Pharmaceutical Negotiator - Chapter 38

After dinner, the sky had gotten much darker. One of the signs before rain is a drop in temperature.

Qi An had an extra jacket with her and wrapped it around herself before getting out of the car.

She had really enjoyed the meal. Cola was a straightforward person, unreserved, tearing chunks of lamb chop from the platter and eating heartily. Seeing her like this, Qi An also let loose, eating until her face was glossy with oil, yet feeling completely satisfied.

In front of the residential complex gate, Cola reluctantly said goodbye. Even as the car drove away, Cola kept poking her head out of the car window, waving incessantly at Qi An.

Qi An smiled, standing at the entrance to swipe her face for entry, her belly round and full.

As the machine announced “Owner Verified,” the security guard uncle also poked his head out of the small window of the guardhouse and called out, “North Building 703!”

Qi An let out a little “ah.” Aside from picking up deliveries and takeout, this was the first time the uncle had greeted her.

An old man walked out of the guardhouse. Perhaps he wasn’t old, but his dark, severely calloused skin, white hair mixed in with a patchy, dog-chewed haircut, and a military-green vest that looked like a training uniform made him seem somewhat old.

He immediately darted out of the guardhouse when he heard the guard uncle call out “North Building 703.” But upon seeing Qi An, the light in his eyes dimmed slightly.

“Do you live in North Building 703?” he turned to ask the guard.

He asked the guard something, then looked back at Qi An, a bit timidly, inquiring, “Miss, are you the one living in North Building 703? Do you know someone named Zhang Sitan?”

Hearing the old man mention Zhang Sitan, Qi An couldn’t help but look at him again. The old man noticed Qi An’s scrutiny and introduced himself, “Oh, I’m Zhang Sitan’s Da Da (Dad), from Shaanxi. I didn’t realize she was sharing an apartment now. Is it convenient for me to go up?”

As soon as Qi An heard that the old man was Zhang Sitan’s father, despite his accent, his earnest effort to speak Mandarin seemed very sincere.

She quickly nodded that it was fine. Without even texting Zhang Sitan to verify, she went to help the old man with his luggage.

There wasn’t much luggage, just a large cloth sack. The opening was ajar, showing clothes inside. Summer clothes are light and don’t take up much space, so the sack wasn’t heavy when lifted.

The old man didn’t fight Qi An for the bag, happily following her and lecturing her about his daughter: “I was startled when I first saw you I thought this girl had moved. It’s late now, and I have nowhere to go, and I don’t have her phone number. Do you know how much a hotel in Beijing costs these days? It’s a waste of money.”

“Are you close with my girl? When will she be back?”

The old man was quite talkative, speaking in awkward Mandarin. After Qi An said she was Sister Sitan’s assistant, the timidness on his face also disappeared somewhat.

Qi An patiently answered the old man’s questions, letting him enter the elevator first when it arrived.

Since he was Sister Sitan’s father, he was her own father-in-law, and she had to take good care of him.

Father-in-law…

Once inside the apartment, the old man looked around: “It’s completely different from when I was here last time. You bought these pillows, huh? My girl is a boy, she shouldn’t buy things like this.”

Qi An smiled, following the old man’s gaze to look at the living room décor. It was indeed different from when she first arrived.

The “pillows” the old man mentioned were the throw pillows on the sofa. They were Qi An’s favorite shade of green, and one was shaped like a puppy with two large ears hanging down, which could be unfolded into a blanket.

Zhang Sitan never used unnecessary decorations; everything was minimalist. Thankfully the apartment was small, so it didn’t look too empty. Since Qi An moved in, she had gradually added many items: photo frames, wall hangings, a wooden fish for striking, and colorful spoons and cups.

And the jacket she had taken off and tossed onto the sofa as soon as she entered.

It felt very lived-in. And very un-Zhang Sitan. No wonder the old man said it was completely different.

“Did you die fan?” the old man asked, standing in the living room.

“Die fan” was a dialect phrase, and Qi An paused for a moment but quickly figured out what he meant (Did you eat?).

“I ate,” Qi An pondered how to address Zhang Sitan’s father: “Uncle, did you eat?”

It was already past ten o’clock; even if dinner was late, he should have eaten by now. But the old man shook his head: “Haven’t die yet. I’ve been waiting at the entrance the whole time. Eating out in Beijing is expensive, I don’t want to spend the money.”

“Ah.” Qi An’s mind raced, trying to figure out what food they had at home.

Zhang Sitan was away on a business trip, so the kitchen hadn’t been used. Qi An had been ordering takeout these past few days, and she wasn’t sure what ingredients were left in the fridge.

