Chapter 25: Go To Bed
Hanchuan ended the meeting at exactly 8:43 p.m.
He had briefly noticed the time while reviewing the first draft of Zhiyi’s consulting contract. By then, everyone had been inside his office for nearly thirteen hours, and the daylight beyond the windows had been replaced by the reflected lights of the city.
But as tired as he was sure his friends were, Zhiyi had been awake even longer.
"That’s enough for today," Hanchuan announced as he closed the contract on his tablet.
The decision interrupted several things at once.
Shichen was comparing the construction records for two underground properties. Jingwei had been reviewing the roads leading away from the capital. Zeyu stood in front of the wall display with three vehicle designs open beside a list of requirements none of them could currently support. Qinghe had returned to the medical suppliers after spending most of the government call watching Zhiyi work.
Not one of them had reached a natural stopping point.
Still, Shichen saved his notes and disconnected his tablet without asking what he should do next. Jingwei collected the documents he had brought with him, including the folded list of people Zhiyi and Hanchuan had refused to include. Zeyu took a photograph of the vehicle specifications before shutting down the display.
The work would continue after they left. It simply wouldn’t continue in Hanchuan’s office.
Zhiyi reached for the notebook in front of her but Hanchuan placed his hand over it before she could turn back to the shelter calculations.
"The government question is finished," he told her. "Nothing else begins tonight."
She looked down at the three pages she had filled during Recruiter Gao’s call. His problem was complete, but the plans she had made to ensure their survival weren’t.
Properties had to be inspected. Supply quantities had to be matched to available storage. Every shelter still required more than one route, and none of those routes had been assessed under the conditions in which they would eventually be used.
And they had twenty-six days remaining.
Hanchuan’s hand stayed on the notebook.
"Tomorrow morning," he added, giving the unfinished work a place to go. "I’ll return this when we begin."
Ever so slowly, Zhiyi removed her hand.
Across the office, Qinghe watched the exchange without commenting. His opinion remained visible in the tight line of his mouth, but he had already said what he believed about Hanchuan making decisions for her. Repeating it wouldn’t change anything tonight.
Instead, he picked up his medical files and told Zhiyi that she needed eight hours in bed, whether she managed to sleep for all of them or not.
The instruction was specific enough to follow so she quietly nodded her head.
Zeyu paused beside the office door while pulling on his jacket. "Good night, Professor."
"I’m not a professor," Zhiyi reminded him.
"I’m aware," he assured her with a mysterious smile on his face. The smile stayed there as he left, apparently satisfied with a title he knew was inaccurate.
Jingwei followed him into the outer office. Shichen was already reading something on his phone, his attention shifting to whatever he had decided to pursue next. Qinghe left last, carrying the medical lists beneath one arm.
No one divided tomorrow into responsibilities or announced what they intended to accomplish before returning. They simply left with the pieces of the problem that belonged most naturally in their hands.
When the private elevator closed behind them, the office became quiet for the first time that day.
Zhiyi remained beside the low table while Hanchuan gathered the notebook and loose pages she had accumulated. She watched him align the papers before sliding them into her bag.
"I can organize those," she said.
"I know," he replied with a nod of his head.
"The property notes should remain separate from the supply calculations."
"They are."
Zhiyi checked.
They were.
Hanchuan fastened the bag and lifted it before she could take it from him. He had done the same thing the previous afternoon, although the bag was heavier now.
"You need to return home tonight," he said as they crossed the office.
Zhiyi understood the practical reasons. Her family knew she had left that morning, and disappearing for several days without returning would create questions. She also needed clothing, identification and several university materials still stored in her room.
But understanding the necessity of it didn’t make her suddenly want to go back to that place. She would much rather stay here and accomplish things rather than deal with those people.
However, she didn’t have a choice, so there was nothing else to do.
Assistant Lin was waiting outside the office with two prepared meals and a stack of documents that required Hanchuan’s signature. Hanchuan accepted the food and left the documents behind.
"Send anything urgent to my residence," he instructed. "Everything else can wait until morning."
Assistant Lin glanced briefly at Zhiyi before nodding. If he found it unusual that his employer was leaving before the legal department finished the contract, his expression didn’t reveal it.
The driver brought the car to the private entrance.
Hanchuan entered the rear seat beside Zhiyi rather than sending her home alone. Once the car began moving, he opened one of the food containers and placed it in her hands.
Zhiyi looked down at the rice, beef and vegetables inside it.
"You ate half a sandwich this morning," Hanchuan said before she could tell him she wasn’t hungry. "Finish that before we reach your house."
He opened the second container for himself, removing any opportunity for her to point out that he had eaten no more than she had.
They ate while the car moved through evening traffic.
For several minutes, neither of them spoke. The silence didn’t require Zhiyi to fill it, and Hanchuan didn’t ask her to explain what she was thinking.
The conditions they were experiencing might have changed, but the comforting quiet between them hadn’t.
Zhiyi watched the city through the window. Restaurants remained crowded. Light poured from shops displaying clothes, electronics and decorative objects no one would care about twenty-six days from now. People stood at intersections without looking at the buildings around them and calculating whether the glass would withstand flood debris.
She recognized the beginning of another chain of thought and stopped before it acquired a task she would need to finish.
Hanchuan noticed anyway.
"You don’t need to solve anything else tonight," he said.
"I know."
"Go to bed, and go to sleep," he continued, staring at her a little bit longer. "The world isn’t ending for another 26 days. We have time."
"I know," she replied, nodding her head again. And this time, she did.
He had given the night a boundary before the next problem began.