Chapter 45: Suddenly
The employer and employee walked to the elevator one after another, and Secretary Huang pressed the down button for Zong Chi.
Zong Chi was concentrating on fiddling with his BlackBerry phone, which seemed to have been formatted. There was only one song saved in the music player: Karen Mok's "Suddenly".
In public, Zong Chi's biggest annoyance is people who constantly use their phones. Those who fail to control their phone volume are as guilty as parents who fail to control their children's chatter on public transportation; they all failed nine years of compulsory education.
However, today he had committed an equally serious crime. He casually scrolled the progress bar, and a song began to flow softly, the singer's voice like a mellow aperitif:
I can't let go of your love,
Too familiar with your care,
Inseparable,
Is thinking of you a comfort or a sorrow?
-
The music abruptly stopped. Zong Chi paused, but his head was still buzzing with the lingering sound of the guitar solo. A moment later, the sound of high heels clattering behind his ear was deafening. It was Zhou Shuxing, running out in anger, but she said nothing.
Zong Chi glanced over at her upon hearing her voice. She was unusually awkward. When she reached him, she asked him proudly, "Zong Chi, will you be back before Christmas?"
“…”
"I have to be back before Christmas. My concert can't be delayed."
"Then set off early. Work must always come first, above everything else."
"Is your work also above all else?"
"Of course. I'm just rushing to work."
"Zong Chi, you are lying. Your job is second at best." Zhou Shuxing said angrily, his eyes almost red.
Zong Chi suddenly glanced at the Princess and the Pea quietly. Just then, the elevator dinged and opened. Secretary Huang, standing nearby, assumed the boss would walk in without hesitation and leave his uninterested partner behind. Zong Chi was a master of such cold, aggressive tactics. Instead, Zong Chi looked down at his "marriage partner" with a sullen expression. He didn't move, so Secretary Huang had no choice but to step forward and temporarily hold the sensor door open for the boss.
After a moment, the calm man shifted the phones he was holding onto his left hand, lowered his body slightly, and spoke to Zhou Shuxing. His fragrance was so strong that Zhou Shuxing couldn't help but take a step back. Zong Chi seemed quite pleased with her distaste. "When I was your age, I really didn't have much ambition. Later, I heard someone say, and I'm ashamed of it. That person only had a high school education. She told me that her short-lived husband taught her daughter that people strive for the right to choose. It sounds very reasonable, but only when you have absolute ambition and a desire to dominate will you understand its true meaning. So now, work is my top priority, and no one can get ahead of me. Do you understand what I mean?"
Zhou Shuxing's eyes told him she didn't understand. Zong Chi stopped there. Before entering the elevator, he said goodbye to his guest and said, "Go back and eat. The soup is getting cold."
The moment the elevator closed, the polished mirror on the door revealed Zhou Shuxing's beautiful face and figure. She felt that Zong Chi was teasing her like a child, saying some ambiguous words in front of his secretary. At that moment, she felt even closer to him than his secretary, and they were on the same side.
She hated this arrogant man. She couldn't do anything about him, but the purpose of her trip to China remained unchanged. No matter what, she just wanted to meet that female doctor!
*
Because of an agreed phone call, Zong Chi had to take a nearly two-hour lunch break at noon, and all his calls were blocked by his secretary.
Chen Xiangyang did not buy what Secretary Huang told him to do, and dialed the internal line in Zong Chi's room before his conference call.
A few seconds after the call was connected, Zong Chi heard Chen Xiangyang's voice and started cursing, "You love picking up people on the roadside and at the airport, what kind of programmer are you? Go back to the feudal colonial era, that kind of rickshaw pull is the best for you!"
Chen Xiangyang could feel the young master's spit through the phone line. Over the years, he had been trained by the father and mother of the Zong family. Scolding people was not their way of disciplining people. They were afraid that there would be a vacuum and loss of contact. If the person could not be seen, the money would be immediately withdrawn. So, Chen Xiangyang listened to Zong Chi's scolding and returned the scolding in a good-natured way, "Huh, I said it's hard to be a good person. I won't let you bring the person back and keep him under guard in a safe range. Do you think you can sleep well? Do you think your Zhougong etiquette is so easy to do? Forget it. Halfway through, your father will come to the door to attack you. If you don't die, you will scare your pillow to death. If the incident of Sangtian Road happens again, to be honest, Zong Chi, few daughters of good families can stand the situation and family rules of your family."
"Get out!" Those who don't like it, get the hell out.
Chen Xiangyang was laughing on the other end, asking about the young master's midday battle. Zong Chi told him he was too idle and itchy, so he went to his girlfriend's slippers and slapped them a few times before he settled down. "Anyway, you two are in harmony. I think this Miss Li is pretty good. Don't be picky. She's so virtuous and generous, isn't she? At least when you picked up people on the street in Singapore, you didn't have a logistics team to support you."
