Chapter 18 - 1#

Mr. Zhang Xingchuan himself was a former programmer whom girls like Tan Yun would describe as a “production tool.”

Even though he was no longer a front-line “code farmer,” in essence, he was still a high-level corporate drone, working his heart out day and night for a company with a “mere” market value of ten billion.

One thing that made him slightly better than most workers was that he was a cog who always genuinely loved his work; it’s just that being busy didn’t bother him before, but today, he was actually a bit weary of work.

It wasn’t a sudden fatigue with productive activities, but rather that something more interesting than being productive had appeared—when an “involution king” falls in love, even he has to slack off.

Lunch break was approaching, and Zhang Xingchuan was still on a business call with a person in charge of a supervisory unit. The other party wanted to talk about something that had already been discussed and settled long ago. It was quite annoying, but he had to wait until the other party was finished before he could hang up.

Finally, the call ended. His special assistant, Jiaxin, had been waiting outside with something to say. Seeing the CEO was free, she walked in quickly. Just as she was about to speak, Zhang Xingchuan, in a hurry to go be in love, jokingly stopped her, saying, “Sister Jiaxin, please let me go. Let’s talk about it this afternoon.”

Jiaxin had been waiting for a long time and couldn’t easily let him go. Besides, it was a simple matter to handle. She presented the documents and said with a smile, “This is the approval form for the middle and senior management team-building. Please take a look and sign it.”

Jiaxin was fully responsible for this project, from planning to itinerary; Zhang Xingchuan had left it all to her. Organizing internal activities was a good training opportunity. Last time she went on a business trip, it was to inspect the activity site.

Zhang Xingchuan also attached great importance to this collective activity for middle and senior management, so he took it and read it seriously.

Wen Cheng was about to launch a resort brand, with sites selected nationwide for wild luxury-style resorts. This biennial headquarters middle and senior management collective activity’s location was chosen at the first newly completed resort of the brand, which was about to begin trial operations. This way, they could inspect the new department’s business and conduct team-building empowerment at the same time.

Zhang Xingchuan signed and handed it back to Jiaxin, asking, “How did it feel when you visited it last time?”

This was the first time Jiaxin had been the primary person responsible for a large project, so she was actually a bit nervous, but she didn’t want to show it in front of the boss.

“The resort is very good.” Jiaxin praised the resort and added, “If I have a vacation in the future, I’d even want to take my family there again.”

She was married, and the family she mentioned was her husband.

Jiaxin said with a smile, “The location of the resort is really well-chosen. It’s a great place for two people to be together, looking at the sky and spacing out. It’ll be very happy.”

Zhang Xingchuan’s heart stirred.

Tan Xiao was bored during lunch break and pulled up a chair to sit on the balcony and read an e-book.

The weather was cloudy, the sunlight was a bit weak, and Tan Xiao, this “little sun,” didn’t have much energy either.

Zhang Xingchuan’s message finally arrived: Is it convenient to take a call now?

Tan Xiao called him back.

Zhang Xingchuan picked up instantly and asked, “What are you doing?”

Tan Xiao said, “I’m on the phone.”

Zhang Xingchuan laughed.

“…” Tan Xiao felt his ears itch from the sound of the laughter in the receiver and said, “Don’t laugh.”

So Zhang Xingchuan stopped laughing.

Tan Xiao said, “Don’t stay silent either.”

Zhang Xingchuan said, “You talk first.”

Tan Xiao really didn’t have much to say over the phone; some things only make one want to speak when seeing the person. So he said, “I have nothing to say to you right now.”

“Why so cold?” Zhang Xingchuan asked.

He was sitting behind his desk taking the call, reaching out to touch the Phalaenopsis orchid on the desk, tapping the butterfly flower closest to him with his finger. The flower stem trembled slightly.

Just like that, while teasing the flower, he asked Tan Xiao, “Did you miss me this morning?”

When they were friends before, Tan Xiao was the type of person who would say “I miss you” directly. At that time, Zhang Xingchuan was actually a bit embarrassed to say it directly and always had to admit in a joking way that he did indeed often think of him.

Now, he wondered if the roles would be reversed.

“I don’t know,” Tan Xiao indeed didn’t say it. He said, “I’m very sleepy right now and have no energy to think.”

“Don’t know” meant he did. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t say “don’t know.”

Zhang Xingchuan said, “Then why aren’t you sleeping? Aren’t you still on a gap year?”

“Yeah.” Tan Xiao complained, “I don’t even know whose message I was waiting for.”

Zhang Xingchuan was quiet for a moment in the receiver.

Tan Xiao said, “Hello? Why aren’t you talking again?”

