When Zhang Qi received the official notification of his placement through the math Olympiad, it sent shockwaves through the entire alley. The kids who had grown up with him had only just accepted that Zhang Qi was now the “prodigy next door” when they were stunned to learn that he had achieved an even greater accomplishment—first prize in the national math Olympiad and a guaranteed spot at Peking University.
For the parents in the neighborhood, the news was nothing short of earth-shattering, far surpassing Shao Xue’s ability to handle. After enduring three days of her mother Yu Dong Ge singing Zhang Qi’s praises while casually belittling her, Shao Xue couldn’t help but greet Zhang Qi with a cold, “Well, look who it is—the pride of Peking University.”
Zhang Qi’s mother, Auntie Han, couldn’t withstand the constant barrage of questions about her son from everyone in the alley, so after receiving the official notification, she decided to throw a celebratory dinner.
When Shao Xue and Zheng Su Nian arrived at the restaurant, braving the cold wind, they saw Zhang Qi standing outside, looking forlornly into the distance, as if waiting for guests to arrive. Shao Xue, her face wrapped in a scarf, walked over and patted him on the shoulder, mumbling through the fabric:
“Why aren’t you inside?”
“What do you think? My mom told me to wait for the guests out here,” he sniffed. “Aren’t you about to take your art exam? What are you doing here?”
“Well, seeing how grand this occasion is, I couldn’t just skip it, right?”
“Stop mocking me, both of you,” Zhang Qi waved his hand dramatically. “These past few days, I’ve been asked to tutor three of my younger relatives. I’m starting to realize how precious an ordinary life can be.”
“Zhang Qi, saying something like that is like a billionaire reminiscing about how happiest they were when they had nothing. It's very punch-worthy.”
The restaurant specialized in Cantonese cuisine and had an excellent reputation. It was peak dining time, and the hall was packed with customers. Shao Xue skillfully maneuvered her way through the crowd to the innermost round table, where she immediately noticed Dou Si Yuan and Fu Qiao Mu, both looking visibly upset.
The two of them were clearly trying hard to keep their emotions in check, but the tension around them was unmistakable.
After greeting the elders, Shao Xue quickly leaned in toward Fu Qiao Mu’s ear.
“Qiao Mu-jie, what’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong with me?” Fu Qiao Mu shot a pointed look at Dou Si Yuan. “Why don’t you ask him what’s wrong with me.”
Dou Si Yuan’s expression was just as sour. Normally, he would follow Fu Qiao Mu’s every word, but this time he turned his head away and stayed silent. When everyone had gathered, dinner began. The adults chatted about family matters, and soon the conversation turned to Dou Si Yuan.
“Hey, didn’t Qiao Mu say she found you a job? How did that go?”
Caught off guard, Dou Si Yuan’s face darkened. He clearly wasn’t happy that Fu Qiao Mu had shared this with others. “Oh, I didn’t go.”
“Why not?” Sun Qi Rui chimed in, also displeased. “You’re doing just fine here, what’s the point of leaving?”
“The young people today are different,” Aunt Han intervened. “Everyone’s chasing better opportunities. Si Yuan graduated from a good school with a great major. Working for a big company for a few years could earn him much more than just a stable salary.”
Fu Qiao Mu put down her chopsticks, clearly upset. “Exactly. I pulled some strings with my friends to get him the opportunity, but he didn’t appreciate it at all. I had to push him to attend the interview, and what happened? My friend called me afterward, upset, saying he was cold and distant during the whole thing, making the situation incredibly awkward for her.”
Suddenly, Dou Si Yuan stood up.
Everyone around the table froze. He took a moment to collect himself, grabbed his coat, and stood behind his chair.
“Sorry, everyone. I’ve got some things to take care of at home, so I’ll be heading out.”
Shao Xue turned her head and saw that Fu Qiao Mu’s eyes had turned red.
Everyone has their own path, and Shao Xue didn’t feel it was her place to ask more. Not long after Dou Si Yuan left, Qiao Mu-jie followed suit. Zheng Su Nian checked the time and said he needed to go back to his art studio.
Barely three minutes after leaving, he came back and pulled Shao Xue outside.
“What’s going on?” Shao Xue asked, confused, as she tried to shake him off.
