By the time they arrived at the guest house of the provincial city electric power department, it was already dusk. After being in Lingnan for over twenty days, apart from being busy, her only impression of this place was the abundance of fruits and the surprisingly mild weather.
The cold-averse Zhou Jiao had only added a sweater. At the remote power station, even in the late night, she put on a cotton coat and would start sweating after moving around a bit.
She hadn’t even started her actions yet, and if she were to be sent back just like this, Zhou Jiao would be exasperated. After getting off the car, as expected, she saw Yi Jiefang heading to make a call. It really made her both angry and anxious.
"Don’t waste money, my dad has probably received the news by now. He’ll definitely call in the next couple of days. Let’s drop off our luggage first, everyone is waiting."
Yi Jiefang decided not to listen to her, planning to make the call after taking care of things.
As a group of them walked into the lobby, before the few "sick classmates" lingering in the guest house could approach, the lady at the front desk came forward with a set of keys, her eyes lighting up when she saw Zhou Jiao.
"Hey you, yes, I’m talking to you. Come quickly and take your letters and notes back, and your family called asking you to contact them as soon as possible."
Pointed at by her finger, Zhou Jiao felt so embarrassed she wished the ground would open up and swallow her.
Yi Jiefang joked, "Famous now."
"Don’t forget, you too!"
"I’m your own brother!"
"So what?" Zhou Jiao smiled, skipping further words as she quickly stuffed a stack of letters and Cheng Ruzhu’s notes into her shoulder bag,
Returning to the room, she glanced at the letters, which were mostly from Zhang Guoqing and his son. It’s touching how they used the letters as a diary for each day.
Then she opened Cheng Ruzhu’s five notes, which were essentially inquiries about when she would return. The last note, dated a few days prior, mentioned that her aunt had left some items at the guest house’s front desk in the commerce department for her to collect after seeing the note.
Hiding the letters without changing her expression, Zhou Jiao tidied up her laundry while thinking about how to use the trip to collect the parcels as an opportunity to handle some personal matters.
First she needed to organize the notes from this period and hand them over to the professor. Then, when he was in a good mood, she planned to request to spend a night at Cheng Ruzhu’s place. Would this be feasible?
The aftereffects of the unexpected incident at dawn might make the professor want to contact Cheng Ruzhu. Where was she to find her then? She might already have flown to Beijing long ago!
Xie Fang watched Zhou Jiao, who was about to freshen up, "You and Da Yi seem to have a really good relationship."
"That guy is kind-hearted, always claiming to be my elder brother. I think he’s more like a younger brother; at home, he’s closer to my son."
"I’ll go with you."
"Sure, you guys hurry up too."
Xie Fang tagged along as they headed out, "How about we go out tomorrow?"
"I still need to organize the information from this period." Zhou Jiao shook her head with a smile.
"Oh, let me know if you need anything."
"Thanks."
"Why so formal? Jiao Jiao, you’re great in every way, except you’re a bit too polite."
Zhou Jiao smiled slightly.
"We’re about to head into winter break when we return. This semester has gone by so fast."
Zhou Jiao nodded.
"What do you usually do at home? I feel so bored, apart from sleeping. Perhaps I could visit you? Would that be inconvenient?"
Zhou Jiao glanced at her, "I might go back to my hometown."
"You’ll have some free time, right?" Xie Fang turned back to call for Qiao Na to hurry up, "Xiao Na, how about we visit Jiao Jiao during winter break?"
Qiao Na glanced at the figure of Zhou Jiao walking ahead, "I still have to visit my brother, and then help my mom during the New Year. If I went out to play, I’d definitely get scolded. Anyway, it’s just a few days until school starts, we’ll meet then, why hurry?"
Dong Xiujuan, who always played the quiet observer: "Jiao Jiao is different from us."
As to what she meant by ’different’, it could only be speculated, varying from person to person. But after she said this, Xie Fang at least quieted down a bit and changed the topic.
The short distance of less than a hundred meters felt like a theatrical play that Zhou Jiao had heard enough of. By distancing herself, she pretended not to hear. Xie Fang’s aggressiveness earlier had left a bad taste in her mouth.


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