After this autumn rain ended, Beijing suddenly entered winter.
Mu Wen finally made it to the weekend. She and Chu Ling each carried a large bag as they squeezed onto a bus heading to the zoo.
Mu Wen had decided to rearrange her budget. Buying a computer could wait. First, she needed to buy some clothes.
“I’m going to become a real city lady.”
She held tightly onto the handrail while Chu Ling held both of Mu Wen’s arms, lending her some strength so she could stay steady on the crowded bus.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t have enough clothes,” Mu Wen said. “I need a few decent outfits that can at least make me look presentable.”
Mu Wen had always been frugal. She considered herself half a construction worker and never thought she needed particularly good clothes. She did not own many outfits, but she was tall and had her own sense of style. No matter how she mixed and matched them, they usually looked good.
But these past few days had made her realize that people really did judge others by their clothes. Many people would look at what you were wearing and decide whether to give you a “pass.”
Ding! You’re dressed well. You probably have some money. I’ll respect you a little more.
That was probably how it worked.
She had just entered the real world and originally wanted to prove herself through her abilities. But before she even had the chance to show what she could do, reality had already punched her in the face.
“You’ve been traumatized,” Chu Ling said. “Mu Wen, that client really got to you.”
“Yes!” Mu Wen nodded firmly. “I’ve been traumatized! Seriously traumatized!”
She imitated the client’s tone.
“If this gets damaged, you can’t afford to pay for it…”
“Anyway, today I’m going to make a name for myself at the zoo and in Zhongguancun!”
She wanted to soar, but the weekend wholesale market near the zoo would not let her fly very high.
The place was packed with people. Her toes kept bumping into other people’s heels as she struggled to squeeze into the stalls she liked.
When buying clothes, you had to be quick, accurate, and ruthless.
Once you saw something you liked, you put it on immediately. Then you and Chu Ling would look at each other. If the other person nodded, it meant it looked good and you could buy it. If they shook their head, it was ugly, so take it off.
For anything worth buying, you had to bargain.
You couldn’t start by offering half the price. You went straight down to around twenty percent of the asking price.
If the shopkeeper heard your price and could not even be bothered to answer, you had offered too little and needed to raise it.
If they pretended to be troubled and said, “Fine, fine. I’ll sell it to you at a loss,” then you had probably offered too much.
It was one negotiation after another. In the end, what they were really competing over was how much money was left in your wallet.
While “negotiating,” Mu Wen dreamed about the future.
One day, she wanted to be able to see something she liked, pay for it, and simply walk away.
Or better yet, buy out the entire place.
Their big bags slowly became fuller and fuller until they could barely fit anything else, yet they had only spent around one or two thousand yuan.
They squeezed back onto the bus, took everything back to the dorm, dropped the bags off, and immediately headed to Zhongguancun.
The shopping malls in Zhongguancun had business clothes for women.
Mu Wen tried things on, took them off, tried on something else, and finally spent a painful two thousand yuan on a coat and several shirts.
When she paid, she felt as if her heart were dripping blood, drop by drop.
The happiness of having new clothes was immediately cut in half.
“When I have money…”
She waved her arm and lowered her voice.
“I’ll buy all of these!”
Chu Ling copied her.
“I’ll take one of everything too!”
The two looked at each other and finally burst out laughing.
The happiest part came when they ate at Pizza Hut.
They sat by the window and seriously studied the menu.
Chu Ling wanted to help Mu Wen save money, but Mu Wen patted her wallet.
“No saving money today. We’re eating something good!”
They ordered steak, pizza, pasta, fries, and chicken wings.
Mu Wen especially loved pizza with lots of melted cheese.
She bit down on one corner of a slice, her cheeks slightly puffed as she leaned her head back. Long strands of cheese stretched between her mouth and the slice.
The two sat side by side, competing to see who could stretch the cheese farther, their eyes curved into happy smiles.
Outside the window, people hurried past one after another. Occasionally, someone would glance inside, see their silly little game, and smile.
The two girls were completely immersed in their small happiness and did not care what anyone else thought.
