On the right-hand side, there was the handrail that was built for decoration. Outside of the handrail stood Tao Ling’s shixiong Kou Huai, and next to him was also a man in his thirties.
The man looked kind, and on his face there was still some shock.
Tao Ling shouted, “Shixiong.”
Kou Huai smiled and tapped on the man’s shoulder. “What’s wrong, Chaoyang? This is my shidi1a younger person studying in the same field, Tao Ling.” Then he looked at Tao Ling: “Tao Ling, this is the coworker I was talking about, Professor Xia Chaoyang. He’s here to go to the meeting with me this time.”
“Professor Xia,” Tao Ling stood up, “please come and sit first.”
The man named Chaoyang quickly regained his composure, and in a blink of an eye, nothing unusual could be seen from him. He smiled and followed Kou Huai around the handrail to get in front of the table.
Tao Ling raised his arm first and shook hands with Xia Chaoyang: “Nice to meet you, professor Xia.”
The three people sat down.
As a shixiong, Kou Huai was always used to taking care of others. After asking both people’s opinions, he did the ordering for them. He even remembered that Tao Ling couldn’t eat spicy food, so he ordered a split hot pot, with the spicy side being mild.
“Shixiong, you don’t have to spoil me like that. If you guys can eat spicy food, go ahead.” Tao Ling said.
Kou Huai continued ordering, waving his hand and smiling. “If I don’t spoil you, who will? You’re almost thirty, and there’s no one around you to take care of you.”
Tao Ling looked at Xia Chaoyang, and Xia Chaoyang just smiled calmly.
They asked each other about school and work. After a few words, the waiter had already brought out the pot. The hot steam rose up, reliving some reserved and awkward atmosphere between the strangers.
As they waited for the soup base to boil, Tao Ling asked, “Professor Xia, do you know my brother?”
Xia Chaoyang nodded lightly. “You don’t have to be so polite and reserved, shidi. I never heard from Dr. Kou before that you have a brother, so I got scared when I first saw you. So you are really Tao Jun’s brother.”
“Yes.” Tao Ling responded, “I look very similar to my brother—more similar than a twin would. I’m the other Tao Jun, that’s what people have said since I was young.”
Xia Chaoyang took a few looks at him through the hot white steam: “You guys do look similar, but still quite easy to differentiate. You look livelier than your brother does.”
“I’m five years younger than him, but he shouldn’t look that old.” Tao Ling responded.
“I didn’t mean it like that. Your brother isn’t old either.” Xia Chaoyang felt a bit helpless, but obviously not because of this joke.
Kou Huai smiled and said: “That’s what I’ve been saying; there’s always some energy in Tao Ling. Not only does he look young, but he’s also different from those almost middle-aged men like us in all other aspects.”
Tao Ling smiled: “Shixiong meant that I’m not mature enough, or perhaps meant I got dull from studying too much? My mind doesn’t match my age, my age grew for nothing.”
Kou Huai shook his head: “You have such a bitter mouth.”
“Immaturity has its own good side.” Xia Chaoyang replied slowly.
Kou Huai suddenly remembered something, called the waiter, and said, “I forgot to order the most important thing. We finally had a chance to meet each other, so why don’t we have some drinks? Both of you are good at drinking alcohol, and we didn’t drive here, so don’t look for excuses.”
Xiao Chaoyang smiled and asked, “Can shidi drink?”
Tao Ling adjusted his glasses: “I can.”
The three cheered and each drank a cup, but they were still unable to put away the politeness among strangers that was seemingly dissolved by the hot steam in the air, leaving behind some intrinsic estrangement that cannot be easily felt.
Kou Huai asked Xia Chaoyang : “Chaoyang, how did you first know Tao Ling’s brother?”
“We were classmates in university.” Xia Chaoyang held the cup in hand, gently swirling it near the table edge. On the ring finger of his left hand, there was a simplistic ring.
Tao Ling thought about it and said: “I still have my brother’s graduation photo from when he was an undergraduate, but I didn’t see Professor Xia on it.”
Xia Chaoyang smiled: “On the picture day, I had something else I needed to take care of, so I couldn’t make it. I regret missing it.”
Halfway through the hotpot, Xia Chaoyang asked seemingly unknowingly: “Shidi, where does your brother work now? Still in the same company?”
Kou Huai was a little surprised and quickly looked at Tao Ling. When he was about to speak, Tao Ling smiled indifferently and responded naturally: “My brother died three years ago, around the same season as now.”
There was a sudden sound. The cup fell from Xia Chaoyang’s hand. The bottom of the cup touched the table edge, flipping over the entire cup, and it rolled on the table. Liquor spilled all over the table, towards the stove surrounding the hot pot.
