The Beginning of Settling Down
The cell phone in the living room rang. Zhiwei picked it up and saw that it was Jingnan.
"You're certainly well-informed."
"Shouldn't we be extra concerned about the whereabouts of our future boss's wife?" Jing Nan laughed heartily on the other end of the phone.
"Come on, you know Mr. Li's whereabouts very well." Zhiwei said bluntly.
Jing Nan didn't deny it: "I came to see you? And to tour your mansion while I'm at it."
Zhiwei gave him the address, and Jingnan arrived half an hour later. "Isn't it the weekend? Do you live nearby?"
"Miss, I can't afford to live in this area. It's outside the North Fifth Ring Road. Mr. Li is coming back today, and all the senior executives are waiting. I'm also on standby at the company."
"You've had it tough too."
"Who has it easy being a wage earner?"
Jingnan went to the terrace and looked around: "It truly is a prestigious location. The view of Beijing from this vantage point is magnificent. Where I live, you wouldn't even realize you're in Beijing if you weren't told."
"Have you packed all your things?"
"Xiaoyu is tidying up the clothes. There's no place to put the other things; we'll have to wait until we buy furniture."
"I'll go with you wherever you want to go."
"Jingnan, you're a top lawyer; I wouldn't dare trouble you with such trivial matters."
"I'm free anyway, might as well broaden my horizons with you. Besides, spending more time with the boss's wife is a roundabout way to achieve my goal."
Zhiwei chuckled. Both of them were insightful people, and speaking their minds made things less awkward. It was a mutually beneficial relationship, and they were kindred spirits. With mutual benefit as the bond and affection as the lubricant, they were quite comfortable with each other.
"You haven't seen Miss Xu since you came back, have you?"
"Not yet, we just talked on the phone. I'm going to meet her for dinner later, do you want to come?"
"Sure, Miss Xu's stewed soup tastes really good, I've been craving it."
Xu Anyi was delighted to see Zhiwei and Jingnan together: "Jingnan, you went to the trouble of making this trip over the weekend."
"I'm so lucky to get to eat Auntie's soup; it smells so good."
Xu Anyi smiled and said, "Xiao Yang made braised duck and bamboo shoot soup today. Seeing that you were here, he busied himself adding your favorite blanched okra."
Zhiwei feigned jealousy: "If I don't come back soon, I'll lose my position. Mom might not even remember what I like to eat."
Xu Anyi affectionately patted her daughter's arm: "You can't make good crab roe xiaolongbao at home. I haven't seen any that are really good in Beijing. I'll take you to eat your fill when we go back to Shanghai."
She looked closely at her daughter and saw that her complexion was good, though her skin was a little darker than before: "You're still young, after all. Every time I come back from a long flight, I want to sleep for two or three days straight. Why do you look a little darker?"
"I've been playing golf every day for a month, and I'm only this tanned. I've been very careful with my skin."
Jingnan chimed in, "Not really, just a bit more tanned than before. I thought it was a professionally done tan. It's all the rage now, so stylish. But golf balls are really expensive."
Zhiwei said nonchalantly, "Actually, it's not expensive in the US, unless it's a man-made court in the desert. It's just a regular outdoor sport, but I've heard it's incredibly expensive in China. I'll take advantage of this cheap place to learn properly so I won't play every day when I come back."
After dinner, Xu Anyi asked Zhiwei about her plans for the next few days. "I'll go shopping for a few days; the house over there doesn't have much furniture, so I need to buy some things."
Xu Anyi then realized that Zhiwei lived alone, which was good. "Do you want to borrow Xiao Yang for a few days?"
"No need. I'm fine. When are you going for your follow-up appointment, Mom? I'll go with you then."
"It'll probably be around August."
Jingnan asked Zhiwei, "Where are you planning to go furniture shopping? I'm free this weekend, can I go with you?"
"I'm not familiar with Beijing, can you give me some advice?"
"As for high-end furniture, I've only been to IKEA, which isn't suitable for your big house. Perhaps you should check out places like Guomao or Yansha?"
Xu Anyi interjected, "What kind of furniture are you planning to look at? Don't end up picking another Leonardo da Vinci."
"What is this?" Zhiwei looked blankly at Jingnan, who was laughing heartily.
"It's a high-end furniture brand called Da Vinci. They claimed all their furniture was imported from Italy using solid wood, and it was very expensive. Later, it was revealed that it was actually made in Dongguan, and not even solid wood; much of it was made of polymer resin."
"They really are ripping off suckers."
The next day, Zhiwei arranged to go shopping at Yansha with Jingnan. Driving eight or nine kilometers up the East Third Ring Road, she witnessed Beijing's traffic jams, which were even worse than those in New York.
The furniture section on the fifth floor of Yansha was magnificent, with heavy furniture, carved beams and painted rafters, the lacquer so thick that the wood grain was invisible. Zhiwei whispered to Jingnan, "I wonder if it belongs to the owner of Mona Lisa." Jingnan chuckled.
After browsing around, I saw plenty of expensive furniture, but it was all embellished and lost its original charm. There were two Japanese brands with a Zen-inspired style, which were relatively elegant, but the furniture was too small and looked cramped in Zhiwei's large house.
"If that's the case, why not take a look at Neo-Chinese style furniture?"
"Rosewood furniture? The kind with solid, bright red boards? It feels like something my grandfather's generation would use."
"I've heard there are some new Chinese-style brands on Guozijian Street that incorporate Zen elements, but I haven't been to any of them."
Since she had nothing else to do, she decided to take a stroll. The various shops hidden within the old-fashioned courtyards piqued Zhiwei's interest. She selected a few cushions and a table lamp, promising to pick them up when she left.
Stepping into a furniture store, the styles were strikingly different. There were no excessive frills; the wood was fine-grained, smoothly polished, and the corners rounded, lacking the sharp lines of Western furniture. Zhiwei paused in front of a large desk, its round legs and square tabletop giving it a robust appearance.
"It feels like this table is perfect for an official who's about to start a court hearing," she whispered to Jingnan.
Unexpectedly, a man of about fifty years old overheard this and politely asked, "What kind of furniture are you two ladies looking at? Would you like me to give you some recommendations?"
Zhiwei smiled sheepishly, "I'm looking for a large desk, something simple and elegant. This one is very elegant, but the style is too angular."
The other person glanced at Zhiwei and nodded, saying, "Objects reflect their owners' personalities. This table doesn't quite match Miss's style. If Miss were to use it, a Ming-style table would be more suitable. The legs shouldn't touch the top, and they should be 20 centimeters inward. They don't need to be so thick; a slightly slender one, with thinner feet, and a slight outward tilt overall, would still be stable, but much more elegant."
Zhiwei smiled apologetically: "I didn't actually specifically want Chinese style furniture, it's just that elegant and simple furniture is hard to find these days."
"Actually, the aesthetics of the Ming Dynasty are good. We don't need to copy them entirely. We can borrow some elements, but just take their elegant and scholarly spirit."
"Who are you?"
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Huang Zijun, the designer of this store."
"Oh, it's the boss. Nice to meet you."
"You've misunderstood. The owner is someone else; I'm just a designer. I occasionally come to the store to get feedback from customers."
Zhiwei bowed slightly to accept the business card, examined it carefully, and then put it in her bag: "Definitely."
She continued browsing and picked out two half-height shelves. The wood was fine-grained, with natural, irregular grain; touching it felt like you could feel the wood breathing. The shelves were made from a single piece of wood, and the shelves narrowed slightly from bottom to top, giving a sense of tranquility and peace to those standing there.
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