After talking to Chen Jingming about the recent trends of Xinlu Energy, I did not leave the company immediately. Instead, I patiently finished the work I had in batches bit by bit, and did not drive away from the company until it was almost dusk.

I put the business card that Chen Jingming gave me with Micai's private email on the air outlet of the car air conditioner. The reason I was not in a hurry to send her an email at the company was because the United States was still before dawn at this time...

Yes, the biggest change I have in the past two years is learning to restrain myself. I am unwilling to turn the grievances of the past two years into questioning Mi Cai under impulse. I just want to talk to her with all the expectations and thoughts, just like we have never separated.

After parking the car, Daddy Ban happened to come to me with a day's catch. I carried the fish basket for him. We walked towards the entrance of the corridor. He asked me, "Why did you come back so early today?"

"Take the matters at hand in advance." I replied, but suddenly I didn't know how to tell him the news that Mi Cai might be coming back soon. In the past two years, every time I saw that he and my mother like other people's children, I couldn't describe the guilt in my heart. I could only try my best to make up for them in material terms, but they had no pursuit of material things. I knew that what they were most looking forward to was Mi Cai to return home quickly and then rebuild this broken family with me...

Yes, the old man's wish is that simple, but we young people at that time don't care about these things, and still live in grudges and hatreds, pursuing the seemingly close but far away way out... So, I don't dare to tell them this news because I'm afraid there will be any variables unless Mi Cai and I personally confirm that she will come back, so I swallowed my words back.

It seems that even the father of Ban is used to waiting. He and his mother have not asked about Mi Cai again in front of me for a long time, but I know what he thinks in his heart. He has nothing to do recently and often goes to the wedding company downstairs in the community to do some miscellaneous work. He said: This is not to be greedy for that little money, but I just feel that I can do something for those young people who are about to embark on the road of marriage, and I feel very fulfilled!

After entering the door, my mother was already busy with dinner tonight. She skillfully made the fish caught by Daddy Ban skilledly to serve the wine. I also took advantage of the time I had time tonight and drank a few glasses of wine with Daddy Ban. Everything seemed to be back in my life in Xuzhou two years ago, but I wouldn’t have put aside the dishes and chopsticks for us and poured rice colors for the wine. This made the taste of the wine a little weaker. Sometimes I would also think: If she knew how much we miss her, would she move the time for the return?

......

After dinner at Dad Ban and Mom, I returned to the old room, then turned on the computer in Micai's room and started writing her an email. I calculated the time. If she could work today, she should have arrived at her office at this time.

I repeatedly wrote several beginnings for this email, but I was not satisfied. I opened the curtains in anxiety, stood by the window for a while, and then looked at the old city area in front of me, which was less energetic but very sedimentary. Everything here was as calm as if there was no trouble of the world and no heavy burden of reality... Only then did I remember that I had decided to talk to her before as if I had never separated, so I sat back to the computer and sent her a message: "Did you go to work today?"

Time passed by minute by minute, and I never received her reply, but this was normal. After all, my contact with her was only dependent on the email address. If she had a regular meeting on the morning, there would definitely be no way to reply to me immediately. So I put on a thick coat, habitually took a can of beer from the refrigerator, put a pack of cigarettes in my pocket, and walked on the increasingly deserted street. I wanted to take a walk to relieve the anxiety of waiting, but the streets in late autumn and late at night had already smelled of winter. I saw a couple who seemed to be homeless. They hugged each other to keep warm, and they discussed with smiles whether they would take an unrestrained trip in the future!

Ha! In my opinion, they are not much happier, because in their smiles, what I see is just a bunch of memories woven with youth, which is not advanced in the materialistic world!

I walked to the moat, drank half a can of beer, lit a cigarette, took out my phone from my pocket and looked at it to see if Micai had replied to my email.

She hasn't...

I sighed, and then focused all my attention on the river flowing happily in front of me. It was free from sorrow and tireless, and these were exactly what I lacked!

