Chapter 4 Zhu Fu
The next second she came up with a plan, and when she turned around to face the man, Pu Zhihe's face was calm.
"Why are you here? Didn't you say that a student was about to jump off the building and you went to help save him?" Zhu Fu's words would become faster when he was anxious and excited. His eyes were wide open and his mouth was opening and closing.
He has recently been keen on going to the gym with his colleagues to train his shoulders and back. He has become a lot stronger, but with his arms drooping and a surprised expression, he looks like a big monkey.
Pu Zhihe despised herself in her heart for deceiving others and even making fun of them.
Running into your boyfriend at a restaurant is not a big deal, but being caught lying is not.
Zhu Fu's parents came to Xi'an by plane today. Pu Zhihe wanted to avoid meeting them, so she made up an excuse to attend Hang Liumei's lecture.
She knew it was childish to do so, that these things would eventually overwhelm her. One must grind down all the right and wrong that one shies away from deep down into dregs, chew them up, and swallow them, only then can one cure one's childishness.
"The student was rescued, or—that? When you're done, tell me and I'll pick you up. I even covered for you, telling my parents you had an emergency and couldn't go with me to the airport to pick them up. You know they came here specifically to see you. Now's perfect, we just arrived, so let's go in and eat together."
Zhu Fu had never done anything bad in his life. He spilled the beans without waiting for anyone to try to get him to tell the truth. His voice was so loud that the people around him kept turning their heads to look at him.
Faced with such an honest boy, Pu Zhihe felt guilty if she didn't lie. She tugged at his arm and said coldly, "Keep your voice down. There are students and parents standing on the stairs behind me. His family is busy, so only his grandmother is here to deal with it. She's terrified. We don't want to alert the school's higher-ups or outsiders, as it would be bad for his future. I'll take advantage of the meal to give him some advice. A broken heart isn't a big deal. Keep this a secret from everyone, remember."
Seeing Zhu Fu's expression of understanding, she took a step back, brushed his shoulders twice and said, "That's it for now, we'll contact each other later." After saying that, she returned to her usual cold and indifferent look, as if they were not very familiar with each other.
Zhu Fu was frightened by her and said, "Oh, okay, then you go ahead and do your work." But his eyes were looking elsewhere.
Pu Zhihe saw that he was behaving strangely and looked behind her. She didn't know when Hang Liumei and Mai Xu stood behind her, probably waiting for her to introduce them to her friends.
Before Pu Zhihe could speak, Hang Liumei's eyebrows knitted together, and she forced out a sad expression: "Sir, are you a friend of Teacher Pu? I'm sorry to trouble you today. We still need Teacher Pu's help. Look at this matter - ah."
Everything was hidden in the last sad sigh. She looked at the silent Xiaomai and signaled to Zhu Fu that the trouble was the one behind.
Zhu Fu thought he understood the embarrassment of the elegant, well-dressed old woman pleading for her naive grandson. In his conventional life, such absurdities were rare, but he was easily convinced, his enthusiasm for helping others ignited. "It's okay, it's okay, old lady. It's not a big deal. Just go ahead and talk. If you need any help, just contact me!"
As he said this, he gave Pu Zhihe a sophisticated look, then pretended to be in a hurry to say goodbye and leave, raising the two corners of his clothes.
As soon as she saw Hang Liumei and Xiaomai, Pu Zhihe knew they must have overheard their conversation. Unexpectedly, Hang Liumei started to act out the scene, leaving her as a minor character. Hang Liumei didn't disappoint her, but she still decided to apologize.
Hang Liumei didn't seem to take it seriously. She smiled and said, "It's okay. Let's go first. It's not suitable to chat when we are hungry. We can talk about it after we sit down."
The marble floor reflected the two women's high heels. Pu Zhihe's were thin, Hang Liumei's were thick, and they made a clicking sound as they walked. Xiaomai's long legs followed them slowly, alternating between steps. None of them spoke, each lost in their own thoughts.
Xiaomai had been in a good mood until Zhu Fu showed up. He hadn't considered that Pu Zhihe might have a boyfriend, and after meeting him, he didn't quite understand why her boyfriend was like that.
Wheat is fighting with itself.
He felt that Zhu Fu was not worthy of Pu Zhihe. He was of average height and conversation, with a square face and prominent ears, and a face that was easily forgotten in the crowd. He wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, but he didn't look refined enough. He had the air of a society man, but he wasn't steady enough.
It doesn't seem right to imagine that Pu Zhihe's boyfriend is another handsome and considerate elite.
With her hands in her pockets, Xiaomai lowered her head and scoffed inwardly. He was worrying so much about other people, things that had nothing to do with her. She had always thought he was childish, so could someone like that be considered mature?
Xiaomai was not in a good mood until she sat down at the dinner table.
