Reply to Keats - Chap 44
Chap 44
The Fireflies Fly Away
Zhao Shengge pointed to the edge of the bushes and said.
Chen Wan looked over and saw orchids planted under the trees on the roadside. The grass had clumps of leaves and long, lush stems, and faint light flickered among the slender flowers and leaves.
He walked closer and observed for a while, then turned back to look at Zhao Shengge and asked, “Mr. Zhao likes fireflies?”
The moonlight fell on Chen Wan’s shoulders, and fireflies lit up in his eyes, like lighting a lamp. Zhao Shengge was silent for a moment, and did not say whether he liked it or not. He only said, “I used to have a lot of insect specimens.”
However, that was a long time ago, when they were very young, and later they all turned into ashes in the fire.
Chen Wan thought for a moment and asked, “Do you want it?”
“What?”
“I can catch fireflies for you.” Before Chen Wan was nine years old, he lived in a tenement building full of flying insects, cockroaches and rats. This was not a difficult task for him.
Zhao Shengge stared at him without blinking, not knowing what he was thinking. After a moment, he nodded slightly.
Chen Wan slowly approached the orchid bush and waited for the opportunity.
Zhao Shengge was standing behind him. Chen Wan was thin, with long limbs, and his posture looked like an antelope waiting for its prey.
Chen Wan quickly caught the firefly, stood up, walked to Zhao Shengge, and stretched out his clasped hands to him.
Zhao Shengge had very few reading materials in his childhood, and there was no fairy tale in his mind that could be used to describe it. He also felt that Chen Wan’s appearance was like coaxing a child, so he did not reach out to take it.
Chen Wan waited for a while, but didn’t get angry. She smiled good-temperedly and said, “Do you want to take it away or watch it here?”
He was not far away, and Zhao Shengge could smell the fresh scent of orchids on the ends of Chen Wan’s hair. He lowered his eyes and asked, “Can I take it away?”
Chen Wan said, “If you want, I’ll go to the front desk and ask for a bottle.”
Zhao Shengge didn’t want him to go, so he said, “Just watch it here for a while and then let it go.” What a compassionate thing to say.
“Okay.” Chen Wan opened his hands, motioning him to look carefully. The flying little lantern slowly rose from his palms, lighting up the two people’s eyes.
Their eyes followed the fireflies and touched each other. There was calmness in Zhao Shengge’s eyes, and Chen Wan’s eyes were like an autumn lake.
Everyone can see clearly what everyone else sees, and no one can see clearly what everyone else sees.
The mountains are deep green, and the shadows of the trees are hazy, blurring each other’s faces and expressions. The quietness in the wind is like a tug-of-war, or a silent confrontation.
Zhao Shengge’s eyes were as dark as torches. Chen Wan didn’t understand why, but his eyebrows and eyes were calm, and he responded to all changes with the same attitude.
Zhao Shengge could not detect any disturbance in Chen Wan’s eyes, so he reminded him in a low voice: “Your firefly has flown away.”
Chen Wan looked up, watched the insect fly away, and asked Zhao Shengge: “Do you want to see more?” He could catch another one.
Zhao Shengge shook his head.
What’s the point of grabbing something that doesn’t belong to him?
As the night deepened, there were lanterns prepared for night travelers on both sides of the mountain path. Chen Wan took the initiative to take them: “Then let’s go back?”
In the deep mountains and old forests, he was really worried about Zhao Shengge’s safety.
There was a stone staircase at the intersection of the path, covered with moss. Because it was Chen Wan who was holding the lantern, he turned around after going down the stone staircase and held it in front of Zhao Shengge, saying, “Be careful, it’s slippery here.”
Zhao Shengge stood still on the stone steps for a while without moving, so Chen Wan stretched out his hand to him. Instead of opening his palm, he clenched his hand into a fist very gentlemanly, allowing him to hold his arm.
Zhao Shengge lowered his eyes and stared at the white arm, then held on to it and walked across the moss-covered cobblestone road.
The path in the quiet garden was deserted with flowers and trees, and the shadows of the two people overlapped together, like a lantern wandering at night.
