The Stand-In, Ah Zhao (GL) - Chapter 5

At five in the afternoon, Chengji Audit Firm was bustling. Business had gradually picked up in the second half of the year, and working overtime had become routine.

Outside her supervisor’s office, Rui Si’er knocked.

“Come in.”

He Jiahong looked up. “Oh, it’s you, Si’er. What is it?”

Rui Si’er walked in and pressed her lips together. “I’d like to take two days off before the National Day holiday.”

He Jiahong paused. Then, as though something had occurred to her, she smiled. “Si’er, I’ve seen what you can do. You have a real talent for auditing. I’ve already spoken to Finance about giving you a raise next February. And as soon as you graduate from your fourth year, we’ll make your position permanent.”

Hearing that she had passed her internship and would even get a raise, Rui Si’er couldn’t help smiling. “Thank you. I’ll keep working hard.”

He Jiahong nodded, assuming the air of a supervisor. “The firm is starting to get busy, and we’re short on interns. It would be best if you didn’t take leave. You should also plan to work during the latter half of the National Day holiday. We’ll give you the time back after next spring.”

Rui Si’er froze. “But…”

“Chengji is one of the most highly regarded audit firms in the industry. Think carefully,” He Jiahong interrupted. After a pause, she smiled again. “Has something happened at home?”

Rui Si’er shook her head. No, it hadn’t.

“Then what could be more important than work?” He Jiahong said with a smile. “Don’t be impulsive. Go on, get back to work.”

Rui Si’er wanted to say more, but He Jiahong’s phone rang. She turned to pick it up. “Hello?”

Rui Si’er hesitated for a moment, then turned and left the office.

She worked until after ten that night. Outside the office building, the sky was black, without a moon or a single star.

The subway and buses had stopped running. Rui Si’er walked along the roadside with her bag in hand, the dim yellow streetlights casting a forlorn shadow beneath her.

She took out her phone and glanced at the screen. It was already 10:40 p.m.

There were two missed calls and more than a dozen WeChat messages.

One call was from her mother. The other was from Zhaozhao.

Her finger paused against the screen before she opened WeChat.

[Zhaozhao: Si’er, did you get your leave approved?]

[Zhaozhao: Are you working overtime again?]

[Zhaozhao: My heart aches for you.jpg]

[Zhaozhao: My baby, remember to eat [heart]]

Rui Si’er’s lips curved slightly. For one brief moment, the exhaustion of the past few days seemed to lift.

She opened her call history and dialed Zhaozhao.

A minute later, Shen Zhao answered.

“Hello?”

“Were you asleep?” Rui Si’er teased, hearing the drowsiness in her voice.

Shen Zhao woke up at once. She pulled the covers over her head and whispered, “Not yet, but everyone else is asleep.”

“Are you off work?” she asked quietly.

“Just finished.”

“You’ve been working so hard. It hurts to think about it.”

Rui Si’er laughed. “All right, I won’t keep you up. Go to sleep.”

Her voice sounded low and a little hoarse. Worried, Shen Zhao asked, “Why does your voice sound different? Have you caught a cold?”

Rui Si’er cleared her throat. “The temperature’s been changing a lot between morning and night in Tingcheng. I got a little chilled. It’s nothing. Don’t worry.”

The fourth year was the busiest time in university. Rui Si’er had a thesis to write and the pressures of her internship to deal with. Shen Zhao understood. Auditing was a demanding, hectic profession, and once the overtime started, it seemed never to end.

She pressed her lips together. “Did you eat dinner?” she asked, aching for her.

Rui Si’er said nothing. Shen Zhao knew the answer. “I thought so. No matter how busy you are, you have to eat. Understand?”

A night breeze brushed past Rui Si’er.

Warmth settled over her heart.

She smiled. “I understand. Go to sleep before you wake your roommates.”

Shen Zhao murmured her agreement. They said good night and hung up.

Behind her dark bed curtains, Shen Zhao lay staring upward, lost in thought. Only after a while did she remember that she hadn’t asked Si’er about her leave.

She picked up her phone again and checked the time. It was almost eleven.

Now she couldn’t sleep.

“Zhaozhao—” a voice suddenly called from the bed opposite hers.

Shen Zhao paused. Recognizing Chu Chu’s voice, she answered quietly, “What?”

“Still awake? I can see a light over there,” Chu Chu whispered, lifting her head.

“Yeah.”

“Are you too excited to sleep? You’re leaving for Moscow the day after tomorrow.”

Shen Zhao stared at the ceiling for a moment. “No.”

She didn’t know what was wrong. Ever since the call with Si’er, she had felt that something wasn’t quite right.

She could hear that Si’er’s voice sounded different from usual, but she couldn’t tell what the problem was.

“Chu Chu—” Shen Zhao called suddenly.

“What?”

“Have you ever been in love?”

Their beds were positioned head to head. Chu Chu thought for a moment. “No. But I think long-distance relationships are hard to keep going.” She paused, afraid she had said the wrong thing, and hurriedly explained, “I don’t mean yours! I just think every long-distance relationship is difficult.”

