October was not a peaceful month. Zhou Qichen had originally wanted to keep a low profile and wait until the end of the year, get promoted to captain, and then he even thought about going on vacation with Lang Feng. There was no need to find another vacation spot, they could go to Amsterdam again. Anyway, it didn't matter to him where to go, as long as he went with him.
However, the result is that he is not in a hurry to be promoted to captain. He fell seriously ill and took a whole week off. In this short month, he not only went back to Shenyang and met Zhou Chenghai and Wu Miao, but now he even met Bai Ziyu. Things came one after another. In the past, he couldn't imagine how he would accept and digest them, but now they have come. Maybe the difference is that he has matured a lot, or maybe the distance has provided a buffer. Or, it's just because...
"What time will I pick you up?" Lang Feng drove Zhou Qichen's new car and dropped him off at the restaurant door.
Zhou Qichen thought for a moment before saying, "About an hour later. It won't be long."
Lang Feng nodded: "Then I'll just wait by the side. Send a message before you come out."
Zhou Qichen smiled at him, then turned and walked away. He could even feel Lang Feng's eyes on his back, following him as he walked away, out of his sight. His eyes were firm and unwavering, like a fire that wanted to burn him from his back to his chest.
When he saw Bai Ziyu, he was wearing casual clothes, which made him look strange from head to toe. Zhou Qichen took half a second to recognize him. In the past ten years, he had seen Bai Ziyu wearing other than regular clothes or training clothes no more than three times. He even had a feeling that Bai Ziyu, without his military uniform, seemed to be out of some kind of magnetic field, which made his words and actions seem discounted and reduced by half.
They ordered two dishes, and when the waiter came over, Zhou Qichen saw Bai Ziyu flipping through the wine list, so he ordered him a beer. Bai Ziyu looked up at him, but didn't say anything.
After the wine was served, Zhou Qichen spoke first: "How have you been recently?"
Bai Ziyu took a long sip before saying, "It's good."
Zhou Qichen asked him, "Is everything okay with your sister-in-law?"
Bai Ziyu lowered his head, and Zhou Qichen followed suit. He saw a circle of marks on his ring finger from the wedding ring. Bai Ziyu's job required him to be exposed to the sun and wind on the deck every day, and his skin was darker than that of a pilot. Now, the mark was there, but the wedding ring was gone.
Zhou Qichen immediately realized that he had asked the wrong question.
Bai Ziyu didn't mind what he said, and said calmly: "We are divorced, and the child belongs to me. Oh, yes, I was going to bring Taotao here, but a relative happened to be free today, so he helped to look after him, so I came alone."
Zhou Qichen was speechless. He suddenly understood why Bai Ziyu always brought his three-year-old son with him when he came to Beijing.
"We got married... it was true love, right?"
Bai Ziyu said, "It was true love. Now... it still is. But, I got married because my father was in poor health and he was anxious to have a son. Children... did change a lot of things."
As soon as he opened his mouth, Zhou Qichen felt that they had slipped back into their previous pattern. Bai Ziyu would talk about this kind of thing after drinking, and whenever he wanted to talk, Zhou Qichen would just listen in silence.