Unattainable

Ke Yan’s slightly cold hand was held by a large warm hand. It’s said that the fingers are connected to the heart—the warmth on her fingertips seemed to immediately travel up to her heart. 

She came back to her senses and tried to withdraw her hand but failed. Zeng Xiaoqi held her hand and looked at her with a smile: “I haven’t seen you for a long time, has it been ten years? The change is a bit big, I almost didn’t recognize you. Are you coming back to visit relatives this time?”

“No, I came back to work.” After Ke Yan finished speaking, she looked up into Zeng Xiaoqi’s eyes, wondering if he forgot to let go.

At this moment, Zeng Xiaoqi let go of her hand and he pulled out the chair next to her, not caring that there was supposed to already be someone sitting there. He took off his suit jacket and hung it on the back of the chair, now wearing only a snow-white shirt. He’s already thirty but despite this, he still gives off a juvenile and youthful vibe. While unbuttoning his cuff buttons and tugging up his sleeves, he said, “Really? Didn’t you study astrophysics? In this respect, the United States is far ahead of China, right? Why did you come back?”

Ke Yan wanted to tell him that the seat next to her was taken but when she saw him push up his sleeves to the elbow, she kind of forgot what she wanted to say. She liked seeing boys in formal shirts—they look clean, fresh, and handsome. Especially when the sleeves are a bit pulled up. They look capable and tenacious.

Zeng Xiaoqi turned his head to look at her: “Why don’t you sit down?”

Ke Yan came back to her senses and found that the classmate who was sitting next to her had already moved over so she sat down: “There was a good offer in China, so I came back.” 

For her undergraduate degree, she majored in physics. Many people knew about this. However, taking up astrophysics for her PhD wasn’t something she told a lot of people. Moreover, she and Zeng Xiaoqi have not been in direct contact with each other for years. How did he know? It was probably Zhong Bikai who told him. Zhong Bikai, like her, studied in California. He and Zeng Xiaoqi have a good relationship so this was probably what happened. 

“Isn’t this great? Who knows? The next Nobel Prize in Physics might be won by Ke Yan. It will bring honor not only to China as a whole but also to us classmates!” The male classmate with the receding hairline said with a smile, his name is Wang Yuanming.

Ke Yan waved her hand: “Old classmate, please don’t make fun of me.”

Luan Xuan is one of the organizers of this event. She greeted everyone with the attitude of a host: “Okay, everyone is here, let’s start the fire and eat. Ke Yan, move over there, I’ll serve the dishes.” She said and put a plate of beef into the soup pot.

When Ke Yan heard the words, she had to move a little to Zeng Xiaoqi’s side. The table was round, and it was quite comfortable for eight people to sit at. However, Zeng Xiaoqi didn’t move to the side, he just stayed where he was and let Ke Yan get close to him. Ke Yan also didn’t ask him to move over so there was only a fist’s distance between them. She could even smell the faint scent of cologne on his body. 

However, she didn’t have the energy to pay attention to this because soon after, the aroma of the food in the soup pot made the stomach that had not eaten for 12 hours wriggle rapidly. As soon as Luan Xuan said, “Okay, it’s time to eat”, Ke Yan picked up her chopsticks to pick up the food.

Zeng Xiaoqi found that Ke Yan was a little cautious when he first sat down but now she seemed to completely forget about him. It was the same as before. Once she was involved in something, she would easily forget everything around her. This applies even to eating. Seeing her eat so happily, he couldn’t help but smile and also picked up his chopsticks to eat. 

When eating hot pot, a lot of people have to be there so that the atmosphere is lively. Ke Yan’s head was buried into her bowl when she suddenly found an extra piece of cooked tripe in her bowl. When she looked up, Zeng Xiaoqi was smiling and retracting his chopsticks: “I’m on a diet so I can’t eat meat. I happened to pick that up. I haven’t eaten yet, my chopsticks are clean.”

After saying thank you, Ke Yan couldn’t help but turn her head to look at him. With his body, he still needs to lose weight? She can’t help but feel a little sympathetic. It’s not easy to be an actor. He can’t even eat meat. How much fun is missing in his life.

The other classmates laughed: “Yo, let us eat it if you don’t.”

“Get some for yourself!” Zeng Xiaoqi bluntly refused.

Ke Yan confusedly looked at everyone. She didn’t know why they were making such a fuss. It wasn’t like he deliberately picked out food for her. But just as she ate that piece of tripe, a few slices of fatty beef and meatballs appeared in her bowl. She raised her eyes again and saw Zeng Xiaoqi holding a soup spoon in one hand and picking at the food in the soup spoon using his chopsticks in the other. Everything made of meat was put in her bowl. 

Finding her looking at him, Zeng Xiaoqi turned around and gave her an innocent smile. Ke Yan was a person who couldn’t resist good looks. Seeing his handsome smile, she was caught a bit off guard and bit her lower lip: “If you can’t eat it, put it back into the pot, I will get it myself.”

