Chapter 85
Everyone was saddened by Chen Yan's passing, but in order to help Xiang Wan recover as quickly as possible, everyone who knew the truth kept silent about Chen Yan's name.
The name is almost a forbidden word.
With the help of those around him, Xiang Wan returned to her initial peace three months after that person's death.
Life seems to be proving in practice that no matter who is gone, life will continue as usual.
To her friends and family, Xiang Wan had returned to normal, but only she knew that she needed sleeping pills to fall asleep every night.
*
Inside the villa, Xiang Wan came downstairs and sat quietly at the dining table, watching Wang Yidong bring out the breakfast, but her eyes glanced at the empty seat on her left.
That seat belongs to Chen Yan, but it's not actually reserved for him. Xia Yueshen sometimes sits there when she eats at home.
But since his death, that position has been vacant without anyone knowing.
Wang Yidong was peeling shrimp for her. Even though Xiang Wan had told her many times that she didn't need to peel shrimp for her, she still habitually peeled shrimp for her first.
Xiang Wan picked up a peeled shrimp, but her chopsticks paused for a moment as memories of the past suddenly struck her.
It was only a few days after ten-year-old Chen Yan came to Bei Yi. At that time, he was still wearing the princess dress that she had prepared for him. The little boy sat at the dining table and saw Wang Yidong peeling shrimp for him, so he also peeled a bowl of shrimp for her.
Although her tone wasn't exactly soft, the fawning look in her eyes was clearly visible.
"Sister, have some shrimp."
When she met those phoenix eyes from her memory, Xiang Wan's chopsticks trembled involuntarily, and the peeled shrimp fell onto the table.
Wang Yidong looked at her: "What's wrong?"
Xiang Wan lowered her eyelashes, but when she looked up, she regained her composure: "It's nothing."
Xia Yueshen noticed Wang Yidong's meaningful look and said to Xiang Wan, "Xiang Shuhan, it's time for your physical exam. Let's go to the hospital later."
Xiang Wan's expression was indifferent: "Isn't it necessary to fast?"
"No need, I'll get an ultrasound done today."
"good."
By the time the two returned from the hospital, it was already evening.
Xia Yueshen stayed at the hospital because she still had some work to do, so only Xiang Wan came back.
The car pulled into the villa, and the driver, Uncle Zhang, got out and opened the car door for her from her side: "Miss, we've arrived."
"Okay." Xiang Wan was a little asleep, but was still a bit dazed after being woken up by Uncle Zhang.
It wasn't until she saw the roses in the yard that her eyes gradually regained their clarity.
When Xiang Wan walked into the hall, she looked at Che Nanbei and Shen Feiyang sitting on the sofa and smiled slightly.
"Why are you here?"
"Xiang Wanwan—"
"Wanwan—"
The two hugged her one after the other, and the three of them sat on the sofa, as if they had returned to their junior high school days, when they whispered secrets to each other.
Time flies, and a year has passed since they graduated. Che Nanbei and Jiang Zhuochun are about to get married.
Looking at the smile on her friend's face, Xiang Wan felt a moment of daze again.
She didn't know if it was because that person had disappeared, but throughout the year she would often feel dazed and have hallucinations, as if everything was a dream, and when she woke up, that person would look at her with a smile.
"Wanwan—"
It wasn't until Shen Feiyang called her several times that Xiang Wan snapped out of her daze and looked at the two of them: "Sorry, I was a little distracted just now. What did you two talk about?"
Because she looked no different than before, neither of them noticed anything amiss.
Shen Feiyang took her hand and repeated, "Next month is Che Nanbei and Jiang Zhuochun's wedding, and they've invited us to be their bridesmaids."
Xiang Wan instinctively wanted to refuse, but looking at Che Nanbei's puppy-dog-like pleading eyes, she still couldn't refuse: "...Okay."
"Oh yeah-"
Seeing how happy the two of them were, she chuckled softly.
On the day of the rehearsal, Xiang Wan, dressed as a bridesmaid, couldn't help but smile as she watched her two friends perform on stage.
