Spring deepened, and the temperature gradually rose.
On Monday morning, while Yu Mo was in the office, she received a call from the "One Hour" client. His tone was as concise as ever as he told her to arrange a time for the signing.
She hung up the phone and sat at her workstation for a while, covering her eyes with her hands.
She didn't know who to share this feeling with; it was far too complex. There was joy, bitterness, and relief, but also a sense of pride in herself. She had finally taken a small step forward in this world on her own, even if she didn't know where the future would lead.
She pulled out a tissue and carefully dabbed away the moisture around her eyes; she couldn't let her eye makeup smudge.
At the neighboring workstation, Wang Zhuo was on the phone, pinching his throat to play the role of a professional: "Hello, do you have any need for capital?"
Every person is an island; joys and sorrows do not translate.
The "One Hour" client’s surname was Liang. He was a young man in his thirties with very short hair and a long scar at the corner of his brow. His gaze and tone were never particularly friendly; he looked at everyone as if they were an eyesore, and he preferred to speak in questions and commands.
Yu Mo didn't dare delay for a second and arranged the signing for that afternoon.
There were over a dozen documents to sign. Yu Mo opened them one by one and placed them before the client. As he lowered his head to sign, she would occasionally point out where he needed to put his name.
Liang Hui saw a slender, translucent white finger lightly trace the document in front of him. Her fingernails were a soft pink, and though she didn't speak, her silent attentiveness made him feel as if those nails were scratching against his heart. He narrowed his eyes and looked up at the account manager.
She had a pale face and eyes like a clear spring. Her slender neck was held high with pride, revealing nothing yet seeming to hold back a thousand words. He smiled and said, "Miss Yu, thank you for your help. How about I take you out to dinner later?"
It was the first time Yu Mo had seen him smile, and he looked like trouble. She gave an innocent smile and replied, "Maybe another day."
Liang Hui just smiled and didn't push it; they were both adults.
Liang Hui was doing a mortgage loan on a property this time. After the documents were signed, Yu Mo needed to conduct a site visit to take photos of the house. Liang Hui drove her there.
The property being mortgaged was in Spring Breeze South Bank, a 200-square-meter unit in a high-quality residential community. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to secure a five-million-yuan loan. The market standard was usually fifty to seventy percent of the property value. Zhongfu was more lenient; as long as the client's credit report had no major issues, they would give the full seventy percent.
There was a set procedure for site visit photos: the community gate, the entrance door including the unit number, every room, and a photo of the account manager and the owner together inside the house.
Yu Mo photographed the entrance and followed him inside, only to find the place piled high with construction materials. There was hardly any room to step. It turned out the renovation had just begun, though whether it was finished or not didn't matter for the loan.
Liang Hui was in a hurry to leave and wanted to get the photo over with. He raised his voice and shouted, "Is anyone here? Someone come out!"
As soon as he spoke, a man walked out of a small room. He was tall, and a layer of white dust had settled on his jacket like frost. He held a rag, wiping his hands as he sized them up.
Liang Hui recognized him and greeted him: "Yo, isn't this Boss Qi? Working the field yourself today?"
Qi Lian nodded to him, responding coolly, "Boss Liang."
Liang Hui wasn't in the mood for pleasantries. He turned back, took the phone from Yu Mo's hand, and handed it to Qi Lian. "Hurry up, help us take a photo."
Qi Lian took it. The phone had been clutched in Yu Mo's hand and still held her warmth.
He looked at Yu Mo through the lens. Today, she wore a black cropped top paired with a matching pleated skirt and a pair of slim high heels. She smiled faintly at the camera, graceful and understated.
He couldn't say why, but he just thought she looked damn beautiful. She looked good in everything. There was nothing particularly special about those clothes—he saw other women on the street wearing similar things—but on her, they just looked right, fitting her in a way he couldn't describe.
He hastily pressed the shutter and handed the phone back to Liang Hui instead of giving it directly to Yu Mo.
Seeing that the business was concluded, Liang Hui said goodbye to Yu Mo and left in a whirlwind.
Only then did Yu Mo look Qi Lian in the eye and greet him: "What a coincidence!"
Qi Lian pointed to her feet and said, "There are steel pipes all around there, yet you insist on standing right next to them. With your legs exposed like that, you'll be crying if you get poked!"
Yu Mo obediently took a few steps away and continued taking photos with her phone.
In the kitchen, she saw Qi Lian's toolbox and asked casually, "I still don't know exactly what it is you do."
Qi Lian followed a step behind her. He said, "I do a bit of everything. I started out in plumbing and electricity, and over time, I learned it all, though I usually don't do the painting. Sometimes I don't do the work myself; I'll take the contract and find people to do it. For example, Boss Liang just now—I took the contract for the renovation of this house and a commercial shop, and I'm hiring the crew."
Yu Mo nodded, then asked curiously, "What's that pile of stuff in the living room?"
"Those are materials for underfloor heating. I do that too."
Yu Mo had renovated a house herself before and had a general understanding of the industry. She had never met a master with such a broad range of services. She asked, "Then aren't you incredibly busy?"
