Harbor
Even after the start of autumn, the weather in Vietnam remains hot and humid, with intense heat and humidity. It is expected that the weather will become cooler and more comfortable after the White Dew solar term.
At six o'clock in the afternoon, the passenger plane was about to land. Bai Yi looked out the window and saw the long-lost view of the vast sea and sky and the towering buildings of the Yuegang area.
Bai Yi saw Chen Zhaoyang's call, and answered it after a few seconds, her tone indifferent: "Cousin."
Chen Zhaoyang tentatively asked, "Xiaoyi, my uncle told me that your flight back to Vietnam and Hong Kong is today. I'm running errands near the airport. Do you have any other plans? Would you like me to pick you up?"
"No need." His tone remained completely calm.
Chen Zhaoyang was used to being rejected by her, so he stopped nagging and didn't dare to ask her about her work and accommodation after returning to Yuegang. He simply said, "Okay, if you need anything, feel free to call your brother anytime."
She hummed in agreement and then hung up.
Pushing her luggage toward the exit, her father called, but she didn't answer and immediately put the phone on silent.
As she put down her phone and looked up, she saw Li Jing standing outside the exit barriers, calling out to her, "Sister, over here."
She smiled and hurried over.
Li Jing hugged her: "I missed you so much."
The two took the elevator to the underground parking lot, and Bai Yi asked, "How's the study abroad thing going?"
Li Jing graduated with a master's degree a year ago and is going to the UK to pursue a doctorate.
"I received the offer last month and am currently applying for a visa. I plan to go there in October."
Bai Yi sensed that she was in a low mood: "Why do you seem unhappy?"
Li Jing held her arm and nuzzled her shoulder with her chin: "You just got back and I'm leaving already, and we'll be in a long-distance relationship, you know."
Bai Yi looked at the engagement ring on her left middle finger and smiled. The little girl who grew up in fear and anxiety back then is now successful in her studies and has a happy love life. At least, she has protected this sister who is not related to her by blood very well.
"Take care of yourself while you're in England."
Li Jing hummed in agreement. "Sis, I'll cook you something delicious when we get back. I bought you some milk tea from Fenglan Lane."
When Li Jing first arrived at that house in high school, she became very attached to her. Later, when she lived with her and her grandparents, she was like a little shadow.
As the car drove away from the airport, the view on the ring expressway was expansive. The sky over the port was always clear and blue, unlike Xiangcheng, where the mountains were layered, fog was heavy, and clouds and rain were frequent. But she still preferred Xiangcheng.
The staff quarters of Yuegang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, where Li Jing lived with her grandparents in a small three-bedroom apartment, are still well-maintained and cozy.
Upon arriving home, Bai Yi dragged her suitcase to the bedroom to unpack, while Li Jing was busy in the kitchen.
She hadn't had Cantonese and Hong Kong cuisine in a long time. Looking at the dishes on the table—chicken feet in black bean sauce, pan-fried radish cake, char siu claypot rice, blanched bok choy, and Hong Kong-style milk tea—she let out a long sigh of relief.
It's not that she dislikes Hong Kong and Vietnam; after all, your stomach doesn't lie.
"Sister, have you contacted Runhe Pharmaceuticals yet?" Li Jing put a chicken foot on her plate.
"Okay, I'll be on duty in two weeks." She took a bite of a chicken foot, which was tender and flavorful, and the meat fell off the bone with a gentle touch. She smiled and praised Li Jing, "Your cooking skills are just as good as Grandma's."
Li Jing blinked at her and said, "It's delicious, isn't it? I called my grandma a few days ago and asked her to teach me how to make it."
Bai Yi's return to Yuegang was arranged by Professor Wu. Although Professor Wu is a doctoral supervisor at Yuegang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, his research base is in Xiangcheng.
Located in Xiangcheng, in southwestern China, a land of abundant natural beauty, Xiangcheng boasts unique resources for traditional Chinese medicine.
Recently, everyone else on the team has been busy with their own projects and they really couldn't spare anyone. Her experiment wasn't that urgent, so they sent her over.
Within two years of a new drug's market launch, a support team is required. This team should include representatives from the pharmaceutical company and monitoring personnel, as well as one member from the research team. The support team's office is located in the Medical Affairs Department of Runhe Pharmaceuticals.
