Chapter 73 I heard you have a boyfriend...
I've already finished half of my coffee, and this piece of cake is going to prolong my time.
Tao Siyun lowered his eyelashes, took a sip of coffee, and pushed the cake back to him. "Thank you, but I really don't need it. I don't really feel like eating anything sweet today."
The music in the cafe played slowly, and an awkward atmosphere flowed back and forth between the two of them.
Time passed by minute by minute, but it still went by so slowly...
Zhou Yu tapped the table with his fingertips, said nothing more, and did not touch the matcha cake.
Tao Siyun's aloof look was exactly the same as when they first met.
Polite yet distant, it seems difficult to get into her heart in such a short time.
He didn't show the slightest bit of disappointment in front of her, but asked in a reminiscent tone, "I heard from Zhao Yiran that you have a boyfriend?"
This sentence is very direct.
Zhou Yu asked very directly.
He saw it with his own eyes in the supermarket on New Year's Day, and later found an opportunity to inquire about it indirectly from Zhao Yiran.
However, if asked in person, he could only tell Tao Siyun that he heard it from Zhao Yiran.
Tao Siyun's breathing suddenly stopped for no reason. He slowly put down the coffee in his hand, raised his head, and looked at Zhou Yu with some confusion.
Faced with his tone... which sounded like he was "asking her to verify" the authenticity of the matter, she felt very uncomfortable for a moment.
Although both of them could be considered as the kind of friends who could have a two-way relationship with Zhao Yiran, this did not mean that she and Zhou Yu also had the kind of relationship between her and Zhao Yiran, or between Zhao Yiran and him, where they could speak freely at any time and anywhere.
In Tao Siyun's mind, "friends" and "friends of friends" cannot be directly equated, there is a big difference between the two.
Moreover, in friendships, some people will mind that the friends they meet because of their relationship are closer to them than themselves, which will make others feel uncomfortable.
So on this point, Tao Siyun has his own sense of propriety and bottom line.
Although Zhao Yiran was not the kind of person she was worried about, her relationship with Zhou Yu had been established since the day Zhao Yiran invited her to move into the apartment.
Of course, apart from Zhao Yiran, their only common friend, her circle and Zhou Yu had basically no intersection, which was also one of the reasons.
If he had to use one word to define their relationship, Tao Siyun would think that "roommates" is more appropriate than "friends".
So the question he just asked, whether from the perspective of a "former roommate" or a "friend of a friend", was very strange in their relationship which she defined as "roommates".
Tao Siyun was puzzled and hesitated for a long time before asking, "What exactly do you want to tell me?"
Zhou Yu didn't say anything, but just lowered her head and silently ate the matcha cake that she had just rejected.
The sweet cream slowly melted in his mouth, and his thoughts drifted back to six years ago, to an afternoon after Tao Siyun moved into the apartment...
***
When Tao Siyun first entered university, her French was not very good. Although she passed the language test, at her level at the time, she could hardly understand what the professor was saying in class.
Professional courses are not so bad. After all, design is relatively easy compared to other majors, and there is usually an assistant teacher, Zhao Yiran.
But every time the history theory class came, even Zhao Yiran was helpless.
"There's nothing I can do! I only attended three classes of Design History and Art History. The professor spoke so fast I couldn't understand a thing. I had to ask classmates to sign in for me afterwards. I didn't pass the make-up exam until my last year of college. The courseware I copied was basically useless because it wasn't tested on the exams. What's even more weird is that you have no idea whether the professor will give you a written or oral exam next time. In my three years of college, I didn't even finish half of those two books..."
Tao Siyun was desperate.
She had no choice but to borrow her classmates' notes. Later, when several French classmates found out, they accompanied her to the professor to explain the situation. After obtaining the professor's consent, she bought a recorder, brought it to school during class, listened to it repeatedly at home, and then translated it word by word...
In the eyes of foreigners, this is an act of great hard work, so several professors were impressed by her as a Chinese student and had a good impression of her.
But this way of learning takes a lot of time and is very inefficient.
In order to practice speaking with others more, Tao Siyun used the situational dialogue skills that Qin Ru taught her when she was a child.
She would choose a scenario in advance and prepare questions in advance.
Go to a French restaurant and order food alone, go to the supermarket and read the labels alone, go shopping alone...
Practice conversations with the store clerk like in the textbook, insist on communicating in French, and try not to speak English even if they don't understand.