Chen Wan hoped to escort Zhao Shengge back to the brightly lit and well-secured villa as soon as possible, but occasionally a kitten would walk at night and lie in the middle of the road and refuse to move. Zhao Shengge would give way to it, being very polite.
“…”
There were squirrels jumping around on the branches, making rustling sounds. Zhao Shengge stopped to watch again.
“…”
Chen Wan found that Zhao Shengge was indifferent to people, but very patient with animals. Seeing that he was really serious, he joked helplessly: “Mr. Zhao, I can’t catch this for you.”
Zhao Shengge finally chuckled.
Chen Wan sent him back to the villa and said, “Mr. Zhao, see you tomorrow.”
Zhao Shengge called him: “Chen Wan.”
“Um?”
Zhao Shengge waved at him.
Chen Wan approached, and Zhao Shengge was very gentlemanly and helped him pick a blade of grass from his collar. It must have been caught when he was catching fireflies, but it was too dark on the road and no one noticed it.
“Thank you.” Chen Wan smiled and thanked, and stretched out his hand, “Give it to me.” There was no trash can nearby.
Zhao Shengge didn’t give it to him and said, “It’s okay, I’ll just take it back and throw it away.”
Chen Wan nodded and left.
Zhao Shengge pinched the orchid leaves and returned to the house.
The next day, the host sent the guests down the mountain. While waiting for the car, a very small cat with yellow and white fur came from the bushes and rubbed against Chen Wan’s feet. Chen Wan saw Zhao Shengge and his host greeting each other and saying goodbye in front. No one paid attention to this side. The kitten didn’t leave, so he touched its round head.
The cats here are internet celebrities who are not afraid of people. They were encouraged by the tourists who came to check in and became very bold. They turned around and went to Zhao Sheng Pavilion again.
The host laughed and complimented Zhao Shengge in unstandard Mandarin, saying, “Mainland tourists all like cats. They can’t even walk when they see cats. Cats are more useful than hot springs and delicious food. We have a lot of them here, many of which were adopted from stray cat charity organizations. It can be considered a good deed.”
“Fuling was voted the most popular kitten by tourists in our villa last year. It seems that he likes Mr. Zhao very much.”
Zhao Shengge lowered his eyes and glanced at the three-colored civet cat beside him, then raised his foot demurely, not letting anyone touch him, and walked away.
“…”
The Maybach arrived, and Zhao Shengge said to Chen Wan, “Let’s go.”
“……”Chen Wan had no choice but to say goodbye to his host with a smile and got into the car.
After returning from Kadoorie Villa, Chen Wan and Zhuo Zhixuan met.
Due to the black rain, the project progress was delayed and has entered a high-intensity promotion period recently. Chen Wan’s time, both online and offline, has been almost entirely occupied by Zhao Shengge. Zhuo Zhixuan is already very dissatisfied, as Chen Wan has never gone without meeting him for such a long time.
Zhuo Zhixuan found a place to drink.
Chen Wan arrived early. Zhuo Zhixuan came in and patted Chen Wan from behind: “What are you doing? You’re out here to play and you’re still looking at your phone?”
Chen Wan looked up and smiled: “I’m working.”
“Work, work, work,” Zhuo Zhixuan was very dissatisfied. “It’s the weekend! What kind of unscrupulous client is Zhao Shengge? With such a big order, he still makes people work during the nightlife time.”
“…” Chen Wan really wanted to tell him that it was not the client’s father who was chasing him, but he was the one chasing the client to get the job.
Habits are terrible things. If Zhao Shengge has no messages or calls for a certain period of time, Chen Wan will unconsciously become anxious and reflect on whether she has done something wrong. Once her career ambition comes up, she hopes to get feedback on every job.
He knew this was not good and tried his best to suppress it.
“You’ve been too busy lately. The last time I called you, the line was always busy and I couldn’t get through for an hour.”
Zhao Shengge’s video conferences do take a long time, so Chen Wan poured him a glass of wine to apologize: “I’m too busy at work, and there are a lot of things to discuss.”
“No matter how busy you are, you can’t do this. You work so hard, but do you want to make money?”
“How can Zhao Shengge be so good at exploiting people!”
If Monica hadn’t said that Chen Wan had been attending the hospital on time and was in good condition during this period, he would have instigated Tan Youming to attack Zhao Shengge.
