Decayed Vulgarian chapter 26
I Want To See You Sooner
Meng Yuan Cen had been in an exceptionally good mood these past few days.
When he returned home to visit his parents without any classes, he was beaming with excitement. His sister, Meng Yuan Ning, couldn’t stand it and said, “Brother, do you know that you look like a proud peacock strutting its stuff right now?”
Meng Yuan Cen raised an eyebrow and replied, “Well, I don’t see where you’re strutting.”
Meng Yuan Ning scoffed, “Who said I have nowhere to strut?”
Meng Yuan Cen seemed to rise like the sun, he asked curiously, “Weren’t we always talking about how you’re supposed to be an independent and beautiful young lady? Have you finally set your sights on someone? Can you reveal some information about him?”
Meng Yuan Ning thought for a moment and said, “He’s a front-end developer.”
Meng Yuan Cen nodded, “Hmm, a programmer. That matches well with your profession.”
Meng Yuan Ning majored in financial mathematics in her undergraduate studies and needed to do data analysis for her job. She had self-taught a bit of programming but wasn’t an expert.
Throughout the years, her criteria for a partner remained consistent. “Back in the day, I suffered under the oppression of mathematics and computers. That’s why I always have a soft spot for guys who excel in these two areas.”
Meng Yuan Cen inquired further, “Is it just because he’s a front-end developer? I’m guessing there must be other reasons too.”
Meng Yuan Ning suddenly smiled, revealing two dimples on her cheeks. “After getting to know him, I found out that he shares my love for watching movies, especially sci-fi movies. And…”.
“And?” Meng Yuan Cen asked.
“Actually, I mentioned it casually, but these days, many movie websites have too many fake reviews, causing ratings to be either too high or too low. After watching all the classic films, finding a good one feels like panning for gold. If there were a movie generator where I could input the themes I’m currently interested in, and it would recommend films based on their ratings, he used his skills to make it for me.”
Meng Yuan Cen looked puzzled, “But many movie websites already have that feature.”
“No, it’s different,” Meng Yuan Ning explained. “This ranking isn’t from a single movie website; it’s a comprehensive ranking based on ratings from all major commercial movie websites. We crawled data from all these websites and weighted their ratings. We decided on the weights together, considering both rational formula calculations and emotional judgments. There are also some keywords we set, like ‘reincarnation’ and ‘time travel,’ because we both love the movie ‘The Butterfly Effect.’ When we crawled the data from the comment section, we set criteria for high-frequency keywords based on the number of ratings and comments. When a movie is judged to have high-frequency keywords that we like, it increases the final rating.”
“I’m in charge of the theoretical model, and he writes the corresponding code. We tested it on many movies, and it worked. For instance, on one movie website, Movie A had a rating almost one point higher than Movie B, but he and I both thought Movie B was better. With our model, B had a higher rating than A.”
Meng Yuan Cen nodded thoughtfully, “I see, so you’re saying this ranking includes your preferences.”
“Exactly, and you know, I’m someone who values intelligence when it comes to attraction, so…” Meng Yuan Ning smiled, “In any case, don’t tell mom about this.”
“Alright,” Meng Yuan Cen agreed. “I have one more question, and you can choose not to answer. What’s his name?”
“Didn’t you see him that time at the movie theater?” Meng Yuan Ning smiled and continued, “So, that day after we came back, I asked Shen Xun for his WeChat to thank him.”
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
These few days passed quickly, and it was time for Meng Yuan Cen to attend an academic conference in the Congjiang Delta.
Meng Yuan Cen and two other teachers took the high-speed train on the same train but had seats apart. Meng Yuan Cen was seated by the window, and he took many scenic photos, despite them appearing messy, but the person sitting across from him still praised him for his dedication.
Although Shen Xun typically took a long time to respond to messages, this time he sent a voice message that made Meng Yuan Cen ecstatic. He listened to it several times over.
The conference schedule was tight with multiple sessions, but it was finally successful and ended on Friday afternoon. This coincided with a weekend, and someone suggested having dinner to promote academic exchange. It also meant they could explore nearby attractions in the afternoon, making the trip worthwhile.
The conference had a mix of young and seasoned teachers, and the dinner turned into a semi-matchmaking event. Some teachers volunteered to be matchmakers, introducing young men and women. Those interested could participate voluntarily. The two single teachers who had come with Meng Yuan Cen were excited about it.
Meng Yuan Cen wasn’t particularly interested, but he didn’t refuse. First, he needed to eat, and second, he genuinely wanted to visit nearby attractions. The other two teachers were returning home together, so there wasn’t much difference in waiting a bit longer.
Before the dinner, Meng Yuan Cen and two other teachers went to the commercial street nearby.
This commercial street had a predominantly classical architectural style. Even the KFC fast-food chain store had white walls, black tiles, pitched roofs, red lanterns, black ink, and yellow tassels. It was a fusion of Chinese and Western elements.
Meng Yuan Cen found it visually appealing and interesting. He couldn’t resist taking photos and even recorded videos, sometimes accidentally including half of his face in the video, causing distortion. But he didn’t mind. He indulged in his own good looks.
In the evening, after a fulfilling dinner and drinks, Meng Yuan Cen received a call from Shen Xun.
Shen Xun rarely called directly. Most urgent matters were typically handled through text messages. Meng Yuan Cen was somewhat puzzled, but he was also delighted. He had randomly come up with an excuse for a call when booking train tickets and was secretly amused.
He answered, “Hello, Shen Xun. What’s going on?”
“Are you back home now?”
“Not yet.”
“Is there an emergency? Weren’t you supposed to be back home this evening?”
