Chapter 21 The Ring
After the National Day holiday ended, the temperature displayed on the mobile phone weather system increased instead of decreasing.
Luo Xincheng looked at the weather forecast for the next two weeks and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
In previous years, the temperature in Beijing would plummet right after the National Day holiday, with a cold wind blowing sharply, bringing autumn to a hasty end.
Unlike this year, the air still seems to be filled with the lingering heat of summer, and the afternoon sun can still feel incredibly hot on your skin.
But she hadn't returned to Yanjing for the past two years, so it's unclear whether this was the case for the past two years or if winter just came a little later this year.
Luo Xincheng doesn't like winter. Every year during this season, there are always a lot of unavoidable and annoying events coming her way.
Just like that night, my father, whom I hadn't contacted in a long time, suddenly called.
Luo Xincheng was practicing boxing in his home gym when he heard the phone ringing. He immediately stopped and went over to look at his phone.
Upon seeing that the contact person was him, I immediately felt that trouble was on its way.
well.
Is it too late to pretend you didn't hear the phone call at this point?
She reluctantly took off her boxing gloves, and finally answered the call without much effort.
"Hello? Dad, what's up?"
She put down her boxing gloves, grabbed a water glass, and sat down on the ground, drenched in sweat.
Wang Jinlin, on the other end of the phone, asked her why it took her so long to answer.
She took a couple of sips of water and replied casually, "I was at the gym, my phone was on silent, I didn't see it just now."
After a moment of silence, she sighed and then began to talk about her grandfather's birthday banquet.
Upon hearing this, Luo Xincheng also sighed.
"It's his birthday again?" She wiped her sweaty face with a towel, grinning, "It feels like his last birthday was just yesterday, time flies so fast..."
After a string of complaints, she sincerely asked, "Can I not go?"
Wang Jinlin laughed in anger, "You talk as if you went there two years ago. The year before last, you said your grandfather was dying and you rushed to see him one last time. Last year, you said your bag was stolen and you got into a fight with the robber and broke your ribs. What excuse do you have this year?"
Luo Xincheng started to think about it seriously, "This year... oh, didn't I get into a car accident the day I returned to China?"
"How long has that been?" Wang Jinlin couldn't stand her bluffing anymore and ruthlessly issued an ultimatum.
"This year is your grandfather's 70th birthday. The old man specifically said that he wants to have a big celebration and for the whole family to get together. So don't think about those other things."
Luo Xincheng put down her water glass and leaned weakly against the treadmill.
"He has so many grandchildren, it wouldn't matter whether I'm here or not, and I guess he wouldn't really want to see me, would he?"
She had sensed for a long time that her grandparents didn't like her. Every time she returned to the old house, they would look at her with disdain.
Of course, this dislike didn't start from the moment she was born.
In her distant memory, around the time she was in third grade, her grandparents treated her quite kindly, much like they treated her other cousins.
Later, after they repeatedly urged their parents to have a second child and were repeatedly refused, their dissatisfaction with their resistance gradually turned to her, and they began to look at her with increasing disdain.
Luo Xincheng knew what they were looking down on her for. They simply felt that she, as a girl, was not worthy of inheriting so much of her parents' wealth. Those two old-fashioned people always thought that girls would eventually belong to someone else.
"No matter what, he's still your grandfather. He's so old, every time we meet, it's the last time we'll see him."
Wang Jinlin said quite pragmatically, "Don't always think about whether he likes you or not. Think more about his money! Think about his inheritance! Even if he doesn't like you, he still gave you plenty of New Year's money, right?"
"When you met last time, didn't he give you a purple jade bracelet? It's worth at least two million, if not extremely expensive."
Luo Xincheng retorted softly, "I don't need that kind of thing..."
"What are you saying? Who would complain about not having enough money?"
A heavy sigh came through the telephone receiver.
"Chengcheng, I've told you so many times, feelings are such an intangible thing and they're not important! They're not worth your concern!"
He spoke earnestly and earnestly, even to the point of being exasperated, saying, "It doesn't matter if he likes you or he dislikes you! The money you have in your hand is the most important thing!"
Luo Xincheng used the treadmill to get up and walked outside.
"I understand the logic, but it's really annoying to be met with indifference, okay? In the end, it's not you who gets mocked and ridiculed..."
Wang Jinlin remained strangely silent for a moment, then advised with the air of someone who had been through it all, "You'll get used to it. Just think more about their money!"
