Chapter 44. [Second Update] The person who took her home was He Heng...
The dampness in my heart, as if it had just rained, slowly turned cloudy and then cleared up again, circle after circle.
The wind dried the tears on her face, and a smile began to appear.
He Yan paid close attention to her mood changes, and seeing her smile made him feel much more relaxed.
That's right. She's still young, with more than half a year until her twenty-first birthday. Her life has just begun. She will live a peaceful, stable, and happy life. He won't let her encounter bad people again, and he will shield her from all bad things.
"Are you hungry?" he asked, reaching out to stop her.
Wen Xue stopped using the method he taught her. Her eyelids were swollen, but her eyes were smiling. "I'm not hungry, I'm a little thirsty."
She felt a little embarrassed, thinking that she had cried too much in front of him and needed to replenish her fluids.
"Come with me."
He gestured for her to follow, and the two of them went to a storage room one after the other. He casually turned the handle, and the door opened.
Wen Xue hesitated to go forward because there was an A4 sheet of paper on the door with the words "No entry for non-staff members" written in bold black letters.
He Yan turned around and chuckled, "You were already ice skating before you were even an adult, why would you care about this?"
Wen Xue thought to herself, "It was your brother who brought me here, not me who came voluntarily."
“It’s alright,” he said. “I’m just a staff member.”
"...Don't talk nonsense."
She didn't believe his nonsense and refused to come in, insisting on the order she believed in.
He Yan didn't press her, and rummaged through the cardboard box, asking, "Coke or 7UP?"
"Cola!" she replied without hesitation, then paused and added, "Wait, are you going to take someone else's drink? That's not a good idea!"
"I already said, I'm a staff member."
He Yan came out again, carrying two glass bottles of cola in one hand. "Let's try it and see if you can still open the bottle caps."
Wen Xue glanced at him twice, then obediently accepted it. She was still happy inside. She looked around and slowly moved to the cashier's table. From He Yan's perspective, she looked no different from a penguin.
She still remembered the method he had taught her last time: press the bottle cap against the edge of the table and tap it lightly with force.
The dull thud of a bottle cap hitting the ground echoed in the empty space. She turned to look at him triumphantly and handed him the opened bottle of cola.
From childhood to adulthood, all her teachers have said that she is a very quick-witted and intelligent student.
He Yan took the cola and took a sip: "Not bad."
Wen Xue smiled and enthusiastically opened another bottle of cola.
There was a wooden bench near the cashier, its paint peeling. They sat down. She drank her cola too quickly, feeling like she was about to exhale through her nose. She hurriedly covered it with her hand. He was puzzled. He looked at her face, which only showed her eyes, and smiled silently. "What's the rush? Finish your drink first, then get yours."
"Aren't you going to pay?" she asked in shock.
“I’m paying him to show him no respect.” He Yan held the Coke bottle, leaned forward, and rested his arm on his knee. “You think I’m lying to you? I really did work here before.”
He is indeed a staff member.
Before, staff members.
"Huh? When did this happen?" she asked curiously.
“I was about fifteen, working during winter and summer vacations.” He said casually, “and that’s how I met the boss.”
He glossed over all the hardships he had endured in the past, as if they came out as lightly as a breeze. Wen Xue sipped her cola, but her eyes involuntarily wandered around the surroundings. She had been here once or twice before, but at those times she had no interest in looking around and dared not look around carelessly.
Today, however, he was very curious, probably because he wanted to take a closer look at the place where he used to work.
"You have so many friends," she remarked.
Friends are everywhere.
It seems he has friends in every industry and all over the world.
He Yan neither confirmed nor denied it, saying, "Back then, I worked odd jobs here, leaving early and returning late, doing all sorts of things. He was only ten years old and refused to stay at home."
Wen Xue was stunned.
She knew that the "he" He Yan was referring to was He Heng. She thought they would have to deliberately avoid mentioning him for a while.
