22. Snow in a silver bowl
◎Young Miss, you are the most precious being.◎
Before Shang Xinuan could react, Li Xiran carried her into the passenger seat.
The young lady was naturally not comfortable sitting in his car and wanted to break free, so he leaned down and blocked the car door.
The blazing sun outside the carriage blew through the open door onto Shang Xi's warm face.
Even her already unsettled mind became even more agitated.
"Li Xiran!"
Li Xiran looked at her, who was glaring at him angrily. Apart from gentleness and patience, there was no other emotion on his noble face. His heart and eyes were filled with her. "Miss, at this time, taxis are probably all in the financial district and the commercial street."
The implication is that, apart from private cars, taxis are rarely seen in these secluded upscale villa areas.
Just as Shang Xin was feeling sullen, she felt the air conditioning vent in the passenger seat being adjusted, and the next moment a cool breeze passed through her cheek and ruffled her hair.
Although her restlessness was reduced, this domineering control still provoked her pride and anger.
The young lady lifted her eyelids, first looking at herself in the mirror, and only after confirming that the lipstick was applied evenly did her eyes suddenly turn cold.
The moment she closed her hand holding the lipstick, the light pink lipstick was applied to Li Xiran's face.
"It's all your fault!"
Li Xiran seemed completely unprepared for her action, her long, thick eyelashes still lingering with affection.
So when he finally realized what was happening, a moment of disbelief flashed across his eyes.
Looking at Shang Xinuan's flushed cheeks, he inexplicably felt his mouth go dry, and even his Adam's apple bobbed up and down against the collar of his meticulously buttoned shirt.
Then he grasped the young lady's wrist in his hand, and even his fingertips were caressing her wrist tenderly and ambiguously.
The air, even hotter than the afternoon sun in June, sprayed onto Shang Xi's warm cheeks with his breath.
"You!" Gazing into Li Xiran's deepening eyes, he seemed to feel an even greater surge of ambiguous warmth constantly assaulting his reason.
The young lady's earlobes were tinged with a faint blush, an expression never before seen on his usually calm and restrained face.
Li Xiran's voice became hoarse, and as she leaned back, he continued to lean into the carriage, stealing half of her coolness.
"Young Miss, what kind of logic is it to disfigure someone's face?"
Shang Xinuan's mischievous hands were restrained by him, but the fire in her eyes burned even more intensely, "Li Xiran, you're being a hooligan!"
Upon hearing this, Li Xiran merely raised an eyebrow, then his hand scrambled up and snatched her lipstick away. "Hmm? This doesn't count as being a hooligan. If Miss is curious about what real hooliganism looks like..."
But before he could finish speaking, the young lady was already enraged. Without giving him any time to react, she raised her elbow and slammed it into his abdomen.
Seeing him stagger back half a step in pain, Shang Xinuan almost couldn't suppress the smile on her lips. "This young lady isn't curious, but if you're curious about the consequences of being a hooligan, I can be even more ruthless."
Now, Li Xiran completely stepped out of the car, resting his hand on the top of the door, leaning down and chuckling softly, shaking his head helplessly, "Miss, since I can be your driver now and take you to the airport to pick up Xixi, how about we temporarily put an end to our cold war?"
Shang Xinuan glanced at the time; there were only ten minutes left before Qiao Xi landed. "First of all, I'm not giving you the cold shoulder; we're practically strangers. Secondly, I couldn't find a car, so I had no choice but to ride with you. Therefore, you can't use this as an excuse to ask me to do anything against my will in the future."
Li Xiran's eyes curved slightly, his expression full of doting as he looked at her. After she finished speaking, he simply nodded, "Alright, Miss is already more than happy to have me as your driver."
After saying that, he straightened up, shook the lipstick in his hand, and threw it into the trash can next to him. "And this, you ruined a lipstick for the young lady. I'll make it up to you next time."
Shang Xinuan blinked and then noticed that there was still a lipstick mark on his face.
After Li Xiran got into the car, the young lady reluctantly pulled a wet wipe from her bag and handed it to him, saying, "Wipe it off."
"What?" He pretended to be clueless, pulling down his own sun visor. "Oh. Lipstick, a gift from the young lady. It's fine to keep it for now."
Suddenly, Shang Xinuan felt like she was being teased, but she couldn't find a reason to.
That pent-up temper was suppressed in his chest, unable to be released.
If he were to actually show this lipstick mark on his face, people might misunderstand him.
Shang Xinuan bit her lip, reached out and grabbed his tie, and decisively yanked it, turning him and his body to face her directly.
Caught off guard, Li Xiran lost his balance and quickly grabbed her shoulders, then made no further moves. "Miss, thank goodness I didn't have time to start the car."
"Don't move." Her voice was cold, but her movements were anything but gentle as she roughly wiped the lipstick stain off his face. "Give me your hand!"
Finally, the lipstick-stained wet tissue was mercilessly tossed into his palm.
Li Xiran raised an eyebrow, first carefully folding the wet wipes and placing them solemnly on the center console.
