Chapter 9
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Apologies for the late update. The coming chapters will also experience delay TT.

Chapter 09

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Half an hour went by, and Cheng Jingpo returned to the café almost on the dot

"I've read the books you recommended." Bo Ziren took the initiative to speak first after he had settled down In his seat.

"What's your opinion of them?"

"To tell you the truth," Bo Ziren faltered in her confidence but still went on ingeniously, "I don't think I can't read more of them. Even as I was reading, I felt so clueless about some of the metaphors."

"It's very normal to fell like that, especially when you start reading something you usually don't come in contact with. It's also hard to decide if you like it more or less on your first try."

"What if the disinterest persists?"

"Then don't read it anymore," he said simply, "if it's really something you hold no interest in, you shouldn't force yourself."

Bo Ziren hesitated for a moment before questioned, "Do you think I'm superfluous?"

"No, what a person reads or not, cannot determine if the person is superfluous or otherwise. Many a times, it depends on what that person is willing to do."

"Really?"

"Exactly. You see, several years back, I made a trip to a mountain village. There I met an elderly woman that worked the paddy fields every day like it's the same day for ten years already. She lived alone. She had no family, but the kids within that neighborhood love to run to her house to play because she knew how to make beautiful . The tigers she cut out, looked spirited and alive. The elderly woman also patiently taught the children how to do the paper cuttings step by step and even made snacks for them, allowing them to have a wonderful time at her house." Cheng Jingpo chatted with her casually, the sky reflected in his eyes from the window, sometimes bright and sometimes dark, "I think she's a great person although she's illiterate."

"Beyond question, people who can make others happy are amazing." Thinking of herself, she could not help feeling abashed, "Something that I'm unable to do."

Lifting the coffee pot, Cheng Jingpo top up Bo Ziren's mug.

Her line of sight trailed down, starting from his clean cuff sleeve to the wrist and lowering to his slender fingers. His fingers were beautiful that even the simple act of holding a coffee pot was enough to make her her gazed at it dazedly.

"Don't disparage yourself so easily." He gently pushed the mug to her as he chided softly.

Her hands reached out and wrapped around the warm mug with both of her hands while pondering over his words.

"If you really like to read, you can always choose the ones you like. What other people recommends, doesn't mean it's good." He put the coffee pot back down and returned to the topic.

"But the ones you recommend are definitely good." Her only desire was She only to read the books which he liked.

"Because I'm a teacher?"

"You look like someone who likes to read."

"You meant to say that I look no different than a bookworm, right?"

"No." Bo Ziren found it hard to paraphrase the feelings he raised out of her for they were too hard to decipher―it was one a kind. Unique beyond the vocabulary range she possessed. Still, she mustered up her best effort to squeeze out as many words as possible, "You are very modest, experienced, and know how to respect as well as understand others, very different than most people."

"Thank you for your compliments, but aren't there a lot of people in this category?"

"Perhaps there are many, however, I don't come in contact with that many people, and the ones like you are even less." She stressed out clearly, "I could probably say you might be the only one; unique."

Cheng Jingpo tried to digest the meaning of her words, "Sounds like I'm a real and true marvel."

"No….." Bo Ziren had not expected he would misunderstand, thus missed no time and quickly clarified.

"I was just joking with you, don't be so nervous." He voiced it out in a devil-may-care manner, "I know what you meant."

Bo Ziren clamped shut her mouth, not spurting out another word.

"I always like to hear people's compliments," he confessed without pretense, "I'm not at all modest in this aspect, especially when the praise comes from talented people."

A paragon of virtue and learning - these were the words Mu Zibei had used to describe his jiejie during the meal they had yesterday, hence he remembered it clearly. Especially when the little one had repeated the phrase of praise quite a number of times.

Bo Ziren felt embarrassed, but this time, she did not say any depreciative words.

Thinking of Mu Zibei, she said, "Right, my little brother got a fever last night."

"Fell sick? How is he now?"

