Chapter 57
The Duke's back walked away.
Wang Shuhuai had been standing stiffly behind the desk, not coming back to his senses for a long time. The setting sun shone in from the west window, and he stared at the beam of light in a daze. Countless dust particles were tumbling in the beam of light, and thousands of threads were clinging to his mind. Once that possible idea took root, it grew wildly like a vine, squeezing his internal organs and making them feel very uncomfortable.
I hope so, but I also hope not.
I hope it was her, at least it means she cared about him in her heart.
But I'm also afraid that it's her, afraid that what I can't get now was once within my reach.
The few letters he had exchanged with her were kept in a box. If they were from her, he could just take them out and compare the handwriting to confirm.
But Wang Shuhuai was reluctant to take the first step.
If this ball was really carved by her, then she must have spent no less than a year on it.
A woman who works hard to please him just because of a look from him.
A woman who told him bluntly and expressionlessly that he was not in her heart.
It's hard to describe this feeling.
It was as if she once cared about him, and he felt a little happy, but also regretful for missing her.
The signature of the letter was engraved in my heart, one was in regular script and the other was in official script. Although the fonts were different, the same word written by the same person could still be traced. When I compared them in my mind, I knew it was engraved by her.
"Someone come."
Lengshan asked from outside the window, "What's the matter, sir?"
Wang Shuhuai's eyebrows drooped slightly, and his tone was vague, "Go check which Duobao Pavilion the Third Master bought this ghost ball from."
Lengshan glanced at the ghost ball in his arms and immediately dodged away.
The spring chill had not yet subsided, and he stood from dawn to dusk, his empty body wrapped in a crimson official uniform. He stood numbly in the night, holding a heavy ball in his hand, feeling empty inside.
In fact, there is no need to check, just take it and ask her directly.
But she wasn't necessarily telling the truth.
While Lengshan went to check Duobao Pavilion, Wang Shuhuai called Minggui and asked him to ask Chunqi to help tidy up the bookshelves in the study under the pretext of spraining his waist. After a little probing, Chunqi secretly revealed her true intention, and Wang Shuhuai was once again convinced that it was her painstaking work.
Half an hour later, Lengshan came back and told him that it was confirmed that the ball came from Duobaozhai and was a consignment from someone.
It is obvious who this person is.
"When did you put it out for consignment?"
Fir replied, "March 16th last year."
It was March 15th again. All the misfortunes started from that day. From that day on, she became indifferent to him and didn't care about him...
Wang Shuhuai let out a deep breath.
He waved everyone away, held the ghost ball in his arms again, and sat behind the desk alone.
If he guessed correctly, this should be the birthday gift she prepared for him.
Such delicate carvings, incomparably complex patterns... Just thinking about the effort she put in, Wang Shuhuai felt a suffocating pain in his heart. He didn't know how many days and nights she had endured, and how many times she had hurt her eyes.
How could she bear to sell such a valuable gift?
It didn't matter if she sold it, at least when she carved it, she had looked forward to living in harmony with him.
That's enough.
Xie Yunchu went to bed early that night. Knowing that her birthday was approaching, Linglongxiu sent her a newly made brocade robe. It was made of Suzhou embroidery made of mulberry silk and embroidered with colorful phoenixes with cloud patterns on a bright red background. She tried it on and found it fit her very well. It was just right for her to wear on the birthday party.
She woke up hungry in the middle of the night as usual. She opened her eyes vaguely and found a small glass lamp burning on the high table in front of her. She remembered that she turned off the light before going to bed. Who came in? She glanced over and saw a tall figure coming from behind the screen. His long shadow was cast on the bed curtain, almost covering her.
The next moment, the man stepped onto the bed and handed a glass of water to her lips.
"Are you thirsty?"
A handsome and elegant face emerged from the night, but in those warm and peaceful eyes there were undercurrents that she could not understand.
Xie Yunchu was a little surprised to see Wang Shuhuai.
Since the night he confessed to him in the villa, Wang Shuhuai never came to the backyard again.
They resumed their busy lives. Xie Yunchu thought this was good. This was the life she wanted. Putting aside the fact that there was no love between them, Wang Shuhuai was the best man in the capital. He made great achievements and earned wealth and honor for her. She took care of the two children and earned some property at the same time, making up for the days she didn't enjoy in her previous life.
