Reunion
The campus in early summer was already bright and clear under the sun. The ginkgo leaves had all opened, a light green that, when the wind blew, looked like soft light flowing between the teaching buildings.
Pan Qiu had just arrived at the office early in the morning, put down her computer, and was about to prepare her lesson when her phone vibrated.
This is a message sent to the work group by the college's administrative staff:
[Contact the Entrepreneurship and Career Development Center]
The School of Psychology needs a teacher to host the "Youth Entrepreneurship Forum" next Friday.
Requirements: Young, approachable, and fluent in English.
Please, teachers, recommend or nominate yourselves.
Pan Qiu glanced at it but didn't pay much attention.
Several similar events are held each semester—lectures, forums, job sharing sessions, alumni forums, etc.
It's usually the younger teachers who are called on in turn.
Sure enough, two minutes later, Teacher Li tagged her in the group chat:
@Panqiu, you're the best host! Your stage presence is steady, your pronunciation is clear, and the students love you too.
Besides, you've just returned to China, and the college wants to give you more exposure.
Longing for autumn brings a bitter smile.
In the domestic academic community, "showing your face" usually means that service activities are starting to be assigned to you.
But that statement does make sense.
She is the youngest teacher in the college, has a friendly image, and has overseas experience, making her the perfect person to host this kind of forum.
She typed:
Okay, teacher, I'll host this. I'll familiarize myself with the procedures beforehand.
It wasn't a big deal, and it didn't really bother her.
Five minutes later, the administrative staff sent the forum's agenda to her email.
Pan Qiu clicked on the link and casually scrolled to the guest list:
1. Zhou Qiming | Co-founder of Sugon Data
2 Chen Yuan | Founder of Qinghe Charity
3 Lin Yue | Founder & CEO of Yuyuan Technology
The cursor stopped.
Panqiu paused slightly in her breathing.
Lin Yue.
Her first reaction wasn't surprise or nervousness, but rather an instinctive thought:
"...Is this the Lin Yue I know?"
Panqiu took a deep breath and opened her browser.
Enter: "Lin Yue, Yuyuan Technology".
The search results appeared quickly.
The man in the photo stands in front of the backdrop of the press conference, wearing a dark shirt with the top button loosely undone. The shirt has a clean cut, and the light slides down the fabric, highlighting the clear and clean lines of his shoulders and profile.
His expression was much calmer than I remembered. The determination and composure honed by reality between his brows made him look...so mature that it was hard to look away.
He was completely different from the enthusiastic, lively, and somewhat boyish young man she remembered.
Now, he has gained a more genuine sense of "manliness".
Even—if you only look at this photo, your first impression would be that he is the kind of "young domineering CEO" who would appear on the cover of a business magazine: calm, confident, and sharp.
Panqiu stared at her phone for a few seconds, then couldn't help but laugh.
The boy in the photo exudes such a strong aura, but the boy in her memory who made her cotton candy, took her ice skating, bought her small gifts, celebrated her birthday, and took her to visit San Francisco is as warm and gentle as a spring breeze.
She gently shook her head, a subtle and indescribable feeling welling up inside her—
Time really is like a magician.
Panqiu stared at the photo for a long time. An indescribable emotion slowly rose in her heart—not a flutter of the heart, nor a rekindling of old feelings.
It's more like seeing someone you thought would only remain in your past memories suddenly shine in another parallel future.
She zoomed in and out of the screen, staring at his name and then at his company profile. She hesitated for a few seconds.
Then I picked up my phone and opened WeChat.
She looked at the small profile picture in the list that hadn't been lit up in a long time.
In fact, she and Lin Yue did not truly "break off contact".
They simply folded away those years of shared experiences and placed them in the drawers of their own lives, never actively opening them.
Panqiu's finger hovered over the input field, then stopped.
say what?
In the end, she only typed the simplest line:
"Lin Yue, I just found out you're back in China too?"
The cursor blinked.
She pressed the send button.
She stared at the message for several seconds before putting her phone face down on the table.
Yuyuan Technology, two hours later.
