Harbor
On New Year's Eve, during the family reunion dinner, a comedy movie was playing on the television screen.
After dinner, they played cards to celebrate the New Year. Zhong Yunxi peeled nuts while giving Bai Yi pointers on how to play cards.
Bai Yi's card skills are terrible. If no one gives her pointers, she'll lose all the New Year's money she just received from her grandfather.
But if he wins every single time, the old man won't be happy.
Thus, Zhong Yunxi's superb card skills, honed over many years at the card table, came in handy, and he acted as a master of impartiality throughout the game, feeding cards to both sides.
In the end, Bai Yi and his grandparents won by a small margin, while he was the only one who lost by a small margin.
As it approached midnight, his grandfather packed up the card table and laughed at him, saying, "You've never really lost much before, have you?"
He smiled and said, "We're just family having fun, so the most important thing is to be happy."
As the clock struck midnight, the sounds of fireworks and firecrackers drifted from the outskirts of the city. Despite the ban on fireworks in the city, many people still went to the riverbanks in the suburbs to set off fireworks on New Year's Eve.
Everyone's phone is flooded with New Year's greetings.
After they left the residential area, Bai Yi stood in front of Zhong Yunxi, tilting her head slightly, her eyes reflecting the dappled light and shadow cast by the streetlights. She tugged at his collar and tiptoed to kiss his chin.
"Zhong Yunxi".
Zhong Yunxi nodded and Bai Yi fell silent, just looking at him and tilting her head slightly.
She's always like this, Zhong Yunxi said with a laugh, "You're making me guess what you want to hear again."
She blinked, and the light in her eyes resembled the scales on a butterfly's wings, or a gemstone soaked in water, suddenly shimmering with bright and clear expectations, which entwined him in strands.
Zhong Yunxi leaned close to her cheek and ear, his palm caressing her other earlobe, gently kneading it: "Xiaoyi, I love you."
Bai Yi felt that the sound of her and Zhong Yunxi's breathing drowned out all other sounds, deep and long in the stillness. His breath was hot, almost melting the words into her ear canal.
She moved her fingers, tapping them lightly against his palm. She couldn't resist standing on tiptoe and kissing his chin.
Zhong Yunxi received another small, subtle gesture from her that concealed countless thoughts, and only he knew how rare that was.
Late at night, she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, "Zhong Yunxi, from now on..."
Zhong Yunxi gripped her lower back tightly with his palm and pressed her against his body: "I will coax you from now on and I won't make you angry."
He always remembered his original, purest promise.
The New Year holiday is the time of year when you can relax and have some peace of mind.
The two were practically inseparable.
If it weren't for the fact that on the morning of the third day of the Lunar New Year, Zhong Yunxi's mother, Shi Lin, and her aunt brought Shi Yan and Shi Qi to Xiangcheng in a grand procession...
Shi Lin asked Aunt Wu to pack her luggage in the guest room. "Shi Yan and Shi Qi said that when they came before, your place was deserted. You bought the house in such a hurry, so you need people to come and celebrate. We were originally going to go on vacation to an island in the South China Sea, but we thought we'd stay here for a day. Don't look so reluctant. We'll leave after lunch tomorrow."
There were quite a few rooms, but Zhong Yunxi felt that Bai Yi would feel restrained when they were there.
Although Shi Qi had already greeted Bai Yi beforehand, there was no suspicion of disrespecting the host.
My aunt also asked, "We heard from Shiqi that you two were going through a divorce. We're worried you won't be able to handle it, so we're here to try and persuade you."
Zhong Yunxi: ...
Those who enjoy watching the drama just love to make things worse.
"That's not true, don't listen to her nonsense."
The aunt smiled and nodded, saying to his mother, "It seems they've made up. I knew it. He never does anything without results. Arranging a drone light show is time-consuming, expensive, and he even got beaten up. How could it be completely useless?"
Zhong Yunxi: ...
