Having Ji Shileng walk to university was hardly realistic either. He moved at a leisurely pace and could barely manage a run.
With his problem exposed in a single guess, Ji Shileng leaned back against the sofa and tipped up his bare face, complaining, “Exactly! I can never find a parking space. Can’t they take their studies seriously and stop arriving at the last minute?”
Shang Jianli took off his coat and asked gently, “Do you still want your peach shaved ice?”
Ji Shileng poked at the dessert with his spoon and nodded.
“Yes”
“Then once you’ve finished, I’ll show you somewhere to park”
Shang Jianli went into the kitchen and crouched to open the freezer. His voice suddenly rose a few pitches.
“How much ice cream have you eaten while I’ve been away?”
Ji Shileng’s spoon stopped moving.
Then Shang Jianli came over and confiscated both bowl and spoon.
“The moment I’m away, you do whatever you like”
With a sigh, he pulled Ji Shileng up from the floor.
“Too much frozen food isn’t good for you”
Knowing he was in the wrong, Ji Shileng dared not argue. He followed obediently behind Shang Jianli without a peep.
Before leaving on his trip, Shang Jianli had given him no other instructions. His only warning had been to eat less ice cream and peach shaved ice.
The peach shaved ice was exclusive to Laienster Restaurant, so he could check the purchase records.
Shang Jianli always bought the ice cream himself. Ji Shileng could not find the same packaging anywhere on the market, leaving him no way to “fake the evidence.”
“So stubborn. However much you like it, you still have to think about your health”
“Trust me. I absolutely won’t do it again”
Ji Shileng produced the classic, all-purpose promise: not next time.
Next time followed next time. How many next times could there be?
Holding his hand, Shang Jianli glanced at him and said only, “Next time, I’ll limit how much ice cream is in the freezer”
“All right”
People were so devious!
He had already guarded against Ji Shileng by refusing to reveal the manufacturer.
Now he was even going to restrict the quantity in the freezer.
Life was misery with a capital M.
Shang Jianli drove Ji Shileng through several turns and into a small alley, where a few parking spaces stood empty.
Clusters of pink wild roses covered the wall.
Lush green leaves concealed the thorns along their stems.
“Remember the way?” Shang Jianli asked.
“I think so”
In truth, Ji Shileng had spent half the journey daydreaming.
“So you don’t”
Shang Jianli started the car, drove out, and patiently demonstrated the route several more times.
“Hardly anyone knows about these spaces. They’re close to Imperial University’s side entrance, too. Turn left once you’re through, and you’ll reach the School of Finance”
“If you forget where to park, look for the wall covered in wild roses”
“The next time I’m away, you can sleep ten minutes longer and drive here. This entrance is closer to your teaching building than the main gate”
The unexpected memory swept over him with devastating force.
Ji Shileng came back to himself and looked up at Su Ke, who was patting his shoulder.
“Shileng, these roses are beautiful”
“They are”
Ji Shileng smiled, a trace of nostalgia in his eyes.
“They’ve looked like this every year since my first year here. They’ve never changed”
Even Ji Shiyun took out her communicator to photograph them.
The wild roses bloomed in exuberant, flourishing clusters.
With one hand in his pocket, Ji Shileng held an umbrella over Ji Shiyun to shade her from the sunlight and help her take better pictures.
Since returning to the Ji family, he had read many classics to regain his peace of mind.
Now, at this most inappropriate moment, he remembered a passage he had read in a book by Shakespeare.
“Time will grow, covering every thorn that wounds without knowing it. Sheltered beneath the kindly green, these blustering thorns will slowly become the past”
Now that he had returned home, everything that had happened before would become part of his past.
“Something’s strange, though”
Having finished his photos, Su Ke asked in puzzlement, “I don’t remember wild roses blooming this month”
Ji Shiyun studied the wall thoughtfully.
“You’re right. It’s nowhere near their flowering season”
“Ha ha”
Laughter came from nearby.
At the side entrance stood a neatly dressed elderly gentleman leaning on a cane, his face full of smiles.
“It’s been a long time since anyone came through this entrance. I certainly didn’t expect to meet you all today”
Su Ke smiled at him.
“What a coincidence, sir. We must have been meant to meet”
“The answer to what you were discussing is quite simple. These wild roses are a special variety”
“What do you mean by a special variety?” Su Ke asked.
The old gentleman walked slowly toward the flowers, nostalgia in his gaze.
“One summer a few years ago, the heat killed half the roses on this wall. General Shang heard about it that afternoon and had people from a laboratory come take a cluster away”
“A few days later, he planted a new variety here himself. He told me it would bloom every month and tolerate both extreme cold and hot weather”
Ji Shileng tightened his grip on the umbrella handle. His cap brim hid his eyes as he stood motionless and silent.
None of them had expected this wall of roses to have anything to do with Shang Jianli.
“So he has a taste for the finer things,” Su Ke said, trying to keep the conversation going.
“No”
The old gentleman shook his head.
“I asked why he had gone to so much trouble to develop a new variety, only to plant it here by the side entrance”
“He said his partner could never find a parking space. With a whole wall of wild roses, his partner would never mistake the way”
Su Ke and Ji Shiyun instinctively looked at Ji Shileng.
They both knew who Shang Jianli’s partner had been during university.
Oblivious to the undercurrents between them, the old gentleman continued.
“This special variety is called Sleeping Late”
Ji Shileng’s voice sounded muffled and heavy through his mask.
“Has it been planted anywhere else?”
The old gentleman looked at him a few more times and said wistfully, “I told him how beautiful the roses were, and how lovely it would be to grow them more widely”
“But he told me two things. First, they were developed for his partner, so he wouldn’t distribute them. Second, they were developed using the soil here and wouldn’t survive elsewhere”
“I see,” Ji Shileng answered quietly.
Sleeping Late.
Because this wall of roses let him sleep another ten minutes, the new variety had been named Sleeping Late.
What a careless name.
A light, comforting fragrance drifted from the blossoms in gentle waves, like clouds carrying perfume.
Ji Shileng asked, “Did Shang Jianli tell you all this himself, sir?”
“Yes”
The old gentleman smiled.
“You haven’t changed at all, young Ji. I’m very happy to see you again”
Ji Shileng’s eyes stung. He blinked, keeping the tears from falling.
Looking up at the wall of Sleeping Late roses, the old gentleman said regretfully, “If I’d known things would turn out like this between you, I would have told you sooner”
The happiness back then could not have been false.
But hearing about it now brought only bitterness and sorrow.
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