salt by salt

I was being led straight forward.

The long corridor seemed to be endless. The overly soft carpet under my feet made me a little unable to stabilize my body. The two people around me, one on the left and one on the right, walked on both sides of me almost as if they were holding them hostage.

I finally got into the elevator, and the feeling of weightlessness made me dizzy for a moment, and the fear in my heart gradually came up.

It was a bit risky to ask Sun Ning to send me to the agreed place because of a phone call, because I couldn’t see the person who could only trust me unconditionally to pick me up.But it was too late to repent, the elevator opened soon after reaching the floor, and I heard a calm male voice in front of me.

"Mr. Xu, I am Director Yang's secretary, please follow me."

"Sorry, my eyes..."

As soon as I said that, the man stretched out his hand to hold my arm considerately: "Be careful."

I smiled in the direction of the voice coming from my side, but fortunately he wasn't walking fast, so I could still keep up.

"Please wait."

Probably when he reached the door, he stopped and knocked: "Dong Yang, Mr. Xu has brought it."

"Come in."

Yang Chen's father's voice was slightly low, and I paused.The secretary took me in, asked me to sit down, put the poured tea by my hand, and left quietly.

"Xu Junyan, right?" Unlike Yang Chen's violent temper, his father spoke slowly, even calmly, "Let me introduce myself, I am Yang Chen's father."

"Hello, Uncle Yang." I could only judge the direction by voice, and smiled over there, "You can just call me Xiao Xu."

"Xiao Xu." He asked with concern, "After so long, the sequelae of your eyes are still so serious? What did the doctor say?"

……he knows.

He knows about my eye problems and the incident between me and Yang Chen in high school.

"The doctor said it's okay, just a small problem." I said with difficulty, "Thank you for your concern."

"It's fine. What are you doing now?"

A busy person like Yang Chen's father asked me something like a small talk at this moment, and I became more and more on pins and needles: "Do something related to art collections, and I'm holding an exhibition recently."

"I heard from Yang Chen that you are also studying finance? How did you go into art?"

"Helping my cousin, it's not very stray." I explained, "I'm just in charge of company affairs, not creation."

He pondered for a moment: "Which cousin are you?"

"Xu Yucheng."

"Oh..." He didn't ask much, "Yes, it's good that young people have their own ideas and start their own careers. Your uncle has undergone a major operation. How is your health these days?"

"It's much better. The doctor said that he can be discharged from the hospital after a period of recuperation."

I have always heard what Xu Yucheng said about my uncle's situation. Fortunately, I have paid attention to this aspect.Even if I don't have deep feelings for him, I should know something about emotion and reason, and I won't be unable to answer when asked.

"I was talking abroad before. Although I missed him very much, I didn't have a chance to visit him. You can go back and ask your uncle when he is free. I will also go to chat with him, my old friend for many years."

I quickly stood up: "Okay, sure."

"Don't be so polite," he said. "Sit down and talk."

The kinder Yang Chen's father is, the more uncertain I feel.

It stands to reason that he should already know about my relationship with Yang Chen, but he can treat me so calmly—I never believe that people of their generation are so open-minded, so I guess bad things are to come.

After a few pleasantries, Yang Chen's father finally got to the point: "How is your relationship with Yang Chen?"

I suddenly felt that these questions seemed familiar. After all, I just asked He Yun on the sidelines, and he was in a complicated and funny mood.

"good……"

If all the bad things that we have been entangled with each other are brought out, it will be difficult to sort out whoever he and I have failed the other in this life.

Do you want me to tell Father Yang Chen that your son not only has a violent temper, but also semi-raped me yesterday?What's more, it's not like I didn't take revenge on Yang Chen.

On this occasion, I can only say a good thing calmly.

"I guess you know it well, and you're tired of these twists and turns. Let's open the skylight and speak honestly." He said with a gentle smile, "Yang Chen will definitely get married in the future. This is what I expect from him as a father. It also needs him to grow into a qualified son, husband and man."

I listened silently, he paused, and continued: "Your family may be more lenient on you, but you have to understand that no matter how lenient you are, you can't mess around. Some scenes have to go through the process, so as not to be discussed by others. Speaking of it I am also your elder, so I tell you these words, you are a good boy, I hope you can distinguish between the pros and cons."

"……Um."

I let him finish talking, what else can I say?

"Yang Chen's temper is less like mine, more like his mother, and sometimes irritable. Maybe he has done some bad things, but I don't think he did it on purpose. I hope you can forgive me for that. Of course, I also I will make it up to you for him."

"Uncle Yang, there's no question of unforgiveness." I felt embarrassed when I heard it, "The problem between Yang Chen and I has been settled, it's all in the past, there is no need for any compensation, let alone what you can do for him .”

The air was quiet for a while, and he slowly said, "Is that so? Then your current attitude is...?"

"He and I broke up...broken, completely."

I breathed a sigh of relief, and reached out to take the tea at hand to moisten my lips.

I knew in my heart that what he said was just because he was afraid that I would pester Yang Chen again in the future, and he expressed his opposition early on, which killed my heart: "Don't worry, I have my own life plan, no matter whether Yang Chen gets married or what. It has nothing to do with me. Firstly, there is no relationship between us, and secondly, I am not a person who turns back, so there is really no need to break the relationship with him."

"Good, good, good."

I heard the sound of Yang Chen's father getting up, and then he was patted hard on the shoulder.He said approvingly: "You are much more courageous than that boy Yang Chen. By the way, I heard that you are holding some kind of exhibition recently?"

As soon as I heard that there was something interesting about it, I immediately said, "Yes, are you interested?"

"When?"

"The exhibition will open at 06:30 pm on May [-]th, and the dinner will be at [-]:[-]. It is a great honor for you to come."

"Okay, I'll ask the secretary to contact you to make specific arrangements and see how it goes."

I always feel that what Yang Chen's father said seems to have a deep meaning, but no matter how I think about it, there is no deep meaning. It can only be understood that I think too much, and replied with a smile: "I will definitely not let you down."

Yang Chen's father didn't chat with me too much, and after the chat, he ordered an assistant to take me back.

Because he was invited to participate in the exhibition, I couldn’t help clearing up my cloudy mood due to relationship problems for the past few days. I even took the initiative to communicate with the lady who sent me off: "Mr. Yang has always been busy, right?"

"Yes." She said, "Director Yang's schedule is very full. But don't worry, the afternoon of the exhibition will be free."

"What a coincidence? Didn't it take up his rest time?" I was a little flattered, "I'm really sorry..."

While helping me into the elevator, she said: "No, Mr. Yang said a long time ago that he would arrange this matter. Before you went in, he was still discussing with Mr. Yang."

It took me a little while to process the message of this sentence.

During the few seconds when the elevator descended, my soul seemed to leave my body for a moment, and my scalp felt numb.

"Sorry...please say it again." I heard my own voice, "You mean, Yang Chen is also in the room where we met just now?"

After what seemed like a century, the elevator stopped slowly, and the assistant standing beside me read out my verdict in a soft voice:

"Of course, President Yang was standing beside Director Yang at that time."