Pharmaceutical Negotiator - Chapter 37

“Remember to turn off the power and close the doors and windows before you leave.” Zhang Sitan pulled the handle of her suitcase, her large black leather bag slung over her shoulder.

“Don’t run outside if it rains, don’t catch a cold.”

“Ask Li Hua more about the report. When presenting, use German for the parts in the document that are in German, and practice the pronunciation a few more times.”

“And…” Zhang Sitan wanted to give more instructions. Her suitcase stopped in front of her, and when she looked up, she met Qi An’s eyes.

The moist large eyes held a mix of struggle and reluctance. Her pure cotton home nightgown looked soft and neighborly.

Without that kiss, Zhang Sitan probably would have given her a hug openly. But now there was an indescribable layer of ambiguity between the two of them, a hint of orange pink glow spanning between them, creating a slight barrier.

Before falling asleep last night, Zhang Sitan wondered if she should chat with Qi An as if nothing happened, after all, she was leaving today. But when Qi An finished washing up and closed the bedroom door, Zhang Sitan deliberately slowed her breathing, pretending to be asleep.

She didn’t know why, but she felt like avoiding her a little.

It wasn’t fear. Zhang Sitan felt that she wanted to respond to that kiss that trembling, cool-tongued, passionately repressed kiss.

So she wanted to hide for a moment, to figure out whether her “wanting to respond” stemmed from her liking for Qi An, her desire for her, or simply because the atmosphere was right, just a physiological impulse.

She didn’t want to be irresponsible, didn’t want to start a relationship casually only to end it quickly. When Director Zhang suggested the business trip, the reason she agreed so quickly was partly because she wanted to be away from Qi An for a while, to cool down and clear her head.

Her original family was not happy. Her mother was often ill, frequently wallowing in self-pity, overwhelmed and not communicating much with her. Her father was an alcoholic, and when he went crazy, he would directly stab her with the needle tubes her mother used daily for medication.

Of course, there were many warm moments too. When she always got into the top three in her report cards, her mother would pick an immature little cucumber from the field for her to eat. When her father wasn’t drinking, he would diligently chop the firewood piled under the courtyard wall.

The contradictory Chinese family once held back her steps. It finally exploded completely after her father secretly changed the password for her college application form.

The further she flew away from that small village, dusty and filled with the smell of earth, the more afraid Zhang Sitan became of starting an intimate relationship.

In this city where the lights are on every night and the darkness is as bright as day, walking alone gave her a sense of security. With one more person accompanying her, she would become anxious and insecure, fearing that all the warmth was an illusion, fearing that one day everything would suddenly stop, just like the day her mother passed away, or the raised hand of her father when he went mad.

She couldn’t figure out herself, and she was afraid that Qi An couldn’t figure herself out either. What if she responded, and Qi An backed away?

“And,” Zhang Sitan picked up the conversation, a peculiar emotion in her eyes due to her earlier thoughts, “you can call me anytime, don’t waste time calculating the time difference.”

“Mm,” Qi An responded dully.

Seeing her low spirits, Zhang Sitan didn’t say anything more, pulled the suitcase, and walked toward the door.

As she passed the entryway, her eyes glanced at the octopus on the shoe cabinet. The orange crying face was still showing Qi An hadn’t flipped it back since she turned it over.

The octopus’s mouth curved downward, matching the glum face of Qi An beside it.

Zhang Sitan’s heart softened for a moment. She let go of the suitcase, steadied herself, and wrapped her arms around Qi An’s shoulders and neck.

The person in her arms was small and soft. Zhang Sitan pulled her closer to herself with a bit more force, feeling a solid reality.

The person in her embrace went from feeling sad to bewildered, and then to a face full of joy, eyes wide and shining: Sister Sitan hugged me on her own! She finally stopped avoiding me.

Just as she was about to hug back, Zhang Sitan already let go. Her slender fingers stroked Qi An’s head, tidying her slightly messy hair: “I’m leaving.”

In the office, Qi An was staring at the PowerPoint she had opened a long time ago, feeling constipated.

The seat across the desk was empty, and the items on the desk were also very sparse; she felt a little unaccustomed to it.

