Chapter 29 Nothing lasts forever
Volume 2: Seventeen-Year-Old Please Answer
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In May, as Yunzhou prepares for summer, the seawater becomes bluer day by day.
From the windows of the administration building at University C, one can catch a glimpse of the sea.
When Jiang Meng was being criticized by her boss, she pretended to look at him, but was actually staring at the waves rolling behind his ears, lost in thought.
"Did you hear me when I spoke to you?" Director Yin angrily slammed his teacup on the table, splashing a few drops of green tea foam.
Jiang Meng looked at him and nodded in response, "I heard you."
"You were listening and you're still spacing out?"
“I wasn’t distracted. I was processing what you said and reflecting on how to avoid these kinds of problems.”
Seeing that her attitude was fairly proper, Director Yin wiped the saliva from his mouth, took a couple of unpleasant breaths, and finally calmed his tone: "Reflect on your actions properly, and don't drag me into this mess."
Jiang Meng nodded.
A moment of silence.
"Let me see your fingernails." He started finding fault again.
Jiang Meng obediently raised her hand, revealing a clean, light pink nail surface and a full, clear nail bed.
The section chief finally had nothing to say: "Go back and get back to work. Just put the self-criticism on my desk tomorrow."
Jiang Meng went to the restroom before returning to her office, where her colleagues were whispering among themselves while washing their hands.
Liang Shanshan: "How did Teacher Jiang offend Director Yin again?"
Yan Yuqing said, "It was at that arts festival the school held last time, Jiang Meng went up and danced, you know..."
He was being pursued by several students.
"Oh my god!" Liang Shanshan exclaimed in shock, "No, how can you blame her for being young and beautiful? What's wrong with dancing?"
"There's nothing we can do. They insist on escalating it to a matter of conduct, questioning whether they have KPIs for ideological and political education work."
Yan Yuqing shrugged and, seeing Jiang Meng approaching, quickly pulled her aside to ask if she was alright.
Jiang Meng smiled helplessly and said, "It's okay, just write a self-criticism, don't worry about me—let's go drinking this weekend."
Yan Yuqing gave her an OK sign.
Jiang Meng glanced at the time; it was time to leave work.
She went to the underground parking lot to get her car. While sitting in the car, she didn't leave immediately and received a text message reminder about her credit card payment. So she opened her chat window with Jiang Su.
Jiang Meng's conversations with Jiang Su were quite limited; it was mostly her asking for money. Sometimes he would reply and tell her he had transferred the money, and sometimes he would simply ignore her and send her the money abruptly.
If he talks about other things, like asking about her well-being, Jiang Meng doesn't reply.
Jiang Meng texted him: "Did you send the money?"
A few minutes later, Jiang Su transferred 10,000 yuan to her card.
Jiang Meng paid off her debts, fastened her seatbelt, and hit the road.
Yunzhou is quite comfortable in the summer, not as hot and humid as Pingjiang.
A gentle sea breeze washes the waves ashore.
While waiting at a red light, Jiang Meng rolled down the window and smelled the sea.
Jiang Meng's car was also bought for her by Jiang Su.
It was a white BMW X5, a fairly large SUV. She had only recently graduated with her master's degree and lacked driving experience, so it wasn't really suitable for her to drive such a car. She did it out of spite; since her father had asked, she just went for the expensive one. The car even had a license plate from Pingjiang.
When Jiang Meng first graduated, she worked at a second-tier university in Pingjiang. It was an off-staff position with limited opportunities for promotion. Later, she saw that there was a counselor recruitment in Yunzhou, so she took the exam and came here.
As for why we came here?
She loves the ocean and she also loves Yunzhou.
Freedom and vastness hold the secrets of young girls.
Thinking about it carefully, Jiang Meng has always lived in a very closed environment throughout her life, moving between her hometown and the city where she studied. Although she has traveled to various places in the process, travel is just travel.
Only Yunzhou was the farthest place she had ever wandered, deviating from her unchanging growth trajectory.
Although life was dull, Jiang Meng would not describe her youth as lackluster. Even without a passionate romance, her youth was as beautiful as a dream.
When she was unhappy, she often wanted to return to the center of her dream.
Jiang Meng stretched her hand out of the window, as if trying to catch the sea breeze passing through her body.
Whenever she felt trapped, she would miss him terribly.
Until she was certain that she could revisit the place, the person she had let go was like the wind that she couldn't catch.
He flowed past her, never to return.
My high school classmates have all done well in recent years. Zhao Yuanting went to Hong Kong to study, got a master's degree, and stayed in Shenzhen to work for a company.
Su Yu is pursuing her doctorate in the capital.
Xie Zhuo is back from the United States.
