Chapter 44 The pleasure brought by the self-destruction of one's bones and blood.
Before going to the EZGT Summit, Ning Jiu needed to take care of the arrangements for the psychological counseling room.
Having only recently taken over the consultation room, everything was still in the adjustment period. She not only had to update client files, but also had to reorganize the consultation room's equipment maintenance and monthly financial statements.
This trip to the summit was essentially to repay a favor to Shen Zhiying, and it was almost like "working overtime." Even though it was only for a week abroad, she didn't dare to relax. After much deliberation, she finally entrusted the matter to her junior classmate Dou Miao, who was studying for a master's degree in psychology at Shanghai University.
"Doumiao, I've sent the key and account to your email," Ning Jiu said while tidying up materials. "Remember to note in the remarks column of the form if the client changes the time at the last minute. I'll confirm it when I get back."
The other person replied with an "OK" emoji instantly.
"Don't worry, Sweet Wine Sister! You can go abroad with peace of mind, I'll take care of all the odd jobs and manual labor here~"
After replying to Dou Miao's message, Ning Jiu was about to put down her phone when Li Linda's WeChat message arrived one after another.
[Linda Li] We discussed it with the company, and it's not easy to proceed with the psychological interviews focusing solely on Wen Yi, as it could easily lead to misunderstandings. However, our team recently has a psychology-related project that requires the studio's collaboration. The format is quite unique, and you might be interested.
[Linda Li] [Link]
Ning Jiu clicked on the link, which led to a psychological project called "Silent Empathy".
The main visual is an image of an immersive projection exhibition. In a dimly lit space, light and shadow fall on the faces of participants sitting in a circle. Everyone is wearing noise-canceling headphones, quietly listening to a narration. As you continue scrolling down, you'll find that the partner is a well-known immersive experience company that has also completed its mid-round financing.
Everything was unexpectedly perfect.
Ning Jiu had to admit that this project did indeed have irresistible appeal; its format, budget, and team background were all impeccable. But it was precisely because it was so good that it made her wary.
She and Li Linda had only known each other for a few days. How could such a project, which combines funds, resources, and connections, be handed to her unconditionally?
If it were just a one-on-one psychological interview with Wen Yi, she originally planned to find a reason to refuse, but now it's as if someone has figured out her hand and thrown the bait just right, leaving her no choice but to take the bait.
The person who can come up with this method that she can't refuse is the one who truly understands her.
Ning Jiu's fingertip was still on the input box when Li Linda sent another message.
[Linda Li] We are very optimistic about this direction internally. If you are interested, we can find time to discuss the details together.
[Linda Li] By the way, Xiao Jiu, do you have a boyfriend?
Ning Jiu raised an eyebrow, and Li Linda, seemingly afraid that she would misunderstand, added a sentence not long after.
[Linda Li] You know the special nature of our industry. It's best not to be single when you're interacting with celebrities, otherwise it can easily cause misunderstandings if fans take photos of you.
Seemingly in response to what Linda Li said, a message popped up at the top of WeChat.
[Su Ming] Xiao Jiu, is your stomachache any better? I'll pick you up from the airport the day after tomorrow.
Ning Jiu didn't reply immediately; her gaze fell on the thermos on the corner of the table.
I first met Su Ming after the freshman welcome party. The crowd had mostly dispersed, and she was standing alone on the steps in front of the library, lost in thought. Su Ming and a few roommates happened to come out from the side door. A boy with sharp eyes recognized her and, half-jokingly and half-coaxing, gave Su Ming a push. Su Ming stumbled from the push and ended up standing right in front of her.
During their school years, boys' likes and interests are always on the surface, but there are both flamboyant and restrained ones. Su Ming's likes lean more towards the latter, being frank yet not crossing the line, treating people sincerely, and always acting with discretion.
She was being harassed by suitors one after another, and was feeling upset. One afternoon, she bumped into Su Ming when she passed by the laboratory building. He was on the phone, looking unwell, and his tone revealed a sense of suppressed irritability. From his words, it was clear that he was arguing with his family about the blind date.
Seeing her pass by, he was clearly taken aback for a moment, then subconsciously composed himself and gave Ning Jiu a brief greeting.
After hanging up the phone, he realized that the girl in the white dress was still standing there, asking him if he wanted to be with her.
"I need a boyfriend, and you happen to need a girlfriend."
She smiled nonchalantly, deliberately ignoring his reddened ear tips, as if she were talking about something trivial.
"Don't worry, it's just in name only, we won't interfere with your private life."
As it turned out, her decision was correct. Su Ming was a very easy person to get along with, and now they could talk as naturally and casually as friends in private. However, Ning Jiu could also sense that in the past few days, his concern for her had exceeded the boundaries they had agreed upon.