She knew she had scared him today.
“He’s been smart since he was little, with a photographic memory. He secretly followed me once and memorized how to get here. Every day when I come to work, he waits outside.” He Yan said calmly, “I find him annoying and always chase him away.”
He Heng treats all those he considers family and lovers this way.
They can't be driven away no matter what.
“One day, he told me he wanted to learn to swim. I didn’t want to teach him at first, but I was afraid he would sneak off to the reservoir with other kids. You know how stubborn he is, so I taught him. I always thought that if I hadn’t taught him, or if I had impatiently given him a few beatings, he might have learned his lesson and wouldn’t dare to touch the water.”
At this point, He Yan silently raised his head, revealing his Adam's apple, and drank the entire bottle of cola as if he were drinking alcohol.
He never mentioned these words to anyone else, not even Wu Yuejiang, because there are no "what ifs" in the world. "What if" is not a good thing; it's like a needle piercing a person's heart, and every time you think about it, it will hurt.
Wen Xue gradually suppressed her smile, turned her head away, her eyes brimming with tears, and the two fell into silence.
He spoke of it simply and calmly, and she could only listen quietly.
Just as she doesn't need anyone to tell her, "It's okay, you didn't see the message, you didn't stop him, it's not your fault."
He Yan doesn't need it either.
It's okay to say it.
"Want to play some more?" He put the empty glass bottle aside and asked her with a smile.
She nodded vigorously, "Play."
"Come on." He stood up, worried that she was a beginner and might slip and fall, so he stretched out his arm in front of her, and she held on to it, using his arm strength to get up.
Wen Xue became more and more comfortable with skating. Later, He Yan let her skate on her own. He stood in place, and whenever she smoothly and gracefully skated a lap, he would reach out his hand to signal her to give him a high five. At first, she was hesitant, but gradually, she gained better balance and mustered up the courage to give him a high five.
"sharp."
He praised her in a flat, monotone tone, which seemed insincere.
She didn't mind and said, "Thank you."
He Yan raised his eyebrows slightly, a smile appearing on his face.
When they came out of the skating rink, it was already late at night. They had both composed themselves and their bad moods. He Yan drove Wen Xue home. Her house was in an alley, and the car could easily get scratched if you weren't careful. It wouldn't have mattered if it were that old Jeep, but since it was a borrowed car, he simply parked outside and drove her in.
Even though it was only a few hundred meters away, he would walk her downstairs and only feel at ease after seeing her enter her home.
The dim streetlights stretched their shadows long. Wen Xue looked down and couldn't help but smile. What was going on today? She had a strange feeling of being out of place. She remembered that when she was sixteen or seventeen, He Heng had been like this, picking her up and dropping her off day and night.
Life is unpredictable and mysterious. Now she is twenty years old, and the person who took her home has changed from He Heng to He Yan.
"What are you laughing at?" He turned his head and glanced at her.
"No..." Perhaps it was Qingming Festival today, she thought, and they could all indulge in their longing. She recalled in a light tone, "Before, there were a few hooligans outside the school who always bothered me and liked to follow me. When he found out, he got very angry and got into a fight. He almost broke his nose. After that, he would walk me home every day after school, just like now."
This habit continued for a long time, from the age of seventeen to twenty, rain or shine.
He Yan was slightly taken aback. After her reminder, he remembered that there was indeed such a thing. If he remembered correctly, he was the one who ended up cleaning up the mess.
At that time, he was earning money by driving a car in another city. When he received a call from a friend, he thought it was April Fool's Day and that his friend was playing a joke on him.
His brother got into a fight, one against four?
How could that be? His younger brother is a model student. Everyone in the neighborhood praises him as a good kid. He's been a top student every year, and his grades have never fallen out of the top three. It's possible he got into a quarrel, but to get into a fight? Are you kidding me?
As a result, he couldn't laugh anymore; it turned out that it was true.
