Chapter 16 Chapter 16 New Fire, New Tea
Xia Qingwan stepped closer and said, "Mr. Ye, I didn't know you had already returned from your business trip."
“What a coincidence,” Ye Peixiu said, “I’ve been here twice, and I’ve run into you both times.”
"The white tea is at home, not in the dorm, so I'll have to bring it to you next time."
As she spoke, she seemed to feel a little apologetic, and looked up to meet his gaze.
His eyelashes were half-closed, and his gaze swept across her face, as if he were carefully examining her face after a short separation.
The warm yellow light of the streetlamp illuminated her face, her eyes sparkling like a wild camellia blooming in the countryside. She appeared fragile and lonely, yet she was resilient and calm, never complaining or blaming others, but steadily and diligently walking her own path.
Like a secluded breeze in the wilderness.
Two months gone.
"How are you doing lately? Are you doing well?"
He asked.
Unexpectedly, he asked this question, and Xia Qingwan stared blankly into his eyes.
In that instant, she inexplicably felt that there was another world in his eyes. What would happen if she were to immerse herself in his gaze?
She lowered her head and nodded. "...It's fine."
Ye Peixiu looked at his watch. "I'm going to the girls' dormitory. Can you take me there?"
...
The two walked side by side on the road from the teaching building to the dormitory building.
Ye Peixiu said that his cousin had already enrolled in school and had just moved into the dormitory today. He took some time to visit her after work.
Which dormitory building is she in?
"It seems to be 21."
“She’s right next to my dorm,” Xia Qingwan tilted her head to look at him. “What’s her name? Didn’t you say you wanted me to show her around?”
Actually, that was just an excuse for him to see her without seeming abrupt.
“...Pei Meizhu.”
"'Beautiful apple of one's eye', those two words?"
Ye Peixiu chuckled, "Impressive, you even managed to guess that."
His tone was low and soft, as if he was coaxing a child.
The sparse streetlights cast indistinct shadows, their light flickering on his shoulders as her hair brushed against him.
Mr. Ye walked beside her, her heart filled with both excitement and tranquility, like a silent, surging sea.
A group of boys carrying basketballs walked towards us, talking and laughing loudly. They had probably just finished playing basketball on the playground and were heading out for a late-night snack.
When boys see pretty girls, they inexplicably become noisy and their behavior becomes distorted and exaggerated. Someone spotted Xia Qingwan first, gave a wink to their companion, and they started laughing and shoving each other.
Xia Qingwan and Ye Peixiu were separated by the surging crowd.
After finally managing to squeeze through the group of boys, Xia Qingwan looked up and saw Ye Peixiu standing sideways in front of her, waiting for her.
She didn't say anything, and he didn't say anything either, until they passed another entrance to the playground and met a group of students who had just finished running, chattering and rushing towards them. Xia Qingwan was about to dodge left and right, but this time, he grabbed the elbow firmly.
She looked up.
Ye Peixiu didn't look at her. He just lightly put his arm around her wrist and pulled her to his side. "Walk behind me."
He walked ahead, one hand behind his back, holding her wrist.
Xia Qingwan adjusted her pace to match his, following him closely. There were a few steps ahead, and because of the height difference, the hand that was holding her wrist inevitably slid down. It wasn't clear who initiated it, but just as their hands were about to separate, they hooked their fingers together.
Xia Qingwan lowered her eyes, her heart pounding.
I felt like my whole body became light and floating, with only the rumbling of my heartbeat, heavy and intense.
The crowd thinned out again, and she withdrew her hand.
After that, neither of them spoke all the way.
When they arrived at the dormitory building, Xia Qingwan asked, "Building 21 is right next door. Should I go up and call Meizhu down?"
"No, I'll just give her a call."
He didn't intend to introduce them immediately, and Xia Qingwan didn't want to bring it up again, otherwise it would seem like she was eager to repay his kindness, which would displease him.
“…Then I’ll go up.”
"Go."
She lifted her foot, then stopped and turned to the side, saying, "Then, could you let me know when you have time later?"
She kept thinking about giving him a thank-you gift.
She had already climbed two steps when Ye Peixiu stood at the bottom, hands in his pockets, looking at her and giving a slight nod.
It was already past the beginning of autumn, and the night wind was chilly. The fabric on the side of his shirt was blown flat by the wind, revealing the faint lines of his waist and hips.
Xia Qingwan smoothed her hair behind her ear. "Goodbye."
Ye Peixiu watched her enter the dormitory building.
-
On the way back to the garden, Ye Peixiu recalled what Wang Jingzi had told him about the Xia family's old house in July.
