Zhiwei
Winter in New York is like a canvas soaked in gray tones.
As Shen Zhiwei walked out of Columbia University's library, her breath instantly dissipated into the dry, cold air. She wrapped her beige, fitted down jacket tighter around her waist, and her slender figure appeared particularly thin against the backdrop of the ancient academic buildings.
"Vivian, what are your plans for Christmas?" Li Tianmei asked, her footsteps echoing through the snow.
"Let's just wander around nearby." Zhiwei put her hands, red from the cold, into her pockets. "Where can we go in this weather?"
Two young women walked side by side on their way back to their apartment. Li Tianmei was an architecture student from Hong Kong, with short, neat hair and bright eyes; Shen Zhiwei was a girl from Shanghai, who had studied fashion design at Carnegie Mellon University for her undergraduate degree and came to Columbia University to pursue a master's degree in visual arts for better job prospects. The two Asian girls met in a foreign land and rented an old apartment near the university together, both to save money and to look out for each other.
"I really envy you art students," Tianmei said, looking at the scattered paint stains on Zhiwei's jeans. "A few strokes and you've got your assignment. We have to revise a design dozens of times, and we also have to consider the structural load-bearing capacity."
Zhiwei chuckled: "Everyone can study art, but making a living from art is another matter. Unlike you, who will be a sought-after architect in the future. Unlike us, it seems like everyone can study art and photography. It's too difficult to make a living from art. Our great architect Li will be a high-earning professional when he comes out of retirement. Remember to invite me to decorate the houses you design in the future. May it be a perfect match and a resounding success."
Tianmei always replied to her, "You know I'm not familiar with these idioms, so don't try to sound sophisticated. They sound like nice words, don't they?"
Zhiwei smiled and said, "Of course, it's a good word. When you have clients in the future, remember to let me help you with the interior furnishings. Whether you want it to be magnificent or fresh and elegant, Baroque or white walls and gray tiles, I guarantee that I can make your building design even better."
She muttered to herself, "Speaking of which, should I learn some feng shui? The Chinese here are the most superstitious about this. Even some who claim to like Eastern culture only know the basics and always talk about feng shui."
Tianmei said, "I used to think that girls in your art department were all ethereal and otherworldly, but I didn't expect you to be like this."
Zhiwei said, "Art students who don't eat the food of the world are either artistic geniuses or rich kids. Otherwise, who can live without eating the food of the world? Wouldn't they starve to death? My queen said long ago that she will only support me for the next few years of my studies. After that, whether I eat chaff or feast, it will be up to me."
Zhiwei's mother, Xu Anyi, works in Shanghai as a finance manager at a foreign company, earning a decent income. Her parents divorced when Zhiwei was in junior high school, and her mother never remarried. Zhiwei herself has a good income, and in addition, the divorce settlement stipulated that her mother would have custody and her father wouldn't have to pay alimony. In return, her father left her a school district house and the house where she and her mother live, allowing them to live comfortably.
The two women arrived home before dark. They rented an old-fashioned apartment building near New York City, the kind with elevators where you had to manually pull the shutter, and you could watch it go up and down the wall from inside. It was a tiny place with only two bedrooms, the living room and kitchen combined, and just one bathroom, costing over two thousand dollars a month. This was a special price the management office gave them because they were two well-behaved female students from a prestigious university who didn't keep pets. Fortunately, it was close to the subway and the neighborhood was relatively safe, saving them the cost of driving and parking.
She was enveloped in warmth as soon as she got home. Zhiwei took off her coat, revealing a light blue chunky knit sweater she had knitted herself. She poured herself a cup of hot cocoa, curled up on the sofa, and sipped it like a lazy cat.
Tianmei held a cup of black coffee. She felt she was a little chubby and didn't dare to drink hot cocoa late at night like Zhiwei. She looked at Zhiwei's slender waist, which couldn't be hidden even by her loose chunky knit sweater, with a hint of envy and said, "You always eat more than me, yet you're still so slim. It's just unfair. Your chunky knit sweater is really fashionable, but I don't dare to wear it."
"You're too hard on yourself," Zhiwei said, sizing up her friend.
This wasn't entirely a consolation. Tianmei possessed the petite and delicate features typical of Hong Kong girls, while Zhiwei had a slender and tall figure rarely seen in Shanghai women—1.7 meters tall, with a classic oval face and fair skin like that of someone from the Jiangnan water towns. Most striking were her phoenix eyes, slightly upturned at the corners, always giving her a nonchalant and languid look when she looked at people.
With such good looks, she would be considered outstanding even in an art academy.
"By the way, why hasn't Johnny come these past couple of days?" Tianmei suddenly asked.
"His actuarial science major has a heavy workload and he's busy preparing for final exams. Everyone in the actuarial science major is a top student, and the academic pressure is immense. Although his grades this semester won't affect his scholarship, a better GPA is still beneficial for employment. He's even more stressed than I am."
Zhou Xuanyu is Zhiwei's boyfriend, a top student in the mathematics department of Peking University, and now a graduate student in actuarial science at Columbia University. He first saw Zhiwei at the freshman orientation, was immediately captivated by her beauty, and began pursuing her relentlessly. A talented man and a beautiful woman, they were an enviable couple in the Chinese international student community.
Two days later, after Johnny finished his exams, Zhou Xuanyu finally showed up. At the coffee shop, he asked Zhiwei about her winter break plans.
"May is going to Florida to spend Christmas with her relatives. I'm planning to stay in New York, see art exhibitions and photography exhibitions, and prepare some portfolios. I also have to submit resumes and go to interviews after school starts. It's so annoying."
“I won’t be going out during winter break. There are some fraternities organized by alumni, and I plan to go and see if any senior students can recommend me for internship opportunities.”
"Oh, by the way, there's a dance party at Christmas, shall we go together?"
"Which of your fraternities is going to have a dance? It's the dead of winter, I'm not going to dance in the cafeteria, it's freezing cold and the food will be cold, I'm not going to suffer like that."
"This time it wasn't. It was held at a five-star hotel. A senior executive from a Chinese company said he was in New York for a study tour and invited Chinese students from several local schools to attend the Christmas ball."
"Why not go when there's good food and drinks?" Zhiwei smiled nonchalantly.
She wasn't unaware of the purpose of such occasions—ostensibly for socializing, but in reality, for recruitment. But in New York, a city rife with pragmatism, aloofness wouldn't put food on the table.
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