"Don't mention this again."
Bai Yi came downstairs carrying several gift boxes, saying they were gifts for them.
Except for Shi Qi, who was captivated by the gifts, everyone else politely declined.
“No elders should come and take your gifts.” Shi Lin smiled and took out a few cards from her bag. “We should be the ones giving you New Year’s money. Besides your aunt and me, there are also your grandparents and uncles.”
Bai Yi shook his head and said no, there was no wedding this year and no return to the capital, so he shouldn't accept it.
Zhong Yunxi reached out and took it, but Shi Lin glared at him and said, "Behave yourself. It's not for you. Give it to Xiaoyi later."
"What do you mean 'mine' and 'hers'? We're a legally married couple, this is marital property." Zhong Yunxi said shamelessly as he put the card into his pocket.
Bai Yi: ...
That afternoon, Grandma called Zhong Yunxi to ask him what was going on with Bai Yi, and why she heard from Shi Qi that they were talking about getting a divorce.
Zhong Yunxi smiled. It must be that his grandfather wanted to know, so he asked his grandmother to call and ask. He turned on the speakerphone and said, "Xiaoyi, Grandma called to wish Grandpa and Grandma a Happy New Year."
Bai Yi wished the elders a Happy New Year and thanked them for the red envelopes.
Grandma told her, "I heard Qiqi say the other day that something happened to Zhong Yunxi again. Don't listen to what others say. I asked Feng Zhan, and he hasn't had any messy relationships over the years. Don't get upset. If anything happens, tell me. We're not a family that doesn't distinguish right from wrong and protects its own. If he dares to make a mistake, I will definitely teach him a lesson for you."
The Feng Zhan mentioned by my maternal grandmother is his housekeeper, Uncle Feng. When he was young, he was my maternal grandfather's driver and did many things for the family. Later, he followed Zhong Yunxi and was someone my maternal grandparents trusted very much.
Bai Yi glanced at him and hummed in agreement. "Grandma, I know."
Grandma smiled and said, "That's good. Come back to Beijing more often this year when you have time."
Zhong Yunxi replied, "Grandma, I'll go back to see you before the Lantern Festival."
After hanging up the phone, Zhong Yunxi looked at her and smiled, "I feel like an outsider."
Shi Qi came over and called Bai Yi to play games, teasing him: "You're nowhere near as gentle, beautiful, and cute as your sister-in-law."
After the relatives left, the house returned to its original state, quiet and almost deserted.
After about two days of excitement, Senior Brother He called her to go out, but she didn't go. Instead, she stayed at home and wasted time with Zhong Yunxi.
On the second-to-last day of the holiday, she was playing on her phone in the living room, leaning on a cushion, resting her head on the sofa armrest, with her legs draped over Zhong Yunxi's legs.
Zhong Yunxi leaned back on the sofa, looking at the project documents that needed to be promoted in the southwest after the New Year. He asked her if her feet were cold. She said they weren't, but Zhong Yunxi still pulled a blanket over her.
Bai Yi got tired of playing, put down her phone, got up, changed her position, and rested her head on his lap. Zhong Yunxi smiled, put down what he was holding, and did eye exercises for her.
What were you playing just now?
"Egg Boy."
"That's so much fun?"
"Um."
"Zhong Yunxi, don't you like playing games?"
"I used to play a lot when I was in school, but I'm too busy now."
"Poor rich people."
*
On the first day back to work after the holiday, Bai Yi was unhappy when she woke up.
Sitting at the dining table, he muttered to himself, "If I were still on assignment in Vietnam and Hong Kong, would it be easier to take leave?"
Zhong Yunxi asked her, "Is attendance strictly managed at the research center?"
She shook her head: "It's not strict, nobody cares, but the experiment has a schedule. If you don't go to work, you won't get results. Without results, there's no funding."
Even research drudges are still drudges. She sighed deeply, feeling even angrier at the sight of capitalists like Zhong Yunxi.
