Harbor
When they were at the flower market, because his grandmother was there, Zhong Yunxi could only occasionally hold her hand or put his arm around her waist, and he couldn't find a chance to kiss her.
Even so, Bai Yi still disliked him.
While he was picking out flowers, he suggested to her, "How about we go to the capital for a few days and keep me company?"
After all this trouble, we only managed to make up halfway yesterday. He's leaving again today, and I'm afraid that when he comes back on New Year's Eve, Bai Yi will forget everything I've done and start arguing with him again.
Bai Yi glanced at him and said, "I'm not going."
Zhong Yunxi: ...
She always rejects him so decisively.
"Then I'll call you every evening after dinner. Don't refuse to answer."
He was a master of negotiation, and after she refused once, he would come back and make a request that she wouldn't find so difficult.
Bai Yi thought for a moment and then said "Oh".
She watched as the florist skillfully made flower boxes using Kayla roses.
Zhong Yunxi told her, "If you get scolded by your grandma at home, or she doesn't let you eat, just go back to the new house to open your gifts. Aunt Wu is always there, and she can cook you something delicious. It's just like Boyuntan."
Bai Yi: ...
"I'm not going."
"I'll come back to see you one night when I don't have any social engagements."
Even if Grandma occasionally glanced at the two of them whispering to each other, she knew Bai Yi's usual pretentious and affected manner. She could only sigh inwardly.
Grandma always wanted to teach her to be resilient, capable of standing on her own, and successful in her career.
However, with millions of people in the world, there are millions of different personalities and temperaments. And there's always something that can subdue something else.
Bai Yi seems to have exploited Zhong Yunxi's weaknesses.
Bai Yi saw on social media this morning that the unmanned light machine show and the birthday celebration screen show from yesterday were trending topics in the local area.
Because the large screen displayed the scenery of northern Xinjiang, many netizens with Xinjiang-related IPs joined the discussion and expressed their gratitude to Xiangcheng for promoting tourism in northern Xinjiang.
She read several trending posts, some speculating about whose birthday it was, others asking who the girl on the big screen whose face wasn't shown was. Fortunately, they didn't dig too deep into her and Zhong Yunxi's past.
With the year-end approaching, this festive and grand scene brings joy to people, and everyone just enjoys it for fun.
Only then did she feel a little scared. Did Zhong Yunxi not think that netizens would expose and expose him when he did these things?
After Zhong Yunxi returned to Beijing, on the evening of the Little New Year, he went back to the old house as usual for the family banquet. As soon as he entered the study, his grandfather frowned and scolded him, "You good-for-nothing."
He knew it was probably a rebuke for the drone light show he put on in Xiangcheng. Drones are not as simple as projecting onto a large screen.
He leveraged his connections and resources in Beijing to contact certain leaders in Xiangcheng. The light show with thousands of drones, from planning to approval from relevant departments and security control, cannot be accomplished with just money.
"I used to think you were the most discreet and cautious person. You just arrived in Xiangcheng, and before you've even gotten anything done, you're already indulging in a life of pleasure?"
Zhong Yunxi didn't say anything, just stood there and let his grandfather scold him a few times to vent his anger.
The uncle chuckled and said, "I heard it's Bai Yi's birthday?"
He frowned and glanced at his uncle, annoyed that he talked too much.
The old man picked up his cane, stood up, and slapped the man's leg twice hard: "For a woman? You made such a low-level mistake?"
When Shi Yan and Shi Qi entered the door, they saw their grandfather throwing a tantrum and their cousin getting beaten up, so they stood frozen at the door, too afraid to move.
When his uncle heard the two slaps he received, the sound of his cane whistling through the air, his brow furrowed.
Zhong Yunxi didn't move, nor did he admit his mistake or argue. He simply made a light promise: "It won't happen again."
With such family backgrounds, almost everyone holds an administrative position. They are especially wary of the younger generation acting recklessly, showing no respect or vigilance in public opinion, and engaging in any outrageous behavior.
The true circles of power and wealth are always tightly knit; they are mostly glamorous yet unassuming, their influence profound and unpretentious.
The resources at hand and the influence they bring are like ripples on water, their beginnings and endings carefully planned.
It is not allowed to spread to a point where it is beyond our control, and even less is it allowed to cause a backlash from being out of control and becoming unmanageable.
The family had always been most worried about Shi Yan's lively personality and feared that he would cause trouble, but they never expected that it was Zhong Yunxi who would go astray first.
Grandpa slapped him, threw his cane on the ground, and said angrily, "When you were in your early twenties, I managed Shi Qi and Shi Yan's spending and social life but never you. From childhood to adulthood, I've even hit your older brother twice, but I've never hit you. All those years you went around doing extreme sports, horseback riding, skiing, and causing trouble in your little circle, and I never said anything. Now your spoiled brat blood and vanity have awakened? You want to do something that everyone will know about? Don't you know who you are? Do you think I'd tolerate you doing such a thing?"
