Chapter 02

Chapter 02

At 10:20 p.m., Xiang ChangKong opened the front door softly. The room was quiet, and his mother had long fallen asleep. He closed the door but didn’t turn on the light, only locking the door and fastening the chain Weng ShuLi had removed before she went to bed.

There were several dishes on the square table in the living room. Xiang ChangKong stacked them together and brought it to the kitchen to wash. After cleaning up, he took a new plastic bag to replace the bag in the trash can, to be thrown away tomorrow morning.

But as he bent down to change the plastic, Xiang ChangKong hesitated. There was a letter in the can, torn in half. He was familiar with the color and style of the envelope.

His mouth pursed as he took the envelope out.

And sure enough, it was an envelope from the Aircraft Institute.

The mailing address was uniformly printed, with the words ‘Xiang ChangKong’ stark at bright.

His lips thinned even more. After standing still for a long while, he switched off the kitchen light and brought the letter pieces back to his room.

Turning a small bedside lamp on, he brought the two pieces of ripped paper back together.

“ChangKong,

The enrollment for graduate students in the Aircraft Institute is starting soon. There are two places for the flight design major. I don’t know if you know any of this, so I printed the enrollment brochure and mailed it to you. I know your difficulties and understand your position, but you’re still so young, and you have great talent and enthusiasm that is no less than your father’s. I’ve always believed that you shouldn’t have to give up like this.

I attached a letter of recommendation, and hope to see you in the First Aircraft Research Institute next year.

Uncle Hou.”

Uncle Hou’s letter was quite short, but Xiang ChangKong read it over and over again. He found the enrollment brochure and looked at the registration period.

October 21 to October 31.

In this silent night, a tiny sparkle lit up Xiang ChangKong’s eyes, flickering to life, before quietly, quietly, disappearing in the dark.

He folded the letter closed, opened the drawer, and placed it deep to the bottom.

The next day, Xiang ChangKong woke up early. He had a day shift today, and orders didn’t start until 10:00 a.m., so he leisurely prepared breakfast at 8:30 a.m. then knocked on Weng ShuLi’s door: “Mom, get up and eat.”

Weng ShuLi didn’t answer, but after a while, the door opened. She went to the bathroom to wash up, then sat across from Xiang ChangKong at the table. On it was a plate of freshly fried steamed bread, and a bowl of porridge. Xiang ChangKong didn’t forget to remind her to be careful about scalding herself.

Weng ShuLi didn’t use a spoon and took the bowl to take small sips. Her eyes drifted to the trash can near the table. Yesterday’s garbage had already been cleared up by ChangKong, and the trash can was now empty. Retracting her gaze. She put down her bowl and picked up her chopsticks to take a piece of fragrant bread.

The table was silent, neither of them speaking, with the only sounds coming from the utensils and their chewing. After the meal, Xiang ChangKong handed Weng ShuLi’s medicine, took the dirty dishes to the kitchen to wash, and then left to go to work.

When he arrived at work, Xiang ChangKong punched his card, then went into the locker room to change clothes.

When he entered, he saw two of his colleagues sitting together, chatting. As he walked past, Xiang ChangKong greeted them: “Hello elder brother Wang, elder brother Wu.”

“Little Xiang, you’re early.” Brother Wang was a middle-aged man with a slightly large figure. Looking especially blessed today, he looked toward Xiang ChangKong and smiled: “I was just talking about you with Brother Wu.”

Lifting the corner of his mouth, Xiang ChangKong asked as he opened his locker: “What were you saying?”

“The ranking, ah. You deliver the fastest, and your ratings are all positive too. Don’t you think little Zhang’s eyes are getting less and less friendly these days?”

Little Zhang had been on top of the rankings before Xiang ChangKong started working.

With a small chuckle, Xiang ChangKong replied: “You’re overthinking things. Everyone’s working hard, doing their jobs properly.”

Brother Wang replied: “Don’t work too hard though, especially during deliveries. Instead of speed, you should pay more attention to keeping safe when you drive around.”

“I know. Thank you for reminding me, Brother Wang.”

“But I’m curious, you’ve only been here for two months, how did you rise to the top so quickly? Other newcomers would take at least a month to remember the terrain and wouldn’t be able to deliver a lot of orders. You were the same when you started, the number of deliveries you handled was relatively low.”

Brother Wu, who had been listening couldn’t help but exclaim: “How can that be, I saw his delivery area before and wow, it was such a dense and complicated area, more complicated than any subway map. If it had been any other newcomer, they would’ve just cried on the spot.”

Taking out his uniform, Xiang ChangKong shut his locker as he replied: “I’ve always had a good memory ever since I was a kid. I can basically remember anything after looking at it a few times. As for my deliveries, I usually refer to the map when I have a single order, but I don’t bother looking at it when I have a lot of orders coming through.”

Brother Wu squinted: “You remember all your routes?”

“Well, I usually just calculate the distance and time myself, then plan the shortest route to improve efficiency.”

Brother Wu and Brother Wand looked at each other for 2 seconds before Brother Wu exclaimed: “This is what a college student’s brain is like. He’s like…what’s that word…a high-end player?”

With a ‘bah,’ Brother Wang corrected him: “Come one, not every college student is this smart. My eldest nephew is a college student, but he’s no smarter than me.”

Putting on a coat, Xiang ChangKong smiled and said: “Brother Wang, Brother Wu, I’ll be going first.”

“Alright. It’s windy today, do you have a mask? If you don’t remember to buy one next time.”

