ATLAS TRANSLATES

Feng Ning remained silent, saying nothing, just smiling in response.

Min Yueyue noticed the subtle undertone in their conversation, her eyes darting between the two of them.

She suddenly became curious: “Handsome Jiang.”

Jiang Wen replied: “Just call me Jiang Wen.”

Min Yueyue made a small sound of acknowledgment. “I heard from Ning Ning that you two were high school classmates, and you went abroad right after graduation?”

Jiang Wen didn’t answer immediately. After a moment, he said: “No.”

Min Yueyue hesitated: “So you went to university in China?”

“I did my undergraduate in America,” Jiang Wen answered.

Min Yueyue was confused for a moment and voiced her doubt, “Did you start in China and then transfer abroad halfway through?”

“Mm.”

Just as she was about to ask more, Feng Ning interrupted her, “Enough, are you conducting a census?”

“I’m just showing concern!”

Jiang Wen’s phone rang, and he answered it.

Bai Hongyi: “I’m here.”

“Where?”

“At the entrance. Where are you all?”

“Zone C, 47.”

A few minutes later, Bai Hongyi arrived at the scene. Min Yueyue went over to talk with him, leaving Feng Ning and Jiang Wen alone.

Maybe it was psychological, but once Min Yueyue left, the atmosphere between the two became somewhat strange. Feng Ning felt uncomfortable. She took out her phone and started looking through some materials. After a while, she sent a voice message to Xiao Zhu, “Send me the written translation from Tina’s business visit to my email.”

Xiao Zhu: Sister Ning Ning, you should first check Guan Tongfu’s progress. I want to have a good weekend, please~~

So Feng Ning sent a message to Guan Tongfu:

-About that hotel project you mentioned earlier, is the PowerPoint done? I want to see the finished product when we get to work on Monday.

She thought for a moment and called him.

As soon as he picked up, he wailed: “Sister, are you a devil? Why are you pushing for work at this hour?”

Feng Ning: “Afraid you might slack off.”

“Just half an hour ago, the boss asked me about it too. You should go discuss life with the boss instead, you two workaholics are perfect for each other!”

“Senior Brother is back?”

“Landed at noon.”

Feng Ning made a sound of acknowledgment.

Guan Tongfu suddenly noticed something odd, “Sister Ning, I feel like you’re acting a bit strange.”

“What?”

“Are you on a blind date?”

Guan Tongfu’s words were shocking, and she was speechless, “It’s already ten o’clock, who goes on blind dates at this hour?”

“Then why else would you have the free time to call me and chat about random things?” Guan Tongfu analyzed, “You’re clearly just finding things to do, just like when I was on a blind date the other day.”

Without another word, Feng Ning hung up.

Jiang Wen glanced over: “Are you very busy with work?”

Feng Ning was much shorter than Jiang Wen, and wearing a baseball cap, she didn’t have to worry about making eye contact. She politely asked in return: “It’s okay, what about you? You must be busy too, having just returned to the country.”

“Not as busy as you.”

Feng Ning: “……”

It was dark here, with only the faint light from phones illuminating her face: “After all those years in America, you’ve certainly become more talkative than before.”

“Really?”

Feng Ning wasn’t nearly as calm inside as she appeared on the surface. When she spoke, her tone unconsciously carried a hint of sarcasm: “Of course, for every one thing I say, you can retort with ten.”

Sensing her slight temper, Jiang Wen smiled faintly and said softly: “I just want to see how long you can keep up this act of being cordial old classmates.”

Feng Ning turned her gaze away to look at Min Yueyue and the others: “I just don’t want both of us to feel awkward.”

“Awkward?”

Just then, Bai Hongyi turned and called out, “Ryan, come here for a second!”

Jiang Wen stopped speaking, gave Feng Ning a look, and said nothing.

Walking over to them, he asked: “What is it?”

His tone was a bit sharp. Bai Hongyi was puzzled, not knowing what had suddenly irritated Jiang Wen. He said, “I’m going abroad tomorrow morning, you should add this young lady on WeChat, I’ll leave the car repair matter to you two.”

After Min Yueyue added him on WeChat, Bai Hongyi said: “Let’s call it a night then, my car is still parked outside.”

Standing nearby, Min Yueyue’s eyes lit up, completely unaware of being an inconvenience to others, and quickly said: “Both Ning Ning and I have been drinking, are you heading in our direction? Could you give us a ride?”

Bai Hongyi agreed readily: “Sure, it’s completely on the way.”