The afternoon sun slanted in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the shadows of the trees below swayed on the glass. The early summer heat was kept low by the air conditioning.
Lin Yue had just finished a long and daunting fundraising defense in the conference room.
He walked out, his heart still pounding. His assistant handed him a glass of water; he nodded, but didn't take it.
The phone screen lit up briefly.
He glanced up casually—
Longing for autumn.
He stopped in his tracks, his fingertips tightening slightly.
That name was like a ray of light that suddenly burst into his world, silencing all meetings, documents, data, and pressure for half a second.
He clicked on it.
It was just a short sentence: "Lin Yue, I just found out you're back in China too?"
That word "also" is like a subtle hint.
Lin Yue stared at it for a few seconds, then couldn't help but chuckle to himself.
There was a hint of helplessness, a touch of tenderness, and a bittersweet feeling in her smile.
We haven't really chatted for over two years.
But he still recognized that tone at a glance:
A gentle, restrained greeting, as if afraid of overstepping a boundary.
He sat down on the office sofa, deliberately giving himself a minute to detach himself from the high-pressure work environment.
I've only just started typing seriously.
He had so much to say—
"haven't seen you for a long time",
"how is your day",
"I always thought we would never contact each other again."
"I'm so glad you contacted me"...
But in the end, he deleted all the emotional sentences.
He paused, then switched to a mature yet warm tone:
"Yes, I came back the year before last. Receiving your message... was quite a surprise, but also very happy."
He looked at it for two seconds, then added a line that was even lighter and more honest than the previous one:
"You said 'also'... How long have you been back? When can we get together?"
My fingertip hovers over the "send" button.
Lin Yue took a deep breath and carefully pressed back the warmth that had been buried deep in his heart and that he thought would never be stirred again.
Then press send.
Pan Qiu chuckled softly when she saw his reply.
This is the kind of reaction Lin Yue is familiar with.
He thinks half a step ahead of others, but never makes a fuss about it.
She thought for a moment, then replied quite naturally:
"No need to make a special appointment."
We'll see each other next week.
Imagining his expression upon seeing this, she smiled and added:
"I happened to be the host of the school's entrepreneurship forum."
"I'll interview you then."
Lin Yue finished the morning meeting and walked out with his usual brisk steps.
Xiao Zhang followed behind him, reporting on the afternoon's schedule: "President Lin, there's another one at three o'clock—"
Lin Yue's phone lit up again.
Originally, this was nothing.
The kind of person he is, wouldn't even glance at his phone once if it vibrated ten times during a meeting.
But Xiao Zhang clearly saw—
For a split second, he really stopped in his tracks.
In just one second.
Lin Yue looked down at the screen.
His expression didn't change much, and he didn't show any obvious joy.
But Xiao Zhang still noticed something different—
The smile wasn't very obvious.
It was just a little more relaxed than usual.
Like the taut line between his brows, it quietly loosened a little.
Xiao Zhang couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement:
—Who's so powerful that they can get the boss to see messages during work hours?
Lin Yue put his phone back in his coat pocket and continued walking forward, his tone as steady as ever: "Give me a copy of the materials from the startup forum, I'll take a look later."
Xiao Zhang was stunned.
The boss never looks at these kinds of scripts beforehand—he's always the kind of person who improvises on stage and is highly efficient off stage.
Colleagues even joked behind his back: "Mr. Lin's type is probably the hardest to pursue in the entire venture capital circle."
It's said that several investors like to bring their daughters to his roadshows, introducing them casually at tea parties... but the boss always has the same attitude:
Discuss projects seriously, treat others with respect, and conclude exchanges amicably.
They were so polite that no one could detect any ambiguity, and so polite that it was impossible to get close to them.
It's as if they were born immune to ambiguity.
Xiao Zhang sighed to himself: In his company, although the female colleagues were infatuated with him, no one really considered it a "possibility".
But now—
The boss saw the message, and his demeanor seemed to soften a little.
Xiao Zhang regained his composure and began organizing the materials he had worked on that afternoon, but an absurd thought still flashed through his mind:
—It seems that some of the news... is indeed quite different.
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