Chapter 119
J IANG CHENG MIGHT HAVE REMEMBERED that the glasses guy was Zhao Jin’s senior he’d met once before, but he’d already forgotten the guy’s name.
“Ke,” Jiang Cheng quickly whispered to Zhao Ke. “What is the senior’s na—”
“I thought Zhang Dantong would come with them,” said Zhao Ke. “Why is she not here yet?”
“Because it’s not time yet,” Jiang Cheng said. “So the senior’s nam—”
“Should I give her a call to ask?” asked Zhao Ke. “We probably should’ve waited for her and walked over here together. Did she want to come separately because she didn’t want to walk with me?”
“She said she has something else to do first,” Jiang Cheng sighed. “That senior… Ah, fuck it, never mind.”
“Xu Xingzhi,” said Zhao Ke.
“…Oh.” Jiang Cheng nodded. “I thought you couldn’t hear me.”
“I’m just a little nervous,” said Zhao Ke. “I haven’t eaten with Zhang Dantong since my second year of high school. My sister won’t even let me tag along whenever they go out.”
“Why would two girls going shopping together bring you along?” Jiang Cheng sighed again. “You’d only get in the way.”
“Tongtong just called me,” Zhao Jin said as she walked over to them. “She’ll be here in ten minutes.”
“It’s fine if she doesn’t come,” said Zhao Ke.
Jiang Cheng whipped his head around to look at Zhao Ke and said in a hushed voice, “You need a pump to drain all the water from inside your brain?”
“Don’t mind him, I’m used to it.” Zhao Jin waved her hand and gestured at Xu Xingzhi. “I won’t bother with introductions, since you all know each other.”
“Hi, Senior,” Jiang Cheng said.
“You can just call me by name.” Xu Xingzhi smiled as he sat down with Zhao Jin.
“Zhao Ke said just myself is enough,” Zhao Jin said as she took a sip of water. “But I figured I’d better bring someone who knows what they’re talking about, since I’m just barely getting by. Cao-ge is the shit, though. He’s our boss’s number one student.”
…Cao-ge. What a name . 4
“So, your friend’s little sister?” Xu Xingzhi asked, turning to Jiang Cheng. He was probably used to being introduced like that by now; he hardly reacted at all.
“Yeah, they live in the city I’m from,” Jiang Cheng said.
“How old is she?” Xu Xingzhi asked.
“Eleven,” Jiang Cheng said, gesturing with his hand, “but a little shorter compared to other kids her age.”
“An eleven-year-old.” Zhao Jin glanced at Xu Xingzhi. “Doesn’t that fit with your area of research?”
“Yeah.” Xu Xingzhi smiled. “Though I would have to see the specifics of her case.”
“She just…doesn’t speak, can’t discern other people’s emotions a lot of the time, and she doesn’t know how to properly express herself.
” Jiang Cheng tried his best to give a brief summary of Gu Miao’s situation.
“She screams whenever she’s angry, or anxious, or nervous.
She’s really good at skateboarding. She draws the same things over and over, and writes the same characters repeatedly, but has trouble learning them… ”
“Mm-hm.”
“She wasn’t always like this. When she was little, she just didn’t talk as much as other kids, but ever since she got hurt at two or three years old, she’s just been…
like this.” Jiang Cheng realized that he felt a little sad when he described Gu Miao’s situation.
She was just a little girl, beautiful and adorable.
“Hurt how?” Xu Xingzhi asked. “Someone physically hurt her?”
“Yeah.” Jiang Cheng nodded. “She was thrown against a wall. It was pretty serious.”
Xu Xingzhi looked at him, as if waiting for him to continue, but Jiang Cheng was a little hesitant. After all, the one who hurt her was her own father…
“It’s okay,” Xu Xingzhi said. “We can talk about the details another time. But one thing I can tell you right now is that it will be hard for her to reach an average level of linguistic fluency. She’s already passed the critical period for language acquisition.”
“Mm, I know.” Jiang Cheng nodded. He had read a great number of books in recent weeks.
Gu Miao had gotten hurt right when she was in the middle of learning how to talk.
She didn’t talk much to begin with, and then she had simply refused to speak again after the injury.
It would be next to impossible to ask her to communicate verbally like other kids at this point.
But if Gu Miao could make progress in other areas, even if she never spoke, it would still open up a whole new world for her and Gu Fei.
“As for the other stuff, I’ll only be able to tell after I see her in person,” said Xu Xingzhi.
This didn’t surprise Jiang Cheng. “That’s the difficult part.
” He frowned, feeling a little sheepish.
“It’s just that…she has a fixed routine for her day-to-day life, and she gets angry whenever there’s any disruption to it.
She can’t even accept sleeping in a different bed, so he can’t… bring her here.”
“I see.” Xu Xingzhi’s reaction remained calm. “My advisor has a case like this, currently undergoing therapy—but that child lives locally.”
“So does that mean…” Jiang Cheng quietly sighed. “Does that mean there’s no way to help with her situation?”