The two of them walked in front, with Feng Ning falling two steps behind.

Min Yueyue maintained a high level of curiosity about Jiang Wen and Feng Ning’s past: “Why are you both so calm? You don’t seem like long-lost lovers at all.” She added, “Even though you broke up.”

After a moment of silence, Feng Ning said: “What else should we do, hold hands and look at each other with teary eyes?”

“Not like that.”

Min Yueyue exclaimed, “Just, at least, at least it should be a bit awkward, right? Don’t people who break up become enemies? Or strangers? I saw you two chatting quite naturally just now.”

Feng Ning slowly steadied her breathing and said in a measured voice, word by word, “If it weren’t for you blocking someone’s car and then hitting it, would I be standing here now, having an awkward chat with my ex-boyfriend?”

“Don’t be so fierce.”

Min Yueyue rarely saw Feng Ning angry, she said, “The way you’re acting clearly shows you haven’t gotten over him.”

They got in the car and fastened their seatbelts. Bai Hongyi casually picked up some xylitol from the center console, took out two pieces of gum, popped them in his mouth, and turned to ask them, “Want some?”

Min Yueyue accepted, “Yes, thank you!”

She poured some into her palm and shared a piece with Feng Ning.

It was mint flavored, crisp when bitten into, spreading a fresh coolness on the tongue.

Bai Hongyi adjusted the rearview mirror, “Where do you live?”

Min Yueyue gave an address.

“And you, beautiful?”

Nudged, Feng Ning came back to her senses, “What?”

“Where do you live?”

“Near Yu Nan City.”

“OK, got it.”

The evening temperature wasn’t very high, and all the car windows were rolled down, making the breeze quite pleasant. After ten o’clock, Shanghai’s streets became quiet. Bai Hongyi asked: “You’re Ryan’s high school classmate?”

Feng Ning leaned against the window: “Mm.”

“I’m Bai Hongyi, you can call me Andrew. Ryan and I were college classmates.”

Min Yueyue, being talkative, asked: “Oh… which school did you both attend?”

Bai Hongyi answered: “Yale. I did my Bachelor’s and Master’s there, Ryan went to MIT after graduation.”

“Ah? Yale!! MIT!!” This was beyond Min Yueyue’s expectations: “Wow… MIT!! Master’s!! You’re actually intellectuals?! I couldn’t tell at all!!!”

Min Yueyue’s social circle was quite broad, though she had few close friends but plenty of casual ones. In her domestic circle, everyone was like her, rich kids fooling around without studying much, and she rarely connected with truly outstanding people.

So Min Yueyue was quite surprised after learning about their educational background: “You don’t look like nerds at all.”

“Really, what do we look like then?”

Min Yueyue answered honestly: “Players.”

Bai Hongyi laughed: “Well, can’t blame me for being too handsome.”

The car was filled with their chatter, creating a warmer atmosphere. Min Yueyue sighed: “I was originally planning to study in Melbourne, but my dad thought the school wasn’t prestigious enough, so he spent money to get me a spot through independent recruitment, and I stayed in China.”

“Studying abroad is actually pretty good, suitable for party animals like me.”

Min Yueyue casually said: “Given American culture, you two must have had quite a few girlfriends in college, right?”

Bai Hongyi: “To be honest, everyone around me was single. Several stayed single for four years, like this guy next to me.”

Min Yueyue was shocked again: “Really? Him? Single for four years?!”

“Yeah.” Bai Hongyi laughed and said, “Though our school’s academic burden was pretty heavy, that was part of the reason.”

“That… that’s really unexpected, not even one girlfriend?” Min Yueyue was almost stuttering, “I was just thinking someone as handsome as Jiang Wen must be quite a player in relationships, who knew he didn’t date at all.”

Bai Hongyi seemed to remember something, “Actually, I’m not sure, I only know Ryan had a girlfriend in high school, and that was something he mentioned when he was drunk.”

Min Yueyue gave Feng Ning a meaningful look. Her curiosity piqued, she pleaded, “What did he say? Tell us!”

Hearing this, Feng Ning couldn’t help but turn to glare at Min Yueyue, mouthing ‘enough already.’

Bai Hongyi, unaware of Feng Ning and Jiang Wen’s relationship, continued casually: “Well, Ryan once got really drunk and talked a bit about his ex-girlfriend.”

“Mm-hmm?”

Jiang Wen propped his head up, watching the road ahead, not interrupting them. He seemed completely unbothered by his friend “exposing his past.”

Bai Hongyi: “Didn’t you say he seemed like a player in relationships?”

