Chapter 44 Are you trying to fob me off?

Xia Qingwan was well aware that her grandmother wanted to maintain this facade of peace.

She nodded politely to Ye Peixiu, "Good afternoon, Mr. Ye."

Ye Peixiu returned a slight nod.

"Qingwan, go see how the soup that Ah Xi made is doing."

Grandma said.

"good."

She walked through the living room from behind the sofa where her grandmother was sitting, and halfway there, she couldn't help but turn around.

Ye Peixiu was also looking at her.

His eyes held a gentle composure.

-

Upon entering the kitchen, there was indeed a pot of chicken soup simmering on the counter.

She thought it was just something her grandmother said casually to brush her off.

The back door of the kitchen leads to the side yard. There is a small stool next to the open door, which is probably where Grandma Xi usually sits and picks vegetables.

Looking out from the doorway, all you see is lush greenery: tall locust trees, robust century-old cypresses, and the warm afternoon sun shining obliquely through the gaps in the trees, giving you a real feeling of basking in the sunlight.

She leaned against the door frame listlessly, glancing at the boiling chicken soup on the table for a while, then at the scenery outside.

About half an hour later, there was a knock on the kitchen door.

She turned her head.

The doorknob was turned, and Ye Peixiu walked in.

Xia Qingwan wanted to smile and ask, "Are you done talking?"

A smile reached her lips, but she couldn't manage it. So she pursed her lips and stared blankly as he approached.

Ye Peixiu cupped her face in one hand, gently stroking her cheek with his thumb, and whispered, "Want to come back to the capital with me?"

She nodded.

I felt the warm and dry touch of his palm on my cheek, and there was a sense of comfort and security.

She finally regained her sense of language and was about to ask what he and her grandmother had talked about when Ye Peixiu leaned down and kissed her.

At first she subconsciously thought it was a comforting kiss, so she gently raised her chin to receive it. However, the next second she suddenly realized that the kiss was full of aggression and possession, as if confirming something.

Ye Peixiu held the back of her head with one hand, his tongue probing deep inside, fiercely demanding the oxygen from her mouth. Xia Qingwan was kissed so hard she could barely stand, clinging to his arm and hooking her arms around his neck to barely hold on.

She had a vague, unsettling feeling that this kiss was telling her that he would kiss her like this every year to come.

The electric currents flowed and exchanged between every inch of skin that touched, causing an unbearable soreness.

Xia Qingwan never knew what Ye Peixiu and her grandmother talked about that afternoon in Shaoping.

-

They returned to the capital together before the start of spring.

Ye Peixiu has returned to work and went to the group company as soon as he landed.

Xia Qingwan returned to Ye Garden.

Old Ke, the driver on duty at Ye Garden, said, "Miss Xia, Mr. Ye instructed that if you want to go anywhere, you can send me anytime. I will be on standby at Ye Garden."

Now, he has become Xia Qingwan's full-time driver, and his car is a Maybach.

School starts tomorrow.

She should pack her luggage and it would be best if she could go back to the compound and put away the books in her bedroom.

"...I need to go back home," Xia Qingwan said thoughtfully, "Let's leave in twenty minutes."

"Okay, sure."

The maid had already put the small suitcase she brought from Shaoping into the dressing room. She liked to do these little things herself, so the maid put down the luggage and left the main house properly and without saying much.

When school starts, she will naturally move back to the school dormitory, so there's no need to empty this small suitcase.

With that thought in mind, she knelt down next to her suitcase.

He looked around blankly.

This dressing room already bears many traces of her. Small pieces of underwear in the chest of drawers, various soft silk pajamas, bathrobes and coats hanging in the closet...

Twenty minutes later, she walked out of the main house and Lao Ke, who was standing next to the car, opened the back door.

-

I haven't been home for more than half a month, and the old Xia family house in the compound is still the same.

A few fallen leaves lay on the courtyard path. She stood on a stool, the red lantern hanging there swaying slightly in the cold wind, like a ball of fire in the dim afterglow.

I went back to my bedroom on the second floor and closed the window.

The desk was tidy and clean. Xia Qingwan carefully packed up a few books and stacked them aside.

My phone vibrated; my grandmother had sent me a bank card number, asking me to transfer the money for the villa to Mr. Ye.

She replied:

"OK."

After sending the message, she put down her phone and looked out the window with a blurry gaze.

Outside the window is a clear blue sky. The winter in Beijing is dry, bleak, solemn, and dignified.

Looking down, there is the drawer under the desk.

The words Ye Peixiu wrote for her lay quietly inside.

"To the evening of the Qing Dynasty:

"Let us be carefree and enjoy the simple pleasures of childhood."

-

As evening fell, the Maybach drove back to Ye Garden from the compound.

After Xia Qingwan got out of the car, the driver, Lao Ke, lowered his head and dialed Mr. Ye's number.

Mr. Ye had given him permission to call him at any time to report anything concerning Miss Xia.

"Sir, Miss Xia went back to the compound to pack her luggage. It seems that school is about to start and she needs to move back to the school dormitory."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, followed by a single, emotionless word, "...Okay."

As night fell, it began to rain.

Ye Peixiu came home early from get off work and took Xia Qingwan out for dinner.

The location was the same alley restaurant where they first ate alone, at the end of May, more than half a year ago.

Just like the first time, I walked through the hanging flower gate under the same umbrella, and then through the covered corridor to the central hall.

