Chapter 30
30
On her first night in Paris, despite being exhausted, Lin Ju couldn't sleep. She had to work the next day, so she found some white noise to help her sleep and lay flat on her bed, forcing herself to fall asleep.
But sometimes, the more you want to sleep, the more you can’t fall asleep.
Lin Ju tossed and turned for a long time, then finally sat up, put on her coat, opened the door and walked out.
She walked through the corridor, took the elevator to the first floor, walked around the lobby, and came to a small garden.
Lin Ju sat down on a bench and looked up slightly. The half moon was hidden in the clouds. She squinted her eyes for a moment and took out a cigarette case from her pocket.
She held a thin cigarette between her fingers, and in her other hand was a simple lighter. The diamond-studded lighter was placed deep in the drawer, hidden behind a pile of miscellaneous items.
The cigarette was lit by the fire, and she took a deep breath. Her loose long hair fell on her shoulders and slid down her back. Her white face without makeup was like a blooming peony in the moonlight.
Perhaps it was the nicotine, the cool evening breeze, or the hazy moonlight, but Lin Ju gradually felt sleepy.
She slowly stood up, picked up the cigarette butt, and walked back slowly.
When I reached the hall door, the main gate of the resort opened from the outside and a black car drove in silently.
Lin Ju stopped, turned his head, and his eyes quickly swept across the window of the car.
She returned to her room and sat on the sofa for a while, dazed, not knowing what she was thinking. When she came to her senses, it was almost dawn.
Lin Ju felt that she couldn't go on like this, so she lay down on the bed, closed her eyes, and forced herself to get some sleep.
Not long after I fell into a drowsy sleep, the doorbell rang.
She sat up in a daze, her body so tired that she had no appetite to get up. Without wearing shoes, she staggered to open the door, leaned against the doorway, and tried to open her eyes wide to look at Wu Wangfeng.
She didn't wear a hearing aid and could only make out what Wu Wangfeng was saying by his lip shape.
Standing outside the door was Wu Wangfeng. Seeing her, he was stunned for a moment and couldn't help but slow down his speech. "Xiao Lin, I came here to ask you to come downstairs for breakfast."
There was almost no expression on Lin Ju's face, she just shook her head.
Seeing her like this, Wu Wangfeng didn't dare to say anything more, so he said hesitantly: "Then you continue to sleep. I'll come to you if I have any problems later."
Lin Ju nodded and closed the door neatly.
Hu Xiao stood by and watched the whole process. When she saw the door close, she quickly walked over to Wu Wangfeng and asked curiously, "Brother Wu, is Sister Lin Ju really deaf? Normally, I hear her talk fine."
Wu Wangfeng was not the type to talk about others behind their backs. He glanced at Hu Xiao and passed the matter over with a few simple words.
Lin Ju lay down for a while longer, then got up soon. She washed her face. The woman in the mirror was pale, with only her lips still bright red. She sighed softly, put on some simple makeup, put on her clothes, opened the door, and walked out.
Still in the restaurant downstairs, everyone was still eating. Breakfast was a buffet. Lin Ju took some vegetables and fruits, then sat down with her tray.
When Levi saw her, he sat over and talked to her.
She responded incoherently.
After dinner, Manager Li took them on a walk around the resort. After that, the whole team held a meeting at the resort’s conference center.
Manager Li was also there. As the liaison for the entire project team, he would be sitting in on most of the meeting. Wu Wangfeng assigned tasks, and Lin Ju was assigned to the sculpture section. After she finished listening to her assignment, she leaned back in her chair and stared out the window in a daze.
Hu Xiao sat beside her, looked at her furtively, and asked in a low voice: "Sister Lin Ju, can I switch with you? My mural painting is not very good."
Her voice was too soft for Lin Ju to hear clearly. He tilted his head slightly and asked, "What?"
Hu Xiao repeated it again.
Lin Ju lowered his eyes and said lazily, "I'm fine. Go talk to my senior brother."
I don’t know if it’s because she’s been with Zhao Xingcan for too long, but her tone of voice has also been tainted with some of that man’s coldness.
Hu Xiao felt a little scared when she heard this. She responded twice and then stopped talking.
After the meeting, everyone started to go about their own business.
Lin Ju put his hands in his pockets and walked out slowly.
She took on Hu Xiao's job. The mural was at the end of the corridor on the top floor suite in the main building of the resort. The entire wall area was larger than the mural Lin Ju painted in Wanning. It was a big job.
She stood in front of the white wall, looking up, all alone, and looking particularly thin and slender.
A pair of hands pressed on her shoulders, "How is it? Do you want my help?"
Levi's voice suddenly sounded in her ears. She shuddered suddenly, quickly moved away, and looked back with a frown.
Li Wei smiled and raised his hand, waving, "Junior sister, I'm just one floor downstairs. If you need anything, just look for me. I'm always there for you."
Lin Ju pulled her lip and put her hands behind her back, "No need, my graduation grades are better than yours."
Li Wei laughed dryly twice, "Junior sister, you are really merciless when you speak."
Lin Ju stopped talking, but Li Wei wanted to say more. The elevator on the other side made a soft sound, and Hu Xiao came out. Seeing Li Wei, she was stunned for a moment, then she trotted over to Lin Ju and grabbed her arm. "Sister Lin Ju, please help me paint the mural. I'm a little embarrassed, so I came over to take a look."
