15. Snow in a silver bowl
◎Late-coming affection◎
After Shang Xinuan was sent back, only Qiao Xi and Ruan Songyi remained in the tent.
She was not supposed to be able to sleep on her side, but Li Xiran's unusual behavior today felt like gunpowder was being thrown into her heart.
Her sense of security collapsed, and she curled up, desperately suppressing the emotions in her chest and trying to force the tears back into her eyes.
Looking back at the man who was once composed and reserved, standing atop a skyscraper looking down on everything, I was surprised to discover that he also had a side that was so desperate and humble that he could beg for mercy.
She used to want such straightforward love, but now, even thinking of his name brings her only sorrow.
Her heart longed for even a second of hope, for a fleeting illusion of what might have been.
If only he had told her these things sooner, even half a month earlier, even on that night when she made the desperate decision to return to Shanghai.
She will definitely choose to empathize with his childhood and become the bright moon that God would use to compensate him.
But time had torn them apart, and the cracks didn't give them a chance to mend them.
All the words I could say in the end were met with the faint reply, "It's too late."
She clutched her chest, swallowing her only resentment.
Compromise with the fact that unrequited love is the most common thing in this world.
"Warm and cozy?"
Shang Xinuan bit her lip, turned her back to the two of them, and whispered, suppressing a sob, "I'm tired, you should go back and rest too."
-
Qiao Xi and Ruan Songyi exchanged a glance. Although they were worried about leaving her alone, they decided to let her have some peace and quiet by herself.
When the two stepped out of Shang Xinuan's tent, the entire Tengger Desert was already shrouded in silent night.
Qiao Xi first noticed the person sitting on the steps not far away, and patted Ruan Songyi on the shoulder, saying, "I'm going to talk to my uncle. You should go back to sleep first."
The night in the desert is pitch black and boundless. One moment it is bright moon and starry sky, and the next it is pitch black and you can't see your hand in front of your face.
It was as if a thick layer of down feathers had been spread across the sky, making even the air seem almost thin.
Apart from the calls of unidentified animals coming from the distant sand dunes, the surroundings were as silent as the end of the world.
The only light in the desert was the crimson glow of a cigarette burning on Li Xiran's fingertips.
In the dim light, Li Xiran's back slumped, his proud spirit broken like that of a proud son of heaven.
Although his features remained as gentle as ever, beneath his thick eyelashes as he stared blankly into the distance, there was a deep-seated sorrow and regret, as well as a lingering sense of bewilderment.
The smoke rings he exhaled dissipated in the wind along his disheveled and delicate cheeks, but the congealed blood beads remained menacing in the night.
In Qiao Xi's memory, Li Xiran rarely smoked; he spent most of his time in the world of fame and fortune, drinking and socializing.
But at those times, Li Xiran's eyes always held a calm and shrewd glint, exuding a powerful aura of absolute confidence. Simply standing among the elite was enough to command the entire scene.
This was the first time she had ever seen Li Xiran so vulnerable, confused, and lonely.
But at the same time, I was shocked. It turns out that someone as cold and indifferent as him could also be so fierce as to cause a landslide.
"How is Nuan Nuan?" When Li Xiran saw her coming over, he first threw the cigarette butt in his hand on the ground and stubbed it out.
"She said she was tired and wanted to sleep, but I doubt she'll be able to sleep soundly." Qiao Xi wrapped her shawl tighter around herself and sat down next to Li Xiran.
Li Xiran slumped down, resting his arms on his knees, looking utterly exhausted.
"How did your chat with Nuannuan go?" Qiao Xi asked, gesturing to Li Xiran who seemed hesitant to speak. "Judging from your expression, you didn't come to any conclusions."
Li Xiran felt as if a huge rock was pressing on his heart, so heavy that he could hardly breathe.
So much so that the injuries on his hands and shoulders were overshadowed by this pain.
"I think I've completely messed up."
"Uncle, would you like to hear my analysis?"
Li Xiran nodded. "Go ahead."
