You Are Deep in The Stars

In another city, Zhou Yong had gotten off work early and went to the supermarket to buy fresh fish, shrimp, and vegetables, planning to cook dinner himself. The lively shrimp were still jumping in the tank when someone called.

“Hello?” Zhou Yong wiped his hands on his apron and picked up the mobile phone from the table.

“Where had you been?” the caller asked immediately. It was Feng Qi, the deputy director of the Beidou Research Institute and Zhou Yong’s direct supervisor.

“I had two hours of compensatory rest today,” Zhou Yong replied. “Did something happen?”

“Come to the unit right away.” After Feng Qi finished speaking, he hung up the phone, his voice clearly unpleasant.

Zhou Yong hurriedly drove to the research institute and was somewhat surprised when he entered the conference room. Almost all the leaders related to superpowers were sitting around the round table. It looked like something significant had happened.

“Sit down first,” Feng Qi said, then asked bluntly, “Where are your wife and daughter?”

“Them?” Zhou Yong felt an ominous premonition in his heart. “What happened?”

Feng Qi pushed a document in front of him.

It was a thick stack of printed information, showing that it had been thoroughly tracked and investigated. It detailed Mrs. Zhou’s whereabouts in recent months—buying vegetables at the market, walking through an alley, accidentally falling and hitting her arm against the wall. The hard stones had crumbled to the ground. There were many identical numbers in the call records, with the person called being Zhou Jinshan. The so-called “short trip,” the images in the tavern, what had happened at the Miami hotel, how she had been taken away by the police, and how she was picked up by Zhou Jinshan were all clearly and accurately recorded.

The conference room fell silent. Zhou Yong’s hands trembled slightly. He remained silent for five minutes before suddenly getting up and walking out.

“Where are you going?!” Feng Qi called after him.

“To call my wife,” Zhou Yong replied. The person who had been with him for more than 20 years had suddenly turned into someone with supernatural powers. Though shocked and disbelieving, he was more worried and anxious—he couldn’t imagine what his wife had endured over the years. He was deeply uneasy, especially about what had happened at that terrible hotel, and he wanted to call her and ask her to come home quickly.

“Director Zhou, please don’t get too excited.” Feng Qi patted him on the shoulder. “I know who you are, and I believe you must not have known about this beforehand. Originally, these weren’t big issues, but Mr. Shi called me this afternoon. He mentioned that your wife seemed to have appeared in the mall with Han Zhuo.”

Since Han Zhuo had chosen not to cooperate with the underground warehouse, he was undoubtedly a moderate trouble to the Beidou Research Institute, though he couldn’t be considered outright hostile. In Feng Qi’s view, people with superpowers didn’t need too many leaders—one Shi Tian was more than enough.

“I want to call my wife,” Zhou Yong repeated with a grim face.

“It’s up to you,” Feng Qi said, taking a couple of steps back in a symbolic gesture of compromise.

The phone rang first.

“Is she your wife?” Feng Qi asked.

The caller ID showed a series of unfamiliar numbers, and Zhou Yong pressed the answer button.

“Dad!” Zhou Jing shouted in horror.

Zhou Yong’s pupils suddenly tightened.

“Dad!” Zhou Jing cried. “Pu Guang said, he said he wanted to talk to you.”

Pu Guang was Zhou Jing’s boyfriend, a tall rugby player.

“Uncle Zhou.” A male voice came from the other end of the phone, with a malicious smile. “Nothing will happen to Jingjing for the time being. She is safe, and I will take good care of her.”

“What do you want to do?” Zhou Yong asked.

“Let me make a deal with you,” the caller replied.

.

Mrs. Zhou found her seat and called Bai Xi. “Thank you, I’m on the bus.”

“You’re welcome. Have a nice trip,” Bai Xi said. “Send us a message when you get home.”

“Okay.” Mrs. Zhou smiled. “Please thank Boss Zhou, for me. Goodbye.”

As the train slowly left the platform, two uniformed railway attendants approached, smiling and asking softly, “Are you Director Zhou’s wife?”

“It’s me. Who are you?” Mrs. Zhou asked, a bit confused.

“We are the carriage staff. Director Zhou just called and asked us to help you move to the VIP carriage,” one of the attendants said with a smile. “Do you have any luggage? We’ll help you with it.”

Mrs. Zhou shook her head. She clutched her handbag nervously. “Thank you, I’m fine sitting here. There’s no need to change.”

“This is really Director Zhou’s request,” the attendant whispered. “If you don’t believe it, you can call and ask.”

Mrs. Zhou looked at the passengers around and dialled the phone hesitantly.

“Yes, go and change seats,” Zhou Yong’s voice was very gentle. “There are many people in the ordinary carriage, and I’m afraid it will be too noisy for you to rest well.”

“What you said is true,” Mrs. Zhou complained in a low voice. “It’s so embarrassing to trouble others.”

“Go quickly,” Zhou Yong said with a smile. “I’ll pick you up at the train station on time.”

Mrs. Zhou agreed and followed the steward to the VIP compartment.

.

Bai Xi stood on the street, waiting intently for the sugar cake to come out of the pan—on a cold winter night, the charm of junk food was irresistible.

“Will you get acne tomorrow?” Han Zhuo asked as he stood behind him, opening his coat to hug him. “Otherwise, I’ll take you to eat seafood porridge.”

“No,” Bai Xi refused to leave.

Han Zhuo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and led him to a place slightly sheltered from the wind.

Under the pressure of Mr. Wang, Liu Chunchun, unwilling to make a call, curled his lips and said, “Brother Bai.”

“What’s wrong?” Bai Xi asked.

“It’s nothing,” Liu Chunchun muttered after some mental struggle. With the mentality that he would be beaten if he didn’t say anything, he weakly groaned, “This is tragic news. You have fallen to second place in my heart.”

“Who is number one!” Mr. Bai was genuinely angry. “Who in this world can treat you better than Dad!”

Liu Chunchun silently handed the phone to Mr. Wang’s ear.

“Me,” Wang Yuanchen replied leisurely while eating Liu Chunchun’s cornflakes, drinking Liu Chunchun’s tomato juice, and stepping on Liu Chunchun’s pink cushion.

.

An hour later, Liu Chunchun sent a text message as long as a college entrance examination essay, admitting his mistake in all aspects. At the end, he reiterated the question and tearfully declared that he still loved Bai Xi the most.

After a while, Bai Xi replied, apologizing for accidentally forwarding the text message to Mr. Wang five minutes ago.

Liu Chunchun was so distraught that he rushed into the bedroom and hugged Wang Yuanchen with tears streaming down his face. “I was wrong!”

Wang Yuanchen looked confused. “Where did you do wrong?”

Liu Chunchun said blankly, “Huh?”

Wang Yuanchen, in a rare good mood, reached out to touch Liu Chunchun’s soft hair. “Do you want to go out and play on the weekend?”

Liu Chunchun was flattered. “Where are we going to play?”

Wang Yuanchen raised the corner of his mouth and said enthusiastically, “A good place.”