The banquet was formal, but not very lavish.
I felt that the greatest characteristic of Wenbei Su was that everything was arranged reasonably.
He never showed off, but didn’t deliberately try to keep a low profile. Honestly, he was actually the kind of person I liked very much.
After being seated, everyone first introduced themselves to each other, and then had a toast together.
Most of the topics people talked about were still about work.
Instead, there was not much private communication between Wenbei Su and me, until the end of the banquet.
He offered to let the driver send me home, but I declined. It was because Xuanlong Jiang could drive. He did not drink and he had always been teetotal.
After I got in the car, Wenbei Su stood there and waving goodbye to me, saying see me at the office tomorrow.
He drank a little and his white face flushed, which made him more aristocratic.
His temperament always a gentleman.
Driving halfway, Leon called me.
But it was Alex who talked on the phone and asked me when I would be back. I didn’t know it either, and I told him, “Maybe two or three days.”
Talking with Alex for a while, I comforted him. Leon then picked up the phone, “You can come back tomorrow, can’t you?”
I said, “No, I’ve just got here today. This job hasn’t even started yet and how can I go back right away. That seems too strange.”
“We did have a deal. Don’t you remember?” Leon’s tone was low and cold.
“It was our deal, of course. But you didn’t tell me to go back so soon. And I’m here to perform, then I should have to really do something. If I go back without doing anything, how can I explain myself to others?”
“You don’t need to tell anybody. What you need is to tell me.” Leon said.
“This is a cooperation project between the two companies and I can’t just be responsible to you. Please give me some time to let me handle something here. Then I will just do as you say. And it’s also an opportunity to learn new things.”
“What do you need to learn? You can just learn anything directly from me. Is there any reason for you to stay in Yang City?” Leon’s tone became colder.
“What do you mean?”
“Nala, I warn you that you’d better do as I say. If you insist on not coming back, I’ll fire you.” He said.
Not wanting to mess with him or upset myself with his threats, I said, “Got it, I’ll make arrangements to come back as soon as I can.”
“Oh!” He was truly unhappy. Then he hung up the phone. It seemed that I really pissed him off. But I was not feeling good and didn’t know what to do.
By the time we got to the South Hotel, it was ten o’clock in the evening.
After taking a shower, I went to the bedroom. Watching the news for a while, I walked out to the yard.
The mansion was old, but when I went out, the prosperity of the city came to me—everywhere I looked at, there were tall buildings with flashing lights.
It’s an odd feeling, like I was traversing time. And what was stranger was that I felt at ease and comfortable without any unfamiliarity. I even had a peculiar attachment to it.
Checking everything around me, I felt something very complicated inwardly.
Thinking of having to work tomorrow, I went back and lay down. Not long after, I fell asleep.
Getting into a trance, I felt myself getting up, walking quite normally to the kitchen and starting to cook porridge. After it was cooked, I took it out and saw a man stand in the courtyard with a familiar back. It seemed like Leon.
I called his name, so he turned around, but I saw blood coming out of his two eyes.
I screamed and woke up instantly. It turned out to be a nightmare.
Then I couldn’t sleep again.
I was inexplicably sad, for what happened in the dream was very clear. As soon as I closed my eyes, I could see his bleeding eyes.
I picked up my phone and called Leon.
Before he answered the phone, I was even more sad. I was nervous, fearing that his phone would never be answered.
As for why this thought came to me, I couldn’t figure out. Maybe the sadness of the nightmare couldn’t vanish in a short time.
“Hello?” Leon answered the phone.
Before saying any words, I began to sob.
The huge, inexplicable grief suddenly came to me. Though I tried several times to speak, I still couldn’t.
I thought this was too much. It was just a nightmare, but I was with too much sadness, uncontrollable.
“Are you OK? What’s going on? Is everything alright?” I could feel Leon’s voice was a bit anxious.
“I’m good… Everything is fine…” Two sentences finally came out.
“If it’s okay, why are you crying? What the hell is going on?” Leon asked me again.
“It’s really not a big deal. It was just a dream, a dream about you.” I was finally able to control my emotions.
“Why do you cry when you dream about me? Did I scare you in my dream?”
“No, you got hurt in my dream and you looked horrible, so I couldn’t fall asleep and I felt sad. And then I call you. It’s okay. Just go to sleep. I’m hanging up.” I said in a gentle voice.
“Dummy, it’s not real. I won’t get hurt in reality. What are you sad about? Is it really just a dream and nothing else?”
“It’s really nothing, just a nightmare. Sorry to interrupt you.”
“Well, just go to sleep if everything is fine.” Leon’s voice sounded surprisingly gentle in the quiet night.
“Okay, bye.” I hung up the phone.
After hanging up the phone, I was much relieved. I closed my eyes again and that horrible scene didn’t appear. Soon I fell asleep.
The next morning, I got up, washed and went to work. Today was for the first official meeting between the two teams. Some issues needed to be discussed.
Before the meeting was over, a staff came in and told me someone was waiting for me.
I said, “I am in a meeting and tell him to wait for a second.”
But he said, “The man asked to see you right away and don’t want to wait.” Then the worker whispered, “Your husband is handsome, but too serious.”
My husband? Was Leon here?
Signaling others to continue the meeting, I walked out of the room. As expected, I saw him standing there waiting for me with his hands folded, just like a statue.
“What brings you here?” I was a little excited but also a little perturbed, for I was worried that as soon as he came, he would take me back to Yang City.
“You were crying so sad last night, and I came over to make sure if you were okay or not.” He finished, feeling it was too much to say so, and changed his attitude, “I’m mainly still coming over to see how the project is going and how you’re doing.”
“Let’s go over there and talk. It’s not good to stand here.” I whispered.
“Why is it not good to talk here? I’m talking to my wife and why should I afraid it’s a bad influence to others? Whoever said so, please stand out.” He said sternly.
“No one said so. It’s me. Come on, let’s go out and eat. You must be hungry since you come early in the morning.” I then took his arm.