late at night
Bai Yi woke up hungry in the morning, but she didn't want to get out of bed.
She likes to sleep with her head covered, so she rolled over and curled up in the dry, warm blanket. Her hand reached out from under the blanket, starting from under the pillow, and made its way to the bedside table. She reached for her phone.
I didn't find my phone, but I found a carton of warm milk. I was even hungrier.
I spent five minutes mentally preparing myself before getting out of bed to wash up.
She found her phone in the living room. She figured Zhong Yunxi must have deliberately left it so far away.
Her favorite breakfast items were laid out on the living room table.
She swiped open her phone, and the screen showed Zhong Yunxi's chat window.
He even secretly added himself back into his contacts.
I left her a message: I'm downstairs, in my office on the 108th floor. Call me when you wake up.
She was so hungry that she didn't bother to call him and threw her phone aside to eat her brunch.
After finishing her meal, she couldn't find her bag in her room, so she called Zhong Yunxi and asked, "Where's my bag? I need to use my tablet."
"I had the driver take you up in the car. Have you eaten yet?"
"Um."
"Aren't you bored being alone in your room? Why don't you come to my office?"
“No, I’ll go to the 88th floor for coffee.” She really likes the BETTY café in the East Tower of Hong Kong Island.
"Okay, I'll come down and keep you company when I'm done."
"No need." She doesn't like to cling to him most of the time.
While she was at the coffee shop, she made an appointment with Ren Xiao for the afternoon to discuss the progress of the new drug's experiments.
At lunchtime, Zhong Yunxi came down to find her and asked, "What were you busy with this morning?"
She tapped the tablet screen with the tip of her pen: "Look at Senior Brother He's paper."
"Come have lunch with me? You haven't been here in ages, how about we go see the rooftop gardens?"
"Do you have any Kayla roses?" She turned to look at him.
He stayed at a hotel last night, and Zhong Yunxi didn't send her any flowers.
Although she sometimes received gifts from him and was unhappy about them and would throw them away, Zhong Yunxi couldn't refuse to give them to her.
"Yes. Just like the one you saw last time, a whole greenhouse." She had finally come all this way, and Zhong Yunxi had the hotel decorate it early in the morning.
Bai Yi smiled, nodded, and followed him to the top floor.
At midday in late autumn, the sunlight, like a giant net woven from silver threads, poured down from a great height, carrying a coolness, bright but not dazzling.
A mushroom-shaped stained glass canopy filtered the sunlight into a rainbow. She went over and sat down, her face held high, her eyes slightly squinted.
Zhong Yunxi stood next to her with his hands in his pockets, smiling as he watched her. He had finally managed to make her a little happier today.
He is not easily influenced by other people's emotions, and when dealing with other people's emotions, he always suppresses them rather than compromises.
For those in positions of power, suppression is less effort; this is their logic, and over the years it has become a habit.
So at the beginning, in order to get the marriage contract, he chose the easiest way.
At that time, he did not expect to pay a price he could not bear. In just a few days, he was exhausted, both physically and mentally, as if he had suffered a serious illness from the inside out.
Bai Yi became the only exception in his life.
He needs to give her a lot of time and patience to explain, even to appease her. Even then, she might not appreciate it.
Once a person is moved by emotions, logic begins to collapse, and behavior becomes unpredictable, like a subversion of the stable state that life has already established.
But sometimes, subversion doesn't require fear and confrontation.
Bai Yi was like the wings of a butterfly from across the ocean, stirring up a hurricane in his life. Zhong Yunxi was smart and strong enough to learn to integrate with this state. As he experienced the new life and flesh that came with the hurricane, he tried his best not to lose control.
The greenhouse was full of Kayla roses. When Zhong Yunxi was having lunch, she wasn't hungry. She ate a few bites and then put down her chopsticks, picked out a few roses and put them in her bag, planning to take them with her when she went for coffee in the afternoon.
“There’s an E-Home Autumn/Winter ready-to-wear exhibition this weekend, let’s go check it out,” Zhong Yunxi asked her.
Bai Yi was arranging the flowers when he heard him mention E's house. He turned around and asked, "Where is it?"
"The capital city."
That's alright, she definitely wouldn't want to go if it were abroad.
She returned to the dining table: "I have several meetings at the Third Affiliated Hospital on Friday, and I need to go."
Although Bai Yi often doesn't want to go to work, she still does her job well.