“There’s always a way.” Xu Xingzhi smiled.
“Can you help?” Zhao Ke was much more straightforward. “You’re working on a thesis proposal, right? Wouldn’t this case be great for that?”
Xu Xingzhi glanced at Zhao Ke, then leaned back in his chair and started laughing. “Yeah, I am working on my thesis proposal, but the little girl’s case… I’d have to find out more before I can determine if I’ll be of any help.”
Xu Xingzhi didn’t give a firm answer. He later added that he was only a grad student without the necessary expertise. However, his feedback still gave Jiang Cheng hope. Even a tiny glimmer was enough for Jiang Cheng to lunge forward and give it everything he had.
They continued talking until Zhang Dantong arrived. Zhao Ke nudged Jiang Cheng’s leg in his excitement, and Jiang Cheng only managed to rein in his reflexes enough to keep himself from shooting out of his seat with his death grip on the edge of the table.
Thrown into a scenario where he could interact with his goddess up close, Zhao Ke was so nervous that he couldn’t manage to say another complete sentence in the next five minutes aside from “one sirloin, please.” Jiang Cheng was a little worried he might pee his pants from the excitement.
After ordering food, they didn’t continue on the topic of Gu Miao’s condition, and the conversation drifted elsewhere.
Jiang Cheng wasn’t in a very chatty mood.
His mind was full of thoughts about Gu Miao, and how he should proceed with Xu Xingzhi to turn Gu Miao’s case from a casual discussion to actual treatment.
When he did talk, it was just to jump in from time to time to help Zhao Ke out whenever his friend was infuriatingly hapless in trying to start a conversation with Zhang Dantong.
At the end of the meal, he added Xu Xingzhi on WeChat.
“What’s a convenient time for you, Senior?” asked Jiang Cheng.
“Anytime this week is fine.” Xu Xingzhi thought for a moment, then said, “Just let me know when you’re available, but preferably in the afternoon or evening.”
Jiang Cheng didn’t hesitate. “What about tomorrow evening?”
Xu Xingzhi laughed. “All right.”
“Can we meet for dinner again?” Jiang Cheng asked.
“Don’t worry about dinner,” Xu Xingzhi said. “No need to break the bank. I’ll see you after dinner.”
“All right.” Jiang Cheng nodded. “Is around seven o’clock okay? I’ll give you a call before I head over to PKU.”
“I’m not on campus tomorrow,” said Xu Xingzhi. “I’m going to be out and about, so I’ll let you know the specific location tomorrow.”
“Sure,” said Jiang Cheng. “Thanks, Senior.”
“If you can’t bring yourself to call me Xu Xingzhi,” said Xu Xingzhi, “maybe you can follow Zhao Jin’s lead and call me Cao-ge.”
“To be honest, I can’t really bring myself to say Cao-ge either,” Jiang Cheng replied earnestly.
“Whatever, then,” Xu Xingzhi said with a smile. “See you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow. Thanks, Senior.”
Resigned, Xu Xingzhi waved and said, “You’re welcome.”
The dinner today had put a small dent in Jiang Cheng’s wallet. It wasn’t the kind of thing he would’ve paid attention to before, but things were different now. Now, he was the perfect model of a modern young man, keeping track of his expenses every day.
When they got back to their dorm, he and Zhao Ke didn’t head out to the library; there would be no seats right now, anyway. Jiang Cheng carefully wrote down his spending, then sat down beside Zhao Ke. “Thank you.”
“Thank you,” Zhao Ke said at the exact same time. “All right, we’re even now.”
“Should I take a gift or something to see Xu Xingzhi tomorrow?” Jiang Cheng asked. “It’s not good to show up empty-handed, right?”
“That’s probably not necessary.” Zhao Ke thought for a second. “Not sure. Want me to ask my sister?”
“…Okay, ask,” said Jiang Cheng. “It’s probably fine if it’s just your sister, but Xu Xingzhi is another degree removed from me. I still think it’d be rude if I don’t show my appreciation.”
“Sure.” Zhao Ke got out his phone and called Zhao Jin.
The theme of the call veered predictably toward the topic of Zhang Dantong. Zhao Ke’s dear sister laughed at him for five whole minutes, gave him advanced congratulations on his failed confession, and furthermore sent him a digital lucky envelope over WeChat after the call as an early consolation.
Fortunately, Zhao Ke stood strong, even under the barrage of brutal attacks from Zhao Jin; he didn’t forget the original point of the call.
“No need to bring anything,” he told Jiang Cheng afterward. “Zhao Jin knows Xu Xingzhi from her undergrad days—they’re pretty close, so this doesn’t really count as a favor. It’s just friends helping each other out. Bringing a gift would just make things awkward.”
“So you’re not referring to her as your sister now?” Jiang Cheng asked with a laugh.
“Not for the next two days at least,” Zhao Ke said. “I think at least half of Zhao Jin’s celibacy is because of her ruthless tongue.”