“Your Qiao Mu-jie is crying outside.”
Shao Xue rushed out of the restaurant in a flash.
It was cold outside. Zheng Su Nian and Shao Xue crouched on either side of Fu Qiao Mu, who was crying into a tissue, her tears freezing on her face, making it sting. Shao Xue finally found the courage to ask, “Qiao Mu-jie, why are you crying?”
“What else could it be?” Fu Qiao Mu replied after a long pause, her voice calm. “It’s because of Dou Si Yuan.”
“In the fall, he insisted on bringing me to his class reunion. A few of his classmates were talking about their jobs at companies, and two had gone abroad to study. He didn’t say much, but I could tell he was envious of their career paths. So I thought maybe he wasn’t happy with his work here, that he felt it wasn’t going anywhere. I used some of my connections to get him a job offer. And what happened? He didn’t appreciate it at all. I had to push him to even go to the interview, and then my friend called, telling me he acted so cold toward them, it was embarrassing.”
Zheng Su Nian, trying to defend Dou Si Yuan, chimed in, “But Qiao Mu-jie, Si Yuan-ge is a grown man. You arranging a job for him probably made him feel emasculated.”
“Yes,” Fu Qiao Mu angrily crumpled her tissue. “I overstepped, and now I’m the one who’s in the wrong. Great, now I’m the bad guy.”
“You were just trying to help him. Si Yuan's being unreasonable.”
They all turned around to see Sun Qi Rui standing behind them, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
The old man looked grand as ever, puffing out his chest as he strolled forward and hailed a taxi. The three younger ones were herded into the back seat, while Sun Qi Rui took the front passenger seat.
“What are you doing out here?”
“The restaurant was stuffy. I felt like going home.”
“Hmph,” Fu Qiao Mu, eyes still red, teased, “I bet your craving for a smoke kicked in and the restaurant doesn’t allow it.”
Sun Qi Rui let out a long sigh through his nose, feeling utterly unappreciated as a master.
They all had been to his place before, so they knew the way. Upstairs, the red banners and lucky characters stuck to the door were still ones the old man had written himself. Fu Qiao Mu made herself comfortable, pouring a glass of water and sitting on the sofa.
Sun Qi Rui wasted no time. “You like that brat Dou Si Yuan, don’t you?”
“No,” Fu Qiao Mu replied, perfectly composed.
“You’re being so fake,” Shao Xue scoffed. “Qiao Mu-jie, why don’t you ask around? Aside from Uncle Zheng, who among us hasn’t noticed the unspoken feelings between you two?”
Zheng Su Nian added, “Don’t you guys think you’re being a bit unfair to my dad?”
Sun Qi Rui tried to ease the tension, “Alright, Qiao Mu, how about you tell your old master here what exactly you like about Si Yuan?”
That question left Fu Qiao Mu stumped.
What did she like about him? Dou Si Yuan wasn’t romantic, he was stubborn, and while he was pleasant enough to look at, he was far from being exceptionally handsome. Nowadays, people talk about relationships like they’re investments, but where was the potential for growth in Dou Si Yuan?
In the end, Fu Qiao Mu sincerely shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“That’s exactly right,” Sun Qi Rui laughed. “If you can list reasons like one, two, three, four, then that’s just business.”
Sitting in front of him were three young people who didn’t fully understand the ways of the world. Sun Qi Rui leaned back into the sofa, reminiscing about his own younger days.
“We’re all too focused on benefits these days. But what can you do? In today’s world, money rules everything. It wasn’t like that when we were young—we still talked about ideals, about feelings.”
“Don’t think that just because I scold Si Yuan all the time that I don’t like him. That boy reminds me of myself when I was younger—stubborn, never looking back once he’s made up his mind, and never playing dirty games.”
Sun Qi Rui pointed to the bookshelf. “Su Nian, grab that photo album for me.”
Zheng Su Nian obliged, retrieving a hardcover album from the shelf. Its blue cover held black-and-white photos in the front, gradually transitioning to a few scattered color family portraits toward the back.
Sun Qi Rui opened to a page and pointed to a woman standing beside him. “This is my wife.”
The three young people were caught off guard.
