Chapter 2 (2/2)
”Actually, I don't read that much.” Bo Ziren picked up the book next to her hand, ”Except for this one. But I bought it a long time ago. I've just reread it recently.”
He peeked at the book t.i.tle under the light, ”I can see there's some history.”
”It is my fault for not taking good care of it.” Bo Ziren put the book back down and glanced at his teaching materials. The exterior was wrapped with a layer of kraft paper, so she could not take a peek of the context of the book. But just from this, she knew he was someone that cherishes book.
”You said you usually don't read books, did you find this place by chance?”
Bo Ziren maintained her silence, under his ink-black pupils, something stirred deep in her heart that had never happened before.
”I found it online, you might find it strange for me telling you this. The truth is, the reason I came here was because I wanted to find a person to communicate with.”
His calm expression showed he was attentively listening to her and did not categorize her as odd, ”It's very normal. Sometimes, words come out easier with a stranger.”
”Seriously? Then do you also experienced something similar?”
”I've been there. I think most people to a certain degree, would have had experienced the same thing.”
Bo Ziren looked earnestly at his face, and then to the well-wrapped book at his side, she asked: ”What is this book about?”
”Oh, this is a philosophy textbook.”
”Ah?” the answer took her by surprise.
His hand reached out to pick up the thick-looking book, ”Actually, it is related to my work.”
”Your work?”
”I'm a teacher, majoring in Philosophy.” He added, ”Sometimes, I part-time here.”
”Philosophy,” She sighed softly, thinking of her own understanding of philosophy was limited to the basics taught in the cla.s.srooms; she exerted some effort to recall some pieces of information, ”A studies of the world's origin, an outlook of the world as a whole, and the methods of unifying it as one… if my memory doesn't fail me?”
He had no interest in correcting people outside of his teaching curriculum. Rearranging his thoughts briefly, he used a mild but straightforward tone, ”The word philosophy originated from Greek, the root word means love of wisdom. To put it simply, it is a subject that could make people smarter, and at the same time it's also a way of thinking in everyday life.”
”Means, I remembered wrongly?”
”No, in fact, there is no definite definition of philosophy,” he added, ”what you said was not wrong.”
Bo Ziren's hands folded above her book, her contemplative voice sounded, ”En… sounds interesting, pity my reading is so poor, my knowledge is too shallow.”
”Everyone has different interest and direction.” Saying this, he took another look at the book beneath her hands, eyes like the calm appearance of an endless galaxy full of stars, ”Just like the things that you like, I might not know anything about it.”
Following in the direction of his gaze, Bo Ziren generously pushed 'The River in the Desert' to the middle of the table, she supplied with a brief introduction: ”I bought this book in my first year of high school, can be regarded as something from teen literature genre that's telling the story of a young woman touring the world after graduation.”
He reached out and picked up the book, looking at the cover in detail.
His action gave her the opportunity to observe his hands. He had long and slim fingers, with clear and strong joints, and it was nice to look at. The main point was the calm and elegant demeanor as he picked up the book, was very appealing to her.
He only looked at it for a moment, and did not even flip the cover over, ”You think it's a good book?”
”En, there is much scenery described inside like the sea of Qingdao, the desert in the northwest, embankment villages, and also the Peac.o.c.k Lake.”
He nodded slowly, and gave his a.s.sent, ”En,”
”Also because of the relations.h.i.+ps between family, friends, and lover, described there.” Bo Ziren searched for the accurate wordings in her mind, ”How do I say it? I felt they were very honest, whether it was happiness or sadness when I was reading it, it felt like everything was happening right in front of me. It influenced people's moods from the beginning to end.”
He kept on listening silently but did not show any intention of opening the book. He only looked at the t.i.tle printed on the cover, and then politely returned the book to her.
Clearly, he was not interested but Bo Ziren did not feel any disappointment. After all, he did not look like someone who would read these type of books.
Retrieving the book, Bo Ziren started another topic, ”Can you recommend me a book? Any book that you've read recently is fine.”
”The recent book I've read is a travelogue. Do you have any interest in this type of book?”
Bo Ziren nodded, and quickly took out her notebook and pen to write down the name of the book, almost at every other word, she would steal a look at him and noticed he was looking down, examining her writing. Recalling about what he had said of being a teacher, her pen holding gestures became very orthodox.
Finished jotting down the book t.i.tle, she wrote down her name and tore the section off. Mustering up her courage, she showed him: ”This is my name.”
”Bo Ziren.”[1] He read it aloud once, then looked straight at her, ”I remember the Chinese Medicine we ate has its presence.”
”Right, exactly that. Everyone thinks it's weird my name resembles a medicine, but it is easy to remember.”
Before she could ask, in fluid actions, he took the pen from her and wrote down his name underneath hers.
”This is my name.” He pa.s.sed the paper back to her, saying ”Nice to meet you.”
She glanced down at the paper where three new words were written. She chanted them on her heart: ”Cheng Jingpo.”[2]
If it happened before, she would not have believed a person's temperament was actually similar to their names, yet now she felt the thing was quite true. She had encountered many people and names, only his person and name matched so perfectly.
”You work part-time here every day?” She inquired.
”Not necessarily, if there was nothing urgent, in Friday evenings, I would come over.”
”Where do you teach?”
He did not answer this question immediately as if mulling over if it was necessary to tell her the truth.
She waited quite a while, just when she thought he was probably reluctant to answer, she heard his voice, ”Finance University, exactly in the opposite direction to the University here.”
For a moment, a different emotion made its way into her heart.
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Note:
[1] Bo Ziren - Chinese Medicine; pine nuts.
[2] Cheng Jingpo - orderly, calm, and anch.o.r.ed.
Translated by: Woodear
Edited by: ChocolateMorn
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