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Qiu Ruolan had been very busy lately; she had started a new show, reportedly to support her pair of twin godsons. Every time she returned, Autumn Wind was already asleep, and by the time Autumn Wind woke up in the morning, Qiu Ruolan had already left.
Autumn Wind had thought about sending a message to inform Qiu Ruolan about her trip to the mainland, but halfway through composing the message, she couldn't help but delete it. She felt it would be clearer to discuss it face-to-face.
Finally, just before Autumn Wind was set to leave Taipei, she and Qiu Ruolan had the opportunity to talk in person.
After a busy day, Qiu Ruolan looked quite tired. Autumn Wind said seriously, "I need to talk to you about something."
Qiu Ruolan paused for a moment and rubbed her eyes. "Oh, I haven't paid you for this month's housekeeping service! I'll transfer it to your account tomorrow! Is USD okay?"
Autumn Wind suddenly found herself at a loss for words, swallowing down what she had prepared to say for so long. "That's fine!"
After that, Autumn Wind returned to her room. Perhaps in Qiu Ruolan's mind, there weren't that many barriers between them; even if there were, they could probably be resolved with money.
When Autumn Wind left home for Zhongshan Airport, Qiu Ruolan was still asleep. Autumn Wind gently pushed open her bedroom door. She was curled up like a girl, hugging the cute Snoopy plush toy. Autumn Wind suddenly felt soft-hearted again; she told herself that even if it was unrequited affection and even if Qiu Ruolan was her landlord, she shouldn't just leave without saying goodbye. At the very least, she should let her know that she was leaving.
However, what troubled Autumn Wind was that she didn't know how to tell Qiu Ruolan. Sitting on the sofa in the living room and thinking hard, she decided to let Leo deliver the news. Autumn Wind really couldn't imagine Qiu Ruolan's reaction and didn't dare face it.
"Hey, Leo!" As soon as she answered the phone, Autumn Wind choked up. She sniffed and said, "Can you do me a favor?"
"Sure!" Leo readily agreed but quickly noticed something was off with Autumn Wind. "Are you crying?"
"No!" Autumn Wind denied it. "It's just a bit cold in Taipei today. Um, I'm going to the mainland! Can you help me tell Sister Sally?"
"The mainland? Are you going to find Uncle Ervin?"
"No, it's for work, but I won't rule out visiting him... Please tell Sister Sally I'm going to Hangzhou!"
"Where are you now? Why aren't you calling yourself?"
"Don't ask so many questions! Just do it! I'm heading to the airport now; call Sister Sally in an hour! Set an alarm!" Autumn Wind instructed.
"Okay, okay, got it!" Leo replied.
After hanging up the phone with Leo, Autumn Wind let out a deep sigh, then stood up and glanced around the entire house before pulling her luggage out.
What she didn't know was that Qiu Ruolan had actually woken up long ago, standing behind the door with tears streaming down her face while Autumn Wind was on the phone with Leo.
For Qiu Ruolan, Autumn Wind's trip to the mainland was a disaster; she feared that Autumn Wind would stay there and never return.
But like Autumn Wind, she was stubborn and always unwilling to express her feelings directly.
In fact, when Autumn Wind went to the company to pick up some documents, Zhou Ringuo did not show up. This meant that when she sat on the plane, it was the first time she faced her new boss in person.
Sitting next to her was Zhou Ringuo, a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard. The hair at his temples was thick enough that even insects would get lost if they flew in. His hair was curly but had a bald spot in the middle resembling a Mediterranean region.
Throughout the flight, Zhou Ringuo did not speak to Autumn Wind. She tried to initiate conversation with him, saying, "Hey, hello, I'm your new assistant. My name is Autumn Wind!"
Zhou Ringuo took off his eye mask, glanced at Autumn Wind, snorted through his nose, then put the eye mask back on and fell into a deep sleep.
He did not say a word to Autumn Wind during the entire journey.
But when the plane landed in Hangzhou, she regretted it.
At the brightly lit Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport, Autumn Wind could not find any sense of returning home. Perhaps it was because she had been away from this land for too long or maybe because this place was not truly her hometown; it felt like an isolation of arriving alone in a strange city.
Autumn Wind followed Zhou Ringuo out of the airport terminal in a daze, while Zhou Ringuo wore an unhappy expression.
A greater blow hit Autumn Wind; she felt like a child who had suddenly woken up. Hangzhou was not Beijing—there was no Qiu Mowen here; Zhou Ringuo was an extremely difficult and lecherous person—this was what Qiu Feng had just told Autumn Wind during their app conversation; Zhou Ringuo had once been Qiu Ruolan's boyfriend—this was something Autumn Wind had just learned from Google.
This was Autumn Wind's first time leaving Taiwan as an adult, but she suddenly realized that this first time might turn into a disaster in her life.
The organizers in Hangzhou did not arrange for anyone to pick her up, so from the moment she got off the plane, Zhou Ringuo acted more like Autumn Wind's assistant.
