Don't Turn from Summer Chapter 11

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

Chapter 11

Mu Hanxia pauses. Lin Mochen also looks up at Chen Weiwei.

“I used to be at the Sixth High.” Mu Hanxia replies.

Chen Weiwei gives a sweet smile, “I was at the same grade as you, but not in the same class.”

Mu Hanxia answers with an “Oh” and smiles, “Glad to meet you.” Her feelings are a little complicated at meeting a former schoolmate, but basically feels warm, remembering the people and life that is long gone. But she searches for Miss. Chen in her mind and can’t find any memory.

Then Chen Weiwei says smilingly, “You were a famous figure at that time. You don’t recognize me, but I know you.”

Mu Hanxia suspends a little, noticing Lin Mochen’s eye rests on her. But she just smiles frankly with a wave of her hand, “Schoolmate, a hero is silent about his past glories.”

Chen Weiwei tittered, “You are still so funny. Right now...where do you work?”

Mu Hanxia answers, “I’m at Le Ya.”

They exchange a few more words, and Mu Hanxia gets up to leave, remembering to take along her two bags of drinks. Chen Weiwei looks up at the slim back of Mu Hanxia that appears a little burdened, and asks after a long moment, “Jason, why are you with her?”

Lin Mochen also glances at Mu Hanxia’s back, and replies briefly, “The one who called the ambulance to send us to the hospital that night, is her.”

“Ah,” Chen Weiwei says, showing some remorse in the eye, “Why didn’t you say it earlier! I should have thanked her for it!” 

 Lin Mochen says lightly, “No need, I’ve already thanked her.”

“Oh, that’ good.” Chen Weiwei automatically interprets his thank as having given a check, so she shows an expression of relief. But after a little thought, she hesitates, “Some thing’s wrong. Didn’t you say the one who helped us was an unimportant store assistant?”

“She basically is an unimportant store assistant.”

Chen Weiwei’s expression turns into a big surprise. She is quiet for a moment, and then sighs, “I didn’t expect she would turn out like this now. At that time, she was really famous, always getting first place at our grade in exams, being class captain and vice president of student government, having a lot of followers, and a lot of boys ran after her. At that time everybody thought she would go to Peking or Tsinghua University.”

 Lin Mochen looks at her, his eye sharp and bright, “And so?”

But Chen Weiwei studies him with a few glances, “Why are you interested in her story? I’ve never seen you care about an irrelevant person. Have you not possibly fallen for her?”

“Is that possible?” He smiles carelessly.

How can he possibly fall for a girl like her?

Probably Chen Weiwei also thinks so. She smiles a little and says, “Later she did very badly at the College Entrance Exams, and couldn’t even get into a college. So she quit school all together.”

“Why?”

Gazing at Lin Mochen’s dark eyes, Chen Weiwei feels a flash in her mind. She waits a moment before answering, “I’m not very sure. I was not in the same class with her. Someone said she fell in love. People may have their impulse for wrong things when they are young, right? Later she didn’t come to school for many days in a row. I heard that she moved out of school.”

--------

Carrying the drinks, Mu Hanxia returns to the office. After distributing among the colleagues, the remaining ones are for Meng Gang and his assistant.

Mu hanxia takes the two cups of drink upstairs. Xiao Chen, the assistant, is sitting right outside Meng Gang’s office. He smiles at seeing her, “Thank you, Hanxia.” He takes over the drink for him, but not the one for Meng Gang. Instead, he smiles, “Manager Meng is inside. Take it in to him. I’m going to the bathroom.” At these words, he gets up and leaves.

Mu Hanxia has no other way than going over to knock on the door, heart beating a little faster.

“Come in.”

She pushes open the door and sees Meng Gang sitting behind the desk, reviewing documents. He raises his eye and gives her a glance.

Mu Hanxia quickly lowers her eye, sends the drink over to the desk: “Manager Meng, here’s your coffee.”

“Mhm.”

