Summer #23

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

Chapter 23

Summer is gone and Autumn is here.

Two months have slipped by like the light between fingers.

Today is a cool sunny day, Mu Hanxia is standing under a big tree by the street side, drinking from a water bottle. Nearby is a scene of excitement. It’s the grand opening of the second store of Feng Cheng this year. Right now, it’s filled with customers inside. At the door there are piles of flower baskets and the ground is covered with colorful confetti.

Her cellphone rings. She sticks out her tongue at the name on the screen before picking up, “Hi, Jason.”

“Where are you?”

“Outside the door.”

“What are you doing there?”

“...taking a rest.”

Sure enough, Lin Mochen chuckles on the other end, “While I’m working like crazy here, Manager Mu is taking a rest? Come up here.”

“Oh...” Mu Hanxia hangs up the phone and goes back into the store.

There are a few small offices on the second floor. Some store assistants greet her while walking past: “Hi, Manager Mu.” “Hello, Manager Mu.”

Mu Hanxia nods smilingly, no long blushing with timidness as two months ago.

Lin Mochen sits in one of the offices, a stack of data reports in his hand, talking to the store manager beside him. He is wearing a solid black suit and a white shirt, complete with a dark red tie. Plus the wrist watch and leather shoes, he gives a noble feel all over. Just sitting there in a casual manner, he is already very imposing.

Mu Hanxia walks over.

The store manager has finished his report. He smiles at Mu Hanxia and walks out. Lin Mochen looks up at her, “Boss Mu, where have you been enjoying yourself?”

“Boss, I was just taking a break outside...”

The corner of Lin Mochen’s mouth goes up a little, but he does not keep on ridiculing her. Mu Hanxia sits down beside him, picks up some of the reports, drags the laptop over, and starts to continue the work with him.

“The W3-11 product?”

“It sells 33 pieces, mostly sizes M and L.”

“Gross interest rate?”

“33%.”

“Data on the same day from the first store?”

“Forty-three pieces, 45%, M, L.”

“Percentage of inventory?”

“40%, plenty. Five styles need to add inventory.”

...

The two of them go on rapidly with one asking and the other answering. Employees sometimes pass their door, but none dares to make any noise lest they would disturb them. They have the same concentrated look and apparently collaborate perfectly in such a manner.

In fact, at the very beginning, Mu Hanxia couldn’t follow Lin Mochen’s thinking pace and searching speed. The first time she assisted him, she looked in the computer for some data for 10 minutes and still couldn’t find it. Lin Mochen sneered at her right on the spot, “Ahh... I hired a log for myself?”

At that time she even argued, “Such a huge computer system, and a whole desktop of data reports. How could one possibly find the data from them so easily?”

But Lin Mochen just fixed his eyes on her, “Every single outstanding marketing manager I’ve ever met had all the market data printed in their mind. With no exception. Otherwise, how do you think they could maintain the extraordinary acuteness about the market? Mu Hanxia, you are really hard-working.”

Mu Hanxia was stunned at his words.

Lin Mochen ignored her after that.

After a while, she got close to him and whispered, “Jason, I was wrong. I was too narrow. Thank you for teaching me.”

He glanced at her.

She put on that meek and compliant attitude.

They looked at each other for a moment, and his palm gave her a gentle pat on the head: “What else is delaying you? Get to work.”

......

Having worked for quite a while, she feels a little thirsty. Glancing at the cup beside her, she notices it’s empty. Just as she reaches for it to get a refill, a hand stretches over and grabs it first.

Lin Mochen stands up, with the two cups in his hand, and walks toward the drinking water machine.

Mu Hanxia gazes at his back while he bends to fill the cups, and feels her heart as gentle and hazy as the night outside the window.

Lin Mochen turns around and their eyes catch each other.

His eyes are deep quiet water.

Right at the moment, the store manager and a few other managers come over, all beaming: “Jason, the opening today is so successful. Shouldn’t we have a celebration dinner?”

Lin Mochen smiles too, “OK. You folks pick the place.”

There’s a burst of cheers.