At that time, Wang Jingzi said,
"Looking at Xia Mingzhou's expression, he seemed very surprised by my presence there, so I didn't tell him the whole story and told him to ask Grandma Xi if he had any questions. I also told the nurse to tell Grandma Xi about this."
"At noon, Grandma Xi called me and told me about your and Grandma Liang's relationship with the Xia family's old house. They have been hiding it from the rest of the Xia family, especially Xia Changping."
Upon hearing these words, Ye Peixiu simply said, "Old man, you're overthinking it. Even if you knew about this relationship, what tricks could Xia Changping possibly pull?"
"Grandma Xia probably doesn't want to cause trouble for you and Grandma Liang."
For Wang Jingzi, Grandma Xia's thoughts were easy to understand. When dealing with someone of Ye Peixiu's status, one must especially know how to behave oneself. With several restless children at home and such family conflicts, one naturally had to keep one's mouth shut and be on guard.
For Ye Peixiu, these were all trivial matters.
Besides, there is no impenetrable wall in the world. He and Grandma Liang have been in and out of the Xia family's old house so many times. If Xia Changping had been careful, he would have heard the news.
However, after thinking about it for a while, he realized that with this reason, it was no wonder that Xia Qingwan was so evasive towards him.
He, on the other hand, has become a monster.
-
"Okay, Professor, I understand."
The cell phone was placed on the coffee table with the speaker turned on. Xia Qingwan was talking while typing on the computer.
With a new semester and a new research project, Professor Zhang, who is in charge of the project, decided to appoint her as the leader of the research group since he is quite familiar with her. He asked her to lead three other students in the discussion.
After hanging up the phone, she immediately created a group and sent the outline she had compiled.
When no one replied for a while, she let the matter go and turned to compiling a list of books to read next week.
In the second semester of her freshman year, she applied for a double major, minoring in English. Not only did she have more courses, but the Chinese major itself required her to read more history and philosophy, so her courses and workload increased exponentially.
Today is Saturday. After finishing her research assignments this morning, Xia Qingwan had lunch at home and then rushed to the hospital to visit Grandma Xi.
The air in the private ward on the 30th floor smelled of disinfectant.
As soon as I opened the door, I heard Xia Mingzhou's voice from inside, "Grandma called me yesterday. I told her that I would take care of the family and let her stay in the south with peace of mind."
"That's good, that's good."
"Brother, happy grandma."
Xia Qingwan called out.
"Hey, Qingwan's here." Grandma Xi said, and when she saw Xia Qingwan carrying half a watermelon, she immediately smiled. "Qingwan really understands me. I was just thinking about eating this."
Xia Qingwan talked with Grandma Xi for a long time. At three o'clock in the afternoon, Grandma Xi was wheeled out by the caregiver to go for rehabilitation.
Only Xia Qingwan and Xia Mingzhou were left in the ward.
Xia Mingzhou chuckled and lowered his voice, saying, "Don't worry, I didn't tell my dad about Grandma Xi being hospitalized."
"Um?"
Xia Mingzhou explained the whole story in detail, and Xia Qingwan realized that Wang Jingzi ran into Xia Mingzhou when he went home with a caregiver to get something.
“I know Grandma is hiding something from my dad, but there must be a reason why she doesn’t want to talk about it. I won’t ask or make a fuss.”
Xia Qingwan smiled but didn't say anything.
Regardless of whether Xia Mingzhou's words were true or false, she always felt that Xia Changping was not entirely ignorant. From his previous remarks, she could tell he had his own sources of information.
At this time, the phone rang.
Seeing that it was "Mr. Ye", Xia Qingwan said to Xia Mingzhou, "I'm going out to answer a phone call."
She walked out of the ward, closed the door behind her, and walked to the end of the corridor before answering the call.
"...Mr. Ye."
Are you free?
"Now?"
She asked.
"Um."
"Where shall we meet?"
"My home."
Ye Peixiu spoke calmly, as if this was a very common thing, but Xia Qingwan felt a pang of anxiety in her heart.
She fell silent.
If she asked him to change the venue, it would be too embarrassing. Besides, as someone who was giving a thank-you gift, how could she be so picky?
but……
She didn't say anything, and Ye Peixiu didn't urge her, but just waited quietly.
After a moment, Xia Qingwan said, "I'll go home for a bit, then take a taxi to your place."
From the tone of his voice, it seemed as if he had gritted his teeth and made a great determination.
Ye Peixiu asked, "Do you remember the way?"
"Remember."
After hanging up the phone, Xia Qingwan turned around and saw Xia Mingzhou standing at the door of the ward, smiling at her as if nothing had happened.
She approached with a calm expression and said, "Brother, I have to go now."
