Chapter 30 A Gathering of Heroes, A Meeting of Beauties
As soon as the impulsive suggestion left her lips, Jian Zhen felt it was inappropriate. It was too easy to be rejected. The fatigue of long-distance driving, the work that was hard to leave behind, the dangers of traveling alone—Xu Weisheng could easily come up with an excuse that would leave her speechless.
Surprisingly, Xu Weisheng caught the attack very easily, saying, "Okay, whatever you say."
Skydive from a high altitude and then land softly.
Jian Zhen felt relieved, her mind and body lightened. When she went to sleep that night, she couldn't help but smile foolishly when she thought of Xu Weisheng's words. She rolled around in her blanket, feeling light and airy, as if she were floating on clouds.
She was in such a good mood that even her aunt noticed something unusual when they met the next day.
"What's wrong with you? You were crying when you called me the day before yesterday, but now you're smiling like a flower."
"Do I have any?" Jian Zhen poured wine for her aunt across from her with a smile in her eyes, then blinked and said, "Oh, maybe I do."
"Are you dating someone?" Auntie asked, hitting the nail on the head.
"No, no, no!" Jian Zhen put down the decanter and waved her hands repeatedly in denial.
"What's there to hide from your aunt? Let me see, and I promise I won't tell your parents." Her aunt gave her a teasing look and then said, "But if you're not good-looking, that won't do. I'll definitely tell your parents to break you up."
"Hahaha!" Jian Zhen thought of Xu Weisheng's face and said confidently, "Don't worry about that, I'm even more obsessed with looks than you are."
"He's handsome? Then we should definitely take him out and admire him. After all, your aunt has seen it all..."
Jian Zhen said, both amused and exasperated, "Oh dear, we really haven't talked about it yet!"
The aunt gasped in disbelief, raised an eyebrow at her, and asked, "Didn't you talk about it, or did you fail to reach an agreement?"
Do we really have to keep digging into this? Humans really do share a common love of gossip. Jian Zhen had no choice but to give in and admit, "We're not dating. I'm pursuing him."
This time, it was the aunt's turn to be taken aback: "You're pursuing someone else?" And judging from Jian Zhen's subtext, she hadn't succeeded yet. This was truly an eye-opening experience! Their Jian Zhen was a heartbreaker who received love letters from both male and female classmates since kindergarten, and her luck with men was so good that even the God of Love couldn't untangle them all. No one would have thought that she would be pursuing someone else.
"Ah~" Jian Zhen raised her eyes a little shyly.
My aunt lowered her voice and said quickly, "How long has it been? Zhenzhen, let me tell you, it's not that girls can't pursue someone, but you have to keep it within limits. Don't chase someone for a year or two and they're still unmoved. You'll have wasted so much of your youth. Men are different from women. Men will never develop love because of being moved, let alone feel a sense of responsibility because of being moved. If they're pursued for too long, they'll only look down on you more and more. Tell me the truth, you can always sense whether someone likes you or not, right?"
Jian Zhen was stunned by this barrage of questions. After a moment of reflection, she scratched her head and said thoughtfully, "He probably...likes me, right?" She then reinforced her belief with a firm nod and reassured the other woman, "Auntie, don't worry too much. I haven't openly pursued him, so there's no chance of me being rejected. I just feel that we both have feelings for each other, and I don't want to be the one confessing, so I'll just have to take the initiative and entice him to confess."
What kind of love struggle is this... Auntie was embarrassed. She couldn't understand young people these days. She frowned and pondered while raising her glass to drink.
After clinking glasses a few times, the aunt couldn't help but ask Jian Zhen, "Zhenzhen, I'm curious, in your generation's view, is taking the initiative a symbol of humility?"
Jian Zhen was taken aback by the question. She had never thought about it herself. Why would she rather play a shadow play with Xu Weisheng through a thin veil than open her heart and be straightforward? Was it because she was too proud and unwilling to bow down in matters of the heart?
It doesn't seem to be like that. Jian Zhen has parents, a maternal grandmother, and an aunt. She is not a pampered young lady who needs to be pampered all the time. She also understands that in a relationship between two normal people, the one who is more enthusiastic and gives more does not mean that they are begging for affection. Most of the time, it just means that the person has the ability to love.
But the voices in society, especially online, are too loud. They block everyone's ears and constantly brainwash people into thinking that "taking the initiative is inferior." They even created terms like "simp," making everyone feel uneasy. It takes ten times more courage than before to express love.
Seeing that she didn't speak, her aunt continued, "Actually, I think that no matter if you are in a state of ambiguity, pursuing each other, or have already established a relationship, or even entered into marriage, being able to take the initiative to express love is a very precious quality."
Jian Zhen nodded slowly, and just as she uttered an "Mmm...", her aunt raised her fork again and warned, "But don't chase after someone for too long, okay? Unrequited love is like drowning yourself in a sea of suffering, with no way back."
“Yes!” Jian Zhen nodded emphatically.
The two chatted about Jian Zhen's recent work at Qili. The aunt said nonchalantly, "They can't stand you eating and drinking well, so what? Are you going to waste a feast to cater to their expectations? Besides, this kind of catering is endless. Today they want you to back down, tomorrow they'll dare to force you to get out of the animation industry. If I were you, I would ignore these people's voices. Only a fool would take them to heart."
Jian Zhen smiled knowingly, then heard her aunt continue, "Zhenzhen, remember this: the workplace is like an animal kingdom, where the strong prey on the weak. Never fantasize about pleasing everyone. The higher you climb, the more friends you'll have. Self-interest is more reliable than people's hearts, understand?"
My aunt is a success in the conventional sense. She has an open-minded and avant-garde attitude towards life, but some aspects of her approach are too realistic for Jian Zhen, a greenhorn just starting out, and it's hard for her to completely agree with them.
