The Fading Away of Our Youth (So Young) Volume 2 Chapter 15 Part1

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Chapter 15, 1/2

Zheng Wei didn’t know why she couldn’t refuse Lin Jing, maybe it was because she had be lonely for too long, and needed this kind of anchor too much. She was like a boat which had already lost its direction long ago, which entered Lin Jing’s harbor, and then had suddenly realized the feeling of not having to be afraid of where she would drift to next was truly that good. She may not want to stop there forever, however the stability that he gave her now was irreplaceable.

Of course, these things all weren’t important, because before getting the answer, Lin Jing had already successfully entered her life. At the beginning they would eat together at periodic intervals of time, then he took her home, and they logically shared a night together. Gradually, she got used to his company on weekend nights, and by the end, he was spending the majority the nights of the week at her apartment.

To Zheng Wei, getting used to Lin Jing’s existence wasn’t too hard. After all, her feelings for 17 years had been there, and even if it had vaugely fallen a lot, but the connection was still there. Lin Jing’s external appearence was gentle, but in fact he had extremely defined opinions. As it turned out, it complimented Zheng Wei’s image of cleverness, yet actually simple temper. He was extremely flexible when showing tolerance to her, not asking her to change. [If] she didn’t want to discuss to future, he would just stop asking. In reality, he couldn’t get used to her messy lifestyle habits, so he would just change it for himself. Sometimes Zheng Wei saw him taking great pains to rearrange her messily kicked high heels neatly, time and time again. Feeling bad, she would ask, “This habit of yours is just like my mom’s, but don’t you nag me about it all the time like my mom?”

Lin Jing would ask back, “If I nagged you, would you not be like this the next time?”

She answered honestly. “I can’t change it in the moment, I’d estimate that I’d still do it like before.”

“That’s just it,” Lin Jing said, “if I nagged you while cleaning up, then I have to do two things at once. It wouldn’t be as good as just saving the labor of saying it. One more thing [to do] isn’t as good as one less.”

Lin Jing’s entire body had a certain calm temprament, which let him look unruffled and calm the majority of the time. When Zheng Wei encountered troubles she easily got worried/nervous, and whenever she didn’t know what to do, Lin Jing’s steadiness was always just right for calming her fretfulness down. Whatever problems came to him, it seemed like they could all turn into little issues.

In the past four years, Zheng Wei had already learned to rely on herself for everything, and even though she inevitably pa.s.sed the day with some carelessness, she still got by. When Lin Jing returned into her life, that feeling of having someone she could rely on returned. In the night when she got thirsty, he would sleepily get up to get her some water. Before she went to work he would check to make sure her keys, phone and wallet were placed in her purse. He would patiently accompany here through shopping malls and the market, and would immediately praise whatever was recommended. He would specially go to the store to return a top she had bought recently because a rhinestone had fallen off. He was even better at remembering the exact time her period came, and he would treat all of her willful and irrational requests as things that should all be considered her right to have.

To depend on someone like Lin Jing was simply an extremely easy thing, after getting used to it you’d get addicted. Lin Jing used his seemingly effortless attempts to imperceptibly influence Zheng Wei’s life, to the extend that no matter what problems arose, Zheng Wei’s first thought was always, “What was there to be afraid of, there’s still Lin Jing.” Yes, as long as Lin Jing was here, anything could be left in his hands. Zheng Wei really wasn’t an especially independent woman. She coveted the comfort he gave her, and so she acquiesced herself to standing behind him, letting him shelter her.

What else could she ask for? This kind of man might be the kind of good fortune that many people asked for yet couldn’t get. She knew she should be content, but at night when she awoke from her dream, using the moonlight to silently look at his profile, she would always have that moment of fear — who was he?

He was her Lin Jing Gege (brother). The person she had wanted to marry ever since she was young was sleeping on the edge of her pillow, shouldn’t this be happiness then? But did other people’s happiness also have a touch of listlessness? Ruan Ruan had asked it well; what was the definition of happiness? To Zheng Wei, happiness might be being able to close her eyes, and forget the bright vividness of the time during those days when Lin Jing had been absent.

