The Healing Sunshine (一厘米的阳光)

Chapter 22.1 - What Use is there in Wishing to Do Things Over? (1)

She had originally planned to go back to her school in the afternoon, but because of Jì Chengyang's one sentence, she stayed at the newspaper office and continued to gather and organize information and materials for which there was no actual urgent need. Page after page of old newspapers made rustling noises as she flipped through them. These were all news stories that were very difficult to look up on the internet, and due to them being from so long ago, the photographs as well as writing and wording all seemed to give off a dated feel.

She was not certain why, but looking through these always reminded her of when she was very young, sitting on the couch of the living room, reading through Grandfather's newspapers. Reference News and Beijing Evening News. The newspaper names most deeply imprinted on her memory were these two.

Now that she thought about it, she had never read anything that was age appropriate, apart from the traditional Chinese character publication of Grimms' Fairy Tales.

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That was her childhood before she met Jì Chengyang.

After meeting him, everything began to somehow be connected to him.

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Time slid by, minute by minute and second by second. When it was nearly five o'clock, someone called the morgue and instructed Jǐ Yi to come out, saying a visitor had come looking for her. She was very surprised, not expecting that Jì Chengyang would arrive early, and so, after hurriedly signing her name on the sign-out log, she strode out with a stack of newspapers in her arms. As she had left in a hurry, she did not have time to return to her office to put away those newspapers and simply carried them like this to the second floor of the building.

This place was specifically for the newspaper's employees to rest or receive outside visitors. The moment she walked inside, she ran into several co-workers who were with their own friends. Giving a greeting to them, she stepped past the glass door. And then, her steps abruptly halted.

She was not the only one with such a reaction. Basically, anyone who came or went through here would pause their steps for a moment when they saw those people who were dressed in military uniform. Jǐ Yi did not really dare step over there. Her mind was completely blank, and dazedly, she remained planted at the doorway.

Until the two people sitting inside saw her.

Third [Paternal] Uncle gave a slight nod and beckoned to her. Only then did she walk in, set down her newspapers on the glass table, and take a seat opposite Third Uncle.

"Xixi, congratulations." Third Uncle was looking at her. "I only heard recently that you passed the civil service exam and advanced into the interview process at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." Ever since she was little, she had not had much interaction with this uncle and would only see him once or twice a year, during the Lunar New Year or other holidays. Suddenly hearing this congratulatory sentence from him, she did not know how she should respond. It seemed she could only say "Thank you, Third Uncle."

The ensuing dialogue that unfolded mainly revolved around this particular matter.

The general idea was, Third Uncle's good friend had mentioned recently that he by chance saw the shortlist of interview candidates and discovered that Jǐ Yi's name was amongst them. At the time, when the people in her family heard this news, they had all been very astonished. After all, since Jǐ Yi graduated from high school, she had very seldom returned to the military compound. What everyone knew about her recent state was merely that she was studying at Beijing Foreign Studies University, but when they counted the years carefully, this piece of information was actually from several years back.