Chapter Thirty-Two

On the last day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the two thousand hours of battery testing were finally completed.

Zuo Xutong walked out of the laboratory as usual. This time, she didn't leave immediately, but stopped at the window in the corridor, admiring the scenery outside. Over the past year, she had entered and exited this laboratory countless times, but this was the first time she had lingered in the corridor, idly looking out the window.

The leaves of the ginkgo tree downstairs have turned yellow, and clusters of fruit are densely packed together, partially hidden among the leaves. It has been about six years since she last observed a tree so carefully. That tree was also a ginkgo tree, growing beside the path on campus. It was taller and had a thicker trunk than this one, but it did not bear fruit.

For six years, no one knew how many setbacks she suffered or how much loneliness she endured. The path she chose was far too arduous; she had to relinquish worldly comforts and pleasures, cultivate a pure and frugal mind, and dedicate herself to her research day and night for years. Fate gave her a life script of hellish difficulty, yet she carved a bloody path through the ruins.

She stood in the corridor for an unknown amount of time until the streetlights came on outside, then Zuo Xutong turned around and silently went upstairs. Back in her office, she tidied her workstation; almost everyone in the company had left. When she returned to work after the holiday, Pang Lijuan would find her resignation letter in her email.

There was nothing to hand over her work to. Her position as general manager's assistant was essentially a nominal one, with the secretary handling all the specific tasks. Apart from dealing with Luan Mingfeng's harassment, she was practically invisible in the administration department.

As she walked out of the company gate, Zuo Xutong turned back and took one last look at the place where she had briefly lingered. From that moment on, she felt that she had truly said goodbye to the past.

She wandered aimlessly through the scattered crowds of the city when a tram approached from afar. Without thinking, she walked towards the station, watching as the doors slowly opened and a large group of people poured out, instantly emptying half the carriage.

She jumped onto the tram as if possessed, not caring where it led; she just wanted to sit down and completely relax. The tram slowly started moving, passing through the city's glitz and clamor. Leaning against the window, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Zuo Xutong simply turned off her phone, ate her fill, slept, and ate again, enjoying three days of blissful, carefree living. As soon as the holiday ended, she published her resume, listing her research achievements.

In the following days, her phone was bombarded with calls from HR. As if overnight, she became a rising star in the industry.

Ultimately, she narrowed it down to two companies: one in the city's hydrogen energy industrial park, and the other in another province. They even reimbursed her round-trip airfare so she could fly there for interviews. Comparatively, the company in the other province was more established and offered a more attractive salary and benefits package. After much consideration, Zuo Xutong decided to choose the latter.

The call log also showed several missed calls from Luan Mingfeng. He thought she couldn't escape his grasp, that playing hard to get would make her cherish him more, but this time he miscalculated. Now she has not only vanished without a trace, but she also won't answer her phone.

He knew she was deliberately avoiding him, so he sent her a message: "The company has approved your resignation. Come and complete the formalities tomorrow."

The next day, Zuo Xutong still didn't show up. She deliberately chose Friday afternoon to complete the procedures, knowing that Luan Mingfeng habitually scheduled business activities and private parties for Friday afternoons because he didn't have to work the next day and could party all night. Sure enough, when she arrived at the company, Luan Mingfeng wasn't there.

She showed the HR specialist the text message that General Manager Luan had sent her, and the resignation procedures were completed exceptionally smoothly, within an hour.

Over the next few days, she packed her bags, preparing to talk to Peng Kun about terminating the lease. She also needed to assure him about the 200,000 yuan debt; she assured him that even if she left Longjin, she would repay it on time. She sent him a message, but received no reply for a long time. Later that afternoon, she called him, but he didn't answer either.

Since he left the company, they had not been in contact. After such a long period of silence, she suddenly became a little worried, imagining all sorts of unexpected things that might happen to a down-on-his-luck entrepreneur. After thinking it over, she decided to go to Tianxin Yayuan in person to see for herself.

As she approached his villa, she noticed that the telescope on the balcony was gone, replaced by a row of lush hanging baskets with branches drooping into the yard, along with several potted plants of unknown species. He actually had the leisure to grow flowers now?

Zuo Xutong rang the doorbell. After a while, the door opened, and standing in front of her was an elderly man in his sixties or seventies. Although his hair was white, he was upright and full of energy.

"Young lady, who are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for... Peng Kun, doesn't he live here?"

"You mean the previous owner? He moved out a long time ago. He sold the house to me a month ago."

Zuo Xutong was shocked; he had actually sold the villa!

Just as I stepped out of Tianxin Yayuan, Peng Kun called.

"You sold the house?" she asked bluntly.

“Yes, how did you know?” His voice sounded calm.

"So where do you live now?" Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse, she thought. Although he couldn't possibly own property in this city like Luan Mingfeng, he shouldn't be homeless.

After a moment's hesitation, the person on the other end said, "I live in a nursing home."

