The Secret Realm of Time, His and Her Life Through the Changes

Zhou Yanruo left home early today. She usually doesn't eat much for breakfast, and after a busy morning, she was starving. As soon as it was lunchtime, she ran to the cafeteria to eat.

She was engrossed in her meal when a lunchbox was slammed onto the table opposite her with a loud thud. Zhou Yanruo looked up from her lunchbox and saw a boy standing there. She had placed her lunchbox on the table first, hence the loud noise. He pulled out a round stool, making a screeching sound as it scraped against the floor, then plopped down on it. He then pulled out the round stool next to him with another screeching sound.

Zhou Yanruo frowned. She picked up her lunchbox, intending to find another place to sit, but after looking around, she found that the restaurant was already full.

“Here,” the “rude” boy across from him called out loudly toward the food counter.

Wang Jie walked over with a lunchbox and sat down next to the "rude" boy.

"Teacher Wang."

"Zhou Yanruo"

“You’re from your class, your student,” the rude boy said. “Hello, classmate, my name is Jian Zheng.”

"..." Zhou Yanruo neither looked up nor responded.

"After you finish eating, you can leave, right? I'll tell them not to schedule any afternoon classes for you." Jian Zheng didn't care that Zhou Yanruo ignored him, and turned to Wang Jie to say it.

"I'm not going back to school this afternoon. I have a social practice job. Let's go together. They can provide an evaluation report."

“You’re still short of social activity hours, we can make up for it during this period.”

“Americans are dogmatic and inflexible. Don’t make things difficult for you just because you don’t meet the social activity hours requirement,” Jian Zheng said, his mouth greasy as he stuffed food into his mouth.

Jian Zheng would say three sentences, and Wang Jie would reply with a single word, "Hmm" or "Okay." They would save as much as possible and never say a word more than necessary.

“Hey, classmate, you’re an actor, right?” Jian Zheng said, still trying to strike up a conversation while eating. “I’ve never actually seen an actor in person; I’ve only seen them on TV.”

"Wang Jie, are all the actors in your class? Now we've seen them in person." Jian Zhengdong kept talking, and no one responded, so he continued on his own.

“All actors are handsome men and beautiful women, hehe, Wang Jie, with your looks, you could outshine them all just by standing there.” Jian Zheng gave Wang Jie a thumbs up and pointed at him with a "tsk tsk," saying, “So handsome, I wonder if a talent scout would have gotten you into a movie or something.”

"Let's eat." If Wang Jie didn't interrupt, he figured Jian Zheng would keep talking and who knows what other words he would come up with, and he didn't care whether others could keep up or not.

"Hey, tell me, I wasn't exaggerating, was I? Isn't he really handsome?" Jian Zheng looked up at Zhou Yanruo across from him and said nonchalantly.

“I’m not called ‘Hey’,” Zhou Yanruo glared at Jian Zheng across from her. She already disliked him, and now his constant chatter was really annoying.

"Hey, don't be angry. You're pretty too. I was just too shy to compliment a girl directly," Jian Zheng said ingratiatingly.

“That’s not what I meant,” Zhou Yanruo said anxiously. Who wanted him to praise her beauty? Who cared about his praise? She raised her voice and said to the two people opposite her, “I said, I don’t call her ‘Hey’.”

"What did Wang Jie say your name was again? Zhou Zhiruo, right, Zhou Zhiruo. Oh, no, you're Abbess Miejue's disciple!"

“You are the disciple of Abbess Miejue,” Zhou Yanruo asked.

"I cannot be Abbess Miejue's disciple because I am a man, and Abbess Miejue only accepts female disciples."

“You… my name isn’t Zhou Zhiruo.”

"Oh, you're not Zhou Zhiruo. Abbess Miejue has several disciples. So, which disciple are you?"

Zhou Yanruo had already picked up her water glass to throw it at him when Wang Jie quickly interjected, "I'm sorry, Zhou Yanruo, this is Jian Zheng, my college classmate. He likes to joke around, don't be angry." Wang Jie added several more words before turning to Jian Zheng and introducing him, "This is Zhou Yanruo."

“Teacher Wang, your classmate is quite interesting.” Since the teacher had spoken, Zhou Yanruo couldn’t refuse and quickly chimed in to avoid an awkward situation.

He thought to himself, "Birds of a feather flock together. Jian Zheng is like this, and Wang Jie isn't much better."

