Chapter 6: Birthday

At the time, I was three meters and eight centimeters away from this person. But in less than the time it takes a quarter-stick of incense to burn, I made a decision that would affect the rest of my life.

—Chinese Odyssey 2002

For his birthday, Jiang Mingqian reserved half of a restaurant-bar and invited a large group of people to drink and chat. The noisy scene resembled the American parties shown on television.

Su Nan regretted agreeing to come. At that moment, she sat holding a bowl of vegetable salad, completely at a loss.

A program was playing on the television, but the surrounding noise made the dialogue impossible to hear. The actors’ movements were exaggerated. If she treated it as a silent film, she could still derive some enjoyment from watching.

She was the sort of person who could find pleasure amid hardship wherever she went.

The birthday boy finally noticed the solitary lamb. He carried over a barstool and sat beside her.

“Senior Sister.”

He had probably drunk too much. His face was flushed, and even his ears were red. He lowered his head onto his folded arms.

Su Nan paused. “Are you drunk?”

Jiang Mingqian shook his head. After a moment, he lifted his head from his arms and smiled at her. “Let me have some of your salad.”

Su Nan offered him her fork.

Instead, Jiang Mingqian caught her hand. Using the fork to spear some lettuce, he guided her hand toward his mouth and ate from it. He noticed Su Nan trying to pull away but tightened his grip slightly, preventing her from succeeding.

Su Nan felt awkward, though most of her discomfort came not from Jiang Mingqian’s behavior but from the gaze across the room.

Three or four meters away, someone sat in a relaxed, indolent posture on a barstool. His white shirtsleeves were rolled up, and a wineglass rested between his fingers. The revolving lights obscured his expression, but she could still detect an air of watching a show.

Su Nan truly had not noticed when Chen Zhiyu arrived.

Perhaps he had been there all along.

After finishing the salad, Jiang Mingqian hopped off the stool in satisfaction and walked away.

Su Nan remained there clutching the fork, unsure what to do.

A moment later, she saw the man across from her suppressing a smile as he crooked a finger in her direction.

The salad bowl immediately seemed too heavy and too hot to hold. After hesitating for a while, she finally tossed down the fork, slid off the barstool, and walked over.

Today, she wore a somewhat vintage-style blouse with a dark green, high-waisted velvet skirt that reached her ankles. Her hair hung loose, and she had applied a little makeup. It was very light, and most of the pale pink lip gloss on her lips had already been eaten away.

He had never seen her dressed like this. At the university, she always wore shirts and jeans, alternating between a navy duffle coat and a mustard-yellow one. She looked thoroughly like a student, which was another way of saying that she was not particularly noticeable.

Chen Zhiyu could not resist looking at her twice more.

Steeling herself, Su Nan said, “Professor Chen.”

Chen Zhiyu indicated the stool beside him.

Su Nan gathered her skirt slightly and sat down.

“What would you like to drink?”

Su Nan raised her head to examine the menu hanging behind the bar.

“Give her a Coke,” Chen Zhiyu decided for her.

Su Nan paused. “I’m an adult.”

A trace of amusement entered Chen Zhiyu’s eyes. “Can you drink?”

She was not sure. She had only drunk during group gatherings. Two bottles of beer were fine, but any more than that went to her head.

She said quietly, “A glass of beer.”

The bar lights made the liquid in her glass gleam translucently. Su Nan swirled it, watching the ice rise into view and sink again.

“Is that your boyfriend?”

Su Nan raised her eyes.

Chen Zhiyu seemed somewhat different today, perhaps because they were away from the university.

Over the past three weeks, she had continued attending class and organizing materials for him. From time to time, he dragged her into “Excel training,” “database training,” and “SPSS training.” She was even forced to relearn the probability and statistics she had somehow muddled her way through as an undergraduate. It was unbearably painful. Eventually, she began to suspect that Chen Zhiyu was doing it deliberately.

But as they spent more time together, the string inside her that was perpetually drawn tight gradually began to loosen.

Chen Zhiyu was not actually that difficult to please. His words were simply merciless. When she truly performed poorly, he patiently helped her correct the problem. Whether she liked it or not, she had indeed learned a great deal.

Today, he seemed languid.

Too languid even to make several cutting remarks at her expense.

“No. He’s a junior member of our academic group. He came with us to S City last time...”

Chen Zhiyu interrupted her. “I don’t remember him.”

Su Nan fell silent and lowered her head to sip her beer.

Chen Zhiyu’s gaze moved to her face. “How did your thesis proposal go?”

“The defense was on Wednesday. I passed.”

“When is your first draft due?”

“Tomorrow... Oh, February the year after next.”

“You have a year.”

“I still have to do an internship during the first semester of my third year.”

“Are you going to pursue a doctorate?”

Su Nan shook her head.

Chen Zhiyu laughed. “If you do, you can apply to Chongcheng University.”

And become his student again? She could not endure that.

He seemed to feel warm and undid another button on his shirt.

They were both sitting quietly, making the gesture particularly conspicuous.

Her gaze followed involuntarily. The glimpse of his exposed collarbone seemed almost scalding, and she hurriedly looked away.

To be fair, if Chen Zhiyu were not her professor and did not have such a terrible temper, she could have taken considerable pleasure in appreciating his appearance.

She had never seen a man with such pale skin. There was nothing to criticize in his features, and he always reminded her of Hugh Grant in Maurice, particularly when he smiled with such uninhibited frivolity.

