Chapter 35 Chapter 35 Teacher Pan
Wen Yu quickly rushed to the address that Pan Xianchen sent on WeChat - the Garden Restaurant in the resort.
Inside the completely transparent glass building, long tables were arranged, separated by potted plants. The waiters, all wearing roller skates, shuttled between the long tables, carrying trays of food. Pan Xianchen sat at a long table near the glass, scanning a menu.
Dongpo pork is the signature dish. The grilled lamb ribs and onion beef short ribs both looked good. There was also chopped pepper fish head, which arrived at the next table and looked quite nice.
Wen Yu walked over and stood by the table. Pan Xianchen looked up at her and said, "Sit down."
She was a bit reluctant, only taking up one-third of the chair, as if ready to leave at any moment. Pan Xianchen observed her expression, continued to flip through the menu, and said, "Don't you want me to be your business mentor?"
"I dare not." Wen Yu pursed her lips and said.
The list had already been arranged, and he could easily change it with a single word. He and Yan Zhiwen had such a good relationship, so if he got unhappy, he could just replace her too.
"The group has organized several business training sessions and invited me to be a mentor, but I refused. Do you think the guy on the list has better business skills than me and is more suitable to be your mentor?"
"no."
"Then why are you unhappy?"
Wen Yu kept a straight face and said nothing. Pan Xianchen handed her the menu and said, "Dongpo pork, grilled lamb ribs, beef short ribs with onions, and chopped pepper fish head—are these your favorites? Take a look, is there anything else you'd like to try?"
Wen Yu held the menu in his hands, turning it over and over again. After a long while, he still couldn't order a single dish.
Seeing her unhappy expression, Pan Xianchen also felt a little unhappy: "You really don't want to have dinner with me?"
Wen Yu looked at him, frowned, and said, "I was planning to have Western food."
Pan Xianchen: “…”
OK.
Pan Xianchen stood up, picked up his phone from the table, and left. Wen Yu asked him, "Where are you going?"
Pan Xianchen said, "Come on, the instructor will take you to eat Western food."
The Western Restaurant was much less crowded than the Garden Restaurant. It was a quieter place, with diners sitting in groups of two or three, each enjoying their meals or chatting quietly. The bustle and clamor of the Garden Restaurant from earlier was completely lost. A waiter in a suit and tie came up to take our orders. Wen Yu and Pan Xianchen each ordered a steak and a few other small dishes. The waiter then poured each of their goblets a third of a glass of red wine and, with a smile, offered his blessing, "I wish you both a wonderful evening."
Pan Xianchen smiled and replied, "Thank you."
Wen Yu turned away and looked around. Suddenly, she realized that almost all the people dining here were men and women at tables. There were elegantly dressed middle-aged couples, looking like they came from educated families, here for a leisurely vacation. There were also young foreign couples, casually dressed in short-sleeved shirts, shorts, and suspender skirts, feeding each other mouthfuls of food... Wen Yu's heart tightened. She wondered what her relationship with Pan Xianchen would look like to outsiders.
Look at the good place she chose.
After a short wait, the waiter arrived. Pan Xianchen placed the steak in front of him, using his knife and fork expertly. He cut the juicy steak into small pieces, then pushed the plate toward Wen Yu and said, "You go first."
Wen Yu pushed it back: "No need, Mr. Pan, I'll wait for my own. Thank you."
Pan Xianchen smiled, didn't insist, and took the plate back. Under Wen Yu's gaze, he slowly ate his steak, occasionally sipping a mellow red wine. The aroma of the meat and wine seemed to blend delicately in the air. Wen Yu swallowed involuntarily and glanced anxiously back in the direction of the waiter.
Pan Xianchen thought she was like a kitten anxiously waiting for dried fish, and he smiled. Soon, his red wine was almost empty, so he poured himself another half glass. Wen Yu watched the grape-red wine fill the glass more and more and kindly reminded him, "Drink less, Mr. Pan."
Pan Xianchen ignored her and replied, "You want to control me?"
Wen Yu stared at him speechlessly for a moment. "If you get drunk and start looking for a tree to untie your belt, I'll have to intervene even if I don't want to, okay? You're such a disgrace."