However, Jian Zhen wasn't foolish enough to offend her aunt. She nodded and said, "I know, Aunt. I only ask to have a clear conscience."
Her aunt paused, looked at her, and said, "You've always done that."
The two smiled at each other and talked about their plans for the next few days. Jian Zhen said that she had taken a long leave and that she could act as a local guide no matter where the other wanted to go.
“No need for that. I come to Guangzhou ten times a year, maybe even more places than you do. I don’t want to end up having to accompany you.” My aunt tucked a strand of curly hair behind her ear and said elegantly, “I plan to go to Hong Kong for the next two days.”
"I can go to Hong Kong with you!" Jian Zhen's family had run out of several commonly used medicines and she was thinking of going to restock them sometime.
"I have someone with me." The smug look on her aunt's face made Jian Zhen realize that all her previous preparations were for the purpose of saying this.
"A friend in Hong Kong?" Jian Zhen asked curiously.
"Yes, we've known each other for twenty years." My aunt summarized our deep friendship in one sentence, and then boasted about her friend: "She teaches political science at the University of Hong Kong. Didn't your parents keep encouraging you to go to the UK for your master's degree? Actually, I didn't agree. What's so good about that place? It's far away, the weather is terrible, and the food is awful. Why don't you consider Hong Kong? Hey, she's coming to Guangzhou to pick me up tomorrow. Let's have dinner together. I can introduce you."
Jian Zhen had no interest in studying political science in Hong Kong, but since she had nothing better to do, she also wanted to see what kind of person could maintain a friendship with her aunt for twenty years, so she nodded in agreement.
For lunch, Jian Zhen chose Bing Sheng. After getting off the subway at Zhujiang New Town, she walked over and found that the ground parking lot was already full of luxury cars. She almost got cut off by a clueless driver, but luckily she had a quick thinking and jumped onto a high platform on the side.
Xu Weisheng was just about to get out of the car when he saw a person in the distance whose profile looked a lot like Jian Zhen. He was about to call out to her when he saw her jump off the platform, turn around and curse at the driver, and then go straight into the hotel entrance.
It seemed there was an appointment. Xu Weisheng smiled, swallowed her words, and walked towards the gate alone, carrying her coat.
Jian Zhen thought she had arrived early enough—she arrived ten minutes before the agreed time, only to find that someone was already there when she walked into the private room.
The other person was wearing a black turtleneck sweater dress, with her long hair tied up, and wearing platinum glasses. She was looking down at the menu intently.
Jian Zhen discovered that some people are just born with the temperament to see menus as literary classics, like the person in front of her.
Hearing the door open, she calmly looked up, smiled at Jian Zhen, and greeted her, "Hello, you must be Qin Xiao's niece?"
"Yes, hello, I'm Jian Zhen, hello Teacher Lin—" Jian Zhen couldn't help but feel nervous facing such a face that seemed to have been taken from a movie poster.
The other person's smile widened, making her expression more vivid and giving her a radiant, captivating look: "Just call me Lin Hanjing."
"Okay, Teacher Lin." Jian Zhen realized she had called her by the wrong name again, stuck out her tongue, quickly went over and sat down, and corrected herself, "Aunt Lin, Auntie should be here soon."
"Yes, they just told me they parked downstairs." Lin Hanjing closed the menu and handed it to her, taking a sip of tea. "Take a look and see what you'd like to eat. Don't be shy, your aunt will pay."
"Haha." Jian Zhen took it with both hands and joked, "Then I'll have to be more special!"
Lin Hanjing, holding her teacup, almost burst out laughing. She quickly maintained her intellectual and dignified demeanor and couldn't help but chuckle, "So, if I pay the bill, you're only going to eat eggplant?"
“Then my aunt will pay, and I want to eat eggplant too,” Jian Zhen winked at her.
Lin Hanjing rarely saw such a lively junior in her life. She immediately started talking and closed the distance between them. When her aunt came in, Jian Zhen was already asking about her childhood.
Jian Zhen: "Aunt Lin, you've worked and lived in Hong Kong for so many years, how come you knew my aunt twenty years ago?"
Lin Hanjing looked at Qin Xiao as he approached gracefully and smiled, "To be precise, it was more than 20 years ago. At that time, my mother had just divorced and moved to Beijing with me, a child. I couldn't even speak Mandarin very well. Your aunt was my first friend in life."
Qin Xiao sat down and said with a smile, "Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was popular for northerners to go south to speculate on real estate and come to Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to make money. Among our classmates, the most popular thing was Hong Kong movies and Hong Kong stars. If anyone could speak a few words of authentic Cantonese, oh my god, the whole class would follow suit and learn. What a coincidence! Your Aunt Lin's family migrated in the opposite direction and sent a little girl who only knew Cantonese to Class 3, Grade 7 of No. 6 Middle School. A native speaker was sent from heaven, fulfilling the Cantonese dream of the whole class."
Lin Hanjing smiled modestly and shook her head, saying, "Actually, I don't speak with a Hong Kong accent. I had only recently come from a small fishing village by the sea and was suddenly thrown into a big city. They surrounded me, and I was terrified!"
Jian Zhen, unaware of the beginning of Aunt Lin's life story, assumed that the small fishing village she mentioned was the rapidly changing Shenzhen of that time, and laughed, saying, "Aunt Lin, you're too modest!"
As the three chatted and laughed, the door to the private room closed naturally, and a familiar figure walked through the gradually closing gap.
Xu Weisheng's view was blocked by the door of the private room. He continued to walk in, missing the opportunity to identify Jian Zhen's companions, just like in the late 1980s and early 1990s when he was abandoned by his mother shortly after birth and missed the chance to call her "Mom".
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