Yun arrived at Moxi early.

In the lounge, he still sat in the chair by the window, with his usual angle, his usual magazine, and coffee in one hand.

Xu Moran poured himself a cup of coffee, then sat next to him. Shen Yun smiled and greeted him: “Teacher Xu, good morning.”

Xu Moran nodded and said, “Shen Yun, the company wants to assign you an assistant. Do you have a suitable candidate in mind?”

Shen Yun was taken aback for a moment: “Can I use someone from Moxi?”

Xu Moran smiled: “Of course you can. Although you came from Zhouquan, Moxi is doing all aspects of the later construction, and you can’t get the profits from them. Speaking of that, Moxi is taking advantage of you.”

Shen Yun smiled, his eyes curved: “Then can I choose Ding Ning?”

Xu Moran was startled slightly; Ding Ning was Gao Xi’s assistant.

Gao Xi’s previous assistant was called Fang Huai. Fang Huai left Moxi about half a year ago and set up his own business.

When Fang Huai’s studio opened, Gao Xi was also present to congratulate him in person. Apart from being a teacher and a student, they were friends as well.

After Fang Huai left, although many people wanted to be Gao Xi’s assistant, Gao Xi chose a newcomer who had just graduated, Ding Ning.

It was just that Ding Ning hadn’t been with Gao Xi for two months before the accident happened to Gao Xi.

Xu Moran originally thought that Shen Yun would choose someone who was older and experienced, so that the two could complement each other and follow the project more easily, but he didn’t expect Shen Yun to ask for Ding Ning as soon as he opened his mouth.

“Why him?” Xu Moran asked, his heart pounding nervously.

Shen Yun hooked the corners of his lips: “Everyone else is quite unwilling to follow me, and he’s the only one who doesn’t have a fixed designer right now.”

Xu Moran was a little disappointed, but still nodded.

At noon, Zhao Chun and Wang Kai returned to the company. Zhao Chun’s face was distorted, and Wang Kai was even more dejected.

In the afternoon, a colleague whispered that Songmu’s order was lost.

Zhuang Yan of Songmu didn’t even see them directly, only asked his assistant to tell them that he had already made a plan for another company, so they could go back.

Several girls in the lounge were gossiping in low voices, head to head, and Shen Yun sat in a corner and smiled silently.

As expected.

Zhuang Yan had always been like this, and even Gao Xi had been scolded by him a lot but let off easily on the basis of a handsome face and a sweet mouth.

A person with such a strong self-esteem as Zhao Chun naturally couldn’t stand Zhuang Yan’s temper.

***

Ding Ning was twenty-five years old, a simple big boy who loved to laugh.

After work, he moved his desk to Shen Yun’s side and called sweetly: “Teacher Shen.”

Shen Yun rubbed his head: “Just call me Shen Yun.”

Ding Ning said embarrassedly: “Well, I am one year older than Teacher.”

Shen Yun smiled and teased him: “Calling me ‘Teacher’ again?”

Shen Yun threw the marked semi-finished drawings to Ding Ning to draw nodes, doors and windows, then made an appointment with the architectural designer and landscape designer of Zhouquan, and went out for a day.

Those who did architectural design and landscape design naturally looked down on those who did interior design.

Shen Yun patiently waited for them to have time, and took the time to chat with them.

When he went back at night, he had to check and modify Ding Ning’s drawings. Even if a single node was drawn incorrectly, it could cause a lot of damage.

Ding Ning was a newcomer, so Shen Yun had to carefully check the drawings before he dared to use them.

Ding Ning didn’t know whether it was a blessing or a curse to follow Shen Yun at first, but after following him for a few days, he felt relieved.

He liked this young teacher from the bottom of his heart.

The salary was paid at the end of the month, and Shen Yun checked the salary card, which contained a lot more than originally stated.

He was silent for a while, then took his mobile phone and sent two words to Zhou Lan: Thank you!

Zhou Lan picked up the phone and clicked on the message. He didn’t know how to reply for a while, so he gently rubbed his fingers a few times.

