Qingqing seemed to realize she’d let something slip. She hung up immediately.

Both Chen Hansong and Jiang Meilin stared at the phone.

A car?

What car?

Qingqing didn’t even have a driver’s license. What would she need a car for?

They sat with it for a moment, and then Jiang Meilin’s eyes went wide. “Unless… she wants to buy one for Xu Ye?”

“What are you talking about? My daughter isn’t that lovesick!”

“But—”

“But what?”

“But at the beginning of the month, she asked me to order two iPhones. One of them went to Xu Ye.”

“You’re telling me WHAT?!”

Chen Hansong was on his feet. “He won’t even spend money on my daughter, and now she’s spending money on him?!”

Jiang Meilin paid him no attention and opened WeChat.

Jiang Meilin: Xiao Xu, are you there?

Xu Ye: Just got back to the hotel. What’s up?

Jiang Meilin: Qingqing just called me. She mentioned wanting to buy a car. Do you know anything about this?

Xu Ye: A car?

Jiang Meilin: You don’t know?

Xu Ye: I had no idea.

Xu Ye: That explains why she asked me this evening how long the drive from my school to hers would take. So she was…

Xu Ye: Auntie, please don’t take her seriously. When I’ve got enough money, I’ll buy a car myself.

Jiang Meilin: How long does it take you to get to Qingqing’s school by subway?

Xu Ye: About an hour and a half.

Jiang Meilin: And by car?

Xu Ye: Forty minutes.

Xu Ye: Auntie, the distance really isn’t the problem. I’ve just opened a fruit shop at school and it’s doing well. Once I’ve saved enough, I’ll sort the car out myself.

Jiang Meilin: Mm. Understood. Get some rest.

Xu Ye: Good night.

Chen Hansong looked like he was about to combust. “She actually wanted to buy him a car?”

“Seems so.”

“What exactly has this kid done to our daughter?”

“Is there anything else you need?”

“I haven’t eaten!”

“Hold on.” She paused. “I’ll make something.”

“Don’t go to any trouble — just give me whatever you had.”

Jiang Meilin ignored this and went into the kitchen, where she proceeded to stir-fry a plate of julienned potato with shredded ginger for her ex-husband.

Five minutes later it was done.

Chen Hansong, apparently quite at home, ladled himself a bowl of rice and sat down at the dining table. He picked up a piece of potato and chewed.

His expression changed immediately.

Jiang Meilin said coldly, “I cooked it, so you’re finishing it. Otherwise don’t come around every other day.”

Chen Hansong had nothing to say to that. [TL: The joke here is that julienned potato stir-fried with ginger (土豆丝炒姜丝) is pointedly unappetizing — heavy on ginger, which has a sharp, almost medicinal bite — essentially a passive-aggressive dish made for someone you want to feed but not enjoy feeding]

…

Sunday at noon.

Xu Ye and Qingqing sat across from each other eating lunch.

After a bit of idle chat, Xu Ye got to the point. “Did you say something to your mom last night about wanting to buy a car?”

Qingqing’s chopsticks stilled.

“I was talking nonsense,” she said, quietly and quickly.

“Don’t go getting ideas like that. It’s not something you should be thinking about. Put yourself in your parents’ shoes — we haven’t known each other that long, in the grand scheme of things. One phone is already more than enough. Even if you actually bought a car, I wouldn’t accept it.”

Qingqing kept her head down. “I never said it was for you.”

“Then what’s the car for? You don’t even have a license.”

“I could make you my personal driver.”

Xu Ye smiled. “There’s no rush. We’ve got plenty of time. Classes finish next week and then it’s National Holiday — are you going home?”

Qingqing didn’t know how to answer.

Xu Ye smiled. “What you actually want to ask is whether I’m going back. If I am, you will; if I’m not, you won’t.”

She wrinkled her nose. “You already knew — why ask?”

“Then we’ll go back together. I didn’t bring any winter clothes when I moved up, and it’ll start getting cold once October’s over. I’ll sort out the tickets there and back. The thirtieth afternoon is free — I’ll come get you.”

“Okay.”

Qingqing didn’t have much of an appetite and stopped halfway through her bowl. Noticing that Xu Ye looked genuinely hungry, she glanced around, satisfied herself that nobody was paying attention, and moved the unfinished pork ribs from her bowl to his. Then she immediately looked back down and started pretending to check her phone.

…

Xu Ye was back at school by three-thirty in the afternoon.

The fruit shop had all three roommates and Xu Wanying inside.

“Look who’s back — the big boss himself.”

“You look exhausted after two days away. Someone drain your battery?”

“Get lost.” Xu Ye rolled his eyes. “You try sitting on public transit for an hour and a half and see how fresh you look.”

Zhang Xinzhou got to the actual news. “Kangyuan looks like it’s struggling. They’ve already adjusted their promotion — thirty percent off has become twenty percent off, and they dropped the ‘fifty yuan gets five off’ deal too.”

“I said price wars hurt everyone. They were never going to out-compete us. But starting this week, they’ll probably try to copy our approach. While we’re widening our customer base, we need to make sure the customers we have are building habits here.”

“How do we do that?”

“Stay active in the group chat. Drop small red packets every now and then to keep up the engagement.”

Zhang Xinzhou grinned. “That’s going to have to be you. You’re a celebrity now.”

Xu Ye nodded. “I’ll handle that side of things. You two just worry about deliveries.”

By a little past nine that evening, Xu Wanying had clocked out and headed back to her dorm, Li Tongwen stepped in to take over, and Zhang Xinzhou and Yang Fei were out on the scooters running deliveries.

The shutter didn’t come down until ten-forty.

The next morning, before classes had even started, the counselor called Xu Ye to the office. He handed over a form and got straight to it. “Two things. The semester break starts after this week’s classes — I need you to survey the class on how many people are going home for National Holiday. [TL: 国庆节 — National Day, celebrated on October 1st, usually accompanied by a week-long public holiday known informally as Golden Week] Have them note their travel method too. I’ll send you the digital template.”

“I’ll have it done by six this evening.”

“No rush — Friday will do. Second thing: class dues. Fifty yuan per person, all going toward class activities later in the year. If there’s money left over, we won’t collect next year — make sure you explain that to everyone.”

“Got it.”

“Good. Class is starting. Head back.”

Xu Ye returned to the classroom, and while the teacher was still on the way, stepped up to the podium and rapped the desk. “Everyone settle down. Two things.”

“First — National Holiday travel survey. Wherever you’re going, fill out the form. If you’ve already bought your train tickets, include the train number. If you’re staying in the city, just put that. But whatever you’re doing, stay safe.”

“Second — class dues. The counselor is collecting fifty yuan from everyone to cover future class events. There’ll be a refund from next year’s collection if anything’s left over. You can pay me directly — WeChat, Alipay, or cash — just make sure you include your name in the note.”

“Everyone clear?”

“Yes~”

Xu Ye noticed Li Tongwen hadn’t said anything. He stepped off the podium, walked over to him, and said quietly, “Yours doesn’t need to come to me separately — I’ll just deduct it from your wages. That okay?”

Li Tongwen nodded.

Xu Ye went back to his seat in the last row, pulled out his phone, and quietly sent Qingqing a message.

Xu Ye: I dreamed about you last night.

Qingqing, sitting in her own classroom, read the message and immediately lost the thread of whatever she’d been thinking about.

She made it through the first class in a daze. As soon as it ended she typed back: “What happened in the dream?”

Xu Ye: Guess~

Her cheeks went pink. The second class passed in a warm, slightly distracted haze.

(End of Chapter 84)