Chapter 51
"Why?" she asked softly.
“Because I’m serious about you, Chi’an.” He gazed into her eyes. “Perhaps it’s too early to say this now, but I don’t want you to doubt my sincerity. I know you need time, your son needs time. I can wait, we can go at your own pace, okay?”
Li Chi'an leaned on his shoulder, feeling the peace of his patience. "I'm glad you can be so honest. So, liking you is the simplest thing in the world."
She turned her head and gently kissed Yu Shiru's jawline, which was as smooth as if it had been painted with ink. "Let's wait a little longer. After we've spent more time together, I'll tell Zuizui."
However, she had already made up her mind that she would take him out to have as much contact as possible when the circumstances were right.
...
On the plane back to Xianghai City, Li Chian looked out the window at the sea of clouds and gently stroked her hand.
"Do you regret it?" he asked.
"Regret what?" Li Chi'an turned his gaze away from the window.
"Promise to be with me."
Why would you ask that question?
"Because I'm worried that you agreed to my request on a whim."
Li Chi'an smiled and said, "You've shown great self-awareness."
Yu Shi was indeed a person who could easily make people impulsive.
She traced his face with her gaze, her bright eyes full of admiration.
Yu Shi asked, "Is my face the only thing that can arouse your passion?"
He slowly lowered his voice.
“It’s a pity that you’re so easy to make people impulsive, but I’m not impulsive,” Li Chi’an said softly.
"I understand," Yu Shi smiled.
Li Chi'an put away the books that were originally on the table, gently rested his head on Yu Shi's shoulder, and closed his eyes.
She knew the road ahead wouldn't be smooth sailing, with her son's acceptance process, the curious gazes of the outside world, and the complexities of human nature. But at this moment, she was willing to believe in this man's sincerity and the promise made in the morning light.
The plane flew through the clouds, occasionally bumping, but always moving forward.
Just like life, just like love, there are always ups and downs.
Fortunately, she's past the age where she insists on having a specific outcome.
Her sense of security does not come from the promises of others, nor from a relationship, but from her lifelong pursuit of self-growth.
In the past, she also relied on others loving her to build her sense of security, but love is fluid; just because someone loves her today doesn't mean they will love her tomorrow.
She feels at ease when others love her, and fearful when others don't.
Then her emotional tribulation would have been in vain.
When she caught Chen Li cheating, she secretly vowed that from then on she would never make men her emotional support, and she would never waste her feelings and energy on those insignificant people and things. She was demystifying men.
Even if he is Yu Shi, so what?
She didn't want to waste too much time figuring out if he loved her. Sitting by the fireplace, how could she not feel the warmth?
She will let go of her obsessions, control her own growth, face her ambitions, increase her ambitions, put away her indifferent sense of morality, let go of feelings that shouldn't exist in her heart, and use all available resources to shape herself, including so-called love.
Her life was far more than that.
So I gently adjusted her position to make her more comfortable.
Li Chi'an pretended to be asleep, but the corners of his mouth were slightly raised.
...
Meanwhile, at Biyue Villa.
Gao Yinxi was facing Yuan Ergeng, clutching her pregnancy test report tightly in her hand.
“I have something to tell you.” She took a deep breath. “I’m pregnant, eight weeks along.”
Yuan Ergeng's expression shifted from surprise to joy. "Really? Baby, our wish has come true! That's wonderful!"
Seeing him excitedly about to pounce on her, Gao Yinxi raised her hand to stop her from getting closer, "Wait a minute, sit down and don't move."
Yuan Er was startled by her serious attitude and slowly sat down, even clenching his hands nervously. "What's wrong, baby? Why are you so serious? I'm scared."
“You know, no matter what, I will give birth to this child, right?” Gao Yinxi looked directly into his eyes.
“Of course,” Yuan Ergeng said urgently, “I’m very happy that you’re willing to give birth to him.”
Even though her partner wasn't as eager as she was to conceive at first, Gao Yinxi still felt a sense of joy seeing how attentive Yuan Ergeng was.
“Okay, let’s talk about something else.” Gao Yinxi pulled a cushion over and hugged it to her chest. “I don’t know if I will always be your second choice in life when it comes to this child? Can you truly put me and the child first, instead of always worrying about your ex-wife and your past family?”
