48 Chapter Forty-Seven
◎The password is your birthday. ◎
Summer nights in Xiaohua City possess a Zen-like tranquility. Soft moonlight filters through Chuanming Street, flowing across the bluestone pavement. Birds flutter and fly, brushing against the treetops in the distance, while small boats still rest on the dock, ready to journey to distant lands.
When they were little, Li Yingqiao lived at one end of Chuanming Street, and Yu Jinyang lived at the other end. Every day, she would squat in front of the shop, watching the sun rise over the eastern mountains in the morning and watching all sorts of adults hurrying off to work on their bicycles. In the evening, she would watch the red sun set in the west and watch the adults rush home, dusty and tired, to cook dinner.
Back then, she always wanted to ask Li Shuli why the sun had to set; wouldn't it be better if it kept shining on everyone? She thought that when it got dark, many bad people would come out. But she never imagined that people could never truly empathize with their past selves. Now, if Li Yingqiao wanted to do something bad, she could only wait until it got dark.
For adults, brewing tea is like an elderly person brewing tea. The water temperature must be just right, and there are specific techniques for maintaining a distance of several centimeters between the water and the gaiwan when pouring. The brewing time is also crucial; if it's brewed for too long, the tea loses its freshness, and if it's brewed for too short a time, it becomes too astringent.
Yu Jinyang's marriage advertisement on Fengtan TV was something she had actually seen in Beijing. At that time, she was planning to resign and sign a betting agreement with Zhang Zongxie. Zhang Zongxie thought she was crazy, and that everything would be fine once the public outcry died down.
Li Yingqiao found it ironic. How could things possibly get better when the driver was dead! Their so-called solution was to trick the driver's deaf-mute daughter into signing a compensation agreement riddled with sinkholes in order to protect the company's reputation.
When the girl found her with the agreement, Li Yingqiao was trembling after reading it. She asked her why she had signed it, but the girl just calmly gestured in sign language: "They said that if I don't sign, I won't be able to get my father's ashes."
That same evening, Li Yingqiao flew directly back to Beijing. Upon landing, she went straight to headquarters. As soon as the elevator doors opened, she pushed open the office door of Vice President Zhang Zongxie without any regard for his feelings, demanding that he release all the surveillance footage and provide a detailed explanation to the public.
Zhang Zongxie seemed to have anticipated that this day would come sooner or later, and calmly looked at the woman at the door without any surprise.
Zhang Zongxie reminded her, "Do you even remember your job title? You're the head of Convey's brand department, not a CCTV news reporter. Besides, even if it's made public, it won't do you any good. Do you think no one's waiting to see you fail?"
Li Yingqiao was actually scared, after all, Rainbow Youli was all her hard work. But she still wouldn't allow herself to show any cowardice in front of him, and forced herself to say to him, "It's okay, I can start over."
Zhang Zongxie sneered, "Li Yingqiao, have you forgotten? What is the premise for all the resources, hotels, and KOL matrix you have? Is it your personal value? Or the personal value that the group has given you? The success of Rainbow Youli is unrepeatable. First of all, it is backed by a major tourist province, and the surrounding facilities are complete. In fact, you and I both know that if Rainbow Youli were in our Fengtan, you would not have succeeded."
"OK, then I'll resign."
Zhang Zongxie laughed when he heard this. Looking at her, he thought she looked like a spoiled little girl: "I won't approve it. Your resignation will affect the stability of the company's employees. First of all, I trust you 100%, but you don't trust me 100%. Submitting your resignation now is embarrassing me in front of the board of directors. You don't dare to vent your temper on the higher-ups, so you can only vent it on me. But I'm actually quite happy about it. This at least proves that I'm different from others in your heart. I'll give you a few days off to calm down, and then we'll talk."
That same night, while drinking at Hu Wen's house, Li Yingqiao switched channels to Fengtan TV and saw Yu Jinyang's marriage advertisement. She vaguely thought that a person can die with sharp edges, but should never live unrecognizable.
Fortunately, she hasn't completely changed. She's become a bit wicked now, lowering her standards again and again. If Yu Jinyang knew that she was the self-serving Li Yingqiao outside, he would be just as disappointed in her as Liang Mei. But she still wants to go back and tease him. If she manages to sleep with him, it wouldn't be a loss.
***
The scenic area's staff dormitory is located at the end of Chuanming Street, right across from Yu Jinyang's former house. Li Yingqiao, who lived at one end of the street as a child, wasn't familiar with the layout of the other end and only discovered this long after moving in. The scenic area's dormitory was right across from Yu Jinyang's house.
The entire street was converted from street-facing shops. Yu Renjie had made too much money back then and didn't care about the small amount of money in the scenic area. It was one of the few places on Chuanming Street that was not converted into shops. It was still a complete self-built small building. From the outside, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but the interior was decorated in an exceptionally luxurious way.
Li Yingqiao didn't dare go in when she was little, but she peeked through the crack in the door a few times. Based on Gao Dian's exaggerated description, she learned that almost every room had a private bathroom. Li Yingqiao even asked curiously, "Why does every room need a bathroom? Can't a cat hold its pee?" Yu Jinyang was so angry that he ignored her for almost half a month.
