On the computer screen, the battle between two professional teams was in full swing, but Yu Tu was a little distracted.
He kept thinking back to the moment when he said he was going to give up and to Qiao Jingjing’s unexpectedly regretful eyes. He didn’t understand. Why did she feel sorry when he was choosing the road everyone recognized as more promising?
Other than his teacher, it seemed like she was the only other one who gave him such a look.
“Yu Tu.” Zhai Liang pushed open the door without knocking. “I didn’t know you came back.”
Yu Tu came back to the present and pressed pause. “I got home not long ago. You were having a call on the balcony.”
“Oh.” Zhai Liang sat on Yu Tu’s desk and he looked at him with rascally eyes, “Did you meet up with Xia Qing today?”
Yu Tu looked up at him, “How did you know?”
“Hehe, who am I? How is it going…” Yu Tu examined his expression and he couldn’t go on. He raised his hand, “It wasn’t me. Didn’t Xia Qing go to Hangzhou on a business trip and meet Baobao? Isn’t it normal for them to talk about you?”
“It’s better to go abroad early than to be so idle. And,” Yu Tu remembered something and warned him, “you should talk less nonsense in front of Cotton in the future.”
Zhai Liang shouted, “Cotton actually reported to you? Why is this girl like this?” He felt it was a great betrayal and planned to log into the game to find Cotton and settle their accounts. “By the way, Qu Ming just called to invite us to dinner. Let’s go together. We’re meeting at 6:30 tomorrow night.”
“I have…”
Zhai Liang was not happy, “This stingy ghost rarely invites guests to treat them and this time it’s for my going abroad. Give me some face. All the classmates who are in Shanghai are going.”
Yu Tu nodded, “Okay, I’ll meet you there tomorrow.”
Many of Yu Tu and Zhai Liang’s college classmates worked in the Lujiazui area and the place for dinner was naturally nearby. It was only a ten minutes’ walk from Qiao Jingjing’s house.
When he showed up, almost everyone else had already arrived. There were no private rooms in this western restaurant so seven or eight people sat in a booth together. The scene was very lively.
Qu Ming was the first to notice Yu Tu and he stood up with great spirits to greet him, “Here comes the talent who dominated two majors.”
In fact, Yu Tu wasn’t very familiar with this classmate. In college, he was busy with his studies and spent almost every day in the library. Except for Zhai Liang and Baobao, his roommates, he wasn’t really close with other students. Qu Ming seemed to have been hostile to him at that time as well. At first, he didn’t know why, but he understood after graduation when he and Xia Qing broke up.
Previously, Qu Ming also liked to use this sentence to mock him, but now he’s saying it while smiling and Yu Tu felt like he couldn’t judge the sincerity yet.
Yu Tu said hello to everyone and sat down.
After chatting for a while, Zhao Tian, another classmate, suddenly asked, “Qu Ming, didn’t you say that Xia Qing was coming, why don’t I see her?”
Yu Tu was surprised.
Qu Ming took out his phone and smiled, “I’ll call her.”
He pressed the button and said, “Emma, why haven’t you arrived. The restaurant is only a few steps away from your hotel.”
No one could hear the other line. The smile on his face disappeared little by little, but then he laughed again, “Oh, okay, it’s okay. Let’s make plans to meet up next time.”
When he hung up the phone, Zhai Liang said, “What? Xia Mei can’t come?”
“She said that she has something urgent in Beijing tonight and had just gone to the airport.”
Zhao Tian asked, “She didn’t tell you?”
“Haha, she said she was just about to call me.”
“I haven’t seen her for a long time.” Some of the others were disappointed.
Another classmate said, “Xia Qing apologized to us in the WeChat group.”
Zhai Liang hurried to look at WeChat and happened to see Xia Qing send a sentence, “I’m sorry, Shanghai students, I originally planned to meet up with every one today. Yesterday, I had an emergency and went back to Beijing and forgot to tell you.”
“Sorry, I’m sorry, I’ll cover this meal. Send me the bill later. @QuMing.”
Which one of the people present was not a fully rational human being? It was understood that Qu Ming had been stood up by Xia Qing. She had returned to Beijing yesterday and completely forgot to tell him.
