Ch115.1 – Interview

Zhou Sheng scooped out some ice cream for Yu Hao to eat. Yu Hao looked at the time and asked, “How did the person from yesterday say to find them today?”

Zhou Sheng shrugged, “Who knows? Let’s leave after eating, don’t be so naggy.”

Yu Hao turned around and looked at the guy who was sitting by the window. The boy had very fair skin and looked quite handsome, and he looked old enough to be a graduate student. His eyes were clear and beautiful, and he had slight curls in his hair. He hadn’t taken a sip of the coffee he ordered yet and was currently looking down at the screen of his camera. After deleting a few photos, he picked it up again and started taking pictures of his surroundings. Ying City was as hot as a stove right now, but the appearance of this boy instantly transformed the surroundings into the Maldives.

“If he takes a picture of us later,” Zhou Sheng said, “I’ll go over and beat him up.”

“Don’t.” Yu Hao said, “He didn’t provoke or offend you.”

“What a sissy.” Zhou Sheng mocked.

“Where did you learn how to say that from……” Yu Hao said while both laughing and crying.

This tea house really was very expensive, so there was barely anyone there. As it approached 3.30pm, Yu Hao still didn’t feel like there was anyone from an underground gang here to meet him. After they finished their ice cream, Zhou Sheng ordered another family-sized one. “Keep eating. I’ll see what time you’ll eat it till……”

“One of these costs 180!” Yu Hao blew up, “It’s too expensive!”

Zhou Sheng cried bitterly, “My dear wife, are you on your period? You keep making life difficult for me these few days……”

The two of them suddenly stopped talking. A young man wearing a shirt and black suit pants who carried a laptop bag pushed the door open and came in. The ringing of a bell sounded, and the shop assistant said, “Welcome.”

“It’s him?” Yu Hao asked in surprise.

Zhou Sheng cast a doubtful glance at that guy, then the shirt guy went to the opposite side of the camera guy and sat down. The back of his shirt was drenched in so much sweat that he looked like he had just been fished out from water.

Zhou Sheng said, “Should be. They seem like……un, like gays?”

“It can’t be?” Yu Hao was observing them too and kept feeling like the combination was slightly strange. Colleagues? But they didn’t seem to share an ordinary colleague relationship. A detective or secret investigator who partnered up with a photographer?

Five minutes later, Yu Hao could basically confirm what their relationship was.

Because they started fighting not long after sitting down, and the cause was because Camera Guy started scolding Shirt Guy for promising to accompany him on his vacation, yet they didn’t go anywhere in Ying City and just came to this idiotic tea house to drink some afternoon tea before leaving. Shirt Guy started coaxing him, and said that he couldn’t help it because of work……

“Before you promise me anything,” Camera Guy said, “Shouldn’t you have properly managed your own time first? If you can’t do that, then don’t make empty promises. This is a principle that even your nephew knows……still need to conduct an interview even though we came out for tea……”

“Don’t fight anymore, don’t fight.” Zhou Sheng’s voice rang out, “Babe, Gege will leave you my contact information? Call me at night?”

Camera Guy, “……”

Shirt Guy, “……”

Zhou Sheng pulled a chair out and straddled it. Yu Hao stood behind Zhou Sheng and observed the two guys, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

“Hello.” Shirt Guy just took one glance at Zhou Sheng, then at Yu Hao and nodded. “Let’s put our tables together ba, order something? My treat.”

Only then did Camera Guy change his posture and sit down. He turned sideways, adjusted his lens, and began taking pictures of the pedestrians walking outside the landing windows of the tea house.

Shirt Guy took out some materials from his laptop bag, opened them up and said to Zhou Sheng, “Zhou Sheng, hello.”

Yu Hao’s printed resume was amongst the materials he took out. Zhou Sheng’s brows were set in a deep furrow, and Yu Hao muttered in his heart, this shouldn’t be something related to the Golden Crow Wheel ba……

“My name is Lin Ze.” The Shirt Guy extended his hand to Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng shook hands with him, then Yu Hao shook hands with him too. When they shook hands, he could feel that this man’s handshake was both strong and stable.

The last time he felt this kind of strength was during Ou Qihang’s incident, when they bid farewell to the three people from the investigation team.

“He’s called Situ Ye.” Lin Ze introduced, “My lover.”

Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao nodded at the same time. Situ Ye turned sideways and nodded at them too, then glanced out of the window, his expression appearing a little lonely.

Zhou Sheng was no longer as vigilant against him. “Why are you looking for us?”

“I obtained this resume from one of my junior sisters,” Lin Ze said, “There were two numbers on it, so I randomly picked one……”

Yu Hao, “Why didn’t you say it outright?”

Lin Ze said calmly, “Since I got the resume from a friend, it’s natural that I can’t say that on the phone. If her agency finds out, she’d get punished.”

Yu Hao did leave behind his and Zhou Sheng’s numbers on the internship resume he handed over to Xiao Yujun. Xiao Yujun was familiar with them, and Yu Hao was afraid that he would miss her call, so he added Zhou Sheng’s number onto it too. So after beating around the bush for so long, this was what had happened.

Situ Ye looked at the two of them, “You guys are……”

“Like you two.” After Zhou Sheng knew that he was introduced by Xiao Yujun, he felt relieved. It would be fine as long as it wasn’t some weird project.

Lin Ze responded with an “un”. Yu Hao said, “Are you a reporter?”

Lin Ze flipped through Yu Hao’s information and seemed to be thinking.

Lin Ze said, “Recently, yes.”

