45 Yellow Rose
"I'm free this Sunday." Zhou Qi suddenly spoke. Yang Xiao's muffled "frustrated" from the other end of the phone came over here, like throwing a fire on a pile of dry grass in the drought season, burning his internal organs to the point of burning.
"You're coming to Beijing?" Yang Xiao couldn't think of any connection between Zhou Qi's words and the previous one. "Are you here to warn Yang Zhi not to touch Yang Xiao? Hahahaha Zhou Qi, you..."
"If you endure it once, there will be a second time, Xiaoxiao." Zhou Qi sometimes felt that Yang Xiao was really careless. She could still laugh even when she was about to be bullied.
"I can handle it myself." Yang Xiao knew that Zhou Qi was just as unhappy as she was. "Actually, I was just wondering, are you so angry because you feel like you've been provoked, ally?"
"Of course not. I'm actually more angry with myself. I'm angry that I can't be with you and solve these troubles for you." Zhou Qi said with some helplessness in his tone.
"Ally, do you think these problems can be solved just because we're both in Beijing? Not necessarily. Previously, at the institute, a colleague on a project team was secretly dating and having dinner with the client. The woman was groped, and the man was at the table at the time, but he was hesitant and weighing the cost of offending the other person."
"Later, everyone was talking about this incident, saying the man was such a coward. Some colleagues also said it was no big deal. But I think their statements are a bit strange."
Yang Xiao paused, then walked out of the subway station, phone in hand. The dim, warm yellow streetlights cast a sharp, fang-like shadow through the intertwined branches of the trees lining the street.
"They all put the woman in a position where she needs to be protected and saved, like Snow White lying in a crystal coffin. But why doesn't anyone ask her what she thinks? Why doesn't anyone think that she is fully capable of slapping back?"
"Zhou Qi, I'm not upset about Yang Zhi's little incident. I'm upset about this setting that seems to have naturally put us in a passive position. I don't want others to stand up for me or support me. I want someone to stand by me and say 'well done' when I stand up and shout to stop them, or even overturn the table."
Yang Xiao kicked away a small branch that had fallen from her feet, then continued, "Actually, I used to blame you, too. I always felt that you should have stood up for me earlier when I was touched on the hand and bullied at work."
"For example, beat up that fat, greasy Mr. A sitting at the main table who likes to take advantage of girls, grab him by the collar and tell him, 'This is my girl, and you can't touch her again.'"
Yang Xiao couldn't help laughing after she finished speaking. She imagined this somewhat funny and weird scene in her mind: Zhou Qi's face was displeased, his sharp profile hidden in the semi-darkness. He held the other person down with one hand, and his voice was low and pleasant, "How...how dare you touch her?"
"But this won't solve the problem. I can't always expect you to show up and make these people disappear from my world. It's a bit unfair to ask you to do something that even the police can't do."
"So, just believe me and support me, that's all." Yang Xiao walked to the stairs of the unit and took out the key from her bag while going upstairs. The voice-controlled light went out again, and Yang Xiao could only stomp her feet.
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds.
Zhou Qi felt as if his throat was blocked by some complex and indescribable emotion. The artery leading to the ventricle first felt a little sour, and then flowed into his whole body along with the beating and contracting of his heart.
His self-righteous love was filled with a strong desire for protection and possession, even mixed with a lot of guidance. But Yang Xiao's words at this moment were like a roar in the empty and silent cave, echoing back and forth, touching upon his somewhat condescending arrogance that he had never realized in the process.
At the same time, he seemed to discover for the first time Yang Xiao's powerful and vast soul. He took a deep breath and said, as if swearing, "Okay."
"Yang Xiao, I will do my best to be your worry-free harbor when you need to rest. Just keep moving forward. If necessary, I can also protect you from the wind and rain."
Yang Xiao inserted the key into the door lock. As the key turned, the corners of her mouth curled up even more brightly: "Zhou Qi, you are so nice."
"You're so kind." Zhou Qi smiled, then generously admitted his problem, "I'm sorry, Yang Xiao. I didn't realize that all those actions I always thought were 'for your own good' were actually ignoring you."
"It's okay, it's not that serious." Yang Xiao picked up Wuwu, who ran out of the cat's nest to greet her, put her phone on the shoe cabinet, and bent down to change her shoes.
"I have to go to work tomorrow, so you should go to bed early." Yang Xiao yawned. She urgently needed a high-quality sleep to recharge her body.
"Okay, good night." Zhou Qi waited until she hung up, then put down his phone and looked out at the deserted house, lost in thought. He had imagined the classic scene of Yang Xiao, wearing an apron and smiling under the warm light of the kitchen lamp, blinking her bright eyes when she saw him come back, saying, "You're back!"
But it shouldn't be like this. Since she longed for and loved a freer life, she had to devote more energy to it, coping with the ever-changing situations and pressures. Therefore, he should be the one to create more possibilities for her, not to imprison her in the kitchen with his love.
Thinking of this, Zhou Qi smiled lightly.
I really like cooking. So from now on, I'll leave all the things like this to him. It just so happens that he not only knows how to cook all the dishes Yang Xiao likes, but he's also very good at it.