Ye Peixiu took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, pulled out a chair for her, and asked, "Have you packed everything?"

"Um?"

She didn't react at first.

"Moving back to the dorm?"

Xia Qingwan nodded thoughtfully.

Neither of them spoke much during the meal.

She kept her eyes down, looking preoccupied with something on her mind.

Ye Peixiu asked, "What are you thinking about?"

He always felt that she was too calm.

Hearing the words, Xia Qingwan shook her head. After a moment, she tilted her head and said with a smile, "Would you please walk with me later?"

Ye Peixiu paused and looked up at her.

There seems to be an echo of a distant bell from a mountain temple in my heart, faint and swaying.

After dinner, when the two of them took their coats and walked out of the box, Xia Qingwan's cell phone rang.

She glanced at Lai Xian and saw that it was Xia Mingzhou calling, probably to discuss the details of property division with her.

Just then, a middle-aged man came out of another private room. He looked up and saw Ye Peixiu, and his face lit up with a smile. "Mr. Ye, what a coincidence! You're dining here too?"

Xia Qingwan vaguely felt that the man looked familiar. She had probably seen him at the alley club and thought he was an acquaintance of Ye Peixiu.

Ye Peixiu gave a polite, indifferent smile. "Uncle Jiao, what a coincidence."

The middle-aged man, whom he called "Uncle Jiao," offered Ye Peixiu a cigarette. Ye Peixiu took it but didn't smoke it. Judging from their posture, the two seemed to have something to talk about. Xia Qingwan then said, "I'll go out and get him."

Ye Peixiu touched the back of her head and said, "Go ahead."

She walked out of the main hall with the phone in her hand and paced back and forth in the corridor while talking on the phone.

There was a tea table under the eaves outside the main hall, with a table with auspicious cloud patterns placed between two round-backed chairs. Ye Peixiu sat down in the round-backed chair on the right, took out a cigarette from his white cigarette case, and lit it.

The middle-aged man was the son of the old man's old friend. According to seniority, Ye Peixiu should call him "uncle." However, since Ye Peixiu addressed him by his title upon meeting him, it was a sign that Ye Peixiu was giving him face. Of course, he would not dare to call Ye Peixiu by his name directly.

The man surnamed Jiao sat down in the armchair on the left and turned his head to look at Ye Peixiu's expression.

Ye Peixiu's face was expressionless, and it was impossible to tell what his emotions were.

He hesitated for a moment, unsure whether he should take this opportunity to finish their conversation from last time... But since Ye Peixiu had given him face, he accepted the cigarette and sat down...

He made up his mind and spoke.

Ye Peixiu was so emotionless and confused that he couldn't even tell whether he was listening or not.

His eyelashes were half closed as he looked at the rain in the yard.

The drizzle and slanting wind were drifting in front of the hall.

A chill crept into his body, but Ye Peixiu, wearing only a gunmetal gray shirt, felt no cold at all. Wisps of smoke rose from between his fingers, growing fainter as they went higher.

As Xia Qingwan turned around, she glanced in this direction unintentionally.

Ye Peixiu sat cross-legged in the armchair in front of the hall, a cigarette between his fingers, occasionally raising his hand to take a puff. The middle-aged man leaned slightly toward him, speaking and gesturing with his hands, telling him something earnestly.

Across the exquisite courtyard in the night rain, his expression was distant and indifferent, like a gentleman who was aloof from the world, or like a young man who was tired of all the decadence and luxury and was left with nothing but boredom.

"...Well, let's find some time to meet."

Xia Qingwan said to Xia Mingzhou on the other end of the phone.

"I think I should tell you. Grandma called me the day before yesterday and asked about you and Mr. Ye. I think she should know about it."

"Um."

She looked at Ye Peixiu and said, "I know. I've already talked to Grandma, and we've reached an agreement."

"and you--"

Xia Mingzhou was a little worried about her and was about to say something, but Xia Qingwan interrupted him, saying lightly, "Brother, I know what's going on."

Hearing this, Xia Mingzhou laughed.

“Everyone in our family says they know what they’re doing,” he said with a smile. “The other day I wanted to give Grandma a few words of advice, and she said the same thing.”

That's probably what people who are determined to follow their own path say to others.

After finishing the call, Xia Qingwan walked back along the corridor, intending to go directly back to the private room to get her bag. As soon as she reached the front of the hall, Ye Peixiu stopped her and said gently, "Come here."

He was talking to someone, and it was obvious that the middle-aged man had something to ask for. Xia Qingwan certainly felt that it was not nice to interrupt him rashly, but seeing that the middle-aged man was looking at her with a smile on his face, she had no choice but to walk over.

As he approached, Ye Peixiu stretched out his long arm, pulled her onto his lap, and looked at her with a smile, "Have you finished eating?"

She nodded. "I'm done eating."

He leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Shall we go home?"

There was absolutely no need to get so close to such an ordinary remark. Just as this thought crossed Xia Qingwan's mind, she caught a glimpse of the middle-aged man getting up and leaving.

She finally came to her senses and glared at him, "Are you using me to get rid of people?"

Ye Peixiu smiled, leaned back lazily, and held the cigarette further away. "Everyone knows I'm obsessed with a female college student. Who wouldn't know what's good for me if I used you to get rid of someone?"

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The author has something to say: I’m sorry, I’m late again, I’m sending red envelopes to everyone (kneeling