"The fever has receded, and he's taking bed rest obediently for the time being."

"Mu Zibei is the most interesting child I've seen."

"En?"

 

"Smart, seems too mature for his age, and possessed some harmless mischief." while face directly facing hers, he continued without any impropriety, "No matter from which angle I look at it, the two of you don't resemble much, except for the eyes and nose."

"He is my younger brother of the same mother but a different father. There's also a large age gap between us. It was a pity really, that we did not share the same childhood."

"So it's like that."

"What about you? Other than Doctor Cheng, do you have any other siblings?"

when they touched this sensitive subject, Xiao Ji's timely arrival was unavoidable as she served some freshly-baked muffins to their table, placing them in the middle of the table, then she grinned and said, "Have a taste of my craft while it's still hot, I deliberately added twice the milk to enhance the essence of the taste."

"Thank you." Bo Ziren gave her thanks.

"You are his VIP guest, of course, I need to show the proper and befitting hospitality." Xiao Ji pouted her mouth in Cheng Jingpo's direction, "He rarely has the time to sit down and accompany others to talk, even when we begged him to tell some short philosophical story he always refused."

The word 'accompany' Xiao Ji had used made Bo Ziren flustered in bashfulness. In her mind, it had always been her that took the initiative to talk to him whereas he, in the name of courtesy and politeness, or perhaps because of her enthusiasm to read, which had made him willing to talk to her with such patience.

Cheng Jingpo responded to Xiao Ji, "Because none of you were really interested. So I was terrified as soon as I opened my mouth, the audience would have already fallen asleep."

"It's an excuse, you just couldn't be bothered with us is the truth." Xiao Ji hugged the round tray against her chest, and she looked down, gave Bo Ziren an impish smile. Then, she turned around and left, leaving the two of them for some alone time.

"You're not eating?" Bo Ziren took a little bite of the muffin and thought it was delicious.

"The days before the cafe opening, we had tested more than a hundred flavors, after that, even if you give it to me for free, I'd still need to think twice about eating it."

Fully understanding this feeling, Bo Ziren didn't restrain herself and finished a piece all by herself. As if she remembered something, she said out of the blue, "Are you willing to tell me a philosophy story?"

"What would you like to hear?" out of her expectation, his assented straight away.

"I remember when I was in high school, the philosophy teacher told us a about Descartes. Before he died, he had left a mathematical equation that results in a heart after it was solved as a present to his beloved princess, is that a true story?"

"Real life is not that romantic. He did not have a so-called love affair with a princess and did not leave a mythical mathematics equation before he died. The truth was, at that time, Descartes was the Queen of Sweden's teacher, and was requested to begin class every morning at five. It was winter during that time, and the extremely low temperature, and since his body had always been on the weaker side, he was unable to adapt to the sudden Nordic winter. On top of that, his philosophies ideas did not get the Queen's attention, despondent and miserable, he eventually fell ill and died."

"So, the heart equation was false?"

"There is yet concrete evidence that could prove the heart equation was invented by Descartes."

Bo Ziren nodded: "Actually, I also had suspected the story wasn't real."

"Why?"

"I personally think that the heart equation that he supposedly left behind was very difficult, not something that could be solved by the princess's level of intelligence. Moreover, he's already dying, no reason to make his last words so complicated. Hence, it's very likely just some myth made by people."

There was a flicker of humor in Cheng Jingpo's eyes as he listened to her. Then, he added after thinking for a moment, "Your suspicions are correct."

"But I like the heart-shaped line coordinates." Bo Ziren picked up the small notebook and pen on the side, "It's like this if I remember correctly."

She neatly drew the two axes, and then connected the dots on the paper, forming two halves of an arc, joining both ends turned into a shape of a heart. Cheng Jingpo was watching as the pen in her hand moves, his long lashes hid the light that flitted in those eyes.

After she was done with the drawing, he picked up the notebook to take a closer look, "Not many girls know how to draw this."

"I only thought it was beautiful at that time, so I remembered it."