Yu Hao said, “I didn’t send you my resume, so it doesn’t count ba. And I don’t even know who you are, yet you’re interviewing me now?”

Situ Ye gave Yu Hao a thumbs up.

Lin Ze asked instead, “Then what do you think I look like?”

Yu Hao didn’t answer and said, “I suggest we mutually grill each other?”

Lin Ze laughed, “Sure.”

Yu Hao said, “You’re a reporter……un, you’re not a local?”

Situ Ye smiled and glanced at them both, then sat opposite Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng threw him a spoon to ask him to eat ice cream.

Lin Ze said, “I used to attend a class with Xiao Jun. My turn now: in Shi Ni’s case two years ago, how did you determine that Shi Ni had been suffering long-term sexual abuse at the hands of her father?”

Yu Hao, “……”

Lin Ze didn’t even look at Yu Hao as he flipped through his resume again.

Yu Hao wanted to say that it was Zhou Sheng who found out, but when he thought about it again, that wouldn’t sound right either. It should have been him and Zhou Sheng separately deducing it, originating from Shi Ni’s wails that had started out of nowhere.

“Her crying.” Yu Hao said, “That display didn’t seem reasonable to me.”

“Un.” Lin Ze pondered for a bit, then looked into Yu Hao’s eyes, “Could you describe it in detail?”

“I can’t.” Yu Hao said, “I don’t want to gossip about the victim, I hope you understand. My turn, are you trying to hire a reporter?”

“Understood, yes.” Lin Ze said, “I’ve sifted through a lot of resumes, but I’ve never found any that was particularly desirable, so I asked Xiao Jun for a batch. From within that pile, I thought yours didn’t seem simple.”

“If I get the post, where would I work at? How much would I get per month?” This was what Yu Hao was most concerned about right now.

Lin Ze said, “Not much, but I think you should be quite interested. My turn now, how did you determine that your college’s Professor Liang Jinmin was subjected to long-term domestic violence under her husband, Lin Xun?”

Yu Hao said, “That really doesn’t have much to do with me……” But he suddenly recalled that it wasn’t right to say that it had nothing to do with him at all.

“Sunglasses ba,” Yu Hao said, “That was one of the details. You even know about that?”

“I also know that the two of you chased after the laptop that had evidence of his crimes unarmed.” Lin Ze said, “Every reporter has their own channels for information, it’s not weird. Your turn.”

Yu Hao was instantly alert. “You transferred my files out of the public security system? Who gave them to you?”

Lin Ze suddenly laughed.

Lin Ze, “It’s your turn to ask your question.”

Yu Hao, “That was my question.”

Lin Ze said, “The ‘Heroic Act’ silk banner.”

Yu Hao cast a doubtful glance at Lin Ze. “You looked for our counsellor?”

Lin Ze nodded. “Of course, I was pretending to be from a potential internship company when I gave your Xue Laoshi a call. I got it out of him with just a few words.”

Yu Hao, “Damn it……he must have bad mouthed me quite a bit.”

“It was bad mouthing to him,” Lin Ze said, “But it wasn’t to me. The only thing I wasn’t quite satisfied with was that your desire for destruction isn’t strong enough.”

Yu Hao didn’t know if he should cry or laugh. “Do reporters have to cause destruction?”

Lin Ze, “Some unconventional measures would have to be taken once in awhile……”

“I think you don’t need to continue with this interview, Ah Ze.” Situ Ye said, “Both of you have a very similar aura.”

Zhou Sheng thought so too. When Yu Hao calls someone out, he has a kind of confidence that would let him say what he thinks without any hesitation, and it was something he had in common with this man called Lin Ze.

“The kind of pestering air of a reporter who has an endless amount of questions to ask.” Zhou Sheng said.

“Ah Ze has the air of a bastard.” Situ Ye, “No matter whether you want to say it or not, they will definitely pummel you with questions until they get the answers they want.”

“Yes!” Zhou Sheng almost high-fived Situ Ye. This kind of “bastard’s air” was the most vivid description of certain reporters.

Lin Ze, “……”

Yu Hao, “……”

Yu Hao thought about it for a bit, then said somewhat gloomily, “Actually I do want to be reporter, all because of Ou Qihang’s case……”

Lin Ze kept Yu Hao’s resume, glanced at his watch and stopped asking Yu Hao questions. Instead, he said, “I’ll introduce you to my team and I. Originally, I was working in Ying City as the editor-in-chief of a media company. From next year onwards however, Beijing’s Qinghua Times intends to add a new department. This department has a relative degree of independence and autonomy within the media system. I will be transferring to this department soon as its head, where my term of office will last for two years as I form my own team.”

Yu Hao nodded and listened quietly.

“This team is only responsible for two tasks: collecting and editing.” Lin Ze explained, “The manuscripts will be sent to the organisation, and it would be up to them to decide whether to publish them or not. The salary wouldn’t be too high, especially for interns, but you’ll learn a lot.”

Situ Ye added, “And this department is likely to close down at any time.”

Yu Hao thought, will your boyfriend really not kill you later at home for specialising in pulling the rug from under his feet, but who would have thought that Lin Ze would nod earnestly and say, “That’s right, and our livelihood will depend on how things develop. We could be shut down at any time.”

Zhou Sheng said, “Then everyone would get arrested together?”

“Well, that won’t happen.” Lin Ze said, “Our superiors have government connections, and we’re considered to be a department directly under them, so someone will cover us.”

Yu Hao asked, “How many people are there in the team?”

“Two.” Lin Ze said, “Me, Xiao Ye.”