53 Silence

It was already early morning when Zhou Qi landed in Beijing. This city seemed to never stop. At two o'clock in the morning, the taxi queue was still endless, winding and winding. By the time he arrived at the bottom of Zhimiao Building, the lights on that floor had long been turned off, leaving only pitch darkness.

He actually felt relieved.

At least Yang Xiao has rested now.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, the light in a window room on that floor came back on. The curtains were drawn, making it hard to see who was inside. So he ran back inside and took two steps into the elevator, his heart beating fast. He wasn't looking forward to it, but more afraid. He was terrified of meeting the woman Wang Ruopeng had described on the phone.

The elevator opened, and around the corner, he saw the Zhimiao logo. The company's glass door was tightly closed. He followed the access code Wang Ruopeng had sent him, opened the door, and slowed his pace. The soft carpet covered the entire floor, eliminating the usual creaking sound of chairs being pulled and reducing the sound of footsteps.

So when Yang Xiao, holding the boiled water, turned around and saw him appear at the door of her office with bloodshot eyes, she was stunned. After staring at each other for a long time, she put down the glass in her hand and walked towards him, step by step.

Zhou Qi didn't wait. He took long strides and walked over to her, grasping her shoulders and gently pulling her into his arms. The water dispenser outside the door beeped a few times and began to boil the remaining water in the kettle. Soon, the kettle began to boil, and the scalding steam surged and collided, lifting the lid with a series of crisp clinking sounds.

Zhou Qi didn't hug her waist, and even lightly held her shoulder. The warm embrace of the past, the exchange of body temperature between chests, also cooled down on this winter night, and a little chill came out from the gaps. Yang Xiao was so sensitive that she rubbed Zhou Qi's neck with her hair, "You know?"

"Yeah." Zhou Qi was wrapped in the cold air outside. Seeing her pointed chin, he felt a surge of nameless anger mixed with guilt. "Let me handle some of Yang Zhi's situation." After saying that, he put his cheek against Yang Xiao's warm forehead. "Are you still feeling uncomfortable? Let me take you home to rest for a while."

Yang Xiao shook her head. "I'd feel worse lying down. Have you resolved your issues?" Then, she looked up at the man who had come so far. She had truly waited for Zhou Qi to come all the way through the night for her. She felt joy and satisfaction, but it was of no use. Her small emotional fluctuations were nothing compared to the anxiety brought on by Zhi Miao's current predicament.

"Not yet, I will do it as soon as possible." Zhou Qi answered truthfully.

"Don't worry." Yang Xiao soothed him, loosening her hand on his waist and dragging a chair over. "Would you like to sit for a while?"

"Okay." Zhou Qi didn't let go of her cold hand, holding it tightly. With his other hand, he pulled the chair next to the folding bed. "If you don't want to go home, then go back to sleep. I'll stay with you."

"Zhou Qi." Yang Xiao called him, but there was no further words.

When she looked at him, their eyes, weary yet indelible, met through the air, rubbing against each other's longing for each other and the powerlessness of reuniting after a long separation. Then, all of it blended together, flowing silently with love, flowing to the foot of the iceberg, flowing to the edge of the cliff, not knowing where to go.

So there was only silence.

They were all tacitly thinking about how this relationship should continue.

"We..." Yang Xiao couldn't utter those words. This relationship was so brief that she didn't even have time to savor it. In the past, she always considered herself lucky. As a child, she was poor but had a father who loved her deeply. Later, fate favored her, allowing her to have the love of a second father. When she first fell in love, she didn't know what love felt like, but she had a gentle man who walked before her with a nightlight, guiding her through the pitch-black alleys. Only when she grew up did she realize that such good fortune could be recycled.

Zhou Qi still didn't say anything, turned his head and kissed her.

Tears started to fall.

This was the second time Yang Xiao saw Zhou Qi cry.

She reached out and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes. "Don't cry, Zhou Qi. From now on, you have to be well."

"I'll be in Beijing soon, Yang Xiao." Zhou Qi didn't care about being polite anymore. He couldn't help but tighten his grip on Yang Xiao's hand, his voice choked with uncontrollable sobs. "It will be very soon. Trust me, okay? I will...always...always...stand by you and applaud you for turning the tables. From now on...I won't say stupid things like, 'You're already beautiful and don't need makeup.'"

This was the first time Yang Xiao saw Zhou Qi sobbing. Tears slid down his high nose bridge to the tip, dripping onto the back of Yang Xiao's hand. Like sparks flying in a stove, they burned her so much that she instinctively moved her hand away. But her heart felt like it had been thrown into a washing machine, tumbling and tumbling.

This is the winter of 2019.

Yang Xiao could already afford a windproof and cold-resistant down jacket. But as she walked, she felt naked, the wind piercing her bones. Just like before she met Zhou Qi, she shivered as soon as she left the fire. It turns out love can keep you warm, too.

In the second month of the impasse, Zhi Miao was about to collapse. Yang Xiao tried to find new employers for Mu Tao and Xiao Fei, but she refused to give up and kept going to the hospital every few days.

In January in Beijing, the wind outside is as cold as a knife.

Yang Xiao huddled in the outpatient building, eating a pancake. The scalding tenderloin still felt like a burning sensation in her stomach. She saw the news of the Wuhan lockdown pop up on her phone and suddenly stood up. The orthostatic hypotension caused by the sudden standing made her vision go black and the world spin. After regaining her composure by holding onto the wall, Yang Xiao drove smoothly all the way to Zhimiao.