“I’m serious, I’m not exaggerating.” Jian Zheng rattled off another string of words, “You two are both good-looking, and it’s not okay that I’m ugly. Hey, what are you two being so modest about? And speaking so pedantically, are you two students of Confucius? How old are you? You’re so old-fashioned.”

Wang Jie was so embarrassed he could dig a three-bedroom apartment out of the ground. He stood up, placed his lunchbox directly on top of Jian Zheng's still-eating lunchbox, picked it up, and left, saying, "Let's go."

"Hey, I haven't finished eating yet, where are you going to take it?"

"Classmate, no, Zhou Yanruo, see you later." Jian Zheng stood up as he chased after Wang Jie, not forgetting to greet Zhou Yanruo.

Jian Zheng caught up with Wang Jie and habitually put his arm around Wang Jie's shoulder: "Are all the girls in your class this pretty? Can I work part-time as a teacher? I'll ask Sister Fangfang later what I can teach." Jian Zheng then turned back and proudly raised his chin at Zhou Yanruo before walking out of the cafeteria with a smile.

Jian Zheng arrived in a great commotion and left in a great commotion, leaving Zhou Yanruo looking completely bewildered, sitting at the dining table in a state of confusion.

To be honest, after Jian Zheng's antics, Zhou Yanruo realized that, putting aside the 'teacher' filter, Wang Jie was actually quite handsome.

Wang Jie and Jian Zheng walked out of the cafeteria one after the other. As soon as they entered the courtyard, Wang Jie asked Jian Zheng, "Where do you think we're going to do volunteer work this afternoon?"

"I forgot to tell you because I was interrupted by Abbess Miejue's disciple."

"She's a girl, stop calling her Abbess Miejue's disciple."

"Yes, yes, she's a pretty girl. She can't be Abbess Miejue's disciple."

Wang Jie smiled and shook his head. Jian Zheng was going up against the disciple of Abbess Miejue today, and he couldn't get around this topic.

"Let's get down to business."

"We've been talking about serious matters, haven't we? It's you who insists that pretty girls can't be Abbess Miejue's disciples."

Wang Jie shook off Jian Zheng's arm, which was about to wrap around her again, glared at him, and said, "Are you ever going to stop?"

"Okay, okay, that's all." Jian Zheng finally began to seriously introduce the volunteers' work. "You know that the city museum was just built, right? In order to promote the canal culture, a large exhibition hall called 'Canal Heritage, New Era' was established. One of the units, 'Millennial Waterway, Poetry and Painting on Boats,' was recruited by the organizing committee of colleges and universities. The main task is to input the prepared texts, such as cultural materials, news reports, and pictures, into the playback software in the form of PPT presentations to make promotional videos, which will be played during the event."

"This is a public welfare project. Their production budget is limited, while the amount of materials, pictures and texts required is huge. This kind of work requires both good cultural literacy and proficient computer input skills. Therefore, it is difficult for ordinary temporary workers to do it."

Wang Jie recalled that a few days earlier, Jian Zheng, in order to help him get an English teacher job, actually claimed to the organizers that he had taught college English before.

So Wang Jie quickly interjected, "This job is quite meaningful, but I don't know how to make promotional videos, so don't delay things."

"They didn't tell you to make a promotional video. They just told you to input the materials they prepared into the computer. The organizers have already hired a professional team to do the post-production, so don't worry about it."

"Oh, I see. Then I'm fine with it, I can do it."

“You’re just too honest. There’s nothing you can’t do. Even if you don’t know how, you can learn, right?” Jian Zheng walked forward on his own, and when he looked back, Wang Jie was still standing there pondering.

He walked back and continued, "Take this English teacher position for example. You are perfectly capable of it. I just used a little bit of my skills; it was a strategy. Ultimately, your ability depends on yourself."

Wang Jie smiled and said, "I have the ability."

“That’s right, I know what I’m doing. Let’s go.” Jian Zheng said, drawing out his words.

The two rode bicycles from outside the east city, along the outer city line, to the newly built Xichuan Museum in the south of the city, a journey that took more than fifty minutes.

As soon as Jian Zheng got off the bicycle, he cried out, "I've been tricked! I've been tricked! It's been so far, my legs are weak and my butt hurts so much!"

Wang Jie, also grimacing, straddled the bicycle with one foot on the ground, watching Jian Zheng rub his buttocks in an exaggerated manner.

He grinned and said, "I'll probably have to ride my bike here for the next few days, just to get some exercise."

Jian Zheng looked at Wang Jie with a worried expression.

The two looked at each other and smiled wryly.