Pharmaceutical Negotiator - Chapter 18

Waking up in the morning, it was barely six o’clock.

The sky was already bright; the rosy clouds of dawn had retreated, and the bright clouds in the east gathered more and more, then scattered again.

Perhaps it was from sleeping too much the day before, or perhaps from the mild discomfort of sharing a bed with Sister Si Tan while soberly aware, Qi An woke up a little earlier than usual.

Zhang Si Tan had also just woken up. After a night’s sleep, she still felt weary, making one want to linger in bed. With an extra human pillow to lean against, Zhang Si Tan followed her body’s instinct and subtly snuggled closer to Qi An, her hair spread out on the side.

Feeling Zhang Si Tan’s closeness, Qi An froze for a moment, her body stiff.

“Did Luo Murong add you?”

“Not yet…”

Her voice, just woken up, was husky, but this time the rasp was more pronounced than usual. It was like a handful of gravel had been scattered in her throat, and her voice stumbled its way out over the grit.

In truth, Luo Murong had already accepted her friend request, but Qi An, for reasons she didn’t understand, suddenly lied.

She nervously grasped the edge of her pajamas, a natural feeling of guilt rising within her.

Zhang Si Tan nodded, showing no significant reaction.

Every time before getting up, she would deliberately press her back harder against the headboard, feeling the supportive force and enjoying this moment of full body relaxation.

Humans are creatures drawn to warmth; it’s an instinct to gravitate towards warm things. Therefore, lying in bed is a human instinct.

Zhang Si Tan was good at disciplining her instincts. She knew that indulging in temporary softness versus going for a vigorous, sweat-inducing run, the latter would better ensure she felt energetic for the day.

But today, she lingered in the warmth of the covers more than usual. Although they each had their own duvet, warmth was transmissible, and their combined body heat made the space beneath the covers a little warmer.

Zhang Si Tan covered her entire body with the blanket. The air conditioner had automatically shut off in the latter half of the night, but the room still held an unshaken chill.

“Sister Si Tan, are you still going for a run?”

Sensing Zhang Si Tan’s silence, and with one corner of her shoulder still being lightly pressed by her, Qi An didn’t dare move. She peeked out from under the covers and asked.

“Yes, I will.” Although she desperately wanted to snooze for a bit longer, she decided to pull herself out of this moment of comfort.

The ultraviolet rays were not strong at this time of day, yet they could still penetrate the skin. Zhang Si Tan applied nothing, running with bare arms along the neighborhood roads.

The buildings in this complex were quite tall, so the density wasn’t too high. Zhang Si Tan ran along the boundary lines, where two cars could still park side-by-side between the buildings.

But the shade on the ground was scarce. The sun illuminated the sweat beads with a crystalline sparkle. Her scalp felt slightly numb, and sweat soaked hair strands seemed to prickle against her head.

This was Zhang Si Tan’s favorite state. Although the sensation of sweat drenched hair tips was slightly uncomfortable, the feeling of her pores opening up and breathing freely made her feel alive.

Yes, alive.

People rarely feel truly alive. When her father, drunk, arbitrarily threw anything he could grab at her to vent his anger, or on that super gentle, super placidly lit night when her mother died, Zhang Si Tan felt her life slipping away.

She loved to run from a very young age and was often nominated by teachers to participate in sports meets. When sweat beads grew large and dropped down her cheeks, when teachers spoke her name and praised her for running fast, she would think, I’ve come back to life again.

Her mother’s surname was “Tan,” but the name “Si Tan” was not chosen to commemorate her mother. She had changed it herself as an adult.

The source of a family tragedy is often a volatile, incompetent, and arrogant father. If there is also a passive mother who stands by, the moments of dying will be even more frequent.

And so, Zhang Si Tan died in many moments.

The meaning of “Si Tan was not to miss her mother, but to think about how to live unlike her mother, who lived in numbness.

After running for a while, Zhang Si Tan switched to a brisk walk.

She pulled out her phone and transferred a portion of the salary she had just received the day before to an account.

The IP address of the account was Shaanxi. Her father lived in Shaanxi.

Summer was Zhang Si Tan’s only favorite season.

The sun was scorching, everything was bright and beautiful, and all things felt unobstructed.

Of course, the summer in Beijing was excessively hot. It wasn’t even August yet, and the city center felt like a rapidly expanding balloon, with falling air pressure and a searing temperature that left people feeling numb.

The air in the morning was slightly cooler, less oppressive. But the dust stirred up by car exhaust still felt stifling.

Zhang Si Tan stopped by the breakfast shop, quickly picked a few items, and headed back to her apartment building.

She had ordered Shaomai (steamed dumplings) two days in a row. As she walked into the shop, Zhang Si Tan thought she wouldn’t order it again, but when placing her order, she pointed to it anyway. Before she could react, the server had quickly packed it up.

Fortunately, she had ordered other items, so the meal wouldn’t be too cloying. The rice-wrapped wrapper felt like a plastic film; it was novel to chew at first, but after chewing for a while, it felt like biting into dead skin, tasting like chewing wax.

When she got home, Qi An was already out of bed and washing up in the bathroom.

