On a Friday in May, it was 10:30 in the morning in the Science and Technology Venture Capital Building in Jiangnan District, Hong Kong City.
"Noah, just sort out the minutes of the meeting and send them to our mailbox before you get off work. Get ready. I'll take you to have brunch with the client, and remember to bring the financing plan and research information reviewed yesterday. "
In the bright and clean glass partition conference hall, everyone in the project team had just finished a meeting. Zhao Chengming, who was sitting at the head, saw his colleagues leaving one after another. He tapped his fingers on the table, as if he was thinking about the contents of the meeting just now. content.
At this time, the typing sounds on the keyboard continued. It was not obvious because of the crowd just now, but now that they had dispersed, the sound was especially clear. Zhao Chengming raised his eyes and looked at the intern sitting at the end of the conference room, typing on his notebook. He smiled and said the above words.
This intern named Noah is naturally He Tianran who has just entered the workplace.
In this investment team with an average age of 30 years old, He Tianran appears to be particularly young, so he is usually responsible for the chores of meeting minutes and sorting out information. Although others may speak lightly, no one among the old people around him dares to talk to him. Yi commanded.
In fact, colleagues only know that this young man’s English name is Noah, and that he is a fresh graduate from the Department of Finance at the University of Hong Kong this year. The rest of his background is unknown. However, in the past, the team led by Zhao Chengming has never let a fresh graduate from the university come in. The precedent of the internship, not to mention the direct follow-up to the ongoing project, so based on this alone, veterans with rich workplace sense can quickly determine the clues behind this intern.
He Tianran raised his head when he heard the sound and responded energetically: "No problem, Uncle Zhao."
The man in his forties in front of him is his current boss, the deputy general manager of Sequoia Capital Shanghai.
It stands to reason that the scale of the projects in Hong Kong City is average, and it is not enough for him to lead a team to Hong Kong in person. However, since he is a native of Hong Kong City, he has not come back to visit in the past two or three years, so this time He took the initiative to ask for permission, thinking it was time to go back to his hometown and visit relatives and friends during his break from work.
Speaking of which, Zhao Chengming is He Panshan's junior student, and He Tianran's old senior at the University of Hong Kong. However, he was not studying finance at the University of Hong Kong, but philosophy. During his time at school, he and He Panshan only had a reputation for each other. I've heard a little bit about it, but I haven't heard anything about it.
After leaving the University of Hong Kong, Zhao Chengming chose to go to the United States for further study. He spent several years on the other side of the ocean studying for a master's degree at an Ivy League school, then worked in an investment bank and became a Wall Street elite.
The real acquaintance with He Panshan happened at a summit forum in the financial industry after returning to work in China. The two were both from Hong Kong and alumni of the University of Hong Kong. They had known each other for a long time in their early years. After getting acquainted, they felt like old friends at first sight. At that time, Zhao Chengming has become a successful professional manager, and He Panshan's Shanhai Technology is also in a booming stage of take-off.
After He Tianran joined the project team, Zhao Chengming took great care of him. This was not only the friendship between fathers and generations, but also a kind of local sentiment.
As we all know, Hong Kong City is a city of immigrants. For people of Grandpa He Tianran’s generation, they have no sense of belonging to this land. However, their next generation’s feelings towards this place are completely opposite, because they are Watching high-rise buildings rise on this land, it has successfully become an emerging first-tier city.
They have witnessed the rapid development of this city throughout their childhood, boyhood, and youth. Now the third generation of young people in Hong Kong City has gradually grown up. For these outstanding latecomers, out of love for their hometown, they subconsciously want to Give me a helping hand.
And He Tianran is undoubtedly the best among them.
"Ouch, don't call me like that. You should just call me Nathan like everyone else here. I feel really old when you guys like me call me uncle one after another."
Zhao Chengming corrected him. He is a typical financial practitioner. He speaks a mixture of Chinese and English. He likes to be decent and pays attention to appearance and style. He only drinks beer from niche craft breweries, red wine from famous international brands, and single malt whiskey without any added ingredients. Ice, Japanese food does not come with wasabi, it has to be freshly ground wasabi. If you have a meeting in the morning or noon, let’s just have a brunch instead of a meeting. As for the afternoon meeting, you will say casually, let’s go have a coffee.
Moreover, he is still a DINK. Apart from having no children after being married for more than ten years, his family is very harmonious. His usual behavior is no different from that of young people. He only puts his dignity on business matters, so He Tianran gets along with him very easily, like An older brother, not an uncle of the same generation as his father.
The "Uncle Zhao" just said was just a joke. He Tianran knew that Zhao Chengming was most sensitive to his age. According to him, if he was too mature, he would not be able to understand today's young entrepreneurs and miss some opportunities.
