For some people, no matter how hard they tried to hide among the crowd, their existence could not be hidden, just like back then when Qin Sheng first met Lin Su. Upon entering the bar, he immediately saw her sitting in a corner, quietly listening to music. During then, they went everywhere as a pair. They visited most of the places in Chuan Xi Nan together and experienced many things, like getting lost in an unscathed forest, being chased by the aborigines because of some dispute, running into a heavy storm and mudslide, etc.
They developed good feelings towards each other during then. However, both were proud. Qin Sheng did not have the time to think about this while Lin Su held back her feelings because she did not understand him well enough. Hence, this resulted in their parting promise. Perhaps, they believed in fate even more.
Shangshan Ruoshui looked calm. Only a few people knew of the drama behind the scenes. If the business ended up in someone else’s hand, no one could predict the kind of mass cleaning and reorganization that would follow.
On this day, Qin Sheng did not rush to the gym after getting off work. Instead, he ran to that book store. Surprisingly, other than Xiao Le, the other two were not there. After asking about it, he learned that they had taken the day off because of personal matters. Anyway, there was not much business in the shop, it was all returning customers. Xiao Le could handle it by himself.
“Feel free, I shall not take care of you,” Xiao Le said casually after he greeted Qin Sheng while he sat at the cashier and worked.
Qin Sheng could not get any more familiarized with this place. Every time he came here, he found that time passed very quickly. He poured himself a cup of water, got a stool, and sat below the shelf. He flipped through some old books casually. His favorite seller did not bring new books recently. He was a little disappointed.
Recently, Qin Sheng liked reading historical books. Learning about history can help one to learn from the mistakes made in the past and prevent them in the future. Other than that official and unofficial history, out of the more recent historical literature, Qin Sheng liked Qian Mu, the writer of pure books, the most. He was dubbed as the pioneer of national history literature. His “The Gains and Losses of China’s Historical Politics” was recommended by many. Also, his “Analysis of Chinese History”, “The Years of Pre-Qin Dynasty” and many others were considered the real art of vast knowledge and deep understanding.
Apparently, Qin Sheng’s soul mate whom he had never met before liked Qian Me’s works as well. In the “The Gains and Losses of China’s Historical Politics” that he found, there were many remarks written on it, such as “Discussing history can cause one to not be arbitrary because the issue is too complicated. The pros and cons are written down in history and were evident right from the start and across the years.”
This time around, Qin Sheng found “16 Lessons on National History”. However, the book was clean. Qin Sheng immersed himself in the book. After an unknown period of time, Qin Sheng finally looked up. He wanted to stretch his body. After sitting down for so long, his body became uncomfortable. After he got up, he finally realized that a man was standing beside him for an unknown period of time. The man was staring at him with smiling eyes.
The man looked ordinary and he was not tall, probably around 170 cm. He wore a pair of round metal frame glasses and he paid a lot of attention to his outfit. He wore a woolen coat on the outside and held onto a scarf in his hand.
“There is this thing that is ultra-complicated and have existed long before the heavens and the earth. It exists unheard and unseen, yet it never changes. It never stops and can be said to be the origin of the world.” The man muttered to himself, “Young man, seems like you enjoy reading historical books.”
The fact that the man used the word ‘read’ and not ‘look’ showed that he was very particular. Someone who read books, someone who read books, the word ‘reading’ already meant different things.
The man looked well under 40, so it was a little strange that he addressed Qin Sheng as ‘young man’. However, Qin Sheng replied politely, “Have you also read this “16 Lessons on National History”?”
“The path of history is always similar because the human mind cannot achieve spanning breakthroughs. So read more historical books, it will only be beneficial to you, be it in life or at work,” the man said slowly. He leaned back and laughed. “The main characteristic of feudalism is to divide people among the land. The uniqueness of rural communes is land sharing, joint production, and common consumption.”
Now that the man had recited that passage, it was obvious that he had read the book.
At this moment, Xiao Le came running over with a cup of water in his hand. When he handed it to the man, he smiled politely. “Mr. Song, have some water. This is Qin Sheng whom I’ve told you.”
“You are?” Qin Sheng was now confused.
Mr. Song pushed his glasses and replied, “Xiao Le said that you’ve bought all my books. Of course, I have to come and see who my buyer is. Otherwise, my books will be a waste.”
Qin Sheng finally came to a big realization. He quickly bowed and asked, “Are you Mr. Huang Pu?”
“I am just an ordinary person, I am not talented enough to be called a Mr. You can just call me Brother Song.” Mr. Song was very humble. Mr. Huang Pu was a nickname he gave himself. On the title page of each book he wrote had the words “Mr. Huang Pu” written on them.
Now that he finally met his idol, Qin Sheng was a little flustered. He was like a small fan meeting a big celebrity. Indeed, he looked up to this man a lot. He did not expect to finally meet him today.