Lin Ju shook his head, "It's okay."
Hu Xiao then turned to look at Li Wei, "Brother, Angkor Wu is looking for you, please go down quickly."
Levi's eyes moved between them, then he smiled and said okay.
Lin Ju didn't move, staring at Li Wei closely, until his figure disappeared in the elevator, and her tense back finally relaxed.
Hu Xiao slowly loosened her hand, thought for a moment, and said, "Sister Lin Ju, Senior Brother Li Wei mentioned this to us. He said he thinks you are beautiful and likes you."
Lin Ju didn't say anything, and Hu Xiao continued to talk to herself, "But I don't think he's worthy of you. He's a bit strange. It's strange that he touches girls and takes advantage of them. If you don't like him, just be mean to him, or come to me and I'll help you scold him."
When Lin Ju heard this, he turned his head and looked at Hu Xiao seriously for the first time.
The little girl has a round face and round eyes. When she speaks, her expressions are very rich, like a cartoon character.
In the following days, Li Wei didn't look for Lin Ju. Sometimes when he met her in a restaurant, he would just glance away and quickly avoid her.
Hu Xiao told Lin Ju that Wu Wangfeng had talked to him. If he was not also a student of Professor Li Tai, he would have been kicked out of the team long ago.
When Lin Ju heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief and then devoted himself to the mural.
She worked day and night. When she was hungry, she would eat some bread packed from the restaurant and then start working again.
Hu Xiao hadn't seen her for several days. One time, when she went to the top floor to look for her, she saw her curled up in the corner, her body covered in paint, her long, thin arms hanging at both sides of her body, her eyes closed, and she was silent.
She was almost scared to death. She ran over to push Lin Ju and checked her breath, only to find that Lin Ju was fast asleep.
Hu Xiao quickly helped her up and woke up as soon as he touched her.
"Lin Ju, why are you sleeping here? Go back to your room." Hu Xiao dragged her and tried to pull her up.
Lin Ju was a little dizzy from sleep. He opened his eyes and looked at her. After several seconds, he said slowly, "I fell asleep?"
Hu Xiao was almost laughing out of anger, "Yeah, look how much weight you've lost these past few days? I've never seen you work so hard and recklessly."
Lin Ju shook his head, thought for a moment and said, "I'm a little hungry."
"Come on, I'll go downstairs with you to eat something."
The restaurant downstairs is open all day, with both Chinese and Western food available. Lin Ju ordered a bowl of fish congee, which was served with a few chopped matsutake mushrooms sprinkled on top. It tasted very good, and after finishing a small bowl, Lin Ju asked for another.
Hu Xiao sat beside her and saw her eating voraciously. She couldn't help but say, "Eat slowly. It's better for digestion."
Lin Ju tilted his head slightly to look at her, his spoon resting on the edge of the bowl. After a moment of thought, he said, "When you said that, you sounded like someone I know."
"Hey, who is it?" Hu Xiao was very curious when she heard her talk about herself for the first time.
"Someone I knew from the past..." She pondered, suddenly at a loss for words on how to describe her relationship with Zhao Xingcan. She couldn't bring herself to say it. Zhao Xingcan was her ex-boyfriend, and perhaps they weren't even friends. At most... at most, they were just acquaintances.
Lin Ju stared at the half bowl of porridge left and suddenly lost her appetite. She stood up and yawned, "I want to go back to sleep."
Hu Xiao also stood up, as if she had heard great news, and breathed a sigh of relief, "You finally remembered to go to bed. Brother Wu told me that you haven't slept for two days. I was worried that you would die from overwork."
"No." Lin Ju chuckled, "My highest record is not sleeping for three days."
"What's there to be proud of?" Hu Xiao muttered beside her.
Hu Xiao felt that she had come specifically to remind Lin Ju to eat and sleep, so she specially sent her to her room and supervised her to go to bed before finally leaving.
Lin Ju felt sleepy after eating, and coupled with the work in recent days, she almost fell asleep as soon as she lay down.
I slept for about four or five hours, and when I woke up, it was already dark.
There was no light in the room, and the heavy curtains tightly blocked out any light that could leak in. There was no starlight or moonlight, only pitch-black darkness.
Lin Ju rolled up the quilt and sat up. She stayed there for a long time. When she seemed to be swallowed by the darkness, the bedside lamp came on.
Lin Ju half-closed his eyes, took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from the pocket of clothes piled beside the bed, grabbed a blanket and casually draped it over his shoulders, and went to the balcony barefoot.
Lin Ju half-leaned on the balcony, lit a cigarette, and took a deep breath.
It wasn't the peach-flavored cigarette she liked, but the one she had specially bought with wormwood stuffed in it. The cigarette had a strong smell, with a rich bitter and minty flavor.
She pursed her lips and took a puff, her brows slowly furrowed, and she couldn't help but mutter, "Why does he like this taste?"
No matter how many times she was smoked, she couldn't accept it, but she liked the smell of him very much.
The diluted bitterness and mint lingered at the tip of her nose, and no matter how many times she took a deep sniff, she couldn't stop.
Thinking of this, Lin Ju felt a dull pain at the back of her head. She arched her back and hung on the balcony like a dying bird, her hair scattered and her snow-white face almost melting in the moonlight.
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