Meng Yuan Cen remembered that he hadn’t shared all the details when booking the tickets, so he sent Shen Xun a screenshot of the round-trip ticket. It clearly indicated the return time. Shen Xun’s call sounded almost like a surprise check, and Meng Yuan Cen quietly enjoyed the situation.
He replied, “The original plan was to return after having lunch, but some teachers suggested organizing a dinner gathering for tonight, so it got delayed.”
Shen Xun said with some confusion, “But you had dinner until almost 9 pm?”
Meng Yuan Cen responded, “After dinner, they continued to chat.”
Shen Xun didn’t understand, “Chat?”
Meng Yuan Cen didn’t want to say it initially but had to be straightforward now to seem sincere, “There was an internal matchmaking event during the dinner gathering. The two teachers who came with me are still single, and I can’t deny them a chance to meet someone, so I watched them chatting with the girls.”
Shen Xun fell silent for a moment and then asked, “Were you introduced to anyone?”
Meng Yuan Cen had a mischievous thought, “Yes, quite a few.”
The other end suddenly fell silent.
This response made Meng Yuan Cen’s heart skip a beat, and he quickly tried to fix it, “But I didn’t like any of them. I have high standards, you know.”
Shen Xun asked, “What are your standards?”
Meng Yuan Cen imitated Shen Xun’s tone, “First of all, good eyesight, no need for glasses.”
Shen Xun was initially taken aback and then chuckled, “You’re nearsighted yourself, and you’re setting high standards for others.”
“That’s why I said my standards are high,” Meng Yuan Cen unabashedly continued, “They must not have permed or dyed hair, they should have peach blossom eyes, a high nose bridge, be around 175 cm tall, and it’s even better if they understand a bit of criminal law, so they can understand what I’m talking about.”
Shen Xun lightly scoffed, “Your standards are indeed quite high.”
Meng Yuan Cen was about to continue, “And…”
“Meng Ge, you look so happy chatting with someone. You’ve got spring in your step.” Someone suddenly hooked his shoulder from behind. It turned out to be Huada’s Professor Chu. It was quite noisy around, so Professor Chu had to lean in close to Meng Yuan Cen’s ear. “Just now, a girl asked me for your name, and it was more than one. Looks like your time has come.”
Not good.
Meng Yuan Cen held Professor Chu’s arm, then said to Shen Xun, “What Professor Chu said just represents his personal opinion.”
“I can’t talk right now. Let’s talk some other time.”
He hung up the phone.
Professor Chu raised his chin, “Who was that?”
Meng Yuan Cen didn’t think and replied, “The person I want to pursue.”
Professor Chu was delighted, “That’s great. I wish you success, Meng Ge. I’m eagerly waiting for you to get out of singledom. Whenever I stand next to you, the female teachers ignore me completely.”
He sounded quite resentful.
Then Professor Chu took Meng Yuan Cen to liven up the atmosphere. The teachers at Huada could indeed chat; Meng Yuan Cen occasionally chimed in but mostly watched them talk. After waiting for a while, the gathering finally ended, and he could return to the hotel.
The teachers from Huada all had single rooms, and they had finished freshening up around 10 o’clock. Meng Yuan Cen hadn’t gone to sleep yet, so he lay on his bed and called Shen Xun. The enclosed space was suitable for personal conversations.
He asked, “Are you asleep?”
Shen Xun, rarely in a playful mood, replied, “You’re calling me, and you ask if I’m asleep? I’m asleep, and I’m currently talking to you in my dream.”
Meng Yuan Cen chuckled silently, “I hung up the last call myself. You don’t mind, do you?”
“I don’t mind,” Shen Xun replied. There was a hint of an itch in his heart. After some hesitation, he couldn’t resist asking, “At the gathering… Did anyone show interest in you?”
This question was well-crafted. If he asked Meng Yuan Cen if he was interested in anyone, the answer would surely be negative.
Meng Yuan Cen had no choice but to say, “I’ll be honest with you. I didn’t like any of them.”
As expected, Shen Xun asked, “Did you exchange contact information with anyone?”
This question was even more clever, and luckily, Meng Yuan Cen responded concisely, emphasizing the key point, “I did, but my responses were quite cold. They should be able to sense that I’m not interested.”
“…They?”
Meng Yuan Cen accidentally spilled the beans on the “they” this time. He quickly explained, “Most of them are from the academic circle. They asked for my contact information in front of many people, and I couldn’t embarrass them. We might collaborate in the future, so I’m leaving a line open for later interactions.”
Shen Xun responded with a meaningful “Oh.”
He didn’t inquire further about the gathering and switched topics, “Did you change your high-speed train ticket?”
Meng Yuan Cen replied, “Yes, I have an 8:00 AM ticket tomorrow.”
Shen Xun, who loved to sleep in, remarked, “So early?”
“Is it too early? I want to get back earlier,” Meng Yuan Cen said honestly. “Because I want to see you sooner.”
Unexpectedly, once these words came out, Shen Xun fell into silence for an extended half-minute. Meng Yuan Cen had experienced waiting for Shen Xun’s response before, and now, his heart was strong, and he knew how to find a way out for himself. “Because you’re treating me to lunch on Sunday afternoon, right?”
Shen Xun replied, “I am.”
It was a soft, fleeting response, but Meng Yuan Cen heard it clearly. He was replaying it in his memory and hatched a mischievous thought. “What did you just say? I didn’t quite catch that.”
Shen Xun replied, “I said I’m treating you to a delicious hotpot.”
Meng Yuan Cen pretended, “Your last sentence wasn’t that long, was it?”
Shen Xun evaded the question, “You have to catch an early train tomorrow. Get some sleep.”
Meng Yuan Cen didn’t push it and smiled, saying, “Alright.”