41. Night in the Spanish Garden

◎If you don't want Zhou Xu, then who do you want? ◎

After the performance at the National Theatre ended, Liang Chuling retreated backstage. Just as she took the water from her assistant, she saw a familiar figure walking towards her.

She is the head of Zhou Xu's domestic resources team—the one who once approached Liang Chuling to take over Zhou Xu's work but was rejected.

"Teacher Liang, the performance was wonderful." The person in charge extended his hand. "I never expected to meet you here."

Liang Chuling politely shook hands with him: "Are you here to listen to the performance too?"

"I came with my father." The person in charge smiled perfectly. "What a coincidence. There's something I'd like to discuss with you. Zhou Xu is returning to China next month, and his first performance is in Xiamen. Would it be an honor to invite you as a special guest?"

"Sorry, my schedule is too tight," Liang Chuling replied quickly.

The person in charge's smile froze for a moment, but quickly returned to normal: "I understand, I understand. But Teacher Liang, Zhou Xu has actually been wanting to invite you in person, but he was afraid you were still angry with him."

"Doesn't he have my contact information? He can contact me directly if he needs anything."

The person in charge seemed to have grasped at some hope: "So, if Zhou Xu himself contacts you, you will agree, right?"

Liang Chuling looked up at him, a mischievous glint in her usually overly clear eyes: "Of course not. I was just saying."

"..." The person in charge's facial expression control failed.

But he was still choosing his words carefully, then lowered his voice: "Mr. Liang, Zhou Xu's withdrawal from the Chinese market back then was somewhat related to you. He's been working hard to repair his image these past few years. If you could attend as a guest, it would be a great help to him. After all, you two were once..."

"What did you mean by 'in the past'?" Liang Chuling's voice turned cold.

"You two used to work together very well..." the person in charge abruptly changed his tune.

"He withdrew from the Chinese market because his own choices crossed the line with the public. People must be responsible for their own choices."

"As for restoring his image—a musician should let his music speak for itself, not rely on riding on someone else's coattails. Zhou Xu himself never even considered contacting me to take shortcuts, but you're quite open-minded. If Zhou Xu truly has the talent, he will naturally rise again. If he needs my support to establish himself in the Chinese market, then I suggest he change careers as soon as possible."

After saying that, Liang Chuling nodded slightly: "Excuse me, I have something to attend to, please excuse me."

Liang Chuling felt that she had repaid all the favors she owed during her first year in Curtis.

Zhou Xu's ability to rise from the depths of despair to return to the spotlight, and now his smooth return to the domestic performance stage, is in no small part thanks to Liang Chuling's strong support. She didn't just go through the motions; she did everything she could to build bridges and pave roads. She even invited Zhou Xu to perform with her at Curtis's internal performances. What more could he want?

She was not unaware of the controversy.

The opposing side sarcastically retorted: "Wasn't Zhou Xu's current predicament due to Liang Chuling? Shouldn't we help him recover now?"

Yes, she was involved in the whole story, but so what? She didn't coerce or entice him; it was Zhou Xu's own choice.

The affirmative side then advised: "Your sense of innocence is too strong; there's no need to help him."

Yes, she has a strong sense of innocence, which is a very good quality. She doesn't think she should abandon this quality to cater to the narratives that people like to watch now.

She turned and left, her assistant jogging after her, whispering, "Ms. Liang, is it alright for you to talk like that..."

"Won't I offend someone?" Liang Chuling took the coat and put it on. "Some people will take advantage of you the more polite you are to them. And I want to offend him! I get annoyed just looking at him!"

Stepping out of the theater's side door, a cool autumn breeze swept over her. Liang Chuling glanced at the Beijing night sky and recalled something Li Xun had said to her many years ago: "Don't always say no to yourself."

She's learned it now. It's just that the person who said those words to her is no longer by her side.

--

Li Xun needed to be hospitalized for two weeks for observation, and Li Chi also had urgent business to attend to and needed to leave Beijing. Neither she nor her son were the type to enjoy inviting people over, so naturally they wouldn't want strangers to come and feed the cat. Li Chi's friend was also busy with approvals lately.

After thinking it over, she had no choice but to call Liang Chuling again: "Chuling, Li Xun needs to stay in the hospital for more than a week for observation. My orchestra's performance in Nanjing has run into some problems, and I have to fly over there immediately."

