Chapter 44: Eroded Happiness

It’s been only a week, and she was already feeling overwhelmed. In the hazy thirty-five years of Su Ziceng’s life, all the time spent with a book in hand hadn’t added up to more than this one week. Hunger made her mind empty as well, and a day of cramming proved entirely useless. The lights in the dining hall had been switched off, and Su Ziceng looked at the time—it was already past nine. Going to Daquan University would be too late, so it might be better to buy instant noodles from the convenience store for ease. As she turned back, she passed the familiar flower sheds again and heard the snipping sound of metal scissors. She had to wait until after the French examination hurdle was over before she could take the flower arrangement class. After submitting her course schedule, Su Ziceng realized that Pello was quite popular among the female students. His classes were always full, and it was hard to secure a seat. In reality, there was no need to think about it; just looking at Pello’s face was reason enough for him to be favored by women. In Kelly Women’s College, apart from Pello, there were scholarly types like Mr. Green or men with less appealing balding faces. Pello, in contrast to the average backdrop, was the real treat. Su Ziceng was ‘love-myopic.’ To be honest, out of so many years, the only man’s face that had left an impression was that of Hang Yishao, and now she reluctantly added the face of Pello. A growl from her stomach, unresponsive to the scene, blended into the sound of the insects, quite out of place. "Su Ziceng?" Pello, having finished arranging the flower branches, called out to Su Ziceng as she was about to slip away. "I came out to look for something to eat," Su Ziceng said, feeling somewhat guilty as she spoke. Indeed, she had come out to look for food, but the moment she had laid eyes on Pello amongst the trees and flowers, she had forgotten her hunger instinct. The ancients were not deceiving; beauty could indeed satisfy one’s hunger. Upon hearing her words, Pello shrugged as if to suggest he could not help, then seemed to remember something and took out a small fabric bag from the side. From the looks of it, it might be a sewing project by one of the female students. "What’s this?" Su Ziceng took the tightly tied fabric bag from him. "Seeds." "Seeds? Don’t tell me you expect me to plant them and wait for the harvest," Su Ziceng joked, tossing the bag in her hand like a beanbag. "They’re sunflower seeds. They’re raw, but edible," Pello replied, and took out two bottles of distilled water from the flower shed, handing one to her. Inside the fabric bag were whole raw sunflower seeds, with a brownish husk and plump kernels gleaming with the sun’s luster. Su Ziceng cracked a few open and was immediately greeted by their natural fragrance, finding it hard to stop nibbling. As Su Ziceng enthusiastically chewed away, Pello just watched her and after a while sighed, "What a waste of a whole shed of sunflowers." Having eaten most of a bag of seeds, Su Ziceng abruptly paused when she heard this comment and then quickly tightened the seed bag, complaining a bit resentfully, "You didn’t say. Women love these things; I’m giving them back to you. Nevertheless, there are not many left, but there’s enough to plant ten or so sunflowers. By next year, there'll be a whole field of them again." "No one at Kelly Women’s School eats these; I thought you would too..." Pello’s tone was absolutely teasing, clearly wanting to tease Su Ziceng. He intentionally didn’t tell her that one sunflower plant could yield three or four bags of seeds, but the ones she ate just now were spare seeds he had picked out. "That’s because they’re not eaten in front of your eyes. I bet even Wen Maixue likes these things. Perhaps to maintain her image, she’s nibbling on them under the lampshade, hiding inside the covers," Su Ziceng thought of her own need to study late into the night, and with a surge of stomach gas, let out a satisfied burp, filled with the taste of the sun. Pello cleaned away the sunflower seed shells beside him, and a fragrant smell lingered in the flower shed. Even when Pello cleaned, he did it skillfully, without the humble demeanor of an ordinary servant. Su Ziceng managed to fill her stomach and wasn’t in a hurry to leave. Since she couldn’t be of much help, she wandered around and realized that tonight, she would not be staying under a rose pergola; surrounding her were flowers hanging with wind chimes. She nudged them with her hand, shaking off the water that Teacher Pello had just sprayed on them. Looking into the flower clusters, she noticed a few botanical names and realized they weren’t in English. "What language is this? It doesn’t look like French either." "Latin. Observe the characters," Teacher Pello said nonchalantly without lifting his head. "Don’t talk to me about languages; I’m still having headaches over French. Tell me something lighthearted. You seem quite good at gardening?" Su Ziceng observed that the pergola was tidied neatly, and even though Teacher Pello had been working, there wasn’t a speck of mud on him. He still wore the gloves for pruning. "Before becoming a teacher, I wanted to be a farmer." Teacher Pello joked, and Su Ziceng took it seriously. "Specializing in flowers?" "All sorts of fruits and vegetables, unlike at Kelly Women’s College. The school only has flowers suitable for students’ gardening and flower arranging courses, which is somewhat monotonous," said Teacher Pello as he swept the floor. With a flick from Su Ziceng, some droplets flew onto his face, even dampening his hair. A drop of water slid down from his nose and dropped to the ground. Teacher Pello had a high nose, unlike Eastern people. Su Ziceng took a closer look at his hair and realized it wasn’t purely black but brown. She felt as if she had discovered a new continent. "Are you a foreigner?" "My father is a foreigner." Teacher Pello’s Chinese was very good: "My mother is Chinese." "Holland?" The first flower-producing country that came to Su Ziceng’s mind, also known for their horticultural skill. She actually believed he was a farmer. Teacher Pello thought about the estate he once owned in France and didn’t know how to explain to Su Ziceng; to be precise, he was supposed to be a French landlord. Never mind, it wasn’t exactly lying; a landlord is a farmer with a lot of land, in the literal Chinese sense. "Teacher Pello," It was already past ten o’clock, and the flower pergola was rather lively tonight, with a female student standing outside holding a cloth bag. Su Ziceng could swear that the bag didn’t contain seeds. Sensibly, she walked out, passing by the female student; she caught the scent of freshly baked cookies. As she brushed past, she was about to step on a string of bells designed to catch flower thieves, so she quickly leaped, elegantly jumping over it, her long hair tracing a rainbow-like gleam in the air. "Su Ziceng," Teacher Pello said discreetly, mindful of the student present, "Remember to visit the school library when you have time. You might find some useful study materials." As soon as Su Ziceng heard it involved books, she felt overwhelmed. Without turning her head, she waved her hand as if to say she understood. Teacher Pello smiled and graciously accepted the bag of cookies freshly brought from the baking class, thanking the student and watching as she left the pergola. The light fragrance of the pergola mixed with the cloying smell of cookies, a combination Teacher Pello did not enjoy. Hence, he turned on the exhaust fan to try to eliminate the smell. He carelessly tossed the bag of cookies aside, and it ended up in some overlooked corner. He took out the half-eaten bag of raw seeds, poured some fresh soil on them, and buried them. He mused that when spring warms the earth and flowers bloom, he wonders if they would yield a room full of golden brilliance. Su Ziceng fed on hope like sunflowers, while he, too, would nibble away at Su Ziceng’s future. That should still be fair, shouldn’t it?