late at night
Bai Yi didn't sleep well that night. She wasn't too bothered by the bed in Yuegang, especially when Zhong Yunxi was around. But she couldn't sleep well in the capital.
The air humidity was much different from that in Vietnam and Hong Kong. Even with a humidifier by her bed, she felt discomfort in her nasal cavity and always wanted to drink water while half asleep.
Before falling asleep, she wondered how Zhong Yunxi had adapted to the two places.
During the voyage back to Vietnam, Zhong Yunxi said that he grew up in Vietnam and returned to Beijing to attend high school and university when he was fourteen or fifteen. He later went to the United States and only returned to China five years ago, and has been living in Vietnam ever since.
He also said that there is actually a high degree of overlap between the upper-class circles in Vietnam and Hong Kong and those in Beijing.
Bai Yi silently calculated in his mind that he had spent much more time in Yuegang than in the capital. Therefore, he should be considered a Yuegang native.
When she landed, it was misty and drizzling in the harbor. She took a deep breath, and the long-lost feeling of moisture was like rain after a long drought. She said to Zhong Yunxi, "Didn't you get rhinitis during those years in Beijing?"
Zhong Yunxi laughed and said, "No, but during the winter and spring seasons, many people in Beijing do suffer from rhinitis and allergies."
She tugged at Zhong Yunxi's arm, tilting her head slightly upwards: "I don't like going to the capital."
Zhong Yunxi looked at her for a few seconds, then said, "Then I won't go anymore."
Bai Yi rarely wrongs herself; she is very good at avoiding situations in life that make her uncomfortable.
Perhaps it's because she has almost no emotional dependence on anything except Zhong Yunxi that she always complains that Zhong Yunxi is manipulating her.
When she realized how deeply she depended on Zhong Yunxi, so much so that even though she felt wronged, she still couldn't bear to completely get rid of him and forgave him so quickly, she was terrified.
It was like holding a weapon upside down, giving someone a handle to use against you. She gave Zhong Yunxi the right to hurt her.
How can love not be considered a kind of mental illness?
Zhong Yunxi probably won't be in that situation, because he doesn't need to hide from anything; he has always been an aggressor in some sense.
Therefore, in that family in the capital, only she felt uncomfortable; Zhong Yunxi did not. He had the ability and leverage to change things.
After returning to Boyuntan, she sat in the living room next to Zhong Yunxi, unwrapping gifts and playing games to pass the time.
“Zhong Yunxi, these are yours.” She held up several boxes.
The belt, tie, cufflinks, and other accessories were bought for him by her and Shi Qi at a certain store.
Zhong Yunxi was on the balcony making a phone call. He covered the receiver briefly, then turned to her and said, "Okay, please put it away for me when you go back to the dressing room later."
When she moved to the walk-in closet, she spent some time taking stock of Zhong Yunxi's wardrobe and accessories. She hadn't paid much attention to his things before. Apart from a bottle of perfume, she had almost no recollection of anything else.
That bottle of perfume was one of only two things she ever gave to Zhong Yunxi; the other was a ring.
When Zhong Yunxi went upstairs, she was asleep. The things in the dressing room were only half packed up, and Zhong Yunxi finished the job.
The bedroom curtains weren't fully drawn, and she was still covering her head, huddled under the thin blanket.
Zhong Yunxi tidied her up to make her more comfortable, closed the curtains tightly, left the nightlight on, and then went downstairs.
The light drizzle turned into continuous rain, gradually soaking the entire villa area. He called the housekeeper and asked him to arrange for a chef to come and cook dinner that evening.
The rain during the day wasn't so unbearable.
It wasn't until dinner time that Zhong Yunxi's slightly agitated state, which had lasted all afternoon, finally calmed down.
After eating, Bai Yi wanted to go back to sleep. Zhong Yunxi asked her if sleeping like this would really have any impact on her brain.
Bai Yi corrected him: "It's easy for your brain to break down if you don't sleep."
She even earnestly explained to him: "Don't you know that in the long process of human evolution, ancient memories cannot be erased? Ancient people slept most soundly on cold, rainy nights because there were no wild animals to disturb them. All species accepted this as a truce signal given by nature."
Zhong Yunxi asked in a serious tone, "Really?"
She nodded firmly and went upstairs.
Zhong Yunxi watched her retreating figure and smiled.