Zhong Yunxi lowered his eyes slightly, his expression unchanged. He bent down, picked up his grandfather's cane, and handed it to him.
The uncle got up and helped the old man up: "Let's go downstairs for dinner."
Grandpa glanced at Zhong Yunxi and said, "You don't need to eat this meal today."
Zhong Yunxi remained silent, saw the old man out of the study, then returned and sat down. Only then did he take a shallow breath, furrow his brow, and stretch his legs slightly.
Shi Yan and Shi Qi glanced at him, then turned and followed their grandfather downstairs, not daring to speak up for him.
At the dinner table, Grandpa brought up Zhong Yunxi again, giving the younger generation a dressing down. Because of Zhong Yunxi, everyone at the table was silent during the pre-Lunar New Year family dinner. Even Shi Qi didn't dare to ask for a red envelope for the holiday.
After the meal, Grandpa went into his study and sent Zhong Yunxi downstairs.
In the lobby on the first floor, his grandmother, mother, and aunt sat on the sofa chatting. His mother, Shi Lin, laughed and said, "So, you've finally met your match?"
He ignored his mother's gloating words, sat down and called out to his grandmother, but instead covered for Bai Yi: "After I finish my work in Beijing before the New Year, I still need to go to Xiangcheng to handle some things. I'll bring Xiao Yi back to see you after the New Year."
It means I won't be coming back for Chinese New Year this year.
Grandma looked up at him and said, "I won't let Auntie cook for you anymore. You can eat when you get home."
Zhong Yunxi laughed and said he wasn't hungry.
Shi Qi moved closer to him and whispered, "Brother, is your leg broken? Should we go to the hospital first?"
Zhong Yunxi: ...
"Thanks to you, it didn't break."
Shi Qi raised her hand and pressed it. "Does it hurt?"
Zhong Yunxi hissed and frowned at her: "Sit over there. Stay away from me."
Shi Qi quickly withdrew her hand, "Grandpa hit so hard, he never hit Shi Yan this hard before."
Shi Yan, carrying a plate of dried fruit, walked up behind the two and added, "I make a lot of small mistakes, but I've never made a big one. My grandfather would at most slap me a couple of times. But he's committed a capital offense right off the bat. It's a miracle he didn't break his legs."
Grandma spoke again: "Go back, don't sit here. Your grandfather will get angry if he sees you sitting down. You have an appointment with your uncle and older brother to meet with Chen Ting tomorrow, don't let it interfere with important business."
Zhong Yunxi responded and got up to leave.
On the way back, I bought some medicine for sprains and bruises.
When I got home and applied the medicine, I realized I had really angered my grandfather; he hadn't held back when he hit him. There were two shocking bruises on the outside of his thighs, and they were already swollen.
Despite his position and status, he was never an ostentatious person; in fact, he was quite astute and intelligent. He could do anything based solely on his subconscious, leaving no room for risk or hidden danger. However, when celebrating Bai Yi's birthday, he only cared about the emotional impact and ignored these considerations.
His grandfather hit him to remind him where the boundaries were and to let him know when to stop.
He was beaten for the first time for making a mistake in this area, because of Bai Yi.
After Zhong Yunxi returned to Beijing with Shi Yan and Shi Qi today, he kept sending messages to Bai Yi, but she didn't reply much. He called her for a video call in the evening, and she had just taken a shower and was lying on the foot of the bed reading an e-book and drying her hair.
She was wearing a fleece loungewear set, and Zhong Yunxi asked her, "Is it cold inside? Why are you wearing such thick clothes?"
Zhong Yunxi was in Beijing. The underfloor heating in the north was very warm, so people usually only wore a single layer of clothing. He wore short sleeves at home.
She shook her head: "It's not cold. I turned the temperature down, otherwise the air would be dry and my skin would itch."
She even subconsciously rolled up her sleeves to look at her arms.
Zhong Yunxi looked at the camera and said, "Let me see."
She lowered her sleeves and ignored him.
"Your hair isn't dry?" Back in Yuegang, Zhong Yunxi always dried her hair. Her hair was waist-length, and it would take ten minutes just to dry it. She complained that holding the hairdryer for too long made her arms tired, so she always only dried it until it was half dry.
"I don't want to play anymore." Her eyes were fixed on the tablet, reading an e-book, and she didn't share much with Zhong Yunxi.
Zhong Yunxi remained silent, and she didn't react either. More than ten minutes passed, and after reading a few chapters, her arm went numb. She turned over on the bed and lay flat to make her cervical spine feel more comfortable.
Turning my head to the side, I saw Zhong Yunxi's profile on the screen; he looked like he was sitting at his desk in a study.
Zhong Yunxi must have heard the commotion on her end, because he turned to look at her and asked, "What's wrong?"
Bai Yi said she was going to hang up because she wanted to play games.
