Chapter 24 Do you still need to chase after him?

These words evoked a strange feeling in Xu Weisheng's heart. He felt both touched and warmed, yet also felt that the burden on his shoulders was too heavy to bear.

He stared at the drunken Jian Zhen for several more seconds before realizing the source of this strange feeling.

"What if, I mean what if, he never comes back?" Xu Weisheng asked, spoiling the mood.

"What?" Jian Zhen nestled on the sofa, staring at him with a dazed look, as if she hadn't even considered this possibility.

"You should have a fourth option, right? It's more reliable to keep the steering wheel in your own hands than to hand it over to a complete stranger, isn't it?"

Jian Zhen frowned in confusion: "How could we... be complete strangers? I know you very well—" She herself didn't have much confidence in saying this, so it was understandable that Xu Weisheng interrupted her.

“We’re sitting face to face, and you don’t even know me, yet you dare to say you know Lin Sheng?” Xu Weisheng wiggled his toes, and the hem of his knitted skirt was pulled by him. The fabric brushed against Jian Zhen’s calves, making her feel a little itchy. She quickly pulled her legs back, but the itch, along with her movement of avoiding the movement, hid in her heart, making her feel extremely flustered.

"Can you guess what I'm thinking right now?" Xu Weisheng pressed closer.

Jian Zhen's ears burned, and she immediately realized what he meant. She kicked him under the table and retorted, "I don't care what you're thinking. I'm not guessing, and I don't want to consider your so-called fourth way. Facts will prove that there are no ifs. He will definitely come back. If you don't believe me, we can make a bet."

No one knew better than Xu Weisheng that this bet was doomed to fail, yet he smiled, bent down to wipe his trousers clean, and said, "Okay."

"Sister, don't listen to him. If you bet with him, you'll lose nine out of ten times." Hao Jiaren returned at some point, bringing over two novel drinks and placing them on the table.

Jian Zhen subconsciously turned her gaze to Xu Weisheng, who glanced at her cup, nodded and said, "It's okay, try it."

Jian Zhen then picked it up and took a bite, her eyes instantly lighting up.

"How about it?"

"What a refreshing feeling!"

Hao Jiaren said proudly, "This one has a low alcohol content, is based on white wine, and has added sparkling water. It has a strong fruity aroma, making it perfect for young girls to drink and have fun. It's a Changhong product in our store. Can you guess who invented it first?"

Seeing that the other person had one hand on Xu Weisheng's shoulder, Jian Zhen asked incredulously, "It can't be...him, can it?"

"Is it really that hard to believe?" Xu Weisheng took a sip of his drink, his gaze drifting elsewhere. Hao Jiaren, on the other hand, burst into laughter: "Doesn't it look like it? Let me tell you, don't be fooled by his current gentlemanly image. Once upon a time, he was a regular at bars. He was the one who persuaded me to open the bar north of Beidao. Back then, when we first opened and there was no business, this guy would dress up like a male model every day and stand there singing, Cantonese songs, English songs, rock and ballads, singing all night long."

Following the direction the other person pointed, Jian Zhen saw the standing microphone in the corner again. Could it be that Xu Weisheng, who was so calm and even a little slick and worldly-wise that he was almost annoying, had ever had such a wild and unrestrained side?

"Don't listen to his nonsense. Who can sing all night? Their voice will be hoarse." Xu Weisheng rolled his eyes at Hao Jiaren, trying to salvage his reputation: "Back then, I was young and had no concept of my physical limits. I accepted any commission I could get. When I couldn't finish drawing, I would look for places to stay up late and draw. I've been to nightclubs, let alone bars like this one. The music was deafening. I would be surrounded by people whose arms and legs I couldn't tell apart, swaying along while sketching lines in my head. After half an hour, I was walking on air."

"You know what, that's when we met. He was worried about his job, and I was worried about love. Two people who couldn't find a place to stay at night fell in love, and that's how we started our journey north of Beidao." Hao Jiaren clinked his glass against Xu Weisheng's and laughed, "That's how we started our journey north of Beidao."

Recalling the past, Hsu Wei-sheng also felt a bit of innocence amidst the absurdity: "I wasn't familiar with him back then, and I was afraid that he would lose money because of my idea, so I sang every day to attract customers, and I practically sang all the songs I had in my life."

Hao Jiaren slapped him on the shoulder: "How old are you? How dare you talk about a lifetime?"

"And then?" Jian Zhen asked.

Xu Weisheng looked at her flushed cheeks: "What happened next?"

Jian Zhen: "Your career, his love."

The two people opposite fell silent simultaneously. Jian Zhen realized she had touched on a very sensitive topic and was about to apologize when Boss Hao on the sofa armrest nudged Xu Weisheng's shoulder and said self-deprecatingly, "We've both burned brightly, that's enough, right?"

Xu Weisheng smiled and spun the cup on the table without saying anything.

"Can I have another cup later?" Jian Zhen asked Hao Jiaren generously.

"Of course, the same model?"

"Hmm!" Jian Zhen asked curiously, "Does this wine have a name?"