Zhang Xingchuan said, “I don’t know who wouldn’t let me laugh. I’m trying very hard to hold it in.”

The sun came out from behind the clouds at this moment. Tan Xiao squinted his eyes at the glare and closed the boring e-book.

“I miss you a little bit.” Tan Xiao finally told the truth.

“That’s right,” Zhang Xingchuan’s voice through the receiver took on a bit of distorted low magnetism. To Tan Xiao, it sounded like he was possessed by some kind of incubus. He said over there, “You should be thinking of me.”

Tan Xiao blushed again. He didn’t know he was so prone to blushing before; was it a deficiency in calcium, magnesium, or B-complex vitamins?

He felt confused by the current situation, but at the same time, he seemed to be very clear about it.

He asked Zhang Xingchuan, “Are we dating? Isn’t this development a bit strange?”

Of course they were dating, how could there still be such a question, kiddo.

Zhang Xingchuan was very patient and said, “How is it strange?”

“As of yesterday afternoon,” Tan Xiao said, “I still only thought of you as an older brother.”

Zhang Xingchuan said, “And now you don’t think of me as an older brother?”

That was true. The sun on the balcony made it hard to keep his eyes open, so Tan Xiao went back into the room.

“Brother,” he really couldn’t keep his eyes open now, “I’m about to explode from sleepiness.”

“Then go to sleep,” Zhang Xingchuan said. “Send me a message when you wake up, and I’ll come find you after I’m done with work.”

They definitely had to meet today, even if Mars collided with Earth, even if the Hong Kong stock market crashed, they had to meet.

Tan Xiao agreed; they reached a consensus on this point.

He said, “Don’t come to the school, I’ll go find you.”

Zhang Xingchuan had no plans for the evening and said, “Then around six o’clock, you come to the company and wait for me?”

Tan Xiao didn’t want to go to the company either. He still felt a sense of maladjustment about being in a relationship with Zhang Xingchuan, a bit sneaky.

Doing romantic things with Zhang Xingchuan at Tsinghua or Wen Cheng might feel no different from an affair, losing respect for academia and work.

“Let’s meet outside,” Tan Xiao said. “I’ll send you the location then.”

The time they actually met was already past eight in the evening.

In a restaurant bar by the Liangma River, Tan Xiao was chatting with a newly met French couple. The couple was traveling in China; they didn’t know Chinese, their English wasn’t very good, and Tan Xiao’s French was half-baked. Both sides used a mixture of Chinese, English, and French, along with gestures and guessing, yet they chatted quite congenially.

The lighting in the bar was dim. Tan Xiao had moved from his seat to share a table with the couple, and he happened to be facing away from the entrance.

When Zhang Xingchuan came in, his attention only stayed on the lone male guest. He looked around twice before finally spotting Tan Xiao.

Tan Xiao was in the middle of a heated conversation with the French couple, talking about a time he was playing in Metz, France. He was wandering in the Esplanade gardens and heard a loud splashing sound by the lake. A large black swan was running on the water to take off, its wings spreading beautifully. From the opposite bank about twenty meters away, it splashed its way right in front of him and even showed off like that back and forth two or three times on the lake.

The French couple had only been to Metz during the Christmas season, so Tan Xiao took the lead and introduced them to the summer arts festival there and how dreamlike the shocking light show at Saint-Étienne Cathedral was.

Zhang Xingchuan stood aside: “…”

A black swan spreading its wings and running on the water for several laps is clearly courting. How can my kiddo even fascinate a male swan by just looking at a bird?

The French couple knew Tan Xiao was waiting for someone. Seeing that the person he was waiting for had arrived, they both smiled and signaled him to look beside him.

Tan Xiao had been talking animatedly with foreign friends, but as soon as he saw Zhang Xingchuan arrive, he switched back to a dignified manner and subconsciously straightened his clothes.

The couple’s food and drinks were already finished, and they were about to leave, only delayed by the chat with Tan Xiao. Tan Xiao said goodbye to them, and the couple each gave him a cheek kiss. The wife even whispered something to him in French. At first, he didn’t understand a keyword, but after the couple left, he realized what that colloquial word meant. That sentence was also a very down-to-earth expression in French. If switched to Chinese, it would be: Wow, your man is very handsome.

He looked at Zhang Xingchuan—ordinary shirt and jacket, ordinary trousers, extraordinary face, chest muscles, and long legs—he was indeed very handsome.

Zhang Xingchuan didn’t understand much French and was curious about something else: “How did you think of traveling to such an obscure French town? When did you go? With whom?”

“Two summers ago,” Tan Xiao said.