Chen Xiangyang laughed out loud this time. First, he was surprised that Zong Chi could remember the last names of the people around him. Second, the young master had always been extravagant. If he appreciated your kindness once, but copied and pasted it, it would be a taboo for him. It was the same as a woman buying a bag. In short, when he picked up He Dongli in Singapore, he did not investigate Chen Xiangyang's purpose. He only looked at the result. This time, Chen Xiangyang used the same trick again, and Zong Chi obviously did not appreciate it. So, Chen Xiangyang had to interrupt him and stroke his hair, "Well, how can this be the same. When I brought Dongli home, you would have destroyed all the land of my hometown."
Young Master Zong was waiting for him to speak sensibly. "Well, I'm glad you know." He was about to hang up the phone.
Before Zong Chi hung up, Chen Xiangyang called out, "Are you coming to the dinner party today?"
"No time."
"If I invite Dongli, will you be free?"
Zong Chi felt that Chen Xiangyang was talking in her sleep and bragging. In the past few years since he was away, Chen Xiangyang had almost stayed here, but he had never been able to invite her.
Chen Xiangyang continued stroking her hair, "I wouldn't have dared to come before if I hadn't invited her. Now that you're here, I dare to do it. And I bet you, if I invite her this time, she will definitely come."
Zongchi didn't say anything.
Chen Xiangyang was about to strike the drum again. "Don't be fooled by Dongli, who guards the hospital gates and refuses to leave. That's because no one can disturb her Daoist heart. She's actually quite childish. When she found out I had a new girlfriend, she observed me secretly but didn't dare to say anything. I always say that if she has a sect, it must be the Ancient Tomb Sect. But don't forget, the two immortals of the Ancient Tomb Sect are both romantic."
Zongchi continued to remain silent.
Chen Xiangyang asked Zong Chi, what would the young master do if he could invite Dongli?
Zong Chi said arrogantly, "You invited her, why are you asking me? Am I her father or her mother? She is not under her parents' care anymore, why should I care about her? If I care too much, you will accuse me of being authoritarian."
Chen Xiangyang felt that the one who could come up with the beauty trap among the Thirty-Six Stratagems was truly a genius. "When she comes, don't talk about anything else. Just drink three cups as punishment."
"That's your pathetic way of winning, and all you can do is watch me drink the penalty, right?"
Chen Xiangyang, a general who can only think after the fact, defeated the enemy with one move. "It's better than someone coming here even if they would rather drink the penalty."
Zong Chi was so angry that he hung up the phone as if a plane had crashed.
*
He Dongli was supposed to leave after checking the wards in the morning, but she was called to the outpatient clinic for an emergency consultation. She then hurriedly washed her hands and set up the stage for the operation. She was so busy that she didn't even have time to attend the warm-up party for her colleagues in the department. She sent a greeting in the group and asked Lao Lu to bring her the money they had collected.
I ate it in the cafeteria at noon.
Yu Xiaohan knew that she would not be going back this week, so she planned to come over to clean up and make soup for her.
He Dongli saw that the message was sent half an hour ago, so he quickly put down the spinach on his chopsticks, called his mother and asked her if she had arrived.
Yu Xiaohan said she hadn't, but He Dongli stopped her and said, "I'm in the hospital all day and can't go back tonight. Don't..."
Before he could finish his words, Yu Xiaohan heard the horn honking from the other end of the phone. Then, "They're not there yet. Just go ahead and do your thing. I'll go get your keys."
He Dongli's eyes went dark. "Forget it, I'd better go back and wait for you." He hung up the phone and was about to leave with the plate of food he had only taken two bites of.
Colleagues on the same stage thought that Dr. He was alive again.
He Dongli was so focused on getting back that she had no time to call anyone. She actually figured Zong Chi had already left because his personality wouldn't allow him to wait for her peacefully for a whole morning. The only way to stop him from disturbing her was that he was even busier than she was.
Indeed, when He Dongli hurried home and opened the door, the yard was quietly filled with clothes.
There are also four-piece sets.
He Dongli cleaned up the battlefield sensibly, pulling down all the male items from the hangers. Some of them were even dry when she picked them up. But Zong Chi hadn't even looked at the labels. One of his shirts couldn't be washed and was already ruined.
After entering the house, He Dongli was glad that he hadn't been so foolish as to throw his windbreaker and suit jacket into the washing machine. In the end, he threw them upstairs along with the eye-catching Hermès bag.
After cleaning at the speed of military training, He Dongli was so tired that he remembered the saying: If you don't want others to know, don't do it yourself.
