0125 125 Spring flowers bloom everywhere
Before her birthday this year, Qi Shuyao traveled abroad from Xijin for three months.
Twenty years have passed since she first picked up a paintbrush, but this is her first large-scale art exhibition. She completed all the arrangements for the exhibition by herself without any help from anyone.
She dares to say that these three months have been the happiest and freest time she has had in recent years. Every day she sees foreign faces that are different from her own. No one knows her past and no one will shoot her arrows from the shadows. She is just an ordinary person, standing in front of her paintings and explaining her works to the audience in person.
It wasn't until the last art exhibition, when the weather had cooled down, that she met a girl of the same race as her. She stood in front of a painting called "Chasing the Sun" and lingered for a long time.
She stepped forward and greeted the girl in a common foreign language, and the girl immediately spoke in Mandarin.
Do you think ordinary people like us can really catch up with the sun? Can we really see the light?
In an instant, Qi Shuyao recalled what Pei Yuzhou had said to her in the hospital room, which made her feel a tightness in her chest.
She quickly shook her head and smiled at the girl.
Why not?
The girl sneered, threw a file folder she had been holding into her arms, and turned to leave.
The brief incident didn't seem to spoil Qi Shuyao's good mood. After packing up all her things from the art exhibition, she made plans to go skiing with two friends she had met locally the next day.
The latitude here is high, and the ski resorts are all formed along the natural mountain ranges. Each mountain is more dangerous than the last. Qi Shuyao was inexperienced, but she was incredibly brave. She directly chose the last ski run, which was almost vertically plunging into the snow.
Two friends who were traveling with her tried to dissuade her, but they couldn't stop her from courting disaster.
Qi Shuyao was taken to the mountaintop and onto the ski slope. In the instant her body leaned forward, she was almost parallel to the ground.
The wind here is fresh, but she feels a little short of breath. Looking at the white expanse around her, she feels purified, but unfortunately, everything is blurred.
She couldn't control her legs at all and slammed straight down.
Thousands of kilometers away, Qi Shuyao was airlifted back to Jingyang. Changxi Palace had long been rebuilt, and she was lying in that small house surrounded by flowers again. However, by October, there were hardly any flowers blooming in Jingyang.
The people taking care of her at her bedside were all acquaintances. They smiled slightly when they saw her wake up and then went back to doing what they were doing.
She felt heavy all over, and even moving her neck hurt. But she gritted her teeth and managed to lift her thigh. Her eyes swept to the side, and sure enough, she saw her arm in a cast.
Her last memory was probably plunging headfirst into a snowdrift, scalding blood flowing backwards into her eyes, and then, from who knows where, it smeared her face.
Qi Yu's footsteps gradually approached from outside the door, and everyone around him left in an instant, leaving only the two of them in the room.
He even seemed to be in a good mood. He came over, touched her face, pulled up her feet that were sticking out of the blanket, placed them on his lap, warmed them with his palms, and then put on a pair of thick socks.
Qi Shuyao frowned as she looked at his profile. Suddenly, she found the strength to sit up and kick his legs away, ready to get out of bed.
Qi Yu grabbed her ankle and dragged her back.
Where are we going?
She left behind only a sullen, angry back view.
“We’ve been apart for three months. You’ve injured yourself and your blood has stained the entire snow-capped mountain. I finally managed to bring you back, but when you woke up, you didn’t even look at me. Have you ever thought about how I feel?”
He also kept his head down and his back hunched over. Even when he could only stay in a corner outside his employer's house, she had never seen him with such an expression.
He hugged her from behind, pressing his entire body tightly against hers, his arms tightening around her, causing her to tremble slightly.
Only when her thick sweater was soaked with tears did Qi Shuyao begin to struggle. At the same time, she heard the man behind her sobbing.
"Let's go, let's go together, let's leave everything here behind, let's go somewhere they can't find us, just the two of us."
"Where are we going? To outer space?"
"I'm at sea..."
She used her still-movable hand to press down on Qi Yu's clasped wrists, turned around, and looked at him.
"Is it because you can't hide the truth anymore that you're thinking of leaving?"
She glanced around, her tone relaxed.
"Did you bring my luggage back with you?"
"Put it in your study."
Did you open it and look at it?
"She told you herself?"
"Maybe she didn't even bother talking to me. She just dumped her things on me and left, rolling her eyes as she went. I can't really blame her. If I had experienced something like that, I would have taken a knife and stabbed her to death."
She looked out the window; the outside was bare, and it was dark. It was so different from what it used to be, yet she remembered the night they reunited.
"Do you remember? We met again under the moon, but the moon couldn't understand you, and neither could I."
She released her grip on his wrist, but he immediately grabbed it again, pushing her to the middle of the bed. Several people came in and stood in two rows in front of her.
"Miss is still recovering, so please don't let her do any strenuous exercise recently. Also, her eyes have been temporarily injured by the snow, so please don't let her look at her phone or computer. If she's really bored, she can draw some pictures in her spare time."
He walked to the door, gave her a standard smile, and closed the door.
"Wait a minute, come back! Qi Yu!"
Someone stepped forward and stopped her. In the small, square room, she spent the remaining two months of the year completely with him. Those who used to fawn over her had all become traitors. She had to tell that man every few steps she took.
Xu Mei has been feeling very uneasy lately. Her biggest concern every day is to contact her four daughters to see how they are doing. Her contact with Jiang Yu had been intermittent before, but now that Zhu Jiangxu has recovered from his injuries and they have settled down in the Southern Hemisphere, things have become more stable.