"Can't you endure humiliation for the sake of money?"
Grandpa Wang was concerned about his reputation, so no matter what he thought in his heart, he treated all his grandchildren equally on the surface, and the gifts he gave them were of equal value.
Of course, whether or not she secretly gave her favorite grandchildren better things, Luo Xincheng had no way of knowing.
Those are things that Wang Jinlin should worry about.
Luo Xincheng walked upstairs to the room. "What about his birthday present...?"
“I’ve got everything ready.” Wang Jinlin had made thorough preparations in this regard. “Is your mother home? I’ve also prepared her gift. Please remind her to send a birthday greeting to the old man on that day.”
Although they have been divorced for many years, their business relationship remains unchanged. The Luo family and the Wang family have maintained their cooperation for many years, so Luo Anjiu, the former daughter-in-law, always sends sincere blessings to the old man and the old woman during the Spring Festival.
Luo Xincheng said she wasn't there, "She's still in Tokyo, and if nothing unexpected happens, she'll probably be back next week."
Wang Jinlin didn't care about the date his ex-wife would return, only saying, "Then you can send her a WeChat reminder later. I won't send one to avoid suspicion."
When the topic of avoiding suspicion came up, he seemed quite resentful.
Luo Xincheng was taken aback. "What's there to avoid? My mom cares about this?"
Wang Jinlin clicked his tongue, "Isn't it all because of your stepfather? He's so petty and narrow-minded, always fussing over the smallest things."
At the same time, he sarcastically remarked, "This kind of emotional fool can take over the family business, tsk, the only son in the family is really something else."
Luo Xincheng sensed his envy, jealousy, and resentment, and smiled, "Did you two have a fight?"
Wang Jinlin's words were full of disdain: "What's the point of arguing with someone who can't even speak Mandarin properly?"
Luo Xincheng was speechless for a moment, and when she thought of her stepfather's broken Mandarin, she wanted to laugh a little.
Her stepfather was born on Hong Kong Island, and she studied in the UK from secondary school onwards, so her native language environment was mainly composed of Cantonese and English.
Although I've been more active in mainland China in recent years and have spoken more Mandarin, I haven't become fluent. When I speak quickly and my sentences are long, I mix in English and Cantonese, which sounds really awkward.
No wonder her mother was always cheerful after her remarriage; how could she not be happy with someone saying such funny things in her ear?
After exchanging a few words, Luo Xincheng went into her room.
"Alright, I'm going to take a shower. I'm hanging up now."
"Hmm...right!"
The finger hovered above the screen, as if about to hang up the phone.
"Is there anything else?"
"When you go back to the old house, wear all the jewelry that your grandparents gave you a few years ago. The last time we met, the old man complained that the things he gave you never even made a sound, and he never saw you wear them once."
Hearing this, Luo Xincheng was completely at a loss.
"Is it that I don't want to wear them? It's just that the ones they gave me are all too..." She hesitated, afraid that her father would say she was disrespectful to her elders, and then softened her tone, "They're too expensive, it's not suitable for someone my age to wear them! I can't pull them off!"
Covered in sweat, she had run out of patience and didn't want to say anything more on the phone.
Finally, he said dismissively, "I only wear the purple jade bracelet he gave me two years ago. I'm too lazy to look for anything older than that. Heaven knows where I threw it... Okay, I'm hanging up now. Take care of yourself too. Bye."
Finally hanging up the phone, she immediately put down her phone, tidied her pajamas, and went into the bathroom.
After showering and drying her hair, she looked at her phone for a while, then, feeling bored, she went to the dressing table and opened the jewelry cabinet underneath to rummage through it.
After searching through the two drawers for a while, she suddenly realized that most of the jewelry in the cabinet was purchased within the past year.
"This is so troublesome."
She tied up her loose hair and pushed open the door to the walk-in closet.
Because the jewelry the old man gave her was quite expensive, she skipped the counter and went straight to the safe, unlocking it with her fingerprint.
Her gaze swept quickly over the watches on the top shelf, then she opened the drawer below and began searching for her target amidst the dazzling, fiery light.
The jewelry placed here is precious and delicate. After Luo Xincheng received it, she didn't have an occasion to wear every piece. Most of them were just glanced at and then put away.
Beautiful jewelry seems to have a magical power that can make anyone who sees it feel a slight ache in their cheeks.
