Harbor
Zhong Yunxi personally went to Yuegang to choose the necklace that his grandfather had mentioned, and had it modified by a craftsman.
But he still bought all those gifts and put them in his villa in Xiangcheng. This was the first birthday he celebrated for Bai Yi.
He worked overtime until 10 p.m., and went to the hotel in the East Tower for a late-night snack.
Midway through, I called Shi Qi and asked her and Shi Yan to come to Yuegang two days before Bai Yi's birthday.
Shi Qi asked, "Is it just me and Shi Yan going? You should have told me sooner, we didn't even have time to pick out a gift."
Zhong Yunxi held the red wine in his hand, not letting the waiter open the bottle, and said to Shi Qi, "Well, just the two of you. You don't need to tell your families. You don't need to buy gifts. I have some prepared here."
After a phone call that lasted less than two minutes, he put down the wine in his hand. After dinner, he planned to drive back to Boyuntan by himself.
The next morning, the butler, Uncle Feng, returned from New York with the things he had asked for. He looked at them twice and then put them away.
When he arrived at the office and Xue Meng was reporting on the day's schedule, he suddenly looked up and interrupted, "Is the drone show in Xiangcheng all arranged?"
Xue Meng replied, "It's all arranged."
He hummed in agreement. "You can continue."
Xue Meng suspected that his boss hadn't listened to his report at all and was probably thinking about something else.
Finally, Xue Meng reminded him, "When do you think would be a good time to go to the capital?"
In the North, people place great importance on visiting each other during the year-end. Zhong Yunxi would always go back home for a few days before the New Year, no matter what.
He pondered for a moment: "After returning to Xiangcheng for the Lunar New Year, I will go back to Beijing and stay there for three or four days. I will return to Xiangcheng the day before Lunar New Year's Eve."
Xue Meng quickly wrote it down: "Okay, I'll make the arrangements in advance."
Just then, Ren Xiao called. He glanced at the caller ID and answered. After listening to the call, he told Xue Meng to come downstairs to pick her up.
Ren Xiao brought the perfume formula and a bottle of perfume that Bai Yi had taken after she finished making it.
She had originally thought she could find an opportunity to blackmail Zhong Yunxi, but now she didn't dare to at all. Back then, she had only seen how Zhong Yunxi acted in front of Bai Yi and thought he was a gentle and tolerant person. Now she realized how wrong she had been.
If Zhong Yunxi knew that she still secretly kept the perfume that Bai Yi made especially for him, who knows what heinous things he might do.
Zhong Yunxi received a new bottle of perfume and looked at the formula that Ren Xiao had sent. In addition to the old Su family's perfume, there were more than a dozen kinds of medicinal herbs and plants.
He asked Ren Xiao, "Are grapefruit peels used in the ingredients?"
Ren Xiao knew that a CEO like him probably didn't understand perfume making, and it would be difficult to explain. "Yes, it's very troublesome. The grapefruit peel has to go through very fine processing and extraction for a month. Not only do we have to make tinctures, but we also have to make balsams. And this is only the smallest amount of all the ingredients. Xiao Yi said that citrus scents can only be made into a very faint top note. Too much would prolong the time it takes for the fragrance to enter the sense of smell. Anyway, it's very troublesome."
Zhong Yunxi really didn't understand. Bai Yi's experimental procedure was written simply, probably only keeping some key points for himself and not intending to show it to others. Even though he couldn't understand it, he read it several times.
He then asked, "You have a bottle too? Do you have any more?"
Ren Xiao: ...
"No, I only made two bottles. I was thinking of selling them to you sometime..."
Ren Xiao was also annoyed by his questions.
Zhong Yunxi smiled and said, "In that case, I certainly won't let you send it over for nothing."
Before Ren Xiao left, Zhong Yunxi asked Xue Meng to deliver a yearly membership card for a high-end restaurant.
He took a picture of the two bottles of perfume and the formula together and posted it on his WeChat Moments.
In Xiangcheng, the research team is about to have their holiday. Bai Yi only went there for two or three days this week, and often went to Qi Zhouxu's courtyard to drink tea and chat with Yu Shiyuan, He Cheng, and Pei Xin.