He took his half-finished drink and led Zhang Xingchuan back to their original seats nearby.

“With two classmates I was close with at the time. One went abroad after finishing their master’s, and the other went next door for a PhD.” Tan Xiao continued to answer after sitting down, “We specifically chose places with few people to go and play.”

Zhang Xingchuan had heard him say before that he loved going out to play when he had nothing to do. It’s good for young people to walk around. The playmates at that time were presumably just playmates. Tan Xiao really could play with anyone, so he stopped asking further.

“As expected of a diamond member of our Wen Cheng,” Zhang Xingchuan said, “You know how to have fun.”

Tan Xiao tapped his phone screen and said, “The CEO made the distinguished diamond member wait for an hour.”

Zhang Xingchuan apologized with a smile: “Traffic jam. I sent you a message. You were chatting too excitedly with others to reply to me.”

“Sorry about that.” Tan Xiao indeed hadn’t looked at his phone for a while. “I haven’t ordered food yet, only a drink. See if there’s anything you like.”

Zhang Xingchuan said nonchalantly, “You choose for me, anything is fine.”

Tan Xiao called a waiter and ordered the meal.

This was a very formal date, but not that kind of formal. He chose a beautiful bar and ordered beautiful food; everything had to serve the atmosphere of romantic activities.

He himself was dressed very simply, with a light gray cardigan hoodie over a white T-shirt and jeans. When the external environment is gorgeous, the protagonist should return to basics.

Zhang Xingchuan really didn’t understand these little fashion tricks; he just felt that he looked more like a pure college student dressed like this today—good-looking, and he loved looking.

After ordering, Tan Xiao didn’t let the waiter take the menu away. He held it with both hands as if he was still looking. Only after the waiter left did he raise his eyes and say to Zhang Xingchuan, “If you keep looking at me like that, I’m leaving.”

Zhang Xingchuan said, “What’s wrong with looking?”

Tan Xiao said, “You didn’t use this kind of look on me before.”

Zhang Xingchuan asked, “What kind?”

Tan Xiao said, “Do I really have to say it?”

Zhang Xingchuan looked away but couldn’t help asking, “What kind is it exactly? I really don’t know. Is it very indecent?”

Tan Xiao was startled by the harshness of the word and said, “Not to that extent. Why would you say that about yourself?”

That was good then. Zhang Xingchuan still had some image baggage and hoped that in Tan Xiao’s eyes, he was a gentle and decent boyfriend.

But Tan Xiao didn’t think that look was very decent either. He said, “You look like you haven’t eaten for three days.”

“…” Zhang Xingchuan laughed out loud.

Tan Xiao still felt it was incredible that they were dating.

When the dishes came, the taste of “beautiful food” usually isn’t that beautiful. Plus, he had things on his mind today, so everything tasted a bit off.

Zhang Xingchuan cared even less about the food.

The two of them locked eyes many times, both in a situation where they wanted to talk but didn’t know what to say first.

Given their personalities of never letting any atmosphere grow cold, it was truly a spectacle that such a situation could occur when they were together.

“Brother,” Tan Xiao finally couldn’t help asking, “What did you see in me?”

Zhang Xingchuan asked back, “What do you hope it is?”

“How should I know,” Tan Xiao said.

In his heart, he thought, Of course I hope it’s my appearance, personality, knowledge, and wonderful character—everything about me.

Zhang Xingchuan thought for a moment, his expression looking a bit conflicted.

Tan Xiao was about to say never mind, this question really seemed to be putting him on the spot, and they might as well discuss something else.

“I can’t think of any one specific thing,” but Zhang Xingchuan gave an answer, “Everything, I guess.”

Tan Xiao turned his head to examine the decorative paintings on the bar wall.

The corners of his mouth were really about to reach the sky. He pretended to touch his nose and blocked it with his hand.

He felt that he also liked Zhang Xingchuan very much. If he had to say what he liked, he couldn’t give a very specific answer either. He was just happy whenever he saw Zhang Xingchuan, and he loved hearing whatever Zhang Xingchuan said.

He just couldn’t freely fall in love with a girl. Not only was Zhang Xingchuan not a girl, he was also Chinese. If he dated Zhang Xingchuan, he wouldn’t and couldn’t get married, and Zhang Xingchuan wouldn’t produce the next generation of heirs for his family.

As long as he declared his renunciation of inheritance rights when the time came, the family would have no reason to interfere with his relationship with such a small Chinese entrepreneur.

But there was still one problem.

“Let’s get one thing clear first,” Tan Xiao said.

Zhang Xingchuan struck a listening pose.

Tan Xiao said, “At your age, it’s only reasonable to have had a few old flames.”