Spring had only just slipped away, yet the sweltering heat had already descended upon Nanjiang City with unexpected force. A few days earlier, faint traces of cool wind still lingered in the air. Now it felt as though a long-building wave of scorching warmth had swept in all at once.
Pedestrians on the streets had been caught unprepared, still dressed in their long-sleeved spring clothes. Those who found the warmth too much simply draped their jackets over their arms. A handful of others had already switched to shorts and light vests, their sunglasses shielding half their faces as they strolled confidently through the bustling crowds.
Lin Chu sat by the window in the coffee shop, glancing occasionally at her watch. When the waiter cleared her empty cup and asked if she wanted anything more, she thought for a moment before dialing Ye Jing’s number. A soft beep sounded, and at that very instant the wind chimes at the café entrance tinkled while her phone’s ringtone filled the air.
Ye Jing swept in like a whirlwind. She quickly ordered a chilled drink, then dropped into the seat across from Lin Chu, still catching her breath. “Hey, where’s your man? Weren’t you two supposed to come admire the view together?”
Lin Chu felt a chill run down her spine at the words. She grabbed a tissue from the table and tossed it over. A few lines of blurry colored handwriting covered the paper. “Watch your mouth. Don’t disgust me. Here.” She pointed at the tissue. “My mom called earlier. These were other blind date options she suggested. When she asked what I thought, I told her I was quite happy with the one I have now and had no plans for any more. Only then did she finally drop the subject.”
Ye Jing grinned with delight. She glanced at the two promising names and thanked her friend without hesitation. She was not in any hurry to find a partner herself, but it never hurt to keep a few possibilities in mind.
Lin Chu had graduated only a year earlier, yet in her mother’s eyes she had already reached the age where marriage became a pressing matter. Whenever Lin Chu had a quiet moment amid her busy days, her mother would call with gentle but insistent concern. “You have such a stable job at a state-owned enterprise now. Of course you can afford to be selective. But once a woman passes twenty-five, things become much harder. Do you think I enjoy pressuring you? I only worry because I care. A man can still bloom beautifully at thirty, but a woman’s value fades so quickly with age.”
Lin Chu found the comparison deeply jarring, yet she never wanted to waste time arguing. She simply nodded along each time. The man she was meeting today had crossed paths with her once before, though neither remembered the other clearly. With the weekend drawing near, they had decided to reach out again.
Ye Jing clicked her tongue. “I think he’s just trying to drive up his own value. He doesn’t remember you? How could anyone forget a face like yours? And you were so indifferent that day, just had one drink and left. Your mother really knows how to push those age buttons. These days, what pretty girl worries about never finding someone to marry?”
Lin Chu offered a small smile but said nothing.
The two friends lingered over their conversation until the sun began to dip lower in the sky. They paid the bill and stepped out into the warm evening air. Ye Jing linked arms with Lin Chu as they strolled along, sharing every detail of the week that had just passed.
“I reconnected with him recently, but we still haven’t met up,” Ye Jing said, her voice heavy with distress. Her ex-boyfriend had married into a wealthy family only six months after graduation. He now owned a car and a house, and his wife was expecting. Yet lately he had started reaching out, clearly missing the girlfriend he once said had left him behind.
Lin Chu never liked getting involved in other people’s romantic entanglements. She simply reminded her friend to guard her boundaries. When she finished speaking, she turned to look at Ye Jing and noticed her furrowed brows and distant gaze. A soft sigh escaped her lips.
Fridays always brought the thickest crowds to the streets, with traffic already slowing even before the evening rush. Ye Jing envied Lin Chu’s gentle schedule, those enviable hours from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon that so many others wished for. Lin Chu, in turn, shared some of the less shining realities of working for a state-owned enterprise. The job appeared stable and respectable from the outside, but the demands beneath the surface were often exhausting.
As they arrived at the district youth activity center, several groups of people were pouring out one after another. Ye Jing gave Lin Chu’s arm an excited shake. “They’re choosing apartments!”
The affordable housing selection process had just begun and would continue for five full days. Tomorrow was Saturday, which meant the crowds would only grow even larger.
Ye Jing looked on with envy. “Do you know how high housing prices have climbed these days? Our Nanjiang City may not excel in many areas, but when it comes to property values, it certainly holds its own. It may not be as grand as Beijing, yet it competes fiercely on housing prices. Before long it will catch up completely. I’m worried I won’t even be able to afford one of these subsidized units in the future.”
Housing remained the most heartbreaking topic of all. Renting meant pouring money into someone else’s mortgage, while buying a home was far from simple. Relying solely on oneself without family support felt like an impossible dream for most. Yet depending on parents to purchase a place, even for just a few decades of use, left a bitter taste of resentment. Besides, how many parents in Nanjiang City could truly afford such a purchase? In the end, it all seemed like nothing more than wishful thinking.
Lin Chu spoke with quiet eloquence, dousing Ye Jing’s fiery enthusiasm for buying a home in a single breath. She also asked her friend to come help with moving next Saturday. Even so, Ye Jing could not resist stealing another glance inside the activity center, her longing still buried deep within her heart.
Shen Zhongxun stood by the roadside, watching Lin Chu chatter away without pause. His car came to a gentle stop. The assistant promptly opened the door for him and began reporting on the affordable housing selection. More than two thousand units were available this time, and the success rate had risen compared to the previous year. The lower-priced districts proved especially popular.
Shen Zhongxun leafed through the documents and instructed the driver to head toward the City Investment Group. The assistant nodded obediently, and the car eased forward through the congested lane, moving at a pace that seemed strangely in rhythm with Lin Chu’s steps.
