After the rain, the wind stopped in front of the river. - Chapter 2

Gu Junchuan Is Very Bored

Sister Lin bought two hundred classes in one go. When she transferred the money, her movements were brisk. Lin Yuluo quietly let out a breath of relief, one worry had finally been settled.

When the ‘little boyfriend’ walked her downstairs, in the elevator lobby she took out her phone.
“Should I add you as a friend and transfer your share to you?”

The ‘little boyfriend’ lowered his eyes slightly and glanced at her. You couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but he handed her his QR code.
“Go ahead and add me.”

Lin Yuluo scanned it.
“Done. Thanks for your trouble. We pay this month’s salary on the tenth of next month. I’ll transfer it to you then.”

“How much will you transfer?” the ‘little boyfriend’ asked.

“I don’t know yet how much I’ll get,” Lin Yuluo replied.

“Alright,” the ‘little boyfriend’ said.

Lin Yuluo felt that Sister Lin’s ‘little boyfriend’ was a bit strange, though she couldn’t say exactly what was strange about him. As they were leaving, she heard the security guard greet him.

“Mr. Gu heading out as well?”

“Yes.”

This Mr. Gu, Sister Lin’s ‘little boyfriend’, was named Gu Junchuan. Lin Yuluo followed behind him out of the building. The damp, hot night air blew over them, making it hard to breathe. After politely saying goodbye to Gu Junchuan, she walked out of the residential compound.

She wasn’t in a hurry to go home. A neighbor had said the power was still out, and going back at this hour would probably be unbearably hot. This summer had ground Lin Yuluo down until she had no temper left, every day she prayed that when she opened her eyes it would already be autumn.

She walked slowly along the street, a sticky layer of sweat gradually forming on her body. Passing through a busy commercial district, she saw men and women standing on the roadside chatting and laughing. 

Lin Yuluo recognized the luxury brands in their hands, Fang Liu had taught her to identify them during training, so that they could judge at a glance which clients could afford expensive personal training fees.

They all looked like people who would never worry about a night without electricity. Meanwhile, when Lin Yuluo bought a bottle of mineral water, she had to choose the plainest, cheapest packaging. She walked on, avoiding the busiest areas, and found a bench by the roadside to sit down and rest, placing the bottle of water beside her.

It was already eleven o’clock. Someone in the rental group chat sent a message.
“My phone’s about to die. There probably won’t be power today.”

“I wonder if someone will get heatstroke.”

“Work hard, make money, move!”

Lin Yuluo glanced at her power bank, it was fully charged. The sense of security in her heart increased a little.

Across the street was a bar. A few people were standing at the entrance smoking and chatting. One of them Lin Yuluo recognized was Sister Lin’s ‘little boyfriend.’ He came out of the bar and stood at the door smoking a cigarette. When he smoked, his head was lowered. Someone beside him was saying something; he occasionally nodded.

When Gu Junchuan went to the trash can to throw away his cigarette butt, his gaze met Lin Yuluo’s. She couldn’t dodge in time and hurriedly raised her hand to greet him. Gu Junchuan lifted his chin slightly in response. Two seconds later, he took out his phone and sent her a message.

“Want to come in and sit for a while?”

“What?”

“Come sit at the bar for a while?”

Countless possibilities flashed through Lin Yuluo’s mind, what kind of people Gu Junchuan, as the “little boyfriend,” might know, and what his private life might be like. She even had the impulse to go in and sit for a while. Maybe then Sister Fang wouldn’t be waving performance reports at her tomorrow.

But Lin Yuluo felt she just couldn’t do it. She didn’t even know how to start a conversation in a social setting like that.

After a while, she replied.
“Sorry, Mr. Gu. I’m just sitting here to rest for a bit. I won’t go in to hang out!”

Gu Junchuan didn’t seem surprised. He glanced at her across the street, then turned and walked back inside.

“Who was that?” Su Jingqiu asked him.

“My mom’s yoga instructor.”

“Auntie is still practicing?”

“Yeah. One class in the morning and one in the evening.”

“Is Uncle still not home?”

“Probably dead.”

The two of them chatted as they went back into the bar. The people inside had clearly been waiting a long time. The lighting was dim, someone on stage was singing, and Gu Junchuan leaned back in his chair, flipping through a product catalog someone had sent him.

Gu Junchuan had opened several companies that didn’t seem related at all, clothing, food. Whatever he felt like doing, he did. Some lost money, some made money, he wasn’t in any hurry about it.

The clothing company had recently been designing new autumn products, and some samples were being made.

“Pages 2 to 6 are all garbage,” he messaged the design director Gao Peiwen. “Too complicated.”

“I’m revising them,” Gao Peiwen replied. “Three days.”

Su Jingqiu tapped the table beside him. “We came out to have fun. Stop working!”

“Don’t even think about making me try on your new products. I still haven’t gotten over how disgusting it was last time.” Gu Junchuan looked at the glass in front of him. “Take this away too. Bring me mineral water.”

“Isn’t it strange? You think it’s disgusting, but everyone else loves it. See? Almost everyone has a glass. It’s a bestseller.”

