Chapter 29 (2/2)

“I say, we should stop trying to thank each other back and forth. We don’t have to be so formal as friends,” laughed Xia Lei.

Ning Jing nodded, “Yeah, not formal as friends. Heheh.”

Half an hour later, the car crossed the Hai-Zhu City limits and arrived at the seaside. Several large cranes towered over the harbor in the distance and there was also a shipyard constructing ships; It was a very busy scene. Ning Jing drove onto a car-specific lane and kept going for a few minutes more before they saw a huge factory sitting on a piece of land by the sea.

After entering East Wind Heavy Industries, Ning Jing brought Xia Lei to a reception room. “I’ll go look for my uncle. Wait for me here.”

Xia Lei nodded, “Sure, you go. I’ll wait here.”

Xia Lei looked around the reception room after Ning Jing walked off. There was an ink painting on the wall depicting a tercel with wings outspread, looking down on a mountaintop. The work was signed by Ning Yuan-Shan. Based on this painting, it was easy to tell that this reception room was one Ning Yuan-Shan used for exclusive meetings and regular guests were not allowed in.

‘This is all due to Ning Jing. I really owe her big time – how can I repay her this favour?’ wondered Xia Lei.

At that moment, a woman walked in. She was very pretty – black office lady clothes and white ruffled blouse matched with a pair of beige high-heels, serious yet youthful. She looked about the same age as Xia Lei. He looked a little closer at her face and froze.

This woman was no stranger – it was his high school classmate, Chi Jing-Qiu.

Chi Jing-Qiu was the first girl he liked. He’d had a secret crush on her for a year before he drummed up the courage to write her a love letter. He would never forget when Chi Jing-Qiu read the love letter he had given to her. She had taken out her pen and written one line on his letter: I like boys like Wu Qi-Long* so, Classmate Xia, are you a boy like him?

She had then pasted the ‘corrected’ love letter on the classroom blackboard and turned Xia Lei into the school laughingstock.

It would have been fine even if she had just thrown the letter into the bin but writing that scathing line and pasting it on the blackboard had scarred Xia Lei. His heart shattered that year. When he recognised her, the line from years ago surfaced in his head again: ‘I like boys like Wu Qi-Long* so, Classmate Xia, are you a boy like him?’

It hit him mentally like a gale; he was calm on the surface but his heart was not.

Their eyes met and there was silence, but Chi Jing-Qiu broke it. She pretended to look shocked, “Oh! Why isn’t this Xia Lei? What are you doing here?”

“I…” Xia Lei tried to answer but had no words. He suddenly found it laughable. That incident had happened years ago, in a time of ignorance and puberty. Why was he still so nervous after seeing her again?

“Are you here to apply for a job?”

Xia Lei had calmed himself. He gave a little laugh and said, “Well, I guess you can say that. That’s right, Jing-Qiu, what are you doing here?”

A pretty smile appeared on Chi Jing-Qiu’s face, “I work here. I’m now Chairman Ning’s secretary.”

“You’ve done quite nicely for yourself. Congratulations.” Xia Lei stood, walked to Chi Jing-Qiu and stretched out his hand.

Chi Jing-Qiu, however, did not shake his hand. She nimbly turned away to take care of the magazines on the coffee table. As she worked, she said, “Xia Lei, you cannot hang around here. This is Director Ning’s exclusive reception room and the people who are received by Director Ning here are respected dignitaries with status and high positions. You should go to the human resources office if you’re here to apply for a job. Go out the door and turn left, then walk a further 20 metres and you’ll find it.”

Xia Lei stood still, his hand as stiff as if it had been flash-frozen. He awkwardly lowered his hand but did not leave. Xia Lei went back to the sofa and sat.

Chi Jing-Qiu’s little mouth pursed in a frown, “Xia Lei, you really can’t hang around here. You’ll be troubling me if you do that.”

Xia Lei gave a small laugh, “Then don’t do anything about it. Pretend I’m not here. And don’t worry, me being here won’t affect your work.”

Chi Jing-Qiu was displeased. She glared at Xia Lei, “Hey, Classmate Xia. Are you doing this on purpose?”

“Doing what on purpose?”

“You’re coming in here to make trouble for me!”

Xia Lei laughed and said, “You’re overthinking it. How can that be? I had no idea you worked here so how could I intentionally run over to make trouble for you?”

Chi Jing-Qiu did not believe Xia Lei’s reasoning. “I know you’re still holding a grudge over what happened. I admit I was not completely free of blame but we were young then and immature. I rejected you for your own good. Didn’t you concentrate on your studies after that incident and even made it into Jing-Du University, even though you did not attend?”

Xia Lei had already put it out of his mind but she brought it up again and made herself seem righteous to boot. He wrinkled his brow.

Chi Jing-Qiu continued, “Okay, just go to the human resources office. If you really can’t find it, I’ll take you there. You really can’t stay here any longer. If you’re lucky enough to be hired I can arrange a more comfortable position for you. I have some pull here and you were my classmate so I’ll definitely take care of you.”

“Thank you for your concern,” said Xia Lei, “but I’m not here to apply for a job. I’m here because your Chairman Ning wants to meet me.”

Chi Jing-Qiu was stunned, then she suddenly laughed and pointed at Xia Lei, “You? Meet with Chairman Ning? Is this a joke?”

*Wu Qi-Long 吴奇隆, or Nicky Wu, is a famous Taiwanese singer and actor.