Chapter 48 (Forty-Eighth Chapter)
In the following days, during her spare time, Luo Xincheng asked a design company to renovate the interior design of the large apartment her mother had given her on her birthday, according to her own preferences.
Although she didn't plan to stay long, she wanted to decorate the place to make it beautiful and comfortable.
After finishing their meal, the two would take a walk nearby to digest.
The shadows of the trees swayed and rustled in the wind, and the dim streetlights cast long shadows on the ground.
The two walked hand in hand into the park, bathed in the night, giving off a feeling of having entered retirement life ahead of time.
"How could this be?" she suddenly realized. "What's with this feeling of an old married couple?"
Fu Zhiheng was also full of resentment at her complaints, but hesitated to speak, "But I asked you to go to the movies the day before yesterday, and I asked you to play tennis yesterday, and you didn't agree to either of them."
"Watching movies is so boring, I fall asleep so easily," Luo Xincheng said, kicking at the fallen leaves at her feet and shaking his hand. "As for playing tennis, although I quite like it, I've been feeling really lethargic these past few days and don't have the energy to exercise. Maybe it's because my period just ended and I haven't recovered yet?"
“Well…” Fu Zhiheng racked his brains, then slumped his shoulders in dejection. “I’m sorry, I’m really boring. I can’t think of any creative ways to go on a date. Dating me is really dull, isn’t it…”
During their student days, it was usually Luo Xincheng who suggested going on dates. Back then, she was always full of energy, and I don't know where she got such high energy from. Every weekend, she would drag Fu Zhiheng to play all kinds of ball sports, as well as indoor rock climbing, shooting, and skateboarding. He didn't know how to do many of them, so she taught him by hand.
Sometimes he picks it up quickly and plays it quite well in no time. Whenever this happens, she pats him on the shoulder and praises him for being smart, saying that he is indeed her boyfriend.
But most of the time, he was clumsy and couldn't keep up with her pace. At that time, she would laugh at him for being clumsy, and what's worse, she would take pictures of him making a fool of himself.
Especially when he was skateboarding, he fell countless times, he was practically risking his life for his friend.
Thinking of this, Fu Zhiheng asked her with mixed feelings, "Do you still like to play bungee jumping or drop towers?"
Back then, Luo Xincheng liked to play extreme sports when he was under a lot of pressure, especially in the week before a big exam. He would always drag me to the amusement park and specifically look for thrilling rides like haunted houses, drop towers, and roller coasters.
Fu Zhiheng originally had a slight fear of heights, but after she took him to ride the drop tower, roller coaster, and bungee jumping countless times, he became completely numb to it and never knew what fear of heights was again.
A miracle doctor, a contemporary miracle doctor.
Luo Xincheng waved his hand dismissively, "I'm tired of those, I stopped playing them a long time ago."
Fu Zhiheng: "...So what did you like to play later?"
“Rafting, surfing, diving, paragliding, and stuff like that,” Luo Xincheng shrugged. “But I haven’t done any of those since I went back to China.”
"Don't you have time?"
"No pressure anymore."
She clung to his arm and complained, "You have no idea how tiring university was for me. Each QARTE only lasted nine weeks, the pace of learning was so fast I couldn't keep up, and there were so many exams. I was so stressed every day, and the only way I could relieve the stress was by doing extreme sports to get my adrenaline pumping..."
"But after returning to China, there was less pressure. Although the work was quite annoying, it was my family's company after all, and there was no GPA to weigh me down. I even had time to slack off every day. Once my mindset was more peaceful, I didn't want to seek excitement as much."
Fu Zhiheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing his expression instantly relax, Luo Xincheng's eyes lit up with an amused smile. "What, are you scared?"
Fu Zhiheng didn't try to save face and sincerely admitted, "I am a little scared, but if you like, I'd like to give it a try."
Luo Xincheng, hearing the sincerity in his tone, and finding it genuine, smiled with interest and said, "Your courage is commendable, but I definitely won't have time to take you out to play recently. Maybe next time, next time for sure."
I have no idea when the next time will be.
Although he couldn't plan a romantic date, he would carefully prepare a small gift for her every time they met. Sometimes it was a practical everyday item, sometimes a pretty but useless decoration, and sometimes a delicate and delicious snack...
Today's bouquet features pink peonies as the main element, interspersed with purple peas and clematis as accents.
Luo Xincheng held the flower and sniffed it. She didn't know what kind of peony it was, but it smelled faintly of lychee.
"Thank you." She smiled and looked at the hem of her coat. "I also prepared a small gift for you."
Fu Zhiheng was immediately flattered and asked, "What is it?"
“It’s in my pocket.” She nudged his shoulder lightly, indicating, “Take it yourself.”
He smiled, his hand reaching into her pocket slowly and gently, showing a reserved demeanor.
Seeing this, Luo Xincheng laughed and scolded, "If you dawdle any longer, I'll regret it."
"I've already given it to you, how can you do this?" Fu Zhiheng quickened his pace and felt a metallic ring-shaped object in her pocket. He took it out and saw that it was a rose gold bracelet.
Luo Xincheng reached out at the opportune moment and shook her wrist at him.
In addition to wearing the diamond watch he gave her last time, she also wore a thin silver bracelet as a matching accessory, "It's a couple's set."