"Where are you going? I'll take you."
"No need to see me off when I go home, I'll just take a taxi."
-
Xia Qingwan went home to get two packets of white tea and took a taxi to Yeyuan.
After getting off the car, passing through the large red gate where the guard post was located, and going through the parking lot to enter the moon gate, she began to feel nervous.
As Ye Peixiu said, he doesn't eat people, so she doesn't understand what she's afraid of.
She is free to make friends and date. If she insists on not being friends with him and refuses to have any further involvement with him, he will not force her to do anything.
I came to the door of the main building and knocked on it with my fingers bent.
No one answered for a long time.
Xia Qing looked around at night but didn't see the doorbell button, so he simply made a phone call.
After the call was connected, Ye Peixiu said, "The door is not locked."
She gave it a gentle twist, and the door opened.
A pair of brand new tan lambskin slippers lay in the entrance, as if prepared for her. Xia Qingwan put them on and walked into the room.
It was already evening, and the room was dark and gloomy with no lights on. The Taihu stone in the corner cast a quiet shadow.
Turning away from her blind spot, she saw Ye Peixiu sitting on a nanmu armchair by the pond outside, his broad shoulders and narrow waist relaxed against the backrest, his elbows resting on the armrests.
She felt again the coldness and loneliness she had felt when she first met him.
For some reason, she had a feeling that his life was a kind of penance.
The floor-to-ceiling windows were half open, and the early autumn breeze blew slowly, lifting the white gauze curtains and fluttering in the air. Against the backdrop of the room full of antique artifacts that had been soaked in time, they looked like forgotten ancient flags on a battlefield with broken walls and ruins.
Xia Qingwan gently tapped the edge of the French windows with her fingers.
Hearing the sound, Ye Peixiu turned his head to look at her, and slightly raised the hand holding the cigarette, "You sit down first, I'll finish this cigarette."
Only then did Xia Qingwan notice that he was smoking. A wisp of smoke rose from his fingers, reflecting the setting sun in the west, which had a very long and lingering meaning.
It gives one the illusion of being in the long summer twilight, a twilight that never seems to burn out.
Xia Qingwan waited on the sofa for ten minutes. Ye Peixiu walked in and she stood up quickly. "I—"
"I'm going to take a shower."
Why take a bath when you're working day and night?
Xia Qingwan didn't dare to ask. Her eyes were very similar to the one when they first had dinner together and saw him dressed very casually. Ye Peixiu couldn't help but laugh and explained, "I smoked."
She nodded.
I could only sit down and wait again.
It's really strange. The last time she came, he was waiting for her to take a shower, and the second time, she was waiting for him to take a shower.
After waiting for about fifteen minutes, Ye Peixiu walked over from the bedroom.
He changed his clothes, wearing a gunmetal grey chiffon shirt and matching trousers, without a belt. He looked relaxed and casual, yet with a sense of dignity.
"What kind of white tea? Let me see."
Seeing that he finally brought up the main topic, Xia Qingwan breathed a sigh of relief. She leaned over and opened the tea box, eagerly crumpling the packaging into a ball to stuff into the wastebasket. But as soon as she stretched out her arm, he stopped her in mid-air.
Ye Peixiu grabbed her wrist, took the wrapper out of her palm with his other hand, and chuckled, "Why are you throwing it away in such a hurry? I saw there were words on it."
Xia Qingwan withdrew her hand without saying a word.
After trying various options, she finally changed the packaging to a landscape painting with her own handwritten words. When she opened it, she felt a little embarrassed to show it off and considered throwing it away, but he still noticed it.
Ye Peixiu flattened the crumpled packaging.
There are two lines of text written on it.
To Mr. Ye:
Let us use the newly kindled fire to brew new tea, and enjoy poetry and wine while we are young.
The old-style vertical writing from right to left has a clear and elegant font, and you can tell at a glance that the author has practiced calligraphy.
Ye Peixiu lowered his head and read it carefully twice, then raised his eyes and asked, "Did you write this?"
"……Um."
His handwriting truly reflects his personality.
"very beautiful."
"The gift isn't expensive, so I thought I'd add some fun to it so it wouldn't seem too simple."
She explained softly.
Ye Peixiu put the wrapping paper back on the coffee table, put his hands in his pockets and looked down at her sitting on the sofa, "Then try the new tea you gave me?"
-----------------------
The author has something to say: Note: "Let's try the new tea with the new fire, and enjoy poetry and wine while we are young" is from Su Shi's "Wang Jiangnan"
Because of the clip, the next chapter will be updated on the 10th at 23:00, and will be updated at 09:00 after that. Thank you for your support, and I will give you red envelopes for these two chapters~
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