“Chestnut is home alone again, and I’m worried about her. If you have some free time these next few days, could you come over every day to check on her, feed her, and change her water…”

Li Chi suddenly paused here, because she was really embarrassed. The cat was originally stolen by Li Xun... She was so flustered that she forgot. This...this, sigh, Li Chi scratched her head.

He had no choice but to add, "If you're also busy, that's okay. I'll ask Li Xun if he has any friends who live nearby and can visit every day."

“I’m free!” Liang Chuling almost interrupted her, “I’ll feed them!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Liang Chuling realized she had overreacted, and a long silence followed. Her face was a little hot, but the anger still lingered in her chest—

This is her cat! Why should someone else feed it? Does she expect Li Xun's girlfriend to feed her cat too?!

Li Chi quickly finished his awkward request, "Then I'll trouble you. I'll let Li Xun know."

"No need to talk to him. What's there to say! I feed my cat, he doesn't need to know!" Liang Chuling's heart was screaming like a whistle.

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone, followed by Li Chi's thunderous laughter, which made Liang Chuling's features contort in pain, yet she dared not scold Teacher Li Chi.

"Alright, alright," Li Chi finally said. "Then that's settled. You have the key, right? I haven't changed the locks at my place. I'll bring you a gift when I get back."

After hanging up the phone, the sky outside the window was grayish-white, with thick clouds, as if it were about to rain again.

Five years ago, less than two hours after making that phone call, Aunt Zhang returned home to continue directing the movers to move furniture, only to discover that Chestnut was nowhere to be found.

It certainly didn't get lost on its own; it was stolen.

Otherwise, how could the litter box, cat bowl, and cat bed all be gone?

What a vicious thought!

There was a security camera in the living room, but Aunt Zhang didn't know how to set it up, so she quickly contacted Liang Chuling. Liang Chuling was so scared that she immediately logged in to check. In the camera footage, she saw Li Xun use his key to open her door, clean up the chestnuts, sweep up the spilled cat food, and say goodbye to the camera before leaving.

Extremely arrogant...

"I shouldn't have given you my house key in the first place!" Liang Chuling was furious.

She called Li Xun seven times, but he didn't answer. On the eighth call, he answered.

"Where are the chestnuts?" she asked.

“It’s with me,” Li Xun said.

"Give it back to me!"

"No."

"Li Xun!"

“Liang Chuling,” his voice was calm, “you can avoid seeing me, you can pretend I don’t exist. But I’m taking Chestnut with me.”

Liang Chuling was so angry that she trembled all over. She never thought that Li Xun would be this kind of person.

Call him shameless, call him a robber, call him who has the right to do what he does.

Li Xun listened quietly and only said one sentence: "Because it's my cat too. Liang Chuling, you can't take everything away."

Later, the cat stayed with Li Xun. Li Chi would occasionally send photos over, and sometimes when Liang Chuling couldn't sleep at night, she would open those photos, zoom in, and see if she could see any trace of a person in the corner of the photo.

--

When Liang Chuling went to Li Chi's house, she initially acted like a thief, until she opened the shoe cabinet and saw a pair of pink slippers that looked new but were a bit old. They were her pair from a few years ago, and they were still there.

The room was quiet. When Chestnut heard the noise, it jumped down from the cat tree, picked up a wool ball toy, and slowly walked over. It rubbed against her legs and let out a long meow.

"You still recognize me!" Liang Chuling squatted down, overjoyed, and patted Chestnut's head. The cat's fur was so soft, and the familiar feel made her nose tingle.

Picking up the wool ball again, I realized that this toy had been played with for who knows how long; it was no longer a round ball, but had been chewed into a strange shape.

After changing the cat food and water and cleaning the litter box, she sat on the living room carpet and focused on communicating with Chestnut, all the while cursing Li Xun in her mind.

The person leaned back against the sofa, sunlight streamed in through the window, and the cat jumped into their lap.

This house, this corner, this posture—it's all so familiar.

Sleepiness washed over her. Liang Chuling didn't know why she always felt sleepy whenever she came to this house, from a few years ago to a few years later.

Perhaps it was the sunshine that was too bright, perhaps the carpet that was too soft, or perhaps the chestnut's snoring that was too soothing. My eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and my consciousness gradually faded.

"Never mind, I'll just sleep for a while," she told herself.

