WBAI Chapter 37

The company’s basement levels one and two were both parking lots. Yu Feng’s car was parked on the second underground level, where most of the vehicles belonged to the company’s executives. There were fewer cars and even fewer people here.

“What do you want for dinner?” Yu Feng asked Xie An’yu.

“How about we buy some groceries and cook at home?”

Yu Feng nodded. “Sure. I’ll cook today.”

“You know how to cook?”

“Mm,” Yu Feng replied without a hint of modesty. “And I’m really good at it.”

Xie An’yu chuckled.

“Zhou Yi invited us to his place for hotpot tomorrow night. Want to go?” Yu Feng turned to look at Xie An’yu. “We can bring Yue Lai along.”

“I can’t tomorrow night. My aunt already asked me to have dinner at her place. She invited me a while ago.”

“Your aunt?”

“Mm, she’s also in Beicheng.”

Based on what Yu Feng knew so far, his impression of Xie An’yu’s aunt wasn’t particularly favorable. “Did she know you didn’t have a place to stay for a while?”

“Actually, when I first came to Beicheng, I stayed at my aunt’s place. I moved out later.”

“Why did you move out?”

“Just taking care of her own family is already exhausting for her. I didn’t want to become an extra burden.”

Yu Feng understood. Once he knew the real situation, his prejudice against Xie An’yu’s aunt instantly disappeared.

Xie An’yu added, “Besides, helping me isn’t her obligation.”

Yu Feng glanced at him.

“My mom once told me that my aunt was the most educated person in our family. She left our little island, went to university outside, and saw a broader world. I was still young when she told me this, and back then, I just thought my aunt was amazing. I didn’t understand anything else.”

Xie An’yu kept his eyes on the road ahead, speaking at an even pace. “Later, when I came to Beicheng and saw her, I realized she seemed to have just gone from one small island to another. She’s Wu Meng and Wu Jie’s mother, my uncle’s wife. She didn’t live any freer or easier just because she’d seen a broader world.”

Yu Feng watched Xie An’yu intently. Xie An’yu let out an almost imperceptible sigh and lowered his gaze slightly. His regret for his aunt’s past was genuine.

Xie An’yu was a man of few words, but he thought deeply. Yet he didn’t dwell on himself—he was always thinking about others.

“She’s trapped by her social roles,” Yu Feng said. “If she heard what you just said, she’d probably be glad someone truly understands her from her perspective.”

Society is advancing rapidly, but the traditional expectations for women have persisted to this day. They are bound to the roles of wife and mother, and they are led to believe that pursuing their own identity is an aberrant and rebellious act. If their focus shifts even slightly toward themselves, they instinctively feel they have become ‘selfish’ and ‘irresponsible’.

Xie An’yu turned to look at Yu Feng, suddenly moved. He rarely shared these unfiltered thoughts with anyone, but Yu Feng truly understood him—and the situation of his aunt as he described it.

Xie An’yu hummed in agreement. “I feel like she was only Xie Li for a very short time.”

“She’s been burdened with so many social roles; she shouldn’t still have to be Xie An’yu’s aunt,” Yu Feng voiced the words Xie An’yu wanted to say.

Xie An’yu suddenly smiled. “Every time I talk to you, I feel like reading more books is really important.”

“Every time I talk to you, I feel like an angel has descended to earth,” Yu Feng said as he found his car and unlocked it with the key. “I haven’t read as many books as you think. Before I met you, I was just an empty-headed, useless person.”

No thoughts, no joy—only numbness and endless loneliness.

The wind has no direction unless it blows toward an island.

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of footsteps echoed from the direction of the elevator. They both turned to look. Tang Shu and Irene walked over together. They hadn’t noticed that others were there. Tang Shu put her arm around Irene’s shoulders, leaned in, and kissed her on the lips as if no one else were around.

Xie An’yu was stunned.

Not just because he saw two women kissing, but more importantly because he recognized both of them—one was the editor-in-chief of 《Charm》, and the other was the model he had met in the studio that morning.

Yu Feng instinctively turned to look at Xie An’yu. The shock on Xie An’yu’s face was impossible to hide; he looked genuinely startled.

Yu Feng opened the passenger door and said casually, “Stop staring. Your eyes are going to pop out, and I’ll have to pick them up for you.”

Xie An’yu came back to his senses and glanced at Yu Feng.

Yu Feng held the car door handle, tilting his head toward the interior. “Get in, young master.”

Xie An’yu, who had been wide-eyed with shock just a second ago, couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

He climbed into the car, looking up at Yu Feng outside, and murmured, “What kind of young master has a blender in his stomach?”

Yu Feng nearly laughed out loud. Xie An’yu usually seemed quiet and reserved, but when he cracked a joke, it could be downright hilarious. This kind of deadpan deadpan delivery was often the most potent.

Yu Feng chuckled and closed the car door. Tang Shu and Irene, noticing the movement, also caught sight of the rare, radiant smile on Yu Feng’s face.

“Am I seeing things before I’m even thirty?” Tang Shu walked over with a grin. “Or did I recognize the wrong person? Is this really Yu Feng—Teacher Yu?”

Irene glanced at Xie An’yu sitting in the car and said to Yu Feng, “You’ve been quite the spectacle at the company today—taking someone to the studio, having lunch together, and now leaving work with the kid. Very unlike your usual style.”

“Quite the network of spies,” Yu Feng said as he walked around to the driver’s side. “The company’s full of people who judge others by their status. If I don’t make it clear that I know him, this honest kid might get bullied.”