"Well Nathan, after I have a meeting with the client today, can I first..."
He Tianran gestured with his fingers and made a walking gesture, indicating whether he could escape first, and promised:
"I won't drink the coffee, but I will definitely give you the summary of the meeting and the minutes of the meeting and the client before you get off work tonight."
"Why? If you don't have a good reason, I won't approve it for you, you know..." Zhao Chengming was a little confused, he crossed his arms and said bluntly: "Although your father hopes that you will study with me, but I don’t want you to come here to take classes.”
He Tianran explained:
"It's like this. I have to go back to school early in the afternoon to pick up my girlfriend. Then we plan to meet her parents together and confess our relationship. This is my first official visit. I can't... …Ha ha."
He Tianran shrugged, and Zhao Chengming immediately said "Wow" with excitement, and then said with some distress:
"I'm sorry Noah, I know you may need some elders' advice now, but I can't say anything to you from a father's perspective, but as a man I can give you a word..."
He clenched his right hand into a fist and knocked on the table a few times quickly. The thumping sound was very encouraging. Then he raised his index finger and shook it towards He Tianran. After thinking for a moment, he encouraged him in a deep voice:
"KNOCK THEM DEAD! (Be nice and kill them!)"
After being infected by Zhao Chengming's actions, He Tianran was inexplicably excited. He closed the cover of his laptop and made a "pop" sound, like a heavy nod. He said confidently:
"I GET IT!"
…
…
The meeting with the client ended not too late at noon, and I was free at about three o'clock. When He Tianran drove to HKU, it was already 4:30 in the afternoon. Fortunately, we didn't catch the traffic jam during the rush hour, otherwise I wouldn't have been there at 5:30. It will definitely arrive.
After arriving at school, he was not in a hurry to find Cao Aiqing, because he knew that Cao Aiqing had classes in the afternoon, so he sent a message that he had returned to school, then took his notebook to the library and began to organize the content of today's meeting. .
Soon Cao Aiqing responded to the message, just a simple inquiry:
"What song do you want to listen to later? Hackberry? Or Mayday?"
He Tianran then remembered that Cao Aiqing had to go to the radio station to broadcast today. She was now considered the first sister of the radio station, so even if she had a scheduled shift, it would be during a good time period like Friday afternoon.
The man thought of old men like his father and Zhao Chengming for no reason. They all seemed to be quite fond of some old songs, so he took advantage of the situation to find out and replied:
"Let's play a song that Professor Cao likes. I want to hear it and see if my taste matches."
About ten seconds later, the news came.
"Pretending to be weird again, okay~ I really need to think about this carefully."
He Tianran smiled sweetly when he saw the news. Although a song on a radio station is not a big deal, this kind of openly preferring to take advantage of his position, and this kind of little secret that only we know, really make ordinary people happy. days, adding a different kind of happiness.
Putting down his cell phone, the man stopped disturbing his girlfriend's class. He said he would get all of Zhao Chengming's meeting materials today, so he would definitely get them. Even if it was Friday, he would never delay it until the weekend.
An hour passed unknowingly. The soft music before today's broadcast was played from the speakers around the campus. He Tianran completed the work quickly. He suddenly seemed to have come to the school with Cao Aiqing's gentle voice. We walked around and finally stopped by the radio station to pick her up directly.
He stood up, put his notebook into his backpack, and walked out of the library. At this time, Cao Aiqing's voice sounded on the radio at the right time. He stopped for a moment and listened carefully:
"Happy Friday, classmates! The daily campus voice meets you again. I am today's announcer Cao Aiqing. I don't know how you are going to spend your time this weekend..."
He Tianran took advantage of this comfort and started walking again. He didn't know whether it was because he had something in mind or something, but he wanted to sit by the lead washing pool again.
So, he returned to the square stone chair where Cao Aiqing had thrown down the beads, and sat down slowly.
The scenery here is the same as it was yesterday. If we want to talk about any changes, it can only be said that the people watching the scenery have added years.
When He Tianran turned his head slightly and looked at the broken light rippling gently on the water, it seemed that time had been stretched. In the past, the night came and went in the blink of an eye, which can be said to be the previous sentence——
"In my dream, I didn't know I was a guest, and I was greedy for joy."
It was getting late, looking at the shimmering distant skyline, and the evening wind caressed the hair on his forehead. In such a lost moment, He Tianran was quiet, suddenly and gentle, and the youthful expressions on his face became cute. Dear, your sharp eyes are also lowered like willows, reflecting the light of a pool of lake.
It's getting late now, and the evening breeze is slightly cool.
No one knows what he is thinking...
"He Tianran?"
A soft call interrupted his contemplation. He Tianran raised his eyes and said unexpectedly:
"Brother Qiuxu?"
