After getting off the bus, she hesitated for a while, and then she chose to go home dragging her luggage.

Shi Zirui worked at a university, essentially doing research. Wanghai was practically unproductive in that area, devoid of any suitable soil. Despite similar complaints, Shi Zirui's decision to leave Wankang City, and even Wanghai, wasn't due to an innate yearning for academia or scientific research. She simply wanted to leave, to plant roots wherever she saw fit, to follow the flow, and ultimately to find her current path.

The reason why they want to leave is nothing more than the problems that women usually encounter in this era.

When land prices were not so expensive, her family chose to pool their money to buy a piece of land, build a yard, and live a communal life, but she never liked this kind of life.

After many years, when she came back, they greeted her with smiles on their faces, but they didn't hesitate to mock her in dialect for her pretentiousness. She said she didn't know whether she was really studying abroad or just pretending to study. She might have slept with men and become the rich woman she is today. She speaks fluent Mandarin without any accent, as if she was not a member of this family.

They thought they couldn't understand, which was natural, because Shi Zirui had been pretending that she couldn't learn her native dialect since a long time ago. There was a language barrier between the two sides. Giving them a chance to gossip openly would save them a lot of difficult-to-stop cold shots and open swords, both overt and covert.

It must be mentioned that although she has never eaten at the table since she was a child and has been treated unequally in all aspects such as food, clothing, housing and transportation, she has never directly resisted, because this is not her world and she has no chance of winning here.

If her parents were not wealthy enough to allow her to go to school, she might not even have the chance to choose what kind of person she wanted to become.

This is the era and the place where no matter how much slogans are shouted, the objective facts cannot be concealed.

So Shi Zirui, with her amazing talent and great luck, left her hometown and modified her expression, tone, and body shape in front of the mirror in a new city. She eventually lived a different life, but she never considered herself a role model of a new-age woman or an independent person who rebelled against success.

She simply ran away from a situation where she couldn't win.

Going home today, it would be impossible to say that Shi Zirui had no expectations or illusions at all. She longed for these people to have different opinions of her because of her changes and to recognize all the efforts she had made, so she prepared a box of local specialties and fresh daily necessities.

Yet everything remained the same, just as it had been when she hadn't left.

Shi Zirui composed herself, dragged her luggage outside and found a hotel to stay in. She waited until later, when the appointed time came, intending to finish her business and leave immediately. However, Shi Zirui's wishful thinking fell through.

She did not see her colleague, or senior brother, at the agreed place. She asked the front desk of the hotel and found out that such a person had indeed checked in a few days ago, but the night before yesterday, he hurriedly checked out and left with his luggage under the cover of darkness.

This made Shi Zirui feel weird and a little uneasy, and she had no way to contact her senior brother, so she could only sit on a stool in the hotel lobby, a little absent-minded, thinking about what to do next.

Instead of waiting for a connecting flight, she waited for her uncle. He showed up at the hotel with a strange man. He smiled, but his face was filled with displeasure. He said, "Xiao Rui, you haven't been home for so long. It's such a big deal that it can't wait. Can't you at least sit for a while, get to know people, and talk?"

Shi Zirui glanced at him, then at the strange man next to him, and said softly, "Recognize him? Recognize whom? Him?"

"Watch your tone." The uncle scolded coldly, then changed his expression and said, "This is the boss of the city's pharmaceutical business, a big boss, his surname is Ren, Ren Haomiao. Just like you, you are educated and cultured. You must have common topics, why not take this opportunity to chat.

That's it, I won't bother you anymore, you guys can chat slowly."

Shi Zirui understood what this meant. Even if she could be considered to have returned home in glory, in their eyes, her only valuable thing was still her skin and body, just like selling pork, hanging it on the scale and selling it by the kilogram.

After he left, the two of them fell silent. After a long pause, Shi Zirui spoke calmly, "I'm a physics major. I can't say I've achieved much academically. My knowledge is limited. I only have a passing understanding of my own subject, and I'm even more confused about the interdisciplinary field of medicine. I don't think we have much in common to talk about. I'm afraid you'll be disappointed."

"Don't listen to your uncle's nonsense," Ren Haomiao said with a smile in a cheap suit. "How can I be said to be in the medical field? Don't worry if you laugh at me. My understanding of medicine is just a few words I just learned, such as clinical practice and drug efficacy. It's a mess. I'm completely confused by what he said."

Shi Zirui sighed secretly, stood up and said, "In that case, let's stop here for now. I have things to take care of. Excuse me."

"Hey, don't be so anxious." Ren Haomiao stood up and blocked his way, his eyes filled with unspeakable malice, and said, "I might be the important matter you need to deal with."

Shi Zirui quietly took a step back, making sure she was only a bend away from the ashtray on the table. "What do you mean?"

"Even though you said you were into some physics, you did write an article about pharmacology," Ren Haomiao chuckled. "And then you found out someone was impersonating you and using that article to do something weird. That was me. We're doing it."

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