Chapter 37
The sweet fragrance of the sweet osmanthus lotus root gradually dissipated between the teeth, and even the air became a little soft.
It was late at night outside the window, and the halo of street lights spread across the wet road, just like the end of the old year.
I don’t know when, the coldness has changed its flavor, and there is a hint of New Year’s fireworks in the wind.
A few sporadic firecracker sounds came from the distance, intermittently.
When she put down her chopsticks, there were only two slices of candied lotus root left on the table.
When he looked up again, he saw that they had moved to another table, still sitting there with the two of them. Although it was just the two of them, he, Zou Ping, and Tang Yuchuan all felt the rare significance of the Chinese New Year.
Tang Yuchuan hasn't celebrated the Chinese New Year properly for many years.
To him, the Spring Festival is just an unfamiliar date on the calendar. There's no Spring Festival abroad. In the early days of his business, he often spent the holidays dragging his suitcase through airports alone. Outside the hotel's floor-to-ceiling windows, he'd gaze upon an exotic nightscape, devoid of firecrackers or fireworks celebrating family reunions.
For him, the end of the year is just a negotiation and a plane ticket.
Zou Ping didn't like the Chinese New Year in the past.
In that nominal home, the Spring Festival means endless busyness.
She and her mother shuttled back and forth in the kitchen, their fingers red from the cold, and the clatter of pots and pans masked all their fatigue.
Her father's relatives laughed loudly but were always quick to say embarrassing things. She and her mother bustled around but weren't treated as real family members. Each time it was their turn, they had to wait until everyone else had finished eating.
During those years, she learned to remain silent in the hustle and bustle, and he learned to smile in loneliness.
"Tomorrow, I want to go to the hospital to see my mother. You don't have to worry about me." Zou Ping put down her chopsticks, her tone gentle, but with a sense of propriety that could not be refused.
She had called that woman "Mom" for so many years, and even though the truth had been revealed, she couldn't bear to be indifferent.
The woman was living in the intensive care unit. Liver cancer was difficult to treat, and all the medication and care were arranged by Tang Yuchuan himself.
"I'll go with you." Tang Yuchuan looked up at her without any hesitation.
"No need." She immediately shook her head and refused flatly.
"I don't have anything important to do tomorrow anyway." He smiled slightly, as if he didn't feel it was a burden.
"Really, there's no need." Zou Ping refused again, her voice soft, but with a hint of wariness hidden in her brows.
She didn't like Tang Yuchuan having any contact with her so-called family members.
She knew her father's character very well: he was calculating and slippery. Now he was in debt and couldn't get money from her. It was possible that he would not pester Tang Yuchuan.
Zou Ping always felt that her father was incapable of doing anything, and the reason he didn't come to her house was simply because Tang Yuchuan's company and apartment had good security measures.
She knew that Tang Yuchuan could handle these troubles, but in her heart she always felt that it was better to have less trouble than more.
In addition, there is actually another more serious reason——
About life experience.
Tang Yuchuan had concealed his background from her, but she already knew it.
She had slipped a few tentative words into the conversation, and seeing the change in his expression, she could sense that he had noticed something. However, neither of them had spoken openly.
If he were to face her adoptive parents, both of them would have to act, and the false warmth would be shattered by awkward glances. That feeling was too tiring, too complicated.
She didn't want to disrupt this fragile and precious balance. At least not now.
At this moment, she just wanted to simply accompany the woman who had called her "Mom" countless times since she was a child, without any other emotions or identities.
Also, she would sometimes meet the man named Gu Xing in the hospital.
Her parents' adopted son. The man's eyes were so cold that they made people shiver, and so sharp that they made people uneasy.
Zou Ping felt that he was dangerous from the first time she met him.
Every time they met, he tried to deny Tang Yuchuan's feelings for her and sow discord between her and Tang Yuchuan.
She didn't know whether there was any business involvement between Gu Xing and Tang Yuchuan.
Perhaps it was a business dispute that made Gu Xing target Tang Yuchuan. If he couldn't do it openly, he would try covertly. It would be bad if he could become a pawn to attack Tang Yuchuan again.
Zou Ping thought to herself that this is how it was played in TV dramas anyway.
So, if you can avoid it, don’t encounter it.
She hoped to keep Tang Yuchuan away from all the messy right and wrong as much as possible.
"Oh, right," Zou Ping suddenly seemed to remember something, raised her head, and her eyes lit up slightly, "You stay home tomorrow to pack the luggage, and check mine while you're at it, okay? We're flying to Turkey the day after tomorrow."
When she said this, her tone was light, as if she was just saying it casually, but her fingertips were unconsciously stroking the corner of the table, and she seemed a little guilty.
"I'm always forgetful," she smiled, a gentle arc curved at the corners of her brow. "I'm going to see Mom tomorrow, and I have to leave again the day after tomorrow. Can you stay home and pack my things?"
Tang Yuchuan raised his eyes and looked at her smile. The smile seemed carefree, but it was like a thin piece of sugar coating, wrapped with some cautious emotions.
"Okay." He responded without any pause.
She smiled even deeper, as if to hide a hint of complexity in her heart, and then as if to encourage herself, she said, "Then I won't worry about it. Don't forget your passport, don't forget your camera, and last time you asked me to bring a sketchbook too. You haven't painted in a long time, so you should paint with me."
Tang Yuchuan watched her giving instructions while pretending to be indifferent, and he felt a little pain in his heart.
He knew that she must know something, but he didn't know how much she knew.
He knew that she was trying hard to maintain this peace, even though there were some truths between them that had not been revealed.