Gu Chaohuan and Li Qing never expected that they would hit it off so well. Instead of settling down, they chose to wander the world. However, the most anxious person in their group was her daughter. The little girl had been enrolled in countless tutoring classes while living with her grandmother, and now that she suddenly had free time, she felt like she was going to fall behind her friends.
Li Qing picked up her daughter and carried her to the opposite side, where the sea stretched to the horizon. The salty sea breeze brushed against their foreheads, and the little girl's furrowed brows slowly relaxed. She wrapped her arms around her mother's neck, and her mother whispered a promise to her.
"Let's go see all the seas in the world, all the clouds in the world, and all the things floating in the sky and swimming in the water. We won't sit at that little table."
Tu Mi was arranged by Qi Shuyao to go to Xijin, and now she enjoys the Tang family's large manor all to herself. At first, Qi Shuyao said she wanted to find her a maid to take care of her, but she refused. Before leaving, Tu Mi leaned on the door, hooked her finger with hers, and asked her to come back to accompany her soon.
Xu Mei smiled as she scrolled through her phone, then clicked into her chat history with Qi Shuyao. This third girl was the most troublesome; their contact had been intermittent while she was abroad, and now that she was back, she was even harder to find.
"Xu, someone is looking for you outside."
The older woman who lived across the hall from her came back from grocery shopping, stood in the hallway and called out. Xu Mei responded, put down her phone and went out.
She now lives in a house with a semi-basement and doesn't go out much. She prefers to stay in the basement most of the time, staring blankly at a sliver of light shining through.
Xu Mei came up from below, stood in front of the door and looked left and right. There was no one outside. She came out, took a few more glances, frowned and turned around.
Shu Cheng emerged from the corner behind the door, wearing a long black overcoat that reached his calves, and walked towards her step by step.
She imagined many scenarios of seeing him again. No matter where she saw him, even in front of his parents, she should slap him hard, throw him aside, and then leave gracefully.
But she was frozen in place, standing there with a cotton coat over her pajamas and slippers on her feet.
That's good, at least she's still dressed.
As Shu Cheng drew closer, his face became clearer and clearer in Xu Mei's eyes. He hadn't changed at all; he hadn't developed many wrinkles, no protruding belly, no gray hair, and no hunchback.
He stood before her exactly as he had been, as if he had traveled from thirty years ago.
He was even more excited than she was, his trembling hand sliding down from her shoulder to touch her face.
Xu Mei finally reacted. She took a step back, creating just the right distance, raised her arm, and slapped him across the face.
This was the first time Shu Cheng had ever been slapped. He glanced to his left and froze.
Xu Mei was also stunned. She stared at her palms, which were bright red. Her arms, which hadn't been used for a long time, were no longer strong enough. The pajamas underneath also restricted her movements, preventing her from fully enjoying herself.
Her actions startled the older woman in the opposite house. She was washing vegetables in the kitchen when she saw Xu Meizi standing with a man through the window. The man's back looked so tall, and Xu Meizi's face was so beautiful. It was as if the TV drama she was watching was playing out right in front of her. The older woman stopped washing the vegetables, wiped her hands on her apron, and peered out the window. Before she could hear anything, she saw Xu Meizi raise her hand and slap the man.
That wave of her hand seemed to have used all her strength, making the man sway. Xu Mei looked over at the sound of her exclamation, and the older sister immediately dared not look and even pulled up the small curtains on the balcony.
Shu Cheng raised his hand to touch his face, which was already swollen. The woman in front of him had her head tilted back with a proud look on her face, which was also red from the cold wind.
He reached out and, ignoring her struggles, pressed his burning palm against her icy face. Xu Mei retreated repeatedly, but he kept chasing her until her back was against a telephone pole. The man lowered his head and whispered in her ear.
"Let's go, with our children."
"Stay away from them and don't bother them!"
"I am protecting them."
"What right do you have to say that? Do you know them? Have you ever seen them? Do you even know their names? You have no right to see them, and neither do I. But I have the right to stop you from bothering them."
Shu Cheng slowly slid down and sat directly on the ground. It had just snowed during the day, and the ground was dirty and slippery.
Xu Mei was very familiar with his dejected and helpless look. He had the same expression on his face when Shu Li firmly disagreed with her taking the children with them.
"Just tell me what's wrong. You're over fifty and all you can do is cry when something happens to you."
Shu Cheng actually wiped his eyes, then reached out and grabbed her leg.
"The man you trust will kill us all."
"You mean Qi Yu? What happened to him? What's wrong? Stop crying and talk to me!"
At the same time, Changgang.
The Shen family had been bombarding and harassing everywhere for more than half a year, but things have finally quieted down. Master Shen and a few core family members are packing their things; they are about to leave.
Before leaving, he made a special trip to Changgang Mountain and personally touched the heads of those giant dragons.
"As expected, we weren't destined to become the real dragons. Just a few fake dragons have thrown our family into chaos. Why is that? What's the point? Is that position really that attractive? Even if we did get there and sat there for a few years, it would only lead to family feuds and disintegration. Old brother, I'm leaving now. Your grandson, I'll help you..."
Wearing sunglasses and with his hands behind his back, he raised his head as he spoke, looking up at Pei Yuzhou in the sky. But he couldn't see his older brother; he could only see countless helicopters circling overhead, and fully armed special police officers flew down from the sky and pinned him to the ground in an instant.
With this, all the leaders of the Changgang Shen family's criminal gang have been arrested, and Changgang welcomed the sunrise today.
Today is the third day of the new year.
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