[Ningjiu] is much better, thank you.
[Ningjiu] Yue Li will be going to the airport soon anyway, I'll have her give me a ride, let's meet at the airport.
Almost instantly, Su Ming replied.
[Su Ming] Okay, then Xiao Jiu, you should get some rest.
Li Linda's suggestion was certainly good, but the competition for this kind of project was fierce. Ning Jiu's return was just like the projects he had previously tried to secure in Jiangcheng: he had the highest hopes but was prepared for the worst-case scenario.
In the remaining days, she hardly left the studio, pushing all the progress to a state where it could run automatically before she felt at ease. On the morning of her departure, Ning Jiu checked the schedule one last time, shut down the computer, looked out the window, and saw Pei Yueli's eye-catching Maserati and her deliberately cool pose.
She was amused by Pei Yueli, packed her suitcase, and watched as Pei Yueli stylishly took off her sunglasses to help her carry the suitcase.
The two worked together to move the suitcase to the trunk, Ning Jiu closed the trunk lid, and went around to the passenger seat to sit down.
Just as she fastened her seatbelt, she tilted her head as if remembering something and asked her a question.
"By the way, are you settling into your new company well?"
"There was a slight unexpected situation, but it's not a big problem."
Pei Yueli started the car and winked at Ning Jiu in the rearview mirror.
"Although we can't change the past, we are still in charge now. We'll deal with whatever comes our way."
She raised her hand to tuck her brown hair behind her ear, gripped the steering wheel with one hand, and casually rested the other on the window sill. Sunlight streamed through the windshield, illuminating her bright and delicate face, making her eyes appear as if they were brimming with light.
"Life isn't a one-way ticket; there will always be new journeys, right?"
Pei Yueli took Ning Jiu to the airport, where Ning Jiu met the other two attendees in the waiting room.
Besides Pai Ningjiu, there was another girl named Shang Lin from the Psychology Department of Shanghai University.
Unlike Ning Jiu, Shang Lin, though not a psychology major, is a doctoral student in cognitive neuroscience at Shanghai University. Her research interests intersect with psychology in many ways, and this professional background helps her find more common ground in her communication with the science and technology team.
I remember when the two first met half a year ago, Shang Lin was immediately attracted to Ning Jiu's eyes.
Are you wearing colored contact lenses?
Ning Jiu shook her head, which made her even more excited, as if she had discovered some rare specimen, biting her lip and examining it carefully.
"Naturally light-colored eyes? Or that misty amber color? This kind of iris texture is very rare among East Asians." He squinted as if conducting a live observation experiment. "If this were taken as a high-resolution photograph and used as research material, it would definitely amaze everyone in a case study on cognitive vision."
"......"
Therefore, the people who can attend this summit all have unconventional ideas.
There are no direct flights from Shanghai to Potsdam; you need to fly to Berlin and then transfer.
After disembarking in Berlin, Germany, as they walked through the arrival hall, Ning Jiu caught a glimpse of the slender silhouette of the Berlin TV Tower in the distance through the floor-to-ceiling windows, gleaming silver in the afternoon light.
Her gaze swept across the crowd and landed on the tall tower, her expression momentarily dazed.
"A little wine?"
Su Ming noticed Ning Jiu's absent-mindedness and looked at her. Ning Jiu smiled at him.
"It's nothing, I just feel a little airsick."
I thought coming to this city wouldn't be a big deal, but it turns out that no matter how much I prepared myself mentally, I still couldn't remain indifferent.
To her surprise, she had expected that seeing the city would first bring to mind the stories of Yuan Shu and Ning Xuan, but when she heard the lively discussions around her, with everyone talking about the city, her thoughts seemed to be pulled away, and another person came to mind.
Lost in my own thoughts, I felt a slight heat rising in the back of my head, and the tingling sensation I had felt a few days ago when I was being stared at by a snake returned.
Ning Jiu felt a chill run down her spine. When she turned her head again, all she saw were crowds of people hurrying by at the airport.
Close your eyes, then open them again.
Exhale gently.
She must really be airsick; she's so dizzy she's almost out of it.
Arriving at the manor rest area provided by the summit organizers, the scene before my eyes was more luxurious than I had imagined. The manor was divided into two main areas: the main building's conference area in front and a rest area for guests on the other side.
Each guest was assigned a private room. Upon entering, there was a super soft bed that seemed to engulf you, and floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a panoramic view of the estate's beautiful scenery. Even the bathroom was equipped with a heated massage bathtub.
