Chapter 62 Cosmic Latte (14) Xia Xia, why are you crying...
"Who the fuck are you?"
Faced with the sudden appearance of a stranger, Chen Yan was furious. He stepped forward and grabbed He Chuan's collar, pushing and shoving him. However, He Chuan did not fight back, but just calmly let him go crazy.
"Chen Yan, let go!"
Lin Xia wanted to step forward to separate the two, but He Chuan blocked her with one hand behind her. She was so anxious that she broke out in a sweat.
Suddenly, there was a snapping sound, and the watch on He Chuan's wrist flew out and fell to the ground beside him.
He Chuan stopped arguing with Chen Yan and pushed him away. He walked over and picked up the watch. He briefly checked it, raised his hand to push up his glasses, and said slowly:
"This is a 2017 Swiss-made 18K gold Rolex Daytona. The strap is broken, the case is scratched, the hands have stopped, and the internal movement is visually damaged. The estimated repair cost is around 50,000 yuan. You attacked me first, and I didn't fight back. This isn't considered a physical assault. The minimum charge for intentional damage of property is 5,000 yuan, with a minimum prison sentence of up to three years. If you go to the police station, I don't want compensation or reconciliation. Even if it's just a 15-day administrative penalty, I'll send you to jail."
He casually pointed to the camera hanging on the Christmas tree nearby:
"The surveillance footage captured everything, and the entire process is crystal clear. I really appreciate that in China."
Chen Yan was dismissive at first, but as He Chuan finished his words, his face gradually turned pale. Compensating for a watch was a small matter for him, but going to jail for it was definitely not worth it.
"What do you want?" he asked through gritted teeth.
He Chuan spoke word by word: "Apologize to her."
Chen Yan looked at Lin Xia, then at He Chuan. Although he was unwilling, he was in the wrong and had no choice but to swallow his anger and walk to Lin Xia, whispering:
"I'm sorry, Lin Xia. I was drunk just now. Don't take what I said to heart."
Lin Xia had a cold face and didn't say a word.
"Is this all right?"
Chen Yan yelled at He Chuan impatiently, turned around and was about to leave, but was stopped by He Chuan again.
"If you want to find a lawyer, I'm always here for you. Remember, don't harass her again. I'm in Owen on the 19th floor. I'll keep an eye on you."
Chen Yan turned his head and saw that He Chuan's face was so cold that there was no expression at all. His frameless lenses reflected the dim light under the Christmas lights. He couldn't help but shudder. Without saying a word, he didn't even dare to go back to the dinner party and left the restaurant directly.
Lin Xia hurried forward and asked He Chuan:
"Are you hurt? Did he hit you?"
"I'm fine. It's his luck that he didn't hit me, otherwise I wouldn't let him go so easily." He Chuan said lightly.
Lin Xia took the watch from his hand and saw that it was indeed severely damaged. Fifty thousand yuan might not be enough. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him: "He should pay for it."
"Actually, this watch was broken a long time ago. I dropped it while skiing at the beginning of the year, and I never got around to getting it repaired. This morning, I was in a hurry to go out and put it on by mistake. If I had taken it for appraisal, it would have been exposed."
He Chuan smiled, put the watch on his wrist, and gestured to Lin Xia to show the unfastened watch strap.
No wonder it flew out so easily just now.
"So you were just trying to scare him," Lin Xia couldn't help but laugh. "You lawyers are so cunning!"
"No way, it's a job requirement."
This back-and-forth conversation was completely subconscious, revealing each other's truest emotions. The atmosphere was so relaxed that it seemed as if they had returned to a long, long time ago.
Lin Xia wanted to thank him for what happened just now and also wanted to apologize. It was all because of her that she troubled him, but before she could open her mouth, He Chuan had already reached out and touched her head, and said softly:
"Xia Xia, don't be afraid. If he comes to you again, just tell me and I'll help you solve it."
I'll solve it for you, I'll stand up for you, just like I would do to a child.
No one has protected her like this in these years.
In an instant, a complex bitter feeling welled up in Lin Xia's heart. She was reluctant to refuse, but she shouldn't agree. She only responded muffledly and said softly:
"Sit down."
This place is quite remote, and everyone is so absorbed in the game on the stage that no one noticed the commotion that just happened here.
He Chuan called the waiter to clean up the water stains on the table and floor, and the two sat down face to face.
"Did your old friend or classmate ask you to come?" Lin Xia asked.
He Chuan was a little embarrassed: "Sorry, I happened to be nearby."
Lin Xia shook her head. Tan Zhizhou said frankly that he was on He Chuan's side, so what could she do to him?
"How much did you hear just now?"
"I heard some." He Chuan paused and smiled sarcastically, "He doesn't understand you."
Yes, not even a little bit.
Gentle and well-behaved, these qualities that are said to be favored by some boys and can be easily manipulated by others, do not apply to her. She only looks obedient, but in fact she is the most stubborn and opinionated in her bones.
Everyone has a fire in their heart, but passers-by can only see smoke. Why bother to explain and argue with them heart-wrenchingly?
"unimportant."
Lin Xia changed the subject:
"You don't have a Christmas dinner?"
"No, we had three days off."
"I forgot you're a foreign company." Lin Xia sighed, "Our overseas team should also have a holiday."
"This is my first time celebrating Christmas in Shenzhen. Wearing a single layer of short-sleeved shirt, I feel like it's missing some of the atmosphere."