Zhou Chengze, who was standing to the side, looked at her, holding a milk tea in one hand and a water bottle in the other, and gestured for her to choose one: "Long time no see, why did you cut your hair short?"
Xiang Wan turned to him and took the milk tea from his hand: "Didn't we meet in the coffee shop on the second floor last week?"
"So you still remember. I thought you hadn't seen me."
The milk tea was still warm, and she sucked on the pearls with her first sip: "I see you."
On stage, Jiang Zhuochun and Che Nanbei were rehearsing their duet, while the two below chatted casually.
"Are you struggling to write your graduation thesis while doing your internship?"
"It's okay, it's just that time is a bit tight, but I'll be graduating soon."
Xiang Wan nodded and didn't say anything more.
Zhou Chengze started interning at Xiang's Group in his first year of university, and it was a sure thing that he would be hired full-time after graduation. Although she didn't pull any strings for him, she occasionally asked Secretary Huang about his work performance.
I heard that the deputy director of the publicity department likes him very much and plans to develop him into the successor of the publicity department.
After the rehearsal ended, Xiang Wan did not return to the villa, but instead drove her sports car to the beach in Beiyi.
Just then, the tide went out, and she took off her shoes and socks and stood on the wet sand, letting the seawater wash over her ankles.
It was getting late; the sun had set several hours earlier, and the sky was so dark that the boundary between the waves and the beach was barely visible.
Xiang Wan gazed at the azure sea and lingered on the beach for a long time, enjoying the sea breeze, until Wang Yidong called her to ask when she would be back. Only then did she smile and say that she had come out to see the sea.
I'll be back in an hour.
The two people on the other end of the line breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, gestured for her to drive carefully, and then hung up the phone.
After hanging up the phone, Xia Yueshen looked at Wang Yidong: "She didn't answer the phone just now, which scared me to death. I thought it was Shu Han..."
Before he could finish speaking, Wang Yidong interrupted him, the usually gentle and good-tempered man suddenly turning stern: "Don't say such unlucky things."
"I understand, but it's been more than half a year since then, so it should be fine by now."
"..."
Meanwhile, on the other side, Xiang Wan, whom they were talking about, was standing on the beach, looking at the calm sea, her eyes filled with an indescribable sense of repression...
It was like the calm before a tsunami.
*
A few days later, the wedding of the Che and Jiang families took place.
As bridesmaids, Xiang Wan and Shen Feiyang arrived at the Che family's ancestral home a day early.
The day before the wedding, the three of them slept together and were still whispering to each other until midnight.
The three of them were still dazed when they were woken up at five o'clock the next morning.
The makeup artist's brush swept across Che Nanbei's face, but she seemed a little unaware of whether she was oblivious or still half asleep: "Wanwan, Youning, am I getting married?"
Youning is Shen Feiyang's nickname. Hearing Che Nanbei's question, not only Shen Feiyang and Xiang Wan, but even the makeup artist couldn't help but chuckle.
"Miss Che, you're the bride today."
"Really?" Che Nanbei was so sleepy he could barely keep his eyes open. "I thought I was dreaming."
Xiang Wan chuckled, while Shen Feiyang forwarded her two sentences to the group chat.
Within two seconds, there was a reply in the group chat, a voice message from Jiang Zhuochun: "Che Nanbei, you won't regret marrying me."
As soon as Shen Feiyang finished playing the public address, Che Nanbei was instantly wide awake and sent him a voice message with his hands on his hips.
"Jiang Gou, why don't you let Youning and Wanwan judge who got the better deal!"
She waited a while with her phone in hand, and soon received his reply: "Yes, yes, yes, I'm the one who got the better deal by marrying Miss Che."
At the end of the voice message, there was his hearty laughter, mixed with the joking laughter of his two groomsmen.
Jiang Zhuochun's two best men were a childhood friend from their circle who also knew Xiang Wan and the others, and Zhou Chengze.
Che Nanbei smiled with satisfaction when he heard Jiang Zhuochun back down.
Seeing the young couple bickering on their wedding day, the makeup artist and the other two couldn't help but chuckle.
Shen Feiyang whispered to Xiang Wan, "They're finally getting married. I'm so tired of being the mediator every time they argue."