The person who came was none other than Shen Qiuxu, who was polite and smiling slightly. He Tianran moved his position to make room on the stone chair, and the two men sat side by side.
"Long time no see, Ziran. I heard from Ai Qing that you have started your internship recently. Is it going well?"
"Hey, forget it. I work 9 to 5 every day. The financial industry is very involved in internal affairs. Everyone wants to prove themselves. There is such wolf competition every day that I have to be involved. No, I just said I also worked overtime in the library to complete the work at hand.”
He Tianran naturally told him about trivial matters at work. Shen Qiuxu agreed deeply and echoed:
"Similarly, the job of a designer is the same. I often stay up late and work overtime to draw. The work and rest are very unstable. I was not used to it in the first few years after graduation. Moreover, designing is more of a psychological fatigue. I am deeply aware of Party A's aesthetics. The world is so messy, otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen to take the postgraduate entrance examination and embrace campus again.”
He Tianran laughed, "Brother Qiuxu, you are too self-effacing. Most of the time when I hear Ai Qing mention you as a senior, she always speaks with admiration and admiration."
When it came to girls, Shen Qiuxu's face visibly paused.
The news that Cao Aiqing and He Tianran were together a while ago has been spread among friends around him. Other people's boyfriends can mention it openly, but it would be very impolite to pick up the topic and continue talking about it.
He Tianran saw Shen Qiuxu's concerns and said nothing. At this time, an old Cantonese song with a sense of era came from the radio station. It was Chen Baiqiang's version of "Genius Idiot's Dream".
Everyone pursues dreams, and there is no distinction between east and west in dreams
For a moment, the spring breeze is triumphant, and the unknown scenery is hazy
Life is like a dream, good and bad come and go in the dream
Seeking pleasure can't bear the hardship, not realizing that pain and pleasure are the same
…
The two men listened quietly for a moment, and Shen Qiuxu sighed:
"What an old song..."
While He Tianran was listening to the song, he thought of something and sneered unconsciously.
"What's wrong?" Shen Qiuxu thought he was laughing at her and asked doubtfully.
He Tianran shook his head, "No, just hearing this song reminds me of a joke about myself. I just entered the workplace a while ago. In order to make it easier for my colleagues to call me, I gave myself an English name, Natural. This is The screen name I used before.”
"Natural, natural? It matches your Chinese name very well. It can also be used as a person's name, but..." Shen Qiuxu hesitated.
"Yes, this word is quite interesting. It not only means 'talented talent', but it can also be translated into a bad word like 'idiot'. I didn't pay much attention to it at first, so I suddenly heard this song "Genius Idiot Dream" "That reminds me of this. I guess Ai Qing Nanizi knew that I would hear her broadcast when I went back to school, so she was deliberately picking on me."
After He Tianran explained the cause and effect, this really made Shen Qiuxu laugh, and he also laughed:
"If you don't remind me emphatically, few people will think about it, so why don't you still call it this?"
"No, Ai Qing helped me change it when she heard about it. Haven't you been building a church? Ai Qing went to the construction site every two days, and the priest there often told her some fairy tales. I guess it was Because of this, she helped me get another one, named Noah."
In the story of the Bible, God caused the world-destroying flood to come and wash away the sins of the world. The story of Noah building an ark to protect all living things is widely circulated. You can understand its meaning without too much explanation.
Shen Qiuxu was thoughtful and said slowly, "It seems that Ai Qing really trusts you. Not long ago I asked her what kind of person she would like in the future, but in fact that person has always been by her side. Maybe you We should have been together a long time ago.”
"Right... It's just that Noah was favored by God because he was a morally perfect and good man, but I am a mortal and I always have shortcomings. I can only protect my lover, but even this , I don’t seem to do very well sometimes.”
After saying that, He Tianran raised his hand and pointed to the pool of water in the lead washing pool in front of him:
"Ai Qing and I were together before, but I made a mistake and we broke up at this position."
He Tianran didn't know why he told Shen Qiuxu this. Maybe he needed someone who was not familiar, but not a stranger, to talk to him about his feelings that would not affect each other's lives; or maybe he wanted to make this paragraph Tell one more person about the past forgotten by time to remind yourself...
"That's it..."
Shen Qiuxu didn't show much surprise, but after two seconds of silence, he said:
"So now that you have reconciled, you will naturally be together?"
"Well, it's settled."
"Then the opportunity must be the cyber violence against Ai Qing on the forum, right?"
He Tianran turned his head and looked at Shen Qiuxu.
The other party smiled:
"You don't have to look at me like that. When I put the case I found from my lawyer friend in front of Ai Qing, but she still chose to trust you, I knew she must have deep feelings for you."
