Major Heavy Industry: Starting with a Fake Marriage

Chapter 132 Waist Massage

Old Zhou said that people from the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and the Ministry of National Defense would be coming, so the report couldn't be too casual. He wrote a few lines, paused, then wrote a few more. He wrote and erased, erased and wrote, and finally tore out the page he had written and started over.

Zheng Yanxi sat down next to him and opened a book called "Atlas of Anatomy." The pages were new, smelling of fresh ink. She read slowly, pointing to each structure in the diagrams with her finger and silently reciting their names. Bones, muscles, blood vessels, nerves—each name was difficult to remember; some were long, some were tongue-twisting.

"Yanxi".

"Um?"

"Aren't you scared? Go to medical school and take classes with those recent graduates. They're seven or eight years younger than you, and their foundation is better than yours. They just graduated from high school, and they remember physics, chemistry, and biology very well."

She put down her book and looked at him. "I'm scared. But I'm even more scared not to go. You know, I went to the hospital today to get a medical check-up form and met an intern who called me 'Auntie.' Auntie. The way she looked at me when she spoke to me was like she was looking at an elderly person."

Jiang Cheng remained silent.

"But I don't care anymore. I cared at first, but then I stopped caring."

Jiang Cheng nodded, then lowered his head and continued writing.

The two sat under the lamp for nearly two hours. The clock on the wall clicked softly, the second hand clicking each time it struck ten. When the hour hand reached ten, Zheng Yanxi closed her book and stood up.

"I'm going to sleep now, you should go to bed early too."

"Um."

She went into the bedroom and closed the door. Jiang Cheng heard her say something to Jiang Yuan, but her voice was very soft and he couldn't hear it clearly. Then he heard the sound of her pulling back the covers, her footsteps echoing on the floor twice, and then the sound of the light being turned off.

He continued writing. Around eleven o'clock, he put down his pen and rubbed his eyes. His eyes were a little sore, so he pressed his fingers against his temples, which felt a little better. He stood up, walked to the window, and opened it. A cool night breeze rushed in, carrying the scent of snow. The snow had stopped, and a thin layer of white covered the ground, reflecting the streetlights with an orange glow. In the distance, a few lights were still on in the factory area, and the faint rumble of machinery could be heard.

He closed the window and went into the bedroom. Zheng Yanxi seemed to be asleep, lying on her side with her face towards the crib. Her hair was spread out on the pillow, with a strand hanging down to the edge of the bed. Jiang Yuan was also asleep in the crib, the blanket kicked up to his feet, revealing two little feet with five toes spread out like five small pebbles. He pulled the blanket up to cover the little guy's feet, then lay down.

The bed was hard, with a thin mattress on top of the wooden planks. The bed creaked when he lay down.

"You've been in Beijing for so long, don't you miss me?" The voice was very soft, like a dream.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Cheng took off his clothes, straightened up, and crawled inside. The bed creaked and groaned for nearly twenty minutes, interspersed with satisfied groans and suppressed gasps...

The moonlight on the wall was faint, like a layer of frost. The spider web in the corner shimmered silver in the moonlight, and a small spider lay motionless in the center of the web.

The next day, Jiang Cheng took Zheng Yanxi to the medical school to register.

The medical school was in the south of the city, an hour's bus ride from the factory. The bus was crowded; they stood, huddled together. Jiang Cheng carried a canvas bag in one hand and held onto the handrail with the other. Zheng Yanxi, clutching a snakeskin bag, leaned against him. The bag's strap slipped, and she braced herself with her chin. The bus swayed along, the snow outside intensifying, flakes falling against the window, quickly melting in the heater, leaving streaks of water.

Upon arriving at the medical school gate, they got out of the car. The gate wasn't large, with two cement pillars and a wooden sign hanging above them, bearing the words "Shenyang Medical College" in black lettering on a white background. The lettering was red, and some of the paint was peeling off. A path ran from the gate to the teaching buildings inside, the poplar trees on both sides of the path bare, their branches covered with a layer of snow. Several students walked out of the gate, carrying books, chatting and laughing.

Zheng Yanxi stood at the school gate, staring at the sign for a long time. Snowflakes fell on her eyelashes, but she didn't wipe them away.