Zhong Yunxi nodded: "I'll have Xue Meng apply for the flight schedule on Saturday morning."
She then asked, "Is Beijing fun?"
Zhong Yunxi smiled and shook his head: "The climate is so-so, it's very dry now."
Bai Yi: ...
She dislikes dry places the most.
He muttered to himself, "Then I'll bring two more face masks."
She opened her social media app, used Zhong Yunxi's chat window as a memo, and typed: "Mask 2, moisturizing cream, soothing essence."
“Remember to remind me.” She glanced at Zhong Yunxi.
Zhong Yunxi glanced at the message notification that popped up on his phone and smiled, saying, "Okay."
The midday light was too bright, and she felt that playing on her phone in the rooftop garden was bad for her eyes, so she wanted to go down to the coffee shop. Zhong Yunxi accompanied her for two more hours of coffee. Zhong Yunxi only returned to his office when Ren Xiao arrived.
The optimization of the new drug's components is progressing very well, and animal trials will be conducted soon.
Ren Xiao is a bit tired of work, and she says she's experiencing a "career bottleneck."
Bai Yi was puzzled: "Are you going to switch jobs again?"
Ren Xiao sighed: "A career bottleneck can't be solved by changing jobs. It's like the seven-year itch. Life becomes stagnant, but you don't want a divorce, you want to have an affair, but you're just missing an opportunity."
Bai Yi: ...
"You're not even married..."
Seeing Bai Yi's speechless expression, Ren Xiao couldn't help but laugh and pinch her: "Boss Zhong has taken good care of you."
Bai Yi retorted, "No."
She felt that Zhong Yunxi hadn't done anything particularly happy for her, but he had done things that made her particularly angry and wronged.
He didn't raise the upper limit of her life experience, but he lowered the lower limit. Bai Yi didn't think he was good.
"What? You have a problem with him? Is it not enough money, not enough love, or something in bed...?"
"Ren Xiao!" Bai Yi's ears turned red with fright.
Ren Xiao couldn't stop laughing. "You're so funny."
"Don't talk nonsense. Show me your recent experimental results."
Ren Xiao pulled out a file: "Just ask me out sometime so we don't have to talk about work. I really don't want to work with you in such a nice coffee shop."
Bai Yi flipped through the experimental documents: "Then I'll treat you to dinner tonight."
Ren Xiao said, "When Boss Zhong left just now, didn't he say he would pick you up after get off work? Why should I go?"
"We could have prevented him from going."
Ren Xiao: ...
"Teacher Bai, you wouldn't often neglect Boss Zhong for the sake of others, would you?"
Bai Yi looked up from the documents: "Huh? Is this considered neglect?"
Ren Xiao smiled and said, "There are a thousand different kinds of love for a thousand people. Sometimes I really wonder if the matching process between people in this world is based on the strategy of Tian Ji's horse racing."
Bai Yi felt that her words were incoherent: "What exactly are you talking about?"
"You're really something."
Bai Yi: ...
"Also, be nicer to Boss Zhong, and give him a pleasant look."
"You're so gossipy." Bai Yi frowned at her.
Ren Xiao turned the question back to her: "Didn't you say that someone in your company gossiped about you? What I'm talking to you about today is just a little rehearsal for you."
Bai Yi suddenly felt incredibly frustrated. He tossed the file to Ren Xiao, no longer wanting to look at it.
Ren Xiao put away the documents and laughed, "So you're already starting to fight amongst yourselves? With this kind of mentality, you won't be able to survive in the workplace in Yuegang."
"I'm not talking to you anymore. I'm going to play games." She opened her phone and started playing Egg Party.
Ren Xiao then took her tablet and started reading the paper.
During afternoon tea time, Zhong Yunxi also had his driver go to Liyuan to pack some of her favorite desserts and send them over.
Ren Xiao clicked his tongue in admiration: "You still say he's not good to you?"
Bai Yi played games for half an hour, then started reading a novel. He casually said, "Isn't this normal? When I'm at home, my dad and cousin would buy me snacks. Even our housekeeper remembers. How could he not remember something like this?"
Ren Xiao was speechless: ...
It's true that those who never experience hardship will always enjoy happiness.
Ren Xiao slipped away before Boss Zhong got off work, lest Bai Yi really stand up her boyfriend and drag her out to dinner, as she thought Boss Zhong was a vengeful person.
