patience
Lin Xueyin's life is like being placed in a transparent glass cover. She seems free, but in fact, her every move is under the watchful eyes of another pair of eyes.
Chen Mo would regularly compile and report some seemingly mundane information: Comrade Lin Xueyin was diligent in her work and was gradually becoming closer to Comrade Jiang Weihong from the Propaganda Department;
On weekends, I went to Liulichang with Comrade Jiang to buy a brush and some stationery. When I was feeling unwell, Comrade Sun Mei from the dormitory library helped me. My mood has calmed down considerably since I first arrived.
These trivial fragments, through Chen Mo's straightforward report, outlined the trajectory of Lin Xueyin's life in Beijing to Song Zhiyuan.
He was sitting in his study flipping through documents when he saw the sentence "his mood is noticeably calmer than when he first arrived." His gaze lingered on the line for a moment, and his stern brows relaxed slightly, almost imperceptibly.
He closed the folder, stood up, and walked to the window. Outside, the poplar trees in the courtyard had already sprouted large, tender green leaves, glistening glossily in the spring sunshine. He lit a cigarette, and in the haze, his thoughts seemed to drift away.
He knew she was afraid of him, perhaps even hated him. That night in the barn, he had deliberately branded her, his methods far from honorable, even despicable. But he had no regrets.
Time is too tight.
His position, the situation he faced, and his family's plans for his future did not allow him to spend a lot of time pursuing, testing, and flirting with her like ordinary men and women. Once he set his sights on her, he had to bring her under his control as quickly and effectively as possible, marking her with his own mark and eliminating any possibility of accidents.
Transferring her from North City to Beijing was part of the plan. Far away from her familiar surroundings and the protection of her parents, leaving her in a strange city with only him to rely on—or, at least, making her realize clearly that he was the only person she could count on here.
He didn't want to imprison her like a lifeless canary. If that were the case, he would have plenty of ways to completely isolate her from the world.
He arranged a leisurely and respectable job for her, and tacitly allowed or even secretly facilitated her contact with people with clean backgrounds and good personalities like Jiang Weihong and Sun Mei, hoping that she could gradually adapt within the designated scope, and even... find a little bit of her own insignificant happiness.
Seeing her calm down and start interacting with others, the indescribable anxiety in his heart seemed to be relieved a little.
He didn't want a doll that he had completely destroyed, leaving only fear and emptiness. That would be too boring, and it would betray what attracted him to her in the first place—that delicate yet resilient vitality that hadn't been completely extinguished even in difficult circumstances.
He wanted her as a person, whole and complete, from body to soul. Conquering a living heart that could be afraid and also try to be happy was far more challenging than controlling a walking corpse, and also...more in line with his appetite.
However, this process required patience. He was used to controlling the pace, used to everything going according to plan. But with her, he seemed to have invested more attention and... patience than he had expected.
He knew she was writing to her parents in North City, and the lightness between the lines reassured him that his judgment was correct—appropriate space and connections would help her adapt. He didn't intercept her letters; they were her only link to her past world. Severing them prematurely would only lead to more intense resistance.
He also knew she hadn't touched the chocolate, leaving it in the corner of the desk with the stone. This subtle movement made the corners of his mouth twitch almost imperceptibly. She was struggling, struggling, which proved that she wasn't completely numb. Very good.
"Brother Song, do you need to arrange... another meeting?" Chen Mo asked cautiously after a routine report.
Song Zhiyuan pondered for a moment and shook his head: "No need."
Now is not the time. Let her enjoy some quiet time without being disturbed, so that her budding sense of adaptation to life in Beijing and her faint sense of happiness can grow stronger.
He wanted to wait until she got more used to this place, to the absence of his direct presence, yet his omnipresent influence. He wanted to wait until she subconsciously began to regard Beijing, and this lifestyle he had created, as a kind of "normalcy."
Then he will appear again.
The next meeting will no longer be a warning declaration like "barbecue season", but... another form of approach.
He put out the cigarette, and his eyes returned to their usual depth and calmness.
He had plenty of time to slowly navigate her. The joy of hunting wasn't in killing with one strike, but in watching the prey, caught in the trap, go from panicking to slowly adapting, and then... finally giving up resistance, or even actively approaching.
He turned back to the desk and picked up another document, but his eyes once again swept over the previous report on Lin Xueyin's recent situation.
"Liulichang...brush..." He repeated the two words in a low voice, tapping his fingertips lightly on the table.
Maybe next time it shows up, I can take her somewhere where she can relax more.
The thought flashed through his mind, but he suppressed it immediately. The time had not come yet.
All he had to do now was to continue playing the role of the controller hidden behind the scenes, waiting patiently for his little canary to adapt better to the cage in Beijing, and even... start to get used to his feeding and his way of existence.
A spring breeze blew through the window, bringing a touch of warmth. Song Zhiyuan returned to his work, as if his momentary distraction had never occurred. However, he had placed the report on Lin Xueyin's improved mood at the bottom of a drawer.
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