“Dating a girl is different from doing business.” Qiao Xi rested her chin on her hand and looked at him sideways. “Even when doing business, you need to understand the background of your competitor company, its current business status, and its future development goals beforehand.”
"Think about Nuannuan's upbringing. She was pampered like a star, the little princess of the Shang family. All the relationships she witnessed were open, aboveboard, and freely displayed. If you try to win Nuannuan back like you're doing a business deal, the most likely outcome will be the opposite."
"The best way is for you to put yourself in Nuannuan's shoes and think about how to love her from her perspective."
After Qiao Xi finished speaking, she puffed out her cheeks and looked at him, who still looked confused. "I never thought that the wise and powerful Chairman Li would also have things he wasn't good at."
Li Xiran withdrew his drooping hand, tilted his head slightly, and his eyes seemed to clear up like the sun after the clouds had parted.
He used to be the one in control of this relationship, able to easily manipulate Shang Xinuan's emotions.
In addition, as a leader of a company over the years, he has become accustomed to centering everything on his own banner, and due to his childhood experiences, he has restrained and suppressed all his emotions, thus overlooking the differences between the two.
Shangxin Nuan is like a vibrant rose.
The obedient and charming girl who used to be by his side was simply a young girl willingly concealing her sharp edges and thorns for her lover.
But this does not mean that love can be represented by simply showering people with material things.
She was born of love and grew up in a life of luxury.
From childhood to the present, she has only made a mistake twice in front of him.
One time he complained that his thesis was too difficult to write, and another time he drank too much and asked her with teary eyes if he could love her.
Li Xiran took a deep breath, gently stroking the scab on his cheek with his fingertips, and said self-deprecatingly, "If even the young lady isn't afraid, what do I, a person with nothing, have to do with whether I can or can't be afraid?"
Qiao Xi looked at his tender gaze as he stroked the scab, swallowed hard, and said with a slight tremor in her eyes, "Uncle, but don't become a pervert for love. Your expression is quite frightening."
Li Xiran raised an eyebrow, ignoring her words, "Thank you for tonight."
Qiao Xi blinked her bright, mischievous eyes and leaned closer. "Uncle, no need to thank me. But if you really want to thank me, I really like the islands and cruise ships in Australia."
Li Xiran's eyes, which had just been smiling, changed slightly. He changed the subject and asked, "How long have you been in this relationship?"
Qiao Xi's smile froze instantly, and she stood up guiltily, scolding, "Uncle, if you put the same effort into guessing other people's thoughts onto Nuan Nuan, you would already be happily married with your wife and kids!"
After saying that, he didn't even give Li Xiran time to react.
He turned around abruptly and disappeared into the vast desert in the dead of night, as if fleeing for his life.
-
The next day.
Shang Xinuan was still half asleep and not fully awake when she heard Jiang Xiangzhuo's voice coming from outside the tent.
"Chairman Li, you didn't spend all night working, did you?"
Li Xiran's voice was always hoarse in the morning, and now it was even more exhausted. "Some compressed documents have been processed."
"No wonder he's the big boss of the Li Group, he can actually work through the night." Jiang Xiangzhuo has a tough personality, and since he owns a bar, he loves to chat with people. "We're going to the desert post office today, so you're going to stay at the camp to catch up on sleep?"
Li Xiran refused Jiang Xiangzhuorang's offer of a cigarette, saying he didn't smoke. "It's okay. Sometimes when I'm busy, it's common for me to only sleep five hours every two days."
"Wow!" Jiang Xiangzhu yawned. "Shall we go get breakfast together?"
Li Xiran didn't move. "I'll wait a bit longer. You go first."
Hearing Jiang Xiangzhuo's footsteps receding into the distance, Shang Xinuan shrank back into her sleeping bag.
After a night of calming down, she no longer felt intensely resistant towards Li Xiran, but still believed that becoming strangers was the best outcome for the two of them.
She decided to get up when Qiao Xi and Ruan Songyi came to wake her up to prepare breakfast.
Perhaps because of the exhaustion, I slept soundly, and when I got up, even the pain in my bones had lessened considerably.
