The way home
In the evening, Youlin arrived to pick her up on time. On the way to the airport, Zhiwei remained silent. Youlin didn't say much either, only occasionally handing her a glass of warm water.
"Miss Zhao," Zhiwei suddenly spoke, "thank you for your help this time."
"Miss Shen, you're too kind. This is my job," Youlin replied politely.
Zhiwei looked out the window and said softly, "Don't worry, I know where I am."
Youlin was slightly taken aback, and for the first time seriously examined this young girl. She was more clear-headed and stronger than she had imagined.
As the plane took off, Zhiwei took one last look at the city where she had lived for two years. She knew that when she returned, everything would be different.
And she was already prepared.
Zhiwei was mostly asleep the whole way. When meals were served, Zhao Youlin woke her up and handed her the food, and Zhiwei always thanked her quietly. Youlin couldn't help but think that it was not easy for a girl in her twenties to suddenly encounter such a misfortune. However, she also smiled bitterly and thought that she was a young and beautiful girl after all. With a snap of her fingers, Guanyin's soldiers would rush to her aid. It was not her place to pity others.
After the plane landed, Youlin's phone rang. It turned out that Xuanyu hadn't seen her for two or three days and went to her hotel room but couldn't find her, so he called her. Youlin felt a little embarrassed and couldn't help but glance at Zhiwei, but seeing that she didn't notice at all, she lowered her voice and said, "Something came up at the company in China, so I came back temporarily. I'll talk to you later."
After getting off the plane, Youlin said to Zhiwei, "Ms. Shen, Wang Jingnan, a colleague from our legal department, will meet you at the exit. I'll be transferring directly to Beijing. See you in Beijing later."
Zhiwei then realized that she had accompanied her all the way back to Shanghai and then back to Beijing. She said apologetically, "I'm sorry I didn't know Ms. Zhao had gone through so much trouble. If I had known, I would have asked you to go straight back to Beijing. It's so kind of you to have to transfer flights."
Youlin politely said goodbye to her. When Zhiwei arrived at the exit, she saw a woman in her thirties holding a sign that read "Miss Shen Zhiwei" waiting for her there.
She walked over and said, "I am Shen Zhiwei. Are you Miss Wang?"
Wang Jingnan quickly and politely said, "Hello, Miss Shen, I'm Wang Jingnan from Fumao. You can call me Xiao Wang or Lilian. I'll be keeping you company and helping you out during my stay in China. The car is in the garage. Where would you like to go first?"
Wang Jingnan is a typical northern girl. Perhaps because her company is based in Beijing, she uses the formal "you" (您) very often, which makes Zhiwei a little uncomfortable.
"Hello Jingnan, you don't need to be so polite. You can call me Zhiwei or Vivian. Please take me home first."
Jingnan accompanied Zhiwei to the car. Zhiwei told the driver the address and then closed her eyes to rest. It was a little past 3 PM Shanghai time, which was the middle of the night in New York, and she was indeed a bit sleepy.
After driving for over an hour, they arrived at Zhiwei's apartment building. Her apartment was in a medium-sized residential complex with an elevator, though the complex itself wasn't particularly large. The driver parked the car, and Zhiwei, who had just woken up, said, "Zhiwei, we're here. Our driver, Xiao Yu, has been with us for a while; he's downstairs. Just call him if you need anything. I'm staying at a hotel nearby, so feel free to call me anytime if you need anything. I'll let you know promptly if Mr. Li needs any documents or information in Beijing."
Zhiwei thanked them and went upstairs to her home. It was probably because the Spring Festival holiday was almost over; there weren't many people out and about in the neighborhood. Zhiwei rang her doorbell, heard footsteps inside, paused for a moment, and then the door suddenly opened. "Weiwei, it's you?"
Zhiwei hugged her mother and buried her head on her shoulder. She was much taller than her mother. Hugging her mother, she felt that her mother had lost a lot of weight since she attended her mother's graduation ceremony two years ago, and her heart ached.
"Why did you suddenly come back? Didn't you start school?" She paused, "Did Meiqi tell you?"
"Mother."
“Silly child, what are you doing back here? Mom can manage on her own. Don’t fall behind in your studies this last semester, or Mom isn’t going to support you through another year of school.” Xu Anyi said to her daughter with a smile, patting her back.
"Mom." Zhiwei's eyes welled up with tears.
"Look at you, you're still like a teenage girl. Don't be afraid, Mom is here." Xu Anyi held her daughter's hand. Although she didn't want her to worry, she was happy to see her daughter whom she hadn't seen for two years. "You came back without saying a word. You didn't eat well on the plane, did you? Do you want Mom to cook you something to eat?"
"Mom, I'm all grown up now, I can take care of you."
"Yes, Weiwei is taller than her mother now, she's a big girl."
"Mom, I heard from Aunt Mei that the surgery hasn't been scheduled yet."
"It'll be soon. As you know, Huashan Hospital is so famous that people from nearby provinces come here, and even those with late-stage illnesses have to wait in line for a bed."
"Mom, I've asked around, and the oncology department at the PLA General Hospital 301 in Beijing is very advanced. Their equipment is on par with that in the United States. I've arranged things for you, and we should have news in the next couple of days."
"If people from nearby provinces like to go to the big hospitals in Shanghai, then people from all over the country love to go to the hospitals in Beijing. The beds there must be so scarce."
“Mom, it’s settled then. If we get a spot in Beijing before Shanghai, we’ll go to Beijing.”
Xu Anyi patted her daughter's hand. Seeing her anxious look, she knew that her daughter was worried about her, so she comforted her and said, "Okay, okay, Mom will listen to Weiwei, alright?"
Seeing that her daughter looked a little listless, she knew that she was jet-lagged. She wanted to tell her to sleep for a while, but she was afraid that she would feel uncomfortable at night, so she changed the subject and asked her if she was hungry and what she wanted to eat.
"Want me to take you out to get something to eat? The food on the plane is so-so. How about we go get some xiaolongbao (soup dumplings)? How about that xiaolongbao shop in Yu Garden? It's the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, we'll be going back to work soon, so it shouldn't be too crowded."
Zhiwei recalled that when she was a child, she would always go to the City God Temple and Yu Garden with her mother during the Chinese New Year. However, in recent years, while studying abroad, she has been in school during the Chinese New Year and has never gone there again.
Seeing that her mother seemed to be in good spirits, she decided to invite her to go shopping together, since she had nothing else to do anyway.
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