56. The bright moon hides the egret.
"Don't be afraid anymore, I'll always be with you."
Shang Xinuan was turned over by Li Xiran and lay face down on the table.
Her waist was slender, barely a handful, and the girl, though thin, had skin as white as jade; wherever her fingertips touched, red marks were left.
There was another beauty that even she herself was unaware of: a red mole near the entrance to the lush lake.
Only when the ripples close up can those who venture into them see them.
"Li Xiran, you're bullying me!" the girl accused in her drizzling voice, completely forgetting that she was the one who started it all.
Li Xiran simply tossed aside the aluminum foil packaging bag, flipped her wrists over, and interlocked their fingers behind her waist. "I only bully you."
She was carried to the bathroom only after the smell filled the entire study, as the moon and stars had set in the early summer of England.
Shang Xin, exhausted, clung to Li Xiran's waist, her soft, trembling whispers echoing in the air.
Even after wrapping herself in the down comforter, she could feel her legs trembling slightly.
She recalled that the man had only rested for two days, but he was working overtime every night. How did he have so much energy?
So when Li Xiran shuffled towards the bed in his slippers, she immediately pulled the blanket around her neck tighter. "I'm really tired."
Li Xiran stopped, clutching his waist, his expression momentarily blank. "No, I don't want it anymore."
But he still kept pulling at the blanket around her feet, causing Shang Xinuan to curl up in a ball. "You don't keep your word."
"Let me apply the medicine for you." Only then did Shang Xinuan notice the ointment he was holding.
Perhaps due to the added atmosphere of the study, Li Xiran was unaware that he had not controlled his strength well.
"It's all your fault." Although she had just experienced intense pleasure and extreme comfort, the delicate princess was still dissatisfied with the exhaustion that felt like her whole body had been crushed.
"Is it my fault?" Li Xiran grabbed her ankle and dragged her over.
An arm wrapped around the back of her legs, the gentle touch carrying a hint of vengeful teasing. "Miss, your skill in accusing others first is truly something to be ashamed of."
If it weren't for the fleeting guilty expression on Shang Xinuan's face, Li Xiran would have forgotten about the wet, sexy lingerie still hanging on the corner of his desk.
"It's all your fault!"
"Alright, alright," Li Xiran agreed with a smile. "It's my fault for not being able to resist even the slightest temptation from Miss."
"But the young lady is just too captivating. Her body, her voice, even if it's just a slight tremor in the corner of your eye, I'd be ready to surrender."
Li Xiran spoke these cheesy love words so skillfully that they instantly extinguished all the flames of passion.
After applying the medicine, Shang Xinuan pulled her legs back and wrapped herself back in the blanket.
But she still couldn't help but complain resentfully, "I'm clearly upset that you've been so focused on work lately and neglected me."
Before Li Xiran could answer, his cell phone in his study rang with its familiar ringtone again.
At this time, it's no surprise that it's Chen Ti.
"Never mind, you can continue with your work." After a passionate lovemaking session, there was no tender lingering afterward, and the young lady's mood sank into a deeper loneliness.
Li Xiran tucked the blanket around her, then turned and left the bedroom without saying a word.
She was both angry and helpless, and kept comforting herself, saying that when she chose him, she realized that this man was very career-oriented, which was a good thing.
But a second later, she turned to loneliness.
In relationships, she only wants a companion.
However, before she could sort out her feelings, Li Xiran had already returned to the bedroom.
"Go to work quickly, I don't want to be alone in the house every day." Shang Xinuan turned over, deliberately turning her back to him.
This time, Li Xiran closed the bedroom door directly and even turned off the crystal chandelier.
Only two wall lamps emitting warmth were left on, and even the aromatherapy lamp on the dresser was lit.
In an instant, the bedroom returned to its usual cozy state.
"What are you doing?" Shang Xinuan asked warily as she turned around.
Li Xiran walked to the window, lifted the blanket and lay down. "Work is important, but taking care of Miss's feelings is even more important."
He wrapped his long arm around the delicate girl and gently patted her, "What were you cursing at me in your heart just now?"
Shang Xinuan still frowned, stubbornly refusing to lie still. "Don't judge me with your petty mind. I'm too lazy to scold you."
"I'm sorry." Li Xiran's voice lowered, sounding sincere. "I've neglected you these past few days. It's just that the current project is in its final stages, and I want to finish it as soon as possible."
"oh."
"Didn't you want to travel to Europe, Miss?" Li Xiran massaged her lower back and abdomen, making up for their lingering intimacy earlier. "For the next year and a half of my studies abroad, I'll accompany you whenever I have a spare moment. I won't let any of your wishes fall through."
“...”
"Don't believe me?"
Shang Xinuan remained silent, thinking to herself that he didn't even know that when he slowed down, it was as if his whole body was surrounded by a barrier.
“There’s still more than a month until summer vacation. Let’s go to Paris first, as you mentioned, to see the Louvre, take a night cruise on the Seine, and I’ll go with you to film the City Hall kiss.” Li Xiran coaxed gently, “Okay, my darling?”
Actually, she wasn't angry anymore when Li Xiran talked about the plans to go to Paris.
This was something she and Li Xiran had planned before the Lunar New Year, but it was interrupted by Chen Shaoyi's passing, which led to endless busyness, to the point that she almost forgot about it.
"You still remember?"
I will never forget anything about you.
But in fact, this was not something he deliberately remembered; rather, it was a habitual way of thinking that he had developed over the years while accompanying the young lady.
In the past, he often failed to respond to Shang Xinuan's deep affection and remained silent, so he preferred to observe her preferences and listen to every word she said.
Over time, even the brain gets used to it.
-
After much anticipation, Cambridge has finally announced that the holiday will end at the end of June.