This morning, Qi An randomly bought a few soup dumplings downstairs to tide her over. The soup inside the dumplings was a bit scalding, and Qi An hopped while enduring the pain to suck it in, only then remembering that she should have blown on it once before eating.

Without Sister Sitan’s company, she was already annoyed by not being able to complete the report, and now she didn’t want to work even more. On the subway, when she heard the broadcast about the destructive power of “Segade,” Qi An wished the rain would start quickly, the heavier the better, so she wouldn’t have to come to work.

The sky grew thicker with clouds, and the wind intensified. The tree branches shook violently, hanging their heads in heavy silence.

But the rain still didn’t fall.

So Qi An could only sit honestly at her desk, continuing to worry over the computer.

She needed to draw a space-time diagram now. Li Hua had given her an example for reference.

Before seeing the example, she thought she could just quickly sketch something and write a note. After looking at the example, she realized that making a space time diagram was so complicated and detailed.

Li Hua told her to use Photoshop. Qi An gave a deathly smile and asked if she could just find a product area map from Senbao Pharmaceutical’s official website and process it with some photo-editing software.

From Li Hua’s stunned expression and the long-winded talk where only the words “infringement” were most prominent, Qi An knew her easy but perfunctory method was rejected.

She could only open Photoshop again, looking at the toolbar filled with densely packed buttons. Qi An then felt she should do the overview first, so she returned to PowerPoint.

Trying to do several things at once, the effect was predictable.

Finally, after Lu Youran called for a video chat, Qi An had an excuse and retreated to the stairwell.

Because of the rapid temperature drop due to “Segade” these past few days, the air conditioning in the office wasn’t turned on. Although the air was a bit stuffy, it wasn’t hot.

The stairwell was even cooler, and entering it suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable.

Lu Youran chattered on the phone about her recent situation, and then began to comfort Qi An, who had been abandoned by Zhang Sitan.

Qi An wore headphones and squatted quietly by the wall, listening. After squatting for a while, she stood up to stretch her legs.

By the time Lu Youran hung up, Qi An was thoroughly chilled by the coldness of the stairwell. Wearing a thin T-shirt, Qi An wrapped her arms around herself.

Even so, she didn’t want to go back to the office.

Enduring the coldness and discomfort, Qi An started to zone out in the stairwell.

The stairs were covered with marble tiles. Qi An counted, there were nine steps in total.

Staring at the nine steps, Qi An inexplicably thought about how diligent the cleaning staff were. This area was rarely visited, yet it was wiped spotless.

They say that if you want to know if a workplace is good, you must first look at the restroom. When Qi An first came here to work, she didn’t do much inspection; she just applied because Zhang Sitan was here.

Fortunately, the working environment here was very friendly. The restroom floor was always kept dry, and the sink was very bright.

Her thoughts drifted, and Qi An recalled that Sister Sitan once said that if she wanted to cry, she could come to the stairwell because it was soundproof.

It turned out that her resilience was quite good. Although there were times like now when she was slacking off, she had never wanted to cry because the tasks were too many or too heavy.

However, squatting here in solitude, in the empty little space, with the cold nine steps.

Her nose did feel a little sour.

But it wasn’t because of the annoying PPT, but because of the empty seat across her office desk.

It was because of missing her, because of the evasive relationship after that kiss, and because of the pitiful disappointment of wanting a little response but getting nothing.

But Sister Sitan hugged her on her own, Qi An’s rambling thoughts took a turn, and she started thinking positively again.

Sister Sitan definitely wasn’t angry; maybe she thought I was being a drunken fool.

Alas, silence, oh silence, silence is the Cambridge of tonight. Qi An muttered nonsensically to herself.

I already kissed her, thinking so much is useless. I should go and finish the report; I need to let Sister Sitan see my growth.

While trying to psyche herself up, Qi An opened the stairwell door, determined to return to the office and focus on work.

Before leaving work, Qi An received another WeChat message from Luo Murong, saying he wanted to treat her to dinner to thank her for pretending to be his girlfriend last time.