"What's wrong, Mai Xu? Why do you look so depressed when it's time for dinner? You can't be unhappy when eating." Hang Liumei handed Pu Zhihe a menu and opened a menu herself. She comforted Xiao Mai but had no intention of letting him order.
Pu Zhihe thought Xiaomai was still preoccupied with what had happened at the entrance of the Garden Dreams stall, and thought it was best to pretend she didn't know. She changed the subject to Hang Liumei, "Teacher Hang, I apologize to you. You order the food, and I'll treat you."
Hang Liumei refused, and did not argue with Pu Zhihe. She just asked her what she liked to eat.
After the commotion, Hang Liumei's energy and appetite were back. Seeing that the other two were still being polite, she ordered three bowls of Xifu Yikouxiang, a pot of bean curd and beef tripe, a gourd chicken, and a bowl of jujube paste for each.
There were many tourists sitting around, and a group of veiled girls came out from the backstage, stood in a row and began to perform "Indian Girl".
"Zhihe, are you still painting now?" Hang Liumei asked Pu Zhihe this out of the blue without mentioning what happened just now.
Pu Zhihe nodded and said, "I stopped for a while, but I started painting again after graduation."
"Can I take a look?"
Pu Zhihe took out her mobile phone to show Hang Liumei her work. Hang Liumei put on her reading glasses, held the phone away, and just said "hmm" without saying whether it was good or bad.
After putting down her phone, Hang Liumei followed up with a few questions about her subject matter, her major, and her interests. Pu Zhihe answered according to the information in the email, and if she came across a question she hadn't previously reviewed, she would add her own personal thoughts.
"You're a colleague of mine! Back then, I had many colleagues who studied mural restoration, but not many who could paint and had the technical skills. It's good that you're still painting—so what are your plans for returning to Italy? Will you continue painting in the future?"
"I'm not going back. I haven't decided whether I want to keep painting. The market has been bad in the past two years. I can't settle down after returning to China. I don't know when I will be able to choose a path and stick to it, like you."
Hang Liumei shook her head repeatedly and picked up a napkin to wipe the oil stains from the corners of her mouth. "If you like to paint, that's fine, but don't be like me and spend your whole life wandering around in the caves. You can't do anything except paint, you're like a frog in a well. If you keep going down one path, you'll end up in darkness."
Pu Zhihe had met so many artists with Master Pu, and every one of them loved to brag about their glory days, seizing the slightest compliment and opening up to chatter. Hang Liumei was the first to be so modest. But she just wanted to hear more from Hang Liumei.
"Ah Shaliva Shaliva Shaliva, who brought you to me..."
As they sang enthusiastically on stage, Hang Liumei asked the key question: "Did you have a fight with your boyfriend?"
Pu Zhihe understood what she meant: "We didn't quarrel. We just happened to have the same time, so I pushed him over. Thank you for not exposing me and for helping me lie. I didn't mean to drag you into this."
"I think it's quite interesting, right Xiaomai?" Hang Liumei said as she gently nudged Xiaomai with her elbow.
Xiaomai put her chopsticks on the plate, gave up on arguing, and nodded twice: "It's fun, as long as you think it's fun."
Hang Liumei asked again: "Then why is it like this today?"
Pu Zhihe put down her chopsticks, rested her elbows on the table, and said only one sentence: "His parents came to Xi'an today to discuss the marriage."
"Don't want to get married?" Hang Liumei picked up the teacup and took a sip.
Pu Zhihe shook her head calmly and said, "I've already told him I don't want to talk about this right now. I don't know why he's so anxious. If that's the case, then I can only delay it in this way. If I don't show any attitude at all, I won't be able to get out of it in the end, right? Lying to him is the gentlest solution I can think of. Speaking directly is too hurtful."
She didn't know why Hang Liumei kept asking these trivial questions that had nothing to do with art. When she was provoked with personal questions that she didn't want to face, she simply told them all at once to avoid having to answer them one by one like squeezing toothpaste.
"Many people have advised me that if we keep dragging it out like this, we'll eventually break up, but that's all I can do. I don't want to follow everyone else's advice. I'll figure things out first," Pu Zhihe said, then offered her some tea. She hasn't confessed this to her parents yet; they expect too much. When she was younger, she'd often been blunt, but as she got older, she softened her stance.
She had been waiting for this sentence. Hang Liumei had no other questions. She only had one invitation: "If you are not busy recently, I will be participating in an exhibition soon and need an assistant. Would you like to give it a try?"
This was unexpected for Pu Zhihe and Xiaomai.
Hang Liumei took a sip of the jujube paste and added, "I have a lot of works that need to be sorted out, and there's one I haven't finished yet that I need to finish at home. If it's convenient for you, it would be best if you could stay at my house and help me."
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