Romance

When I woke up the next day, Yan Cheng was gone.

She saw the message on her phone, asking her to go to the company for a team meeting that afternoon and that he would send a driver to pick her up. Ye Yuanyin replied, "I understand."

I didn't sleep well last night, and I still feel a little dizzy now.

In the enclosed space, the dim light of the corner lamp shone through the gauze curtain. They lay side by side, and the tent was soon blown by the wind, swaying more than a person's heart.

I was in a daze in the second half of the night and didn't know how I fell asleep.

It was as if someone had unhooked the curtain in front of her. The wind died down, the quilt was warm, all the light was blocked out, and her heart became calm and peaceful.

Aunt Yang came to call her and said, "We'll go back after we say goodbye to grandma."

Ye Yuan had experienced his grandmother's power last night, so he felt a little afraid for some reason. "What might she ask?"

Aunt Yang smiled and said, “It’s okay, Mr. Shen has already given instructions during breakfast, and she won’t ask anything.”

I don’t know what Chen Di’an said to his grandmother. She didn’t pursue the matter of him leaving without saying goodbye half a year ago, and she didn’t even ask why he was injured last night.

Grandma's words are very meaningful, "When you feel distressed, it is love. When you feel distressed, it is a couple."

Ye Yuanyin couldn't understand, but she nodded continuously. This woman before her had once gone against the wind and thrown away all her dignity just to fight side by side with her heart. She felt infinite respect for her.

*

The team meeting I attended at KZ in the afternoon was held in an "online + offline" format. There were seven core members in the team.

In addition to the leadership of Chen Dian, there is also a mentor from the Smart Healing Laboratory at the University of Chicago School of Computer Science who provides technical support, a Chinese graduate student who is currently writing a thesis on this subject with him, the head of front-end and back-end technology development at KZ Technology, plus a software graphic designer and brain technology neuroscientist hired by Chen Dian, and finally Ye Yuanyin, an art therapist who looks like he is just here to make up the numbers.

During the one-and-a-half-hour multinational meeting, the development manager reported on the goals and prospects of the healing project, and the heads of the University of Chicago's R&D team and the project's technical team also had sufficient communication and exchanges.

With Shen Ji'an's strong mediation, the AI ​​healing project team was successfully established, and the subsequent sample case collection work can be started immediately.

After the meeting, Ye Yuanyin returned to Jiutao Village first.

Three days later, Chen Dian'an also returned, and with him came Ji Quan.

Wang Yaya was waiting at the entrance of the village early. She sat on a big rock, swinging her legs crossed. When she saw a black car coming from afar, she jumped off the rock and waved to greet it like a happy little deer.

When Yan Dian got out of the car, Yaya hugged his waist with joy, "Uncle, you're finally back! The flowers on the mountain are almost withering."

The little girl's warm welcome was filled with poetry that she herself was not even aware of, and Yandi'an's heart was filled with pure and simple happiness.

Ji Quan rolled down the car window and greeted the skinny girl reservedly. "Hello."

Yaya was shy and hid behind Shen Ji'an, observing this aunt who was dressed in bright and fashionable clothes but refused to speak.

The entire R&D team will be divided into three groups and move into Jiutao Village. Ji Quan is the first to arrive.

Dian Dian said to the driver, "Go to the village committee first. Secretary Long has arranged for the contact staff."

Ji Quan wanted to get off the car and go with him, but was stopped by Chen Di'an. Ji Quan couldn't help but look back while sitting in the car, unable to understand why he was so accommodating to a little country girl.

As the car drove away, Wang Yaya's tension also subsided.

"Uncle, who is that?"

"He's a colleague." Yan Zhan'an hugged her thin shoulders and said, "He's a very nice person. Don't be afraid."

"I know you're all here to help Zhizhi, and children like Zhizhi."

"Sister told you?"

"Um."

"What is she doing?"

“Making pottery.”

When Chen Dian'an brought Wang Yaya into the Long family, Ye Yuanyin was stepping on the mud in the yard.

She rolled up her dark blue trouser legs to her knees. She lowered her head slightly, and a few strands of her hair, which was tied up with a hairpin, fell down and nestled in her neck. Her fair and well-proportioned calves were exposed. The sunlight sprinkled in, as if a soft-focus filter was turned on, and the whole person looked unreal.

When Chen Yan saw her originally clean and white feet stepped in the reddish-brown clay, the contrast between the two created a very destructive original sin.

Aunt Long walked down the stairs with a quilt in her arms, the one he was covering himself with.