Fu Zhiheng wasn't used to wearing anything on his wrist; over the years he had only worn her hair tie and watch. But he liked anything that matched his partner, so he quickly put on the bracelet.
Looking at their matching bracelets in different colors, he smiled happily and decided that he would wear them until Luo Xincheng gave him another piece of jewelry.
...
After March, Luo Xincheng soon welcomed his first short holiday, the Qingming Festival.
She gets very busy at this time of year because she has to go with her parents' families to pay respects to their ancestors.
After paying her respects at the Wang family cemetery, she immediately boarded a flight south with her mother.
The Luo family's ancestral home is in the south, and their ancestors are buried in a mountain valley. Cars cannot drive up there, so they can only walk. Unfortunately, the road is steep and overgrown with weeds.
Luo Xincheng couldn't help but complain to her mother when she reached halfway up the mountain, "Can I not go anymore...?"
This was overheard by the second uncle in front, who immediately said, "Sure, you can change your surname to Wang now and you won't have to go."
Luo Xincheng wiped his sweat. "...I was just kidding."
Wang Xincheng, do you think this sounds good?
The weather in the south has been very changeable lately. The humid, misty air hasn't passed yet, and the stuffy, hot air makes it hard to breathe. Climbing mountains is even more tiring.
After finally trekking through mountains and rivers to sweep the graves, Luo Xincheng didn't want to stay at the ancestral home any longer, so after dinner he flew back to Yanjing.
The large apartment, which had recently undergone a complete redesign and interior decoration, was finally finished. She took a look around and was very satisfied, deciding to sleep here tonight.
At first, she wanted to celebrate finally living alone and planned to have a drink and look out the floor-to-ceiling window at the neon-lit night view. But after taking a shower, sleepiness came over her like a tide, and she closed her eyes peacefully as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Ding-dong.
The phone is ringing.
She struggled to open her eyes and saw that it was a message from Fu Zhiheng.
By the way, I didn't say a word to him all day today.
Too lazy to type, she made a phone call directly, her voice trembling with sleepiness, "Hello... um, I'm back in Yanjing, um, I'm really sleepy, I went hiking to sweep the tombs today, baby, it's such a high mountain..."
"Are you so tired? Did I disturb your sleep?"
His slightly hoarse voice came through the receiver, sounding light, soft, and subtly dreamlike.
She was startled, her sleepiness dissipating slightly. "You've been drinking?"
He sniffed and admitted in a low voice, "Yeah, but just a little bit."
"Why are you drinking all of a sudden?" She hugged her blanket and yawned deeply. "For business purposes?"
"No." Hearing her yawn, he felt guilty. "Are you... are you really sleepy? Then... go to sleep. I shouldn't have texted you so suddenly."
When he spoke for a while, he started to stammer, as if he were drunk.
Luo Xincheng didn't hang up the phone, and asked lazily, "Then why are you drinking? Are you in a bad mood?"
There was silence on the other end for a long, long time, so long that Luo Xincheng almost fell asleep, before he heard him give a very soft "hmm," "A little."
"Why... Oh, is it because I went to sweep my family's graves today?" Thinking of this, Luo Xincheng shuddered and became more awake.
The elders in Luo Xincheng's family are all quite healthy, so she has been visiting the graves of ancestors she has never met these past two days. But Fu Zhiheng is different; he also wants to pay respects to deceased relatives he has lived with for many years.
He was naturally more sensitive and emotional than her. He might have secretly cried after returning from the tomb sweeping, and then, feeling grief-stricken, he drank some alcohol to try and distract himself, but ended up drinking a bit too much.
"What should we do then..." Luo Xincheng's eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and her thoughts gradually became muddled. The words she uttered were completely thoughtless. "I'm not good at comforting people, darling. How about you bring some wine and I'll drink with you? I can hold my liquor... If you want to cry, I can hug you..."
He was clearly tempted, but hesitated for a moment, and said dejectedly, "It wouldn't be good to come to your house drunk. If your aunt finds out, she'll definitely have a bad impression of me."
"I'm not staying at home tonight." She yawned and gave her current address, then closed her eyes because her eyelids felt too heavy.
"If you want to come, just come. The password at the door is my birthday... I have wine, but I want some snacks to go with it... braised beef, marinated scallops, beef tongue slices... egg tarts, Brittany canelés... Mom, I really want to eat the braised sea cucumber with scallions and Dongpo pork from Babaoge, they're so delicious..."
Although she knew she was so sleepy she was delirious, Fu Zhiheng still found it both funny and exasperating to hear her naturally call out "Mom."
“Okay, I’ll buy it all for you,” he said softly. “But Babao Pavilion is closed now. I’ll make a reservation later, and we can eat there during the day, okay?”
She mumbled an "Mmm" half-asleep, "We need to hire a cleaning lady tomorrow, and then..."
He lost consciousness halfway through his sentence, muttering incoherent babbling.
Of course, in her deeper subconscious, she didn't think she was asleep. She just closed her eyes for a short rest because her eyes were too tired. She would definitely wake up when Fu Zhiheng arrived.
He'll definitely bring delicious snacks to go with his drinks, and dessert too...
But when he hugged her and cried, feeling wronged, what should she say to comfort him?
Otherwise, just get him drunk. He'll definitely behave when he's drunk, and he might even fall asleep without her having to coax him.
Then she could sleep peacefully.
Ah, sleep... sleep... so sleepy...
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