However, she still underestimated the biological traces left by someone. He took apart and washed four sets of clothes for her, and even had time to buy a bunch of lilies. She saw and smelled them as soon as she entered the door. She had to be thankful for the bunch of lilies, otherwise, with the windows closed, she didn't know what the residual smell in the room would ferment into.
And he didn't buy this bouquet of lilies himself, because there were two sets of coffee cups that had been simply rinsed on the kitchen drain rack.
He Dongli thought, it should be his secretary. This damn guy, he let outsiders in without her consent.
Before the people in the room could put their hands on their hips and check for any remaining traces, there was a knock on the door.
*
He Dongli went to fetch her mother and helped Yu Xiaohan carry all the bags she was carrying. Before she knew it, Yu Xiaohan had already taken off her shoes and changed into her slippers. From her mother's perspective, she might have thought Xixi had prepared slippers for her in advance.
He Dongli wanted to hold her forehead with her hand. She felt that housework was more tiring than surgery. She wanted to collapse on the sofa again.
Yu Xiaohan put the things she brought into the refrigerator one by one, and then she had time to ask her, "The weather is bad today, why are you washing so many things? Wait until the weather is good and I will take them back to wash them."
He Dongli grabbed an apple, wiped it with a piece of paper, and started to eat it. She only ate two bites of lunch, for God's sake. "Yeah, it's dirty. I got up early to take it apart and wash it."
Yu Xiaohan thought she was having her period. Seeing her chewing an apple, he scolded her, "Wash it. Really?" and offered to peel the apple for her.
She didn't care that she had already eaten half of the food, she was just chewing the skin. She had just said on the phone that she had to go back to the hospital, so Yu Xiaohan told her to go and take care of things. She would clean up and make her soup before returning.
He Dongli felt guilty and asked her mother to stop cooking and she could stew it herself when she came back.
"What are you stewing? You didn't even notice that the fish head has gone bad in the refrigerator." Yu Xiaohan saw that she didn't look well today, so he wanted to cook some brown sugar for her to drink.
He Dongli stopped her and said, "I drank it. I drank... a big glass last night."
As she was speaking, her cell phone rang. Yu Xiaohan saw Xixi's nervous look and thought it was their director calling.
After the call was connected, she stood up without saying a word, and her responses were just simple "yes" and "hmm".
Yu Xiaohan walked away on her own. After He Dongli finished her call, she appeared at the kitchen door. Yu Xiaohan thought she was leaving and said, "Go and do your thing."
He Dongli had been obedient and sensible since childhood, praised by her neighbors like a flower. They said it took several lifetimes to find a child like this who didn't have to worry about their parents. Although she only reported good news and not bad news, and didn't even like to act coquettishly, Yu Xiaohan could see that she was a little distracted today, much like she was when she was in school and was angry. She would rather not go to this middle school!
Yu Xiaohan often heard about children who had collapsed, jumped from buildings, or committed suicide. Fearing she might push Xixi too far, she went along with her. "Well, if you really don't want to go, then don't go. But you've already returned to your hometown with me. You can't go back. I'll find you a new school."
As a result, after just one night, she went to morning reading on time without saying a word. This is the downside of being a precocious child: they always bend under the harsh weight of reality. Years later, after He Dongli reconciled with her, she told Yu Xiaohan how naive she had been in thinking the platform was unimportant.
The mother and daughter were silent for a while, each preoccupied with their own thoughts. He Dongli finally chose a more homely topic to confide in her: "Asheng and his wife are transferring because of work, and they want to transfer Xinchao here for a temporary study. Did he talk to you on the phone?"
Yu Xiaohan nodded. Dongsheng and Xixi are legitimate cousins. She saw how much Dongsheng loved Xixi. This time the couple moved here for work, so they had to help no matter what. Moreover, the children of migrant workers would be affected by their future college entrance examination status. Yu Xiaohan carefully cut the green onions and ginger on the chopping board while saying to Xixi, "It is a top priority that they decided to bring the child here. Ah Sheng asked for your opinion, and you can't say anything to guarantee it, nor can you say anything to shirk responsibility. You have to make the decision yourself, and others can only help. After all, he is on the same side as your father's brother, and this is the only relationship we have. I will definitely help if I can."
He Dongli thought that it would be tiring for her to move house a few blocks away. It would take a lot of courage to move the whole family from north to south.
For a seven or eight-year-old child, changing schools is like changing the whole world, let alone an adult starting over again.
Putting aside the family matters, Yu Xiaohan urged Xixi to go back to the hospital. He Dongli was hurried out of the house by her mother in such an awkward manner. She would not really run back to the hospital. She happened to see a taxi passing by and waved it down.
When she got in the car, the driver asked her where she was going. She had no idea where to go, so for the first time she gave him a dramatic address and asked him to take her wherever he wanted.