Spending a wonderful day with a friend, having a good meal at night, and knowing that the next day was Sunday, with another twenty-four hours to enjoy however they wanted—
That feeling was simply wonderful.
Mu Wen completely forgot about the unpleasantness Xie Chong had brought her.
On Monday, she went to work in her new clothes.
She wore a smoky-gray chunky turtleneck sweater, vintage-style white jeans, and casually tucked the sweater into her jeans. A black belt cinched her waist, and she wore a black coat over everything.
In the elevator lobby, she secretly checked herself in the mirror.
She thought she really looked like a grown-up.
When Little Gu saw her, she exclaimed, “Wow! Wenwen, you look so… so pretty today!”
Mu Wen put her hands on her waist and looked very proud.
“Call me City Lady.”
“Okay, City Lady.”
“From now on, I’m going to dress like this whenever I go to measure a house.”
Mu Wen lifted her chin and walked around the office with exaggerated, confident steps, imitating the calm manner of their wealthy clients.
Little Gu laughed beside her.
Then the phone rang.
It was Lin Weisen.
His wife had gone into labor earlier than expected, so he could not come to the office. He asked Mu Wen to go to the construction site and take a look.
Xie Chong’s house was starting renovation work that day.
The construction foreman was already there, and the designer needed to go as well.
“I think I’ll skip it.”
Mu Wen suddenly felt nervous when she thought about Xie Chong.
“What if Mr. Xie sees me and gets angry?”
“He won’t be there today. He already gave the keys to the foreman.”
“Then okay!”
Mu Wen was efficient when she worked. Once she decided to go, she left immediately.
Because she was wearing new clothes, she deliberately looked at herself whenever she passed a mirror.
Every time she did, she sincerely praised herself.
I really do look good.
While waiting for the elevator downstairs at Xie Chong’s building, she looked around. There was no one nearby, so she quickly took the opportunity to admire herself again.
When the elevator doors opened, she was still tilting her head to one side.
She had not expected Xie Chong to be standing inside.
She immediately stopped posing and straightened herself.
“Mr. Xie, it’s like this… My master—”
“His wife is having a baby. I know. He just called me.”
Xie Chong politely met Mu Wen’s eyes for a moment before looking ahead.
In the reflective elevator wall, they were both wearing black coats. He was simply larger in build, while she was smaller.
Her outfit looked casual and relaxed, yet she clearly had a sense of style.
She knew what she was doing.
Xie Chong confirmed that the incident with her split-open shoes had really been an accident.
He also began to feel that Mu Wen might actually be someone he could interact with normally.
He rarely felt this kind of uncertainty toward someone.
When he realized that he was wavering in his opinion of her, he could not help frowning slightly.
Mu Wen noticed his frown.
Oh no. I upset him again.
She stood there stiffly, lips pressed together, not daring to speak to him.
Xie Chong realized that he seemed to have frightened her.
She had not done anything wrong.
Her real life was simply like this.
She was a girl who had not even officially graduated yet, working a difficult internship. Almost every day, she stayed up late working and had no time to worry about looking polished or respectable.
She was learning her first lesson after entering society:
Stay alive. Keep going.
Xie Chong had never experienced a life like that.
His own life had always gone smoothly. His parents had built up their wealth early, and by the time he grew up, he had been able to turn his interests and strengths into a career—and make plenty of money from it.
He had known for a long time that the two of them came from completely different worlds.
But he realized that he had been far too harsh toward her.
At that moment, she stood there, afraid of offending him and afraid that this unexpected meeting might cause trouble for her master.
The girl who was usually cheerful and carefree was now thinking about how to deal with him.
Xie Chong turned his head and looked at her.
Mu Wen looked back at him and gave him a polite smile.
The elevator doors opened, and the two of them walked toward his apartment.
Xie Chong opened the door and went inside.
Mu Wen, however, stayed at the entrance. She leaned half of her body inside and called to the foreman.
“Engineer Liu, could you come over for a moment?”
Xie Chong turned around when he heard her.
He saw Mu Wen take a thick stack of drawings and a pen from her document bag. She pressed the papers against the wall and began marking them.