Qu Ming responded quickly, “I heard wrongly on the phone just down and thought she left today. Come on, order.” He reached out his hand to beckon the waiter.
Zhai Liang secretly tapped Yu Tu and whispered, “Did you know that Xia Qing returned to Beijing yesterday?”
Yu Tu looked down and drank his tea without denying it.
“The drunkard’s intention isn’t with the cup. He probably set up this whole gathering for Xia Qing.” Zhai Liang felt that the logic made sense. “He must have known that he would be ignored if he asked her to meet him alone, so he pretended to set this up for my sake. But why did he call you? Isn’t he afraid that he looks like a dog compared to you?”
However, he soon understood why Qu Ming dared to invite Yu Tu. Because, nowadays, Yu Tu is obviously not taken seriously by others.
Before the dishes were even served, Qu Ming took aim at Yu Tu and said offhandedly, “I met someone who graduated in the class after ours and he said that he’ll be working with Yu Tu next month?”
“Who from the other class?” A classmate asked.
“The one who is in charge of the state-owned company, Zhong X.”
Zhao Tian wondered, “Aren’t you working at the space station, Yu Tu?”
“You’re planning to leave, aren’t you?” Qu Ming looked at Yu Tu expectantly, “But now that you’re getting out, you’ll have to start from scratch. As I heard it, you’ll be taking the same salary as the fresh graduates?”
The scene was quiet.
The only sound was Qu Ming blathering on, “Why don’t you come to our foreign investment bank, Yu Tu? The salary is high. How else could you make 300,000 to 500,000 yuan a year in Shanghai? It’s better than going to the company with Ren Wang, that guy. His grades were so poor in school, wouldn’t you just be embarrassing all our classmates?”
After Yu Tu had left, Qiao Jingjing happily played a match alone as Wang Zhaojun. She deeply felt that after such intensive training, she could easily abuse a handful of novices, but she unexpectedly met a teammate who was more piggy than her and they were beaten down by the enemy for two consecutive games.
While she was seething, Xiao Zhu called.
“Jingjing, I’m here buying the salad but guess who I met?” Xiao Zhu’s voice was deliberately quiet.
“The teacher of eighty heroes.”
Xiao Zhu, “…you know?”
“Silly, I knew he was going there for dinner which reminded me of there salad. By the way, buy the salad and come straight back. Don’t go to Edward, he’ll refuse to let you pay.”
Edward is the owner of that western restaurant. Qiao Jingjing and he knew each other.
“I know. I’ve already bought it and I’ll bring it back right away.” Xiao Zhu continued, “I was just sitting and waiting for the salad and I also ordered something else to eat, and they happened to sit me next to Teacher Yu, but there was a green plant between us so that he didn’t see me.”
“Don’t go disturbing others.”
“Of course not~~~ But I think his friend is being very unfriendly to him. One of them is mocking him and his words are very harsh. It’s making me very angry.”
Qiao Jingjing frowned.
In the western restaurant.
Zhai Liang was so angry that he almost jumped up, “Yu Tu works in a confidential unit and there’s a declassified period after he resigns. He can’t just go to a foreign banking company. If you don’t know this, don’t just bullshit. Just because Xia Qing stood you up…”
Yu Tu held him down and looked calmly at Qu Ming, “Will you only live to thirty?”
Qu Ming was still feeling a little bombarded by Zhai Liang, “What do you mean?”
Yu Tu, “Why are you in such a hurry? Our lives are still long. Let’s see after a year.”
“Oh.” Qu Ming sneered, “I know that big scientists don’t like those of us who work in finance, but our industry isn’t a place to fool around.”
Yu Tu said politely, “No need to talk about others.”
“You!”
Yu Tu raised his glass at him.
Zhai Liang was still angry. Everyone also felt that Qu Ming had gone too far and was waiting for things to smooth over. Just then, a waiter came to their table with a bottle of wine.
His eyes quickly circled around the table. He finally smiled and said accurately, “Mr. Yu, I have brought the bottle you and Miss Qiao left here previously.”
The waiter put the wine and glasses on the table in front of Yu Tu, and then set down two plates of prosciutto.
