Chapter 18
The next morning.
The sun had risen outside. In the height of summer, the sky always brightens exceptionally early. The early breeze still carried a hint of coolness. Sanitation workers had been busy on the streets for hours. The still-awakening city was unusually quiet, with only the rustling of brooms on the ground. The man pushing the pancake cart reappeared at the intersection, unloaded the plastic chairs hanging beside it, and launched into his first hawking of the day.
The music for class at the high school next door was already blaring. The temperature was gradually rising, and the sun was beating down fiercely. The two thick curtains in the room completely blocked out the sunlight that tried to get in. After a brief period of bustle and congestion at the intersection, an elderly man, who had just dropped his child off at the school and returned from the market to buy groceries, sat down at the fitness equipment downstairs, chatting and chatting.
The quiet room was broken by a sudden ringing of the phone.
The sound was so harsh that it almost pulled him out of his sleep.
His eyes, still closed, trembled a few times, and his hand stretched out from under the quilt. Zhou Yi groped back and forth across the bed, his weak hands making the few movements he made clumsy. He finally found the source of the noise, and with his eyes strained open, he spoke in a hoarse voice, as if he hadn't woken up yet, "Hello, who is it?"
On the other end of the phone was Xiao Xiao's roar, "I'm at work, where are you?!"
He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and tried to wake himself up.
Xiao Xiao's voice hadn't stopped yet, "It's twelve o'clock. You've only been working for a few days and you've already learned to be late for work."
He pulled the curtains at the side, and the dazzling sunlight came in through the gap and shone on his sleepy face.
Xiao Xiao flipped through the records in her hand and lost her patience. "I'll give you half an hour, come here quickly."
Zhou Yiheng was confused after hearing this. Although he was not completely awake, his subconscious action was to get up from the bed immediately and change his clothes quickly. When he arrived at the grocery store, Xiao Xiao was stunned and worried about the several piles of information that had just been delivered.
Xiao Xiao caught a glimpse of the extra figure in the room and dragged him over to sit in front of the computer. "We'll talk about your absences and lateness later. We need to input all this information into the computer in the next few days. Here, some of the data here is wrong. I'll teach you how to fix it later. Make this into Excel. You should know the simple statistical functions, right? Do you know how to use Xmind? These pages need to be expressed in the form of a speech."
Zhou Yiheng looked a little dazed, and Xiao Xiao gently pushed him down, "Do you understand?"
"I understand." Zhou Yiheng picked up the several documents that Xiao Xiao had just handed to him.
"Professor Liu and I agreed to give it to him within a week. There's absolutely no problem with the timeline. It all depends on the accuracy." Xiao Xiao sat beside him, flipping through the new stack of information and typing into the computer. "Don't make any typos or mess up the times. If you don't know a word, look it up in the dictionary or on Baidu."
Yang Ye sat on the sofa in front of them, flipping through a newly arrived magazine. She hadn't said a word since Zhou Yiheng came in, maintaining the same posture throughout, not even giving him a glance. Zhou Yiheng felt puzzled, glanced at Yang Ye, and then, as Xiao Xiao had instructed, went back to work on his computer.
Pushing aside the pile of freshly entered documents beside him, Xiao Xiao stood up and stretched his shoulders and neck.
Picking up her fully charged phone, she asked Zhou Yiheng, "Do you want to go eat?"
"No thanks," Zhou Yiheng said without even raising his head.
"I'll pack it for you. Is there anything you shouldn't eat?"
He was staring at the small English letters on the document, and answered casually, "No."
The door to the grocery store was closed from the outside, and the room was silent except for the sound of him typing. The warm yellow light shone down from above his head, and the brightness of the screen reflected his focused expression at the moment.
The chirping of insects that often appears in the summer evening can be heard outside the window, and the curtains are half-drawn, so no one can disturb the quietness in the house.
