“Isn’t the one sitting with Zhong Yiwuxin Zhou Shíyì? Doesn’t look like him.”
At the other dining table, the mother and daughter didn’t avoid the topic on purpose.
“No, it’s Zhong Yiwuxin’s superior.”
“That’s what I thought, not like the person in the video.”
“You also saw those trending videos?” Tang Nuoyun asked her mother.
Yang Jiayuan answered honestly, “I watched them all.”
She had seen Jiang Jingyuan’s speech at his daughter’s wedding.
She also watched the video of him holding his young daughter on the covered boat. That Jiang Jingyuan was the one she knew; the current him was like a stranger to her.
More than twenty years had passed; the little details from their dating days had long faded from memory.
Only the arguments remained clear.
It was Tang Nuoyun’s first time at this restaurant. She and her boyfriend couldn’t handle spicy food, so today she came with her mother to eat hometown dishes.
They ordered a few of her mother’s favorite dishes. She locked her phone screen and set it aside, thinking about how to continue the conversation.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Yang Jiayuan poured half a glass of water for her daughter. “Ask directly if you want to know something. Let’s just be friends today.”
“What was your mood just now?”
Yang Jiayuan smiled, “Were you asking on behalf of your dad?”
Tang Nuoyun hesitated to deny.
“No special mood. It was complicated the first time I met him.” Back then, it had been only a few years since their breakup; she was already married with children, while he was still publicly single.
He had rumors with Zhong Zhuóhuá, which had caused quite a stir but were all deleted later. She assumed it was just gossip.
“You and Director Jiang had such a good relationship back then. He even had a fallout with his family for you and missed the engagement banquet. So… how did it end?”
“He was really good to me, so I especially wanted to marry him.”
“But his father’s health worsened because of the broken engagement, and he had to undergo open chest surgery. After the operation, he almost didn’t make it—he stayed in ICU for dozens of days, with two critical condition alerts.”
“Even if he quarreled with his family, that was still his father.”
“How many days his father stayed in ICU, he waited outside in the corridor for just as long.”
“The old man stabilized later but had lost half his life force. He needed post-op rehabilitation.”
“At the time, I didn’t know open chest surgery required special rehab; I thought once discharged, it would be fine. After his father came out of the hospital, I asked him, ‘When will we register our marriage?’”
“He said his father still needed to recover and asked if I could wait another year until his father was fully healed.”
Yang Jiayuan fell silent for a few seconds.
“I already felt hurt because his family looked down on me, and hearing him say that made me even more aggrieved. I thought, it’s just registering a marriage certificate, not holding a wedding—why wait a whole year?”
“I was young, and that rejection hit me hard. I couldn’t stop overthinking, losing confidence. I kept feeling that with his father’s condition, he’d eventually compromise with his family and choose an arranged marriage.”
“Then the conflicts just kept growing.”
Tang Nuoyun asked, “If you hadn’t broken up, would Director Jiang have compromised with his family?”
“Probably not.”
“But at that time, who could think that far ahead with reason?”
Tang Nuoyun hesitated a moment before asking, “Mom, have you ever regretted it?”
Yang Jiayuan held her glass and nodded.
She had.
How could she not regret?
Because it was hard to meet a man like Jiang Jingyuan again.
For a long time after the breakup, she couldn’t come to terms with it and wanted to call him.
“Then I met your father and had you, and I gradually let go.”
“Because even if I married Jiang Jingyuan, his parents despised me. Knowing about me and still letting him have an arranged marriage would have been a lifelong thorn. I’m content with life now.”
Tang Nuoyun sipped water, unsure how to respond.
Her parents shared a mutual and enduring love, lacking the spark of romance.
But maybe, for them, this kind of love was just right.
Yang Jiayuan smiled gently, trying to cheer her daughter up:
“If I had married Jiang Jingyuan, then you wouldn’t exist, nor would Zhong Yiwuxin. Without you two, wouldn’t the semiconductor industry be the loser? For you and the future of the industry, I had to break up.”
Tang Nuoyun laughed.
Yang Jiayuan said, “After today, everything is in the past. I hope you won’t be affected by these things. Your father and I are fine—we have our own way of expressing our feelings.”
“Mom, Yan Tinglin is my direct boss now.”
“I know.”
“At the time, I had a chance to join his team but chose Jinghe instead.”
Not being able to work with her idol had always been her regret.
