Chapter 54. [Second Update] It's vigilance, it's preparedness, it's...
Wen Xue was more surprised than delighted by He Yan's sudden arrival.
Without thinking, she walked towards him. After taking a couple of steps, she realized Lin Baizhou was still there. She stopped under He Yan's calm gaze and turned to look at Lin Baizhou, who was also a couple of steps away. "Um, what do you want to ask me?"
Lin Baizhou looked at her, but he couldn't ignore the sharp gaze of the man behind her scrutinizing his face.
Actually, what else is there to ask?
He finally realized that the man's feelings towards him were not just hostility, but also wariness, defensiveness, and jealousy.
So what about Wen Xue? Does she know? Does she know what this man, whom she calls "family," is thinking?
"I want to ask you something."
Lin Baizhou paused, his hands hanging at his sides clenching slightly. He had long been accustomed to restraint, or rather, ignoring what he truly wanted in his heart. When he was young, his parents divorced, and when they asked him who he wanted to live with, he wanted his mother, but his answer was his father.
He knew she was very busy with work and had no time to take care of her two children, so if he were with her, she would have a heavy burden.
He should get used to it.
He's used to it.
"Do you have a boyfriend now?" he asked calmly but firmly.
He Yan stood quietly, not urging anyone, yet his presence was strong. He shifted his gaze, looking expressionlessly at the grass not far away.
When Wen Xue heard this question, she was taken aback for a few seconds, and a strange feeling flashed through her mind.
It's really strange. Although she doesn't deliberately observe the people around her, especially the boys, she usually senses who likes her to some extent.
Lin Baizhou?
She looked at him uncertainly, "No, but I..."
"I see."
Lin Baizhou knew that what followed "however" wouldn't be very pleasant, so it was enough for her to just say "no".
He smiled, took two steps back, and regained his calm and composed expression. "Goodbye, Teacher Wen."
Wen Xue thought for a moment, then said, "Goodbye."
For a fleeting moment, she almost blurted out "yes," just like when she had politely declined Wang Yuan's advances. But then she remembered that He Yan was right behind her. She had promised him that she would live life earnestly and well, and that she wouldn't always dwell on the past.
After watching Lin Baizhou walk into the building, she turned around, smiled, and asked, "Why didn't you send a message saying you were coming?"
When she said "no," He Yan chuckled silently, but the smile didn't reach her eyes.
He turned his neck wearily, his voice languid, "Forgot."
Wen Xue still felt a little awkward. She didn't want him to witness what had just happened, so she changed the subject and asked, "Have you eaten yet?"
"without."
"Perfect!" she smiled brightly. "I'm in a good mood today, so I'll treat you to conveyor belt sushi."
"Okay." He took the lead and walked out. "What's there to be happy about?"
Wen Xue followed, took out her wallet from her canvas bag, and found a receipt printed from the ATM inside. She handed it to him, her eyes bright, "Look, my hard-earned money."
He Yan took it and chuckled, "I thought you were happy for that kid's confession."
Why bring up something you shouldn't talk about?
Wen Xue thought to herself, then corrected him and emphasized, "He didn't confess. Don't talk nonsense."
He Yan didn't even lift his eyelids, too lazy to argue with her. If a man didn't like her, why would he bother asking her if she had a boyfriend?
In his previous life, Lin Baizhou pursued her after her internship ended, and since they weren't colleagues or superiors/subordinates, he was too impatient in this life. She was still his sister's tutor, so he confessed his feelings without hesitation.
Was it because they met two years earlier, and he was too young at the time?
As dusk settles, the surrounding shopping malls and buildings turn on their floodlights.
The white sedan led the way, followed closely by the jeep. When someone in the adjacent lane tried to cut in, he rolled down his window, stepped on the gas, and sped past, not giving anyone or any car a chance to get between him and Wen Xue.
The two cars drove into the mall's underground parking garage one after the other.
The sushi restaurant was almost full of customers. Wen Xue quickly led He Yan to sit down. Actually, it was only her second time there, but she felt she was more experienced than him. She chattered on and on about where to get water and what was in the small drawer...
He Yan propped his chin up and watched her mouth open and close without saying a word.
never mind.
As long as she's happy.
