Chapter 78 – Busy
Qiao Huaiyao curled his lips and tightened the hand around Bai Jinyan’s neck. He knelt on one knee on the seat, leaned in closer, and lightly planted a kiss on Bai Jinyan’s lips.
Looking up, he took in Bai Jinyan’s face and asked seriously, “Can I contact Aunt Meng?”
Bai Jinyan was about to deepen the kiss, but upon hearing this, he snapped back to reality and immediately said, “No.”
The response was succinct and firm, with no room for discussion.
Qiao Huaiyao paused, then couldn’t help but laugh, “You reacted so quickly. I thought… Ah!”
Before he could finish his sentence, Bai Jinyan wrapped his arms around Qiao Huaiyao’s waist, half-holding him and placing him on his lap. “Ignore her.”
It’s impossible to reason with a stubborn person with mental illness.
Bai Jinyan had known this since he was young.
The best way to communicate with Meng Zheng was through transactions.
Give her what she wants in exchange for your ideas.
Meng Zheng was obsessively fixated on perfection to the point of no return.
Qiao Huaiyao leaned back into his embrace. Since Bai Jinyan didn’t object, he said nothing more.
As for Aunt Meng, Qiao Huaiyao didn’t know how to evaluate her either.
She hadn’t been like this before. It probably started after Uncle Bai passed away, the mental stress must have been too much.
She wouldn’t care about Bai Jinyan’s thoughts as long as he didn’t disrupt her idea of absolute perfection. Bai Jinyan could do whatever he wanted.
But the moment he might destroy that perfection, Meng Zheng…
Qiao Huaiyao’s eyes drooped slightly, hiding his thoughts.
There were some matters between him and Meng Zheng that needed to be handled face-to-face.
In his past life, he had contacted Bai Jinyan several times, always using Meng Zheng as an intermediary.
How many of the words he wanted to say to Bai Jinyan actually reached him?
Bai Jinyan’s thumb gently brushed against Qiao Huaiyao’s cheek, giving it a light squeeze, and pulled him closer. “What are you thinking about?”
Qiao Huaiyao shook his head and said nonchalantly, “Just thinking about the plans for the next few days.”
The time for the international laboratory visit was getting shorter, and the rest of the time was left for the students to arrange themselves.
After the visit, the school would leave a few days of personal time.
So there was still plenty of time.
Qiao Huaiyao allocated three days, ensuring that results could be obtained within that timeframe.
He left himself some time for experiments, increasing the margin for error.
Qiao Huaiyao took a sip of the lemon water beside him and asked, “Brother, have you set a date for your return?”
Bai Jinyan held his slender fingers, warming his fingertips with his palm, and after a moment of thought, said, “The schedule is set for two days later, so I should be able to return home the night after tomorrow.”
Bai Jinyan’s work ethic was focused on efficiency.
When he was in one place, he would consolidate tasks that were scheduled for different times in the same location, filling his daily itinerary to the brim.
Qiao Huaiyao said, “Alright, I’ll check the time and book the tickets.”
If the experimental results came out earlier, he could skip the school’s planned holiday and return home first.
Tasks piled up as the year-end approached.
The closer it got to the end of the year, the busier it would become. Qiao Huaiyao wanted to resolve as many issues as possible now, at least clearing the days around the New Year.
Bai Jinyan wrapped his arms around Qiao Huaiyao’s waist from behind, resting his chin on his shoulder, and smiled, “Okay.”
Though they hadn’t spent much time at the international laboratory, they had arrived late.
With the early darkness of winter, the streetlights were already on after dinner.
It wasn’t yet work time in the evening.
Qiao Huaiyao and Bai Jinyan walked side by side in the yard.
The snow on the path was cleared to the sides, and the front yard was cleaned more thoroughly.
The back area wasn’t open for public viewing, and since Qiao Huaiyao had informed them in advance to leave some snow, it remained mostly untouched.
Only the path was cleared.
Some snow mixed with dirt from the ground was not randomly piled up but was moved to the front yard for uniform disposal.
The snow in the back was thick, thick enough that lying down wouldn’t reach the ground.
Wearing gloves, Qiao Huaiyao couldn’t feel the snowflakes.
However, when he grabbed a handful of snow and squeezed it, there was a ‘crunching’ sound.
Some snow would stick to his gloves.
Playing with snow like this lacked soul.
Qiao Huaiyao wanted to take off his gloves. As he played with the snowball in his hand, he glanced surreptitiously at Bai Jinyan, who was building a snowman nearby.
He thought Bai Jinyan wasn’t paying attention, but in the next moment, their eyes met.
Qiao Huaiyao: “!”
Bai Jinyan said calmly, “No. You can’t take off your gloves.”
Qiao Huaiyao: “???”
I didn’t even say anything yet!
He was utterly bewildered.
Moreover…
Qiao Huaiyao looked at Bai Jinyan’s gloves, which had already been taken off and placed to the side. “Brother, why can you take off your gloves?”
“Because I’m older than you.” Bai Jinyan patted the snow pile and said seriously, “When you’re older than me, you can take off your gloves to play in the snow too.”
Qiao Huaiyao raised one eyebrow slowly.
Does that even make sense?
That’s harder than all the experiments I’ve done combined.
Qiao Huaiyao let out a barely audible snort and, while Bai Jinyan wasn’t looking, discreetly loosened his gloves and touched the snow with his fingertips.
Over there, Bai Jinyan was slowly shaping a ball.