Now that the opportunity came again, she didn’t want to miss it.
Yang Jiayuan clinked glasses with her daughter. “Then follow your heart. Zhuóhuá’s personality probably wouldn’t mind.”
They ate slowly, and when they looked up, Jiang Jingyuan’s table had cleared.
He held his wife’s hand, following behind his daughter and Níng Quē.
In that moment, Yang Jiayuan felt a rush of emotions.
Thirty years ago, when they were together, who could have imagined that thirty years later they’d no longer be by each other’s sides, yet meet at a Sichuan restaurant, each already having someone they cared for most.
***
Leaving the cafeteria, Zhong Zhuóhuá tried to shake off her husband’s hand but failed.
“The street is crowded, why are you doing this?”
Jiang Jingyuan said, “Didn’t I say I’m not passionate enough with you? From now on, I’ll hold your hand wherever we go—even in front of my parents.”
“…Please spare the eighty- or ninety-year-old elders!”
Though scolding him, the softness at Zhuóhuá’s eyes and brow betrayed her words.
Zhong Yiwuxin turned and said, “Then spare us twenty-somethings. Middle-aged folks should be more steady.”
After saying that, she hurried away, afraid her dad would catch her.
“Zhong Yiwuxin, come back! How did dad become middle-aged all of a sudden?”
She waved without looking back, smiling.
“Your parents won’t fight when they get home, right?” Níng Quē still seemed worried.
“No. The past conflicts were because they spent little time together. Mom sometimes spent months on set, and it was a secret marriage—no time to talk when they met.”
They chatted while walking into the office building.
Níng Quē received an email reply: “Yan Tinglin said the chip team will join our algorithm weekly meetings from now on.”
“What’s the frequency?”
“Every week.”
Níng Quē originally thought that with Yan Tinglin leading the project now, their algorithm team would have to attend chip team meetings.
She didn’t expect Yan Tinglin to prioritize their algorithm team instead.
***
Yan Tinglin just finished chatting with Zhou Shíyì; he hadn’t eaten dinner yet.
“You’re releasing a new car the day after tomorrow, and they just got married three days ago. Shen Chi must hate me.”
Zhou Shíyì paused while organizing documents. “He got married?”
“Yeah, got the certificate today.”
“Then you can postpone announcing your joining Jinghe until tomorrow.”
Though Kuncheng and Ruichi were rivals and the price war continued, he wasn’t cruel enough to spoil Shen Chi’s happy day.
Yan Tinglin said, “I didn’t know he was getting married today.”
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have picked this day.
But now that it was done, he just needed to find a good time to make it up to Shen Chi.
“Are you really setting up a temporary office in the campus?”
“Yeah.” Zhou Shíyì put down all the documents on the sofa armrest and unlocked his phone.
Zhong Yiwuxin hadn’t messaged him, so he locked the screen and continued, “It’s convenient for meetings and easier to meet Zhong Yiwuxin.”
Yan Tinglin pointed to the next room. “There’s an empty one. I wanted to make it a gym, but you can borrow it first.”
“No need. I’m just feeling stubborn, working right next to you. You’d probably ask me for water eight hundred times a day.”
Caught, Yan Tinglin laughed. “Don’t regret it later. Honestly, many people want to work next to me.”
Zhou Shíyì: “Anyone can fantasize.”
“Ha!”
At that moment, Yan Tinglin’s phone vibrated. He started replying and ignored Zhou Shíyì.
A few minutes later, they finished chatting. Yan Tinglin grabbed two coffees from the fridge and tossed one to his friend.
They talked shop right away; he forgot to pour water for Zhou Shíyì.
“Knock knock!”
Before Yan Tinglin could open his coffee, there was a knock.
The office door was open, and Tang Nuoyun stood at the entrance.
“Boss Yan, can I bother you for a few minutes?”
“No problem, come in.”
He gestured toward the sofa in the reception area.
Tang Nuoyun noticed Zhou Shíyì was there too.
He was the project A-side, so no need to avoid him.
“Are you here about the Kuncheng Project?”
“Yes.”
Yan Tinglin opened the fridge and took out another coffee.
He was used to bottled coffee—it was just for waking up, and more convenient than freshly brewed.
Tang Nuoyun got straight to the point. “After thinking it over, I still want to join.”
“Alright.” Yan Tinglin handed her the iced coffee. “Anything else?”