Shang Lin looked around and sighed softly, "How much money must this have cost... The investors behind this are really willing to spend money."
Qian Mingzhi, another doctoral student who came with Su Ming, had concerns.
"The location is nice, but how much does a chandelier cost here? If it gets broken, can we afford to pay for it?"
Shang Lin chuckled and teased him, "Oh, just relax and stay here. If you really want to compensate, try sleeping on this bed until it collapses first."
Compared to Qian Mingzhi's caution, Shang Lin was full of curiosity about everything in Potsdam. That evening, she enthusiastically took a stroll around the estate.
The stone path gleamed softly under the lights, and along the way were neatly trimmed hedges and fragrant flowerbeds.
Halfway through my walk, the sky suddenly darkened, and a damp, cool feeling filled the air. Soon after, a light rain began to fall. In Potsdam on a summer night, the moist rain and mist carried the scent of grass and trees, and the streetlights cast strings of fine, yellowish ripples on the water's surface.
They were forced to quicken their pace and run to an arched glass greenhouse to take temporary shelter from the rain.
Inside, it was warm and cozy, filled with tropical plants that exuded a sweet fruity fragrance. The heavy rain pounded on the glass roof, like a thin curtain separating the outside world from the outside.
The manor waiter, dressed in a smart uniform, noticed them outside the door and approached them with a dark-colored long umbrella in his hand. His face initially held a hesitant expression, but when his gaze fell on Ning Jiu, it instantly turned into one of amazement.
Meeting the gazes of the two girls, he finally spoke politely, in English with a German accent.
"Ladies, the rain is going to continue for a long time. Let me take you home."
The waiter was only eighteen or nineteen years old. His short, light-gold hair was slightly sticking up due to the rain and mist. He had the thick eyebrows and big eyes typical of Germans, and he was tall and upright. His demeanor was both refreshing and reserved, which was unique to young people.
Shang Lin and Ning Jiu exchanged a glance, their lips curving upwards simultaneously. Taking advantage of the moment when the boy turned away, Shang Lin mouthed a teasing smile to Ning Jiu.
This German guy is good-looking, no less so than your Su Ming.
Outside the rain curtain, the night deepened, and a damp chill permeated the air. The waiter gentlemanly held up an umbrella to shield them from the rain, but as if he had seen something by turning his head, his body straightened up almost reflexively.
His expression was so serious that Ning Jiu and Shang Lin also stopped smiling and looked in the direction he was looking.
The black sedan slowly drove into the driveway. Under the rain, the headlights were scattered into a hazy blur. Several German waiters stood neatly on both sides of the car door. One of them bent down and opened the back door, holding an umbrella to shield the people inside from the rain.
A tall, upright man stepped out of the car. The moonlight and the light from the streetlights shone through his shoulders, outlining his broad shoulders and narrow waist.
The rain was getting heavier.
The light-colored shirt gleamed wetly in the night rain, the cuffs loosely rolled up, revealing the serpentine veins running between the back of the hand and forearm. Because of the black umbrella, half of his striking features were hidden in the gloomy shadows, with only his high nose and slightly pursed lips visible, yet he still drew the eye.
The man turned his head, exchanged a few words with the silver-haired boy who got out of the back seat, and strode toward the main hall, but suddenly stopped.
He was facing away from Ning Jiu, a half-smoked cigarette between his fingers. From her angle, she could only see him skillfully lighting the cigarette with his head down. A waiter offered to shield him from the wind, but he refused. The white smoke was quickly dispersed by the wind and rain.
There was a considerable distance between them. Ning Jiu looked through the rain and couldn't see his face clearly, but somehow she felt as if he had locked her in his arms.
Fine water droplets cascaded down like a thin curtain, leaving only blurred outlines and fragmented light and shadow.
The act of lighting the cigarette lasted only a moment. The man's steps returned to the main hall, and his figure under the umbrella was quickly swallowed up by the night rain.
He didn't look at her even once from beginning to end.
With a buzzing sound.
Ning Jiu felt a constant buzzing in her ears. She couldn't hear what Shang Lin said in her ear at all. She had only taken two steps when she lost her balance and almost twisted her ankle. The waiter next to her caught her quickly.
"Miss, are you alright?"
It was as if the vocal cords of the surroundings had been cut off, but in the next instant, all the sounds suddenly surged up again.
The sounds of rain, muffled thunder, and the waiter's questions all rolled heavily over my eardrums.
Ning Jiu seemed to break free from being submerged underwater for a long time, suddenly regaining her breath and her rationality returning.
It must be another hallucination.
She told herself that.
She couldn't possibly run into Joe Berlin here.