Rumors have spread that Li Shuheng has held a solo art exhibition in Ningcheng and is now a somewhat well-known artist.
Everyone was far away from her, but Jiang Meng always felt that Chen Jizhou was the furthest away from her.
He completed his undergraduate studies in Singapore, and then moved to Toronto for his master's degree, a paradise for ski enthusiasts. He must really love it there.
When Jiang Meng got out of the car, she found that her father had sent her another message.
Jiang Su: "Have you been in Yunzhou these past few days?"
Jiang Meng: "Just give me the money, don't come to see me."
Jiang Su: "How's school?"
Jiang Meng didn't reply. She put her phone in her bag and took the elevator upstairs.
Jiang Su's affair partner got married a few years ago and had an illegitimate child. She was in poor financial condition and only found a divorced man. However, the man was very responsible, forgave her past mistakes, and treated her quite well.
Jiang Su looked down on the woman's family background and never had any intention of marrying her. In addition, he failed to win custody of both children, so he is still single.
The truth that Jiang Meng didn't want to pursue back then was inadvertently mentioned by Ye Zhaoxu during a late-night chat with her mother. The two text messages Jiang Meng received were probably sent by that woman's lover at the time, but because Jiang Meng deleted all the text messages, it was ultimately impossible to verify.
The relationships between this woman and that man are incredibly complicated.
She didn't want to know back then.
She doesn't care now.
The child has a new father. At the age when he is just starting school and beginning to remember things, he has entered a home full of warmth and life. How could he possibly be close to the cold and indifferent father outside?
Besides, Jiang Su had only drawn pictures with that boy a few times when he was four or five years old.
Jiang Meng never imagined that Jiang Su would one day be reduced to being described as pitiful and pathetic.
An elder criticized Jiang Meng, saying that she shouldn't treat her father like that, and that her behavior of treating her father like an ATM was ungrateful.
"Is she an ingrate? She felt incredibly satisfied."
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Jiang Meng returned to her rented apartment, where the croissants she ordered had arrived ahead of schedule.
She entered the room by entering the code, drew the curtains, took a bottle of fruit wine from the refrigerator, sat on the carpet, turned on the projector, and ate her simple dinner while watching a Korean variety show, laughing until she cried. After she finished laughing, the stiffness in her cheeks and abdomen hadn't faded, and her muscles were still tense and sore, but once the TV was turned off, it seemed there was nothing left to be happy about.
Happiness can vanish in an instant.
In other people's words, Jiang Meng is a genuine "rich, beautiful, and successful woman." Now she is beautiful, confident, and healthy, no longer troubled by the question of love or not. She has also made many friends in recent years.
But Jiang Meng always felt that something was missing, something that made her life very peaceful, so peaceful that it was somewhat mediocre.
Jiang Meng still keeps in touch with Chen Jizhou and Xie Zhuo, but they return to China less often. Each of them has moved forward on their own, made new friends, entered new fields, and seen a bigger world. Their paths almost no longer overlap. In the past, they would exchange holiday greetings, but now they rarely try to start a conversation.
If you do the math, it's been seven or eight years since I graduated high school.
Let alone friends from seven or eight years ago.
Even her best roommate from undergraduate years, with whom she used to play around and always be together, took photos of each other in her graduation gowns in her senior year, and cried her eyes out at the farewell dinner, didn't receive an admission ticket when Jiang Meng got married after graduating with her master's degree.
This pain of unfamiliarity is cruelly real.
Time will dilute friendships, and nothing lasts forever.
She hasn't used a VPN to log into Instagram in a long time.
Jiang Meng clicked on the bloggers she followed and found Chen Jizhou's account.
His ID is: Arkwandering
A drifting ark.
The number of fans is in the five figures.
Chen Jizhou has never shown his face and rarely posts photos; his videos of playing musical instruments have attracted more fans.
In the past two years, he has become particularly fond of electric guitars. Every time he uploads a video of himself playing the guitar, the comments are full of people calling him "husband". Jiang Meng clicked on the latest one. The phone was propped up on the headstock of the guitar and was filmed from the side. The camera only captured his hands playing the guitar, his shoulders wearing a white T-shirt, and his Adam's apple, which was faintly visible.
Some people say: It feels like my husband is sitting on my bed playing the piano for me.
Chen Jizhou rarely replies to comments, which makes the comments even more unrestrained, including many puns and lewd jokes.
He only showed his hands, but they coveted even his hands because they were so beautiful.
Beautiful, delicate, and sexy hands can spark fantasies, and even if the person is a kappa (a mythical creature), fans will automatically imagine them as a handsome man.
Strictly speaking, these fans don't actually love electric guitars; they're just obsessed with the hands.