Tang Nuoyun had prepared plenty of reasons in her head but ended up not saying a word.
Obviously, she wasn’t used to this new boss’s style.
“No, that’s all.”
Yan Tinglin said, “Tomorrow at 8:30 AM, be on time at the algorithm team’s meeting room.”
“Okay.”
Less than a minute after sitting down, Tang Nuoyun left with the iced coffee.
She had often heard colleagues say Yan Tinglin’s team was free of office politics—he was always task-oriented, fair, and didn’t favor anyone.
In his team, you just needed to focus on doing your job well.
After Tang Nuoyun left, Zhou Shíyì spoke, “You didn’t know Tang Nuoyun’s mother and my father-in-law are connected, right?”
“I do. Zhong Yiwuxin just messaged me.”
“There’s naturally tension between your two teams. Zhong Yiwuxin and Tang Nuoyun’s relationship is sensitive. If disagreements come up someday, handle it well.”
Yan Tinglin would handle it, of course. He joked, “If the disagreement is irreconcilable, there’s still you as A-side. You coordinate.”
Zhou Shíyì: “Don’t expect me to coordinate. With Zhong Yiwuxin on my side, wrong is right—I can’t side with others.”
Yan Tinglin’s phone vibrated again. He drank his coffee and replied carefully.
Zhou Shíyì noticed his seriousness: “Zhong Yiwuxin messaged you?”
“Yeah. She didn’t message you? I saw you looking at your phone but not typing.”
Yan Tinglin looked up and proposed, “How about we make a group chat for the three of us? We can talk there.”
Zhou Shíyì: “Am I sick? Watching you two chat every day?”
Yan Tinglin laughed, almost choking on his coffee. “You’re impossible. If not this way, then what? A group chat is better than you sitting quietly. At least you can type a few words and join in.”
“Tell Zhou Sujin to send me the specific yield data. It affects chip design.”
Zhou Shíyì: “Right away.”
He messaged his cousin immediately.
Yan Tinglin and Zhou Shíyì always joked around before quickly getting back to work without wasting time.
“Let’s go eat first.”
Yan Tinglin grabbed his new company meal card—no matter how often he ate, the balance wouldn’t run out.
Stepping out of the office building, the moon was bright, and stars scattered sparsely.
In Beicheng Suburb, you could still see stars, though fewer than when he was a child.
Returning only the next day, his jet lag wasn’t gone yet. He was still on Bay Area time; at this hour, he should have been having breakfast.
Twenty days ago, he was still thinking about how to escape his parents’ nagging.
When his mother visited the Bay Area, she was frustrated, saying, “Look at Zhou Shíyì; he’s already married!”
He joked, “Maybe I should go to their house and just pretend I’m married too.”
His mother was so mad she kicked his father.
Today, his mother saw his Moments and found out he was back.
At first, she didn’t believe it, worried it was a private post only she could see. It wasn’t until she saw news pushing that Jinghe and Kuncheng’s stocks hit limit up that she believed it.
She called to ask why he suddenly decided to return.
She said, “Don’t worry about me and your dad—we can take long flights to visit you.”
***
Zhong Yiwuxin returned home near 10:30 PM. After showering, Zhou Shíyì still hadn’t come back.
Tomorrow was the first weekly meeting between the two teams. She went to the study to review the discussion points, making sure nothing was missed.
At night, Yan Tinglin told her Tang Nuoyun had joined his team.
He said the project needed talents like her.
After checking all the issues, Zhong Yiwuxin shut down her computer.
Her eyes happened to fall on a pile of files on Zhou Shíyì’s side cabinet.
She remembered the night before her business trip to Shanghai, she had accidentally knocked over a stack of papers and glimpsed a Jewelry Appraisal Certificate with a dark cover, but she was too busy with the project to think much of it.
Curious, she went over to look again.
But flipping through the entire stack, she couldn’t find that certificate.
“Zhong Yiwuxin?”
Zhou Shíyì’s voice came from the corridor.
“In the study.”
She put away the files and went out to meet him.
“Why so late coming back?”
“You have to coax me.”
Eyes open.
Yan Tinglin and Zhou Shíyì had a video meeting with Zhou Sujin again. In the middle, Chén Chén woke up, and Yan Tinglin spent half an hour soothing the child.
Zhong Yiwuxin had heard from her father that when she was little, she also needed to be held to fall asleep.
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