Our civilization was established upon large slaughterhouses, said William James.
This ill-timed sentence sprung to Tao Ling’s mind in Autumn.
The office was too noisy, filled with the constant ringing of telephones. A new call would be made after the end of one. Within this time, an incessant number of all kinds of students and teachers would come in to ask questions.
Today is the second stage of the postgraduate admission exam in Sheng-Da1. The written exam is to be taken at ten o’clock in the morning, and a fee of three hundred yuan must be paid beforehand. However, an issue occurred with the school website. The data of approximately ten students were missing.
[省大: This would be the shortened name of the university. But for now, I will translate it as “Sheng-Da” (not Sheng University) since the author never gave us its full name.]
After taking into consideration the problem with online payments, people who could not pay were notified in advance to bring their cards, and so, students were now flying towards the office like a swarm of bees.
Screw this top-ranking university. Screw this office. Screw Autumn.
Adjusting his glasses, Tao Ling inquired solemnly in front of the computer, “Applicant number, name, and school.”
After finishing checking the list of missing payments, the system finally spat out the swallowed data. The financial teacher made another call, stating they should go for the online payments first. As such, Tao Ling was left with no choice but to let students use his computer to log in and pay their fees.
The noisiness in the background went on for half an hour before it could finally fade away into silence. Tao Ling originally thought he could idle around in the meantime. But just as he turned his head, he saw a short-haired girl still standing in the same spot.
“What’s up?” Tao Ling asked.
Though an indescribable feeling of impatience was circling inside him, Tao Ling wasn’t aware of it at all. His unfriendly seeming speech scared the little girl out of her wits, making her large eyes stare back at him, dumbfounded.
“Teacher, part of my data is still missing,” she spoke in a small voice.
Tao Ling’s heart softened in response. Yet unwilling to let down his indifference so quickly, he spoke in a half-cold manner, “Log in one more time.”
He stood up and made way for the student, pushing his chair as a gesture for her to sit down. The little girl, however, did not have the guts to sit on it, and simply leaned forward to log in again. But after many tries, the interface was still blank.
Just as Tao Ling was in the middle of observing the interface, the educational administrator teacher of the school next door walked up to him. “Mr. Tao, look, there’s still one more student left.”
The girl raised her hand anxiously. “Teacher, my data interface still doesn’t work…”
Tao Ling received the list from the educational administration teacher. He glanced at the girl and said with a sigh, “Don’t worry, there is still half an hour left before the written exam starts. You can head to the classroom hall first. The problem lies with the system, not you. As for the fee—it doesn’t matter, so don’t let it affect your exam performance.”
The girl hurried to nod her head. She was still calm a moment ago, but her face now appeared as though she could cry at any moment.
Tao Ling motioned to her with his hand. “Go, you got this.”
At long last, the office was now at peace. Tao Ling made a call to the data service and then sank to his chair, barely able to talk for a second.
Seeing his vague absent-minded state, the other teacher laughed, saying, “Student work can be hard. You started working not too long ago, and it will get easier in the future. But these two months are always the busiest ones of every year.”
“Thank you, Mr. Zhang,” Tao Ling replied as he rolled up his sleeves and opened up the form he was working on a moment ago.
Becoming part of the faculty team upon graduation was not easy. But according to Sheng-Da’s rules and regulations, former students must complete the administrative work first.
Who would have thought that after enduring many years of blood sweat and tears, a doctorate of religious studies would end up having to waste his time as a student worker?
Screw this damn job.
A full morning went by unsmoothly. In the afternoon, Tao Ling finally got a response back from the data service. Taking the card swiper with him, he went to the teaching and research section door of arts to look for the girl.
When walking through the long hallway, all the students – waiting to take the exam – were watching him. Tao Ling felt that he looked very much like a beggar. Nevertheless, the liveliness in his footsteps still lingered as he walked.
The liveliness the audience saw was real. However, Tao Ling was the one who knew best that it was in fact no different than making himself scarce as quickly as possible.
Yet his face remained as indifferent as before, simply turning this struggle into the frigid air around him.
In the end, he finally found the girl from the morning with missing data. Seeing that she’d finished swiping her card, Tao Ling drew a checkmark on the list. Once he inputs it into the computer, his work for today will be over.