Previously, when Qi An said she didn’t eat eggs, Zhang Sitan really stopped buying eggs. Now, Qi An wished they had two eggs to fry in a pan, which would be enough for one dish.

“Uncle, please have a seat first. I’ll go check the kitchen and see what I can make.”

The old man didn’t listen to her and sit down obediently on the sofa. He had been here a few times before, always staying in the small bedroom where Qi An currently kept her clothes, and now he familiar went into that bedroom.

In the bedroom, the sheets had been changed, and there were more bottles and jars on the table. If he opened the closet, he would find it full of women’s clothes.

Such changes should make it obvious that someone was living there.

There were two bedrooms in the apartment. Any reasonable person would assume the two tenants each occupied a separate room. But the old man didn’t think too much; he just felt that since he used to stay in this room when he came, it was only natural for him to stay in it now.

He lifted the blanket, just kicked off his shoes, and climbed onto the bed. The train station was crowded, and after leaving the station and waiting at the guardhouse for a long time, he was very tired.

But being in a new place and at his age, he didn’t easily fall asleep, so he just closed his eyes, pretending to rest.

In the kitchen, Qi An finally managed to peel a few potatoes, cut them into some visually disastrous chunks, and washed them several times in a basin.

She knew the basic common sense of cooking, which was to stir-fry meat first.

But there was no meat at home, so she took out a packet of ham sausages, tore them open one by one, and chopped them into small pieces to substitute for meat.

Steam rose from the oil in the pan, and oil splattered. Qi An grimaced, pulling down her chin, and poured the ham sausages in with a look of agony.

She didn’t dare get too close to the hot oil, casually stir-frying for a few seconds before starting to count seconds. She counted twenty seconds, then thought that in her memory, meat usually had to be stir-fried for a long time, so she counted another twenty seconds.

After counting, Qi An poured in the basin of potato chunks.

The oil pan made a loud hiss, and a large plume of white smoke rose up, then was sucked into the range hood.

After pouring in the potatoes, the oil stopped sizzling noisily. Qi An dared to step a bit closer and continued to stir-fry with the spoon.

It turned out that ham sausages and meat should not receive the same amount of stir-frying treatment.

Having counted too many seconds earlier, the ham sausages were already burnt.

The already fragmented ham sausage pieces were burnt here and stuck there, clumped together in the pan. The potatoes were not yet cooked, so Qi An could only hurriedly scoop out the ham sausages while turning the potatoes.

Finally, the potatoes were cooked through, and the ham sausages in the bowl were cold.

Looking at the small bits of ham sausage covering a large pile of potato chunks, Qi An thought for a moment, picked up chopsticks, and began stirring, trying to mix them more evenly.

The potato chunks were pierced with several holes by the chopsticks. The ham sausages were completely charred, and some unknown black substance was flipped to the top, sticking to the potatoes.

It looked very… dark.

Qi An picked up a piece with her chopsticks and tasted it. The flavor was actually good. Although she had forgotten to add salt, the charred ham sausage and the soft texture of the potato went well together, and the potato’s original flavor was also delicious.

Since it didn’t taste dark, Qi An carried it out.

The old man hadn’t closed the door, and a lump could be seen under the blanket on the bed from the outside.

Qi An was a bit surprised. Although she only used that bedroom for putting on makeup and changing clothes, usually sleeping in Zhang Sitan’s bedroom, still, to climb onto a girl’s bed without a word was somewhat uncomfortable.

However, she didn’t dwell on it. The old man had already opened his eyes. Seeing Qi An holding a bowl, he knew the food was ready and quickly scrambled up from the bed.

“Uncle, my cooking isn’t very good, please make do with it.” Qi An placed a new pair of chopsticks on the rim of the bowl and poured a cup of warm water on the table.

The old man came out of the bedroom, sat on the sofa, took the bowl, looked at it, and then looked at Qi An: “You girl are Zhang Sitan’s assistant?”

“Yes,” Qi An nodded. She had just said that a moment ago.

“Then your cooking skills aren’t up to par. How are you an assistant?”

“!” Qi An was stunned, feeling that the old man was a bit judgmental. “I don’t handle Sister Sitan’s personal life matters.”

“It doesn’t look very appetizing, but I just tasted it, and it’s okay.” Qi An tried to encourage the old man to take a bite, proving that although it didn’t look good, the quality was decent.

“Don’t you young people like ordering food on your phones? Why don’t you order something for me on your phone?” The old man was still somewhat disdainful.

Ordering takeout at this hour would probably get them scolded.

“Okay.” Qi An nodded reluctantly, took out her phone, and opened the Meituan interface (a food delivery app).

She held the phone up for the old man to see: “What would you like to eat?”