The staff dormitory provided by Li Lianfeng was rather simple. The first floor was used as a shop, a cat shelter owned by a group of people born in the 2000s. The opening hours were also very flexible; today, it was closed all day. Li Yingqiao lived on the third floor, and the second floor housed another department manager from the scenic area.
As soon as Li Yingqiao entered, she turned on the light. Yu Jinyang stood at the door and watched her silently for a moment before entering.
"Sit wherever you like." Li Yingqiao pointed to the sofa in the middle of the living room, where a blanket was still lying messily, with a small piece of it lying on the carpet in the middle. On the coffee table was a computer with its screen lit up, a few books, and a cup of instant noodles.
Yu Jinyang lifted a corner of her blanket, clearing a small space on the sofa. He sat down anxiously, his eyes still unsure where to go, when Li Yingqiao swiftly placed a bottle of mineral water on the coffee table for him. Yu Jinyang thanked her, his gaze falling on the leftover instant noodle cup. He nodded, "Is this for dinner?"
Li Yingqiao lifted the blanket and sat cross-legged inside, lazily resting her elbows on the back of the sofa. She propped one cheek up with her hand and tilted her head to look at him, her expression as content as if she were looking at a world-famous painting. "Yeah. This is convenient, since I can't cook."
Yu Jinyang was somewhat surprised, glancing out of the corner of his eye at a whole box of opened instant noodles in the corner: "You eat this every night?"
"I've been busy lately," she said, her gaze still blatantly fixed on him.
"Even if you're busy, you can't just slack off like this. Don't you have a kitchen here? Can't you cook a couple of bowls of noodles?"
She still had her arms propped up, her gaze leisurely sweeping over him, then suddenly looked at him and laughed, teasingly asking, "So, young master, you know how?"
“Li Yingqiao,” Yu Jinyang didn’t laugh with her this time. Instead, he was serious, his face cold as he turned to look at her, his brows slightly furrowed. “I’m not joking with you. Eating instant noodles all the time is bad for your health. Haven’t you thought about your health? Are you willing to risk your life for work?”
Li Yingqiao had no idea what he was being serious about. She shifted her elbow forward, then suddenly reached out and pinched his cheek, not too hard, not too soft, and shook it off, feigning anger: "Yu Jinyang, do you want to get beaten up?"
If Ice Cream Cone knew that her brother was being treated like this by other women, she would definitely applaud and cheer. Of course, Li Yingqiao didn't know that. She just felt it was unnecessary to waste time discussing such meaningless issues, because her work would still be very busy, and she would still have endless meetings and social engagements.
Every day when I come back here, being able to fall asleep before midnight without taking sleeping pills is the most peaceful day I can have.
She only seeks stability now and doesn't dare to hope for happiness.
Yu Jinyang's face was being pulled by her. He instinctively tried to break free by turning his head, but she grabbed him from the other side. He couldn't dodge in time and was amused by her: "Be serious."
She then said, "I don't know that eating instant noodles is bad for my health? But I don't know how to make them myself, and you've definitely said that takeout is unhealthy. Besides, I've been socializing a lot lately, and drinking alcohol is even more harmful to my health than instant noodles. Why don't you make them for me? If you have a solution, you can ask the question. If you don't have a solution, what's the point of you just talking about it over and over again? It only increases my anxiety."
"..."
Li Yingqiao retorted verbatim to the words he had used to criticize her on the phone: "See, you have nothing to say either."
He was both amused and exasperated. Just like when they were kids, she was incredibly vengeful. He turned to look at her and asked, "What time do you usually get off work?"
"After the debriefing meeting, it's around six o'clock. Sometimes I have social engagements and don't get home until eleven or twelve."
He joked, "Does our little art town even need a post-mortem? The number of visitors a day is obvious enough."
Li Yingqiao glared at him: "Don't underestimate us, okay? We've become incredibly popular lately. Gao Dian and Pan Xiaoliang are practically local internet celebrities."
Yu Jinyang chuckled, "Yes, yes, I'll make it for you, okay?"
She propped her head up with her hand, somewhat surprised: "Really?"
He didn't look at her again, and lowered his head to say "Mmm". "I'll come over after I bring the ice cream cone home. If you don't mind, I can just come in. You can tell me the password and I'll make it in advance for you to come back. Otherwise, if I make it at six o'clock, I won't be able to eat dinner until after seven o'clock, which is too late."
Where is your studio?
"Oh, you actually remember I had a studio, which featured ape-like figures and girl group dances."
"..."
Yu Jinyang leaned back on the sofa and said with a smile, "I originally just wanted to make some toys that are suitable for her age. I just finished a batch and found a few factories to start production. I haven't had any inspiration lately, so I'm taking a break. By the way, what did you ask me to come up here to see?"
She blurted out, "Watch me dance. What do you think of this idea?"
Yu Jinyang leaned against her and glanced at her sideways: "...You might as well say you have a money tree that can dance."