The waiter brought Wen Yu's steak. Wen Yu had been hungry since the bus ride. Looking at the thick slab of beef on the plate, she didn't care about her appearance at all, but devoured it piece by piece.
Pan Xianchen looked at her from the opposite side. The kitten was now meowing as it gnawed on the dried fish.
Noticing his focused gaze, Wen Yu had to stop, her cheeks puffed out by two pieces of beef still stuffed in her mouth. She slurred her words, "Why are you looking at me? Don't look at me."
Pan Xianchen leaned back in his chair and said, "No, I want to watch. Seeing you eat makes me feel good."
Wen Yu chewed and swallowed the meat. She was speechless today. What on earth was he trying to do? It was inevitable that she would run into colleagues here. Eating with him was already a bit awkward, and now that he was looking at her like that, it was even more awkward.
Pan Xianchen sensed Wen Yu seemed a little uneasy, but he didn't care. He'd suffered for her for countless days, too, so what did her discomfort really matter? This time, this scene, this face-to-face position, made Pan Xianchen think of her private life at home. Did she and that man also eat face-to-face like this when they lived together? Did they cuddle on the sofa together after dinner to watch TV? Did they cuddle in the same bed late at night?
Can't think.
Pan Xianchen was overwhelmed by his own fantasy, and his gaze on Wen Yu was filled with sarcasm. He said, "Does your fiancé look at you the same way I do?"
?
Wen Yu's throat nearly choked with a mouthful of meat. She picked up the wine glass and quickly swallowed it. After the meat went down, she couldn't help coughing a few times.
What is he talking about?
Wen Yu calmed down and said seriously, "Boss Pan, this is a working lunch, right?"
Didn't she forbid him from mentioning her fiancé? He didn't know anything about that man, and now he wasn't allowed to even mention him. Was she being wary or protective? Pan Xianchen smiled strangely, feeling almost mad with jealousy.
"It could be," he replied, each word carefully. "It could also be not. It depends on your performance."
Wen Yu was also a little angry and asked, "What's the performance?"
Pan Xianchen spread his hands. "At this master-disciple dinner, do you have any respect for me as your mentor? Have you ever smiled at me since we met?"
He was blaming her? How dare he do that. He'd suddenly appeared out of nowhere and become her business mentor, catching her off guard. He'd said something equally inexplicable, disrupting her train of thought. How could she possibly react? And now he was blaming her for not smiling at him?
Wen Yu said angrily, "I'm this serious when I'm working."
Pan Xianchen scoffed, "Very good, eating with me is also your job."
"Mr. Pan, you're my boss. Isn't it a subordinate's job to have dinner with the boss?" Wen Yu said. "Everyone has their own private life, and I have my own plans. You suddenly came to have dinner with me and disrupted all my plans."
"Is that so? Okay, then tell me about your plan."
“…”
Wen Yu glared at him angrily. Then she counted off the items on her fingers, "I plan to shower and change in my room this afternoon. Dinner at the Western restaurant will take about forty minutes to an hour. Then, around six forty to seven sharp, I'll go for a walk on the beach."
Pan Xianchen looked at her.
She also looked at Pan Xianchen.
"That's all?" Pan Xianchen said, "Is this your plan for tonight?"
"right."
Pan Xianchen was amused by her seriousness, but his face didn't show it. Six forty to seven o'clock sharp. Okay. I'll pay you both the odd and the even.
"Have you finished eating?" Pan Xianchen wiped his hands with a wet wipe. "After you finish eating, let's go for a walk on the beach."
Wen Yu said, "I want to go by myself."
Pan Xianchen nodded: "Okay, go by yourself."
After leaving the restaurant, Wen Yu headed straight for the night beach. She'd originally planned to change into a long skirt and flip-flops before leaving, but now, she was still wearing sneakers. But that wasn't a big deal; she could walk barefoot on the sand later.
Pan Xianchen followed her closely. From the restaurant to Huanhai Road, a distance of five hundred meters, he didn't move a single meter.
Wen Yu turned around and reminded him: "Mr. Pan, I want to go to the beach alone."
Pan Xianchen put his hands in his pockets and said, "What a coincidence? I also want to go to the beach alone."