Wen Xue leaned slightly towards him and whispered, "Don't be shy with me, take whatever you want to eat, I've made a lot of money."
Five figures might not mean much to him, but she was really happy.
She began to firmly believe that she would earn many more five-figure sums and that her life would only get better and better.
He Yan relaxed a bit and mimicked her tone: "Oh, you've made a lot of money."
Wen Xue glanced at him, sat up straight, and reached for a stack of salmon sushi on the conveyor belt.
"Get me a stack too," the man beside her said.
She didn't respond, but quickly grabbed another stack and pushed it towards his hand.
With a retaliatory thought in mind, Wen Xue's eyes darted around, and she smiled secretly. She diligently tore open a few small packets of wasabi for him, added them to the soy sauce with all her might, and solemnly taught him: "It tastes better when dipped in it, try it."
He Yan: "..."
Did she really think he had never eaten Japanese food?
He's been to Japan countless times across his two lifetimes.
He looked away, concealing his smile, picked up a piece of sushi, and under her expectant gaze, dipped it in soy sauce and wasabi before putting it in his mouth, chewing slowly and calmly.
Wen Xue was shocked.
Is it because the wasabi at this branch isn't authentic enough?
“Not bad,” he said.
She looked suspicious, picked up a piece, carefully dipped it in the sauce, and took a bite.
"Cough cough cough—" It's no exaggeration to say that she felt her face and mind go blank for a few seconds. The feeling was so intense that she hurriedly covered her mouth, her eyes reddening. Only then did she realize that he had tricked her.
However, he is too patient.
Despite the pungent smell, they managed to act like nothing was wrong.
She looked at him with teary eyes, and after a moment of eye contact, she chuckled.
He Yan could no longer hold back; he was about to be driven away by this piece of sushi. He picked up his cup, tilted his head back, and drank it all down. Both of them were amused and laughed.
…
night.
Wu Yuejiang, having stayed in his room for too long, wanted to get some fresh air. He lit a cigarette and scrolled through his phone messages. In the quiet night, the sound of car tires was particularly jarring, especially with two cars illuminating the room; even the headlights were dazzling.
He leaned forward and looked down.
Recognizing that it was Wen Xue and He Yan's car, he wondered what they were up to, driving two cars. The next second, the sound of the car door closing turned on the lights in the hallway. He squinted and vaguely heard Wen Xue ask in a light tone, "How is it? Parked properly?"
"Impressive," was He Yan's relaxed yet slightly casual reply.
The two walked side by side, chatting and laughing.
As always, this guy was very perceptive. He seemed to sense that he was being observed and looked up at the second floor.
Fortunately, he reacted more quickly, leaning back and hiding in the darkness, leaving only a flickering light on his fingertips. He exhaled smoke in frustration and sighed with an ambiguous meaning.
All those words were spoken in vain.
-
When Wen Xue returned to her dormitory after the start of the new semester, she was no longer as disappointed and melancholy as before. She didn't even need Li Jingru and Nana to come and help her with her luggage anymore. Downstairs in the dormitory, she couldn't help but repeatedly remind everyone: "You still need to wash the car often and not park it near the building. Someone threw banana peels at our car before."
She said these words no less than ten times on the way here.
He Yan used up all the patience he had left in his life on her. As he listened, he lost his temper and decided to go back and have Wang Yuan knock on each door to ask who was the fool who threw banana peels onto her car roof.
"Anything else?" he asked, lifting his eyelids. "How else should we worship that ancestor?"
Wen Xue suppressed a laugh.
She just wanted to remind him to cherish it.
"Drink less alcohol."
After she mustered up her courage and said those four words, she turned and ran inside without waiting for his reply or reaction.
He Yan came to his senses, stood there for a while, and then left.
The days after the start of the semester flew by, and with the National Day Golden Week approaching, the excited discussions in the dormitory never stopped. Ye Manni brought over a package, pushed open the door, and the first thing she saw was Wen Xue leaning back in a chair, combing her hair with one hand and talking on the phone with her other hand, which she was holding between her shoulder and ear.
His tone was light and cheerful, and his eyes were smiling.
She was momentarily dazed.