She threw the quilt onto the clothesline. The high quilt blocked her view. Aunt Long didn't see Chen Dian'an, and she openly criticized Ye Yuanyin.

"Ayin, please work harder and don't be lazy! Otherwise, the clay won't be sticky enough and you won't be able to make good pottery."

"I know." She said weakly, "I've been pedaling for two hours. I'm so tired."

Grandma took the opportunity to lecture her, "So why don't you go paint instead of asking for trouble? If you don't paint, you'll have to do menial labor. Our family doesn't have the money to support idlers! Don't stop, keep stepping."

Ye Yuanyin looked at the cat basking in the sun in the yard and sighed, "Ah~ Chunfen, I envy you so much."

The corners of Chen Yan'an's mouth curled up, and he walked over quickly to help Aunt Long smooth out the quilt.

Aunt Long said in surprise: "Oh, you are back."

Another poetic sentence.

It had only been a week, but they acted as if many, many years had passed. Chen Yan thought, no wonder Ye Yuanyin always looked so calm. Even if she couldn't stay in Ancheng anymore, she always had a way out.

*

Because there were distinguished guests in the village, Longyan invited everyone to have dinner in the restaurant, saying that he wanted to welcome Dian Xi'an and Ji Quan.

The restaurant was opened by Duofu, the younger brother of Zheng Youshan's cousin. It was said that the chef was recruited from a star-rated hotel in the county. In addition to Duofu's wife Lin Huamei, there were also several elderly aunts in the village helping in the kitchen.

In the afternoon, Ye Yuanyin was also called over by Lin Huamei to help.

They are the same age and were good sisters in elementary school. However, Huamei didn't like studying and got married early. Now her child is five years old.

Hua Mei was straightforward and capable. She put an apron on Ye Yuanyin, reached out and pinched her slender waist, and sighed, "When we were little, you and I were both village beauties, equally popular with boys. How come I'm a shrew now, and you're still like a little girl?"

"What little girl? She'll be buried in the ground in a few years." Ye Yuanyin said self-deprecatingly, "At least you still have a child. What do I have?"

"Don't bullshit me!" Hua Mei laughed loudly while stepping on the door sill. "It's just twenty-five, isn't it? Are you trying to fool me because I don't have enough education?"

Ye Yuanyin straightened the apron around his waist and said with a smile, "I'm clumsy and may not be able to help much, so please don't look down on me."

Lin Huamei pulled her hand over and touched it. It was tender and boneless, soft and sticky as if it had been rubbed with soap.

She envied her again: "It's good to be able to study. You don't have to do any housework. If I could continue to study, I would never stay here. You must have been reborn. Your father dotes on you and your mother loves you. Your life is much better than mine."

Her husband yelled at her to come over and help. Hua Mei stopped chatting with him and pointed at the onions, ginger and garlic in the basket on the stone table and said, "Please help peel the garlic first. We'll need it when we heat the pot."

The afterglow of the setting sun licked the earth, chickens and ducks strolled leisurely at the door, and an old dog lay at her feet, occasionally sweeping its tail.

Zheng Youshan happened to see this scene as he walked in. The young woman was as gentle as jade, making time stop gently. His heart felt like it was on fire, and he walked over with a heartache.

Ye Yuanyin had seen him a long time ago and wondered how he could have come back as if he was visiting a neighbor after such a long distance from here to Ancheng.

Zheng Youshan chuckled and couldn't help but confess. "Ayin, I sold my vegetable stall in the city."

A hint of surprise flashed across Ye Yuanyin's face, and then he added, "Don't look at me like that. It's not like I haven't made plans to come back. I've already done my research. Our village is all about pottery and tea, and I want to open a tea garden."

Zheng Youshan spoke so loudly that he woke the dog. The old dog rolled up into a ball and shook several times, throwing bits of mud all over Ye Yuanyin's trouser legs.

Zheng Youshan was heartbroken. He thought to himself, Ah Yin is such a clean person, how could she let the mud stain her clothes? He didn't care about that and reached out to grab her trouser leg, "Let me help you wipe it."

Ye Yuanyin was so frightened that he quickly retreated, but he was quickly caught again and was seen by Chen Dian and his group who had just entered the room.

It would have been fine if the village director Zheng Baoshu hadn't read it, but once he did, he was so angry that he almost vomited blood.

His son, a big man like him, squatted on the ground without any manly dignity. In front of his niece Long Yan, he was like a stray dog, just short of kneeling down to her with his legs on the ground. In this mountain, it was always women kneeling to men. When had you ever seen a man kneeling to a woman?

