Chapter 351: Nearby Person—Water Lotus Moon!
Chapter 351: Nearby Person—Water Lotus Moon!
Afternoon.
It was already 3PM.
No matter how long he waited and waited, the Red String of Fate did not seem to have taken effect!
Oh? It can't be? Why was there no effect this time?
Zhang Ye had waited for so long, that even the flowers had wilted. Don't even talk about developing further with Wu Zeqing, he had not even been able to meet with President Wu. Thus, Zhang Ye did not stay any longer and just packed up. He said goodbye to his colleagues before joining a few other lecturers downstairs who were also heading home for the day.
Who knew that when Zhang Ye reached the first floor, he immediately spotted Wu Zeqing who was not too far away. It was not that his eyes were sharp, but that Wu Zeqing was too eye-catching. Such a beauty would be the focus of attention wherever she went. You couldn't help but see her even if you didn’t want to. There were five to six people walking alongside Wu Zeqing. It looked liked she had brought them along for official matters. From their conversation, it sounded like a small auditorium in the school needed some renovation work.
"It's not simple to modify the roof, right?"
"It needs to be refurbished once over no matter what."
"If the facility lighting needs to be completely changed, then the overall work required would be rather intensive."
Wu Zeqing and those workers walked past Zhang Ye. She did not even look at him.
Zhang Ye stood still for a moment, thinking if there would be an unexpected situation. Like whether Wu Zeqing would suddenly call him over or she might suddenly say that she was knocking off and ask Zhang Ye to send her home. He was just looking forward to something happening that would let the two of them become closer,but Zhang Ye was disappointed once again. President Wu had already brought the group to the small auditorium. Nothing happened and Zhang Ye had wasted the entire day waiting.
Whatever.
It's time to go home.
Zhang Ye could only drive off in his car. This lousy Red String of Fate was not doing its job today. Could it be that the gulf between him and President Wu was too large and their Marriage Affinity could not be connected together? That couldn't be. Zhang Ye looked down and saw that the Red String of Fate was still tied to his ankle and had not broken yet. This showed that their fates were still connected somehow. Hai, as he pondered further, Zhang Ye also slowly realised that for two people to get together, would usually take long term battling together, getting to know each other, etc, etc, etc. It would be a long path to traverse and this was even with connected fates. Some people knew each other for over 10 years before finally getting together, so for him, these few hours was nothing to be too anxious about. Marriage Affinity and cupid's luck were 2 very different things.
......
At home.
It was the weekend, so both of his parents were resting.
Zhang Ye was opening the gates with his key when someone suddenly opened the door from inside. Zhang Ye had a big fright!
It was his mother!
Zhang Ye wiped the sweat from his head said, "It's you! You gave me a scare!"
"My son is back! Quick, quick! Come in, come in. Are you tired?" His mother pulled Zhang Ye into the house in a very warm and passionate manner.
Zhang Ye changed into his slippers, "I'm not tired. The classes ended already and there wasn't much to do at school today."
Dad nodded, "Little Ye is back?"
"Yes, Dad. What are you two doing? Why aren't you watching TV?" Zhang Ye asked.
Dad said, "We were just talking about you."
Zhang Ye said, "Oh, what about me?"
Mom broke out into a smile, "What do you think? You have done your Dad and I proud! You've secretly gone on the pages of People's Daily! That’s really good! I've always said that my son's a great person! I've said it before! You see! We're talking about People's Daily here! It's not a paper that any Tom, Dick, or Harry could get onto! Even if you paid a lot of money, you wouldn't be able to appear on it! It's still my son who has such an ability! That "Ode to Young China" was so well written!"
Dad said in a speechless manner, "You said that? What did you say? Did you say that last night? You stopped our son and gave him such a scolding yesterday, saying that he did not respect his elders!"
Mom rolled her eyes, "Did I say that?"
Dad ignored her and just continued reading the paper, "You know it yourself, whether you said it or not."
"Son, quickly have a drink." His mother did not bother to bring up last night's events, "Hur Hur, Mom will prepare dinner tonight, tell me what you want to eat!"
Zhang Ye laughed, "I'm fine with anything." As he said that, his eyes swept over to a stack of newspapers on the coffee table. There were more than 10 copies sitting on it, "Oh, what’s that?"
His father looked over and said, "Your mum bought all the People's Daily newspaper she could find on the streets from more than 10 newspaper vendors. She was giving them out in the district until the security guards came over to stop her thinking that she was handing out advertisements. Your mum with her bad temper even got into an argument with them."
Zhang Ye: "..."
His mother said indignantly, "Who asked that guard not to know better? With my looks and bearing as a celebrity's mother, would I need to give out advertisements? Wasn't he asking to be scolded?! I was just chatting with our neighbours. Why was he so bothered? Of course I would give him a piece of my mind!"
Dad said in an annoyed fashion, "A celebrity's mother has such qualities? What would others think if they knew? Our son has done us proud, but you should also think of how you should do him proud."
His mother said in a flustered tone, "Son, did Mom make you lose face? Tell us!"
What could Zhang Ye say? He could only cough and say, "No."
"See what our son says!" His mother stared at his father, "I'm shaming our son? You are the one who's throwing away his face. Always wearing that sort of clothing and never changing your style. Little Ye is now doing well and earning big bucks. He's given us enough and you don't even want to buy new clothes? You are like a country bumpkin!"