The door to the second-floor room opened. Yang Ye rubbed her sleepy eyes, slipped on her slippers, and stumbled down the stairs slowly and clumsily. Seeing Zhou Yiheng still sitting behind his computer proofreading documents, she paused briefly before continuing downstairs.
Yang Ye passed by and asked, "Haven't you left yet?"
"There are still a few things that haven't been sorted out." Zhou Yiheng looked up when he heard the voice.
I picked up the information they had placed on the table. It was what Liu Guoxing had sent me that morning. It seemed to be a copy of something. I couldn't find the electronic version, so there were only these previously classified materials.
Yang Ye flipped through a few pages casually. "Xiao Xiao told you how many days it would take to finish it?"
"One week," Zhou Yiheng replied.
"What day is it today?"
"on Monday"
"Why are you in such a hurry now when you won't need it until next Monday?" Yang Ye said, shifting his gaze and realizing the error in the sentence he had just typed. "You can't eat hot tofu in a hurry."
After pointing out the usage errors in that line of English words, she walked to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator door, and saw that it was filled with vegetables and fruits by Xiao Xiao. Yang Ye stood in front of the refrigerator but was a little confused. She couldn't think of what to eat, so she took a tomato closest to her and rinsed it briefly under the tap.
The sweet and sour juice burst in my mouth. I sat on the sofa, picked up the tablet that was still charging next to me with one hand, placed it on my thigh, slid my fingers across the screen, and casually scanned the numerous application icons with my eyes.
Zhou Yiheng awkwardly deleted those few words and slowed down his typing. Seeing the content that was full of loopholes and completely inconsistent with the information in his hand, his silent expression revealed a hint of frustration, and his gaze shifted from the screen to Yang Ye sitting on the sofa.
The room was eerily quiet. He sat in his office chair, feeling a tingling sensation on his back. After struggling for a moment, he took a deep breath and suddenly stood up as if he had made up his mind. The office chair made a squeaking noise behind him.
With stiff steps, Zhou Yiheng finally walked in front of Yang Ye, but he was speechless.
Seeing the shadow in front of him, Yang Ye looked up and asked, "What's wrong?"
The moment his eyes met hers, Zhou Yiheng hastily avoided her because he was shy or guilty, and only said timidly, "I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for?" Yang Ye was surprised.
"I'm sorry for dropping the porcelain vase you repaired."
"Did I do something wrong in this matter? Even if I did something wrong, then you are angry with me for no reason. Aren't you also innocent?" Xue Shangyang, wearing a navy blue military uniform, sat next to Yang Ye and said in a rogue manner.
"Xue Shangyang," Yang Ye angrily slapped his arm off his shoulder, turned to look at him and asked, "Is this your attitude to apologize?"
Xue Shangyang was stunned for a moment, then tried to argue, "Of course I came to apologize, but you refused to say even a word to me, so how could I know if you've calmed down?"
Yang Ye glared at him angrily, "If I don't say anything, it means I'm still angry."
"Just because you're willing to talk to me now, does that mean you've calmed down?" Xue Shangyang grinned playfully, as if his earlier sincerity and apology were misinterpreted by Yang Ye's dazzled eyes. The corners of his mouth curled up, revealing his handsome fangs, and he deliberately leaned in front of Yang Ye.
Yang Ye couldn't stand the way he was playing dirty. A normally serious man suddenly looked silly. The argument wasn't a big deal, but he'd been fuming for half the afternoon. Actually, Yang Ye's anger had subsided before he came in. He just saw how he wanted to apologize but couldn't help but make excuses for himself, acting like a scoundrel even when he wasn't.
Yang Ye was furious, "You are making excuses."
Xue Shangyang laughed, "I rely on my ability to make excuses"
She moved the tablet to her side, and Yang Ye sat there quietly, looking at the man in front of him who was a little at a loss because of nervousness, and seeing his ignorant expression.
He rubbed his hands constantly, his thumbs sliding back and forth in his palms, his eyes avoiding, with a look of embarrassment in them.
