August went by fast.
Two weeks had slipped past in a blur.
His Second Aunt’s family of three stayed in Jiangzhou until the fifth of August, then spent another week up on Mount Lu, and took the high-speed train back to Suzhou three days ago.
That girl Wang Manning — when she first arrived she had been so put off by Xu Ye, and by the time she left it was cousin this and cousin that. She had even arranged to meet him in Shanghai next spring, when she came for her arts entrance exams.
Xu Ye had agreed, naturally.
On the fifteenth, a little after seven in the morning, Xu Ye drove over to Qin Zhiwei’s building.
Qin Wenliang and Wang Mei saw him pull up and hurried into their own little supermarket, grabbed a few bottles of NutriExpress and stuffed them into the car. Then they shouted up at the windows a few times until Qin Zhiwei came down.
“Xiao Ye, drive safe now.”
“Don’t worry.”
Qin Zhiwei put his suitcase in the trunk, got into the passenger seat, and waved a hand at them impatiently. “All right, all right, that’s enough nagging. I’m not three years old.”
After half an hour on the provincial highway, they got onto the expressway without any trouble.
Qin Zhiwei was excited.
This was the first time he had ever been away on a trip, and he was going with Shen Xinyi, no less.
He hadn’t slept well the night before, but he was still wide awake. He got out his phone and sent her two messages.
“We’re on the road.”
“Should be there around two.”
Shen Xinyi was quite nervous when she saw the messages, because she had told her family she was going on a trip with roommates from college. She still hadn’t told them she was dating anyone, or that she had a boyfriend.
The thought of eating and drinking and living alongside Qin Zhiwei for the next few days left her a little uneasy.
She wrote back, “Then wait for me at Suzhou Station.”
Qin Zhiwei passed it on to Xu Ye, who heard him out and then asked casually, “Have you two decided where you’re going?”
“She wants to go to Chongqing.”
“Chongqing’s more than ten hours by train. I might as well take you to Shanghai and you can fly straight there.”
Qin Zhiwei asked, “Aren’t plane tickets expensive?”
“Look it up. This time of year they shouldn’t be too bad.”
Qin Zhiwei checked on his phone, and when he found the fare wasn’t much higher he said at once, “It’s actually only a hundred more than the train.”
“Then tell Shen Xinyi. I’ll take you straight to Hongqiao Airport.”
“Okay.”
Qin Zhiwei sent the message. Shen Xinyi thought the arrangement made good sense and agreed right away.
The expressway was clear the whole way.
They arrived at exactly the time the GPS had predicted.
At two in the afternoon Xu Ye pulled up at Suzhou Station right on schedule.
Shen Xinyi was already waiting at the curb with her suitcase. Qin Zhiwei pushed the door open and got out, trotted over to take it from her and put it in the car, and then, seeing her take the back seat, got in after her.
Xu Ye turned the car around and got back on the expressway.
Seeing the two of them sitting in the back like statues without a word, Xu Ye laughed in exasperation. “What are you two doing back there?”
“We’re not doing anything.”
“It’s been almost half an hour since you got in the car. What’s with the two of you not saying anything? Anybody who didn’t know would think you were strangers.”
“Uh—”
That only made the two of them feel more awkward.
In the end it was Shen Xinyi who spoke first. “Xu Ye, why didn’t you bring Qingqing along?”
“There’s still half a month before term starts. I came up early to deal with some things at the company. I have to go back at the end of the month to pick her up.”
“Ohh, I see.”
“Shen Xinyi.”
“Yes?”
“It’s Zhiwei’s first time going anywhere far. Look after him on the way, all right?”
Shen Xinyi had nothing to say to that.
Qin Zhiwei snapped at once. “You dumbass. If you can’t talk sense, shut your mouth.”
Xu Ye laughed out loud and let it go. He put on the Bluetooth music, turned the volume up, and kept his attention on the road the rest of the way.
And in the back seat, Qin Zhiwei and Shen Xinyi finally started whispering together.
At six thirty in the evening there happened to be a flight to Jiangbei Airport. Xu Ye dropped them off outside Hongqiao Airport and drove straight to the company.
……
It was the summer break.
Apart from the Monkey King: Hero Is Back project, the company didn’t have much else going on.
Nine to six, five days on and two off, and the boss away besides — it was the kind of workplace every working stiff dreamed of.
When Xu Ye got to the company, Yuan Yuqi wasn’t at the front desk. He assumed everyone had already gone home for the day, but a few steps further in he found her in the finance office, gossiping with Chen Xiaoru, Fang Xiaowen and Jiang Wei.
Xu Ye cleared his throat and coughed twice.
The group in the finance office heard him and only then looked out. When they saw he was back, Yuan Yuqi hurried out with her head down and said awkwardly, “Dir— Director Xu, you’re back?”
Xu Ye smiled. “What are you all talking about? You sound so cheerful.”
Yuan Yuqi shook her head quickly. “Nothing.”
Zhang Xinzhou had heard the noise next door and came out of his office too. The moment he saw Xu Ye he said, “So you’re finally back, you dumbass. How did it feel, being on TV?”
“Nothing special. In a small city like ours, hardly anybody even knows about it.”
“Well, you’re famous at our school anyway. People were on the school forum talking about you for ages.”
“Lü Cheng hasn’t left, has he?”
“No.”
“Any founders come knocking lately?”
“Some have, but no good ones.”
Xu Ye went with Zhang Xinzhou to Lü Cheng’s office, and Lü Cheng handed him some of the projects that had come in recently. Xu Ye ran his eye over them, saw they were all brick-and-mortar businesses, and set the business plans back down.
Lü Cheng explained. “A good project will always go to a bigger investment firm first. We were only set up this year, after all, and very few people have heard of us. Getting a look at anything good in the short term isn’t realistic unless you have wide connections in the investment world.”
Xu Ye knew perfectly well how much connections mattered. He sighed and said, “That part I’ll figure out.”
Zhang Xinzhou put a hand on Xu Ye’s shoulder and laughed. “The Monkey King project made that much in one go. Anybody else would be ecstatic. What are you sighing about?”
“I’m not that easy to satisfy.”
With that, Xu Ye took his phone out of his pocket and called Zhao Ming, who picked up almost the instant it rang.
“Hello.”
“Boss Zhao, I’m back in Shanghai. Buy me dinner tonight?”
“Haha, sure.”
Zhao Ming agreed without hesitation. “Send me the location. That works out — I can come take a look at your company. I told my uncle about you investing in that movie, and he said I should learn from you.”
Xu Ye joked, “Then you’d better pay tuition.”
Zhao Ming laughed louder. “Sure. Tonight I’ll set you up with the full package — call it tuition.”
“Give me a break. See you later, then.”
“See you later.”
(End of Chapter 281)