Chapter 49
The next afternoon, Xiaoxiao knocked on Yang Ye's door.
Yang Ye got up from the bed in a daze, rubbing her still swollen head. She leaned against the door, her eyes dazed and blurry.
She was wearing a loose nightgown and her hair was scattered on her shoulders.
"How did you sleep?" Xiao Xiao asked.
"It's okay," Yang Ye said, and walked inside on his own.
"Professor Li asked me to call you for dinner." Xiao Xiao walked into the room and closed the door.
She sat on Yang Ye's bed, her eyes scanning the room. A few open books lay at the head of the bed, and a few pieces of clothing were scattered on the floor at the foot of the bed. The curtains were drawn, and sunlight filtered through the half-open window, casting a gentle afternoon sun over the room.
Yang Ye hid back under the quilt. She closed her eyes and asked in a muffled voice, "What time is it?"
It’s past three in the afternoon.” Xiao Xiao glanced at the time on her phone and spoke calmly.
"Yeah," Yang Ye responded. She opened her eyes and her mind seemed to clear up a little. "Have you been out?"
Her eyes fell on Xiao Xiao's dress.
Xiao Xiao nodded. "I took a walk around here this morning and wanted to call you, but Zhou Yiheng said you felt a little uncomfortable when you were riding in the car yesterday, so I decided to let you rest in the room. What's wrong? Are you carsick?"
"Nothing." Yang Ye turned over, her back to Xiao Xiao, and her voice sounded a little vague. "Maybe I haven't been in a car for too long, and I'm a little tired."
"When I woke up in the morning, I heard some noises in your room. How come you weren't asleep yet?" Xiao Xiao asked when he saw her curled up back.
They didn't close the windows properly before going to bed, and the rooms on their side were close to the intersection. Xiao Xiao was woken up by the car horns in the morning. When she got up to close the windows, she heard the sound of a TV coming from the room next door.
The person who lives next door to her is Yang Ye.
Xiao Xiao asked: "What time did you go to bed?"
Yang Ye raised his eyelids heavily, then closed them again, mumbling vaguely, "I don't know."
She really forgot the exact time, but she only remembered that when she lay down, the sky had become slightly brighter, that kind of gray-green and hazy light, and the sky outside the window was no longer pure black.
The room fell silent again, broken only by the occasional car horn outside the window.
Xiao Xiao stared at the bulge in the quilt, rising and falling slowly with her breathing. After a moment, she stood up, walked to the window, and pulled the remaining curtains completely open. Sunlight flooded the room. Yang Ye turned over in the sudden brightness, squinting out the window. Green-yellow sycamore leaves swayed in the wind, and in the distance, a clear blue sky stretched so clear that the outlines of clouds could almost be seen.
"Don't sleep anymore. If you continue sleeping, you won't be able to sleep at night." Xiao Xiao walked to the end of the bed and pulled the quilt that she was wrapped tightly with. "Get up and clean up. Professor Li is calling us to have dinner."
Yang Ye wrapped the quilt tighter, and a muffled voice came out from inside, "I'm not hungry, you guys go ahead."
"No," Xiao Xiao pulled up a corner of the quilt, "Professor Li said that an important guest will come tonight and asked us to go, especially you."
Yang Ye sat up, her hair draped over her shoulders in a mess. She scratched it twice and said, "What kind of guest is this? Why do you have to be here?"
"I don't know. Professor Li didn't say anything either." Xiao Xiao shrugged. "But from his tone, that person seems quite important."
When Yang Ye got up from the bed, she was still a little shaky, with a hint of sleepiness. She lowered her head and tugged at her wrinkled pajamas. She looked up and saw Xiao Xiao's exquisite and neat outfit. "Wait for me, I'll go change my clothes."
"Yeah," Xiao Xiao nodded, and walked to the single-seater sofa beside the bed and sat down. There was a denim jacket on the armrest of the sofa, which she folded and put aside. On the coffee table in front of her were several professional psychology books. The top one was "Neural Mechanisms of Consciousness and Cognition". The thick cover of the book was a little cracked, and it was obvious that she had flipped through it many times. Xiao Xiao picked it up, and a few yellowed notes slipped out of the book. The paper was densely covered with notes, and Xiao Xiao's eyes were attracted by these notes.
'The role of the hippocampus in memory reconstruction is'
'The hippocampus contacts the prefrontal cortex to reactivate scattered neural traces, a process that is inevitably accompanied by the loss or distortion of relevant information'
The more Xiao Xiao looked, the tighter her brows furrowed.
Yang Ye quickly changed his clothes into a simple white T-shirt and jeans. His hair was tied into a loose ponytail, with a few strands of wet hair still sticking to the back of his neck.
Xiao Xiao put down the book.
Yang Ye squatted in front of the suitcase. She took out a thick sweatshirt jacket from it and also took out the white down jacket in the compression bag at the bottom of the suitcase for comparison.
"A hoodie is enough. It's quite hot outside today," Xiao Xiao reminded.
Yang Ye thought about it and put the sweater jacket back, "I have somewhere to go tonight."
"I'll go with you," Xiao Xiao said, and got up to go back to her room to change clothes.
"No need," Yang Ye turned around and called her from his squatting position, his tone calm, "It's just something that happened before, I can go alone."
"You really don't need me to accompany you?" Xiao Xiao asked her again.
Yang Ye looked up, smiled and said, "No, I'll be back soon."