Qi An initially wanted to refuse, but then thinking that she would be alone at home anyway, she might as well go and grab a free meal, so she accepted Luo Murong’s invitation.

Grinding away at the PPT bit by bit in front of the computer, Qi An finally reached the end of the workday. She quickly clicked save and left the office without wanting to stay a moment longer.

Luo Murong was already downstairs outside the office building, driving his flashy Jeep, poking his head out of the car window.

Fearing he would honk again, Qi An quickly waved to show she saw him and ran toward the car.

As she got closer, she saw someone sitting in the passenger seat. Qi An didn’t stop, ran to the back seat, and opened the car door.

Just as she stepped in, Qi An saw the person in the passenger seat turn their head and greet her dramatically: “Hello!”

“Hello,” Qi An replied weakly, closing the car door.

Cola was sitting in the passenger seat, enthusiastically asking Qi An if she remembered her.

Qi An nodded, remembering the shocking incident that day. The class monitor had mentioned Cola’s child’s father was allegedly Luo Murong. Fearing her fake girlfriend identity would cause a misunderstanding, she quickly started explaining to Cola.

Before she could finish explaining, Cola laughed loudly: “Hahaha, I know. Luo Murong told me. You’re so cute, you shouldn’t be matched with Luo Murong anyway.”

“Ah. Haha…” Qi An let out a dry laugh. Cola’s expression was too exaggerated, and even though she was being called cute, it still felt strange.

“How is that Zhu Tengyu doing?” After the party that day, she had kissed Sister Sitan in a drunken daze, and her mind had been a blur ever since.

Seeing the two of them now, she was reminded of the horror of that day. Zhu Tengyu seemed to be possessed, mouth wide open, hands resting between his bare thighs, saliva constantly dripping, and his eyes crossed and slightly rolled back.

“He’s in, of course, he committed quite a few crimes,” Cola said. “The class monitor has quite a bit of evidence, plus the video recording from that day, it’s enough to keep him locked up for a while.”

“Do you know Zhu Yun? His dad.”

“I know Zhu Yun! He’s actually Zhu Tengyu’s father!”

“I saw the news a few days ago, it said Zhu Yun was suspected of bribery and inciting murder, and he has already been sentenced.”

“Yes,” Cola sighed. “There are deep secrets in this. Some people went in, and some people got promoted.”

“Oh,” Qi An nodded, sensing Cola was referring to the class monitor’s promotion.

She noticed Luo Murong hadn’t spoken the whole time. But to say he was focused on driving, he wasn’t, still cocking an ear to listen to their conversation.

“Are you two… together?” Qi An asked.

“How is that possible!” Cola exclaimed. “I’m not short of men, why would I be so desperate?”

“Our kid called me ‘Dad’ yesterday,” Luo Murong finally spoke, looking unwilling yet like a resigned punching bag.

“Shut up!” Cola roared at him.

Luo Murong indeed didn’t say anything more. Qi An secretly laughed to herself, no wonder Luo Murong was so well-behaved today, it turned out that every dog has its day (or rather, every person is subdued by another).

“The child is the child, I am me.” Cola’s statement sounded like a tongue twister.

“A child must have a father, otherwise they can’t be born. But I don’t have to have a husband, and a child doesn’t necessarily need a father during their growth. After all, some men are spoiled, expect to be waited on, and don’t contribute to raising the child at all, even becoming a burden.”

“It proves that I have enough ability to provide a rich life, both materially and mentally, for myself and my child. So why should I sacrifice myself to cater to others?”

“Besides,” saying this, Cola gave Luo Murong a meaningful look, “the mistakes made in youth are enough of a warning, and there’s no need for any compensation.”

Qi An looked at Cola’s confident assertion and remembered when Cola was sitting on the sofa that day, saying Luo Murong wasn’t good enough for Su Wei.

In fact, Luo Murong wasn’t good enough for Cola either, a man in his thirties who was still financially dependent (needing his family to reimburse him for buying a Jeep), irresponsible, and idle.

And Cola, although Qi An didn’t know what her job was, it was clear she was financially and intellectually independent.

She was several levels above Luo Murong.