“Complements of our boss to Mr. Yu. Please enjoy.” He stepped back with a smile. Everyone was confused by this sudden development.
“Yu Tu, you’ve been here before?” Zhao Tian knew more about red wine. He picked up the bottle and couldn’t stop from exclaiming, “Roman Nikondi?”
Everyone except Yu Tu existed in the financial circles, how could they not know about such a famous wine? Of course, knowing was one thing and seeing it was another. They were all suddenly a little excited.
“Let me see.”
“Yu Tu don’t hide it from us. How much does this wine cost?”
“It has to be six digits?”
Zhai Liang also looked at Yu Tu in surprise.
Yu Tu’s eyes fell on the bottle and he sudden smiled and said, “I have something still to do. I’ll leave you here today. Enjoy the conversation.”
The crowd watched as Yu Tu stood up, took his coat, put it on leisurely, then picked up the bottle of wine, and slowly said goodbye to everyone.
Wait!
…He actually took the bottle of wine with him?
More than ten minutes later, Qiao Jingjing voiced the thoughts of Yu Tu’s classmates.
“You actually brought the wine back?”
Yu Tu stood in the doorway and said, “I was reluctant to share it with them, so I brought it back.”
Qiao Jingjing looked at his expression as she explained, “I knew you were going and I thought of their salad so I had Xiao Zhu go to buy it, and then~~you…don’t think I’m too nosy?”
Yu tu raised his eyebrows slightly, “Am I the kind of person who can’t tell good from bad?”
Qiao Jingjing’s eyes suddenly lit up, “I think so too. So, was it worthwhile? Did it make you happy?”
Yu Tu nodded, “Like a successful rocket launch.”
What the hell kind of description is that? Qiao Jingjing burst into laughter, what’s this about being so happy and a rocket launch or something…
“Why do I feel that sounds a little dirty…”
Yu Tu could neither laugh nor cry, “What are you thinking about?”
“No, no.” Qiao Jingjing quickly changed the topic. “So~~Would you like to have a drink to celebrate the rocket launch?”
Six-figure wine? Yu Tu was about to refuse when Qiao Jingjing said, “Although it’s only a few hundred yuan, it shouldn’t be wasted.”
Yu Tu suspected he heard wrongly, “A few hundred yuan?”
“Of course! You think I’m stupid enough to buy such expensive wine for people I don’t know?” Qiao Jingjing proudly said, “I know the owner. I filmed there before. This was an empty bottle used during filming.”
“…” Yu Tu had nothing to say to that.
“Do you want to drink it or not? Anyway, I’ve stopped playing games for the night. I found that my left thumb has developed a callous.”
Yu Tu answered by walking in with the wine and closing the door.
Qiao Jingjing cheered and ran to the kitchen, “I’ll get the glasses.”
The did not drink the wine immediately, because Qiao Jingjing suddenly remembered a question.
What is the calorie count of red wine?
It seemed like it might be high so she looked it up on Baidu. Fortunately, the calories in red wine could be considered low, about 70 calories every 100 grams, which was acceptable.
So then Qiao Jingjing took the glasses all over the room looking for a place to drink.
The balcony was too cold, the dining room was too dull. In front of the French window seemed good, but it needed more atmosphere, so she took the roses from the table and pulled two candles from a drawer…
It’s done!
Yu Tu had been silently checking his watch. After twenty minutes had passed, among the flowers and candlelight, he finally had his first sip of the wine.
That night, they didn’t drink till very late or even say very much. Yu Tu was a little grateful that Qiao Jingjing didn’t ask him anything, and instead just criticized red wine for not being as good as rice wine, talked about her pig headed teammates in the game, and then happily brought out her phone to take selfies…
Outside the floor-to-ceiling window, the night view of Shanghai glistened and Yu Tu had never felt so relaxed.
Zhai Liang’s WeChat had been bombarding his phone with messages and he waited until he was on his way home to read them.
“Who is Miss Qiao?”
“Who is Miss Qiao? Who is she?”
Miss Qiao…
She’s a famous celebrity who has to take out the kitchen scale to calculate calories before she drinks.
Once, an old classmate who is just now getting to know.
Dramas On My Mind 