"Ah..." Zuo Xutong was speechless for a moment. He looked only a few years older than her. It was probably a bit inappropriate for him to live in a nursing home at this age.

Zuo Xutong admitted that, normally speaking, what he had gone through during this period would indeed be very devastating, so she could understand whatever he did.

After hanging up the phone, she hailed a taxi and headed straight for Changchun Nursing Home on the outskirts of the city.

This was Zuo Xutong's first time visiting a nursing home. Located in the suburbs of Longjin City, it was a secluded and tranquil place. The main building was a three-story, U-shaped structure with off-white exterior walls and brown window frames, giving it a simple yet elegant appearance.

Stepping into the courtyard, she saw groups of elderly people sitting under the shade of the trees, all at least sixty years old. She wanted to go over and ask them what was going on, but hesitated, too embarrassed to speak. After all, it wasn't something to be proud of for a young, healthy man like Peng Kun to move into a nursing home in his thirties.

She stood blankly in the middle of the courtyard, watching several elderly people slowly walk past her. She opened her mouth, but ultimately couldn't muster the courage to speak. Helpless, she could only take out her phone and dial Peng Kun's number, asking him to come down and pick her up.

While waiting for Peng Kun to come downstairs, Zuo Xutong tried hard to search her limited vocabulary for comforting words. However, as a science and engineering student who dealt with experimental data and theorems all day long, she found that she was not good at comforting others. She racked her brains for a long time but could not come up with a single word.

It wasn't until Peng Kun stood in front of her that she awkwardly said, "Hi, long time no see."

Peng Kun, on the other hand, didn't seem to have suffered a major blow at all. Apart from his cheeks being a little thinner and his skin being a little tanned, he was in good spirits and even had the mind to tease her: "I've been away from the company for so long, why did it take you so long to remember me?"

Zuo Xutong lowered her head in shame. Yes, he had taken good care of her before and even rented her the house, but after he left Polar Blue Sky, she acted as if nothing had happened, ignoring him and showing no concern. It seemed a bit too heartless, so she swallowed back her words about changing jobs to another city and forced a stiff smile: "How have you been these past few days?"

"Alright, stop pretending to care. Your acting skills are only good enough to play a camel," Peng Kun said.

He could even joke, so it seemed the situation wasn't so bad. Zuo Xutong smiled with relief and began to seriously examine the place. It was a small nursing home, a U-shaped building, with a yard about the size of two basketball courts, containing a pavilion, two rows of trees, and an artificial pond.

"The environment is alright, but there are a few people. No wonder they even accept people your age."

"If you want to come in, that's fine too. I can talk to the dean."

"No, no, I don't have that kind of luck," Zuo Xutong stopped mid-sentence, not wanting to upset him.

They stood in the middle of the courtyard, with elderly people constantly passing by. Zuo Xutong noticed that they would all stop, grin, and greet Peng Kun with wide smiles, revealing their missing teeth.

"Xiao Peng, the pies in the cafeteria were delicious at lunchtime today, did you have any?"

"Xiao Peng, what was the name of that movie you showed us last time?"

"Xiao Peng, look at this bright sun, quickly take the blankets out to air them..."

Zuo Xutong turned her head to the side, not wanting people to think they knew each other. At the same time, she was surprised that he had degenerated to such a low point, mingling with a group of old men and women in a nursing home. She felt ashamed for him.

Could it be that he wasn't as nonchalant as he appeared? The various upheavals he had experienced during this time would have been unbearable for most people; it's not uncommon for failed entrepreneurs to choose suicide. The more she thought about it, the more outrageous it seemed, and her expression grew serious.

How long do you plan to stay here?

"I haven't decided yet."

"Did you sell the villa? You have nowhere to live..."

Before she could finish speaking, Peng Kun immediately denied it: "It has nothing to do with the house. I'm quite happy living here. I have food, drink, and people to take care of me."

Zuo Xutong thought to herself, "He's not old enough to be unable to take care of himself, so why does he need to be served?" She became increasingly convinced that his nonchalant attitude was all an act; otherwise, why would a perfectly healthy young man hide in a nursing home, wasting his life? In her view, it was a complete display of self-abandonment.

"In fact, life isn't always smooth sailing," she said cautiously. "Since Bo was imprisoned, he wrote the Book of Changes; and since Confucius was in distress, he wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals..."

Seeing the other person looking at her with a puzzled expression, she shut her mouth and didn't continue. Yes, everyone understands the道理 (principle/reason), but when faced with real trouble, how many people can overcome that mental hurdle?

Zuo Xutong decided to take practical actions to help him get out of the shadows and regain hope for life.

She's an efficient and proactive person; once she has an idea, she can't wait to put it into practice. She researched a lot of psychology online and summarized two strategies: guiding the other person to release pent-up emotions and rebuilding their self-worth. With clear guiding principles, she immediately began to act. The following weekend, she visited the nursing home for two consecutive days.