Although I often made mistakes and ordered some strange food when eating because I didn’t understand the menu very well, I have to say that after persisting in this way for a period of time, my spoken English has improved significantly.
Then she stumbled upon a shop that sold handmade jewelry.
The owner of the shop is an old lady dressed in trendy clothes. Every move she makes is like she is in a movie, very elegant.
The lady with exquisite makeup is a very famous designer in France. Ever since she knew that she was a student of the design school, she has always been willing to share her designs with her and is very enthusiastic.
Every time he went there, Tao Siyun felt like he was practicing his listening skills.
However, because of this, she gained a lot of professional-related vocabulary in a short period of time.
Another time, she went to the mall, and unexpectedly, the pretty saleswoman who greeted her mistook her for a student who was doing some purchasing on her behalf. In an effort to expand her sales, she eagerly asked to add her on WeChat, and told her she would send her a message when new styles were released...
After Tao Siyun returned home and told Zhao Yiran about this, Zhao Yiran almost died of laughter and called Zhou Yu out of the room.
He solemnly introduced, "Look, there's a teacher right here. If you have any questions, just ask him. Don't hesitate. Zhou Yu majored in French at Beijing University of Foreign Languages. He's a future diplomat, and his French is fluent." Zhao Yiran and he were high school classmates, and they had a very close relationship. "Back then, there were only two students admitted to the French major at Huxi, and he was one of them."
Faced with such deliberate flattery from his old classmate, Zhou Yu guessed that she had something to ask for, so he asked Tao Siyun with a particularly helpful attitude, "Is there anything I can help you with?"
Before Tao Siyun could say anything, Zhao Yiran spoke up for her, "Can you help translate Western art history and design history for Siyun?"
Zhou Yu took the two books thicker than bricks that Zhao Yiran forced upon him, flipped through a couple of pages, and looked at Zhao Yiran with confusion, but he was actually asking someone else, "Final exam?"
"Um……"
This was the first time in Tao Siyun's life that he felt inferior in front of others because of his learning problems.
Her head was already lowered as low as it could go.
"It's best to pass it in your first try during your freshman year. Don't be like me and wait until my junior year to take the exam."
Zhou Yu closed the book and said helplessly, "Rote memorization is useless. The professor is very flexible in setting questions, not just rote memorization. You were just lucky last time. Since you're a junior, the professor is going to go easy on you because they're afraid it will affect your graduation."
Zhao Yiran: “…”
Tao Siyun: "..."
"How about this? Copy me the courseware for these two courses and the teaching plan sent by the professor. I'll take a look and then decide how to help you."
…
Zhou Yu spent some time reading both books, and then told Tao Siyun his plan -
"Let me walk you through the content first. I've summarized the artists and designers in each chapter, their creative styles, representative works, and some key words. You can take a look at them in advance to deepen your memory. We can also listen to your class recording together. During this time, I will continue to ask you questions in a simulated professorial interview style until the exam."
Tao Siyun was holding a large stack of A4 papers filled with writing that Zhou Yu had given her, and was a little shocked. Wasn't he too serious?
"The electronic version is not conducive to reviewing at any time." Zhou Yu explained to her.
Tao Siyun was so moved that he didn't know what to say.
Zhou Yu taught Tao Siyun a number of tips for answering questions, such as asking her to talk about a particular artist or designer, ideally from multiple perspectives. The exam lasts thirty minutes, and the professor typically asks three questions, so try to fill those ten minutes with as much and as interesting information as possible. No matter what you know, even gossip about the artist, as long as the content isn't vulgar, the professor will give you points.
With Zhou Yu's help, her learning efficiency was surprisingly high, and passing the exam was almost certain.
This incident made Tao Siyun always grateful to Zhou Yu.
After all, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been able to successfully pass the two most difficult history and theory courses in my freshman year.
But later, because of Liu Ying, things became awkward between them.
***
After returning to Paris three years ago, Tao Siyun originally planned to move.
During the two-month summer vacation, she and Zhou Yu had no contact at all.
But no matter how much she didn't want to face him, there would always be a few minutes in a day when they would meet.
Sometimes in the kitchen, sometimes in the living room... In short, any public area except the bedroom.
In the end, Tao Siyun tried her best to avoid leaving her room when he was around.
Zhou Yu has to work during the day and returns to the apartment around 7:30 every day. She will finish dinner before he comes back to reduce the frequency of going out.
One night a few days later, he sent her various bills for the previous two months.