When she saw Zhong Yunxi's post on WeChat Moments, she was listening to them discuss the use of wide-angle shooting techniques in landscape photography.
Bai Yi knew that Zhong Yunxi must have contacted Ren Xiao, because only Ren Xiao knew about her perfume business.
Being exposed for being stubborn is something Bai Yi finds hard to tolerate. Zhong Yunxi knew from the beginning that she was proud and aloof, and he should have carefully guided her thoughts, but now it seems like he's deliberately embarrassing her.
In the evening, Zhong Yunxi went to Xiangcheng and delivered the revised gift to his grandmother. After his grandmother accepted it, she invited him to stay for dinner, saying that Bai Yi had gone to Director Qi's place with He Cheng, Pei Xin, and Yu Shiyuan in the afternoon and would have dinner there before returning.
Zhong Yunxi also wanted to see her, so he stayed, played with the bubbles, and chatted with the old man.
When Bai Yi entered, she saw Zhong Yunxi's shoes in the shoe cabinet. She went to the dining room, where Zhong Yunxi was sitting at the table eating.
He still has the nerve to come and eat.
Bai Yi grabbed his shoulder: "Come out."
Zhong Yunxi smiled, put down his chopsticks, and said to the old man, "It's alright, don't worry about me, you guys eat first."
He got up and followed her out the door. When they reached the door, Bai Yi stared at his shoes. Zhong Yunxi immediately understood. He changed his shoes and even took a scarf. He knew that there was a high chance he wouldn't be able to get in.
Bai Yi pushed him into the stairwell, "Delete it."
Zhong Yunxi looked at her without moving. Bai Yi angrily reached into his pocket to take out his phone. Although she got it out, she couldn't unlock it with her fingerprint. She swiped the icon to unlock the screen, went into his social media and deleted his Moments. She saw that he had posted wedding photos before, glared at him, and deleted them as well.
Seeing that she was pinned to the top of his contact list, and that he was about to delete her contact, Zhong Yunxi then took her hand.
He laughed and said, "You're so comfortable using my phone?"
Bai Yi paused for a moment, then pulled her hand back and threw the phone at him. Zhong Yunxi caught the phone and put it in his pocket.
"Xiaoyi, you'd better not delete me, keep me around to monitor my Moments."
"What are you trying to do now? Zhong Yunxi, you weren't like this before." Bai Yi felt that he was being unreasonable now, even more unreasonable than her.
Zhong Yunxi looked at her and said, "I saw you posted about Yu Shiyuan on your WeChat Moments, so I had to post about the perfume you made for me to make myself feel better."
Bai Yi: ...
"Xiaoyi, how I am depends on how you treat me. I can't feel your feelings for me now, so I can only look to the past."
Bai Yi thought he was really sick. "You should go to the psychiatric ward and get checked out."
Zhong Yunxi nodded: "In medicine, isn't being stuck in the past and unable to move on called a mental disorder? How about we ask Grandpa to prescribe some traditional Chinese medicine for me?"
Bai Yi: ...
She almost hit him, but she held back. She turned to leave, but Zhong Yunxi grabbed her again.
"Xiaoyi, your birthday is coming up soon."
Bai Yi turned to look at him: "My birthday has nothing to do with you."
Zhong Yunxi squeezed her hand, "It's related. You celebrated my birthday with me in Xinjiang, and I said I'd celebrate your birthday with you too."
Bai Yi felt tired of being pestered by him: "Zhong Yunxi, I don't want to spend my birthday with you. Don't make my birthday unhappy."
Zhong Yunxi seemed to know she would say that: "So I won't take up your birthday day. I'll celebrate it for you two days in advance, two days before the Lunar New Year, on the 22nd of the twelfth lunar month. Shi Qi and Shi Yan will come to visit you, and I'll stay with you."
Bai Yi was caught off guard when Zhong Yunxi said, "We're not divorced yet, right? I won't let the elders come over. You're familiar with Shi Qi and Shi Yan."
"Promise me you won't post random things on your WeChat Moments anymore, okay?"
“After celebrating your birthday, I have to go back to the capital to take care of other things. I won’t be back until before New Year’s Eve. Before the New Year, you have to let me have a meal with you.”
Zhong Yunxi used coercion and enticement, acting both unreasonable and playing the victim.
