Chapter 67 Morning
It happened three days ago.
Someone shared personal cancer stories in an anti-cancer forum, and one story about a mother battling cancer with her daughter while traveling across more than half of China was particularly heartbreaking. Although pseudonyms were used throughout the post, some details closely matched the experiences of Ye Qian and her daughter.
Wen Bairan had read that post. The description at the end of the story, where the mother was grieving while holding her daughter’s tape recorder, was almost identical to the last time she saw Ye Qian.
She immediately thought of one person and called Ding Benxuan.
He readily admitted that he had posted it.
Since returning to school, Ding Benxuan had been quietly tracking the progress of the "Against the Light" project. He often monitored various social platforms, initially intending to promote the company, but never expected someone would investigate his post. Besides Ye Qian, several other patients and family members who had commented were also harassed.
He asked around privately and found that most of the harassers were concerned about money and supplies. If they received no response, they would stop messaging. Only Ye Qian’s address had been exposed.
Wen Bairan recalled that the company’s backend had indeed received many pleas for help during this time. After careful screening and verification, she arranged for a specialized team to contact them and provide assistance.
"Against the Light" was established as a charity. Although they had signed cooperation agreements with two charitable organizations in the province, in the early stages when the platform was not yet launched and there was no traffic, all the support they provided was specially requested by Wen Bairan from the company. Not only that, she even used her own money to buy an electric wheelchair for an amputee with bone cancer.
This was real money being spent, and it added up. Every time Xiang Sun signed her expense requests, he would shake his head.
"You really know how to spend money."
From the beginning, the project was expected not to generate significant returns in the short term. Thanks to some existing mature technologies, the cost investment wasn’t excessively high. Wen Bairan advised him to look at it differently and treat it as doing good deeds—these were all worthy causes. Moreover, if the project was properly operated after launch, with adequate promotion and traffic, the returns would eventually make their way back to his pocket.
But who could say for sure about the future?
After she left the office, Xiang Sun took out the order contract Song Xu had just delivered from his drawer. Admiring the transaction amount on it, he couldn’t help but sigh: "One earns like crazy, the other spends like crazy. You two are quite the pair."
/
On the night they returned to Shenjiang, Wen Bairan specifically reviewed the donation records to verify whether the supplies had been delivered as scheduled. She found that only the donation Ye Qian had refused was still in the account and hadn’t been transferred. Other than that, everything was basically fine.
After addressing one concern, she carefully recalled and analyzed what Ding Benxuan had said. He mentioned that the harassers seemed like hired trolls, but some of them accurately commented, "How dare you trust a company that’s been established for less than a year?"
Although no names were mentioned, knowing they were a new company and having backend comment data—this didn’t seem like the work of an outsider.
Wen Bairan lay awake all night thinking about this and called Qiao Yi before dawn.
Qiao Yi was barely awake, but she perked up as soon as she answered the call: "A mole?! Who’s the mole?! Someone in our company dares to cause trouble under Song Xu’s nose?!"
Wen Bairan told her not to get too excited. It was just a guess and hadn’t been confirmed yet, which was why she wanted Qiao Yi to keep her eyes open in the company, see who had access to these matters, and then narrow down possibilities one by one.
How to eliminate? The company wasn’t that large, but it had about a hundred people, plus a lab at Shen University. Although Qiao Yi was known as the company’s "little informant," she wasn’t familiar with the lab.
She asked Wen Bairan if she had any specific suspicions or why she didn’t just tell Song Xu directly. If he investigated, it would surely be faster than them.
Wen Bairan said no. Nothing was certain yet; these were all just speculation. If it were true, it would be one thing—just find the person. But if it weren’t, going directly to Song Xu would damage company morale. Who knows what chaos might break out? It wouldn’t be worth the loss.
"Makes sense!" Qiao Yi was energized by this analysis, feeling like she was in some spy movie—both nervous and excited. She rubbed her hands together and assured Wen Bairan she wouldn’t tip anyone off.