Zhong Yunxi smiled as he spread bread on her, peeled a boiled egg, mixed a fruit cup, and silently accepted her complaints.
He Cheng saw Zhong Yunxi coming to see Bai Yi downstairs at the research center. He took a few steps over and pulled his junior sister into the building.
Why is he still bothering you?
Bai Yi didn't know how to tell her senior brother, so she planned to keep it a secret for a while and try to gain some favor with Zhong Yunxi.
She lowered her eyes slightly. "He's very good to me now."
What is the answer?
He Cheng raised his hand and poked her forehead: "Love-obsessed! You're so pathetic!"
A little while later, when He Cheng was changing into his lab coat, he suddenly asked, "When you went to the light show on your birthday, did you video call him? I said you were laughing like that."
Seeing that she didn't say anything, He Cheng couldn't help but roll his eyes at her: "Do you want to drive Teacher Wu crazy?"
Bai Yi chuckled to herself, "That's because you were talking badly about him to Teacher Wu before."
What is the answer?
"I stood up for you, and now I'm the bad guy? Junior sister, do you have no conscience at all?"
Bai Yi poked He Cheng's arm with a glass rod and said with a grin, "If you really want to curse someone, then curse Zhong Yunxi. If you curse him, you can't curse me."
He Cheng was so angry he laughed.
After Zhong Yunxi dropped her off at work, he went to the airport to fly to Vietnam and Hong Kong.
After the New Year, he always had to go there first to arrange work. On the first day alone, there were five or six meetings, which left him feeling dizzy and disoriented.
After a day of meetings, Lu Lin called three times before Zhong Yunxi finally answered.
As soon as the call connected, I arranged his schedule: "Tomorrow morning, at the Runhe board meeting, there's a project that needs to be discussed. You'd better come and take a look."
Zhong Yunxi: ...
"Didn't I have Xue Meng arrange Xiao Yi's project?"
Lu Lin looked at the initial draft of the promotional video on the table. "It's not hers. I can't explain it clearly, but I think you might mind."
"Get to the point."
He hates talking in riddles when it comes to work.
"If I could explain it clearly, I wouldn't have insisted on having you come." Lu Lin was also helpless. If the promotional video were actually filmed according to the submitted plan, Zhong Yunxi would probably be driven crazy.
Zhong Yunxi glanced at the time; it was already past eight o'clock. With his schedule for the past three days, he hadn't had time to go back to Xiangcheng.
He told Lu Lin, "Please arrange the meeting early tomorrow. I can only free up half an hour before nine o'clock."
Before he left today, he told Bai Yi that he would probably spend half his time in Yuegang and half in Xiangcheng recently, and wouldn't be able to stay with her all the time.
Bai Yi wasn't upset. She said that when he wasn't going home, she happened to be visiting her grandparents.
He knew it wasn't that Bai Yi couldn't live without him, but that he would miss her terribly.
When Bai Yi got off work around 5 p.m., he took a moment to send her a message, asking if she was busy at work that day, and also asked a bunch of other questions.
Bai Yi only replied with two emojis: one of him staring blankly, and the other of him sighing.
Zhong Yunxi quickly understood her thoughts and knew that she meant that she was not in the right state of mind on the first day of work and did not want to go to work.
Zhong Yunxi sent her a string of kissing emojis, telling her to ask Aunt Wu to cook her something delicious for dinner.
Xue Meng looked at his boss, who had just been looking gloomy and irritable during the meeting, but after a few minutes of break, was all smiles and acting like he was worthless. He found it very strange.
The next morning, he went to Runhe. Because of his schedule, the board meeting, which usually started at nine o'clock, was moved to eight o'clock.
Even the leaders suffer from post-holiday syndrome; the whole table looked listless.
He mainly came to hear about two things: Bai Yi's project and the decision on the initial publicity plan that Lu Lin mentioned yesterday.