For some reason, I thought of Wen Xue at this time last year, Wen Xue who was immersed in sadness and so fragile that she seemed to be transparent.
Hearing the door open, Wen Xue turned her head and met Ye Manni's gaze. She smiled, then unconsciously lowered her voice and said softly to the person on the other end of the phone, "Okay, then come find me tomorrow, and we'll go shopping together. I'll take you to eat at our cafeteria."
After saying that, she hung up the phone.
Ye Manni came over with a package. Coincidentally, there were scissors on Wen Xue's table. She borrowed them to open the package and asked, "Is this He Yan? Is he coming tomorrow?"
"No." Wen Xue was also curious about what she had bought again, looking around. "It's Nana, the one you met last time. We agreed to go buy sunscreen and face masks tomorrow."
Ye Manni: "Oh, you're going to the beach for National Day, right? You definitely need to be careful about sun protection. Remember to buy sunscreen with a high SPF!"
"Uh-huh!"
Wenxue wanted to visit the seaside when she was very young.
Although those who have been there say that the sea is not as transparent and clear as it appears on television, she still yearns for it.
This trip was organized by He Yan and Wu Yuejiang on company-funded basis. It is said that the company's profits in the first half of the year reached a new high, and with the new company opening at the end of the year, everyone in the company decided to take a few days off and go out for a good time.
Everyone was extremely excited.
Wen Xue was surprised to find her on the list.
He Yan replied that she had worked part-time at the company, so of course it counts.
Ye Manni opened the package rather roughly, almost tearing the box to shreds in a few quick movements. She took out a packaged perfume from inside and asked, "I bought this through a proxy. Isn't it pretty?"
Wen Xue exclaimed "Eh?"
"What's wrong?" Ye Manni then opened the perfume box.
"It looks good." Wen Xue just remembered the perfume in He Yan's bedside table drawer, which was the exact same one that Manny had bought.
Ye Manni pressed the nozzle, and the two of them craned their necks to sniff.
Wen Xue praised, "It smells so good."
Ye Manni exclaimed with delight, "I love it too!"
"Let me smell it again."
"I'll spray it on your hands."
"Mwah."
The fragrance of snow fills my hands, strongest at the pulse point.
…
All the staff members came on this trip. Considering comfort and convenience, Wu Yuejiang generously booked two detached villas. Everyone had a blast for two days and their enthusiasm remained high.
In the evening, they gathered at another villa to prepare for an outdoor barbecue.
Wang Yuan brushed barbecue seasoning onto the beef skewers and complained, "They really treat this place like a kitchen. Every morning when I wake up, I don't smell the saltiness of the sea; all I smell is barbecue."
Nana watched intently as Li Jingru mixed drinks; the colors were vibrant, attractive, and tempting.
Li Jingru placed a mint leaf on the rim of a pretty glass and handed it to her, saying, "Try this. I learned it from my ex-ex-ex-boyfriend."
Nana counted on her fingers, "Jing-jie, how many ex-boyfriends do you have?"
Li Jingru tossed her hair triumphantly, "All the good-looking men in the world are my ex-boyfriends, haha."
Wen Xue was drinking from a coconut, smiling sullenly.
Her cheeks were flushed; these past two days had almost been the second happiest time of her life.
"Little sister, want to give it a try?" Li Jingru tempted her. "I'm a professional bartender. A drink like that at a bar would cost you tens or even hundreds of dollars."
"I've never been to a bar either..."
Seeing Nana's drunken expression, Wen Xue's heart stirred, and she subconsciously looked around.
Li Jingru pointed to the coconut grove and beach in the distance and teased her, "Yan Sir is making a phone call over there. Go ahead, you good girl who only dares to drink when her parents approve."
Nana burst into laughter.
Sister Cai, who was video chatting with her daughter who was not yet one year old, also smiled.
Wen Xue blushed, but still put down the coconut, put on her slippers and went to the beach to find He Yan. She saw him from afar. He was wearing knee-length shorts and a loose white T-shirt. He rarely dressed like this. He had shed the maturity and composure he had gained from years of struggling in society and looked younger and more energetic.
The soft sand crept over her toes as she trudged up behind him, her feet sinking deep into the sand.