As Mu Hanxia turns to leave, he says, “Have a seat. Wait until I finish these few pages of document.”

Mu Hanxia freezes for a second, but can only sit down.

It’s very quiet in the office. There is sound of the wind blowing the curtains, and the sound of his pen moving on the paper. Mu Hanxia’s fingers touched a little coffee, and its sweet fragrance lingers.

After a while, he raises his head and gazes at her, smiles flowing out of his eyes. Mu Hanxia smiles back politely, afraid of showing any sign of intimacy.

He says nothing. After gazing at her for a few seconds, he pulls out a drawer, takes out a binder and puts it in front of her: “Take a look.”

Mu Hanxia opens it up and is stunned.

This is...

The information of the several key universities in Jiang Cheng, including profiles of colleges, faculty backgrounds, introduction to programs, the cut-off scores of the past and so on. Mu Hanxia flips through a few pages and raises her head, “Manager Meng, this is...”

Meng Gang picks up the coffee she bought, takes a few small sips, and put it gently down by his hand: “These universities in Jiang Chen are among the top in the whole nation. Take a look and choose which one you want to go to. Next week I’ll drive you over for a look. How long do you need to prepare for the College Entrance Exams? You don’t need to worry about money, like tuition, living expense, and other expenses, during this period. Even if you didn’t make it, it doesn’t matter. I have some relations in Jiang Cheng, and we can spend some money to straighten things out so you can get admitted. What do you think?”

Mu Hanxia is dumbfounded. Holding the documents in her hand, she is speechless. Meng Gang’s calm and restrained face is right in front of her, but she only feels her temples jump, as if she’s heading into a vast, deserted abyss, trying to look around for directions but findig herself totally lost.

“Thump, thump,” someone’s knocking on the door, breaking the silence.

Meng Gang is still smiling in his eye, “Take it back and read slowly.”

--------

The same night, Mu Hanxia lies in bed, with the documents by her hand.

The night in early summer is still on the cool side. She lies there for a while, then grabs the quilt to wrap herself in, staring at the pitch-dark sky outside the window.

She remembers that morning when Meng Gang held his hand. His fingers were hard and long, with aged thin callus. She remembers the looks he had on her each time, smilingly calling her “little girl” in a low voice.

He is divorced. It’s said that his first wife was a store assistant as him in those early years. It’s unknown where she is right now. She also heard that he had two girlfriends in the past few years, but neither lasted long and they separated in the end.

She turns to look at the documents again.

He puts her dream into her hand. As long as she holds it tight, she will get it.

--------

Early morning.

Mu Hanxia got up even earlier this morning and jogs to the athletic field very early, all sweaty when she arrives. But out of her expecation, Meng Gang is even earlier. In the dim twilight, he is still wearing the gray T-shirt and back shorts, working on the equipment.

Mu Hanxia stops and stands for a moment before walking over, “Manager Meng.”

He seems to have guessed that she would come this early and that she would have a sleepless night. Wiping his sweat with a towel, he replies mildly, “Morning.”

Mu Hanxia does not speak.

He turns to look at her, and asks with a smile, “Have you decided on the college?”

“No.” She answers.

He sits down and pats on the step beside, motioning her to sit as well. But Mu Hanxia does not move. He glances at her, silent for a moment, and speak slowly, “In my opinion, just try Jiang Cheng University, the best one here. After undergraduate studies, you can continue with graduate if you like. I have a house near Jiang Cheng University, you can live there in the future. But forget about going abroad. It’s too far from me. If you want to go take a look, which country do you want to go? I can arrange time and take you with me.”

Mu Hanxia keeps her silence as he talks. Then she suddenly asks, “Manager Meng, are you arranging my life?”

Meng Gang stares at her silently. Mu Hanxia doesn’t speak either. After a while, he suddenly reaches out and pulls her over. Mu Hanxia is taken aback, and has been confined between his legs before she can react. He looks at her, tiny crow’s feet at the corner of his black and deep eyes.