After explaining all this, dawn had broken.
Wen Bairan only remembered to ask Qiao Yi to help her request two days off after hanging up.
She could set the online issues aside for now; she needed to go see Ye Qian first.
"Against the Light" was her project, and Ye Qian was her client.
No matter what, compared to a lawyer, Wen Bairan, who had direct contact with her, would better understand her needs.
She had to see her and apologize in person.
After buying the plane ticket, Wen Bairan looked out at the gray dawn light and squinted slightly.
There were less than three hours before the flight.
After thinking it over, she still called Song Xu.
He seemed to be waiting for her.
The call was answered after just one ring. The first thing he said was:
"Pondered all night? Figure anything out?"
"...How did you know?" He was... something else?
The person on the other end said, "Look at what time it is."
It was only 6:30 a.m.
They had returned from Yuehu Villa after midnight last night.
She had already planned how to spend the all-nighter on the way back. Song Xu dropped her off downstairs. She didn’t invite him up, and he didn’t offer to stay. They seemed to have a tacit understanding.
Now, the voice on the phone sounded exceptionally clear, without any drowsiness or fatigue. "Go on, what do you plan to do?"
Wen Bairan was surprised, and a thought occurred to her. "You... didn’t sleep all night either?"
Song Xu’s study faced the river.
Early in the morning, the misty river surface resembled a mist-white ribbon floating in mid-air, hanging between sky and water.
He gazed out and said softly, "I thought you’d come directly to me."
The person on the phone was silent for a while.
When she spoke again, it was an apology.
"Sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
Another silence.
He stood up, walked to the window, and watched the cold wind slowly push the mist toward the river. The quiet passage of time brought an unprecedented sense of peace.
There was no extra noise on the receiver. The silence reminded Wen Bairan of what he had said at the first meeting. He said he wanted a new product that represented the company, with the power of technology and the warmth of humanity. He put her in charge of this, and she said it wouldn’t be a problem.
For now, she didn’t want to pessimistically consider what the failure of this project might bring. But if she had been more careful earlier, if she had thought about things more like he did...
No, it was too late for regrets. Thinking about "what ifs" is useless now.
What she needed to do now was to make sure she didn’t disappoint him.
As she had told Qiao Yi, Wen Bairan didn’t share her suspicions and guesses with Song Xu, especially since she didn’t know what he planned to do next. She was sure he would do something. She couldn’t rashly disrupt his plans.
"Something like this happened... I wasn’t careful enough."
After a pause, she strengthened her voice and said firmly, "Give me some time. I will resolve this before the project launch."
This was Wen Bairan.
She made mistakes.
Her ability to avoid risks wasn't sufficient.
She’s even a little naive and indecisive.
But she did not stagnate.
Song Xu raised his hand and placed it on the glass. The mist outside seemed to drift through his fingers as he narrowed his eyes and said, "You need to handle this properly."
"I've said it before."
"If you can't do it well, I’ll have to replace you."
He suddenly shifted his tone—cold, serious, with a subtle, barely-there hint of a laugh at the end.
Wen Bairan’s heart clenched.
"Song Xu..."
She had thought he might comfort her, like he did in the car.
But honestly, his sternness was more reassuring than comfort would’ve been.
Ever since their days in Xilin, she never wanted him to treat her differently because of their relationship. After joining P&t, the pressure on Wen Bairan only intensified.
Unlike other departments, product is the soul of a company. She was brought in by Song Xu, personally chosen by him. If she couldn’t achieve something in this position, people would assume he was playing favorites.
The success of the Nilight proposal was just the beginning, an insignificant start. The post-launch operation of the platform, along with the development and promotion of other products, couldn’t lag. She had to give her all to ensure these were done well and produced results.
Frankly, the reason those odd looks from people in the company bothered her was that she herself was uncertain.
Although she knew very well that he was someone who could separate business from emotions, lately, with his confessions and gifts like the car, she couldn’t help but worry. She worried that she hadn’t yet delivered returns for him, hadn’t proven her worth or his judgment. She worried that everything was just hormones blurring his judgment.