The phone vibrated in my hand, and I reversed the phone screen like a conditioned reflex. It was Mi Cai who replied to the email. She asked politely: "Who are you?"

I decided to be an unknown man like I used to do, so I gave up the procedure of reporting my own home, and asked bluntly: "Did you go to work today?"

This time, Mi Cai returned quickly and was very simple, just a sweaty expression... I guess I was depressed by my ignorant behavior!

I decided to be strong again and replied, "Give you two minutes to guess who I am... hurry up!"

"You still have to guess!"

"Who am I?"

"...My very nervous husband!"

I didn't have time to experience the happiness this sentence brought to me, so she quickly added: "Did Mr. Chen give you this email number?"

"Yes, everyone thinks I've worked very hard in the past two years, and I'm almost shattered. Can you give me a correct word? When do I want to come back? How long will I have to wait?"

Maybe I couldn't give me an exact time. This time, Micai didn't reply after a long time. I drank the remaining half can of beer in this gap, then lit a cigarette, but it was pressed out again as soon as it was lit. Now I only let myself smoke a few cigarettes a day at most, and today is no exception, because I promised Micai to reduce the amount of cigarettes I smoked, and she also promised me that I would definitely come back, but I did it, but she had not done it yet.

Finally, there was another vibrating sound from my phone, which was Mi Cai’s reply: “It won’t be too long. On the day I come back, I will give you a surprise and compensate you for your waiting for so long!”

I hate the inaccurateness of time, and replied with emotion: "What surprise do I want? What surprise do I want? For me, you are the biggest surprise... Come back quickly, okay?"

After the email was sent out, I thought about how to reply from Mi Cai's perspective, and found that it was really difficult to reply. Sometimes I was indeed a difficult person, but the waiting for almost two years really made me not know how to continue to bear it. This seemed to be an insurmountable obstacle between the two of us. Unless the day when she really stood in front of me with her luggage, I would still feel sad with so many promises that had not been fulfilled!

I didn't want to make things too difficult for her, so I replied with another email: "I know that if you force you so much, you won't appear in front of me tomorrow. Some things need to be dealt with before will have a result, so I will still wait for you to come back as firmly as before... Although there are always people who arrange for me to go on a blind date, I refuse without exception. You don't have to doubt that I am so firm!"

Originally, I thought the second half of the sentence would also lead to a jokey reply from Mi Cai, but she replied: "You must be so firm, you must..."

The special emphasis made me feel the worries in her heart. I quickly gave her a positive answer and directed the topic to the exchange of work. It was not until 12 o'clock in the evening and her place was already lunch time, so we ended the conversation! Although there was no substantial result, it was already a gift for me. At least we have reached a stage where we can have some contact in a sporadic way, so I firmly believe that she is really not far from returning to China, or the day when she acquired Hengyang Department Store!

.........

The next evening, I took my 4-year-old son to the company for our business department director. She went to Shanghai because she had something to do, and her husband went to Taiwan on a business trip, so I entrusted me to go to the kindergarten to pick up this little brat who likes to talk nonsense.

I really like my children. After handling the matter, I took my little brat to the toy store in the mall to buy a lot of toys, and took him to a children's meal. Then I went back to the company and waited with him for his mother's return from Shanghai.

Just as I was assembling the toys with the little brat, I received a call from the front desk saying that Mr. Fang from Wansen Group had not made an appointment but had to meet me, and asked me if I could meet.

Of course, I have the right not to meet Fang Yuan, but some subtle emotions always touch me, and there is no need to be so narrow-minded in the mall, so I finally chose to respect his right to express, and I agreed to meet him.

Soon, Fang Yuan led him to my office at the front desk. He sat down on the sofa opposite my desk, while the little kid who was simple like a piece of white paper was still fiddling with his beloved toy in a corner.

Ironically, we two adults who have experienced the world are about to play a scheming in love and intrigue in business in front of him, but no one will remember that we once had such an innocent time...
Chapter completed!