Then he started the car with a smile, saying, "To ensure the young lady's safety, if you want to lay a hand on me again, you'd better tell me in advance."
"I need to pull over to the side of the road before I get lectured by the young lady."
For some reason, Shang Xinuan felt a surge of anger in her chest, while her cheeks burned and flushed.
The young lady couldn't lay a hand on him, but she was ruthless with her words: "You used to act all respectable, but now I can only find you by searching on Sogou!"
"Really?" Li Xiran glanced at her, perhaps amused by her half-coquettish, half-angry expression. "Perhaps Miss can add me back on WeChat. If you want to ask me anything else, you can ask me directly."
"You went to Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes for further studies, right? There are so many different kinds of murals."
Li Xiran spoke in a low, seemingly soothing tone, changing the subject: "Let's stop arguing, okay? Have you read the Li Group's clarification statement?"
He hadn't mentioned it, and the young lady had almost forgotten. She questioned, "Don't you ever review your official statements? Some remarks can easily be misunderstood!"
“Sometimes, I don’t always keep track of everything. What are the inappropriate comments you made? I’ll ask someone to delete them.”
Shang Xin frowned and clicked on the official clarification news page of the Li Group from yesterday.
Shang Xinuan: "This! What do you mean the chairman went to the desert to chase after the young lady, and it's inconvenient for the company to disturb him?"
Li Xiran: "A qualified employee knows that he shouldn't keep bothering his boss when he's pursuing a girl."
"Li Xiran, that's not chasing!" the young lady said righteously.
"Isn't that right? Then I'll study some more and continue pursuing you using the real way of pursuing girls." He looked completely open, but Shang Xinuan felt as if she had seen a shameless and persistent rogue.
"And this too! How come I didn't know that you, Chairman Li Xiran, had been in love with me for so many years!"
"Shang Xinuan, I've liked you for many years." At the right moment, the light turned red, he stepped on the brake, turned his head and looked directly into her eyes, repeating, "Shang Xinuan, Li Xiran has liked you for many years."
"Now you know, right?"
"Li Xiran, can you please stop being so shameless and scoundrel-like?" The young lady's face turned red with anger. "You're really annoying right now. Why should I let go of the past and start a new life, and you change your mind?"
"Don't you think that your previous act of being aloof and keeping me at arm's length was incredibly pretentious and ironic?"
Li Xiran looked at her and sighed deeply. He wanted to comfort her but felt that it would only anger her, so he withdrew his hand with trembling hands. "Nuan Nuan, sometimes rationality and stable emotions can also be a kind of pain."
"No one hates those days of saying one thing and meaning another more than I do. So now, rather than losing you, I'd rather risk it and fight against the unknown fears."
"I don't want to hear it!" Shang Xinuan covered her ears and stared straight ahead at Exit 5 of the airport. "Hurry up, Xixi has been waiting for a long time!"
Li Xiran stopped explaining and wisely shut up, driving the car toward Exit 5.
Qiao Xi had been waiting for who knows how long. Her face was blank as she held up a small umbrella, barely managing to maintain the last bit of her good manners so that she didn't collapse onto the stone steps.
After the car came to a stop, the young lady opened the car door and ran out, saying, "I'm so sorry, Xixi, I'm late, I'm so late."
Qiao Xi pouted and snuggled into her arms. "Why did you take so long to come! I was already feeling so unwell, and now you're making me feel even worse by being out in the sun!"
The next moment, she saw Li Xiran following behind her, and immediately stopped crying, whispering in Shang Xinuan's ear, "So...they've made up?"
Looking at the young lady's gloomy face, he said, "Oh, I see. This person is still shamelessly clinging to me."
Li Xiran naturally heard this, but didn't refute it. He simply took the suitcase that Qiao Xi had placed aside and urged, "Get in the car quickly. Nuannuan hasn't recovered yet and can't be exposed to the sun."
Qiao Xi's lips trembled. "Do you have any humanity left? I'm your own niece, I have the same blood as you!"
Li Xiran acted as if he hadn't heard her complaints.
He continued carrying the luggage and then opened the back door for the two of them.
Qiao Xi snorted coldly, took Shang Xinuan's arm, and stopped as she walked around the front of the car. "Uncle, you changed your car?"
"Why did they change the license plate too? 沪A L520S." Qiao Xi only realized something when she read the last letter. "This is... really... slick!"
The young lady only noticed that he had changed cars, but did not notice the change in license plates.
After getting back into the car, I instinctively felt that the atmosphere inside had changed.
"What bad luck!" After driving away from the airport, it took her a while to finally utter those two words through her back teeth.
Qiao Xi could tell that Li Xiran didn't intend to pick her up, so she wisely said, "Please take me to my uncle's house. I want to talk to him."
Li Xiran changed the navigation to Li Yuzhan's house, but still said to Qiao Xi, "Xi Xi, feelings are a matter of personal freedom for everyone."