Aspiration pneumonia isn't serious, but the doctor advised Li Xun to stay in the hospital for at least a week for observation. Li Xun couldn't stand it anymore after lying in the hospital for four days. He knew Li Chi had gone to Nanjing, and only chestnuts were at home.

Although Li Chi said he had asked a friend to come and take care of him every day, Li Xun was still worried, and there was still a lot of work waiting for him for the film.

The doctor couldn't persuade him otherwise, so he prescribed some oral medications, gave a long list of instructions, and finally discharged him from the hospital.

When Li Xun returned to his neighborhood by taxi, it was already past 3 p.m. The sun was shining brightly, and the ginkgo leaves in the neighborhood were beginning to turn yellow, appearing particularly vibrant in the fresh air after the rain.

The living room was quiet. Li Xun didn't see Chestnut at first glance and was about to call out—

He was certain his lips and teeth hadn't moved, nor had his throat made a sound, yet he felt a sound had burst forth, only it hadn't dissipated with the air; instead, it had been retracted and forcefully inserted into his own senses—

He saw Liang Chuling leaning against the sofa, asleep with her head tilted to the side.

Chestnut was curled up on her lap, fast asleep.

He saw the shadows cast by her eyelashes under Liang Chuling's eyelids; he saw her breathing was light; he saw her chest rise and fall; he saw her fingernails were a little long, and she'd probably need a trim in the next couple of days; he saw that the hood of her sweatshirt wasn't turned up; he saw a clump of hair stuck to her mouth; he saw the obvious cat hair on her black pants; he saw her slippers; he saw the wool ball still clutched in her right hand; he saw…

Li Xun stood at the door, motionless.

He felt that he might not have been discharged from the hospital yet, or he might still be in the hospital bed. This was a dream, or he had traveled back in time to five years ago, to an ordinary afternoon when he returned home and saw Liang Chuling waiting for him, who had accidentally fallen asleep.

He blinked.

The image is still there.

It's not a dream.

Time suddenly rewound five years. There was no rift, no hurt, no separation, and no phone call.

She was still Liang Chuling, who would sleep at his house; Chestnut was still the cat that liked to stick to her; and this house was still a place where they could rest together.

Li Xun gently closed the door, took off his coat, changed into slippers, and walked over step by step to sit down on the carpet next to her.

They were very close, close enough to see the fine downy hairs on her face and smell an unfamiliar fragrance emanating from her.

I just sat there quietly watching her.

As his gaze lingered on her eyes and brows, Liang Chuling suddenly relaxed in her sleep, and the wool ball in her hand rolled away, eventually turning into a round new toy.

For Li Xun, the days after their separation were a clear form of torture.

After that phone call about chestnuts, Liang Chuling sent him a WeChat message: "I never want to see you again."

After sending the message, I blocked him.

Liang Chuling soon went abroad. At that time, Curtis hadn't started school yet, so Li Xun couldn't possibly know where she went.

Even knowing that she had left, it wasn't until one day when Madam called Li Xun and asked if Chestnut was with him that Li Xun awkwardly replied yes.

Ms. Ma patted her chest with relief and said she could rest assured. Liang Chuling only said that she couldn't raise chestnuts herself, so she was giving them to someone else, without saying who. After thinking it over, Ms. Ma realized that the only person Liang Chuling could trust to give them away was Li Xun. Li Xun could only agree again, thinking bitterly to himself, "I'm already someone else."

Ms. Ma then said that she had a lot of cat food and canned cat food at home and asked him to come over and pick it up. Li Xun said he couldn't, as he and Liang Chuling had argued and it wasn't convenient for them to meet right now. Ms. Ma didn't ask much about their relationship, only saying, "She went abroad yesterday, so it's okay that you two can't meet. Come and get it."

After returning from getting the canned goods, Chestnut was causing trouble at home, biting open a cushion. The fluff inside fluttered and danced in the air. Li Xun stood in the fluff, as if standing in snow, and suddenly remembered the promise the two of them had made.

He had already obtained his visa, and for the sake of that unfulfilled promise, he went to the Arctic alone.

Standing on the shore, facing the boundless ice field and the deep gray sea, the frigid air filled his lungs, carrying a crisp, clean chill. His fellow travelers excitedly took photos and exclaimed in amazement, but Li Xun remained silent.

Looking at the vastness at the edge of the earth, Li Xun wondered: Liang Chuling, is it possible that you have also come here?

