At almost seven in the morning, the phone rang.
After a short while, He Jichen withdrew his gaze from the window of her apartment and lowered his head. He reached into his pocket for his phone.
Through the rain, he glanced at the phone screen and realized it was Chen Bai calling.
He slid his fingers across the phone screen to pick up the call. The moment he put the phone to his ear, Chen Bai's voice rang through the rain. "Mr. He, there's a little traffic on the roads this morning, so it's probably time to leave for the airport."
He Jichen instinctively raised his head and glanced at Ji Yi's window. After about ten seconds, he let out a gentle "Mhm."
"Mr. He, I'm heading to your place now and will be there in about twenty minutes."
It seemed like He Jichen hadn't heard what Chen Bai said as he continued to stare up at the apartment for a long time through the dense rainfall. It wasn't until Chen Bai cried "Mr. He" over the phone that he snapped out of it and let out another gentle "Mhm." Then he hung up the phone and glanced up several more times at the window before he walked around the car. He pulled the car door open and got in.
Last night, apart from Ji Yi and He Jichen standing all night in the rain, there was one other person guarding another building from night till dawn.
He Jichen was set to leave for Beijing the next day, so Han Zhifan set up a party the night before at the Golden Lounge as a farewell party.
Han Zhifan knew He Jichen was still angry with him because he got Ji Yi involved when he set up Cheng Weiwan. However, because He Jichen was suddenly leaving Beijing, he asked him to take care of Ji Yi, so that forcefully improved things between them.
He Jichen had recently been feeling down, but he hadn't been showing it in the usual way when he was angry. Han Zhifan couldn't quite tell what was wrong, but this time, he mostly stared at one spot like he was distracted and slipped into endless silence.
The farewell party was especially prepared for He Jichen, but he left before it was even eight in the evening.
Quite a few people came to see He Jichen off, so with him gone, everybody started to make excuses and left one after the other.
Han Zhifan wasn't in a rush to go back home, so he stayed at The Golden Lounge until midnight. It was only after his interest subsided that he left the party room.
As he stood at the end of the hallway, Han Zhifan smoked another cigarette until it reached the very end. Then he finally called his driver and asked him to pick him up at the entrance of The Golden Lounge.
Han Zhifan casually took two drags then slowly put out the cigarette and swayed as he walked down the brightly lit corridor. There were several winding turns required for him to reach the entrance of the lounge.
The driver was already at the entrance. When he saw Han Zhifan leaving the lounge, the driver immediately got out to help him open the door.
As Han Zhifan had drunk quite a bit of alcohol, his stomach felt quite uncomfortable. The next second, he bent over and crawled into the car then swiftly leaned back into his chair and shut his eyes.
Since the end of last month, Han Zhifan hadn't returned home or to his office for some reason.
When the driver asked Han Zhifan where he was heading, he didn't mention the address to his apartment, so the driver asked, "Mr. Han, are we heading back to your office or to your apartment?"