Chapter 7 She decided to come
Who exactly is Xu Weisheng? Matching his name with his face is easy; Jian Zhen had already figured out who he was even before she had to use her logical thinking.
But finding him took quite a bit of effort.
She started by checking the sender's address, which showed that it was a courier station near a certain residential area. Jian Zhen was very grateful that he did not live in places like Tiantongyuan or Huilongguan, otherwise, given the population size of those places, she might not be able to find him even in ten years.
But Yungang—what kind of place is that?
Jian Zhen searched the map online and found that this place had already crossed the South Sixth Ring Road and was about to enter Hebei Province. She was stunned. This... this is almost going to the other side of the road.
She immediately wanted to give up the idea of looking for the person. After all, in the vast sea of people, it would be as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack to find someone with only a vague address. Besides... Jian Zhen considered herself a person who was afraid of trouble and hardship.
So she turned off her computer, wanting to do something else to distract herself, such as going out for a stroll or browsing the latest magazines and newspapers at a newsstand.
The newsstand owner had wrapped each of the expensive magazines in a bag. Picking up one at random, you could only see the cover. If you wanted to read the second page, you had to pay. There were exceptions, though, like the cheap toilet reading book, "Story Club." Jian Zhen stood in front of the newsstand, complaining about how vulgar it was, but still managed to read it through quickly. In the end, she earned two mosquito bites and a glare from the newsstand owner.
Are you going to buy it or not?
Jian Zhen blushed and said stiffly, "Of course I'll buy it."
She asked her boss for a transportation map. On her way back to her dormitory, she unfolded the small map again and again until it was the size of a single desk. She buried herself in it, her eyes lingering between two small dots. By the time she remembered to refute the impulsive thought in her mind, it was too late; she was already sitting on a bus heading out of the city.
At that time, Metro Line 14 had not yet officially started operation. In order to save money, Jian Zhen chose a rather complicated and long transportation plan. The length made her sleepy, and the complexity made her stay awake. Therefore, in a half-dreaming and half-awake state, she was awakened by the conversation of strangers in the carriage. She barely opened her eyelids, and the shimmering, tranquil, and wide Yongding River outside the window rushed into her half-closed eyes.
Jian Zhen propped her head up, her spirits lifted.
The river water was crystal clear, a bright, icy blue. White aquatic plants grew from the riverbed, clusters and clumps, their hemispherical branches peeking out from the surface. The branches swayed in the gentle breeze. For a moment, Jian Zhen thought she had gone mad and transmigrated into an animated world.
Later in her life, as she blurred the boundaries of dimensions countless times, moving back and forth between the two worlds and crossing the intersection of scenes, the shimmering blue around her was always like shattered ice. It was only much later that she realized that her fate and Xu Weisheng's fate began to intersect from this river, and then they flowed together for many years, until they flowed through most of the glorious years of their lives.
But if we turn back the clock to the early summer of 2012, Jian Zhen, who was abandoned by the bus at an unfamiliar station, was completely unaware of the future. As soon as she got off the bus, she took a breath of air mixed with the smell of dust and diesel. Then, while coughing, she looked around and confirmed from the mottled bus stop sign that she had come to the right place.
This place… Jian Zhen thought while coughing… can it really be considered Beijing? It’s a good thing we came during the day, otherwise she wouldn’t have dared to get out of the car at night. Not to mention there are no streetlights, there isn’t even a decent sidewalk. Beyond the curb, there are piles of gravel and small mounds of earth, and further out, there is a slightly flatter open space with houses of varying heights, most of which are single-story houses.
Jian Zhen has excellent eyesight. Stepping on the hard gravel in her shoes, she traversed one "small hill" after another, each a few dozen centimeters high. She caught a glimpse of a plastic sign with the words "Mala Tang" (Spicy Hot Pot) hanging in front of a bungalow. Next to the sign was another small sign: Barbecue.
The hygiene conditions look appalling, the hygiene conditions look appalling, the hygiene conditions look appalling...
There was no other way; she was really hungry. Jian Zhen turned and walked towards the mala tang restaurant, lifting the yellowed plastic curtain and taking in the entire store in a short time.
The shop is small, with a few simple tables and chairs. The refrigerator sponsored by the beer distributor has about a dozen kinds of fried skewers, but the main aroma comes from the hot pot cart directly opposite the entrance.
The mala tang cart is somewhat similar to a super-sized version of convenience store oden, except that the ingredients are much more abundant, and the flavors are divided into mild and spicy. Two carts are placed side by side, filled with compartments for both meat and vegetables, and bamboo skewers are inserted into the compartments. A color-printed price list is posted on the white wall, with each skewer costing one yuan.
