Harbor
Zhong Yunxi let go of her and tried to straighten her collar, but Bai Yi slapped his hand away. He then touched the hair clip on her head, but Bai Yi stepped back and turned her head away so he wouldn't touch her.
The actions between the two possessed a delicate, lingering tension, a kind of intimate resistance. What bothered Bai Yi was precisely that Zhong Yunxi was dissatisfied with—that subtle, indescribable connection.
"Xiaoyi, don't keep your anger bottled up inside. That's too easy on me. You can use me however you want. Let me do something to make up for it, and you'll feel better. Don't worry about me backing out on the divorce. I promised you, and I can keep my word."
Zhong Yunxi tried to comfort Bai Yi, telling her not to reject his offer.
Bai Yi did not completely refuse; at least he agreed to cooperate with Runhe. He was persuaded by Meng Shuang to make up for the losses he had caused to the research team.
However, she herself did not want to get involved with him again. Her self-control was questionable. Zhong Yunxi's affections were always a mixture of gentleness and strength, sweet yet dangerous. She could hardly guarantee that she would become addicted and fall into it again.
She stared at him. "What good are you? Even if you're recycled, they won't recycle you."
After Bai Yi finished speaking and turned to leave, Zhong Yunxi smiled, thinking that scolding him was a form of acknowledgment. On the contrary, what he feared most was Bai Yi's cold indifference and neglect.
Even though the project was a done deal, Zhong Yunxi stayed at the meeting for two days, always by Bai Yi's side, neither too close nor too far, without disturbing her.
After the meeting, Zhong Yunxi got busy with matters in Beijing and Vietnam, which almost completely drained his remaining two weeks before the Spring Festival.
His house in Xiangcheng had been arranged, so he no longer needed to stay in a hotel. The environment and layout were very similar to those in Boyuntan.
The living room and bedroom are furnished with plush toys, egg-shaped nightlights, and the white-themed walk-in closet and dressing table are exactly the same as those in Boyuntan.
Zhong Yunxi often returned to Xiangcheng in the middle of the night, and when he was so sleepy that he was in a daze, he thought he was still in Yuegang.
While tidying up the villa, Xue Meng brought Aunt Wu over and said that the boss would probably spend the New Year here, and would likely be alone, so he asked Aunt Wu to decorate the house to make it warm and comfortable.
In the Leading Capital office, the last executive meeting had just ended at 8 p.m. Zhong Yunxi had just returned from Beijing early that morning, and Xue Meng advised him to go back to the hotel upstairs to rest, as there were two more overseas video conferences scheduled for tomorrow.
He remained silent for a few minutes, but ultimately decided to fly back to Xiangcheng.
I landed in Xiangcheng in the middle of the night.
He saw freshly received tea leaves on the tea island in the living room. He remembered that he wanted to make milk tea for Bai Yi. The Hong Kong-style milk tea she loves can only be made with Ceylon black tea, and it also needs to be blended with different coarseness. He specially asked the owner of Song Ji to send it to him.
He carried a bag into the kitchen.
He wasn't exactly tired, but he felt like he wanted to do something. Even though his schedule was already packed every day, it had nothing to do with Bai Yi, so he felt empty inside, as if there was nothing at all.
He followed the procedures he had learned before, brewing black tea, pulling the tea leaves, and adding evaporated milk. He took a sip; although it wasn't quite as good as the ones in the shop, it was at least seven or eight parts similar. With more practice, perhaps he could satisfy her.
It was nearly three in the morning when he returned to his bedroom. There were no familiar scents, not the rose fragrance that Bai Yi liked, nor the perfume that Bai Yi had given him.
He remembered that Bai Yi hadn't brought the perfume he'd received after moving in.
Leaning against the bed, he texted Bai Yi, playing the victim: "Xiao Yi, I've been having terrible insomnia lately. Sleeping pills aren't working very well. Where did you buy the perfume you gave me before? It's really good for helping me sleep."
He asked Xue Meng to ask people who know about perfumes. They all told him that the fragrance framework is the "Er Su Jiu Ju" (二苏旧局), but they didn't know the specific formula. There are many improved versions of "Er Su Jiu Ju" on the market, but his is very special. It must have been made by someone who knows both perfumery and traditional Chinese medicine. Ordinary perfumers can't make it.
The next morning, he still went to the entrance of the community to pick up his grandmother to walk the dog and go to the flower market.
He asked his grandmother, "Grandma, after Xiaoyi goes to work today, could I come over to our house for a visit? Could you and Grandpa help me pick out a gift?"
Bai Yi's birthday is on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, which is the day before the Lunar New Year in the South.
Bai Yi definitely wouldn't accept the gift he offered. He needed to persuade his elders to deliver it for him first.
His grandmother glanced at him, and he spoke first: "I'll only give you one item. I won't make things difficult for you. When I was with Xiaoyi, no matter what the holiday was, I would give her dozens of items, and it would take her a week to unpack them all. I even found her a personal manager to select luxury brands."