She had long sensed a somewhat dissolute quality in Chen Zhiyu. As expected, it was merely concealed at the university by his stern and respectable clothes.

All the female students at the university were blind, worshipping him as though he were Colin Firth. Even if he was Colin Firth, he was the Colin Firth emerging soaking wet from the lake in Pride and Prejudice, or the Colin Firth propositioning a male escort in A Single Man.

Chen Zhiyu raised his glass and took a shallow sip, glancing sideways at her. “The course is nearly over. I’ll have to trouble you with grading the examinations and calculating the final marks.”

She was already accustomed to this.

He had been invited to teach at Dancheng University this semester, but he still had teaching responsibilities at Chongcheng University and had to travel between the two cities several times each week.

She could only hope the course would end soon so that he could return and torment Chongcheng University’s many promising students, the future pillars of the nation.

She sincerely hoped so.

“Next semester, I’ll have to continue troubling you with Explorations in Empirical Research.”

Su Nan fell silent.

The gaze resting on her face seemed able to probe her thoughts. It contained a trace of mischievous amusement.

“Next semester... can I choose not to enroll in your course?” she asked, abandoning all hope as she tried to bargain.

“No.”

“Oh.”

Seeing that her glass was empty, Chen Zhiyu reached for his wallet.

“You aren’t drinking anymore?”

“I’m going out for a walk.”

Thank heavens. She could finally return to her original seat. How fascinating that silent television program had been. How fascinating her vegetable salad had been.

Chen Zhiyu accepted his change and slipped it into his wallet. He jumped down from the barstool, picked up the coat he had placed nearby, and called to Su Nan.

“Let’s go.”

Su Nan stared at him. “It’s my junior schoolmate’s birthday party.”

“That’s rather coincidental.” Chen Zhiyu took out a cigarette and placed it between his lips. His voice carried a hint of laughter, though she could not tell whether he was serious. “Today is my birthday too.”

It had rained the previous day. Today was overcast and rather cold. The night wind rushed through the car’s wide-open window, carrying cigarette smoke as it struck Su Nan’s face. She shrank her neck against the chill.

Chen Zhiyu glanced at her, extinguished his cigarette in the ashtray, and closed the window.

The car continued straight through the intersection ahead. After driving several hundred meters, Chen Zhiyu turned around, returned to the intersection, and made a left.

Su Nan looked at him questioningly.

“I originally planned to visit a rock exhibition. I’ve changed my mind.”

“Where are we going?”

She was still confused about how he had talked her into getting into the car in the first place.

“Up the mountain.”

After they had driven for some time, the traffic grew increasingly sparse. They entered an elevated road, left the city, and headed toward the nearby outskirts.

It was a long drive, so Chen Zhiyu switched on the radio.

If you miss the train I’m on, you can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles...

“It’s from Inside Llewyn Davis.”

“You’ve seen it?”

“The other Coen brothers’ films made me uncomfortable, especially No Country for Old Men and The Big Lebowski. After watching them, I briefly wondered whether something was wrong with my taste. But I really liked Inside Llewyn Davis. It doesn’t feel much like their other work.”

Chen Zhiyu laughed and turned to glance at her.

The wind had tousled her hair, and her cheeks and the tip of her nose were slightly red. She could hardly be considered strikingly beautiful, but there was something indescribable in her eyes and brows.

“There’s nothing to question. Inside Llewyn Davis is my favorite too.”

Su Nan froze, then smiled.

The streetlights flashed past outside the window.

Her eyes sparkled.

“Some films are meant to leave you frustrated and make you think. The films you love should be lighter and more ordinary. I watch Chinese Odyssey 2002 again every year.”

Su Nan was somewhat surprised. In her impression, Chinese Odyssey 2002 was merely a chaotic romantic comedy.

“That isn’t Jeffrey Lau’s best film.”

“You prefer A Chinese Odyssey?”

“It’s all right. There may be a generational gap. I watched it too late.”

Chen Zhiyu glanced at her. “What do you like?”

“Big Fish.”

“That isn’t typical of Tim Burton’s later style either.”

“Mm.” Su Nan smiled. “Perhaps I simply like things that aren’t typical.”

It was the freest conversation they had shared since meeting.

The topic began with cinema and ended with literature. An hour slipped silently past. By the time they came to their senses, the car had already entered the mountains.

Chen Zhiyu parked and led Su Nan to the rest area to buy a hot drink.

The hot chocolate was scalding. A single sip warmed her entire body.

Chen Zhiyu pointed ahead. “The observatory.”

Steps extended up the slope. Amid the heavy shadows of the trees, one corner of a ceremonial archway was visible.

Their footsteps followed one after the other, one light and one heavy.

“It’s closed at night. We can’t go inside.”

Chen Zhiyu stopped on the steps and turned around.

In the distance, all the lights of Dancheng’s high-rises lay before them, veiled by a thin layer of nighttime mist.

The wind was bitterly cold. It swept freely past them, stirring a vast, surging sound among the trees.

Chen Zhiyu sat directly on the steps. He took out his pack of cigarettes, placed one between his lips, and cupped a hand around the lighter’s flame. Lowering his head, he lit the cigarette.

“Professor Chen.”

Chen Zhiyu raised his head.

Su Nan stood three steps below him, bringing their gazes level.

“Is today really your birthday?”

Chen Zhiyu laughed. “Why would I lie to you about that?”