"Xiao Fei, can our model CT images be used for auxiliary diagnosis of nucleic acid tests?" Yang Xiao walked hurriedly, barely catching her breath, but her words flowed without a pause. "For example, it can quickly identify lesions and quantify the proportion of ground-glass opacities. This can help doctors improve their diagnosis efficiency."

"Sure! It's a good idea." Xiao Fei's eyes lit up, but he frowned again. "But without labeled lung CT data, this model is useless. Besides... the data might still be confidential. Where can we get it?"

Yang Xiao glanced at Zhimiao's sparsely populated workstations and spoke faster, "Don't worry, I'll figure out the data. Xiaofei, immediately research the existing publicly available imaging data from research papers. We need to get the technical framework right first. Mutao, compile a list of hospitals and research institutions in China that might have data, especially those in Wuhan. This is our last chance."

"clear."

Yang Xiao stood by the window, lost in thought. She'd had a painful experience chasing data before, and it wasn't going to work if she didn't leverage it. Besides, she didn't have enough manpower or funds at the moment.

She turned and opened a drawer, pulling out a pile of business cards she'd exchanged at the last small and micro-enterprise conference. After searching through them, she could only find one that was a subsidiary of a large company. Without hesitation, she dialed the number.

Yang Xiao still remembered the man who had come to the meeting—a middle-aged man with a slick face. He smiled and tried to put his hand on her waist. She dodged, and he immediately frowned, looking petty enough to take the business card back. Seeing this, Yang Zhi came over and defused the situation by treating her like a brother.

Even before the other party answered, Yang Xiao was already feeling uneasy. Zhimiao was their life's work, and she naturally didn't want to see it go away like that. However, it would cost her a lot, and she wasn't willing to pay for such a filthy and complicated deal.

"Hello, who is this?" It was the same middle-aged man again, with a hoarse and loud voice.

Yang Xiao paused and said, "Hello, Mr. Zhang. I'm Yang Xiao, the head of Zhimiao. We exchanged business cards at the conference last year. I'm calling you this time to discuss technical cooperation on CT imaging diagnosis. Wuhan is now under lockdown, and the epidemic is spreading. AI-assisted diagnosis is urgently needed to improve doctors' diagnostic efficiency."

"Oh. I still remember you, the one with dimples?" The middle-aged man was determined to tease her, and his conversation instantly strayed from work. "We can talk about cooperation. I'll send you the address and you can come tonight." After saying that, he hung up the phone in a hurry without waiting for Yang Xiao's response.

About an hour later, Yang Xiao received a text message from him. It was from a restaurant hidden in a courtyard house, by appointment only. Yang Zhi and his friend had been there once before to discuss a partnership, and the quiet environment was a perfect place for discussions. Yang Xiao smacked her lips. Could it be that she was judging others by her own standards? But it was better to be cautious.

When they arrived at the courtyard gate, the only available space was a corner lot. Yang Xiao, a skilled driver, backed the car in, swiftly jumped out, and retrieved some wine from the trunk. She'd done her homework before arriving. She knew Mr. Zhang was a wine lover and a womanizer; if he had enough wine, he wouldn't care about the women.

Yang Xiao then invested heavily and bought two bottles of the drink that suited his taste. He carried them now, feeling heavy in his hands and a pang of heartache. He couldn't catch the wolf without sacrificing the child. He didn't know if he could catch the wolf, but the child had to be sacrificed, or else he wouldn't even have the chance to see the wolf.

After walking through the long corridor, Yang Xiao finally saw the man. His face was still greasy, with layers of fat piled on it. He had a half-smile on his face and looked her up and down, which made Yang Xiao feel uncomfortable.

"Oh, Mr. Yang is finally here." Mr. Zhang's eyes were playful and even a little teasing. "You came alone? Oh, really. I thought that after the unpleasantness last time, you would be extremely wary of me this time, and you would want to bring everyone in your small company. This... why are you dressed like this for a cooperation meeting? At least a full hip skirt should be worn, Mr. Yang."

Yang Xiao wasn't stupid. If two people had gotten out of the car this time, Mr. Zhang wouldn't have discussed it with her. But she still had a plan in mind; she wasn't so naive as to go alone. Before leaving, she told the two soldiers at the company to come and rescue her if they didn't hear from her before 11:30 tonight. She also shared her location with Mu Tao.

"Mr. Zhang, you're joking. You're probably too busy to even remember what the temperature is in Beijing right now." Yang Xiao imitated him, putting on a forced smile, and then handed him the wine box. "I brought you some gifts."

"You're here, why bring a gift? It's not good to offend Mr. Yang, so I'll keep it for now." Mr. Zhang winked, and the secretary behind him immediately stepped forward to take the wine from Yang Xiao's hand. After handing over this heavy object, Yang Xiao's hands and heart relaxed a little.

Accepting gifts means there is still room for negotiation.

"Please come in. There are people here today whom you didn't meet last time, Mr. Yang. I guess these two bottles of wine won't be too much of a waste for you, right?" Mr. Zhang smiled, his face puffed up, and he walked in. The secretary behind him, holding the wine, quickly bent down and pushed the door open for him.

"What are you standing there for? Come in quickly, Mr. Yang." Mr. Zhang turned his head and saw Yang Xiao standing at the door, and urged.