The female owner next to the skewers cart was shopping for clothes online. She glanced at the customers who came in and said with a displeased expression, "Take your own plates, and pay after you finish eating by counting the skewers."
It's definitely a seller's market. How can they keep doing business with such terrible service? If this were in the city, Jian Zhen would have turned around and left by now. But this is... Jian Zhen wasn't angry at all. Instead, she took a few more skewers, just so that she would have more confidence when she handed the iron plate covered with a plastic bag to the owner and asked him questions.
"Boss, do you know how to get to Yuejing Garden?"
"I know." The owner poured the blanched baby bok choy into her plate, grabbed the iron spoon next to him and drizzled sesame sauce around it for her, without looking up, and said, "Walk north along this road for two stops, and you'll see Yuejing Garden when you see Wumart."
"Okay, thank you!" Jian Zhen took the plate, her face beaming with a smile that could generate electricity.
"What do you need Yuejing Garden for? Are you looking to rent a place?" The owner himself had a property for sale, so he was particularly interested in this information.
"No, no, no, I'm looking for someone."
Who is it?
"...His name is Xu Weisheng, do you know him?"
The owner paused, rolled his eyes, and turned to go into the frying skewer kitchen: "I don't know it."
Jian Zhen was disappointed, but this disappointment dissipated by the time she followed her boss's instructions to Wumart Supermarket and Yuejing Garden, until she ran into trouble again at the courier station.
When the owner of the courier station heard that she was looking for someone, he immediately said, "Oh dear, we can't help your sister! We're too busy! We've never even seen the person you're talking about."
Frustrated, Jian Zhen clutched the small piece of paper torn from the package and went outside. As soon as she stepped down the stairs, she realized something was wrong—did she say she was looking for someone?
The expressions of the hot pot restaurant owner, the cold drink shop owner in the neighborhood, and even the old man selling hamburgers from his mobile food cart outside flashed before her eyes... Could it be that these people had all seen him, but just didn't want to tell her?
Why? Jian Zhen frowned. Did he ask for it himself? This request probably wasn't directed at him alone, since he couldn't have predicted his arrival. In other words... a somewhat bizarre idea gradually took shape in Jian Zhen's mind.
— Xu Weisheng is deliberately avoiding someone.
Realizing this, Jian Zhen's blood rushed through her veins. She wasn't usually one to dwell on things, and besides, she had set off on this journey almost like a sleepwalker, only hoping to get lucky. But now she had changed her mind—this person was shrouded in too many mysteries, like a magnificent deer peeking out from a dense forest. She imagined herself as a genius hunter wielding an ice bow, and the excitement of the hunt spurred her on, commanding her to stand before him in person.
Jian Zhen turned back and visited breakfast shops, fruit shops, tailor shops, and so on in the neighborhood... until she came to a ramen shop. A little girl watching cartoons at the cashier heard that she was looking for someone and blinked her big, crystal-like eyes, asking her, "Who are you looking for?"
“A friend of mine.”
What does your friend look like?
Jian Zhen raised an eyebrow and pondered for a few seconds before succinctly describing him: "He's quite handsome."
This description perfectly matches Xu Weisheng's self-description. His original words to his neighbors were, "If a group of people come around asking if there's a tall, handsome guy living here, please don't give him away."
Since kindergartens were on summer vacation, the ramen shop's youngest daughter was also within the scope of the instructions. However, today she was so focused on helping others that she completely forgot about keeping it a secret and immediately told Jian Zhen happily: Brother Xu is selling tickets at the cinema in Baihui Shopping Mall.
It's like searching high and low without finding it... Jian Zhen stopped at the first half of the sentence, her thoughts starting to wander. How vain does a person have to be to describe themselves as "pretty handsome" to a five-year-old?
Just thinking about this made Jian Zhen laugh. On the 20-minute journey from Yuejing Garden to Baihui Shopping Mall, she laughed at the thought every two minutes on average.
Therefore, she deliberately bought a dark red baseball cap with an antique feel in that tacky shopping mall, so that her cheerful appearance wouldn't detract from her cool demeanor.
She arrived at just the right time, just as Xu Weisheng finished checking tickets for the last show and was about to leave work. He was standing idly by the ticket counter, listening to the announcement that those who had bought tickets for the 5:40 pm showing of "Tiny Times" in Hall 2 should hurry up and check in. It was 5:39 pm now, and he thought there was no one left, when suddenly another movie ticket was handed to him.
Xu Weisheng reached out to take it, his gaze falling on the "movie ticket," and he realized that it was not actually a movie ticket, but an incomplete express delivery slip.
His hand froze in mid-air, and he looked up, a rare occurrence, to meet a pair of familiar yet unfamiliar eyes.
Jian Zhen raised her hand, took off her hat, tilted her head at him, and smiled, "bonjour."
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