He felt that perhaps he needed to find a time to talk things out openly and clearly, but he also had to discuss it with Gu Xing and ask him to come along.
A short pain is worse than a long one. After all, lies cannot accompany you for a lifetime.
"I remember everything." He replied softly.
The alarm clock vibrated on the table, not loudly. It was set by Zou Ping.
She reached out to turn it off and slid to the interface of the phone clock with the second hand.
The numbers dropped little by little. She didn't say anything, and neither did Tang Yuchuan. In an instant, the whole room seemed to become quiet.
Five! She began to stare at the screen, silently counting down in her mind as the second hand ticked by. Only the few barely perceptible movements of her mouth betrayed her thoughts.
Four! She looked up and saw Tang Yuchuan leaning back in his chair, his gaze fixed on her casually but steadily.
Three! Her heart tightened slightly, and she suddenly felt that this moment was a bit like a stolen peace.
Two! He didn't say anything, but for some reason, she felt that he was also counting the same beats in his heart.
One! Finally!
"Happy New Year."
Zou Ping spoke her blessings at the moment it was midnight.
Tang Yuchuan smiled and immediately responded, "Happy New Year!"
Zou Ping looked over, and her gaze unconsciously lingered on Tang Yuchuan's face for a while.
The night blurred the outline of the city, but it could not blur the clean and sharp lines of his jaw.
The afterglow of the fireworks flickered, like tiny stars splashing on his eyebrows and eyelashes, making him look distant and gentle.
At that moment, she had an almost absurd thought: If only the world could stop right here, that would be nice. No cracks in the past, no uncertainties in the future, only this small piece of warmth.
Tang Yuchuan suddenly reached out and gently pulled her sleeve.
Her heart tightened, and she almost thought that her thoughts had been exposed - the silly smile that was so engrossed in watching was caught on the spot, making her lower her head in embarrassment.
Tang Yuchuan didn't explain, he just raised his chin and pointed out the window.
Zou Ping looked in the direction and suddenly the night sky was lit up by a cluster of grand fireworks. Golden light slowly spread out on the dark sky and fell into countless broken stars.
"It looks good." Zou Ping responded softly with a smile in her tone.
But her eyes no longer followed the night sky, but stopped on Tang Yuchuan's eyebrows.
The golden light of the fireworks spread layer by layer, reflecting on his profile, outlining a gentle outline.
She suddenly felt that no matter how grand the fireworks were, they could not compare to his expression at the moment... calm, restrained, yet in this brief moment, there was an imperceptible softness.
Tang Yuchuan felt her gaze, tilted his head slightly, and a slight curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.
He didn't directly expose her little distraction, but just reached out and gently touched her fingertips, and said in a low voice: "Look outside."
Zou Ping was slightly startled and subconsciously turned her head. At this moment, a completely different kind of firework streaked across the night sky, its colors more delicate, its lines more layered, as if sculpted by invisible brushstrokes.
Then, the second and third flowers bloomed one after another, representing fragments of her oil paintings: a solitary tree on the wasteland, an arched bridge interwoven with light and shadow, pedestrians holding umbrellas under streetlights on a rainy night, an old boat mottled in the sea breeze...
Those were the private worlds she had created in the past six months when no one was around. She had thought that only the canvas knew about them, but now they reappeared one by one in the night sky.
She stood there in a daze, almost forgetting to breathe.
Tang Yuchuan was not looking at the fireworks, he was looking at her.
The look on his face was as if he was cautiously waiting for some kind of answer, or as if he already knew what the answer would be.
Zou Ping's heart was suddenly struck by something, a mixture of sweet and sour feelings.
She understood that this was his way of responding to her expression.
The night sky was lit up again and again, and her heart trembled slightly with the lights and shadows.
Looking at Tang Yuchuan before her, Zou Ping suddenly felt that the secrets and lies lurking in the shadows, no matter how cold, could not erase the light and warmth of this moment. Happiness might be as fragile as fireworks, fleeting, but as long as this moment was real, she was willing to let go of all her defenses to believe it, to embrace it.
"What's wrong?" Tang Yuchuan turned his head and seemed to notice the moisture in her eyes.
Zou Ping shook her head slightly, the corners of her lips curved slightly: "Maybe... I'm a little touched."
Tang Yuchuan's eyes softened, as if he wanted to sear this moment into his heart. "If you like it, then every year from now on, I will make as many fireworks of the same design as the number of new paintings you draw, and let them accompany you through the New Year."
Zou Ping chuckled and deliberately changed the subject, "Aren't you very particular about environmental protection? Fireworks are not environmentally friendly."
"Once a year." His tone was calm, yet like a gentle sword, gently cutting through the night. "Protecting the environment doesn't mean crushing life into cold rules. Occasionally, allowing a small beam of useless light to bloom can remind us why we must protect this land."
Zou Ping was stunned for a moment, as if these words had hit a soft spot in her heart.
She laughed softly, but couldn't help but arch her brows. That smile was not a teasing one, but a slight tremor after being struck by some kind of warmth.
He was always like this. With just one sentence, he could turn something grand and distant into a lamp, a bunch of fireworks, or a silent night before their eyes.
She suddenly realized that her love for him wasn't just for his thoughtfulness and composure, but also for his restrained yet open tenderness when facing the world. He could see the cold and hard truth, yet still chose to leave a bouquet of flowers and shine a ray of light in life.
If the world cannot even tolerate an unnecessary spark, then it is truly desolate, Zou Ping thought as she watched the light of fireworks shatter in Tang Yuchuan's eyes.
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