Shen Zhao was quiet for a long while before saying slowly, “I know.”

Not long after she and Si’er had met, they had ended up living in different cities. Add together all the time they had spent face to face, and it didn’t even amount to two months.

Love needed care. They needed to see each other, to be close and intimate. Yet for them, even those simplest of things felt like extra gifts that love might or might not grant.

She missed Si’er so much that she wished she could grow wings and fly to her side right then, just to tell her that she missed her and loved her.

Shen Zhao drew a deep breath. “Let’s sleep,” she murmured.

Two days later, on the night before her departure, Shen Zhao finally understood the sudden insecurity she had felt that night.

Si’er had broken her promise.

Standing outside her office building, Rui Si’er kept apologizing to Shen Zhao over the phone. “Zhaozhao, I’m sorry. I promise I’ll make it up to you someday, okay?”

Shen Zhao understood her and knew the position she was in.

Even so, she couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

Forcing herself to sound cheerful, Shen Zhao said with a smile, “It’s okay. I know you’re busy. Once your job becomes permanent, we’ll take the trip together.”

After hanging up, Shen Zhao stood in the wind for a long while, feeling lost.

She looked up at the white clouds scattered across the sky and felt lonely.

Perhaps she hadn’t even realized it herself, but the promises she and Si’er had made seemed to be falling through one by one.

From spending her birthday together, to Si’er moving to Jiangcheng in the future, to this trip to see the Northern Lights…

Her phone suddenly rang. Shen Zhao looked down and saw that the call was from the app company.

She answered. “Hello?”

“Am I speaking with Ms. Shen Zhao?”

“Yes.”

“This is a reminder that you have a flight from Jiangcheng to Moscow tomorrow. Please be mindful of your departure time and bring the equipment you need. We’ve emailed you the relevant details.”

“Okay, thank you,” Shen Zhao said.

After she hung up, an email notification appeared on her phone.

Her luggage was packed. She had followed her travel guide carefully and prepared for everything. Only one thing was missing: a person.

She probably couldn’t find someone else to go with her at such short notice.

It was the National Day holiday, and her other three roommates had already made plans.

Shen Zhao looked over the itinerary she had made. She had carefully marked every entry for every day in different colors.

She took a deep breath, and a wild idea came to her.

—Fine. She would go by herself!

On the evening of the thirtieth, at Jiangcheng Airport.

Shen Zhao dragged two enormous suitcases through check-in, handed them over to be loaded onto the plane, and waited more than half an hour before she finally boarded.

She had to admit, the grand prize came with excellent benefits.

She was even flying first class.

Shen Zhao boarded and found her seat. A woman was sitting beside it.

She had a slender figure and wore a red dress. Long, chestnut-brown curls fell to her waist. A broad-brimmed hat hid her face, leaving only the outline of her profile visible.

Shen Zhao glanced at her and thought she looked vaguely familiar.

She gave it no further thought and sat down.

The flight from Jiangcheng to Moscow took nine hours. Because of the time difference, though, the local time when she landed was only three hours later than when she had taken off.

The moment she stepped off the plane, Shen Zhao felt Moscow’s cold air. She hurriedly pulled out the down jacket she had prepared and wrapped herself up completely.

Arriving in an unfamiliar foreign capital made her inexplicably excited.

She took out her phone to check the next part of her itinerary. If she remembered correctly, her flight from Moscow to Murmansk was at twelve thirty. The two flights lined up neatly, with only a little over half an hour between them.

She was just congratulating herself on the timing when she saw the display at the check-in counters: because of a blizzard, all flights out of Moscow were delayed indefinitely.

…

Shen Zhao’s heart sank.

Did she really have to be this unlucky? She hadn’t even reached her destination, and already something like this had happened?

With every flight delayed, a large crowd had gathered around the airport information desk. Shen Zhao didn’t know the place or anyone in it, so she hauled her suitcases over and squeezed into the crowd, hoping to ask when flights might resume.

In the crush of people, someone suddenly shoved her. She was pushed out of the crowd, stumbled, and tilted sideways.

“Careful—” A hand reached out to steady her, accompanied by a warm, slightly deep voice.

Stranded in a foreign country during a blizzard, with her flight delayed, Shen Zhao was so moved to hear her native language that she almost cried.

She turned around. When she saw the person behind her, she exclaimed in surprise, “It’s you!”

It was the woman she had accidentally bumped into that day!

“You came to Moscow too?” Seeing a familiar face, Shen Zhao suddenly felt hopeful again.

Song Ling lowered her eyes to Shen Zhao and answered quietly, “I’m going to Murmansk.”

Even their destinations were the same. “Me too!” Shen Zhao said excitedly. “You’re going to see the Northern Lights too, right?!”

Song Ling looked at her, her gaze resting on the smiling curve of Shen Zhao’s eyes. She gave a soft hum of agreement, then laughed quietly above her head. In her low voice, she asked, “Shall we go together?”