They go to the most expensive seafood restaurant nearby. The atmosphere is excellent and they all eat to their heart’s contend. Even Lin Mochen has drunk a lot. He sits at the head seat, eyes clear and bright and expression a little laid back.

After the dinner, the group is still unsatisfied and cries for Karaoke party. Lin Mochen agrees readily. They then go to a Karaoke club, ask for a luxurious private room, and order a lot of beverages and snacks.

A few vivacious girls run to pick songs. Someone asks, “Boss, would you sing a song for us?” Everybody cheers for the suggestion. But Lin Mochen just leans in the coach and says, “You guys enjoy yourselves.”

Of course no one will pursue the request again.

Mu Hanxia picks up a popcorn and pops it into her mouth. Actually, she likes to sing. But the colleagues are all nice to her, she’d better not torture them...So, forget it.

“Won’t you sing?” Asks Lin Mochen, who is sitting next to her, his voice slightly husky as a result of drinking.

Mu Hanxia shakes her head.

“Awful to hear?”

Mu Hanxia gives him a fierce stare.

He chuckles.

Mu Hanxia: “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing.”He says slowly, “Thought you would be very active on occasions like this.”

Looking at his eyes that are darker than usual, Mu Hanxia suddenly realizes, could it be that he’s a little drunken? Somehow her spirit suddenly rises high, and with a light “Humph”, she picks up the juice and drinks quietly beside him. He doesn’t speak either. With his eyes half closed, he listens to others’ singing with her.

After a while, his cellphone rings, the ringing sound can hardly be heard in the noisy music.

He picks up: “Huh...you are in Beijing now? I’m outside with people form the company. Ok, I will send you the address.”

Putting the phone down, he waits a while and calls someone over, “Xiao Wang, go take someone in from the lobby.”

“Boss, who’s it?”

“Cheng Weiwei. She heard that we are celebrating and wants to join us.”

 They immediately understand.

Everybody knows Cheng Weiwei, because her Yong Zheng is a major client of Feng Cheng. Each month, a significant part of Feng Cheng’s production goes to the multiple stores of Yong Zheng. In the last two months, Cheng Weiwei flied Beijing several times, and every time she would visit their company.

There are guesses about the relationship between Lin Mochen and her. But except for business, they do not seem to have other interactions. Beside, Lin Mochen never goes to Jiang Cheng, so gradually few people gossip any more.

When Cheng Weiwei came to the company she met Mu Hanxia. She was surprised the first time at seeing her. But they don’t have much contact.

Shortly, Xiao Wang leads someone in. Long flowing hair, delicately applied make-up, a dark red embroidered cape, the slender legs, and high heels, Cheng Weiwei looks dazzling in the colorful lights that flow around.

“Hi, Chief Cheng.” “Hello, Chief Cheng.” Everbody greets her. Some who are more familiar with her even exclaims, “Wow, Weiwei is so pretty today!”

Lin Mochen also greets her with a nod.

Cheng Weiwei glances around smilingly, pausing a second on Mu Hanxia who is sitting next to Lin Mochen, but quickly fixes her eye on Lin Mochen, “Jason, a total victory with the second store today. Congratulations!”

Lin Mochen smiles back: “Come sit here.”

Some get up and some move back to make way for her. Mu Hanxia instinctively moves aside to give her the space beside Lin Mochen. Cheng Weiwei sits down and turns to talk with Lin Mochen, without even a glance at Mu Hanxia.

People go on having fun.

Mu Hanxia chats with a colleague beside her, smelling the very light perfume on Cheng Weiwei. Her talk with Lin Mochen can be clearly heard.

“Class brother, congrats!”

“Thank you.” Their wine glasses click lightly together.

“I’ve brought good news too. Feng Chen’s sales at Yong Zheng has risen another 15% this month. Class brother, how would you thank me?”

“How do you want to be thanked? How about I give you a set of our new products from this season?”

“Just like that? You are really good at calculating, class brother. Both saving money and making me your live advertisement, right?”

“Hah...”

......

Mu Hanxia gets up to go to the bathroom.

--------

Outdoor, the stars are twinkling brightly.

Mu Hanxia is leaning in the corridor to feel the cold air. Someone walks over.