Yang Ye nodded, lowered his head and chuckled, saying in a gentle tone, "Just be careful next time."
*
After finishing typing the last piece of information, Xiao Xiao pushed back his office chair, stood up and stretched.
The work of the past few days had taken a lot of effort from her. She spread her palms and moved her wrists back and forth. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. The stiff muscles in her body seemed to finally relax at this moment. She shook her neck, and the bones in her sore neck made a cracking sound.
Patting his shoulders, she walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and opened the curtains. The sunlight from the yard shone into the house. The warm sunlight fell on her face, dispelling the chill that had covered her body after hiding in the air-conditioned room for a long time, and brought a long-lost warmth.
In a flash, she was lying on the sofa again.
With her legs bent and her body curled up, she slumped over to the sofa and pulled over the thin blanket that lay on the edge. Her movements were smooth and seamless, as if she had done this many times before.
Zhou Yiheng finished tidying up almost an hour later than Xiao Xiao. After he finished, he stood up and went to the kitchen to get a cup of warm water. When he came out, he saw Xiao Xiao watching a new TV series on her tablet with great interest.
After drinking a few sips of water, he stood by his seat, glancing at the second floor from time to time. Yang Ye had not been to the grocery store for several days and didn't know where he had gone. He wanted to ask Xiao Xiao, but he had been too busy with work in the past few days and he couldn't find a suitable opportunity.
After a while of confusion in his mind, he heard Xiao Xiao's excited laughter from the sofa. He walked to the sofa, put down the glass he had finished drinking, and said, "Sister Xiao Xiao..."
"I told you not to call me sister anymore," Xiao Xiao said without raising her head. "What's wrong?"
"Where's the boss been lately?" Zhou Yiheng asked. His voice was much softer than when he'd called out to someone earlier.
When the TV series was at its climax, Xiao Xiao didn't pay much attention and said, "I went to the mountain."
"On the mountain?" Zhou Yiheng sat down on the sofa in surprise. "When will she come back?"
Xiao Xiao said: "It will probably take a week."
"She went to pray to God?"
"No, she went to clean up." Xiao Xiao paused the TV show, and after thinking about it, she felt that this was probably wrong. She sat up and said, "That temple is also hers. No, she seems to be helping others look after it."
Zhou Yiheng was increasingly confused. "Look, a temple?"
"The original abbot of the temple was her friend, and when he had something to do, he entrusted the temple to her."
Noticing the somewhat unnatural expression on his face, Xiao Xiao moved forward a few steps. She looked at Zhou Yiheng and asked, "Tell me the truth, did you make a mistake?"
Zhou Yi scratched his head, embarrassed to answer, "I see."
"You're such a coward, why don't you tell me what's going on? I might be able to help you."
"Just last time, when we were on site, I accidentally dropped the porcelain vase that the boss had just repaired, but I apologized to the boss two days ago and he didn't say anything."
"That's right," Xiao Xiao nodded. "With her temper, she has no desires or demands. As long as you don't make mistakes based on principle, she generally won't get angry."
"So she told me to be careful next time," Zhou Yiheng whispered to Xiao Xiao, "Sister Xiao Xiao, what kind of person is the boss?"
"Um……"
This question really stumped Xiao Xiao.
Yang Ye is a strange person, but I can't quite pinpoint what's so strange about her; it's like a fundamental contradiction. She's positive, yet uninterested in everyday things. And yet, if you were to call her negative, out of touch with modern society, she'd tell you a ton of recent news and gossip, things you might not even have had time to read.
She has the indifference of an elder towards reality, as well as the curiosity of a new life towards the future.
She seems to live in a parallel world that is the same as ours, but not too close. There is a nihilistic calm that is incompatible with reality, as well as a booming and surging tide in the most prosperous era.
"That might be, withdrawal." After thinking for a long time, Xiao Xiao finally figured out this summary.
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