Many shops were already showing as closed. The old man scrolled down until he finally saw one that was open: “This braised pork trotter rice is fine. Add more pork trotters.”

“Alright.” Qi An quickly placed the order, writing in the notes: “No rush, please ride safely.”

“You live here, how much money are you giving my girl?” After ordering the food, the old man put the bowl of potatoes back on the coffee table and started questioning Qi An.

“Ah, Sister Sitan is letting me stay for free.”

“Not charging you?” The old man widened his eyes. “How can that be right!”

He said this entirely in his hometown accent, which sounded strange to Qi An.

Qi An already felt a little awkward about Zhang Sitan not charging her rent, and being called out like this made her even more embarrassed. She wanted to explain that she had transferred 200,000 to Sister Sitan.

“Ah, actually, I also transferred money to Sister Sitan…”

Before she could finish, the old man looked bewildered: “This girl is too outrageous, letting you live here for free and not giving me any money.”

“Do you know that for several months the mountain water flowed, and the fields were flooded? The crops won’t sell for much, and this girl won’t even keep in touch. We raised her well so she could marry a good man. She comes to the big city to see the sights and forgets who she is.”

The old man became increasingly agitated. He started with a few sentences in Mandarin, but now it was all in dialect, and his speaking speed was getting faster. Qi An had trouble understanding, but she could sense that the old man was quite angry.

Qi An felt awkward, constantly refreshing the delivery status interface, praying it would arrive quickly.

Finally, the small telephone on the wall made a sound. It was the security guard uncle calling out, “Takeout is here for North Building 703.” Only then could Qi An excuse herself to go downstairs to pick up the takeout.

Downstairs, Qi An immediately messaged Zhang Sitan to report the situation. Zhang Sitan must have been doing something, as she sent back a video call.

“Sister Sitan.” Although it had only been two days, Qi An felt like she hadn’t seen her in ages. Seeing her face made her feel quite missed.

It wasn’t as dark where Zhang Sitan was, but it was nighttime: “Go back and give him the phone; I’ll talk to him.”

“You didn’t even ask me and you brought him in directly? What if he was a bad person? What if he was impersonating my dad?”

Zhang Sitan let out a torrent of words, but Qi An didn’t mind. Seeing Zhang Sitan’s anxious look made her feel a little happy, feeling that she was being cared for.

Happily carrying the takeout, she entered the door. The old man had already turned on the TV and was sitting on the sofa watching it.

Qi An unwrapped the takeout for him and handed him the phone: “Sister Sitan’s video call.”

“Finally connected, this girl.” The old man muttered unhappily and took the phone.

“You go stay in a hotel. I’m buying your ticket back right now,” Qi An heard Zhang Sitan’s voice coming from the phone.

She could feel Zhang Sitan’s anger. She felt that although the old man was a bit tactless, he was a simple and honest person, and she didn’t understand why Sister Sitan was so angry. Since this was Sister Sitan’s family matter, Qi An backed out of the living room and went to Zhang Sitan’s bedroom.

The old apartment had poor sound insulation. Even with the door closed, she could vaguely hear Sister Sitan’s angry shouts.

“I told you to stay in a hotel! I’ll pay for it!”

“Why should a young girl have to accommodate you!”

The voices were somewhat muffled, and only a few sentences could be heard clearly. The old man’s voice was quite clear, grumbling: “You’ve gained influence and flown away…”

Qi An felt a little uneasy, not knowing how to handle the situation, and could only message Lu Youran for comfort.

After a long time, there was no sound in the living room. Qi An went out to check. The takeout had been eaten completely, discarded on the table, and the old man was taking the cloth sack, ready to leave.

“Ah, are you leaving?” Qi An was surprised.

“Leaving. The girl said she wasn’t comfortable with me staying with you, worried about your safety,” the old man said scornfully. “She’s so inconsiderate, doesn’t think about what harm her Da Da could possibly do.”

“Ah.” Qi An was a little flustered. “I’ll call you a car.”

“The girl called one for me; it’s downstairs now.” The old man’s anger had subsided a little. “Insisting I stay in a hotel, it’s such a waste of money.”

“Sister Sitan might just be overly concerned,” Qi An could only comfort him this way.

The old man snorted and opened the door himself.

He hadn’t changed his shoes when he came in. Qi An took the cloth sack from his hand and accompanied him downstairs.

After seeing the old man off, Qi An’s emotions were still complex. She felt that Sister Sitan and her father’s relationship seemed poor, but she felt a bit sorry that the old man had to stay in a hotel late at night, only to rush back tomorrow after making the effort to come.

Collecting the takeout containers from the table, Qi An returned to the bedroom and initiated a video call to Zhang Sitan.