The idea was illogical, but at every turn, on every frozen path, and every time he climbed a viewing platform, his eyes would search through the crowd.

Imagine her wrapped in a down jacket, with a little hair peeking out from under her hat, her eyes shining brightly in the snow.

You can even hear the exclamations she might utter.

Of course, he never met her.

None of the new friends she met on her journey knew who Liang Chuling was.

The world here is so vast, and personal joys and sorrows seem so insignificant.

It doesn't rain often in the Arctic; rain usually takes the form of snow or frost. But Li Xun encountered a rain that felt like the entire sky bowing down to him, crawling on his back, pressing him down so hard he wanted to bend over.

Li Xun touched the water on his face; it was rainwater, he thought.

In the distance, there was a large snowman that someone had built. It wasn't very well made; it looked like a gourd, like the gourd pendant around Liang Chuling's neck. Then he thought about how Liang Chuling had been so resolute towards him, and wondered what would happen to that pendant.

Li Xun approached the snowman step by step and discovered that the snowman's eyes were a pair of cufflinks, its mouth was a hair clip, and its ears were a lighter on each side. The reason why it looked like a gourd was because of a piece of goggles sticking up on the top of the snowman's head.

The snowman is covered in traces of the human world.

A person nearby came over and said that this was the biggest snowman they had ever built. The things on it were all things that everyone had picked up from the sea and just smeared on it. Then he pulled Li Xun to look at the back of the snowman and saw that someone had written words on it with a twig.

Li Xun also carved three letters on a tree branch: LCL.

After he finished carving, he felt it was too ridiculous and wanted to scratch it off, but when the branch was about to poke it, he couldn't bear to. He couldn't even bear to hurt Liang Chuling's name... So he took off his gloves and used the warmth of his palm to smudge the three letters.

After erasing it, he sat on a dog sled, drank a chilled drink in an ice hotel, and waited for the aurora borealis wrapped in a blanket in the dead of night. His heart was full, yet empty, because it was all Liang Chuling.

The awe, silence, and cold he never shared with her transformed into a doubled loneliness. He kept his promise, but left the other half of it forever in his imagination. The Arctic sky is dazzlingly bright, yet its starlight carries a chilling regret.

Upon returning, Li Xun was in a terrible state. His decision to give up music brought not only uncertainty about his future, but also a tearing apart of his identity.

Li Xun's friend said: Liang Chuling ruined you.

Destroy—Li Xun particularly hated this word; it made him feel worthless and lacking in agency.

Li Xun believes that a person can only be themselves, and this has nothing to do with anyone else; it is solely their own affair.

If something has a profound and lasting impact on a person, then that person has allowed themselves to be influenced by that thing.

The downside of being too clear-headed is that he is aware that he is allowing Liang Chuling to influence his life.

Li Xun soon went to New York, and no one around him recognized Liang Chuling anymore.

No one knew that the name that resounded in the classical music world was once closely associated with him; no one looked at him with inquisitive or sympathetic eyes, and no one mentioned her current situation.

The world finally did as he "wished," erasing all traces of her.

At first, he thought it was a relief.

Until one late night, when he was explaining to a new friend in his apartment why he had given up the piano and turned to film, he found that he couldn't find a reason that could summarize it—any honest reason would inevitably involve her.

At that moment, he was horrified to realize that her departure was not an instantaneous break, but a slow yet more thorough withdrawal.

First came the shared circle, then the intertwined daily routines, and finally even the reasons and contexts for mentioning it disappeared.

Li Xun is like a tree transplanted into unfamiliar soil. He appears to survive, but his roots are suspended in mid-air, unable to reach the familiar nutrients that nourish him.

The most painful thing is that he cannot deceive himself.

He always saw things too clearly, so much so that he could clearly sense how "Liang Chuling" gradually transformed from a name and a specific relationship into a symbol, a past that only he himself remembered and that others could not verify.

This clarity makes every loss of trace a painful confirmation.

I took a year off, during which I inexplicably went to Philadelphia several times.

Li Xun was not good at deceiving himself, so every time he went, he knew clearly why he was going.

The Curtis campus isn't large, but bumping into a specific person requires a lot of luck.

I went there several times, but most of the time I just sat on the campus benches, watching the young faces rushing by and imagining what she would look like walking among them.

