Chapter 54 Planned
"Why are you holding me?" Ling's mother looked at Ling's father who was sitting on the sofa, her fingertips still lingering on the down jacket she had just picked up. The sound of wind and snow outside the window came in through the half-open balcony door, bringing with it a slight chill.
She wanted to ask someone to heat up a pot of ginger tea, but her husband's sudden action made her stumble.
Father Ling smiled and patted the empty seat beside him, his eyes always fixed on the red plum tree outside the window.
Snowflakes rustled onto the crimson petals, wrapping the fiery vitality in a gentle veil. He reached out and grasped Ling's mother's wrist, the warmth of his palm seeping through the wool sweater. "Our son, we should have found him."
Ling's mother sat down, not even noticing her cashmere scarf slipping off her shoulders. Her face was filled with confusion. "Found it? What did you find?"
"The man who saved him back then." Ling's father retracted his gaze, tapping his knees lightly with his fingertips. Thinking of the two people he had just seen, the joy in Ling Shen's eyes, Su Nian's torn coat, and the mud on their bodies, he spoke with certainty.
Ling's mother suddenly jumped up from the sofa, her cashmere slippers making a light sound on the floor. She grabbed her husband's arm, her knuckles turning slightly white from the force: "Who is it? Where is he? If it wasn't that child back then..." The rest of the words choked in her throat.
"It's Su Nian." The soft words made Ling's mother open her eyes wide. She never thought that the two of them had such a fate.
After a long moment, Ling's mother clutched her chest and chuckled softly, her voice choking with sobs: "These two really... went through such a long, long way."
Father Ling reached out and pulled his wife into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head. The red plum blossoms outside the window grew even more vibrant in the snow and wind. "So, when it comes to fate, you have to be destined to meet before you can be together."
"It's okay, it's okay." Ling's mother murmured to herself, leaning on her husband's shoulder, her fingertips trembling slightly. Her heart felt like it was being warmed by a stove, sore and soft. The snow was still falling outside the window, but it seemed as if she could already foresee the appearance of spring flowers blooming.
"Hmm? It's going to be late tonight. Okay, then I'll wait for you to eat." Su Nian said into the receiver with a smile.
Li Li was carrying some damaged books to the bar. After she heard Su Nian hang up the phone, she looked at him teasingly, "Boss, ever since you started dating, you've become more and more radiant. Ugh, what a stinky little couple."
Her voice was quite loud, and the girls around the bar all laughed when they heard it.
"Boss Ling always responds to our boss Su's requests." The girl with a high ponytail held her chin with a look of envy on her face.
"Boss, when are you getting married?" The girl with short hair carefully poked her head out from behind her companion, then quickly retracted it after she finished speaking.
"That's right, we want wedding candy." The girl holding the coffee cup also agreed with a smile.
Su Nian listened to the girls around her talking at once, and her thoughts began to drift away unconsciously.
Marriage, he always thought that this thing was very far away from him, but the longer he was with Ling Shen, the more he felt that marriage was actually a good choice.
But to get married, a ring is necessary. Su Nian looked at her slender fingers and slowly made a decision in her heart.
Outside Ling Shen's office window, dusk was draping the glass curtain wall of the office building with a gilded gauze. When he hung up the phone, there was still a lingering warmth on the corners of his mouth.
"Do you have any good ideas?"
Yu Tao slumped on the leather sofa, twirling a fountain pen. The cold light reflected from the metal tip swept across his tense jaw. "You said you wanted to propose to Su Nian, so you should figure it out yourself. Why do you have to drag us into this?"
Yuan Wenzhong was still immersed in the shock brought by Su Nian's identity at this moment, and just subconsciously nodded in agreement with Yu Tao's words.
On the other hand, Chang Zi was eager to try, "I have a plan, I have a plan."
Ling Shen loosened his tie, his Adam's apple rolling below: "I was just thinking that the three of you cobblers can at least be half as good as Zhuge Liang." Before he finished speaking, three pillows hit his chest accurately.
Yu Tao had originally planned to help Ling Shen find a solution, but when he heard Ling Shen's words, he was so angry that he leaned on the sofa without saying a word.
Yuan Wenzhong came back to his senses, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the rim of the coffee cup, with a helpless smile on the corner of his mouth, "You just have a sharp tongue. Only Su Nian can tolerate you." The ice cubes in the glass collided with each other, making a crisp sound, which was particularly clear in the quiet space.
Ling Shen was actually annoyed by his quick words, but when he heard Yuan Wenzhong say that, he became proud instead, "That's right, Anian knows me best." The ending tone rose unconsciously, as sweet as if it were soaked in honey.
Chang Zi hugged his arms and shivered, "Eh, the sour smell of love~"
Yu Tao looked at Ling Shen, who seemed so relaxed yet serious in his eyes, and asked, "Have you really decided? Is he the one?"
Ling Shen closed his notebook, the metal clasp making a crisp click. He stared directly at the three of them, the warm yellow light from the desk lamp falling on his eyelashes, casting subtle shadows beneath his eyes.
"Before I met him, I thought that life was just a journey, and maybe in the end I would just live in a daze." His fingertips unconsciously stroked the stick figure that Su Nian had casually drawn on the cover of the notebook.
"But after meeting him, I finally understood what life was like."
The three of them exchanged meaningful glances and leaned forward at the same time. Chang Zi's tie almost swept into the coffee cup. "Tell me in detail!"
Ling Shen's gaze passed through them and fell on the whiteboard covered with sticky notes. The to-do items suddenly blurred into the background.
In his memory, he saw Su Nian curled up on the sofa watching a movie, the aroma of fried eggs wafting from the kitchen in the early morning, and the hot milk quietly placed on the table while working overtime... These fragments suddenly pieced together into a complete picture, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously rose.
"Actually, when I'm with him, I just feel at ease." His voice lowered, with a tenderness that he himself didn't even notice.
"I want to hold him in my arms and pamper him forever. Even if we were together 24 hours a day, I wouldn't get bored. After meeting him, I realized that life isn't the same with everyone."
As soon as he finished speaking, the sunset glow had already dyed half of the sky. Remembering Su Nian's promise to wait for him at home, he didn't care about anything else. He stood up suddenly, the hem of his suit brushing the armrest of the chair, "You three, do you have any solution?"
Yu Tao nodded and then shook his head. "Yes, there is a way, but I don't know if it's suitable for you. And first of all, the prerequisite is, have you prepared a ring for the proposal?"
Ling Shen smiled mysteriously, and as he opened the drawer, it made a slight creaking sound. A red velvet box lay at the very back of the drawer. It was something he had prepared long ago, but had never been able to give away.
"Of course I have prepared it, but I definitely can't show it to you." Ling Shen stroked the dark patterns on the box, but did not mention opening it at all.
"Tsk, so stingy." The three of them raised their middle fingers at the same time. Yuan Wenzhong even deliberately pointed his mobile phone camera at him. Chang Zi pretended to wipe away tears, and Yu Tao silently pushed the proposal in front of him.
Ling Shen carefully put away the box, and when he stood up, he deliberately adjusted his tie facing the glass curtain wall. The setting sun stretched his shadow very long. "Okay, I'm going back. Anian is still waiting for me at home." The sound of leather shoes stepping on the marble floor gradually faded away, leaving the three people in the office looking at each other.
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