Qi Lian looked at her expression, unsure of what she meant by that. "I am quite busy. I'm rushing to meet deadlines every day."
Yu Mo finished her photos and checked them. When she was about to leave, she hesitated for a moment, then chose her words carefully for Qi Lian: "This client of mine... the company usually gives a seventy percent limit, but he was only given sixty. You should keep an eye on your payment collections. You understand what I mean?"
Qi Lian's brow furrowed. He was an old hand in the world; how could he not understand? He said, "I've got it."
The moment Yu Mo stepped out the door, he pulled out his phone and called Jiang Yuan. "Are you at the shop on Jiefang Road? Has the wood veneer backing arrived? Now, listen to me: pull everyone out. I'm calling Old Yang right now to tell him not to deliver the boards yet. This Liang Hui has a payment that's overdue and hasn't been paid. They don't go back in until he pays up. Go home and rest for today. If there's no movement by tonight, I'll arrange a new job for you."
Before evening fell, he received a call from Liang Hui. "I say, Qi Lian, what's the meaning of this? You stopping work because you don't want the job anymore? Do you have any idea how much money I lose for every day of delay?"
Qi Lian paced to the window to take the call. He saw a bee on the glass, bumping around blindly, unable to find a way out. He watched it for a moment, then pushed the window open to help it fly away.
He said into the phone, "Boss Liang, we're more anxious than you are. The materials can't get to the site; there are shortages everywhere. There's really nothing we can do."
Liang Hui cursed without hesitation, "Don't give me that bullshit. Neither of us started doing this yesterday; we both know what's going on. You're being this cold-hearted? You can't even wait a few days? Do you want to work together in the future or not?"
"Boss Liang, the materials really can't get to the site. We've called the suppliers ten times a day, and it's no use."
Seeing that Qi Lian wouldn't budge, Liang Hui knew further talk was useless. He cursed him in his heart: *Fuck your ancestors.* Outwardly, he could only compromise: "At the latest, I'll transfer the progress payment to you the day after tomorrow. Get the work started immediately. If the materials don't arrive by then, it won't be too late to stop."
Qi Lian said, "Then I'll press the material side again and see what they say."
"Wait a minute. Did that woman from Zhongfu say something to you?"
Qi Lian slowly straightened his posture, shifting into a combat stance. The man’s tone made him incredibly bristly. *Just you try and lay a finger on her*, he thought.
He replied impassively, "What Zhongfu? I don't know them."
***
Yu Mo was startled awake from her sleep by a loud crash. She sat up in terror, her heart constricting from the shock, throbbing with a twitching pain.
She didn't know who was smashing her door. Before she could think, she jumped up to block it.
Just then, the "thud-thud" of a body hitting the wall came from outside, followed by a shrill, wailing cry: "You son of a bitch! If you don't kill me today, you're a coward!"
Yu Mo relaxed. It was just the neighbors fighting and hitting her door.
She clutched her chest and lay back on the bed, checking her phone. It was three in the morning.
The shouting continued outside until another tenant raised their voice to curse at them: "Can't you wait until morning to die? It's the middle of the night, let people sleep!"
The neighbors finally stopped screaming, but the sobbing and whimpering continued until nearly dawn.
The muffled, rambling words drifted through the wall into Yu Mo's room as if someone were whispering in her ear. She spent the rest of the night in a half-awake state, somehow finding herself back in her university dormitory.
A poster of David Beckham was pasted on the wall by her bed; every day when she opened her eyes, she would lock eyes with him.
It seemed to be evening, and everyone was there. She was playing "80 Points" with Xiao Mo, Hai Lan, and someone else. Her card skills were truly terrible; she was just there to make up the numbers.
Someone knocked on their dorm door, and a head peeked in from behind it. It was a girl from her hometown, a sophomore senior. She said to her, "Yu Mo, there's a boy downstairs looking for you. He says he's your online friend."
They stopped playing cards and looked at each other. "What online friend? Are you in an online romance?"
Yu Mo's heart pounded faster and faster. She had a vague intuition, and she couldn't help but scream.
The girls in her dorm followed her, running downstairs like a gust of wind.
Under the streetlamp downstairs, a tall man stood with a backpack, wearing blue jeans. He looked travel-worn and weary. Who else could it be but Xue Shen?
Yu Mo choked up and rushed into his arms, and he opened his arms wide to hold her tight!
The rest of her roommates screamed behind them.
At that time, Xue Shen's family had suffered a sudden misfortune. He was short on money and couldn't afford a ticket. To come see her, he had hidden under a train seat, lying stiff for twenty hours without food or drink. Upon his return, he would have to eat nothing but plain rice with soy sauce for half a month.
Such a youthful, crazy love—they had once given everything for each other. It deserved to be called the most sincere love in the world. No matter what happened later, nothing could change that.
That must have been a late spring night as well. The area in front of the girls' dormitory was filled with gardenias. They embraced tightly amidst the scent of the flowers. Sadly, nothing is harder to hold onto than a person's heart.
Yu Mo woke from her dream and wept.