He was so angry that he wanted to send the kid to the hospital to check if his brain was waterlogged. He gave the kid a good scolding, and later he asked a friend to step in and deal with the troublemakers.
He still remembered He Heng yelling at him on the phone: "They're a bunch of thugs, scum! They know Wen Xue only has her and her grandmother at home, so they act recklessly, bullying and harassing her. Don't they deserve to die? She doesn't want her grandmother to worry. Her grandmother is in poor health, and she's carrying a utility knife all by herself. Don't they deserve to die?!"
…
"I've arrived."
Wen Xue stopped in front of the stairwell, pointed to a window on the third floor, and smiled broadly, "My good friend brought me some late-night snacks. She's at my place now. Look, all the lights are on."
After she finished speaking, seeing that He Yan did not react and seemed to be immersed in his own world, she smiled and called out, "He Yan, He Yan!"
He Yan looked at her, frowned, and asked, "What?"
"I've arrived, I'm going up." She thought for a moment, then reminded him, "Remember to eat too."
"Um."
Wen Xue smiled and waved goodbye to him, then walked lightly into the building. When she reappeared, she was standing on the balcony of her home and called out to him, "We're here. You should go back now."
He Yan looked up and saw a short-haired girl next to her.
It must be the best friend she mentioned, the girl named Yang Siyi.
He felt slightly relieved, nodded, and turned to walk out of the alley with a somber expression. The streetlights shone on his face, making his expression unreadable.
This area is the old town of Haicheng, mostly inhabited by locals. It's mostly narrow alleys, more bustling and chaotic than the new town. He Yan was suppressing a nameless anger, which had been there since yesterday, or rather, for a long time. Years of experience had made him appear more peaceful than before, but his inherently cold and irritable personality was hard to change.
He drove around aimlessly.
Without her in the car, he didn't need to hide his true emotions.
Suddenly, he noticed a few familiar-looking young thugs gathered at the entrance of the billiards room and internet cafe. He narrowed his eyes, rolled down the car window, and carefully examined them. After a long while, his expression remained unchanged, and he chuckled in a cryptic manner.
What a coincidence.
On the other side, Yang Siyi and Wen Xue were chatting while cutting fruit in the kitchen. She popped a strawberry into her mouth, which was sweet, and then took another one from the colander and held it to Wen Xue's mouth. "Ah, open your mouth."
Wen Xue was already full, so she had no choice but to open her mouth and obediently eat the heart-shaped strawberry.
Yang Siyi took her phone out of her pajamas, turned on the screen, and muttered, "Why hasn't Shuyun come yet?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than a knock came at the door. Yang Siyi was speechless. "Speak of the devil, and he appears. I'll go open the door!"
Wen Xue washed the fruit and placed it on a plate. Hearing their voices, she peeked out from the kitchen and asked, "What are you saying?"
Shu Yun patted her chest: "Don't even mention it. I took a taxi here, and I kept staring at the meter. Before it jumped to ten yuan, I quickly asked the driver to pull over, and then—"
She looked annoyed. "I almost stumbled upon a fight in that alley near the hardware store. You have no idea how scary it was! They were acting like they didn't care about their lives, it scared me to death!"
Wen Xue immediately said seriously, "Next time you two come to see me at night, take a taxi downstairs, and I'll reimburse you. I already told you I've started earning money!"
This topic was quickly moved on, and the three of them happily chatted about other things.
While eating potstickers, Wen Xue thought of He Yan. While the two of them were huddled together discussing lipstick shades, she secretly took out her phone and sent him a message: 【Remember to eat^^】
He Yan strolled out of the alley, leaving the groans and howls behind. He indifferently turned his neck, stretched his wrists, opened the car door, and got back into the car.
My phone is vibrating.
His fingers trembled slightly as he typed the password "1220," opened the chat window with her, and was about to type when he noticed some blood on the screen. He slowly wiped it clean with his clean fingertip and replied: "Okay, go to sleep early."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com