20. Snow in a silver bowl

Does this mean you still care about me?

After Li Xiran suddenly barged into the bedroom and hugged her for a few seconds, Shang Xinuan finally came to her senses and screamed.

Even she herself probably couldn't believe that this was something Li Xiran would do.

I originally thought that his decision to quit his job and chase me to the desert was already the limit.

"Warmth." Li Xiran's burning breath brushed against her ear, his deep, hoarse voice filled with sorrow, "Don't you really want me anymore?"

Shang Xi's heart pounded, his whole body soaked and covered in mud from the night rain.

After the young lady calmed down, she bit her lip, frowned, and bent her knee to ram into Li Xiran's lower abdomen.

Li Xiran winced in pain and instinctively tried to let go, but the next second he hugged her even tighter.

"Li Xiran, you are trespassing on private property."

"Nuan Nuan, I just feel uneasy when I can't see you."

"Why do you have to do this?" The young lady sneered, with a hint of sadness in her voice. "Why do you have to leave me no room to breathe? I thought I had made things very clear to you in the desert."

Li Xiran's voice trembled, and he tightened his arms around her, almost as if he wanted to melt her into his chest. "I admit, I just don't want to give you any time to calm down."

“Nuan Nuan, I know your personality well. Once you figure it out, you really can let go of everything.” She was born into the Shang family. Ordinary money and gifts are worthless in the eyes of the young lady. For her, emotions are more valuable than anything else.

“I’m really scared.” He took a deep breath, helpless, with an unyielding resentment, a panic of wanting to hold on but constantly hurting each other. “You’re like someone determined to dilute my existence with a grander world. I’m afraid that after this little wave in your life subsides, I’ll become insignificant too.”

"Nuan Nuan, you don't know my world. There are very few people who can stir up a storm in it."

He always felt that his boring yet immortal life had only lasted for twenty-eight years, but that fleeting glimpse in early summer also saved his world from being covered in cobwebs and dust.

"Young Miss, let's stop arguing, okay? Let's be like before, I'll give you everything I have, this time including my love that I'll proclaim to the world."

Shang Xinuan felt a sudden, sharp pain in her nose. She wanted to push him away but couldn't. She wanted to scold him, but even her heart was weary. "Li Xiran, but I just don't want it anymore now."

She couldn't get over some hurdles in her heart, hurdles that she herself couldn't explain.

The feeling was like a fishbone stuck in your throat, something you couldn't get out or swallow.

It wasn't just Li Xiran who was sad and stubbornly refused to let go.

She, too, couldn't find the person she used to be.

Li Xiran slowly released her and knelt on one knee in front of her. His hot, burning palm caressed her cheek as he looked up at her with the utmost subservience.

Even up close, the glistening tears in his eyes were clearly visible.

"Nuan Nuan, even I was slow to realize it. Your appearance marked the most brilliant moment of my life." He used to be used to closing himself off and was not good at expressing his emotions. So he always greeted the world with a gentle and smooth demeanor, but if he looked back quietly, he would find that this usually emotionally stable person had lost control repeatedly for her.

“I was so broken before. Really, I hated myself.” So he used to only dare to spoil and tolerate Shang Xinuan without limits, but he was afraid that she would see the real him. “Now, I’m completely open about myself.”

"I'll show you the whole Li Xiran. He also has a dark side, a torn emotional side, and a side that falls into the mire." Of all those lives that are just crumpled pieces of waste paper, Shang Xinuan is the first person who is willing to pick him up and iron him out.

The young lady bit her lip tightly, listening to the torrential rain outside the window and hearing Li Xiran's heartfelt confession.

The collapsed wall in my heart seems to have been washed away by this damp plum rain.

She once thought that Li Xiran was absolutely calm, capable of suppressing all his emotions. His personal loves and hates were almost indifferent; he could remain composed and indifferent in the face of any storm. Even the deepest sorrow seemed to only linger in the moment when he slightly furrowed his brow.

At this moment, Li Xiran's loss of control seemed to show her another side of him.

Through his now fragile rationality, one can also see the four years of unrequited love he experienced, his boundless passion, and the surging emotions that were suppressed by sober caution.

"Nuan Nuan." He knelt at her feet like the most devout believer. "Let's make up."

Before the young lady could figure out how to answer, she was interrupted by Shang Dan's sudden appearance.

Shang Dan kicked Li Xiran to the ground, then hurriedly shielded Shang Xinuan behind him, saying, "Li Xiran, are you fucking crazy? Coming to my sister's place in the middle of the night to act like a hooligan."

Li Xiran lay on the ground, blood dripping from the corner of his lips.

He glanced at her, who was filled with panic, then closed his eyes and fainted.

"Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?" Shang Dan ignored Li Xiran on the ground and anxiously checked Shang Xinuan up and down to see if she was injured.

"Brother, I'm fine." The young lady pulled a thin blanket from the soft couch and draped it over herself. "He came to beg for forgiveness; he didn't do anything to me."