After Tao Siyun transferred the money to him via PayPal, he took the opportunity to tell Zhou Yu that he was looking for a house and might move out next month, so he asked him to find a roommate in advance.
Zhou Yu did not reply to her message, but a few minutes later, he stood at the door and knocked gently.
"Can we talk?"
After more than two months, they finally sat in the living room again.
…
After Zhao Yiran graduated from graduate school and left Paris, she and Zhou Yu had planned to find another roommate, but they had never found a suitable one. Firstly, the price of the apartment they lived in was a bit high, and secondly, they had certain requirements for roommates.
Before Tao Siyun moved in, their roommate was a "giant baby" who couldn't take care of herself. Not only did she often make a mess in the common area, but she also didn't clean up the kitchen after cooking. Zhao Yiran had argued with her many times because of this...
So this time Zhou Yu became very cautious in choosing roommates, such as informing them in advance that they were not allowed to have pets, bring friends over overnight, have parties, disturb others' normal rest, etc.
These alone have already dissuaded several people from asking questions.
At that time, a graduate student who was on exchange in France came to see the house, and they were almost ready to decide. However, that classmate needed to bring a few team members to the apartment every now and then to do group work, so they had no choice but to pass it up.
The girl was a student at a 985 university in China. She had no bad habits and met their roommate standards in every aspect. She seemed easy to get along with, but the group work in her major basically required all-nighters. Four or five people, each with a computer, occupied the living room, typing away all night long. Zhou Yu and Tao Siyun couldn't accept this.
In the end, there was no suitable one, so they stopped looking.
Every two weeks, the aunt they hired would come to the apartment to thoroughly clean the common areas, and the cost would be shared equally. This was something the three of them had agreed upon the day she moved into the apartment.
As a roommate, Zhou Yu can be regarded as the "chosen roommate". All his living habits are very good. During the years abroad, Tao Siyun did not move as frequently as other international students, and Zhou Yu often helped her in her life.
What impressed me most was that during my first year as a graduate student, one of the courses was arranged off-campus. That day, the professor took them to visit a factory in the neighboring city to experience the product production process firsthand.
It was dark when we returned to the city. France was quite chaotic, especially at night, and the area around the train station was even more chaotic.
Black people, drunks, homeless people...all gathered together.
After Tao Siyun came out of the train station, she didn't dare to stop. She ignored those people who said "Hello" in broken Chinese and greeted her with bad intentions, and walked straight to the bus stop across the road.
If I take the subway, I have to walk nearly one kilometer longer, and the bus stop is less than 500 meters away from my home.
After getting in the car, Zhou Yu sent a WeChat message saying that he was going to the supermarket to buy something and asked her if she wanted some water, and he could help her carry a box back.
The water quality in France is relatively hard. Although the French people around him repeatedly emphasized that the tap water in their country has undergone many quality standard tests and is very safe and can be drunk directly, Tao Siyun felt that this has nothing to do with safety after boiling water with scale floating on it in an electric kettle once.
The main reason is that foreigners have never drunk hot water since they were young, so they naturally don’t know what the state of tap water is after it is boiled...
Moreover, hard water can easily cause hair loss problems, so Chinese students go to supermarkets to buy bottled water for cooking and drinking.
Every day after class, Tao Siyun would buy two bottles when she went to the supermarket to buy food, and slowly stock up, as long as it could guarantee her water needs for one or two days.
Once, during exam week, she worked hard for four or five days in a row and was so exhausted that she ran out of water and forgot to buy more. She only realized it when she was making coffee to wake herself up.
It was already past eleven o'clock in the evening, and it was not safe to go to the supermarket late at night, so Zhou Yu took a few bottles of water from the room and gave them to her.
He suddenly understood why she bought water bottle by bottle. A bag of water contained six bottles, each bottle was 2L, which was quite heavy for a girl.
Later, when Zhou Yu went to the supermarket to stock up on water every week, he would also buy a box for Tao Siyun.
…
Tao Siyun replied thank you and said she would treat him to some juice when she got home. She was out of yogurt at home and was going to the supermarket to buy some.
Every time Zhou Yu helped her, Tao Siyun would treat him to a drink or ice cream as a thank you.
There were not many people in the car. Tao Siyun looked at the street outside in a daze through the rain-soaked car window glass.
The night view of Paris became blurred and distant in the rain.
After getting off the bus, an umbrella was firmly placed above my head.
Before Tao Siyun had time to wonder, Zhou Yu had already come up to him.
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