He Tianran was slightly stunned. After coming back to his senses, he crossed his index finger and wiped the tip of his nose, as if he was very happy.
After these words, the two of them did not talk further, they just sat there and listened to the songs on the radio.
Nanke has a long dream, and the dream disappears without a trace. When the drunkard wakes up, will he cross the phoenix and ride the dragon?
All materials created by heaven have their uses. Fly high, no need to be in a dream
Why pursue dreams? All joys and sorrows in dreams are empty. I advise you to cherish this moment and feel endless joy.
Why pursue dreams...
In the lingering sound of the song, Shen Qiuxu stood up. It was time for him to leave. He Tianran also had to go to the radio station to pick up Cao Aiqing. Before leaving, Shen Qiuxu suddenly had a whim and asked:
"By the way, Tianran, why...you never seem to see me as a love rival?"
…
…
"So, how did you answer Brother Qiuxu at that time?"
On a certain road heading to the city, the co-driver, Cao Aiqing, took out a box of fresh strawberries bought in the school supermarket and listened to He Tianran talk about today's experience, especially about his encounter with Shen Qiuxu in the lead washing pool, the girl Pulling off the strawberry head, he handed it to his boyfriend's mouth and asked curiously.
He Tianran took the strawberry into his mouth in one mouthful, chewed it twice and swallowed it. He took a look at the red and purple navigation along the entire route, and lamented in his heart that it would be weird if the road wasn't blocked for more than half of it. .
After engaging the automatic parking, he took his hands off the steering wheel and put them behind his head, joking:
"What else can I say? It's just that I've tricked you so that you can only like me in this life, so I don't feel panic at all."
Cao Aiqing hit him and said coquettishly:
"Speak up!"
He Tianran rubbed the place where he was beaten, and then casually repeated what he said at that time:
"Let me just say, I won't resent or prevent you from getting along with good people. This is a very legitimate and positive social situation. People belong to groups and birds of a feather flock together. As friends in the past, I see you have made better friends. , step by step, I should feel proud.
Now that we are lovers, everything has settled, and there is no need for me to be at odds with Brother Qiuxu. He likes you, but you chose me in the end, which shows that there must be something in me that he is inferior to me. I won you with my hard work and strength. My lover is not stolen or snatched by me. I get angry when I see you talking to other men. Relationships are not that talkative, and I am not that unsure of myself.
What's more, Brother Qiu Xu is originally from the same major as you, and he was your leader in the previous life. It is inevitable that you will have contact and communication. Besides, I don't understand your major, so I won't let you learn it if you don't want to. ? I have no such right and no such reason.
Ai Qing, if you can be with me again, you deserve my equal sincerity and love. When I replace boring jealousy and vulgar suspicion with self-righteous understanding and upright trust, I think our relationship will definitely It can be operated as long as the sea is dry and the rocks are in ruins. "
Cao Aiqing was eating strawberries in small bites, but after listening to He Tianran's words one after another, she slowly stopped and her eyes gradually lit up as she watched her boyfriend.
It was a charming feeling that could make people happy and clear away the gloom. The girl went through many words in her mind before she came up with one that could describe the feeling that He Tianran made her feel at this moment -
Righteous.
A precious quality that is rare in today's society but ignored by most people.
The girl turned her head away, not wanting to expose the joy in her heart so easily.
"So, this is a perfect answer, right? When I say this, it means defeating the enemy without fighting. Brother Qiu Xu knew that he was defeated, leaving himself the last bit of dignity, and retreated in defeat. !”
He Tianran raised his eyebrows and started to sneer.
Cao Aiqing was amused by him for a second and teased with a smile:
"You are so good at what you say. When you were boxing with Xue Yong, who went to the school hospital and ran away in confusion when he saw Shen Qiuxu?"
He Tianran was choked by her words and hesitated:
"This...occasional jealousy is...a kind of fun, you know? And what, I..."
Boer~
Just when He Tianran started to quibble, his vision suddenly went dark, and his lips felt touched by something soft and warm, and then the softness fled away like flying, leaving a faint...
Strawberry aftertaste.
Cao Aiqing was sitting in her seat, her face dripping with beauty.
"You just...kissed me?"
He Tianran said stupidly.
"Drive, you can go, the cars behind are honking!"
"You didn't even kiss me on the Ferris wheel!!"
"Oh, let's drive~! Stop making trouble!"
"Did I make the fuss first?"
As soon as Cao Aiqing turned his head, he saw He Tianran pouting and yelling at him. He immediately blocked it with his hands and said in a panic:
"No, you...you just ate strawberries..."
He Tianran didn't care, he just moved his head forward and shouted:
"You feed me, and you still dislike me?! Besides, I'm not driving..."
"Oh, what are you talking about, what are you doing! Um..."
(End of chapter)
