After that, there were no more photos of the whole family together; it was always just him alone.
Standing in the empty courtyard, or leaning against the door frame of the old house, the figure appears particularly thin in the photo.
Zhou Qiqi felt as if an invisible hand was clenching her heart, making her feel a little suffocated and a little sore.
She knew his family situation was unusual:
My elder brother, Shen Huaishan, was wounded while fighting on the border and went missing. It's been ten years, and there's still no news of him.
My second brother, Shen Huaiyue, and his wife were seriously injured during a mission three years ago and became vegetative. They are now both lying in the hospital, barely surviving with the help of machines.
For the past ten years, Shen's parents have been either searching for their eldest son or worrying about their second son. Their excessive worry has taken a toll on their health, and they have been living in a sanatorium for the past few years.
From his teenage years, Shen Huaichuan had almost always lived alone in his empty house, facing three meals a day and the cold walls by himself.
No wonder he always gives people a sense of aloofness and distance, like he's covered by an icy shell; it turns out that these are all marks left by his past experiences.
But she could see that his deep longing for "home" was the same as hers.
Her broken and quarrelsome family of origin is a scar she is unwilling to touch easily.
But she knew how much she longed for a safe haven.
The two of them were like a lone boat cast ashore by fate, only able to huddle together for warmth.
Zhou Qiqi put down the photo and reached out to grasp Shen Huaichuan's large hand, which was arranging candy wrappers.
His palms were warm and dry, with a thin layer of calluses on them, making them feel particularly reassuring to hold.
She raised her head, her gaze clear and firm as she looked at him:
“Huaichuan, don’t you have a family visit leave at the end of the year? Let’s take Zhouzhou and go back to your hometown. First, we’ll go to the sanatorium to pick up Mom and Dad and bring them back to the old house for a few days, and then… we’ll go to the hospital together to see my second brother and sister-in-law.”
She paused, then said in an uncompromising tone, "A family should always be together."
Shen Huaichuan stopped arranging the candy wrappers. He looked up at Zhou Qiqi, his deep eyes swirling with complex emotions.
There is anticipation, there is warmth, but there is also a subtle sense of heaviness.
He forced a smile, his voice low: "The end of the year... we'll see then, we'll see how things go."
He subconsciously avoided Zhou Qiqi's gaze, his fingers unconsciously twisting the edge of a candy wrapper, creating several creases in what was originally a smooth wrapper.
Zhou Qiqi could easily see his concerns. She pretended to be angry, pulled her hand back, and put on a stern face:
"Shen Huaichuan! What did you promise me before, 'You'll do whatever I say'? I said I'd go, so I'll go! There's no room for discussion!"
She stood with her hands on her hips, looking like she was in charge.
Shen Huaichuan was amused by her appearance, and the heaviness in his heart dissipated considerably. He quickly relented, his tone full of doting affection:
"Okay, okay, I'll do whatever you say. We'll go at the end of the year."
He reached out to pull her back into his arms.
However, Zhou Qiqi keenly noticed the fleeting look of worry in his eyes just now.
Instead of moving closer to him as he wished, she reached out and gently touched his slightly furrowed brow with her fingertips, her voice softening:
"What's wrong? Were you worried about Mom and Dad? Worried that they... don't like me?"
She paused, her voice even softer, tinged with a hint of probing.
"From what you just said, they all really like Lin Yao and have doted on her since she was little... Have you always thought that you would end up with Lin Yao...?"
"That's not true!"
Shen Huaichuan interrupted her almost immediately, his tone urgent. He grabbed her hand, which was resting on her brow, and held it tightly, as if afraid she would run away.
"Qiqi, don't overthink it! They're just... just nostalgic, stuck in the past with certain people and things. But that's the past!"
He looked at her with an extremely serious gaze, tinged with a hint of coaxing.
"I guarantee that as soon as they see you, as wonderful as you, they will like you from the bottom of their hearts! Just like me, my heart and eyes are full of you."
He leaned closer to her, forehead to forehead, his deep voice carrying a reassuring strength, "Don't worry, okay?"
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