Xiao Xiao stared at her for a few seconds and nodded, "Then be careful. Call me if you have any problems."
Yang Ye stood up, her down jacket draped over her arm, a slight smile on her lips. She took the phone and bag from the table and said to Xiao Xiao, "Got it, let's go."
The hotel corridor was covered with a thick layer of sound-absorbing carpet. It was soft and cushiony, and no footsteps could be heard. Xiao Xiao glanced at Yang Ye and hesitated before speaking. "Boss, have you been worried about something lately?"
Yang Ye's footsteps paused slightly, and she continued walking forward and pressed the down button of the elevator. "No, why are you asking?"
The elevator reached the floor and Xiao Xiao followed her into the elevator.
Looking at the jumping floor numbers, Xiao Xiao said, "I always feel that you have been acting strangely recently, very different from before, especially after knowing that we are coming to Beijing. Boss, do you not want to come back?"
Yang Ye smiled lightly, "Why wouldn't I want to come back? It's just that I've been having nightmares lately and haven't been able to sleep well."
"Nightmare, what kind of nightmare"
Yang Ye shook his head. "They were all just messed up dreams. I forgot them as soon as I woke up."
Xiao Xiao looked at her, and the feeling of unease in her heart became stronger. She knew Yang Ye too well. After spending so many years together, she was almost familiar with the meaning behind every micro-expression of Yang Ye. The more understated he was, the more it showed her deep anxiety. She didn't ask any more questions, but just gently patted Yang Ye's shoulder and said, "If there is anything I can help you with, remember to tell me."
The elevator stopped smoothly on the first floor, and the stainless steel doors slid open to both sides. The wind from the central heater in the hotel lobby was wrapped in a faint aromatherapy scent, and a warm feeling came over them.
"Yeah, I know." Yang Ye nodded and smiled.
In the rest area on the other side of the hall, Li Cheng was sitting with his legs crossed, looking at his phone, and Zhou Yiheng was almost sinking into the lazy sofa. The sunlight filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting spots of different shapes on them.
Seeing them coming, Li Cheng put away his phone and kicked Zhou Yiheng who was almost asleep when he got up. "You're here, let's go."
Pushing open the hotel's revolving door, the winter wind in Beijing carried a comforting warmth that was both dry and tender. The yellow light at the intersection flickered to red, and traffic slowed to a crawl. The taxi driver rolled down his window, his arm resting on the window frame, smoking intermittently as he waited for the red light to pass. The wind stirred a few dead leaves from the ground. Zhou Yi walked alongside, occasionally turning back to chat with them, his tone relaxed. Li Cheng, walking at the end, would occasionally join in the conversation.
A bus pulled into the station, a puff of white mist emanating from its exhaust pipe. A group of students, freshly discharged from school, emerged from the subway entrance. The warm, stagnant air in the corridor carried the stagnant smell of rust. The people waiting on the platform tacitly maintained a perfectly balanced distance.
The train pulls into the platform.
After getting off at Dongsi Station and walking through the alleys for over half an hour, he turned a corner and saw an unassuming wooden door with a black sign with gold lettering on the lintel. Li Cheng pushed the door open, and the old wooden latch creaked.
There are dark wooden floors, a landscape painting several meters wide hanging on the wall, and a copper incense burner in the front hall, with light smoke rising from it.
A waitress in an indigo cheongsam came over, the white jade hairpin in her hair swaying with her movements. She was holding a tea tray in her hands. "Do you have a reservation?"
"Box 3A," said Li Cheng.
"This way please," said the waiter.
The waiter led them through the Datang Hall and pushed open the door of the private room with bamboo curtains. The light in the room was soft, and the fragrance of sandalwood mixed with tea slowly flowed in the air.
Several rice paper lanterns hung in the air. On a dark brown solid wood round table, a blue and white porcelain vase sat in the center of a round plate, holding a few plum blossoms, just delivered that morning. The ink-and-wash orchid painting on the wall, upon closer inspection, seemed to be by the same artist as the one in the lobby. The brushstrokes were delicate, and the ink smudges were just the right amount.
A man sat in a windowchair, looking down at his phone. He wore a dark gray, Chinese-style jacket with a stand-up collar. The cuffs were delicately embroidered with gold and silver thread, a circular pattern that was barely visible under the light. He looked up at the sound of the door opening. A few subtle wrinkles at the corners of his eyes made his almond-shaped eyes appear even brighter.
He placed his phone on the small-leaf red sandalwood table next to him. As he stood up, he adjusted the agarwood string on his wrist. He had polished the brown beads until they were shiny. "Here you are! Were you stuck in traffic?"
"No, we came here by subway." Li Cheng took off his coat and hung it on the coat rack, looking around. "You must have renovated this place again. I walked around outside twice and didn't recognize it."
Chen Yuan smiled and poured a cup of tea for everyone who came in. The amber tea soup swayed gently in the white porcelain cup. "It's just a new facade, but the inside is still the same."
Li Cheng turned around and said to the three people behind him: "Come, come, let me introduce you. This is Chen Yuan, my old friend and the owner of this hotel."
Chen Yuan nodded calmly and said in a gentle voice, "Please sit down, everyone. Lao Zhang sent me some chicken mushrooms and Xuanwei ham from Yunnan a few days ago. I asked the kitchen to stew ham and bamboo fungus soup today. Let's try it later."
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