She turns around, and there stands a male colleague from the designing department. He is about 25 or 26 years old, tall and skinny, and looks gentle-mannered . His face blushes a little as a result of drinking. His eyes are especially bright, fixed on her.

Mu Hanxia gives him a small smile.

“Hanxia, here you are. Why no go in?”

“I’m here to catch a breath.”

“Oh.” This is a typical technology type of man, standing beside her and gazing at the sky as she does, trying unsuccessfully to say something.

“Hanxia, do you have a boyfriend?” His ear-lopes are all red.

Mu Hanxia is taken aback. When she was in high school, she received a few love confessions. But these last few years it seldom happened. Somehow, she gets nervous as well: “Huh?”

“I... like you. Would you consider...”The tech guy’s voice is very low but also very sincere.

Mu Hanxia blushes. Fairly speaking, this colleague is not bad. He graduated from a famous university and is very competent at work. He is honest and kind with people. She never would have imagined that such a person would confess his love to her.

She turns to looks at him. She is about to say something when she notices that on the other side of the glass door behind them, there’s someone standing.

Lin Mochen.

Hands in his pant pockets, he peers at them. No, more precisely, he is peering at her. It is gloomy here, but his face looks gloomier.

Mu Hanxia stares at his eyes and her mind can only think of one thing: this spot is so far from the private room, why is he also here at this end?

But the tech guy is still gazing at her earnestly. Mu Hanxia withdraws her gaze, looks at the one in front of her, and says apologetically, “Thank you, but sorry.”

...

The guy walks away very disappointed. The surroundings become quiet again.

But for some reason Mu Hanxia’s heart beats so fast, just like the few stars in the sky above her, bright but cold, flickering silently. She turns to open that glass door, only to find Lin Mochen is no longer there.

She thinks he must have gone back to the room, but after a few steps, she sees the door of a smaller room is half closed with light slipping out, someone is vomiting in there.

She sticks her head in and sees the back of Lin Mochen. Arms propping on the sink, his head hangs and his face pale.

This is a lounge, not a karaoke room. Mu Hanxia immediately pushes the door open and walks over to him: “How come you get like this? Why not drink less if you can’t drink?”

Even though Lin Mochen is drunk, his behavior is still graceful. He takes a towel and lightly wipes the corner of his mouth before saying: “I’m really not good at drinking. But there’s the drinking culture here in China, no matter for business or for personal purposes. If I don’t treat my employees sincerely, how can I make them willingly work hard for me?”

This sounds reasonable. But Mu Hanxia glances at his slightly red but very pale face and wonders whether he is really drunk or not.

He gives her a glance and dumps the towel aside. Then he turns to sit down in the coach and closes his eyes.

Mu Hanxia asks, “Cheng Weiwei is still in that room. Aren’t you going back?”

He says indifferently, “Let her be there if she likes. I’m not a barmaid.”

Mu Hanxia chuckles involuntarily. Seeing his bad look on the face, she goes to the drinking water machine to get him a hot cup of water. Then she hears him speak: “Why not accept him?”

Mu Hanxia looks at the water filling the cup, its surface reflecting the broken gentle lights. But her heart is very quiet at the moment, so quiet as if something is going to break out.

She walks back to him with the water, and says flatly, “I just don’t like him.”

Lin Mochen opens his eyes, without taking the water from her, asks with his slightly husky drunk voice, “Who do you like then?”

Mu Hanxia is quiet for a while, then she suddenly smiles. But she says nothing.

Lin Mochen stares at the smile lingering at the corner of her month, suddenly grabs her hand and drags her into his arms. Mu Hanxia is stunned, only sensing his hand locked around her wrist and the tender warmth in his arms, mixed with the light smell of alcohol.

Her world comes to a sudden stop at this moment.

But the next second, he let her loose and lies back into the coach.

Mu Hanxia is still muddled in her mind. Now she is sure that he is truly drunk. Because he smiles calmly and coldly, just like the smile he has when he makes a business decision.

He says, “Mu Hanxia, don’t fall in love with me, and stop attracting me. Because we are not a good match for each other.”