Min Yueyue: “No, no, I just said he looked like one.”

“Well, you’re wrong.” Bai Hongyi always found this story amusing: “His high school girlfriend, I think she had to work nights?”

“Mm, and then?”

Bai Hongyi glanced at Jiang Wen, “Then Ryan didn’t dare call her every day, didn’t dare ask if his girlfriend had gotten home after work, worried she’d find him annoying. You know what he did instead?”

Min Yueyue said: “What did he do?”

“He would stare at her QQ status, checking if she was online through 4G or WiFi, to figure out if she’d gotten home.”

Min Yueyue couldn’t believe it: “Hahaha, oh my god, he was actually that submissive!”

“Yes, unexpected right?”

They both laughed.

Jiang Wen rested his elbow on the window sill, staring blankly at the night scene outside, appearing too lazy to comment.

Something tugged at Feng Ning’s heart, mixed with a hint of pain and sourness, emerging belatedly.

After passing through a traffic light, Bai Hongyi said: “Yu Nan City is up ahead, where should I drop you off?”

Feng Ning: “Any intersection is fine, thank you for the trouble.”

“Then I’ll get off with Ning Ning.” Min Yueyue said: “It was so fun chatting with you, meeting like this must be fate, why don’t we add each other on WeChat?”

Bai Hongyi: “Sure, have Jiang Wen send you my business card, we can hang out sometime.”

“Great.” Min Yueyue was enthusiastic and said to Feng Ning, “Ning Ning, give me your phone too.”

Feng Ning sat still: “What are you doing?”

Min Yueyue simply snatched the phone from her hands, fiddled with it for a while, then looked up at Jiang Wen and said: “Handsome, accept Ning Ning’s friend request.”

Until that figure completely disappeared from view, Jiang Wen withdrew his gaze. He picked up his phone, opened WeChat, clicked on that friend request, and stared at it for a while.

He suddenly thought of something, “Bai Hongyi.”

“Ah, what is it?”

“I have a question.”

“What question?”

“In this world…”

Jiang Wen paused, thought for a moment, turned his face away, “What does ‘the hardest high school student in the world’ mean?”

During his years abroad, Jiang Wen had been busy with academics, and after graduation, he started his own business, leaving little time for internet surfing, so he wasn’t very familiar with popular internet slang in China.

But Bai Hongyi was different. He always liked the pure type, his last girlfriend who just broke up with him was a sophomore. To keep up with young people’s trends and be able to catch others’ references, Bai Hongyi often browsed Weibo.

“Hardest… high school student?”

Bai Hongyi repeated, thought for a moment, “Oh, I know this one.”

“It’s.” He smiled somewhat lewdly, “Look down.”

“Did you look down?”

Jiang Wen looked down.

“See it?”

“See what?”

“The hardest thing about high school students.”

Jiang Wen caught on, made a sound of understanding. He sneered and lit another cigarette.

Bai Hongyi asked: “Why, who mentioned it?”

“No one.”

“Young girls nowadays like little wolf dogs, little puppy dogs, old men like us are out of the market.” Bai Hongyi watched the road, “Though, about this hardness thing, I actually disagree. Whether it’s hard or not, you can only tell in bed, right?”

“You can go find a high school student to compare.”

“You’re so bad.”

Bai Hongyi said, “By the way, did you look for that ex-girlfriend of yours after coming back?”

He played with his lighter, his expression unchanging: “No.”

Now it was just the two of them, and Bai Hongyi spoke freely: “Why, finally over her?”

Jiang Wen turned his head away, after a long while, he said: “Don’t want to keep bothering her.”

Feng Ning returned home reeking of hotpot, and the first thing she did was go to the bathroom to shower.

Her mind was on the day’s events, making her movements slow in everything she did. After absent-mindedly blow-drying her hair, she went to the living room for a glass of water, only realizing it was boiling water when it reached her mouth.

She spat it out immediately, scalded.

She returned to her bedroom, picked up her charging phone, and found that Jiang Wen had accepted her friend request ten minutes ago, and also sent her a chat screenshot.

Enlarging the screenshot, he hadn’t saved a contact name, but she recognized Min Yueyue’s avatar.

MY: I have something tomorrow, planning to ask Ning Ning to help oversee the car repair, why don’t you go with her?

Feng Ning put down her water glass, thinking about how to reply, when her phone buzzed again.

Another message from Jiang Wen:

-Three cigarettes, if you haven’t replied by then, I’m going to sleep.