At night, the capital city’s neon lights twinkled like stars.
On December 31, not many people went to the airport.
Only the airport’s exit gate was crowded and bustling with passengers who had just landed from the plane and those who had come to pick them up and welcome them.
In the crowd, a tall, handsome man suddenly emerged from the exit. With his right hand, he carried a black leather duffel bag. The brown leather jacket he wore was really stylish, with short blunt fringe, sunglasses barred his eyes. At first glance, he seemed like a person who had recently returned from abroad. He was full of foreign scents, and when he walked, he resembled a runway model, grabbing the attention of passing individuals.
People who did not know the truth assumed it was a celebrity who had returned home in disguise, because his face was so lovely. Until someone shouted “Dr. Cao Yong” from the opposite side. The man halted.
“Doctor Cao, I was sent by the dean to pick you up, my surname is Du, you can call me Xiao Du,” said the person shouting from the other side. He was a short young man in a neat suit and leather shoes.
While talking, Xiao Du extended his own hand, rushing to lend a hand to Cao Yong in carrying the black duffle bag.
Cao Yong chose not to resist, so he handed over his bag and placed his sunglasses in the chest pocket of his leather jacket. “Do you only have this duffel bag, Doctor Cao?” Xiao Du asked.
Among the people who had returned to China, no one had ever held such a small amount of luggage. “I have other luggage. My friend will help me check it back in two days,” Cao Yong said.
As soon as he heard it, Xiao Du said, “The car is at the gate of the airport.
I’ll take you there.”
“Which dean’s department are you from?” Cao Yong inquired.
“I’m the dean’s secretary. I work in the hospital’s human resources department. Dr. Cao doesn’t recognize me because I’m new.” When he responded, Xiao Du was clearly nervous.
“The dean asked you to pick me up. Didn’t I say I don’t need someone to pick me up?” Cao Yong asked again.
“Dr. Cao, you studied abroad for three years and returned during the New Year. The dean said you might have trouble, so he let me pick you up. He also stated that you will visit his home tomorrow, on the first day of the Spring Festival, to eat dumplings.”
Cao Yong raised his eyebrows, as it appeared that eating dumplings was the key point for the latter. They then exited the airport and boarded a car waiting outside.
Cao Yong took out his phone while sitting in the car and called his old classmate Ren Chongda first.
“Have you returned?” Ren Chongda was taken aback when he received his unexpected call.
“Yes, I just got off the plane,” Cao Yong said.
“When did you return? You didn’t tell us you’d be here today; we assumed you’d return after the Chinese New Year.” Ren Chongda grumbled, complaining that handsome Cao had not informed them ahead of time.
“How can I not come home for the holidays? I just went to study and gain experience,” Cao Yong said calmly, before criticising his old classmates for making a fuss. I’m not doing anything big. There’s no need to inform you to pick me up at the airport.”
“Isn’t it right for me to pick you up? We haven’t seen each other in more than three years since you left.”
He said that he would go for three years of further study, plus a half-year to complete his preparatory work before returning.
Listening to the feelings of his old classmates, Cao Yong looked at the road scenery along the way outside the car window.
Scene after scene, both quite familiar and slightly foreign.
The city’s patching had been going on for more than three years and had always changed.