"If you like beautiful ones, there is one mathematical equation called ." Took over her pen, he drew a coordinate graph and evenly connected the dots.

A few minutes later, he showed her the finished drawing; a butterfly spreading its wings on the coordinates, logical yet beautiful.

She looked at it for a very long time before she kept it safely, treating it as a gift from him. When she raised her eyes to look at him again, she truly felt the wisdom in those obsidian black pupils were absolutely beautiful that she wanted to hide it away from the world.

 

When the warm coffee reached the bottom, it was a cue for Bo Ziren to take her leave. Cheng Jingpo asked how is she going back, which she answered readily, "By bus."

"I'll accompany you to the bus station." He stood up and coincidentally, his gaze caught a glimpse of the Bodhi seed keychain, "Don't forget it again."

The beginning of winter yet, the weather was already very cold. People on the streets dressed in thick clothing that would occasionally brush against strangers due to the hampering thickness.

Bo Ziren snuck both of her hands into the pocket of her coat, head slightly cast down when she walked. From time to time, her eyes would steal furtive glances at him. She acquiesced he needed the silence, or maybe he was pondering something, so she made sure not to disturb him.

In truth, everything was like a dream from the beginning. They had met by chance, merely a brush of the shoulder, they could forget the other's existence and remained strangers, but here they were, walking together. His silhouette within her line of sight.

Seizing this chance, her gaze roamed over his long legs, his arms, the slightly curved clean fingers, and up to his broad shoulders. But, only when she was about to move further upward….he sensed her roving eyes, "What are you looking at?"

Bo Ziren denied: "Nothing."

He looked away, but there were doubts swimming in his eyes, yet he did not pursue the matter anymore.

Slowly, they walked to the bus station as cold wind blew against their faces, the strange thing was she did not feel cold at all. Instead, the hands in her pocket were warm, though she had no idea where the warmth had come from.

He bought a night edition newspaper from the newsstand next to the bus station, waiting for the bus with her while reading it.

For a few seconds, his silence made her uncomfortable but she wasn't sure how to break the silence between them. Lifting up the atmosphere was not a skill she possessed, thus she could only wait for him to say something.

When the bus finally arrived, she still failed to hear him speak. Even until the moment where the bus's door opened in front of her, and they were about to say goodbye.

Just as her foot stepped onto the bus steps, a small surprised happened---Bo Ziren's scarf was blown off by a strong gust of wind and flew off her shoulders, and when she turned back, she saw him walking towards her.

He bent down to pick her scarf up while the bus driver was urging Bo Ziren to move quicker. Cheng Jingpo wrapped the scarf around her neck and made a knot.

At that moment, perhaps it was an illusion, but there was a smile of patience and spoiled pampered attitude he would usually bestow on a child brightened his eyes.

"This way, it won't fly off again." His voice sounded a notch deeper thank usual.

In that split second, she remembered the way he answered Mu Zibei's numerous strange questions.

For example, "Cheng dage, what do I need to eat so that I can grow up like you?"

"Greens and carrots, persevere and eat them for a period of them, there would be an obvious effect."

"What effect?"

"Your facial features will be more prominent, especially the chin line will be sharper."

"Ah? Cheng dage, were you taking the roundabout way to say my face is too round?"

"En? I've said it in a direct manner." There was humor in his voice and eyes.

And just now, there was the same humor and spoiling nature in his eyes, although only for a split second, it was directed at her.

His goodbye pulled her thoughts back to the present, she quickly nodded at him.

By the time Bo Ziren went inside the bus, there was no empty seat left. She stood in the middle of the bus, steadying herself with the hanging loop attached to the steel railings as she looked at his fading back.
In the crowded bus, came the low sounds of complaint. Clearly, her surrounding was noisy but she felt as if she was in a far away and a secluded corner, immersed in a unique happiness that belonged solely to her. At this moment, the hand in her right pocket, grasped tightly the Bodhi seed keychain he had found earlier as if she was clutching a small sun.

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