Shang Xinuan first went back to Shanghai with Li Xiran to stay with Grandpa Shang for half a month before setting off for Paris.
That was where Shang Xinuan was born, and she lived with Shang Chenshu for five years.
Shang Zun was initially worried when he heard that they were going on a trip there.
"How did you talk to your grandfather? He didn't object at all." For Shang Zun, Paris is an unhealable scar on his heart. Shang Xinuan originally planned to keep her trip a secret.
As Li Xiran covered her with a blanket, he replied, "Actually, I didn't say anything. The teacher couldn't let go of the pain of an older person burying their younger sibling, but he thought you were still young and shouldn't be trapped like this."
People always have their own obsessions.
Shang Chenshu's death is a pain for the Shang family.
But people live not only for their obsessions, but also for their responsibilities.
“Actually, my mother was also a reason why I wanted to go to Paris. It was the city where she met her love, so she chose to stay there.” Shang Xinuan looked at Li Xiran and grabbed his hand, saying, “Back then, I could always hear my mother’s self-doubt. She thought that she was too domineering in the relationship. If she had been more tolerant and could have tolerated the existence of other women, she wouldn’t have lost that unfaithful man.”
“But I was too young back then and didn’t understand at all. Now that I’m older and have more experience in relationships, I can tell her clearly that you have to love yourself first, and that’s secondary. And no one is worth denying or hurting yourself.” Shang Xinuan finished speaking, her eyes already completely red.
Li Xiran's eyes were full of heartache. "Then our first stop will be the place where you used to live."
After a flight of nearly eleven hours, the plane finally landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport in the early morning.
Shang Xinuan sat on the suitcase, and Li Xiran dragged her along.
After a night of bumpy travel, both of them were exhausted, so they decided to go to the hotel to rest first, have lunch, and then go to the place where Shangxin Nuan Tong Nian lived.
Li Xiran booked a hotel right on the Seine, with a view of the entire Louvre from the top-floor suite.
In summer, France during the day is filled with an artistic and verdant atmosphere.
With the slight breeze from the air conditioner, Shang Xinuan lazily settled down on the soft couch by the window.
When she woke up again, she was in Li Xiran's arms.
Li Xiran was looking at the old address she had written down. "I just confirmed the itinerary with the driver, and he said this was the wrong location and he couldn't find it."
Shang Xinuan knew this would be the outcome.
She was still young at the time, and Shang Chenshu often kept her locked at home, so she couldn't remember the exact location at all, only that there was a dilapidated church nearby.
Based on her description, Li Xiran asked many of his friends in Paris, only to be told that France has many dilapidated and abandoned churches.
"What should we do then?" Shang Xinuan bit her lip, looking somewhat disappointed.
Li Xiran put down his phone, turned over and hugged her. "Then let the driver take us to the vicinity, and we can take our time to look around. Maybe we'll find it."
This is a good idea, Shang Xinuan started getting up and putting on makeup.
The driver took the two people to a nearby area as requested. The area was filled with bright yellow mud-brick buildings, and the narrow streets were lined with Endless Summer and Bougainvillea.
Shang Xinuan linked arms with Li Xiran, and the two shared an umbrella.
On a sparsely populated street, she recounted her childhood in Paris for the first time.
"At that time, all I remember is living with my mother in a small villa, with a typical French style of decoration. I was often locked on the second floor. That room had a balcony, which was the only place I could see the outside world."
The balcony overlooks the villa's yard. Initially, Shang Chenshu hired a nanny to take care of her and her daughter.
The nanny was a woman in her fifties. She kept the house very clean and planted many flowers in the yard.
Later, she longed to go out and see the world, so she tied all the bed sheets together and climbed down the second-floor railing.
While lost, I stumbled upon that abandoned church.
Shang Chenshu and the nanny searched for her all night, and after that, the nanny was fired.
Shang Xinuan never saw flowers blooming in the yard again, and Shang Chenshu locked the balcony door and the second-floor windows.
As a young child, she relied on her mother, who was an alcoholic and always in tears, for support.
“The day my mother decided to give up her life was the only day she didn’t drink alcohol. She asked me if I was willing to continue to stay with her, to go wherever she went.” Shang Xinuan’s tone was calm, as if she were telling someone else’s story. “I said I was willing, and I would go wherever my mother went.”
"She cried so hard and apologized to me. For the first time, she gently told me a fairy tale to lull me to sleep. But when I woke up again, she was no longer breathing."
Li Xiran held her hand and stroked it repeatedly. "That's why you always have trouble sleeping, right?"
Shang Xinuan often suffers from insomnia all night long, only able to fall asleep when the light outside the window appears, because Shang Chenshu died while she was sleeping.
The young child felt guilty and remorseful, believing that if he hadn't been asleep at the time, he could have prevented Shang Chenshu from committing suicide.
"Yes. At first, I thought I was sick, so I saw a doctor and took both Chinese and Western medicine, but I didn't get better. It wasn't until I saw a psychologist..."
She thought that her pampered upbringing in the Shang family had healed her, but until recently, she still suffers from insomnia when she is feeling down.
As if sensing that Li Xiran's mood was gradually becoming serious, Shang Xinuan immediately said in a light tone, "But I've found that as long as you're with me when I sleep, I've never had insomnia, not even once!"
Li Xiran stopped and pulled the slender girl into his arms in the deserted street, his heart feeling as if it were breaking again. "Don't be afraid anymore, I will always be with you."
A note from the author:
Waaah, our young lady is really suffering alongside Lao Li.
They are each other's lovers, and even more so, their soulmates.
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 13:14:53 on June 11, 2023 and 23:41:11 on June 12, 2023!
Thank you to the little angel who watered the nutrient solution: MIOMI 1 bottle;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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