Chapter 12
Tong Yufei was a frequent visitor to the press office and quite popular. When she arrived, someone threw her two White Rabbit candies, another gave her a Forever Dark Nib fountain pen, and another bought two hair ties for their daughter and gave her three—smiling as a reward for her timely assistance. She accepted all offers, smiling as she made her way through the crowd until she finally entered the chief reporter's cubicle and placed the original, unopened copy of "The Complete Works of Wang Wenchenggong" on Cheng Yuan's desk. It consisted of two complete boxes containing thirteen volumes, along with a volume of aphorisms.
Cheng Yuan was just turning thirty, with ear-length, wavy permed hair and a pair of thin tortoise-shell-rimmed glasses. Behind the lenses, her eyes sparkled with surprise. She had the air of a scholar, a man steeped in poetry and literature. She loved collecting books, and Wang Shouren's works were her greatest treasure. Her voice was filled with suppressed excitement: "This is a printed edition from the Jiajing period. Where did you find it?"
"I found it at a used book market."
Cheng Yuan shrugged: "You've lost a lot. There's no good news for you this week."
Cheng Yuan often felt sorry for Tong Yufei. The proofreading job was hard, and she could still tolerate it during the day, but she had to focus on the densely packed tiny handwriting during the night shift, and was forced to fight against her biological clock due to the tolerance rate. Among the eight interns that year, she was one of only two who survived. The other one was the niece of the vice president, but she was transferred to the social affairs department within a few days and took a sinecure job in public welfare donations.
Tong Yufei was a skilled writer with a fresh and fluent style, and she could easily have started as an assistant reporter. However, the threshold for becoming a reporter at their newspaper was high, and with so many outstanding graduates from prestigious universities, it would have been difficult for her to break in. Yet, she didn't give up her dream of becoming a reporter. She often snuck in between her busy schedules to serve tea and water to the reporters, run errands and buy meals, and occasionally bring them homemade snacks. She wholeheartedly cultivated good relationships with the reporters, asking them for advice on news reporting methodologies. She took on trivial community news stories or low-income education and agriculture stories that others didn't want to cover. Because the articles weren't officially accepted, she couldn't even co-sign them, but she didn't mind. She considered the opportunity to be mentored by the reporters a valuable asset, and she felt proud to see the small squares printed.
Cheng Yuan really wanted to help her. She had recommended someone internally twice, but both times were rejected. Yesterday was the third time. Her academic qualifications were a major drawback, and her major was not relevant. It was no exaggeration to say that she had to start from scratch after joining the newspaper. Cheng Yuan encouraged her: "Don't be discouraged. This world is changing rapidly. Nothing is impossible. Maybe there will be a turning point soon. Just wait a little longer."
Money is easy to come by, but a true friend is hard to find. Although Tong Yu was still far from the money she desired, finding a true friend in Cheng Yuan was a pleasant surprise. Cheng Yuan once gave a reason for her appreciation that still brings tears to her eyes: she could write and paint, was incredibly talented, and that she valued her talent by befriending her. Since her adoptive parents passed away, no one had praised her so generously. She had thought her path was broken, untraceable, but she stood up and prepared to run.
She will wait for the turning point to come, she is the best at waiting.
Cheng Yuan went to pour tea, and only when she got closer could she smell the light fragrance on her body: "Huh, are you using perfume?"
Tong Yufei said frankly: "He's back."
She seldom mentioned her husband and his family, and Cheng Yuan had never asked. Now that she did, Cheng Yuan added a few more words: "People who have studied abroad understand romance. My husband never gave me perfume, let alone a dogtail flower. A short separation is like a new marriage. How can you two be as close as ever after this separation? Get off work early and have a reunion dinner."
It was impossible to leave work early, but she managed to leave on time. She waved goodbye to Cheng Yuan and said, "See you later."
Cheng Yuan's words called her back: "I can't hold it in any longer. It's only three days in advance. No, no, no, you can see the proofreading tomorrow night. It only counts as one day. Is this not considered cheating?"
Cheng Yuan took out an internal notice, which was an advertisement for the open recruitment of journalists for the people of the whole city. The paragraphs were short and the theme was concise. The advertisement stated that anyone with a high school degree or above, under 40 years old, and no occupation restrictions could register this month. The registration deadline was before March, the exam would be at the end of May, and the interviews and recruitment would be completed in mid-July. The publication date was three days later.
Tong Yufei stared at the notice in a daze and pinched the flesh on the back of his hand: "Sister Cheng Yuan, you are not making this up to fool me?"
"It's stamped with the newspaper's seal. I'm using public property for personal gain. Is that a violation? I'm asking you, what date is three days from now?"
Tong Yufei's brain short-circuited, and he stopped thinking: "The twenty-sixth day of the lunar calendar..."
