E ⋆ Chapter 45

Yu Zhinian spent a night at the guest house in Xiping County town.

He didn't make a same-day trip like before. For one, he still wanted to consult some materials at the digital archives connected to Sanwen. For another, he wanted to wait for Attorney Li to notify him of the result of Yang Ke's court hearing.

This inheritance that Grandfather had given him was, for Yu Zhinian, less a pleasant surprise than a source of bewilderment.

He had little material desire, didn't need so much wealth, and didn't want to be drawn into the disputes it might trigger. And the past between Yang Zhongyun and his grandmother only added another layer of heavy burden on top of his bewilderment.

Just thinking that Yang Ke had to appear in court again over this made Yu Zhinian's heart fill with worry. He was very clear that Yang Ke was actually the person least willing to have anything to do with Yang Zhongyun's will. He was both anxious about Yang Ke facing questioning in court and afraid that Yang Ke's company would be affected.

Although the reason behind this lawsuit always left Yu Zhinian feeling emotionally complicated.

Attorney Li told Yu Zhinian that he was very confident about this lawsuit.

Although the shareholders had submitted many pieces of evidence, desperately trying to prove that after the shares were transferred to Yu Zhinian, Yang Ke might cause damage to the company, which would in turn affect the local factories and stability, hoping the court would issue a restraining order to prohibit the trust's implementation under the pretext of protecting the company and then change the trust's board members, according to Li Lu's judgment, their hopes would largely come to nothing.

Based on similar cases in the past, as long as Yang Ke didn't make any major mistakes in court, the court should still be inclined to uphold the original trust conditions.

He said that after the court hearing ended, he would send a message immediately to let Yu Zhinian know. Yu Zhinian didn't want to miss it because he couldn't get a signal in Dangzhuang.

Starting from noon when he arrived in the county town, the rain in Xiping grew heavier and heavier.

During the daytime when Yu Zhinian ran around the county town looking for a signal to call Yang Ke, there were brief moments when the rain let up. But by evening, the sound of rain was accompanied by crashing thunder, ceaselessly pounding against the guest house windows.

Yu Zhinian stood by the window watching the rain. The sky hadn't completely darkened yet, and outside the window was a dark blue expanse. There were few pedestrians on the road. In the rain and mist, across the street, some pale yellow lights from residential buildings glowed, forming sparse, warm halos of light.

Yu Zhinian stared blankly for a while, then went to sit at the desk, opened his laptop, and plugged in the guest house's internet cable.

He spread out his field notes notebook beside the computer. While converting the paper manuscript into electronic form, he also sent emails to Shao Xilin to chat, sharing some of his reflections from time spent in the field.

The room had some dampness from the rainy season. The air conditioning wasn't very strong, and the room temperature stayed around twenty-five or twenty-six degrees.

Yang Ke would appear in court in He City at one in the afternoon. In Xiping, it was already past midnight. Yu Zhinian finished typing up his notes, sent a copy to Shao Xilin asking for some suggestions, and then lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.

Because his mind was occupied with things, Yu Zhinian kept waking and sleeping. In his drowsiness, he reached up to touch the ring of Yang Ke's that he had been wearing around his neck for half a month, feeling both embarrassed and unable to believe it.

A little after six in the morning, his phone rang. He fumbled to grab it from the nightstand and bring it before his eyes. Attorney Li had sent him a message: "The hearing went very smoothly."

Then another new message came in, from Yang Ke: "The hearing went smoothly, don't worry."

The sky was getting a bit lighter. The curtains weren't drawn properly, and the room was gray. Yu Zhinian lay with his back to the window, not fully awake yet. He thought for a moment, then replied "Thank you" to Attorney Li and "Okay" to Yang Ke.

Yang Ke called him right away.

"Why are you awake," Yang Ke asked him. The background on his end was somewhat noisy. Yu Zhinian seemed to hear someone speaking angrily, but Yang Ke's voice was very calm.

Yu Zhinian held the phone and thought to himself that it was because he hadn't turned on the phone's silent mode and woke up hearing the notification sound. But because he was very tired, the two sentences circled around in his head and never came out.

Yang Ke waited a moment, then asked him again: "Didn't sleep well? Or couldn't fall asleep?"

"I fell asleep," Yu Zhinian said vaguely.

He really treasured the chance to talk on the phone with Yang Ke, so he forced himself to sit up, holding the phone and shaking his head a little to clear it somewhat. He confirmed with Yang Ke: "Was everything really smooth today?"

"Yeah," Yang Ke said, "no problems."

"Then shouldn't you go celebrate or something," Yu Zhinian said.

"Celebrate with who," Yang Ke's voice carried a not-very-obvious hint of laughter as he said, "I need to go back to the company. There's still work."

Yu Zhinian said "ah." Yang Ke asked him: "You'll head back to Dangzhuang during the day?"

"This afternoon," Yu Zhinian said, "once the rain gets a bit lighter."

Yang Ke was silent for a moment, then said "okay."

He seemed to have gotten into a car. The surroundings quieted down, and suddenly he switched to a video call with Yu Zhinian. Yu Zhinian hesitated, then answered somewhat nervously. The phone signal wasn't great. Yu Zhinian's phone lagged for a moment before the image appeared frame by frame.