Hao Jiaren gestured to Jian Zhen to ask the inventor of the wine. After he got up and left, she and Xu Weisheng were left alone in this warm corner. They looked at each other and neither of them looked away.

Xu Weisheng said quietly, "It's called 'The Summer We First Met'."

"So long? Does it have an English name?"

"First look."

Jian Zhen leaned back in her sofa, lost in thought. She wondered which girl Xu Weisheng, who named this wine, must have been madly and clumsily in love with. She had never inquired about Xu Weisheng's romantic history, but now she couldn't help but feel curious. In fact, it wasn't just curiosity; she also felt a little regretful—regretful that the age difference between them prevented her from participating in someone's campus life. Otherwise, this wine should have been a gift to her when it was first named.

She has such absolute confidence.

Unfortunately, she no longer had the right to directly inquire about his romantic history. The second glass of wine arrived, and Jian Zhen swirled her glass, sighing softly, hoping that Xu Weisheng would get drunk and reveal it himself.

Jian Zhen: "You called me out just to listen to what I have to say?"

"Huh?" Xu Weisheng was puzzled.

Jian Zhen had no choice but to be more direct: "Don't you have anything to share with me?"

Xu Weisheng smiled. Actually, they wanted to share the same thing, but if he were to say now that he had just signed a contract to transfer the adaptation rights of an old work, it would be tantamount to revealing his identity, which would surely scare Jian Zhen quite a bit.

So he changed his perspective when answering Jian Zhen's question: "Actually, Hao Jiaren and I both succeeded later. I produced a few decent works, and he finally got the person he had once longed for but couldn't have. It's just that later one of us went bankrupt and the other got divorced, and both of us ended tragically. But he said that burning with passion was enough... I don't agree with that. I think creating art and falling in love are different. Creators face millions of audiences, and as long as I can still hear a voice of expectation, I can't truly extinguish myself. So, sometimes I think—I really thank you, otherwise, even if fortunes change, I might not have made it this far."

Jian Zhen's eyes flickered, as if the surroundings had changed, returning to the small restaurant in Yungang half a year ago. She had deceived Xu Weisheng by handing over his hands, and immediately concluded that he could paint. At that time, she was very self-centered. Even though she didn't know his identity or age, she stood on the moral high ground and encouraged him to "not stop pursuing his dreams".

In the days that followed, Jian Zhen regretted her past misunderstandings. Reflecting on the past, she realized that she was a spoiled child who didn't understand the hardships of life. Now, Xu Weisheng expressed his belated gratitude, which left the usually witty Jian Zhen speechless.

“Of course.” Jian Zhen avoided his gaze, shrugged and said, “I just can’t stand seeing talented people bury their talents… By the way, which works did you submit manuscripts to back then?”

According to Xu Weisheng, someone as busy as him should at least have a certain level of fame within the industry, even if he isn't a household name. So how come I've never heard of him before?

“You must have seen it before.” Xu Weisheng said mysteriously, “I have too many aliases, I can’t remember them all.”

"Are you just bragging?" Jian Zhen glanced at him sideways.

What's the point of bragging to you?

Of course, it's to win my admiring glance and increase your personal charm, but Jian Zhen was too embarrassed to say it out loud. She paused, then asked in a way that seemed like a way of advancing, "That's true. So what kind of paintings do you mainly draw?"

“This is what I wanted to tell you.” Xu Weisheng skillfully circled with her, then changed the subject back to the debate over the third or fourth path: “If you want to have a long creative life, you must find your own creative theme, not from the work tasks that Qili forced on you, nor from the so-called idol Lin Sheng.”

Jian Zhen didn't refute this time. Putting aside the older generation who were a generation apart from her, Xu Weisheng was obviously the most experienced among her peers. His ideas about creative themes did indeed touch Jian Zhen. In fact, during the days when she couldn't find Lin Sheng, she also felt her creative passion gradually cooling down. It felt like the gas tank warning light had just gone off when she got on the highway. It was impossible for her not to feel anxious.

But where can one find the so-called creative themes? Jian Zhen, a seemingly free but actually raised child, had her goal in elementary school to get into a good middle school, in middle school to get into a prestigious university, and in university to be popular and at the top of her class. For the first twenty years of her life, she greedily tried to grasp everything in front of her. When she left the small society of school, everything in her hands disappeared like quicksand. She didn't feel reluctant because she knew clearly that none of those things were valuable. But when she had nothing left, she only felt lost.

This deep-seated confusion was something she couldn't express to Xu Weisheng; after all, she still retained some of her lingering pride. Even though she silently accepted the idea of ​​the fourth path, she couldn't help but tease Xu Weisheng when answering him: "Why do you keep mentioning Lin Sheng? Are you jealous of him?"

Xu Weisheng chuckled: "Huh? What am I jealous of him for?"

"I'm jealous of his talent and ability."

“I’m not bad either. If you want to chase after celebrities, why don’t you chase after me?” Xu Weisheng said with a smile that was half true and half false.

"Do you still need to chase after him?" Jian Zhen blurted out.

"What do you mean?" Xu Weisheng was stunned.

Jian Zhen jolted awake, sobering up considerably.