After taking a turn to the end of the hallway behind the religion studies lecture hall and confirming that everyone had already deserted the area, Tao Ling heaved a long sigh of relief.
The administrative building of the campus was located by the west gate. The window Tao Ling leaned against just happened to face a main street. He raised his head, looked outside the window, and saw that there was a newly opened flower shop on the street corner.
Originally, a duck neck shop occupied that area. Tao Ling would pass by it every day when walking home, often unable to resist the urge of buying some. But in fact, because he is sensitive to spicy food, it’d only take him two bites before he starts to become dizzy—and there has never been an exception.
However, he’d always enjoyed the process of rebuying duck necks.
After the duck neck shop was closed down, the building remained in renovation for a good while. Tao Ling kept on taking guesses at the kind of shop it will open. But after a weekend of not paying attention, the flower shop opened very suddenly.
It made it seem as though the attention he’d paid before was all meaningless.
Thank goodness. A flower shop is pretty nice, too. Even if he can’t resist the urge of bringing home a bouquet of flowers every day, at least he won’t be sweating from the spiciness caused by the flower pollen.
Tao Ling drooped down his eyelids, making up his mind to head to that new flower shop later.
After all, he needs to visit the cemetery today.
Thinking about this matter, he rotated the platinum ring on the middle finger of his left hand out of habit.
The window was opened. When a sudden gust of wind swept in from afar, it blew up the folded paper wildly off of his hand – rustle, rustle – Tao Ling grasped firmly the edge of the paper, and then went back to the office.
Screw Autumn.
At the end of the workday, Tao Ling tidied up and exited the school. He crossed the street, walked on the sidewalk, and directly arrived at the flower shop entrance.
A row of small wooden stands rested in front of the shop, while flower buckets were arranged on top of the staircases.
With a row of roses, a row of daisies, a row of daisies, and another row of daisies. There was a great variety of daisies, be it color or flower type.
This flower shop pairs well with the cemetery. It will be convenient in the future, Tao Ling thought, sighing.
“Boss!” He called out, grabbing a bouquet of light green ones.
There was no response.
After waiting for two seconds, Tao Ling finally shifted his attention from the flowers, raised his head, and saw a man standing inside the shop with his back turned to him.
The man was tall, decked in a black blouse that was tucked into a pair of jeans – stylish yet not old-fashioned – exposing the perfect broad shoulders and slim waist accompanied by a pair of long legs.
Tao Ling wrinkled his eyebrows and called out again, “Boss!”
The man stood beside a handful of Hydrangea, still with his head down. No one knew what he was doing.
After a moment of silence, Tao Ling called out once more, “Boss!”
The man still didn’t turn around.
Angered welled up inside him all at once. Tao Ling wondered how it could be possible for someone to do business with such arrogance.
Before he could question him, a passerby girl entered the shop and poked softly at the owner’s shoulder with her index finger.
Is he deaf?
Tao Ling tilted his head, annoyed.
The man finally turned his head. His side profile was visible from Tao Ling’s angle; the arc could be rated as perfect. He looked surprisingly young, like a young man who had just graduated from college.
The girl gestured to the man with several hand movements, and then pointed to Tao Ling.
The man’s sight followed the direction of where the girl was pointing to.
When he saw that face, Tao Ling stopped breathing all at once.
Too good-looking.
Even if he were to wear an unruly ten yuan worth of flat top cut on the old street, it still cannot conceal the exquisiteness in his facial features.
Although Tao Ling’s face was as calm as ever, his heart was slightly stupefied.
The girl pointed to him again. Meanwhile, the man had his eyes glued on him for a very long time. When he shifted his sight, it landed upon the daisies Tao Ling’s hands were grasping onto.
“A total of eighty bundles!” the girl said loudly as she gestured the number to him. Then, she fished out her phone.
Tao Ling was taken aback.
There was an electric bicycle parked not too far away from here, and he’d seen it a moment ago. The basket was filled with daisies. This girl most probably came over to pick up her flowers.
Soon afterward, the girl finished paying. She smiled at Tao Ling before leaving the shop.
Tao Ling nodded out of courtesy, hands still grasping onto the bouquet of light green daisies. But the moment he raised his eyes, he met the gaze of the flower shop owner.
