By his Fu Yuan Jie Jie's four-leaf clover of luck, Gu Wei made it to the recruitment in time.
Fu Yuan and her team were participating in Shanghai's awareness campaign for the impaired and were recruiting professional sign language teachers.
Gu Wei was not going to miss an opportunity such as this, to work alongside Fu Yuan and offer his skills to help.
This was his life's calling, and when Gu Wei saw the application form, he knew this was his chance to give back all the love and silent support his Jie Jie had provided for him.
The staff checked his ID and confirmed his profession, letting him through the heavily guarded door and pointing him toward the second floor.
When Gu Wei had arrived, the front of the building had been littered with a few fans, but when he got to the second floor, Gu Wei considered giving up and leaving there and then.
The elevator had opened to a reception room, and every space Gu Wei laid his eyes on was occupied by two or more people.
Crowded would be an understatement for the sight that beheld Gu Wei.
All eyes turned to him when the elevator dinged, and the room was unnaturally quiet.
Full of people as it was, everyone was polite and bowed in greeting as he squeezed through the throng. Gu Wei bowed in return.
"Hello, hello, hi, hello." He repeated this a hundred times before he made it to the reception desk.
Gu Wei breathed a sigh of relief as the pressing of bodies subdued and he found reprieve in the small free space by the desk.
The receptionist, who introduced herself as Da Li, was friendly and didn't waste time in adding Gu Wei's fan name 'Jie Jie's Blooming Petal' to the list and handing him a temporary badge with his number.
Gu Wei was the 56th.
He returned to the crowded area and squeezed himself into a wall close to the desk. Gu Wei saw a peek of the hallway leading to the interview room.
Unlike the crowded one, the hallway was only occupied by people sitting on the metal chairs aligned by the wall.
Save for the buzz and murmur of chatter, the floor was bearable.
Gu Wei leaned his head against the wall and assumed the most comfortable position he could, he would be waiting a long time before it got to his turn.
The next few hours passed in a blur, and by the time Gu Wei finished his interview and returned to the ground floor, everything felt like a dream.
If you asked Gu Wei what he had said during the interview or how it had gone, he would stare at you blankly and reply, "What interview?"
That was how much Gu Wei's brain had fried during the last few hours.
In his hand, he was clutching a tote bag, with Fu Yuan Jie Jie's name scattered around it in a cute font, and inside was a T-shirt and tumbler.
The receptionist, Da Li, had handed it to him while he was leaving, a gift given to all for the trouble they'd went through for the application.
Gu Wei shook his head and focused on his surroundings.
He had to get back to work, it was past 1:00 PM and Gu Wei couldn't neglect his responsibilities for too long.
He was about to step through the huge revolver doors when he caught a glimpse of brown curly hair.
Gu Wei's eyes registered it, but his brain was slow to work, so Gu Wei was already outside when his head finally caught up and he hurriedly stepped through the doors again.
There!
The curly mane teased its appearance and disappeared around a corner.
Without thinking, Gu Wei chased after it, knocking into people as hurried to catch up.
This time, he was repeating a series of "I'm sorry, so sorry, I'm sorry!" as he turned the same corner the figure had gone.
Gu Wei's breath came in hurried bursts as he desperately looked around the unfamiliar pristine space in search of the hair again.
He found it within a few seconds. Zhai Mei was around a group of other women, talking close enough that Gu Wei could clearly see the curls.
But when he got a few paces closer, she was moving again, heading back the way they'd come, and Gu Wei cursed under his breath.
Why was she so active?
Gu Wei didn't fail to follow, once again pushing through the people and contemplating calling out to her.
But that was a stupid idea, and someone else might think he was calling for them.
Finally, Gu Wei gained some ground and pushed through the revolver doors he'd gone through a while ago, spotting her standing by the road, hands on her waist.
Relieved, Gu Wei slowed his steps and tapped her on the shoulder, "Zhai M-"
It was not Zhai Mei. The person turned at the tap and the face in field of vision was not Zhai Mei's. But an older woman with hair similar to hers.
Gu Wei stepped back and apologized, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else."
The woman turned fully and motioned for him to stop his relentless bowing.
"No need, It's alright. It happens. I guess I look like someone you know then?"
Gu Wei chuckled nervously and folded his hands in front of him in a humble gesture. "Ah yes, the hair…"
The woman smiled at this stranger's respectful position. Why was he folding his hands like she would scold him? Really, younglings nowadays were too polite.
Touching her full curls, the woman shook her head to assuage the boy's worries and repeatedly told him not to worry.
Gu Wei retreated with another bow and slinked a few paces away. He had assumed the woman was Zhai Mei.
Gu Wei wanted to smack himself.
He was always making these stupid assumptions when it came to the girl, and he'd almost gotten himself into a problematic situation just now.
And if it had been Zhai Mei, what would he say?
Gu Wei had resolved to apologize whenever he got to meet her again, but just now he'd jumped to approach her without anything prepared.
Thank god it was a stranger. Gu Wei didn't know what idiotic words would've poured out of him if it had truly been the person he sought.
He hailed a cab and bowed towards the woman for the last time before getting in.
It was uncanny how the woman's hair had resembled Zhai Mei's so fully. Even the curls were the same, and the color too.
Unknown to the young man, the woman whom he'd just met out of coincidence, was none other than Zhai Mei's mother, Mei Li. Hence the uncanny similarity of hair.
Mei Li had heard Gu Wei utter half of her daughter's name, and so wondered if the boy was an acquaintance of hers.
But the unlikeliness of such a coincidence had her dismissing the thought.
And Mei Li pondered the lucky family that would get a respectable boy such as the humble stranger as their son-in-law. Not hers for sure.
Her daughter never brought home a single person, and Mei Li would even settle for a female at this point.
That daughter of hers was as platonic as water, and Mei Li had never seen a single hint of a crush in her. Save for the little one she had when she was a teenager.
But that was decades ago, and Mei Li had adopted many a religion in the hopes of her prayers being answered.
It seemed fate had written a love-less life for her child.
Mei Li wished Zhai Mei would bring home a young man like the one she'd encountered just now, a bad boy would suffice too.
Anything at this point would be accepted with open arms.
Mei Li was a mother after all, and she wanted nothing more than her child's happiness, and for her to have someone by her side when her mother left the earth.
What Mei Li didn't know was, fate worked in mysterious ways, and it had fruitful plans for her child Zhai Mei.