Yu Zhinian's camera was front-facing, showing himself. Yang Ke's was rear-facing, showing the steering wheel.

The sound came through without too much interference. Yu Zhinian wasn't very satisfied with Yang Ke's camera angle, and before he could muster the courage to complain, he heard Yang Ke evaluate him: "Your hair's covering your eyes."

"I was sleeping, after all," Yu Zhinian said, pushing his hair back to defend himself, "and I haven't had it cut in a long time."

"I didn't sleep badly either," Yu Zhinian told him, "just not very deeply."

"And there's thunder and rain outside," Yu Zhinian said, "the thunder was really loud in the middle of the night, very noisy."

Yu Zhinian's T-shirt had been washed many times. The neckline was a bit loose. When he slept on his side, the collar fell to one side, and the other side pressed against him uncomfortably. So he reached over to pull it straight, casually glanced at the screen, and felt that Yang Ke's end was too quiet. He asked offhandedly: "Why aren't you saying anything?"

Yang Ke paused for a few seconds, then suddenly said "Yu Zhinian." His voice was very low as he told him: "You're so fair."

Yu Zhinian was stunned. He looked at the screen, his face warming up, and fell silent. After a while, Yang Ke told him that he would be coming back to the country on a business trip in September. Yu Zhinian almost didn't catch what he said.

The phone call stayed connected until Yang Ke got back to the company before hanging up.

Yu Zhinian couldn't fall back asleep. He sat in a daze in the room for a long time before gathering his things, taking an umbrella, and thinking of going to the archives room in the government building diagonally across the street.

The entrance to the guest house was a bus stop. Yu Zhinian walked out the front door and stood under the eaves, discovering that the rain was much heavier than he had imagined.

The driver of the bus heading to Sanwen was still waiting for passengers to board. He came to the doorway to smoke a cigarette.

He was also a relative of Mei Qi's and knew Yu Zhinian. He struck up a conversation: "Teacher Yu, when did you come out of Dangzhuang?"

"I came yesterday," Yu Zhinian said, "and was planning to go back today."

"Ah, Teacher Yu, you don't know yet," the driver said with a start, immediately telling him, "the road to Dangzhuang had a landslide last night. You definitely can't go back today. Based on how things usually go, it'll take at least four or five days before vehicles can get through."

Yu Zhinian froze in place.

The driver tapped the ash from his cigarette and added: "Today is also the last trip I'm making to Sanwen. The weather forecast says the rain will get even heavier tomorrow, so our transit company is suspending service."

Yu Zhinian paused for a few minutes. A thought formed in his mind that made him both flustered and unable to stop. He asked the driver, very hesitantly: "Master, what time are you leaving to go back to Sanwen?"

The driver checked his watch: "About another half hour."

Yu Zhinian put away his umbrella, went upstairs to tidy up his things, called Mei Qi, picked up his luggage bag, and got on the bus heading back to Sanwen.

The rain was very heavy. The bus windows were almost completely obscured by rainwater. He could only see the green of the mountain forests outside. The driver drove carefully, and this trip back to Sanwen took a full twice as long as usual.

As they were approaching Sanwen, he received a good night message from Yang Ke.

The shuttle bus between Xiping and Sanwen had a stop at Sanwen train station. Yu Zhinian got off the bus and went to buy a ticket for the nearest train. He bought the last remaining seat ticket and felt like he was very lucky. On the train, he sat restlessly and bought a plane ticket departing at midnight for He City.

When he saw the ticket confirmation text message arrive on his phone, Yu Zhinian became distracted, his heart racing fast. He didn't know if he was making a terrible mistake.

Just like with the matter of taking the initiative, Yu Zhinian had always carried a fear. Even though he knew Yang Ke probably wanted to see him too, he was still afraid that he might actually be reading too much into things, or doing something unnecessary.

Two hours later, he arrived at the nearest city with international flights, took a taxi to the airport, and checked in and passed through security.

After living in Dangzhuang for several months, Yu Zhinian felt he was no longer accustomed to modern facilities and places. He felt out of place amid the airport and the busy crowds of people coming and going. He bought a cup of coffee and sat in the departure lounge, looking out at the night sky through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

It wasn't raining at the airport. The plane boarded on time.

Yu Zhinian lined up and walked into the cabin, put his luggage bag in the overhead bin, sat down in his seat, took out his phone, and looked at the good night message Yang Ke had sent him a few hours earlier. He was still very hesitant, but he gathered his courage and typed in the message box: the road to Dangzhuang was cut off, it would take several days to repair, so he wanted to come back to He City for a bit. He also sent his flight number.

He thought Yang Ke was sleeping and would see it when he woke up. He was about to turn off his phone when, the next second, Yang Ke called.

"Why aren't you asleep," Yu Zhinian said, feeling very guilty, speaking first.

"…" Yang Ke didn't say anything. Yu Zhinian spoke again: "I'm turning off my phone now."

"Yu Zhinian." Yang Ke's voice was very low and hoarse, sounding like he had just been sleeping and been woken up by Yu Zhinian's message.

"I really am turning off my phone now," Yu Zhinian tried to cut the conversation short, so he emphasized, "you go back to sleep."

Yang Ke paused for a few seconds, then said "Yu Zhinian," like he had no choice, and told him: "How am I supposed to sleep like this?"