“Got it.”

When Xiang ChangKong left, Xu Lian had also just left her home. Her shop doesn’t open until 10:00 a.m., so she would usually run around her neighborhood for half an hour when she gets up. She didn’t live very far from Starlight Park and could usually drive to work in 20 minutes if there wasn’t any traffic.

Today, her small employee showed up in front of the store door on time. Seeing Xu Lian’s car approaching, she waved her hands to say hello. Xu Lian parked her car not far from her store, then walked over to unlock the door.

“Boss was the store busy yesterday?”

“Not too bad.”

“So what did you eat yesterday? It wouldn’t happen to be the chicken leg set again, would it?” As Zhang GuoEr said this, she poked the other’s arm, “Tell the truth, are you always ordering the chicken set just to see that takeaway boy?”

Xu Lian, who had walked in, paused then looked back at her: “Why, is it the same takeaway boy that delivers every time?”

Zhang GuoEr: “….”

OK, just pretend I never asked.

“They all wear the same clothes and hats, how can I recognize the person?” Xu Lian didn’t care.

Zhang GuoEr didn’t agree at all, pouting her lips she said: “That takeaway boy was whiter than the others! I wanted to ask him what sunscreen he uses!”

“Oh.”

“And he looks good. Don’t you think his eyes look particularly deep and melancholy? He could be the second male lead in an idol drama.”“I didn’t notice.” Xu Lian finally stopped and turned to look at the girl properly: “Do you have a crush on him?”

“Hey, hey.” Zhang GuoEr laughed heartily before taking out a small black notebook from her backpack. Waving it towards Xu Lian, she replied: “I don’t have a crush, I just listed him as observation target No. 0123.”

Xu Lian’s gaze landed on the small notebook. The words ‘1000 Faces’ were written in white ink, making the words particularly eye-catching. Xu Lian didn’t say anything else, merely turning to go upstairs.

Zhang GuoEr took back her hand and opened the small notebook. At the bottom of No. 0121, she wrote: ‘Today, the boss was as cool as ever.’ Then she drew a frowning face.

Zhang GuoEr was a senior majoring in drama, film and television literature in the Film Academy. She had a great dream of collecting 1,000 different people as materials and recording their personalities and actions in her small notebook as a reference to any future characters she might write.

Xu Lian was also one of the people she observed.

When she had come in for the job interview, she had told this to Xu Lian, and Xu Lian didn’t care.

Because the store opened at 10:00 a.m., morning didn’t take to long to end. It wasn’t long before Zhang GuoEr ran upstairs to ask Xu Lian what she would want to eat for lunch. Xu Lian was in the middle of waxing with a bubbler when Zhang GuoEr had asked her: “What do you want to eat for lunch?”

“I want to eat vegetables.” Zhang GuoEr chirped, “Do you want to share, so we can order a few more dishes?”

“Sure.”

“Then take a look and choose what you want.” Zhang GuoEr passed her phone.

After they had ordered, Zhang GuoEr ran down and began to wait for the takeaway boy. Xu Lian stayed upstairs and continued to do her work. If the melted wax isn’t placed into the molds in time, they would harden and solidify again, making any previous work done in vain.

After she had filled two molds, Xu Lian went downstairs to wash her hands. Coincidentally, the food arrived at the same time. This time, Xu Lian paid extra attention to the appearance of the younger takeaway boy but found that this person wasn’t as pale as she thought.

“It’s not him.” After the little takeaway boy left, Zhang GuoEr opened the box and said to Xu Lian, “It was a different person that delivered today. Next time the little brother with melancholy eyes and pale skin comes to do the delivery, I’ll call you.”

“I didn’t really want to see him.”

Zhang GuoEr squinted: “I saw you peek at that person just now.”

Xu Lian picked up her chopsticks and decided to just stop communicating with her.

Then, her phone vibrated on the table. Xu Lian shoved her chopsticks into her mouth and took the phone.

Senior High School Leader: Xu Lian, we’re planning a class reunion, are you interested in participating?

Xu Lian immediately wrote ‘not interested,’ but then deleted the sentence and wrote ‘I don’t have the time’ before sending it.

Senior High School Leader: Are you busy with work? But we haven’t decided when to have the reunion. I’ll inform you when we have a definite date. Try to come, we all haven’t gathered for a long time.

Xu Lian: Let’s see then.

Senior High School Leader: OK. By the way, why aren’t you in the high school group?

Xu Lian: I’m not? Maybe I accidentally got removed?

Senior High School Leader: Then I’ll add you back in later.

“…..” Xu Lian thought that she should probably get ‘accidentally’ kicked out again later.

“Boss, who is it?” Zhang GuoEr looked at her curiously. Xu Lian glanced at her before putting her phone back on the table: “My high school leader asked me if I was interested in attending a class reunion.”

“Oh. I’m guessing you’re definitely not interested.” According to her observations of Xu Lian these past few months, her boss rarely participated in any sort of social activities, and she had never seen a friend visit, Xu Lian. Well, except for No. 0122.

Xu Lian: “I’m really not interested.”

Zhang GuoEr shook her head: “Boss, you can’t keep doing this. A few days ago I saw a post criticizing the young people of today, saying that they stay at home all the time, not socializing, how can they find boyfriends and girlfriends?”

“How absurd.” Xu Lian snorted: “The fact that I don’t go out, don’t socialize, just means that I like playing by myself. It means that I’d rather be alone.”