Chapter 56 Quiet Environment
Liao Feng met Xia Qu again at a glittering palace dinner.
The halo of the crystal chandelier poured down like broken gold. Among the elegant clothes and beautiful figures, he saw the small white figure at a glance. The five-year-old Xia Qu was wearing an exquisite white gauze dress. She was like a frightened deer, timidly clutching the corner of the man's clothes beside her.
That was her biological father, who was chatting and laughing with others at the moment, and seemed not to notice his daughter's awkwardness and uneasiness.
Liao Feng's eyes were focused on the small figure, and his steps stopped unconsciously.
Over the years, the child had changed dramatically, but the vague outline between his eyebrows still instantly touched the softest corner of his heart.
Xia Qu seemed to feel the focused gaze, and lowered her head timidly, hiding half of her face, and did not recognize him.
Liao Feng felt a little bitter in his heart. He turned around and took a piece of exquisite cake decorated with fresh blueberries from the waiter's tray. He remembered that this was her favorite cake.
He approached slowly, and when the father was engrossed in chatting with someone and had no time to pay attention to anything else, Liao Feng squatted down, trying to keep his eye level with Xia Qu, and restrained his aura completely, remaining as gentle as possible.
"Qu'er," he spoke softly, his voice so soft that he himself didn't even notice, "This cake looks delicious, would you like to try it?" He handed the exquisite little plate forward.
The sudden appearance of the strange man made Xia Qu shrink back subconsciously. However, the tempting aroma of the dessert and the non-aggressive kindness in the man's eyes made her shrink back.
The temptation of the cake made her tense little body relax a little, and she overcame her timidity. She stretched out her little hand, took it carefully, lowered her head and took a small bite.
The sweet cream and the refreshing aroma of blueberries immediately melted on my tongue. In that instant, this incredibly familiar taste seemed to touch a dusty corner deep in my memory.
A distant, vague name popped into her mind without warning, "Dad"... She seemed to... have called the person in front of her that before?
But that feeling was too vague and so old that it seemed unreal, just like the stories from last century that the teacher told in class.
She raised her head, her clear big eyes filled with confusion and a hint of imperceptible exploration, and she looked straight into Liao Feng's gentle eyes.
"Qu'er, are you doing well? Are they treating you well?" Liao Feng reached out and gently rubbed her head. He wanted to hug her, but was afraid of scaring the child.
Xia Qu couldn't understand the complex emotions in his eyes. She didn't want to tell others about her family's affairs, but for some reason, this uncle made her feel inexplicably close to him.
"Mom and Dad don't like me," she whispered, half crying, "The other kids in kindergarten all said I was an illegitimate child. I told my parents, but they didn't care."
Liao Feng felt as if something was gripping his heart. He suppressed his anger and cast a cold glance at the man who was still chatting and laughing. He had made a note of this.
Liao Feng was incredibly proactive. The next day, Xia Qu's biological father, Peng Hanxue, received a court summons. When the court hearing resumed, Liao Feng made thorough preparations and won custody with overwhelming evidence.
He will never lose this lawsuit miserably like he did in the past because of the intervention of the previous head of state.
After winning the case, Liao Feng felt a little uneasy. He still remembered Xia Qu, but Xia Qu was only two years old when he left him. Could he really remember this father?
At the same time, Ruan Xingfeng also learned the news. He wanted to come and see Xia Qu, but he had no suitable identity or reason.
In Liao Feng's villa, the afternoon sun shines into the living room through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Liao Feng squatted on the ground and patiently fed the little girl sitting on the sofa one mouthful at a time. Xia Qu was wearing a pretty little dress. When she first came here, she was a little scared.
She didn't know what happened, she only knew that she left her original home, and this uncle said he was her father.
Xia Qu was half-believing and half-doubting, but he did not feel any defense against this uncle in his heart.
Xia Qu felt an unprecedented love from Liao Feng, who did seemingly insignificant things like sending her to school and picking her up every day.
But it was the warmth that Xia Qu had never received from her biological parents. She remembered that when she cried and didn't want to go to school, her mother would beat her and her father would forcibly abandon her at the kindergarten gate.
But Liao Feng would not do that. He would squat down, look her in the eye, and carefully ask her why she didn't want to go, and then find out the reason.
He would comfort her gently, and sometimes even accompany her to the kindergarten, quietly watching her at the back door and giving her a reassuring look.
Liao Feng and Ruan Xingfeng met unexpectedly at a business dinner.