She didn't want to pour her feelings into him anymore, nor did she think about repairing the relationship with him. She didn't want to get stuck in it again. Treating each other with respect was her best choice and the best explanation to herself in her past life.
But now, Wang Shuhuai suddenly appeared in front of her, and came to her bed in the middle of the night, helping her serve tea and water. Her intuition told her that something was wrong.
Xie Yunchu propped himself up on the bed and half sat up, looking at him with clear eyes.
"Why is the Second Master here?"
Wang Shuhuai's lips slightly curled up, and he handed the teacup to her lips again, his eyes deep and peaceful, "Drink some water first, I have something to tell you."
His eyes inadvertently swept across her chest. The slightly open collar revealed a large area of snow-white hair. Her black hair was haphazardly rolled into a bun, with some strands of hair hanging at her ears and temples, adding a bit of messy beauty to her bright outline.
Xie Yunchu took the teacup, took a sip, then handed it back to him, and waited for his next words.
Wang Shuhuai gently lifted the curtain a little, and Xie Yunchu saw the devil's ball next to the high table. His expression paused, and he suddenly understood his purpose, and a cold look appeared in his eyes.
Wang Shuhuai stared at her eyes quietly. She was of course very beautiful, with fair and tender skin and clear and bright almond-shaped eyes. However, because of her cold gaze, the beauty mole at the end of her eyebrow also took on a somewhat cold look.
"The ghost ball was carved by you, right?"
Xie Yunchu had not expected that after a year, Wang Shuhuai suddenly discovered this secret. She looked away from the ghost ball, her expression still unchanged.
"What does the Second Master want to say?"
"Is this a birthday present for me?" He looked at her with clear eyes, his handsome face no longer as cold and indifferent as before.
Xie Yunchu was stunned for a moment, and some memories that she didn't want to recall were brought back to her mind. She said indifferently, "Second Master, if you have something to say, just say it directly."
The house was exceptionally quiet in the middle of the night, and the slightest movement was made very obvious.
Wang Shuhuai's Adam's apple rolled slightly, and there were too many emotions intertwined in his heart. For a moment, he didn't know where to start.
“Why sell it?”
Xie Yunchu found it funny when she heard it, "I gave it to the Second Master as a birthday gift, but he might as well take it seriously. I'm short of money, so I might as well sell it." She curled her almond eyes slightly, and smiled slyly like a little fox, but the smile did not reach her eyes.
Wang Shuhuai saw it, but it felt like an icy thorn piercing his heart.
"Why are you so sure I won't care?" He was a little annoyed.
Xie Yunchu smiled and replied, "Second Master and I have been married for more than two years. May I ask you, is there anything I have done that you have taken to heart?"
Wang Shuhuai's throat was slightly blocked. "It's not that I don't care about it, I just..."
"You're just too busy," Xie Yunchu interrupted him with a smile, "There are more important things waiting for you to plan... You don't have time to worry about these trivial matters."
Wang Shuhuai had nothing to say.
That's true.
He always felt that she would always follow him, so he was not in a hurry.
But when he turned around, she was gone.
Xie Yunchu looked at him calmly, looking at this handsome and noble man who had once made her extremely obsessed.
"Second Master, I don't blame you. It's all in the past. You worked so hard to support the Wang family and gave so much to this family. I saw it all. I know it all. But I didn't understand it in the past. I always focused on you and lost myself. Now I have my own career. We each do our own job... It's all good."
Xie Yunchu's words were watertight, but Wang Shuhuai felt choked up inside, as if a ball of cotton was stuffed in his chest, slowly expanding. The dim yellow light cast a shadow on the corner of Leng Jun's eyes, making his scarlet eyes look even gloomier.
He never imagined that the virtue and generosity that he had praised in the past would become a sword piercing his heart. Every boundary drawn in the past would become an insurmountable chasm before him.
He didn't know how to convince her, and he wasn't used to saying sweet words to coax people.
There was only one thought that came out of my mind.
"Yun Chu, can we start over again?"
Xie Yunchu's face was wooden, and countless vivid memories of the past seemed to flash through her mind, but they were all lightly erased in an instant. In the quiet night, she raised her soft voice,
"Why bother? Isn't everything good now? You have your grand cause, and I have my little world. Can't we each do our part?"
"Or can you accept that even when you give your heart to your wife, she will never have you in her heart?"
There is a kind of pain, fine and sharp, that suddenly penetrates into the heart and takes time to spread.
He couldn't accept it.
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