Bai Yi tried to pull her hand away to go back inside, but he wouldn't let go and followed her back. When they reached the door, he didn't go in again, only saying, "I'll come pick you up later."
Bai Yi locked him out of the door, but didn't say anything to refuse.
Shi Qi and Shi Yan are the same age as her. When she went to Beijing, they accompanied her to see the fashion show and go shopping. This time, they specially flew from Beijing to celebrate her birthday. Although she knew that Zhong Yunxi was using it as an excuse, she found it hard to refuse.
The night before Bai Yi's birthday, Shi Yan and Shi Qi landed in Yuegang. Xue Meng picked them up at the airport and took them to Boyun Beach.
Shi Qi didn't want to eat at home. "Brother, I just searched for food in Vietnam and Hong Kong in the car..."
Zhong Yunxi interrupted her: "We're flying to Xiangcheng first thing tomorrow morning. If you go out to eat until midnight now, and then sleep in again tomorrow, you'll be delaying my business."
Shi Qi just found out that they were going to Xiangcheng.
Zhong Yunxi checked the time: "There's a Michelin-starred restaurant nearby, let me take you there."
It was during dinner that Shi Qi and Shi Yan learned that Bai Yi was in Xiangcheng.
Shi Qi immediately understood: "You had a fight? You need us to celebrate her birthday, and you still can't appease her even though it's almost Chinese New Year. It must be a very serious crisis. I guess we'll have to cover for you in Beijing during the New Year."
Zhong Yunxi: ...
Shi Yan was eating his second bowl of noodles when he was starving and gave her a thumbs up.
Zhong Yunxi really didn't want to explain further to those two unreliable people: "Just know that, and be a little more perceptive when the time comes."
Shi Qi laughed at him: "I think you're the one who has no sense of propriety the most. At least your sister-in-law is kind to both of us. She definitely likes me the most and dislikes you the least. You'd better win me over first."
Zhong Yunxi: ...
He knew how capable his clever cousin was; he had brought her all this way to keep Bai Yi company, so he must have wanted her to play a role. "Just tell me how much New Year's money you want this year."
Shi Yan interjected, "Then I have to be the same as her."
Shi Qi chuckled, "Let me think about it some more. Xue Meng said you'll be returning to the capital soon. I'll tell you when you get back."
Zhong Yunxi knew she would definitely go on a shopping spree at various luxury brand stores before the Lunar New Year, and when he returned to Beijing, he could be her wallet.
But when he needed something from her, he only glanced at Shi Qi and said nothing.
The next day, after arriving in Xiangcheng, the group went to the villa, where Zhong Yunxi first had the two of them each carry a gift.
Shi Qi's eyes lit up when she saw the huge pile of gift boxes.
Zhong Yunxi stopped her from stealing: "Don't try to take things from me. These belong to your sister-in-law. I'll go back to the capital in a few days, then you can buy them."
Shi Qi pointed to a pair of boots: "These aren't available in domestic stores. Did your personal manager get them from overseas? And that dress, it's custom-made."
Zhong Yunxi glanced at her and said, "You can't wear her size."
"I can, we're about the same height."
"You are shorter than her."
Shi Qi: ...
"Then give me a handbag, that Japanese brand."
Zhong Yunxi sighed, rubbed his forehead, and said, "Shi Qi is a spoiled brat. Fine, you can only take this one item."
Before lunch, a few people went to pick up Bai Yi. When she opened the door, she first saw Shi Qi and Shi Yan, followed by Zhong Yunxi. She could only let them in.
The two young people greeted the elders and presented them with gifts. The house hadn't been this lively in a long time, and the elders were delighted to see such a lively child as Shi Qi.
After Bai Yi went out with them, Shi Qi and Shi Yan, who were very talkative, kept calling her "sister-in-law." Bai Yi was on edge, unable to refuse but also not wanting to listen. She glanced at Zhong Yunxi, who was just smiling, seemingly quite pleased.
For lunch, we ate at a Vietnamese-Hong Kong restaurant, the same one Meng Shuang had invited her to last time. The chef was from Vietnam, so the taste was naturally impeccable.
For her birthday, Zhong Yunxi arranged everything perfectly.
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