'SEE YOU MORNING' 116 Bare Face
Along the street, it had not yet grown light. On both sides of the main road were stalls setting up for the early market, with food, fruits, vegetables, and agricultural produce. On the other side of the road was the Fifth Store, not yet open for business. In the early morning still draped in night, there were not many people about. Each stall had its own lighting, but it was so dim it could only illuminate the vendor’s face and the customer’s chest.
Lin Yuhui walked along the sidewalk, using the scattered lights on both sides to pass through the early market street shaded by weeping willows. At the end, he turned left at the intersection, facing east. The sky was just beginning to lighten. Not far from the left side of the sidewalk was a red brick wall. Inside was the nursery forest he used to climb over as a child. There were pine and cypress trees that had not yet grown tall, and a very short shrub with dark green leaves and purple-black fruit that could not be eaten. He did not know what it was called, but the memory of running through the green maze they formed seemed to pull him back to that carefree childhood.
“Beep beep beep beep, beep beep beep beep.” The morning alarm pulled Lin Yuhui from his dream back to reality. He opened his eyes, looked at the ceiling — not his own home — then looked out the window. His mind finally pieced together the memories of the journey here, and he understood where his body was. In this half of his life, he had lost count of how many places he had wandered.
After breakfast he left his place in the morning. Not far away he actually ran into a colleague named Happy at the intersection. Happy had given himself an adjectival English name. His foundation was youth. It turned out he also lived nearby.
Happy was the type who was instantly familiar with anyone, could chat with anyone. Of course, at lunch in the cafeteria, he no less circled around Cerise. But Lin Yuhui never, just because she was a beauty, orbited around her like the others did. Lin Yuhui was a rather special existence — always alone, sitting in a corner, not bothering others, not wanting to be bothered, quietly enjoying his own food.
Walking along and chatting with Happy about inconsequential topics, they unknowingly entered the factory area. Happy was heading to the production workshop, Lin Yuhui to the office — different directions. But he could tell from the conversation that Happy had some unsteady thoughts about his job position, so he advised him:
“In my career, the number of work units I’ve changed, counting the offers I turned down, is already double digits. I’ve worked in state-owned, private, and foreign enterprises. A work environment and pressure like here is already rare. Just stay here and work with peace of mind.”
Perhaps it was Lin Yuhui’s technical career, or perhaps his personality — he always expressed his true opinions directly, not caring much about others’ feelings.
Walking into the office in the morning, Cerise and Sapphire were already there. The two stood at the empty desk opposite Lin Yuhui’s workstation, talking about something. When they saw Lin Yuhui walk in, they stopped.
Cerise looked over. Lin Yuhui noticed she had not put on makeup like usual today. The skin of her face, though not as smooth and dewy as after makeup, gently overflowed with the natural vitality of youth. Her hair, not dyed or bleached, was pinned up in a bun like a cloud behind her head. A light blue narrow-collared white shirt simply outlined her youthful figure, full of young rhythm, as if returning to high school days. Lin Yuhui’s gaze could not help but linger on her for a moment.
“Sometimes bare face is nice too,” Cerise said with a smile, whispering to Sapphire beside her.
She and Sapphire would chatter every morning after arriving at the office. This morning she was in even higher spirits, because Lin Yuhui had looked at her twice that morning. Attracting male attention seemed to be the wish of all mature women. But Lin Yuhui had never reacted to her nearly daily different looks and outfits. It was only when she took off that refinement that she truly captured his attention.
Lin Yuhui truly did not like decorated splendor. He liked the natural purity of appearance and the flawless sincerity within. In the days since joining this office, the number of times he had spoken to Cerise could be counted on one hand. The reason was simple — he had long passed the age of dreaming. He did not want to waste energy on unrealistic things. Moreover, he deeply knew the potential lethality of beauties in matters of the heart. Why seek trouble for oneself?
But in the few brief eye contacts with Cerise, he had also discovered that her big eyes were quite captivating — beautiful peach blossom eyes. He just did not know if she was only like that with him or with others too. But at least this was a girl with light in her eyes. Whether innate or cultivated, she had that extra bit of spirit that ordinary people lacked. So her attraction was not just appearance.
But even if she really was interested in him, Lin Yuhui knew clearly in his heart that she was not suited for him, because she did not come home at night. As a girl, no matter the reason, this was something Lin Yuhui’s personal values could not accept. But what if she changed? Even if she once was…
All these thoughts just flashed through Lin Yuhui’s mind. He still had to walk his own life’s path with his feet on the ground, and familiarizing himself with this company’s product categories and Excel spreadsheets was the current task.
“David, how do I add a picture to this file?” Cerise asked from the side.
Lin Yuhui glanced over. He did not often use Word 2016 either, was not very familiar with it, but how could he refuse when a beauty asked for help?
He pulled his chair closer, looked at the screen, and rapidly searched his memory for experience using Word 2003. Back then you used the Insert Picture command, but scanning the screen, that icon was not in the 2016 version.
“Check the Insert menu,” he noticed it could be opened, saying as he pointed it out to Cerise.
With her click, the picture button toolbar appeared.
“Picture, From This Device,” Lin Yuhui said, pointing it out to Cerise, feeling relieved in his heart — he finally had not lost points in front of the beauty.
Cerise inserted the picture.
“What do I do about this?” Seeing the picture position was not quite right, with text running around it chaotically, she asked hurriedly.
What followed was small matters. Lin Yuhui knew these by heart.
“Double-click the picture. See, there’s text wrapping. Click that button, choose Float Above Text, then you can adjust the picture position. The text around it won’t be affected.”
Watching Cerise complete the operations he had just described, Lin Yuhui then continued to tell her:
“See, the asymmetric border of the picture also affects the appearance. There’s a crop icon there. You can try cropping the picture border.”
After following the instructions and finishing, Cerise turned her head and smiled at Lin Yuhui. The smile was sweet and moving. Lin Yuhui seemed to feel he could look through the pupils of her beautiful big eyes into her heart. Though the feeling was wonderful, Lin Yuhui could not help but be alert — was he about to fall into her tenderness?