Zeng Xiaoqi said: “If I put it back, it will be gone. Look at them, they all devoured the food. I remember that you like meat.”

Luan Xuan shouted, “Zeng Xiaoqi, you are playing favorites! We also love meat!”

Zeng Xiaoqi poured out the mushrooms from the spoon into his bowl and said solemnly: “I think you can eat less meat. It can prevent the three highs (TN: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar) and help you lose weight. Ke Yan is thin and needs to make up for it.” Zeng Xiaoqi didn’t bother mincing his words. 

Everyone laughed: “Zeng Xiaoqi, you’re being too partial! We protest! Only when you’re full can you have the strength to lose weight.”

No matter how sluggish Ke Yan was, she knew that everyone was making fun of her. She felt a little embarrassed. She wanted to say that she was not thin. However, looking at her own slender wrist and Luan Xuan’s beside her, she chose to stay quiet. Fearing a scolding from Luan Xuan, she lowered her head and went back to eating.

Now that they have reached their thirties, everyone is far from when they were young and didn’t know how to take care of their bodies. They now know to first eat a full meal before raising their glasses to drink. Ke Yan hesitated for a while, then picked up her teacup. Wang Yuanming saw this and said, “Ke Yan, this won’t do. We haven’t seen each other for so many years. You have to drink this first cup of wine. You can’t fool around.”

Ke Yan looked embarrassed: “I’m sorry, I’m allergic to alcohol so I’ll use tea instead of wine.”

“It doesn’t matter if the beer is low in strength. You don’t need to finish drinking it, just take a sip.” Wang Yuanming relentlessly persuaded her to drink.

Zeng Xiaoqi said, “Forget it, she’s allergic to alcohol and shouldn’t drink it.”

Wang Yuanming smiled and redirected the cannon fire to Zeng Xiaoqi: “How about you drink for her, Lao Zeng (TN: 老曾 = Old Zeng)?”

Zeng Xiaoqi slightly turned his head and glanced at Ke Yan: “Okay, I’ll drink for her.” He really brought Ke Yan’s wine glass to him.

Everyone started booing again, and Wang Yuanming said, “Lao Zeng is especially 憐香惜玉 (TN: idiom that means to show tender love and pity towards women) today.”

Zeng Xiaoqi said calmly: “This is my love and respect for science. Ke Yan is the backbone of our country. You guys should also show a little love and respect.”

His words made Ke Yan’s face heat up. She never felt that she was a pillar but she was still very grateful to him for keeping her from drinking.

Compared with Ke Yan, who is simple in nature and not good at communication, Zeng Xiaoqi is obviously much more capable. In the face of everyone’s ridicule, his face does not change and he even smiles. As long as he wants to, he can become the shining star at any occasion, drawing all the eyes and attention to him.

Ke Yan was a little surprised. She and Zeng Xiaoqi were classmates in high school for three years. Although there wasn’t much interaction between them, she didn’t remember him as a boy who liked to talk. Now, he is a man with a smart demeanor and confident speaking skills. Time and fortune really matter. It can change a person a lot.

There is a saying that class reunions after entering society aren’t about the love between classmates. Rather, they’re showing off parties. The rich show off their money, the elite show off their status, those who became parents show off their children… In short, you must have something to show off otherwise, going to a class reunion would just be embarrassing. 

But today they didn’t talk about houses, cars, salaries, or children. Based on basic societal standards, Zeng Xiaoqi is undoubtedly the most successful amongst them. At such a young age, he was already nominated for the Golden Phoenix Male Supporting Actor, Golden Horse Actor, and International Actor—one of the hottest male movie stars at the moment. He has an endless line of movies to shoot, a similarly unlimited number of advertisements, immeasurable annual income, and one doesn’t even need to mention the number of properties and cars he owns. At this point, the only thing missing is a private jet. Showing off in front of him would be laughable so today, everyone was only talking about past memories and romantic affairs. 

Everyone reminisced about the glory of their youth and the memories that they still had strong impressions of. Ke Yan and Zeng Xiaoqi are undoubtedly pearls in everyone’s memory—a beautiful scholar and the school grass (TN: it sounds funny but basically just means most popular person/most beautiful/most handsome). Ke Yan didn’t know that this was everyone’s impression of her and suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

While they were chatting, a female classmate suddenly said: “By the way, have you heard the news? Our class president Zhong Bikai is going to get married next month. He posted a pre-wedding photo in the group. His wife is an American. He said that anyone who’s going to the US next month can stop by for his wedding.”

Luan Xuan was extremely surprised: “Really? I haven’t seen it yet.” She quickly took out her mobile phone to check the news of the high school class group.