She added, "Don't believe me? I really do."
Yu Jinyang clearly wasn't going to take her bait, and gave a sarcastic laugh.
Li Yingqiao then gestured with her chin to the coffee table, "Turn on the computer, the password is your birthday."
Yu Jinyang clearly didn't take it seriously. The computer was on his lap, and the cold light from the screen shone on his thin white T-shirt, vaguely outlining the lines of his abdomen. He was visibly tense, glancing at her with his fingers hovering over the keyboard, yet he hesitated to press any keys. "Is it fun to tease me?"
Li Yingqiao found teasing him increasingly amusing, and she gave him an encouraging look: "Why don't you try and see?"
Yu Jinyang wasn't going to fall for her trick. Once he actually tried it, she'd laugh and say, "You actually tried it?" He tossed the computer aside, about to coldly say, "Take it or leave it." But then he suddenly noticed that the numbers related to his birthday on the laptop's horizontal keyboard had faded from being pressed—clearly frequently used number keys.
He entered his birthday as if by some strange impulse, "click," password correct, redirected successfully.
Yu Jinyang suddenly turned to look at her, his gaze gradually deepening. Hmm? What do you mean, Li Yingqiao?
Li Yingqiao's expression shifted from a smug "Surprised? Look how much I care about you!" to a detailed, almost intimate explanation: "Do you know how serious account theft is these days? If all your passwords are the same, once one of them is stolen, all your associated accounts are insecure. Especially payment passwords. So I use my mom's, Liang Mei's, Zhu Xiaoliang's, Miao Jia's, Fang Yue's, and Gao Dian's passwords for my bank cards. I've tested them all. This month it's your turn to be on duty."
"..."
"Aren't you going to say it's an honor?"
"It's an honor." Yu Jinyang turned his gaze back to the computer, too lazy to argue with her; he'd never been able to outsmart her since they were kids. "What is this?"
"Can't read?"
Yu Jinyang slowly scrolled down, his gaze shifting from casual to serious and focused as he slid through the pages.
Li Yingqiao stopped laughing and teasing him. Although Yu Jinyang looked at the documents so intently that she couldn't take her eyes off him, she remembered how focused he used to be when he was studying, his eyelashes casting shadows on his eyelids.
In the past, whenever Li Yingqiao got tired of doing practice problems at Liang Mei's house, she would turn around and see him always looking like this, with a shadow as immovable as a mountain. She admired him quite a bit; how could someone be so focused on doing practice problems?
Li Yingqiao said seriously, "I used to work for a biotechnology company in Beijing, which was one of the domestic suppliers of prosthetic devices. I did market data maintenance for several prosthetic companies. I heard Gao Dian mention that Brother Siyi should be getting a prosthetic soon. This information should be helpful to you, but it cannot be distributed outside. You can look at it at my home."
After saying that, she took a business card from the book next to her and handed it to him. "This is a very niche medical device brand company. A few years ago, I helped them promote their products in China, but many people were deterred by the high cost. I've done a lot of market follow-ups, and this company has the highest user satisfaction rate."
"However, currently only first-tier cities still have medical institutions. I've compared them, and many large manufacturers' rehabilitation teams at the same price point aren't as meticulous as theirs, and their socket comfort is the highest. I think you should consider it. You know the vice president of this prosthetic device brand."
"who?"
Only after Yu Jinyang finished speaking did he realize that his throat had suddenly become tight and hoarse, like a hibernating animal suddenly awakened by a gentle breeze, still drowsy, yet with sunlight shining directly into his eyes, making it dry and unable to open his mouth, but his heart had already melted. After asking the question, he immediately thought of the few people they both knew in Beijing: "Was it Fang Yue?"
Li Yingqiao nodded emphatically and took a sip of water: "bingo! Yueyue is the best!"
"You two are both amazing." After saying that, Yu Jinyang leaned back on the sofa and remained silent for a long time. After a moment, he suddenly turned his head, his heavy gaze like that of a camphor tree after a storm, its branches reaching for the sky, its roots stretching deeper and deeper. He looked at her solemnly and said, "Thank you."
Li Yingqiao leaned forward slightly, the blanket slipping off her legs. She let it fall, then reached out and hooked her arms around his strong nape, slowly cupping his face in her hands: "Aren't you going to do something?"
His cheeks flushed involuntarily, and he was forced to look directly at her until their breaths mingled. Li Yingqiao's gaze slid down his eyes inch by inch, finally settling unequivocally on his lips.
His breath hitched slightly, and his gaze involuntarily fell on her lips. Her lips seemed wet, and Yu Jinyang only belatedly realized that she had just drunk from his bottle of water.
Unlike that night many years ago when only a single tangerine-colored streetlamp illuminated the scene, this time he could clearly see her face, clearly see her eyes. The moist curiosity in her eyes, and the forced composure, were all clearly visible to him. Her gaze, pounding uncontrollably, brushed against him inch by inch, almost with a touch of awkwardness.
[Author's Note]
Three hundred red envelopes~ I'll kneel for a day first, but I'll stand up again next time! (Fixing bugs)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com