She’d never been this insecure.
She didn’t need comfort or excuses.
The nicer he was, the worse she felt.
This conflicting emotions made her instinctively reject all the feelings he brought, even those bright, attentive gazes he gave her.
She could hardly understand her own heart anymore.
But Song Xu seemed to could read her mind.
He lowered his voice:
"Wen Bairan, don’t second-guess yourself."
"You may not believe in you, but you must believe in me."
As he finished speaking, a strong wind blew, sweeping away all the haze.
A soft, warm glow climbed to the edges of the clouds, and the rushing river silently formed waves.
At the same time, Wen Bairan saw the tree shadows swaying outside her living room window, and soft dapples of light fell at the corners of her eyes. It was very warm.
"I’m never wrong."
"Even if it is, I will make it right."
His deep, rich voice carried a more obvious laughter, tinged with a confident arrogance. It was bold, almost cocky, yet because he was Song Xu, it held a magic that made people unconsciously believe him.
These words magically eased all her anxious thoughts.
As he said, he had never failed.
So Wen Bairan was naturally no exception.
He was comforting her.
In his own way.
Her eyes felt inexplicably warm, and a tight, choked feeling filled her nose and throat.
She fought back the welling moisture, silently wrapped her arms around herself on the windowsill, rested her chin on her knees, and after a moment, muttered gloomily, "Why did you call me by my full name?"
Last night, he had called her Ranran on the phone.
The childish, reduplicated nickname spoken in his steady voice carried an affectionate, doting tone.
It was the first time she had heard him call her that.
Well, it made her heart skip a beat.
Song Xu said, "To draw a line."
A distinction between what?
Between him and Zhou Lin.
Work and life.
He said using her full name was a sign of respect from him.
Having stayed up all night, she was feeling a little under the weather. Wen Bairan mumbled, sniffling, "Why are you so nitpicky, using that as an excuse? Don’t you know I was most afraid of teachers calling on me out of the blue in class?"
Song Xu sensed her whiny tone and humored her, "But I’m not your teacher."
"Better than a teacher."
"..."
"No, you’re scarier than a teacher. You’re a capitalist," she snorted.
Song Xu couldn’t agree with her argument and earnestly launched into a lecture about the origin and evolution of capital over the phone, from the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution, from Das Kapital to the modern economic society. Wen Bairan felt like she was attending a political ideology class. As she grew drowsy, she couldn’t help interrupting.
Her distinctly female way of thinking often made him pause for a couple of seconds in his speech before starting again.
They ended up talking about so much.
In these ordinary conversations and debates, Wen Bairan felt an unexpected sense of steadiness.
How could she describe it?
It felt like a first.
Even without being face-to-face, she still felt no distance between her and Song Xu.
Mmm, there was no lust or complicated emotions.
It was a genuine, heartfelt closeness.
She suddenly felt a bit grateful for that archery game that made her arm sore, grateful to Xu Lanjun for telling her, "Keep your hands steady and your mind calm; aim at your target's center and imagine only the two of you exist in the world."
On this morning where the mist gradually cleared to reveal the sun.
During the brief hour between six-thirty and seven-thirty.
The surroundings were so quiet there wasn't a single stray noise.
When there was no wind, even the leaves outside the window didn’t move.
In this moment of near-total silence.
Before the home alarm clock rang.
It really felt like there were only the two of them.
The person on the other end of the phone heard the alarm and asked if she was about to leave.
Wen Bairan made an affirming sound.
"Song Xu?"
"Hmm?"
She suddenly said, "When I come back, can you come pick me up?"
Song Xu paused, "Why not take you to the airport now?"
Because boarding a plane alone to an unfamiliar city isn't lonely.
But if someone is waiting for her when her return flight lands, that would make her really happy.
Ripples on the river surface creased like wave patterns, constantly shifting.
Song Xu’s dark eyes tightened, his throat dry, he managed a single word,
"Okay."
…