Chapter 805: Chapter 287: A Long-Awaited Reunion with Tao Min
A few days later, Su Zelin set off on his trip to Shenghai.
There wasn’t much going on during the day, so he just casually ran around a few large company-owned stores in the city, checked in on things, asked about the situation, and made lunch appointments with the store managers and the like.
He went on like this until evening; when he wrapped up his official business and checked the time, it was already five o’clock, so he dialed Tao Min’s mobile.
After a moment, the voice of a girl from northern Anhui drifted through the receiver: "Hi, junior."
"Senior, are we meeting up tonight?"
The slacker went straight to the point.
"Junior, you’ve already gotten to Shenghai?"
There was a hint of surprise in Tao Min’s tone.
Su Zelin had only said he’d be making a trip to Shenghai in the next few days, but he hadn’t told her the exact time; she hadn’t expected him to suddenly just show up.
Su Zelin chuckled and said, "Hehe, if senior calls, how would I dare not obey!"
"Yo, it’s been more than a year and President Su still gives this little girl so much face; I’m really flattered. Where are you? I just got off work, I’ll head over to find you now!"
Tao Min replied while tidying up the things on her desk.
"Senior, once you walk out the gate of your workplace, you’ll see me."
After they’d gotten back in touch, during one QQ chat, Tao Min had told the slacker where she worked, so he’d just navigated straight there.
"Uh, you’re at the gate of our unit?"
Tao Min was a bit stunned: "Okay, I’ll come out right away!"
She walked quickly out of the office, taking out the little mirror from her bag on the way to neaten up her appearance.
When she reached the main gate, she looked left and right; besides a few taxis nearby, there was also a black three-box sedan. It had a Lin’an license plate, but it wasn’t the Santana she remembered Su Zelin driving.
Just as Tao Min was puzzled, that three-box sedan drove over; the window slowly rolled down, and a face she knew well yet hadn’t seen in a long time, wearing a slightly roguish smile, appeared before her eyes.
"What’s up, do I look more manly after graduation so senior doesn’t recognize me anymore?"
Still that same familiar vibe.
Tao Min couldn’t help rolling her eyes at him: "Stop being so narcissistic, okay? It’s just that you changed cars, I didn’t recognize the car, that’s all!"
Su Zelin let out a little laugh: "It’s just that the company car got upgraded. Our President Yang switched to four rings, and this one he just let me drive. Senior, hop in first, we can find a place and catch up slowly!"
Tao Min got into the front passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt.
The slacker took the chance to size up this girl from northern Anhui he was meeting again after a long time.
Compared to back in school, there were some changes. Even though she was only a year older, her style carried a bit more mature flavor.
Her soft, satin-like black hair was combed meticulously, her brows were drawn into thin, long arches; she wore light makeup, with a touch of lip gloss for brightness. Her whole look was clean and crisp, and with a fitted commuter blouse and a below-the-knee A-line skirt, anyone could tell at a glance she was a working woman, clearly different from a still-ungraduated college student.
Society is a big dye vat; once someone has gone through its baptism, their aura changes fast.
To put it more plainly, they just become more "worldly."
When kids run into someone with that kind of vibe, they usually call her "auntie," not "big sister."
After looking her over for a few seconds, Su Zelin shifted his gaze away and casually asked, "Senior, where are we eating? In Shenghai you’re basically the local snake now, your junior’s counting on you to make the arrangements tonight—I’m ready to level up my worldly experience!"
"Oh, come on, President Su, it’s not like you haven’t been to Shenghai a bunch of times. I’m afraid your experience is way richer than mine, a pitiful little newbie who just shuttles between rented room and office every day. You should be the one teaching me."
Even so, Tao Min still gave him an address.
It was a restaurant their unit often went to for group dinners—nice environment, good-tasting dishes, reasonable prices, and not far from her workplace. They got there before long.
This meetup wasn’t really about the food; it was about friends reuniting. They just ordered a few random dishes, and the two of them sipped tea and started chatting casually.
Mostly they talked about work. At her unit, Tao Min was an accounts payable accountant; her duties included organizing documents, reconciling accounts, making payments, recording payables, settling related payments, and keeping the original payment vouchers.
Even though she had an iron rice bowl, this kind of day-in, day-out work was extremely monotonous; life didn’t have much excitement, and it left her feeling a bit fed up.
"Junior, I really envy you, you know. Being a senior manager in a fast-growing company, good salary, full of drive, and you’ve got more freedom too—way better than senior’s job."
By the end, Tao Min let out a sigh.
"Senior, your kind of unit has its perks too—at least it’s comfortable, and the benefits are solid. I think your dissatisfaction with the status quo is mainly because you’re too... empty. Find yourself a boyfriend and you’ll be fine."
Su Zelin gave her a bit of psychological analysis.
"Yeah right, finding a suitable boyfriend isn’t that easy!"
Tao Min said helplessly, "Didn’t I tell you? The young guys in our unit are either total shut-in fatties or mama’s boys. I lose interest just looking at them."
"Then look outside the unit. Senior, what kind of guy do you want?"
Su Zelin asked, "I happen to know some young and promising friends here in Shenghai, maybe I can introduce you sometime?"
"Someone like you."
The words just slipped out of Tao Min’s mouth.
Both of them couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.
"Well, that might be a bit tricky. There’s only one Su Zelin in this world."
The slacker could only give a dry laugh.
He wasn’t wrong—there really was only one Su Zelin. And precisely because he was so one-of-a-kind, he was hard to forget.
Back when they graduated, Tao Min had actually already made up her mind not to contact the slacker anymore, so she wouldn’t end up falling into a quagmire she couldn’t pull herself out of.