“This…” Qin Sheng did not know what to say. He ended up moving his stool over and smiled, “Please have a seat.”
“It is rare to find someone that likes my books. I think I’ve met my soul mate. You don’t have to be so polite. You don’t have to be nervous and stiff too. I’m just an ordinary person. I’m not as high and mighty as you think. Just treat me like a friend,” Brother Song laughed. Standing at a side, Xiao Le was covering his mouth and laughing till he bent over. It was rare to see Qin Sheng in this state. He was too cute.
Qin Sheng smiled, “Brother Song I do indeed like your books. Your commentaries are particularly insightful and have given me lots of new point of views.”
“I was just bored and doodled casually. As long as you find useful, it’s good,” Brother Song laughed politely.
The more Brother Song behaved like this, the more Qin Sheng valued him as an influential person. He took the initiative to invite him, “Brother Song, should we find some place to sit?”
Brother Song frowned slightly and appeared hesitant. After a moment, he replied, “Let’s leave it to next time. I have something on. I happened to pass by here but didn’t expect to see you. Let me give you my number. If you’re interested, you can always find me to have a chat.”
“Okay, we’ll do as you said,” Qin Sheng replied excitedly.
Brother Song recited his number for Qin Sheng and said immediately, “If you like my books, you can come to my house next time. I have quite a number of books that I want to get rid off. You can pick whatever you like.”
“That’s great!” This news sounded just like money falling from the sky to Qin Sheng. He quickly thanked him.
Brother Song stood up slowly and smiled as he talked a couple of sentences more. He then bid goodbye. Qin Sheng sent him all the way to the door before he finally came back in. Xiao Le quickly told him, “Mr. Song is quite a good person. He is best friends with my boss.”
“Hahahaha, I’m so happy today, I didn’t expect to meet Brother Song,” Qin Sheng shouted as he lifted Xiao Le up. He did not listen to what Xiao Le was saying at all.
“Ah!” Xiao Le screamed in surprise. He subconsciously hugged Qin Sheng tightly.
Qin Sheng finally realized that he was going overboard. He quickly let him down and said awkwardly, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I was too excited.”
“Good job,” Xiao Le blushed and fake-scolded him.
After staying at the book store for a while longer, Qin Sheng went back to Shilin Huayuan and changed to head to the gym. But just as he came out of his neighborhood, he bumped into an unexpected person. It was his first love, Su Qin.
Su Qin sat in her small BMW MINI. She only got out of the car when she saw Qin Sheng coming out. She walked up to him slowly. The already-petite Su Qin was wearing very a very thin layer of clothing. It looked like it could not shield her from the cold winter wind at all.
“What are you doing here?” Qin Sheng frowned and asked.
Su Qin shook her head and laughed bitterly, “I can’t come and find you? Even though we can’t be lovers, can’t we be friends?”
“That’s not what I meant,” Qin Sheng quickly shook his head. Just like he said, Su Qin had her own life. Qin Sheng did not want to disrupt her already-peaceful life with his appearance. Hence, after coming back to Shanghai, he did not take the initiative to find her. All the more did he not know that she was the boss of YOUNG Bar?
Su Qin took the initiative to invite. “Let’s find a place to sit?”
Without waiting for his reply, she already turned and got onto her car. After a moment of hesitation, Qin Sheng eventually nodded his head and got onto her car.
After the BMW MINI left, a red Maserati from across the street then drove into Shilin Huayuan. This was Han Bing’s car. Of course, it was Hao Lei that was driving the car. But Han Bing was seated at the back seat, and she witnessed the whole scene.
Han Bing said with some jealousy, “Hao Lei, do you know that woman?”
Hao Lei did not know if he should say or not. Seeing his hesitation, Han Bing knew the answer already. She smiled bitterly, “I’m just asking.”
“Qin Sheng’s first girlfriend, Su Qin.” After consideration, Hao Lei felt that he should tell Han Bing. He also knew that it was a coincidence. Weren’t the both of them out of contact? Why would she come to find Qin Sheng? What made him even more speechless was that Han Bing saw the whole thing. This spelled trouble.
Han Bing said in a plain voice, “She’s quite pretty. Is she also from Xi’an?”
“Yes, we are all classmates in high school,” Hao Lei replied.
“I didn’t expect Qin Sheng to have such a pretty first love. I’ve underestimated him. Is she also staying in Shanghai?” Han Bing continued to ask. She paid a lot of attention to anything related to Qin Sheng. Besides, it was now his first love.
Hao Lei nodded, “Yes, but they’ve separated for a long time. Don’t think too much, it’s gathering between old friends.”
“What more can I think?” Han Bing pouted. She snorted, “Since he’s gone, I’m not going in anymore. Take me back.”
Hao Lei carried the heavy responsibility and quickly drove away.