"Yeah, it should snow on Christmas. Even the pine trees here are fake."
The two of them turned their eyes to the Christmas tree beside them. The pine trees that were seen everywhere in the Northeast have become rare here. They can only be replaced by plastic fake trees. There is also fake snow made of foam under the fake trees, which looks very awkward.
He Chuan said: "When I was in Hong Kong before, it was very difficult not to see snow in the winter."
Northerners always have a kind of obsession in their bones. The dividing line between the new year and the old year is not New Year's Day or the Spring Festival, but snow. If there is no snow, it seems that the year has not ended.
Lin Xia reminisced briefly, "I remember it was one year, 2006 or 2007, probably 2007. I was in the fourth grade of junior high school. The school was doing make-up classes to prepare for the high school entrance exam, so they delayed the winter break. I kept waiting, but instead of a break, the temperature rose. The snow melted and it started to rain. I was devastated. How could winter be over, and we still hadn't had our winter break yet?"
"I remember that time, too," He Chuan said with a smile. "We were in our third year of high school that year, and we were taking extra classes. The temperature dropped again the next day after it warmed up. There was a big slope on the road from the teaching building to the outdoor toilet, and the snow and rain froze into ice. Everyone fell as they passed by."
"I'm most afraid of that place! It gets extremely slippery in the winter. I always have to walk very carefully on the side, afraid of falling. I've been late for class several times because of this, and I've been criticized by the teacher."
When talking about the past, they smiled knowingly.
Perhaps because of the incident just now, the atmosphere between the two people tonight is different from before, and they seem less distant.
"Where were you on Sunday?"
"I went to Hong Kong with a friend," Lin Xia said without hiding anything. "I left a letter for you."
In fact, He Chuan didn't receive the note in time. He waited for her downstairs of the apartment building all day on the 22nd, and only received the note when he went to the law firm on Monday. But he didn't tell her that compared to the days she had waited for him, this was nothing.
"Did you have fun?" he simply asked.
"It's okay. I just suddenly felt that some people and things may never go back to the way they were before."
"Really..."
He Chuan said slowly: "But there are always exceptions to everything. My job has always been to find exceptions within the scope allowed by the rules."
Lin Xia couldn't help but hold her breath and her heart skipped a beat when she heard that.
This was the first time since their reunion that he had spoken with such obvious implications. Before tonight, they had been testing each other, on guard, unwilling to retreat, yet neither dared to take the first step. It was like a game of poker: the banker and player had been trading blows for so long, and perhaps it was finally time to reveal their cards.
At this time, everyone was playing the King game enthusiastically on the stage in the restaurant. All the customers dining in tonight were given a number sticker when they entered the door, which was stuck on their clothes. One after another, people came on stage to take turns to be the king, randomly calling out one or two numbers, and then drawing tasks from the lottery box and assigning them to each other. They were all related to Christmas, such as giving each other gifts, singing Christmas songs, eating gingerbread men, etc.
The numbers called this time were 23 and 39, and the task they drew was "Kiss under the mistletoe."
This is also a Christmas tradition. Number 39 is a young man. He walked up to the stage with ease and took the microphone from Amy's hand and said, "I hope Number 23 is a beautiful woman."
The people in the audience couldn't help but cheer and look for No. 23. No matter whether the other person was a man or a woman, they would have a good show to watch.
The crowd's laughter was so loud that it could be heard in every corner. Lin Xia suddenly remembered something and looked down. She found that she was number 23.
"I--"
Before she could finish her words, He Chuan, who was sitting opposite her, suddenly stood up, grabbed Lin Xia's arm, and pulled her over without saying a word.
The two of them came to the corner behind the Christmas tree, outside the surveillance camera, where no one could see them. He Chuan reached out and held Lin Xia's cheeks, and a passionate kiss fell on her lips without hesitation.
In an instant, Lin Xia felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck her heart. Her blood rushed, and wherever it passed, it became hot. She couldn't help but tremble all over, and her hands and feet became weak. If He Chuan hadn't held her tightly in his arms, she would have collapsed long ago.
This was their first kiss after eight years of separation and reunion. It felt so strange and yet so familiar.
The gentle entanglement between her lips and teeth, and the smell of her breath so close to her, made her unable to have the slightest consciousness of resistance, and she just endured it obediently.
Her obedience almost drove He Chuan crazy. He was immersed in this kiss that he had not seen for a long time, until he tasted the salty wetness.
When I opened my eyes, I saw the person in front of me was crying.
"Why are you crying?"
He reached out to wipe away her tears, and gently placed his forehead against hers. He asked in a hoarse voice, his voice still agitated,
"Xia Xia, why are you crying?"
Lin Xia bit her lips and did not answer.
Because, at that moment just now, when their skin touched, she suddenly realized that she still loved him.
Interactions between adult men and women are always a game of strategy. She believed that while she couldn't handle it perfectly, she could still maintain a calm and composed appearance. She wasn't completely victorious in the back-and-forth exchanges, but she wasn't losing either. At least, she managed to keep her composure. However, it wasn't until this moment that she realized there was no need to reveal any cards; she had been losing miserably from the start.
When she clearly understood that things had changed and people had changed, and nothing could go back to the past, and she decided to say goodbye to him completely, she suddenly realized that all her entanglements, all her pain, and all her sadness during this period were actually just because of one thing - it turned out that she had been waiting for him all these years, she had not forgotten him, and she still loved him.
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