"Let's go," Jiang Cheng said.

She nodded.

They walked along the road. The road was covered in snow, crunching underfoot. In front of the teaching building was a flower bed planted with pine trees, their needles covered in snow, a striking contrast of green and white. Beside the flower bed stood a stone with the four characters "博学笃行" (broad learning and diligent practice) carved on it, the characters in red against the white snow, a clear contrast. The base of the stone was covered in snow, like it was wearing a white hat.

Zheng Yanxi stopped and looked at the stone.

"Yanxi, are you nervous?"

"A little." She turned her head, looked at him, and smiled slightly.

Jiang Cheng looked at her. There was a kind of light on her face, not the light of snow, not the light of sunlight, but something that shone from within. Her eyes were brighter than usual, as if someone had lit a lamp inside them.

"Go inside. I'll wait for you here."

She shook her head. "Come inside with me. Help me make the bed. I can't do it well by myself."

Jiang Cheng paused for a moment, then laughed.

They entered the dormitory building. The dormitory was on the second floor, in a long corridor with motion-activated lights; their footsteps turned the lights on one by one. The room was at the end of the corridor, with a wooden door painted light yellow. A note on the door read "Room 306." The room wasn't large, with four beds, bunk beds, the one by the window empty. The other three beds were already made, the bedding neatly folded, some with plush toys on them, others with mosquito nets hanging on them. Zheng Yanxi chose the lower bunk by the window, placed her canvas bag on the bed, and unzipped it.

"You lay the bottom layer for me, and I'll lay the top layer," she said.

Jiang Cheng helped her make the bed. The sheets were white, washed many times, and thin enough to see the bed frame underneath. He tucked the four corners under the mattress, smoothed them out, and ran his palm through every crease. Zheng Yanxi put the duvet cover on, but the four corners weren't quite aligned, and some corners of the duvet tucked in. She had to shake it several times to smooth it out.

"Okay," she said.

She stood by the window, looking out at the campus. The snow was still falling, and the distant teaching buildings, playground, and cafeteria were all shrouded in a white blanket. People were having a snowball fight on the playground, and their shouts drifted over, as if through some distant barrier. A snowball hit the wall of a teaching building, scattering and leaving a trail of white.

"Jiang Cheng."

"Um?"

"Thank you."

"What are you thanking me for?"

She didn't answer. She turned around and looked at him, her eyes a little red, but she didn't cry. She reached out and tugged at his sleeve, very lightly, as if she didn't want anyone to see.

Jiang Cheng stood there, unsure what to say. He reached out and squeezed her hand. Her hand was cold, but steady. He held it briefly, then released it.

"I'm leaving. I'll come see you next week."

"Okay. Drive carefully."

He turned and walked away. He stopped at the door, glanced back, and saw she was still standing by the window. Sunlight streamed in, softening her silhouette. Her shadow was long and thin. She wore a grey cotton coat and a red scarf, one end longer than the other, hanging down her chest.

He turned around and walked out.

One by one, the lights in the corridor went out. His footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, each beat like a heartbeat. When he reached the top of the stairs, he stopped and glanced back at the end of the corridor. A girl peeked out from the room opposite, looked at him, and then withdrew.

Stepping out of the dormitory building, the snow was still falling. He stood at the entrance, watching the snowflakes dance in the air. Snowflakes landed on his hair, shoulders, and eyelashes, cool and melting quickly. He took a deep breath; the air was cold, but clean. The broken snowball from the playground was still stuck to the wall, white and conspicuous against the gray wall.

He remembered the first time he met Zheng Yanxi. She stood at the entrance of the medical station, cold and aloof, saying, "First, we're just here to get room allocation." Back then, her hair was longer than it is now, tied in a ponytail, and she wore a dark blue overall, buttoned up tightly at the collar. Her face was very pale, her lips thin, and she never looked at people when she spoke.

He recalled her standing by the window earlier, wearing a red scarf with uneven stitches, her hair damp from the snow and clinging to her forehead, her eyes red-rimmed but not crying.

He smiled, put his hands in his pockets, whistled, and pounded his back as he walked.