Professor Wu also assigned her a research project: to conduct a preliminary clinical study on the hypoglycemic effects of asparagus polysaccharide and mulberry twig bioalkaloids.
She will stay in Vietnam for at least two years.
After dinner, while Bai Yi was washing up, Bai Yeliang called. Li Jing glanced at the caller ID but didn't answer.
Bai Yi came out of the bathroom, and Li Jing handed her the phone, sounding a little awkward: "Sister, it's Uncle Bai on the phone."
She took the phone and went to the balcony.
Bai Yeliang naturally asked her why she didn't go home to stay when she returned to Yuegang, since Aunt Li had prepared everything.
She only said that the old house was close to the company and convenient, and that she would go back to see him and Aunt Li another day.
The father and daughter tacitly maintained a harmonious family relationship.
Bai Yeliang continued, "I asked your cousin to pick you up today, but he didn't show up. Zhou Qi also called tonight to ask about you. Now that you're back, you young people should have dinner together sometime."
"Dad, I'm a little tired today. Let's talk about it another day."
Bai Yeliang was reluctant to hang up the phone, but he didn't want to disturb his daughter's rest. "Okay, you should get some rest. We'll need to use the car when we go back to Yuegang. Do you still want to drive that Porsche Panamera you had a few years ago? If you don't like it, Dad will get you a new one."
She simply said there was no need to change it.
I'm so numb I don't even want to explain.
Her father always believed that she should be kind and gentle to Chen Zhaoyang and Zhou Qi, because Chen Zhaoyang was her cousin and Zhou Qi was the son of her father's boss. The two had a good relationship and were both very kind to her.
When she first entered university, Zhou Qi began pursuing her relentlessly, and she still hasn't agreed to be with him. As a result, she earned a reputation among her friends for being pretentious and ungrateful. Zhou Qi not only solidified his image as a devoted and aristocratic young man, but also wiped out all the potential suitors around her.
She looked through her contacts, and finally opened a social media app to send her mother a WeChat message: Mom, I'm back in Vietnam.
But I didn't receive a reply from my mother until bedtime.
She didn't wake up until after 8 a.m. the next day, and saw that Li Jing had prepared breakfast and left her a sticky note. She also saw the message her mother had sent her at around 5 a.m.: "Okay."
The bank card transaction notification showed that her mother had transferred a sum of money to her.
If it weren't for Ms. Wu's arrangement, she felt she would never return to Vietnam and Hong Kong.
However, the journey from Xiangcheng back to Yuegang felt both strange and familiar, a mix of disappointment and anticipation that was hard to describe. Bai Yi even felt a little dazed.
She tidied herself up briefly, looked at the clothes she had brought back, and prepared to go shopping at the supermarket and mall.
While she was shopping, her senior classmate Lu Xin called her.
Her senior classmate was a bit of a chatterbox, but listening to him was quite relaxing. As soon as the call connected, Lu Xin started talking non-stop: "You just got back yesterday, so take a rest and relax. I'll treat you to a meal in a few days. Yesterday, Teacher Wu gave me orders to take good care of you. If you're not comfortable here, he'll fly over and beat me up."
Bai Yi laughed and said, "Do you want me to put in a good word for you with the teacher?"
Lu Xin quickly interrupted, "Stop it. Every time you say something nice, it's just a veiled complaint. It's best if you don't say anything."
He changed the subject again: "By the way, Xiaoyi, do you want to go on a blind date? You've been in Xiangcheng for over two years, spending every day in the lab. It's not easy to come back to Yuegang and experience the hormones of a top-tier city and the national economic center. You can't stay in Xiangcheng forever, just because it has beautiful scenery but is boring, right?"
Bai Yi seriously suggested to him, "Senior, why don't you become a short video narration blogger?"
Lu Xin: ...
She continued, "Forget about hormones, find me someone I can get a marriage certificate with right away. These bad romantic entanglements in Hong Kong and Vietnam are just too hard to get rid of."
Lu Xin: ?
Ultimately, the talkative can't compete with the talkative.
Even when he hung up the phone, Bai Yi felt that his senior brother was still a little dazed.
She put away her phone, picked out a few dresses, and went to the fitting room.
After buying the clothes, she saw a message from her senior, Lu: "There really are people who are suitable to get married right away. I have a childhood friend."