Until one day, near dusk, he stood in the shadow of an old building and saw Liang Chuling walk out of a brightly lit concert hall, with Zhou Xu standing beside her.

Zhou Xu seemed to have said something amusing, and Liang Chuling looked up and laughed—a genuinely cheerful smile that Li Xun hadn't seen in a long time. Encouraged by her smile, Zhou Xu became excited and, as he spoke, reached out and took Liang Chuling's free hand. Liang Chuling didn't pull away.

Standing in the deepening twilight, Li Xun gazed at the warm and harmonious scene in the distance, filled with the intimacy between the young couple. Zhou Xu's undisguised admiration and Liang Chuling's complete relaxation all told him one thing: Liang Chuling had chosen Zhou Xu.

Zhou Xu was passionate, direct, and willing to go through fire and water for her—though naive and dangerous, it was truly an unreserved admiration. And even after the storms, he remained a dazzling presence on the stage. They were still people from the same world.

Li Xun once told Liang Chuling that he wanted to give her the best love.

But what exactly constitutes the best kind of love? He couldn't possibly explain it clearly.

He has only ever had this one love, and he can only give this one love.

But if Liang Chuling chooses Zhou Xu, then the best love Li Xun can give her is probably to let her go.

To let go means not to disturb, not to entangle, and not to leave your shadow on her new life.

This also means that... if Liang Chuling chooses to be with Zhou Xu, then Li Xun at least hopes that the person she chooses is not a stain that she needs to defend or explain.

After that, Li Xun never went to see Liang Chuling again, and he even submitted a withdrawal application for the Cliburn Tournament, which they were supposed to go to together not long after.

That stage has lost all meaning.

He chose to withdraw from her race completely.

Back at his place, he took out his phone and decided to delete everything related to her. But the deletion process turned into a complete emotional re-examination. He took a magnifying glass and tore open the scabbed wounds again, examining every texture and reliving the origin of every pain.

That's too cruel.

He couldn't do it, not because he was reluctant, but because the secondary damage caused by the re-enactment itself was beyond his capacity to bear.

He had no choice but to buy a new phone, get a new SIM card, and import any old data. The new contacts were empty, the new photo album was blank, and the new chat software had no history.

Start from scratch. If you can't deal with the past, then create a present without a past.

After a year's rest, Li Xun finally had the energy to retake the college entrance exam. During the post-screening discussion of a film after enrolling, an audience member brought up gossip in the classical music circle, mentioning Zhou Xu's scandal from years ago.

Many people present spoke of Zhou Xu in a mocking tone, their words filled with sarcasm.

I won't mention Liang Chuling for two reasons: first, because she's in such a high position now; and second, because Yelena, the top Russian female pianist, and Li Chi, the top Chinese female pianist, have relentlessly attacked all those who mocked Liang Chuling.

People are naturally inclined to seek advantage and avoid harm. Zhou Xuzeng, for example, was bewitched by his mixed-race appearance, genius, family background, and the support of capital, making people afraid to oppose him.

Now Liang Chuling has also reached such an environment, an environment that seems to be attainable for any ordinary, outstanding man.

Li Xun, one of the guests, picked up the microphone and explained the subsequent conclusions of each incident, pointing out that one should not only focus on rumors and ignore the facts, or care only about gossip and not the outcome. This made the atmosphere on set very awkward.

This doesn't really fit Li Xun's personality...

The host quickly smoothed things over, saying, "It seems Director Li still cares a lot about the classical music scene."

Li Xun picked up the oddly shaped wool ball that had rolled off the bed, put it aside, got up and went into the bedroom, opening the desk drawer. Inside were some rarely used items: an old passport, some photos, and an old cell phone.

He took his phone out to charge, and while waiting for it to boot up, he almost wanted to unplug it—a pathetic act of self-deception.

He changed to a new phone and a new number, claiming he wanted to cut ties with the past, but he still kept the old phone and the old number, and kept paying the phone bill.

Li Xun opened WeChat, and Liang Chuling was still pinned to the top. He opened the chat window, and the last chat history was from five years ago. Scrolling up revealed even earlier fragments of conversation, like glittering shards of glass, recording how they had shared their lives without reservation.

He certainly wouldn't bother sending those fake messages that would only get a red exclamation mark, but he didn't delete the chat box either. He just left it there, like a tombstone.