Sun Qi Rui’s wife had passed away years ago, long before Shao Xue was even born. The old man rarely mentioned her, and the younger generation hadn’t dared to ask. As snow fell outside, Sun Qi Rui gently touched the photo of the woman’s face, his expression neither sorrowful nor joyful. “At the time, an auction house approached me with a lucrative offer to do artifact appraisals. I went home and asked her, ‘What do you want me to do?’”
“My son was about to study abroad, and we were scraping together his tuition. I was struggling to make ends meet. But she told me, ‘Do what you believe is valuable.’”
“So, what did I think had value? Working at the auction house would have paid well, but that would have been the limit of my life’s reach. But if I stayed in the restoration workshop, I could still leave something behind for this world.”
That statement left the three young people in stunned silence.
This was the life philosophy of an old craftsman who had spent decades perfecting his art—an idea he had carefully considered over a lifetime.
In today’s world, everything was about efficiency, money, power, and fame. But who ever told them: “You should leave something behind for this world”?
“These days, people are much more focused on material success. There are temptations everywhere, and money seems to be the ultimate goal. When you're young and you see others making big money and driving fancy cars, it's hard not to feel a little jealous. I understand. You like him, so you tried to help him by finding him a job.
“But is that really what Si Yuan wants?
“He’s young and ambitious, so of course he craves money and power. But when he weighed it all out, he decided those things didn’t mean as much as the porcelain in his hands.
“That’s what you love about him—his pride.
“If Si Yuan didn’t have that pride, you probably wouldn’t even like him.”
Fu Qiao Mu listened quietly for a long time before finally burying her face in her hands.
“Master, why do I have such terrible taste, falling for an idiot?”
“Si Yuan’s not an idiot,” Sun Qi Rui chuckled. “He’s wise in his simplicity.”
After chatting for a while longer, Sun Qi Rui saw them off. After all, children have their own fates, and no matter how much he said, it would be up to them to understand things in their own way.
The photo album still lay open on the table. Sun Qi Rui sat down and looked again at the woman’s face in the picture, finally closing the album with a reluctant sigh.
She’d been gone for twenty years now, hadn’t she?
When they stepped outside, it was already dark. Fu Qiao Mu stood in the wind, calling on the phone, “Dou Si Yuan, I’m going home.”
On the other end, Dou Si Yuan still hadn’t figured things out. “Then go.”
Shao Xue, exasperated, shouted into the phone, “Zheng Su Nian is walking me home! No one is here to accompany Qiao Mu-jie!”
The phone’s receiver worked well enough for Dou Si Yuan to hear everything clearly. He quickly responded, “Oh, oh, oh, I’ll pick you up. Where are you?”
Only then did Shao Xue leave with Zheng Su Nian. Considering how clueless Dou Si Yuan could be, it was no wonder Fu Qiao Mu was always upset with him.
The two of them strolled along the sidewalk, the streetlights casting vivid shadows on the vendors’ faces. Steam rose from food stalls, and young daredevils zoomed past on bicycles, heedless of the cold.
Zheng Su Nian suddenly broke the silence. “Did you hear what Master Sun said?”
“Which part?” Shao Xue replied nonchalantly. “He said a lot.”
“The part about leaving something behind for the world,” he said softly. “Have you ever thought about what you want to leave behind?”
Shao Xue thought for a long moment, then honestly shook her head.
“When my mom first passed away, Master Luo showed me the painting she hadn’t finished,” Zheng Su Nian continued. “Back then, I thought I was studying art to complete what she hadn’t. But now I realize it’s not that simple.”
“I want to leave something behind in this world too,” his voice grew more resolute. “I want to do something meaningful, something that will make the world remember me. I want to do more than just make a living.”
At eighteen, his eyes shone brightly under the streetlights, as if for the first time in his life, he had touched upon the true meaning of existence.
Shao Xue suddenly felt a deep admiration for him.
It was a subtle feeling, not just from the innocent thoughts of a young girl or from the long years they had spent together.
It was as if an expansive dream unfurled behind the boy standing before her, making his face glow in the night.
Later in life, Shao Xue would meet many accomplished young men—some brimming with talent, others who had found success early.
But none of them ever had that same light in their eyes that Zheng Su Nian had that night.
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