"Youshan! You bastard! What the hell are you doing?"

Zheng Youshan quickly let go, stood up, and said with a flushed face: "Ayin's pants are dirty, I, I, just..."

Duofu came out when he heard the noise. Seeing his cousin was being beaten, he quickly ran over with a frying pan in his hand to save the situation. "Hey, Secretary, uncle-in-law, Mr. Shen, don't you see everyone is here? Come on, come in and sit down."

"That's enough!" Zheng Baoshu said with a dark face, "Stop embarrassing yourself here! Go home right now!"

Zheng Youshan felt that he had lost face in front of Ye Yuanyin, and ran away with a red face.

Yan Zhan'an had double eyes, handsome eyebrows, and sharp corners of his eyes, which made him look solemn. He glanced at her with a sullen face, and then was immediately led into the house like a star.

With just this one glance, Ye Yuanyin felt as if a cold wind had blown into his cavities, and even his icy tooth nerves began to ache.

Hua Mei took the garlic she had peeled, then covered her mouth with her hands and twisted it out with a smile that made her smile. She asked her, "Is the one at the top the 'hundred thousand yuan'?"

Ever since Zheng Youshan's car broke down, Dian Dian became famous overnight, and "one hundred thousand yuan" became a household name in Jiutao Village.

"How come no one has ever told me that 'One Hundred Thousand Yuan' is so handsome? Oh my god!" Hua Mei's excitement was beyond words, and she was at a loss for words, just saying "oh my" over and over.

Ye Yuanyin thought that her tooth decay was worse than his own.

According to the rules in the mountains, women are not allowed to eat at the table, so Huamei and Ye Yuanyin set up a table in the yard and asked the kitchen to cook a few dishes. The two sisters drank and sang while having a meal as usual.

"Ayin, who is that woman in the room?"

"One hundred thousand yuan was invited to help."

"Oh, I was saying, how could a man like this not have a confidante or something? I knew at first glance that this woman had bad intentions towards him. What does she do? She looks so arrogant."

"Partner," Ye Yuanyin said, "someone who studies brain science."

"What the hell? Researching something? Do you need to open my brain to see it?"

Ye Yuanyin smiled and said, "Unlike brain doctors, they usually treat mental illnesses."

"I understand then. That's nothing special! He's just a gatekeeper at a mental hospital, isn't he?"

Ye Yuanyin picked up a piece of tofu for her and said calmly, "Come, nourish your brain."

"Your grandma, are you making fun of me?" Hua Mei knew that she was shy and coquettish. When they were little, they often fought over who was prettier. She was a show-off, her displeasure was clear on her face. Ye Yuanyin was also angry, but she usually told the teacher. When she did well in school, Teacher Hu would always scold her.

You can lose face even if you lose someone. Hua Mei thought of a good idea and beckoned her, saying, "Come here, I want to ask you something."

"What's up?"

She came closer, and Hua Mei leaned over to her ear and asked, "Do you have a man? Have you ever done that?"

Ye Yuanyin didn't say anything. The mountain breeze blew over, and her face turned slightly red.

"No? No, right?" Huamei laughed loudly towards the sky, thinking to herself, "After all, I am better than you in one thing."

She whispered to her, "I can't help but think about this. Whenever I have sex, I always think about it at night. The taste is really, tsk tsk tsk tsk ..."

After hearing her dirty talk, Ye Yuanyin's face turned even redder. She put down her chopsticks and said angrily, "Sister Lin Hua, can you please shut up?"

"Are you mad? You really are, aren't you? Hahaha, so what if you've always been the top student? You're still outdone by me, you little bastard!"

Ye Yuanyin clenched his fists.

"You're young and beautiful, but it's a pity no one wants you." Hua Mei whispered something into her ear, "Tell me if you can't bear it anymore. I'll tell you a way to calm you down."

Duofu called out from inside the house, shouting at the top of his voice: "Wife, come here."

She stood up and walked towards the house, twisting her slender waist. Her delicate throat seemed to be leaking water. "Here I come, husband~~"

Ye Yuanyin punched his chest with his fist, feeling both amused and helpless. He took a few deep breaths before suppressing his surging desire to win.

However, Chen Yan came out of the room, admired her beating her chest and stamping her feet for a while, and said lightly, "Are you not feeling well?"

Ye Yuanyin turned around quickly, and saw that after drinking, a few traces of impropriety appeared on his cold face, and the corners of his eyes were red, making him look very seductive.

"No... I just choked." She asked curiously, "How did you get out?"