Yuan Ergeng's expression stiffened slightly, but he quickly grasped her hand. "Baby, you've never been my second choice. You know how much I love you. As for Langlang, it's only because his affairs always happen so suddenly that I..."
The smile in Gao Yinxi's eyes disappeared.
Yuan Er immediately apologized softly, "I know I didn't handle some things well in the past, but I will prove it to you in the future. I will definitely love you and our baby well."
Gao Yinxi looked at him quietly without saying a word.
After a moment of silence, Yuan Er knelt down in front of her with a thud.
He held Gao Yinxi's hand tenderly, "Baby, marry me, let's build a complete family, okay?"
Looking into Yuan Er's more sincere eyes, Gao Yinxi smiled and said, "You know that you can still have children without getting married, right?"
"I know, I know," Yuan Er said anxiously. "Baby, you don't think I proposed to you because of you, do you? No, you know, I wanted to propose to you last time at 'Cloud Pavilion,' but if it weren't for..."
She thought that she hadn't been able to propose because her son had a nosebleed.
Yuan Ergeng felt a little regretful; he had left too early last time.
However, he was also sensitive enough not to finish what he was saying.
Gao Yinxi pulled her hand away from Yuan Ergeng's hand. "My most important thing right now is to take care of the pregnancy. As for the rest, we can talk about it later."
Yuan Ergeng watched Gao Yinxi's retreating figure as she went upstairs, a look of anxiety appearing on his face.
...
On the other side, Xu Zhuwen sat alone in the doctor's office, listening to the test results.
"It's benign," the doctor said with a smile. "It just needs regular monitoring; no treatment is needed for now."
Xu Zhuwen breathed a sigh of relief, almost bursting into tears.
She walked out of the hospital and dialed Gao Yinxi's number. "Yinxi, I just came out of the hospital for a checkup. I have some good news to tell you!"
"The nodule is benign, right?" Gao Yinxi, lying in bed, breathed a sigh of relief. "That's great."
"Yes, that way I don't have to worry so much." Xu Zhuwen has been on edge lately because of her thyroid nodules and hasn't been sleeping well every night. "Tonight I can finally get a good night's sleep."
"Right? I told you a long time ago that there was nothing seriously wrong, so you didn't have to worry." Gao Yinxi's joyful voice came from the other end of the phone. "An'an should be back soon. I saw how much fun she was having. When she gets back, I'll have her treat us to a big meal."
"Great! I want to eat hot pot!" Xu Zhuwen listened with a smile to her friend's excited plan, looking up at the blue sky.
"Then let's go eat!" Gao Yinxi laughed. "I've been craving spicy food these past few days."
Xu Zhuwen hung up the phone, took a deep breath of fresh air, and felt a weight lifted from her heart. Perhaps it was time to truly care about her own needs and properly plan for her future.
...
After returning and finishing their urgent tasks, Li Chian and Yu Shi began to work on the "Yunwuzhai" brand plan.
However, things did not go as smoothly as expected.
When they returned to Cloud Mist Town and brought up the idea at Master Yang's house, the craftsmen seemed very skeptical.
“People have approached us about collaborations before, but we’ve all disappeared without a trace,” Master Wei said, shaking his head. “We’ve been scammed too many times.”
Aunt Luo was even more direct, "You're from out of town, how can you guarantee you won't try to drive down the price like those businessmen?"
Li Chian and Yu Shi looked at each other in bewilderment.
They understood these concerns, but for a moment they didn't know how to prove their sincerity.
Just then, A Miao, the youngest embroiderer in the village, spoke up, "I think we can give it a try. They've come all this way; they certainly didn't come just to deceive us."
Amiao is one of the few young people in the village who stayed in their hometown. She inherited her embroidery skills from Aunt Luo, but she also innovated on her own, combining traditional patterns with modern designs.
She took out an embroidered piece with a traditional butterfly mother pattern, but cleverly incorporated modern abstract elements.
“These are brooches I tried to make, and tourists from the city really like them,” Amiao said. “But we don’t have a stable sales channel, so we can only sell one or two occasionally.”
Li Chi'an picked up the brooch and his eyes lit up. "Your innovation is excellent. It combines traditional essence with modern design."