Xiang Wan looked at her, her gaze straight ahead, and said, "They probably won't be able to settle down after they get married. Your role as mediator has a long way to go."
"..."
The two were only joking at first, but little did they know that their words would later become a self-fulfilling prophecy. However, that's a story for another time...
After the bride-fetching ceremony, the formal wedding will begin.
Against the backdrop of the hotel's luxurious setting, Che Nanbei walked down the red carpet arm in arm with her father, who then handed her hand to Jiang Zhuochun.
But unlike the rehearsals of the previous two days, on the wedding day, both of them burst into tears, and even the songs they sang had a faint nasal tone.
Although it was somewhat different from what was expected, the audience below were all smiling with blessings, and even the tears that the two lost control of seemed just right.
When the wedding ended in the evening, Xiang Wan did not participate in the wedding night pranks, but went straight back to the villa. She had drunk quite a bit of alcohol, so she was unsteady on her feet.
Instead of returning to her bedroom immediately, Xiang Shuhan went to the fenced-off backyard alone.
As soon as she stepped outside the fence, she saw the goose, just like her, living a muddled and aimless life.
When Green Fur sees someone coming, it will raise its head, stare at the other person with its two small, bean-sized eyes, and bark twice to remind the other person that this is its territory.
But now that it sees her coming, it doesn't even raise its head, just lies on the grass staring blankly into the distance.
Xiang Wan approached it, and it slowly raised its eyes. When it saw that it was Xiang Wan, it rubbed its neck against her trouser leg, but other than that, it did not react at all.
Seeing the green fur being affectionate towards her, Xiang Wan sat down on the grass next to it and stroked its feathers.
"Green Hair, can you smell the alcohol on me?"
As if in response, the green-haired boy nuzzled her hand with his neck.
Xiang Wan casually stroked its feathers, looking into the green fur's eyes, her memory returning to that day three months ago.
That day seemed to be the seventh day after Chen Yan's death.
She stayed in the apartment for a whole week and didn't see anyone during that time.
It wasn't until Wang Yidong knocked on the door, crying, that the dying animal was placed at her doorstep.
"Green Fur has been on a hunger strike for several days, and the vet said it would die if it didn't eat... But since Chen Yan passed away, it has been on a hunger strike and won't eat anything..."
Xiang Wan lay in bed for several days, during which she only ate a small amount of rice porridge. When she saw the equally dying Green Hair, her heart, which had hardened for many days, suddenly softened again.
Green Fur usually barks whenever it sees her, but that day was magical. Not only did it not bark, it struggled over and rubbed against her neck.
When the man and the goose saw each other, Green Fur seemed to realize in a daze that its master was dead, and Xiang Wan also realized that this was not a dream, and Chen Yan was really dead.
Neither she nor it shed a tear, but after that day, Xiang Wan moved back to the villa from the apartment next to the school.
From that day forward, the person who visited Green Hair every single day without fail, changed from the deceased Chen Yan to the living her.
Xiang Wan looked at the green fur's somewhat dirty and messy feathers, took out a handkerchief from her bosom, and carefully wiped it clean.
After he passed away, Green Fur stopped grooming its feathers and Xiang Wan was the one who wiped them for it.
As she groomed its feathers, she muttered to herself, "Green Fur, it seems like you're the only person in this house I can mention Chen Yan's name to."
“I know they’re afraid of hurting my feelings, so they never mention your master’s name…”
"But the more they act like this, the more I think about him..."
The goose couldn't possibly understand human troubles, but it seemed to sense her sadness and nuzzled her hand with its neck.
Xiang Wan looked down at Green Hair, who was becoming less active due to old age, and her mood became even more depressed.
After feeding the green hairy cat, she returned to the living room as if nothing had happened. Looking at the sticky note on the refrigerator, she remembered that Wang Yidong and Xia Yueshen had gone to Sam's Club to shop.
She returned to her bedroom on the second floor, sat on the dressing table, and looked at herself in the mirror, her expression becoming somewhat dazed again.
*
Ordinary days passed by one by one, until the anniversary of that person's death...
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