"It's also the 22nd of the Gregorian calendar, the newspaper's 40th anniversary. A big day for a newspaper, so there will naturally be many new initiatives, like a new title and a revised edition. Now, with the addition of a non-conformist recruitment strategy to expand publicity, what's wrong with that? Let me be frank: you only have four months to prepare, there might be hundreds or even thousands of applicants, and only five spots available. Whether you can break through the crowd and stand out depends on you. But no matter what, there's hope. Come on, Miss Tong!"
"I will."
"One more thing. Master Tong, you've come here to ask for my calligraphy. Blame it on my gossipmonger. Who can trust a lawyer who can't keep his mouth shut? I just wrote a couplet and painted a sunset, and Old Yu has touted me as a rare gem among the masters of Chinese painting. His distant cousin, a nouveau riche who knows everyone around him, came to ask for my calligraphy. I asked Old Yu to turn it down, but he tried to stop me by saying that my family had received a favor from his cousin in the past, and he's repaying a small favor with a big one. He doesn't know the answer. There are hidden talents in the newspaper office, and the hidden one is our talented Miss Tong. Let's make it clear, no merit, no reward. I want him to pay for your calligraphy out of his own pocket, and you must be firm."
Not to mention Cheng Yuan is her boss, even ordinary colleagues, she would not accept money, occasionally writing is to cultivate sentiment, a convenient thing. Tong Yufei sneered: "Giving roses to others, the fragrance lingers on your hands. When selling goods, the price is negotiated. How can I have the courage to show my ugliness?"
Cheng Yuan changed her strategy: "I have a meeting tomorrow at noon. Let's go to a restaurant tonight. It doesn't cost money. I can't postpone the meal anymore."
"Okay, what's it about?"
"People are like birds of a feather, and businessmen are mostly friends of businessmen. They can't escape the dream of getting rich by 'golden cups of clear wine costing ten thousand coins, jade plates of delicacies costing ten thousand coins,' but this is a bit cliché."
"Then write about the princes. Knowing where to put down arrogance is conscience. To cultivate this conscience and get rid of arrogance is to study things."
Chen Yuan's eyes lit up: "Be a good person before doing anything. That's it. It's brilliant!"
After leaving the press department, Tong Yufei went to the message room to make a phone call. Aunt Lin who answered the phone said that she had something to do tonight and would not be going home. When it was time to get off work, she quickly ran to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought red beans, red dates, sweet potatoes, red oranges and brown sugar. She prepared to make red five-spice porridge and candied sweet potatoes, fresh fish pieces for fried crispy fish, two pounds of lean meat and half a pound of mushrooms for making mushroom and pork dumplings, and some tomatoes, mushrooms, corn, etc. for vegetable soup.
After leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, she took a bus going in the opposite direction.
It was snowing in the sky, and the snowflakes fluttered down from the sky and covered the ground.
---
Heavy snow fell from dusk to dark night. The world was covered in silver, with jade trees and branches, just like a beautiful snowy landscape painting. Mo Daoyan turned a deaf ear to what was happening outside the window and worked on mechanical drawings at his desk. It was not until Ji Xilin came and knocked on the door to remind him to get off work that he glanced at the magnificent scenery outside.
Ji Xilin is one year older than Mo Daoyan and two years older than him, making her his senior. Her chubby baby face and big dark eyes are like a time freezer, freezing her at the age of eighteen. Eternal youth is an unattainable dream for many people, but it is her trouble. As the head of the air-conditioning business unit, she is always treated as a child by those around her. Working on par with Zhou Dinghe and Mo Daoyan, she feels a little inferior in momentum. In order to reverse this childish impression, she prefers to wear old-fashioned clothes to appear mature, but the effect is not significant.
Xinli cannot compare with the wealthy old state-owned factories, but it still has the necessary small benefits. When Ji Xilin came in, he brought a barrel of oil, a five-jin bag of rice, a bag of apples, and a box of plastic-wrapped family planning products. The family planning products were produced by Tianjin Latex Factory. The cover was marked "Won the National Gold Award in 1988". There were ten original, large-sized ones in the box.
"The company gave us holiday gifts, and they only have large condoms left. If you can't use them, give them away."
This fact cannot be proven by itself. If most people are told that their account is not big, they will definitely say that it can be used, or even say, "How do you know I can't use it?" Mo Daoyan understands the straightforward language system of the senior sister and does not make malicious sarcasm. He offers a third response: "I don't use it. I put it in the public area. Whoever needs it can take it."
There is a world of difference between "not using" and "cannot use".
Ji Xilin reviewed the blueprint he had revised more than a dozen times: "How many are left?"
Ji Xilin is unmarried and has no partner. She is addicted to work, but this is not the reason for her noble character. She has an alcoholic and violent father at home, but she has peace and quiet at the company. Another reason is that Mo Daoyan helped her to overcome the difficulty of improving the thermal conductivity of the condenser manufacturing material. She wants to repay the favor so that he can go back to be with his wife.