Yu Shi immediately suggested, "Why don't we try it on a small scale first? I have an exhibition in Guangzhou next week, and I can bring a few pieces to display. Any amount of money generated from the products we bring to the exhibition will go entirely to the artists; we won't take a penny."
This proposal piqued the interest of the artisans.
After discussion, everyone decided that each person should contribute one piece of their artwork to take to Guangzhou.
This time, Li Chi'an and Yu Shi came directly from Xianghai City to "Yunwu Town". Before returning, they had called Master Yang and the others in advance, so they stayed at Master Wei's house in the village.
That evening, after chatting with several masters and returning to Master Wei's house, Yu Shi and Li Chi'an immediately got to work.
Li Chi'an contacted a friend familiar with intangible cultural heritage protection to inquire about the procedures for establishing a cooperative; at the same time, he began taking professional photos and videos of these handicrafts and preparing for social media promotion.
A few days later, the two of them flew to Guangzhou with more than a dozen carefully packaged handicrafts.
At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, she specially set up a small exhibition area to showcase the handicrafts of Yunwu Village.
To their surprise, these works attracted a great deal of attention.
Master Yang's silver jewelry was bought by a French collector for 8,000 yuan, Aunt Luo's Butterfly Mother embroidery was collected by an art museum for 12,000 yuan, and A Miao's innovative brooches attracted the attention of fashion buyers, who ordered twenty on the spot.
Most importantly, Li Chi'an truthfully transferred all the funds to the artisans, along with the buyers' information and reviews.
When the news reached Yunwu Village, the artisans finally believed in Li Chi'an and Yu Shi's sincerity.
The following month, with the help of Li Chi'an and Yu Shi, the "Yunwu Handicraft Cooperative" was officially established. Master Yang was elected as the cooperative's president, while A Miao was responsible for design and innovation. Upon learning of this, the local government provided special funds for the protection of intangible cultural heritage and also helped improve the workshop's conditions.
Li Chian's "Discovering Cloud and Mist Crafts" campaign on social media attracted hundreds of thousands of followers; Yu Shi, on the other hand, used his connections in the art world to find more opportunities to showcase and sell these handicrafts.
On the night the "Yunwu Handicraft Cooperative" was officially established, everyone held a small celebration party at the cooperative.
Master Yang raised his glass on behalf of all the artisans to express their gratitude to Li Chi'an and Yu Shi. "Thank you so much, Xiao Yu and Xiao Li. It's my first time visiting this town, and I never expected that we would have such a wonderful connection. You not only help us sell our products, but you also find ways to let more young people see the value of our crafts. I'm truly happy. Come on, Xiao Yu, let's have a good drink together."
Yu Shi stood up and said, "Master Yang, it's all because of your excellent skills and products. We do these things because we don't want our ancient culture to be lost."
“As long as young people are willing to learn, our culture will not be lost,” Master Wei interjected from the side.
Li Chian raised his teacup to toast her, saying, "Once our 'Yunwuzhai' brand takes off, more people will like to buy our town's products, and more young people will come to learn from us and carry on our culture and craftsmanship."
These words stirred the emotions of everyone present, and laughter filled the air.
After the meeting, A Miao quietly approached Li Chi'an and Yu Shi, took out a carefully packaged box, and said, "This is for you. I don't know if you'll like it."
Inside the box are two exquisite silver brooches, shaped like birds with outstretched wings, cleverly blending traditional Miao patterns with modern design.
“This is so precious,” Li Chi’an said, moved.
Ah Miao smiled brightly, her neat white teeth gleaming under the light. "Just like you said, our craftsmanship is not only something passed down from our ancestors, but also a living, flowing cultural gene. Thank you for helping us find a way to keep it flowing. It's not expensive; it's all homemade."
"Things that you make yourself are the most precious."
On the way back, Li Chian and Yu Shi watched the Yunwu Village gradually disappear into the distance in the rearview mirror, feeling a sense of accomplishment.
“Do you remember the first time we saw this village?” Yu Shi asked. “From the air, it looked so small and inconspicuous.”
Li Chi'an nodded, his fingers gently tracing the patterns on the brooch. "But now I know that some places you should go if you want to, and pursue what you like. Only by taking action can you discover endless surprises."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
