Epiphanies of Rebirth (重生之豁然)

Chapter 26.1

Lin Jingzhe said that school staff members would pick them up, but that wasn't exactly the truth—someone else was waiting for them.

Yan City's rail station was much more crowded than Qunnan City's, even more so at this time of year, when students were enrolling into new schools. Everywhere, there were travelers with plastic tote bags rushing around.

In the distance, Lin Jingzhe caught sight of a sign with his name on it, so he led his friends in that direction. Coming closer, they saw a young man propping up the sign stick in his elbow and looking at his pager.

He seemed to be in his early twenties. His face was classically handsome, but he slouched nonchalantly, which gave him a rather mischievous air.

Lin Jingzhe asked, "Are you Brother Fang Wenhao?"

Startled, the young man stood up straight and raised his head. After his eyes fell on Lin Jingzhe, he promptly took off his sunglasses and pinned the pager back to his belt before holding out his hand. "Hello. Are you Lin Jingzhe?"

"Yes, nice to meet you."

The young man crooked his mouth in a happy smile. "That's great, then I don't have to wait any longer. My grandfather forced me to come here right after breakfast, can you imagine?"

As he talked, he took the bags Lin Jingzhe was carrying, greeted Gao Sheng and the others by nodding to them, and turned around to lead them to the exit.

He clearly had a penchant for flamboyance—the car he drove was big and bright red, a rare sight in those times, and was very conspicuous amongst the small, pale-colored cars filling the streets. After putting all the luggage in the trunk, he sat in the driver's seat and put on his seat belt. "The train from Qunnan takes about thirty hours to get here, you guys must be tired," he said casually as if he was already familiar with Lin Jingzhe and his friends. "First, I'll take you home to eat and rest for a while. Don't refuse, you came early enough that you don't have to hurry to enroll, and my grandfather is looking forward to seeing you again. He's been talking about it for days."

Acting like he was unaware of the measuring gaze from the rearview mirror, Lin Jingzhe said, "All right."

After Lin Jingzhe got his admission notice from Yan University, he mentioned it once over the phone while talking with Elder Fang who then inquired about his schedule and travel arrangements in detail. He warned that there were many swindlers at the long-distance train station and that it was easy for young people unfamiliar with Yan City to be cheated, so he would send his grandson Fang Wenhao to pick them up in person.

Since the antique donation, the old man treated Lin Jingzhe like a family member and called him every now and then, wanting updates on his life. Lin Jingzhe found it hard to turn him down. Besides, he knew that he and his friends would definitely bring a lot of luggage with them, so after thinking it over for a moment, he agreed.

However, Fang Wenhao's temperament was different from his expectations. He'd thought that with Elder Fang's upbringing, his grandson would be equally enlightened and self-possessed. Now that they had met, it turned out that Fang Wenhao was lively and outgoing, not much different from other young men. His family circumstances and education gave him poise and some diplomatic skills, but he was still too young and inexperienced to suppress the curiosity and speculation in his eyes.

If you want to guess, then guess to your heart's content. Lin Jingzhe wasn't afraid of other people's speculations. The gaze from the rearview mirror was a bit rude, but not malicious. Using his actual age, Lin Jingzhe was old enough to be Fang Wenhao's father, so he was extremely tolerant. He quietly leaned against the back seat of the car and looked out the window, watching the city he hadn't seen for a long time; it was both the same and very different from the city in his memory.