If the bottom snowball wasn’t packed tightly, placing another ball on top might cause it to collapse, shattering the one on top as it hit the ground.
He added more snow, pressing it several times.
Qiao Huaiyao went over to help. After a few tries, ice crystals formed on his gloves.
He casually patted them, wiping off some water droplets.
Bai Jinyan formed a basic shape and then put his gloves back on to build the rest of the snowman.
There was plenty of snow, enough to make a very large snowman.
Qiao Huaiyao circled behind the snowball to reinforce it. Working slowly and meticulously, he took a long time just to make the base snowball.
After making final adjustments to the shape, Qiao Huaiyao said, “This should do it.”
With the base done, it was about time to head out for work.
They left the base to freeze on its own, planning to start the second snowball once it was more solid.
Qiao Huaiyao patted his hands, feeling a bit numb in his fingertips.
After the snow melted, his gloves inevitably got wet. Combined with the cold outside, the gloves were no longer effective.
Bai Jinyan took his gloves and said, “Let’s go back and change clothes.”
“Okay.” Qiao Huaiyao stepped out of the deep snow, scooped up a handful of the top layer of thin snow, and ran over to Bai Jinyan, raising his right hand. “Brother!”
“Yes?”
Qiao Huaiyao pretended to throw the snow at him, but Bai Jinyan didn’t move, standing there without even a change in his expression.
“Brother, why aren’t you dodging?” Qiao Huaiyao lowered his hand. He had never had a snowball fight with his brother.
Bai Jinyan chuckled lightly and said, “You won’t actually throw it at me, so why should I dodge?”
He took Qiao Huaiyao’s wrist and made him drop the snow from his hand. “When have you ever actually thrown a snowball at me?”
Getting hit with a snowball wasn’t a big deal, but Qiao Huaiyao would always just wave his hand without actually throwing it.
There was one time he didn’t throw it; he just dropped it because he couldn’t hold it properly.
Qiao Huaiyao gave a light cough. “I was just going easy on you.”
“Then should I…” Bai Jinyan’s lips curved into a smile as he held Qiao Huaiyao’s hand and led him back to the hotel, casually saying, “Thank you, baby?”
Qiao Huaiyao was stunned for a moment. He blinked and saw the teasing glint in Bai Jinyan’s eyes. He couldn’t help but look away, instinctively responding, “You’re… welcome?”
His voice rose slightly at the end, and even Qiao Huaiyao felt something was off.
Bai Jinyan’s smile grew wider. He raised his hand to touch Qiao Huaiyao’s cheek but stopped, realizing his hand was cold from the snow.
Instead, he settled for wrapping his arm around Qiao Huaiyao’s waist over his down jacket, using his sleeves to warm Qiao Huaiyao’s hands in his pocket.
Lu Lu and the driver arrived right on time, appearing at the hotel entrance thirty minutes before the show started.
Qiao Huaiyao changed clothes and came downstairs. Lu Lu was leaning against the car, making a phone call. When he saw Qiao Huaiyao, he quickly said something about having to go and hung up.
Seeing Qiao Huaiyao getting ready to go to the work site with Bai Jinyan, Lu Lu wasn’t surprised at all. He even felt it was the natural thing to happen.
Lu Lu smiled and waved. “Good evening, young master.”
After getting a more suitable title, Lu Lu adapted quickly. This title sounded much smoother than calling him ‘brother’.
Since he and Lu Lu were about the same age, being called ‘brother’ would have felt awkward.
“Good evening,” Qiao Huaiyao replied.
As they spoke, Bai Jinyan opened the car door, raising his hand to block the door frame. “Get in first, it’s cold outside.”
After playing in the snow for so long, even though he wasn’t covered in snow, standing outside for a while let the cold wind seep in, making it even colder.
The car’s partitions were already lowered in advance.
Lu Lu got into the car without looking back and immediately told the driver to start driving.
Qiao Huaiyao propped his chin on one hand, watching the snowy landscape retreat through the window.
Most of the snow on the road was piled on the greenery, and the one-way view glass provided a clear view.
Bai Jinyan was going through the program schedule for the evening.
It was a simple interview program that had sent an invitation in August, but the timing hadn’t worked out until now. This was a good opportunity to handle it together.
Saving time, he would go directly on stage after reviewing the schedule.
Since it was a pre-recorded show, there would be post-editing, so he didn’t need to memorize all the questions. It was better to respond spontaneously.
The interview was being recorded at the largest TV station in New York, not far from the hotel.
However, the icy roads made the journey tricky. The snow had melted significantly during the day, and the water had refrozen. The car had anti-skid chains on its tires, but the driver still had to be extremely careful.
So the car’s speed inevitably slowed down.
Additionally, other cars were affected by the icy roads and collided, causing the road ahead to be blocked. Even at night, traffic jams still occurred.
Waiting in traffic seemed endless.
To save time, the driver navigated through various side roads, carving out a path.
The usual fifteen-minute drive took about half an hour.
Such time delays were expected, and they still arrived at the TV station on time.
Even at night, the TV station was brightly lit.
The lights on the top floor were always on, and you could vaguely see if someone was walking inside when you looked up.
Lu Lu led the way. “Brother Bai, this way.”
The building staff were all busy at their posts, and there were very few people in the hallway.
In the elevator.
Bai Jinyan took off his down jacket and said, “It might be quite late by the time we finish recording. If you get tired, let Lu Lu take you to the lounge to rest for a while.”
The lounge here wasn’t as well-equipped as at home or in the office.
It was just a few rows of chairs.