Feeling a touch of fatigue, Shen Zhongxun set the papers aside and leaned back in his seat. From the corner of his eye he caught sight of Lin Chu once more and simply watched her without turning away. The evening air felt even more humid than the afternoon heat, yet the seemingly delicate young woman remained wrapped in long sleeves and trousers, as though she belonged to an entirely different season.
Only when the traffic finally began to thin did he look away. Towering buildings receded swiftly behind them, half-hidden in the soft gray haze of dusk.
A sudden downpour broke in the middle of the night. Lin Chu stirred awake to the steady patter of rain against the glass. Still drowsy, she rose to close the window. As her fingers brushed the handle, she noticed Old Wu from across the street hurrying toward the main entrance downstairs. The lively sounds of drinking and clinking glasses from the nearby food stalls drifted up intermittently through the rain.
This neighborhood had once been a cluster of old farmers’ houses. A few years earlier, the buildings were torn down and rebuilt into rows of identical structures, forming a sizable residential area. Each house followed the same layout: the first floor belonged to the owner, while the second and third floors offered several rooms for rent. Most tenants were migrant workers, so the place remained noisy well past midnight.
Lin Chu’s rented room faced north and stayed dark and damp throughout the day. The twelve-square-meter space cost her six hundred yuan each month, which felt like a stretch. Fortunately, she had found a shared apartment in Guanjin Garden just days ago. Though the rent was higher, it was a proper community with better security in every way. She looked forward to moving in the following week.
The older woman exchanged a few polite words and quickly called the two little girls over to thank Lin Chu. With their eyes still red and swollen from crying, the children offered soft, delicate words of gratitude. Lin Chu bent down, spoke gently to them for a moment, then headed downstairs with her bags.
Two men happened to be coming up the stairs at that moment. When they spotted her, they let out playful whistles. “Little sister, why didn’t you say goodbye before moving out?”
Lin Chu forced a smile, stepped quickly to the side, and continued dragging her luggage down the street with a rhythmic clatter. Some idle young men lived in the building. Perhaps because she looked so youthful, they enjoyed teasing her from time to time, though they meant no real harm. Lin Chu understood this, yet she preferred to keep her distance. After walking a short way, she slowed her pace, struggling with the heavy load. She squeezed onto a crowded bus for part of the journey before finally reaching Guanjin Garden.
The new apartment sat on the eleventh floor and featured three bedrooms plus a living room. The living room had been divided with wooden partitions, and someone was already settled there. The sub-landlord, Shi Tingting, gave her a quick tour. The unfurnished spaces were simple and easy to take in at a glance.
The small south-facing room held a modest wooden bed and a worn wardrobe. The cement floor was uneven, and a ring of cobwebs clung to the yellowed light bulb overhead.
Shi Tingting switched off the light and asked casually, “By the way, I work in foreign trade at a pharmaceutical company, and Sang Feiyan is at an insurance firm. What about you?”
Lin Chu pushed her luggage closer to the bed and replied, “I work for the Environmental Group.”
Shi Tingting looked puzzled, so Lin Chu explained with a smile, “It’s part of the city investment company.”
“Oh, a state-owned enterprise?” Shi Tingting asked in surprise. She continued, “Are you still interning? Did you just graduate?”
“I’ve been working for a year now,” Lin Chu answered.
Shi Tingting smiled warmly. “You still look like a student. I graduated more than two years ago. Sang Feiyan is the oldest among us and has been working for three years. We usually start at eight thirty in the morning and finish around six in the evening. The balcony is in my room. If you need to hang clothes to dry, feel free to come over whenever it suits you.”
Lin Chu nodded and thanked her. Shi Tingting did not linger. She returned to her own room to change into a dress before heading out for her date.
Lin Chu spent the rest of the afternoon tidying up. She cleared away piles of trash and dust, then walked to a nearby supermarket to buy some groceries and a new light bulb. Her cash reserves were running dangerously low.
Back in her room, she positioned two chairs beneath the fixture, swapped in the brighter incandescent bulb, and had just jumped down when her phone began to ring.
Ye Jing spoke in a bright, innocent tone, but Lin Chu replied irritably, “I don’t know you. You must have dialed the wrong number.”
Ye Jing quickly switched to an apologetic laugh. “Sorry, I really did have something come up. But look, you managed to move without me after all.”
“I still have half my things left to bring over. Can you help me tomorrow?”
At those words, Ye Jing immediately began to stammer and changed the subject. Lin Chu had been busy all day and had no patience left for games, so she said a few quick words and hung up.
Though the unfinished apartment was modest, it offered a wonderful quiet. Cars flowed steadily along the road and bridge outside, yet not a single sound penetrated the walls. The ventilation felt fresh, and there were hardly any mosquitoes. Lin Chu slept deeply for two nights and arrived at work feeling full of energy. Still, the recent stress of apartment hunting and chorus rehearsals had worn her down. She had lost weight rapidly and now looked so slender she might be carried off by the slightest breeze. Even so, her boss showed no mercy.
During the morning meeting, the leader laid out the plans. “This Saturday’s event is especially important. Leaders from the municipal party committee and senior executives from the City Investment Group will all be attending. We cannot afford any mistakes. Let’s have Xiaolin from our department serve as one of the hostesses.”
Hearing this, Lin Chu immediately lifted a document to hide her face, which sent the whole room into laughter. The leader chuckled along. “Practice makes perfect. It is not as if this is your first time. It is good for a young lady to gain more experience.”
Lin Chu let out a soft groan. After the meeting, she returned to her seat in low spirits, her earlier good mood completely evaporated.
A colleague teased her gently. “Don’t look so down. Everyone coming on Saturday is a big shot. Who knows? You might just meet a rich and handsome man.”
Lin Chu offered a dry laugh, but the words barely registered.