Unfortunately, my husband is completely secretive and didn't reply to a single comment.
He has not revealed his Chinese name; they just call him Ark.
Jiang Meng hadn't finished listening to the piece when a message popped up on WeChat.
Her cousin, Ye Jing, who was determined to introduce her to boyfriends, asked: "Why did you delete Zhou Xun?"
Jiang Meng replied, "He went to see you again?"
Ye Jing: "Isn't that obvious? You deleted him without even saying goodbye. Rich, handsome guys all have their tempers, okay?"
Jiang Meng: "Okay, next time I'll definitely let you know in advance that I'm going to delete you before I do."
Ye Jing: "..."
Ye Jing: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and this is the best offer I can give you."
Jiang Meng really wanted to say: I didn't ask you to introduce me to someone, sister.
After typing, she realized it was inappropriate to offend her relative, so she replied perfunctorily, "Okay, I'll be more careful next time."
Jiang Meng's cousin sent another string of ellipses, but she didn't reply.
She went back and watched the video.
I wonder where he is now? He should have graduated by now. Did he go back to Pingjiang? Jiang Meng thought slowly as she ate her apple.
Chen Jizhou completed his master's degree in two years, while Jiang Meng studied for three years. They both graduated last year, and he spent the extra year traveling the world.
Chen Jizhou said something very true: it doesn't matter whether he gets a perfect score or not, because he has the ability to make money.
While studying in Singapore, Chen Jizhou found it boring to spend all his time in the circles of rich kids. These spoiled brats did nothing but eat, drink, play, and date. He got tired of it all, so he expanded his social circle, made some useful connections, started a small-scale foreign trade business, and on a whim, contacted a few Chinese doctors to open a traditional Chinese medicine clinic, providing acupuncture services to white people. Chen Jizhou played the role of investor and liaison in this, making a lot of money.
The phrase "a lot" came from Su Yu's mouth. Jiang Meng had no idea how much it was. Just when everyone thought his career was taking off and he was preparing to expand and strengthen it, Chen Jizhou graduated from university. His current business was not his final destination. He used the money for a round-the-world trip.
"That's cool"—that's what Su Yu said too.
Chen Jizhou was never troubled by spending money. His wealthy family background was not the main reason for his confidence; more importantly, he always believed in the principle that "money spent will come back again."
He went to Toronto for his master's degree and then co-founded a Chinese restaurant. He has vision, courage, and boldness. When it comes to the risks of doing business, he simply says, "I have the capacity to handle the worst-case scenario." So he doesn't lack the courage to start. As long as there isn't an explicit rule that parents have to pay for their children's debts, at least it won't implicate my husband, Mr. Chen.
Chen Jizhou remained calm and casual throughout, showing no ulterior motives. He was simply bored at school and wanted to earn some money to spend.
These experiences are his unique life experiences, such as social practice outside of his studies.
Old Chen was overjoyed: Just like me, just like me.
In his experience, Jiang Meng was no longer involved in the exciting and interesting parts.
Jiang Meng scrolled through his homepage aimlessly again.
Besides playing the piano, he also posted other photos.
He photographed contrails against a purple sky.
He lay on the deck of the glassy sea, gazing at the stars reflected in the sound of the waves.
He photographed the dew on the leaves of coastal plants during his morning run at dawn.
He photographed the red sunset over the pedestrian overpass.
She would occasionally recall frames of old scenes from the photos he took documenting his life: fireflies in the Yunzhou Valley, awning boats drifting downstream, crystal shoes, and pumpkin carriages.
They adorned her memories so vividly, yet it seemed that it was merely a short segment of his remarkable life.
His journey never stopped.
After Jiang Meng turns off her phone, the life she faces consists of unfinished croissants, variety shows that abruptly end at the end of the episode, and the sudden silence in her rented room after the noise subsides. She falls asleep alone under the covers, only to wake up and continue her daily routine.
And so, in this mundane situation, we observe the lives of others.
When Jiang Meng quit Instagram, she noticed that he had gained several thousand more followers.
I'm so envious.
Some people gain a lot of popularity without putting in any effort.
Because he said, I don't care whether others like me or not.
Chen Jizhou attended the birthday parties of 11 close friends in one year, carefully selecting gifts for each one, posting them on his account, and adding their English names and birthday wishes. He didn't give gifts out of social obligation, but rather hoped that everyone could feel his sincerity as a friend.
He celebrated his birthday on the coldest day of January.
He took a picture of one of the many gifts and uploaded it; it was a ski that Xie Zhuo had given him.
One comment reads: "My husband is forever 18."
Jiang Meng thought, yes, that's not a blessing.
Chen Jizhou will always be 18 years old.
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