He was on the phone, and a few words drifted over her ears. She realized he was talking about going to the United States next month.
As she hesitated whether to approach him, he suddenly turned around, saw it was her, tilted his head, and said to the person on the other end of the phone, "Wait a minute."
As he spoke, he casually covered his phone and asked her, "What's up?"
Wen Xue nodded slightly, "Well... Sister Jing is mixing drinks, the colors look really nice, I'd like to try it."
The sound of the waves came in waves. He Yan looked at her rosy face. During the summer vacation, he took her to the hospital again. Now she no longer needs to drink the Chinese medicine to recuperate. Her health has improved and her complexion is better.
But drinking?
He frowned, then changed his mind before saying it, "Okay."
Old Wu is right. She'll be twenty-one soon, an adult. Even a child a few years old can be interested in things they've never tried before.
Besides, he's here, and the villa is full of his own people.
Wen Xue was delighted and stopped interrupting his phone call. She turned and ran towards the villa, kicking up sand. He Yan was taken aback and shouted, "Drink less!"
The phone call lasted for nearly an hour.
After ending the call, He Yan walked back with his hot phone in his hand. When he got to the villa's courtyard, he looked around and his gaze settled on Wen Xue, who was dozing off in the swing chair. He strode over to her, and before he got close, he could smell her breath, which smelled of alcohol.
Now not only her face was red, but her neck was red too.
He stood with his hands on his hips, searching for the culprit. Li Jingru had disappeared somewhere, leaving only Sister Cai and Nana singing engrossed in their microphones.
"How much did she drink?" He Yan asked in a deep voice.
Nana's eyes were also glazed over. "A few drinks... mainly because we were playing games, and she lost..."
Sister Cai chuckled, "It's nothing, I'm just happy. It's rare for me to get out and about."
He Yan squatted down in front of the swing chair, reached out and touched her forehead. Sure enough, the alcohol was kicking in, and her face was flushed.
However, she followed his example when it came to drinking.
Even when he's drunk, he's very well-behaved; he doesn't talk or move around, he just stares at him with his eyes open.
He turned to Nana and said, "Stop singing. Help her back and let her lie on the sofa for a while. I'm going to buy some honey."
Nana was also half-drunk and not quite sober, and challenged him: "No, I still want to sing."
"Should I help her back?" Sister Cai said.
He Yan shook his head.
He was out of his mind and actually asked Nana to help her up. Even Sister Cai, who hadn't been drinking, couldn't help. If she didn't hold on properly, she could fall on the road, which would be quite serious. Thinking of this, he stood up and helped Wen Xue, who was in a daze, to her feet.
"Can you still walk?" he asked in a low voice.
Wen Xue stared at him blankly for a moment, as if trying to recognize who he was, and slowly nodded.
Helpless, He Yan carefully helped her around the swimming pool and out of the villa's courtyard. Less than a hundred meters between the two villas, they ran into Sister Zhou, who was on the phone.
Sister Zhou moved her phone away and called out, "President He."
"Okay." He Yan remembered that she shared a room with Wen Xue. "Come over when you're done with your work and take her to her room."
"good."
As the two were talking, neither of them noticed that when Wen Xue heard the surname "He," she looked at He Yan with a distant, unfocused gaze, trying to concentrate.
Congratulations...
Who is it...?
Her thoughts became slow and sluggish.
She could only stare at him as he helped her into the villa, which was deserted at the moment.
In the dim light, He Yan placed her on the living room sofa. Seeing her staring intently at him, he smiled, leaned down slightly, and met her gaze. "Awake? Thirsty?"
Wen Xue nodded blankly, "A little."
“Okay, wait here—” He turned his back to her and walked toward a cabinet on the side, where several bottles of mineral water were placed.
Congratulations...
As Wen Xue watched his retreating figure, she knew who he was, and she smiled gently and contentedly.
He Yan took a bottle of water and had just unscrewed the cap when he heard footsteps behind him. Just as he was about to turn around, his body suddenly felt as if someone had struck an acupoint, and he froze on the spot, completely motionless. His mind went blank.
He lowered his eyes and noticed a pair of hands on his waist and abdomen.
She slowly moved closer to his stiff body and hugged him tightly from behind, full of affection.
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