The Secret of the Yoga Club: The Women's Identity is Not Simple

At noon, Will arranged for them to have lunch at a restaurant near Audi headquarters. The restaurant was in a typical German style, with dark wood tables and chairs, old photos and antler decorations on the walls, and the menu consisted entirely of sausages, pork knuckles, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes.

Lin Feng ordered a roasted pork knuckle with sauerkraut, while Ouyang Qian ordered a sausage platter and a vegetable salad.

The pork knuckle was served in a large portion, its skin roasted to a crisp, golden brown, making a satisfying crunch when cut with a knife and fork. Lin Feng cut off a piece, put it in his mouth, chewed a few times, and his expression was far from pleasant.

The meat itself was firm, but the seasoning was too heavy; the saltiness overpowered the meat's flavor, and the pickled cabbage was excessively sour, completely unlike the kind of pickled cabbage stir-fried with lard that you find in China. I ate half a piece before putting down my knife and fork, picking up my beer and taking a sip.

Seeing his reaction, Ouyang Qian couldn't help but laugh. "When you come to Europe, you have to be prepared not to get used to the food. Eating here is just about filling your stomach; it's completely different from the standards back home where food is all about color, aroma, and taste."

"The German restaurant I ate at at Hohai University before wasn't this bad," Lin Feng said, poking at the sauerkraut on his plate with his fork. "Could it be because the chef is Chinese?"

"It's definitely been modified." Ouyang Qian cut a small piece of sausage, put it in her mouth, chewed it, and didn't find it unpalatable. "I lived in Europe for a few months, so I'm used to it. If you don't like it, eat less, and we'll find a Chinese restaurant near the hotel tonight to make up for it."

Lin Feng drank a few more sips of beer and picked out some edible parts from the plate. When it was time to pay the bill, Hans from Will's side came over to say hello and that a technical briefing and test drive were scheduled for 2:30 pm. He asked if they wanted to rest at noon or go straight there.

Ouyang Qian said she would go back to the hotel to rest for an hour first, and then meet at Audi headquarters at 2:30.

After returning to the hotel, Lin Feng lay on the bed and dozed off for half an hour, still feeling sleepy from jet lag.

At two o'clock, Ouyang Qian called him to say that the car had arrived.

Lin Feng washed his face, changed into a clean shirt, and went downstairs. Ouyang Qian was already waiting in the lobby, still wearing the same burgundy deep-V dress she wore that morning. She was standing next to the elevator looking at her phone when two German men passing by glanced at her at the same time. One of them took a couple of steps away and then turned back for another look.

Ouyang Qian didn't react at all. After seeing Lin Feng, she put her phone away and walked towards him.

The afternoon test drive was scheduled for a closed testing ground behind Audi headquarters. Hans and a test drive engineer were already waiting. The four cars ordered in the morning were parked next to the track: the Q5 plug-in hybrid, the A6L gasoline version, the Q3 entry-level version, and the A4 sports version.

The test drive engineer was a German man in his early thirties, not very tall but very strong, wearing a black jacket. He first led them around, explaining the technical points and chassis tuning characteristics of each car. Ouyang Qian translated, explaining the figures such as torque, drag coefficient, and fuel consumption when the battery was depleted very clearly.

Lin Feng first tested the gasoline version of the A6L.

Sitting in the driver's seat, the electric seat automatically adjusted to a comfortable position. The steering wheel had a slightly heavy feel, typical of German cars. After driving around for a couple of laps, pressing the accelerator on a straight road revealed a smooth response from the six-cylinder engine, without the abruptness of a turbocharger kicking in.

Next, I tried the Q5 plug-in hybrid. In pure electric mode, the car was so quiet that I could hear my own breathing. When I switched to hybrid mode, the engine didn't kick in abruptly.

Ouyang Qian sat in the passenger seat, holding her phone to record her test drive experience, occasionally reminding him to pay attention to the chassis's vibration damping performance on certain road sections.

It was almost five o'clock by the time we finished testing the cars.

Hans said Will would be waiting for them in the headquarters conference room at nine o'clock the next morning, and the price negotiations would be held then. The two sides said goodbye in the parking lot. Hans shook hands with Lin Feng and then gave Ouyang Qian a light cheek kiss goodbye, the movement was so light that he barely touched her face.

It wasn't dark when I left Audi headquarters.

Ouyang Qian said it was still early, so why not take a stroll around downtown Berlin? Lin Feng agreed. The driver took the car to the vicinity of the Brandenburg Gate, and the two got out and walked slowly along Unter den Linden.

The street was bustling with tourists, a mix of skin colors and languages. Ouyang Qian walked beside Lin Feng, her high heels clicking on the stone pavement, her burgundy skirt swaying gently in the evening breeze.

They walked around the perimeter of Museum Island but didn't go in; they just stood by the river and looked at the architecture for a while. The river shimmered with a dark golden light in the twilight, and the church spires on the opposite bank cut out slender silhouettes against the sky.

Ouyang Qian leaned against the riverbank railing, her skirt billowing in the wind before falling back down. Lin Feng stood beside her, his arm propped on the railing, neither of them speaking. After a while, she said, "The pace of life in Berlin is much slower than in China. People here don't seem to be in a rush to do anything."

Are you envious?

"I'm not envious. I just think it's nice to slow down like this sometimes." She turned to look at him. "But I don't like a life that's too slow. If you asked me to stay in Berlin for a month, I might go crazy."

"So you're destined to be a workaholic."

"Likewise." She smiled. "But coming out with you really does feel like a vacation."

For dinner, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant that Ouyang Qian found on her phone's map, saying it was at least closer to Chinese tastes than German food.

Lin Feng ordered a bowl of beef rice noodles and a spring roll, while Ouyang Qian ordered a lemongrass roasted chicken rice. Although the taste wasn't as good as any random street stall at Hohai University, it was at least much better than what they had for lunch.

Halfway through the meal, Ouyang Qian put down her chopsticks, picked up her glass, took a sip of lemonade, and then looked at Lin Feng and said, "I have something to tell you."

"you say."

"It's really comfortable being with you." Her tone was flat. "I rarely spend so much time alone with a man and I don't feel tired at all. You're not pretentious, and you don't try to take care of me. It's like... how should I put it, being with an old friend, but with something more than that."

"What is it?"

"I can't quite put my finger on it." Ouyang Qian tilted her head. "Maybe it's just that I don't mind you touching me. Last time outside your office, I didn't mind you looking at my chest. Later, when you touched me, I didn't push you away. That says a lot."

Lin Feng leaned back in his chair, looking at her. "Then you'd better lock the door properly tonight, or I might sneak in in the middle of the night and take advantage of you."

Ouyang Qian laughed out loud, revealing two rows of neat teeth.

After laughing, she pointed at him with her fork and said, "You don't need to search. I'll just go over there tonight. As long as you dare to open the door."

Both of them knew it was a joke, but neither was in a hurry to take it back. The rice noodles on the table were almost cold, and Lin Feng lowered his head to finish the last few bites. Ouyang Qian reached for a spring roll on the plate, dipped it in sweet and spicy sauce, and ate it slowly.

After finishing their meal, they walked along the street for a while.