Then another message popped in: “If President Zhou has time tonight, I’ll treat you to dinner.”

Zhou Lan got off work early, went to pick up Shen Yun, and asked, “What are we going to eat?”

Shen Yun rubbed his sore eyes and said, “How about noodles?”

Zhou Lan glanced at him: “Tired?”

Shen Yun smiled and said, “That’s the way it is in this business, how can you not be tired?”

“I heard that you’re bringing up a child?”

“Yes, very diligent.”

Under Shen Yun’s guidance, the car stopped in front of a small noodle restaurant. Zhou Lan looked up and couldn’t help laughing. The name of the restaurant was “A Bowl of Beef Noodles”.

The two sat in; a small restaurant had only four tables, but it was very clean.

Zhou Lan looked at it; a bowl of noodles was only fifteen yuan, and he couldn’t help but snort: “You earn a lot, so stingy.”

Shen Yun was holding a cigarette in one hand and propping up his chin with the other. He was calculating his salary. He had to take more than half of it to pay off the debts, and the remaining part was reserved for his and Shen Qing’s living expenses. He had to add a couple new pieces of clothes for Shen Qing…

Hearing this, he replied: “This treat is a token of appreciation, and I will treat you to a good meal at the end of the year.”

Zhou Lan didn’t care: “It’s New Year’s Day tomorrow. Do you have any wishes for the new year?”

Shen Yun nodded: “I do.”

Zhou Lan was not very satisfied: “You do what, you don’t what, what does it mean?”

Shen Yun smiled; there was only one wish, very simple and vicious, so let’s not talk about it.

The beef noodles were served up, steaming hot, with a few pieces of beef piled on top. Shen Yun put his hand on the bowl to warm it up, and then put his warm hand on his cheek, and said, “Their noodles are all hand-rolled. It’s delicious.”

Zhou Lan snorted and picked some with his chopsticks. The taste was really good.

The two of them spent most of their time together in bed. Really sitting together, they couldn’t find anything to say. For a while, they were silent and ate noodles seriously.

After dinner, Zhou Lan said, “Go to my place?”

Shen Yun blinked and said with some trepidation: “My sister has a New Year’s Day holiday, and I can’t come these days.”

Zhou Lan looked at him and said, “Your sister will be on winter vacation, so what? You won’t come on winter vacation?”

Shen Yun didn’t think that far. He was a little stumped for a while, and said with a smile: “Then I can come after school starts.”

Zhou Lan leaned over and pressed him into the seat: “Do you dare?”

Shen Yun bit his lip in silence. His lips, after eating chilli, were red and a little oily.

Zhou Lan kissed his lips and bit them gently. The lips were sweet and spicy. He said again: “Do you dare?”

Shen Yun was silent and didn’t speak.

Zhou Lan kissed deeper and deeper, kissed again and said: “Maybe I will miss you.”

Shen Yun leaned on the back of the seat and watched him, smiling silently. After smiling enough, he asked: “Miss the body or miss the person?”

Zhou Lan’s eyes darkened, and he looked at him without saying anything.

Shen Yun smiled and nodded to his unsaid words, and then nodded to his own unsaid words: “You know, and I know.”

Zhou Lan looked at his calm face: “Aren’t you angry?”

Shen Yun shook his head: “Why should I be angry? I like this.”

Zhou Lan’s face darkened: “Playing hard to get?”

Shen Yun was taken aback for a moment, and when he realised what Zhou Lan meant, he really smiled: “Does President Zhou think so?”

He pondered, with a smile in the corner of his lips: “Then think this way. I’m not a good person anyway.”

Zhou Lan couldn’t see through Shen Yun. If it was really acting, then Shen Yun could win the Best Actor Award.

On the way back, Shen Yun got out of the car and went to a brand store to buy a few clothes. He carried them in both hands. Zhou Lan smiled at him: “You have money to buy clothes, but don’t have money to buy me a good meal.”

Shen Yun smiled: “President Zhou holds quite a grudge.”

Zhou Lan looked back and saw that the bags were all pink, beige and blue. He couldn’t help frowning and asked, “Did you buy them for a girl?”