Our civilization was established upon large slaughterhouses, said William James.
This ill-timed sentence sprung to Tao Ling’s mind in Autumn.
The office was too noisy, filled with the constant ringing of telephones. A new call would be made after the end of one. Within this time, an incessant number of all kinds of students and teachers would come in to ask questions.
Today is the second stage of the postgraduate admission exam in Sheng-Da1. The written exam is to be taken at ten o’clock in the morning, and a fee of three hundred yuan must be paid beforehand. However, an issue occurred with the school website. The data of approximately ten students were missing.
[省大: This would be the shortened name of the university. But for now, I will translate it as “Sheng-Da” (not Sheng University) since the author never gave us its full name.]
After taking into consideration the problem with online payments, people who could not pay were notified in advance to bring their cards, and so, students were now flying towards the office like a swarm of bees.
Screw this top-ranking university. Screw this office. Screw Autumn.
Adjusting his glasses, Tao Ling inquired solemnly in front of the computer, “Applicant number, name, and school.”
After finishing checking the list of missing payments, the system finally spat out the swallowed data. The financial teacher made another call, stating they should go for the online payments first. As such, Tao Ling was left with no choice but to let students use his computer to log in and pay their fees.
The noisiness in the background went on for half an hour before it could finally fade away into silence. Tao Ling originally thought he could idle around in the meantime. But just as he turned his head, he saw a short-haired girl still standing in the same spot.
“What’s up?” Tao Ling asked.
Though an indescribable feeling of impatience was circling inside him, Tao Ling wasn’t aware of it at all. His unfriendly seeming speech scared the little girl out of her wits, making her large eyes stare back at him, dumbfounded.
“Teacher, part of my data is still missing,” she spoke in a small voice.
Tao Ling’s heart softened in response. Yet unwilling to let down his indifference so quickly, he spoke in a half-cold manner, “Log in one more time.”
He stood up and made way for the student, pushing his chair as a gesture for her to sit down. The little girl, however, did not have the guts to sit on it, and simply leaned forward to log in again. But after many tries, the interface was still blank.
Just as Tao Ling was in the middle of observing the interface, the educational administrator teacher of the school next door walked up to him. “Mr. Tao, look, there’s still one more student left.”
The girl raised her hand anxiously. “Teacher, my data interface still doesn’t work…”
Tao Ling received the list from the educational administration teacher. He glanced at the girl and said with a sigh, “Don’t worry, there is still half an hour left before the written exam starts. You can head to the classroom hall first. The problem lies with the system, not you. As for the fee—it doesn’t matter, so don’t let it affect your exam performance.”
The girl hurried to nod her head. She was still calm a moment ago, but her face now appeared as though she could cry at any moment.
Tao Ling motioned to her with his hand. “Go, you got this.”
At long last, the office was now at peace. Tao Ling made a call to the data service and then sank to his chair, barely able to talk for a second.
Seeing his vague absent-minded state, the other teacher laughed, saying, “Student work can be hard. You started working not too long ago, and it will get easier in the future. But these two months are always the busiest ones of every year.”
“Thank you, Mr. Zhang,” Tao Ling replied as he rolled up his sleeves and opened up the form he was working on a moment ago.
Becoming part of the faculty team upon graduation was not easy. But according to Sheng-Da’s rules and regulations, former students must complete the administrative work first.
Who would have thought that after enduring many years of blood sweat and tears, a doctorate of religious studies would end up having to waste his time as a student worker?
Screw this damn job.
A full morning went by unsmoothly. In the afternoon, Tao Ling finally got a response back from the data service. Taking the card swiper with him, he went to the teaching and research section door of arts to look for the girl.
When walking through the long hallway, all the students – waiting to take the exam – were watching him. Tao Ling felt that he looked very much like a beggar. Nevertheless, the liveliness in his footsteps still lingered as he walked.
The liveliness the audience saw was real. However, Tao Ling was the one who knew best that it was in fact no different than making himself scarce as quickly as possible.
Yet his face remained as indifferent as before, simply turning this struggle into the frigid air around him.
In the end, he finally found the girl from the morning with missing data. Seeing that she’d finished swiping her card, Tao Ling drew a checkmark on the list. Once he inputs it into the computer, his work for today will be over.