He opened the photo album again, which contained photos he had only partially deleted. He didn't have the courage to look at any of them closely. Those thumbnails were enough to form a surging wave, crashing against his shore.

In order to survive, he left the raging waves and fled back to the living room, but as he looked at the sleeping Liang Chuling, he was once again swept into the water by the waves—suddenly remembering the feeling when he fell into the water.

The moment he was swept away by the flood, the muddy water filled his mouth and nose; the feeling of impending death was real, but ironically, the first thought that flashed through his mind was fear—not fear of death, but rather—

He was terrified that he would die like this.

Death is not scary; what is scary is becoming a story told by the living.

When living people talk about Li Xun, they fear that his entire life will be reduced to a single sentence—a single sentence about Liang Chuling.

This power of simplification was given away by Li Xun himself.

But now, looking at Liang Chuling before him, Li Xun had to admit that some people are meant to be a part of your life from beginning to end, whether you like it or not. She wasn't part of his story; he was part of hers—or vice versa. Their stories were already intertwined, making it impossible to distinguish who was whose footnote.

Liang Chuling's eyelashes trembled, as if she were about to wake up, but she didn't. She only moved her lips and mumbled in her sleep, "Zhou Xu..."

The name slipped lightly from her dreams, like a knife piercing Li Xun's heart, which had just warmed from the recurring scenes of the past.

The soft illusion he had just formed from her sleeping there unsuspectingly shattered with a crash, the fragments just as sharp, piercing his very core and stirring up a belated hatred within him.

Li Xun drew closer, his face five years away from hers, yet it felt like an instant. Sunlight danced on her face, revealing the fine hairs, making her look harmless, even somewhat innocent. But she had just called out to Zhou Xu.

How many people are still around Ivan, Zhou Xu, and Liang Chuling?

On what grounds?

Why do you have both new and old flames around you? Why are you with Ivan, yet still involved with Zhou Xu? Aren't you usually so decisive with your exes? Why do you still bring up Zhou Xu, your ex?

On what grounds?

Why could you push me away so decisively back then, saying you never wanted to see me again, without even giving me a chance to stay? Why can you now so brazenly step into my house, as if that expulsion never happened? Why can you sleep in my house, even wearing those old slippers, as if you'd just returned from a long trip? Why can you sleep here, calling someone else's name in your dreams? Why can you so easily cross the chasm you drew, the high walls built by time and hurt? Why can you leave me with such a ruthless attitude? Why did I spend so much time trying to understand those two words, accepting the unfamiliar self-awareness that "I will hurt you"? Why can I rebuild a self without you in a completely new world, while you can so casually re-enter my territory with the slightest reason, stirring up the spring water I thought had long since died? Why am I the only one still struggling in the same place, while you can even dream about someone else in my space?

Li Xun wanted to shake her awake, to make her look into his eyes, and say again, "I never want to see you again." He wanted to ask her: Does Ivan know you're like this? Does Zhou Xu know you're like this? Does he know you'd lie on the floor of your ex-ex's house, falling asleep murmuring your ex's name?

Li Xun wouldn't ask, because he knew these questions would also cause harm, and he would never hurt Liang Chuling again.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the sunlight began to withdraw, shining in through the west-facing blinds and enveloping Li Xun like a cage.

Li Xun reached out and brushed Liang Chuling's hair aside. With a single movement, he broke free from the cage—what a gentle cage it truly was.

Gentleness. Yes, even if there is a little bit of hatred in my heart at this moment, that hatred is still wrapped with an inseparable gentleness.

I hate her indifference, I hate her ease in overcoming obstacles, and I hate myself for still feeling inappropriate pity for her unguarded sleeping posture even today.

There is no answer, and there is never a need for one. Liang Chuling will always have the right to do so. Li Xun will always only be able to accept it—accept her arrival and accept her departure.

Li Xun almost wanted to laugh at himself. All he wanted to do at that moment was leave and hide outside.

But the next second, Liang Chuling's voice rose a little, and she uttered another word in her sleep, with obvious resistance: "No Zhou Xu!"

Li Xun froze, watching her turn over uneasily. Startled, Chestnut jumped down and rubbed against Li Xun.

Liang Chuling was still asleep when she mumbled again, "I just don't want to!"

A stubbornness that borders on childish.

Li Xun leaned closer and asked softly, "If you don't want Zhou Xu, then who do you want?"

[Author's Note]

well