Gu Junchuan glanced around. Su Jingqiu wasn’t exaggerating, every table really did have that drink that tasted like urine. His stomach churned, and he couldn’t understand other people’s tastes.

“Novelty hunting,” Su Jingqiu said. “We create this atmosphere of ‘if you don’t like it, it means you don’t get it.’ In fact, once you force yourself to finish the first glass, the second one isn’t that bad.”

“…”

“That girl just now was pretty good,” Su Jingqiu said. “Quite good-looking. No wonder you’ve been staying at your mom’s place lately.”

“Didn’t I tell you already? My place is airing out after renovation.”

“Yeah, yeah. From what I see, you’re bored again, really bored. If I had parents like yours, I’d relax and live like a spoiled wastrel. Who would still work so hard every day?” Su Jingqiu said. Sometimes he couldn’t understand Gu Junchuan. He clearly had everything, yet he still worked so desperately, as if he had nothing at all.

Gu Junchuan shrugged. He didn’t want to talk about his parents, and he didn’t really want to talk about himself either. His father probably had several children somewhere out there,  his mother spent her days practicing yoga, growing flowers, and playing the piano, refusing to socialize. On the first day Gu Junchuan moved in with her, he could already tell she had reached some kind of spiritual enlightenment, as if she had ascended to immortality.

That night, when he got home, he saw Lin Shuxue lying flat in the yoga room, her belly rising and falling. He asked her, “Not focusing on health anymore? Don’t you go to bed at 9:30 every night?”

Lin Shuxue didn’t even open her eyes and slowly said, “I’m cultivating the same schedule as you young people.”

“And then?”

“And then I’ll find you a stepfather who’s even younger than you.”

“You really.”

Lin Shuxue sat up. “What do you mean, I really what? Only you men are allowed to ruin young girls?”

Gu Junchuan laughed at her. “He still hasn’t contacted you?”

“Probably dead.”

Lin Shuxue took three deep breaths and stood up. “If he were really dead, that would actually be better. Otherwise, one day someone might show up with a child. If that happens, I’ll dig up his grave and turn it upside down, do you believe me?”

“Go ahead. I’ll get you an excavator,” Gu Junchuan added fuel to the fire. “You should’ve done that long ago.”

“With you saying that, I’m relieved.” Lin Shuxue wiped her sweat. “This yoga instructor today doesn’t talk much, but she doesn’t cut corners. She looks like someone with no scheming at all, probably can’t even tell lies.”

“And she’s also surnamed Lin. Not many people share my surname, so it’s kind of fate,” Lin Shuxue muttered to herself.

“Your yoga instructor thought I was your kept pretty boy,” Gu Junchuan said. “She even said you should give me a commission when you renew your membership.”

When Lin Shuxue heard that, she burst into laughter, rocking back and forth, almost laughing to tears.
“That’s killing me, that’s killing me, did you explain it to her?”

“I didn’t bother explaining. If her brain doesn’t work properly, what does that have to do with me? Besides, why should I have a problem with money?”

Gu Junchuan winked at Lin Shuxue. “I’m going to sleep. I still have to go to the factory tomorrow.”

“You’re picking her up for me tomorrow morning too.”

“What about Aunt Zhao? Aunt Yang?” Gu Junchuan asked. “Why aren’t they around?”

“Aunt Zhao is sick, Aunt Yang went home to see her grandson. I’m quite free on my own!”

“Then can’t you go down and get her yourself? Or just call her and have her come up?”

“What do I keep a son for, just to put him on a shelf? I ask you to pick up someone and you’re already impatient.”

“You just want to show off your authority as a mother.”

After bickering with Lin Shuxue, Gu Junchuan went back to his room. His phone kept buzzing nonstop. When he opened it, it was full of work messages. There were also one or two girls messaging him.
“Want to come out and sit together?”
Their tone was sincere, and they even attached photos of what they were wearing that day.

Gu Junchuan was almost immune to beautiful women.

Every week he interviewed three to five print models. It had been almost two months, and only “half a person” had met his standards. For this new series he was launching, his requirements for models were very high, they had to look simple, high-end, and stunning.

That yoga instructor was not bad.

Brainless, pretty. Even without makeup she scored a full ten. Her eyes looked timid when she looked at people, it was hard to tell whether she was pretending or if that was just how she was.

This “brainless beauty” showed up the next day with a deathly pale face. She forced a smile at him, sweat beading on her forehead, as if she might collapse at any moment.

“What’s wrong?” Gu Junchuan asked her in the elevator.

“I… feel a little nauseous.” Lin Yuluo covered her mouth, forcing herself not to throw up.

She had barely slept all night. The room had been too hot, and she kept sweating. The bus earlier had been crowded, all kinds of smells mixing together. Already feeling unwell, she had to calm herself down for a long time after getting off before she could come over.

When Gu Junchuan heard Lin Yuluo say she felt nauseous, he glanced at her stomach. Lin Yuluo caught his strange look, straightened her back, and explained, “No—I’m not pregnant.”

“I just have heatstroke.”

Heatstroke? At nine in the morning? Gu Junchuan glanced at his watch, then looked at Lin Yuluo again. As soon as she stepped out of the elevator, a wave of dizziness hit her. She held onto the wall and slowly squatted down.