Of course, Zhuo Zhixuan himself didn’t dare to do it, but he had Tan Youming. Let Tan Youming deal with Shen Zongnan, and then let Shen Zongnan restrain Zhao Shengge.
Using a stone to hit a stone, killing three birds with one stone, Zhuo Zhixuan thought he was still a bit smart.
Chen Wan disagreed with her friend’s statement and refuted it seriously: “They didn’t exploit me. Zhao Shengge is the best party A I have ever met.”
“…”
Chen Wan really cares about this job, to some extent, no less than Minglong and Zhao Shengge.
It’s not just because of Zhao Shengge.
Rather, this is one of the rare opportunities that allows him to feel that he can truly realize his ambitions and demonstrate his own value.
It can be said that in Chen Wan’s career so far, he has never received such preferential treatment.
You don’t have to beg for an opportunity with strong drinks and a fake smile, you don’t have to drink until you vomit and get gastroenteritis every day in exchange for a smile from the investors, you don’t have to compete with others in vicious ways with intrigue and conspiracy, because all of these have been blocked by Minglong, or Zhao Shengge.
Chen Wan can purely do something that he is interested in but has not done for a long time, and enjoy the rare scientific joy and the most essential sense of accomplishment in his work.
These feelings are actually very far away from Chen Wan, so far that Chen Wan almost can’t remember what they feel like.
Moreover, putting aside his feelings for Zhao Shengge, the other party is also a very respectful Party A, a decisive, wise and knowledgeable collaborator, and a comrade-in-arms who can be relied on.
However, Chen Wan felt that she was not professional enough. Although the content of her conversations with Zhao Shengge was basically about business, getting along with him was like an addiction, which was exciting but also brought about a gap and pain after the tide.
In many moments when he was unilaterally infatuated, Chen Wan used strong, firm, and almost cruel self-control to control the ups and downs of his emotions and the outpouring of his feelings.
But Chen Wan was still willing, willing to lick honey on the tip of a knife, to restrain herself in the midst of decadence, and to stay sober in the midst of struggle.
Zhuo Zhixuan was disappointed: “You have a crush on a capitalist, Chen Wan, you are a bit of an M.”
“…”
On the weekend near eleven o’clock, Zhao Shengge took medicine and continued to work, and received a photo on his mobile phone.
Chen Wan lowered her head in the midst of the debauchery with an unclear expression. She was obviously the most formally dressed person in the whole place, but she was being stared at nakedly from several directions. She was unaware of it and was still looking at her phone seriously.
Zhao Shengge stared at the wrist for a few seconds and hit it.
Shen Zongnian picked up the phone. He didn’t say anything, so Shen Zongnian said, “Is this also called reporting to you?”
One day, Zhao Shengge mentioned casually during dinner that Chen Wan would report her itinerary. Shen Zongnan really wanted to know about this itinerary – whether she had reported it to him.
Zhao Shengge ignored him and asked directly: “Who’s there?”
Shen Zongnian: “Just Zhuo Zhixuan.”
The photo was sent to Tan Youming by a friend. Tan Youming had many bad friends. He used Shen Zongnan’s mobile phone to log into his social account at noon and forgot to log out. Shen Zongnan saw it at a glance.
The friend originally wanted to see Zhuo Zhixuan and ask if Shen Zongnan and Tan Youming were there. If they were, they could share a table and drink together.
Shen Zongnian is a man of many ideas, and there is a place for Zhuo Zhixuan… maybe.
He directly chatted with the person using Tan Youming’s account and asked him to take a photo and sure enough, Chen Wan was there. Shen Zongnan immediately transferred the photo to Zhao Shengge.
Shen Zongnian didn’t hear Zhao Shengge continue to speak, and said in understanding: “It seems that he didn’t report it.”
“Hang up.”
“…”
Zhao Shengge put his phone aside. The antipyretic medicine he had taken half an hour ago began to take effect. His head felt heavy and confused, and his breathing was hot, but he still insisted on reading the data in his hand, and then clicked on the dialog box of his old classmate.
【You made no progress today?】
It reveals a little bit of scrutiny and supervision from Party A.
Fang Jian did not attend the physics class in the group today.