His words wasn’t an exaggeration. The workplace could be brutal, especially in big corporations—a melting pot of all kinds of people.

Irene just smiled and said nothing.

Xie An’yu sat in the car, unable to hear the conversation outside clearly.

Tang Shu’s gaze shifted, meeting Xie An’yu’s eyes through the window. She leaned closer to Irene and whispered, “Boyfriend?”

Irene shook her head, smiling. “Tenant.”

Tang Shu laughed. “What is that?”

“Next time you want to be intimate, be discreet. A parking garage is also a public place,” Yu Feng said. “It’s quite indecent.”

With that, Yu Feng got into the car.

Tang Shu looked as if she’d seen a ghost. “Are they really dating? He’s usually as lively as a corpse—when has he ever had so many expressions on his face? He even knew how to joke with people.”

“When has he not liked to joke with people?” Irene said with a faint smile. “That sharp tongue of his has always been ruthless.”

“When hasn’t he loved cracking jokes?” Irene said with a faint smile. “That sharp tongue of his has always been ruthless.”

***

Yu Feng got into the car and placed the book on the center console before starting the engine. After a long moment of silence, Xie An’yu finally spoke: “Brother Yu, they…”

“A couple,” Yu Feng replied.

“Does that mean they’re dating?”

Yu Feng chuckled. “What else could it be? They were kissing—you think they’re just good friends?”

Xie An’yu’s reaction was perfectly normal, so Yu Feng didn’t bother asking if he found it disgusting or unacceptable. It was unlikely Xie An’yu harbored such prejudices, but ultimately, he was still walking the socially accepted path. Yu Feng didn’t want to interfere with that.

“Think about what we should eat today when we go to the supermarket later,” Yu Feng said.

Xie An’yu hummed in agreement, then glanced at the book on the console and asked, “Brother, what are you reading?”

Yu Feng glanced at it. “Not a book—a photography collection.”

“Photos?”

“Mm, really beautiful ones. They capture China from thirty or forty years ago.” Yu Feng turned to look at Xie An’yu. “The era your parents lived in.”

Come to think of it, Yu Feng was probably only about a decade younger than Xie An’yu’s parents. The comparison made him suddenly feel much older than Xie An’yu.

He had always thought of himself as still quite young.

Yu Feng sighed inwardly. He’s a real old fogey, he thought, and he’s still having inappropriate thoughts about a kid who just came of age.

Xie An’yu asked Yu Feng, “Can I borrow it to look at?”

Yu Feng had read this photography collection many years ago—back in college, he’d practically worn it out.

“You can take it if you want to,” Yu Feng said. “Just be careful not to get it dirty. I borrowed this from the library.”

“Brother, do you like reading a lot?”

“It’s alright. Helps pass the time when I have nothing else to do.”

At first glance, Yu Feng gave off a very casual, cool-guy vibe, but there was always an indescribable artistic air about him—something Xie An’yu had gradually come to notice during their time together.

Maybe it was because he hadn’t had much schooling, but Xie An’yu found this quality in Yu Feng inexplicably captivating.

How to describe this feeling?

Just like Yu Feng’s name—a gentle, refreshing breeze, intangible and untouchable, yet something the heart yearns for.

---

The author has something to say:

The photography collection Brother Yu was looking at is called 《China Yesterday》.

The author is Yan Lei[mfn]T/N: Yann Layma‘s Chinese name.[/mfn].

[dropdown title=”List of Idiom in Chapter 37″]
目不轉睛 (mù bù zhuǎn jīng): unable to take one’s eyes off (idiom); to gaze steadily; to stare; look attentively; to gaze into each other’s eyes; to not take their eyes off of each other; to stare at something without moving one’s eyes, and is used to describe a person’s high concentration of attention.

離經叛道 (lí jīng pàn dào): to deviate from the Confucian classics or the orthodoxy; to deviate from the mainstream thought or norms; to rebel against orthodoxy; to depart from established practices; to depart from the theoretical ideas in the classics and to rebel against morality. It now generally refers to a departure from the dominant theory or doctrine.

不著邊際 (bù zhuó biān jì): not to the point; wide of the mark; irrelevant; neither here nor there; offtopic; beside the point; rambling; without substance; inconsequential; aimless; empty, unrealistic or far-fetched speech.

無邊無際 (wú biān wú jì): boundless; limitless; vast; an extremely wide range.

旁若無人 (páng ruò wú rén): lit. as if no one is by one’s side; to selfishly do what one wants without regard to other people’s wishes; to act as though there were nobody else present; unselfconscious; without regard for others; act as if no one else was nearby—be self-important and unmindful of others; have no regard of people around; doing one’s own thing and not being influenced by others. It can also be described as arrogant.

大驚失色 (dà jīng shī sè): to turn pale with fright; be terrified; be scared out of one’s wits; be struck with horror; be aghast; be appalled; to be greatly shocked and dismayed; to be so shocked that one’s face changes color. It means to be extremely frightened.

悶聲不響 (mēn shēng bù xiǎng): to not say a word; to keep silent; silent; keeping quiet; without a word; without making a sound; quietly; without saying anything; the state of a person remaining silent and not making any sound. It includes both the behavior of “not saying a word, not making a sound” and the psychological state of “feeling depressed and holding back”.

心嚮往之 (xīn xiàng wǎng zhī): yearning for sb. or sth; yearn for; aspire to; long for; be drawn to; have one’s heart set on; be enamored with; to have a strong yearning for a certain person or thing.
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