After taking a turn to the end of the hallway behind the religion studies lecture hall and confirming that everyone had already deserted the area, Tao Ling heaved a long sigh of relief.
The administrative building of the campus was located by the west gate. The window Tao Ling leaned against just happened to face a main street. He raised his head, looked outside the window, and saw that there was a newly opened flower shop on the street corner.
Originally, a duck neck shop occupied that area. Tao Ling would pass by it every day when walking home, often unable to resist the urge of buying some. But in fact, because he is sensitive to spicy food, it’d only take him two bites before he starts to become dizzy—and there has never been an exception.
However, he’d always enjoyed the process of rebuying duck necks.
After the duck neck shop was closed down, the building remained in renovation for a good while. Tao Ling kept on taking guesses at the kind of shop it will open. But after a weekend of not paying attention, the flower shop opened very suddenly.
It made it seem as though the attention he’d paid before was all meaningless.
Thank goodness. A flower shop is pretty nice, too. Even if he can’t resist the urge of bringing home a bouquet of flowers every day, at least he won’t be sweating from the spiciness caused by the flower pollen.
Tao Ling drooped down his eyelids, making up his mind to head to that new flower shop later.
After all, he needs to visit the cemetery today.
Thinking about this matter, he rotated the platinum ring on the middle finger of his left hand out of habit.
The window was opened. When a sudden gust of wind swept in from afar, it blew up the folded paper wildly off of his hand – rustle, rustle – Tao Ling grasped firmly the edge of the paper, and then went back to the office.
Screw Autumn.
At the end of the workday, Tao Ling tidied up and exited the school. He crossed the street, walked on the sidewalk, and directly arrived at the flower shop entrance.
A row of small wooden stands rested in front of the shop, while flower buckets were arranged on top of the staircases.
With a row of roses, a row of daisies, a row of daisies, and another row of daisies. There was a great variety of daisies, be it color or flower type.
This flower shop pairs well with the cemetery. It will be convenient in the future, Tao Ling thought, sighing.
“Boss!” He called out, grabbing a bouquet of light green ones.
There was no response.
After waiting for two seconds, Tao Ling finally shifted his attention from the flowers, raised his head, and saw a man standing inside the shop with his back turned to him.
The man was tall, decked in a black blouse that was tucked into a pair of jeans – stylish yet not old-fashioned – exposing the perfect broad shoulders and slim waist accompanied by a pair of long legs.
Tao Ling wrinkled his eyebrows and called out again, “Boss!”
The man stood beside a handful of Hydrangea, still with his head down. No one knew what he was doing.
After a moment of silence, Tao Ling called out once more, “Boss!”
The man still didn’t turn around.
Angered welled up inside him all at once. Tao Ling wondered how it could be possible for someone to do business with such arrogance.
Before he could question him, a passerby girl entered the shop and poked softly at the owner’s shoulder with her index finger.
Is he deaf?
Tao Ling tilted his head, annoyed.
The man finally turned his head. His side profile was visible from Tao Ling’s angle; the arc could be rated as perfect. He looked surprisingly young, like a young man who had just graduated from college.
The girl gestured to the man with several hand movements, and then pointed to Tao Ling.
The man’s sight followed the direction of where the girl was pointing to.
When he saw that face, Tao Ling stopped breathing all at once.
Too good-looking.
Even if he were to wear an unruly ten yuan worth of flat top cut on the old street, it still cannot conceal the exquisiteness in his facial features.
Although Tao Ling’s face was as calm as ever, his heart was slightly stupefied.
The girl pointed to him again. Meanwhile, the man had his eyes glued on him for a very long time. When he shifted his sight, it landed upon the daisies Tao Ling’s hands were grasping onto.
“A total of eighty bundles!” the girl said loudly as she gestured the number to him. Then, she fished out her phone.
Tao Ling was taken aback.
There was an electric bicycle parked not too far away from here, and he’d seen it a moment ago. The basket was filled with daisies. This girl most probably came over to pick up her flowers.
Soon afterward, the girl finished paying. She smiled at Tao Ling before leaving the shop.
Tao Ling nodded out of courtesy, hands still grasping onto the bouquet of light green daisies. But the moment he raised his eyes, he met the gaze of the flower shop owner.