After Ren Xiao left, Bai Yi went back to her hotel room on the top floor to catch up on sleep. Whenever she stayed up late, her sleep schedule would definitely be messed up the next day, and lately she had been staying up late all because of Zhong Yunxi.
She suddenly got annoyed with him, so she stopped sending him messages.
Zhong Yunxi went to the coffee shop but didn't see anyone. He called to ask and found out that she had gone back to her room.
She's an idle person who skips work, yet she's busier than him, the CEO; she doesn't even have time to send him a message.
During dinner, Zhong Yunxi brought it up: "Send me messages more often in the future."
"What?" She watched the waiter at the table open the crab shell, giving him a dismissive look.
Seeing that she seemed indifferent, Zhong Yunxi asked, "Didn't you say you weren't angry today? What's wrong now?"
Bai Yi then looked at him, remembering what Ren Xiao had said that afternoon about her treating him badly. "Zhong Yunxi, am I good to you?"
Zhong Yunxi kept smiling at her: "What do you think?"
Bai Yi: ...
"I think I'm the best to you."
Zhong Yunxi didn't want to laugh unless he couldn't help it. "Well, if you think it's good, that's fine. My feelings don't matter. You're asking unnecessary questions."
Bai Yi sensed the ambiguity in his words.
“When I was mean to you, when you made me angry, didn’t I buy you a ring?” she argued.
Zhong Yunxi still smiled and said, "You'll be taking credit for that ring for the rest of your life."
Bai Yi thought for a moment and said, "Then you can make a request."
Zhong Yunxi put down his soup spoon: "Really? You're not angry?"
Bai Yi nodded: "Don't spend too much money, and don't make it too complicated."
“You send me three WeChat messages every day and call me ‘husband’ three times.”
Bai Yi: ...
Zhong Yunxi looked at her: "If you find even this troublesome, tell me yourself, are you good to me or not?"
"Oh well."
"I mean what I say, so shout it now."
Bai Yi pointed to her bowl: "Honey, serve the soup."
Zhong Yunxi reached out and took it, laughing and saying, "You can't stand to suffer even the slightest loss."
She scooped up a spoonful and handed it to him: "Here's a bite for you, okay?"
Zhong Yunxi held her wrist, opened his mouth to catch her soup, and stared intently into her clear and quiet eyes.
He was powerless against Bai Yi's occasional displays of intimacy; only in these moments could he truly feel that she would give him her heart without reservation.
Bai Yi has such a sensitive and delicate mind; she is gentle and harmless to people, but keeps her distance.
Before the marriage, Zhong Yunxi could sense that her kindness towards him was deliberate, because of her father's relationship with Tiansheng, she was using him and was extremely wary. Later, things improved a little, and she seemed to want to accept him.
"How about I feed you a little bit every day from now on?" Zhong Yunxi asked with a smile.
Bai Yi glanced at him, "If I'm happy."
"How about we go back to Boyun Beach tonight?" Zhong Yunxi wished he could resolve all the lingering issues from their argument a few days ago in one go.
She shook her head: "Go back to my home. I didn't go back last night."
Zhong Yunxi wasn't so insistent on such a small matter, but said, "Then don't make me stay in the sunroom tonight. Tomorrow morning, let me take you to work."
She still shook her head: "You have to play the piano for me in the sunroom."
Zhong Yunxi could only laugh: "Fine, you're not asleep, so I can't stop, can I?"
Although it was unintentional, Zhong Yunxi reminded her of what happened last night, and she was glared at by him.
It seems that Zhong Yunxi can only take advantage of her vulnerability when she is half asleep or drunk.
However, this time Zhong Yunxi was not so obedient. Just like the previous days, he played Moonlight Sonata several times. After she fell asleep, Zhong Yunxi entered her bedroom through the sunroom door and quietly hugged her.
Bai Yi was not awakened; subconsciously, she liked and depended on Zhong Yunxi's embrace.
Zhong Yunxi drove her to work as he had hoped in the morning. When they arrived at the Third Affiliated Hospital, Meng Shuang felt somewhat guilty upon seeing him.
Meng Shuang confidently declared, "I will definitely not let Teacher Bai drink baijiu at the banquet after the meeting again."
Zhong Yunxi didn't seem to have any particular emotion, and simply said, "I'll come earlier this afternoon."
Knowing that he was coming to help Bai Yi with social obligations, Meng Shuang smiled and said, "Then I'll thank Boss Zhong in advance."
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