“Feelings are indeed a matter of personal freedom. But Bai Quesi is clearly after my uncle for her own benefit, and I simply cannot accept it!” After saying this, Qiao Xi tried to win over Li Xiran, “If she marries into the Li family later, as the head of the family, won’t you have any objections?”
Li Xiran's tone remained calm. "As far as I know, Bai Quesi and Li Yuzhan's relationship is not what we imagine, but rather a relationship that started with one party having ulterior motives."
"Furthermore, Li Yuzhan is an adult. He has the ability to discern right from wrong and the capacity to bear the consequences. Therefore, his feelings should be his freedom, and I have no reason to interfere."
Qiao Xi gritted her teeth. "Hmph. You wouldn't understand even if I told you. I'll talk to my uncle myself."
Since this was a family matter for the Li family, Shang Xinuan didn't want to get involved, so when they arrived at the entrance of Li Yuzhan's residential area, she didn't get out of the car with Qiao Xi. "Xi Xi, go talk to your uncle about your feelings, I won't accompany you."
Qiao Xi nodded understandingly, "Okay. I'll come find you the day after tomorrow and go to the auction with you."
The two sisters waved goodbye, and only then did Li Xiran start the car again. "Are you going to the auction?"
Mid-June is Shang Zun's birthday, and as his pampered granddaughter, she naturally has to prepare a gift in advance.
"What's it to you!"
Are you preparing a birthday present for your grandfather?
"What's it to you!"
"The day after tomorrow is the Oriental Lide Qi Baishi calligraphy and painting auction. Do you want that peach painting?"
Shang Xin crossed her arms and said, "Li Xiran, you're not allowed to interfere!"
“Miss, just say the word if you need my help, and I’ll deliver the painting to your house tonight.”
"unnecessary!"
Li Xiran sighed, his voice filled with both helplessness and doting affection, "Alright, I'll do whatever you say, Miss."
After dropping her off at the entrance of the Shang Mansion, Shang Xinuan couldn't wait to get out of the car.
Li Xiran followed closely behind, seemingly to prevent her from escaping quickly, and grabbed her wrist directly.
"Don't rush, there's a gift."
"I don't want to!"
Ignoring her resistance, Li Xiran took her directly to the trunk.
As the car door slowly rose, a bunch of flowers wrapped in light green rice paper was revealed.
"Li Xiran, you wouldn't be so vulgar as to start sending flowers, would you?"
Li Xiran took out the bouquet and handed it to her, saying, "Take a look first."
Shang Xinuan nodded, and saw that inside the wrapping paper with ancient poems written on it was a bunch of white magnolias.
Magnolias bloom in March and April, so where did these magnolias come from in June?
Li Xiran closed the trunk door and then raised a parasol to shield the young lady from the scorching sun.
"I can always get whatever the young lady likes with ease."
For this young lady who deeply loves magnolias, whose home, bedroom, garden, food, daily necessities, and clothing are all inseparable from magnolia elements, she couldn't suppress the delight in her eyes and brows.
Seeing magnolia blossoms in June is like an oasis in the desert, as rare and wonderful as a snowstorm in midsummer.
She touched the pure white petals with a mixture of curiosity and tenderness, her voice softening as she asked, "Is it fake? Or real?"
"It's made from tetrapanax papyriferus flowers," Li Xiran replied.
Shang Xinuan then recalled that last year, she had gone on a business trip to Yangzhou with Shang Zun and Li Xiran, where there was a traditional intangible cultural heritage technique of making tongcao flowers.
Craftsmen use pith paper as raw material and go through a series of complex processes such as bleaching, mounting paper paper, dyeing, shaping petals, and attaching flowers to create distinctive handicrafts.
Its flowers never wither, bloom forever, and remain as vibrant as ever.
Because of the complexity of the craft and the high price, it almost faced extinction today.
When Fashion Xi Nuan asked if customization was possible, the artisan politely declined, saying he only accepted orders from museums or public events.
Later, I heard that a single set of Tetrapanax papyriferus flowers could cost more than ten million.
"I knew you liked it back then, so I kept making appointments with my master. Miss, please don't refuse this time, it's just a bouquet of flowers."
Shang Xin hugged the flowers, inwardly scoffing, "Flowers worth millions, and that's all?"
Li Xiran held up his umbrella and looked down at her with gentle and warm eyes. Even his voice was doting, low and soft, "Miss, you are the most precious one."
A note from the author:
The school is extremely busy with make-up classes after May Day.
I listened to all the chatter yesterday, and when I got home I thought I'd take a five-minute nap, but I ended up falling asleep. I apologize to you all!
Next week, we'll catch up on the students' lessons and strive to quickly return to a schedule of 66 hours a day and 10,000 hours a day!
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Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 23:59:30 on May 4, 2023 and 23:55:31 on May 6, 2023!
Thank you to the little angel who threw the landmine: w雯雯. 1 landmine;
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: two bottles from an adorable girl whose name I don't know; and one bottle from TheJenny.
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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