The next day, Yang Xiao arrived at the company early and moved her things outside, including the pot of green ivy that was growing beautifully. Yang Zhi saw this and took advantage of her lunch break on the sofa to move the things back.
When Yang Xiao woke up, she saw an empty desk. Furious, she opened the office door and closed the curtain on the glass window.
"I moved it back for you." Seeing that she was like a cat with its fur standing on end, as if she was about to come over angrily to question him, Yang Zhi spoke first, "You don't have to hide from me anymore."
"I'll say it again, Yang Zhi. I'm not hiding from you, nor am I running away. I'm just trying to create an environment where both of us can work comfortably." Yang Xiao's chest was heaving, her voice was slightly louder than usual, and her words were clear.
"I won't do anything that crosses the line again." Yang Zhi didn't look at her, but lowered his head to fiddle with the keyboard on the table. "Of course, it won't affect our work either."
"But I think we should both calm down. Please put the things I just moved out back for me. I'll come back after a week of calming down and seeing how the situation is. When the company grows bigger, we'll each have an office." Yang Xiao didn't intend to go along with his idea. You know, promises and vows may only be true the moment they are spoken.
"Okay." Yang Zhi knew Yang Xiao. Once she said something twice, she would stick to it. If he argued with her again, she would probably slam the door and leave.
While keeping an eye on the movements in the office, Xiao Fei opened WeChat and sent messages to Zhao Mutao, saying that the two bosses were having a conflict, and that it couldn't be that Mr. Yang had discovered that Mr. Yang was in love.
"So what? Mr. Yang is not playing two games at the same time." Zhao Mutao felt that Xiao Fei was really gossipy. He had so many prescriptions under his hands that had not been sorted out yet, but he kept all the gossips.
"I think that sooner or later they will separate and go their own way. By then, I'm torn between whether you will go with Little Yang or Big Yang. Big Yang, for example, has a ton of money, and you'll never go hungry if you follow her. But as for Little Yang, you'll definitely learn a lot from her." How pessimistic! They had just had a fight, and Xiao Fei had already thought about splitting up the family.
“…”
Zhao Mutao threw a speechless emoji, closed WeChat, and went back to work. The bosses would take care of their own business; they, the employees, just needed to be the nuts and screws.
If they really broke up, she would definitely choose Yang Xiao without hesitation. She couldn't think of any reason that would make her abandon Yang Xiao and follow Yang Zhi, who was not a decent person except for his wealth and a little business acumen.
Yang Xiao didn't think as "long-term" as the other two did. The batch of prescriptions in her hands had to be washed within this week. If she continued to delay, she was afraid that there would be financial problems.
Holding her breath, she worked her way up early and left late every day. By Saturday night, she had finally managed to import all the data into the model, using the prescriptions the medical students had prepared. The rest would be handled by Xing Yang and the others next week. Yang Xiao finally felt relieved.
So she decided to splurge and took a taxi home at great expense. After Yang Xiao finished washing up and lay in bed, just as she was about to reconnect with Zhou Qi after not having contacted him for half a week, Zhou Qi sent her the location of Daxing Airport.
Yang Xiao sat up with a somersault. The mask she had just applied had wrinkles from her excessive facial expressions. "Why did you come to Beijing? Are you really going to deal with Yang Zhi?"
"Come to see you." Zhou Qi said frankly.
"See you tomorrow then? Let's buy a ticket to Capital Airport next time. I can still pick you up. Going to Daxing really tires me out." He was still typing away on his phone, but he had already gotten out of bed and torn off the mask that was getting in the way.
"Okay, see you tomorrow. Good night, Xiaoxiao."
Yang Xiao didn't reply to him. She had even sent him the location. Why meet tomorrow? Let's meet tonight.
Daxing is far, but not as far as Beijing. Thinking this, I sent a message to Ruopeng, who was preparing lessons in his room, then grabbed my keys and headed out. I figured he'd transfer to the subway at Caoqiao, and a flash of the childhood thrill of playing hide-and-seek ignited in me. So, I'd give him a surprise at Caoqiao.
As soon as she entered the subway station, Yang Xiao met a flower vendor who was about to pack up and go back home. There were not many flowers left on his cart. The only fresh one was a bunch of yellow roses.
There had to be some ceremony involved when meeting someone. So Yang Xiao unhesitatingly pulled out the yellow roses, paid generously, and held them in her hand. The stems were slender, and the flowers at the top, from the heat, had formed a few water droplets, densely covering the plastic wrapping.
It's a little shabby, I'll buy you a nice bouquet next time. Yang Xiao thought to herself, lowering her head to sniff again. But the flowers were still very fragrant. The subway roared by, twirling her hair in front of her forehead. The reflective glass door reflected the smile and excitement hidden between her eyebrows.
I wonder if Zhou Qi would be startled when he saw me. He would probably be a little surprised if he saw someone who had just said he couldn't come to pick me up and then suddenly appeared right in front of me.
hey-hey.
Yang Xiao was looking forward to what expression he would have.
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