Rebirth 1990: The beginning is sweet and cool Bai Yueguang

Looking at the girl's hurried back, Zhou Qi rubbed his temple and walked towards the elevator.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling window, the neon lights of the capital were lighting up one after another, reflected in his deep pupils and turning into dancing sparks.

The metal shutter door made a harsh friction sound. Zhou Qi stood at the door of the workshop with one hand in his pocket, and glanced at Liang Ranran's red SUV: "Can you lend me your car?"

"Of course." Liang Ranran swiftly took out the keychain from her Gucci tote bag. The sound of metal collision was particularly crisp in the empty workshop.

When the key drew a parabola, she suddenly retracted her hand: "Let me make it clear first, if the paint is scratched, you have to pay for it."

Zhou Qi took the key straight away and suddenly stopped when he passed Gao Qingliang.

The accounting director who was checking the orders straightened his back subconsciously and heard the young boss lower his voice: "Keep an eye on assembly line No. 3 and send me the location in half an hour."

Gao Qingliang caught a glimpse of Liang Tingshan patrolling beside a forklift in the distance. Cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck, and his glasses slipped to the tip of his nose when he nodded vigorously.

The red taillights cast afterimages in the sunset.

Lin Xindie, who was sitting in the passenger seat, clutched her seat belt tightly and watched the "Shanyi Heavy Industry" sign gradually shrinking in the rearview mirror.

The in-car navigation system kept replanning the route. Zhou Qi tapped the steering wheel with his bony fingers as he slowly navigated through unfamiliar streets and alleys.

When the gold-plated school sign of "No. 13 Middle School" came into view, Lin Xindie suddenly found her nails digging into her palms.

The sycamore trees at the school gate were filled with parents' cars, and Zhou Qi turned the air-conditioning knob to the far left.

The moment the cold wind blew into her collar, Lin Xindie heard her own hoarse voice: "Didn't we say we were going back to the hotel..."

The voice was cut off by the electronic bell for the end of school, and figures in blue and white school uniforms emerged one after another from the metal sliding door.

"Fang Xiyao, Junior 5 () class."

Zhou Qi swiped his phone screen and saw a photo of a girl flash across the text message screen: "The name registered at the welfare home is Lin Xi."

The leather seat made a slight friction sound. Lin Xindie turned to the driver's seat, her pupils contracted violently, and tears welled up in her red eyes.

The clock pointed to four fifty.

The girl in the pink sweatshirt walked out of the school gate holding her homework book, her ponytail swaying with her steps.

Thirty meters away, Lin Xindie suddenly pushed open the car door and her high heels sprained on the curb.

Zhou Qi, who was about to chase after him, suddenly stopped - across the street, a girl with the same ponytail was looking up and smiling at the convenience store owner, and the small mole on the side of her nose was clearly visible in the sunset.

As the iron gate of the school slowly rose, Lin Xindie's nails dug deeply into her palms, and her joints turned as cold and white as shells.

Boys and girls who were leaving school came out with backpacks of various colors, floating in different directions like scattered dandelions.

She almost stuck her whole body to the car window, not daring to flutter her eyelashes, for fear of missing the fleeting scene.

When the girl with a ponytail appeared with her classmates, Lin Xindie suddenly straightened her back as if she had been electrocuted.

The upturned curve of the girl's eyes is exactly the same as hers, and the line of her calves under the school uniform skirt still has the childishness of baby fat.

"Unlock it! That's my sister!"

She frantically turned the door handle, and the sound of metal colliding echoed inside the car.

Zhou Qi in the driver's seat did not move at all, tapping the steering wheel with his fingertips: "Are you sure you want to ruin her peace now?"

The words were like an icicle piercing the back of the neck.

Lin Xindie looked at her sister's back as she jumped away, and suddenly remembered the photos she received every month:

Last year she participated in the 100-meter hurdles at the school sports meet, blew out candles while wearing a birthday crown last month, and just changed to a new pink school bag last week.

Behind every carefully recorded mark of growth, isn’t there an invisible cage?

The setting sun stretched the girls' shadows very long. Lin Xindie suddenly laughed out loud, and her tears shattered into starlight on the metal buckle of the seat belt.

She finally saw the silver chain dangling around her sister's neck - it was the butterfly pendant she had tied on her sister eight years ago.

The street scene outside the glass window suddenly froze, and Lin Xindie's fingers dug deeply into the leather seat.

Three girls in school uniforms were walking side by side, arm in arm. The girl in the middle with a ponytail was looking up and laughing. The arc of the sunlight dancing on the ends of her hair was so familiar.

Zhou Qi, who was sitting in the driver's seat, heard rapid breathing coming from beside him. He turned around and found that Lin Xindie was trembling slightly, with tears accumulating in her eyes like a broken galaxy.

When the girls walked out of the stationery store with their newly bought star posters, a boy in basketball uniform suddenly entered the picture.

The pink envelope that the boy awkwardly handed over was infinitely magnified in Lin Xindie's pupils. She saw the wrist rope swinging when her sister waved her hand - it was clearly the peace knot she had woven eight years ago.

Amid the roar of the bus starting up, the rearview mirror reflected Lin Xindie's profile frozen like a sculpture, with tears hanging from her eyelashes.

"That boy has good taste."

Zhou Qi tried to liven up the atmosphere as he turned the steering wheel: "But it's clear that she's not interested in early love."

He deliberately cast his gaze towards the twilight flowing outside the car window, leaving space to wipe away his tears.

Lin Xindie suddenly laughed as she stroked her wet cheek with her fingertips, but tears kept falling: "It turns out that she still likes to bite the straw when drinking yogurt."

This detail salvaged from the old times caused ripples in the two pairs of red eyes in the rearview mirror at the same time.

The floor lamp in the hotel suite cast a silhouette on the beige wallpaper. This was the scene Gao Qingliang saw when he pushed open the door:

Zhou Qi leaned back on the sofa with his eyes closed, while Lin Xindie knelt behind him and massaged his shoulders and neck. There were four or five burnt cigarette butts piled in the crystal ashtray.

"Yamaichi Heavy Industries' technological breakthrough was 36 hours ahead of schedule."

Gao Qingliang's report woke up the dim light: "Engineer Yi said that the parameter calibration can be completed before midnight."

Lin Xindie's fingertips lingered briefly on Zhou Qi's temple, and similar worries flashed in the glances they exchanged.

When the neon lights outside the window began to flicker, no one noticed that she quietly put the faded peace knot into her pocket.

For Yi Fangzhe, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, breaking through technological bottlenecks often requires the intervention of key variables.

The idea provided by Zhou Qi at this moment is like a correction module embedded in a precision instrument, providing new possibilities for the operation of the entire system.

But can a technological breakthrough really be achieved overnight?

"Mr. Zhou, I need to confirm the project progress with you."

Gao Qingliang carefully adjusted his words: "According to the original plan, this technical patent should be obtained by Bai Shao. Now that Academician Yi's team has intervened..."

The metallic friction sound of the rotating office chair suddenly sounded, and Zhou Qi's eyes locked on his subordinates like a precision scanner: "Does the strategic deployment of the decision-making level need guidance from the execution level?"

"My subordinates have absolutely no intention of doing this!"

Gao Qingliang's neck immediately broke out in cold sweat. "I'm just worried about the chain reaction that might be triggered by the distribution of results. After all, Mr. Bai..."

Zhou Qi tapped the wooden tabletop with his fingertips, issuing a rhythm like a tactical command:

"What you are really worried about is how to explain to your guarantor when variables appear in the established chain of interest transfer, resulting in the inability to fulfill your promises?"