The project was already on track before the Lunar New Year and there are no major changes expected.
When the PR department came up to speak, they showed a PowerPoint presentation and reported to the leaders that they had invested nearly a million yuan to produce a corporate promotional video, and that the director and screenwriter were the well-known natural scenery documentary director Qi Zhouxu and his go-to screenwriter Pei Xin.
As Zhong Yunxi listened to the PR department's introduction of the first draft, his eyes gradually narrowed with a cool expression.
Lu Lin had seen this plot yesterday, and today, watching Zhong Yunxi's emotions throughout, he became increasingly uneasy.
The short film, which is only a dozen minutes long, promotes the culture of traditional Chinese medicine. The filming is naturally grand and magnificent, while a beautiful and delicate love story is interspersed throughout.
The key point is that the couple is a National Geographic outdoor worker and a researcher of traditional Chinese medicine.
What others didn't know was that Lu Lin and Meng Shuang were extremely uneasy. This story was practically about to drag Yu Shiyuan and Bai Yi out as the main characters.
However, from both the perspective of corporate publicity and the creative perspective of the director and screenwriter, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.
To highlight my country's vast territory and abundant traditional Chinese medicine resources, and to promote the role of scientific research in modernizing traditional Chinese medicine, there is no better match than a National Geographic outdoor worker and a traditional Chinese medicine researcher.
After the PR team finished their report, almost everyone on the board nodded in satisfaction.
Zhong Yunxi closed the folder, glanced at his watch, and said, "Let's leave it for now."
After saying that, he didn't listen to their discussion anymore and got up to leave.
Xue Meng was puzzled, but soon followed the boss out.
Before Lu Lin went out, he told the head of the publicity department, "Tell the cooperating director that the company will give a decision in a week, and ask them to wait."
Zhong Yunxi went to their company's break room to make coffee. Lu Lin scooped some ice from the ice maker and handed it to him, which he accepted with his cup.
“If you’re not satisfied, I’ll have them redo it.” Lu Lin felt that he wasn’t angry because he was mindful that this was Runhe, not Lingchuang.
It's a promotional video for a company owned by a CEO, depicting his wife's affair with another man. This film wasn't necessarily a must-make.
Zhong Yunxi looked down at his cup. Just a minute ago, he had almost vetoed the proposal in the meeting room, but now he was patiently drinking an iced Americano in the break room.
He paused for a few moments and asked Lu Lin, "Is Yu Shiyuan's social media account being boosted by Runhe with money?"
Lu Lin sighed: "Well. Runhe isn't entirely without its advantages. You know our country prohibits pharmaceutical advertising, but we can create a science popularization account for National Geographic workers to promote the company's planting bases and popularize the science of medicinal plants or raw materials, bringing the company into the public eye. It's a very good marketing strategy."
Zhong Yunxi remained silent, seemingly weighing something.
Since it concerns Bai Yi, he's not one to resort to underhanded tactics. He could easily do the same thing he did to Zhou Qi, and having learned from his mistakes, he could handle this one so thoroughly that Bai Yi would never find out.
However, he now finds it difficult to deal with Bai Yi's affairs with a mindset of constant oppression and deprivation.
He was terrified of hurting her. Yu Shiyuan was her friend from middle school. On her birthday, he wasn't in Xiangcheng; Yu Shiyuan and He Cheng accompanied her to the lantern festival. That screenwriter, Pei Xin, was He Cheng's girlfriend. One decision from him could shatter Bai Yi's social circle.
He couldn't be so selfish as to leave her so fearful in Vietnam and Hong Kong, and isolated and uneasy back in Xiangcheng.
He now truly understands how Bai Yi, back in Yuegang, faced his circle of friends, childhood friends, and rumored girlfriends, secretly hid away to process his anxieties.
He poured the unfinished coffee into the sink, put down the cup, and said to Lu Lin, "I'll think about it when I get back."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