She was able to change her clothes slowly on her own and then stroll out of the tent.
As soon as she lifted the tent flap, she saw Li Xiran sitting on a round stool at the entrance of her tent.
His computer was still on the small rattan coffee table, and the glass ashtray was piled high with cigarette butts.
He changed into a military green tracksuit and camel-colored desert boots.
That face, once radiating the air of an elite with an air of nobility, now possessed a youthful and refined air. But the weariness in his eyes was undeniable.
The young lady looked away, muttering to herself, "How old is she? Still working all night like a young person. Be careful she doesn't die suddenly."
Li Xiran naturally had no idea what she was thinking, but he was no longer as extreme as he had been the night before.
Even the way he looked at her returned to what it had been before. Though there was tenderness, it was more about politeness than affection.
"Breakfast has been served to you, come and eat here." He said as he cleared away all his belongings from the table. "I'm going back to my tent to catch up on some sleep."
Shang Xinuan didn't respond to him, nor did she want to eat the breakfast he prepared. She just noticed that the self-service breakfast area at the campsite was set up quite far away, and thought that by the time she walked over, it would probably be closed.
She had no choice but to slowly sit down, holding onto the edge of the table.
Li Xiran covered each bowl with a plate to prevent sand and dust from getting in. When she lifted the plates, she found local specialty rice porridge and stir-fried dishes.
She doesn't eat scallions or garlic, so the wild onions used for seasoning in the stir-fry were all picked out by Li Xiran and placed separately on one side of the plate.
Shang Xinuan poked it with her chopsticks.
He thought that Li Xiran was a person who was not particular about food and would eat whatever the chef made.
It must have been really tough on someone who stayed up all night, as they even went out of their way to pick out wild onions from the vegetables for her early in the morning.
Thinking of this, the young lady snorted again, "Cheap, belated affection."
"I didn't expect you to have meat here!" Before she could finish speaking, Qiao Xi and Ruan Songyi returned with the food they had taken from the breakfast area.
Don't you have any?
"The chef said that because it was a buffet breakfast, the first dozen or so guests took all the small plates of meat. You have to get up really early, and I guess only someone who stayed up all night could get some."
Jiang Xiangzhuo had already spread the word about Li Xiran working overtime all night throughout the five-person team.
Shang Xinuan reached out and placed the plate of small pieces of meat directly in the middle of the table. "I need to avoid certain foods recently, so you guys eat."
"Alright, he can't see that." Ruan Songyi picked up a piece of meat and fed it directly into her mouth. "Besides, you need to nourish your body more right now."
The stir-fried beef was cooked to perfection.
Even now, it's still warm when you eat it.
The young lady hesitated for only a second, thinking that there was really no need to ruin her mood for a plate of beef.
If she's willing, she can simply book today's meals and have the camp prepare charcoal-grilled young calves.
Not only should I enjoy the food myself, but I should also share it with all the guests in the camp.
Thinking this, the young lady immediately summoned the camp owner.
"How about grilled beef for dinner?" the camp owner asked with a hint of doubt. "But your friends have already paid for five live sheep in advance, saying they want to stew the mutton to help this injured girl recover."
"Which of our friends?" Qiao Xi asked knowingly.
"Mr. Li."
"Five is too many, isn't it?" Ruan Songyi glanced at the young lady with a gloomy expression.
"Mr. Li means to invite the camp guests to eat together."
A moment of silence fell over the scene.
But upon closer examination, she did indeed learn this behavior from Li Xiran.
During military training, he treated the entire literature department to Starbucks.
Every year during school sports events, Ms. Li is the title sponsor of Shanghai University; and for any research group she participates in, the expenses have never been shared equally among the group members.
Wherever the young lady goes, even the office plants become fertile.
Shang Xinuan gritted her teeth. "How much are the tender beef? I'll pay for ten right now."
A note from the author:
Chairman Li: How can you not count the little rose I raised?
Warm: Belated affection is less valuable than grass.
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Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2023-04-26 22:39:44 and 2023-04-27 22:28:19!
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