Zhang Si Tan placed the breakfast on the coffee table and glanced into the bedroom. The duvet was already folded, but Qi An’s share was still on her bed, and the two pillows remained closely side by side.

The simple phrase, “Ask Qi An to take her quilt back to her own bedroom,” was on the tip of her tongue, but she hesitated for a moment. She had become independent early; while most children start sleeping apart from their parents around six or seven, she had slept alone for as long as she could remember.

The deficit of love made her somewhat cling to the warmth and comfort of last night. So, she swallowed the words she was about to say, deciding to leave the initiative to Qi An. If she wanted to go back, so be it; if she wanted to stay, that was fine too.

“Sister Si Tan.” Hearing the movement, Qi An poked her head out of the bathroom. She had a hair band on, keeping all the wispy hair off her forehead.

“Can I use your face cream?”

The voice traveled over from the bathroom. After the run, her body muscles felt slightly swollen, and her ear canals seemed elongated, making the sound feel distant.

“Go ahead.” Zhang Si Tan replied simply.

Since Qi An was using the bathroom, she couldn’t go in to shower, so she stood in the living room and repeated a set of stretches she had just done downstairs.

Granted permission, Qi An took a jar of white cream with English lettering from the shelf, twisted it open, and scooped some out.

Beijing was drier than Qingdao, so Qi An used a larger amount. The face cream she had brought from home was used up, and the new one was still on its way, so she had to borrow Sister Si Tan’s in the meantime.

The oily substance in her palm gave off a creamy fragrance. Qi An gently scooped a corner with her fingertip and smoothed it onto her face.

Zhang Si Tan’s face cream was more moisturizing than the one she usually used, and applying too much would look greasy. So, Qi An rubbed the rest onto her arms.

Just then, Zhang Si Tan also walked in and glanced at Qi An in the mirror.

Qi An was happy smelling the face cream, finding the fresh scent very comfortable. Since Zhang Si Tan also wore this cream on her face, the scent felt familiar.

She held up her arm and sniffed the scent on it, showing off to Zhang Si Tan, who had just walked in: “Sister Si Tan, I smell just as nice as you now, hey.”

Zhang Si Tan paused while reaching for something, looking at the silly expression of the person in the mirror.

“Finish up and come out to eat.” The hand reaching for the shelf retracted, and she walked out, only then remembering that she had gone in to get something.

Only after Qi An came out of the bathroom could Zhang Si Tan go in to shower. This was the only inconvenience of living together that she could think of at the moment.

She chose a small bottle of shower gel from the shelf, its body covered in dense letters. Zhang Si Tan could barely make out the word “cedar.” The top and base notes both contained the scent of cedar.

Cedar a word that easily evokes winter but doesn’t feel cold.

The white liquid slid across her skin and was quickly worked into a lather, scattering under the running water. The air carried the scent of burning wood in winter, a warm, pervasive aroma and the fleeting smell of wood chips.

Emerging from the bathroom, Zhang Si Tan tossed her wet hair back. Qi An sat quietly on the sofa; the breakfast on the coffee table remained untouched.

“Don’t wait for me, you can start eating.” Zhang Si Tan walked over and sat down.

“Let’s eat together.” Qi An showed a happy expression when she saw Zhang Si Tan come out and leaned closer to where she was sitting.

The heat from the shower had not completely dissipated from her body. Her wet hair had been wiped dry enough not to drip, hanging behind her head like a root about to sprout.

“Sister Si Tan, Luo Murong said he’s actually in Hainan right now.”

“Did he recognize you?”

“Mm.” Close enough to recognize, perhaps. Last night, they chatted, and Qi An mentioned she was the one who danced with him at the bar, but he had automatically skipped over that line and didn’t reply.

Qi An held her phone out for Zhang Si Tan to see, feeling a little anxious, afraid she might notice that Luo Murong had accepted the friend request last night, afraid she would see through her lie.

Fortunately, Zhang Si Tan didn’t scroll up, only looking at the message interface, which was paused on Luo Murong’s reply: “I’m in Hainan, can’t come back.”

“Drowning his sorrows in a bar the day before yesterday, and now he’s in Hainan? Such quick action?” Zhang Si Tan curled her lip, her face registering suspicion.

She replied using Qi An’s phone: “Hainan in July, Young Master Luo has such refined tastes.”

He quickly replied: “It’s not hot early in the morning or late at night, and you can avoid the crowds.” He then sent an emoji.

Zhang Si Tan composed her expression, not dwelling too much on why this rich playboy added Qi An and not her.

She cut straight to the point: “Our Medical Insurance Bureau still has many details to discuss concerning the cooperation with your company. When will Young Master Luo return from Hainan?”

“I’ll go back when I’ve had my fun.”

Zhang Si Tan rolled her eyes internally. She didn’t reply again, handed the phone back to Qi An, picked up a Shaomai from the table, and bit into it. It tasted like chewing wax, as expected.

Qi An quietly sat next to her, nibbling on a bun. Knowing that Zhang Si Tan had hit a wall, she carefully asked, “So, do we have to wait for him to return from Hainan?”

“No need to wait.” Zhang Si Tan took another bite. “This afternoon, you’ll come with me to see General Manager Liu from Qidong. We’ll talk to her.”

“Oh.”