Bai Yi changed the subject and replied: "Your childhood friend? Are you from a different generation than me?"
Lu Xin was so angry that he sent a voice message: "Junior sister, is being seven years older considered a generation difference? We're only thirty-three, and a man is still in his prime at forty."
Bai Yi thought to herself, "A foxtail grass?"
But because she successfully diverted her senior's attention from "getting the marriage certificate," she didn't get angry with him anymore and simply replied: "Let's talk about it another day."
Over the next two days, she arranged to meet her parents separately. Quite "coincidentally," she met Chen Zhaoyang and Zhou Qi at her father's place.
Zhou Qi, as if it were a serious matter, bought flowers and gifts.
She sat on the single sofa, holding a tablet and looking at an electronic document. She glanced at Zhou Qi, who had entered the living room, but did not get up. Zhou Qi handed the flowers to the nanny, Wang Ma, and said, "I remember Xiao Yi likes the swallows in the galaxy blue color. Please trouble you, Wang Ma."
Wang Ma was neither comfortable commenting on the flowers nor dared to call Bai Yi to greet Zhou Qi, so she simply said, "I'll go get the vase, please sit down."
Zhou Qi walked around and sat on the sofa next to Bai Yi: "I heard from Uncle Bai a week ago that you were coming back. I was afraid you'd be busy, so I didn't call you in advance. Are you staying in Yuegang from now on?"
Bai Yi closed the tablet, leaned over to pour a cup of tea, and symbolically pushed it two centimeters towards him: "Not necessarily, I'll be working on a project when I get back."
The coffee table wasn't close to Zhou Qi. He got up, opened a small blue velvet box, placed it in front of Bai Yi, picked up a teacup, and sat back down. "Welcome back. You haven't given me any gifts for the past two years in Xiangcheng, not even for holidays. Please don't refuse this bracelet, okay?"
She glanced at it; it was platinum and blue diamonds, along with her favorite plant leaf design element. Exquisite and elegant, it was probably custom-made. Zhou Qi never bought ready-made gifts for her; otherwise, how could her reputation for "pretending to be reserved and not knowing what's good for her" have been so thoroughly tarnished?
She reached out, took it, looked at it, closed it, and put it back on the coffee table, saying "Thank you."
Even without trying it on, Zhou Qi breathed a sigh of relief. Over the years, he could count the number of gifts he had given to Bai Yi on one hand.
A few minutes later, Chen Zhaoyang arrived, accompanied by a female companion. His father called to say he would be home soon.
She had told her father she was just coming back to pick up some things, have dinner with him, and then leave. Now it seems like a group of people are throwing her a welcome-back party.
Her father always liked to make decisions on his own, even though he never made a good decision about anything.
After entering the room, Chen Zhaoyang handed the dessert box to Wang Ma: "These are Xiaoyi's favorite snacks."
Wang Ma packed the food and brought it over. Chen Zhaoyang took it and handed it to Bai Yi: "Liyuan's butterfly pastries and chestnut cakes, your favorites from before."
Bai Yi reached for the fork, took a bite, and said casually, "Thank you, cousin."
When Chen Zhaoyang saw the velvet box in front of her and heard her polite remark, he probably thought she was in a good mood, so he took the opportunity to say a few more words: "These pastries are nothing compared to Zhou Qi's gift. His handmade custom-made one took three or four months just to collect all those blue diamonds. One of his bracelets is more expensive than a wedding ring in a store."
Zhou Qi smiled and replied, "I'm glad Xiao Yi likes it."
Just then, her stepmother, Li Wan, came in, carrying a gift box: "Xiao Yi is back. Your father ordered some seasonal clothes for you. I went to pick them up. Try them on when you have time to see if they fit."
She glanced at the logo on the gift box and hummed in agreement.
Li Wan accepted the fruit brought by Wang Ma and asked her to put the clothes in Bai Yi's room. Chen Zhaoyang's female companion sat quietly at the end of the sofa. Chen Zhaoyang and Zhou Qi chatted idly…
In just half an hour, so many people had come to the house, all for her. They brought gifts, like offerings to a king. But she remained curled up on the single sofa, covered with a thin cashmere blanket, her feet never touching the ground.
When Bai Yeliang returned, Bai Yi lazily put on her slippers, stood up, and called out, "Dad."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