"This is her birthday. If she really insists on divorcing me, this will be the only birthday gift I can give her. Grandma, just one."
His tone was earnest and heavy, and his eyes showed the exhaustion of days of busy work.
The old man couldn't help but soften his heart, "Alright. Come over again at nine in the morning. Her grandfather is off today too."
"Thank you, Grandma." He looked much more relaxed than usual.
"No need to thank me. I just don't want you to end up feeling resentful and unable to divorce her properly and gracefully."
Zhong Yunxi: ...
"No, no matter how reluctant I am, I will respect her decision."
When Bai Yi went to work, she ran into Zhong Yunxi, who was getting off the bus at the entrance of the residential area.
He walked over to her and said, "Xiaoyi, let the driver take you there."
Bai Yi ignored him. The bus was arriving in three minutes. She pulled her hat down and put her hands in her coat pockets.
Zhong Yunxi stood quietly beside her.
Even in silence, Bai Yi felt a slow, flowing ambiguity emanating from him standing beside her. She resisted and felt uneasy. "What are you doing at my house again? Don't you have any boundaries? You're not allowed to go for a walk with Bubble anymore."
She almost habitually resisted Zhong Yunxi's ever-present presence in her living environment.
That silly dog has already memorized Zhong Yunxi's name. Whenever someone in the family mentions Zhong Yunxi, it will perk up and whine a few times, which disturbs her as well.
Zhong Yunxi said with a smile, "It likes me."
"It doesn't like you. Who walks it and who it likes is none of your business." Bai Yi rolled her eyes at him, thinking he was being presumptuous.
Zhong Yunxi hummed in agreement. "It's because I like it."
Bai Yi ignored him again.
The shuttle bus arrived, and Zhong Yunxi watched her get on before heading into the residential area.
Grandpa and Grandma were reading and trimming bouquets at home.
He took out his tablet, which contained a list and designs of gifts he had prepared for Bai Yi.
The old man put on his reading glasses and flipped through the pictures one by one. There were fifty or sixty pictures, showing clothes, accessories, skincare products, jewelry, and everything else, but the old man couldn't remember them all.
Grandma took off her glasses. "I'm getting dizzy from all the choosing. Just buy one."
Zhong Yunxi made tea for the old woman. "If she can't choose, I'll just buy them all and leave them for now. Anyway, it's almost Chinese New Year, and I'll find a way to get my friends to give them to her. If she doesn't want them, my cousin can help her get rid of them."
grandmother:……
Grandpa laughed and said, "Did your money grow on trees?"
Zhong Yunxi only said, "Xiao Yi really likes unwrapping gifts."
Grandma sighed, "How spoiled are you going to be?"
Grandpa flipped through the items again and pointed to a malachite necklace. "Let's buy two more of this one and have them altered into a belt for her."
Zhong Yunxi immediately nodded, "Okay, I'll listen to Grandpa."
Grandma came over to take a look, somewhat annoyed that Grandpa was wasting things, "Turning a necklace into a belt, is she that precious?"
Grandpa said, "She's worn that green sandalwood bracelet for so many years. Let's replace it with one that doesn't have too much color difference. Maybe she won't like green sandalwood as much in the future."
Grandma then fell silent.
Zhong Yunxi was taken aback. "Grandpa, why do you want to replace her green sandalwood dress?"
Grandpa put down the tablet and told him, "That green sandalwood bracelet of hers originally belonged to her mother. When she was in her first year of high school, her parents divorced. Her mother gave up custody of her and moved away from Qiwu Mountain Residence. She packed up all her things, leaving only a string of green sandalwood ornaments, which she has worn for so many years."
Grandma said, "She lost it once too. One day she came home from school with only a handful of loose beads. She had lost two or three beads and cried her eyes out. I went to a jewelry store and picked out a few more items to make a belt for her so she wouldn't lose it without even knowing it was hanging on her schoolbag. Over the years, although I've changed it a few times, she still wears it all the time."
Grandpa nodded and said to Zhong Yunxi, "When it was lost back then, it was Xiaoyuan who found it. They were in the same class in high school."
It was Yu Shiyuan again, and Zhong Yunxi remained silent for a long time.
His grandparents chatted with him about Bai Yi's past, which kept him up for three more days.
Bai Yi only saw the message Zhong Yunxi sent her last night when she got to the lab. He had asked about that perfume before, but Bai Yi didn't say that she made it herself. At that time, she only liked Zhong Yunxi's unconditional pampering of her and didn't want him to know how much she cared about him.
But the fact that he asked her again where she bought it means that he must have already asked someone to look for it and couldn't find the same one.
She spent a lot of time, from selecting raw materials to experimenting with each suitable herb and how well it matched the aroma of the Ersu Old Bureau.
In Sijian's lab, Ren Xiao was conducting experiments while she was slacking off making perfume for him.
She has now forgotten how she felt watching the chemical reactions in the instrument.
She replied to Zhong Yunxi: I just prepared it on the spot while doing the experiment; the formula and dosage were random.