These past few days have been like this; I feel like I can sense his presence in a daze. Although it's not the first time, this situation had clearly eased a lot four years ago, so why has it become more and more frequent lately?
"I'm fine."
Standing up straight again, even though her face was still a little pale, Ning Jiu's expression and tone had returned to normal, and she replied in English.
"Please take me and my friend home."
-
The main hall of the manor.
The smoke swirled around my nasal cavity, but the taste of nicotine didn't reach my lips; it went straight to my throat and lungs.
A scorching aura rushed into my chest, drawing a thin line of fire within me. The pleasure brought by the sense of self-destruction was brief and intense, but it was quickly swallowed up by a deeper emptiness.
Qiao Bolin watched helplessly as the cigarette in his hand burned out, a look of boredom flashing in his eyes. The waiter beside him immediately understood and took the cigarette from his fingers.
Chu Jingnian followed Qiao Bolin up the stairs, holding a document he had just picked up from the conference office, and spoke as if casually.
"I heard that you personally reviewed and approved the list of participants for this year's summit. You really are hands-on."
Qiao Bolin gave a light response, showing no interest in discussing the topic further. Chu Jingnian also kept quiet and went with him to the conference room to hear the person in charge introduce the schedule for the next few days.
Qiao Bolin had been involved in drafting the schedule once, and now, after a quick glance at the final draft, he understood exactly what had been changed.
The two people in front of him were important figures he couldn't afford to offend. The person in charge stood on the stage diligently reporting his work, his tone rather monotone. Chu Jingnian was getting a little bored, flipping through the papers in his hand again and again, before finally speaking lazily.
"By the way, how is Uncle Qiao doing in Jiangcheng lately? I heard last time that he was busy with a city traffic improvement project."
"I don't know anything about his affairs."
Qiao Bolin spoke calmly, his emotions showing little fluctuation. He turned another page of the document with his long, slender fingers, not giving the document a second glance.
"You've been to Jiangcheng before, so why are you asking me what I'm doing here?"
Chu Jingnian was just chatting casually out of boredom, but after hearing what he said, he felt goosebumps all over his body.
Since that incident five years ago, although Qiao Bolin and Qiao Jialing have tacitly avoided mentioning it again, their father-son relationship is no longer what it used to be.
It was Qiao Jialing's idea to send Chu Jingnian to Germany this time, fearing that Qiao Bolin would go crazy again after five years and cause some earth-shattering commotion in Germany. However, he did not expect that Qiao Bolin would still be able to keep track of his whereabouts so well even after so long of not returning to Jiangcheng.
Just thinking about how his cousin, who was polite and tactful five years ago, had become like this, Chu Jingnian couldn't help but feel curious about the girl who only existed in people's mouths and could not be spoken of.
But he still valued his life, and though the name crossed his lips, he swallowed it back and changed the subject.
"When I got off the bus, I saw a girl at the entrance of the glass greenhouse. She was both innocent and alluring, really pretty." He paused, then added with a half-smile, "It's quite unusual that someone would go out for a stroll in such a heavy rain."
"But I remember that the greenhouse in your manor isn't open to the public?" Chu Jingnian took it as a joke to pass the time when he was bored. "Could it be that the gatekeeper thought she was pretty and couldn't bear to stop her?"
He didn't make any real criticism. Everyone has a love of beauty, and besides, he was a bit far away just now, so he only caught a glimpse of it by chance. He didn't think Qiao Bolin would care about such trivial matters.
Unexpectedly, Qiao Bailin stopped flipping through the documents.
The person in charge on the stage had been carefully observing Qiao Bolin's expression. When he saw Qiao Bolin pause in flipping through the documents, he immediately began to wonder and reflect on what he had said that was inappropriate.
The entire conference room fell into a deathly silence for a moment.
Before Chu Jingnian could react to the sudden drop in atmosphere, Qiao Bolin's expression had already returned to normal, as if the deathly silence just now was merely his illusion.
"Are you done?"
He was asking the person in charge on the stage.
The person in charge immediately straightened his back, responding with the stiffness of a student being called upon: "Mr. Qiao, there are just a few final details to confirm..."
That's all for today.
Qiao Bolin's voice was calm and his expression remained unchanged. He stood up and left his seat the moment the person in charge was stunned.
Chu Jingnian also instinctively tried to get up, but paused when he saw the documents on the table.
The page printed with the summit agenda was pinched so hard by the finger bones that a clear indentation was left, the force so deep it seemed to be kneaded into the bones and blood.
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Author's Note: Next chapter: Warning: Damp Man - SOS! [Heart emoji]
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The update will be at 9 PM tomorrow, so don't go to the wrong place, my dear babies~
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