Zhong Yunxi asked with a smile, "Can't I play on a tablet? Then how about using a tablet for video calls?"
Bai Yi changed her excuse again, saying she needed to get her hair dried again before going to sleep.
Zhong Yunxi sighed: "Why do you always look like you find me annoying?"
"The video is so boring, and you can't even blow-dry my hair."
She leaned her head back on the edge of the bed, letting her half-dry hair fall down, and muttered something casually in a soft voice. Zhong Yunxi noticed that her chin was tilted back and her jawline was slightly taut.
The last time he saw her do this, she was being supported by his waist and abdomen, suspended in the air, pressed tightly against his body.
Zhong Yunxi pursed his lips, glanced at the schedule on his computer desktop, and said, "I'll talk to you when I get back the day after tomorrow." He had a dinner party tomorrow night.
One second she felt that her words were disdainful of her, and the next second she felt that her disdain was tinged with a sweetness.
Zhong Yunxi was completely controlled by her tone from the very beginning.
"No need, you can go about your business." She glanced at him again, then got up and said, "I'm hanging up."
Without waiting for Zhong Yunxi's reply, he reached out and hung up.
Helpless, Zhong Yunxi sent her a string of ellipses and then a "goodnight".
The next day was the Little New Year in the South, and Bai Yi's proper birthday.
When Zhong Yunxi called her, she hadn't gotten out of bed yet and was listening to the call while covered by the covers.
Zhong Yunxi asked her how the weather was and whether she had gone out to the flower market or had breakfast.
"I don't know, I'm not fully awake yet," she said in a muffled voice.
Zhong Yunxi chuckled: "It's almost nine o'clock. The florist will be delivering Kayla roses at nine. Get up and go pick them up. What are your plans for your birthday today?"
She glanced at the time and said that her grandmother would cook her something delicious for lunch, and that He Cheng, Pei Xin, and Yu Shiyuan would come to visit her in the afternoon to go to Director Qi's house. She didn't know what she would do in the evening.
Zhong Yunxi was silent for a few seconds, but he couldn't show any dislike for Yu Shiyuan. "Then go to the new house tonight and pick out a gift. I'll go back and have dinner with you tomorrow night."
She said no.
He was at a business dinner that evening when his car stopped in front of a private courtyard. He got out of the car, and his uncle was standing in the courtyard talking to someone. When he saw him walking over, his movements were completely unnoticed. But as he got closer, his uncle deliberately looked down at his right leg and asked with a smile, "Are you alright?"
He didn't say a word. This minor injury and pain was not something he couldn't bear. He said calmly, "Uncle, if you still want to use me at the computing center in Ulante Banner, you should know how to speak in the old house. You can scold me if you want, but don't let Grandpa have a problem with Xiaoyi."
The uncle chuckled, "I know."
Midway through the meal, almost as was his habit, he left the table to call Bai Yi and ask if she had eaten dinner yet.
She was browsing the light show and said it wasn't happening yet; she was eating roasted sweet potatoes.
She hung up the phone, made a video call to Zhong Yunxi, and asked him, "Are there lantern displays in Beijing during the Spring Festival?"
Zhong Yunxi saw the people around her through her lens; they were the same people she had mentioned in the afternoon. He Cheng and Yu Shiyuan were carrying snacks: roasted sweet potatoes, candied hawthorns, and takoyaki.
Zhong Yunxi said, "Maybe, but I haven't paid attention."
Bai Yi asked him where he was.
He said, "I have a dinner party and I'm going back to the private room soon. You should go back and eat early too. Do you want me to book a restaurant for you?"
She shook her head and said no, "Then you can go back."
Zhong Yunxi didn't hang up and asked her, "Nothing else to say?"
She blinked, thought for a few seconds, and said, "You should drink less alcohol."
Zhong Yunxi smiled and said before she hung up, "Happy birthday. Go home early, it's cold outside, don't catch a cold. Send me the photos you took."
Bai Yi hummed in agreement and hung up.
After returning home that night, Zhong Yunxi felt that the pain in his leg was worse than the day before, perhaps because he had been drinking.
He opened his phone, and Bai Yi sent him several photos of the lantern festival. Only one of them was a selfie, and in the background, there were several people who were with her, including Yu Shiyuan's profile.
He hovered his finger over the photo for a few seconds, then deleted it.
He had never deleted Bai Yi's chat history, but this was the only one, because he felt uncomfortable seeing Bai Yi and Yu Shiyuan in the same frame.
The alcohol burned my stomach, and the room was filled with the warmth of the heating, making the pain in my legs feel especially acute.
There was a tightness in my chest that I couldn't suppress or release.
He opened the photo album and saw a screenshot he had casually taken during his video call with Bai Yi yesterday. It showed her with her head tilted back, her chin and neck taut.
He got up, pressed his hand against the edge of the table, caught his breath, and sat back down. Pain and desire surged together.
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