Shen Yun looked out the window and replied softly: “I bought them for Shen Qing. President Zhou doesn’t lack a good meal, but my sister is still growing up.”

Shen Qing was still growing up, and her clothes were old and small.

Although Shen Yun’s own clothes were old, at least they were the right size.

Zhou Lan looked at Shen Yun’s simple and old clothes and didn’t say anything.

When the car drove downstairs to Shen Yun’s house, Shen Yun leaned forward and kissed the corner of Zhou Lan’s lips, smiling and saying goodbye.

Zhou Lan looked around silently. The building of the 1970s or 1980s was grey and old.

In the absence of community, trash cans were placed everywhere, and the corridors were dark, with no light to be seen.

It was like a world that no one knew about, swallowing the few hopes one might have.

***

Shen Yun, who had entered the working state, was really impressive.

Busy, serious and focused, not only was his logic clear, but his ideas were also quite unique.

When doing the overall layout, he would not only consider the architect’s original idea, but also match the garden landscape.

This was not very common in interior design, and most designers still first considered the functional allocation and space matching inside the apartment.

In the last few days, Ding Ning had been sent to various high-end office buildings and high-end residential areas to ask questions, and he came back every day with a stack of questionnaires.

Shen Yun would read every copy carefully and take notes seriously.

It was really tiring to do design. It was common to rush the drawings all night and change them a lot.

Shen Yun was often so tired he could almost fall asleep while standing.

After the initial layout was ready, Xu Moran and Zhao Chun were silent, their faces indescribably embarrassed.

If Gao Xi wasn’t dead, if it weren’t for Shen Yun to sketch it little by little under their noses, this could simply be Gao Xi’s design.

How could anyone in this world be so similar?

One point could be an illusion, two points could be a coincidence, but if so many points were similar, was it still a coincidence?

Xu Moran felt unable to breathe.

Zhao Chun’s gaze at Shen Yun was full of astonishment and fear.

Shen Yun didn’t seem to be aware of it, and discussed design issues with them.

Xu Moran and Zhao Chun had a much larger workload, so Shen Yun handed in his share first to be passed to Zhouquan all together at the end of the month.

If there was no problem, rendering (visualisation of the final product) and construction drawings would be drawn in the later stage. When the weather warmed up, the decoration team would enter the field.

After getting off work that day, Xu Moran made an appointment with Shen Yun, with the intention of testing.

They went to the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion, and Shen Yun ordered its signature lamb pot as soon as he entered.

Xu Moran was silent and didn’t say anything, ordering all the dishes that Gao Xi used to love to eat.

Shen Yun smiled and said, “They are all my favourite dishes”. His eyes were soft and warm, and it was as if that person had never disappeared.

Then he took the chopsticks and slowly picked out the green onions from his bowl, one by one, pursing his lips, seriously focused.

Xu Moran watched Shen Yun’s movements and was in a daze for a while. He suddenly reached out and held Shen Yun’s hand in his palm.

Shen Yun raised his head and looked at him in surprise, with a gentle smile in his eyes, and asked softly, “What’s the matter? Brother Mo?”

That day, Xu Moran came back from the field, covered in dust, and Gao Xi was lying alone on the sofa, half asleep and half awake, with a book in his arms.

Xu Moran shook his hand, and Gao Xi’s peach blossom eyes were misty: “You’re back, Brother Mo?”

Only Gao Xi had called him that. Xu Moran’s blood was boiling, his eyes were tightly fixed on Shen Yun with fire-like fervour.

Shen Yun looked back with a smile, waiting for his answer.

At the guardrail on the second floor, there was a man standing quietly. His eyes were like ice, like the chilling wind of the coldest days in winter, but the two of them were unaware of it.

Lin Jianyang came out of the private room, stepped forward and took Zhou Lan’s arm, followed his gaze, and sneered: “Isn’t that Moxi’s Xu Moran? Gao Xi has only been dead for a few months, and he’s got a new love?”

Previous / ToC / Next