After some loud sizzling, alcohol vapor spread all over the room.
“Ay! Did you get wet?” Kou Huai took the last few tissues.
Xia Chaoyang lightly wiped over the front of his body: “I’m okay, it didn’t get on me.”
Tao Ling said to the approaching waiter, “Please get us another pack of tissues.”
After roughly cleaning up the tabletop, Xia Chaoyang hurriedly smiled in embarrassment, his face looking slightly pale. He said to Tao Ling in a low voice: “Sorry, my hand slipped.”
“It’s okay.” Tao Ling responded calmly, “There was no funeral. My brother said not to have one, so those who barely contact him wouldn’t know about this.”
The atmosphere cooled down for two minutes. Kou Huai poured wine for Xia Chaoyang again and asked: “How is the progress of your institute’s project application? I don’t know what’ll happen with the social science fund next year.”
Xia Chaoyang agreed, and the two discussed the issue of project establishment for a while, as if the accident just now didn’t happen.
Kou Huai asked Tao Ling about his research progress during this period, and finally told him: “Although I am temporarily in an administrative position, I still need to keep reading and writing papers. It’s always right to read more and write more. Academic conferences should also be held. Actively submit articles and participate. Don’t think that this is a meaningless platform to build circles. I know you don’t like to clique, but there are still many good opportunities, and you can broaden your academic horizons. It’s the same in any field now. It’s very important to have innovative ideas. Now, we can’t just sit on the bench and do things behind closed doors.”
Their cups clinked, and Kou Huai sincerely confided: “Don’t be annoyed at me, these will definitely be useful to you when you formally enter a teaching position in the future.”
“Got it,” Tao Ling answered. “Shixiong doesn’t need to worry.”
Kou Huai shook his head. “You’re only this straightforward in your replies.”2like when you answer quickly to get someone to stop talking
Tao Ling smiled.
Up until the end of the meal, no one mentioned Tao Jun’s name again.
After leaving the store, Tao Ling said, “If you already knew you were going to a meeting, we shouldn’t have had hot pot.”
“It’s okay, we brought a change of clothes.” Xia Chaoyang responded.
After chatting for a while at the intersection, Kou Huai patted Tao Ling on the shoulder and said, “You can go back now.”
Tao Ling: “How are you guys leaving? I’ll send you out.”
“No need.” Kou Huai said, “The hotel we booked is right next to Kaide. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
The breeze was gentle, and the heat steamed by the wine on Tao Ling’s face dissipated a little. Just as he was about to say goodbye, Xia Chaoyang stretched out his hand to him: “See you later, Tao shidi. It’s nice to meet you.”
Tao Ling only smiled at one corner of his mouth, which was hidden by the night. He nodded and shook hands with Xia Chaoyang again.
After saying goodbye completely, Tao Ling turned around and walked straight away.
As he approached the east gate, he hesitated. Normally, going home would be closer from the west gate, but now that he was outside the school, going through the west gate would instead require a detour.
Before he could think about it, his legs seemed to have gained autonomy and had already taken him into school.
As he walked along the road outside the campus, it was dark, while the street lights were white. It was too late, so the flower shop must have been closed.
However, when he finally left the west gate, Tao Ling saw Wen Qing’s figure standing at the door of the flower shop. He seemed to be looking aimlessly, so he noticed Tao Ling as soon as he appeared.
After crossing the intersection, Tao Ling saw a smile blooming on his face from a distance.
As he walked closer, Wen Qingying’s smile disappeared. No matter how the lighting changed, that face was always beautiful and quiet.
Tao Ling didn’t look at him. He just lowered his head to observe the flower stand.
The flower shop’s business seemed to be good, and only half of the fresh-cut flowers at the door were available. There were only the last handful of light green daisies left, and it could be seen that they were of slightly poorer quality, so no one cared about them.
Wen Qingying stood motionless by the door, watching Tao Ling walk around.
Two minutes later, Tao Ling took a handful of daisies and walked up to Wen Qingying. Looking at each other for two seconds, he raised his hand and pushed him.
Wen Qingying followed the force and moved two steps to the side, revealing the payment code behind him.
Tao Ling had no expression on his face and quickly took out his mobile phone to scan the code. After paying the bill, he turned around immediately.
He walked a few steps when Wen Qingying suddenly followed. He grabbed Tao Ling’s wrist from the side and stuffed something into his palm.
![Cannon Fodder Scum Gong’s Whitewashing Manual [Quick Transmigration]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CFSGWM.jpg "Cannon Fodder Scum Gong’s Whitewashing Manual [Quick Transmigration]")
