Summer #41

Don't Turn from Summer (莫负寒夏) by Ding Mo (丁墨)

Chapter 41

But then Mu Hanxia’s thought goes to something else. To ask her to dinner with Rong Yue, he only needs to call her into his office. There is a water dispenser in his office so he doesn’t need to come to the break room. But he didn’t call her over the way a boss calls a subordinate. Instead, he follows her here to speak to her.

For a second, she doesn’t know how to respond. Right at the moment, her cellphone rings. It’s Lao Fang. She picks up the phone hastily as if to escape from something. With a glance at Lin Mochen, she walks out the break room as she says, “Hi, Lao Fang, yes, that restaurant is right beside the second ring road...”

Lin Mochen stands quietly watching on as she walks further away without even looking back at him.

--------

When Lin Mochen comes downstairs, the real estate manager is waiting beside the car. Seeing him coming alone, he is quite surprised: “Cheif Lin, where’s Manager Mu?”

Lin Mochen replies flatly, “She has something more important.” At the words, he pulls the door open and gets into the car, his black overcoat flattering in the wind.

The real estate manager is quite baffled. Why does he have a feeling that Chief Lin isn’t happy at all?

The car slides through the dark night and soon they get to the hotel where the dinner will be held.

Lin Mochen has completely calmed down and temporarily put aside the bits and pieces of emotions roused by her. Followed by his subordinates, he pushes open the reserved dinner room and sees Rao Wei at the main seat. Rao Wei also sees him and smiles pleasantly, after his eyes seemingly darken slightly for a very brief moment.

Followed by him, the people from Rong Yue all stand up: “Welcome, Chief Lin.”

Lin Mochen puts on a smile as pleasant as the spring breeze and walks over with long strides. He holds Rao Wei’s hands first: “Chief Rao, it’s too kind of you. We Feng Chen are very honored to be able to work with Rong Yue.” He is good-looking. At the moment, his eyes seem to be twinkling, looking around at the people from Rong Yue. Everyone who meets his eye can’t help but think: it was heard that this Chief Lin has an iron hand, but he is surprisingly polite and amiable.

 As the saying goes “People don’t slap in a smiling face,” although Lin Mochen has gained the advantage, he is acting modestly now, which makes Rao Wei feel somewhat better. So he smiles back, “Please don’t say that. Chief Lin, no need to be like a stranger. I’m a couple years older than you, just call me Lao Rao in the future. Come, please take the best seat.”

The gentlemen all get seated.

Wines are toasted and the atmosphere can’t be any better. Rao Wei talks about the tales and anecdotes in Lin City, bringing about hearty laughter from everyone present. Lin Mochen also talks about some funny stories in America in a mild but humorous way. In between, they talk about the prospect of their collaboration. Nothing is mentioned about the fierce fights they had a few days ago.

However, during the dinner, whenever Lin Mochen has small sips from his wine cup, what comes right to his mind is the image of Mu Hanxia. He can’t help but imagine that if she was here right now, she must be an excellent game player. But in her eyes, there must be sly smiles, dismissing these people here as so pretentious.

Huhhh...

At the same time, Mu Hanxia and Fang Chengzhou are also sitting in an elegant small restaurant. Gazing at the glimmering river winding through the city and hordes and hordes of city residents taking walks outside, Fang Chengzhou sighs, “I’ve been in the city for a while but haven’t got a chance to enjoy its beautiful night view.”

Mu Hanxia is placing orders when she hears it. She says with a smile, “Yes, you can’t just go to the Entrepreneur Coffee House for disguised inspections. You should also look at ordinary people like us.”

Fang Chengzhou smiles and nods. This is exactly what he likes about Mu Hanxia. She has no fear and does not pretend things when she’s around him, still the girl whom he knew as clever and warm-hearted from the beginning. He appreciates her temperament as a mixture of an everyday person and an elite. But he doesn’t know that Mu Hanxia was once jittery and cautious in front of leaders too.

She is changing and she is growing. Within as short as six months, as a result of following some highly competent yet at the same time very proud person, she has gradually opened up from the previously timid person and gradually exposes her proud character which had been inhibited by reality.

About this, Mu Hanxia is vaguely clear, not undoubtedly clear.

Then Fang Chengzhou says, “After acquiring Lot A, the estimated value of your company will go even higher, right?” 

Mu Hanxia smiles, “Yes, it’s very likely.”

Fang Chengzhou is acute enough to see the worries on the girl’s face. She has gone absent minded a few times at the table. He says with a little smile, “As to your boss Lin Mochen, someone gave me an estimate of his market value a few days ago and it could be as high as half a billion. Such a young man who is also a foreign graduate. It’s extraordinary!”

The number stuns Mu Hanxia. Yes, he is now worth half a billion. Huhh...

Fang Chengzhou suddenly changes the subject: “Haven’t you two got things settled?”

Mu Hanxia is surprised and then smiles, “Lao Fang, what are you talking about?” Fang Chengzhou just smiles. After a while, Mu Hanxia stops denying. She says in a low voice, “Lao Fang, actually I wanted so much to ignore everything else and just take whatever chance there is.”

The chance might be that even though he is cold-blooded, he is true to me.

The chance might be the love that has got my life tangled will generate a good result, worthy of my courage of treading on thin ice.

But Mu Hanxia didn’t expect receiving a hurried call from the colleague right after the dinner. It was the real estate manager, who is both anxious and puzzled, “Manager Mu, do you know where Chief Lin is?”

It’s nine o’clock at night at the time and she just saw Lao Fang off in his car. Mu Hanxia stands at the intersection alone and asks, “Didn’t he go with you to the dinner with Rong Yue?”

“Yes!” comes the answer, “But we are just finished. He said he was going to the bathroom and then he just disappeared. He won’t pick up calls and he’s not in the car either. The hotel doorman told me just now that he took a taxi and left alone, without saying anything to anyone.”

Mu Hanxia is stunned.

The manager continues, “But at the dinner Chief Lin drank quite some wine. I’m afraid he would get into trouble. I already told someone to look for him at the hotel, but he’s not there! He didn’t go to the office either. Do you know where he is?”

--------

This evening, Lin Mochen’s trusted subordinates of Feng Chen are all searching anxiously for him in every corner of the world. They are very baffled. The boss has always been such a shrewd and steadfast one, why would he do something so cranky and so bewildering today?

They are all searching frantically while Mu Hanxia just stands by the roadside for a moment and calls a taxi to the small restaurant that Lin Mochen once took her to.

It starts to drizzle.

The restaurant is closing for the day, but the owner actually recognizes her and smiles at her when he pulls down the rolling shutter gate. Mu Hanxia then runs to the factory.

That’s where Lin Mochen hugged her from behind that night.

So, his affections to her, did they start from then?

But he’s not there either. The guard is very certain, “Chief Lin hasn’t come. Don’t worry. Won’t I recognize our big boss if he is here? Why would he come here so late into the night?”

Mu Hanxia stands at the factory gate and looks around. The city is quiet and feels boundless in the drizzle. Suddenly she feels a little irritated, what in the world does he want? Is he so certain that she would look for him? But how is it possible for him to do something so childish? Or is he really drunk?