Dad stared back, "My shirts are all handmade. Look at the quality, it's so good. They don't need changing even after so many years too, how is it old fashioned?"
Mom pouted, "Let your son decide, I can't be bothered about you."
The old couple began squabbling and Zhang Ye was at a loss of whether to laugh or cry. He did not want to get himself involved, so he slowly walked back into his room and lay on his bed waiting for dinner.
After dinner.
His parents were back to how they were before. They started talking about his marriage.
"Old Zhang, what kind of girl do you think we should look for our Little Ye?"
"It's up to him. As long as he likes her, I have no opinion."
"What does a child like him know? We need to help him with such things. We definitely cannot get someone from the entertainment industry. They don’t have good reputations. I won't agree to that. A teacher is not good either since they spend so many years teaching children already. They would be totally annoyed by them and when they have children themselves, so their tempers wouldn't be good. No one from the finance industry either, they have nothing in common to talk about with our son. The marriage will definitely go wrong if that's the case. And....."
His mother was talking non-stop by herself.
Zhang Ye became a little dizzy from listening to all the chattering, "Dad, Mom, I'm going out for a while."
Mom frowned, "It's already so late, where are you going?"
"I'm going out for a run, to get some exercise." Zhang Ye said, "I'm off now."
Mom said, "Come back soon! Remember to wear your sunglasses and a mask!"
"I know." Zhang Ye prepared his get up, then left the house. He could not stand that mouth of his mother. What marriage? There's not even a hint of a girlfriend!
It was already evening. The sky had slowly darkened and the stars were twinkling.
Zhang Ye walked along the road, enjoying a rare feeling of peace. He could even admire the moon.
He had not exercised in a long time, so he decided to do some jogging. Exercising was not something to skimp on, just as what his landlady had said before. Martial arts was never going to be easy, one would need to be determined while training.
He began running!
Zhang Ye maintained a steady speed. His physical strength had been getting better and he had managed to run for over half an hour without resting. As he was running towards Xuanwumen, a vibration came from his pocket.
Di di di.
His cellphone rang.
Zhang Ye could tell from the ringtone that it was from his chatting app. It was already this late, so who could it be? He remembered that he had only logged into an old account. Using his own name to chat would be too troublesome. Many people had somehow gotten his contact either by searching or some other way and were adding him every other day. They would message him in private. Zhang Ye was someone who was willing to chat with anyone who liked him, but there were too many chats to deal with. If he chatted with someone, then what about the others? It wouldn't be good to snub anyone, so instead he decided that he would not login to that account as often.
He stopped. Catching his breath, he took out his cellphone and took a look.
An avatar was blinking — It was Water Lotus Moon!
He saw her message: "Where are you at?"
Zhang Ye perked up, "Where? I'm jogging outside."
Water Lotus Moon sent another message that left Zhang Ye surprised, "You are in Xuanwumen?"
"Ah?" Zhang Ye was dumbfounded. He looked around him and saw that there was no one around. There were only cars on the road that were passing by. He immediately replied, "How did you know? I just ran over here, did you see me? That can't be. I did not send you any pictures before and you do not know me!"
Water Lotus Moon sent another picture. It showed that the distance between them was approximately 200 meters.
Zhang Ye exclaimed with some vulgarities. Many chatting apps in his previous world also had such functionalities, but they were usually not that accurate. Sometimes it would display the distance as a few dozen meters, but in reality, the distance was a few thousand meters. He was not too familiar with the chatting apps of this world, but it seemed like they were quite accurate. If he knew, he would have turned off the location tracking functionality. This was giving away too much information of his location, "You are in Xuanwumen too?"
Water Lotus Moon: "Yes."
Zhang Ye: "It can't be a coincidence?"
Water Lotus Moon, "Looks like we have some fate. I sent the pictures wrongly to you before and just now, I was just fiddling with the people nearby function and somehow I found you."
Zhang Ye looked around: "Yes, that's must be fate. Where are you at?"
Water Lotus Moon: "Your specific location?"
Zhang Ye hesitated before replying: "I'm in the vicinity of Zhuangsheng Department Store."
Water Lotus Moon replied: "I'm at the side of Liulichang, looks like it's a little more than 200 metres."
To the east of Xuanwumen, one street over was Liulichang just over 500 metres away.
Zhang Ye replied, "What are you doing at Liulichang? At this time, the antique stores should already be closed?"
Water Lotus Moon: "I'm buying some Xuan paper."
Zhang Ye: "Are you involved in cultural work?"
Water Lotus Moon: "This Big Sis works at a bank. I deal with purchasing. There will be an exhibition in the unit in a few more days and we will be using a lot of paper and ink. What about you, what do you do?"
Zhang Ye blinked. He couldn't possibly say that he was a celebrity. It was not something that could be said without thought. If he were to be recognized, it would be troublesome. So he replied: "Oh, I am in the finance industry. I invest in stocks and such. Yes, so have you finished buying what you needed? Are you going home now?"
Water Lotus Moon: "I'm not in a rush, I'm admiring the moon."
Zhang Ye: "What a coincidence, I was just jogging and appreciating the moon too."