"I really don't understand whether you are my assistant or I am yours! Are you a pig?" he said while holding a cup of steaming hot coffee. Realizing it was too hot, he mercilessly splashed it toward Autumn Wind. She deftly dodged, but the cup spilled all over his brown leather suitcase behind her. The elegant suitcase didn't show any signs of coffee stains, but Autumn Wind froze for a moment before hurriedly taking out a tissue from her bag to wipe it off.
Zhou Ringuo felt a bit embarrassed and angry, pulling his suitcase and quickly leaving Autumn Wind behind.
Autumn Wind hurriedly followed him, looking disdainful. He quickly jumped into a taxi, and the driver got out to help him put the suitcase in the trunk. Autumn Wind rushed to the driver, pointed at his suitcase, and smiled ingratiatingly, saying, "It's together, it's together!" The driver, looking puzzled, placed Autumn Wind's suitcase down as well. Autumn Wind waved enthusiastically at him before getting into the car.
Zhou Ringuo looked dismissive. He rested one arm on the car window and placed his other hand on his forehead, saying, "Um, can you call the hotel... never mind, with you like this, forget it! I'll handle it myself!"
Worse still, upon arriving at the hotel, they discovered that there was no reservation for Autumn Wind. Autumn Wind looked at Zhou Ringuo with a pitiful expression, and at that moment he suddenly realized that he might not be cut out to be an assistant after all.
Zhou Ringuo's expression suddenly changed drastically as he began to yell frantically, "Are you an idiot? Why are you looking at me! Forget it! You go wait over there!" Zhou Ringuo followed the bellboy who was helping him with his luggage toward the elevator.
Autumn Wind frowned and stopped in front of Zhou Ringuo with his suitcase: "What should I do?"
Zhou Ringuo continued to look disdainful. "I really don't know what kind of bad luck I've had to end up with you as an assistant. You might as well go back to Taiwan; you're such a hassle..." He glanced sideways at Autumn Wind and sighed. "Forget it; you wait in the lobby for now. I'll check it out!"
Autumn Wind sat on the soft sofa in the lobby, feeling somewhat displeased but also helpless. If there really was no accommodation tonight, staying here wouldn't be too bad. Soon he thought that even if no one offered him a place to stay, he could pay for it himself. The lobby had a television playing news reports; seeing simplified Chinese characters for the first time in a while felt somewhat unfamiliar.
Zhou Ringuo quickly came back down and called Autumn Wind to join him. At this moment, he no longer wore that look of disgust toward Autumn Wind; instead, his face was smiling. As they entered the elevator, he casually handed Autumn Wind a phone: "Hey, consider yourself lucky to meet me. There's an extra bed in my room next door; you can stay there!"
As he spoke, his fingers unconsciously formed a delicate pose; every time he spoke, his chin would tilt slightly. Autumn Wind took a small step back, pressing against the elevator wall, afraid that he might accidentally scratch his face with his nails.
His words were delivered with an air of expectation that Autumn Wind would be grateful; unfortunately, she wasn't good at flattery. Even when he helped her swipe the card to open the room door, she merely said thank you.
He might have already had his own plans in mind because he didn't continue to make any demands of Autumn Wind. After inserting the key card into the door lock, he left the room: "Call me at nine o'clock!"
This left Autumn Wind feeling confused after hearing countless stories about him.
Autumn Wind quickly learned how to navigate the internet in mainland China and started a video call with Leo. She briefly described her situation there. Leo looked a bit tired; his bangs covered half of one eye. He asked Autumn Wind, "Do you want to know your mom's reaction?"
The signal wasn't very strong; her response reached Autumn Wind's ears intermittently. After some discussion between them, they ultimately decided to text instead. Autumn Wind replied to Leo: "Isn't it Sister Sally?"
He sent back an exasperated emoji: "Let's just say that's true; she's actually not as concerned as you think! I tried talking to her about your trip to mainland China; her tone was pretty indifferent!"
Autumn Wind was actually not interested in the topic about Qiu Ruolan. After glancing at the words on the screen, she remained silent, opened her suitcase, and began organizing her clothes.
Leo continued, "She transferred the money to your account!"
Autumn Wind looked out the window for a moment, feeling a sudden pang of sadness, and continued packing her clothes.
Leo was a bit angry. He pushed aside his Bangs, revealing his slender eyes, and shot Autumn Wind a fierce glare before closing the video call. A moment later, a message popped up on the window: "Can't you be a little more enthusiastic?"
"Fine!" Autumn Wind replied as she took out the clothes she planned to wear and typed on the keyboard.
Leo sent a sighing emoji and then naturally brought up Qiu Mowen. He asked Autumn Wind, "Haven't you contacted Ervin Uncle?"
Autumn Wind: "No."
He continued, "Why not? Aren't you two close?"
Taiwan does not study mainland geography, and in Leo's impression, the distance between Autumn Wind and Qiu Mowen was just from Taipei to Taichung.
Autumn Wind shrugged helplessly at the computer, but unfortunately, he couldn't see it. She wasn't sure whether to explain how far Hangzhou is from Beijing or simply admit that she didn't have the courage to contact Qiu Mowen.
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