Luo Xincheng looked reluctant before entering the dressing room, but after opening the safe for a short while, she put on a teardrop-shaped pink diamond ring and a conch bead diamond bracelet with a big smile.
"This chrysoberyl cat's eye ring looks pretty good too..."
Put them on, put them on, put them on all of them!
Two minutes later, she held up her hands, which were laden with jewelry, to the light source. Her eyes reflected the dazzling light refracted by the various gemstones. She was so happy that she almost forgot her original intention of opening the safe.
Frustrated, she lowered her hand, but didn't remove all the ornaments. She simply opened the next layer, still burdened by the weight.
Several tightly closed jewelry boxes were placed on the edge of this drawer. Luo Xincheng scratched his head, unable to recall why he hadn't displayed all the jewelry. Was it because he was lazy after receiving them and simply left them there?
Thinking of this, she opened them one by one to look at them, but she couldn't find the bracelet that her grandfather had given her.
Finally, only that one was left on this floor.
Her gaze shifted to a relatively small jewelry box in the corner, and without much thought, she opened it immediately after receiving it.
The first thing that catches the eye is a white opal ring.
As expected, it wasn't.
She slammed the jewelry box shut, casually put it back in its place, and then squatted down to search on the third shelf.
How could there be opals in her safe?!
With a look of disbelief, she picked up the jewelry box again, opened it, and took out the ring.
The opal on this ring is quite large. Although it is not very transparent, the colors that make up the iridescence are wide and evenly distributed. When the ring is rotated under a light source, the surface diffracts a beautiful rainbow-like color.
The jewelry in the safe is regularly inspected and maintained by professionals, so this opal did not crack due to being stored in a dry environment for a long time, and it still feels smooth and flawless to the touch.
However, after so many years, the brilliance that the gemstone should have shone on has inevitably dimmed somewhat.
She slowly sat down, leaning against the safe, her fingertips caressing the opal, her expression slightly moved.
I remember now.
This was a gift from Fu Zhiheng when he was in his second year of high school.
That year, he went to Australia to participate in the IMO math competition, where opals are abundant. When he returned, he said he had bought her an opal jewelry piece as well.
Luo Xincheng asked him where the money came from, and he said it was a scholarship from the school. He saved half of it and used the other half to buy her a gift.
As he said this, his face turned completely red. He looked at her hesitantly, his expression shy but more excited and a little proud, as if he really wanted to be praised by her.
Luo Xincheng never expected that, amidst such a tense and exciting competition, he would still have the leisure to buy himself a gift.
It's impossible not to feel moved at all.
But she didn't show it; she just kept asking him what he had bought, because she wanted to see.
A small smile played at the corners of his lips. "I'll give it to you after school."
They were still in class at that time, in the afternoon, and there were still more than two hours before school ended. Luo Xincheng was very anxious, and every second felt like an eternity.
Fu Zhiheng had just finished the competition and won the gold medal. The school had given him two days off to rest, but he went back to Yanjing in the morning and returned to school in the afternoon.
The homeroom teacher thought he was eager to come to school because he was focused on his studies. When he returned to the classroom, the teacher praised him for half an hour, telling everyone to learn from his spirit of making the most of every minute to study.
Luo Xincheng was so tired of listening to this from below the stage that she almost had calluses. Then she turned her head and looked at Fu Zhiheng, who looked guilty, and immediately laughed.
She spoke with intonation, laughing as she poked the back of his hand with her finger.
He was so put off that he didn't know what to say. After a long pause, he finally managed to stammer, "I'm not that fond of studying..."
After saying that, he slowly but precisely grasped the hand that was teasing her, put it back in its original position, and squeezed it lightly.
Luo Xincheng chuckled ambiguously and wrote in his notebook: "Secretly pinching my hand, trying to take advantage of me, isn't that it?"
He pushed it over to her side, glanced at the words, then at her, and silently used his pen to black out the line.
She continued writing: Pretentious.
It was blacked out.
She continued writing: a repressed pervert.
It was blacked out.
She gripped the pen with great interest, ready to write again, but as the pen fell, it touched not the paper, but soft skin.
"I was wrong, please stop writing."
Afraid that the teacher would find out they were talking, he deliberately lowered his voice when he apologized, making it low and hoarse, but the ingratiating tone was still there.
His hand covered her draft notebook, leaving a black mark on the back of her fair hand.
Luo Xincheng then put away the draft and, as if triumphant, raised her chin at him.
Why didn't you do this earlier?
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