"So, when do you plan to tell Dad about us getting divorced?" He Teng asked further.
"We can’t tell him! At least not now!" He Zhilan hurriedly responded, "Dongxue has gone off to college, do you want our father to spend his day worrying about you and me? I am a girl, and even I am not in such haste; why are you, as a man, feeling so urgent? Anyway, when I say we can’t tell, we can’t tell. I will find an opportunity to discuss this with Dad later!"
"As you wish." He Teng had some idea of what He Zhilan was thinking, but couldn’t deny that He Zhilan made sense. They shouldn’t make their father worry about his three children.
He Teng was not one to speak much. After uttering these two words, he asked He Zhilan to rest early and not to miss her train the next morning, then ended the call.
To get to C Province, He Zhilan had to transfer several times. She had to take a train to a city with an airport first, then fly to C Province. There wasn’t a direct flight to her destination city. After landing, she needed to take another shuttle bus to join the team arriving from abroad. The numerous transits were another reason for her father to worry.
For He Zhilan, this job assignment was somewhat indescribable.
After landing, He Zhilan took a cab directly to the train station, bought a ticket, and headed to the destination city of her current assignment.
Thirteen years later, she revisited the old haunt. Maybe, that’s what this saying meant.
Thirteen years had passed. Time altered many people and events. Just like she had transformed from Gu Zhilan to He Zhilan, the city, too, had gone through changes. It had changed so much that walking through it failed to reignite any of her memories of the place.
Standing in the city she had once lived in, she felt like a stranger who had never been there before. Each road, each building was entirely alien to her.
After taking a taxi to a designated hotel, He Zhilan got out of the car and saw a foreign boy holding a sign with her name. She walked over, smiled at him, "Hello, I’m He Zhilan!"
From the moment He Zhilan got off the taxi, the foreign boy noticed her. Hearing He Zhilan’s words, he was relieved he had met up with the correct person, and he smiled, "My name is Peter! Our boss specifically instructed me to meet you downstairs and take you to join our team."
Upon saying that, Peter complimented, "You speak English so well."
"As long as I didn’t embarrass myself!" He Zhilan responded with a faint smile. Following that, she followed Peter to collect her room key. She went to her room to drop off her belongings, then proceeded to a room several meters away from hers with Peter.
The team was surprisingly young - the oldest member was the team leader, the boss Peter had mentioned, who was around the same age as a professor. The others were about 25 or 26, with Peter himself still being a student.
What surprised He Zhilan the most though was that John’s wife, Lihua, was also a member of the team. She and He Zhilan were the only females in the team.
"To the beautiful Miss He, let me introduce myself first. I am the project lead, just call me Bono. Welcome on board, we look forward to working with you!"
After everyone had introduced themselves, the entire team started discussing the upcoming itinerary in Bono’s room. According to Bono’s plan, they would stay in the current city for about three days. This meant that He Zhilan could return home in three days.