“Come inside and go over the drawings,” Engineer Liu said. “Check whether I marked everything correctly.”
“My master already went over everything with you. I just want to confirm it one more time.”
Mu Wen smiled.
“Come on, Engineer Liu. I’ll explain it to you here.”
She did not mention what had happened that day.
Out of respect for Xie Chong as the client, she refused to step into his home without his permission.
“Come inside,” Xie Chong finally said. “It’s not convenient out there.”
“Is that okay?”
Mu Wen asked seriously.
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
Normally, there was no need to wear shoe covers when construction first began. Everything inside the apartment would be torn out anyway, and the place would soon be filled with dust and construction waste.
Wearing shoe covers would be completely unnecessary.
But Mu Wen still found a pair and put them on.
She wanted to make sure that every little detail about her was flawless.
She did not want Xie Chong to form any more negative opinions about her.
She took out the drawings and went over the demolition details with Engineer Liu one last time.
Actually, she did not need the drawings at all.
This was the first house she had ever designed. Every detail of it was already stored clearly in her mind.
But she did not want to show that.
She was afraid Xie Chong would think she wanted to claim his house for herself and look down on her even more.
Although, to be honest, he would not have been completely wrong.
More than once, she had imagined:
If only this were my home. How wonderful would that be?
So she had to keep herself composed.
Holding the drawings, she went through every point with Engineer Liu.
Especially the electrical outlets.
When Xie Chong had said that he wanted to be able to work anywhere at any time, she had imagined every possible place where he might work and carefully planned the locations of the outlets.
Her first design proposal had been so good that Xie Chong had barely asked for any major changes.
And now the renovation was finally starting.
Thinking about this, Mu Wen became happy again.
She quietly asked Engineer Liu, “Engineer Liu, you’ve renovated so many houses. Is the layout of this one good? Tell me honestly.”
“Honestly? It’s very good.”
“Are the design drawings good too?”
“Especially good.”
Mu Wen was extremely pleased.
Her eyebrows lifted with pride.
She felt that she had done an excellent job.
At this point, how Xie Chong viewed her no longer seemed important.
Xie Chong stood in the living room, watching Mu Wen move around the house with Engineer Liu.
It had only been a few days since he last saw her, but she seemed to have already taken the first step toward becoming more accustomed to society.
Then his gaze fell on her movements.
Whenever she stood near a wall, she would hold down the hem of her coat with one hand, carefully protecting it from touching the dust.
It was just a piece of clothing.
Yet she was so careful with it.
Mu Wen noticed Xie Chong watching her and looked over.
She had no idea what this man was going to do next to ruin her mood again, so she asked,
“Mr. Xie, is there anything wrong with what we just discussed?”
“No.”
Xie Chong answered.
That’s good. Very good. Please don’t find anything wrong.
Mu Wen sped up.
She wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
It was as if someone had wound her up. Her speech suddenly became much faster.
Engineer Liu had been absorbed in her careful explanations, but now he could barely keep up.
He hurried after her as she quickly went through the house again.
“No problems now!”
Mu Wen said, “Thank you for your hard work, Engineer Liu. If anything comes up over the next few days, call me first.”
Then she remembered that she needed the homeowner’s permission.
She turned to Xie Chong.
“Is it okay if he calls me, Mr. Xie?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for trusting me.”
Mu Wen clasped her hands in a polite gesture.
“Then I’ll be going first. There’s still a lot of work at the office.”
She walked to the door and took off her shoe covers.
She lost her balance and had to hop twice to steady herself.
A hand grabbed the fabric on her shoulder, giving her something to hold onto.
She looked up.
It was Xie Chong.
“Do you have springs under your feet?”
Xie Chong teased.
Normally, given Mu Wen’s personality, she would have immediately come back with some playful remark.
But this time, she froze.
She thought Xie Chong was strange.
She simply stared at him, studying him carefully.
Forgive her for not having seen much of the world.
She really could not understand how Xie Chong could switch so naturally between prejudice and joking around.
How could he do that?
What gave him the right?