When Bai Yi woke up at four in the morning, she only had a companion doll in her arms; Zhong Yunxi was not in the bedroom.
She left the bedroom, and in the entire house, only the light strip embedded in the corner of the wall was dimly lit. There was also a sliver of light coming from the crack under the study door.
Bai Yi frowned, tucked his fluffy bathrobe into his pocket, and went to the study.
The door was locked.
She suddenly didn't want to knock on the door anymore.
As she turned around, the door clicked open, and Zhong Yunxi asked her, "Why are you awake?"
Bai Yi noticed he wasn't wearing loungewear and paused for a few seconds, then asked, "You went out? Can't you sleep?"
He just smiled and said, "Let's go for a walk."
Bai Yi: ?
"Is there some kind of trauma, like being dumped by your ex-girlfriend on a rainy night?"
Zhong Yunxi: ...
He teased her without changing his expression, "How did you know?"
Bai Yi stared at him, and in a fit of anger said, "Then you deserve it."
After saying that, she turned and went back to the bedroom, adding, "I've read a lot of romance novels, and your plot is really awful."
Zhong Yunxi smiled and quickly pulled her back.
"You can stay here and reminisce about your ex-girlfriend. I'm going to sleep."
"I don't have an ex-girlfriend. I was just kidding." Zhong Yunxi was afraid that if he kept teasing you, you would take it seriously.
Bai Yi was already angry.
"You're not allowed to go back to your bedroom. You're to stay in your study and think."
He smiled and pulled the person into the study: "Really, there isn't."
On the sofa in the study was his windbreaker, which was probably wet from being thrown there. He picked it up and pulled the person back to the bedroom.
"I didn't go back to the bedroom because I was afraid of waking you when I got back. Now that you're awake, let me go in and change my clothes, and then go back to sleep?"
Bai Yi objected: "I'm already awake, why are you still sleeping?"
"Then what do you want to do? I'll go with you."
Zhong Yunxi changed his clothes in the dressing room, and when he came out, Bai Yi was lying on the bed horizontally: "Go sleep on the sofa."
He sat on the edge of the bed, leaning back slightly, one hand supporting himself on the bed, the other stroking her back, and said with a smile, "I've never had an ex-girlfriend. The reason I can't sleep when it rains is because when I was a child, I was sick one year and was hospitalized. I woke up in the middle of the night and went out to look for someone, but I got lost in the hospital. I couldn't find the ward building and stayed in an administration building for several hours, getting a high fever from the cold. Later, whenever I wanted to overcome certain psychological barriers, I would go for a walk on rainy nights."
Bai Yi rolled over and lay flat on her back. "Everyone else tries to avoid trauma, but you want to control it. Zhong Yunxi, you still say you're not cold-blooded."
Zhong Yunxi: ...
He asked, "So what would you do?"
Bai Yi sat up in his lap, and Zhong Yunxi smiled as he hugged her waist. He loved holding her like this, especially when she was sleepy; she was so sweet and gentle that it softened his heart.
Bai Yi laughed and said, "I won't go out to see anyone. If I'm sick, I'll stay obediently in the hospital room."
Zhong Yunxi lowered his head and kissed her: "Hmm, you only know how to chase others away."
Bai Yi said Zhong Yunxi was cold-blooded, but actually she was the cold one.
She would pick and choose the gifts offered to her, she never took the initiative to get close to anyone, and she could break off relations with anyone at any time.
Zhong Yunxi was often afraid that she would be like a drop of water falling into the water, and if he didn't catch her, he would never find her again.
He suddenly remembered the small calligraphy hanging in his study, which he had gotten from his father-in-law. It was a poem by Su Shi, "Linjiang Xian," written by Bai Yi when he was in middle school, with the line "From this small boat I will depart, and spend the rest of my life on the rivers and seas."
He still cuddled Baiyi and slept for more than two hours before going back to sleep.
Zhong Yunxi drove her to work. In the car, she was looking up information on her tablet and making phone calls.
When Zhong Yunxi first heard her speak in a southwestern dialect, he couldn't understand it, but he thought it sounded nice.
She seemed very happy, though I don't know who she was talking to on the phone.
After hanging up the phone, Bai Yi noticed that he was still staring at her before saying, "I was calling my grandfather to ask about some medicine."
He simply nodded; he rarely inquired about Bai Yi's work.