Wen Yu: “…”
Pan Xianchen stretched out his hand and waved forward: "Go ahead, don't follow me."
Wen Yu: “…”
Good. Silence again.
Wen Yu decided to ignore him and head for the beach. But with every step she took, she could clearly sense Pan Xianchen behind her. Wen Yu pursed her lips, her mind beginning to churn. Why? They'd clearly broken up. On the night they broke up, Pan Xianchen had said such harsh things. She knew Pan Xianchen disliked triangles; he'd said that himself. Now that he knew she had a fiancé, why was he still doing this?
Wen Yu pondered as she walked onto the beach. Slowly, she removed her shoes and socks, then stuffed them into her shoes. Holding one shoe in each hand, she sank her feet into the soft, fine sand. She walked ahead, alternating between deep and shallow, while Pan Xianchen followed behind. The surging waves crashed toward the beach, pounding the nearby rocks. They walked in silence, neither of them speaking.
Pan Xianchen gazed at Wen Yu's back, her long hair billowing like seaweed in the wind. He felt a faint tug at his face. On such a tranquil night, the damp sea breeze and gentle waves felt like a dream. There was no one else here, just him and her. Pan Xianchen couldn't bear to disrupt this tranquility, clinging to every moment of it.
He followed the woman in front for as long as she walked.
There were other travelers strolling or laughing on the beach, but Pan Xianchen couldn't see or hear them. His attention was completely focused on Wen Yu. Wen Yu stepped barefoot into a sand pit and emerged like a duckling, swaying her bottom from side to side. Then she bent down to touch the water, holding a handful of wet sand in her hand. After a while, she paused for a moment, gazing out at the inky blackness of the deep sea...
She retracted her gaze and continued walking forward. Pan Xianchen walked behind like a shadow, and suddenly saw Wen Yu stop again, squatting down and touching her feet.
Pan Xianchen also stopped and asked, "What's wrong?"
Wen Yu looked at the soles of her feet. She didn't know when a sharp piece of shell on the beach had cut her foot, leaving a small wound that was bleeding.
Pan Xianchen took both hands out of his trouser pockets and helped Wen Yu up. He helped her pull out the shell fragments that had been stuck in her flesh, threw them away, and frowned as he ordered, "Go back and apply alcohol."
He stretched out his arms, wanting to hug her, but she dodged to the side, lost her balance, and fell into the sand.
She said, "It's okay, the wound will heal in a while."
Pan Xianchen withdrew his hand, still frowning. "Stop joking, it's not funny. Your feet are bleeding, how are you going to walk? Either I hold you or I carry you on my back, you choose."
"I want to go on my own."
Wen Yu pushed herself up from the sand. In front of Pan Xianchen, she demonstrated her plan to walk: first, she put on her socks, then her shoes, and finally, she hopped off the beach.
Pan Xianchen went to the front desk and asked for some medical alcohol. She sat on the sofa in the resort's lobby, legs crossed, observing her injury. What a coincidence! It was her right foot again.
"The alcohol is coming."
Wen Yu took the alcohol and cotton swab and smeared herself. Pan Xianchen stood nearby, watching, and Wen Yu began to feel uneasy again. She paused, holding the cotton swab, and looked up. "Mr. Pan, I think you have a lecture tomorrow. Do you want to go back early and rest up?"
"You don't have to rush to send me away. After sending you back to your room, I will leave by myself." Pan Xianchen said.
They stood at Wen Yu's door, and Pan Xianchen warned her, "Be careful not to touch the water."
"Okay, thank you, Mr. Pan."
"I'm your mentor now. You don't have to call me Mr. Pan these days. You can call me whatever you want."
"Okay, Mr. Pan."
“…”
Wen Yu swiped her card, turned the doorknob, and waved to Pan Xianchen: "Goodbye, Teacher Pan!"
The door clicked shut. Pan Xianchen didn't leave immediately. Instead, he leaned against the wall and stood there quietly, lost in thought. Suddenly, the corners of his lips curled up and he let out a soft laugh.
Teacher Pan? Sounds a little better than Mr. Pan.
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The author has something to say: I feel that the readers of this article are quite cute.
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