More surprised than Luan Xuan was Zeng Xiaoqi. The moment he heard the news, he turned to look at Ke Yan next to him. Ke Yan was focusing on peeling the shrimp in her hand, with an indifferent expression, as if she had turned a deaf ear to the news. He originally thought that she had a good appetite today but now he thinks that she ate a little too much. She seldom interrupted when other people were chatting. She simply buried her head and ate hard. Could it be that knowing about Zhong Bikai’s wedding has caused her grief? 

He took out his mobile phone and logged in. Because he hadn’t logged in for a long time, he needed to re-enter his password. He was finally able to log in but still hasn’t found the class group chat. He heard the female classmate ask, “Ke Yan, you’ve already heard about this beforehand, right?”

Ke Yan ate the shrimp, wiped her hands with a tissue, and nodded, “Yeah, I heard.” Just before she came out to eat, she heard her mother talk about it.

Her tone was as if she was talking about an unimportant person but it had a different meaning in Zeng Xiaoqi’s ears. He changed the subject: “By the way, I have a movie that’s being released next Friday! I’m inviting everyone to watch, I’ll give you tickets.”

Luan Xuan smiled and waved her hand: “You don’t need to give us tickets, we will definitely support your movie. I’m your loyal movie fan, please send me more autographed photos.” Although she and Zeng Xiaoqi are classmates, they definitely don’t meet very often. After all, stars like him have incredibly full schedules. She’d feel embarrassed to look for him just to ask him to sign a few photos. 

“Thank you for your support! I’ll definitely give you an autographed photo. I’ll sign it for you later.” The old classmate supported his films so much, of course he couldn’t take it lightly.

Several other people also piped up: “We want some too!”

Zeng Xiaoqi nodded hurriedly: “Okay, everyone has some. When you go back, send me your addresses. I’ll sign them and let my assistant send it to you.”

Ke Yan didn’t say anything. She was full and was drinking soy milk in small sips. Zeng Xiaoqi turned to look at her: “You don’t need it, right?”

“Ah?” Ke Yan raised her head to look at Zeng Xiaoqi. She had big and clear eyes but she seemed a little dazed and didn’t seem to be able to respond to his words.

Zeng Xiaoqi looked into her eyes, his heart melted and his voice softened: “I mean you don’t watch my movies so you don’t need my autographed photo.”

Unexpectedly, Ke Yan smiled sweetly: “You can give me a few if you have more. Some of the graduate students I’m mentoring are your fans. I can use your photos to encourage them.”

Zeng Xiaoqi: “…”

Luan Xuan smiled: “Zeng Xiaoqi, just sign a few more cards. We can take them and give them to friends.”

“Okay, then remember to send me your addresses.” After Zeng Xiaoqi finished speaking, he took out his mobile phone, opened the page containing his QR code, and passed the phone to Ke Yan, “Add me on WeChat.”

Ke Yan took out her mobile phone and scanned his QR code. His WeChat name was AU. Seeing this, other people may not think anything of it and may feel nothing but Ke Yan was different. To her, AU is the abbreviation of Astronomical Unit. The length of 1AU is about 150 million kilometers, the average distance between the earth and the sun. Although she doesn’t know what his specific AU means, she took it as a novel coincidence and didn’t bother asking. 

The others were also adding each other as WeChat friends so Luan Xuan simply set up a WeChat group for all classmates currently in City B to make it easier for everyone to get in touch.

After adding friends, Ke Yan put her phone down. Suddenly, she heard her phone vibrate. She picked it up and looked at it. Zeng Xiaoqi sent a WeChat message: “What’s your address?”

Ke Yan couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t expect him to take her seriously. She sent him the address of her work unit.

Zeng Xiaoqi asked again: “Phone number.”

Ke Yan was stunned for a moment but then she remembered that he needed to give the courier the recipient’s contact number. She still hasn’t memorized her own phone number so she deliberately searched for it to send to him. He replied with a grinning thumbs up emoji. 

After eating, someone suggested they extend their night out and sing karaoke. However, Ke Yan received a call from her colleague Zhao Yizhuo, saying that the experimental verification results had come out. He asked her to check it if she had time.

Ke Yan remembered that her colleague still hadn’t gotten off work and here she was, eating and relaxing. She quickly agreed to Zhao Yizhuo’s request, hung up the phone, and said to everyone: “I’m sorry, I won’t join you anymore. There are some things in the lab that I have to deal with. You guys have fun!” She picked up her jacket and prepared to leave.

Zeng Xiaoqi stood up: “Wait a minute, Ke Yan, I’ll send you. Lao Wang, you guys go to the karaoke place first, I’ll join you later. I already paid for our meal.”

Ke Yan declined: “There’s no need! You guys go have fun. My lab is not far away, I can go over by myself.”

“Let’s go. At this time, you can’t hail a taxi. Unless…you want to continue riding a bike over there?” Zeng Xiaoqi took his suit jacket from the back of his chair, put on his sunglasses, and walked out first.