"It's good that he's alright. I never knew he was so reckless." Shang Dan then went to help the person on the ground. "You go to sleep. I'll take him back to the Li family."

On a stormy night, the young lady hesitated and asked, "Won't it be unsafe?"

“Then I won’t allow him to live in our house.” Shang Dan looked around her room again. “Tomorrow, I’ll have someone reinforce your entire room.”

The young lady nodded and watched as Shang Dan dragged Li Xiran away.

-

Once she regained her composure, she looked at the mess all over her body and had to wash herself again.

Lying in bed again, listening to the rain pattering on the leaves outside the window, I couldn't fall asleep.

She didn't want to recall Li Xiran, but her mind kept sending her real-time updates.

The young lady irritably pulled the blanket over herself, completely covering herself.

She didn't know how much time had passed, but just as she was about to fall asleep, she heard another knock on the door.

"elder brother?"

Seeing that she responded, Shang Dan pushed open the door and entered, saying, "I sent it back, don't worry."

Shang Xinuan lay on her side, looking indifferent. "Actually, there was no need to tell me."

"I saw the light was on in your room, so I thought you wanted to know something." Shang Dan moved the computer off the soft chair next to her bed and sat down casually.

“I just took him to the Li family. I thought someone would take care of him, but his foster mother just told me to leave him on the bedroom floor.” Shang Dan glanced at her and, seeing that she didn’t seem to object, continued, “I was the one who brought him there. If something happened to him that night, wouldn’t the Shang family be held responsible? So, I kindly gave him a shower, changed him into clean clothes, and put him on the bed before coming back.”

The young lady propped her head up and looked Shang Dan up and down. "When did you become so close to him?"

"What about me?" Shang Dan stood up upon hearing this. "Do you know how exhausting it is to be friends with someone like him? Before, it was partly for business, and partly because of you. What else could I do?"

"I was just asking a casual question, why are you getting so worked up?" Shang Xinuan rolled over. "Brother, you should go back to sleep, I'm sleepy too."

Before leaving, Shang Dan leaned against the wall and asked, "When he was little, he was beaten a lot by his adoptive mother, wasn't he?"

"Um?"

"I used to think he was a noble young master, but I never expected him to have so many injuries. And those injuries are obviously old scars, which could only have been there when he was a child."

After saying that, Shang Dan pushed open the door and left.

Shang Xinuan was left sitting on the bed, lost in thought.

What do you mean by saying that he was beaten a lot by Chen Shaoyi when he was a child?

Wasn't he just left to fend for himself at Wan Gong No. 1?

Shang Xinuan didn't quite understand Shang Dan's words, and at the moment she didn't really want to continue recalling things about Li Xiran.

After pressing the main light control, she tossed and turned in the darkness until dawn before finally falling into a deep sleep.

The next day, near noon.

The rain in Shanghai finally stopped, the dark clouds dispersed, and the sun once again shone over the entire city.

Shang Xinuan was awakened by the knocking on the door, and was a little annoyed. "Who is it?"

She's almost developed PTSD from the knocking on the door.

"Nuan Nuan, it's Xi Xi on the phone." Aunt Hui pushed open the door, holding up the mansion's public address system.

Shang Xinuan then realized that her phone was still switched off and had been left on the soft couch.

"Hello?"

"Nuan Nuan! Did you know that my uncle fell off the construction site today?"

Shang Xinuan hadn't fully woken up yet, and Shang Yi was still in a daze when she came to her senses. Qiao Xi's words, however, directly tore at her soul.

"What's the meaning?"

"You'll know if you look at the messages I sent you on WeChat."

Shang Xinuan didn't know why she rushed to get her phone just to find out about Li Xiran, only to discover that not only Qiao Xi had sent her a bunch of messages, but also various people she knew had come to inquire about the situation.

But the young lady was still completely confused, so she had no choice but to click into Qiao Xi's chat box first.

The Shanghai Times reports: [This morning, the chairman of the Li Group accidentally fell from a construction site during a work inspection. His condition is unknown.]

Shang Xinuan's hands began to tremble uncontrollably as she carefully clicked on the accompanying picture.

Li Xiran, dressed in a dark suit, lay supine on a sand pile at the construction site.

Just a fist's distance from his head was a pile of bricks.

"Warm and cozy?"

As Shang Xinuan hung up the phone and walked into the courtyard, she saw Shang Zun walking towards her.

"Grandpa." This was probably an unconscious, uncontrollable concern. No matter how much she resented or hated him, she didn't want anything to happen to him. "Him?"

"That's why I came to talk to you." Upon hearing that Li Xiran had fallen from the building, Shang Zun immediately sent someone to inquire about the situation. After all, Li Xiran had driven to the Shang family home in a torrential downpour the night before, and then fainted and was taken back by Shang Dan. In the course of their conversation, he was afraid that someone with ulterior motives would seize the opportunity to discuss the matter. "He said that he had been running a high fever since last night, but he insisted on going to inspect the work, which led to this accident."