Ruan Xingfeng came over and looked at Liao Feng with a complicated expression, wanting to say something but stopping himself. Liao Feng naturally understood what he was thinking.
"If you want to see her, come over. I won't say anything." Liao Feng took the initiative to speak, breaking the silence between the two.
Ruan Xingfeng looked up in disbelief. He had obviously not expected Liao Feng to be so magnanimous. But looking at Liao Feng's serious expression, he knew it wasn't a joke. Liao Feng was never one to joke.
A few days later, Ruan Xingfeng stepped into Liao Feng's villa again. The style inside had not changed, and it was still the same as he remembered. He was in a trance for a moment and then his eyes were attracted by Xia Qu who was playing a puzzle in the living room.
Xia Qu felt his gaze and looked up at him. Ruan Xingfeng came to his senses and walked over to sit beside her, silently picking up the small pieces to help Xia Qu. Liao Feng also changed his shoes and walked over to join them.
The three of them sat together doing puzzles, which was warmer than the sunshine outside. The afternoon was the most sleepy time of the day, and Xia Qu was so tired from playing that he nodded his little head.
Seeing her like this, Ruan Xingfeng felt soft-hearted and carried her upstairs. He still remembered that the second bedroom on the left was Xia Qu's room. Liao Feng looked at his back and then began to tidy up the toys in the living room.
After cleaning up, he was a little tired, so he lay down on the sofa and fell asleep, and unknowingly turned back into his animal form. When Ruan Xingfeng went downstairs, he was frightened at first, but he quickly realized that compared with other wild animals, Liao Feng was really too gentle, especially when he went to the carnivore's place alone, and a large number of carnivores were staring at him hungrily.
In their eyes, he was the most delicious food. He heard voices of ridicule and disdain, but he didn't care about anything and negotiated with the president of the Carnivore Association.
He also remembered the smell of a beast on the other person when he was angry. He looked calm on the surface, but in fact his heart was pounding and his legs were weak. He almost fainted when he left the place. At that time, he felt that the look in Liao Feng's eyes when he looked at him was too harmonious and gentle.
Now he was lying there without any defense. His lion ears looked furry and the scar on his eye was very obvious. The scar did not exist when Liao Feng was in human form, but it could be seen when he returned to the beast form.
He squatted down and carefully put his hand on Liao Feng's face. The other party should have felt his presence. After all, Liao Feng was a carnivore with a strong sense of territory. He was pretending to sleep now because he didn't want to embarrass him, or because he felt a little reluctant to leave him.
In order to verify this, Ruan Xingfeng moved closer to Liao Feng's face and wanted to kiss him. At that moment, Liao Feng returned to human form, opened his eyes and looked at him. The moment their eyes met, Ruan Xingfeng's face turned red instantly, while Liao Feng did not react and just looked at him indifferently.
"What are you doing? I asked you to come here to see Qu'er, not to behave like a gangster to me." Liao Feng didn't make any movement, and his tone was calm. He spoke calmly those words that stirred up huge waves in Ruan Xingfeng's heart.
"Liao Feng, are we going to stay like this forever?" The blush on Ruan Xingfeng's face quickly faded when he heard his words. He stood up and sat on the sofa opposite and asked with his head down. Liao Feng sat up and habitually took out the cigarette box from his pocket, but did not light the cigarette. He didn't want to smoke at home, fearing that Xia Qu would feel uncomfortable if he smelled it.
But now his mind was also in a mess. He put the cigarette box back into his pocket and said, "What should we do? What do you want to do? What happened to us? Our relationship ended the moment the wedding was ruined."
He spoke without hesitation, his words decisively, as if this was the only conclusion reached after countless rational analyses. However, feelings never followed logical calculations; love itself was an uncontrollable accident. When love reached its deepest point, how could rationality be considered?
Liao Feng's silence was like an invisible wall, separating the two of them. Ruan Xingfeng looked at his calm profile, feeling a surge of powerlessness in his heart.
"Liao Feng, I apologize for that incident." Ruan Xingfeng's voice was low. "I shouldn't have trusted others so easily and done those things. Besides... besides, I did my best to make amends later, didn't I? Regarding the matter of the Führer, and our joint efforts to deal with Liao Chen... What exactly are you still worried about?"
He couldn't understand why Liao Feng was so stubborn. In fact, even Liao Feng himself couldn't completely sort out the lingering grudge in his heart.
Liao Feng finally turned his head, his gaze resting calmly on Ruan Xingfeng's face. "Ruan Xingfeng, I'm already over 30 years old," his voice held the calmness of time. "Your words are too pale for me. Yes, you did make amends, and you did a great job. I understand you—wanting to achieve something, fighting for equality for herbivores, that's perfectly normal. I really don't blame you."