As for Chen Xiangyang's phone call just now, she didn't even hear what he said clearly. He just said there was a family dinner in the evening and he made a bet with Zong Chi...
He Dongli looked at the other end coldly and said, "I'm busy over here."
*
Around 1:30 p.m., He Dongli received a call from Zong Chi. His voice was light and airy, reminiscent of those days in college when he'd slumped over on the sofa, smoking, shoeless, even using her mobile bookshelf as a footstool. Then she'd come home early, and the opium-smoking man had quickly withdrawn his foot, anxiously and frantically trying to save face as if nothing had happened. In short, that's the tone he used when he felt guilty, even utterly guilty. He asked her if the colleagues' party was over.
He Dongli was sitting in the back seat. Initially, she wasn't wearing a seatbelt. When the driver changed lanes, they almost collided with the car next to them. A quarrel broke out, and she quickly and obediently fastened her seatbelt. The other party heard the noise, "Is it over?"
He Dongli stated truthfully, "Actually, no, I didn't go. I had to go for surgery at the last minute."
Zong Chi smiled and said, "You must be secretly happy."
He Dongli rejected his words that she was unkind, "What's so funny? My colleague's wife makes a delicious spicy fish. I was thinking of going there to eat it."
"Yes. The private chef that Chen Xiangyang hired can also cook. Did you agree to go with him?"
He Dongli said nothing.
"Have you agreed?" he asked again. This time, without waiting for her to answer, Zong Chi continued, "If you agree to go with him, I'll drink three cups as punishment; if you don't agree to go with him, I'll throw my face into the Huangpu River."
He Dongli rolled her eyes. She just asked him calmly, "Why did you throw your shirt into the washing machine?"
"how?"
"Can your clothes be machine washed?"
"Oh, wrapped up in your clothes, I forgot."
"Well, that's hard for you. The clothes I put on the bathroom shelf were clean, but you put them in the washing machine for me to wash."
A mischievous laugh came from the other end, and after the laugh, he asked her, "Anything else, leader?"
He Dongli felt a burn on her ear. She moved away from her phone and didn't talk to him. She objectively accused him, "You brought your secretary into my room!"
"Don't make a fuss. I just put a vase of flowers on the kitchen counter for you."
"I didn't agree to let her in." He Dongli's tone was very serious and childish.
Zong Chi soothed her, "She came to pick me up and brought you flowers. You can't ask her to stand outside in the cold weather."
The other end of the line fell silent. The air conditioner was on, but the smell inside the taxi wasn't particularly pleasant. He Dongli spent a moment in silence scribbling on the fogged window. Someone on the other end called out to her, "Xixi."
He Dongli subconsciously wiped off the words on the window mist, Chi.
"Are you going?"
"What?"
"Chen Xiangyang's house."
“…”
"Three penalties or retrieving me from the Huangpu River, which one would you choose?"
He Dongli thought this multiple-choice question was stupid, "If you're going to fall, then fall somewhere closer."
The other end laughed, and then remembered, "Where are you going by car?"
He Dongli did not answer his question.
Zong Chi did not pursue the matter any further, but asked her to change her route and come to his side, and they would go to Chen Xiangyang's house together.
That day, He Dongli's car arrived at the hotel. Zong Chi sent her a message in advance, telling her that he was swimming and asked her to come find him.
He Dongli followed the floor map to the swimming pool. It was deserted, but it didn't feel the closed-off, stuffy atmosphere of the school swimming pool back then. The lights were bright, and the breeze was gentle. The person in the water leaped out with unstoppable force. He gestured to her, "The last hundred meters."
He Dongli took off her down jacket, stood on the shore with her arms around her, and watched him gradually evolve from a hobby to a skill for work and fitness over the years, as if he had not lost anything. When he was sixteen or seventeen years old, he only cared about gains and losses, but now it has become a part of his bones, a reasonable and even exquisite way to relieve stress. He Dongli saw the youthfulness that she didn't see then, full of murderous intent.
Finally, when he touched the wall and came ashore, the way he looked was no different from when he was leaving.
But this time, he didn't have a swimming cap or goggles, so he was much lighter.
When he got closer, before he wiped the water with a towel, he shook his head as usual and splashed water on her face. He Dongli then noticed the difference: his shoulders were broader, his body lines were smoother, and his shameless tricks were more effortless.
No, he used to be more respectable than all the girls in their school combined.
*
Meanwhile, Yu Xiaohan sent Xixi a text message, telling her that the fish head soup in the casserole was ready and that she should drink it hot when she got home from work. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Before the old mother left, she took away the garbage in the bathroom for Xixi. Turning around, she saw a men's manual razor on her daughter's skin care product shelf.
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