Is it serious?

"The people at the construction site said he fell from the second floor and landed on a sand pile. So the danger is that he was overworked and his heart couldn't take it."

Shang Xinuan then realized that Li Xiran had been revolving around her almost the entire time.

In the desert, Li Xiran was still awake when she fell asleep, and when she woke up, Li Xiran was already sitting outside her tent.

"Don't overthink it, these things have nothing to do with you," Shang Zun reassured him.

Although the young lady maintained a calm demeanor on the surface, her expression had already lost control, and her mind was in complete chaos. "Of course. We are all adults and should be responsible for our own actions."

"Grandpa, I'm still a little tired, I'll go back now."

"good."

Shang Xinuan couldn't muster any energy all day, and her WeChat kept buzzing with notifications.

Feng Ruochu rarely sends her messages like this: "[Sotheby's Shanghai presents—Williamson's Pink Star.]"

Feng Ruochu: [Are you there?]

Snow in a silver bowl: [Where am I?]

Feng Ruochu: [Don't pretend, this is a Sotheby's auction.]

Snow in a silver bowl: [I'm at home.]

To convince her, Shang Xinuan even showed her photos of her bedroom.

Feng Ruochu: [So you didn't buy that 11-carat pink gemstone?]

Silver Bowl Filled with Snow: [What pink ruby? I've been traveling in the desert lately and haven't been paying attention to the auction.]

When the young lady is heartbroken after a breakup and wants to escape reality, she can even turn off her phone for days on end.

Even if the auction house wanted to notify her in advance, it probably wouldn't be able to find her.

Feng Ruochu: [You're really something.]

Snow in a Silver Bowl: [How many photos were taken?]

Feng Ruochu: [Over four hundred million.]

The young lady looked up at the sky: [You probably have a misunderstanding about me. I don't spend this much money every day.]

The Shang family is indeed quite extravagant, giving her a monthly allowance of over seven figures, but the eldest daughter is still among those who live paycheck to paycheck.

Knowing this half a month in advance, she could still find a way to act cute and unreasonable with Shang Zun.

Feng Ruochu: [Fine, I'm at peace knowing you didn't take it.]

Shang Xinuan was speechless and choked with emotion. Who was this person?

Isn't this just trying to upset her?

The young lady looked at the pink diamond in the picture; it was crystal clear and looked like a celestial being.

This moment was even more painful than the moment after her breakup.

But what happened next was what truly left the young lady at a loss.

A Shanghai socialite who was on good terms with her sent her a link.

Shanghai Entertainment News: [Li Xiran, Chairman of the Li Group, fell from a building and is feared to be in critical condition! His mother and fiancée visited him at the hospital, shedding tears at the scene.]

A single sentence contains a wealth of information.

Shang Xinuan didn't know which segment to pay attention to first.

Critically ill?

fiancée?

Then she remembered what Shang Zun had said: falling from a high building, high fever, and heart failure.

Just one night ago, the two were still entangled in love and hate.

How come after just one night, it seems that from now on they can only be separated by life and death?

The young lady felt a little sore in her nose and even felt like crying.

But she couldn't quite find a reason to react, so she told herself that it was just instinct, and that even if a dog she knew well were to die, she would be heartbroken.

But just as tears were welling up in her eyes, the French doors leading to the garden were suddenly pulled open again.

"Ah!" This time she screamed first, her voice trembling, "Are you a human or a ghost?"

Li Xiran was wearing a hospital gown, his head was wrapped in a thick layer of gauze, and his face was deathly pale.

"Young Miss, could you please tell the gatekeeper not to stop me again?" His breath was weak, and his trouser legs, covered in mud and dust, indicated that he had climbed over the Shang family's wall to get in.

"Li Xiran, are you crazy!" She was first angry that Li Xiran disregarded his health, and then angry that he didn't respect the Shang family. "What do you take my Shang family for!"

Li Xiran leaned weakly against the wall of her bedroom, not daring to sit down. "Miss, there's been a lot of news about the Li family today. I called you, but you didn't answer, so I had to come here to talk to you in person."

Shangxi's heart was pounding. "If you've come to tell me you're still alive, then I understand. Please go back to the hospital immediately."

Li Xiran chuckled softly, his expression full of tenderness as he looked at her. "Miss, does this count as you caring about me?"

"Are you crazy?!"

“Yes! I might be crazy.” He said, handing her the velvet box he was carrying. “No normal person would sneak out of the hospital to go to an auction.”

There was only one major auction in Shanghai today, Sotheby's, so it seemed like she had a question, but when her gaze fell on the velvet box, she seemed to know the answer.

The young lady crossed her arms and made no attempt to take his bag.

So Li Xiran had no choice but to open the velvet box himself, revealing the exquisitely beautiful pink gemstone that looked like a celestial being.

"Resources were really scarce in the desert before. Now that we're back, we should make up for it with an apology gift."

A note from the author:

Li Xiran has a bit of a mental illness.

-------------------------------------