In regards to a two-person life, Zheng Wei’s single dorm room was rather excessively simple. Lin Jing had proposed that she move into his house before, but Zheng Wei had rejected, so he had no choice but to gradually move his daily products, change of clothes and laptop over to her place. The few years of life studying abroad had made the original Lin Jing who hadn’t even touched spring water to learn how to cook. Even though he could only make a few simple dishes, but they were consistent. Whenever both of them weren’t busy, he would turn on the fire to cook, and make dinner, and she sometimes would wash the dishes. Sometimes, it seemed like she felt like her days all pa.s.sed like this. The only thing that was hard for Lin Jing to adapt to was Zheng Wei’s single bed (literally, single person bed). She fit on it perfectly sleeping alone, but with one more person, no matter how close they squished, it was still overcrowded. Lin Jing was a tall person, so he obviously felt like he couldn’t stretch out lying on her single bed. She also slept tyrannically, and he was pushed to the edge of the bed every night. If he didn’t pay attention for one moment he would be in danger of falling off. After a long time like this, the quality of his sleep would inevitably be affected; sometimes when he woke up in the morning, his waist and back would ache. Therefore, he had suggested that they buy a new bed multiple times, but Zheng Wei didn’t agree. She subconsciously disagreed with this idea, but maybe, she didn’t disagree with the bed itself, but the meaning a double person bed symbolized.

When Lin Jing stayed the night at Zheng Wei’s place, he very rarely parked his car downstairs. But the complex was a very small community, allowing all of your secrets to get exposed. No matter how quiet it all was, the fact that Zheng Wei had a close boyfriend whom she was leaving with still spread to everyone very quickly. Of course, the majority of the people might not know Lin Jing’s profession and position, it’s just that everyone was jealous that she had found a young and promising husband that was just what she wanted. Lin Jing and Zheng Wei were both people who were used to apartment living since childhood, and they kept calm towards this kind of situation in which everyone knew about it. Plus, it was already a long time since what it had been like when they were children, when being born and dying both required the unit to run the whole show (I guess, having everyone up in their business?), and where an unmarried male and female had to be a part of their own private lives after getting off from work (as in, stay with their own families). So, the two people weren’t disturbed too much, and they tried to avoid acting extremely intimate when in public settings as much as possible. Zheng Wei dismissed all of the testing inquires with a long.

Contrary to what one may expect, Zhou Qu was extremely surprised by the progress of the relations.h.i.+p between Zheng Wei and Lin Jing. He asked her, “Zheng Wei, one morning, I coincidentally saw Deputy Officer Lin Jing’s car coming out from the apartment complex. Was I mistaken?” His tone carried a rare bewilderment and hesitation.

“I think that you probably weren’t mistaken.” Zheng Wei’s response affirmed his conjecture.

“I’d always thought… … ”

He had only said part of what he was going to say, but Zheng Wei understood his unspoken implication. At that time Chen Xiao Zheng had already completed his training and come back to work for some time. The manager from the superiors who was in charge of examining the group to select who to promote had already carried out the a.s.sessment, and everyone was already aware he was an a.s.sistant Manager at Er Fen. Zheng Wei said to Zhou Qu, “Boss, don’t worry. I can still separate work matters from personal matters.”

The current Zheng Wei and Chen Xiao Zheng, were even more unfamiliar [with one another] than strangers. Other then the discussions required for work matters, they wouldn’t have any extra words for one another. Ever since Chen Xiao Zheng had returned from Beijing after completing the training, he became even more icily arrogant and taciturn. He Yi and the others would praise the project manager but would complain incessantly behind his back. But although Chen Xiao Zheng had difficulty speaking (conversing with others), he was extremely cautious and accurate when it came to technology matters. The problems he pointed out all had definite goals, and he was strict on others while being even stricter on himself. So even though a lot of people were quite resentful, including He Yi, but they couldn’t not admit that he did things entirely. Plus, other than the rumors about the matter between him and the Ouyang family’s daughter, both his personal and public life all made people unable to fuss.

Er Fen was currently taking a part in the compet.i.tion to be the nation’s best, Chen Xiao was in charge of technology and quality, and Zhou Qu asked Zheng Wei to help him (CXZ) take care of a lot of computer file work. Zheng Wei didn’t dare to refuse, and naturally worked cautiously and hard, but his demands and pickiness made her repeatedly do the exact same thing over and over, until he had nothing to say.