He paused, his tone revealing a hint of tired compromise: "So, let's just keep it like this, okay?"
Ruan Xingfeng stopped talking after hearing what he said. He didn't know what he should say. He had done what he should do. He didn't understand Liao Feng. It seemed that he had never understood Liao Feng.
Ruan Xingfeng finally left in embarrassment.
The moment the door closed, Liao Feng seemed to have lost all his strength and slowly closed his eyes. A tear silently slipped from the corner of his eye and quickly disappeared between his collars.
At this moment, he needed an absolutely quiet environment, and the most peaceful place he could think of was Li Mingxiao's place. I heard that he had just returned to China a few days ago.
Liao Feng grabbed his coat and went out.
The exterior of the Li family villa is still magnificent, and the interior is as luxurious as before, but it is too quiet at this moment. The sound of leather shoes stepping on the marble floor is amplified by the emptiness, as if every step is stepping on the heart.
There was a subtle noise upstairs, as if startled by the footsteps. A moment later, Li Mingxiao appeared at the stairwell in home clothes, his short hair a little messy. He didn't look like a man in his forties at all, and actually looked younger than Liao Feng.
"Why did you think of me?" He rubbed his temples, and before he could even look at Liao Feng's expression, he sat down on the sofa, crossed his legs, and sipped his tea. After waiting for a while without hearing a response, he raised his head.
When I saw this, I was stunned.
"What's going on?" Li Mingxiao put down his teacup, his voice softening. "The lion's ears are drooping. You're thirty years old, but you still look like a kid, like when you've been wronged."
He stood up and walked to Liao Feng, reaching out to ruffle his hair, his gesture full of care and concern as an elder. Seeing that Li Mingxiao was struggling to stand on tiptoe, Liao Feng lowered his head silently.
This considerate gesture actually made Li Mingxiao laugh. He grabbed Liao Feng's ear and said, "Good boy, you dare to disrespect me now? You even dare to look down on me for being short?"
Liao Feng grimaced in pain, but didn't dare to struggle. He sat back on the sofa in a sullen manner until Li Mingxiao let go.
Li Mingxiao sat down beside him and sighed softly: "Tell me, what's wronged you? You are still the same as when you were a child. When you are sad, your ears droop like an abandoned puppy." He tried to ease the atmosphere with teasing.
Liao Feng didn't take the joke, but asked in a low voice: "Are my exclusive pillow and massage chair still there?"
The three of them had been frequenting the Li family since they were ten years old, and had become part of the family. Liao Feng had always loved hugging something when he slept, and when he was feeling down, he'd lie down in a massage chair, hugging a pillow, and sobbing quietly.
Li Mingxiao still remembers all of this.
"Yes, yes..." Li Mingxiao deliberately dragged out his tone, "But what if I say Shao Xiuqi has used it?"
Before he finished speaking, Liao Feng suddenly stood up from the sofa, staring at him with red eyes: "What?! You gave my things to that stinky bear? What right did he have?"
Li Mingxiao shook his head helplessly. After all these years, he still couldn't get Liao Feng to change his nickname: "I've told you so many times, he's not a bear, he's a brown bear. Besides, what's wrong with my husband using things from home?"
In fact, Shao Xiuqi had never touched it. Ever since he knew that it was Liao Feng's exclusive thing, he had avoided it. Li Mingxiao said this purely to tease Liao Feng and help him divert his attention.
"Is my husband more important than my brother?" Liao Feng retorted dissatisfiedly, "Am I still your brother? He is just a bear, and everything he does is a bitch."
Li Mingxiao was too lazy to argue with him and waved his hand: "Let's go to the second floor. Everything is in its original place and no one has touched it."
Liao Feng instantly became happy, and he quickly went upstairs, skillfully lay down in the massage chair, and picked up the soft pillow.
He looked up at the ceiling and began to think about life - time always passed slowly when he was with Li Mingxiao, and all the pressure would disappear in that gentle tone.
After a while, a familiar aroma wafted from the kitchen - it was Liao Feng's favorite biscuits. When he was in junior high school, Liao Feng's school was very close to here.
Whenever she was in a bad mood, she would come over, and as long as Li Mingxiao's body allowed, she would bake cookies for him.
At that time, Liao Feng would always show his furry ears, sit on the ground, wipe his tears and eat.
Liao Feng is no longer as fond of crying as before, but the pain in his heart is deeper than before.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