Zhong Yunxi saw that she had replied to his message.
As expected, she did it herself. Zhong Yunxi called her for a voice message, but she immediately hung up and replied: "I'm doing an experiment and it's inconvenient. Don't send me messages unless it's about the Runhe project. I'll block you if you do."
Zhong Yunxi read through her messages repeatedly, understanding her meaning: the perfume couldn't be bought elsewhere, and she couldn't possibly make it again. She was completely cutting off any possibility of him pursuing it.
Zhong Yunxi didn't believe that she did it randomly. Before conducting an experiment, researchers design the experiment and keep records of the experiment. It's a habit that's almost ingrained in their genes.
He had seen her many times when she wasn't at work, curled up on the sofa with her tablet, designing experiments.
He will never know on which day, or on which leisurely afternoon, she was conducting experimental designs for his perfume.
He remembered asking the perfumer, who said that his perfume was made by someone who understood both traditional Chinese medicine and perfumery. His grandfather was a traditional Chinese medicine expert, so he asked his grandfather, "Grandpa, Xiaoyi made a perfume for me before. Did she mention it to you? Do you know her formula?"
When Grandpa heard him mention perfume, he was taken aback and subconsciously said, "So it was made for you? I thought she was just making it for herself."
Zhong Yunxi's brows twitched, but he noticed his grandfather's expression gradually becoming hesitant.
He was afraid that his grandfather was hiding something. “Grandpa, she gave me perfume for Christmas, saying it was bought from a small workshop, but now she says it was made randomly. She just won’t tell me the truth. Are you going to keep it from me too?”
“Keeping my feelings from her will only benefit me. You don’t need to be afraid that I will know her feelings in the past but I can’t have her now. It’s okay, I deserve it.”
But what his grandfather didn't know was that Zhong Yunxi's ruthlessness in dying knowing why he would die would all turn into his obsession with winning back Bai Yi.
My grandfather only said, "I don't know the recipe. I only suggested one Chinese herb to her, calamus, but I don't know if she used it."
Zhong Yunxi nodded, at least knowing that her prescription was indeed not random, but rather selected one ingredient at a time, apart from the two Su's old prescription.
He returned to Vietnam that day. On his way back, he casually searched for Tibetan calamus. The first thing the internet platforms promoted was Yu Shiyuan's popular science video, which was filmed on the southern Tibetan plateau.
It was still Yu Shiyuan. He couldn't figure out what role Yu Shiyuan played in each of the events.
All that is known is that Yu Shiyuan was involved in too much of Bai Yi's work and life.
The private plane was turbulent in the air, the oxygen was thin, and he frequently felt weightless. He felt chest tightness and a migraine surged up.
After landing, he called Ren Xiao and asked her to come to the East Tower of Hong Kong Island to meet him.
Ren Xiao could feel the pressure from Zhong Yunxi's tone on the phone.
A few days ago at a meeting in Xiangcheng, the two had a dispute over Bai Yi's accounts. The resulting information gap was comparable to the Great Rift Valley in Africa.
Ren Xiao really didn't want to talk to him anymore.
However, Zhong Yunxi is a shareholder of Runhe. She officially started working at Runhe after the New Year, and Zhong Yunxi is her boss. She doesn't want to have a falling out with her boss before she's even started her first day of work.
She had no choice but to rush to the East Tower on Hong Kong Island.
Xue Meng led her into Zhong Yunxi's office, and Zhong Yunxi politely asked Xue Meng to make her tea.
Ren Xiao knew too much about Bai Yi, and Bai Yi didn't have many friends to begin with, so he couldn't afford to offend her.
He calmed himself down and asked, "Does Xiaoyi often do experiments with you at Sijian?"
"Yes, as you know, we're working together on that project."
Zhong Yunxi nodded: "Besides the new drug project, are there any others? She made a perfume."
Ren Xiao didn't think much of it: "Yeah, more than one bottle. One is 'Ersu Jiuju,' and the other is 'Tea Fragrance.' You know her, she likes to slack off at work."
Zhong Yunxi raised his hand to support his chin and looked at Ren Xiao: "The old bureau of the Second Su was given to me. I have never seen the tea fragrance."
Ren Xiao took a sip of tea and felt that the two of them seemed to be getting along quite well this time when they were reconciling accounts. "Hmm, the tea is for Lu Xin and Yu Shiyuan."
Zhong Yunxi felt a sudden sense of relief; he realized that the man was different.
He smiled and said, "How long have you been making these old Su-style trinkets? Do you know the recipe?"
Ren Xiao hummed in agreement. "It's been quite a while. I can't remember the formula either; I'll have to go back and check the experimental records."
Zhong Yunxi asked softly, "Is it complicated?"
Ren Xiao smiled helplessly: "If she paid even half the attention to this kind of work, I would have to work a lot less overtime."
Zhong Yunxi got up and went over to refill her tea. "Thank you. Show me the recipe later."
Ren Xiao didn't know why he wanted to see the recipe, but since the recipe wasn't of any use to her, she casually agreed.
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