When she arrived at the company, Meng Shuang was surprised and said, "There were no academic conferences scheduled this week, I thought you weren't coming."
Bai Yi: ...
Her current level of indifference has been so deeply misunderstood.
Once at her workstation, she chatted with Lu Xin and Ren Xiao while designing experiments.
She wanted to borrow the laboratory.
Ren Xiao was speechless: You're playing house and using my experimental equipment worth hundreds of millions?
Bai Yi retorted: This isn't child's play; I have an idea...
Ren Xiao: What lost ancient incense-making recipe? It was just something nobles used for amusement in ancient times. Teacher Bai, we are medical professionals, and what we do is treat illnesses and save lives.
Bai Yi: I can make you a bottle along with it.
Ren Xiao: ...
Ren Xiao: I'm someone who deals with reagents in the lab every day, do you think I need that stuff? What perfume can cover up the smell of ethanol, acetone, and ethyl acetate in our lab? You might as well give me cash instead.
Bai Yi: This was made for Boss Zhong. I only made it once. If you also have a bottle...
Ren Xiao: Come over right away. I'll keep you company while you work overtime.
Bai Yi: ...
Bai Yi: I haven't even finished designing my experiment yet, and I don't even have all the raw materials.
Ren Xiao: I'll do it with you.
Bai Yi: Ren Xiao, you're such a scoundrel.
Ren Xiao: Boss Zhong is valuable.
It took Bai Yi more than half a month to gather the ingredients. The ancient formula of the Er Su Jiu Ju was the base, and the other ingredients were carefully selected. It was not easy. There are many Chinese medicines that can help with sleep, but not many can be extracted.
Her maternal grandfather suggested using Tibetan calamus, saying that when he was a sent-down youth in southern Tibet in his early years, he had studied Tibetan medicine and found that Tibetan calamus was very suitable.
She remembered that not long ago, Yu Shiyuan had popularized Tibetan calamus on a short video platform.
The use of Tibetan medicine has never expanded beyond the Tibetan region, and she had difficulty buying Tibetan calamus in Yuegang, so she had to ask Yu Shiyuan for help.
Yu Shiyuan was at the magazine office, having just finished editing a video overtime, and asked her, "Are you working overtime?"
She nodded, "At Sijian Pharmaceuticals, I just finished processing samples with my lab partner."
"I just got off work. I'll pick you up from the lab. Shall we grab a bite to eat together?" Yu Shiyuan hadn't seen her for a while.
She glanced at Ren Xiao and didn't refuse. She had originally planned to invite Ren Xiao to dinner today, but since Yu Shiyuan was also coming, she decided to invite him as well. Zhong Yunxi had already booked the restaurant for her.
She sent the address.
Although it has been many days since the beginning of winter, the strong cold air from the north a few days ago drove away the last bit of residual heat from the subtropical high pressure, and only then did the port officially enter winter.
Another week has passed since the amber was extracted using the double-dealdehyde extraction method. Ren Xiao helped her change the solvent for the third time, made a record, and complained: "Even our lab assistants are too lazy to do this kind of work."
Bai Yi tried to express her opinion: "It was you who insisted on doing it with me."
Ren Xiao looked at her and said with a smile, "I want to see what kind of extraordinary fragrance you can make for Boss Zhong."
Bai Yi pointed to a bottle of tea leaves being extracted: "His recipe is not outstanding. It's a bit inferior to the tea with the main aroma that I made for my senior brother."
Ren Xiao asked, "Why? I think Boss Zhong's design is quite complicated."
"The concept, the difficulty of the process, and the success or failure of the result are completely unrelated. You've encountered this before when you were doing experiments."
"Then why do you think Mr. Zhong's design is unacceptable?"
Bai Yi thought for a moment: "We're approaching it from a medicinal perspective. I don't think the finished product can be evaluated by perfume standards. It's already good enough that the old Su-style perfume can support the olfactory framework."
Ren Xiao understood a little: "That means that the pinnacle of this design is the old scheme of the two Sus."
Bai Yi nodded. "It's impossible to surpass the old scheme of the two Sus. If we add calamus again, we'll be lucky if it doesn't get mixed up."
Ren Xiao was a little disappointed: "What a waste of effort."
Yu Shiyuan called Sijian from downstairs. Bai Yi and Ren Xiao finished up, left the lab, put on their coats, and went downstairs.
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