Mo Daoyan is the focus of everyone's attention, both in terms of talent and appearance. Female workers from different departments often find excuses to approach him. Some give him pink origami stars, some hand him Japanese imported lighters, and some even specially buy thermos cups as gifts. Love letters come in like snowflakes, and some even ask Ji Xilin to pass them on. Although Ji Xilin solemnly tells the other party that Mo Daoyan is married every time, it still cannot extinguish the moth-to-flame enthusiasm of some people.
Every time this happened, Mo Daoyan was like a heartless pill. Without a single polite word, he threw everything into the trash can. A female worker, feeling insulted, came up to ask why he was wasting someone else's kindness. He replied sternly, "If you don't want to be wasted, don't put anything in his drawer. If you soiled the work materials, throwing them away would be the least of your worries. If it happened again, he would file for dismissal."
A person can be so heartless as to block the peach blossoms. Judging from Ji Xilin's zero experience in love, it can only be that he is deeply in love. This kind of love that "once you have seen the sea, all other waters are but puddles; except for Mount Wushan, all other clouds are but mounds" is something she has only seen in her younger brother in real life. However, her brother's ending was not as perfect as Mo Daoyan's, and it can even be described as tragic. Her brother lost his love and almost lost himself. Ji Xilin never envied the eternal love in novels, because they were all won with a gamble of life.
Mo Daoyan's efficiency didn't make Ji Xilin return the favor: "An evaporator for a variable temperature greenhouse can be finished in ten minutes."
After Ji Xilin left, Mo Daoyan continued to work hard. After the last parameter was adjusted, he took off the coat hanging on the back of the chair. It was time to go, not only to celebrate the New Year's Day, but also to take the time to have a good talk with Tong Yufei. That day, she was sullen and said some ambiguous words. He wanted a reason for her change of mind. She hesitated for a long time and couldn't explain it clearly. She couldn't sort out her thoughts, so he sorted them out for her and told her everything he could think of and do. If she was still half sober, she should know what choice was best for her.
Mo Daoyan turned off the lights, turned to the door for a moment, then slowly turned back and walked to the window. The newly rented office area originally belonged to a bankrupt leather shoe factory. The first floor was the factory building, and the second floor was the office and the renovated R&D center. There was a sparse cherry forest across the wall from the west gate of the factory. There was a gravel road in the middle of the cherry forest, connecting the two main streets. The road was uneven and narrow, and not many people walked on it on weekdays, and even fewer at night. So when a young woman with a bright yellow oilcloth umbrella passed by and stopped halfway, he couldn't help but look over.
The girl took off her coat and hung it on the cherry branch, then folded her umbrella, sometimes swaying with her body, sometimes carrying it on her shoulders, and danced on the snow. Mo Daoyan knew little about singing and dancing, but he happened to have seen the song she danced in the song "Singin' in the Rain" starring Gene Kelly. When the male protagonist Lockwood learned that the female protagonist Cathy had a secret crush on him and had an idea of the direction of the movie, he was so excited that he couldn't express it in words, and sang and danced passionately in the rain.
Slightly different from Gene's performance in the film, hers incorporates elements of traditional Chinese classical dance, making it less vibrant and more charming and playful than the original tap dance, yet both convey a sense of freedom and unrestrained appeal. The most remarkable part is that, as she wields her open umbrella into a magnificent, vibrant cosmos, her long, jet-black hair dancing like a black waterfall, she never lets go of the vegetables and meat she carries in her right hand. Together with the cosmos and the black waterfall, her white sweater and sapphire-grey harem pants, the azure snow and the swaying cherry trees, they create a picture of a snow elf, a harmonious blend of strength and softness, a harmonious blend of scene and emotion.
Mo Daoyan urgently needed a camera with very good clarity to record the touching moments that carried the fresh vitality of the winter snowy night. Unfortunately, the camera had been returned to his brother. He could only use his eyes as a camera to engrave her grace in his mind. When he saw the wonderful part, he wanted to applaud, but at this moment, the graceful rotation like a swimming dragon came to an abrupt halt. Perhaps due to exhaustion or a trip, she lost her balance and fell suddenly to the hard and cold ground, with her umbrella and food scattered all over the floor.
Although the ground was covered with snow, it was covered with stones. She must have been hurt and couldn't get up for a long time.
Mo Daoyan opened the window and shouted down: "Hey, do you need help?"
The girl propped herself up from the shadows, looked back at him following the sound, then picked up her things, picked up her coat, and limped away. When he hurried downstairs and reached the gravel road, she had disappeared without a trace. Only the messy footprints on the ground could prove that he was not living in Liao Zhai.
Mo Daoyan was a little annoyed. The lights were not on, and shouting such a rough voice in the dark would scare her. He looked at the silent snow, feeling empty in his heart. The land ahead of the gravel road was outside the old city and was Xishan County, known as the "poorest county" in Xicheng. There were three or four tube-shaped buildings at the intersection of Changqing Street and Gusong Road at the junction of the two districts. Was her home there?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
